Review: Scent Trunk: Men's Trunk

One of the things that I love most in life is a good aroma. Scents can trigger memories and take you back in time. They can remind of you of how your grandmother’s house smelled after spending all day baking or bring back memories of loves past and present. I love the smell of fresh baked apple pie and a good strong coffee first thing in the morning. After living in the Mojave Desert for the last 3 years I have come to realize just how much I miss the smell of pine sap and freshly cut grass. Our brains create connections between various stimuli and significant events in our lives. It’s one of the many things that make us human.

That being said, I am incredibly picky when it comes to scents; especially those that I wear. My wife will tell you that I will easily spend 30 minutes just picking the right deodorant or body wash. I have also come to like specific colognes because they were the ones that my father or grandfather wore and bring back memories of good times with them.

A few of the quiz questions

Being as picky as I am generally means that I stick to one, two, or maybe three different products, so it was a step outside my comfort zone to try Scent Trunk for Men.  A couple of months ago, Jackie reviewed their women's line - now it was my  turn.

The creators of Scent Trunk took their love of fragrances and put a spin on it that helps people like me personalize the experience.

When you initially create your scent profile you are given questions about your personality and scent preferences. These questions help to build a palette from which they will send you sample fragrances. These aren’t just any samples though. These are niche companies that you have probably never heard of. They are very unique and small companies that share the same passion for scents that most of us have. Scent Trunk was absolutely perfect for me and gave me a bit of an eye opening experience regarding what scents I actually enjoy and which ones I should give a chance.

I will say that I was initially a little frustrated with Scent Trunk. They chose to have one male and one female from our board of reviewers take a look at each of their boxes. After receiving the wrong box (female instead of male) twice they were able to figure out what was causing the issue and made some changes to their process and get the correct box delivered to me.

At first I was a little put off by their packaging. The name Scent Trunk seems to imply that I might get a “trunk” with sample scents in it. Their packaging was a very simple black box which had the Scent Trunk name printed on the top. While certainly not a deal breaker, I would recommend a change to the packaging to give the box a wood look or even offer an upgrade in which subscribers would receive a reusable wooden crate of some sort. It would hold true to the name and add a more premium feel to the product versus a plain black cardboard box.

Inside the box was a card listing the information for each of the three scents that I received as well as a black drawstring bag which contained the sample bottles. Each card provides information about the scent including how long the scent will last, what notes you should notice in each scent, all the down to the sillage (how much scent is left behind once you leave the room). I was pleased to see the break-down of each of the products I was about to try.

So here are the ones that I received based on my scent profile.

Let’s start off with Rhinoceros by Zoologist. This scent was a little difficult for me. The leather was interesting but carried with it a certain bite that I just could not get past.   The overall scent is very masculine and musky with a hint of smoke.

The next was EssenceUality by Roberta Andrade Fragrances. This unisex fragrance is a citrus musk scent which I found quite pleasing but still wasn’t quite what I was looking for in a scent.

Lastly is Uber by Duetto Parfums. This one was by far my favorite. It was rich, spicy and warm, and I would certainly purchase this one again.

1 out of 3 may not sound like great odds but in this case, considering my dedication to the scents I currently choose, I was quite pleased to find one that I absolutely fell in love with.

In addition to the opportunity to try new-to-you fragrances, Scent Trunk gives you the ability to review and rate the scents that you receive. This would provide a more tuned palette of scents for me to choose from and increasing the odds that I will absolutely love the samples that I am receiving.

With each trunk order you will receive points that are good for use on their website for credit towards purchasing full sized bottles of the fragrances that you like. I found Scent Trunk to be very responsive when I was having issues getting the correct box delivered and was extremely happy with the final outcome once I received my box.

Scent Trunk provided a great experience for me and a customizable product. In today’s world customization is what sells and they are doing it right!

Even with all the features they offer and their wonderful customer support their prices are still quite reasonable. For $18 you get a single month’s box with no commitment of continuing service if you find that you don’t like it. Maybe from reading this review you might find yourself saying that this is perfect for you. There are two other subscription options that will save you some money and get you paid up for a while. $96 gets you a six month subscription while $180 will keep the scents coming for a full 12 months. On top of their prices they offer free shipping to Canada and the US!

You can check them out at the links below for more information.


