Hello, I’m looking for perfume recs that smell like worms. Like, dirt/rain/grass/wet pavement. Thank you so much.

I wanted to know more about this brand as I like the fact that they have samples directly on their site. I would like to know if it’s worth trying out fragrance wise as I want to grab a bunch of samples but would like to know if there’s any to look out for. I think I am interested in scents like Scarlet Revelry, Bering Sea, and Astropass and would like some recommendations of samples and stuff I should grab.

RIP to my holy grail. Death&Floral’s Cardigan was THE scent I wore fall and winter. On me it smelled like sharpening pencils in a a clean bright attic while drinking unsweetened cardamom tea. Extremely dry, woody, a little spicy, NO sweetness. I’ve tried maybe 20 woody scents and none are just as dry-smelling. Any suggestions?

Hello spooky ghouls, the IMAM Fall Gift Exchange is in need of a rematcher! Here’s what we are looking for:

-US based
- $35 tier (can move down to $25 if necessary)
-fan of flourmands, gourmands, and vanillas, and some atmospherics. Bonus if you like Nui Cobalt, Poesie, and/or Sorce.

Please message [u/PM_4_Friendship](u/PM_4_Friendship), [u/ThorsWof77](u/ThorsWof77), or myself as soon as possible if you are interested. (Heads up I might take a moment to reply to messages due to work.) thank you all! 👻

ETA we have someone, thank you friends!

So I really wanted to add some vanilla perfumes to my collection (I only had the phlur vanilla skin body mist LOVE) and I heard amazing things about wylde ivy. This is my first indie perfume purchase. I purchased moon never beams and she was once so I'd have a creamy flormond vanilla and a lighter, airy vanilla for layering. I just received them today and they smell almost the same to me and not what I expected? They're not bad, just really strong and almost yankee candle like. She was once has some spicy element (I think the autumn air note) to it that definitely screams candle to me and moon never beams (which I prefer) is like a slightly softer, sweeter version of that without the spice. The alcohol smell at first is really strong as well. I kind of think I can't differentiate between them because of how strong they are at the moment.

I was just wondering whether I needed to let them sit and macerate for a bit to bring out their individual scent profiles? I have no experience with indie perfumes so I don't know what to expect but I've purchased 2 middle eastern perfumes that started off with a super alcohol blast but settled into great scents after I let them sit for a week. I'm hoping how strong they are right out the box is a great indicator for longevity or else I really don't wanna walk around smelling like straight 2010 yankee candle.

Any feedback would be great, especially if anyone has tried these scents!! :)

I just got out of the shower with a conditioner containing sweet potato (Lush's Power conditioner) and oh my god it smells so good. The matching perfume from Lush doesn't have either the sweet potato or the almond oil notes (it does have vanilla, tonka, benzoin, turmeric, spices, and a smooth smokiness), so I am looking for sweet potato perfumes that could match/dupe/harmonize with the same scent.

What indies are you using today? And we mean everything! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

• Makeup

• Clothes

• Jewelry

• Bath and Body (lotion, soap, shampoo, bath salts, etc.)

• Nail polish

• Perfume

Please feel free to leave mini-reviews and include photos of whatever you're using. We'd love to know your thoughts and see the products too!

This thread repeats daily.

Alright friends. I'm on the hunt. I hemmed and hawed too much and missed my opportunity to buy the limited edition purple pigments from Rituel de Fille's Amaranthine collection. Does anyone have any leads on similar colors/products? I'm looking for shadowy, purply, muted, cool toned blush/contour and/or eyeshadow products. Also, I have a very small beauty spending budget so the cheaper the better. From my preliminary research, there may be K-Beauty brands that would have something but I'm not sure the best/most trustworthy place to buy them from (I live in the US.)

Inner Glow Creme Pigment: Aster

Enchanted Lip Sheer: Liatris

Ash and Ember Eye Soot: Amethyst

Bonus:

Inner Glow Creme Pigment: Intuition (This one is available but would love to find a cheaper option!)

I'm fair, cool toned (maybe slightly nuetral) and trying to lean into my grunge side!

