Hey, kids!
So it's been a while since I got this package, but this was my very, very first purchase from an indie company for realsies! I hemmed and hawwed over it a ton since I usually don't splurge on anything other than food and occasional video games (I'm looking at you, Elder Scrolls Online, you better not still be pay to play a year from now), but what can I say, the IMAM community keeps me excited about what could be if I smelled unique and great, so I went ahead and got a sample set.
Customer Service: 5/5
I ordered on July 19th during a sale, and right away someone noticed that my order included Moon Milk, which is no longer in stock any more :(. I guess I got carried away when I was looking through people's reviews online and didn't actually go to check if everything in my order was still valid. Anyways, they offered to swap it out with anything in stock that I liked, and I just asked them to choose for me because surprises are awesome. I got Singing Sparrow as the replacement, which by the notes is definitely something I would have chosen!
My order shipped July 24th, so well within their 12-14 business day TAT. Erin even included a very sweet note about Moon Milk and Singing Sparrow. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Alchimia Apothecary
Oasis
Deep in this hidden blue lagoon are sparkling crisp pools of water cutting through the amazon mist that contains hints of sweet plumeria, exotic ginger, Hawaiian hibiscus, and just a touch of deep dark earth after the rain.
Me: In the bottle: very aquatic smelling, slightly candle-ish. On skin: more sea candle, the kind with little sculpted dolphins carved around the base, and something intensely floral. Tickles the nose. Washed it down with a little water because it was starting to bother me, and something a little darker came out, though it was still candle-y. Too strong, unfortunately not for me. Lasted 5 hours, even with washing.
BF: Soap; I'm not a huge fan, grandma.
Aphrodesia (unreleased)
This was my free sample! Very generous of Alchimia to send me one of their new, unreleased scents to try out c:
Me: Slightly greenish smelling, smells very strongly of lavender essential oil! It actually took me a while to pinpoint that scent, since it was so familiar. It's herby, slightly floral, slightly spicy on drydown. Some bay leaves come in at 2 hours, and it's kind of like hiking through a bay leaf and lavender forest, if such a thing existed. From a name like Aphrodesia I was pretty surprised to be smelling such green smells, but without the actual notes I could be way off base describing the scent whoops. I like lavender, but it is too strong for the first couple hours for me. Lasted 5 hours.
BF: Grade-A bunghole.
Druid Fluid
Pure floral and fun greens. This is a body filled with peonies with accents of fresh cut green grass, lovely tuberose and fragrant green bamboo. Tying everything together are the fluttering hints of orchid and spicy thyme.
Me: In the bottle, its very sweet and green, with a little bit of apple. Promising! On my skin, it just smelled green and floral at first, but after a little while I'm getting some darker floral and cut grass. There's quite a bit of soapiness in there too. After an hour, it's sticking really close and being its grassy soapy self. I wish the apple stuck around. I keep smelling the bottle and then smelling my arm and then smelling the bottle and lamenting that my skin kills all the happy apple joy joy. Lasted 6 hours.
BF: It smells like the soap you get at school. It's elementary school again.
Geisha
This is a wonderful combination of crispy green bamboo, fragrant green tea and an overall feeling of clean fresh air. This is a unisex fragrance that makes a great impression while still remaining neutral and understated.
Me: In the bottle it's similar to Druid Fluid, but with less of the apple and more laundry detergent. Wet on my skin it smells just like the bottle, if even more detergent-y. But oh gosh after about an hour or so all the detergent goes away and it just smells nice! Green and very natural-- almost like a good body smell. Looking at the notes, I don't think I got any green tea, but I like this a lot! Which is good, because this scent is the one I was most looking forward to c: It didn't last very long on my skin, unfortunately-- maybe 3 hours tops. Considering getting a bottle.
BF: (From the bottle) Makes face. Sure. (On my skin) Eh. S'good.
Flowering Meadow
Close your eyes and imagine earth beneath your feet, the grass between your toes, and the flowers blossoming all around you as far as the eye can see. This truly is the scent of a warm spring day. This scent is very floral and earthy.
