/u/ifweburn and I have been exchanging goodies with each other and here are reviews of the perfumes she sent me. My previous Ten Three Labs scent reviews can be found here.
Oh wow this is good. It's like a powdery musk sort of scent with buttery caramel. The butter is the salty buttered popcorn sort of butter rather than the milky sort of butter. The scent ends up being a very girly powdery musk smell, but it's all grown up and expensive. The powdery musk is the very powdery type that you either love or hate –the kind that brings up images of baby doll dresses, bows and lace. However, there's this luxurious sort of touch to it that gives it a grown up elegance. Even though it's a heavier sort of scent, it's still more of a youthful socialite in thousand dollar baby doll dresses.
It's definitely not as gourmand as I expected given the name, but I still like it.
After about 40 min, it starts drying down to a coconut-ish scent to this. It's a tad sunblock-ish on me, but it's not too bad.
TL;DR: Young socialites in baby doll dresses.
Mint chocolate chip ice cream. YUM. That's all I have to say.
Kinda weird, but this disappeared on me in just 20 min. I have to sniff close to my skin, and all I get is this weird, clay-like smell lingering on my skin. No more mint chocolate chip ice cream. I guess it's not just my stomach that loves wolfing down mint chocolate chip ice cream.
TL;DR: Ephemeral mint chocolate chip ice cream.
I'm actually getting a creamy orange ginger ale from this. I can sniff out the orange since I'm looking out for it, but if I didn't know there's orange in this, I'd say it smells exactly like a cream soda.
The creamy fizziness unfortunately only lasted about 3-5 min before going flat, so it ends up smelling like a cream soda that has gone flat after being left out for hours. When this scent dries down, it smells exactly like a candy I used to have as a kid, but I can't put my finger on what candy it is.
TL;DR: Creamy orange ginger ale that goes from fizzy to flat.
Yup, I smell lavender and chai. The chai is they kind without milk, and not the Starbucks' weak version of "chai". It's a a hot, spicy chai. I would still say that it's a more Americanized chai since it smells different from the chai I got from India. It's missing some spices, and I'm not sure what they are.
As surprising as this is, the combination works. The lavender blended in to become more of an icy, balsam-like scent, so together with the chai, it becomes a floral, warm & spicy scent, with hints of a tingling coolness. It smells like a very upscale, massage oil. The kind that's used in spas with names in foreign words that are exotic sounding enough to make it seem like they possess ancient wisdom from far off, "exotic" lands, but not exotic enough to the point that they're unpronounceable for their clientelle. And charges hundreds of dollars per session.
Kinda off topic but why does wisdom always come from far off, exotic lands? Americans travel to Bali, Indonesia to meditate and listen to Balinese wisdom, Indonesians travel to listen to American mega church pastors preach some prosperity gospel. Surely there's cheaper ways of finding wisdom?
TL;DR: Upscale massage oil from a pseudo "exotic" spa.
Overview: It's very clean and I don't really smell edible bits in here.
"Marshmallows flavored with sea salt & caramel."
At first, I got a blue sort of scent and burnt caramel. The caramel got more and more sweet and burnt to the point where it's searing. For the first 10 min, my brain won't cooperate and I keep getting the feeling that I'm sniffing two separate scents instead of one blended scent. There's the searing, super sweet, burnt caramel and there's the blue scent that reminds me of a feminine, calming blue perfume that I can see on very elegant, poised women.
When the two distinct scents finally melded into one, it becomes pretty nice. It becomes a heavier sort of women's perfume that has a powdery sort of heaviness to it, but there's hints of something delicious that gets you hungry. It doesn't smell like sea salt caramel or anything edible, but definitely smells like a perfume. The heavy, powdery part of the perfume makes me think of lush, sensual women, but the edible part just makes me think of comforting things like lounging in pyjamas all day. I guess the closest picture I can find to capture this scent will be this:
TL;DR: Seductive, lush women lounging in pyjamas.
"Vanilla, bay rum, tobacco, bergamot, osmanthus."
"Blueberry, patchouli, nag champa, cannabis flower."
"Blood orange, clove, cherry, myrrh."
It starts of as a fruity cough syrup marketed to kids, and morphs into a fruity bubble gum. It'll be one of those fruity bubble gum in green & yellow packaging and vaguely marketed as "tropical fruits" flavoured.
At moments, it starts taking on this sharp, spritzy pineapple-orange soda that has gone flat scent. The sharpness is more of a woody sort of sharpness rather than a room-spray sharpness. Eventually, it has that flat sort of sweetness that's like a bubble gum that's been chewed up and is a few chews away from going flavourless.
