Fragrance Swaps Are Sweeping the Nation

When selling partially-used full-sized bottles, fraghags will often determine the price by calculating the cost per milliliter and then charging for what’s remaining. “For example, if a 50ml bottle originally costs $150, that’s $3 per ml,” says May K. Kanti, the founder of “DC Maryland Virginia Fragrance Lovers,” a Facebook group. “So if [someone is] selling a 25ml partial bottle, they [might] charge $75.”

Kanti, a family therapist who has spent somewhere between $1,000 and $3,000 on her collection since she started it a few years ago, often observes the 137 members of her group asking each other if there are perfumes they’re looking to offload. Her group is a place for sharing knowledge and preferences, along with an opportunity to declutter and stock one’s collection with fragrances that are truly loved.

After all, more isn’t always better. “So much of the content on #FragranceTok is people showing off 200 bottle collections,” says Alexandra Pauly, beauty editor at Highsnobiety and a fragrance fan who recently hosted a swap at Susan Alexandra’s store in collaboration with podcasts Perfume Room Pod and Fat Mascara and perfume photography project Basenote Bitch. “I think so much of fragrance content has become about consumption and over consumption.”

No one needs to have an entire room filled with fragrance, Pauly says—in this way, swapping naturally brings intentionality to perfume-buying while also making it more accessible. Sustainability, too, is a growing concern. After a few years, most fragrances will eventually “turn” and take on a smell different from the original scent, often rendering them unusable.

With around 40 bottles, “I have what’s considered a small collection in the community, but I will never, ever, ever, ever get through all of my perfumes,” Kanti says, adding that a large collection could include upwards of 150 bottles and bookshelves full of scents. “With the fragrance hobby, what happens is you end up buying stuff, you’re trying stuff, and then oftentimes things don’t suit your taste,” she says. In addition to the virtual swaps that happen year ‘round, Kanti hosts around three in-person meetups per year during which members of her group swap, sell, split, and decant fragrances they no longer want in their collections.