June 2015 Olfactif Perfume Subscription Box Review & Bonus Gift Card

Olfactif is a monthly unisex fragrance discovery subscription box. You’ll get 3 samples in your box, each containing 15-20 “wears” of an independently designed perfume. With every box, your account will be credited with an $18 voucher to use on fragrances from the store. Olfactif‘s focus is on niche fragrance, so you’ll see different & unique scents, higher quality and hard-to-find ingredients.

If you aren’t used to experiencing boutique perfumes, there’s a basic information card on how to do it! My husband is really great at deciphering scents. I’ll often see him taking a quick whiff and going back and back again.

Olfactif has the most unique & awesome packaging. I adore the slide-out box. The information card for the fragrances is tucked inside.

June was a unique month for Olfactif! It celebrated the Art & Olfaction Awards 2015. All three scents won the Golden Pear!

Black Pepper and Sandalwood by Luca Maffei for Acca Kappa. A smooth shot of pepper and saffron is the opening act for a woody heart. The drydown is the coziest sandalwood we can imagine, dusted with clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Perfumer Luca Maffei was inspired by India, and we’re inspired by him.

Eau de Céleri by Isabelle Michaud for Monsillage. We’re always on the lookout for something novel in perfume, and perfumer Isabelle Michaud, of Monsillage, has struck novelty gold: an elegant, green chypre inspired by the celery plant.

Woodcut by Ellen Covey for Olympic Orchids.  Woodcut conjures up dark images of ancient trees inhabited by spirits from a time when the earth was new, the flowing sap of felled trees, and the burnt sugar of the trees’ blood when it is heated by the saws of lumbermen and builders.

These were three exciting and completely different perfumes. The Black Pepper & Sandalwood definitely featured those notes, but it’s spicy like chai or Christmas spices would be too, except in a totally non-pedestrian way.  Although I typically don’t wear green perfumes, the Eau de Céleri definitely grew on me, especially with those coriander pieces. The Woodcut, well, I suppose it’s something to experience as an artistic fragrance. Tom says it smell’s like his Papa’s cigar box. Here’s the official description:

Strong lines and delicate tracery combine to tell an archetypal tale of man’s rape of the earth. Woodcut conjures up dark images of ancient trees inhabited by spirits from a time when the earth was new, the flowing sap of felled trees, and the burnt sugar of the trees’ blood when it is heated by the saws of lumbermen and builders. The inspiration for this fragrance came from passing by a building site where old trees had been newly cut for a development and lumber was being sawed for a fence. The scent of cut wood was intoxicatingly beautiful and primitive, like a fleeting glimpse of the invisible essence of life spilled carelessly on the ground and burned as an offering to human greed. Notes: Fractional distillations of pine and cedar, oakwood absolute, tolu balsam, olibanum, caramel, burnt sugar, vanilla.

I rather wished their rather more delightful sounding Mardi Gras fragrance had been a winner, but that’s why this subscription is so unique! All three scents are suitably unisex and remember to keep smelling the scents after they’ve been applied, because they change and grow once they hit the skin. Even the brash Woodcut turns away from the smoke after a bit.

I am not sure how this deal works or if you can stack it with your monthly credit, but Olfactif has a $20 gift card deal right now!

Visit Olfactif to subscribe or find out more, or check out all our Olfactif Reviews. See more Fragrance & Perfume Subscriptions in the directory.