Unboxing of the NEW Scent Trunk Women's Fragrance Box + GIVEAWAY! | Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog

04 May, 2015

Unboxing of the NEW Scent Trunk Women's Fragrance Box + GIVEAWAY!

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If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know how much I love niche and indie fragrances (Who remembers the 30 day #HPBScentOfTheDay challenge?) Today I'm pleased to introduce you to a subscription service that makes that niche perfume sampling itch ever-so-easy to scratch: Scent Trunk! Fragrance sample hoarders of the universe unite.

Scent Trunk Women's Fragrance Subscription Box May 2015

Unfamiliar with Scent Trunk? It's a subscription service designed to help folks test out new fragrances. They've been around for a while as a men's cologne sampling service, but they just launched a women's box too—yay! Here's what you need to know about the subscription:
  • Scent Trunk is based in Canada. Their subscription box costs $15 per month, which includes shipping to both Canada and the United States.
  • Each shipment contains three different fragrance samples, tailored to the preferences you indicate in their scent profile signup survey. If three scents per month is too much for you, they also have a seasonal subscription option: $20 for four fragrance samples, shipped once per season. Use coupon code NICHE25 for 25% off your first box (expires May 15th, 2015).
  • Scent Trunk specializes in niche and handmade fragrances, meaning you won't be getting the same old same old department store scents. Perfect for folks who want to smell unique!
  • They also have gift subscription options—hint hint Mother's Day hint hint.

Still confused? Check out this video:


My Scent Trunk perfumes arrived in the sturdy little box pictured above, which was packaged securely in a bubble mailer. There was a little drawstring bag inside the box too—anything extra to help keep the vials from rattling around in the box is good in my book!

Scent Trunk Women's Fragrance Subscription Box May 2015 packaging

I got the standard monthly box, which contained three fragrances. Here's what was in it:

Scent Trunk Women's Fragrance Subscription Box May 2015

Ooh, vials. Speaking of which, a quick note on the sample sizes Scent Trunk sends out: They deal with a wide variety of perfumers, which means they sometimes send out different scent concentrations. What does that mean? Some vials will have a smaller volume of liquid in them than others because they're in a more concentrated form. This is pretty standard in the perfume world—and don't be concerned if you one of your vials contains a bit less than the others, because more concentrated scents = you don't need to apply as much. Make sense? If you need further clarification, here's a quick cheat sheet:

  • Eau Fraiche: 3% or less
  • Eau de Cologne: 2 – 5%
  • Eau de Toilette: 4 – 10%
  • Eau de Parfum: 8 – 15%
  • Soie de Parfum: 15 – 18%
  • Parfum: 15 – 25%

Let's take a look at the individual fragrances I received now. Each one came with its own info card—very handy!

Élise Eau de Parfum by Rancé 1795 sample

Élise Eau de Parfum by Rancé 1795 (1.6ml)
I'll be honest: I reached for this one first because it was wrapped up like a nice little toffee. Good enough to eat? (Don't actually eat it.) The inner vial was less remarkable, but still very functional.


Élise is a romantic but cheerful scent. It has an interesting mixture of marine and citrus notes, mixed with something white floral-ish and something sort of citrusy? There's a bit of musk in there too, if I'm not mistaken. I have a feeling this fragrance wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea because it's a little old-fashioned, but personally I love it. This scent is exactly my style.

Scent Trunk included a little additional background info on the card:

Élise Eau de Parfum by Rancé 1795 scent trunk info card may 2015

I think it's really cool that they make note of the sillage and scent longevity—don't think I've seen a fragrance subscription box that did that before?

Panda by Zoologist Eau de Parfum sample

Panda by Zoologist Eau de Parfum (size unknown)

This is a very, very green scent. Imagine rolling around on a pile of bamboo stalks and rubber tree leaves and for hours and hours and maybe you'll have something close. It smells sort of aquatic to my nose too. Epic leaf raft ride down a stream? This is a very fresh and clean fragrance, but not exactly my style. It's a little too clean, if that makes sense. Scent is such a personal thing though... I got Stan to sniff this one and he did his "Mmmm FRESH!" dance. I find myself wondering if there's vetiver in there... vetiver goes weird on me sometimes.

