Firebird Bath & Body Perfume Oils Review

(Woodsmoke and Vanilla, Cinders, and Saltwater)

Today I'll be talking about Firebird Bath & Body perfume oils.

Firebird is another Etsy-based indie perfumer. As the name implies, they also sell handmade soaps, and other body/bath stuff, not just perfume.

They offer your choice of 3 perfume samples for $5, plus shipping, which, for me, brought the total to $8. A full sized bottle costs $10 for 9mL. I assume with comparable shipping.

For my samples I chose:
Woodsmoke and Vanilla
Cinders
and Saltwater

They took about 9 days to get here, which which took longer than Alkemia, but certainly not horrible.
They were wrapped in tissue paper, and inside a classy black envelope, so they might be a little safer in shipping than Alkemia's, but I didn't have any trouble with either brand, and both are in bubble-pack envelopes.

The samples come in 1mL glass vials, like Alkemia, but they seem a little fuller (not that Alkemia's were that skimpy--and to be fair to Alkemia, they seem to send an extra sample with purchases and Firebird doesn't).

On to the perfumes themselves!

Day 1 (or day 7 of trying a new perfume everyday, which has been interesting): Woodsmoke and Vanilla
"Spicy, smoky, resinous, warm and sweet- with notes of frankincense and myrrh, fir needles, balsam and cedar, on a soft base of vanilla and honey. Brings to mind firewood, incense, cold winter nights."

Firebird's Woodsmoke and Vanilla perfume was the first woodsmoke and vanilla perfume that I found, and so started this whole thing (well, the part of it where I actually look at perfume...I knew I wanted a woodsmoke and vanilla perfume before that, I just didn't realize I might be able to find one I liked). So now that my sample has finally arrived, let's see how it does.

In the bottle and when I first put it on I get a lot of the resinous pine-y (or fir, I guess it says) smell and not much else. When it's dried down I get more vanilla and just a hint of smoke, but not nearly enough for my tastes. Admittedly, I am looking for a strong smoke smell, but, at least with my skin chemistry, I think a better name for this would be Fir and Vanilla. Annoying, since I think I'd prefer it without the fir at all (although I like the addition of fir much more than I thought I would).
I think a lot of people do think evergreen forest when they think woodsmoke though, so it's probably great for those people, especially if they're worried about an overly smokey perfume. And it is a nice smell. Very forest-y and sweet.
It's not THE thing I'm looking for, but I am considering getting a bottle when my sample runs out.
Mild sillage.

Day 2 (or 8): Cinders
"Burning leaves, woodsmoke, and creamy, smoky raw beeswax. This is campfires and hearth fires and a cabin in the mountains heated by wood stove and lit with candles. The smell on your clothes from tending the fire. The smell in the air after the light flickers out."

When this one first goes on I get strong, fresh green leaves that have just been crushed. Not burning leaves at all. When that quiets down a bit, I can start detecting the somewhat creamy beeswax. I like it better after the leaves have faded, but someone who likes leaf smells a lot would like it to begin with too. Not much smoke though.
Leaves are strong scent when first applied but after that it's subtle. Lasts similarly to the others.

Day 3 (or 9): Saltwater

"When I first introduced this fragrance it was a bit of a departure for me. Up until that point, my fragrances were generally more literal and based on simple recognizable notes: mint, fig, grapefruit, honey, and so on.

This one is more conceptual. Which is not to say it doesn't smell like it's name. There is something unmistakably oceanic about it- a watery, ozonic quality and a touch of something salty and almost a little spicy, that brings to mind sand and driftwood and sea air. But I wouldn't say it smells exactly like the ocean. (Would you even want it to? Dead fish, seaweed, and all?) It's more like... a memory of the ocean. You know how familiar places become distorted through memory- certain aspects take prevalence while others fade away...
Perhaps I'm getting a little too out there. To put it simply- a non-floral, non-tropical ocean scent consisting of marine notes, cedar and myrtle, that softens and mellows on the skin and becomes ethereal and almost haunting. Definitely unisex, definitely unusual- and worth a try, if the idea intrigues you."

