Illamasqua Freak

A little while ago I was sent a sample of Illamasqua's first perfume - Freak (AKA possibly the perfume with the worlds most beautiful bottle) - to test out. 

Ohh such a beautiful bottle! *__*

Beware, I find discussing perfumes very difficult. All the talk of top, heart and base notes just baffle me (generally) apart from the initial strong smell you get when you apply perfume they tend to smell the same on me regardless of how long it's been on (apart from the smell fading and stuff) they don't seem to 'mature' or change and no new notes come through. Also perfume is much harder to describe than makeup because I can't photograph a scent! And of course it's really subjective, what someone loves may smell rank to someone else and vice versa.  

 And describing this perfume is particularly different as there are quite a few notes in it that I don't think I've ever encountered before! But anyway let's give it a go!

 

 

This is what Illamasqua says about Freak:

'The rich and daringly provocative opening notes of Black Davana cast a magical spell of desire across the senses to celebrate the night. The compelling burnt orange bloom base is highly prized the world over for its ability to enhance the wearer's natural perfume. The subtle mustiness of Poison Hemlock haunts the background tone of Freak, adding alluring depths of mystery.
Datura, the Moonflower, has an intoxicating scent that has long been used as a heady aphrodisiac. The exquisitely rare Queen of the Night blooms fleetingly for a single night each year, and completes this daringly provocative concoction with its warm, soft floral scent touched with sweetness.'

As for me... Well I think the description is pretty accurate! This is a strange, almost mysterious perfume. To me it mainly smells like musk or incense, dark, oriental and exotic. It's earthy and musty. But there's also a strong floral note that I can't put my finger on (probably because I'm not familiar with the flowers in it!). These flowers are not sweet or at all 'old fashioned' smelling, no roses or jasmine  for instance, they're unusual, earthy, and fresh. Finally there is a slight sweetness from a hint of sugary orange blossom and honey.

To me it seems like a very sexy perfume, it's heady and seductive. The notes are unusual and as a lot of the floral ingredients are actually poisonous it adds an exciting thrill! I personally would think of this as more of an evening scent as I do not find it at all invigorating, quite the opposite in face, to me it seems almost intoxicating and calming. It also just smells distinctly 'nocturnal' to me. I also think it could be a good unisex fragrance, the florals are so unusual it doesn't come across as overtly feminine. It is also very long lasting, while it fades in intensity I can still easily detect this after a full days wear.

You can probably tell that I really like this! I didn't expect to, I generally like very fruity, sweet scents, some of my favourites are Diesel Loverdose (which to me smells like a floral based licorice with a hint of tangerine), Gap So Pink (smells like a softened grapefruit), Prada Candy (like baked goods and toffee with a small amount of musk) and Nina Ricci Les Belles Liberty Fizz (which to me smells like tomato flowers). I tend to dislike strong woodsy, oriental or musk smells. So it's odd that I like this so much. I think it's because it's just so unique. I can imagine this being the scent of choice for a  femme fatale or Film Noir heroine because it's so mysterious and seductive. And the sweet undercurrent of the honey and orange blossom makes it more palatable than other oriental/musk smells. I think another reason I like it is because it conjures up images in my head. It reminds me of churches and cathedrals (because of the musty, incense) but also a deep, dark forest, full of slightly rotting leaves and exotic plant smells.

It probably won't become my everyday choice, for that I'll stick with my fizzy fruity smells, but I'd love this for a special evening out or, indeed, a special evening in ;D

Sadly at £59 or 75ml the full bottle is out of my price range at the moment, so I won;'t own that beautiful bottle :( But I'll be enjoying my little sample vial! 

