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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Review: Wiggle Perfumes (RIP scents)

When Wiggle announced they were clearing out a bunch of their scents, I had to buy some of the soon to be discontinued scents. I feel like I'll be owning a piece of history or something.

I started getting worried around May 20 since it's been nearly a month since I ordered and I haven't received anything yet. On average, all my orders from the US have gotten to me in about 15 days, so I was wondering if it got stuck in Indonesian customs or something. So I checked Etsy and saw this:

Noooooooo. That means I have to wait another 1 1/2 weeks!

This is when I ordered it:


I guess I got spoiled since all the other indie companies I ordered from shipped within a day of receiving my order. Still, taking 19 days to process an order is kinda long.

I finally received it on May 28. 2 weeks from the shipment date is normal for international shipping, so no surprises there. I contacted the owner just because I was wondering if this was normal or there were special circumstances. This is the reply I got.
There was a brain fart in my message, I meant to put "2 weeks".

I'm happy with the customer service and I'm glad she's making changes to improve the TAT, so no complaints there. I also chatted with other customers on reddit and they got their orders at a reasonable TAT, so I'll just assume my order was a one off craziness. I really respect Nani for not making any excuses even though this seemed like a rare case.

The perfumes I got were Maggie, Selma & Anna May. Selma's sold out but Maggie & Anna May are still available and on clearance!

Aren't they so pretty? I'm in love with the packaging!

Packaging


I love it! The 5 ml sizes I got are convenient to carry around and comes in a rollerball bottle. So convenient to apply! The artwork's also pretty, so that's a bonus.

Perfume Oils Review

Oh wow, these are hard to review. Selma and Anna May will take you on an olfactory rollercoaster ride. They morph so much, I ended up constantly surprised and endlessly swinging from liking it to hating it. Every time I was sure the scent has settled in, it switches again, so I kept editing my entry. Finally, I just listed down all the various stages the scents went through.

The strength and longevity vary greatly between the 3 scents I got, so I reviewed this part separately for each scent. But it's guaranteed you can smell them from a casual handshake distance (without any of those air kisses) for at least up to an hour.

Overall, I'm happy and I'll definitely look into ordering more in the future.

Selma


I stupidly didn't take note of the description before it's gone, so here are the list of notes according to a post on Pinterest: "Cocoa butter musk with honeysuckle, warm hay, woodsmoke, and honey."

First whiff: This smells exactly like chocolate. Straight out bitter, dark chocolate. I feel like I sniffed too close to a dessert covered in cocoa powder, and ended up with a nose full of it. Not exactly a pleasant smell.

5 minutes in: Ooohh! Chocolate frosting with a hint of baby powder. It's starting to get good!

15 min in: Um...why is it just straight out ylang ylang on me? This is a really boring scent for me since ylang ylang essential oil is so common in Indonesia. Not liking it.

30 min in: Ok, now it smells musky and woodsy. Slightly like Balinese incense. Still smells too local, but at least it's getting complex.

1h in: It finally settled into the wooden, Balinese incense smell. Less musky and more wooden, with a hint of something metallic. I ended up loving this scent. Wow..I feel like I was just in a teenage romance, switching from love to hate and back to love again in a blink.

This scent stops wafting around after an hour, but stayed on my skin until I washed my hands 9h later.

Anna May


"This one has the peony and green tea notes, but I've also added a generous dose of wisteria layered over white musk, a touch of orchid, a kick of ginger, and the slightest hint of soft incense. Instead of kumquat (which, bless its heart, takes over everything I put it in), I've used lychee for a top note. Overall, this fragrance is soft, floral, and fruity, though somehow still a little dark."


Image courtesy of Wiggle Perfumes

First whiff: Oh my gods. My skin turned it into a sour lemon smell. Not good.

5 minutes in: Other scents rushed in and it became a medley of lemon, cotton, baby powder and blue notes. Nice!

15 min in: It's mostly blue notes but has the scent of lemons and florals anchoring it so it doesn't smell like straight out room spray. I'm also impressed. Blue notes tend to smell hollow and chemical-y to me, but this one manages to stay creamy.

30 min in: Ok. Blue notes won, it smells kinda like roomspray.

1h in: Now it smells mostly of a very, very sweet, floral with blue notes blending in. It's a bit too sweet for me. I'm pretty surprised since I thought I'd love this scent at 5 minutes.

This was the strongest perfume in the lot. It wafted around for about 3h and stayed on my skin until I fell asleep about 9-10h later.



Maggie


Image courtesy of Wiggle Perfumes
"Layered into the lemon cookie sweetness are touches of cinnamon, sandalwood, egyptian musk, and soft yellow rose."

I'm biased. I got this scent because this was the nickname of one of the most inspirational woman I know. I didn't know what I was getting, so I was totally surprised by the scent.

First impression: Lemon buttercream cupcakes. Omfg love. I'm impressed, a lot of cake smells I encountered ends up smelling artificial, cloying & play-doh-ish, but this smells exactly like the lemon buttercream cupcakes one of my friends makes. 

5 min in: Still smells mostly like lemon buttercream cupcakes, but there's a cool, slightly icy smell emerging. It's not minty, just icy. Like the feeling after you sniff one of those balms that are meant to clear your sinuses. This scent stayed stable like this for the rest of the time. 

This scent lasted the shortest for me. It stopped wafting around by 1h, but you can still smell it above your skin. To clarify, assuming you put it on your wrist, someone kissing your wrist can smell it, but you'll struggle to smell it while doing the Rodin's Thinker pose.


Like this. Image courtesy of Maryhill Museum


By about 4 1/2h, I can berely smell it on my skin. Definitely surprised by the huge longevity difference from the other two perfumes. Still a delicious scent and I can totally see myself wearing it whenever I need to lie about my baking abilities. Oh that delicious smell? Yeah, I was just baking. Just lemon buttercream cupcakes, no big deal. Something I totally do all the time....oh, you can't try one. I, er...ate it all? Yeah, I eat everything I bake immediately. The entire batch. Yes, I know my family has a history of diabetes. 

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