Smurf Essence

[zankoku_zen]

Smurf 2 Giveaway

[PurringPulsar]

I am so chuffed to have a bottle of this. And it's a cobalt bottle!

 

In the bottle: BLUEBERRY.

On the skin: BLUEBERRY. Sweet sweet blueberries. Like the kind found in muffins, or a blueberry jam, or really, really ripe to bursting point berries. Glorious blueberries with an extra sweetness but not sickly so. There's vanilla in here to boost the sweetness, it smells a bit like the vanilla-blackcurrant combo of Eat Me, but without the cake note. This smells like it could be the filling in a cake though. It's foody, I don't really get musk or non-gourmand notes, but the sweet undertone might also contain tonka or maybe an amber of some kind, along with vanilla.  If you hate blueberry you won't like this at all. I myself am firmly in the love camp when it comes to blueberry, and this is the perfect showcase of this fruity note.

[zankoku_zen]

In your face blueberry. This is the meta-blueberry. It's blueberries but like with hints of both vanilla and black currant. I think it has a whiff of amber. 

 

Honestly, just call this Blueberry SN, and call it a day.

[Penance]

Origin:

 

5mL from the Lab.  I've had this one for quite a while and I'm just now reviewing it.

 

Preconceived notions:

 

I don't know what to expect here, other than probably blueberry, because what else would you use to make a scent that I'm thinking is pretty likely to smell "blue"?  There were no reviews when I bought or tested this, so I went in blind, not knowing what to expect. 

 

This review is uninfluenced by those above, since they didn't exist when I originally wrote down my notes when I first tried this.

 

First sniff:

 

All I get is blueberry here.  It's very similar, if not the same as, the blueberry note in Bones Trombone and/or Blueberry Sufganiyot (can never tell if there's more than one Lab blueberry note; to me all Lab blueberry smells the same).  If there's something else here, which there must be, I can't smell it.

 

Wet on skin:

 

Fruity in a sugary, pie filling sort of way, but somehow doesn't feel like a foody scent.  There's maybe a touch of violet here?  Or it could be amber instead.  They both go a bit powdery on my skin and it doesn't smell floral.

 

Dry down:

 

As Smurf Essence dries, I get a little bit of a musky scent coming out.  Sort of a natural skin smell or a soft fur like in Ivanushka, something warm, soft and subtle.  There's a faint powderiness, that I'm still undecided on.  I'm leaning towards amber since I'm not reading this as floral, just sort of powdery.

 

The final verdict:

 

This was one of those bottles that I spend a lot on without knowing anything about, other than the name, and I'm glad I bought it, even though I won't ever need another bottle. 

 

Smurf Essence is a little bit one-dimensional since the blueberry is so strong, but it's still got character.  The combo of blueberry and skin/fur(?) and amber/violets does fit in with what I might imagine the Smurf's village to smell like. 

 

[doomsday_disco]

Got a tester of this rare from zee_zee, who offered it as part of a PIF. Thank you so much, zee_zee!  

 

Smurf Essence is all about blueberry. It features a candy-like blueberry note. I no longer have these scents to sniff, but I think it's more in line with the blueberry in Blue Lollipops and Blueberry Cream Pie, and not like the sun-warmed blueberry in Blueberry Picking. The blueberry reigns supreme through several hours of wear, and it is less candy-like and more juicy during this phase of the scent. I am also curious if there's another berry note in the mix, perhaps black currant as suggested above. By this point, I also get something dusty in the background -- I do not believe it is violet, because I tend to amp that note and feel like this would be very powdery on me if that were the case. Maybe it is just straight-up dust or a powdery touch of vanilla? But it's not strong and it remains in the background.

 

Verdict: Very blue. Very fitting for a Smurf. Definitely one for blueberry fans.