*sample sent for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Brazen Cosmetics Haul, swatches and review

...Finally. God I suck :P

Brazen were on my 'to try' list for a while, and while they did not win my little indie brand poll, I decided to ignore your wishes and order from them first because they had a sale on :P

I ordered:

4 3gram Lip gloss pots in La Femme, Make Out, Pixie and Burlesque

Good glitter gone bad in Naughty Gold

Yummy Gummies lip scrub

The beauty guru sample set

Brazen is available on both Etsy and Artfire, but I found out a special sale through their facebook page (4 3 gram pots for $10 ) so I made my order by just emailing my list of wants to them. There was a little delay because they didn't have the ingredients for something I ordered, but it was only a few days and communication was great, I was kept well informed throughout. Sandi, who I spoke with, was really friendly and very helpful. One of the colours of lipgloss I wanted was sold out (it was the limited edition Blaze, which is now back for a small time) but she suggested La Femme, which is in a similar colour family and she had seen from my wishlist on my blog, the fact that she'd taken the time to look seemed really great to me, it showed she really cared about giving me what I would like best. The package was sent on the 4th of march (I got a shipping confirmation email, which I appreciated) and arrived on the 11th of march which is really quick for a parcel from the US (and yes, this should have been written 2 months ago, I know, I suck).

So here's everything I recieved:

Review and swatches under the cut :)

An experiment - Making Perfume

I was researching bath and beauty recipes when i stumbled upon a very simple recipe for making flower perfume. I was a bit suspicious of it as it seemed far to simple to work properly and used only water whereas i know from my vast knowledge of perfumerie (watching Perfume: story of a murderer once) you generally need oil for it to work, however the recipe said it would only last a month so i figured that the water might work for that short amount of time. Also i really wanted it to work because i have been desperate for years for a Buddlea (or Butterfly Bush) perfume. To me there is nothing nicer than the smell of Buddlea and i have been so happy on the recent mild summers night walking up my drive smelling the amazing wafts of the Buddlea scent that pass over me, or just grabbing the nearest flower and huffing it's great honeyish goodness. Anyway i have searched thoroughly (or googled it) and i cannot find anyone who makes a Buddlea perfume, essential oil, fragrance oil or anything similar so it seems my only resort is to make my own.
So here is the recipe i followed.

Step 1: Gather your flowers. You want about a cupful. 

(I am using Buddlea obviously but it should work with any flowers you like)

 

Step 2:  Chop your flowers up a bit.

(As buddlea flowers are so small i only did it a bit, if you're using something with big petals you'll probably want to chop it up small)

 

Step 3: Line a bowl with a piece of muslin, you need part of the fabric to hang over the bowls edges. Pop your flowers into the fabric lined bowl and add about a cup and a half of water. Make sure the flowers are covered in water. Cover and leave overnight.

(I didn't have any muslin so i just used a tea towel, works fine but may stain your towel so don't use a nice one!) 

 

Step 4: In the morning pull the muslin full of flowers out gently, squeezing it into the bowl.

(at this point everything was looking good, the water smelled a LOT like Buddlea flowers)

 

Step 5: Put the flower-water into a stainless steel pan and simmer until it's very reduced and only about a teaspoon of liquid remains

(i was a bit frightened so i simmered it very gently. It took about 10 minutes to be reduced as much as it should be)

 

Step 5: Done! Pop your perfume in a container.

(Proper perfume containers should be coloured brown or blue or something to stop the light hurting it, but as this was only meant to last a month anyway i figured it didn't matter)

So did it work? 

... No :(

It was all going so well until it came to cooking the water. While i stirred it often and only simmered gently (so I know it didn't burn) the nice gently scented water at the beginning morphed into something that smelled of peppermint tea in the end :( 

I don't know if i did something wrong or the recipe just doesn't work very well or Buddlea doesn't want to make proper perfume (which would make sense seeing as noone makes it).

But anyway it was a fun thing to try! I felt like a little kid again making potions :)

Now i've found another recipe online that uses oil and sounds more 'proper'. Unfortunately the flowers of the Buddlea Bushes in my garden are drying up so it will have to wait until next year.

Oh well!
If anyone else decides to try this (it is fun!) tell me how it goes. Or has anyone successfully made a perfume before?