...Wow that is a long description...

This one smells to me like mint and vanilla and sort of musty somehow. It doesn't smell at all like the ocean or salt, or anything I associate with the ocean, and yet, I sort of see why it could remind someone of the ocean.
I like this scent, but I don't recommend wearing it if you plan to be cleaning at all: as I said, it has a slightly musty smell, and if you're smelling actually musty things it makes you feel a little musty yourself, which isn't nice. I like feeling clean.
Pretty delicate smell that stays close to you and lasts comparably to the others.

Final impressions of Firebird:
I liked all the Firebird scents, although none of them were the specific thing I'm looking for (Smoke & Mirrors does best for that, so far). I would consider getting bottles of all of them when my samples run out, and I would like to try more scents too.
I'll say the same thing about them that I did about Alkemia:
Over all, they seem to last well and be non-irritating, but I wish some of them had a little more presence so that I could smell than without sniffing my wrist.

Alkemia Apothecary Perfume Oils Review part II

(Au Lait, Ex Libris Anima, and Vixen)

And we're back, with the second half of my review of Alkemia perfume samples.

Day 4: Au Lait
"A cozy, ultra-cuddly blend of rich, creamy milk swirled with tonka, wild honey, and a touch of caramelized brown sugar."

A funny thing happened with this one. I read the description, and it reminded me of Burt's Bees Milk and Honey lotion, which I like a lot, so I thought this perfume might be very nice. But I was worried that it would smell too sweet with the honey and the brown sugar. Because of that, I debated for a while whether I should try this one, or Mist Becoming Rain before eventually deciding to try both.

I thought that Mist Becoming Rain was more of a risk, since I couldn't tell as much what it would smell like (I thought), but I thought that meant I would also learn more from trying it. On the other hand, I thought Au Lait would smell sort of like my lotion and either be great, or too sweet, but either way, not a surprise.

I was wrong, though not really in a good way. Au Lait smells like melted butter. Several people independently came up with "melted butter" or "buttered popcorn." Now, to me, it smells a LOT like that, so if you're looking for a melted butter or buttered popcorn perfume, look not further, Au Lait may be the perfume for you!...I, however, am NOT looking to smell like buttered popcorn, so I doubt I will be wearing it again.

Again, it didn't give my hyper-sensitive dad a headache, and the sillage and lasting power seemed comparable to the other Alkemias. Sillage was about like Mist Becoming Rain, and it lasted about like Smoke & Mirrors. Smell stayed pretty consistent the whole time.

Day 5: Ex Libris Anima

"The bottled essence of an old, rare book - antique paper, old leather bindings, parchement, dust, and the faint scent of a wooden lecturn."

I don't get old books from this at all. Old books have a delicious, musty, vanilla-y smell, Ex Libris Anima smells much too fresh and almost green. More like a pre-book (i.e. a tree) than an old book. My mom said it smelled oriental, but I don't get that from it. I feel like I can almost, but not quite smell the leather, but none of the other things that are supposed to be there.

Dad says he is borderline about whether this will bother him. But it may have given me a slight headache, but I think that was unrelated, as it went away while I was still wearing the perfume.

Sillage seems about as strong as Ambre I: Ardere.

Doesn't change much from initial application (unfortunately), and fades some, but lasts all day.

Day 6: Vixen

"A captivatingly shapeshifting blend of sexy white amber and luminous late summer night blooming florals awakened by warm caresses of autumnal spice, golden musk, varietal apple peel, sugar pumpkin, jasmine tea, and a whisper of woodland mosses."

