This is a retail therapy post. Hide your wallet.
Stuff I've tested since August!
Villainess
Just Right Soap & Burn (candle) (LE): Apples done up in honey and grandma's own buttery pie crust, steaming Earl, and warm milk so sweet you'll never want to leave.
Oh. My. God. This. Is. ORGASMIC. It's basically like an apple pie swathed in cream sauce. It's amazing. Warm and comforting but not at all cloying or too much. It's a gourmand scent that does not cross over into sickly sweet territory, living up to its name exactly. Brooke? Are you listening? This needs to be part of your lineup permanently. It's unbelievable (which is probably why it's sold out everywhere but Scent Addict). Jason keeps huffing the candle like some sort of addict. SERIOUSLY, WOMAN. If this does not come back, I will CRY.
Discord Burn (candle) (LE): Golden apples fairly glowing in a resinous haze of amber and myrrh and dripping with dragon's blood.
I was expecting a deeper, richer resin, a la Asphyxiate, but it's a lighter resiny scent, like a light velvet overlay on top of a golden/green apple scent. It's a pleasant air refresher, but not heavy. I like it.
Jack O Soap (LE): A cheerful gush of pumpkin and buttercream against a backdrop of fall - sere leaves and sweetgrass, bonfires and candle flame.
I actually did not get the buttercream aspects of this at all. To me, this was a pumpkin flesh scent, sans spices, against a dry green backdrop of leaves and grasses. I didn't get any smokiness, but it did have a smoothness to the finish that was quite nice and a little beeswax-y. This was a lovely addition to the fall lineup, and I'm glad I tried it. A welcome reprieve from all of the spicy pumpkin scent offerings.
Autumn Gala Soap & Scrub (LE, Soap Box Company Exclusive): Fresh-pressed apples, spiced cider, sweetgrass and fall’s new-mown hay harvest.
Orgasmalicious apple cider and fresh air. It smells like an apple orchard on a brisk Autumn day. This was a favorite last year, and remains so this year.
The Hit List: Considering I already have FOURTEEN BARS of soap in my cupboard, most of which is Villainess, I am trying to convince myself that I do not need backups of Autumn Gala, plus Cobwebs and Strychnine. Oh, and Smashing, which I have loved in the past. My resolve is, however, weakening.
Black Phoenix Trading Post by Villainess
Jack Soap (LE): The scent of warm, glowing jack o'lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove.
A gift from
belladonnastrap... I don't think this was offered this year. Exactly like the BPAL of the same name-- pumpkin flesh, a bit of nutmeg, and a fruity note that says peach but always smells the slightest bit pineapple-y to me. It's in my shower right now. Yum.
Samhain Soap (LE): Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein. clove.
Samhain 2004, on the nose. Smoooth, a perfect melding of patchouli and pumpkin guts with a dark leafiness and the lightest bit of spice. Love it.
The Hit List: Intrigued by the Marshmallow Pumpkin bath oil, but I already have a glut of pumpkin-scented things. Perhaps Tears of the Seraphim bath powder (by Villainess).
Paintbox Soapworks
Smiling Jack Soap (LE): A warm, glowing blend of spiced pumpkin, dripping beeswax & amber, with a devilish jolt of coffee.
A creamy pumpkin (must be the beeswax), with an afterscent of coffee grounds. A good one to get you moving in the morning.
Sweet 100's Soap (LE): Tomato leaves, fresh dirt, green herbs.
I loved this! It was sooo refreshing in the sticky heat of summer. A bright, herby tomato leaf scent that I'm gonna stockpile next year.
Pick A Duck (LE): Strawberry taffy, fried dough, caramel corn.
Not really my thing, but then again, I suspected that when I bought it. Smelled exactly as advertised, but was a bit too sweet for my taste.
The Man In The Moon Soap: Blue musk, lavender, vanilla.
Sooo comfy, cuddly, and perfect for sleep. A nice soft lavender vanilla. Nothing groundbreaking, but done well.
The Hit List: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh scrub, Lavender Pumpkin body butter, The Englishman soap. Guy Fawkes is so cool looking, but I just can't do the notes.
Arcana
Comfort Me With Apples Soap: Honey-sweetened cider, green apples, vanilla, buttermilk, amber resin, and a hint of cinnamon bark.
