Mara Fox reviews: Sugared Scents
Reviews of the Sugared scents by Mara Fox:
Sugared Honeysuckle
In vial: a slightly soapy floral scent with a hint of sugar.
On skin: soft honeysuckle drizzled in sugary nectar. It is a little soapy but it’s not bad, this honeysuckle scent is very pretty indeed. The sugar in here is gentler, less caramelised or treacle like than other sugared scents, it’s more like white sugar. The honeysuckle is soft and light but I’m not sure about the soapy tones it has here. It gets soapier at drydown, I’m afraid, developing a harsh chemical tone and a waxy feel…it smells more like sweet pea, calla lily or lily of the valley with added soap and chemicals and waxy white petals. It’s a shame because I love the smell of real honeysuckles. But this just smells like generic soapy-waxy floral on my skin with a spike of chemical sharpness running through it-and no amount of pretty sugar can get rid of that, sadly.
Sugared: Pure
In vial: butterscotch, butter toffee, and treacle. It’s caramel and brown sugar with a buttery edge.
On skin: caramelised sugar. This is pure sugar of all kinds from the darkest treacle to caramel to a hint of white spun sugar on top. There’s also an aspect of almost perfumey, tangy citrus/cologne/light musk on top, it’s similar to the scent I got in Sugared Cinnamon. In here, it’s not as strong. And despite the dark, smoky, almost burnt scents of the darker sugars here, the scent is not overwhelming or cloying or heavy. Some of the darker sugar scents can be very heavy, especially in warmer weather, but this one has that light, fresh, non-sugary note on top to prevent this. The drydown to this is very similar to Sugared Cinnamon, but this is lighter and less spicy…it still has that odd floral-perfume-musk feel to it. It’s nice but I was hoping for more sugar…however at drydown I get more and more of the lighter sugars coming forth, some icing sugar and candy floss notes. This is actually very pretty now and I do prefer it to Sugared Cinnamon-it lacks the spice, but the drydown is worth the wait! In fact, it smells like the drydown of Red Lantern, that spiced amber-caramel scent with a hint of something like currant or flowers, but without the tobacco and opium…in fact, I even smell a hint of toasted coconut in there, and this coconut gets even stronger over time. Maybe this should be called Sugared Coconut (maybe I should suggest that one to Mara…). And then it smells very similar to Midway, a scent of candy floss and fried donuts sprinkled with sugar, with added coconut ice. It smells like the fair! Midway can be very faint on me, but this is stronger, it’s like amped up Midway. So whilst I wasn’t sure about the beginning of this scent, I adore the final stages.
Sugared Roses
In bottle: roses with a sweet, dark note which seems almost like resins or incense, but more sniffs make me realise that the note is more along the lines of caramel!
On skin: yup, it's caramel alright…and buttery caramel at that. I'm a bit funny about butter notes, so I'm hoping this one co-operates with me and doesn't become too sickly. The rose note, on the other hand, is delightful, really rich, full, heady and gorgeous-it reminds me of some of BPAL's rose notes. before long, the butter fades and the scent is that of incredibly fragrant red roses drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with brown sugar. Oh wow.
Upon drydown, the sugary scent tones down, allowing the rose to do its thing. It's still as rich and round as ever, the rose note, but I get something almost resinous and almost bittersweet and dark, like myrrh? That, along with hints of dark caramel. If I were to use BPAL comparisons, it would be the lovechild of Parlement of Foules and Sugar Skull.
Verdict: I really like this, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it since I have so many similar rose scents already. 3/5
Sugared Egyptian Sandalwood
In vial: very similar to Isis (no surprises, she's on the label), but with sugary caramel instead of honey.
On skin: mmm, this is beautiful. The most obvious note is the sugar, which smells like brown sugar here with golden syrup on top, but underneath is a hint of dry, spicy, exotic and incense-like Egyptian sandalwood. ES tends to be a lighter, spicy-incensy and almost lemony sandalwood scent and I get it here. This is so good! It's totally different from those other two famous sugary sandalwood scents-BPAL's Underpants and H&E's Voodoo Punani-this doesn't have the creamy vanilla of Underpants or the perfumed buttercream-saffron of VP. This is all about caramel and brown sugar over exotic sandalwood incense, with tones of honey to it. it smoothes out even more at drydown and develops an amber like scent, and at the end, it's like crystallised honey over dark amber with a hint of spicy woods. It's a gorgeous mix of foody and incensy scents and it's perfect for cold weather.
