FuturePrimitive: Sylph Soap

This order was all about the giveaway. I knew I wanted to include a bar of FuturePrimitive soap, as I have never had one I did not adore. Sylph, a lavender and marshmallow blend, had been on my radar for a while but the seasonal editions usually hooked me first. I decided to grab three, after all, I needed to make sure I liked it. 

And I do. Very much so. The lavender unfurls fresh and herbal, plucked and dried from the garden, while the marshmallow adds a dollop of creamy yet airy vanilla. Never smothering, not too sweet. My nose enjoys this sharp green version of lavender smoothed by the rounded and soft marshmallow. 

My eyes enjoy the colors and deep ripples of the bar. 

My hands and skin enjoy the soft yet firm texture, like skin over bones; the bubbles that quickly erupt while the bar rolls around in my hands.

free sample soap sliver:

Sipsy, named after one of the ladies in Fried Green Tomatoes, will be used in late August as I herald in fall. Cinnamon, spiced oranges and a touch of pie live in this sliver. The bakery is so little as to only lend the ghost of deliciousness. I wish I would have gotten a whole bar in this. And I just may. FuturePrimitive has all spring release items on clearance and this is included. Towanda is there too- a tomato vine blend (Ashley!). 

Instagram, Waxy Swap and Soy de Bisbee

Instagram has quite a popping wax community going. A lot of Lush fans are bleeding over into the wax and I can see why, common love of scent knows no bounds. And if any group does IG well, it is Lushies! Post a photo of what you are melting and conversations start happening: where is this from? is their wax good? recommend me some others! I find this outlet for wax chat fun- if probably annoying to some of my friends and family who don't understand the scent obsession (sorry for the literally hundreds of wax photos on my feed). The wax chat sometimes evolves into swaps or not so random Acts of Kindness.

Recently Denisse, who introduced me to Alamo Candelaria via What Smells So Good? Facebook group, and I swapped some tarts when I saw she missed out on a particular scent I was lucky enough to get at a CFTKR opening. Denisse owns her own Etsy shop, Soy de Bisbee, while teaching full time. She sent me a box full of her products and some pretty amazing mermish pot holders.

I am not including all the items she sent me but I did want to highlight some of the really cool blends that she does.

Bourbon Vanilla Amber- Wowza. Amber so strong it has muscles, virile muscles at that. The bourbon vanilla sends it in a Cognac swirling, young mustachioed man with a button up vest lounging in an antique leather chair direction. I see you sitting there with your monocle and looking suave. 

Sugared Sweet Pea- What sounds like a tame, average scent, really isn't. This sweet pea delves into the gourmand with notes of caramelized sugar and cream. I am enjoying florals with bakery recently and this almost veers into that area. 

Magic Dragon Marshmallows- Dragon's Blood and marshmallows make for fun bed fellows. Incense and vanilla cookies. Strange yet appealing.

Sandalwood Carnation- Not strange at all, but really pretty. The smoothness of the sandalwood gets a kick of peppery carnation and I love it.

The owls. This one is Lavender Wine and I cannot begin to tell you how utterly strong this one is. I swear I get punch drunk just inhaling the bag. The lavender somehow accents and elevates the alcohol to a moonshine level.

Strawberry Garden owlettes not only look cute, but they smell cute too. Like a child's dream of a strawberry garden, dainty pink flowers, baby's breath like snow covering the ground and everywhere you turn, tiny bright ruby strawberries dripping from bushes. 

Small hearts filled with the scent of Lavender Blackberry Tea sprinkled with lavender buds. You want to sell me something? Sprinkle dried lavender buds on top. Guarantee you I will buy it. Black tea and lavender paired with blackberry is an ingenious mix. I could see a touch of vanilla going well with this too.

Look at these molds. Entirely too cool. And the scent is amazing to boot. Pink Monkey Buns offers my favorite type of perfume dupe alongside spicy bakery. My nose detects no banana at the moment but that may appear when melting.

Check out the pot holders! Cool huh? They make me want to head back to the old Singer and pump out some creations. 

I see on Instagram that some folks are running businesses out of there too. Interesting how commerce pops up in social media like that. Have you made any connections on IG or Twitter? Done any swaps through that platform?

My Favorite Things Anniversary Giveaway!