Haven't tried this one out yet, but from sniffing the bar, it seems basically like a milk and honey scent with a bit of an apple waft. Doesn't smell at all resin-y or spicy.
The Hit List: Arcana didn't release scrubs this year, so I think I'm pretty good to go.
Red Sunflower Designs
Samhain Massage Oil - Mulled Orange Spice: spicy notes of nutmeg, cinnamon and a bit of clove with orange essential oil, and just a touch of vanilla.
I bought this because I was looking for something a little spicy for massage time. I had tried BPTP's Ignis, and I didn't like it at all. So to Etsy I went. This... is so thick on scent, it's cloying and I can't actually use it. It was advertised as a massage oil and ritual oil, so I will probably use it to dress candles and the like instead. The thought of putting something SO heavily on my skin frankly makes me a little queasy, and you know how much I like my smellies. It also seems really thick for massage oil. In my opinion, they clearly didn't have the ratio of essential oils to carrier oils right in this product for skin use. Scentwise, it's ALL spice with a bit of orange. It smells exactly like liquid potpourri concentrate.
Grimoire Perfume Oil: Smoky woods, spiced citrus, and ylang ylang.
Ylang ylang single note. Nothing to see here, move along.
The Hit List: Nah, I'm good.
Midnight Gypsy Alchemy
Season of the Witch Solid Perfume: Coriander, rose, cinnamon, lavender, frankincense, patchouli and black pepper essential oils, infused with golden amber resin, apples, patchouli leaves pepper corns , rose petals and lavender buds.
I really like the idea of solid perfumes-- it's so old fashioned and quaint. This particular solid perfume formula is a bit too solid, to be honest. Getting it to melt and rub in on the skin is hard. That said... it is a lovely scent. It's well blended perfume that has a spicy component, but that wouldn't be its main feature. The lavender blends with the patchouli in a way that's incredibly comforting without smelling predominantly of either note. It just has a quiet loveliness to it, which sticks close to the skin. C for the formula, A- for the scent.
Autumn Embers Perfume Oil: A scent to capture the season of Fall in a bountiful blend of smokey, earth and leaf notes topped by candied spice. Created with ginger, spiced cassia, clove, bergamot, sage, and orange blossom essential oils delicately infused with real ginger root , orange peels, clove buds and sage leaves.
A more typical spice scent-- ginger and bergamot, predominantly. Does not have a ton of staying power.
The Hit List: Nothing else I have to have, but I might try Season of the Witch in a bath salt.
Solstice Scents
Witch's Cottage: Warm Baked Goods, Dried Herbs, Sweet Annie, Soft Woods & Fragrant Hearth Smoke.
Allll I'm getting is burnt caramel and cake. No woods, nothing dry, just sweet sweet sweet. I'm not a sweet person most of the time, so this will go live with someone else. Not my thing at all.
Gehenna Perfume Oil: Red Musk, Dragon's Blood Resin, Burning Wood, Somalian Myrrh & Egyptian Musk.
A nice, velvety resins blend. Very dry. Predominantly a true dragon's blood scent, I do catch some myrrh and a little woodiness. I like it!
The Hit List: Solstice Scents is among the more heavily scented of the etailers I've purchased from, almost to the point that it's too much. Curiously, I find that while the lotions & body glaces last FOREVER on me, the perfume oils are gone in an hour or two. That said? Blueberry Muffin Batter whipped soap? I could potentially gnaw my arm off if I tried it. Maybe I shouldn't.
Alkemia Perfumes
Autumn: Sun warmed fallen leaves, golden sunlit amber, light wool warmed with skin musk.
Smells kinda like BPAL L'Autunno. Non-foody, woody, a little bit bitter. The amber is a very pale amber or gray amber. A very close-to-the skin scent. Cozy but not sweet.
Ghost Fire: A preternatural blend of white ambers flickers like ethereal fire.
Smells a LOT like BPAL's Boo. It's got that same kinda-sweet-but-not-cloying cream + whiteness vibe.
Ritual: Mysterious dark woods flecked with the embers of aromatic spices and a gentle swirl of incense.
Ritual is LOVE. Waaaay back in the day, my favorite BPAL scent was Hamadryad (the original, spicy one). This one is like that-- woody and a little resinous, but with a stronger bite of cinnamon. Really like this one.
