Solstice Scents: Brand Profile

Brand Name: Solstice Scents

Brand is Based Out Of: Gainesville, Florida

Price Range: $9.50 (whipped soaps) – $90 (60ml eau de parfum sprays)

Shipping Information: Free domestic shipping is offered for orders over $150.  All other orders are calculated by weight.

Product They Are Most Known For: Original and unique perfume oil blends and eau de parfum sprays

Cruelty Free / Vegan? – All their products are cruelty free and most are vegan, it will be clearly listed when something isn’t vegan.

Newest Product:  They have a Fall Collection with new fragrances and some old favorites being rereleased.

Review:

Solstice Scents is a brand I was dying to try for a long time,  so getting this package in the mail was very exciting.  I’m obsessed with atmospheric scents that capture a place or feeling,  and I’ve heard that this brand is one of the top dogs for atmospherics.  What I didn’t expect was the packaging of my sample pack to blow me away before I even smelled anything.  All the samples were inside a beautifully designed folding paper ‘case’ – check it out.

As usual, I’ll add some gifs that these fragrances remind me of, cause it’s fun.

Library:

Site Description:Leather Bound Books, A Carved Rosewood Mantle, Dying Fireplace Embers, Wood Wainscoting, Cedar Shelving and Aged Paper. Not to be used by Women who are pregnant or nursing. WOODS/LEATHER 

In the Bottle:  That aged leather smell that I love resonates the most right off the bat.

Wet on the Skin:  This really smells like books, but fancy books.  That’s one of the nicest leather scents I’ve experienced.

Dried Down:  Wow.. this really opens up and becomes much more complex once it warms into the skin.  I wonder if there are any ‘candle’ notes incorporated into this, because I smell that wax and burning wick scent.  I smell the wood notes but they’re not ‘new’ or artificial smelling, more of an antique shop kind of smell.  There is also a masculine musk behind everything.

Overall:  I really adore this scent.  Remember in the Parent Trap when one of the little Lindsay Lohan’s hugged her British grandpa and explained how he smelled?  This is what I image that dapper British grandpa smells like when he’s hanging out in his study reading Proust.  Nice.

Basilica:

Site Description:

Rich labdanum absolute paired with effervescent frankincense, polished rosewood, dark myrrh, exotic woods and a waft of heavenly sweet and rich vanilla absolute and fragrant ashes. Not to be used by Women who are pregnant or nursing. RESINS/INCENSE

In the Bottle: Bitter incense and cherrywood.  That dark red shiny wood with a finish so glossy you could see your face in it.

Wet on the Skin: I’ve smelled many incense fragrance oils and this one is the only one that truly captures the “church” incense.  Interestingly, this is also the same incense I distinctly remember being burned the one time I went to a seance…

Dried Down: This really smells like church, and I’m an expert at church since my parents made me go as a kid every Sunday.  More specifically, it smells like a church at Christmastime, which would make sense because that’s when they use symbolic incenses such as Frankincense and Myrrh.  I love that the note of ashes are included because that also exists in church incense since they burn so much at once.

Overall: Again, I love this scent.  Solstice Scents seems to have a really special way of bringing memories to me with their fragrances.

Gibbon’s Boarding School:

Site Description:

Dusty Wooden Desks, Paper, Carefully Hidden Tobacco Pouch, Dying Fire, Dried Leaves, Leather Chairs, Autumn Breeze. WOODS/LEATHER

In the Bottle:  I smell a sweet wood and tobacco first, along with something sweet and almost fruity, could that be apples on the Autumn Breeze?

Wet on the Skin:  This is a very dry and realistic wood scent, I also love the ash smell of the dying fire and the sense of worn in leather.

Dried Down: Ok.. if someone were to make a scent inspired by the Gryffindor Common Room, this would be it.  It smells warm, the wood has an almost cherry flavor to it, and the tobacco is so real I can almost taste it.  I also can smell the coldness of the breeze with the first frost of the year over the dried leaves.

Overall: I’m blown away by this scent, this is my favorite of the bunch.  It makes such a visual; I’m also strongly reminded of the school in the Dead Poet’s Society.  As it blends more into my skin throughout the day, it softens to such a soft leather autumnal scent.  I will be purchasing a full size of this.

