Empties and Chuckers (and culling 30 Day Challenge)

Okay, I'm giving up the 30 Day Challenge. The questions are kind of lamo and I can't be bothered. Let's just talk about empties! I don't have that many because I haven't used many products or worn much makeup in the past few months - I go super basic in hot weather.

Maybelline Express Care Eye & Lip Makeup Remover
A regular purchase for me - it does the job it's supposed to and it's cheap. I've got another one on the go already.

Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Daily Regenerating Serum
I don't think this is available on Australia - I got it on Strawberrynet. It's okay, but it's nothing special and it's not really a serum - it's more of a light moisturiser. I wouldn't bother repurchasing.

Physician's Formula Concealer Twins Light/Green
Old school Physician's Formula! This is about the third one of these I've owned and I really like it - the light for under eyes (not so much for concealing as brightening) and a dab of the green on my cheeks when they're a bit red. I don't even know if these are still made, but I have a million concealers at the moment, so I wouldn't repurchase this one again for a long time regardless. Good stuff, though.

Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary Cannabis & Jasmine Face Cream - dry skin
This was a sample I got a while back and it was 10ml so I got a good couple of weeks out of it. I really like this cream - it doesn't do anything miraculous, but what moisturiser does. I don't think it's really for very dry skin - it's not rich enough. I'm normal/combo though so it was perfect for me. It absorbs nicely and my skin felt beautifully soft the next morning. It goes nicely under makeup too. The smell is a bit medicinal/herby but it doesn't hang around anyway. I will definitely buy a full size of this, but I have some other stuff to use up first.

Hawaiian Butterfly Organics Hibiscus Sugar Lip Scrub
I wanted to like this because it was cute and it smelled nice but it was just too much of a mess. The two different oils didn't really mesh together that well - sometimes it would be runny and goopy and other times it would be solid on top but as soon as you scooped some out you'd get the messy goopy stuff oozing over the top. I wouldn't repurchase this. I just use a smidge of brown sugar now. 

Garnier Fructis Thermo-Active Spray Sleek & Shine
This is really Lily's though I used it a couple of times because it's quite light. The problem is that after a few uses the squirty thing stopped working and I could never fix it, so it's just been sitting around. I guess I could put it in another bottle, but meh. There's no shortage of hair products in this house, so I'm chucking it.

Face of Australia Impact Curl Extreme Volume & Curl Mascara
I really liked the effect this had for the first few weeks and then it went all gluggy and started to clump my lashes together and start smudging. The brush is one of those bendy rubber ones I constantly poke myself in the eye with too. I wouldn't repurchase this.

Twyla Perfumes Spring Collection - Literary Ingenues

I have been meaning to get around to this review of Twyla Perfumes Spring Collection for ages because these perfumes actually come down on May 1, but fear not, perfumicans! If you are international (outside the US) and buy samples from Twyla for a limited edition, you can order a full bottle up to a month after it has come down (I think that is what it is - ask her directly if you're interested, she's very approachable). Anyway, this and Solstice Scents are the only Spring collections I bothered checking out this year (I only just got my Solstice Scents ones and there are 8 of them so I'll do a run down in a few days - they are usually around for a fair while). I'm not going to say much of anything about them because I've reviewed them all on my other blog, so I'll just link and you can clickety-click if you care to.

The theme is Literary Ingenues, and they are all named for famous girls in literature. Prices range from $16.50US to $17.50US for a 6ml dropper bottle, and all are available in samples. 

Clara- loved it, though it was weirdly liquoricy on me and it doesn't seem as though it was meant to be. My review is here.
Lyra - loved it, woody floral musk with a dash of spice from pink pepper. My review is here.
Alice Liddell - went very soapy on me (sad face) and there is a honey note that dominated - not a big fan of honey. My review is here.
Lucy - a sweet mossy scent but again there is honey in it that thinks it's party time on my skin. I think a lot of people would like this, but it's not my thing. My review is here.

