Oh man, I've been sitting on this order for quite a while. Why do I let these things happen? I'll never know. But here I am! Ready to party review!
Hanging out on IMAM is a real stress on the wallet - the more I saw people talking about Blooddrop's perfumes, the more I needed to try them. So I did. I jumped in a bit recklessly and purchased two of the Horses of the Carousel perfumes which are only available in full sizes and tacked on a few samples for good measure. I missed the fact that the shop owner was going to be on vacation for a week starting the day I placed my order but that was, of course, my bad. What I thought was a bit odd is that I never received any sort of shipping notification. Surprise packages are never a bad thing but it would have saved me a bit of stress to know there'd be no such email. Do your research, kids! Shipping on it's own was quite quick! Everything was packaged very nicely and I'm absolutely in love with these business-type cards. They're fabulous.
On to the perfumes!
The Giant Horse: The Giant Horse should not fit in the carousel given how massive it is, but it does. It is nearly impossible to mount up to its saddle that is covered with tassels, gilt accents, and ornate scrollwork and tooling that tells the tale of the giant horse that once roamed Persia centuries ago. Its rider sits atop the softly breathing steed and can see across sands, skies, and seas. Its scent is of a bold, mocha cupcake with mocha frosting that is delicately drawn to appear like the horizon with tiny tree tops, roof tops, mountain tops and the ocean.
It's a tad lengthy but I left the whole description because it's just lovely. The whole idea of some sort of enchanted carousel with all these horses that smell like cupcakes has me entirely enthralled. There's no way I was going to get away without trying any of these. The Giant Horse was a "by the seat of my pants" kind of decision. I'm not a big coffee/mocha sort of gal but I read a few favorable reviews that piqued my interest. From the bottle I get pure mocha - a bit like Haus of Gloi's Vice. There's a touch of sweet frosting underneath but the mocha is incredibly strong and I could already tell it was going to end up bitter. Oh boy, and I was right. On my skin I lose the small bit of sweetness that was in the bottle and I end up with pure bitter mocha. It must be my skin chemistry, coffee scents always end up a bit burnt smelling. After a few hours it did sweeten up just a tad but by then the entire thing was much too faint to matter. I may try layering this over something sweeter in the future but there's a good chance I'll be passing it off to someone else at some point.
The Velvet Horse: The Velvet Horse is like a plush, luxurious, regal steed. Its coat is the same softness of silk velvet and bears a damask pattern in Bordeaux red and aubergine purple. There is no heavy tack on the Velvet Horse, only layered blankets and a ribbon bridle. The gaits of this horse are as smooth as its coat like a horse from Andalusia. Its scent is that of a chocolate and coconut cupcake with chocolate cream cheese filling and chocolate frosting decorated with red and purple sugar rose petals.
I wanna ride that horse and I wanna eat that cupcake. So obviously I'm going to buy the perfume. Out of the bottle it smells exactly like Barney & Co's Cocoa + Coconut Almond Butter. (Which you should probably try because it's delicious but I have to restrain myself because I'll just eat half the jar in a sitting. ;_;) Applied and dried down it goes powdery on me, unfortunately. The coconut is the boss note here so it imparts a bit of a dry coconut flour quality to the whole scent. I few more hours into it and it's alright, not the worst but not the greatest. I'll probably try layering with this one as well.
A tad disappointing but I should have known better than to jump into anything. Luckily the samples I got worked out fairly well for me!
Dixie Elouise Adelaide Deschamps' Perfectly Legal and Innocuous Kissing Cake: Some of the finest, ripest strawberries, the fluffiest and sweetest angel cake, the creamiest butter cream frosting and some davana to make the experience unique.