Katy Keene mermaid (oh the nostalgia for my Archie days). Photo credit: bibigreycat.blogspot.com

Wow. Here it is. Exactly one year ago today was my first post. It has been a fun and fulfilling year with blogging in my life. I am not sure where this adventure will take me or how long the miles ahead may lie, but I am enjoying the camaraderie and that is what matters to me. To thank you guys for taking the time to read and comment, I would like to present a giveaway Oprah style. A box full of my favorite things!

Foodie category:

Williams-Sonoma towels (x2) are my absolute favorite kitchen towels. They are made in Turkey with a durable cloth that cleans well. 

Tazo Sweet Cinnamon Spice tea tastes like comfort in a cup. My sister, Heather, gifted me a box of this for Christmas and I fell hard. All spice, no fruits. 

The Caramel Jar soft caramel chews with sea salt (x2). You already know how I feel about these. 

Stationary category:

Target Dollar Spot stationary: pens, baker's twine, magnetized note pad, cards with envelopes, and washi tape roll. I love how Target color coordinates all their stationary pieces. It makes for a cohesive and appealing look. Plus the quality really is nice for the price. 

Scotch Expressions washi tape comes three to four in a box, all color coordinated as well. It is a nice papery washi in hefty generous amounts. 

Bath & Body category:

FuturePrimitive Soap Co. bar soap in Slyph. Tiggy's soaps are an experience to be had. Rustic, textured, beautifully fragrant and chock full of skin nourishing ingredients. 

Haus of Gloi pumpkin butter in Troika and butter bomb in Strawberry. The pumpkin butter slides on the skin like silky custard and the butter bombs fill a tub with emollient butters, and both smell amazing. Fast favorites this year. 

Sonoma Scent Studio perfume  sample in Tabac Aurea. This is the one that started it all for my love affair with SSS. If I could only wear one fragrance the rest of my life, this would be it (and do you realize how HARD it would be to ask me to pick only one?!). 

Jack Black lip balm with SPF lives in my beach bag and gets worn every summer. The tube and screw cap keeps out sand with no melting cylinder of balm leaking everywhere. The SPF saves my delicate lip skin. The mint is an added bonus. 

Wax Tart category:

Beezy Apple Clove Butter

Rosegirls Peppermint Coconut Mallow, Mini Melters in Supernova and Butter Brickle & Sticky Licky Buns combined.

Up The Creek American Cream

Candles From the Kepping Room Fresh Picked Strawberry

Better Homes and Gardens Sugared Lavender Twist

I hope whoever wins will find something they love as much as I do in this box of favorites. And to top it off, there will be TWO winners! One box does have slightly different colored stationary but they are identical other than that.

In order to have a chance at winning, please do two things: 

1. "Like" The Redolent Mermaid's Facebook page.

 2. Leave your email address along with which item you would most like to try in the giveaway in the comments.

 The winners will be randomly drawn on Friday, June 5th. I am also giving away a box of wax on Instagram. Thank you again for supporting my blog.

Streetman: Last Order Before Closing

Streetman is closed. Streetman was awesome and I did not order from there nearly enough. I keep hoping they will open up one day again in the not too distant future. When the last All Call was given for customs there were some scents I knew I needed to get. 

Cotton Candied Spruce Berries has been melted in this house a few times before. Jacqui gifted me a baggie of this scent in sticks and I am ever grateful she did. Streetman's Cotton Candied Spruce is great as is, but adding dark juicy berries takes it to the incredible level. By the way, these one ounce scent shots throw like champs.

Honeysuckle Jasmine Surfer Girl combines the Honeysuckle Jasmine scent Lauren gifted me over a year ago in a Thanksgiving giveaway she hosted and Surfer Girl that Sunnee gifted me as well. These two blend so effortlessly, as to smell seamless. Beach cottage by the shore. Redolent mermaids. Flowering vines crusted with sea spray. 

Lemon Berry Fields Forever was in one of the only Streetman samplers I bought forever ago, but it stuck with me. I am not normally a lemon and berry fruits kinda gal but this one wafts out so wonderfully exuberant and clear I cannot resist it. The lemon smells like Lemonheads, the berries are ripe and the ever so slight suggestion of a field of flowers transforms it into beauty. Can I talk about texture here? I love the texture of Streetman wax (much like Beezy and Sugar & Spice) it has a velvety smooth feel and the perfect balance of hardness and softness. I love the way it looks and feels in the hands. It melts like a dream.

Glassine bags are my favorite. I love the semi-transparent look and satisfying crinkle. 

Free Samples in:

Orange Berry Tester- A tester? Oh tease!!!! I tested it and it passed with flying colors. Now may I have more please? Sticky sweet blood oranges and deep burgundy berries. Like a sangria without the alcohol tang. 

