After I got into indie perfumes, I found out about "natural' perfumes that apparently have no synthetic ingredients. I decided to try it out and the first brand I tried out was Common Brimstone. So here's a description of their Raw Brimstone line in their own words:
The TAT's not too bad. I ordered on June 21, and it was shipped 7 days later on June 28. I didn't have much interaction with the shop owner so I don't really have anything else to comment about the customer service.
Ok, I've heard people mention that Common Brimstone has a very short wear time, but I thought I won't have that problem since I live in a humid, tropical country where smells just linger on and on. Well...it's really short. I even started timing it with my iPhone stopwatch just to make sure I'm not biased. The sillage of the oils aren't that strong and I have to sniff it close to the skin even when I first put it on. After 1h, I practically have to press my nose against my skin to smell it. In less than 2h, the smell's almost completely gone from my skin. I have no idea what's going on. Maybe it's just natural perfumes in general? I definitely have to try out their normal perfumes and other natural perfumes.
One thing I do like about these samples is that they came with reducers:
"Aurora is a cool and unique blend of rose de mai (cabbage rose) and lavender, with a background of silver fir, peru balsam, and cedarwood. Sniff carefully and you might detect a finishing touch of peppermint."
"Raw Brimstone is my 100% natural line of perfumes - just pure essential oils, absolutes, and CO2 extracts blended in fractionated coconut oil for a long shelf-life, a skin-nourishing perfume, and a wonderful, vivid scent!"
Customer Service Review
The TAT's not too bad. I ordered on June 21, and it was shipped 7 days later on June 28. I didn't have much interaction with the shop owner so I don't really have anything else to comment about the customer service.
Perfume Oil General Review
Ok, I've heard people mention that Common Brimstone has a very short wear time, but I thought I won't have that problem since I live in a humid, tropical country where smells just linger on and on. Well...it's really short. I even started timing it with my iPhone stopwatch just to make sure I'm not biased. The sillage of the oils aren't that strong and I have to sniff it close to the skin even when I first put it on. After 1h, I practically have to press my nose against my skin to smell it. In less than 2h, the smell's almost completely gone from my skin. I have no idea what's going on. Maybe it's just natural perfumes in general? I definitely have to try out their normal perfumes and other natural perfumes.
One thing I do like about these samples is that they came with reducers:
 |
| So cool! |
Scent Reviews
As always, done blind until I write the overview.
Aurora
"Aurora is a cool and unique blend of rose de mai (cabbage rose) and lavender, with a background of silver fir, peru balsam, and cedarwood. Sniff carefully and you might detect a finishing touch of peppermint."
This is a very faint smell and I struggled to identify what it is since it's so hard to catch a whiff. It's a slightly icy smell with a cottony, yellow scent that makes me think of those minyak telon, a sort of baby oil with eucalyptus essential oils to add a bit of iciness. I think I smell ginger in it too. I can't think of auroras when I smell this. It just smells like an old, Indonesian nanny - a mixture of minyak telon, ginger tea (teh jahe), and and Indonesian jahe (herbs) smells.
Overview: I can't smell anything floral in here and it just smells more herbal. The balsam is definitely dominant.
"My take on Enceladus is an icy touch of spearmint glazing a pale floral body of gardenia, geranium, and hyacinth, finishing on a base of vanilla-like benzoin."
This smells like lemon-spearmint sugarcane juice! I love the scent! This has the best throw I've encountered so far, and I can smell it from whispering distance (usually I have to smell it with my nose very, very close to the skin). Unfortunately, the drydown starts getting herbal. Like Indonesian jahe (herbs) sort of herbal.
Overview: Where is the herbal smell coming from? Is it the benzoin?
"Equinox is a fresh, green fragrance with a base of tomato leaf and coriander, with hints of lemon and linden blossom and just a touch of vanilla to tie it all together."
This smells like freshly made Indonesian sambal (chilli). With a touch of lemongrass. Indonesian chilli has fresh chopped up chilli, and it's very different from the bean stew dish Americans call "chilli". Here's a picture of Indonesian chilli:
It's a fresh, delicious scent, and it definitely makes me hungry...but it's not exactly the edible smell I'm going for. After about 5-10 minutes, I smell something vaguely floral trying to get out, but it's drowned by the chilli smell. After 29 minutes, it's pretty faint and I have to smell very close to the skin. The smell finally settles to a sweet lemongrass smell with a hint of fresh chillies. Not bad, but still not for me. I can barely smell this by 47 minutes :(
Overview: Well, the first half of the notes does sound like it can be in the recipe for Indonesian chilli. No surprise there.
"A pure, clean blend of white amber, jasmine, and tuberose, with bright top notes of lemon, bergamot, and sweet orange."
This starts smelling like a cool, preserved lemon. The coolness is a herbal sort of iciness. The preserved lemon part got stronger and stronger and now it smells like a massage oil from a cheap Indonesian massage place (I'm not even calling them spas since they're really just an old mattress in a room...totally not sketchy, I promise) - slightly herbal, with a lemon scent that smells more like acrid, preserved lemons.
Overview: I would expect something a bit more floral from the description, but the lemon's definitely overwhelming. I guess the preserved lemon smell came from the combination of lemon, orange & bergamot?
"A twilight concoction of Bulgarian lavender and jasmine, laced with touches of black pepper and nutmeg, with a soft violet leaf base."