Offering: Fir & resinous woods, offertory fruits, spiced ale, beeswax candles, a whisper of ritual incense, and freshly baked cakes dripping with wild honey.
This smells a LOT like one of the BPAL 'Weenies from years past, but I can't pinpoint what one beyond saying it's a familiar scent. It reminds me of Lambs Wool, I think. I like it.
Aphrodesia: An intoxicating blend of deep eastern spices warmed with creamy vanilla and a few drops of golden frankincense.
Mostly frankincense and some hard-to-pinpoint dry spices. Not impressed.
Blessed Bee: A blend of three honeys - pure, sweet, golden, naked.
Suuuuper sweet honey. Like those little honeycomb candies. Way too much for me.
The Hit List: Yeah, I'd try this company again. I got equal hits and misses, which, all things considered, is pretty good. And their sample sets are well priced. I'd try: Ex Libris, Les Mystères, Apple Tart, Wildwood.
Other Things I'm Pondering...
I missed the Haunt sale this time around, and so I didn't get any of the lavender marshmallow whipped butter I'd been coveting. Their whipped lotion formula is amazing. It's like meringue that melts into your skin on contact. So I've been looking for a similar formula. Bueller?
-- Peppermint Hot Cocoa Lip Balm by LongWinterFarm. Their Pumpkin Chip perfume oil also sounds amazing in theory, but then I remember my skin hates chocolate scents. They also get cool points for having a Unicorn Farts perfume oil.
Oooookay. That's enough RT for one evening. I need to get to bed! But before I do... aside from the individual company websites, many of these are available through The Soap Box Company and Scent Addict, though I have been less than thrilled with Scent Addict's turnaround/customer service in the past. It's really not that hard to make me happy-- just, you know, tell me if my order is going to be delayed, then respond to my query with more than just an automated tracking number email. It's not that hard.
Canadians, be sure to check out Pretty Indulgent. They have a great selection of bath goodies and nail polishes-- I've even ordered on occasion because I could indulge in various kinds of retail therapy all at once!
GOOD NIGHT, Y'ALL.
Villainess
Just Right Soap & Burn (candle) (LE): Apples done up in honey and grandma's own buttery pie crust, steaming Earl, and warm milk so sweet you'll never want to leave.
Oh. My. God. This. Is. ORGASMIC. It's basically like an apple pie swathed in cream sauce. It's amazing. Warm and comforting but not at all cloying or too much. It's a gourmand scent that does not cross over into sickly sweet territory, living up to its name exactly. Brooke? Are you listening? This needs to be part of your lineup permanently. It's unbelievable (which is probably why it's sold out everywhere but Scent Addict). Jason keeps huffing the candle like some sort of addict. SERIOUSLY, WOMAN. If this does not come back, I will CRY.
Discord Burn (candle) (LE): Golden apples fairly glowing in a resinous haze of amber and myrrh and dripping with dragon's blood.
I was expecting a deeper, richer resin, a la Asphyxiate, but it's a lighter resiny scent, like a light velvet overlay on top of a golden/green apple scent. It's a pleasant air refresher, but not heavy. I like it.
Jack O Soap (LE): A cheerful gush of pumpkin and buttercream against a backdrop of fall - sere leaves and sweetgrass, bonfires and candle flame.
I actually did not get the buttercream aspects of this at all. To me, this was a pumpkin flesh scent, sans spices, against a dry green backdrop of leaves and grasses. I didn't get any smokiness, but it did have a smoothness to the finish that was quite nice and a little beeswax-y. This was a lovely addition to the fall lineup, and I'm glad I tried it. A welcome reprieve from all of the spicy pumpkin scent offerings.
Autumn Gala Soap & Scrub (LE, Soap Box Company Exclusive): Fresh-pressed apples, spiced cider, sweetgrass and fall’s new-mown hay harvest.
Orgasmalicious apple cider and fresh air. It smells like an apple orchard on a brisk Autumn day. This was a favorite last year, and remains so this year.
The Hit List: Considering I already have FOURTEEN BARS of soap in my cupboard, most of which is Villainess, I am trying to convince myself that I do not need backups of Autumn Gala, plus Cobwebs and Strychnine. Oh, and Smashing, which I have loved in the past. My resolve is, however, weakening.
