So, because Sucreabeille is having a massive sale I'm bending my personal rules about posting two review batches for the same house back to back. This is the kind of raw anarchy that can occur when you're your own editor.
But for serious, please go check out their sale. I certainly have ( as I place an order for sample packs from three different houses from the Indie Marketplace I whisper 'True TAT freedom').
The perfumes covered in today's review are:
- God Grant Me The Confidence Of An Average White Man [ store link ]
- Acai Tree [ store link ]
- Passionfruit Vine [ store link ]
- Lime Tree [ store link ]
- Pear Tree [ store link ]
- Mango Tree [ store link ]
 |
| Pear Tree featured twice because Andrea is made of generosity and well deserved label pride. |
Methods
All perfumes in this review were allowed to rest for several days after arrival. The drams were kept in the dark in a plastic box - the 10mls were kept on a lil spice rack that gets minimal sunlight. I did crack them all 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 Bronner’s). 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
So, in terms of just the bottles themselves you can see the dram review here [ link ] and the 10ml review here [ link ]. These were all like that- all I have to mention is that some times with the 10mls the ball doesn't 'roll' when you pass it over your skin. The oil still comes out so it's not a huge deal - just kind of a weird feeling when doing the application.
And now I want to talk about the labels.
With all the tree labels? Beautiful. The only thing I would have suggested doing differently is hand-writing the 'name' on each bottle instead of using a cursive font meant to mimic handwriting. In my opinion the font used here is a little too tidy looking - and the writing on the bottles that label each part of the plant are so cute.
And can we talk about these illustrations? I think the art on these is possibly the strongest in the Suc catalog. It's the perfect blend between artsy and scientific for my tastes. When Andrea sent me the pear 10 ml she didn't actually have the 10ml labels for it ready so it had a dram label. She sent me some 10ml labels later for me to apply myself. So I ended up with a couple extra copies of the Pear labels themselves. I'm gonna use them as stickers and I think the whole set would make a great sticker set for Suc to use as swag, or even just to sell lol.
With God Grant Me The Confidence Of An Average White Man: There's a couple of grubby spots on my label which are 1000% my fault. I had some ink on my hands when I initially handled it and I didn't even realize I'd grubbied it until I saw what a pristine label looked like in the store. (I thought it was part of an artsy texture!) With this label I like how large the text is, and how easy it is to read. I also think it looks fine on a shelf. If it were up to me I would have used a different font for the serif font (It's a little Times New Roman - TBH I would have probably used a Gotham style sans-serif with tracking that's a little wide). But I like the handwriting font on this one.
(I normally don't go this deep into label reviews. But since I previously critiqued Suc's labels specifically and I'm sure Andrea wants feedback after that dialogue. What I'm saying is we now have a Sucreabeille Label Meta.)
A reminder: Each nose is different and each skin’s chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary.
God Grant Me The Confidence Of An Average White Man
In the bottle: So, I gave in to curiosity and glanced at the notes for this last night. I recall there being… coffee (which I mean, the moment you crack this open it’s coffee 'splosion so I would have gotten that on my own) and black musk. I don’t recall the rest! Let’s goooo… So, cracking this open you have the coffee - which is a black, straightforward coffee. It is the coffee made at home by someone who is no-nonsense and drinks the coffee at temperatures so high you’re pretty sure they’ve lost all feeling in their mouth.
There’s some creaminess in the scent. It’s not being used in the coffee. In my mental word-picture it’s the lotion this person put on their chapped hands. No nonsense lotion.
The black musk here is the same one that shows up in Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica. It’s well… black musk. A little animalistic without being harsh. It adds a bit of an indolic quality to the scent - one that mostly serves to deepen the coffee.
Wet on my skin: Something piquant and clean smelling coming through. A little lemony - almost fizzy in quality. It reminds me a lot of Suc’s champagne note. The coffee is mellowing some. Like the no-nonsense person brewing this stuff has noticed you want some and has added a single creamer and single sugar to it for you.
Drydown: I’m not going to beat around the bush: Each time I smell this it’s like smelling Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec. There’s the coffee and black musk blending, the creaminess that reminds me of shaving cream or lotion, and a no-nonsense bit of cleanliness. There might even be a dark wood in this. Like, layer this with some idk wood shavings single note you have laying around and it’d be perfect y’all.
After 30 mins: Slightly musky - though the black character of the musk is gone. Kind of pleasantly creamy with a touch of ultra-black coffee. There’s a sweet note that is a smidge cloying- reminds me of both Serpent’s Brew and Arsenic in their collection. But much more muted.
Official Notes: A shot of black espresso fizzes with black musk, then mellows to creamy spices and sandalwood
The description for this one is right on. I will note that the sandalwood surprised me a bit - the woodiness I got in the drydown was probably that. The spices are a faint hint of character.
I do wanna note: In the bottle this lives right on the edge of too indolic for me. Like I keep waffling between ‘woah - great scent’ and ‘Hm - riiiight on the edge of stinky’ when it’s in the early stages. As it wears on it’s firmly in the ‘smells nice’ camp - but between the coffee, musk, and masculine qualities I can see this being on the ‘too intense’ side for some people.
