off-kilter, aquatic, niche fragrances (but affordable)

hello and good evening/morning, i am on a search for off-kilter fragrances that are atmospheric. specifically i want to encapsulate the scent of petrichor, the scent of chlorine, the scent of the ocean (with no florals or citrus), or the scent of dirt. i'm also down for any other abnormal notes - gasoline, paper, ink, bleach, etc, you name it. i love scent as an art form, these don't need to be totally wearable. not a hard ask per se, but i'm a painting grad student and i don't make much money, so i tend to buy from indie brands or brands that sell bottles under $150. any good suggestions or perfume houses? 

TX365 . Oddball aquatic that combines salt, sea buckthorn shrub, heliotrope and amber. €30.

It's made to evoke the scent of Texel's dunes (North Sea island) and it does a pretty good job.

Fleurs de Sel I've seen for pretty affordable on the secondary market

Hi, maybe some of these would work? (some are aquatic, some just have weird notes; not all of them are in your price range though but some definitely are under $150):

Miguel Matos La Piscine (heavy on the chlorine/iodine part, smells like the pool; ignore the tuberose and jasmine in the notes, there are no floral smells there)
Liquides Imaginaires Abyssis (smells like ocean depth with Chthulhu in it)
Zoologist Seahorse (one of the better Zoologist scents, in my opinion; smells like the sunlit shallow waters of the ocean)
Also, Zoologist Squid (more conceptual rather than literal ocean, has a nice ink note in it)
Fischersund Flotholt (smells like Icelandic sea; there are citrus notes listed but I personally don't smell any citrus in it)
Alkemia St. Louis Cemetery #1 (smells like wet stones)
Pictura Fragrans Surinam Vert (the most atmospheric rain forest scent, in my opinion; has a good petrichor note in it)
Dark Tales Fern Valley (smells exactly like a valley of ferns, has ozone and soil in the notes)
Spiritica Yuzuyakuza (good petrichor scent; has also ink, gunpowder, banknotes as notes; expensive though 😕)
Comme des Garcons Odeur 53 (a great conceptual synthetic grass and air scent from the 00s)
Also, Odeur 71 (it has "toaster" in the notes, that says it all 😀 also smells kinda like a wet and dusty light bulb a bit)
Dark Tales NSFRTÅ (has a good blood note)
Pineward Coastal Veil (smells like standing on a cliff on the edge of pine forest smelling the ocean right before the storm to me)
Olympic Orchids Night Flyer (ripe rotting fruit and dirt - Bats!)
Dark Tales Haunted Circus (the name is very on point)
Dark Tales Black Pearl (the most atmospheric pirate scent ever!)
Vapormundum Serpent (sharp leather, rose, forest, snake skin and petrichor)
Oriza L Legrand Relique d'Amour (legendary "church ruins in the forest" scent; to me, smells a bit like petrichor too)
Alkemia Deus Ex Machina (ambergris and lubricating oil? might what you're looking for)
Alkemia Industrial Sabotage (metal and gunpowder)
Alkemia The Raven (has a good ink note)
Alkemia Writer's Blood (paper, metal, blood, tobacco, coffee)
Etat Libre d'Orange Secretions Magnifiques (the infamous "bodily fluids" scent; I actually kinda like it and think it's wearable; it's a salty, cold, aquatic yet milky scent)
Santi Burgas Aroma de Hormiguero (earthy, a bit sour petrichor; supposed to represent the smell of an anthill)
Sixteen92 Cities in Dust (soil smell)
Pineward Fanghorn II (forest soil)

More ideas came to me :

Wood Sage & Sea Salt Cologne (do look at ebay or similar because these get gifted to people who then sell them on...)

Salado (the 30ml sizes aren't bad in terms of price). I coulda sworn there was another pretty aquatic offering by Carner but I can't remember which I smelled.

Un Jardin après la Mousson (sadly discontinued, a weird watercolour painting of ginger and cucumber. Still on my wishlist, too.)

Encre Noire Eau de Toilette (beautiful ink note, very affordable)

And you'll need to seek out anything Comme des Garçons. Copper, Concrete, Avignon, Zagorsk, Ouarzazate, Odeur 53 & 71, G.I.R.L, you'll have fun with the artistry of them.

ohhh yeah these are GOOD suggestions, especially comme des garçons... i might have to start saving up muahahaha. encre noire is especially intriguing + i'll look into alkemia

You may already know this, but there's a whole marketplace of people who sell samples of more esoteric or expensive niche perfumes - you could decide to get samples rather than full sizes if your goal is broad discovery

oh yes i know, but i do also enjoy having a full bottle from time to time. i do enjoy miniature bottles the most. i always make sure to attain a sample before a bigger purchase however, so i'll definitely get some secondhand 

When it comes to interesting and atmospheric scents, my mind goes first and foremost to Etat Libre d'Orange and Comme des Garçons. But I'm not sure if they (or anyone else I'll talk about going forward) will fit into "under 150$" category if you intend to go for full bottles. Perhaps if you'll find them at a discount or buy secondhand?