Verdict: 9 out of 10 Egyptian scents always work on me, this is no exception. Surprisingly complex, and I love it. And the label is gorgeous! 5/5
Sugared PatchouliIn vial: a dark caramel scent with a hint of something creamy, something smoky, and patchouli.
On skin: now the patch comes out in force, and boy, that is some good patch. It's deep, dark and rich, a fantastic aged patchouli with a lot of oomph (well, it's a twenty-year-old vintage, no wonder it's so good!) with a dark, caramelised topping which smells less like syrup or toffee, and more like treacle. Like the darkest brown muscovado sugar mixed with treacle poured over patchouli, this is intense and dark and sinfully sweet. It's fantastic stuff, and it's perfect for the winter months with it's fusion of foody and exotic. Eventually the treacle top note merges into the patchouli and the scent starts to remind me of Heaven and Earth's aged patchouli scents, and also of BPAL Snake Oil/Charmer…it's almost like there's also a hidden vanilla note and some spice and musk notes coming to play in here. The scent goes into a lightly sugared scent with patch and vanilla, and the drydown has a lovely vanilla-musk-amber-patchouli like scent to it, very much along the lines of Snake Oil etc, but not identical. This is wonderful, I'm definitely keeping the sample of it-maybe I will get a bottle too. 4.5/5
Sugared Lemons
In vial: a more herbal, green lemon than I expected. It’s very much lemongrass and verbena, not lemon fruit.
On skin: mmm, not bad…in fact, this is really nice-it smells like summer! This smells like sugared verbena tea with a hint of green cut grass (yes! Fresh mown lawns!) and a little lemongrass and bergamot. This smells like a cup of herbal tea made with citrus and lemon-scented herbs, warm and mellow and with a real feel of sunshine to it, the summery feel of the scent really accentuated by the grass note. This is like sitting in my garden, sipping on tea made with verbena leaves from the shrub in the garden and the sun warmed scent of grass clippings wafting all around. The grass note becomes dominant as the lemony notes fade, and it then smells like lemongrass, grass and sugar, before becoming a sugary version of Lush Fox in the Flowers with a hint of earl grey tea. This is a scent of a stroll in the park or chilling in my back yard, sunny lemon herbs and grasses and warmth, enjoying a cup of earl grey tea whilst curled up on the warm grass like a cat. I was hoping for a true lemon-sugar (like pancake topping!) scent from this requested fragrance but this scent is just as wonderful for different reasons. Even in the depth of winter, this smells like the height of summer.
Sugared Grapefruit
In vial: sweet grapefruit! I like this! Some grapefruits are too bitter but this is perfect.
On skin: oh this is good. I was expecting this to be a little too bitter as grapefruits can be, but there’s a load of sugar in here which sweetens it up perfectly. This is a sweet pink grapefruit scent, and it seems the pink sugar note in here resembles candy floss! It’s like candy floss and grapefruits sprinkled in sugar. This also has a feel of sunshine-all of the sugared citrus scents have, but this one is more ‘pure sugar’ whilst the lemon one was more herbal and the orange one more amber-y. I want to correspond them to times of the day…grapefruit is obviously morning, because this does smell breakfast-y, and lemon is the midday/afternoon siesta, and orange is late afternoon/evening and sunset. This is a bright and light hearted sweetened scent which smells like a glass of healthy grapefruit juice followed by a not-so-healthy portion of candy floss! I really like the grapefruit note here-it’s not as blatant as TBS grapefruit, or yuzu scents, it’s the perfect amount of grapefruit, the perfect amount of bitterness with a good portion of sugar. As the grapefruit moves away, the scent is a scent of strawberry-flavoured candy floss (the now-familiar ‘cotton candy’ scent I’ve smelt in other scents from other companies) and those sweet smelling rubbers I used to collect as a kid. It’s now pure sweetness, no citrus left at all. Another one to reserve for warmer weather.
Sugared Apples
In vial: fresh watery apples. There seems to be a hint of chlorine to it-like apple bobbing in a swimming pool-which sounds nasty but it isn’t a bad thing!
On skin: oh, this is pretty. The ‘swimming pool’ scent is gone but the scent is a very wet, juicy sweet red apple. It smells like apple bobbing at Halloween-apples floating in a barrel of water, and these apples are the sweetest of all. Fresh and crisp and delicious, this apple note doesn’t turn sour or odd on me like some apple notes can, for now-it just smells like a cool juicy apple should. Gradually a gentle sugar note (not caramel or toffee) starts to appear over the crisp wet apple. The apple scent gets drier and also sweeter, but doesn’t turn on my skin at all. it becomes a soft sweet light sugar scent after a few hours, almost like a sugary dough or cake scent-like a donut, or an apple cake-with a twist of cider lurking at the base, the apple note has turned a little boozy. This is a gorgeous scent which I have a feeling will be worn a lot in autumn.
