Testing the Temu Perfume

This is going to be a different sort of perfume review. I don’t know if any of you have heard of TEMU. It is a discount website like Wish. They have just a little bit of everything and it seems like every time I turn around there are ads for them cropping up. I have even seen several people doing TEMU Hauls lately.

I have ordered things from them periodically, mostly bulk beading supplies. (I tend to do beadwork in my spare time). However I recently branched out to try a few things. (one thing I picked up and am starting to play around with is the Cordless automatic curler, but more on that in a future post).

While I was poking around I came across this Warm Kiss Perfume. If if has a brand name on it then it is in one of the non-English sections of description, so we are just going to call it Warm Kiss.

Now some of you may be thinking, okay, others may be looing at this and be thinking, that looks vaguely familiar although with a few bits erased. Yeah, that’s why it caught my eye. One of my all time favorite perfumes is Mon Paris by Yves Saint Laurent.

If you look to the left you will see a mini of this perfume and it’s box. The bottle did have a velvet bow but I have since removed it. I have also used all but a tiny little bit of this scent. I will be purchasing the full sized bottle from YSL soon as this is one of my favorite perfumes and one I always want to keep around.

But I couldn’t resist a comparison.

The YSL box is clearly black and gold with even the finishes looking luxe. The pink even has the pearlescent sheen to it that just says YSL. The Warm Kiss is not so luxe in it’s packaging but it is clear what it want’s to be when it grows up. The pink is flat and what should be gold is clearly yellow.

The YSL mini bottle had a velvet bow, and heavy glass bottle. The Warm Kiss is a polyester blend. I am impressed with the bottle itself though. It is a nice heavy glass. It doesn’t have the extra faceting of the YSL bottle but it is not a bad copy. The top covering the spray is a less expensive plastic but the rest of the bottle does feel nice in the hand. You know looking at it that it isn’t the real deal, but it still looks lovelty.

But looks are not why you wear a scent. As much as I love glass bottles and the look of them, it is what is inside that counts. Warm kiss has a slightly more alcohol scent when first sprayed than does Mon Paris. The fruity notes of the scent are a little more pronounced once the alcohol scent fades than in the Mon Paris, which I don’t mind that much as it is only a slight difference in scent. If you put one on one wrist and the other on the other wrist and then sniff you can tell they are different perfumes but they are close, very close in scent. The YSL does have that little extra back note that makes it seem just a touch more luxe. I actually tried them on and had my babydoll apply one scent each wrist and I could tell the difference. There was just that slightly luxe undertone that let me know which was YSL and which was not.

But it was very close.

The biggest difference is in longevity. I can apply a dab of Mon Paris from YSL on my wrist and know that it will be with me throughout the rest of the day. In the evening I will still be able to smell the ghost of the scent on my wrists. With warm Kiss I applied it in the morning and it was a mere shadow of scent by lunch time.

Over all though, they are very close in scent profile. If you like one then you will like the other. Will it prevent me from repurchasing the YSL Mon Paris? No. I am still planning on the full bottle purchase as a birthday gift for myself. However given the cost difference, the Warm Kiss is something I don’t have to wait for a special occasion to purchase. And to be honest, I will probably keep that on hand as well.

Because lets face it, the TEMU version cost $6.49 for 30 mL while the YSL 30 mL bottle is $85. Which makes it a very cost effective alternative, even with the differences.

I picked up this scent because I was curious as to how close in scent the perfume I found on Temu was to my favorite YSL perfume. I was quite frankly amazed by the comparison and am kind of curious to see what other of my favorite scents can be duplicated by the TEMU scent department. It was an interesting experiment and one that I will probably repeat several times over, providing the scents are available.

Unboxing Scentbird for March 2023

You know I love perfumes. There are those that prefer to have a signature scent. I am not one of them. I like to have a scent library. I am a very scent oriented person and while I find there are some scents that have a season, a ;lot of scents I find are mood based. There are days where it may be bright and sunny outside but I am indoors working and I want richer warm scents that one would normally associate with the winter. Sometimes in the depths of winter I want something light and airy that reminds me of spring. Some scents remind me of people or places. And of course some scents seem to go with certain places. I even associate certain scents with music.

So for me there will never be a signature scent. But I do love my scent library. However building a scent library can be very expensive, especially when I can so easily be drawn in by the descriptions. Some perfume descriptions are like poetry, whisking you off into a sensual world of adventure. Unfortunately it isn’t the description you are wearing. And sometimes the scent isn’t what you expected.

