Summer LE Round Up feat. Arcana, Haus of Gloi, and sixteen92

I know it's a little late to be talking about summer scents.  Everyone is - yours truly included - all about that pumpkin spice, and the Fall/Halloween collections are coming out of the woodwork.  But, except for like three days this week, it's still been scorching hot and not Pumpkin and Apple and Resin Weather around here.   I've been going back and forth about even posting reviews on these three.   Then it went from Sweater In the Morning Weather back to I'm Sweating After Only 2 Minutes Of Driving With the Windows Down Weather.  And I also decided to do this so I can talk about My Awesome Customer Service Experiences.  AND I'm wearing Piscis Australis again today.  So you get Reviews About Summer Stuff.  Dealwithit.gif.

First off, excuse me, but do you have a moment to talk about sixteen92?  Too bad, because we're going to. I decided after hearing everyone rave about how good Boardwalk was, I needed to have it.  I couldn't afford the AFK Summer Lovin Box that it initially came out in, I missed the first time sixteen92 put it up for sale on their site, but I finally managed to snag one when it was restocked.  It was the only thing I ordered, so you'll imagine my confusion when I picked up my bag and felt two dram bottles in there.  I opened  it up and found:

Um whaaaa!?!?

Then I actually looked at my order form and found out that senpai had noticed me!

*hearteyes.gif*

That was really nice.  My husband caught me squeeing over it, and said it wasn't nice, that she just did it because I have everything else she sells ever so what was she gonna send a sample of?  :/

You have no idea how often this gets said in my house.

Boardwalk

Coconut pulp, coconut milk, Coppertone, sand, sea breeze, driftwood, melted vanilla ice cream cone, sticky cotton candy

In the bottle: sweet coconut cream  

On my skin:  This smells like summer.   I get coconut and skin and maybe a little sweat.   I think sunscreen too.  This smells like a summer day, laying out on the sand at the lake or on a floaty in my best friend's pool (because my dad wouldn't get us one.  He thought my brother's friends were idiots who would drown themselves) and soaking the sun up.  I don't know why every other sixteen92 scent triggers a really specific nostalgic memory.  It's kind of freaky.  And awesome.  

Now, while I have you here, sir-or-madam- whichever-the-case-may-be- allow me to extol the virtues of Pretty Indulgent's fine storefront!  

So What Happened Was, Arcana released a Summer Constellations collection.  None of the scents really made me go OH GOD I NEED DIS, except for maybe Piscis Australis.  I love gardenias, but they die every time I try to grow them.  I've been hunting for my Perfect Gardenia, but just from reading the notes, I didn't think it would be this one. Gardenia and banana sounded a little out there, and I'm always a little hesitant to splurge on a full size without hearing any reviews.   Bad move on my part.  By the time reviews started coming out confirming that yes, Piscis Australis is amazing and I did need it, it was sold out every where.  Except Pretty Indulgent.  

Pretty Indulgent is a Canadian stockist for indie perfume and bath and body brands such as Arcana, Villianess, Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, and Sweet Anthem.  In Arcana's case, they seem to carry the whole general collection as well as getting her LE releases.  On top of lucking out and finding the Summer Constellations, I noticed Pretty Indulgent still had a lot of the Summer Cravings and quite a few last year's Ravenous collection still stocked.   I dithered for a few days about whether I really needed it: shipping can be a deal breaker for me and I worried that international shipping would be a bear.  It was actually pretty reasonable:  I ended up picking up Piscis Australis, Pumpkin Craves Bacon, and was given an imp of BPAL's Muse as a free sample.  The whole thing worked out to $34.78 with $6.48 S&H. They shipped my order surprisingly fast.  I purchased everything on September 1st, it shipped on the 2nd, and was delivered on the 11th.  I expected to have to wait much longer for my package.    

Score one for Canada Post.

Piscis Australis 

A clean, airy handful of acacia blossoms, neroli, tuberose, asphodel, and native gardenia petals are scattered over banana fruit and white amber.

