Scentcraft.ai - Real or Rip-off?

Call me dumb, but I fell for a Facebook ad. Not for the first time, so you'd think I'd know better.

I've been heavily into scent recently, so most of the ads I see on both Facebook and Instagram are for various fragrance products, mostly indie and niche brands. One in particular, for a company called Scentcraft, intrigued me. It claimed to offer bespoke fragrances created by professional perfumers, which at the reasonable prices they charge, sounded too good to be true. And, of course, it was. 

This post is long, so, a synopsis: Scentcraft is not quite a scam. They do sell quality scents created by professional perfumers. However, they are not bespoke in any way, apart from the name and AI-created imagery you choose for your bottle and packaging. If you opt for the 50ml or 100ml bottles for the scent you are led to believe is being created for you, you are essentially making an expensive and completely blind buy.

sample chat with Arty

Arty is the chatbot and navigator for the process that begins at scentcraft.ai. First Arty asks for a name or nickname, then the preference for a male or female fragrance. Favorite fragrance brands are then requested; the first time I played, I was asked for three favorites, and on subsequent times, only one. Arty then suggests a fragrance family based on brand preference, and three note pairings from that family. On my first attempt, it was determined that I liked "amber woody" fragrances (true) and was offered a choice between: Tonka Bean, Patchouli, and Jasmine Absolute; Orange Flower, Sweet Orange Oil, Amber; and Ylang Ylang, Cinnamon, and Gold Amber. I chose the orange flower/orange oil/and amber style, at which point Arty wanted to rush me into payment and production. But I wanted more ingredients, like vanilla, iris, patchouli, lactonic notes, and musk. I wanted to smell like a sexy creamsicle. Arty agreed that I could add more notes and said that my fragrance was shaping up to be "unique and enchanting." After I was happy with my selection of ingredients, we then moved on to naming the scent ("Orange You Glad"), and creating an AI-generated label for the bottle. I then chose the least-expensive option, three 5ml minis for $39.95, and prepared to wait a few weeks for my delicious bespoke fragrance variants. 

Scentcraft claims that their fragrances are created by perfumers at IFF at their labs in NY and Singapore, so imagine my surprise when I received a shipping notice from Landover, MD, roughly a week after placing my order. I was not able to find a IFF location in either Landover or in Washington, DC, so that seemed a little suspicious. However, I was excited when I received my new "bespoke" fragrance just a few days later; I couldn't wait to try it!

There was nothing fancy about the packaging. My fragrances were bundled in black tissue paper sealed with a sticker adorned with an AI-generated image of oranges and the words "thank you." This was crammed into a 5 x 7 black padded mailing envelope with a larger version of the orange sticker on one side, and another sticker on the back with QR codes and the statement "check your email for a digital version of this!" (I never received any such email.) There was an external mailing envelope as well.

Each of three tiny roller bottles was labeled with a number and a QR code matching the one on the outside of the inner envelope. When scanned, the codes sent me to web pages that described each particular scent and revealed the name of the perfumer. I was excited to see that the variations on my theme were created by Juliette Karagueuzoglou (creator of YSL Tuxedo, YSL Vinyle, Penhaligon's Savoy Steam), Bruno Jovanovic (Amouage Opus XII, CK Endless Euphoria, Essential Perfumes Mon Vetiver), and Nicolas Beaulieu (Chopard Musk Malaki, Clinique Aromatics in White, CdG Mirror by KAWS). Excitement was soon replaced by disappointment, when I realized that their creations utilized few of the notes that I had requested.

the notes for version "KP60" by Juliette Karagueuzoglou 

For example, the "orange blossom, orange oil, amber" fragrance created by Juliette Karagueuzoglou, contained the requested patchouli, vanilla, iris, and amber, but not orange blossom or orange oil. This particular fragrance was quite sweet, but not bad, though I didn't like its rather dusty drydown. Notice how this scent includes "tonka bean, patchouli, and jasmine absolute," like one of Arty's suggested fragrances.

notes for "KP65" by Bruno Jovanovic

Bruno Jovanovic's scent had neroli and amber, but nothing else I requested. Another pleasant scent, again quite sweet, and not even close to what I requested. Again, note that this fragrance includes "ylang ylang, cinnamon, and gold amber," which was another of the options Arty offered at the start of the process. 

notes for "KP39" by Nicholas Beaulieu

Finally, Nicholas Beaulieu's variant contained notes of neroli, vanilla, and musk. It is also sweet, and quite overpoweringly jasmine-y.  It seems so unlike the other two, with its strong floralcy, that I have to wonder if this one was included by mistake. Which begs the question, if Scentcraft was going to send me the variations on a theme that they suggested at the beginning, why on earth didn't they include the orange-dominant one I chose?

I tried each scent on my skin and was not excited by any of them. Scentcraft claims, "love it, or it's free." After trying the scents again the next day, I sent an email stating that I was not happy with them, also that they were missing most of my requested notes. Four days later, someone finally read my email and sent a response. 