Perfume PSAs

1. You only have a few days left to take advantage of the 20% off for my blog readers at Twyla Perfumes - it finishes on 12 February. See here for more details - the code is PRISSYPERFUME. Or alternatively (because you can only use one coupon code in Paypal), she is also offering free worldwide shipping until Saturday using the code UPSBLOWS. See which option is cheaper for you and:

2. If you're a fan of Firebird's Almond Milk, here's a heartbreaking heads up for you - it's being discontinued. One of the components is no longer available and Brooke bought the last of it, so once she runs out of that, Almond Milk is gone. If you want to know why I made sure to snatch up an extra bottle, you can read my review here.

An awesome excuse to go shopping at Twyla

Listen up, perfume fans! You may have recently seen my rave reviews of the new(ish) online perfume store Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary here and here. Well, Twyla contacted me and she would like to do a special offer for readers of my blog. From now for the next month you can get 20% off all purchases from Twyla’s shop. So, go forth and shop!

How do I get that 20% discount then?

Simply use the code PRISSYPERFUME at the end of checkout when the Paypal process is almost complete. Don’t panic and think you missed it, because it does wait until the very end to prompt for it, so keep an eye out.

Can I buy samples of limited edition perfumes?

Yes, you can! Twyla sells samples in sets of 3, called Little Drops of Poison, and you can buy samples of any of her perfumes, including her limited edition scents.

And here’s the cool part. If you buy a sample of a limited edition and it’s been taken down, you have a month's grace to request a full bottle purchase and Twyla will create a special listing for you. Just contact her via her site. This is a great deal , because as we foreigners especially know, sometimes the mail can be deathly slow, and it’s horrible when you wait forever for an LE sample, only to find that when you finally get it and fall in love with it, it’s too late to get a full bottle.

And on that note, Twyla has released her Valentine Bouquet – 5 chocolate-themed scents that sound AH-MAAAAZING. You’d better believe I’m going to be all over those. They will be up until February 15, so get in there.

How long is this deal running for?

I just said that above. You’re skimming, aren’t you? One month from now, so you have a bit of time to get your shopping list together.

What if I want to ask questions about the perfumes first? I have allergies/I don’t know what benzoin smells like/I want something that smells like X?

If you have any questions about Twyla’s perfumes, go ahead and contact her directly – she is super friendly and approachable. She has a contact option on her site (see the little contact widget on the right edge of the page), and she also spends a fair bit of time interacting with her customers and friends on Facebook here.

P.S. If you need even more proof that this is a store worth checking out, read these reviews of some of the perfumes I sent over to Su recently to play with here and here.

More Twyla Perfumes

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a rave about some Christmas LE perfumes I had bought unsniffed from Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary, and now I'm back to talk about some more that I got in the same order, this time the samples. I have to say, this is pretty  much my new favourite store - I want a full bottle of almost every one of these. They're so beautifully blended and they smell divine. I'm already working out my next order, and pushing it ahead of a bunch of others I'd had planned.

Twyla sells samples in a set of 3 1ml vials for $6US, called Little Drops of Poison. I bought 2 sets because as much as I tried, I could not narrow down to 3. I was pushing it to narrow down to 6. Postage was $7.25US (that was also including 3 other full size bottles that I don't know if I will review as they were seasonal scents that are no longer available). I ordered on 1 December and received them on 17 December. 

I believe these are all from the regular catalogue, not Limited Edition, though admittedly I hadn't thought to ask. I will check up on that and correct this if necessary. I have 7 in all (the 6 I bought and one freebie) and quite a bit to say about them, so you might want to make yourself a drink.

Love and Squalor

The innocence of spring flowers, a whiff of tobacco. Scented letters, church pews, rain and lots of squalor. 

A heady floral blend with grounding tobacco, amber and woods.

Jasmine, spring floral blend, Blonde Tobacco, Amber, Bitter Orange, Ylang Ylang, Sandalwood and Cedarwood. 

In the vial and when first applied, the ylang ylang dominates at first. This scent makes me think of proper old school grown up perfumes like Van Cleef & Arpels First, or a more palatable Chanel No. 5 (which rivals Thierry Mugler Angel for my most hated perfume of all time). It's not that Love and Squalor smells like either of these - it doesn't - it's just from that class of perfume that I think of as 'screams old money'. The kind of thing you expect to smell when one of those rich old ladies who does their grocery shopping in David Jones wanders past you. Ironic considering the name, I guess. 

