Chris Collins Sweet Taboo Review
Does anyone else have childhood memories of eating raw green olives? I feel like even other Chinese kids with Chinese childhoods don’t recall eating green olives.
Read Moreperfumes
Ellis Brooklyn Rrose Review
A sparkling combination of Centifolia rose petals and Sicilian lemon over vanilla orchid and spring musks.
I think I understand the desire to make the title this clever nod to the star of the fragrance, but I wish they had just called this one “Prose” like they clearly were planning to, and I’m definitely going to just call it “Prose” when I talk about it aloud.
Although to be completely honest, my first idea as an alternative was “Prosé” as in rosé, so clearly the weird, mid-20s functioning alcoholic Bath and Body Works-bred nature of my brain isn’t really equipped to judge.
1989* Mitsouko
Update: Someone has since informed me that the box is only indicative of the box design year and helped me figure out that this is actually a 1989 bottle using this website! Thanks!
Because I’m the luckiest woman alive, Mr. Chokkattu gave this pale, pasty, stressed-out version of me 1983 Mitsouko Eau de Parfum.
Cute little 7.5 mL bottle!
1983 on the box!
Inner box; so pretty!
The lovely golden outer shell!
I’ll post a review when I feel like I’m dying less, but if I am unable to convey my excitement given my current state of exhaustion, know that I am close to crying.
If you want to learn more about Mr. Chokkattu, he also has a blog, plus I have a whole post about him during our time in Iceland.
I love him I love him I love him.
Scent Trunk Box Review!
A fellow smelly had done a review of what they got from the baby company (May 2014!) Scent Trunk in a Youtube video a few weeks back, so I decided I’d try it out! I’m a sucker for the niche and the indie, and I was excited when the box got here so quickly after only about a week’s time. My referral code is 8522, or you can click here to sign up.
I did have a few technical difficulties regarding the site, but their customer service (aka Will Yin, who is also CEO; love that entrepreneurship) cleaned that up quickly, and I can see that they’re still going through a few design transitions, which doesn’t bother me at all. I kind of feel like they sent me the regular starter pack though; two of the fragrances sent to me were on their back-to-school blog post, and while that is admittedly my demographic, it’s not as though this was my first foray into niche fragrance. (I’m about to get to reviewing the glut of Imaginary Authors samples I have by the way!) But I mean, it’s not as if they knew that, and I haven’t tried any of the brands they sent, so that’s definitely a plus.
They did send Mr. Chokkattu almost explicitly feminine and floral scents though he ordered unisex and I helped him move his sliders to where we thought we’d get something in his ballpark of woody and oriental, so that was rather strange.
However, I’m holding on until the next box at least! Hopefully it works out a little better. On to the reviews!
Ineke A-H: Hothouse Flower
And the end of the Ineke reviews is here! I especially enjoyed the last three letters of her alphabet, but I admire her talent and ability and can’t wait to take a peek into her Floral Curiosities collection. Florals are absolutely my cup of tea, and I’m sure she’s done as lovely a job at creating those as she did her alphabetical collection.
Yuriko Nakamura’s Winter Romance
Hothouse Flower
Wet: violets, bubblegum, fig, banana
Dry: gardenia, violet, fig, bergamot, wood, banana cream
Whoever enjoy this scent probably takes their tea with cream, as the florals in it are backed by a definite creaminess and richness atop a little table of natural wood. This is a light, sweet scent, the lightest I think, of all of the selections in my little box, but bright and lush, with a scent similar to a ripe fruit. I think it’s a ripe banana, personally, but a ripe banana that’s still on its vine in someone’s garden somewhere foreign to me surrounded by other flourishing plants and you can still smell the tree on the fruits after you pick them, not the ultra-sweet piece of fruit someone’s been allowing to languish on a counter somewhere. It’s really very lovely and unobtrusive in a way all of the other scents besides Derring-Do have been. I would love to smell this scent on someone shy, as I think a fragrance like this garners quiet notice and, just like the smell itself grows on me as I wear it, indicates someone worth getting to know. This person may wear glasses, but they definitely wear cardigans and keep their arms close to their body.
Ineke A-H: Gilded Lily
Something light and happy, full orchestra!
Danny Elfman’s Sandra’s Theme from Big Fish
Gilded Lily
Wet: oregano, violet, lily, oakmoss, patchouli
Dry: lily, honey, oregano, citrus, oakmoss, powdery resin
This smells as though someone took an enormous amount of lilies and buried them in a stone garden and was immediately set on fire, and the scent is that moment as everything becomes really hot but nothing is smoking yet. It’s a very, very fleeting moment that is now preserved in my imagination by scent. The lilies are rooted in the stick labdanum and oakmoss and while it gives a nice, warm floral feeling, I really wish there was a little more dirt to round it out and make this the organic scent I was hoping this would turn into. This scent is sweet and fragrant and a little flirty, but I don’t find it sexy. This is more for the girl next door who wears fuzzy pastel sweaters and greets everyone with an enthusiastic “Hi!” Pretty, cute, and light-hearted.
