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@BSquared If you do end up getting someone who only likes indies, please feel free to reach out to me! I not exclusively into indies, but I am extremely familiar with a couple of brands (and obsessed with a certain indie perfume company with a *very* extensive catalog. I've probably tried well over a thousand of their scents over the years) and working on expanding that familiarity to other brands, and I plan on going exclusively indie as far as my purchasing goes aside from subs (and several of my subs are indie subs already!), a small essence trend edition allowance (because sometimes I just need a small makeup treat *right now*), and bb cream next year.
But the big thing for me is that I already know my godmother has been putting thought into *me* based on the PMs I've received from fairies, and that alone give me warm fuzzies. (I had a Santa one year that bought me stuff almost entirely off my DO NOT WANT section, but she did pick up a few things off my OH YES PLEASE section. That was weird, awkward, and confusing and made me hesitant to join another one, but I did, and the second one was awesome.) Really, as long as it's obvious that you *thought* about it, she should love it! (And if she doesn't like something that you clearly put thought into, I'll get snarky for a minute: The problem might be her, not you.)
It looks like you're doing Summerswap, so you don't even have your person yet, but it might be a good idea to start mapping out a game plan and figure out some questions to ask through the roadies. That helped calm me down this time around. Planning *always* calms me down, except for Thursday when I was planning out my workday for Friday (I had a *lot* that had to get done, preferably by 4pm, and I didn't realize just how much until I listed it out and prioritized it!). I had *no clue* what to get for Secret Santa because my person had a super vague list, but we didn't have a system in place for helper inquiries, so I was lost. This time should be different, even with a vague list. For example, you mentioned being concerned about what to do if she says she likes "clean" scents but doesn't go any further than that. The roadie inquiry could be "What are your top three favorite perfumes? Top five favorite notes?" That will give you more information to work off of.
This time around for the Midsummer Night's Dream exchange, we learned an important lesson from Secret Santa about what we wanted out of the exchange and set up the helper system. So during the signup process for Midsummer, I thought, "Okay, I don't want a repeat of what happened last time with not having a clue what to get. So. I have $25 to spend. Where can I buy things from places I like to give my money *and* get the biggest bang for my buck? If my goddaughter has a super vague list, what can I ask so I can order things from these places?" (And then I ended up with someone who had a semi-vague list but whose interests align so perfectly with mine that I'm not really doing any *shopping* as far as looking around and spending hours debating what to get are concerned! I'm just ordering things that I would buy again in an instant if those particular items vanished from my collection.)
Honestly, the "what if we have different interpretations?" thing is one reason why I have a hard-to-impossible time shopping for other people without an explicit list of "this item in this shade/scent/etc." My goddaughter doesn't have an explicit list like I would usually want (I'm talking about something that goes down to brand and shade, like "Maybelline Color Tattoos from the Bleached Neons collection and benefit Hervana blush." I usually panic without direction like that!), but her "I like xyz list" is so similar to what I like (plus there's also a comment in there somewhere that indicated to me that she doesn't already have items in those categories, so they wouldn't be dupes) that I'm actually going with a "Well, I already have and love *this*, so I'll just order one for her, and then she'll have something I already feel comfortable recommending, and then there's the added bonus of *not* doing the one-for-me-one-for-her approach."
(I feel like I'm doing a don't-go-overboard-and-stress-out-on-the-gift-exchange intervention here instead of a don't-go-overboard-and-overspend one! We will definitely be there in the June thread for support on this if you need us! Remember: The exchange limit is $25. If she's disappointed that you "only" spent that much, she's expecting too much, and that's on her, not you.)
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