Stereoplasm - August 2020 Haul

today i wanted to share a heartwarming update about my recent july haul from Stereoplasm (in which i had ordered a six-piece sample set that was inadvertently left behind when my order was packed and shipped out).

on august 17, i wrote a quick email to let them know that not everything had made it in my order; imagine my surprise to receive a reply that same day to let me know that they would send a replacement over for free! i had been eyeing a few other scents from the new releases and thought that it was nice of them to have offered to ship the replacement together with anything else i wanted to pick up as well.

after i placed my order for the new scents on august 18 and dropped an email to let them know the order number for internal handling purposes, i received a shipping notification about 8 business days later on august 29, which was significantly quicker than their standard turnaround time of 14-18 business days.

fast forward about a week (one of the quickest international shipping times i've had from Canada so far), and... this appeared in my mailbox:

i like the super cute 'fragile' notice that they have on the box, and the Canada space stamps are so pretty; purple sticker courtesy of Singapore post handling too.

visuals aside, the first thing that went through my mind when i retrieved the box was "oh my goodness why is it so heavy?"

mentally, i was expecting something much lighter - to my mind the contents should have been merely seven 1.8ml samples and six 4.5ml bottles, but this... this was considerably hefty, and felt like it weighed at least double that.

all was revealed with the unboxing; this... this is definitely not seven samples plus six medium-sized bottles.

after i lifted the shredded crinkle paper to see all the large wrapped bottles beneath and opened the little white box to find even more samples cheerily grinning up at me, i was stunned for a good long while and it took some time before i could even begin to find the words to express how surprised and touched i was by Stereoplasm's generosity, professionalism and customer service.

i just can't get over how it's such a nice personal touch to receive a sachet of Canadian maple tea and maple candies tucked into my package, it's a lovely gesture that one almost never finds with buying from large companies, and a nice reminder that i was supporting a team of people who are genuinely passionate about their local products and culture.

it was also really sweet that they included a little box with a personalised thank-you note printed on the top and containing samples of the new mini collection The Secret of Time and Heaven:

• The Great Owl (Ancient amber, frankincense, bezoin and champaka in a hollow draped in thick cobwebs, glowing citronella and vetiver root).

• The Star Leaf (Morning dew, rich soil, nurturing chamomile, mossy stone, fresh herbs and all the star leaves you can eat).

• Enjoy Your Waffles (A welcoming breakfast of homemade waffles with plenty of maple syrup, coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Superseded by manipulative whispers from a garden of white daises, heliotrope and magnolia).

and the little box also contained two other freebie samples: 

• Nocturnal Light (Glowing red amber, star anise, mandrake accord, Egyptian tagetes and blue cypress) from the Declassified collection, and 

• an oldie but goodie, Temptress of the Ancients (Dried lavender, joshua tree, hanging gardens, magnolia champaca, camphor and fresh fig).

in terms of my actual order, a closer inspection of the beautifully-wrapped bottles against the light reveals that the seven bottles on the top two rows were supposed to be the missing six Chiptunes samples plus the Potted Chiptunia sample i had picked up from their clearance sale.

i ordered these in 1.8ml samples.. and it turns out i received 4.5ml bottles of all of them wow.

the silver and black bottles on the next row are my three Declassified scents, and the colourful ones below those are the 4.5ml bottles of Bombus pensylvanicus and two other scents from the clearance sale. i also received the two monthly animal scents for august (which were adorably wrapped to look like beautiful candies).

the kindness and generosity here from the team was far beyond anything i had ever expected, and i was so grateful to them for it. now, some would say that it's only par for the course that the brand would ship the missing items over for free, which i would agree with; though they went so much above and beyond to have upsized all the samples i had ordered. 

from my experience with them, i don't think that this was contrived at all or some sort of elaborate social media marketing plan (anyway, it's not like there are that many people who are reading my posts haha) - Meaghan and Norah from the Stereoplasm team are really two genuinely nice and sweet people who sincerely delight in sharing their creative talent with the world and in bringing that joy to their customers' faces, whether in finding little freebies or candy or pretty packaging. i'm so touched by their thoughtfulness, and glad to be able to support them in trying all these new scents.

from the Chiptunes collection, my six (upsized) samples plus another upsized purchase from the clearance sale:

• Sensation Vulgaris (jasmine/lilac/skin musk/sage/white pepper) - Intoxicating night-blooming shrub, traditionally oil-pressed in herbs and musk (a local hybrid that blooms every year during the true love festival).

• Mayflower Fleece (spun sugar/light chamomile/candied ginger/earl grey) - fluffy orange clouds of sweet and zesty mayflower fleece (the official treat of the Mayweed Festival).

• Wild Mayweed (dew/chamomile/cotton/root & soil) - A bundle of dewy, wild mayweed wrapped in a clean cotton cloth (Root Intact).

• Toasted Matchimellow (matcha/mimosa/cream/toasted marshmallow/humidity) - Bright green ice cream baked inside marshmallow meringue (usually found during summer months in cafe midi).

• Sand Euspira (sea salt/dried sea weed/ocean/shell accord) - Small, extremely fragile blue and white shell, fresh and salty-aquatic! (often found on Bearclaw Beach).

• Enchanted Dew Drop (dew/jade/light smoke/stone moss) - A glowing vial containing healing dew from the misty peak of treacherous Mount Eumedes (will appear in rain during spring equinox if an acceptable offering of fire is made).

• Potted Chiptunia (petunia/leaf/fresh soil/clay/static) - A refreshing, inhibiting flower, grown and engineered in Chiptown. Be sure to follow the local traditional custom of telling it your fears and secrets (a non-negotiable gift from the town of Chiptown to all new and current residents).

below these are the three scents which interested me most from the new Declassified collection:

• Autokinesis (Blueberry ozone, wild ravensara, crushed daisies, silver fir and phenolic cat nip).

• Probably Balloons (Uranium, tobacco fields, sunset musk, splintered teak, geranium and doll's eye).

• Missing Time (White thyme, dalmatian sage, burnt sweet birch, rosalina, belladonna petals and petitgrain).

and at the side, two other sweet scents from the clearance sale:

• Kindling (Sweet jasmine incense, sunset musk, fresh sativa and strawberry wine).

• Pêche Immortelle (Saturn peach and aged cognac enclosed in humid jade glass, unearthed after midnight alongside dewy blooms of star jasmine and clary sage).

last but not least, there were three monthly animals in this set - two of which were the mystery animals included with all orders in august, and one of which was an add-on purchase to my order:

• Hippopotamus (Crushed white ginger tea leaves, juicy pineapple, plumeria, a whole watermelon and light sunscreen).

• Leo (Lion) (Tall bana grass, snapping alligator pepper, fever tree, discarded snake skin, oleander and warm fur).

• and a bottle of an oldie but goodie that i just had to snag while it was available as a charity scent - the monthly animal for june 2019 Bombus pensylvanicus (American Bumblebee) (Foxglove nectar, red clover, dusty pollen and a hint of spiced honey).

saving the best for last, my favourite photo of the whole unboxing experience.

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this review is of products that i had purchased at regular price with my own money, save for the specific products which were gifts as disclosed above. i wasn’t asked to review this as a condition of receipt and didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with Stereoplasm, and as always, all opinions remain my own.

Stereoplasm's catalogue is available here. prices are CAD $6.50 (about US$4.90) for a 1.8ml bottle, CAD $16.50 (about US$12.44) for a 4.5ml bottle and CAD $26.50 (about US$20) for a 7.5ml bottle (before shipping).

all information correct at time of publishing.