All right! Time to review some of Sucreabeille's summer scents, a new scent and er... blood rose. I do try to cluster these reviews in ways that make sense but sometimes you just have an odd one out you need to squeeze in and this time it's Blood Rose.
So anyway all of the perfumes I'm covering in this review are:
- Pele [store link]
- Siren's Song [store link]
- Beekeeper's Daughter [store link]
- Blood Rose [store link]
Methods
All perfumes in this review were allowed to rest for several days after arrival. The perfumes were kept in the dark in a plastic box. I did crack them open to sniff them directly after arrival, and with a couple to do an initial test. The reviews are not based off of these initial impressions - though if a rest did change the smell I’ll note that.
I’m doing a half-hour skin test with each perfume. They are always applied to skin that has either been washed or hasn’t had perfume on it that day. Sometimes I will run one scent on one wrist/hand/arm and the other on the other wrist/hand/arm. When I wash my hands for review purposes I wash with a scented soap (it’s all I have available - shea butter Dove soap or almond Doc Bronners). Before doing test periods I often wear or play with other scents in my collection (that I wash off), so theoretically there could be cross-contamination.
Each sample was gently swirled before application. Each review is written without looking at the notes (in that moment… I obviously looked at them when I bought). At the end of the review I will list what the notes listed in the shop are and comment on how I think they interacted
Bottle Review
In my previous review [link] I discussed Sucreabeille's drams - that still stands. So this time I'm going to talk about the 10ml rollerballs.
The first thing I need to note is that while the Beekeeper's Daughter bottle looked like a standard rollerball the interior the Siren Song bottle was ... odd.
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| behold my lovely psoriasis textured fingernails |
Here it is compared to my other Suc 10 mls. The bulb inside of Siren's Song looks very different from That's What She Said and Beekeeper's Daughter.
It reminds me a lot of the 8.5mls I've seen other houses sell. I haven't measured the Siren Song bottle's capacity, and I am not planning to. For all I know it could be a weird looking 10ml. I got the Siren Song rollerball as a freebie with purchase at the anniversary sale (and got Beekeeper's Daughter free with the anniversary sale). The 10ml I did purchase - TWSS - had a normal bottom. But I'm mentioning the oddness with the bottom of Siren Song since it seems like a bit of a curious bottle thing worth noting.
Anyway, both it and Beekeeper's Daughter - which has a standard looking 10ml bottle - have the same roller insert. They roll the same, don't leak, etc.
Suc has since fixed their label issues in terms of smearing/getting easily dinged. SS and BKD are from before that and you can see the little dings on BKD. My newer 10ml rollerball seems more resistant.
I do want to briefly address the label designs with Suc because it's been an issue with me with purchasing. Some of Suc's labels look really slick and are really cool designs I feel good about putting on my shelf - Beekeeper's Daughter is an example of this. However, with Siren Song, Blood Rose, and Pele I find these designs less of something I'd be eager to display. BR's design consists of reproduced vector roses that were copy/pasted instead of just... drawing multiple roses and a photoshop swirl brush. To me it looks quickly made and like only a little effort was put into it. Siren Song reminds me a lot more of Windows 95 clip art than the Lisa Frank trapper keepers it was supposed to evoke - like that style of illustration was not the artist's strong point. Pele looks like a vector image made from a stock photo composite - and it actually kind of clashes with Siren Song instead of feeling cohesively like they're from the same line.
In my personal opinion it would really strengthen Sucreabeille's bottles to move away from designs that rely on stock photos, clip art, or CG/3D art and focus on their strong points: The bottle with vintage/period/scientific looking line illustrations. The stuff like Beekeeper's Daughter is beautiful (as is the design on their recent Peach Tree bottle, for example). However some of their other bottle designs (especially ones that are made up of just cropped stock art with a photoshop filter - like their comic book scent labels) I'd not feel great about displaying on my shelf.
Anyway, on to the actual scent reviews.
A reminder: Each nose is different and each skin’s chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary.
Pele
In the bottle: Thick, syrupy fruit punch. Very red. Tiny hint of a floral that I think I recall being ylang ylang.
Wet on my skin: Red fruits and Suc’s ylang-ylang note. Right now this smells like the red cousin of Serpent’s Brew. A little earthy-musky for a base (I’m guessing might be fig). The ylang ylang keeps it from feeling ‘flat’ though because it adds a little floral piquancy.
Drydown: It kind of reminds me of Celestial Seasonings’ Red Zinger. Like, I wonder if I’m getting some hibiscus here. I’m almost sure there’s fig, and I feel like I’m getting some lime. Still getting a little bit of ylang ylang. It’s a sweet, fruity perfume with an earthy grounding and some piquancy from the ylang. So, er, a sweet fruity floral ylang ylang centered perfume which is like incredibly up my alley.
After 30 mins: Still fruity floral! It’s got a good throw on it and is very stable and strong. All qualities I like. It reminds me in some ways of BPAL’s Shango (minus the very ‘wet’ note that Shango has).
Notes on the site: pear, fig, blueberry, ylang ylang
So, the pear is the core of the scent and I can obviously see it now that the words are in front of me. The fig is the base and y’all it’s a good fig - slightly earthy while still smelling fruity. I don’t get anything in here that screams blueberry at me distinctly - but I wonder if that’s where the tartness I was reading as lime is coming from. The ylang ylang is well.. Ylang ylang and it smells like actual ylang ylang (sweet, slightly citrusy floral) and not like the ‘clean laundry’ smell people sometimes sub for tree-flowers.