Sugared Frankincense and Myrrh
In vial: sharp yet oddly berry-fruity frankincense. Doesn’t have the sugared scent of the sandalwood or amber yet.
On skin: hmm, this is an odd one. Normally I adore frank ‘n myrrh scents but this one is slightly weird at first. It smells like pine needles, evergreen resins, and a hint of berries! Not what I expect but I do like it somewhat. I smell a hint of almost buttery sugar on top though, but this smells less like frankincense and more like pine resin, which I like. There’s a dark, almost burnt undertone, probably the myrrh. But this scent is resinous in a totally different way to what I expected…but then after 10 or 15 mins, the scent dramatically changes for the better-the sugar is now apparent and it’s lying on top of the most gorgeous smoky resin-incense scent. this does smell like a couple of new age shops I know but I don’t mind that at all-I love that particular incense they burn that smells like what I have here (only here it’s much sweeter) and I’ve been looking all over for a scent like the loose incense they burn in those shops, the smouldering and smoke, and even a hint of candle smoke as well. This has turned from ‘huh?’ to OMG MUST HAVE MORE!’! 4/5
Sugared Amber
In vial: caramel and a hint of almost creamy amber!
On skin: gorgeous stuff! The sugar and the amber smell similar but have their own characters, and they naturally go together. I get the darker, stickier sugar note all over a lighter, more luminous and clear, sweet and almost perfumey, almost a little powdery (now I get the ‘powdery amber’ reactions others get-but it’s a lovely reaction on me!) and with the darker resinous side some ambers have. The scent is golden and sweet and resinous and magnificent. Very luxurious and decadent. The amber and sugar smooth out even more to make a lovely light amber fragrance, rich and glowing but soft and almost fluffy-sweet, but with a hint of resinous undertone to it. this smoothes out very nicely at drydown but the darker aspect of the amber deepens too, my nose may be crazy but I swear I catch a slight whiff of a darker base note like vetiver but that could be just my nose playing tricks. Beautiful stuff, I might need a bottle. 5/5
Sugared Honeysuckle
In vial: a slightly soapy floral scent with a hint of sugar.
On skin: soft honeysuckle drizzled in sugary nectar. It is a little soapy but it’s not bad, this honeysuckle scent is very pretty indeed. The sugar in here is gentler, less caramelised or treacle like than other sugared scents, it’s more like white sugar. The honeysuckle is soft and light but I’m not sure about the soapy tones it has here. It gets soapier at drydown, I’m afraid, developing a harsh chemical tone and a waxy feel…it smells more like sweet pea, calla lily or lily of the valley with added soap and chemicals and waxy white petals. It’s a shame because I love the smell of real honeysuckles. But this just smells like generic soapy-waxy floral on my skin with a spike of chemical sharpness running through it-and no amount of pretty sugar can get rid of that, sadly.
Sugared: Pure
In vial: butterscotch, butter toffee, and treacle. It’s caramel and brown sugar with a buttery edge.
On skin: caramelised sugar. This is pure sugar of all kinds from the darkest treacle to caramel to a hint of white spun sugar on top. There’s also an aspect of almost perfumey, tangy citrus/cologne/light musk on top, it’s similar to the scent I got in Sugared Cinnamon. In here, it’s not as strong. And despite the dark, smoky, almost burnt scents of the darker sugars here, the scent is not overwhelming or cloying or heavy. Some of the darker sugar scents can be very heavy, especially in warmer weather, but this one has that light, fresh, non-sugary note on top to prevent this. The drydown to this is very similar to Sugared Cinnamon, but this is lighter and less spicy…it still has that odd floral-perfume-musk feel to it. It’s nice but I was hoping for more sugar…however at drydown I get more and more of the lighter sugars coming forth, some icing sugar and candy floss notes. This is actually very pretty now and I do prefer it to Sugared Cinnamon-it lacks the spice, but the drydown is worth the wait! In fact, it smells like the drydown of Red Lantern, that spiced amber-caramel scent with a hint of something like currant or flowers, but without the tobacco and opium…in fact, I even smell a hint of toasted coconut in there, and this coconut gets even stronger over time. Maybe this should be called Sugared Coconut (maybe I should suggest that one to Mara…). And then it smells very similar to Midway, a scent of candy floss and fried donuts sprinkled with sugar, with added coconut ice. It smells like the fair! Midway can be very faint on me, but this is stronger, it’s like amped up Midway. So whilst I wasn’t sure about the beginning of this scent, I adore the final stages.
