I would have had this done awhile ago, but then I had An Idea. The day I got these in the mail, my mom was over. She immediately realized that the mailer on my desk had perfume in it and was like "I wanna try it. No it doesn't need to rest, open it now, I wanna see!" She initially tried Bruise Violet and Shadowboxer. I decided to wait for her next visit and then make her try the rest, because, as always, her reactions were hilarious.
Shadowboxer
(Fiona Apple) - Jasmine fleur, May rose, blond sandalwood, mango flower, praline (premium)
In the bottle: Jasmine, wood, something nutty, and maybe mangoes?
On my skin: Earthy, musty, musky jasmine and a nutty sandalwood. If jasmine turns into poo flowers on you, you'll probably want to give this a pass. It's a heavily indolic jasmine that is saved from going full bleu cheese by that mango note which comes out a bit more on the dry down. I personally loved it.
(Fiona Apple) - Jasmine fleur, May rose, blond sandalwood, mango flower, praline (premium)
In the bottle: Jasmine, wood, something nutty, and maybe mangoes?
On my skin: Earthy, musty, musky jasmine and a nutty sandalwood. If jasmine turns into poo flowers on you, you'll probably want to give this a pass. It's a heavily indolic jasmine that is saved from going full bleu cheese by that mango note which comes out a bit more on the dry down. I personally loved it.
Lasted four hours, which again is amazing longevity for a white floral on me.
Mom: It smells like a resident's room! UGH! (She's a geriatric nurse. Every place I've ever visited her at has smelled strongly of ammonia).
Me: *too busy laughing to form a defense*
Mom: It does! No, you know what it smells like? Like an old lady who had too many cats and was trying to hide the pee smell with old lady perfume.
Me: *dead*
Mom: It smells like a resident's room! UGH! (She's a geriatric nurse. Every place I've ever visited her at has smelled strongly of ammonia).
Me: *too busy laughing to form a defense*
Mom: It does! No, you know what it smells like? Like an old lady who had too many cats and was trying to hide the pee smell with old lady perfume.
Me: *dead*
Bruise Violet
(Babes In Toyland) - Red lipstick accord, dusting powder, white iris, violet leaf, Damascus & Bulgarian rose, red grapefruit zest (premium)
In the bottle: Powdery floral... a rose, I think
On my skin: YES. Powdery rose with another white floral and a hit of fruity feeling sweetness. As it's starting to dry, I wonder if the fruity bit is orange blossom. And it really DOES smell like lipstick. This reminds me of a glamorous old widow, who still has perfectly cut and died hair, fabulously tailored clothes, doesn't let a little thing like old age stop her from living her life to the fullest, and has been wearing Shalimar along with Revlon's Fire & Ice every day as her signature since 1955.
After about two hours, it faded down to just a sweet powder with a light throw. I got a total of three and a half hours of wear.
Mom: Oh I like this one! It smells very nice. Like flowers.
Me: Oh yeah? What kind?
Mom: I don't know, just nice flowers. .... You should give me this one.
Me: How bout no.
Rid of Me
(PJ Harvey) - Magnolia, Sambac jasmine, ylang, white pepper, grapefruit blossom, ambrette, satin musk, Oudh (premium)
In the bottle: Green, fruity Magnolia
On my skin: Immediately on, it's very green and with only a faint hint of magnolia in the background. After it starts to dry, the magnolia takes over, but it's not as fruity smelling as it was in the bottle. Instead, it smells like fresh cut stems or very young and green branches covered in magnolia flowers. Starts off with a strong throw, and after an hour drops, down markedly to stick close to the skin. Surprisingly, it hung in there for a lot longer than I expected: I got a total wear time of four and a half hours out of this before it faded away.
Me: Here sniff this one.
Mom: ....You're gonna put everything I say on your blog aren't you?
Me: Yes I am. Now smell.
Mom: *sniffs* EW. It smells like cat piss. It smells like cat piss where the cat didn't have enough water.
Me: Why do you think everything smells like pee? *reads notes* Oh yeah, this has Jasmine too. I guess your skin doesn't like it.
Mom: Neither does my nose.
Bells for Her
(Tori Amos) - Sweet basil, dandelion, star jasmine, green vines, mandarin, ozone, green tea, crushed mint
In the bottle: Green... like a neutral green. No, I don't know what that means either.
On my skin: Very green, but not sharp cut grass or oozing cut stems. More like a fresh cut bunch of herbs, but I can't put my finger on a specific one. As it starts to dry, there's a light white floral that comes peeking out. After about 30 minutes, it feels like basil and lawn - not grass but it smells like a lawn or a meadow. Lasted just over two hours. Looks at notes later and figures out its dandelion. Decides not to think too hard about what it says about her yard that *lawn* doesn't smell right unless it's full of dandelions according to her brain.
Mom: I don't like that one. Nope. It smells like Ajax.
New Radio
(Bikini Kill) - Vanilla milkshake accord, maraschino cherry, pink lemonade, grass clippings, waffle cone
In the bottle: Lemony cake? cookies? Something sweet.
On my skin: Lemon cake. Or cookies with sweet lemon frosting, I can't decide which, but it's definitely a baked lemon flavored dessert type thing. I can almost smell lemon rind sprinkled in there as well, and it's topped off with a very nice, non-cough syrupy cherry mixed in. Became a bit less sweet as it dried. After an hour, it faded down to a skin scent that smelled faintly of vanilla shake, I think.
Unfortunately, after testing it a bunch of times, I only get an hour and a half out of it. If I'm lucky. :(
Mom: It smells like it has vanilla and what's that stuff? Anise. It smells like those Italian cookies.
Doll Parts
(Hole) - Rhubarb, white cake, white peach, cassis, osmanthus, ginger flower
In the bottle: Watermelon Jolly Ranchers
On my skin: This is like Lolita's Perky Goth phase. I get candy that smells delicious and intensely sour. Now that I'm wearing it, it's more Sour Patch Kids than Jolly Ranchers, and it feels more like sour apple. It has a nice medium throw, too. I don't know if I'd wear something this intensely candy smelling to work, but it wouldn't really offend anyone if I did. I was the least excited for this one. Strike one: When this song came out, it got played 4 times an hour every hour on the radio, so I got sick of Doll Parts really freaking fast. Strike two, I have like a hundred cake scents already and wasn't interested in anymore. Surprise, surprise, I get no cake at all out of this scent. Even so, I really dug this, AND I got a respectable thee hours. Color me impressed.
Mom: It's nice.
Me: Yeah? What's it smell like?
Mom: *sniffs again.* I don't know. Orange? I like this one though.
*10 minutes later* I still like this one. Now it smells even better. It smells like cake.
Me: Salty that I don't get any cake notes but she does.
Mom: This is my favorite. You should give me this one.
Me: NO.
Bear: *wandered out of his office because he smelled dinner and stayed because Harry Potter was on* Yeah, you should give that to your mom.
Me: YOU SHUT UP! Nobody even asked you!
So once again, for someone who swears she doesn't like to smell like food, the ones my mom liked were all the Foodie/Gourmand perfumes, and I continue to be Team Old Lady Scents and Team Big Florals, and my husband continues to be Team Not Helping At All.
~M.
The Summer Collection will be here on May 27th at sixteen92.com. Maybe if she's nice to me I'll buy mom a full size of Doll Parts. Don't tell her though.
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