This is one of the reasons I love perfumes sample subscriptions. You get a month’s worth of perfume to try out and see if it suits you and you suit it. Now I will of course wear the perfume that came in this subscription and then review it, but I wanted to take a moment to look at the Scentbird Subscription. For a while I had both the Scent box and Scent Bird Subscriptions. Then I was inundated with perfume samples from other sources and felt I couldn’t give the scents the time they deserved. I cancelled my scentbird subscription and held on (for a little while longer) to my Scentbox subscription. Then I had to let ot go as well until I dug out of the samples pit.

At the end of 2022 I emptied my samples box of perfumes and felt ready to go back to the subscriptions, but which to choose? I decided to try them both for a while and weigh the pros and cons of both Scent bird and Scent box and see if i want to keep both because they are different enough, or if I want to go with one over the other or perhaps trade off months alternating between the two subscriptions. This is my first Scentbird in a few years and I think a few things have changed. So let’s look at the subscription.

It is $16.89 per month and with your first month you get a free case. It is refillable. If you would like to get a new case each month you can sign up and for $10 they will send you a new case each month. My old Scentbird case was metal and it was the simple sheath design. This new case is plastic and it is held together magnetically. It is sturdy and it looks nice but something about it just looks and feels a little cheap. I am happy to have the case but I don’t think i would be ordering one a month. I will be monitoring the case to see how it performs for multiple month’s use. So that will be something I will watch. It does look pretty though.

As this was the first month the sample also came with a drawstring bag to hold the case. To be honest, I think the bag is nicer than the plastic case. It is nice cloth with the gold lettering on it.

The selection of perfumes seems to be pretty broad. I did notice that there were a lot of scents that were labeled premium and you could only add them to the list if you wanted to pay an extra fee for that month. In addition many of the samples were listed as for a limited time. I went ahead and chose a full year’s worth of samples for my personal list, some of them limited time options. I want to see how limited their time is and if they will still be available by the time their month arrives or if I will have to choose something else.

After all a selection is only broad if you can in fact select it.

At this moment there seemed to be quite a few selections available and a lot of scents I wanted to try. Some I never heard of. There were a few that I tried to search for that weren’t there. Oddly most of those brands were on Scentbox when I looked. In fact after I set up by Scentbird queue I went over to Scentbox to make sure there were no duplicates. There weren’t any actually as the ones one company carries the other doesn’t and visa versa. I don;t know if that is just my selections but it is something I will investigate as I move forward.

I am actually quite excited by this evaluation. Plus I get to try many perfumes. I loved the fact that many of the ones Scentbird featured were unknown to me or items I had only heard mentioning in passing. It reminds me how vast the field of perfumery is and makes me feel a little bit better about building my scent library. My March Selection was one I heard of but never got a chance to try. It has newly arrived and This week I will begin it’s first week of testing to see if i want to add it to my collection. For now though, I am very happy that i was able to choose a sample of it to try out. At the moment Scentbird is looking pretty good.

Perfume Review: Pinrose Secret Genius

This Pinrose Sweet Genius perfume came in my IPSY Glam Bag X this month. It was one of my choice items. From the description it seemed like it was either going to be something that I liked or something that one of my Aunts would enjoy. It was a description that could lean either way. And really with perfume descriptions they can only give you a very limited idea of what the perfume will smell like on you.

Don’t get me wrong, I love perfume descriptions. They are pieces of writing that are designed specifically to conjure images of lives you might want to live. The descriptions can whisk you off to a life of adventure as you travel the Silk Road. They can describe a glamorous life lounging in an exclusive Mediterranean Resort. They can make you think adventure, love, sex, drama and excitement.

Which is the reason those descriptions exist.

And there are days when I would love to go on one of those adventures, even if I can only get as close as spritzing my wrist and inhaling between answering e-mails and making the weekly meal plan.

Which is the allure of perfumes.

But I have noticed that some perfumes I love in the bottle and adore when I smell them on other people, don’t smell the same when i wear them. Perhaps it is body chemistry or atmosphere. Honestly, I kind of like that about perfumes, even if it is a bit frustrating at times. I really like that even if a hundred other women wear the same scent I chose to apply, it will smell subtly different on each of us. There is something about that I really like.

It is also why I tend to lean into perfume samples. (And I am now down to only one sample size left in my perfume sample box so I have officially restarted by ScentBox Subscription. I am so excited by that actually, both to be restarting my subscription and that I am finally at the bottom of my samples box).

While this is a larger size, 30 mL, I think this was an IPSY size rather than the full size. The full size on the Pinrose site is 50mLThe actual bottle you would purchase is in the picture to the left. I like the look of the bottle. It is nice and sleek looking which I always think is a classy look in a perfume bottles. I also like the cut corner look of the edges. It’s not fully faceted but it is a nod in that direction.