Me: In bottle: tons of flowers. Wet on my skin: flowers. The kind that you know are pretty but will also kickstart your allergy season. I'm super bad at describing this one, but all
I know is that it is floral, green, and I am not fond of it. Sadface. Lasted 4 hours on my skin.
BF: It smells like the soap that you get at Target that has the little sea animals on the back of the bottle. *Starts searching "soap with sea animals" on Google Images.*
Singing Sparrow
Spicy and sweet and fruity and floral, there's just a bit of everything in this intoxicating blend. Thick ribbons of honey and vanilla blend harmoniously with juicy apricots and refreshing blood oranges. Spicy tendrils of labdanum lurk from below while sweet hints of rose and tobacco waft in the breeze to bridge the gap.
Me: In the bottle: Woodsy and cinnamon-y, very autumn. On my skin there's more of an incense-y smell, and the cinnamon takes more of a backseat. There's something slightly fruity in there too. It faded pretty quickly, going down to a faint woodsy scent in about 3 hours (though it might have rubbed off on my jacket a lot...). After reading the notes, I wish the fruity and sweet parts came out more than the spice... honey and vanilla, apricots and blood oranges sound amazing. Why skin why? Lasted 6 hours on my skin.
BF: Smells like... the inside of Restoration Hardware. Like cinnamon sticks in the jar, like, you know, that people have on their table.
Verdict
Would I order from Alchimia again? If they have another sale, I might go for a big bottle of Geisha! I'm going to try all of these again at some point to see if maybe they've mellowed and let their less-soapy tones pop.
In other news, the same day this arrived, so did a mysterious package from Greece! Boyfriend was all, "Whoah, could be anthrax," but when I opened the package what could it be but...
So it's been a while since I got this package, but this was my very, very first purchase from an indie company for realsies! I hemmed and hawwed over it a ton since I usually don't splurge on anything other than food and occasional video games (I'm looking at you, Elder Scrolls Online, you better not still be pay to play a year from now), but what can I say, the IMAM community keeps me excited about what could be if I smelled unique and great, so I went ahead and got a sample set.
Customer Service: 5/5
I ordered on July 19th during a sale, and right away someone noticed that my order included Moon Milk, which is no longer in stock any more :(. I guess I got carried away when I was looking through people's reviews online and didn't actually go to check if everything in my order was still valid. Anyways, they offered to swap it out with anything in stock that I liked, and I just asked them to choose for me because surprises are awesome. I got Singing Sparrow as the replacement, which by the notes is definitely something I would have chosen!
My order shipped July 24th, so well within their 12-14 business day TAT. Erin even included a very sweet note about Moon Milk and Singing Sparrow. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
I'm a sucker for pretty business cards
Alchimia Apothecary
The haul!
Oasis
Deep in this hidden blue lagoon are sparkling crisp pools of water cutting through the amazon mist that contains hints of sweet plumeria, exotic ginger, Hawaiian hibiscus, and just a touch of deep dark earth after the rain.
Me: In the bottle: very aquatic smelling, slightly candle-ish. On skin: more sea candle, the kind with little sculpted dolphins carved around the base, and something intensely floral. Tickles the nose. Washed it down with a little water because it was starting to bother me, and something a little darker came out, though it was still candle-y. Too strong, unfortunately not for me. Lasted 5 hours, even with washing.
BF: Soap; I'm not a huge fan, grandma.
Aphrodesia (unreleased)
This was my free sample! Very generous of Alchimia to send me one of their new, unreleased scents to try out c:
Me: Slightly greenish smelling, smells very strongly of lavender essential oil! It actually took me a while to pinpoint that scent, since it was so familiar. It's herby, slightly floral, slightly spicy on drydown. Some bay leaves come in at 2 hours, and it's kind of like hiking through a bay leaf and lavender forest, if such a thing existed. From a name like Aphrodesia I was pretty surprised to be smelling such green smells, but without the actual notes I could be way off base describing the scent whoops. I like lavender, but it is too strong for the first couple hours for me. Lasted 5 hours.
BF: Grade-A bunghole.
Teeny weeny bottles
Druid Fluid
Pure floral and fun greens. This is a body filled with peonies with accents of fresh cut green grass, lovely tuberose and fragrant green bamboo. Tying everything together are the fluttering hints of orchid and spicy thyme.