TL;DR: Tropical fruit bubblegum as it gets chewed up.
Overview: The myrrh and clove are probably the ones responsible for the searing scent.
"Bay rum, peppermint, tea, lime, coconut, and sugar cane."
Well, for this one, /u/ifweburn used the description I gave her so this will probably sound familiar...
(I can't remember what I sent her but I swear she edited it to make me sound smoother)
There’s a suede-like musk smell, with mint. The suede-like musk smell often smells heavy, and sometimes even gets suffocatingly heavy, but mint balances it perfectly and keeps it light without making it smell like a toothpaste. This makes me think of rich ladies shopping in high-end boutiques…willing victims of conspicuous consumption and corporate marketing.
TL;DR: Shopping in high-end boutiques in winter.
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Marshmallow Menagerie Collection
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Aussie Rice Treat
"Puff rice covered with butter and melted marshmallows."Oh wow this is good. It's like a powdery musk sort of scent with buttery caramel. The butter is the salty buttered popcorn sort of butter rather than the milky sort of butter. The scent ends up being a very girly powdery musk smell, but it's all grown up and expensive. The powdery musk is the very powdery type that you either love or hate –the kind that brings up images of baby doll dresses, bows and lace. However, there's this luxurious sort of touch to it that gives it a grown up elegance. Even though it's a heavier sort of scent, it's still more of a youthful socialite in thousand dollar baby doll dresses.
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| I was torn between this picture or a gorgeous Dior couture dress, but while the Dior dress is closer to the dress I was thinking of, this model has great hair. Gorgeous photography by Serg Piltnik |
After about 40 min, it starts drying down to a coconut-ish scent to this. It's a tad sunblock-ish on me, but it's not too bad.
TL;DR: Young socialites in baby doll dresses.
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Chocolate Mint
"Marshmallows flavored with chocolate and mint."Mint chocolate chip ice cream. YUM. That's all I have to say.
Kinda weird, but this disappeared on me in just 20 min. I have to sniff close to my skin, and all I get is this weird, clay-like smell lingering on my skin. No more mint chocolate chip ice cream. I guess it's not just my stomach that loves wolfing down mint chocolate chip ice cream.
TL;DR: Ephemeral mint chocolate chip ice cream.
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Orange Ginger
"Marshmallows flavored with orange and ginger."I'm actually getting a creamy orange ginger ale from this. I can sniff out the orange since I'm looking out for it, but if I didn't know there's orange in this, I'd say it smells exactly like a cream soda.
The creamy fizziness unfortunately only lasted about 3-5 min before going flat, so it ends up smelling like a cream soda that has gone flat after being left out for hours. When this scent dries down, it smells exactly like a candy I used to have as a kid, but I can't put my finger on what candy it is.
TL;DR: Creamy orange ginger ale that goes from fizzy to flat.
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Lavender Chai
"Marshmallows flavored with lavender and chai."Yup, I smell lavender and chai. The chai is they kind without milk, and not the Starbucks' weak version of "chai". It's a a hot, spicy chai. I would still say that it's a more Americanized chai since it smells different from the chai I got from India. It's missing some spices, and I'm not sure what they are.
As surprising as this is, the combination works. The lavender blended in to become more of an icy, balsam-like scent, so together with the chai, it becomes a floral, warm & spicy scent, with hints of a tingling coolness. It smells like a very upscale, massage oil. The kind that's used in spas with names in foreign words that are exotic sounding enough to make it seem like they possess ancient wisdom from far off, "exotic" lands, but not exotic enough to the point that they're unpronounceable for their clientelle. And charges hundreds of dollars per session.
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| Relax....it'll only cost you half your paycheck. This is the Thann Sanctuary Spa at Crown Plaza Phuket, image courtesy of aey.me |
Kinda off topic but why does wisdom always come from far off, exotic lands? Americans travel to Bali, Indonesia to meditate and listen to Balinese wisdom, Indonesians travel to listen to American mega church pastors preach some prosperity gospel. Surely there's cheaper ways of finding wisdom?
TL;DR: Upscale massage oil from a pseudo "exotic" spa.
Overview: It's very clean and I don't really smell edible bits in here.
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Sea Salt Caramel
"Marshmallows flavored with sea salt & caramel."
At first, I got a blue sort of scent and burnt caramel. The caramel got more and more sweet and burnt to the point where it's searing. For the first 10 min, my brain won't cooperate and I keep getting the feeling that I'm sniffing two separate scents instead of one blended scent. There's the searing, super sweet, burnt caramel and there's the blue scent that reminds me of a feminine, calming blue perfume that I can see on very elegant, poised women.