Sugared Roses
In bottle: roses with a sweet, dark note which seems almost like resins or incense, but more sniffs make me realise that the note is more along the lines of caramel!
On skin: yup, it's caramel alright…and buttery caramel at that. I'm a bit funny about butter notes, so I'm hoping this one co-operates with me and doesn't become too sickly. The rose note, on the other hand, is delightful, really rich, full, heady and gorgeous-it reminds me of some of BPAL's rose notes. before long, the butter fades and the scent is that of incredibly fragrant red roses drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with brown sugar. Oh wow.
Upon drydown, the sugary scent tones down, allowing the rose to do its thing. It's still as rich and round as ever, the rose note, but I get something almost resinous and almost bittersweet and dark, like myrrh? That, along with hints of dark caramel. If I were to use BPAL comparisons, it would be the lovechild of Parlement of Foules and Sugar Skull.
Verdict: I really like this, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it since I have so many similar rose scents already. 3/5
Sugared Egyptian Sandalwood
In vial: very similar to Isis (no surprises, she's on the label), but with sugary caramel instead of honey.
On skin: mmm, this is beautiful. The most obvious note is the sugar, which smells like brown sugar here with golden syrup on top, but underneath is a hint of dry, spicy, exotic and incense-like Egyptian sandalwood. ES tends to be a lighter, spicy-incensy and almost lemony sandalwood scent and I get it here. This is so good! It's totally different from those other two famous sugary sandalwood scents-BPAL's Underpants and H&E's Voodoo Punani-this doesn't have the creamy vanilla of Underpants or the perfumed buttercream-saffron of VP. This is all about caramel and brown sugar over exotic sandalwood incense, with tones of honey to it. it smoothes out even more at drydown and develops an amber like scent, and at the end, it's like crystallised honey over dark amber with a hint of spicy woods. It's a gorgeous mix of foody and incensy scents and it's perfect for cold weather.
Verdict: 9 out of 10 Egyptian scents always work on me, this is no exception. Surprisingly complex, and I love it. And the label is gorgeous! 5/5
Sugared PatchouliIn vial: a dark caramel scent with a hint of something creamy, something smoky, and patchouli.
On skin: now the patch comes out in force, and boy, that is some good patch. It's deep, dark and rich, a fantastic aged patchouli with a lot of oomph (well, it's a twenty-year-old vintage, no wonder it's so good!) with a dark, caramelised topping which smells less like syrup or toffee, and more like treacle. Like the darkest brown muscovado sugar mixed with treacle poured over patchouli, this is intense and dark and sinfully sweet. It's fantastic stuff, and it's perfect for the winter months with it's fusion of foody and exotic. Eventually the treacle top note merges into the patchouli and the scent starts to remind me of Heaven and Earth's aged patchouli scents, and also of BPAL Snake Oil/Charmer…it's almost like there's also a hidden vanilla note and some spice and musk notes coming to play in here. The scent goes into a lightly sugared scent with patch and vanilla, and the drydown has a lovely vanilla-musk-amber-patchouli like scent to it, very much along the lines of Snake Oil etc, but not identical. This is wonderful, I'm definitely keeping the sample of it-maybe I will get a bottle too. 4.5/5
Sugared Lemons
In vial: a more herbal, green lemon than I expected. It’s very much lemongrass and verbena, not lemon fruit.
On skin: mmm, not bad…in fact, this is really nice-it smells like summer! This smells like sugared verbena tea with a hint of green cut grass (yes! Fresh mown lawns!) and a little lemongrass and bergamot. This smells like a cup of herbal tea made with citrus and lemon-scented herbs, warm and mellow and with a real feel of sunshine to it, the summery feel of the scent really accentuated by the grass note. This is like sitting in my garden, sipping on tea made with verbena leaves from the shrub in the garden and the sun warmed scent of grass clippings wafting all around. The grass note becomes dominant as the lemony notes fade, and it then smells like lemongrass, grass and sugar, before becoming a sugary version of Lush Fox in the Flowers with a hint of earl grey tea. This is a scent of a stroll in the park or chilling in my back yard, sunny lemon herbs and grasses and warmth, enjoying a cup of earl grey tea whilst curled up on the warm grass like a cat. I was hoping for a true lemon-sugar (like pancake topping!) scent from this requested fragrance but this scent is just as wonderful for different reasons. Even in the depth of winter, this smells like the height of summer.