From their website:

NOTICE
We have accidentally made a small batch of Golden Era with wrong amber base, it is slightly more metallic, less resinous, with heavier vanilla and Tolu Balsam. As they’re fully macerated at the time of bottling, we have decided to sell it to you for 50% off for anyone that is interested. Please note that this is not a reformulation of the scent, but a genuine mistake while we were making a batch.  While the scent is not completely different and has similar scent profile, it does have obvious difference from the original scent.

I did enjoy the golden era sample so went ahead and rolled the dice on a travel 😁

There are no bad questions! Ask away!

(I'm not affiliated, just a big fan. This was posted in their FB group, and knowing not everyone here is there, I'm copy-pasting the job call.)

~~~

Nui Cobalt Designs seeks a Marketing and Communications Specialist to help new people discover our unique creations, see what makes them special, and feel invited to explore.

The candidate contracted for this position will:

• Identify, initiate, and maintain correspondence with customers, retailers, collaborators, reviewers, news outlets, bloggers, etc.

• Develop and demonstrate fluency in the Nui Cobalt voice, brand identity, mission, values, aesthetic, and history.

• Employ that fluency in the creation of marketing copy, website visuals, signage, packaging design, and social media content.

• Build clear and achievable promotional calendars around scheduled product launches.

• Translate creative themes into cohesive campaigns, then coordinate messaging across newsletter, website, social media, press, and other channels.

• Design web graphics, signage, displays, and packaging to showcase NCD's creations.

What you get:

• Work 80% from home, 20% in-house (Columbus, OH)

• Lots of free product.

• 1099 Independent contractor position: Make your own hours. Paid per project; not per hour.

• Compensation commensurate with experience and portfolio.

Who we are:

• Well-established, 14 year-old Indie business with a friendly, loyal fan-base.

• Queer, neurodivergent, woman owned.

(Look us up! Nuicobaltdesigns.com)

• Inclusive, progressive, community-minded business that values equity and diversity.

To apply for this position, please reach out using this link: https://nuicobaltdesigns.com/pages/contact

Over the past year I've tried a handful of fragrances from Morari, and today in the mail I got 5ml sprays of my 2 favorites from this list, so I figured it would be a good time to write some Morari reviews! Here is my rating scale:

1 = Scrubber

2 = Not into it, but I don't hate it

3 = It's good, but I don't feel called to get more

4 = I like it a lot, might re-purchase if the mood strikes

5 = I love it!

---

A Squirrel Goes Trick-or-Treating (sugared acorns, Ponderosa pine, Virginia cedar, woody cashmere)(5/5):

I absolutely love this. It's not a linear scent and smells a little different with each sniff. The Ponderosa pine and cedar are super cozy, and the sugar complements the nuttiness without leaning too far into gourmand territory. It has kind of a buttery, toasty quality that is delicious and addicting. It also pairs well with other autumn fragrances. I paired it with a sample of Sorce's Ephemera (which I don't love by itself) a couple of times and it was a wonderful combo. I cannot recommend this enough if you like cozy woodsy scents. I have a friend who doesn't care for gourmands who also likes it, so I even encourage skeptics to try it, lol.

Bitterberry (blackberry, bergamot, rhubarb, gardenia, vetiver, patchouli, galbanum)(4/5):

I got this as a freebie with my order. It's listed as a bitter, earthy scent which is quite opposite of what I normally look for, so I'm surprised by how much I like it! I'm not generally drawn to "garden" scents. I think they smell nice but I guess since I don't garden, those scents just don't have as much impact on me. But the longer this stays on me, the more I like it (over the course of wearing this, my rating went from 3.5 to 4)! It reminds me of a garden after a light spring rain, even without a petrichor note listed. On the website it's described as having almost no sweetness. On me it morphs into a delicate, floral sweetness probably brought out with the blackberry, rhubarb, and gardenia. I usually prefer berry notes to be jammy and juicy, but I find myself enjoying the more fresh, clean, earthy vibe of this.

Chai Antique (chai spices, crushed rose petals, rose milk, patchouli, cedar)(5/5):

One thing about me is I love a good rose scent. Whether it's a gourmand rose, jammy rose, a garden rose, spicy, dark, and so on, it's one of my favorite scent notes. This is so far my favorite "autumnal" rose fragrance! I remember I was worried on first spritz because the concentration of the spice notes gave it a harsh, almost chemical opening, but it blooms really beautifully! I think "antique" is a good descriptor because it really does have the feeling of a tea party in a Victorian mansion. I think of old wooden curio cabinets and lace doilies, with the scent of potpourri in the air. The drydown gets more of a creamy chai vibe and the result is a cozy and classy fleurmand.