Verdict: Love this! Keeping my dram and when I run through it will be reordering if it’s still available.
Siren Song
In the bottle: Citrus - smells orange-y - mild enough that I can see it maybe being a blossom, a touch of salty air, and strong laundry detergent. Bit of floral sweetness.
Wet on my skin: Citrus coming through more strongly. Pretty sure this is an orange of some sort. Little bit of salty air (not as strong as it was in the bottle) and laundry detergent. I was hoping the ‘clean laundry’ smell would be more subdued in this But this smells like you’ve got some sort of orange starch that you’re spraying on laundry on a sunny seaside hill. It’s kinda soapy too.
Drydown: The laundry detergent has actually gone to a more subtle note (as has the salt). This mostly smells like an aquatic with orange nuances. Like you’ve just picked up a bar of orange and sea salt soap. Little bit of floral sweetness.
After 30 mins: About the same as the drydown but fainter. I guess a bit of ozonic/powdery tang to it i didn’t note before. Almost a lil woody.
Notes on the site: salt, kumquat, cotton, daisy
So the salt is the salt, the kumquat is the citrus, the ‘cotton’ is the ‘fresh laundry’ smell and the daisy is the floral. I think the slight woodiness is coming from the kumquat coming forward more clearly.
Verdict: Swap. I’m not a laundry-smell person. For someone who wants to smell like clean, citrusy laundry or a fancy bar of soap this would be a real winner.
Beekeeper’s Daughter
In the bottle: Very herbal, a little salty, sweet but ‘thin’ smelling honey. I find the herbs to be the most forward thing in this. It smells a smidge pizza-like. When I first got it it was very pizza-like. I remember that oregano isn’t a listed note in this but I could have sworn I smelled it (maybe it was basil giving me that vibe). Anyway, after a couple of days the herbs calmed down from full-pizza. I also want to note that I got a lot more honey on a firm swirl - I wonder if the ingredients are separating.
Wet on my skin: Honey - with an edge of herbs. I remember this having sage and the sage is coming out! Little bit of saltiness. When I’ve worn this before it’s been way more herb-than-honey (I don’t think I’ve made sure to swirl it before). After a minute or two what I believe is basil is coming through. The basil is very strong and kinda taking over.
Drydown: Basil is still the strongest note to me. At the edges I’m getting other herbs and some salt. There’s a base of faint honey and stronger wax. The herbs and the salt have a little bit of a tang to them that goes to the edge of metallic but doesn’t quite cross the line. There’s a little bit of freshness to this now - a little cool to the sniff.
After 30 mins: Mildly sweet but only getting a little straight honey - mostly getting wax with a touch of salt and mellow herbs. Still a lot of basil but sage is coming through too. A tiny hint of that freshness.
Notes on the site: pure honeycomb, freshly harvested from the hive; a blooming herb garden full of clary sage, fennel, and thyme; peach blossoms and a touch of medicinal camphor
So, the honeycomb is the wax (and maybe also the salt? I’ve gotten salt in Suc’s other scents with honeycomb) - I get the sage and what I was reading as basil must have been thyme (my herb-smell-knowledge might be off). I didn’t get any fennel from this outside of the bottle. In the bottle I can get a hint of the absinthe-like smell of fennel. I got nothing particularly floral from this scent - in another scent with peach blossoms from Suc I’ve gotten a metallic note so maybe the thing that went to the edge of metallic was that? I think the cool minty-seeming scent was the camphor.
Wears fairly close to the skin but isn’t hard to detect or faint.
Verdict: Gosh, on paper this was such a freaking me scent. In reality I’m conflicted. I want there to be like… 50% more honey in this and a different floral that’s more well… floral to my nose. On the other hand I kinda like the scent for what it is. The herbs in it are really herbal - and if you want to smell like you just opened up your herb jars and threw the contents in the air and danced around in it like confetti then this is the scent for you. Just… make sure you give it a day or two to rest and then give it a swirl to make sure the ingredients are well combined.
I don’t know if I’ll keep my bottle or not, but I am glad I tried it.
Blood Rose
In the bottle: Musky, dark rose that smells, well, wilted. Reminds me of over-ripe fruit but uh… a rose. Touch of salt and sweetness.
Wet on my skin: Similar to the bottle but with a touch more powderiness coming out. Does this have oudh in it? It reminds me of oudh. Very dark.
Drydown: Musky, with that kind of… wilted flower, decaying fruit smell. A little spicy. I think this was supposed to have dragon’s blood in it? I’m getting 0 recognizable dragon's blood notes. This does smell kind of like my grandmother who wears oudh heavy scents though. It’s like… a slightly spicy oudh. I think this was supposed to have a sweet component like honey and I can see a little of that but mostly it’s rose, wilting/decay/weird sour smell, and spiced oudh-smell.
After 30 mins: Still about how it was in the drydown.
Notes on the site: English rose, honey, sea salt, dragonsblood
I get all of those and I feel like more. I don’t know if the dragon’s blood accord is oudh based or what but whuf it reminds me of just straight oudh. That’s about all I can figure the kind of ‘decaying’ smell coming from because like, I get the rose and it’s certainly a dark, rich rose but it’s distinct. The salt is just a hint at the edge, as is the honey.
Verdict: In the interest of honesty: This one is actively smelly to me. This one is going to be a swap. I guess if you’re normally turned off by dragon’s blood give this a shot because it doesn’t smell like a standard dragon’s blood note.
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