The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
November 2019 comes from a small Capsule Collection released by Scent Trunk. The Toronto-based brand launched in 2019, and this particular edition marked one of its earliest commercial offerings. Independent perfumer Tyler Monk created Pennyroyal, which went on to become a finalist for the 2020 Art & Olfaction Awards. The fragrance draws its name from Spanish pennyroyal, a mint-family herb that carries a dusty, herbal character quite distinct from the sharper cooling notes most people associate with mint. The composition leans into the cold-weather mood of the season it was bottled in, layering green and resinous materials in a way that reads like a walk through evergreens rather than a traditional autumn accord.
The note list is unusual because it refuses to settle. Pennyroyal and mint share the same botanical family but pull in opposite directions: one is dusty and herbal, the other sharp and cooling. Layering them with carrot seed and anise doubles down on the spicy-green territory, creating a tension between cool aromatic herbs and warmer seed notes that keeps the composition restless. Oud and labdanum arrive not as anchors but as quiet arguments underneath, a resinous foundation that grounds the green sharpness without smoothing it over.
The evolution
The opening is cold and immediate. Pennyroyal, Spanish pennyroyal, mint, and orange hit the skin like stepping outside on a day that hasn't decided what it wants to be. There's fir resin in there too, green and sappy, and the whole thing reads as fresh-cut wood rather than any literal tree. Thirty minutes in, the warmth starts pushing back. Anise softens the mint's edge, rounding out the sharper cooling notes with something sweeter and more rounded. Carrot seed adds an earthy sweetness that most people register as woody without knowing why. Tobacco shows up quietly, contributing a dry leafy quality. Chestnut, too, giving the heart a roasted, almost edible quality that nobody asked for but everyone notices. The base is where it commits. Oud and labdanum settle in alongside fir and tobacco, and the drydown persists well into the next day on skin.
Cultural impact
Pennyroyal was a finalist for the 2020 Art & Olfaction Awards, marking an early milestone for the perfumer and giving the Capsule Collection visibility within the awards circuit. The recognition placed the composition alongside other indie and independent finalists, situating it within a broader conversation about small-batch perfumery and the materials being explored outside the mainstream houses. For those who encountered it at launch, the fragrance has become a reference point for what a green-woody composition can achieve when botanical materials are allowed to dominate the structure.
The House
Scent TrunkScent Trunk is a subscription-based fragrance house that commissions original editions from indie perfumers. Founded in 2015, the company operates from Scotts Valley, California, and focuses on making niche perfumery accessible through a monthly subscription model. The platform works directly with independent perfumers to create limited-edition fragrances that are distributed to subscribers in travel-friendly formats. Their collection includes a range of conceptually-driven scents spanning gourmand, woody, and floral categories, with releases including Gurjun Balsam, Black Hemlock, Moon Jasmine, Stroopwafel, and Simmer Dim across recent years.
The Creator
Tyler MonkMonk gravitates toward compositions that feel lived-in rather than loud. Reviewers describe his signatures as comforting skin scents with a spark of interest, the kind of fragrances that settle close to the body and reveal themselves slowly.
