In my many hours of browsing Etsy, I happened upon a scent shop called For Strange Women. The exact circumstances of how I discovered it are lost in my memory, most likely because once I went through the different perfumes they offer, I was enchanted. I knew I had found something wonderful.
You won't find the usual offering of scents at For Strange Women.
For Strange Women's owner, Jill, strives to make high quality, unique, natural perfumes using traditional techniques. All of her perfumes are 100% natural, vegan, and handmade in small batches.
Frankincense & Cedar:
I don't believe I've actually ever had the chance to smell Frankincense before (although I do love Myrrh body butter) and living in Houston affords me few chances to be close to cedar, which is why I tried this one first. Houston winters fade quickly and I wanted to enjoy this fresh smelling perfume in the setting it deserved while I still had a chance. I took a moment to warm the sample ribbon in my hands before rubbing it on my pulse points because it was rather cold and overcast. This perfume is very subtle and stays close to the skin, rather than blooming outward. I can definitely smell the cedar, which is very fresh smelling and a sweet undertone that I am guessing is the frankincense. The For Strange Women website recommends this perfume be used with layers of other perfume, and I can see why. It is VERY subtle and soft on it's own and seems to make a good, light perfume to wear on days spent relaxing. My personal experience with this particular perfume, however, means that I unfortunately cannot order it again. Since all of the scents are natural and I'm assuming that this has real cedar essence, I've discovered that I have a slight skin allergy to cedar. It's important to know your body and how you might react to any extracts or ingredients before you buy any perfumes!
Jasmine:
Choosing Jasmine as a scent to sample was an easy choice. Jasmine is my favorite flower and I hoped that this perfume would bring back the memories of the garden at my childhood home. I was not disappointed. This solid perfume stuck close to my skin and really had the warm, honey-ish tones of fresh jasmine. I'll definitely be reordering this.
Tuberose:
With many other lovely scents available as my last sample, I decided to go with Victorian Tuberose. It comes highly recommended by the maker and is in fact, her signature scent. This one was the most subtle at the beginning of the application. It smelled faintly of honey and a fresh field with a suggestion of a rose.
The second set of samples I chose was a set of three Strange perfume oils. Each sample comes packed in a small plastic tube containing enough oil for five applications.I was eager to try these because they are a combination of smells that is meant to invoke a memory or transport you to an exotic place. I decided to go with Astral Projection, Moss & Ivy, and November in the Temperate Deciduous Forest as my samples, although I may have to order samples of Bollywood and Winter Kitty later on.
Astral Projection:
The description of all of For Strange Women's scents are vivid and wonderful, but Astral Projection lured me with promises of a combination of scents designed to help relax the mind. This smelled rather lemony to me, with a little bit of lavender. I couldn't apply this one to my skin, however, because it had cedar in it.
Moss & Ivy:
The Moss & Ivy has a very clean scent. It is reminiscent of walking through a muddy, heavily wooded park after the rain. It's wonderful for anyone who wants a light, fresh aroma surrounding them.
November:
November in the Temperate Deciduous Forest was the first oil that I tried and I have to say that I did not expect what happened. When I first applied the oil to my wrists, I was a bit overwhelmed with the smell. However, once it settled into my skin and warmed, it felt like a woodland scene was blooming before me. Pine trees and fallen leaves greet you as the perfume dries and warms on your skin and as you wear it throughout the day, it fades into an earthy and spicy musk. It brought to mind memories of walking in a wooded park in the autumn, with the smell of bonfires and crumbling leaves swirling though the air. The scent of (fresh) pine is very strong at the beginning of application and made my nose a little itchy, but fades into a very tolerable back note as you wear it.
All in all, I really liked the perfumes I got. They were different than the perfumes I am used to and I like that they are more intimate than just putting on a body spray.For Strange Women is a great place to get perfume if you like earthy, savory fragrance or subdued floral scents.
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