Black Phoenix Trading Post by Villainess
Jack Soap (LE): The scent of warm, glowing jack o'lanterns on a warm autumn night: true Halloween pumpkin, spiced with nutmeg, glowing peach and murky clove.
A gift from
belladonnastrap... I don't think this was offered this year. Exactly like the BPAL of the same name-- pumpkin flesh, a bit of nutmeg, and a fruity note that says peach but always smells the slightest bit pineapple-y to me. It's in my shower right now. Yum.Samhain Soap (LE): Truly the scent of autumn itself -- damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein. clove.
Samhain 2004, on the nose. Smoooth, a perfect melding of patchouli and pumpkin guts with a dark leafiness and the lightest bit of spice. Love it.
The Hit List: Intrigued by the Marshmallow Pumpkin bath oil, but I already have a glut of pumpkin-scented things. Perhaps Tears of the Seraphim bath powder (by Villainess).
Paintbox Soapworks
Smiling Jack Soap (LE): A warm, glowing blend of spiced pumpkin, dripping beeswax & amber, with a devilish jolt of coffee.
A creamy pumpkin (must be the beeswax), with an afterscent of coffee grounds. A good one to get you moving in the morning.
Sweet 100's Soap (LE): Tomato leaves, fresh dirt, green herbs.
I loved this! It was sooo refreshing in the sticky heat of summer. A bright, herby tomato leaf scent that I'm gonna stockpile next year.
Pick A Duck (LE): Strawberry taffy, fried dough, caramel corn.
Not really my thing, but then again, I suspected that when I bought it. Smelled exactly as advertised, but was a bit too sweet for my taste.
The Man In The Moon Soap: Blue musk, lavender, vanilla.
Sooo comfy, cuddly, and perfect for sleep. A nice soft lavender vanilla. Nothing groundbreaking, but done well.
The Hit List: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh scrub, Lavender Pumpkin body butter, The Englishman soap. Guy Fawkes is so cool looking, but I just can't do the notes.
Arcana
Comfort Me With Apples Soap: Honey-sweetened cider, green apples, vanilla, buttermilk, amber resin, and a hint of cinnamon bark.
Haven't tried this one out yet, but from sniffing the bar, it seems basically like a milk and honey scent with a bit of an apple waft. Doesn't smell at all resin-y or spicy.
The Hit List: Arcana didn't release scrubs this year, so I think I'm pretty good to go.
Red Sunflower Designs
Samhain Massage Oil - Mulled Orange Spice: spicy notes of nutmeg, cinnamon and a bit of clove with orange essential oil, and just a touch of vanilla.
I bought this because I was looking for something a little spicy for massage time. I had tried BPTP's Ignis, and I didn't like it at all. So to Etsy I went. This... is so thick on scent, it's cloying and I can't actually use it. It was advertised as a massage oil and ritual oil, so I will probably use it to dress candles and the like instead. The thought of putting something SO heavily on my skin frankly makes me a little queasy, and you know how much I like my smellies. It also seems really thick for massage oil. In my opinion, they clearly didn't have the ratio of essential oils to carrier oils right in this product for skin use. Scentwise, it's ALL spice with a bit of orange. It smells exactly like liquid potpourri concentrate.
Grimoire Perfume Oil: Smoky woods, spiced citrus, and ylang ylang.
Ylang ylang single note. Nothing to see here, move along.
The Hit List: Nah, I'm good.
Midnight Gypsy Alchemy
Season of the Witch Solid Perfume: Coriander, rose, cinnamon, lavender, frankincense, patchouli and black pepper essential oils, infused with golden amber resin, apples, patchouli leaves pepper corns , rose petals and lavender buds.
I really like the idea of solid perfumes-- it's so old fashioned and quaint. This particular solid perfume formula is a bit too solid, to be honest. Getting it to melt and rub in on the skin is hard. That said... it is a lovely scent. It's well blended perfume that has a spicy component, but that wouldn't be its main feature. The lavender blends with the patchouli in a way that's incredibly comforting without smelling predominantly of either note. It just has a quiet loveliness to it, which sticks close to the skin. C for the formula, A- for the scent.