Sugared Grapefruit
In vial: sweet grapefruit! I like this! Some grapefruits are too bitter but this is perfect.
On skin: oh this is good. I was expecting this to be a little too bitter as grapefruits can be, but there’s a load of sugar in here which sweetens it up perfectly. This is a sweet pink grapefruit scent, and it seems the pink sugar note in here resembles candy floss! It’s like candy floss and grapefruits sprinkled in sugar. This also has a feel of sunshine-all of the sugared citrus scents have, but this one is more ‘pure sugar’ whilst the lemon one was more herbal and the orange one more amber-y. I want to correspond them to times of the day…grapefruit is obviously morning, because this does smell breakfast-y, and lemon is the midday/afternoon siesta, and orange is late afternoon/evening and sunset. This is a bright and light hearted sweetened scent which smells like a glass of healthy grapefruit juice followed by a not-so-healthy portion of candy floss! I really like the grapefruit note here-it’s not as blatant as TBS grapefruit, or yuzu scents, it’s the perfect amount of grapefruit, the perfect amount of bitterness with a good portion of sugar. As the grapefruit moves away, the scent is a scent of strawberry-flavoured candy floss (the now-familiar ‘cotton candy’ scent I’ve smelt in other scents from other companies) and those sweet smelling rubbers I used to collect as a kid. It’s now pure sweetness, no citrus left at all. Another one to reserve for warmer weather.
Sugared Apples
In vial: fresh watery apples. There seems to be a hint of chlorine to it-like apple bobbing in a swimming pool-which sounds nasty but it isn’t a bad thing!
On skin: oh, this is pretty. The ‘swimming pool’ scent is gone but the scent is a very wet, juicy sweet red apple. It smells like apple bobbing at Halloween-apples floating in a barrel of water, and these apples are the sweetest of all. Fresh and crisp and delicious, this apple note doesn’t turn sour or odd on me like some apple notes can, for now-it just smells like a cool juicy apple should. Gradually a gentle sugar note (not caramel or toffee) starts to appear over the crisp wet apple. The apple scent gets drier and also sweeter, but doesn’t turn on my skin at all. it becomes a soft sweet light sugar scent after a few hours, almost like a sugary dough or cake scent-like a donut, or an apple cake-with a twist of cider lurking at the base, the apple note has turned a little boozy. This is a gorgeous scent which I have a feeling will be worn a lot in autumn.
Sugared Frankincense and Myrrh
In vial: sharp yet oddly berry-fruity frankincense. Doesn’t have the sugared scent of the sandalwood or amber yet.
On skin: hmm, this is an odd one. Normally I adore frank ‘n myrrh scents but this one is slightly weird at first. It smells like pine needles, evergreen resins, and a hint of berries! Not what I expect but I do like it somewhat. I smell a hint of almost buttery sugar on top though, but this smells less like frankincense and more like pine resin, which I like. There’s a dark, almost burnt undertone, probably the myrrh. But this scent is resinous in a totally different way to what I expected…but then after 10 or 15 mins, the scent dramatically changes for the better-the sugar is now apparent and it’s lying on top of the most gorgeous smoky resin-incense scent. this does smell like a couple of new age shops I know but I don’t mind that at all-I love that particular incense they burn that smells like what I have here (only here it’s much sweeter) and I’ve been looking all over for a scent like the loose incense they burn in those shops, the smouldering and smoke, and even a hint of candle smoke as well. This has turned from ‘huh?’ to OMG MUST HAVE MORE!’! 4/5
Sugared Amber
In vial: caramel and a hint of almost creamy amber!
On skin: gorgeous stuff! The sugar and the amber smell similar but have their own characters, and they naturally go together. I get the darker, stickier sugar note all over a lighter, more luminous and clear, sweet and almost perfumey, almost a little powdery (now I get the ‘powdery amber’ reactions others get-but it’s a lovely reaction on me!) and with the darker resinous side some ambers have. The scent is golden and sweet and resinous and magnificent. Very luxurious and decadent. The amber and sugar smooth out even more to make a lovely light amber fragrance, rich and glowing but soft and almost fluffy-sweet, but with a hint of resinous undertone to it. this smoothes out very nicely at drydown but the darker aspect of the amber deepens too, my nose may be crazy but I swear I catch a slight whiff of a darker base note like vetiver but that could be just my nose playing tricks. Beautiful stuff, I might need a bottle. 5/5