Monday, September 25, 2017

The Bathing Garden: Halloween Pumpkin Sampler


As most of The Bathing Garden fans know by now, Shannon has moved to a more RTS style of business, items are no longer pre-ordered and then created in unlimited batches with a 6 week TAT. I supposed she had some grumbling with 6 weeks so she is experimenting with a more limited supply of products to decrease TAT to 3 weeks. Shannon has often changed up her business model over the years so it was no surprise but I was still a bit bummed. It is a far cry easier still than her old Etsy days when she posted clams and soaps and they disappeared within minutes. She also did an email ordering system where she posted a list of items from time to time and you would email her your wishlist based off of that. I can see that as she grows bigger and greater demand is generated that she must change up her model to suit both her needs and her customers. All of this is said to introduce my first purchase with her new limited set up. I ordered this immediately after I saw it was announced because I did not want to take any chances. I had no issues picking up my pumpkin sampler but I did see many who had. Overall I think it is going ok though. Some items may be sold out but if they are it is few and far between. When I look at the stock on the site items range from 10 in stock to over a hundred so she is making huge batches. This sampler was $17 with $7.50 shipping and included 20 scents and one free sample. Due to the sheer amount of scents I am not including descriptions but will just give impressions.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Chip Waffles- A thick chewy bakery blend where the waffles smell authentic and doused in butter and sparingly drizzled in syrup. Soft pumpkin note. A rich Pumpkin Pecan Waffles blend.

Death Becomes Her- A fruity mint that reminds me a bit of the Tinsel fragrance oil. Not a fan. I never enjoy this blend but it is nice to get it and see if I still feel the same. The combo of fruits and mint remind me of liquid cough syrup. 

Cemetery Keys- A tart fruity floral that leans more fruit. A middle of the road scent for me. I don't hate it, I don't love it but I will melt it and not mind. 

White Magic- This is a new scent from Shannon for me. I quite like it. A softly spiced citrus and black tea scent that is lovely.


Banshee Dreams- Sweet creamy coffee and pumpkin. The coffee almost has a chocolate tone. 

Charm & Ruin- A tart fruity pomegranate scent with a vanilla musk base. 

Haunted Hayride- Mostly apples and hay for my nose and I always enjoy having this one on hand. 

Eye of Newt- Goodness, I have not seen this one for years I feel like. It is very much a green and clean scent with that mint cooling it off in the background. A unique blend.


Netherworld Zombie- I bought a bundle of this last year. I thought I could enjoy it but it ended up being semi-ok for me which is generally not enough to repurchase. Dirt, coffee and whisky it what is smells like to me. A cool and out of the box blend but not one I would melt on the regular. 

Poisoned Apothecary- This is one I like getting every year. An earthy and woodsy blend with soft spice and cider.

Pagan Moon- Another new one for me. I enjoy it though it seems soft on cold sniff. It is a fruit basket with apples, pears and berries cushioned by leaves. Heavier on the leaves, not overly sweet.

Faerie Bonfire- Though I am a huge fire/smoke/campfire fan this one is beginning to not appeal to me. It is a touch too strong and slightly acrid yet very sweet. I would much rather melt Magician's Bonfire.

I actually cut Pagan Moon and Faerie Bonfire in half and blended them in the kitchen. The throw was nice and about medium and the scent was very pleasant together.


Colossal Pumpkin Lantern- I love this one in the parfait. Pumpkin and brownies. Dark cocoa brownies. Normally I am not hugely into chocolate, especially in home fragrance but I like it in the scrub.

Mummy Mademoiselle- Lush Rose Jam with salt water taffy. I think my preference for Rose Jam is waning and normally I do not care for salt water taffy scents at all but this one is ok once in a while.

Black Magic Laboratory- Orange cakes (almost reminds me of the hot orange danish scent that was popular years ago) topped with shaved chocolate. 


Tombstone Dust- I have always passed this one up but it is much nicer than I thought it would be. I don't pick up on the spice but I do get mostly Granny Smith apples covered in caramel.

Season of the Witch- A new one for my nose and this one I do get some nice spice out of. These are all the fall fruits, apples, pumpkin, berries, doused in earthy spice. The orange doesn't really pull through for me on cold but I like it just the way it is. 