My favourite perfumes

I really love perfume, but don't wear it everyday. The reason is simply because i keep it on my vanity table and quite often forget to pop any on if i haven't been sitting down there (which i don't do when i'm in a rush). I tend to like very typically girly fragrances, light and fluffy and fun, usually with very fruity tones. I also love perfumes from indie brands that smell of sweets (i have a great perfume oil i was given as a gift and don't know the brand of that smells just exactly like bubblegum) with only one note. I dislike vanilla, musk (which is good as some are still made from poor mr musk rat :( ), woody or spicey smells. 

Anyway here are my top 5 perfumes.

I apologise because i am useless at describing scents and don't know anything about notes or stuff like that.

Le Belles de Ricci

 

My absolute favourite perfume ever ever ever! You can't really get it anywhere anymore except for on ebay and i am out of it, i need to get a lifetime supply somehow. I would bathe myself in it if i could!

I love everything about it, i think the bottle is beautiful, the colours are so pretty and the smell, oh god it's just angelic. To me this smells just like tomato flowers. This might not sound nice but i swear to you it is just the most beautiful smell ever. It lasts all night but isn't overpowering (as long as i resist drowning myself in it). Just perfection and it makes me so so sad that it's not being sold anymore.

Gap So pink

This is the perfume i wear most often and, as i don't have any Belles, is probably what i'd consider my 'signature' scent. To me it does somehow smell 'pink' like some sort of cynnasthesia thing, if a bright, hot pink had a smell i bet it would be very similar to this. The bottle isn't particularly interesting but the scent makes up with it. To me it's main note is of grapefruit, but also has a hint of bergamont and some sort of floral all mixed together, it's very fun and feminine but not really delicate, it's brash and fun and a bit trashy. It lasts quite a while but not all night.

Lush The Comforter

 

The scent of this is just lovely and very edible and tasty smelling, it reminds me of a blackcurrant pastille or cordial. It's main note is of blackcurrant but also has a bit of something a bit like pepper. I love the smell so much but don't wear it so often as the others as i find it's solid formula a bit of a pain to work with. It doesn't melt easily so it can be difficult to actually get it to go on. It seems to me to stay more on the finger i apply it with than on the skin where i intend to put it. It doesn't seem to last very long, but that might be because i can't get it to apply well. The little jar makes it nice and easy to carry around with you for though.

Babydoll

This one was my signature scent for a few years but i have moved on to the others on the list in recent times. I love the bottle, it is so cute and actually works as a spinning top! The scent of this is more floral than my other scents, but still has a distinct fruitiness. Like So Pink this has a main note of grapefruit, but this is covered by florals, there's some rose and a tiny hint of vanilla (weak enough i can cope with it). It's very sweet and almost sickly, but i like it.
Sadly my bottle of this appears to have soured a little, i have had it for a long time though and it was on my window sill in the sun for a while. I am dumb.

Claire's Accessories Cherry perfume.
Super cheap but super good! (couldn't find a photo online) This smells exactly like Cherryade, which to me is a great thing. There are no other notes at all, it's just pure fizzy, sugary, candy cherry flavour. 
The scent doesn't last that long but for £4 nd from Claire's i wouldn't expect it to, and it doesn't disappear instantly, just after about an hour. I left my bottle of this in the sun and it went 'off' after just a few month, so i'm not sure if that's just what happens to it or if it was because i left it in direct sunlight. I'll get another bottle and see what happens if i keep it out of the light.

Based on these does anyone have any suggestions for scents i might like? I think my next perfume purchase will be Next's Diamonds, which is meant to be an exact dupe of Miss Dior Cherie, which in turn is meant to smell like the Soap and Glory scent that i love so much (sadly the Soap and Glory perfume isn't quite the same as their products scent. At least it isn't to me!)

Also just a little note:
I will try my best to have my blog sale goodies sent out tomorrow, but it depends on if some money has come into my bank. It's going to get in tomorrow, but it might be too late to get to the post office, if so i will send them tuesday morning. Sorry about that. x

Also i have started writing in my other blog, i know i've gone to and from using that blog a million times but i've decided i want a blog for my everyday musings as well as reviews of things like films and somewhere I can link to on my art website. If you';re interested in my paintings or any of the stuff i just described please follow me here   :)