When the two distinct scents finally melded into one, it becomes pretty nice. It becomes a heavier sort of women's perfume that has a powdery sort of heaviness to it, but there's hints of something delicious that gets you hungry. It doesn't smell like sea salt caramel or anything edible, but definitely smells like a perfume. The heavy, powdery part of the perfume makes me think of lush, sensual women, but the edible part just makes me think of comforting things like lounging in pyjamas all day. I guess the closest picture I can find to capture this scent will be this:
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| Ok, I know those aren't pyjamas, but searching for "high fashion pyjamas" only gave me pictures of pissed off looking runway models, dudes, ethnic clothes racistly tagged as pyjamas, and women looking like they're about to braid each others' hair. Awesome photography by Ikenna Douglas |
TL;DR: Seductive, lush women lounging in pyjamas.
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General Catalogue Scents
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Always Carry Roses
"Victorian rose, vanilla, blackcurrant, osmanthus."
I just got very sweet, powdery, candied rose. It's the kind of powdery rose that always makes me think of people who love explosions of lace and frills and will buy this dress in a heartbeat:
This is definitely a scent for rose fans. My skin loves amping up sweet scents on me, so this went crazy sweet on me. I can see it working well for other people though. The sweetness does calm down after about 40-45 min on me, but it's still a bit too sweet for me.
TL;DR: Very sweet, powdery, candied rose.
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In the Kingdom of Shades and Silence
Starts off as a candied Pepsi but about 10-15 min in, it becomes more of a sweet, slightly heavy musk that still retains the candied Pepsi tinge. The musk has a suede-like quality that I smelled in Superstition's Willing Victim, but there's also something going off in the background like searing caramel going too sweet. The combination is definitely interesting –it becomes a kiddy grown up scent. Not a grown up kiddy scent. It makes me think of little girls dressed up as middle aged women and looking too old for their age.
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| Think pageant kids, only less trashy and more old lady. Pretty photography by Skaiste Vingilys |
TL;DR: Kiddy musk.
Overview: After comparing the notes of Superstition's Willing Victim and this scent, I think it's the bay rum causing that suede-like musk sort of scent.
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Organic Blueberries
"Blueberry, patchouli, nag champa, cannabis flower."
Patchouli & blueberries. Very strong patchouli. This disappears crazy fast on me though, and in less than 5-10 min, it becomes diluted blueberry flavoured water with that old, musty smell from patchouli. I have to get close to the skin to catch a whiff.
TL;DR: Dank blueberry flavoured water.
Overview: On second sniff, I can definitely smell that game-y incense note that NAVA loves using (and often calls "Kashmir"), and I'm guessing it's the nag champa.
TL;DR: Dank blueberry flavoured water.
Overview: On second sniff, I can definitely smell that game-y incense note that NAVA loves using (and often calls "Kashmir"), and I'm guessing it's the nag champa.
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Where the Glory is in the Crowning
"Blood orange, clove, cherry, myrrh."
It starts of as a fruity cough syrup marketed to kids, and morphs into a fruity bubble gum. It'll be one of those fruity bubble gum in green & yellow packaging and vaguely marketed as "tropical fruits" flavoured.
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| Someone recently told me gums are bad because the more you chew, the more jaw muscle you have and therefore, the fatter you look. I'm expecting to hear news of her choking on food because she didn't chew properly in the future. Image courtesy of kellys-expat-shopping.nl |
At moments, it starts taking on this sharp, spritzy pineapple-orange soda that has gone flat scent. The sharpness is more of a woody sort of sharpness rather than a room-spray sharpness. Eventually, it has that flat sort of sweetness that's like a bubble gum that's been chewed up and is a few chews away from going flavourless.
TL;DR: Tropical fruit bubblegum as it gets chewed up.
Overview: The myrrh and clove are probably the ones responsible for the searing scent.
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Superstition's Willing Victim
"Bay rum, peppermint, tea, lime, coconut, and sugar cane."
Well, for this one, /u/ifweburn used the description I gave her so this will probably sound familiar...
(I can't remember what I sent her but I swear she edited it to make me sound smoother)
There’s a suede-like musk smell, with mint. The suede-like musk smell often smells heavy, and sometimes even gets suffocatingly heavy, but mint balances it perfectly and keeps it light without making it smell like a toothpaste. This makes me think of rich ladies shopping in high-end boutiques…willing victims of conspicuous consumption and corporate marketing.
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| I never get the obsession with shoes. Don't get me wrong, I lust over pretty shoes and had fun in the Ferragamo museum, but I rather wear something I don't mind getting mud and poo on. Amazing photography by Maja Topčagić |
TL;DR: Shopping in high-end boutiques in winter.
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