But a beautiful bottle is one thing, what is the product like? My plan was to spray it once and if it seemed like a scent I liked I would continue with a personal test. if I didn’t like the scent I would pass it along. Because I am not the only one in my family who enjoys perfume we often pass perfumes from one to another. I am not the only one who has picked up a scent based on a description only to find out the actual scent didn’t work for me. Luckily we each have different enough tastes that what one of us doesn’t like someone else will.

Oddly we also have a contingency of family who are very scent sensitive so for holidays no one wears any perfume, so I figured the week before I headed home would be a nice time to indulge in a perfume trial. As you can probably tell, I ended up liking the perfume so I tried it for the full week and I will be keeping this bottle in my collection.

But before we get to that, lets look at the description…

An intoxicating blend of caramel, Madagascan vanilla and sandalwood.

Sophisticated sugar? Yes. Syrup? No. That’s the brilliance of Secret Genius; luscious caramel and vanilla notes rendered so sheer they’re almost diaphanous. Like a dulcet voice it draws you in… eager to whisper sweet nothings.

Fragrance Family: Warm & Spicy Gourmand
Top Notes: Mandarin, Bergamot
Heart: Caramel, White Chocolate, Jasmine
Dry Down: Madagascan Vanilla, Cedarwood, Sandalwood
Perfumer: Harry Fremont

ALL PINROSE PRODUCTS ARE CLEAN, VEGAN AND CRUELTY FREE.
Pinrose

Now if you have read many of my posts you know that the item on that list that gave me pause it was the bergamot. Luckily for me, it is not a prominent scent. This perfume comes on a bit strong so spray and let it dry a moment. Vanilla is the scent I get first and foremost. It is a sweet vanilla and I’m pretty sure it is the caramel scent. However as it settles in there are some spicy notes that rise. The cedar wood comes through for me. I think the sandalwood is more of a background note. It is a sweet yet wood spice scent for most of the day. As it starts to fade the vanilla remains and the Jasmine starts to kick in.

I found this an interesting scent to wear. It started off sweet that made me think of wearing it to a barbeque or a picnic, then as the cedar notes kicked in it felt more sultry and less day time. It felt more like a scent i would wear for an evening out. Then as the jasmine started to rise (towards the end of the day) it once again felt like a day time perfume.

I’ve never had a day time perfume turn into a night time perfume and then back into a daytime perfume before. I prefer the more sultry night time scent, but I like the sweet and floral bookends as well. It stays longest in that sultry zone so i would probably classify this as a night time scent.

I think it is too heavy a scent to wear into an office during the day. Even the lighter day time ends to it, seem to lead my brain to out door events like barbeques or picnics. It just doesn’t feel like an office scent to me. It does have a good longevity to it. I spritzed in the morning and could still detect the scent when I was getting ready for my evening shower.

This is not a scent that will proceed you down the hallway by a mile, but it isn’t one that sticks close to the skin and doesn’t travel. It is a scent that a person standing in front of you for a chat will smell. It is not an outlandish travel scent cloud, but it isn’t one that just hugs the skin. which is another reason I would probably not wear it to an office. To be honest it is the sort of perfume intensity that makes me think of old mystery movies of novels. When the detective comes into an empty room and remarks that the faintest trace of a perfume was evident in the air but soon disappeared.

that is this sort of scent.

So don’t get involved in any locked room murder mysteries while wearing the Pinrose Sweet Genius perfume, and you should be fine.

Perfume Review: Prism by Wokeheart

As you all know by now I love perfumes. I love the opportunity to tailor the scent of the world around me to suit my mood and my day. Sometimes I do this with candles (Incidentally, Paddywax has just released their new Aura collection for those interested in fantastic candles in reusable containers.), sometimes I do this with scented oils, but a lot of the time i do this with perfumes.

I know some people like to find their signature scent, but I personally like to build a scent library. Maybe it is because I am so scent oriented but I really like to adjust my scent to the time of year, my mood, or what I am doing. But I don’t go off an purchase scents randomly, first because that would be a lot of money and second because I am somewhat picky about my scents and perfumes are one category where purchasing something without trying it first can be a real waste.

While I do like samples of perfumes the amount in sample containers can be somewhat variable. It’s one of the reasons I absolutely adore my ScentBox subscription. each order is a one month long supply of the perfume so you can really get a good use out of it and decide if that is the scent for you.

