Weekly Waftings: Sampler Set Review – Commodity Expressive Discovery Set

Howdy, friends! Anyone else experiencing the craziest weather ever lately?? In one week alone, we had a 73 degree day (I left the front door open all day for the first time since last September!) and then got snow 5 days later (I turned the electric blanket on my bed back up to 7!) Yep, it’s definitely spring! 😂🌞❄

On this decidedly grey/gloomy/sprinkly/typical Pacific NW spring day, I’m here to share my latest perfume sampler with y’all. It’s my pleasure to introduce the house of Commodity Fragrances. This young house has already had some ups and downs in its short lifespan. It all began in 2013 with a Kickstarter campaign and earned more than enough revenue to officially launch in 2014. Sadly, the company unexpectedly shuttered in 2019 but was swiftly picked up a few months later by entrepreneur Vicken Arslanian and his company Europerfums, which distributes several popular artisan/niche houses including Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Xerjoff, and Juliette Has a Gun, amongst many others. And there’s a unique spin on the whole thing: Mr. Arslanian has chosen to film the entire process of purchasing and rebooting the house. You can find all sorts of interesting short videos they’ve created here.

Commodity has developed a very cool method to experience their fragrances: the Scent Space concept. All of their fragrances come in three different classifications/strengths, explained here in their own words from their website:

• Personal (indicated with a minus sign -): The Personal Collection is for those who prefer a subtle, intimate fragrance – to be noticed only by you and the few you allow close. Soft, ethereal and luxurious, these molecular compositions have a trace of their ‘Expressive’ counterpart and embody the concept of less is more.
• Expressive: The Expressive collection is considered by many to be the perfect balance of longevity and projection. These fragrances will make a statement without overpowering any space – to be noticed by you and the many around you.
• Bold (indicated with a plus sign +): There is no modesty when it comes to the Bold collection. Infused with exotic notes, these are amplified renditions of their ‘Expressive’ counterpart. Designed for those intent on making their presence known, they are for you and everyone else.

I think this is such a great concept as everyone has their own comfort zone of how strong they want their perfume to project out into the world around them. And it can even vary depending on your circumstances; for example, Personal is perfect for the office while you may want to rock Bold at an outdoor music festival.

The house has several sampler options. You can go BIG with the Exploration Kit which features every scent in every strength. You can sample each individual fragrance in all three strengths. Or you can choose the strength you feel you would be most interested in and try each scent in that strength, which is what I did and will feature here today. Here are my thoughts on the Expressive Discovery Kit:

Milk

• Top Notes: cold milk accord
• Middle Notes: skin musk, warm marshmallow
• Base Notes: mahogany wood, tonka bean

As the name would suggest, this fragrance is very lactonic and really does smell like milk! The marshmallow and woody notes are present and on the lighter side in the opening but pick up steam as the fragrance dries down. As an avid gourmand enthusiast, I really love how the marshmallow combines with the tonka to lend the fragrance a very cozy, caramel-y feel. But as you can probably imagine, I would be happier without the musk, lol The musk is on the stronger side, leans animalic for me, and pushes this fragrance towards the more masculine side of things for my personal tastes.

These Expressive scents mostly all have a nice moderate projection (except where noted) and longevity, as one would expect. I had my husband (and ever-so-helpful guinea pig!) also test this fragrance since I felt it ran a bit on the masculine side for me. He’s not the biggest fan of musk, either, so it wasn’t his most favorite but we both did think it was better on him than me. Honestly, I think I would love this fragrance if it weren’t for the musk and that is just 100% personal taste. I loved all the other notes. If you like sweet, woody fragrances with musk, you’ll probably love this. It’s in a similar family with Sweet Whiskey by Bath & Body Works and Carner Barcelona’s Palo Santo (which, incidentally, smells like a delicious oatmeal cookie sprinkled with cinnamon, yum!)

Find it here:

Milk 10ml travel-spray, 100ml (at Commodity)

Paper

• Top Notes: Iso E Super
• Middle Notes: cedarwood
• Base Notes: sandalwood

This woodsy skin scent is very clean and very, VERY light. It’s actually a little hard to detect at first, I know some folks are anosmic to the synthetic Iso E Super featured here, which is a clean, cedar-like note that is meant to have a ‘your-skin-but-better’ feel. Overall, Paper is very clean and very woodsy and I also get a slightly salty impression from it. It’s kind of in a similar family with Jo Malone’s Wood Sage & Sea Salt but more woodsy and less mineral/spa-like. But I think if you like one, you’ll probably like the other. It’s a great choice for anyone who enjoys clean, minimalistic fragrances.

Even with this having the Expressive profile (versus the Personal), I’m getting very little projection. When wearing, I’ll catch a whiff here and there but this is a very quiet, intimate skin scent making it very office-safe. Perfect for those who love minimal fragrances like JHAG’s Not a Perfume and Escentric Molecules’ Molecule 01. This would also make a great layering scent.