Love and Squalor doesn't have a lot of throw, and my skin ate it pretty quickly. I reapplied it after about an hour as it had faded to become indiscernible. After the second application it stuck around longer, lasting a good few hours, though still close to the skin. I never did pick up any other distinct notes aside from the ylang ylang, but it's a gorgeous blend and I kept sniffing my wrist constantly while I was wearing it. It is a very 'perfumy' perfume.

Magnolia Street

Leather boots and our mothers' tossed-off hippie dresses; magnolia trees and incense, perfume oils from the pagan shop; red wine, diner coffee and exotic tea, Indian cooking and the sound of Tom Waits wafting through the apartment building's thin walls.  
Opening up with a beautiful magnolia, floral blend and exotic spices, this scent opens up slowly to reveal the lovely but subtle musky pink lotus and incenses, swirling in the background of this complex perfume.  Just when you think you've pinned it down, it shifts ever so slightly to reveal another side. Exotic and sexy yet somehow innocent, this scent captures the essence of a time, a feeling, and a place on Magnolia street.
Magnolia, pink lotus absolute, zdravetz, nagramotha, cannabis flower, coffee flower, peach blossom, sandalwood absolute, aged patchouli and a generous swirl of spice.

Any mention of magnolia in a perfume and I am all over it - I adore it. I used to live in a property that had a big magnolia tree out the front and one of the best smells ever is when it's flowering and it has just rained. Heavenly. In the vial and when first applied I can smell a gorgeous big dose of magnolia and something veeeery faintly sweet and lollyish. That might be the pink musk - does pink musk smell like pink musk lifesavers? I don't know. Whatever it is, it makes the scent really lovely. The patchouli comes out more as it dries down. Let me just take a minute here to talk about patchouli. I hate it. Haaaaaate it. So much so that I actually wavered over whether to even bother trying this scent. However, this is not that yukky hippie shop patchouli oil smell. This is something altogether different. And I.... like it. I never thought I'd say that in a million years about patchouli. Huh.

I forgot I was wearing this one for a while when I was testing it, and didn't sniff again for another hour or so. By then the leather had come out, blended with the patchouli and a faint floral. Again, this one doesn't have a lot of sillage (most of Twyla's scents sit close to the skin, which on the one hand is nice for those who don't like their perfume to enter the room before they do, but on the other hand is sad for me because I want these scents to walk down the street with me screaming 'DOESN'T SHE SMELL GORGEOUS!'), but it lasted a fair while, at least 5 hours. That patchouli gives it an edge I don't have in any of my other magnolia or leather scents, and I definitely want a full bottle of this.

Milk Flower

A creamy floral, fresh and sweet yet complex.
As a kid, i was so in love with the scent of lilacs - i wanted to pick them, put them in a bowl and eat them with fresh, cold whipped cream and sugar. This scent is about as close to that as I can get.
Lilac, carnation absolute, tuberose absolute and white rose drenched in vanilla, amber and cream with the faintest breath of fresh mint absolute.

In the vial, this is a creamy mint. When first applied it reminded me a lot of Latherati's Tara, another floral with a mint note that I used to love.  The mint subsides fairly quickly to the background, and this mellows to a sweet (but not sugary) delicate creamy floral. It's so, so pretty, but my skin just ate it - within half an hour I could barely smell anything, and even when I reapplied it disappeared entirely within a couple of hours. I decanted the rest into a tiny roller bottle and found that slathering it on that way made it last much longer, so that's my plan for when I get a full bottle of this one. It's beautiful.

Bone Flower

Bone Flower, another name for the lovely tuberose.

Tropical flowers on a grave - mysterious, cool, ethereal and beautiful. The complex tuberose blended with the musky scent of loamy, tropical soil and unearthed bones.

Tuberose Absolute, Balsam of Peru, Maile leaf (used in Hawai'ian funereal services), Styrax, Sandalwood Absolute.

In the vial and when first applied, it's all tuberose - big and lush and lovely. It made me think immediately of Frédéric Malle's Carnal Flower, but when I compared the two they're not really the same at all. Like Milk Flower, this is another beautiful scent that sits very close and gets eaten by my ravenous skin. An hour later I couldn't smell it at all; I reapplied but it disappeared quickly again. I wonder if it's because my skin has been dry lately? I might have to experiment, but regardless, this is going to be another full bottle purchase (let's be real, they pretty much all are). 

