It is said that smell is the sense most strongly tied to memory, and while humans may forget a date or a name, we never forget a smell. How true have you found this to be in life? For myself, it has proven to be an unwavering fact that my mind cannot forget a smell. From my grandmother’s hugs (a miscellany of Nantucket Briar powder and Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds) to the sweet smell of ripe strawberry patches from my childhood in Germany, everything dear to me is cataloged by smell. Given this information, it would come as no surprise that I am obsessed with fragrance.
I’m not one of your average Macy’s, box-set, run-of-the-mill fragrance shoppers. I tend to gravitate toward more “niche” fragrance experiences like Creed, Annick Goutal, Diptyque, Bond No.9, Jo Malone, and Tom Ford. Be it ostentatious in price, or bargain basement, a unique smell is what I’m looking for. I’d recently run out of my “every day” scent, Dark Amber & Ginger Lily by Jo Malone, and was in the market to try something new. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have my “every day” fragrances… and then I have my “special occasion” fragrances… and Jo Malone has been my “every day” fragrance house of choice for a while. On any normal occasion, I’d take a stroll down Bleecker Street to visit Jo Malone and Diptyque, and try out a few samplers. HOWEVER, it is New York City, in the middle of summer, so getting on the disgustingly sticky subway and bumping into sweaty tourists was not even remotely interesting to me. There had to be a better way.
A few days later, while on Instagram, I was noseying around on the #fragrance hashtag and came across a picture of these tiny little cylinders lined-up in a macron box. On first glance, I almost mistook them for chic cigarettes! Further reading led me to the Instagram page of Commodity Goods, where I started on a journey that has made me re-think the way I shop for fragrance.
Commodity Goods describes itself as “an online scent tailoring service,” allowing you to create a scent profile on their website, test a sample of the fragrances at home, and then order the full-size versions of the ones you love. How awesome is this? No more walking through a headache-inducing conundrum of fragrance misting, coffee beans, screaming children, and aggressive sales people only to take home a generic-smelling fragrance that 4,567,895 other people also own. No thanks. Commodity Goods was luring me in with their promise of being able to experience a custom shopping experience right from the comfort of my Snuggie, and I took the bait.
A few days later, I received my package of fragrances… 10 for men, 10 for women. Now, I know you’re asking me why I ordered the women’s kit, and my answer is simple: Smell is neuter. I don’t assign a gender to smells… never have. I truly believe that one should wear whatever makes one feel confident and at peace, but enough of my personal politics. I opened my kits and got down to the business of smelling! Now, with each “set” of fragrances comes a scorecard of sorts. As you smell, you use the hearts next to each fragrance to indicate how much you love it. Each day I wore two fragrances… one from the men’s collection in the morning, and one from the women’s collection in the evening… that way I could truly experience how they reacted with my body chemistry.
As to be expected, some of the fragrances I really loved, and others I was indifferent to… but none of them were bad, which is impressive when you have a collection of 20 different fragrances! Getting to sample unique smells like “cloth” and “wool” and “mimosa” was stimulating and challenged my notions of what I thought these things could smell like. For instance, book smells EXACTLY like a book… but shouldn’t books smell musky and dank? How were they able to perfectly capture the smell of a book, yet make it attractive to our nose? I don’t know, but it is freaking genius.
After experiencing all 20 fragrances, the highlights for me were:
MEN’S
[ ] Cane
[ ] Whisky
[ ] Gin
WOMEN’S
[ ] Paper
[ ] Mimosa
[ ] Dew
In fact, I found myself mixing them! The combination of Cane + Whisky is very dark and sensual and masculine. I felt like Joe Manganiello chopping down a tree or something when I mixed those two together. Something about them really compliments each other. Same for Paper + Mimosa; they come together for such a fresh smell that made me feel like a groomed gentleman of cultured tastes.
Everything about my Commodity Goods scent tailoring experience was exceptional… from the design of the website, to the amount in the sample tubes, to the quality of the fragrances. Nothing was short of exceeding my expectations. I think that their collaborating with a French fragrance house that has been developing scents for 160 years shows in the product that arrives at your door. In trying to find an “every day” scent, I have managed to stumble upon a revolutionary idea that suits the lifestyles and the tastes of this generation. Commodity Goods has made my “every day” a special day.
PRICING:
[1] Men’s or Women’s 10-fragrance “Fitting Kit” = $9.00 USD*
(*the $9.00 is reimbursed to you if you spend $50+ within 30 days, making the kit FREE if you place an order.)
[2] 10ml roller = $24.00 USD for the 1st bottle, then $12.00 for each additional bottle.
[3] 100ml bottle = $108.00 USD
Visit Commodity Goods [HERE]
Follow them on Instagram [HERE]
Become their fan on Facebook [HERE]
Pin them on Pinterest [HERE]
Tweet them on Twitter [HERE]
Victor Amos
Editor At Large
*This article was originally published on ProBeautyBlog.com, and is hosted here with the author’s permission.
World Bride Magazine 