Pink Pepper, Orange Blossom & Lemon Peel

[zankoku_zen]

No additional scent description.

[torikitty]

The pink pepper is why I decided to blind bottle this. I really need to remember that I don't enjoy orange blossom; to my nose, it reads as "too green". In the bottle, I can smell a bit of the pepper, mostly the orange blossom, and the tiniest hint of lemon peel. On my skin, wow, that orange blossom takes over. The "greeness" slowly calms down, and somehow opens this watery pathway for the pepper to slowly come forward.

 

This is also evoking a weird scent memory that is ultra specific, I doubt many will be able to relate. This reminds me of swimming lessons at the Olympic-style pool at the local community college when I was little. Even more specifically, the smell when facing the drain, and there was a slight breeze; so it's blowing the chlorine, wet children, remnants of sunscreen, and the SoCal (Orange County) orange blossom smell that would get carried on the wind.

 

It eventually winds down to reveal the pepper, but it's still got that hint of green that doesn't sit well with me. And the lemon peel adds a "cleanness" to this, but isn't lemon to my nose.

[groovyrooby]

Gosh, I wish I got more of the orange blossom! Tested from a decant that rested a day or so.

 

I came for the orange blossom and pink pepper, hopeful that the lemon peel would be more of an oily lemon. I have a hard time with lemon - it's one of my favorite flavors in sweets, but I cannot roll with anything that strikes me as too cleaning-solventy lemon. I just love Lemon Peel, Orange Blossom, and Marshmallow and was hoping for something along those lines. Sadly, I think the marshmallow is vital, and should have known that's a key difference between desserts and cleaning products. This lemon was screaming on me, and I think the pink pepper tipped the scales to dry astringency - very Pledge-like, wood polishy. Eventually the floral peeked through a bit, a little funky, but not enough for me. The balance was overall not in favor of my preferences.  

[puellacaerulea]

This was another case of "I love all three of these notes individually but I'm not sure how they'll work together, so let's try a decant." This starts out with bright, greenish orange blossom and lemon (not a full-on Lemon Pledge situation, fortunately). The pink pepper emerges, but the way it interacts with the other notes makes the scent go a little powdery. It does settle to bright citrus with a hint of pepper in the background. A very bright, sweet-ish, citrus scent, all pinks and oranges.

[rhonorv]

I enjoyed this, somewhat to my surprise, as none of these notes really sing out to me. It read as very perfumey to me, and it was consistent wet to dry -- it's a bright, sunshiney, orange-neroli confection. It doesn't turn powdery on me; it stayed pretty sharp and bright with a medium throw. I didn't get a lot of lemon at all.

 

I totally get torikitty's scent memory -- this is reminds me of a specific Avon Skin So Soft sunblock I had when I was a kid! It's like a pretty perfume version of that 😎

[supreme_c0rt]

Orange blossom, I love thee, you know I love thee, but dammit, thee can be Too Much Sometimes. Let's see what your mood is here.

 

In the bottle I can smell the pepper clearly, but once it's on the skin it vanishes. After an initial heady rush of orange blossom, it quickly downshifts into an almost equal 50/50 orange blossom/lemon scent. I really like how the lemon and the floral keep each other in check. Bright and floral but not overpowering on either side. It's very pretty and I think a good expression of both each note individually and the harmony they create together.

 

There's a certain hand soap from TJ's that has this great orange blossom note and I love how it leaves my skin just *lightly* touched with the orange blossom scent as opposed to drowning in it, and this blend does the same thing for me. Not soapy, mind, but The Right Amount of orange blossom. So... yay! 

 

I think I'm getting the Skin So Soft thing too, lol. It's comforting. ☺️

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by supreme_c0rt

[Moonbell]

This sounded amazing as a concept, I got this specifically because it sounded very sunshiney and pleasant and most of my perfumes tend to be very smokey, warm, and cozy, OR very sweet, and none of those are particularly great to wear in the warmer months.

 

When I first tried it on the day it arrived (very eager, lol), it was mainly the pink pepper coming through in the bottle, then the lemon peel really shone through on my skin. Now that it's rested a couple of days I tried it again and the orange blossom jumps out in both the bottle and when dry. The lemon peel comes through at times, and the pink pepper lends it a spiciness, but if you're not sure about orange blossom this one is probably not for you because it definitely feels like it takes centre stage.

 

It might be my skin as well, but it really amps up the orange blossom note, with a hint of cleanliness. This might just be personal association but to me it's a bit of an old lady note, and in this blend it comes with a cleanliness to it, not soapy but more like clean sheets. Clean white sheets at your grandma's house, and it's summer and you're safe and cozy. Not what I was going for when I bought this, but I'm not complaining! As time passed it also developed a certain sweetness (again, this might just be a me thing - my skin tends to bring out a sweetness in most notes), someone above mentioned neroli and I definitely get that, a honeyed neroli coming through. It definitely becomes more interesting and wearable with time, so I think when I'm wearing this out I'll put it on just as I'm starting to get ready so it has time to interact with my skin and do its thing.