At the moment My Scent Box subscription is paused. I will never cancel it, but i did need to take a little break. mostly because i had a box of sample perfumes that was over flowing. You know the kind that generally come as a gift with purchase or are picked up randomly. I put them in a box and try them one at a time to see if they are worth investigating further. the ones I like the best usually end up going on the ScentBox list as a secondary test and from there to possible purchse.

It is my system.

But I have almost emptied the box and I am hoping to once again start up my Scent box membership. When I dipped my hand in to try something new I found two small roller ball scents in the bottom of the box. Both are from Wokeheart. One is Prism and the other is called Sunlit Sensations. Prism is the one I decided to try this week. (I’ll probably try out Sunlit Sensations next week), The picture at the top of the post is from the Wokeheart website to show the full sized bottle.

I must also confess that I adore perfume descriptions. Sometimes they sound like the plots for romance novels, other times like the start of an adventure store and occasionally like a sustainability manifesto. Occasionally you will get a combination of all three. because I know words have a strong hold on my imagination, I insist on samples. If i didn’t then i would not only have far more perfumes than any one person would ever want to wear but descriptions and scent preferences don’t always line up. Still I love the descriptions.

Shall we see what Prism’s descriptions

Powerful and elegant, the Wakeheart PRISM fragrance is cool and sweet, with fresh notes of pear and iced berries, and an undertone of Vanilla. It’s subtle, yet memorable – molding to your personal aura, and elevating your every day scent.

TOP: Green Anjou Pears, MIDDLE: Iced Juniper Berries, Magnolia Blossoms, DRY: Vanilla Oakmoss
Wokeheart

I did try the scent before I looked up the description because I wanted to give it a fair shot. While I love perfume descriptions they sometimes conjure up visions that don’t match the scent. The version of Prism that I have is a rollerball. I have noticed that scent applies differently with a roller ball than with a spray. Don’t get me wrong, the roller ball doesn’t change the scent, it is just that a spray atomizes it so that while some of it goes on the wrist, a lot of the scent goes in the air. what that means is that with the roller ball, far more scent goes on you, but the room at large where you apply it is less affected.

Sometimes that matters, sometimes it doesn’t.

With Prism, it does. I applied it to one wrist using the roller ball and then rubbed my wrists together. The scent came on strong, very strong. It took about fifteen minutes for the scent to die down to a wearable scent. It was an overwhelmingly powerful scent. After those fifteen minutes it was fine and it was a wearable fragrance that I could wear all day long and even have a nice light scent by the end of the day. But those first fifteen minutes were rough.

However, when i did go on the website, I found spray samples and I found a spray bottle, but I did not find a roller ball. I don’t know if someone else realized that the roller ball was a bit too intense an application for the scent or what, but it appears not to be a format they use. As much as i like roller balls, I think this would be a scent that would have a much softer application with a spray. i am just mentioning this because it was such a noticeable impact. i would go lightly with your application and see how the spray works.

In the initial spray of Prism it was a vaguely floral slightly fruity scent bomb. It was too strong ti pick out much. As it died back there were scents of pear and magnolia discernable in the scent. I really like the scent of pear in perfumes. It is fruity, but not as overly sweet as some fruit notes can be. And paired with magnolia you are going to want to watch that sweetness.

This was a good blend of the magnolia and the pear. The scent leans more towards the floral than the fruity. I would have personally preferred something that leaned more into the pear as I prefer it to the magnolia, but it was a bright summery floral. Looking in the description I think the vanilla moss was supposed to provide a touch of earthiness to the mix and perhaps that is why it isn’t as sweet as it could be but if it does deepen the scent, it doesn’t really impart anything noticeable to it.

The scent is light and summery and would work well in an outdoor setting. It is certainly a day time scent, but it isn’t one i would wear to an office. Even though the scent died back after a little while of wear, it is not a skin hugging scent. it is the sort of scent that likes to travel around making friends and enemies. (depending on how scent sensitive your cubicle neighbors are).it is a scent that conjures up garden parties and Easter egg hunts.

It is a nice scent, but for me it is a little too floral. I love the pear and if it were stronger, with maybe something a little more earthy to ground the magnolia, this would be more suitable for my personal wearing. As it is, I know at least three people who this scent would suit. While I wore it for a week, there is still plenty of scent left in the bottle and as it is a glass bottle with a roller ball, the container can easily be reused once it has been used up. I think the size would make a perfect travel tag along. For someone else though as I just can’t deal with that much magnolia. However the blend does make me excited to try out the second fragrance in this set. That however is a story for next week.

Perfume Review: Tocca Stella

I have to say one of the things I hated most about losing my sense of smell when my nose was stuffed up was that wearing perfumes was pointless. In fact it was not only wasteful, but because I couldn’t tell how far the perfume was traveling or what it might be doing to those around me it could be potentially assault with a deadly scent.