The last of my set of samples.
Alkemia is right in the description, this one does change a lot. Personally, I find that annoying, if I put on a fragrance, I'd like to be able to predict what I'll smell like in an hour or so, but it seems that many perfumes are designed to change.
In the bottle it smells fruity.
When I first put it on, I smelled earthy and green--probably the oakmoss.
Once it's been rubbed in, the strongest smell is pumpkin. The pumpkin is not at all pumpkin-pie-y. Instead is smells like a fresh pumpkin. Which was not what I expected, since it says sugar pumpkin, but I like it--it keeps it from smelling too girly (I tend to appreciate more unisex scents). In addition to the pumpkin, I also get a light floral, green tea, a hint of citrus (which isn't listed, maybe I'm smelling the apple?), and slight sweetness and maybe a hint of vanilla (again, not listed, maybe the "autumnal spice"?) that I don't really smell when I sniff my wrist, but float up to my nose when my hand is near my face.
When it's been on for a couple hours it gets sweeter and more floral and the other scents fade somewhat.
A fairly subtle scent, but very pretty. My second favorite after Smoke & Mirrors.
I was afraid this would be too girly, but I don't think it is.
This lasts about like the others (though it changes more), and has a pretty mild sillage.

Final impressions of Alkemia:
These are basically my first perfumes, so I don't have a lot to compare them with, but I did really like Smoke & Mirrors and Vixen. Ardere is also pretty, I'm just not sure I'd want to wear it. Mist Becoming Rain seemed nice, but not my style. Au Lait gave me a laugh. Ex Libris Anima was a pretty big disappointment.
Over all, they seem to last well and be non-irritating, but I wish some of them had a little more presence so that I could smell than without sniffing my wrist.
I would try more scents from Alkemia, and I think I would like to order full bottles of Smoke & Mirrors and Vixen when I run out of sample...and maybe Ardere.

My Firebird samples arrived yesterday, so I'll be reviewing those soon.

Alkemia Apothecary Perfume Oils Review part I

(Smoke & Mirrors, Ambre I: Ardere, and Mist Becoming Rain)

For my first real post, I'll be talking about Alkemia Apothecary's Perfume Oils (after the tangent).

I've never really been much into perfume. We never had any in the house when I was growing up because most perfumes give my dad a headache, and so much of the perfume that's around smells so very artificial and nasty that it took me a while to realize that perfume could be nice. It doesn't help that a lot of the perfumes out there are very floral and girly, which isn't really my thing.

I love the way my hair and clothes smell after sitting by the campfire all night, so I would love to have perfume that makes me smell that way anytime I want. Vanilla smells really good on people, too (not the overly saccharine vanilla people often use, but the darker, unsweetened scent from real vanilla beans), and I think the two smells go very well together and the vanilla would help the woodsmoke smell intentional, perfume-y and good, instead of like I was smoked meat. I've been idly wanting a woodsmoke and vanilla perfume for ages, but I only recently decided to actually try to find one.

When I did, one of the first places I found was Alkemia Apothecary. Alkemia is an indie perfumier that sells through Etsy. They sell perfume oil rather than spray perfume. Perfume oil, I learned, tends to stick closer to the wearer (apparently in perfume, the term for this is "sillage." Perfume oils have low sillage), but they are concentrated and long lasting. They are also usually cheaper.

(I found Alkemia through a mention to their perfume "Smoke & Mirrors" in a review for Firebird's "Woodsmoke and Vanilla" perfume, which I also ordered, but  my Firebird perfumes haven't arrived yet.)

Anyway, Alkemia's Smoke & Mirrors is described as "An elusive, smokey blend of burning wood, Madagascar Vanilla, and Tonka." Which sounded pretty close to what I'm looking for (although I didn't, and still don't, really know what a tonka bean smells like) so I decided to order a sample, and it turns out they sell them in sets of five, so I picked out several samples.

I found six I wanted to try, so I asked in the comment if they'd consider letting me try six instead of five for a few dollars extra. The seller didn't message back, and I got a shipping notice, so I assumed they just didn't want to be bothered. I thought was a little rude that they hadn't told me they weren't willing to, but, to my surprise, when I got the package, it contained all six, and they hadn't charged me more. So I have to take back all my thoughts that they were rude, as this was really very nice of them.

The samples I picked out were:
Smoke & Mirrors
Ambre I: Ardere
Ex Libris Anima
Vixen
Mist Becoming Rain
Au Lait

The first two mentioned both smokiness and vanilla in the description, so I hoped might be what I was specifically looking for. The others just sounded nice.