Verdict: Keeping the bottle I got for a press sample and… ha ha… funny story … I actually spent enough at the sale that I’ll be getting… another 10ml. I actually like this scent well enough that I’m debating keeping both bottles . I can totally see whipping it out on days where I need to channel my inner Ron Swanson.
Acai Tree
In the bottle: Dried berries (Acai ones, I presume), chocolate. Little bit of a floral edge, might be some musk - but mostly acai berries and chocolate. It smells like chocolate covered dried berries my mom sometimes gets.
Wet on my skin: More floral! Kind of a glassy, slightly (and not unpleasantly) green edge to them. Reminds me of a lot of white tea notes. Layered over berries and chocolate - gosh, instead of a musk maybe a cream? It’s a creamy scent. Kinda tropical in nature.
Drydown: Almost certain this is white tea - combined with the creaminess this gives the overall character of the scent something of a shaving cream vibe (it’s green contrasted with creamy). Getting edges of berries and chocolate.
After 30 mins: About like the drydown except more the chocolate and berries has burned off on me. The greenery isn’t overpowering here in terms of giving me a headache, but it is present. Just this side of masculine thanks to the kinda shaving cream vibe from the combo of the creamy note and the green note I am flagging as white tea.
Official Notes: Fresh acai berries covered in rich, dark chocolate. Fresh, cold rice milk and crisp white musk
So, yes. Berries and chocolate. With the rice milk and the crisp white musk - I figure the white musk here must be what reminds me so much of white tea (it’s really uncanny) and the rice milk must be what’s creamy here. Or it could be the other way around! Who knows.
Verdict: I wish the berries and chocolate lasted longer than they did - but everything here smelled good to me. I will probably keep my dram to experiment with layering.
Passionfruit Vine
In the bottle: So, fair warning - my only experience with “passionfruit” in terms of things-I-eat is in the form of passionfruit LaCroix which smells like a flower and tastes like dirt. I’ve kinda come to associate passionfruit with really, really earthy-floral qualities. This is no exception - it smells more earthy-floral than fruity to me. Kinda reminds me of frangipani in terms of that sweet, pink tropical floral… but more earthy than frangipani. There’s an almost syrupy note in there that reminds me of berries, and a note that smells like a water accord.
Wet on my skin: Okay, now it’s fruity - almost bubblegummy. Still kind of earthy - but more resinous now, and kinda wet. The earthy portion kind of reminds me of the smell of mildew.
Drydown: Medicinal, bubblegummy, and fruity all at once - it does remind me a lot of passionfruit la croix in that sense. The earthy portion still kinda smells like wet, slightly mildewed wood. Some greenery in there too coming out now.
After 30 mins: Medicinal, slightly bubblegummy passionfruit, herby greenery, mildewed wood, tiny edges of a floral. I think some people will go buck wild over this scent - (if you’re into kinda… decaying, wet forest scents with a tropical twist - or the taste of passionfruit LaCroix go for it).
Official Notes: Passionfruit, bright green tomato leaf, frangipani blooms and a pinch of heliotrope flower
Well, the passionfruit is the passionfruit. I have no idea how accurate it is to the real thing - but it does smell like the sparklewater version of it with a lil bit of bubblegum. I can see some heliotrope in there adding woodsiness, but I think the majority of what I’m not digging about this scent is the tomato leaf. It… does smell like a version of tomato leaf, but, one that’s kinda a mildewed, decaying version of the plant. I usually associate actual fresh tomato leaves with a kind of spicy ultragreen. Called it with the frangipani early on, but that fades fast. Or maybe it’s what’s responsible for what smells like bubblegum to me.
Verdict: Not my thing, passing my dram of this along.
Lime tree
In the bottle: Lime! Sweet, key-lime smelling lime. I freaking adore Lime so in the bottle this is a big hit for me. I can see it reminding some people of a fancy lime soda (not like a Sprite/7-Up, like a Jones soda in a key lime flavor that actually smells like key lime). Kinda fizzy and creamy.
Wet on my skin: Key lime PIE soda. Y’all, this is the real deal. And it’s smelling fizzy to me without the kind of metallic note I get from Suc’s fizzy scents. There’s a kind of warmth to it to. It’s lime! It’s creamy! It’s kinda fizzy! It’s kinda got a graham cracker vibe to it! (Also a little...smokey?)
Drydown: So what I think I’m getting here is lime, vanilla, an ultra realistic carbon/carbonated note, and then I start debating on the other notes. I feel like I could be getting a cola note and this could be a lime n cola themed scent. I could ALSO see it being a margarita themed scent with a tequila accord and salt. I could ALSO see it being a key lime pie scent. So, just imagine somewhere between a lime cola, a margarita, and key lime pie.
After 30 mins: I am getting a little metallic edges now. But, limes themselves are a little metallic (in a good way) so it blends well. Otherwise still getting the same kind of composition as in the drydown. I’m really impressed the lime note in this has held up so well - lime usually burns off pretty fast.
