Monday, July 22, 2019

5 Sucreabeille Scents: Peach Tree + Apricot Tree + Coconut Palm + Fig Tree + Sea Glass

Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to open these review posts. But the universe is a place rife with chaos gods and tricksters. As I was gathering my drams to photograph I butterfingered one and it hit my hard wood floor at the exact right angle to snap the neck off of. So let's review an upsides and downsides list:
Upsides:
  • My room/house now smells like Sucreabeille's Fig Tree, which, spoilers, I quite like.
  • The top snapped off cleanly with no broken glass
  • I was able to salvage 0.5 ml of the bottle someone will get as a sniffie at some point in the future.
  • It happened with one of two scents Andrea was generous enough to send a 10ml of along with the dram so I still had something to photograph for the scent.
Downsides
  • My room/house smells like Sucreabeille's Fig Tree after swiffer-mopping the floor where it spilled. I'm doing a kind of living experiment in the concentrated nature of perfume oils, the porous nature of wood floors, and how more surface area seems to = more throw!
  • I like the the smell, but I share my home with one husband, two dogs, two cats and a cockatiel. The cockatiel has basically no sense of smell and he's kept well away from where I do anything perfume related. The dogs don't seem bothered. Who knows how cats feel about almost anything. Here's hoping the husband will be like 'Ah, that's nice' in reaction to the smell instead of discovering an up-to-now-unknown vendetta against fig-kind.
  • Roughly 3mls of perfume are now on a wash cloth in my dirty clothes hamper. RIP perfume, I hardly knew ye.
  • It's 81f/27c out and humidity has it feeling like 87f/30c because it's 77% humidity so I can't open my windows right now.
Anyway, all of that behind the scenes action to say: It's time for more Fruit Tree scents reviews (plus a bonus appearance by Sea Glass).
The perfumes covered in today's review are

Methods
All perfumes in this review were allowed to rest for several days after arrival. The perfumes were either kept in the dark in a plastic box or on a small shelf in my bedroom that does not get direct sunlight. I did crack them open to sniff them directly after arrival, and with a couple to do an initial test. The reviews are not based off of these initial impressions - though if a rest did change the smell I’ll note that.
I’m doing a half-hour skin test with each perfume. They are always applied to skin that has either been washed or hasn’t had perfume on it that day. Sometimes I will run one scent on one wrist/hand/arm and the other on the other wrist/hand/arm. When I wash my hands for review purposes I wash with a scented soap (it’s all I have available - shea butter Dove soap or almond Doc Bronner’s). Before doing test periods I often wear or play with other scents in my collection (that I wash off), so theoretically there could be cross-contamination.
Each sample was gently swirled before application. Each review is written without looking at the notes (in that moment… I will often glance at the notes some time beforehand). At the end of the review I will list what the notes listed in the shop are and comment on how I think they interacted.
Bottle Review
My review of Sucrebeille's drams can be found [ here ]. The only thing I'll note different in this review is I discovered with the drams that if you drop one at just the right angle the top will sheer off. Fascinating.
My review of Sucreabeille's 10ml rollons can be found [ here ]. I will add that on all of these the label design is either really nice (the tree scents) or, well, fine-but-not-dazzling-me (the Sea Glass label).
A reminder: Each nose is different and each skin’s chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary.
Peach Tree
In the bottle: Syrupy peaches, fizz, spices - does this have a water note? It smells like a water note is in here. Kind of creamy but I don’t know if that a floral, a musk, or just part of the peach. I remember this having a grass note and I can get perhaps a tiny edge of grassiness. I want to note before this goes on my actual skin: This smells really good at this stage. This smells like a scent I’d be all over. But I know grass is a death note of mine and that I tend to amp the crap out of even tiny amounts of it. Let’s see if this scent is as much of a heartbreaker for me as I think it’s gonna be.
Wet on my skin: Tart peaches, fizz, water, and … sharpness. It might be from a floral. It might be from the grass. It might be from both. But, as is my destiny, the grass is already amping - I’m starting to pick out greenery from the general sharpness at the end of the scent.
Drydown: Velvety scent that reminds me of white musk, sharpness-verging-on-soapiness that I’m guessing is from the green, water (I think this has a rain note or something?) edges of fruit and fizz and the occasional hint of spice. There might be a floral in here. Apart from that sharpness this is a very nice scent I’d be all over - or if the sharpness was just a tiny hint. Alas, it is my fate with fresh-cut-grass family greens to both amplify and be made uncomfortable by them. The scent has a bit of sweetness to it, but not enough for me to think of it as ‘gourmand’.
After 30 mins: Rain, soft bit of peaches, that velvety white smell, and juuuust enough fresh greenery to make my head hurt when I smell it. Not really getting anything soapy at this point - and the thing that’s faded the most in this scent is the green so I suspect the ‘sharpness’ of fresh cut greenery was getting read as ‘soapy-sharpness’ by my nose.