Autumn Embers Perfume Oil: A scent to capture the season of Fall in a bountiful blend of smokey, earth and leaf notes topped by candied spice. Created with ginger, spiced cassia, clove, bergamot, sage, and orange blossom essential oils delicately infused with real ginger root , orange peels, clove buds and sage leaves.
A more typical spice scent-- ginger and bergamot, predominantly. Does not have a ton of staying power.
The Hit List: Nothing else I have to have, but I might try Season of the Witch in a bath salt.
Solstice Scents
Witch's Cottage: Warm Baked Goods, Dried Herbs, Sweet Annie, Soft Woods & Fragrant Hearth Smoke.
Allll I'm getting is burnt caramel and cake. No woods, nothing dry, just sweet sweet sweet. I'm not a sweet person most of the time, so this will go live with someone else. Not my thing at all.
Gehenna Perfume Oil: Red Musk, Dragon's Blood Resin, Burning Wood, Somalian Myrrh & Egyptian Musk.
A nice, velvety resins blend. Very dry. Predominantly a true dragon's blood scent, I do catch some myrrh and a little woodiness. I like it!
The Hit List: Solstice Scents is among the more heavily scented of the etailers I've purchased from, almost to the point that it's too much. Curiously, I find that while the lotions & body glaces last FOREVER on me, the perfume oils are gone in an hour or two. That said? Blueberry Muffin Batter whipped soap? I could potentially gnaw my arm off if I tried it. Maybe I shouldn't.
Alkemia Perfumes
Autumn: Sun warmed fallen leaves, golden sunlit amber, light wool warmed with skin musk.
Smells kinda like BPAL L'Autunno. Non-foody, woody, a little bit bitter. The amber is a very pale amber or gray amber. A very close-to-the skin scent. Cozy but not sweet.
Ghost Fire: A preternatural blend of white ambers flickers like ethereal fire.
Smells a LOT like BPAL's Boo. It's got that same kinda-sweet-but-not-cloying cream + whiteness vibe.
Ritual: Mysterious dark woods flecked with the embers of aromatic spices and a gentle swirl of incense.
Ritual is LOVE. Waaaay back in the day, my favorite BPAL scent was Hamadryad (the original, spicy one). This one is like that-- woody and a little resinous, but with a stronger bite of cinnamon. Really like this one.
Offering: Fir & resinous woods, offertory fruits, spiced ale, beeswax candles, a whisper of ritual incense, and freshly baked cakes dripping with wild honey.
This smells a LOT like one of the BPAL 'Weenies from years past, but I can't pinpoint what one beyond saying it's a familiar scent. It reminds me of Lambs Wool, I think. I like it.
Aphrodesia: An intoxicating blend of deep eastern spices warmed with creamy vanilla and a few drops of golden frankincense.
Mostly frankincense and some hard-to-pinpoint dry spices. Not impressed.
Blessed Bee: A blend of three honeys - pure, sweet, golden, naked.
Suuuuper sweet honey. Like those little honeycomb candies. Way too much for me.
The Hit List: Yeah, I'd try this company again. I got equal hits and misses, which, all things considered, is pretty good. And their sample sets are well priced. I'd try: Ex Libris, Les Mystères, Apple Tart, Wildwood.
Other Things I'm Pondering...
I missed the Haunt sale this time around, and so I didn't get any of the lavender marshmallow whipped butter I'd been coveting. Their whipped lotion formula is amazing. It's like meringue that melts into your skin on contact. So I've been looking for a similar formula. Bueller?
-- Peppermint Hot Cocoa Lip Balm by LongWinterFarm. Their Pumpkin Chip perfume oil also sounds amazing in theory, but then I remember my skin hates chocolate scents. They also get cool points for having a Unicorn Farts perfume oil.
Oooookay. That's enough RT for one evening. I need to get to bed! But before I do... aside from the individual company websites, many of these are available through The Soap Box Company and Scent Addict, though I have been less than thrilled with Scent Addict's turnaround/customer service in the past. It's really not that hard to make me happy-- just, you know, tell me if my order is going to be delayed, then respond to my query with more than just an automated tracking number email. It's not that hard.
Canadians, be sure to check out Pretty Indulgent. They have a great selection of bath goodies and nail polishes-- I've even ordered on occasion because I could indulge in various kinds of retail therapy all at once!
GOOD NIGHT, Y'ALL.