Lavender Herb Garden- Strong herbal lavender that I adore. Sticking my face in a fresh lavender bush.

Hodgepodge- Fruits and vanilla. Simple yet well done. 

Vineyard- Not what you'd expect. Not grapey or winey. A tiny bit of that is present but it smells more like the actual leaves and wooden paneling of the barrels and slight earthy musk. It is light and perfumey yet fruity and woody. I really like it.

Sad face. I am going to miss Streetman bad. So many great vendors closing up shop. So many great people behind the businesses that will be missed too. Heather, if you ever happen to read this: you are amazing, you have a wonderful talent and I wish you nothing but the best. 

Please don't forget to tune in tomorrow for a giveaway in celebration of The Redolent Mermaid's one year birthday!

Sephora: 3x Points Order + Marc Jacobs 500 Point Reward

So all these enticing bits happened at once: 3x points on fragrance purchases, a great looking 500 points perk from Marc Jacobs, a new Dior 250 point perk perfume, a generous perfume sampler promotion and great free samples. What is a girl to do??? Order. In fact, the only things I ordered in the photo above were the Atelier Cologne travel spray and the mini Hourglass lippie (I also ordered something else but it is for the giveaway on the 28th). 

I enjoy buying minis before full sized products if I can help it, but especially when the full sized version is $28. Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipsticks are extremely pigmented and have an impressive longevity. I have the deep red shade in Icon in a mini as well ($10 for the minis) and love the way it wears. It does finish matte and can be a tad drying if the lips aren't prepped with some exfoliation and a touch of balm. I recently noticed another shade joined the mini Icon; Canvas, which is a nice dusty pink that thankfully has enough depth to go well with my skin tone.

She so tiny! Love all the mini things.

Atelier Cologne in Mandarine Glaciale is one of the newer scents in Atelier's new Collection Azur line. Others in the line include Figuier Ardent (which I quite enjoyed), Sud Magnolia, and Cedre Altas. A detailed review of this Mandarine will come later. (Deb! LOL! I actually get to spell it mandarine this time!)

Urban Decay Perversion mascara was a 100 point perk that I got as well. I had quite a few points racked up. I enjoy this mascara. Nice volume, length and wear. I am happy to have it in my possession again. 

Givenchy Noir Couture mascara was one of the free samples I was stoked to try. The brush has a funny three bump wand but it isn't too wide so I like it. It adds a medium amount of volume and length, and it wears quite nicely. No under eye smudging or flakes. I would repurchase it. 

Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet, one Adam will love because it smells super feminine. I just like it because the bottle is tiny and the houndstooth etching on the bottom. Look. At. That. 

The scent itself is pretty. It opens with oranges and homages to cliche' bouquets of rose and peony. Sweet pale musk winds its way about the fragrance. It is a pretty perfume indeed.

Atelier Orange Sanguine, do yourself a favor and request a free sample of this next time you are in store. A wonderful citrus for summer. I love the inspiration post cards that come with the Atelier samples. 

Atelier Cedre Atlas, yay! I get to sample it! Only need to get my paws on Sud Magnolia now. 

The perfume sample promotion included 8 fragrances in either the "floral" category or the "spicy" category. I picked spicy, because I wanted to try the Cedre Atlas and YSL Black Opium (look at that sample shape!). I also know I love Alien, Narcisco Rodriguez For Her, and Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black, so extras of those are always welcome. Tocca Cleopatra and Dolce & Gabbana The One are passes for me. Si by Georgio Armani is super sweet and candy like along the lines of Pink Sugar, Prada Candy or Angel. If you would like a review on any of these, please let me know! Otherwise I am just going to wear and toss.

Crazy, insane waste of space packaging. 

Marc Jacobs beauty line has gone untried by me for long enough. The eyeliners have amazing quality, richly pigmented, no tugging and long wear. The lipstick feels creamy and wears wonderfully. I have not tried the mascara yet.

Swatches Top to Bottom:

Marc Jacobs Magic Marc'er Precision Pen Eyeliner in Blacquer

Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Crayon in Blacquer

Marc Jacobs Le Marc Lipcreme in Magenta

Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Canvas

Has Sephora tempted you with anything recently? Any new perfumes or cosmetics in your life? Only two more days until the One Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway! Excited!