My favorites from CdG are Rouge – candied ginger and fresh beetroot with bits of black earth still stuck to its skin; and Amazingreen – an overgrown post-apocalyptic brutalist landscape. But CdG have a lot of curious offerings for a variety of unconventional tastes.

My ELdO faves are Divin'Enfant – a vibrant powdery mess of everything you may find at a small town amusement park, from cotton candy to instant coffee and vomit; and Jasmin et Cigarette – cat piss infused run down apartment of a gorgeous chain-smoker woman. I think Jasmin et Cig is among my top 5 most worn fragrances at this point, lol.

ELdO have a lot of fun compositions, and the ones I ended up liking were the opposite of what I expected to enjoy from them, so based on my experience – I'd recommend just grabbing a big discovery set and trying everything to see if something unexpected clicks. On the aquatic side of things in particular, maybe take a look at Sous Le Pont Mirabeau. I think it's actually included in their big discovery set, which was around 50$ plus shipping last I've checked.

While we're on the topic of off-kilter aquatics, my favorites from that genre are Dans le bleu qui pétille and né il giorno né l'ora.

Dans le bleu qui pétille is my favorite aquatic in general – cold morning at the sea; murky, rancid seafoam; putrid smoke from the open air fish market at the shore; the scent of lit mosquito coils. The full bottle is a bit over 150$, but you should be able to get it as a part of a cutesy Matin Lutens 3x10ml discovery set which is around 70ish $ as far as I'm aware. Which is even better, imo, because that way you'll also get to try clean girl aesthetic witch hut of Point du jour; and Parole d'eau, which on me smelled like toothpaste, lol.

When I bought my Matin Lutens discovery set, the old version used to include L'Eau Serge Lutens, which smells like those scenes in the movies where the main character has a flashback to his dead wife smiling at him under brightly lit white bed covers. Might be a fun addition if any shops or resellers near you still have that old version in stock.

né il giorno né l'ora is a more classic type of aquatic, and the full bottle is super expensive, but if you ever manage to get at least a decant, I recommend giving it a try. I added it to my collection very recently and am still trying to grasp what I think about it, but in general it smells like a city by the sea. Humid salty air infused with a myriad of scents coming from the open windows as you walk past apartment buildings in the evening. Another fun thing about it is that its note pyramid looks like it was accidentally put on its head. It is not! The citrus really opens up later than the rest of the notes. If we're talking about scent as an art form, this is a great example of it in my opinion.

Another somewhat off-kilter brand I personally come to enjoy is Marc-Antoine Barrois. If you're looking for something abnormal, the first thing that comes to mind is Aldebaran – tuberose, paprika and maté. Personally I found the mix to be horrid, but it sure is unique and memorable, I'll give it that. Ganymede Eau de Parfum might be more wearable while still retaining an air of horror and unease about it. Leather, medicinal herbs, gauze and iodine. Smells like a 19th century hospital and freshly cleaned wounds.

My favorite from them is Encelade – rhubarb jam, roughout leather and wilted prairie on a summer eve. Makes me feel like a happy wild horse. But each of their selection has something interesting and refreshing to say. Just a matter of what you personally are more into. And if you happen to like any of their offers, the 30ml bottles should be just under your preferred 150$ threshold ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

i bought the etat libre d'orange sampler set based on the amount of people recommending it to me. thanks for telling me about it, i had no idea it'd be such a good deal! verryyy excited for it to come in

Petrichor:

The Monster

Oceanic:

Oud Minérale

Gasoline:

Xyrena 66

Max Joacim fragrances would be so amazing for you, they are affordable indie but super unique, for example Aqua 358 Thunderball, Finlandeol and Suopursu would match exactly your description. However I noticed that you're from the US and I'm afraid Max Joacim fragrances are sold only in the EU area. Hopefully you'd get a chance to test them somewhere!

Here are my recommendations

Salado

Odyssey Aqua

La Piscine

Encre Noire Eau de Toilette

TX365

I think it’s so cool that you’re using scent in your artistic process, it’s definitely an underappreciated sense in the art world. Here are some recommendations that haven’t been mentioned:

#402 M2 Black March I haven’t personally tested this brand, but they make some really unique scent profiles, some abstract, some photorealistic that are all mostly under $100.

Stone Beautiful wet minty rock scent. $95

Ink A beautiful dark ink. Hard to describe, wet, dark, animalic in a mechanic way? You can find bottles at discounters online for $80

Megamare my favorite ocean scent. Deep and salty, also at the discounters for $140. Their line is really special, I also love Boccanera

Every Storm a Serenade (2015) another great ocean scent. They have some entries that are very atmospheric. $115

During the Rain another great house that has a wide array of hyper realistic perfumes. This one really smells like wet soil. $20

Molecule 04 These perfumes are all about synthetic molecules, this one in particular smells so interesting to me… sterile but also like body heat. At the discounters for $100

Two perfume brands that were mentioned that I do love at Etat Libre d’orange & commes des garcons. My personal favorites from those brands are Concrete and Hermann à mes Côtés me Paraissait une Ombre . Wishing you all the best on your atmospheric scent journey!