I smell a eucalyptus sort of coolness in this again, there's also a jasmine smell to it. It's a pretty nice cool, icy jasmines scent, and somehow makes me think of walking along the Arno in Florence.
I think it's because the smell is so similar to Tocca's Florence, which I wore a lot while I was in Florence (I thought it was appropriate). It smells like cool, clean jasmines with a sophisticated blue type of scent that makes you think of calm rivers. This is a bit more herbal than Tocca's Florence though. I love this scent but it's almost gone by 36 minutes. I have the exact time since I had my stopwatch on.
I looked up the notes in Tocca's Florence and this is what's listed:
Wonder which ones they'll have in common?
Overview: I guess it's the violet and jasmines? While this is more herbal than the Tocca scent, they're similar enough for me to consider buying this instead of the Tocca scent next time. I initially thought this would be a much cheaper option, but this is where I found something a bit surprising. Tocca's Florence is $68 for 50ml while Vespertine is $28.13 for 10ml, which makes it $140.65 for 50ml. I didn't realize it was that much more expensive. Maybe the quality of ingredients is better, but Tocca's perfume honestly lasted longer on me and I didn't have any adverse reaction to it. So I guess it's more worth it to fork out the money for Tocca.
 |
| Obviously, she'll be wearing batik...which belongs to Indonesia, not Malaysia Image courtesy of arumsekartaji.files.wordpress.com |
Encelado
"My take on Enceladus is an icy touch of spearmint glazing a pale floral body of gardenia, geranium, and hyacinth, finishing on a base of vanilla-like benzoin."This smells like lemon-spearmint sugarcane juice! I love the scent! This has the best throw I've encountered so far, and I can smell it from whispering distance (usually I have to smell it with my nose very, very close to the skin). Unfortunately, the drydown starts getting herbal. Like Indonesian jahe (herbs) sort of herbal.
Overview: Where is the herbal smell coming from? Is it the benzoin?
Equinox
"Equinox is a fresh, green fragrance with a base of tomato leaf and coriander, with hints of lemon and linden blossom and just a touch of vanilla to tie it all together."
This smells like freshly made Indonesian sambal (chilli). With a touch of lemongrass. Indonesian chilli has fresh chopped up chilli, and it's very different from the bean stew dish Americans call "chilli". Here's a picture of Indonesian chilli:
 |
| So hungry... Image courtesy of Wikipedia |
It's a fresh, delicious scent, and it definitely makes me hungry...but it's not exactly the edible smell I'm going for. After about 5-10 minutes, I smell something vaguely floral trying to get out, but it's drowned by the chilli smell. After 29 minutes, it's pretty faint and I have to smell very close to the skin. The smell finally settles to a sweet lemongrass smell with a hint of fresh chillies. Not bad, but still not for me. I can barely smell this by 47 minutes :(
Overview: Well, the first half of the notes does sound like it can be in the recipe for Indonesian chilli. No surprise there.
Starlight
"A pure, clean blend of white amber, jasmine, and tuberose, with bright top notes of lemon, bergamot, and sweet orange."
This starts smelling like a cool, preserved lemon. The coolness is a herbal sort of iciness. The preserved lemon part got stronger and stronger and now it smells like a massage oil from a cheap Indonesian massage place (I'm not even calling them spas since they're really just an old mattress in a room...totally not sketchy, I promise) - slightly herbal, with a lemon scent that smells more like acrid, preserved lemons.
Overview: I would expect something a bit more floral from the description, but the lemon's definitely overwhelming. I guess the preserved lemon smell came from the combination of lemon, orange & bergamot?
Vespertine
"A twilight concoction of Bulgarian lavender and jasmine, laced with touches of black pepper and nutmeg, with a soft violet leaf base."I smell a eucalyptus sort of coolness in this again, there's also a jasmine smell to it. It's a pretty nice cool, icy jasmines scent, and somehow makes me think of walking along the Arno in Florence.
-8.jpg) |
| The pic's mine, one of the few pictures that I still have after my external hard drive got stolen from my luggage. T.T |
I think it's because the smell is so similar to Tocca's Florence, which I wore a lot while I was in Florence (I thought it was appropriate). It smells like cool, clean jasmines with a sophisticated blue type of scent that makes you think of calm rivers. This is a bit more herbal than Tocca's Florence though. I love this scent but it's almost gone by 36 minutes. I have the exact time since I had my stopwatch on.
I looked up the notes in Tocca's Florence and this is what's listed:
Top Notes: Italian Bergamot, Grapefruit Leaves, Green Pear, Apple
Middle Notes: Ivory Gardenia, Crushed Violet Petals, Jasmine, Tuberose, Blue Iris
Bottom Notes: Blonde Wood, White Musk
Wonder which ones they'll have in common?
Overview: I guess it's the violet and jasmines? While this is more herbal than the Tocca scent, they're similar enough for me to consider buying this instead of the Tocca scent next time. I initially thought this would be a much cheaper option, but this is where I found something a bit surprising. Tocca's Florence is $68 for 50ml while Vespertine is $28.13 for 10ml, which makes it $140.65 for 50ml. I didn't realize it was that much more expensive. Maybe the quality of ingredients is better, but Tocca's perfume honestly lasted longer on me and I didn't have any adverse reaction to it. So I guess it's more worth it to fork out the money for Tocca.
No comments:
Post a Comment