And that we can not have.

But my nose is working again and into the box of perfume samples I went. Now above is pictured the actual bottle from the Tocca Website. I am working with a small sample vial. i just couldn’t resist putting up the full picture. I just love the look of the bottle. It has that simple but elegant look that I really do like. But there have been many perfume bottles that i have liked over the years and I have learned (often at great expense) that just because I like the beautiful bottle, doesn’t mean that the scent will work out for me.

But what does Tocca have to say of this scent?

Stella is a fresh floral fragrance that embraces your flirtatious spirit. It is inspired by a spontaneous romance and is a bright and breezy blend of lavish Italian citrus, sweet freesia, and spicy lily. It is a playful indulgence for your inner coquette. Scent Type: Fresh Floral, Key Notes: Blood Orange, Freesia, Spicy Lily, Personality: Flirty, Sensual, Spontaneous
Tocca

And so we spritz and spend the week wearing. What is the final review?

when first sprayed there is a slight alcohol tinge to the scent. It goes away after a moment. Once it is gone, the scent comes through. At first it is very orange-y. It has those sweet orange notes that I do associate with blood orange. A few moments later and the florals start to come through. There is freesia and lily but there are spice notes that keep it from being too floral. The orange shifts to a back note.

After about an hour of wear most of the initial orange scent is worn away and the scent remaining is of a spicy floral. i had a really hard time trying to decide if I liked it or not. I think for me part of the problem is that I really liked that initial burst of orange and regretted it’s fading. Without that orange it became a different scent. I do like the spicy floral, as the spicy notes (which lean a little towards cardamom without getting into the warming notes of cardamom) really balance out the florals well and keep them from being too sweet and overpowering. I think if I hadn’t scented the orange at first I would have liked the resulting scent. But because I did, I missed the orange.

Towards the end of the day, the vanilla is a little more prevalent than it was earlier in the day. The florals tend to wear down after about three or so hours and the spice and slight vanilla scent remain until it fades completely.

While this scent does stick relatively close to the skin and doesn’t travel much, I wouldn’t term it an office scent. There is something slightly sensual about the scent (regardless of the orange or not) that doesn’t seem to blend well for office hours. It is definitely an off hours scent, but I think that despite it’s sensuality, you could still wear it in the day time. I would just wear it in the day when I wasn’t in the office. When wearing it I tended to think of vacations I’d taken in sunny locations where ocean breezes made the heat not as oppressive as it is here and now. I also began to wonder if my passport was up to date rather than focus on the work at hand.

So for me, this was not a scent i will be wearing during business hours. It is however one that I think i will add to my list of scents to add to my personal scent library. orange not withstanding, it is a nice scent that I would love to wear out on a date night with my babydoll.

Perfume Review: Beautiful Magnolia

I know lately this has been where the snacktime posts would go while the perfume review is on Wednesday, but two things happened to bump this up. The first is that we are still trying to finish out left overs from having company this week (Snacktime will be posted tomorrow) and the second thing that occurred is that i couldn’t take this perfume for another day.

I suppose I should have said spoiler alert. But this was not my favorite scent. Let’s look at what Este Lauder has to say about it before we get into it.

Picture of bottle taken from the website, personally I love the look of the bottle

Dare to love. A hypnotic blend with signature notes of lush Magnolia, solar Gardenia, warm Woods and luminous Musk. Romantic, feminine and radiant.
Each note draws you deeper into a love story, from beginning to end.
Dare to Dream: Magnolia Petals, Maté, Water Lotus The lightning bolt moment you saw each other for the first time. A sensation like no other. The emotional rush of the magnolia, a symbol of loyalty in love, is balanced with crisp herbaceous Maté and the lush transparency of Water Lotus, as fresh as new love itself.
Dare to Desire: Magnolia Oil, Solar Gardenia, Turkish Rose, The swirl of contradictory feelings, an explosion of passion, are reflected in the hypnotic nectar-like scent of Magnolia Oil, sensuous and feminine, irresistibly swept away by dazzling notes of Solar Gardenia and deep Turkish Rose.

Dare to Believe: Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Illumina Musk Smooth, rich Cedarwood, Sandalwood and Illumina Musk add their warmth, power and sensuality to the breathless instant when, fearlessly, finally and forever, you know they’re the one you dare to love.
Este Lauder website

That is such a fantastic perfume description I really hate to destroy the image. The bottle is lovely looking and I wish that I could add it to my collection because it is lovely. But this scent is not for me. This is a sweet floral explosion. There is no underlying musk, no sandlewood depth, no cedarwood backing. This is unrelieved, unabashedly a sweet floral punch to the nose.

