Of Wasted Thoughts and Drafts Plus My Affordable Drugstore / Supermarket Cologne and Fragrance Mist Collection

I find it hard to write about things I like as I fear that I might not do them justice or I might not get in everything I want to say about them.

Things I have experienced, places visited, food.

Lost opportunities, wasted reviews that stayed as drafts. Some no longer relevant, the products already discontinued. 

I used to join giveaways of brands whose products I use or am interested in. There have been stuff I have won from past brand/blog contests and giveaways which I never got to post.

Most of the time I'm too busy or too tired to record anything. Sometimes I would rather live the moment. 

But then this blog was meant to record those moments too. Or what I've been using mostly as the mundane is easier to document. 

Since it's the start of the year, I'm cleaning my room. Kinda mind-numbing except when I go through my stuff that bring me joy.  Like my cologne collection here.  All boxed up to be re-arranged. Basically almost every single P1 a milliliter or cheaper Philippine drugstore / supermarket cologne and fragrance mist currently available in Bulacan and the NCR. Excluding the ones only found online, that would be a lot. They're either bought or gifted. I have posted some of these last year on my tiktok page. 

I already wrote about Bench Daily Scent, Baby Bench Colognes and Lewis and Pearl Scentshop. I hope to talk about the others in the future.  When I have the time.

Of Online Stores and Hyped Products: Let's Face It Tropifruit Might Be a Decade Early

I think it was a decade or more ago that Let's Face It Facial Salon came out with Tropifruit, a body care line consisting of a shower gel, a hand and body lotion and a body mist. 

It didn't fly. It was only available at their salon, most likely limiting buyers to just salon customers. Online shops have yet to boom. It was competing with products that had more exposure. I only learned of their existence after I was gifted a set.

It didn't help that scents were, like this line, short-lived. I remember the body spray smelling fruity,  the distinct smell of ripe balimbing / star fruit / carambola coming through. The hand and body lotion in a tube was kinda sticky, the sweet scent fruity with a hint of rose. The shower gel was in a clear plastic bottle with a tin cap. It smelled of jellyace and tiny bit floral. Sudsiness was okay and it wasn't slippery. The products are actually better used independent of each other. 

So maybe they were not cut out yet to offer body care products. Still, Bioessence and Lay Bare are some salons now selling products online and  doing relatively well. Lazada, Shoppee and tiktok sure changed the retail landscape. 

Current beauty companies are lucky they have social media to promote their products. One only needs to trend or go viral on Facebook or tiktok to make a killing. Never mind sucking. That is until someone calls out that the emperor has no clothes. But then that someone still needs a ton of followers. 

I don't think I have ever succumbed to tiktok trends though. If I ever have purchased a hyped product, I would have had learned about it from Reddit, Facebook groups and certain accounts on Facebook and blogs. Kinda gives away my age, huh?

Designer Collection Perfume Oil - Ocean Fresh

From its website, here are descriptions of the Designer Collection Perfume Oils by Cosway. 

1. Ocean Fresh - A marine-inspired blend of fruity florals, enhanced by woody, musky notes and hints of amber. 

2. Green Pastelle - A floral, green fragrance with delicate soft notes of white lilies, jasmine and orange blossom harmoniously blended with a warm base of wood and musk. 

3. Floral Musk - A fresh ozonic fragrance with fruity floral top noted beautifully rounded with jasmine, red rose, cyclamen and enriched by a musky, woody and powdery base.

4. Musk Blossom - A soft, sensuous scent harmoniously balanced with woody and musky undertones. 

5. Dewberry - A heady fragrance with prominent notes of dewberry with a sweet floral and woody base. 

6. Oriental Bouquet - A romantic fragrance with a fresh floral top note built on a smooth warm base of vanilla and woody notes. 

7. Juba - A sensuous fragrance with a ripe base of sandalwood, white plum and amber complete this classic, spirited creation. 

More Great Smelling Hand Disinfectants: Pure Protect, Green Cross, Hygienix Alcohol and Hand Sanitizer Review

And because it's campaign season (in a pandemic), here are more fragrant rubbing alcohols and hand sanitizers you can get your hands on. More, as I posted about three rubbing alcohols that smell like colognes and a body mist last year.

Nouve Body Mist in Dream Review

Recently, I got Nouve Body Mist in Dream because the scent's familiar. Then it hit me. Once home, I took my bottle of Aficionado F44 EDT, which is supposed to be inspired by Paris Hilton perfume. Nouve Body Mist in Dream is a less potent Aficionado F44. They are very similar, especially in the opening where apple is dominant among the fruity notes. However as time pass, Aficionado F44 has more depth, its floral notes heavier, more enveloping than Nouve Body Mist in Dream whose florals turn lighter, flighty. 

An online search lead me to this seller (I'm not affiliated with their shop) whose account described Nouve Body Mist in  Dream as an impression of Ralph Lauren. I guess they mean Ralph by Ralph Lauren which is often compared to Paris Hilton in Fragrantica.

Nouve Body Mist in Dream does not have much staying power. The smell of  alcohol is overpowering. Needless to say, 60 ml will not last long. 

I bought my Nouve Body Mist from a co-worker. That seems to be one of the effects of this pandemic, people started engaging in side hustles while some of  those who lost jobs started their own business. 

