Fall is in the air and so is our collective desire to break out our best cozy sweaters, riding boots, pumpkin spice-flavored anything, and watch the leaves changing on the trees. As we dive deeper into the colder weather season and the enduring pandemic rages on, any forms of self-care are so very welcome to keep us sane during our favorite season.
It was a few weeks ago when I found an email in my inbox about LUXSB, an online perfume subscription service, with its monthly deliveries of more than 600 fragrances, including a few new scents that give me all the fall feels. From that initial message alone, I was instantly intrigued to learn more and test out some beauty goodies for myself. After all, self-care is needed now more than ever and that’s just a fact.
A little background for y’all: LUXSB (Luxury Scent Box) is a women-founded company owned by sisters, which it’s always so so so so amazing to see other women thriving and succeeding on their own as they disrupt the patriarchal nonsense of the world we live in (ugh) to shatter glass ceilings and make their dreams come true. After debuting its first brick-and-mortar shop back in 2010, thanks to COVID and lockdown, the brand pivoted to focus more on home deliveries and online orders. What separates this brand from other competitors is its vast beauty experience and deep knowledge to offer custom fragrance suggestions that are perfect for you and what you are looking for in a fragrance.
Each monthly box, starting at the reasonable price of $15, offers a selection of perfumes, in a luxe perfume case, which includes a personal choice of your favorite designer or scents. LUXSB partners with many iconic brands for niche and exclusive perfumes and once you find your new signature scent from the monthly miniature bottles in your order, you can order larger sizes when you find the scent of your dreams. I was lucky enough to receive a box of several of the brand’s newest fall scents from the company and was excited to try it out for myself!
Testing 1, 2, 3
Upon unboxing my shipment for the first time, I found four handheld, travel-sized perfume samples in total. Each came in a handy, interchangeable travel case in metallic red, teal, purple, and gold colors. What’s great is that as soon as you run out of one vial, you can swap it out with fresh ones super easily, not to mention that it’s the perfect size to carry in your purse or travel luggage. It also comes with a velvet drawstring bag that can hold one container for easy transportation.
In general, it’s super easy to use. All you have to do is twist open the colorful top and the spray top pops up almost like a tube of lipstick. Then, to close and seal you just twist it back up. Super simple to apply your new go-to scent over and over! Now, if you want to check which travel case has which fragrance insider or even to replace empty vials, it can be a little more difficult. But the box’s instruction card reveals that’s, in reality, quite simple. After you’ve twisted the top open, you can pull the black-colored top straight up and out of the case to reveal or replace what’s inside. Then, to put it back in, you just have place it back inside the container and twist to close again. In the end, there’s no need to stress that you can’t get it because it was a fairly simple procedure.
Now, onto the main event: the exclusive Eau de Parfums that were made in France or England and are just delightful for a quick spritz.
Quintessential Fall Scents
Now, my box sample came with four new fall arrivals that are each different but equally perfect for this crisp autumn season, so keep reading for my two cents based solely on my lil’ nose and its power.
Juliette Has a Gun – Lipstick Fever: Right off the bat, this name gave me serious badass slash strong females only vibes, which I’m always here for, every time. With a spritz and a sniff, I can tell it’s a very strong (that’s a hard yes, lol) but light scent. It’s not bad at all, in fact, I quite like it. It seems like a nice, basic perfume for those consumers who typically don’t wear much perfume, but yes, it does smell lovely with a slight floral tone.
It’s definitely a pretty feminine scent, naturally focusing on the historic notes used in lipsticks with aromas of iris, violet absolute, and raspberry, plus woodsy notes to give it refinement.
Shay & Blue Salt Caramel: Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, this was not 100 percent my cup of tea for my nose. It was very spicy and all those caramel smells come out strong here. It definitely could be a unisex scent because it’s less floral and almost cinnamon-y with such a rich caramel smell. It’s not totally my style, I’d much prefer Juliette Has a Gun – Lipstick Fever of the two, but I definitely feel all the fall vibes with this one.
This rich Eau de Parfum brings the flavors of glossy caramel, sea salt, tonka bean, and sandalwood for an indulgent, deeper, and darker scent.
Etat Libre d’Orange – You or Someone Like You: This makes me think of a traditional perfume that you’d smell at a makeup counter and was always envious of your mom for having when you were growing up because this hits all the notes of what you’d think a perfume should be. In terms of scent, this one is quite minty and smells of pine-ish. This light perfume is nice, and I definitely like this one the most for its subtle scent. It gives off winter vibes, thanks to its minty smell, and that’s when I’d want to wear it the most. Like, it’d be perfect for any holiday parties you attend, you know, if Corona doesn’t cancel them all.
This light perfume brings a fresh and crisp aroma to your skin when you spritz this on yourself. Its primary notes include mint, anise, bergamot, and grapefruit, all of which come through tenfold.
Mancera – Jardin Exclusif: This strong scent reminds me of some big-name designer perfume, which isn’t awful and I actually like the aroma. It has a little floral smell to it, and in general, it’s the type of perfume I’d choose to wear to work slash the office and feel like a strong, powerful woman and a total girlboss.
This perfume brings a bewitching citrus scent that’s just delicious and indulgent. The fruit scent contains notes of pear, caramel, lemon, peach, black currant, and green apple. Plus, sprinkling of notes of jasmine, rose, violet, grey amber, sandalwood, and vanilla that complete its lovely package and final smell.
All in all, my order of favorites would likely be Etat Libre d’Orange – You or Someone Like You, Juliette Has a Gun – Lipstick Fever, Mancera – Jardin Exclusif, and Shay & Blue Salt Caramel to round out the quartet. Each scent gives me *all* the fall vibes, and I can’t wait to wear these fragrances all season long while I don my coziest sweaters and drink copious amounts of hot cocoa. That being said, while these are great fall scents, I’m not still totally sure if I found my ideal scent just yet, but I guess there’s always next month to make sure…
quite simply miranda 