Official Notes: Sun-warmed summer peaches, a hint of summer rainstorms and the smell of lush, green, growing things. Ice cold fizzy drinks and tonka bean
So yeah - I get the warm peaches (I think the ‘spice’ is part of that vibe), the tonka bean is what is creamy/musky to me. The summer rainstorm is the source of the water note, and the fizzy drinks also adds to that while of course bringing the ‘fizz’. The sharp, kinda soapy notes to me are the green, lush, growing things.
Verdict: RIP me and fresh greens. I’m guessing for most people who like or can wear fresh greens will find them just a relatively subtle ingredient in a balanced fruity-atmospheric with slightly gourmand nuances. But for me, with my particular sensitivities and tendency to amp greens, it’s just too sharp.
Apricot Tree
In the bottle: Apricot and a floral, touch of something creamy. Tiny bit of something nose-tickly. This reminds me of the scent that would be used to scent a fancy soap bar or a bath bomb.
Wet on my skin: Apricot, something creamy (might be part of the floral, might be a musk), floral - might be something woody in there that I suppose the creaminess could be part of if it were an oak or something. Not really getting anything nose-tickly at this stage. Light and bright.
Drydown: Something in here that reminds me of balsam. It has that kind if citrus-and-salt-plant smell of balsam. Fruitiness (and sweetness) is subtle and is more of an undercurrent. This is not a sweet scent. There’s a floral that’s a touch indolic in that glassy, slightly sharp way that indolic florals can get. Something a tiny bit nutty in there. This honestly reminds me a lot of Sixteen92’s fruity florals.
After 30 mins: Very, very ‘dry’ fruity-woodsy scent with floral nuances. The wood in this still reminds me of balsam or a chypre - that kind of fresh broken bough smell. I’m not getting much of the floral at this point - just little glassy edges. The fruit is subtle and blends with the woodiness. A little bit of creaminess. This also wears a lot less strongly then it went on.
Official Notes: Fresh, tangy apricots, fizzing bubbles, a dash of herbal sage
Welp. I’m going to guess this morphed on my skin - hard. In the bottle I got the nose-tickly and the apricot. I must have been reading the herbaceousness of the sage as part of a floral? Honestly I have no clue what I read as a floral this whole time. Once this went on my skin I’m guessing that if there was any sort of like, apricot-stone note in this that that part amped on me - the sage must be what was reminding me of balsam once it got on my skin.
Verdict: With how this morphed it’s a pass from me. I’m like Goldilocks with the exact amount of sweetness I like from my fruity scents. I wish I could give a recommendation on who this would be for - like, if I knew this morphing was predictable I’d say if you like the kind of fruity-florals Sixteen92 does give this one a spin. But since this is probably a ‘my skin chemistry’ thing I don’t know what to say.
Coconut Palm
In the bottle: Earthy coconut - like the whole coconut, meat, husk, and milk - and the dark-green scent of palm fronds. Very earthy, literal plant scent.
Wet on my skin: Earthy coconut (whole plant), dark green palm fronds, and some sort of creamy, soft brown scent. I really like how this gentle brown note is mingling with the coconut milk note. There’s also a kind of sweetness in here I associate with flowers like frangipani or honeysuckle.
Drydown: Nuttiness I’m pretty sure is coconut husk, Suc’s fabulous coconut milk note, that creamy soft brown smell (like… a super gentle resin), that sweetness that feels floral to me… and that ultra realistic palm frond. Even though it’s a darker green it has whatever that aromachemical that occurs in fresh greens is. The one that gives me a headache. While I’m not amping the green heavily here I am head-hurty sniffs when I go in close to check this. Which, for some reason, I keep checking this like ‘hmmm … does it still have that gree- oh, yup, it does’. This is really sad for me - unlike peach where I was feeling ‘eh’ on the smell since it included the greens … I like this, even with the greens.It’s doing some really neat, earthy things that compliment the greens really well. I just wish it didn’t hurt to smell.
After 30 mins: Creamy coconut milk, that soft brown resin (kinda reminds me of benzoin) - might include vanilla. Sweetness that seems floral adjacent. And palm fronds, which is only a trace but is enough to make my head hurt when I sniff it deeply.
Official Notes: Creamy coconut, swirls of black musk and vanilla, fresh green petitgrain, island beach grasses, and a hint of ocean breeze
So, the coconut is the coconut. The soft brown, kinda resinous smell is that black musk with vanilla. The island grasses are probably what’s giving me some of that sweetness I normally associate with florals via a similar aromachemical or something. That or my nose is just feeding me straight lies. When it’s written in front of me I can see a hint of salty oceanicness in this.
Verdict: Uhg, I love how this plays out - even the petitgrain is great in the balance of the scent. However, it hurts to sniff. So this’ll be a pass for me even though I love the balance and especially love that coconut-black-musk-vanilla-with-a-hint-of-salt combo.
Fig Tree
I recall this one having fig, honey, and wine in it as notes - let’s see how it represents those:
In the bottle: A nice, earthy fig that smells like a black fig to me. Just that tiny, tiny hint of green that figs have. Edges of a bright, piquant scent like candy. Sweetness - though that sweetness blends with the figs.