Hoarfrost Tonic- This is one I love in a scrub. I found in the past that in tart form it melts really light in my home. I am interested to see how this one performs. The lime and cypress combine to make almost a cool stone scent but I can see a lime and gin cocktail too. It is a neat scent.

Phantom Queen- Tea, coffee and chocolate candies. For some reason the combo comes off as chocolate tobacco to my nose. Interesting but still not something I would gravitate towards. It is beautiful with the dried flowers and glitter on top. 

Hades & Persephone- I loved this one last year and continue to this year. A velvety patchouli, citrus and cognac scent that smells dark and mysterious. 

Free Sample (pink pumpkin) in Monster Candy smells like Hubba Bubba watermelon bubble gum to me. It smells great and my girls will love this in their bathroom but I don't think I will buy it. 

Overall my faves of the sampler are: Season of the Witch, Hades & Persephone, Tombstone, Haunted Hayride, White Magic, Poisoned Apothecary, and Pumpkin Butterscotch Chip Waffles. 

I did place a small order and I chose: Ever Night (repurchase), Faded Opulence (repurchase), Boozy Vlad and White Magic.  I may pick up more but we will see how my stash is doing and what I feel like I need on hand. I may be content with just these. Did you purchase the pumpkin sampler or any Halloween scents? Shannon posted a Christmas sampler as well. 

6 comments:

  1. I grabbed the Halloween so fast on the first go around! lol I feel like half of it I really love and the other half smells too fruity or sweet on cold and I'm kinda nervous to melt.
    I grabbed clams of Faded Opulence and Netherworld Zombie, also a Belladonna Tincture, Ever Night and Magic Green Soup- the last two will be my first time smelling. I was super drawn in by Boozy Vlad, but the maple note made me not grab it.
    I'm skipping the Winter sampler, but I look forward to when the collection is released and will shop then. :)

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    1. Same! LOL! I did not want to let it pass me by. But I do agree with you... it was fun to try and melt them but only a handful were ones I wanted enough to order a whole clamshell in. Belladonna is one of the nicest LOM dupes. I love it. Sounds like we had a few faves in common. And same... not getting the winter one but I will pick up a few of my faves. <3

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    2. You and I definitely have similar tastes! Reading your blog has helped me to try some things that I may not have on my own and I love that you have a real unique and diverse taste in scents/fragrances and give just about everything a fair chance. I feel like I often like the least popular scents, but to me, they just rock my world!! lol
      I am still so much in awe at all the gorgeous little pumpkins in the Halloween sampler. So beautiful and precious!

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    3. Thank you!!! I try to be open minded about scents. I know tastes change and sometimes vendors can make magic with a note I might not be keen on. Chocolate, banana, popcorn and zucchini and cherry can be challenging notes for me but once in a while I will get a scent with one of those in it and actually love it. And yes! I am just like you... I tend to like the least popular scents. Give me all the patchouli, amber, vanilla, woods and spice! Yum!

      Those pumpkins are pretty darn cute.

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  2. Cuteness, if this setup doesn't attract fairies, nothing will.

    My sis ordered the Holiday sampler and asked if there was any Halloween scents I wanted to add on, the only one I got was White Magic, fave. Shannon is so good with the tea scents, loved Phantom Queen because of the mix of coffee and tea too.
    A lot of the pumpkin sampler was enjoyable, but I didn't care for any of the fresh scents sadly, except Hayride one + Hades and Persephone, glad you liked that one because I was afraid it would be too powdery. Eye of Newt and Season of the Witch were weird to me, something was off. Not a Tinsel fan huh, I love it, but in small doses (re:Super Tart's is crazy strong)
    Gonna try the Faerie bonfire blend with Pagan Moon too because FB is not a favorite smoky scent and I have 2/3rds of a clam left from last year.

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    1. Thank you! I am loving these fairy garden sets I picked up at Kmart on clearance.

      White Magic is really nice. I cannot wait to get my clamshell of it. Let me know how you like that Pagan Moon/Bonfire blend.

      And hey. Guess who ordered her first Pitch Pine Pottery tea mug today??? Totally thought of you as I hit "buy now." Cannot wait to get it. I see she has an update coming up soon too. Might need a coffee mug to go with it.

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