What's Better Than Perfume Shopping? Perfume Swapping
The Discord server Scented Waters is home to over 20 “channels,” or chat rooms, where perfume lovers can discuss nearly every aspect of the fragrance industry, from the best niche brands to tips for self-taught perfumers. The server is even home to its own scented economy: Every day, perfume collectors flock to #market with fragrances they’re looking to offload and acquire, either for cash or another scent they’re coveting.
Scented Waters is just one platform where perfume swapping happens. It also takes place on Reddit forums like r/fragranceswap, and on private Facebook Groups like Fragrance Swaps, Trades & Sales.
“Selling / Trading everything (only in the USA),” one Scented Waters member posted in #market, proceeding to list an extensive inventory of pre-loved fragrances from brands like YSL, Creed, and Initio. On r/fragranceswap, another user advertised a “nearly full” bottle of Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Oud Satin Mood, available to swap for a different fragrance from the same brand (the user also noted interest in Byredo, Tom Ford, Kilian Paris, and Le Labo).
The online perfume trade is robust. But as interest in fragrance continues to surge, swapping has shifted offline. For the past year, IRL perfume swaps have flourished, underscoring the social aspect of fragrance — and the ways in which other people can make perfume all the more enjoyable.
Maddie Phinney and Chloe Coover launched their podcast, Nose Candy, in early 2023. For the duo, perfume provided an outlet for social connection as the world emerged from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. “At a time when we all had retreated even deeper into the world of our phones, perfume was this beautiful invitation to connect, to be perceivable, and take up space in our physical world,” Phinney and Coover tell Highsnobiety.
So when the pair hosted their first public perfume swap at Los Angeles art space Murmurs in July, their goal was to “expand the feeling of community” beyond their immediate circle. Thus, they enlisted a host of partners, including scent non-profit The Institute of Art and Olfaction, fragrance e-tailer Luckyscent, independent perfume brand UFO Parfums, eyewear studio Eyefi, and Hollywood Gifts, a fashion brand that offers a collection of fragrance-themed T-shirts.
Community was also the reason Noah Virgile, perfumer and owner of Amphora Parfum, decided to attend a swap hosted by Rachel Ann Reading, an art historian turned perfume guide who offers fragrance tours in New York City. “People don’t just want to experience a scent for themselves — they want the element of peer interaction,” Virgile says.
“I know many missed the communal experience of smelling synchronously,” Reading adds, referencing what she calls “quaran-times.” “Putting nose against the skin of strangers came to feel like an act of euphoric rebellion and I want to facilitate that wherever possible!”
Ultimately, perfume swaps are a low-stakes way to meet new people — something that’s gotten harder in an era of remote work. Ariel Wodarcyk, a beauty writer, attended a swap hosted by Emma Vernon, host of the podcast Perfume Room, and photographer Elizabeth Renstrom back in February. Wodarcyk brought a bottle of DKNY’s Be Delicious and swapped it for Nanette by Nanette Lepore. At a different fragrance-themed event later that year, she ended up meeting the woman whose bottle of Nanette she took home. “We were so thrilled to make that connection,” Wodarcyk says. “She asked me what drew me to the fragrance, and how much I had worn it since — all these questions that were made even more impactful by us connecting in person.”
Wodarcyk notes another benefit of perfume swaps: They’re a way to try and ultimately acquire new scents without spending hundreds of dollars. “As any fragrance lover knows, perfume can be prohibitively expensive,” she says. “Swaps help even the playing field.” Attendees can sniff and sample at their leisure, without the subliminal pressure of a sales associate lurking nearby.
Plus, trading — versus tossing a bottle that no longer sparks joy — feels like a more responsible, circular way to consume. Vernon struggles to house the influx of perfume that brands very generously send her. “So many people are gifted fragrances. So many blind buy,” she says. “The reasons why people want to rehome fragrances are endless, and they usually have nothing to do with the quality.”
It doesn’t help that social media has helped perpetuate the idea that owning hundreds of bottles of perfume is something to aspire to. TikTok is home to thousands of videos of creators showing off their extensive collections, which often take up entire walls of shelves. Perfume swaps help bring intentionality back to fragrance collecting as the algorithm encourages overconsumption.
Phinney and Coover offer a piece of advice to anyone considering getting in on the perfume swap surge. “Be nice — nobody at our swaps is too cool or too knowledgeable,” they say. “You might bring a $300 bottle that you’re deeply underwhelmed by, and come out with someone’s $20 drugstore gem. We love the way these events encourage people to let go of pretension and assumed hierarchies.”
