I Tried “Scent Styling” & Finally Broke Out Of My Fragrance Rut

I used to have an unshakeable need to smell a different flavor of interesting every day. Lately, though, I’ve been reaching for the same perfume combination every morning. I’m becoming a person I don’t recognize: someone with a signature scent.

It turns out my fragrance fatigue isn’t unique. Perfume lovers are experiencing too much of a good thing: It’s been reported that 6,000 new fragrances launched in 2025. For fragrance shoppers, that level of choice can quickly become overwhelming. “Based on the volume of 2026 releases, we can safely assume they can’t all be made with quality, intention, originality, and passion,” says Emma Vernon, a fragrance expert and the host of the Perfume Room podcast. “This makes it harder to find the special [launches] from smaller brands that don't have huge marketing budgets.”

That’s exactly what drove Vernon, a true niche perfume savant, to offer one-on-one “scent styling” sessions. Think of it as personal styling, but for fragrance: a guided consultation designed to help you discover scents that suit your taste. “I know what it’s like to navigate a perfume store, but even I, as a person who’s in this industry professionally, still get that feeling when I go into a perfume store of ‘What do I smell? What do I do?’” she says.

Vernon recently brought her virtual scent styling sessions to a brick-and-mortar experience at Stéle, a fragrance store in New York City’s Nolita neighborhood. The goal is to help shoppers clarify what they’re looking for — and to introduce them to scents they might otherwise overlook.

“I’m helping people translate the visions, aesthetics, and smells they have in their brain into things that are in the store.”

As the fragrance market becomes increasingly crowded, more experts are stepping in to help shoppers navigate it. Asia Grant, an independent perfumer, offers perfume tours in Nolita, stopping at the many fragrance stores in the area, as well as master classes that aim to match attendees with a unique fragrance. Travaulya Wallace, meanwhile, is a beauty consultant specializing in fragrance consultations via phone, by text, via email, or in person to help people discover their signature scents.

Curious whether it could help break me out of my fragrance rut, I booked a session with Vernon.

Inside A Scent-Styling Session

For $150, customers spend an hour with Vernon in Stéle’s atmospheric back room, where she’s done all the work for you. A week before the appointment, she sent me a questionnaire to fill out, asking standard questions like my age, scents I already like, notes I want to avoid, my budget, and what I wanted the fragrance for. There were also atypical questions about my astrological sign and whether I identified with it, my fashion sensibility, the climate where I lived, and fun facts about me. I explained that my perfume choices had become predictable, but that a one-of-a-kind sillage was still important to me. I’m drawn to unexpected notes, and I wanted to be shocked, awed, and surprised. I described what I was looking for as “elevated witchy rocker” and outlined the notes I gravitate toward most, including orris, leather, smoke, and white florals.

The session clarified the patterns in my taste — and reminded me how much fun it can be to explore outside of them.

Vernon had five fragrances ready for me when I arrived: a mix of scents that aligned with my tastes plus some intentional curveballs. She urged me to give her unfiltered feedback so that she could really home in on what would serve me best. “If somebody wants something sawdusty, they might not know what that note is, but I might look at sandalwood, cedar, and Iso E Super. I’m helping people translate the visions, aesthetics, and smells they have in their brain into things that are in the store,” she says.

We went over the options Vernon had pulled. She scored with Stora Skuggan’s Hexensalbe, a witchy, anti-establishment fragrance of my dreams. It felt like the scent equivalent of a woodland witch; its mulchy, earthy aura was inspired by ingredients of hallucinogenic salves concocted by witches in the Middle Ages for some NSFW activities. I also fell in love with Them by Neandertal, the freakiest powdery orris with an industrial side. But the standout was Fischersund No. 101, which met me where I was while still feeling unlike anything I’d worn before. Inspired by Reykjavik’s aromatic summer foliage, it’s green yet entirely unfamiliar to my nose.

Expanding Your Olfactory Palette

More than helping me find a new fragrance, the session clarified the patterns in my taste — and reminded me how much fun it can be to explore outside of them.

In an era when thousands of fragrances launch every year, the value of scent styling isn’t necessarily finding “the one.” It’s having someone help cut through the noise and point you toward scents you might never have discovered on your own.

The goal is to help shoppers clarify what they’re looking for — and to introduce them to scents they might otherwise overlook.

If a professional consulting service like this is out of reach, Vernon encourages people to explore new frontiers by getting discovery sets from brands they already like or those whose stories or design speak to them. “There’s already a shared sensibility before you even smell anything, which often bodes well,” she says.

She also recommends smelling with other fragrance enthusiasts whenever possible. “Swapping and smelling with other people can really help you develop your nose and discover new scents affordably.” Her own Perfume Room Smell Club has a curated themed sample pack for attendees to order and smell together virtually. Lastly, if you’re going perfume shopping IRL, focus on one section of the store at a time and take your time with each fragrance. “Scents are meant to be enjoyed slowly, thoughtfully, and over time. Shop and discover with intention.”