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Buying a fragrance can be as much about branding and packaging as it is about smell. So Perfumariē, a fragrance shop in New York City, takes all that out of the equation to focus solely on scent.
Dozens of fragrances are presented in unmarked clay containers, and customers are invited to sniff and explore. “In the beginning, they’re very intimidated,” says founder and CEO Mindy Yang, “because they’re not used to speaking or writing or describing what they smell.” It can be tough to describe a scent and, without packaging, even harder to know what you like.
But after smelling all your options, you can test them on your skin and pick the one you like the best. Only later, in a “reveal party,” will you find out what fragrance you actually chose.
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