Hi Kathy

Please allow us to share how we work with our perfumers. We recommend pairings of notes which we know work well together and share your individual input but the perfumer has final say on his composition as all artists he knows what he wants to achieve for each custom fragrance he designed so it very well be that not all the notes that you are choosing will be present in his creation.  We sent 3 bottles/iteration of your custom scents so that most of the ingredients chosen actually are present in all of the fragrances combined and since we actually blend a very high concentration of natural ingredients, each of our creation can be worn alone or/and combined!

Let me offer to send you another set of 3 custom scents (for free) based specifically on the orange oil, the musk, the orange blossom and the amber ok?

 I dont think you will be disappointed.

Thank you for your confidence and wishing you a good day

Vame

Sorry, Vame, I kinda know how perfumers work. If they're working for someone else, they follow a brief, which is a blueprint of the final product. It contains a description of the scent, materials budget, packaging info, etc. The brief of my bespoke scent would have, at the very minimum, described it as a scent made with orange blossom, orange oil, and amber, from which the perfumer should realize that the client is looking for a very orange-scented fragrance. I understand how a perfumer's artistic sensibilities might be offended by my suggesting additional notes, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't blatantly disregard the overarching theme of orange. 

Also, if I do what I believe Vame suggests and combine the three fragrances, I get a sugar-sweet concoction that is still not even close to the sexy creamsicle I wanted. It's neither sexy nor creamsicle. Had any of the three samples actually contained the promised orange oil, or a higher concentration of neroli, perhaps I would admit they had tried at least a little bit to give me what I asked for. But that was not the case. And why, if these are three "iteration of [my] custom scent," were they created by three perfumers? Why wouldn't I have been sent three variants by the same perfumer? 

Not that the fragrances I received are bad. Far from it. Each was pleasant in its own right, and not anything I've smelled before. But they smelled finished, which is not something I would have expected from a process that took just over a week from start to finish. I suspected that while the scents mailed to me were indeed created by professional perfumers, none of them were created for me. Check out the Scentcraft FAQ (it's not linked on the AI page, but can be googled), which offers a description of the perfume-making process and admits that the perfume oil needs a week or two of maturation before the alcohol is added, then more weeks of maceration before it is bottled. Certainly those things happened to the samples I received, but possibly weeks, months, or even years before I even discovered Scentcraft.

All of this dawned on me too late. In my excitement, I had created and ordered another scent, this time unisex. I wanted a dry and incense-y fragrance with a hint of orange blossom (I'm a little obsessed with orange blossom right now). Even after the disappointment of my first set, I had hopes that my second perfume would be more on the money. Instead, I received two samples of strongly masculine fragrances, and another 5ml of  Juliette K's "KP60." Annoyed, I sent another email off to Scentcraft.

I just received my second order of a supposedly "bespoke" fragrance from you (order C5603). I had asked for an incense scent with orange blossom, frankincense, myrrh, musk, patchouli, cedar, and vetiver. I received two scents that at least have "incense" notes, one also containing vetiver and musk, and the other with patchouli. The third scent, however, while it has myrrh and neroli, is exactly the same "KP60" scent that I received the first time I placed an order and requested a primarily orange blossom scent. Which kind of proves my theory that you have a bunch of fragrances pre-designed by professional perfumers and you pick three that you feel somewhat fit the desires of the customer, even if only vaguely. There's no other explanation for receiving an order so quickly, when blending perfume and getting it right takes a long time, and receiving something that already feels "finished," as it has had time to mature. In no way are these fragrances "bespoke." These scents are perfectly pleasant and designed by professional noses. Why not bottle them, give them names, and sell them like any other niche perfume house, rather than pretending to be something you are not? While some of your customers might fall for it, most of us are not fools.

I am so disappointed.

Kathy

The response I received had me shaking my head. It's as if all Vame saw was the word "niche." 

Hi Kathy,

Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts on our business and we did indeed mistakenly resent you one of the scent we curated for you KP60. I will be happy to send you a replacement for this 5ml tailored to the set of preferences you shared with us.  

It is heartwarming to read your appreciation of the quality of the composition that we create. They are all 20% Extrait de Parfum formulation with a high concentration of naturals ingredients. We always send 3 iterations of a set of preferences , that is 3 different custom scents and combined these 3 custom scents are unique to you These signature bottles are of exceptional quality (niche as you identified them) so they should not disappoint you Kathy. 

Thank you and sending you my warm regards, Vame

What the everloving fuck?  

Currently, I am waiting for my replacement set of the orange blossom/orange oil/amber fragrance, and the replacement for the "mistakenly resent" KP60. I am not sure what to expect, but I will keep you posted. 

While I am sure some folks will be absolutely thrilled with whatever Scentcraft sends them, wholeheartedly believing that these fragrances were custom blended, those folks are not perfume people. Scentcraft advertises on Instagram that they will work with influencers to create their own fragrance brand (these posts also tout that their fragrances are "100% natural," which I doubt) but fellow perfumistas will not be fooled. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when one of these influencer clients realizes that their "bespoke" fragrance smells exactly like a fragrance being sold by another influencer. But will scentcraft.ai last that long? 

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks

Note: this post is my opinion. I am not affiliated with Scentcraft or any other company.