Scentcraft - Real or Rip-off, part 2

When last I wrote about Scentcraft, I indicated that I was unhappy with the first batch of the "bespoke" fragrance I had created. My online discussion with Scentcraft's AI, Arty, led me to believe that I would receive a scent or scents with a base of orange blossom, orange oil, and amber, with added notes of vanilla, patchouli, musk, iris, and lactonic notes. A sexy creamsicle is what I was after. What I received were three pleasant scents that were all rather sweet, none of which matched the brief. After an email exchange with one of the humans at Scentcraft, I was told I would receive a do-over, because their credo is "love it or it's free."

Considering the my first batch of "bespoke" fragrances arrived in a little over a week, I was surprised that after 3 weeks I hadn't received my replacements. Could they actually be creating new scents for me? For $39.95? Highly doubtful. They were probably hoping I had forgotten. After a reminder email, they assured me that my new variations were just completed (ha!) and would be shipped out on Friday. They arrived on Saturday. 

This time, the package contained 4 mini roll-on bottles of scent, all with the "Orange You Glad" labeling. Three had QR codes, and one did not. I scanned the codes to reveal the perfumers and the notes:

"DI26" by Anne Flipo

How exciting to see that one of the variants had been created by Anne Flipo, who worked on the Estee Lauder Legacy collection for EL x Frederic Malle and also created Chloe Love Story, Donna Karan Woman, Frederic Malle Synthetic Jungle, and L'Artisan La Chasse aux Papillons, among others. Her scent is the only one that matched the original base chosen during my initial consultation with Arty: orange blossom, orange oil, and amber. I did want something that was extremely orange-y, both in the flowers and in the fruit itself. While two of my original three sample variants contained neroli, none of them had the orange oil. Flipo's scent not only had neroli and oil, but also mandarin, petitgrain, and orange flower. Oddly, however, the scent smells only politely of orange blossom/orange, with a bit of woodiness and a hint of musk. Though it fit the brief, it ended up not being my favorite of the bunch.

notes for "DI81" by Caroline Dumur

I received two scents by perfumer Caroline Dumur (L'Artisan Parfumeur Il Était Un Bois, Chloe Nomade Naturelle EDP). The first one, "DI81," doesn't fit the brief at all. There's no orange blossom, orange oil, or amber. Instead, it's a green tea and light jasmine musk bomb that is quite nice on my skin. I have few, if any, jasmine-heavy scents in my collection; it's just never been a note that has appealed to me. But I must say this fragrance is my favorite of the three, possibly because of the heavy musks.

notes for "DI50" by Caroline Dumur

Dumur's second scent does have orange flower and the vanilla I requested for the first iteration of this scent. Oddly, it also includes an oceanic note that normally would repel me, but in this scent it's fleeting and actually pleasant. Clearly it's not Calone. Otherwise, this scent is a nice summery floral anchored by musk. 

A hallmark of the first batch of fragrances I received was the intense sweetness. This new batch had the sweetness dialed way down, which makes them much more wearable to me. 

There was a fourth scent included in the package, bearing the "orange you glad" labeling, but with no QR code. "DI92" is somewhat sweet, with an opening of black pepper and spices over a woody vanilla base. I wrote to Scentcraft to request the QR code or a list of notes and was sent a code for a scent called "KR92."

"KR92" by Avinash Mali 

The perfumer, Avinash Mali, works for IFF, according to his LinkedIn bio. However, he is not listed on Fragrantica, so I can't say what fragrances he's designed in the past. I believe this one is supposed to be the replacement for the duplicate of "KP60" I received when I "created" a second, incense-based, scent. But I don't know anymore at this point.

Note that the names from this batch of fragrance begin with initials other than KP. Both of my orders, for the orange scent and the incense scent, were labeled with KP names (my initials). These replacement fragrances were given names starting with the letters DI. And when I requested the QR code for "DI92," I was sent the code for "KR92." That tells me my theory--they match pre-made fragrances to the buyers' requests (sorta) and personalize the names to make it seem that they were created especially for that person--is correct. I guess I am just too much of an annoyance to them at this point for them to bother hiding the fact that other people have also received the same samples for their "bespoke" scents. Especially since I did tell them my theory. I may be wrong, of course, but I doubt it.

In any case, my conclusion is the same as it was in my first post. Scentcraft sells pleasant scents made by professional perfumers. They are in no way "bespoke," or "created" through the collaboration with AI. It's just a gimmick. Relatively harmless at this point, but I will be amused when multiples of the dopey influencers who think they're selling their own fragrance that they designed themselves realize they're identical. 

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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.