Only Alice

"It's dreamy weather we're on / You waved your crooked wand Along an icy pond with a frozen moon / A murder of silhouette crows I saw  / And the tears on my face / And the skates on the pond / They spell Alice..." ~ Tom Waits
Every time i hear this song, it evokes such strong images, feelings and smells. This is my idea of what the air smells like in this little world - the cold pines, a keepsake box that smells faintly of a woman's perfume. Sandalwood, soft musk, cedarwood atlas, orange, pine scotch, vanilla and myrrh.

I would have assumed from the name that this was yet another olfactory spin on Alice In Wonderland, but apparently not. In the vial I get orange and something faintly sweet... maybe the musk? It's so pretty. The orange is floral, not citrus, and this is another quite 'perfumy' scent; it's very feminine. Unlike many of the others, this one has quite a bit of throw and lasted longer. Do I need to spell out that I love it?

Soma

This is the second in a series that was intentionally created to fall into the category of both aromatherapy AND perfume. Created to ease anxiety and stress, this oil smells like lovely lemon-flower cotton-candy (due to the sweetness of the vanilla and lemony scent of melissa, not because i used synthetics), white lotus-flowers and sunshine. 

With several calming essentials including melissa (a powerful relaxant, some studies have shown it to help ease clinical anxiety and help calm children with ADD - although current research will show more solid results one way or another in time), lotus, which has a calming and some say euphoric effect; sandalwood, which is commonly used in anti-depressant and anti-anxiety blends for it's soothing aroma; rosewood, ylang ylang and vanilla - all three of which are soothing and comforting to the senses.
This is another one that might help some of you sleep... I find it extremely calming. Most effective as an inhalant or in a room-diffuser/oil burner for several minutes if used for anxiety - but absolutely LOVELY as a perfume!

Lemon! But not floor cleaner lemon, a sweet, herby lemon that smells lovely. This scent doesn't really change all that much, though the lemon mellows a bit after a while. Like Only Alice, this one has more throw than the others and stays around a fair while. It didn't help me sleep, though nothing really does so that's not a deal breaker. I also tried this one in an oil burner and it made my little lounge room smell so pretty. 

Dryad

A beautiful, truly unisex, androgynous woodsy blend with the unique and very complex poplar bud absolute, pine scotch, sweet amber, honey absolute, bourbon vanilla, immortelle, tarragon absolute and resins and a few drops of my very special vintage, 20 year-old patchouli. Redolent of a lush, green and ancient forest.

This was the freebie included with my order, and this vial was about twice the size of the others (it's not in the photo because I've sent it off to Su today with some BPAL imps). In the vial and when first applied, it is dominated by a sweet, sharp pine smell. There used to be an area surrounding the park where we did PE at school that was full of pine trees, and it reminded me of that. It's quite masculine and strong, with more sillage than most of the others, and pretty sharp close up. I could smell vanilla in the background but mostly got the wood and resin, with that pine sticking around throughout. I can see why a lot of people would like this, but I'm not a fan of pine and it was too masculine and sharp for my taste. This is the only one I wouldn't personally buy in full size. If you like woodsy scents, I'd highly recommend trying it out though - it's another beautifully blended perfume. 

As I said above, I'm already working out my next order - at least a couple of full bottles of the above (once I decide which ones I want first), and I also want to try Slammerkin, Tequila Rose, and grab a sample of the one of the more expensive aromatherapy ones - Migraineur - to see if it can help Noodles with her recently developed insomnia.

Twyla Christmas Spirits Trio

Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary is a new-ish indie perfume store, having been open for only a couple of months. I hadn't heard of the store until someone mentioned it in a comment on a YouTube video. Of course, I immediately had to go and check it out, and to be honest I wasn't expecting much more than one of those junky little online stores with bad spelling and generic scents. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the site is lovely, the writing thoughtful and well-constructed, and the scents complex-sounding and intriguing.

