**REVIEW** ScentSplit Decant Perfumes

For anyone who loves perfume but lives on a tight budget - or is just very careful with their money - the best services are those that sell decanted fragrances.

Q: What is a decant?
A: Perfume that is taken from a bottle and put into a smaller bottle.

I wanted to try some fragrances that use Tonka Bean as a part of the scent. When I checked around, I found 3 perfumes that sounded promising. They were on the ScentSplit site:

• Fève Délicieuse by Dior
• AMEN Pure Tonka from Thierry Mugler
• Tonka Imperiale from my favorite - Guerlain 

This is the thing, I can't afford to even look at any of those perfumes at the store. Decant purchases is definitely the way to go.

Here's what the decants cost vs what a bottle would cost in a store like Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus:

• Fève Délicieuse 1ml decant = $4.99 vs $210 for 4.5oz
• AMEN Pure Tonka 6ml = $16.99 vs $90.00 for 3.4oz
• Tonka Imperiale 1ml decant = $7.99 vs $260.00 for 2.5oz

I can't remember where I read the catchline of "when you want to date a fragrance, not marry it", but it's perfect for this post.

Since this review is for the ScentSplit service, I won't get all into how much I love these perfumes, but... I love these perfumes. Guerlain wins out again though as my forever-will-be favorite. Tonka Bean must be included in all my future scents! Now, on to the Pros and Cons of ScentSplit.

PROS

Selection

They have a fabulous selection of fragrances to choose from. I looked at a couple of different services to do a review on and chose this one to start because of the crazy amount of choices.

This is only HALF the brands shown

Price

The prices are great and you are given enough size choices to afford at least a sample of something.

Presentation

My package was nicely wrapped to protect the contents. Inside the mailing box, was the actual box of my items. This was wrapped so prettily, it was like getting a gift.

Fragrance Quality

When you open the gift box, your items are inside, covered with and nestled in paper. I removed the top layer to take the photo.

The fragrances houses on ScentSplit are on the higher end and more classic types. I have nothing against the celebrity or passing-trendy scents, but I prefer names that withstand time. ScentSplit has a nice mix while some other services seemed to favor "younger" scents.

All three of the scents I ordered are of wonderful quality. I had the opportunity to sniff a bottle of the Tonka Imperiale when I hit the stores in Arizona last year. I know that the decant I ordered and received is the real deal. 

This is the 6ml spray bottle -

The sprayer is nice and fine and is great for not wasting any of this perfume.

The 1ml sample tube is capped very tightly. That's great because you don't want any of your fragrance to leak, but it was tough to open it. I'd rather have it tightly sealed like it is though.

 Not only were the prices reasonable, but the shipping wasn't bad. It was $4.99 for the small box with USPS 1st Class Postage.

CONS

Using ScentSplit is such a great way to make enjoying fragrances an affordable adventure. It's a shame that the site needs so much improvement. From the point of putting in an order to awaiting delivery, I kept notes of my frustrations:

• The website needs an overhaul. Trying to sign up for an account is silly because the first option at the top left of the page doesn't work. You have to go to the middle top of the page at "Your Account" and work from there. Also, if you order without creating an account, you can't merge any order info once you do set up an account. It's just unnecessarily complex.

• Order delays are not readily addressed. I ordered on the 4th of the month and there were no online updates or tracking info provided by the 9th. I had gotten a Thank You email from the owner so I used the Reply function to ask about the delay. He let me know that one of my items was on back order and he was very nice about offering to change my order or cancel with a full refund. My issue was not the delay as much as it was not being kept informed about delays. If this order had been for a date-specific gift, I'd be so late.
• When I did get a tracking number, I couldn't copy/paste it to check up on the updates for myself. The way the site is set up, you can't copy information. Okay. The postage fees were for 1st Class USPS. I got the package on the 16th. The Order Page wasn't updated with all the information until the packaged was delivered...

Yay or Nay?

So, basically, I would rate ScentSplit very high on quality of the product, but that website needs work. I hope that in the future, deliveries will be more timely and I think they will be barring any back ordering issues. The presentation of my items was so beautiful that I have to give it a 10-star rating. It just about makes up for the hassles of dealing with the website. (NOTE: I was just informed that the ScentSplit site is one of those hosted sites. That may be the cause of the issues I'm fussing about. Not the fault of ScentSplit then. My bad.)

Based on my overall experience and satisfaction with the product, I will definitely be referring my friends and family to use this service. I will be checking out other similar decant sites though. 

I give this a 4-star rating overall. The product more than makes up for the site issues.

Peace

--Free

**INFO** Site Slinging for Fragrances & Oils

A neighbor asked me something the other day and I referred her to a website I know of. She commented that she never would have found the site herself. True or not, it occurred to me that I do often run across some interesting and random sites when I am writing, blogging, or just looking for something myself. Why the heck have I not been sharing these sites with you guys? Dunno. So... here goes the first list of sites. (Understand that I can't endorse the quality of these sites so... use your noggin.)

Oh, and I came across most of these when I was looking for a fragrance oil featuring Tonka Bean. Now, down the rabbit hole we go:

• Scent Split is where you can check out buying decants of perfumes. Good idea for those who want to test a scent first, or already like a fragrance but can't afford the whole bottle. Their shipping speed is iffy. It can take at least a couple of weeks for items to arrive and, in the case I know of, the tracking information wasn't available. On the Plus side, they have a HUGE selection and they use glass vials/bottles for the fragrances which is better than plastic.
• Candle Science is where I landed next while looking for the Tonka oil. If I ever decide to make candles, this is going to be the first stop.
• Fragrance Buy is in Canada, but they offer "hard to find" and "niche" scents. They didn't have my Flori Roberts Gold, so...
• Lucky Scent caught my eye because they offer not just perfume but all types of fragrant items - bath stuff, candles, etc. IMO, the perfumes I checked on were pricier than I liked.
• Fragrance Original carries discontinued scents as well as current items. The site reminded me of the fragrance offerings at Burlington's Coat Factory. Prices were fair.
• Root American Made Candles is to candles what the other sites are to fragrances. The prices ranged from impressive to the out-of--my-range range. I like that they have smaller sized options in case you can't spend lots.

I'm adding a note about The Fragrance Shop because I have used them for years to buy fragrance oils. I love their original oil scents. At first, I was crazy about the Shalimar mimic oil that I got from them about 6 years ago, but the oil will degrade over time so I don't count on using it after about 6 or 7 months unless it's very well stored. Customer service is excellent and you can get very affordable sample bundle.

If anyone knows of any other relevant sites, do let me know. And if you know where I can find some Tonka Bean oil, really do let me know!

I will be back to do a review of Scent Splits once I receive my order from them...

Peace

--Free