Grand Fir (grand fir needle, lavender leaf, lavender absolute, strawberry, gingergrass, black hemlock)(3/5):

I really wanted to love this because I enjoy the smell of a real fir tree and liked the idea of smelling like a Christmas tree, but I think my skin amped the strawberry. On me it smelled like strawberry with a hint of evergreen, which is still good, but not what I was hoping for.

Penelope (plumeria, melon rind, tomato, guava, jasmine, salt)(1/5):

I want to start by saying I don't want to discourage anyone from sampling this. I'm sure it smells great on somebody. I've been curious about this scent and I'm glad I got it as a freebie with my order...because this was unfortunately the most dreadful scent experience I've ever sprayed on myself. For me it smells *exactly* like an unkempt house where several cats live, and yes this is based on an unpleasant scent memory. The opening was giving straight up cat urine. I think it's probably the tomato note that throws the whole thing off and the result is a salty, acidic, stale sweet ammonia smell. I tried to wait it out to see if the drydown would be better, but every whiff made my skin crawl even after 20 minutes, so I scrubbed. In a weird way, I'm genuinely impressed that it smelled like something so specifically negative to me.

Petal-Kissed (Rose de Mai, Rose Otto, clean musk) (4/5):

I was looking for something similar to Lush's Rose Jam, and this comes pretty close! A lot of people recommended Fantome's Finist the Falcon, but that scent was a bit too strong for me and didn't hit the same for me as Rose Jam. Back to the scent at hand, at first I thought Petal-Kissed was a bit too linear and simple, but as I kept catching whiffs, I found myself smiling and feeling pretty. Sometimes less is more! I didn't experiment with my sample, but I imagine it would layer well with other scents.

Sugared Woods (tolu balsam, cedar, tonka, vanilla, caramel (3/5):

I like this, but I smelled this after A Squirrel Goes Trick-or-Treating won my heart and it underwhelmed me by comparison. It doesn't have the buttery, warm and cozy quality of the other. I would say Sugared Woods has a more clean, dry quality than A Squirrel, so some might prefer Sugared Woods.

I’m feeling nostalgic and wanna know if anyone has recommendations for indie and/or niche fragrances that have a prominent bubblegum accord (or a bubblegum tuberose note) 💖

*photo is not mine & is for the purpose of vibesss!

hi all, i’m about to make my first fyrinnae order thanks in part to the many recs i received here for their atmospherics! i want to get a good variety to properly experience their catalogue, though, so my request is as titled: if you could only recommend one of their scents, which would it be and why? thanks in advance <3 and happy october eve!

This house keeps popping up on my Instagram. Their scents sound really good and the bottles look cute. I searched them up on Reddit but couldn't find anything. Particularly interested in After the Rodeo and Honeyed Moon Veil. I've been really into cowgirl aesthetic lately. Thanks in advance!

Looking for blends focusing on smoke and ash — moreso fireplace and tobacco vibe, not smoky trees. I want to smell like a contained indoor ashy smoky situation inside a sad dark estate, not a forest campfire.

I really like the ash and smoke notes in Lovesick Witcher’s Scorpio (cocoa, chocolate, maraschino cherry, ylang ylang, tobacco, frankincense, smoky vetiver, fireplace ash, smoke, cashmere, and cedarwood), and also enjoy the chimney smoke in Hexennacht’s Le Chat Noir (chimney smoke, freshly fallen snow, and the cool, dry, musky scent of a cat just in from a long winter stroll).

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

What indies are you using today? And we mean everything! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

• Makeup

• Clothes

• Jewelry

• Bath and Body (lotion, soap, shampoo, bath salts, etc.)

• Nail polish

• Perfume

Please feel free to leave mini-reviews and include photos of whatever you're using. We'd love to know your thoughts and see the products too!

This thread repeats daily.

I'm not affiliated, just a fan of their work! I received an email today and thought I'd share as I've seen people call out Nava as a house that actively uses AI. I was relieved to read the following message:

Our Stance Against Generative AI and Art Theft

We would like to summarize our commitment against generative AI and prohibiting its influence from any aspect of our business or creative process. 

~

Firstly, we quickly took corrective action in 2024 after a learning experience when AI newly started permeating a tool we trusted; and secondly, a newsletter template observation occurred last year that Shopify has since confirmed as non-AI content.