Me: In the bottle, its very sweet and green, with a little bit of apple. Promising! On my skin, it just smelled green and floral at first, but after a little while I'm getting some darker floral and cut grass. There's quite a bit of soapiness in there too. After an hour, it's sticking really close and being its grassy soapy self. I wish the apple stuck around. I keep smelling the bottle and then smelling my arm and then smelling the bottle and lamenting that my skin kills all the happy apple joy joy. Lasted 6 hours.
BF: It smells like the soap you get at school. It's elementary school again.
Geisha
This is a wonderful combination of crispy green bamboo, fragrant green tea and an overall feeling of clean fresh air. This is a unisex fragrance that makes a great impression while still remaining neutral and understated.
Me: In the bottle it's similar to Druid Fluid, but with less of the apple and more laundry detergent. Wet on my skin it smells just like the bottle, if even more detergent-y. But oh gosh after about an hour or so all the detergent goes away and it just smells nice! Green and very natural-- almost like a good body smell. Looking at the notes, I don't think I got any green tea, but I like this a lot! Which is good, because this scent is the one I was most looking forward to c: It didn't last very long on my skin, unfortunately-- maybe 3 hours tops. Considering getting a bottle.
BF: (From the bottle) Makes face. Sure. (On my skin) Eh. S'good.
Flowering Meadow
Close your eyes and imagine earth beneath your feet, the grass between your toes, and the flowers blossoming all around you as far as the eye can see. This truly is the scent of a warm spring day. This scent is very floral and earthy.
Me: In bottle: tons of flowers. Wet on my skin: flowers. The kind that you know are pretty but will also kickstart your allergy season. I'm super bad at describing this one, but all
I know is that it is floral, green, and I am not fond of it. Sadface. Lasted 4 hours on my skin.
BF: It smells like the soap that you get at Target that has the little sea animals on the back of the bottle. *Starts searching "soap with sea animals" on Google Images.*
He claims that this is not the one
Singing Sparrow
Spicy and sweet and fruity and floral, there's just a bit of everything in this intoxicating blend. Thick ribbons of honey and vanilla blend harmoniously with juicy apricots and refreshing blood oranges. Spicy tendrils of labdanum lurk from below while sweet hints of rose and tobacco waft in the breeze to bridge the gap.
Me: In the bottle: Woodsy and cinnamon-y, very autumn. On my skin there's more of an incense-y smell, and the cinnamon takes more of a backseat. There's something slightly fruity in there too. It faded pretty quickly, going down to a faint woodsy scent in about 3 hours (though it might have rubbed off on my jacket a lot...). After reading the notes, I wish the fruity and sweet parts came out more than the spice... honey and vanilla, apricots and blood oranges sound amazing. Why skin why? Lasted 6 hours on my skin.
BF: Smells like... the inside of Restoration Hardware. Like cinnamon sticks in the jar, like, you know, that people have on their table.
Verdict
Would I order from Alchimia again? If they have another sale, I might go for a big bottle of Geisha! I'm going to try all of these again at some point to see if maybe they've mellowed and let their less-soapy tones pop.
In other news, the same day this arrived, so did a mysterious package from Greece! Boyfriend was all, "Whoah, could be anthrax," but when I opened the package what could it be but...
Pretty pretty anthrax?
Pinwheel earrings that I had shown him a month before what what :OO Apparently he forgot that he shipped them to my apartment, lel. They are his incentive gift to me to keep cleaning my ears so that they will finally heal (I had them pierced nearly a year earlier, in September) and then I can wear them. They are so pretty and glowy rainbow and the pinwheels actually spin! Legit craftsmanship, and are titanium and so hypoallergenic for my sensitive ears.
[Edit] I totally forgot to link where the boyf got these! You can find them here, the owner is currently on vacation for summer (including when the boyf ordered these in late june/early july) but is also having a vacation sale of 10% off to reward you for your patience. It took about a month for mine to arrive. The color I got was "multicolor," which I mistakenly believed was the same as the color of the ones in the product image.
Cheers!
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