Brand Snack: Serviette (A Giveaway!)

I tested all four Serviette perfumes and unfortunately, I love every single one

Snacks are short-form, midweek drops featuring brands I just discovered, shops I stumbled onto, artists I think you’ll love… little odes to the things I find that I’m sending straight over to you.

This week’s Brand Snack is Serviette, a fragrance brand doing something truly exciting in the scent space, the brand space, and my personal space (because I’ve become a superfan). In fact, I love Serviette so much, I’m willing to tackle a creative challenge I tend to avoid: writing about scents.

(Read to the end for a giveaway!)

Serviette was founded in 2024 by Canadian-born, NYC-based perfumer Trey Taylor, a former editor at Dazed, Interview, Fantastic Man, and The Face, who found himself asking some big questions around identity, cultural currency, and the intricacies of “good taste.”

“I started this brand to explore the idea of taste and how scent can be part of that conversation,” Trey says in a video on the Serviette Instagram. “I kept circling the same questions: What is ‘good’ taste, and how do we shape our personal taste?”

Via Studio Select

“Serviette was originally identified by an academic linguist as ‘non-U’—that is, indicating a social dialect belonging to the upwardly mobile middle class—in contrast to napkin, which was ‘U,’ indicating a social dialect belonging to the existing upper class,” Trey shared with me via email. “The name ‘Serviette’ is no longer merely a term for a fancy napkin—one still widely used in Canada, a nod to my personal background—but a symbolic representation of a pivotal moment in mid-20th-century British society, where the desire for upward mobility ignited a cultural shift in language and behavior. My aim is to offer inspiration through world-building to bolster one’s cultural references and question accepted signals of ‘good’ taste.”

Serviette’s debut collection is a quartet of four truly unique fragrances that I have worn on rotation since the brand’s discovery set made its way to my vanity. I typically gravitate toward masculine, woody, stolen-from-a-cardigan-wearing-grandpa scents like tobacco, leather, and vanilla, and rarely do I stray from my go-tos (Santa Maria Novella’s Tabacco Toscano, Régime des Fleurs' Falling Trees, and Xinú’s No. 2). But when I read Serviette’s descriptions of each of their scents (and then later, my friend

Christina Loff

’s recap of her own experience with them,) my curiosity got the best of me.

Via Ryan Duffin

Let’s start with Byronic Hero, the first scent of Serviette’s I tried and the one I guessed I’d like the best. At first spritz, I was instantly transported to my early 20s, an era in which I had little-to-no responsibilities and exclusively wore Chloé’s Eau de Parfum. Byronic Hero is Chloé’s spicier, more serious older brother—a rose garden with a whiff of saffron and clove in the air. It triggered such a visceral nostalgia for me that I instantly added the full size to my cart, sure that this was the one.

Frisson D’Hiver was next, a lovely floral, citrussy orange blossom scent. At first, it seemed too pretty for me—like it was meant for someone who is always in a good mood (which I am not). But the orange blossom was followed up by an icy, crisp coolness I wasn’t expecting (the hiver, of course), and the scent dried down into a warm vanilla that very much does feel like me. It sort of reminds me of a fancy, not-too-sweet Creamsicle. I guess I’ll add this one to my cart, too.

Next up was Ruche, a scent of fresh flowers and raspberry cobbler and breakfast in the garden. I didn’t think I’d like this—never have I voluntarily worn a fruit-forward scent, even in my youth. As I’m sure you can guess, though, Ruche surprised me too! It’s very fresh and light, not sweet, and even a little warm, like it’s been in the sun. To me, it smells like July. I’m going to continue testing this one, but damn… we’re three for three.

Last was Sour Diesel, the one I was most skeptical about. At this point, the brand had mostly earned my trust, but when I sprayed this on my wrist, my brain completely fritzed out. It was sour. It was diesel. It was one of the odder scents to ever touch my body. Did I like it? Did I hate it? I let it dry down before I made my final call, and I’m glad I did—because what emerged was a musky floral scent I genuinely love. It’s a little peppery, a little kushy, and not at all gas station-y, which is what I was afraid of smelling like. Believe it or not, this is what I’ve worn the most this week.

My final verdict: They’re all nuanced and transportive, and I’m still torn between, well, all of them. I’m really impressed with everything Trey is doing—from the tiny embroidered napkins that come with Serviette’s Discovery Set to the design of the packaging to the editorial photography and beyond. I think we’re all susceptible to and also skeptical of design-forward brands that make luxury goods, because really, how realistic is it that a brand could do it all? But Serviette has managed to, and I’m really excited to see how their world continues to grow.

Serviette has generously offered to gift one À La Carte reader a full-sized bottle of the scent of their choosing. In order to enter, you must:

1. Subscribe to À La Carte (free or paid!)

2. Like this post and leave a comment sharing the Serviette scent you’re most intrigued by (link at the bottom of this newsletter)

3. Subscribe to Serviette’s newsletter

Paid À La Carte subscribers who enter will automatically get two entries, doubling their chances of winning. We will randomly choose a winner on July 9th at 12 p.m. PST and will contact them via the email address through which they are subscribed to À La Carte.

Follow Serviette on Instagram here and take a peek at the site here.

I hope you win!

x

Ali

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