I've been procrastinating on my Ten Three Labs scent reviews since my schedule's been a bit crazy lately. I finally did it! For my past Ten Three Labs reviews, you can go to the Ten Three Labs tag on the right or click here.
After looking at the scent notes (I do my reviews blind until the TL;DRs are written), I realized I should've put my review for Always Carry Roses & In The Kingdom of Shades and Silence (review here) in this review, because all of them except for Brother Sestra contains osmanthus.
I'm not sure if Cara is trying to get me to like osmanthus after I mentioned I didn't like osmanthus from trying it in Conjure Oils scents. I realized Ten Three Labs' osmanthus note doesn't really agree with me and smells kind of like calcium supplement fruit flavours on me. The osmanthus bit is unfortunately going to colour my perceptions of these scents.
Also, I do notice that lately, I'm running into more longevity problems with Ten Three Labs. In my previous review, I stated:
Now, several scents don't even get to an hour before fading into faded, faint traces on my skin. Two scents (Chocolate Mint, Miror Twin) even fades from my skin within minutes.
Without further ado, here are the scent reviews:
This is a gorgeous honey scent! It's like honey and tea, with touches of clean, powdery, baby blue soap. It's such a comforting scent in a way. It's a scent I can see on a very elegant, serene young mom. It's beautiful, elegant and yet feels like you're being hugged by your mom again when you were a kid (or nanny if you're Indonesian with an Indonesian mom like me). Unfortunately, it gets cloyingly sweet on me at times, but my skin does tend to amp up sugary scents. The cloyingly sweet part is that chemical sort of sweetness like the smell of markers.
TL;DR: Markers, honey & powdery baby blue soap.
Overview: The patchouli & nag champa may be adding to the bitter bit that makes the sweet part smells like markers.
This is a cross between orange creamsicle and Chinese preserved orange peels. Chinese orange peels are different from how "Western" cooking does it. It looks like this:
It has this acrid, dusty, salty & sour smell on top of that dried old orange smell. There's also a Chinese medicine bitterness in it, so it kinda smells like the kind of Chinese medicine that someone attempted to sweeten with Chinese dried orange peels and sour plums. After about 5 min or so, there's a sort of cool, soapy scent like the smell of unscented soap suds. Unfortunately, it adds to the medicinal feel of the scent. This isn't for me.
TL;DR: Chinese medicine sweetened with traditional Chinese dried orange peels & sour plums.
There's a room spray blue that does remind me of corporate waiting rooms, and tart, melon flavoured bubblegum. I personally like the melon bubblegum scent, but I know it's not for everyone. This is another scent that fades into faint traces in under 1h.
TL;DR: Melon bubblegum with a blue note.
Overview: I think the blackberry mixed with cucumber ends up turning into melon bubblegum.
It starts off smelling like a boozy, spritzy lemonade with something that smells like a cloying artificial grape musk underneath. After about 5-8 min, it starts smelling like a fruity black tea with just hints of that cloying grape hiding in the background.
Luckily after 15 min into the scent, the cloying part goes away and it becomes this gorgeous, fresh fruit tea scent. It's hard to figure out what fruits are in the fruit tea bit, but I'd guess it's a peach-apricot sort of medley.
The scent fades to faint traces on my skin in less than an hour though, and the traces it leaves is back to that artificial grape.
TL;DR: Fresh peach-apricot medley tea.
Overview: The merlot or chardonnay may be behind the grape scent, and I guess mixed with everything, they end up smelling like a peach-apricot medley?
"Almond, oleander, osmanthus, a small dose of dirt, a hint of blood."
Ooooh almond pudding! The Chinese-style that's usually decorated with maraschino cherries and other canned fruits.
The almond with maraschino cherries bit reminds me of Lathers & Lights' shampoo in Almond Rum Cake, only this scent has hints of other canned fruits.
Unfortunately, this scent has a very low throw on me and within 2 min into the scent, it faded to the point where I have to get up to kissing distance to the spot where I applied it to catch a faint whiff. By 10-15 min, I can only catch lingering traces of the scent, and the lingering traces is Chinese pickled fruits in chilli. The kind that looks like this:
They're sweet & sour with an almost metallic tang.
TL;DR: Chinese almond pudding turning into Chinese pickled fruits in chili.
Overview: I'm guessing it's the blood and dirt creating the pickled in chilli scent, and the osmanthus is behind the artificial fruits scent again.
"Leather, tobacco, smoke, blood orange, osmanthus."
This takes a while to settle. At first I got Chinese medicine and acrid, dried orange peels. When it settles, there's that cloying grape again, the one I got from Homicidal Soccer Mom. There's smoke, preserved prunes & Chinese medicine. This scent hates me.
TL;DR: Smoke, preserved prunes & Chinese medicine
After looking at the scent notes (I do my reviews blind until the TL;DRs are written), I realized I should've put my review for Always Carry Roses & In The Kingdom of Shades and Silence (review here) in this review, because all of them except for Brother Sestra contains osmanthus.
I'm not sure if Cara is trying to get me to like osmanthus after I mentioned I didn't like osmanthus from trying it in Conjure Oils scents. I realized Ten Three Labs' osmanthus note doesn't really agree with me and smells kind of like calcium supplement fruit flavours on me. The osmanthus bit is unfortunately going to colour my perceptions of these scents.