I will say it is an adult sweet floral rather than a little girl sweet floral so if that is your sort of thing then this might be for you. I applied it and wore it, but the thing is that all last week the scent kept reminding me of something. i finally figured out what it was.

This is the scent of the department store perfume and makeup section circa 1985. This is exactly what this perfume smells like. It isn’t a bad scent, but it is a distinctive one and not one I am particularly fond of. While I like florals I need something to ground them a little bit more and add a spicier or earthier note. This really doesn’t have that.

It stays close to the skin, so it isn’t a perfume that will travel out and annoy your companions. It comes on a bit strong when you first spray it, but after a minute or two it hugs the skin to become more of a personal scent. It is very long lasting too. I applied it in the morning (post workout) and it was still detectable on my wrist when I started getting ready for bed. One spritz on the wrist lasted all day.

It was a really well performing perfume. It has all of the features I like (personal rather than traveling scent, longevity…) I simply can’t wear something so sweetly floral without a deeper back note. Which is a shame. I have a friend who favors sweet florals so I will be passing the rest of the sample on to her and hopefully she will make a better match with it.

This was a strange review for me to write. After all perfumes are mostly about scent and for me, in the end, that was the only part of this perfume i didn’t care for.

Unboxing the February 2022 Scentbox

Normally I combine my unboxing with my trial of the scent in the subscription and simply talk about Scentbox with the perfume I am reviewing. However this week, I didn’t really wear a scent and since I was on a break with scent box for a while, this time the subscription was sent to me as though I was a new subscriber, so I thought I would review it individually.

Scentbox is a perfume subscription. For $15.95 per month you can get one 0.27 ounce tube of perfume sent to you. The scent comes in a glass spray bottle that fits inside a metal travel case. To use you twist and the atomizer portion pops up, then you twist it back down again after use. I don’t know why that amuses me so much but it always does.

Sometimes it is just the little things, you know?

The first time you get the subscription it comes in a reusable padded box. After that it will just come in a padded mailer. while I will use the box as it is a nice size (and with the foam insert removed really nice for holding jewelry). I am perfectly fine only getting the box once. It saves on waste. with the subscription comes a card with the scent of the month on it. The scent this month was Eternity Flame by Calvin Klein. I didn’t get this scent, the scent I am trying out is Cinema from YSL. But I do like the cards as I often fid out about scents I hadn’t heard of and will later add to my line up.

Get a 30-day supply of designer fragrance for $14.95/mo. Get 35% Off First Month, ScentBox.com

In addition to the box and the scent there is one of my favorite things about this subscription (besides the scent) that comes in the mailer. It is a return shipping label. That’s right. If there is any problem with the scent or you just plain don’t like it, you can send it back free of charge and they will send out the next perfume listed in your queue. I received a perfume that I not only didn’t like but that made me sneeze continuously. I chose it, so there really is no one else to blame but myself. Still I sent it back thinking if nothing else I would at least get it out of the house. there were no issues and they sent the next scent in my line up out right away. It was quite fantastic.

I love that I can choose what scent I want to try out from a wide variety. If I like a scent but am not sure I want to purchase a full sized bottle, I can also repurchase a second tube and have it sent with my monthly selection if i want. Also they offer full sized bottles of most of the scents offered in their subscription for sale on the website. So if I try it and like it, I can purchase it from them. What makes this extra fabulous is that each month you are subscribed you receive scent bucks that you can save up and put towards an item from their website store. I currently have $21 or somewhere thereabouts. It accumulates monthly and when I decide that I want to add a perfume to my collection, I can put my scent bucks towards it.

they also have other items on the site, like candles and skincare but in general I stick to the perfumes. They have options in subscriptions. You can get two scents sent to you each month or opt into the premium category for a wider range of scents. Personally I have never had a problem with the array offered in the regular category and for me one scent per month is enough.

This is one of those subscriptions that I will keep for a while and then pause if I notice that I am starting to stockpile perfumes. Mostly that is due to samples sent in subscription boxes. I tend to add them to a box and when the box is full, I’ll pause my scent box subscription until I have cleared out the samples box. Then I start the subscription up again and the process repeats. I’ve played around with pausing and unpausing the subscription and have had no issues with either.

