I wanted to let my international readers know about a new option that they have when they want to sample or buy a fragrance. Twisted Lily is a boutique in Brooklyn, New York that you may not be aware of and which carries a wonderful selection of niche fragrances that they ship world-wide. A good number of Twisted Lily’s offerings are perfume houses not carried by Luckyscent, so I thought I’d give you a quick overview of the store and why some readers (especially those outside of Europe) might want to explore the website for themselves.
Twisted Lily. Source: populayer.com
Their range is truly impressive. They have the big or popular houses like Amouage, Xerjoff, Etat Libre d’Orange, Nasomatto, Mona di Orio, Montale, and Serge Lutens (including the brand new L’Orpheline that I just reviewed). However, they also carry mid-sized houses like Carner Barcelona, Arquiste, Andy Tauer, or the luxurious Grossmith, along with a lot of small American, European, or indie brands that you would never find at Luckyscent. For example, Slumberhouse, Charenton Macerations (whose Christopher Street I reviewed recently), Maria Candida Gentile, or Imaginary Authors.
Source: Fragrantica
Their full list of brands is too extensive to cite in full, but some of the others that they carry are:
- A Lab on Fire
- Andrea Maack
- Eau d’Italie
- Ex Idolo
- House of Matriarch
- Jardins d’Ecrivains
- Lorenzo Villoresi
- Maison Dorin
- M. Micallef
- Masque Milano/ Masque Fragranze
- Memoires Liquides
- Rouge Bunny Rouge
- Ramon Monegal
- Olfactive Studios
- Tommi Sooni
- Providence Perfume Company
- CB I Hate Perfume
- Jaboneria Marianella
- Smell Bent
- Sheswai
- Au Pays de La Fleur d’Oranger
Photo: Thatcher Keats via the Twisted Lily website.
Twisted Lily ships to 40 different countries, which is something that many of you may not know. The original reason for today’s post is that the boutique is offering Free Global Shipping for a very limited time on all orders over $250 with the special code: SMELLGOOD. This offer ends on August 15th.
Now, $250 may be a lot, but it seemed like a good time to highlight the site as a whole as another possible option for international readers, especially for brands not carried at Luckyscent. In addition, Twisted Lily has home fragrances, beauty products, men’s grooming aids, skin care, and other items that you may be interested in as well.
Much more importantly, though, Twisted Lily has about eight different Sample Discovery Sets that many of you might find useful. For example, there are two different customizable ones where you pick fragrances of your choice in either quantities of 5 or 10 for either $18 or $36. Other sets include: one limited solely to American perfume houses; sets with a particular theme (“Hot for Summer”); or sets that focus on a single brand (like Maria Candida Gentile, for example, a house that I will soon be covering in some depth). Twisted Lily also offers a brand’s own sample sets, like Amouage‘s men, women’s, gift, and mini sets.
I’ve actually ordered one of the Twisted Lily Custom Sample sets myself in the past. I was extremely happy with the very fast service and shipping, as well as with the handful of free, extra samples that they included. Some of the samples in my order ended up being manufacturer ones, so they were much larger than the usual 0.7 ml that you might get elsewhere and were spray vials, too. In general, you receive complimentary samples with each order, though the number depends on the size of your order, just as it does at many places.
Photo: Stephania Stanley for DailyCandy.
So, let’s talking about the countries to which they ship. Some of my international readers are in the UAE, Oman, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, or Eastern Europe. Twisted Lily ships to all of those. In fact, it ships from Romania and Croatia to South Africa, Bermuda, Canada and Chile, with lots of points in between. You can click on their Shipping Section for the full list to see if your country is included, but they’ve said that you can send an email to them if it is not in order to ask what options there may be. If they ship to Chile, I can’t see why Brazil (to give one name omitted off the list) would be so much more complicated.
Their pricing for international shipping varies. It’s not too bad for samples, but it obviously becomes more if you’re going to be buying a bottle of perfume. The specifics:
- Canada US Post Standard: $10.00
- Canada US Post Priority: $35.00
- Canada UPS Ground (Brokerage Fees will apply): $25.00
- International US Post – Samples ONLY: $10.00
- International US Post Priority – Samples ONLY: $25.00
- International US Post Priority: $40.00
- International US Post Express: $55.00.
Payment is accepted via the usual credit cards, but also PayPal.
In short, if you’ve ever read one of my reviews and felt frustrated that the brand was not carried in your country or available for sampling from the usual retailers (whether European or Luckyscent), you may want to give Twisted Lily a look.
Dearest Kafka, you did your readers a great service by telling them about this promotion (although their wallet may not be so happy). I visited for the first time this past Saturday and it was fabulous. It is light and airy and inviting. If you don’t see a brand or a particular perfume on display, one should ask Eric the owner to find out if he has it because it may be in a drawer, in the back or in storage somewhere. On the brands, Twisted Lily also carries Tauer Perfumes and Penhaligon’s.
Heh, I first read your comment as a joking, teasing: “you did your readers a great disservice by telling them about this promotion,” and laughed. Precisely because of the wallet issue. Heh. 😀 Yes, Twisted Lily also carries Tauer and Penhaligons, amongst the many others. 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed yourself at the store. All my NY friends who have been to the shop love it, and rave about it. So, did you try anything that tempted you, or that you succumbed to fully? If so, do tell.
BTW, there is a teeny, tiny (probably unlikely) off-chance that I may be in NYC in November. In which case, we’re SO having brunch, you, me, and Baconbiscuit! Naturally, with a visit to Twisted Lily to follow. At that point in time, I will expect my much-promised t-shirt from you, “I’m a Sandalwood snob.” Or perhaps the one about ISO E Supercrappy. *grin* 😉 😉
HECK YEAH!!!!!