Info card:

Panda by Zoologist Eau de Parfum scent trunk info card may 2015

I had no idea what zisu leaves were so I had to Google it—apparently it's another name for perilla leaves. Better learning through fragrance!

Safanad by Parfums de Marly sample

Safanad by Parfums de Marly (1.2ml)
A very sweet and powdery woody white floral. Very warm and a little vanilla-y. I think this one is sweet enough to please most folks who don't like to go too far "out there" with their scent choices, but it's unique enough to not be boring. Info card:

Safanad by Parfums de Marly info card scent trunk may 2015

I find myself wondering a little bit why Scent Trunk is sending out a scent recommended for fall/winter wear in May, but I'm not going to worry about it too much—I would reach for this any day of the year when I felt like wearing something sort of sweet and comforting.


Overall impressions:
I really like what Scent Trunk has to offer in terms of discovery. They sent me three very distinct fragrances from three unique perfumers I hadn't tried before—awesome! I also love that their info cards include tips about sillage and whatnot. It would be nice if they also included specific information about the notes in addition to the little product descriptions/back stories, but it's not a must. Speaking as someone who has a probably-way-too-large collection of indie fragrance minis in her possession, I really love that Scent Trunk focuses on niche brands and tailored recommendations. I can't wait to see what they feature in future boxes!

Like what you see? Well you're in luck—Scent Trunk is giving my readers a chance to win a box of their very own!


RULES AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  • To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below. Each entry method may be done once per person except for retweets, which may be done once per person per day.
  • The prize is one Scent Trunk women's fragrance box ($15 value), sponsored by Scent Trunk. Please note that the selection of scents you receive may be different to what's featured in this post.
  • The giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada only, except where prohibited by law. The full Terms & Conditions can be found in the Rafflecopter widget.
  • The giveaway period closes at 11:59PM EST on May 13th, 2015.
  • The winner will be contacted via e-mail and will 48 hours to respond in order to claim their prize, so make sure you log into the Rafflecopter widget with a valid e-mail address that you check frequently.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you're interested in purchasing a Scent Trunk subscription for yourself (or as a gift) in the meantime, don't forget to use coupon code NICHE25* for 25% off your first box! You can start filling out your scent profile here. And to those who entered the giveaway: Good luck! :)


What do you think of Scent Trunk? Which of these fragrances sounds the most appealing to you?



Disclosure: Coupon code expires on May 15th, 2015. The box featured in this post was provided to me for review purposes, however any opinions expressed above are honest and my own. I did not receive any other form of compensation. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, check out my full disclosure policy.
 

8 comments:

  1. Ooh, Safanad sounds like it would be perfect for me!

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  2. Your explanation of the second one made me laugh out loud! Love this idea though! ;)

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  3. This sounds like a great service! I've been looking into Scentbird, but it's mostly scents I can get anywhere. I like this concept much better!

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  4. It smells very warm and sweet to me! I like it a lot. :)

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  5. Haha, glad to make you laugh! That's the beauty of a sampler box... if you don't like one of the samples as much as the others, it's not a big deal. :)

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  6. Scentbird is great if you have a wishlist of mainstream scents you've been wanting to try, but I think Scent Trunk is way better if you just want to discover new stuff. Plus they send three samples at a time... yay variety!

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  7. I signed up and received not only the typical email, but a personal call to tell me the shipping date of my first "trunk"....WOW!!! customer service!

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  8. I agree....funny, but oh so true for us "nature lovers".... think of all the natural-occuring scents you love (fresh mown hay or grass, the crush of herbs underfoot, the smell of the woods near the river when you brush by certain plants)...

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