Salt Air - Demeter Fragrance Review

Disclaimer: For me, salt air means the Oregon Coast.

I didn't notice it until after I'd ordered the samples, but Demeter Fragrance's 'Salt Air' is meant to embody the smell of a tropical beach. As such, it definitely did not smell like the ocean to me. Now, although the Oregon beaches are my current ocean/salt air reference, I've also lived on the Atlantic coast of Central Florida, and Los Angeles.... this perfume didn't smell like those either. So take that as you will.

Sprayed on the paper, it instantly smelled tropical - but more on the floral side of things. I guess if it's  beach with lots of flowers to overpower the sea... 

On my skin, it was definitely very floral, with some green scents and possibly something woody (I couldn't identify it more than that). It had some notes that weren't floral, so it was still different from just a basic floral perfume, but not really anything that I would associate with the ocean.

This was the first fragrance where we really noticed a difference in how it interacted with our different skin chemistry. After a little while, it started to have a darker, almost smoky scent on Maggie, but on me it was lighter and crisper. 

Overall I was a little disappointed. It's not a bad smell, but it definitely does not smell anything like any shore I've been to. I wanted that salty, green, seaweed, maybe ever-so-slightly fishy smell that means I'm near the ocean. I really love the ocean, and absolutely adore the smell of the real salt air, so I guess I should have expected this one to not cut it for me!

Tomato - Demeter Fragrance Review

Sorry for the delay, life got busy, and my little sister graduated from college (Congrats!! I'm super proud of you!)

This time I'm reviewing the fragrance 'Tomato' (which is different from the one called 'Tomato Seed', which I didn't sample). From the bottle it definitely smelled like a perfume - but heavier than the Earl Grey, and it smelled quite sweet. Maggie said that it kind of smelled like tomatoes, but it might have been influenced by knowing what it was supposed to smell like!

On the paper, this one smelled quite a bit like tomatoes! I was surprised, considering that it's such a strange and particular scent. It definitely smelled more like the tomato vine and leaves than the fruit itself - like picking tomatoes instead of eating them. On the paper there seemed to also be a sort of cedar or pine scent in with the tomato, which for me ended up smelling a bit candle-like.

However, when it was on my skin, I didn't notice the pine/candle scent - it just smelled like tomato plants! As it faded, the scent mellowed and lost the sharp biting tomato scent, but it still smelled pleasantly green. Maggie liked it because it had a decidedly non-perfume smell. I really liked this one - so much so that I put on a little more before work, and then was smelling my wrists all morning!

A word of caution: while this fragrance does smell remarkably like tomatoes, don't go smelling any actual tomatoes while wearing it. The scent does not hold up in direct comparisons - there is something so unique and fresh about tomatoes that is hard to capture in a bottle. I look forward to using it during the winter months to remind me of the wonderful smell of picking tomatoes!

Earl Grey Tea - Demeter Fragrance Review

A little while ago, I found out about the Demeter Fragrance Library. It is this amazing collection of perfumes that have the strangest scents - things like Fireplace, Tomato, Greenhouse, etc. Not only was I intrigued (who wouldn't want to try a perfume that smells like a crayon? or eggnog?) but I was also very excited. I really enjoy scents, but have a very sensitive nose and I have a hard time with traditional perfumes. They're often too strong and overwhelming (not to mention floral and complicated) and I catch whiffs of them all day, which I don't particularly like. I can't even wear heavily scented hair product.

I've often thought that, instead of smelling like a combination of flowers, musks, or other more typical perfume scents, wouldn't it be great to smell like pancakes? Or freshly mown grass? Apparently I'm not the only one!

There are over 250 different classic scents from Demeter Fragrance Library, and apparently they often add new ones. It was very very difficult to choose which ones to try (I would love to smell them all), but I settled on nine scents to order sample sized bottles of. My partner and I are going to be trying one each day, and I'll be writing about how they smell and our reactions (as well as whether or not they actually smell like their names)

First up: Earl Grey Tea

Unfortunately, it did not make me smell like Captain Picard.

Right out of the bottle, it smells just like a lightly scented perfume, with perhaps a bit of citrus (I'm new to the whole perfume game, so I'm assuming this has to do with the fact that we were smelling the alcohol). We sprayed a bit on a slip of paper to try and get a more neutral reading that didn't interact with either of our body chemistry. On the paper it definitely smelled more like tea, and had a stronger citrus scent. I felt that it smelled like Earl Grey Tea... but without the tea. The citrus-y bergamot and slightly floral scent of Earl Grey was definitely there, but it was missing the tea scent (it smelled good, though).

We then sprayed some on our wrists, and the scent became much more present in the air - light and floral and kind of citrus-y, and very pleasant! Maggie commented that it was not intrusive, and didn't smell chemical. We tried to give it a few minutes before smelling it more directly  - apparently that's a thing you're supposed to do (to let the alcohol evaporate???). Maybe we smelled it too soon, but for a while there was a definite chemical sort of smell on the skin. Maggie said it reminded her of the floor cleaner they used at her high school, and unfortunately once I got that idea in my head, all I could smell was a citrus cleaner! 

The scent got mellower, and became pleasantly sweet and citrus-like, but seemed to keep moving away from smelling like Earl Grey. Throughout the day, I found that the citrus scent disappeared and as the scent became lighter it also became more flowery.

Overall, I feel that this did not quite hit the mark (but I suppose tea is a harder scent than bergamot). There are also individual preferences/body chemistry to take into consideration, so don't let this discourage you if you want to try it! I'm probably going to try it again another day, since there were definitely parts that I liked.

In the meantime, I'm going to bury my nose in my tea tin and have another cup.

P.S. There will probably be a couple scents that I don't want to keep, so if anyone has any information on how legal/difficult it is to ship perfume (domestically) I'd appreciate it - I might do a giveaway!