In the bottle: BANANA and a little flower

On my skin:  There's the Gardenia and maybe tuberose, with the banana taking a backseat.   It's strangely harmonious and has a moderate throw.  After twenty minutes, I start getting a rain or breezy note.  I have no idea  what that's even about since I'm pretty sure there's no aquatics in this.  As usual, I slapped this on without bothering to look at the notes.  I think the slightly aquatic bit I was getting was the asphodel, but I can't say for certain: the only other scent I have with asphodel is an aquatic floral (BPAL's the Silver Stream).   The overall effect is of a creamy and seductive tropical floral. After about two and a half hours, I think I smell a little white amber under everything.  I got a very good three hours out of this and it lingered for another hour on my skin.  This was definitely a winner, and I'm so glad I bit the bullet and grabbed the full size.

Pumpkins Crave Bacon

Sugar pumpkin with maple, nutmeg, and smoky bacon accord.

In the bottle: Tastykake pumpkin pie 

On my skin:  Smelled like the filling in a Tastykake Pumpkin Pie:  creamy, not overly sweet pumpkin and spices.  I get a lot of that sharp pie spice.  When it dries,  I first get a hint of what I'm guessing is the bacon.  It smells like more... edible leather than bacon.   Unfortunately when it dries, the allspice drowns everything else out.  After about an hour and a half,  throw drops from strong enough that my husband and son make faces at me and my "stinky bacon spice perfume" to light and decreases slowly until it disappeared two or so hours later.

Muse 

A light, invigorating floral and citrus blend. Tuberose, lotus and jasmine with a hint of lime.

In the bottle: bright & loud. Citrus... with musky-licorice? That can't be right. 

On my skin: I'm getting a little anise/licorice I think.... but I don't hate it. I looked up the notes and think that what I'm smelling is the tuberose/jasmine making magic with the lime. Almost immediately after going on, it gets less Twizzler and more musky-floral. Ooh I like this one. A lot. Dry, this is the Jasmine show. It smells like sticking my face in the potted jasmine at my local nursery and wishing that I didn't kill every tropical flower I've ever tried to grow. I got a decent two and a half hours out of this. Which is pretty good on me for a floral without any musky/animalic base notes.

One more thing...

Last but not least, let's talk about the insanity that is trying to order from Haus of Gloi. TL;DR it's a full contact sport. The popular scents will sell out within minutes of going up for sale. When the Haus releases one time limited edition scents like their Reveries... It's like a slightly less vicious version of the Tributes' initial mad dash for the good stuff in the Cornucopia. My strategy for survival is to wait for reviews and see what turns up on people's swap lists. A few weeks ago I lucked out and scored Boca Chica and Blueberry Pie in a swap. Funnily enough, it was delivered on the same day as my Pretty Indulgent order.



Blueberry Pie:

Simple! Pie crust and blueberries.

In the bottle: syrupy blueberry goodness.

On my skin: Ooh yeah. That's fresh baked blueberry pie. The crusty note smells flaky and slightly skin musky.   Dry, its mellowed out to delicious blueberry pie in a perfectly browned, buttery flaky, melt in your mouth crust. Can you tell how hungry it made me? I added frozen blueberries and pie crust to my shopping list after just 30 minutes of wearing this. I got a decent two and a half hours of wear out of this one.


Boca Chica

Rich gardenia blossom, red mandarin, coconut cream and ripe banana. This sounds super fruity, but it is surprisingly not so!

In the bottle: Gardenia and I think a little mandarin.

On my skin: Whoa Gardenia. Like, really Gardenia. I can smell a little of the banana and a bare hint of coconut,but they're just gardenia's back up dancers. This is a lot more floral and a lot more gardenia forward than Piscis Australis. This is a bold perfume with excellent throw: I can smell it even with my hands in my lap or while typing on my laptop. Unfortunately it's very short lived. I managed to just squeak past two hours of wear.

Look at me, making a dent on the mountain of crap I've bought and need to reveiw!  I feel super accomplished and like I could go out and get stuff done.  I'm not, but I feel like I could.

~M.