Total price: $10 Shipping is free for samples (inside the USA).

A full sized bottle costs $12 (5mL), or they'll do three for $30. Plus shipping.

I tried one a day so that I could really get to know them. Day one was Smoke & Mirrors.

Day 1: Smoke & Mirrors

(See official description above.) I was really hoping this one would have a stronger smoky scent than it does. And maybe a stronger scent over all. I felt like I had to intentionally sniff my wrists to really smell it. I wouldn't want to overpower people with my perfume, but I'd like people close to me to be able to tell I'm wearing it. I did like the smell a lot, but to me it smells only very slightly smoky--like smoked vanilla, rather than smoke and vanilla. It also gets a little too sweet for my taste at the end (what perfume people call the "drydown"?). It lasted well too, the smoke faded, but I could still smell the sweet, vanilla-y smell when I went to bed (I put it on around 1pm when I got the package).

Another good note about this one, my dad, who is sensitive to perfume wasn't bothered at all by this one.

I will probably be buying a full sized bottle of this at some point.

Day 2: Ambre I: Ardere

"A smoulderingly sultry blend of smoked red amber, tonka bean, aged Bourbon vanilla, charred oak wood, and a piquant blend of Silk Road spices."

This one had better sillage, people right next to me noticed it, but I don't think it was strong enough to be intrusive.

Ardere is smokier than Smoke & Mirrors, but, sadly, it is in an incense-y way, not really a woodsmoke-y way. What this one really smells like to me is the inside of one of the shops in Berkeley that sell Tibetan or Indian things and are totally run by hippies. Incense-y and sweet--it smells good, but I'm not sure if I want to feel like I smell like a store. Maybe when I'm not in Berkeley anymore and start to miss the Berkeley hippie-ism.

This one also faded to a sweeter at the end of the day, with the incense notes much weaker.

My dad said this one didn't bother him either, but he thought it might give him a headache eventually. Which is very good for a perfume--he's very sensitive.
(Correction: at first it didn't bother him, but he noticed he hadn't been feeling as good after he'd been around it a while)

Day 3: Mist Becoming Rain

"Rainwater, mist drenched hazel wood, meadow grasses, sage blooms, orris root, ozone, grey amber. Deep, dark, cool and mysterious."

I don't think it smells like rain, which is sad, because rain is wonderful.This, to me, has a pretty generic "smell me, I'm clean!" smell. Every now and then I'll catch a earthier note (especially when I first put it on) that I like, but overall I'm not that impressed. It's not bad, I'm just not impressed. But I tend to prefer warmer smells, this is more of a fresh scent.

It's sillage seems to be about like Smoke & Mirrors, but maybe a little stronger. And it seems to last the least well of the three I've tried so far.

Again, my dad said this one didn't bother him either, but he thought it might give him a headache eventually.

He didn't have very flattering things to say about it though. He said it smelled like "the perfume you wear when you go on a date with a guy, but you really just want to dance with him." So I dub this the "cock-blocking perfume." But, in all fairness, that's very harsh. It has a nice clean smell, I just don't personally find it exciting or interesting. And it's not at all sensual, so I do sort of see what he meant.

I'll post the other three in a separate post when I've tried them.

Welcome to Charm & Strangeness

I'll be starting Grad School very soon, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to update this blog frequently, but I'll update when I can, and have something to say.

I wanted to start a blog about beauty and fashion (and some of whatever I feel like), and (being extremely geeky) I thought Charm & Strangeness was a cute, whimsical, subtly geeky title for it. I say geeky because charm and strangeness are the names of two properties of quarks. Quarks are subatomic particles. Protons are made with quarks. Atoms are made of protons. Molecules are made of atoms. Anything reading this is almost certainly made of molecules.

For today, I will leave you with a comic that is one of my favorites. (Source)

P.S. my B.A. is in Physics, and now I'm going to Grad School in Mechanical Engineering. Make of that what you will.

P.P.S. Yes, I do "secretly" aspire to be a super-villain (I just have these pesky morals that get in the way), but no, that is not why I chose my fields.