#HPBScentOfTheDay Challenge Roundup 1/4 | Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog

09 May, 2014

#HPBScentOfTheDay Challenge Roundup 1/4

Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone will get a chance to kick back and relax this weekend. Personally I'll be tweaking my Wordpress site because I want to be done with it already, but I'll save my ranting about that for another post.


Anyway, in case you missed it: I started a "Scent of the Day" challenge last week. You can read all about it here. Want to know how I've been smelling for the past week? Keep reading...


May 1st: Solstice Scents - Solarium


Scent notes: The Solarium features a blend of rhododendron leaf EO, lavender absolute, green notes of fern and oakmoss, rose geranium EO, geranium bourbon EO, neroli, sandalwood EO, amber, mimosa absolute, violet and a touch of tuberose.  The resulting fragrance is a complex floral with strong green and herbal overtones.


I just got a sample vial of this recently, so the 1st was actually my first time ever wearing it. To me, this fragrance smells mostly of rose geranium and oakmoss - I have no idea what rhododendron leaf EO smells like on its own so I’m not sure how to pick it out in the mix. This is a floral fragrance, but not your typical one - it’s sort of green and herbal and spicy at the same time. I could actually see this being a unisex scent, strangely enough. It dries down to something a bit softer and powderier. Downright creamy at the end. Not sure if I like it enough to buy a full bottle, but it feels sort of autumnal to me so maybe I'll feel differently then.


May 2nd: Haus of Gloi - Fancy Bread

Scent Notes: Ripe banana, roasted nuts and brown sugar folded into a delicious quick bread.

I wrote about this before here, but it smells EXACTLY like banana bread. I don’t normally go for foodie scents as perfume, but I was in a weird mood today. This was a winter seasonal release so is not available at the moment, but if it comes back again next holiday season I might be tempted to pick up some body butters or soaps in this scent.


May 3rd: Suds N Sass - Embers


Scent notes: Toasted marshmallows, falling leaves, campfires


I’ve been in a marshmallowy mood lately. This is a very simple scent, but it delivers exactly what it promises - sweet marshmallowy goodness with a bit of campfire bite behind them. The Suds N Sass/Kiss My Sass website says they’re in the process of moving to a new shop, so this is unavailable for purchase at the moment. If you like toasty marshmallow scents it might be worth stalking their storefront until it reopens though.


May 4th: Solstice Scents - Rose Mallow Cream


Scent notes: Moroccan Rose absolute, Bulgarian Rose absolute, Marshmallow Fluff, Strawberry Nectar, White Chocolate, Vanilla, White Musk

Another sweet, mallow-y pick. Unsurprisingly, this is a very creamy scent - the vanilla and “marshmallow fluff” are most noticeable to me, followed by the rose, followed by a tinge of strawberry. It’s sweet and lovely and when I wore it my boyfriend said “You smell like cookies.” I guess that’s better than “MMMMMMM FRESH.”


May 5th: Mark Buxton - Black Angel

Scent notes: Mandarin, Ginger, Jasmine, Orris, Styrax, Patchouli, Amber

I got a sample of this in an Olfactif box a few months ago. The official website for the scent describes it as "A light and feminine vibration of ginger and jasmine in contrast with the dark sensuality of a styrax-amber accord" but I thought it actually smelled more unisex to masculine - like a very sexy man cologne that was lightened up with fruitiness. It eventually dries down to a vague "sweet" smell on me. Anyway I tried this on both Stan and myself, and I think it smells better on him, for whatever that's worth. It's certainly an interesting scent, though maybe not really my thing.


May 6th: Wiggle Perfume - Lila

Scent notes: "Lila combines a rich and retro-fabulous lilac note with an inky black musk, touches of vanilla and black tea, dusky black rose, and a healthy kick of black pepper."

I wrote about this fragrance a while ago here, and after repeated exposure I'd have to say that Lila is in my top ten favorite fragrances I own at the moment, along with Wiggle's Buxom, which was recently discontinued (much to my distress). The owner of Wiggle posted an announcement on her Facebook page recently saying she would be nixing a number of her scents (including Buxom, sob cry sob) and reformulating most of the others. I can only hope that her reformulations are as good as the old ones, because Wiggle is the indie perfumer I've had the most success with overall.


May 7th: Wiggle Perfume - Selene

Scent notes:
"I've blended rich golden myrrh with red musk (the proper Indian stuff I used to get from the Gypsy Market in Atlanta) and blood orange essential oil. Heady lotus, night blooming jasmine, and olive blossom lend a narcotic femininity."

I wrote about this here as well. I wasn't totally sold on Selene at first - it smelled soapy to me, but also fancy, and it time it really grew on me. This is currently in Wiggle's clearance section, so I think it might be one of the scents going away - best grab it now if you want to try it.


May 8th: Solstice Scents - Shadows in the Night


Scent notes: White Amber, Fir, Somalian Frankincense, Elemi, Bayberry, Spruce, Amber, Peppermint, A Puff Of Incense, Edge of the Night Base

"Edge of the Night" is probably my favorite fragrance from Solstice Scents, so lately I've been curious about their other perfume oils that use that as a base. I think this is much gentler than Edge of the Night - the fir and spruce and mint give it sort of a "cool" quality. Somehow this scent reminds me of trudging through snowbanks on a quiet winter's eve. The drydown is a bit more powdery and musky, but not as pronounced as the original Edge of the Night.


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That's it for week one - I actually haven't put on any perfume yet today even though it's after 4pm, so I guess I should go choose one now. Oh, and I won't be doing an official Indie Friday post this week (need time to stress about Wordpress), but seven out of the eight things on this list are indies so go browse around those shops if you need your fix.



Have you tried any of the fragrances on this list? If you're also participating in the challenge feel free to share your results or link up in the comments!
 

13 comments:

  1. The Rose Mallow Cream sounds like it would be dreamy!!!

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  2. "Dreamy" is the perfect word for it!

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  3. ok, i'm totally loving this challenge, and i especially am curious about wiggle's lila now, that sounds amazing! also, based on how many vials i bet i could keep going for a couple of months... oops.

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  4. It is really amazing. Lila isn't marked down at the moment so I don't *think* it's one of the ones getting discontinued... not 100% sure though. And yeah, me too. I didn't actually count my vials but I doubt that two months would be a problem. :P

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  5. sounds pretty cool! the solstice scents sound appealing

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  6. Loving this challenge! I remember reading about Lila in another post of yours. I love floral scents, so this one still seems very appealing to me! :)

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  7. I have a feeling "Fancy Bread" would just make me hungry all day.

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  8. Shadows in the Night sounds like an absolute dream. I adore wintery, woodsy scents.

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  9. They sell little sample vials of their scents, should you ever want to test them out!

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  10. Lila is an excellent floral! I think Wiggle (the maker) does really great florals all around, actually.

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  11. Strangely enough, it has the opposite effect on me - smelling like cake satisfies my urges to eat cake. Perhaps I should only wear cake-esque scens then...

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  12. If that's so then I think you'd love it! Don't know if you've looked at the Solstice Scents website before, but they sell small sample vials of their fragrances so you can test them with minimal risk.

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