Wednesday, October 25, 2006

CH, ET and MMU orders

Finally got around to testing out my latest CH and MMU orders! I also placed a small Earthen Treasures order a while back. :)

I got all the following scents from MMU in various body butter/cream formulas. Alas, none were winners for me:

Chocolate Cream Strawberry Tini - This was very heavy on the chocolate (which was too sweet and artificial in my opinion) and light on the strawberry, and overall it just smelled off to me. On my skin it was absolutely dreadful. Would not recommend to anyone, unfortunately.

Creamy Coconut and Vanilla Bean - This was just eh to me. It wasn't bad but nothing outstanding either. Just kind of a musty coconut with an almost undetectable hint of vanilla.

Jolly Green Apple - This was okay, but nothing spectacular. It was a slightly sweet and candyish apple which was nice in the jar but on my skin it just smelled like soap. I have no idea why. It's also a very light scent and fades really quickly. I'd stick with MMU's regular green apple scent.

Madagascar Vanilla - It's a very nice clean vanilla with the tiniest floral note. I like it but not enough to order a full size.

Mexican Chocolate - While in the jar this is a nice creamy chocolate with a hint of spice, on my skin it's all clove. :P Give it a shot though if you like complex chocolate scents.

Pomegranate - This didn't smell remotely like pomegranate to my nose. In the jar it was sour and a tiny bit floral and on my skin, for whatever reason, ended up smelling like Victoria's Secret Pear Glacé. Since I'm not fond of that scent this was a miss for me.

Serendipitious - Spot-on dupe of the fragrance, but it's just not for me. I don't smell any chocolate on my skin, just a vague vanilla wafer/bakery scent. If Serenidipity works on you though give this a try.

Tahitian Vanilla and Blood Orange - The scent is a nice blend in the container, although a bit heavier on the Tahitian Vanilla than the orange, but you can still detect both. Unfortunately something in MMU's Tahitian Vanilla (the tiare? or the rum?) goes wacky on my skin and it smelled truly awful. If most vanillas work on you then try this, otherwise get a custom blend of blood orange and a plainer vanilla.

Nancy kindly included a sample of Crepe Suzette, which is a very nice foody scent. Too foody for my liking but very good if you like fruity/foody scents.

Onto CH. I got all of the following in the body butter:

Beach Bum - Disappointed with this, I couldn't smell any of the individual notes listed in the scent description. It was just an off, slightly fruity scent. On my skin it turned to musty fruit. Ugh.

Hawaiian Honeymoon Cake - Still debating this. I think it may be a bit too sweet for me but it's really a lovely scent in the jar - a nice pineapple and cake blend.

Honolulu Juicer - Two words: plastic banana. Enough said.

Peppermint Hot Cocoa - This broke my heart. It's easily the best mint chocolate blend I've tried. You can really smell both the mint and the cocoa and there aren't any weird undertones. On my skin though the mint totally turned. My quest for a mint-chocolate that doesn't turn on me continues. :(

Pineapple Ice Cream Foster - So delicious, a mouth-watering blend of pineapple and caramel. Unfortunately I discovered that CH's caramel doesn't work on my skin. So sad.

Tahitian Dessert Vanilla - I was hoping this would smell like vanilla extract but it didn't - just an off scent with a hint of vanilla. I'd try other vanillas from CH's scent menu before going with this one.

I also got a perfume sample pack:

Blackberry - Keep going back and forth on this. Some days I like it, some days I think it's too strong/perfumey. But it's definitely the best blackberry scent I've tried, and it's delicious in a scrub.

Lush Island Retreat - This is a nice peach scent with some floral notes. I don't think it's anything outstanding so I wouldn't order again, but if you like light fruity florals give it a try.

Virgin Coconut - This is a nice basic coconut. It's not unusual enough for me to order it in a perfume again, but it would make a great scrub. Currently my go-to coconut scrub that works with every coconut scent I have is Coconut Milk, but I think this would be excellent to layer with all coconut scents too.

I've also tried some other CH scents courtesy of my e-tailer partner-in-crime, who passed along a ton of samples to me! Here they are:

Coconut Love Nectar - lipglossina had said that she dubbed this "coconut break-up potion" since that's how bad it was on her, but knew I wanted to try it anyway so she graciously passed a big jar of it onto me. It was also "coconut break-up potion" on me, but also with a very unpleasant cat pee note. This body chemistry of mine...

Coconut Milk and Vanilla Cream - Very pleased with this. In the jar I smell more vanilla than coconut, but on my skin it's more coconut, which I have no problem with! :) It also smells very similar to CSP's Coco Extreme, which I happen to love, so I'm thinking of getting a full size body butter and scrub to layer.

Vanilla Dreams - unfortunately didn't work on me despite being a delicious foody vanilla in the jar. Onto more CH vanilla scents for me.

I also placed a very small Earthen Treasures order a while back, a small jar of body cream and a perfume sample in MacIntosh apple. It's not as good as Philosophy's Red Apple body wash (which is what I was hoping for) but pretty good. I don't think I'd order full size, I'd try some other red apple scents first, but for now I'm happy with it.