If you are interested in trying out this subscription and seeing if it is for you, you can get your first box for just $9.72. If you like it and keep the subscription, it will then go back to the regular price. Since perfumes can be expensive and sometimes a scent doesn’t match it’s description or simply doesn’t work for me, I find Scentbox a great way to try out different perfumes and find out if they are for me without spending a lot of money. I am often drawn in by descriptions of perfumes and sometimes the reality doesn’t live up. I also find that since it is only a small bottle, I am a bit more adventurous in my trials. Some of the scents that I might have given a pass if I just read their description on the box or on line, I am willing to try with the subscription size. Sometimes it is a failure, and sometimes I find an unexpected treasure of a scent.

Either way, this Scentbox subscription is a winner in my book.

Perfume Review: Olympea Legend by Paco Rabanne

That’s right my darlings, Scent Box is back. I have managed to work my way through enough of my sample fragrances that I felt comfortable restarting my subscription. This was technically January’s subscription. It came in , got side tracked while I finished a few more samples and then I realized I hadn’t talked about it.

I love Scent Box. It is one of those subscriptions that I sign up for and then put on hold depending, but I always come back to. with this subscription you get a 0.27 ounce bottle of scent each month. You can go with their monthly suggestion or you can pick your own. You can actually line up a years worth of samples so you can look through their many fragrances and decide, hey that one sounds like it would be great in the spring or wow that looks like a winter scent. And then put the scent on the appropriate month.

Each month’s subscription comes with it’s own case and they vary in color each month. This moth for me was half rose gold half black. I’m not too fond of the two tones. I think I would like the case in either color, but somehow I don’t like the two tones. But that’s okay, next month I may love the case. Some perfumes I love, others not so much. I tend to pass on the ones I don’t like in the cases that I don’t care for, so I only end up keeping the cases I like. The subscription is $14.95 per month although you can get a discount on your first month.

Get a 30-day supply of designer fragrance for $14.95/mo. Get 35% Off First Month, ScentBox.com

And as an added bonus, each month earns you Scent Bucks that you can save and then use towards something from the website. Generally you receive about $2 each month. I am saving mine up to put towards a full sized perfume. I currently have about $20. I haven’t decided what perfume I want to purchase yet so I just keep letting it accumulate until I do.

So what was January’s selection? It was Paco Rabanne Olympea Legend. I think I may have let Scent Box Choose this one for me as I don’t recall adding it to my list. According to Scentbox…

Olympea Legend by Paco Rabanne is a Oriental Floral fragrance for women. Olympea Legend was launched in 2019. The nose behind this fragrance is Loc Dong. Top notes are sea salt, plum and apricot. Middle notes are ginger flower and floral notes. Base notes are vanilla, amber, sand and tonka bean.
Scent Box

In general I like plum and apricot scents so perhaps I did choose it and don’t recall. Either way, I sprayed, I sniffed and I wore this scent for a week. And I am not a fan. despite the description, this perfume smells like baby powder and coconut. I’m not entirely sure how that was accomplished with the listed scent notes, but that is the end result.

I will say I received several complements on the scent this past week, however I personally didn’t care for it. So with the bottle mostly full, I will be passing it on to a friend who adores the scent of coconut. If I decided that I didn’t like it immediately I could have sent it back and exchanged it. Scent Box has a really good exchange policy. As long as it isn’t really used, if you decide you absolutely can’t stand the scent, you can send it back and they will just send you the next scent in the line of products you chose. No questions asked. I had to do that once when I picked a perfume I absolutely couldn’t stand. It was super easy. And it makes taking a risk on a scent a little easier. This one I thought I would like more as the week went on, so I used it enough that it will be passed on and not sent back. Luckily I know someone who will really like it. This scent just simply isn’t for me.

Perfume Review: Libre from Yves Saint Laurent

This sample of Libre from Yves Saint Laurent came to me in a Macy’s Beauty Box. I know that is not surprising. Macy’s always includes, one, if not two perfume samples in each month’s box. This was part of a brand take over box in which every item, including the bag was from YSL.

It was a fantastic bag. And I got to try several items I hadn’t ever heard of let alone tried out. There were several perfumes in the collection of items and the Deluxe size of the Mon Paris from YSL has become one of the perfumes I will definitely be purchasing in the full size once i have worked my way through the deluxe sample.

Libre, was only in a small sample size however it was one of the scents I was most eager to try out. I think because I have heard so much buzz about it. This seems to be the YSL fragrance everyone talks about, at least on the sites I’ve looked at. Plus the bottle looks stunning.

According to the brand…

Libre Eau de Parfum is a bold and floral women’s fragrance. A statement feminine scent for those who live by their own rules. Lavender essence from France combines with the sensuality of Moroccan orange blossom and a daring note of vanilla extract for a unique long-lasting scent.
A celebration of freedom, this daring, yet distinctly floral and feminine perfume is for those who do what they want and dare to be exactly who they are. Breaking boundaries and paving their own way, this women’s perfume is inspired by the bold and the free.
YSL on Libre Perfume

Doesn’t that description sound fabulous? It has all of the good feels, breaking boundaries, freedom, inspired by the bold. I had high hopes for this one.

