Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Solstice Scents: Butter Rum Mallow and Basilica Oils


Now I have sampled a ton of scents from Solstice Scents, but I have come to realize that I don't have any full bottles of perfume oil that I have actually purchased myself. Two bottles were generously gifted to me in swaps and such but I had not bought a bottle on my own! Of course, I have purchased two EDP full bottles, but I am talking oils here. 


 See my one lil guy in the corner? That one was a gift. <3 

See, normally, I am scooping up whipped soaps or Glaces or EDP doo-dads, but now I am returning for the classic perfume oils that Solstice Scents was built upon. I placed this tiny order a few weeks ago and a second one during a recent restock. Now Mr. Blackburn in his Farmstead won't be lonely any longer. Come meet his new flat mates! (By the way, this is a $3.80 silverware drawer organizer I picked up at Goodwill and painted, sanded, then Adam hung up on my wall near the nightstand to hold my oils.)


Butter Rum Mallow- Notes: Rum, marshmallow, nutmeg, cardamom, clove, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, brown sugar and allspice.

"Peppery allspice and nutmeg flakes dust the senses in the succor of spice. Bucolic kitchens shimmering under the haze of heirloom spices and warmth. After the spices introduce themselves, that butter rum flows in underneath. Never too sweet and very much realistic. Those primitive spices of cinnamon and clove, nutmeg and cardamom all lend just a hint of woody earthiness to the scent."

 This was my review back in February and to be honest, I could not get Butter Rum Mallow out of my mind. I think my nose must have come to accept more foody and gourmand scents as personal scents lately. Now I revel in smelling like drippy honey and cream, vanilla and caramel and spicy delights. This fragrance will be worn often this coming fall and winter.


Basilica- Notes: Labdanum, vanilla, frankincense, rosewood, myrrh, sandalwood and galbanum. 

I have drained about 3 or 4 Basilica samples over the years and even took a photo of one from an order back in August of 2015, but I have not managed to review it yet! Well, please, let me remedy that today.

Solemn tears of frankincense resin weep from the wooden Boswellia crosses set up along the stone walls in the friar's medieval village church. Dried southern European rockrose and cistus branches hang in the narrow windows, dust motes carry their labdanum filled spore out into the nave to fragrant sacred spaces. Rosewood pews gleam in the golden hour sunlight, knifing in through those same window slits. Basilica holds in her holy belly the scent of resins, ambered incense and woods, illuminated and ancient, haloed in gold. 


Free sample:

Mountain Vanilla- Notes: Sweet clover, coumarin, vanilla musk, fresh green accord, poplar buds, morning dew in organic cane sugar alcohol.

Sweet plantings and curls of fern crushed by tender bare feet that tip toe through the scatterings of deer moss and leaf litter in the woods while playing hide-and-seek. Tendrils of my hair, dark and damp, whip at my face as I search out the dashing fawn of my offspring in the underbrush, catching my nose with the musk of my skin and lingering vanilla soap. Her own glinting curls reveal the curving hidey-hole she pressed her body into at the base of a yonder tree, like a pearl nestled into a shell. Stalking her quietly through the saplings and tall clumps of hay-scented grass, I reach out and tug on a golden winding floss of her hair. She turns her face up to me beaming sunshine, raising her arms in supplication and yearning to be held. I lift her warm study body and hold to it my own, breathing in the soil from her exertions from shuffling down into the tree roots in a failed effort to hide. The familiar vanilla all the while floating about us, dark and earthy, as we drift in the woods of our mountain. 

I enjoy how Mountain Vanilla goes from verdant green plantlings to dark soil and roots, all the while claiming the tonka and vanilla sweetness as its own. 

Would you wear spicy fall gourmands? Earthy soil scents? Have you branched out into any new scent categories as of late? I am seriously craving pines and spice right now. What is my deal?! Am I craving Christmas in June?

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like the mountains are calling, I am hearing them as well. I'm sending a little sample of the deep woods body oil I was chatting with you about in case you haven't ordered it yet. It is traveling with the HoG Peppermint & Wood refresher that wasn't getting enough love here.

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    1. The mountains are! I hear them in my dreams and answer back when I am awake. My feet keep twitching to be hiking and my fingers rub at the thought of taking beautiful wildlife photos. Time for us to hit some trails! I have 40 days and 22 hours to go. Thank you Jean! Your box will be going out on the 15th. And Peppermint Wood?!?! You are an angel from heaven sent to keep me from being overly sweaty and stanky. Thank you so very much. <3

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  2. Butter Rum Mallow sounds amazing! Solstice Scents does the best gourmand vanilla blends. I may have to place another order soon.

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    1. It is Amanda!!! I think you would like it. You are right. Angela does have a way with her vanillas. Manor is my baby. I keep meaning to try Manor Fire too. And White Feather. And who am I kidding? About a million more.

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  3. What a charming little display shelf! My mom and dad used to nab old house windows from antique places, and then my dad would clean them up and mount a mirror behind them - it makes for a very cool rustic-looking mirror. :) I have a handful of Solstice oils coming to me...this week, probably! Looking forward to having a little sniff-a-thon. Enjoy your new goodies!

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    1. Thanks! How cool! I bought some old home windows too but I painted them and gave them as gifts except the one I featured in the latest melting basket post. I bet they are really cool as mirrors though.

      You do?! How exciting!! I cannot wait to see what scents you picked out. Samples? Full bottles? I better wait huh? Thanks! I have another post coming with a second order I placed. Doh.

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