From Blooddrop's collection "The Possibly Not So Accurate Historical Liquids for An Assortment of Dis-Eases." The names are a doozy but I personally love ridiculously long names for things. (I was a huge Fallout Boy fan back in the day.) The notes in the perfume just scream "eat me" so this was tossed in my cart no questions asked. Out of the (super cute and tiny) sample bottle this perfume smells extremely sweet - strawberries and a hint of liqueur perhaps? On my skin I get a lot more of the cake and frosting notes. In fact, it smells exactly like those strawberry jelly roll snack cake things. Delicious but obviously artificial. The scent is a nice one and my sample will get it's share of wear but I think I'm good without a full size.
Bûche de Noël: A traditional French dessert for le Reveillon de Noel. Insanely decadent and delicious! Hazelnuts, Grand Marnier, genoise, vanille and chocolat.
More dessert! Not knowing exactly what Grand Marnier was, I was taken aback when I first gave this a sniff. Apparently, it's an orange liqueur and damn, does it show. The Grand Marnier is first out of the bottle followed by soft, sweet cake. (The genoise.) The Grand Marnier doesn't back down when I first apply it. It's a bit bitter and I think the chocolate in the background kind of throws everything off. I never seem to have much luck with chocolate it seems. As it dries down it gets much sweeter and the hazelnut peeks out while the bitter orange sticks around. It's unique, if odd. Once again, another sample that I'll use but it needs further testing to see if I'd ever want the full size.
Yellow Kimono: Bright and fresh. Tea, yuzu, pink grapefruit, lemon and a wee bit of pineapple.
Lastly, a little fresh to cut the sweet! I was afraid of the tea note but look at alll the fruiiitt. I had to try it. In the bottle it smells like citrus with a touch of what seems like green tea. Fruity and fresh! Applied I catch a lot of lemon first which makes me super happy. The tea sits in the background being a team player and keeps the perfume from being pure fruit. As time goes on each fruit pops out then melds back in to the citrus collective. It's super clean and fresh and it'll be perfect for hot summer days. I'll probably pop it out on occasion this winter though. I do what I want.
Also look at how cute these sample bottles are:
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| The tiny sample bottles are so cute!! |
One thing about the perfumes: the labels, as lovely as they are, are also a bit annoying. They're very thick and sturdy but the adhesive doesn't seems to be strong enough for how stiff the labels are and most of the corners are lifting up. You can especially see it in the first shot of The Velvet Horse.
The owner Astrid was running a bit of a special around the time I ordered so along with my perfumes I also received two very generous samples of a couple of Blooddrop's skincare products.
Facial Masque No. 1:
I don't believe this is listed as of yet on Blooddrop's website. I'm absolutely terrible at using masks regularly so I can't attest to it's effectiveness BUT I did use it once and suffered no adverse effects. It has a strong scent - cucumber if I remember correctly and a tad herbal. It felt nice and cool on my face but other than a refreshing feeling I didn't get much out of it.
Eau Douce Floral and Herbal Facial Mist: Eau Douce (translation: soft water) is a floral and herbal facial mist. It contains a natural and beneficial blend of organic hydrosols aimed to refresh, sooth, heal and pamper your skin! Eau Douce is a blend of rose, calendula, chamomile and rose geranium hydrosols. It has been tested on a variety of skin types with lovely results. Psoriasis and rosacea test bunnies reported quieter skin. Also, wonderful for soothing break-out prone skin and preempting further breakouts. Equally suited for a simple refreshing treat to the face on hot days or during travel where the skin tends to dehydrate.
Honestly, I've been too scared to actually put this on my face. My skin isn't super sensitive but it does have it's days. The scent is just sooo strong - very floral. It puts me off just a bit. Maybe one of these days I'll give it a try (the description makes it seem lovely enough) but I suppose it'd better be sooner than later as it doesn't contain any preservatives. (Something to take note of.)
Anyway, my first taste of Blooddrop didn't go quite how I'd like it to scent-wise but there's still so much to try! I'm actually currently awaiting my decants of some of their fall releases that I got through Ajevie's Circles. (My first decant circle, guys! I'm so excited!) This'll be a bit better for me - I need to learn not to jump head first into those full sizes!
xxx
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