Olfactif Sample Service Debut Includes Fig Tree

A new sample service for niche/artisan fragrance is debuting this month, and the site’s product pages are going live today. It is called Olfactif. Each month they will mail three samples to subscribers, and Fig Tree is in this month’s debut box. The other two scents for this month are L’Artisan’s Voleur de Roses and Imaginary Authors The Soft Lawn. Olfactif will be including a mix of niche and artisan scents and wanted this month to have a spring theme.

I’ve been contacted by sample services before and have had to say no because their terms were not workable for small artisan perfumers. As a result, that type of service tends to attract the bigger companies but miss the smaller artisan brands that cannot afford to donate large amounts of samples for free. Olfactif was the first service to approach me with a program that made it possible for small brands to afford to participate. Olfactif plans to distribute samples of niche and artisan brands to people who want to venture beyond department store scents but are unfamiliar with niche and need help exploring the options. The team at Olfactif seems sincere in their goals and I wanted to support their project. I hope they can achieve their dream of spreading the word about niche and artisan fragrance to a wider audience.

If you know someone who is curious about niche perfumes but doesn’t have time to dig into blogs to figure out what to try, this service might be of interest to them. The cost of the month’s sample box can be applied to a bottle if they like a sample enough to buy a full size. I don’t know which brands are coming next, but they had a great list of brands on their consideration list. I’ve not seen the sample presentation yet but have heard it is elegant.

Each month will feature interviews with the perfumers in that month’s box. You can read the interviews on the site if you’re interested (I’ll post a link to this month’s interviews when I have it).