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18 Scents for People Who Hate Perfume

Do most fragrances make you queasy or give you a headache? We searched high and low for scents that'll please even the pickiest noses
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Clean Original Eau de Toilette, Air Eau de Parfum and Cool Cotton Eau de Parfum, $69 each
These scents are perfect if you want a light fragrance that doesn't smell like perfume. Clean's Original eau de toilette was inspired by soap, and it smells like you just stepped out of the shower (even if you spray it after a day at the office). If you're into the idea of smelling clean and fresh, but want to move beyond soap, the line's Air and Cool Cotton eau de parfums leave you smelling like mountain air and fresh laundry, respectively.

Like Lavanila, Clean stays away from irritating ingredients and uses hypoallergenic formulas in all its fragrances. Again, it's important to note that the term "hypoallergenic" doesn't guarantee you won't have a reaction -- it just means the brand has done some research to make it less likely.

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Demeter Fragrance Library Salt Air, Laundromat and Sunshine Cologne Sprays, $20 each
Here's a quick perfume lesson: most fragrances are a complex blend of scents that produce a range of "notes." Like tasting a fine wine and describing the "nose" or the "finish," perfumes have top, middle and base notes. Often, people who claim to hate all perfumes are actually put off by one or two notes within a scent.

Demeter fragrances are all one note, so you can find exactly what you like -- we recommend their wonderfully fresh Salt Air,, Laundromat and Sunshine varieties.

"We make cologne, which is by definition, less concentrated," explains Demeter CEO Mark Crames. "So by exposing the consumer to less of the active fragrance ingredients, we see less threshold allergic reactions." Demeter perfumes are also free of any artificial color, extenders and preservatives. "That is why most Demeter scents are clear," says Crames. "Any color is naturally derived from the ingredients of the fragrance oil itself."

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Maison Martin Margiela Replica Beach Walk, $125
"People are often very sensitive to a perfume because the odor has a negative connotation or brings up an unpleasant memory," says Ivanica. But the same logic applies in the opposite direction.

Maison Martin Margiela's Replica perfumes riff off the positive nostalgia people associate with certain scents. Take their appropriately named "Beach Walk" fragrance. "This soft and pure scent plays on nostalgia in particular by awakening olfactory souvenirs of sunny vacations and beach boardwalks," describes Sephora Vice President of Fragrance Brooke Banwart. In other words, unless you have horrible childhood memories of the beach, this fragrance is perfect for perfume-haters.

If you like the idea of a floral fragrance, but hate floral fragrances in practice, give this clean, springy scent a try.

"It's inspired by the scent of soaked fields of flowers and wet concrete after the first rainfall," describes Banwart. But unlike sweet, cloying florals, this airy one incorporates notes like dew and lotus to create a fresh unisex blend.

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Goest Lartigue, $140
This fresh, citrusy unisex perfume is made in small batches in Los Angeles, California -- and you can tell it's crafted with care. Subtly blended notes of woods, peach, citrus and air create a bright, nautical scent that made each of our editors go, "Ooh, I love that one."

Drom Fragrances perfumer Caroline Ivanica, explains it like this: "People who hate perfume identify with discrete fragrances that give them a 'second skin feeling.' Citrus notes are most of the time a top scorer -- they offer a natural freshness."

BY AMANDA MONTELL | JUN 15, 2015 | SHARES
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