At this point in time there have been many perfume subscription services. They’ve taken an equally varied path to what they seek to provide. The only one which have held any interest have been the ones which feature new original releases. The last one I was intrigued by was featuring professional perfumers from the large oil houses. It worked for me because the perfumers were given latitude to formulate a small-batch for a presumably discerning audience. I thought many of them achieved the goal. I also mused about whether this was a better idea for the small independent perfumer community. They’re used to taking chances. A few months ago independent perfumer Yosh Han brought Scent Trunk to my attention.
Scent Trunk has partnered with a constellation of independent perfumers to bring their unique perspective to a monthly fragrance subscription. Thanks to Ms. Han I received an assortment of six of the past monthly releases. I am going to review all of them over the next three days to give readers a good understanding of how different these perfumes are. I am going to start with two perfumes who came from people I knew of from other artistic pursuits prior to trying their perfume.
May 2020 by Catherine Haley Epstein
I knew of Ms. Epstein through a fantastic panel she participated in during Esxence 2019. She was one of the people I walked away wanting to hear more from. I didn’t expect it to be a perfume.
Catherine Haley Epstein
Each Scent Trunk perfume works with a keynote. Ms. Epstein chose Ylang-Ylang from Nosey Be Madagascar. The full version of that ingredient is a gorgeously full fleshy floral. It is what I enjoy about ylang-ylang. I think Ms. Epstein shares that with me based on May 2020.
The keynote is right there to start. Ms. Epstein chooses a flare of grapefruit to bounce off of it like a sunbeam. It provides a brightness which Ms. Epstein works to maintain. Violet provides a complementary floral which pulls the ylang-ylang away from the sweeter part of its profile towards a more musky part. It stays here for a short time before cedar acts as a woody counterpart to the grapefruit in the beginning. The clean woodiness adds brightness. Vetiver provides the anchor as the grassiness keeps that going while the woody piece of it provides a grounding effect. May 2020 has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
March 2020 by Heather D’Angelo
This is that story of I never imagined I’d meet you here. Ms. D’Angelo came to my attention through her music. Those who read my Sunday column know I was a huge fan of Twin Peaks: The Return. I also was exposed to new music during it. One of those was a band called Au Revoir Simone. They did a song called “Lark” during Episode 4. I was downloading their music the next morning as the song lodged itself in my head. I didn’t expect to meet Ms. D’Angelo through a perfume but here we are.
Heather D’Angelo
The supporting material says neroli is the keynote. It is prominent but it is a different ingredient which is the star, hemlock with an assist from cucumber. It creates a fantastically odd green accord simultaneously intensely green and transparently watery. This type of combination comes from a place of experimentation. It is something I found through all the Scent Trunk releases I tried. Ms. D’Angelo uses the neroli as a shimmering floral in contrast to that hemlock and cucumber accord. It ends on an oud base which picks up the hemlock giving it a darker tint over the later stages. March 2020 has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
As we go through the next two days I think you’ll see the type of fragrance experience Scent Trunk is attempting to provide.
Disclosure: Review based on samples provided by Scent Trunk.
–Mark Behnke
March: What a coincidence!
I would love to try some samples please!!
I think they sell them through the website.