Olfactif is a monthly perfume sampling subscription. Every month, you’ll receive a curated collection of three niche fragrances (2.25 mL for most, occasionally 1.75 mL) by perfume artists from around the world. You will also receive an $18 credit towards a full-sized purchase of one of the month’s featured fragrances. Olfactif offers a unisex collection and recently began offering a men’s collection as well.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this subscription box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is of the Unisex Collection, $18 a month, box.
The Subscription Box: Olfactif
The Cost: $18 a month + free shipping. Save with 3, 6, and 12-month subscriptions.
The Products: Three 2.25 mL sample spray bottles from three fragrance artists from around the world.
Ships to: U.S.
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Each Olfactif collection comes with little cards detailing the month’s theme and providing a little more information about the monthly selections. This month’s theme is “Full Bloom.” There are also little testers now (a touch I definitely appreciate). Subscribers also received some promotional literature.
It’s important to note that fragrances may smell different when you wear them than when you spray them on a card or piece of paper. They may also smell different on different people due to individual body chemistries.
Also, the fragrances develop and change over time, with different notes becoming prominent. “Top” notes form your initial impression but evaporate within a few minutes, so you may still love a fragrance even if you are not fond of the top notes. “Middle” or “heart” notes emerge after you’ve been wearing the fragrance for a few minutes up to an hour. “Base” notes are large, heavy molecules that persist for a long time. They are often richer than the top or middle notes, although they may contribute to how you perceive the top and middle notes due to their interactions with the other fragrance components.
Gekkou Hanami from DSH Perfumes – Buy a 50 mL Bottle for $90
Notes in this one include cherry blossom, yuzu, sake, neroli, cedar, and frankincense. I’ll be honest, my first impression of this one was not so good. Perhaps it was the sake? Or just the alcohol base was really strong or something. But, once I got past that initial impression, this became very wearable for me. I particularly like the cedar and thought the floral notes very lightly moderated the overall scent.
Violette from Molinard – Buy a 75 mL Bottle for $65
This one was just OK for me, but you should know that I’m not really into wearing florals or fruity fragrances (most of the time) and this was definitely floral. Notes included bergamot, lemon, blackcurrant, violet, rose, jasmine, peach, green apple, violet leaves, iris, and white musk. This was not overwhelming with either the rose or the jasmine, which is nice – those two tend to take over other scents for me. I did like the touch of musk and thought this was more floral than fruity. This stayed about the same over time for me.
Honey Blossom from Note Fragrances – Buy a 60 mL Bottle for $74
This was actually my favorite from beginning to end. I always test the fragrances before reading the descriptions because I think it makes my impressions more honest. Anyway, notes here include sweet orange, wildflower honey, rose geranium, tuberose, golden pear, frankincense, and sandalwood. Frankincense is actually a strange scent that I didn’t notice much here. I’m sure the reason I loved this one was the sandalwood base; sandalwood is one of my favorite fragrance notes. I noticed the honey as well and thought the floral notes mostly blended into the background.
Verdict: This was, overall, a good month for me from Olfactif. I enjoyed Honey Blossom quite a lot and Gekkou Hanami grew on me over time. I didn’t strongly dislike anything I received this month, either (sometimes there will be one I just can’t take), despite them all being largely floral fragrances and me not really being a floral sort of person. My horizons were definitely expanded this month and I thought these were all great warm, mid/late summer sorts of florals that were thoughtfully curated.
What do you think of the August 2017 Olfactif collection? What was your favorite fragrance this month?
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