Another blending experiment today (10/11): Deconstructing Eden Gemini and Poseidon. I’m a bit undecided on this one. I think Gemini is kind of bringing out the “household cleaner-y” aspect of Poseidon.

I keep going back and forth on this (I’m terrible at making decisions), but I’ll probably FS Aquarius and Poseidon. DE has multiple sizes, so I’ll probably get the smaller non-sample size. I’m also undecided about Libra. I really want to like it because that’s my sign – even though I feel kind of silly about that – but this might be more wishful thinking than anything else.

Today I’m continuing my Weenies test with BPAL Ghost Milk (Goat’s milk, marshmallow, vanilla cashmere, honey dust, and white chocolate). So far these have been mostly hits. There’s one I’m unsure about but this is an instant winner. Soft sweet and cozy. I have 2 more to test and I’ll update with a larger review post.

(10/12) The Alkemia testing has begun! Sadly, the first two I tried have been disappointing so far – and it’s doubly sad because one of them is the whole reason I decided to try Alkemia in the first place.

The Lover Tells of the Rose (rambling wild roses, a touch of lemon verbena, white pearl tea leaves, delicate white patchouli, and a springtime rebirth of new greens and wet mosses). This was recommended to me on the IMaM subreddit, and I’d also read a bunch of reviews of it. I thought I’d love it – and out of the bottle and when first applied, it’s almost exactly what I’m looking for in a fresh-cut rose scent. Unfortunately, within about an hour, pretty much all the rose and greenery are gone, and I’ve got “delicate patchouli” with a little bit of tea and verbena left. It’s not unpleasant, but not really my sort of thing.

Apotheosis of the Rose (a riotous bouquet of five species of heirloom roses elevated by rare white lotus, ethereal iris, and vine jasmine trailing over a glorious beauty of white amber, succulent jackfruit, glazed apricots, candied flower petals, absinthe blanche, kotata berries, and blonde woods). So, I think maybe Alkemia’s rose note just disappears on me. This has become iris and jasmine with a tiny bit of “Pixy Stix” sweet-tartness. Not really sure how else to describe that. Also pleasant, but not what I was going for.

So, my search for rose continues. I have a bunch of other Alkemia samples to try, though, which I’m still looking forward to. These were the only two rose-dominant samples I got. I’m sure I’ll also come back to these after a while to see if resting them longer helps.