Official Notes: Fizzing fresh green limes, wild labadanum and tonka with champagne bubbles
I get the fizz! I get the lime! The labadanum must be what I waffled between reading as graham crackers or cola. It’s slightly resinous but more kinda… rounded and soft. The tonka is probably what smells like an ultra soft, tasty vanilla in this.
Verdict: I love this scent. It’s kind of on that edge of gourmand by way of fruitiness without being overly sugary sweet. I need this in a lotion form, and I’m keeping my dram for sure. By far one of my fav Suc scents - and one of my favorite citrus scents in general.
Pear tree
In the bottle: I will admit: I saw the notes for this one too (I was buying some Lime Tree scented lotion!). But even if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have missed the notes on this one. It’s a pear tart and lemme tell you, friends, the notes on this one are dead on. I generally am kinda ‘eh’ on baked good gourmands but I am all about this one. It’s It’s a pear sauce that’s more like a pie filling than a sauce - with bits of whole pear in it. It’s spices. It’s caramel. It’s a lovely, flakey, crust!
It’s pear cobbler y’all.
Wet on my skin: It’s still pear cobbler y’all. It’s got a tiny bit of toffee quality that gourmands have and in this one it makes it smell like you have a particularly delectable, buttery crust. And I might be imagining things but I feel like I can even detect a hint of vanilla that makes it feel like… pear cobbler with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. It even smells warm.
Drydown: Still warm and a little less aggressively Baked Good. Instead of smelling like you’re eating a pear cobbler it smells like someone is making a pear cobbler in the room with you. More of the fruit is coming out - as if someone had sliced up some pears nearby, there’s a touch of dusty crust (I wonder if the crust accord has some heliotrope in it?) and a drizzle of caramel.
After 30 mins: Pears, caramel, butter, and dusty pie crust/I-swear-it-smells-kinda-like-heliotrope. But even better than the smell on my skin? My bedroom, where I do my highly official, highly technical sniffing? It smells like I’ve been dancing around it holding a pear tart in my hands. If I had a recommendation for Suc? Find a way to turn this into some sort of room scent. Spray? Wax melt? Candle? Incense? Let your imagination run wild. (Haha! Just kidding. The reality is this needsto be a candle so I can give it to my loved ones for Christmas).
Official Notes: Hot, crisp pear tart drizzled with caramel. Drowned in heavy cream spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, and a touch of vanilla.
Ah! My nose was not lying about the vanilla - I will say, heavy cream + vanilla does make a nice ice cream accord. The heavy cream is also what I think I was reading as kinda buttery in there too. But otherwise, yup, all there. See above comments about my journey through pear-tart glory.
Verdict: Keeping my big bottle of it! There’s also a dram of it that goes with the set (see photo) and that will probably be passed on to others in some fashion (Shh… I got… plans). But this is a great one.
The only thing “wrong” with it, with big bunny ear quotes, is that it’s a cold weather scent and right now the mountains of Virginia are trying their damnedest to live up to being a subtropical rainforest. But fall through winter? This is gonna be my jam. My sweet, sweet pear cobbler jam.
Mango Tree
In the bottle: Mango, a resinous/woody note, and maybe some greenery (smells like dark grass). Kind of dark for a fruit scent - and not too sweet. As a fair warning here: I once goofed and ate a mango with the skin on. It didn’t sit well with me, and since then I’ve had a weird relationship with the fruit. There is a certain spiciness of this that reminds me of well, actual mangos with the skin on.
Wet on my skin: Spicy greenery with edges of mango. I tend to amp green things, and this one contains whatever aroma chemical hurts my head for me to smell. I actually don’t dislike this smell apart from it not cooperating with my head - it’s well balanced. It’s hard for me to pick out notes beyond the greenery - but I do get the mango, I think I’m getting some resin, and some spice. The mango kinda reminds me of the smell of peanut butter - but that could just be mango doing its mango thing. A little sweet but not enough that it smells like a gourmand.
Drydown: About what it was like wet - perhaps a touch less green. Oh, and I’m not getting the peanut butter any more. So, mango, greenery, resin-woody, maybe a floral. Like - stab in the dark here - maybe a gardenia?
After 30 mins: Less of the greenery still (It’s still there, just not the most forward note - more balanced now). Still about the same as it was in the drydown though I might be getting a tiny hint of creaminess.
Official Notes: Mangoes with fresh green galbanum and bright pink peppercorns. A whisper of cardamom and sea salt, served under black linen canopies.
Got the mangos, got the green, I think the pink pepper is what I was reading as resinous (I usually avoid peppercorn notes since I never know when they’re accords and when they contain actual peppercorn - I checked with Andrea and this is an accord! Fellow peppercorn allergic folk rejoice!). I can see the cardamom and sea salt being part of the spice bouquet I got. I didn’t get anything really textile about this but that could be because I read the textile notes as part of the green note.
Verdict: Gonna pass on this. Green is not my bag, and mango and I are on weird terms. For someone who likes that kinda thing though I think this is really well balanced and will make a fun perfume to wear on its own or layer.
No comments:
Post a Comment