Also, I do notice that lately, I'm running into more longevity problems with Ten Three Labs. In my previous review, I stated:
1 1/2-2h, before getting to intimate whispering distance until about 3-4h since initial application. I usually smell faint traces for over 10+h.
Now, several scents don't even get to an hour before fading into faded, faint traces on my skin. Two scents (Chocolate Mint, Miror Twin) even fades from my skin within minutes.
Without further ado, here are the scent reviews:
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324B21
"Amber, patchouli, nag champa, osmanthus."This is a gorgeous honey scent! It's like honey and tea, with touches of clean, powdery, baby blue soap. It's such a comforting scent in a way. It's a scent I can see on a very elegant, serene young mom. It's beautiful, elegant and yet feels like you're being hugged by your mom again when you were a kid (or nanny if you're Indonesian with an Indonesian mom like me). Unfortunately, it gets cloyingly sweet on me at times, but my skin does tend to amp up sugary scents. The cloyingly sweet part is that chemical sort of sweetness like the smell of markers.
TL;DR: Markers, honey & powdery baby blue soap.
Overview: The patchouli & nag champa may be adding to the bitter bit that makes the sweet part smells like markers.
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Brother Sestra
"Labdanum absolute, petitgrain, smoke, peppered poppies, bergamot."This is a cross between orange creamsicle and Chinese preserved orange peels. Chinese orange peels are different from how "Western" cooking does it. It looks like this:
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| Image found on aliexpress |
It has this acrid, dusty, salty & sour smell on top of that dried old orange smell. There's also a Chinese medicine bitterness in it, so it kinda smells like the kind of Chinese medicine that someone attempted to sweeten with Chinese dried orange peels and sour plums. After about 5 min or so, there's a sort of cool, soapy scent like the smell of unscented soap suds. Unfortunately, it adds to the medicinal feel of the scent. This isn't for me.
TL;DR: Chinese medicine sweetened with traditional Chinese dried orange peels & sour plums.
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Corporate Clone
"Hinoki wood, green tea, cucumber, blackberry, osmanthus."There's a room spray blue that does remind me of corporate waiting rooms, and tart, melon flavoured bubblegum. I personally like the melon bubblegum scent, but I know it's not for everyone. This is another scent that fades into faint traces in under 1h.
TL;DR: Melon bubblegum with a blue note.
Overview: I think the blackberry mixed with cucumber ends up turning into melon bubblegum.
_____________________________________________
Homicidal Soccer Mom
"Merlot, chardonnay, petitgrain, orange blossom, osmanthus."It starts off smelling like a boozy, spritzy lemonade with something that smells like a cloying artificial grape musk underneath. After about 5-8 min, it starts smelling like a fruity black tea with just hints of that cloying grape hiding in the background.
Luckily after 15 min into the scent, the cloying part goes away and it becomes this gorgeous, fresh fruit tea scent. It's hard to figure out what fruits are in the fruit tea bit, but I'd guess it's a peach-apricot sort of medley.
The scent fades to faint traces on my skin in less than an hour though, and the traces it leaves is back to that artificial grape.
TL;DR: Fresh peach-apricot medley tea.
Overview: The merlot or chardonnay may be behind the grape scent, and I guess mixed with everything, they end up smelling like a peach-apricot medley?
_____________________________________________
Mirror Twin
"Almond, oleander, osmanthus, a small dose of dirt, a hint of blood."
Ooooh almond pudding! The Chinese-style that's usually decorated with maraschino cherries and other canned fruits.
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| And it tastes delicious! Image courtesy of tokyo5.wordpress |
The almond with maraschino cherries bit reminds me of Lathers & Lights' shampoo in Almond Rum Cake, only this scent has hints of other canned fruits.
Unfortunately, this scent has a very low throw on me and within 2 min into the scent, it faded to the point where I have to get up to kissing distance to the spot where I applied it to catch a faint whiff. By 10-15 min, I can only catch lingering traces of the scent, and the lingering traces is Chinese pickled fruits in chilli. The kind that looks like this:
They're sweet & sour with an almost metallic tang.
TL;DR: Chinese almond pudding turning into Chinese pickled fruits in chili.
Overview: I'm guessing it's the blood and dirt creating the pickled in chilli scent, and the osmanthus is behind the artificial fruits scent again.
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Not Beth
"Leather, tobacco, smoke, blood orange, osmanthus."
This takes a while to settle. At first I got Chinese medicine and acrid, dried orange peels. When it settles, there's that cloying grape again, the one I got from Homicidal Soccer Mom. There's smoke, preserved prunes & Chinese medicine. This scent hates me.
TL;DR: Smoke, preserved prunes & Chinese medicine
This is an older post, but I wanted to share. I tried 3 samples from Ten Three Labs, and all 3 smell like lime life saver hard candy immediately on application. Like a Pisces, Mimiko, and Homicidal Soccer Mom. It sounds like you had similar experiences. We're smelling things that aren't there and trying to make sense of it. I waited for dry down and the scent seemed to disappear.
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