I love the idea of a Frontier inspired collection, especially for Christmas; it is the perfect way to present the evergreens/woods, snow and foodie scents that we all think of during the holidays. As I don't buy much in the way of body products and I'm not particularly into food scents, I decided to try out Outpost, Flintlock and Snowshoe Pass perfume oil samples - I think this is my favorite sample order to date! All three are perfect for Winter and fit the overall collection theme beautifully.
Outpost - When I first tried this, I got this maple/brown sugar note that lasted for hours. It immediately reminded me of the 'country' crafts stores that my mom visited when I was growing up. As a result, it seemed better suited as a room scent. After letting the sample sit for two weeks, the presence of that note has faded considerably and the evergreens come out on my skin much more. Its never a dark and heavy scent (though not a 'light' scent), and sugar note keeps the evergreens from becoming very woodsy. As a fan of heavy woodsy scents however, I wasn't able to fall in love with this one.
Flintlock - Angela was absolutely right to compare this to Foxcroft. While they smell nothing alike, they are quite similiar in tone. Both immediately reminded of visits to see my great-grandma. She lived in an old farm house and everything just felt so comfortable and worn in, like it had been there for decades - and that is exactly how this scent feels. If you love leather, this is the blend for you. This leather isn't sharp like a new leather smell but like and old leather jacket/wallet/etc that has been used for a long time. My skin tends to amp up a leather a bit so it is the most dominate note on me. Thankfully, I can still smell the black pepper and woods, which balance the scent out perfectly, making it feel even more comforting. This also smells gorgeous on my boyfriend and the leather blends in much more with the rest of the notes. I only wish that he liked to wear scents more, I would love for him to smell like this all of the time!
Snowshoe Pass - If there is anything that Angela does better than any other indie perfumer I've tried, it's vanilla scents. Her vanilla blends are always lovely and she has really outdone herself here. It's a very "cool" vanilla, not a 'bakery' type scent at all. I'm pretty biased as the peppermint/vanilla blend is one of my favorite scents and this a more grown up version of that. The mint is present but definitely in the background - you will not smell like a candy cane! I imagine that this is what an Ice Princesses in a fairy tale would smell like - cool and intriguing. The musk is a *little* strong for me, but this is more do the fact that I am not at all used to wearing musk. Even so, I cannot stop sniffing my wrists when I wear this! Out of all of the scents that I tried, this one leans the most towards being traditionally feminine, though it would certainly work on a man (just not my boyfriend).
I also picked up a Whipped Soap in Chocolate Peppermint Bark as a gift for the ever patient, aforementioned boyfriend. I have never seen this man interested in scented products until I casually mentioned that Solstice Scents makes peppermint bark soap! I'm sure that this will be a huge hit and I'll most likely be back to pick up an extra jar (or three) for his birthday.
