The latest box from perfume subscription service Yu Parfums showcases elegant simplicity and versatile minimalism in three creations which can be worn alone or layered with other compositions.

You can read about Edition 2 here, or Edition 1 over on Fragrantica.

The vibe

Yu Parfums brings scents to you which, particularly at the moment, allows you to try new things in the safety and comfort of your own home. The brand offers three travel sized scents of fragrances they have specifically commissioned on a theme, in a luxury box arriving every other month. Edition 3 is a versatile collection of minimalist fragrances. The overall vibe is sleek, convenient and luxurious and a subscription would make a fantastic gift for a loved one who wanted to get into interesting perfumes a bit more but who perhaps wasn’t sure where to start.

Once you have tried the generous travel sizes, if you fall in love and want a full size bottle, a limited number are available to purchase from the Yu Parfums website.

The brand

Sign up to Yu Parfums and you’ll find a sleek package dropping through your letterbox every other month. The example we received had no cellophane which was a nice touch, and the outer box was entirely cardboard and recyclable.

The presentation that your three, travel sized scents arrive in is the size of a hard back book which makes them very easy to store on a shelf so they don’t take up too much room. Each box also comes with an outer travel atomiser and scent sticks for you to try the fragrances on.

The brand prides itself on picking a sustainable ingredient to go into each fragrance, and only fills the 100ml bottles upon request in order to minimise wastage. In addition, the scents are unisex, vegan and cruelty free.

In this edition, Yu partners with perfumers Claudine de Vogel (Chapter VII), Dominique Preyssas (Chapter VIII) and Alexandra Kosinski (Chapter IX) to formulate the scents.

The scents

This edition of Yu Parfums entitled “Simply Significant” is themed around minimalist compositions which smell clean, inviting, and like different iterations of warm skin. The fragrances in this collection are all quite linear and all contain musks of some variety, which means that they will layer well. We found though that there was enough interest in these to also wear them alone, especially on days when you want an easy fragrance to accompany you.

Chapter VII

Listed notes: Aldambre, ozonic amber, metallic rose, ozonic notes, peppermint, musks, kashmir fusion, white patchouli, elixir fusion.

Chapter VII is the most surprising of the trio in this box. It was designed to evoke that first moment of attraction between two people, and the perfumer has represented this really well as the metallic charge of electricity. There is a crackle of energy as you first spray this from the faint metallic notes which aren’t over bearing at all. These are reinforced by a whisper of peppermint. What this called to mind for us was an impending summer storm when the light and ambient temperature dive for a moment before the lightning first sparks across the sky.

The combination of metallic, peppermint and ozonic notes are a really interesting way to open a scent. This is then folded into and embraced by much warmer woody white patchouli, kashmir fusion and other musks. The whole composition smells clean but exciting. It’s a fabulous scent to wear if you don’t want to smell like you are wearing very much at all, but want to enhance your own magnetism.

Chapter VIII

Listed notes: Ambrette seed, vanilla, musks, black pepper, white pepper, pepper fusion, kashmir fusion, olibanum, cedar fusion.

Whilst Chapter VII has a coolness to its cleanliness, Chapter VIII comes in with warmth and cosiness. An initial hit of black and white peppers starts the composition off with a delicious spiciness, this then gives way to a sweetly resonant vanilla and ambrette. A very delicate incense comes in towards the latter end of the composition, along with a faintly blond woodiness.

Whilst all the fragrances in this trio are unisex, this one in particular feels like it could be worn by anyone, and it balances sweetness with spiciness beautifully for a fragrance which is very gentle, and soothing in its tone.

Chapter IX

Listed notes: Tonka bean, warmed sand, powdery musks, saffron, cardamon, amber, blond wood.

Chapter IX completes the trio in this edition, and it is another incredibly wearable fragrance. When you spray Chapter IX on skin, a plume of spicy cardamon is the first thing to reach you, backed up by a leathery saffron. The spices are robust but not overbearing. These lead you through to a warm, mineral accord – presumably the warmed sand – but to me it smells almost a little papery. The dryness here is really pleasant, and continues as the fragrance ages into the sweetness of amber flecked with a sharper hint of blond woods. Throughout, the tonka bean runs chewy and languid, at times almost going a little like marzipan on the nose. Warm and dry are the overriding feelings that this fragrance leaves you with, a bit like the memory of sunshine from your holidays when you step back off the plan in drizzly ole Blighty!

The verdict

This is the third box released from Yu Parfums and although it’s easy to see why they didn’t launch with this first (given its subtlety and minimalism), it is one of their most versatile and appealing boxes to date, and one which we can imagine will win them followers. All these scents will wear very nicely but are different enough from normal high street scents that they will lure people over to the side of niche effectively. There is something really easy, really friendly and really relaxing about this trio. Wear them alone, layer them, they’re the sort of cosy, comforting scents we need now whilst we wait for vaccines and summer sunshine to lure us out of our safe places.

Another plus point to this box was the inclusion of three different perfumers (previous editions have only had two). This felt like you were getting an additional viewpoint and interpretation of the theme which we very much enjoyed. As always, the presentation was great, meaning the whole experience felt luxurious and inviting. If you are going to treat yourself to one thing this month then you could do a lot worse than plump for this little beauty from Yu Parfums – it’s a hug in a box.

The other stuff

We were very kindly given a sample box of Edition 3 by Yu Parfums, with no strings attached and no requirement to review, either positively or negatively.

Photos by The Sniff and Ina Hoekstra from Pixabay. 

Buy it

Yu Parfums are available from their web shop. If you buy them on a rolling basis, the cost is £40 per box, a six month contract will set you back £105 and a twelve month one is £190 – so considerable savings to be made for agreeing to be in it for the longer haul from the get go.

If you fall in love with a particular scent and decide to go for the full size bottle, these are priced at £120 for 100ml and again you can find these on their online store.