Ineke A-H: Field Notes From Paris
Piano as an accompaniment to string today! I think I first heard this song when I was 16, though I don’t quite remember why. I try not to question discoveries of beauty.
Norihiro Tsuro’s Last Carnival, from the Acoustic Cafe album
Field Notes From Paris
Wet: lavender, coriander, citrus, leather, wood
Dry: coriander, lavender, tobacco flower, patchouli, cedar, tonka bean, lime, maybe a little rosemary
This is my new sexy scent, directly in competition with all of the jasmine I adore. It’s incredibly delightful: deep, dark, and warm, as well as complex. It moves in a swirl like a gust of warm wind, something absolutely welcome in this frigid cold. Strangely, it’s the herbs, the coriander and the bit of rosemary I get that reminds me most of the coffee implied in the description, though the tobacco comes through and keeps the fragrance warm. I love that its sweetness is wholly tempered, and it gives it depth and dimension that I don’t normally come across. It reminds me of bedroom eyes on an attractive person, or simply a person you’re in love with, as love automatically makes them beautiful.
I wear this personally, and I think this is a scent that benefits from a little dancing and sweat, but it’s a beautiful scent and I can see it on a guy who isn’t afraid to wear purple, and is trained in some art or another, which he pursues with passion.
Zoologist Perfumes: Panda
Panda! My favorite. Or, kind of. I like wearing this one, but Rhinoceros is much more my speed in terms of mates. Pheromones! Eheh.
Zoologist Perfumes
Panda
Wet: broken fresh bamboo, wet leaves, cedar, lilies, musk
Dry: wet leaves, cedar, sugarcane, water, musk, osmanthus, lilies, sandalwood, citrus
It reminds me of Black March at the beginning, but becomes way more assertive and green. It reminds me of what nature-purified water smells like. Like the stuff a high school friend used to bring down from Lake George, which she was in love with, and made us drink to prove to us the purity of the water year after year. Watery, green, hits the back of the throat the way a fresh-water aquarium does. Slightly sweet. It reminds me of biology, but much more pleasant; more happily catching tadpoles with classmates than coming back after Thanksgiving break to find that your Ph.D Animal Behavior teacher is a high school teacher for a reason (seriously, he could have at least read up about it on the internet before killing like three quarters of them by accident.)
Zoologist Perfumes Review: Rhinoceros
I apologize in advance. This one ends a little weird.
Zoologist Perfumes
Rhinoceros
Wet: leather, tobacco, rum
Dry: leather, sage, vetiver, smoke, oud, ginger
I kind of want to bite my arm now. Something about the bitterness of it taps the back of my throat and makes my mouth water. It doesn’t even necessarily smell like it would taste good. I just want to taste it. The rum at the beginning was sharp and obvious, and it left quickly, which is good because I wasn’t trying to smell like an alcoholic, though it was interesting while it was there. Now it smells like new leather, not broken in yet. It’s definitely a hot, shimmering smell, but I can’t identify any of the flowers or the sweet sandalwood so much as they add the shimmering dimension, I think. It makes me feel the way oppressing heat does. I still want to eat my arm. Okay I kissed it. I’m now mildly turned on and my lips taste like soap. And I totally get the flowers now.
At this point I sprayed my arms with Demeter’s Beeswax and gave them a scrub as to smell less like I was in a threesome and more like I’m a weird scent lady. The consequences of which are much less harsh, as my roommates will then only rib me for being obsessive and not grill me on whom I slept with while they were out of the room. Beaver takes it on, while Rhinoceros absolutely swallows it. This is probably because Beaver was on my skin longer, as I did the reviews two hours apart. The Beeswax kills the castoreum and cleans up the scent a ton. Rhinoceros isn’t affected in the least. I think maybe the floral pokes its head out a tiny bit more, but I could just be imagining it.
Zoologist Perfumes Review: Beaver
Zoologist Perfumes
Beaver
Wet: water, musk, cedar, gasoline
Dry: water, lemon (probably the linden-blossom, which apparently smells like honey, which smells like sugared lemons to me), iris, leather, musk, cedar
In human behavior, a down-turned wrist is a secret untold and a sign of defiance, and an upturned wrist is surrender and vulnerability. When my wrist is turned up towards my face, the scent opens up and I get a lot of floral and cedar chips floating on the water. When I turn my wrist around, the water, musk, and leather are what dominates. The castoreum is very apparent, which is fun, and it’s definitely not a super clean scent. I regret putting it on my clean wrist, and not going out to find someone sweaty at the gym to put it on. It could make B.O make sense.
Pomelo girl thoughts 