Website: www.scenttrunk.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/scenttrunk
Twitter: www.twitter.com/scenttrunk
Instagram: www.instagram.com/scenttrunk

Review: Scent Trunk Women's Box

I wish I could start off by telling you how excited I was while waiting for my Scent Trunk box to arrive so I could review it for y'all, but truth be told I ended up with this assignment on accident. Scent Trunk does two versions of their fragrance subscription boxes - for men and for women. We had two reviewers set up to review Scent Trunk, one man and one woman.

Our male reviewer, who happens to be my husband, was sent a woman’s box, while our female reviewer, Chelsea, received nothing. After I spoke with the company about what had happened, they attempted to fix this problem, however only sent another female box to my husband, Daniel. Realizing it was just going to be too much trouble to ask them to send out any more boxes for review, I opted to take over the women's box since it was already in my home. At this time, we are still awaiting the arrival of Daniel’s male box.

I have to start off by admitting I am not a perfume wearer on regular occasion. Back in the day I use to wear body sprays often, but once I had nursing babies I didn’t like the idea of them any longer. That being said, and in spite of our delivery miscommunication, I still think this is a pretty great subscription service!

Scent Trunk sends three fragrances to your mailbox each month, allowing you to try a variety from top of the niche indie market to small batch companies. Their goal is to get you away form the big names so everyone isn’t wearing the same few scents. I really love that idea.

As a customer, you get to fill out a unique profile on their site, so Scent Trunk can get a good idea of your personal preferences. This allows them to curate a box specifically geared to your tastes.

For this review, as the originally assigned reviewer, Chelsea did fill out a profile. We are still unclear on whether or not the boxes that arrived to my house were based on that profile, or selected at random.

In the box I received was three very different small sample bottles in a black velvety drawstring pouch, a cardstock description of each, and four tester strips.

The first perfume I tried was called Interlude Woman by AMOUAGE. Flipping the card over, I got to know it a little bit more.

I loved that they show you on the card what the full size bottles look like.

The fragrance had a very citrusy, fruity smell right off the bat. As the day went on it dulled to a more sweet and floral scent which I enjoyed. It lasted just about all day.

This was probably the most grown up and ladylike of the three I got to try. I would wear again, especially for an evening out. I notice the bottom of my card for this one stated “PRICE: 384 CAD”

My first thought is sheesh that’s some expensive perfume! My second thought is.. why don’t the other two cards give me price points?!

The next one I tried, I honestly didn’t even want to put on. For the sake of review, I did of course. It was called Elegance Sombre by PERFUMES BY TERRI, and is not currently available for sale by Scent Trunk.

The bottle looks to be a more inexpensive homegrown business. It didn’t come off as less professional than the first.  But that wasn't what made me leery - removing the cap, its immediately smelled just as the card described and I feared. I smelled the hint of vanilla and orange, but overpoweringly I picked up my most hated smell—black licorice.

I was very pleased that this one only lasted a few hours. I will not be wearing this one again. I know this is some peoples cup of tea, in fact my husband was quite the fan, but a big hard pass from this lady. I’m blaming this one on something Chelsea said in her profile quiz.

I somehow managed to accidently save the best for last. It came in a bright hot pink sample bottle, which actually made me think I wouldn’t be a fan, go figure. This last sample was called Lady Cool by Dueto Parfums.

I noticed right away it didn’t have a cap covering the spray nozzle, and that bothered me for some reason. but it meant I could smell it before spraying and I was very intrigued. I thought it smelled nice and fruity, with gentle intoxicating earthy notes underneath. I LOVE the smell of sandalwood.

I put this one on in the morning and stopped noticing it probably around 4pm or so. I would wear this again, and I have a few times. I liked finding this one in my box!

I thought the three samples were all very different from each other and I really appreciated that about the box. I realize a customer who fills out a scent profile may not have the same diversity within their own box, but at least it’ll be in tune with what you may wear. I also really loved all the information the cards gave for each one.

I even had to look up what SILLAGE means. For anyone else who doesn’t know, it’s the trail of scent left in a room after you leave it. Good to know…

It was really hard to find their price points for a subscription box on their website. So much so, that I never did. Luckily their Facebook page has it on the banner.

A box of unique scents could be yours for just $18 a month!

I think that is a very fair price, especially when I clicked on the SHOP tab on their website. Browsing there, I discovered you can purchase the full size bottles of anything they send. Some were priced as low as $18, however many resided in the “over $400” gated community, and everywhere in between.

www.facebook.com/scenttrunk
www.scenttrunk.com