Jeff Theefs & Alex Cherne

We started Base Note because there was no service that gave us what we actually wanted — the luxury fragrances we already loved, in smaller vials, without buying a $500+ full bottle every time.

The two of us had the same problem, separately, before we started this. We each had four or five fragrances we wore in rotation: one for the boardroom, one for a date, one for a Saturday morning, one for the cold months. None of us wanted a single bottle that we wore everywhere for two years — the whole point of fragrance is that the right scent for the right moment is part of the moment. But buying four or five full bottles a year of luxury fragrances is $1,500–$2,500. That math does not work, even for people who can afford it. It is not the spend; it is that 75% of the bottle ends up sitting on a shelf.

The existing fragrance subscriptions did not solve this. The biggest one advertises $16.95 a month and then quietly charges $27–32 the minute you pick Creed Aventus — the exact luxury brand most people sign up to try. Customers call it a bait-and-switch. Its BBB rating is an F. The second biggest curates the box for you, which is great if you want a curator's opinion but useless if you already know which Tom Ford or Parfums de Marly you want to try this month.

We just wanted Creed at a fair price, in a 5 ml vial, for one month at a time. So we built it.

What Base Note actually is

One flat price, $20 a month. A 5 ml glass atomizer of the luxury fragrance you picked — Creed Aventus, Parfums de Marly Layton, Tom Ford Oud Wood, Xerjoff, Bond No. 9, Dior. No surcharges, ever. Skip or cancel in 15 seconds. We wrote the cancel flow ourselves; there is no retention-rep maze because we were not willing to build one.

We keep the catalog limited on purpose. Curation is how the flat price stays flat. 

Who runs Base Note

Jeff founded the company and runs day-to-day operations — product, sourcing, customer support, every email that comes back from hello@basenotescent.com.

Alex is the cofounder and works alongside Jeff on growth, brand, and the selection of fragrances — from the atomizer case to the way the cancel button actually works.

It is a small team running a small catalog with high-touch customer care. That is the only operational model that makes the flat-price-no-surcharge positioning honest at scale.

What we believe about subscription businesses

Customer trust erodes faster than any growth lever can outrun. Once "I cannot cancel" shows up in reviews, the clock is running. The companies with 10-year staying power all have the same boring trait — they do not trap customers. Every cancel button works. Every surcharge is disclosed up front. Every email is from a human who can actually help. That is the company we are trying to build for fragrance.

If Base Note is not the right service for you

If a different subscription fits your life better, we would rather you subscribe there than be a frustrated Base Note subscriber. We wrote an honest comparison of the whole category including where Base Note loses, and we mean every word of it. Either way, thanks for reading.

— Jeff & Alex