Find it here:

Paper 10ml travel-spray, 100ml (at Commodity)

Moss

• Top Notes: grapefruit, bergamot
• Middle Notes: petitgrain, orange blossom
• Base Notes: cedarwood, oakmoss
• Other Notes Perceived: elemi, eucalyptus, white musk, cashmere wood, amber

This one just might be my favorite of the bunch! It’s one of those fragrances where I can’t stop sniffing my wrist when I’m wearing it. I love orange blossom/neroli fragrances and though this is named ‘Moss,’ this fragrance is chock full of citrus notes with the orange blossom being the star of the show. The clean, woodsy moss lends a lovely supporting role to all of that citrus. This fragrance reminds me a lot of Bastide’s citrus fragrances (which I reviewed here last year), especially Neroli Lumiere and 1958. Moss is muskier than those two but it’s a clean, non-animalic musk.

The citrus notes wane a bit the longer it dries down and it eventually fades into a skin scent, very similar to Paper. Fine for year-round wear but this is an essential summer scent, it’s just the perfect time for a refreshing citrus like this. Fresh, refreshing, clean, orangey, woodsy, unisex, easy to wear and easy to like. I think this one will appeal to most.

Find it here:

Moss 10ml travel-spray, 100ml (at Commodity)

Velvet

• Top Notes: white birch, coconut water
• Middle Notes: vanilla, amber
• Base Notes: roasted almonds, rose petals
• Other Notes Perceived: cloves, heliotrope

I saw that several folks were comparing this to my signature scent, Maison Margiela’s By the Fireplace, so I knew odds were pretty good that I would like it. It is definitely a distant cousin. The opening is quite smoky, ambery, vanillic, and this is where it mainly reminds me of By the Fireplace and also a tad like another love of mine, Imaginary Authors’ A Whiff of Waffle Cone. Actually, this is one of those scents that reminded me of a whole bunch of different fragrances in my mind but once I tested them next to each other, the differences were more obvious. It’s a Jérôme Epinette fragrance and reminded me of several of his other creations, including Wild Vanilla Orchid by Floral Street and Poets of Berlin by Vilhelm Parfumerie.

As it dries down, the rose combines with the other notes to create a bit of a sour plum/rhubarb/tart fruit accord of some kind and that’s where I start feeling the comparisons to the above mentioned Epinette fragrances, and also a little bit to Marc Jacob’s Decadence (which I think has been discontinued, unfortunately, as it’s really hard to find now). The tart fruit vibe fades the longer it dries down and it goes back to mainly powdery vanilla and sparkling amber. I like this a lot and it’s definitely a ‘me’ scent. Leans feminine and nighttime.

Find it here:

Velvet 10ml travel-spray, 100ml (at Commodity)

Gold

• Top Notes: juniper berries, creamy musk
• Middle Notes: vanilla, amber
• Base Notes: sandalwood, benzoin

The company’s best seller, Gold, is another one that I sprayed and it instantly felt somewhat familiar. A lovely amber feel with light, clean musk and a very slight sweetness but not into gourmand territory. Lightly powdery, woodsy, I definitely get the juniper, sandalwood, and resinous benzoin. The vanilla starts to feel more present a few minutes in. All of the notes are well-blended and match well with one another.

The powdery and woodsy vanilla brings this into a similar family with Byredo’s Gypsy Water (another Jérôme Epinette fragrance!), it’s not a dupe or anything, but I think if you like GW, you’ll probably enjoy this, too. Comparing the two, Gold is slightly muskier, sweeter, less woodsy, and more powdery. GW is way more woodsy and has a more sparkling feeling. I love this fragrance and find it very signature scent-worthy, you can really wear it anytime and anywhere. Definitely unisex, especially with the woodsy and musky vibes.

Find it here:

Gold 10ml travel-spray, 100ml (at Commodity)

Book

• Top Notes: eucalyptus, bergamot, violet
• Middle Notes: cedarwood, sandalwood, amyris
• Base Notes: musk, amber, vetiver
• Other Notes Perceived: rosewood, cypress, ‘velvet’

This smells REALLY familiar! I swear, every Commodity scent smells like another perfume to me, lol But I don’t say that to take anything away from these fine fragrances because they’re all really great in their own right. I just chalk it up to the fact that I’ve smelled A LOT of perfumes at this point! Anyway, the woods are the star of the show here with a heavy emphasis on the cedar and sandalwood. Those woodsy notes are doing the trick and I’m definitely getting the intended effect of old, musty book vibes. It’s just the tiniest touch masculine for my personal tastes to wear but it does smell nice on me and FABULOUS on my husband.

Another closer-to-the-skin scent with lighter projection. If you like other clean, woodsy scents (especially ones that feature sandalwood and cedar), such as Maison Margiela’s Autumn Vibes, Le Labo’s Santal 33, or Every Storm a Serenade by Imaginary Authors, this will be right up your alley. Out of those three, it is probably most similar to Autumn Vibes. Santal 33 is warmer and more ambery. Every Storm a Serenade is a bit warmer, sparkly, earthy, and definitely has the Imaginary Authors DNA running through it that you would recognize from their other fragrances. Book is fresher & cleaner while also being more vanillic/ambery, overall. But I would put all of these fragrances in a similar category and if you enjoy one, you’ll probably like the others as well.

Find it here:

Book 10ml travel-spray, 100ml (at Commodity)

I hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts on Commodity’s excellent collection of fragrances. Please let me know if you’ve heard of them before or tried anything from them. Also let me know if you’ve seen something here that you now want to check out. I always love to hear what you think! 💖

P.S. Want to dive further into this interesting house? Or perhaps you’re a longtime fan who misses one of their previous scents? Check out their Archive Collection here!

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