The Shell Box

[zankoku_zen]

A perfume for distant lovers: shimmering crushed abalone accord, salt-dusted white sandalwood, champaca blossoms, motia attar, and blue lotus.

[mganz42]

Smells like a really woody incense - light, airy, dusty and almost peppery. There's a faraway lotus somewhere (which I think might actually be where the peppery aspect is coming from) along with some gentle white florals. It has a real sense of place, with the abalone accord and salt reading sort of as beach sand. Gorgeous.  Edit: upon reapplication I'm definitely getting more jasmine (from the motia attar) in the first few minutes of the wet stage that later blends back with the other florals. I'm not sure how I missed it, but it's not super strong either. 

Edited April 1, 2021 by mganz42

[storme]

Wet: shimmering is right! Sandalwood with salt and bright sparkling flashes of floral.
Drydown: This smells like it might go a bit too lily-ish, which is worrying.
Dry: Soap, but the nicest possible sort of soap? This smells really fresh and clean and the sandalwood gives it a woody tone.

[zankoku_zen]

Shimmering lily and sandalwood. Clean, slightly aquatic, slightly floral. It's like drifting on a wave on a sunny summer beach day. Medium throw and wear length.

[groovyrooby]

This was quite the morpher on me. Started out bubblegum fruity sweet, fresh and juicy, and I really enjoyed the opening.

 

Then it turned floral. Flirty. Still really enjoyed!

 

Ended powdery, in the vein of a deodorant fragrance. This is too bad, as I really enjoy salty and fresh smells. Had it stayed as it was at the start, I'd be smitten. But the end was more precious and pretty than coy. 

[Threemoons]

So hard to describe this one....starts as sort of a marine sandalwood incense and then dries down to the most gorgeous, delicate marine salty floral.  Endgame is a sort of very expensive, clean, fresh soap smell.  Loving it.

[Jenjin]

What do you get when lotus and champaca are combined in a fragrance? A bouquet fit for the gods. This is a dreamy, otherworldly scent, captivating and heartbreakingly delicate. It has a classic tone and does allude to pearly abalone and a sun-dappled waters. The drydown transforms into a salty clean scent. Reminds me a bit of those round salty soap bars that I love so much, mixed with a kiss of sweet-spicy jasmine and rich sandalwood. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Jenjin

[niffler]

This reminds me very strongly of my grandmother's Chanel perfume. No, wait, hear me out. I used to pretty much only see her in the summer, on vacation, at the beach. The combination of white florals and clean seaside notes conjures a memory of bringing a bucket of sandy shells into the kitchen, ecstatic to show her my finds and see their colors come to life again as she washed them clean. And her signature scent is a Chanel (don't ask me which, I cannot figure it out).

Anyway, this is a gorgeous perfume. Delicate, heady, a little salty, a little creamy, wonderfully romantic. Not a daily scent for me, but one I will treasure. 

[fairybites]

So based on the notes alone, I wasn't sure how I'd like this because I tend to wear a lot of foodies and gourmands. But I wanted to try something different since a lot of the Lupers didn't really captivate me as much as previous releases from 2020 did.

 

And yeah, this is not for me. It is strong, not close to the skin at all. Lots of champaca and abalone, it reminds me of vintage perfume. It's got a somewhat clean quality to it, but not enough to make it seem soapy. Just smells fancy and expensive. It's a little salty when it dries down, but not enough to overpower anything as it stayed in the background. 

 

This would be great on someone else, I think I'll keep sticking to my beloved foodies. Glad I tried it though, always fun to try something new to see if my tastes change! 

[roseus]

In the imp: light floral incense

 

On wet: lotus incense. Sweet, waxy, but not bubblegum. Sandalwood is very dry. 

 

Dry: I definitely agree with the classic/vintage perfume vibe people are getting. Dry I get more champaca than lotus, and it's a bit sharp on me as it tends to do but not overwhelming though I think it is drowning out the other notes a bit on me. I get some sandalwood and maybe a bit of salt if I sniff deeply. The overall effect is an elegant incense for me. 

[freyasfae]

Wet this is white florals, a softened jasmine on me with a boho vibe - like Hamptons meets Beach Boho. It becomes more delicate as it dries, the jasmine receding into the background and it feels more relaxed. I wanted something a little saltier than this for my beachy themed scent I think, but it's still exquisite. 

[BetteNoire]

I adore the beach, but can't do aquatic perfumes and often dislike "beachy" scents. I also love jasmine but not on me, you know?

 

This isn't beachy, this is The Beach, bottled. I get a very distinct sand note, with this gorgeous jasmine floral breeze ( this jasmine and I can be friends!) and an incensy haze of champaca and sandalwood (just a touch, that conveys a sense of heat, like the sand is hot). 

 

I am so happy I stepped out of my comfort zone for this - this is the kind of summer scent I can actually wear!

[aphrodisms]

This really didn’t work for me - it’s a very clean woody aquatic when I think I was hoping for something a bit more ephemeral.

[Fefi]

When I first got this scent it smelled much more potent than what I liked, about a year later its mellowed out more and I really enjoy it more. I can't really smell the Blue Lotus note on me, but in the bottle I do. Its one of the main reasons I purchased this scent, its one of my favorite notes. The main notes I get are the sandalwood and Champaka, but its really the sandalwood that takes the most control with the Champaka and the motia (jasmine) taking the back seat. This was the biggest change however from when I first got the scent to now, a year later. Upon first receiving the scent the Champaka was super strong as was the jasmine too much I couldn't really wear the scent because it was too overpowering. Now everything blends much nice. I can't really say anything about the Abalone Accord, because Im not sure what it smells liked and sadly was what I was most curious about since I love abalones.  I do agree with other reviewers commenting the scent smells a bit like soap. At first it did for me too and I kind of liked that, it was just too strong now that its mellowed out I dont get such a soapy like scent as I did in the beginning but I do get occasional whiffs of its here and there.

[RoseThornAndOak]

A nice crisp aquatic at first, a bit soapy, a bit classic perfume. On the drydown I get some champaca and woods. 

 

After that this stays in a nice spot between pretty, soft, aquatic soap/perfume and champaca. It's quite fine. Clean and elegant. A bit more aquatic and floral than Possessed Teen. There are other aquatics I love more, but I do like how refined this is.