itscoraline
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5 minutes at the beach
What a lovely surprise! Frangipani and sunscreen lotion, a little salty vanilla, all nicely combined into a unisex blend. Normally I strongly dislike this stereotypical beachy scent profile, so I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
Buuuuuut…it lasts for basically no time at all.
And look, I am NOT a performance junkie. In fact, I generally prefer quieter fragrances with moderate lives. However, this was a very subtle skin scent after about 90 min and completely gone in 3 hours — you’d go through one of Alkemia’s little bottles a week at that rate (at least they’re inexpensive, I guess).
tl;dr nice scent, abysmal performance
Buuuuuut…it lasts for basically no time at all.
And look, I am NOT a performance junkie. In fact, I generally prefer quieter fragrances with moderate lives. However, this was a very subtle skin scent after about 90 min and completely gone in 3 hours — you’d go through one of Alkemia’s little bottles a week at that rate (at least they’re inexpensive, I guess).
tl;dr nice scent, abysmal performance
The Ylang-Ylang Show (feat. Ylang-Ylang)
I approached my sample of this fragrance with some trepidation — ylang-ylang is one of my least favourite notes given how my skin tends to amplify it. Unfortunately this is no exception as (spoiler), this was yet another scent that turned into a ylang-ylang extravaganza on me.
The opening was so promising: pure, clean, creamy orange blossom underpinned by just a hint of ylang-ylang.
But within about half an hour, it had completely flipped and the ylang-ylang was now in charge. It was the ylang-ylang show, featuring ylang-ylang as a special guest star. A ylang-ylang feast with a side of ylang-ylang. Ylang-ylang as — ok, you get the picture.
Projection starts moderate and fades to low after an hour or so. Longevity was a bit less than I expected after reading other reviews (around 5 hours). Genderless, although if it goes ylang-ylang heavy on your skin like it did on mine, it might skew feminine coded.
The opening was so promising: pure, clean, creamy orange blossom underpinned by just a hint of ylang-ylang.
But within about half an hour, it had completely flipped and the ylang-ylang was now in charge. It was the ylang-ylang show, featuring ylang-ylang as a special guest star. A ylang-ylang feast with a side of ylang-ylang. Ylang-ylang as — ok, you get the picture.
Projection starts moderate and fades to low after an hour or so. Longevity was a bit less than I expected after reading other reviews (around 5 hours). Genderless, although if it goes ylang-ylang heavy on your skin like it did on mine, it might skew feminine coded.
Nectar vs Decay
Opens with sweet citrus, apricot and what I swear is strawberry before fading to a heart of apricot and osmanthus. If there’s leather in the base, it’s too subtle for my nose.
I can’t make up my mind about the character of this fragrance. When I sniffed my wrists directly, it felt soft and airy, like apricot clouds — but every so often, I’d catch a sudden whiff of overripe, rotting fruit.
The first time it happened, I looked around in confusion trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. The second time (same smell, different location), I realised with horror that it was ME.
It zigzagged like that throughout the day: direct sniff = light and gentle, sudden whiff = bowl of rotten apricots. Clearly it doesn’t react well with my skin chemistry, which made it difficult to rate — in the end, I went with my response to the good half of the scent.
Scent aside, projection is moderate and longevity is on the lower end of moderate (around 6 hours). Unisex but sweet fruit may lean feminine coded to some.
I can’t make up my mind about the character of this fragrance. When I sniffed my wrists directly, it felt soft and airy, like apricot clouds — but every so often, I’d catch a sudden whiff of overripe, rotting fruit.
The first time it happened, I looked around in confusion trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. The second time (same smell, different location), I realised with horror that it was ME.
It zigzagged like that throughout the day: direct sniff = light and gentle, sudden whiff = bowl of rotten apricots. Clearly it doesn’t react well with my skin chemistry, which made it difficult to rate — in the end, I went with my response to the good half of the scent.
Scent aside, projection is moderate and longevity is on the lower end of moderate (around 6 hours). Unisex but sweet fruit may lean feminine coded to some.
It’s fine. It’s fine! It’s just…fine.
On application, it smells like your basic vanillic amber + incense perfume. Like if you told me “hey this perfume has amber and incense,” this is exactly what I would expect to smell: rich, sweetly spicy, fragrant. I generally associate lotus with an airy, aquatic floral, but there’s nothing like that here.
The base is what I’ve started to think of as “BPAL amber” — I don’t know if it’s their blends or my skin, but it always seems to dry down to the same mildly sweet base.
In the end, it’s pleasant enough but far from unique — I’ve smelled this profile in a thousand other bottles.
Projection starts high but fades within 20 min to a much more manageable level. Longevity is solid at around 8 hours. Completely unisex.
The base is what I’ve started to think of as “BPAL amber” — I don’t know if it’s their blends or my skin, but it always seems to dry down to the same mildly sweet base.
In the end, it’s pleasant enough but far from unique — I’ve smelled this profile in a thousand other bottles.
Projection starts high but fades within 20 min to a much more manageable level. Longevity is solid at around 8 hours. Completely unisex.
Just Rose
I’ve been on the hunt for a rose soliflore for a while. No oud or lychee or citrus or anything else, just pure unadulterated rose.
This fragrance kept coming up in recommendations, and I’ll be honest: I was skeptical. $15AUD for 120ml? Juice that looks suspiciously like it would glow in the dark? Maybe all those people had lost their sense of smell in tragic industrial accidents. But at that price I could risk it, so I bought a bottle from my local pharmacy.
On my skin it’s alarmingly dusty at first, a rose potpourri. But the dust fades after just a few minutes, and it turns sharper, greener, a photorealistic bouquet of cut red roses. See all those other notes in the description? Nope. It’s nothing but pure, fresh rose, top to bottom.
I’m a convert.
Don’t be fooled by it being an EDT— performance is nuclear, and this is very much a spray-once-and-walk-into-the-mist situation, which means that $15 bottle will last you several lifetimes. Longevity is solid at around 7-8 hours. Rose is traditionally a feminine scent in Western perfumery but you know what? F— that, it’s unisex.
This fragrance kept coming up in recommendations, and I’ll be honest: I was skeptical. $15AUD for 120ml? Juice that looks suspiciously like it would glow in the dark? Maybe all those people had lost their sense of smell in tragic industrial accidents. But at that price I could risk it, so I bought a bottle from my local pharmacy.
On my skin it’s alarmingly dusty at first, a rose potpourri. But the dust fades after just a few minutes, and it turns sharper, greener, a photorealistic bouquet of cut red roses. See all those other notes in the description? Nope. It’s nothing but pure, fresh rose, top to bottom.
I’m a convert.
Don’t be fooled by it being an EDT— performance is nuclear, and this is very much a spray-once-and-walk-into-the-mist situation, which means that $15 bottle will last you several lifetimes. Longevity is solid at around 7-8 hours. Rose is traditionally a feminine scent in Western perfumery but you know what? F— that, it’s unisex.