I will, in your honor, really overspray. Hard 🙂
Heh. 😀 😀 😀 I really hope it works out so that we can hang out. I know it would be a day to remember!
It will be epic!!!!!!
(Hajusuuri tells me that I am much more vulgar in person…)
I will email you this week because I’d appreciate some hotel recommendations downtown. The UES is my usual stomping grounds, but too far from where I would need to be this time around. I don’t know the downtown area well at all, since I almost never went even when I lived in NYC, so I’ll email you when I finally manage to come up for air. It’s been a hectic few days. xoxox
Np! Love my town and always up for helping people figure out plans. I actually thought about seeing if I could be one of those walking tour guides today. I don’t mind walking backwards . . . but then I thought it would suck to walk backwards into dog poop or vomit. Um… welcome downtown!!!!!
My dear baconbiscuit, you must have misheard. I did not use the v-word; I clearly used the B-word, several times, and people were looking at us funny and giving us a wide-berth. Oh I LOVE NY!
This just gets funnier and funnier. Maybe I should get some popcorn? 😉 😀
Haha – in addition to being a super writer / blogger / perfume nose, you can also read minds! I was originally thought of using “(dis)service” but decided it’s Monday morning and I should behave!
I ended up getting Tauer Cologne de Maghreb although I was tempted by L’Orpheline and the Arquiste Architect Club.
November! Well well well, we definitely will have a get-together, my dear! I’m staying local! Squeal!
This is such a coincidence. I just put myself on their mailing list yesterday when I ordered an Imaginary Authors.
A wonderful coincidence. 🙂 I hope you find more loves worth ordering in the months to come.
Thank you so much for the information! I will add this website to my list of sites that carry niches and send samples. I’d love to visit the store as well. It looks so light and airy and calming.
You’re very welcome, my dear. And I’m totally with you on how wonderfully light and airy it looks. For me, that makes such a huge difference in my shopping experience. Plus, I hear again and again that all the sales staff and owners are absolute joys to deal with. Hopefully, one day, we can visit the store for ourselves. 🙂
Thanks for the link to Twisted Lily! Their sample sets sound tempting – Slumberhouse, Charenton Macerations or CB I Hate Perfume are brands not available in Berlin (or via First in Fragrance), so I’ll probably try their service.
Oh, and those colourful pictures of the store are wonderful, I would like to spend a couple of hours in there.
Doesn’t it look wonderfully light and bright? And those perfume bottles in the cool, unusual shapes/colours have really piqued my curiosity! As for the sample service, I’m extremely happy that you found them tempting. I didn’t know or had forgotten that First in Fragrance didn’t have CB I Hate Perfume. Hopefully, you will find a few other houses on their full, complete Brand page that would otherwise be unavailable to you, too.
Hello Anka,
As Germany does not appear on their shipping list, have you got into touch with them vial e-mail? Would they actually send samples here?
Best regards
Petra
I was surprised by a few of the omissions from the list of countries. Specifically, Germany and Russia. I know some eBay sellers don’t include Germany, but Russia seemed unusual. As was the fact that Chile was okay, but Brazil seemed problematic? I would have thought that both had equally difficult customs issues, but perhaps it’s something else.
I have to say, I hope that they may change things in individual cases if one sends them an email, and that they might consider Germany. I think Twisted Lily has some brands that you would enjoy exploring, dear Petra.
Hi Petra,
Mist, I overlooked that they don’t ship to Germany…these discovery sets had me distracted, I guess!
Hello Anka,
Leider ganz großer Mist, as usual.
There’s one US online perfume seller who states: we don’t ship to Italy, Germany and Pakistan.
So in order to reply to you, dear Kafka:
There’s some stuff I would very much like to try.
Their not shipping certainly has to do with German customs who are simply terrible.
I know what I am talking about: traceable parcels lying around in Frankfurt for up to three weeks, letters telling you you have to go and get your shipments at the next customs office, which is 20 km away and boasts the weirdest opening hours and personnel.
In order to “bail” your parcels “out” you have to lay open your account statements as a proof the invoice has not been faked etc etc
Probably some customers have lost their nerves during this process asking their money back from sellers or complaining to them about import duties and taxes.
Hello Anka again:
CB I hate perfume is for sale in Germany at no0815.com
and at escentual.com in the UK (they ship here). No sampling, though. Maybe you know already.
Best regards
Petra
Hi Petra,
no, I haven’t heard of no0815 yet, thanks for the tip!
Oh dear, the German customs situation sounds positively…. Kafkaesque. (Sorry, so sorry, but it was really hard to resist! lol 😉 ). The details you’ve given are far more arduous than what I had heard before, so now I understand the eBay sellers even more. I had to laugh, though, at your “bail” your parcels “out” [of jail] bit. Heh. Very funny.
This is SUCH a great store, and I am so happy to see you spreading the news about it! I just went in there for the first time last month (drawn by the smell, which made the whole street enchanting) and the sales assistant I had was a complete delight. I’m glad that they’ve decided to include international shipping so everyone can have a piece of that experience. 🙂
I’m really happy that they have such a wide International Shipping scope as well, particularly because it fills the void left by Luckyscent not carrying some brands. As for your delightful sales assistant, I’m so glad to hear you echo what so many others say as well. Actually, people rave about the owners as well the lovely Ginger Partington. The whole shopping experience seems to be a positive, enjoyable one.