I spent a few days trying to whittle down to a reasonable sized order, because frankly, I wanted pretty much everything. I was going to just leave it until after the new year, but in the end I decided I really had to have 3 full size limited editions that were about to come down and 2 sets of Little Drops of Poison - 3 samples in each. (Customer service note - the site stated that international shipping was $7.25 but when I went to Paypal it came up as $725! Obviously an incorrect decimal point somewhere! I emailed Twlya, who was in transit at the time, but she contacted me immediately and said she'd fix it ASAP, and within an hour she had contacted me again to tell me it was all done and I could go ahead and complete my order.)

A couple of days later she announced on Twitter that she had just released a limited edition trio of Christmas scents, and once they were gone they were gone. I went to have a look, and discovered they were all themed around chocolate. You know me and chocolate scents! These are $10US for each bottle or $25US for all three, so I figured what the heck - in for a penny and all that.

My first order (the limited editions no longer listed on the site and the sample vials) was on 1 December, and my second order (the Christmas trio) was on 3 December. I received them together on 17 December. My mail has been reaaaaaaally slow lately, getting backed up no doubt at either Customs or good old Australia Post (bastards), so I had not expected to get these orders before Christmas, or possibly even New Year. Score!

I thought I would review the Christmas scents first as the site states that these are very much limited, and I know some of you are also chocolate scent fans! I'll talk about the others in a week or so when I've had time to check them all out properly.

The Spirit of Christmas Past

White Chocolate Cognac Creme: a creamy, sweet yet wistfully delicate blend of massoia bark, pressed flowers, and french white cognac.

In the bottle, this smells like chocolatey cognac - like one of those 'special' chocolate boxes your grandma would never let you have. At first when I applied it, all I got was the (quite pleasant) boozy note, and it didn't have a lot of throw. I had to bring my wrist up quite close to smell it. Once it dried, a creamy floral note came out - something very light and delicate like lilac or wisteria. Then came the white chocolate and the cream. After an hour or so it mellowed to a sweet-ish creamy scent with that floral note coming and going faintly. What do I like in a perfume? White chocolate, gentle florals, creamy notes... I feel like this one was made for me. It's gooooooorgeous. I wish I could have it in a shower gel, body butter, scrub, bath soak (even though I don't own a bath), and so on. ONE OF EVERYTHING, PLEASE.

The Spirit of Christmas Present

Chocolate Mint Cognac: a delicious blend of cacao absolute, French green cognac, bourbon vanilla, juniper berry and mint.

In the bottle and when first applied, this is dark chocolate with a hint of mint. After a few minutes I could smell the cognac. This one was quite strong - I got a good whiff of chocolate and cognac whenever I moved my arm. It's a bit more masculine than Christmas Past, which I'd say is distinctly feminine. This perfume eventually mellows to a dark chocolate liqueur and lasts quite a long time on me. I really liked this a lot, though I'd be more inclined to wear it in cold weather. I think it could be interesting layered with some kind of smoky perfume too, as the cognac note is that 'rich men hanging out in private clubs' kind of thing.

The Spirit of Christmas Future

Dark Chocolate Cherry Cognac: rich, dark, deep and deadly blend of cacao absolute, bitter almond, and  French green cognac.

This one is the only one I didn't outright love. It's interesting and doesn't smell like anything else I have, but it's not quite my thing. The bitter almond comes out first on me, and in the bottle that's mostly what I get too, with a note of something green in the background. I guess that's the green cognac, but I don't really know as I've never heard of or smelled green cognac before. Who knew that was a thing? This one is also the least 'chocolatey' of the three, probably because it's a dark, bitter cocoa. It's quite masculine and imposing, and smells slightly tobacco-ish. It did last a few hours, but not as long as the other two. I would like to smell this one on a man.

Summary

These perfumes come in 6ml blue apothecary bottles with droppers, sealed caps and hand-written labels. The quality and care that has obviously gone into them is excellent. I'm really glad I took a chance and bought all three of these unsniffed. I probably won't get a huge amount of use out of Christmas Future, but it's another one I'd like to try again when the weather cools down. And although I'm unashamedly a lover of the girly smells, every now and then I like to break out with something a bit more blokey.

You can buy Twyla's perfumes on her website, and she also has a limited range (though not these particular ones listed individually, only as a set) in her Etsy shop.