Wet on my skin: Ah, now I get the honey. This is a super rich scent. It’s grounded in the earthiness of the fig. I can see some roundness from a dark, red wine with tiny edges of brightness that remind me of candy or white grape juice. Mainly though, it smells of honeyed figs Which, you know, nothing wrong with a good honeyed fig. Rich, dark, sweet, red and fruity.
Drydown: Brightness and acidity coming through with a tiny, tiny hint of candied powderiness. Musky undertones about. The honeyed figs remain a presence but are much less overwhelming. This phase of the perfume is actually really balanced and complex in my opinion. This smells more youthful and bright while retaining a more subtle fig character. I the wet stages of the perfume are more fresh cut earthy figs slathered in honey with a giant glass of the richest, sweetest wine in your collection this part is more… fig newton filling with a bright zinfandel and creamy white musk.
After 30 mins: Very similar to the drydown. Perhaps a touch more of the acidic tartness. Perhaps even more ‘fancy fig and honey candy’ than fig newton filling.
Official Notes: late summer figs offered on a platter with warm honeycomb, almonds, coumarin, and sips of red wine.
Well, I get the figs for sure - the honeycomb in this smells more like straight honey to me. I don’t really get any wax, or any of the kind of ‘saltiness’ I get with Suc’s honeycomb note sometimes. The scent that smells like white musk to me I think is the almonds + coumarin. According to google coumarin is an aromachemical that is found in cinnamon and smells sort of like vanilla. I can totally see that here - it reminds me strongly of the more creamy, less animalistic white musks I’ve smelled. The red wine starts out really thick and heady and developed on to my skin to more of a pink zinfandel - but I’m pretty sure the grapes are where the tartness and some of the brightness is coming from. It’s not a boozy scent at all.
Note: As I wore this longer some tannin-smelling notes and some almost smokey nutty notes came forward. I think the tannins are part of the wine accord, and the smokey-nutty notes must be from the almond).
Verdict: Wet, this perfume would be kinda overwhelming for me in terms of a personal smell - it smells kind of like the perfume I imagine a vampire matron would wear. However, I really love how it dries down on me: bright, creamy, sweet, tart, and grounded in that earthy fig in a really great balance. More like the kind of vampire who goes to parties and is charming and bubbling with laughter. While they don’t drink from it all night they do carry around a glass of pink zinfandel so they can take part in toasts. Will be keeping my unbroken bottle.
Sea Glass
I recall this one having coconut cream and sea moss and uh… salt? Some sort of sea breeze note? Yuzu?
In the bottle: Sweet, creamy fruit with a touch of an aquatic note and some salty edges. A little bit of acidicness. Soft blues and blue-greens swirled with a bright white.
Wet on my skin: The coconut cream note in this is really, really good. It’s silky, frothy, and creamy to the nose - kind of an idealized coconut for me. The coconut is at the core of the scent with the bright fruit swirling around it. This could be yuzu - could also be a melon, or even a mango. There might be some citrus in here as well - something tart at the very least. You can start to see the sea moss come through here - a dark aquatic for the scent to be grounded in. Salt at the edges. The scent smells creamy, bright, aquatic, and a little clean. This scent has ‘spring with dreams of summer’ written all over it for me - but it would also make a great ‘cool me off’ scent for summer. All gentle breezes, naps, and perfect 70f/21c weather.
Drydown: Similar to how it is wet - perhaps a bit more blended with the fruit smell decreasing.
After 30 mins: The coconut cream still remains the core of the scent - but I’m getting more bitterness from the dark green note in this. It balances well with the coconut cream. The fruit smell has dialed far back as have the ‘clean’ elements of the scent - there’s still some of thm, just less so than there was in the beginning. Still edges of salt, and edges of whatever that aquatic note is. This scent feels like it goes on a journey from ‘refreshing beach nap at a perfect temperature’ to ‘the end of the day of the beach where you’re a little salty and there’s bit of dark greenery involved and now you’re gonna go shower off and have a mediterranian dinner on patio somewhere’. It’s a relaxing, coconut-cream-contrasted-with-dark-green scent with a tiny, tiny touch of the herbal/medicinal when its breathed deeply.
Official Notes: Juicy mango, ripe yuzu, whipped coconut cream, sea moss, pure honey from the comb, Tahitian vanilla, salty spray
Oh whoops, so the fruit is both mango AND yuzu. It’s hard to distinguish them - though I do think the yuzu here is more of kind of the melon-sweetness and the mango is the more tart sweetness. The honey blends with the fruits (particularly the melon-sweetness of the yuzu). The whipped coconut cream here is divine - easily the most stand out part of the scent. The vanilla blends with the coconut cream. The sea moss is the green note and I think where some of that late-drydown herbaceousness is coming from. The aquatic and the salt must be from the ‘salty spray’.
Verdict: Keeping my bottle of this one! This one would also make a great lotion for when you need some late-spring-verging-into-summer oceanic sweetness in your life. Super relaxing scent and I sincerely hope that Suc finds other place to use that fantastic coconut cream accord.

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