Single Note Recommendations

Hello, I'm new to the site and new to fragrances!

I want to sort of start at the beginning and learn to discern scents, since when I've gone sniffing through perfume counters I quickly feel lost.

So, any recommendations for some single or almost single note perfumes I could look for samples of?

The Perfumers Apprentice has a kit, "Perfumery Notes Kit," that can help you learn many of the notes found in fragrances. Others would recommend picking up essential oils that you can find in places like health food stores.

Thanks! I'll look into Perfumers Apprentice.

My mom had kindly picked me up some essential oils last year for just this purpose, since I had told her I was interested, but maybe the quality was poor or something cause they all had a strange off smell that undercut anything else I could smell, and whatever dyes had been added all turned yellowish and nasty looking, so since then I've completely avoided any essential oils. Maybe I should give them another shot though!

I am also starting in this World, I take note!

Eden Botanicals has very good quality essential oils, but they are also quite expensive. Perfumer's Apprentice is great for sampling single aromachemicals as well, like ambroxan, ISO-E super, artificial musks, etc. Just be careful not to put/spray anything raw directly on skin, even essential oils. Most of them are quite damaging to the skin if not properly diluted. 

The kit is a little pricey (just under $100) but it is a good learning tool. One of the nice things about is that you'll learn what the synthetic notes smell like and how they fit in. It also gives you to the tools, and exercises, to mix some of them together so that you can see how they react with one another. Good luck on your journey.