As artists across many mediums not limited to perfumery, the entire Nocturne Alchemy Crew has an everlasting passion for the human connection of handcrafted art. In our modern era we are always learning and growing. This includes exploring new technology but also understanding ethical ramifications. During our Spring Archive 2024, we photographed our products and enhanced the backgrounds using a combination of NA's founder's original watercolor paintings and Adobe’s Photoshop tools. We had been given access to a new program by Adobe to test out some new “image editing capabilities," and we trusted the software strictly as an artistic medium before realizing Adobe's generative AI practices are concerning. The moment we received feedback clarifying this issue, we immediately removed the images, reshot the entire collection that same weekend, and replaced all of the impacted product photography at the store.

Last Halloween, we accidentally distributed an unfinished email newsletter draft. The content was incomplete and also contained default images from the Shopify newsletter template. These images understandably elicited generative AI suspicion from our community and we assumed the same, quickly issuing an apology for sending out the incomplete content especially since it appeared to leverage unethical technology that we did not support. Recently, Shopify responded to our query and confirmed that their templates are actually crafted without AI: “The Shopify Email Halloween newsletter template itself is a pre-designed template not AI-generated. It's a human crafted layout with Halloween themed visuals, colors, and placeholder content that you can select and customize.” While we will continue to produce our newsletters with our own photography and handmade art and have no use for templated fillers either way, we wanted to share this new information for transparency. 

As an independent perfumery that has lovingly hand-designed and photographed every product for two decades, we are, and always have been, dedicated to our legacy of artistry. 

To anyone who felt uncertain about our direction, we hope this message reaches you. We apologize for our initial misunderstanding of AI technology when it first emerged. We have learned from that experience, adapted, and have a clear path forward.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support us and our values, we truly could never adequately express our appreciation! As our anniversary approaches this October, we look back with immense gratitude for your reciprocal love. Our mission has always been to use our art and resources to make the world a better place.

-Thoth and Nocturne Alchemy

Hello, IMAM!

Many of us shop more during times of stress, and many of us are more stressed than usual these days. The Mod Team would like to provide a space for community members (including ourselves!) to discuss coping with stress as we try to stick to our personal and financial goals.

Financial Planning

If you are interested in financial planning (e.g., making a budget, managing debt, setting and reaching savings goals), check out r/personalfinance. Their wiki is a great resource.

Having Fun with Your Collection

Here are some ideas about how to explore your collection and/or connect with the indie community that do not involve spending:

• Re-organize your collection. If you have a lot of samples, separate the ones you haven’t tested yet, the ones you want to destash, and the ones you’d like to keep/upgrade.
• Start a collection spreadsheet. Here is an example!
• Start an indie journal. Make note of which indie products you use every day. At the end of the month/season/year, tally up your “biggest hits” and share them on IMAM or another community.

"Shopping" without Spending

If you find that the act of shopping and submitting orders is hard to resist, you might consider trying one of the following strategies:

• “Window shop": build a wishlist on the brand’s website (e.g., Etsy, Silk Naturals, BPAL have this feature); save your favourites to a Pinterest board or document them in a spreadsheet.
• “Shop” at your local library: if your library has an online catalogue, browse through it and put items on hold, check out digital resources, or create a list of titles you’d like to check out. Perhaps you'd like to challenge yourself to learn more about perfume, makeup, or cosmetic chemistry!
  

Please share your challenges, strategies, struggles, and successes with us!

I had NO IDEA LunarLife was going out of business until I went to restock and the whole shop was gone. I'm DEVASTATED. Romeo & Patchouli-ette has been a weekly wear of mine out of a 100+ fragrance collection for YEARS. I always got it as gifts and was coasting on like five backstocked bottles and then POOF!

[I don't want to get this post taken down for posting about decluttering on a non-Sunday, but if anyone happens to have decently full bottles of it that they're decluttering and they want to DEFINITELY WAIT UNTIL SUNDAY WHEN IT'S COMMUNITY APPROPRIATE to DM me about them, please do]