Alas they were not realized. While I thought Mon Paris was going to be floral and overly sweet it ended up with more depth and complexity than anticipated. This Libre perfume promises depth and complexity, based on it’s references. What it is tends to be a mix of lavender and orange blossom. To be honest, it reminds me of the sachets my grandmother put in her underwear drawer.

It is very lavender with a hint of orange blossom. Anything else is hidden under those powerhouses of scent. It is simple, overly floral, overly sweet and when sprayed the scent profile makes me think of little old ladies. It is a scent i would not expect to find worn by someone under the age of eighty. I was not a fan.

It lacks depth and complexity and isn’t something I will ever purchase. It is also not a sample tube I will finish. I struggled to wear it for week, using less and less each day and I still have half a tube. It will be passed on. Perhaps someone else will not find the scent as old lady as I did, or perhaps they will pass it on to their granny. Regardless, Libre by YSL will not be entering my collection and I am happy to let it go.

Perfume Review: Inkling Scent’s Sultry

I remember this roll on scent, Sultry from Inkling Scents, coming in a Birchbox a while ago. I remember sniffing it, thinking it smelled nice and that I liked rollerballs and then putting it in the box of sample scents to try.

And then forgetting completely about it.

When I went into the box to choose my next scent I heard something rolling around in the bottom of the box. I was concerned that rolling could equal breakage and ended up fishing this scent out to try simply because I didn’t want it rolling around. I am actually rather glad I did. The more I used this scent, the more I started to like it. According to the Inkling Scents website…

Wearing this smooth fragrance is an exercise in seduction. The base is creamy sandalwood and white amber, the heart is lotus flower, orchid and Bulgarian rose, while the top is silky vanilla. The blend is provocative, but clean – like naked skin. This mix is deep and rich enough to leave you purring with pleasure. This is our best selling women’s scent. 60,000 bottles went out in the FabFitFun luxury box!
Inkling Scents

The scent is a light sandalwood blended with a hint of musk and orchid. Underneath I smell a bare whiff of vanilla. To me it is the right balance of earthy and sweet. I wouldn’t say that it is sultry or seductive. Generally when I use those sorts of terms I am thinking of a perfume I would put on for date night or an evening snuggled in with my babydoll.

This, isn’t that.

It isn’t a scent designed solely for quiet times with that special someone or even night time, which is also when I think of sultry scents. This is a scent that you could easily wear any time. It is subtle enough that you could wear it in an office environment without causing your coworker in the next cubicle over to wonder what you have planned after work ends. It isn’t a travelling scent, but one that generally stays in your personal space. It also had a sort of fresh, almost green scent to it that lightens the musky notes up so that it seems appropriate for day time use.

the mini roller ball is about the size of a bullet lipstick

I did notice that the longer I wore the scent, the more the musk became prominent. hen first applied the scent did seem more orchid and vanilla based with the sandalwood and musk as base notes underpinning them.

As my body heat worked with it, the scents flipped and the orchid and vanilla became the under pinning notes lifting the sandalwood and musk into a lighter fresher space. I enjoyed both versions of the scent, actually. I don’t think it would work as well for me in the warmer months though as it seems like a scent more suitable to the fall and winter. I suspect it might feel a bit heavier once the weather warms.

It is also not a terribly long lasting scent. If applied in the morning then I was catching whiffs of scent until about two in the afternoon. Around two-ish if I pressed my nose to my wrist there was a vague hint as though I just finished using a heavily scented hand soap. Half an hour later, there was nothing. I am using the smaller roller ball for application so i don’t know if that is part of the fading process. I personally really like roller balls and I like the fact that this is easy to tuck into a purse and rea apply. The good thing about this scent is that with the roller ball and the light, easily faded scent, it is incredibly difficult to apply too much of this scent. There is no over application. So you can’t over do it. Or if you do, then you are just wasting product not causing a scent riot in the office elevator.

Personally I find this scent appealing. This is my first scent from Inkling’s scents and it does make me want to try out several more. I like what I’ve read of the company on their website and will no doubt be trying a few more of their scents in the future. As for Sultry, the roller ball I have is the mini roll on (retail $15) and it will last quite a while. I suspect that when it runs out, I will be replacing it. I’m not sure if I’d go with the full size or stick with the mini roller ball though. All I know is that I am glad to add this Sultry scent from Inkling Scents to my collection.