Ellis Brooklyn Sci Fi Review

An intriguing, otherworldly blend of green tea, pink freesia, bitter orange and vanilla beans.

My first reaction was that there’s a dessert that smells just like Sci Fi. A cookie. A Girl Scout cookie? The lemon ones? My third favorite cookie to the OG Samoas and Thin Mints. Let me look them up real quick. Lemonades, ah.

Yeah, those.

Read More

Cheap Fragrances Review – Amazon Edition

Now that I’ve graduated school and have a job, you would think I would be less broke but that assumption is incorrect. Being a hedonist in a city is quite the balancing act, though I think I’ve been balancing it well, and my business school education definitely comes in handy when it comes to budgeting and restraint.

Because of my limited spending money, I think it’s worth taking the time to troll grey market sites and second-hand stores for gems. This time around, I stumbled around on Amazon and ended up picking out three that I thought would be diamonds in the rough.

IMG_20160418_205630271-01.jpeg Read More

Tocca Reviews: Stella & Florence

I just have to say that the samples I got from Tocca are just so, so clean. I know I mentioned it earlier, but I just wanted to drive that point in.

Tocca is great for people who aren’t really into perfume per say, but enjoy their hand soaps and shampoos (as opposed to Philosophy users who aren’t really into perfume but enjoy their hand creams and desserts.)

And on continues the reviews!


Read More

Tocca Reviews: Giulietta & Violette

Tocca is a brand that tries to embody an old world aesthetic and feminine sensibility. With its simple round bottle and traditional “perfume-y” notes, I can see its point, though it lacks some of the dirtiness I associate with a lot of old world perfume.

At their price point, this would be a great gift for someone starting out in fragrance who is perhaps a little too old for Bath & Bodyworks, cringes at the department store stuff, and values light and dainty things. The packaging, and the whole sweet and ethereal floral and fruity deal, is obviously staunchly on the girly-feminine side of things, but if that’s what you prefer, go for it!

These will be in installments of 3 so that my posts don’t stretch on.

Read More

ZOMGSmells: Dr. Zomg’s Fulminator Argentine review

Just got my ZOMGSmells package of 2ml bottles of Spice Hypatia and Vory vs. Zarkony; two of my absolute favorite scents of theirs! But this post is not about those, no sirree. Holly and Ariel also included three squees I haven’t tried and I’m really excited to try them!

Dr. Zomg’s Fulminator Argentine
Squee 1
Wet: nutmeg, clove, cardamom, pepper, orange, myrrh,
Dry-down: sage, candied violet, orange, myrrh, sage
From afar: nutmeg, clove, cardamom, orange
Longevity: This is an essential oil mix so it’s going to last quite some time just on principle.

I really like how it starts out. Really spicy and rich with a lift from the orange and a powdered sugar type sweetness from the myrrh. I didn’t get any sage, though I would have wanted to. It’s fairly sweet and tasty at this point and I would probably wear it to class.

I didn’t quite enjoy how it dried and ended. It lost the majority of its deeper cardamom qualities and the cardamom’s settled to a base note with the myrrh and orange on top and it creates this fake grape smell that I don’t really enjoy. At one point the sage pops up and makes the fake grape scent a little more interesting, but for the most part, all I can smell is Sweet Tarts ground into a powder. Although strangely, this is only when I push my nose up close.

From a distance, the cardamom and orange reign over the other spices and is back at the balance I liked. Though as it fades again, it reverts back to fake grape. What is this sorcery??

Overall an interesting scent. I would have considered wearing it to class at the beginning, but it’s too sweet and powdery for me. It’s a fun and sweet scent, and candy fiends who are into pressed sugar candy would probably enjoy it a lot 😀