# Where can I smell fragrance oils and essential oils before buying them?



## kikajess (Jul 1, 2018)

Does anyone know of places to go to smell essential oils and fragrance oils before buying them? I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I'd drive 200 miles to have this opportunity. Maybe even farther.

As far as I know, all I have near me are grocery stores (like whole foods) that sell tiny bottles of essential oils with a small selection of scents. And I don't feel comfortable opening those bottles to smell them in the store. I am wanting to pre-smell ALL THE SCENTS! From Apple Pie to Zinnia!

Thank you!


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## Rusti (Jul 1, 2018)

Wholesale Supplies Plus has a warehouse/store you can shop in, but I believe it's in Ohio. Way more than 200 miles for you.


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## dibbles (Jul 1, 2018)

The Whole Foods in my area has testers of essential oils for sniffing. So does the Vitamin Shoppe, I believe. I'm pretty sure the Brambleberry store, Otion, has bottles of all their fragrances out for sniffing, but they are in Washington, so also pretty far to go. Elements Bath & Body and Nurture are two I know of off hand that sell sample vials. I think that insurance coverage restrictions is the reason many suppliers don't have the option to just go and smell/see product. Sweet Cakes is local for me, and I just want to be able to pick up an order to save the shipping cost. I can't because their insurance restricts anyone other than employees being on site. 

Hopefully, someone will know of a supplier close enough to you that allows you to do this.


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## lsg (Jul 1, 2018)

SaveOnScents has some free sample packs.
http://www.saveonscents.com/index.php?cPath=291_354_362


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## earlene (Jul 1, 2018)

The Vitamin Shoppe in the Quad Cities (not too far from where I live) has a smelling station.  Maybe the one in Tulsa has one, too.  Address:  8247 E 71st St, Tulsa, OK 74133

I don't buy EOs there now, but when I was new and wanted to order online, I was thrilled to find a place where I could actually smell several to see what they are like.  I really like the smelling bar they have set up because they use a bottle of coffee beans to 'cleanse the palette' (by sniffing) between each different EO sniff.

Also, I have opened and sniffed EO's at some health food stores and grocery stores that sell them as well.  In Texas, at HEB, they had a set-up where you could sniff the EO testors, but no 'palette cleansing' system like The Vitamin Shoppe has.

Although these are usually very expensive, it can give you an idea of how many of them might smell.  They probably won't have clary sage (expensive) but they will have a decent array from which to sniff.


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## cmzaha (Jul 1, 2018)

Problem is, even if you can smell them FO's and even EO's vary considerably from one supplier to another. The best to do is purchase sample bottles. Also just because it smells great out of the bottle it may not smell great in soap. It is unfortunetly part of soap making we all go through. I have had to send many a fragrance and even some bad smelling eo's to hazardous waste. I had a lime eo from WSP years back that smelled like fish oil


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## MKLonestar (Jul 2, 2018)

kikajess said:


> Does anyone know of places to go to smell essential oils and fragrance oils before buying them? I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I'd drive 200 miles to have this opportunity. Maybe even farther.
> 
> If you don't mind Dallas traffic, then there are two places here locally that I get some of my FO,'s. Both are open M-F (except holidays), one is AAA Candle Supply Company in Dallas and the other is Lone Star Candle Supply in Keller. Lone Star has a wonderful men's line of fragrances that my husband really likes. I have used FO's from both companies in my CP soaps without any problems. They both have websites so you can see all their FO's and EO's and these are all out in their showrooms for you to smell.


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## Kerry K. (Jul 20, 2018)

I get sniffies from Save on Scents.  I also get 2 ml samples of essential oils from Creating Perfume.  A lot of sites sell sample bottles.  Wellington Fragrance is really cheap - under $2 for a half ounce bottle of fragrance.


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## SunRiseArts (Jul 20, 2018)

kikajess said:


> Does anyone know of places to go to smell essential oils and fragrance oils before buying them? I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I'd drive 200 miles to have this opportunity. Maybe even farther.
> 
> As far as I know, all I have near me are grocery stores (like whole foods) that sell tiny bottles of essential oils with a small selection of scents. And I don't feel comfortable opening those bottles to smell them in the store. I am wanting to pre-smell ALL THE SCENTS! From Apple Pie to Zinnia!
> 
> Thank you!



Lonestar candles has a showroom with all the scents and you can sniff and buy on the spot.  Some there are really good, some IMO are not.  If you have any favorite type, I can PM you my experience with the ones I have used.  Their cowboy Fo is one of my favorite male Fos, and holds on  CP.

From where  you are in Oklahoma, is probably less than 300 miles.  You can  take 35 and go straight to it.  They are between Dallas and Fortworth.  Here is the link,  so you can check the address.  Their customer service is really good.

https://www.lonestarcandlesupply.com/


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