Incensum:

Site Description:

Amber, Frankincense, Palo Santo, Myrrh, Spices, Attars, Oud, Vetiver & more. Natural Meditative Resin Perfume. RESINS/INCENSE

In the Bottle:  Bitter church incense again, but one of my favorite scents, Palo Santo, is present.

Wet on the Skin: This is a much more natural incense blend than Basilica.  The Vetiver adds a bit of green to it.

Dried Down: This one isn’t my favorite.  The bitter notes are a bit much and it drowns out the richness of Frankincense.  I can’t smell the amber much.

Overall: Like all of their scents, it becomes much more harmonious once it warms into the skin.  The Frankincense and Myrrh take the spotlight and add that depth.  It’s still my least favorite of the bunch.

Manor:

Site Description:

Woody-Vanilla Musk, Vanilla & Glorious Aloeswood (A Best Seller). VANILLA/WOODS/OUD

In the Bottle: A sweet but aged vanilla.

Wet on the Skin:  This is nice.  The vanilla is very apparent but it in no way smells like a cupcake.  If you’ve ever smelled the herb Deer’s Tongue, which is essentially wild vanilla, it smells like that.  It’s surrounded by a muskiness and the same sense of candles burning that I smelled in library.

Dried Down:  I can see why this is a best seller, it’s a lovely scent.  I normally strongly dislike the sickly sweetness of vanilla, but this one is perfect.

Overall:  Another winner.  It’s not a stand out for me, but I could see a wide range of people enjoying this.

Smoky Mountain Mallow:

Site Description:

Wood Smoke, Fossilized Amber Resin, Lapsang Souchong CO2, Guaiacwood, Labdanum, Nutmeg EO, Marshmallow. Not for women who are pregnant or nursing. AMBER/SMOKE/GOURMAND

In the Bottle: Oh, hi nutmeg!  Nutmeg is one of my favorite ingredients in baking and magic, but perfumers have a hard time getting it to smell pleasant.  Solstice Scents seems to have mastered it!

Wet on the Skin:  That’s a real nice smokey note.  Reaaaal nice.

Dried Down: Wow.  Do you know the way your hair smells after a night in your favorite hoodie, singing around the campfire at summer camp?  That’s what this smells like.  That perfect wood smoke, the smell of cool summer night air, slighty sweet wafts of mallow and the spice of nutmeg.

Overall: I’ve never smelled an accurate campfire fragrance before this one.  This is perfect, I have strong visual memories that come to mind with this one.  Another new favorite for me and one I’ll have to buy the full size of.

Cellar:

Site Description:

Damp Earth and Stone, Wooden Casks, Cool Fall Air, Crisp Apple, Pear and Broom Corn. EARTHY/MOSSY/FRUITY.

In the Bottle: Mmmmm crisp fall apples in an orchard.  One of my favorite scents.  Not a fruity, overripe apple but a cold, crisp, autumn apple.  *CRONCH*

Wet on the Skin: That’s one of the best apple notes that has ever graced my nose.   It literally makes my mouth water.

Dried Down: Bury me in this scent, wow.  I think this is also a new favorite for me.  Once it dries down, you can smell the aridness of the earth and dampness of the stone.  The apple is still delicious but there is a sense of dustiness and dryness.  Almost like an apple spirit.

Overall Impression:  This is definitely one I will have to add to my collection.  This is the most perfect fall scent I’ve ever experienced.

Overall Impression:

Solstice Scents is very talented at perfumery and capturing memories and atmospheres through scent.  I love the fragrances, the intricate detail that goes into their formulation, and the beautiful way they’re packaged.  There is something truly magical about these fragrances, like you’ve been given a gift or treasure.

I highly encourage you to let these fragrances rest for AT LEAST a week when you get them.  When I first received these in the post, I immediately smelled them all because I’m inpatient, and they gave me a headache.  I was sad and put them away for a few weeks.  When I took them back out to write this review, it was almost like I was smelling completely different fragrances.

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