Japan Trip: To Do Wish List

Photo Credit: blog.cookaround.com

My trip to Japan looms closer and closer! My Japan board on Pinterest is thriving and my plotting and planning with Ashley resulted in some exciting things to do, places to see and food to consume. Since I will be there for a week, we are keeping it loosey goosey. We do have plans to stay at The New Sanno military hotel one night and another hotel TBD (To Be Determined) another night. For ease of reading I am breaking my wish list itinerary into neighborhoods in Tokyo as best as I can. 

Shinjuku:

Piss Alley- it looks fun and the name!

Photo Credit: trover.com

Meiji Shrine

Photo Credit: Chocolate-fish.net

Shin-Okubo (Korea Town) to hit up the skincare stores and take in the K-Pop and K-Drama fandoms.

Takashimaya and maybe Isetan for cosmetics like Jill Stuart, namely these lip glosses that kill me!

Photo Credit: Musings of a Muse blog

Shibuya:

Shibuya Crossing- like Times Square on steroids. The lights, traffic and stores look scintillating.

Photo Credit: pixelhub.org

Shibuya 109, Tokyu Hands, and Loft are stores I want to visit in Shibuya.

A subset of Shibuya, Daikanyama, houses the Le Labo store, T-Site and the Chocoholic Cafe I want to visit (below). At Le Labo I want to sniff (and purchase?) the Tokyo exclusive Gaiac 10. It is supposed to be a nice light woods scent. 

Photo Credit: tablelog.com

Harajuku:

Crepes!

Photo Credit: Commons.wikimedia.org

Stores in that area I would like to visit include: Etude House and 6% Toki Doki. There is a park where Rockabilly and Cos Play really get down on Sunday afternoons in Harajuku so hoping to catch that as well. 

Fussa:

Kappa Sushi! A train deliver my meal? Yes please!

Photo Credit: Japan Trends.com

Fussa is where Ashley lives and we plan to visit Don Quijote, Daiso, Arashi Ramen, Aeon Mall, Owl Cafe, as well as Lush and a Japanese Arcade. And Pokemon Outlet for Savanna. We also plan on visiting the Kit-Kat Chocolatory as well as a ton more restaurants, a tea room, and whatever else captures our whim.

Maybe we are nuts but who can resist at least stepping foot on Mount Fuji, possibly climbing it? We will give it the old college try and see how far we get. 

Photo Credit: telegraph.co.uk

I am mainly excited to visit my sweet Ashley and catch up, while eating, strolling and photographing our way around Tokyo. If you have ever visited the area and have recommendations of must-see things, please let me know! I am feverishly YouTubing basic Japanese phrases. Also, International travel tips welcome.

Mermaid Moment: Cell Phone Style

I bought this case from Society6 after Lynda sent me a link thinking I might like it. I did like it, and it happened to be free shipping, and my current phone case was tearing at the edges and the metal plate was bending. Time for a new case right?

Pros:

-It's cute and looks mermish.

-Durable yet slim.

-Wide openings for chargers and access to buttons.

-Quick shipping.

Cons:

-Pricey at $35.

-The glitter is not really glitter. That bummed me greatly. I wanted sparkle. 

-The case does scratch.

I am happy with the look of this new case and Society6 does have a ton of cool artwork to choose from, even fandoms. I do worry that the hard case won't protect my phone from drops like the rubberized cases have protected it thus far. But time will tell. They are having 20% off plus free shipping today and tomorrow! Where do you buy your phone cases?

How is your weekend going? Our movie and date night plans got terribly ruined but we are regrouping and going to run errands today. The good news is that we are getting tile installed in our bathrooms! And new toilets! 

Solstice Scents: Spring Release

I had to. I was clean out of bath salts. And please forgive me my bad timing, but  Solstice Scents is closed until June 14th. I am still reviewing these in the hopes that they make a come back one day. Because if they do, you want them. 

Lavender Vanilla from Solstice Scents is lovely. I got a sample of the oil last time I ordered and requested one this time as well. It is a sweet calming gourmand lavender with a creamy marshmallow base. 

Violet Mallow, yes violet is really having its moment with me, does not disappoint. The purple sweet distinctive floral plays with vanilla, musk and marshmallow. The combination creates images of sugared violets, candies and confections showcased in the window of a quaint French sweets shop. 

Solstice Scents' Dead Sea Salt Milk Baths are a treat to be had if you are a lover of baths. They leave my skin feeling smooth and refreshed. Solstice Scents is also coming out with EDP versions of their fragrant perfume oil blends. I am excited about those. What have you been bathing with lately?