A lot went into online selling. Live selling on facebook, which is selling stuff, the most popular of which has been clothes, in real time while people watching place orders, became really popular. As did food delivery businesses. 

When this pandemic started, some went into bartering: there were people on Facebook who offered stuff like personal care items in exchange for milk for their kids. The first months of the lockdown, if not the first year, were very brutal.

Almost two years into the pandemic, life seems to be going back to normal except everyone still needs to observe social distancing (hard to do when public vehicles are now being filled to full capacity), masking and sanitizing. While this post is being written, there has been no new case in our city. Let's hope we are able to sustain this. 

Aficionado's Version of Paris Hilton Perfume (F44)

A glass cube of a bottle found itself in my dresser more than a decade ago. It was a Joel Cruz inspired-by EDT, a birthday gift from friends. A check on the internet revealed that what I received was their version of Paris Hilton perfume. I am actually not a Paris Hilton fan nor was the fruity cocktail something I would have bought for myself at that time. Citrus and the occasional floral and gourmand fragrances were more my cup of tea then but hey, I like gifts and trying new things. 

Three Gloriously Fragrant Rubbing Alcohols - Cleene, Alcoplus, Wise Choice

Before the pandemic, I associated the smell of rubbing alcohol with hospitals and caring for the sick. But now, with a lot of companies in the Philippines getting into the rubbing alcohol business (and no more shortages, at least for now), we are spoiled for choice. We don't need to smell antiseptic anymore. 

These three are among the best smelling scented rubbing alcohol I have gotten my hands on. 

Sampling Bench Daily Scent Colognes

An article from the Philippine Star listed the notes for the pack of 6 Bench Daily Scent minis, and each has a lot! (Couldn't find any note listings for Eye Candy, Beach Bum and Bubble Pop which are not in the trial pack )

• Lazy Afternoon (orange bottle) mandarin and bergamot top notes; rose and white floral middle notes; warm musk and woods base notes. 

• Sunday Morning (blue bottle'):  tangelo and spices top notes; exotic spices and soft cotton musk middle notes; vanilla and woods base notes.

• Indian Summer (yellow bottle): apricot, dewberry and cassis top notes; rose, freesia,  lily and jasmine middle notes; amber, musk and woods base notes. 

• Spring Break (yellow green bottle) lemon, magnolia and pear top notes; freesia, white lily, strawberry and lily of the valley middle notes; tonka bean, vanilla and musk base notes. 

• Nine to Mine (violet bottle): tamarind, pineapple and melon top notes; rose,  freesia and carnation middle notes; musk and sandalwood base notes.

• Happy Hour (the pink bottle included in the package of six as there are other Bench Daily Scent pink bottles; not in the pic): melon and pineapple top notes; jasmine and muguet flowers middle notes; vetiver and sandalwood base notes. 

Lewis and Pearl Scentshop Colognes and Ice Water Review

Lewis and Pearl has changed its name and bottle and label design over the years. First going by Green Cross Cologne then just Lewis and Pearl, before adding Scentshop to its name. Several variants have been discontinued (Summer, Twist, Happy, Chill, Dew Drops - D&G Light Blue dupe, Angel, Rock N Rio) while new ones have been added. My first Lewis and Pearl cologne was in a translucent almost oval bottle. Right now the plastic bottles resemble lapad which are bottles usually used for local honey or a local liquor brand's rhum. In fairness, Lewis and Pearl scents can be sweet and/or intoxicating.

Scentshop by Lewis and Pearl colognes has several variants in blue and pink liquid color. This may be a problem when you're having someone buy one for you and you don't remember the variant name, just the color. Especially now when outside movement is limited.  Happened to my mom. She wanted powdery Rain (the baby cologne of the lot), brother got her Rush. (Would have bought online, except someone's already at the grocery so might as well.) Otherwise, this allows one to identify which variants are for boys and for girls, although there are variants in blue liquid that some girls prefer like Ice Water (and Rain).

Also imagine recommending these to friends or on the internet and you're just gonna go by color. "The pink one smells like a fruity candy."

Avon Heaven Scent Splash Cologne: Sunshine Yellow and Fresh Squeeze

Finally emptied these two, Avon Heaven Scent Sunshine Yellow and Fresh Squeeze Splash Colognes. I know they have new label designs since April last year but what can I say, fragrances last for quite a while with me because I stockpile and use them alternately. Also, because of covid-19, I haven't been going out much. Except for when I feel like smelling a particular fragrance, I don't usually wear colognes or perfumes at home. I'm okay with scented lotions and bath products.  

Between my previous translucent bottle of Sunshine Yellow and this, my second bottle ever, I can vouch that the smell has remained the same and am hoping that this is also true with the new label.

Aficionado Bath and Body Spray: Fancy

Aficionado is better known nationwide as that company which offers inspired-by EDTs. But a closer look at their kiosks found in most malls across the country would tell you that they also carry original fragrances (EDTs, bath and body sprays and colognes) and celebrity scents from collabs with local artists from the entertainment industry. They even have room and linen sprays and personal care items like hand sanitizers.

Kalachuchi and Fruity Blooms Frangipani and Brown Sugar Body Mist

Victoria's Secret  Love Spell Midnight. That was what I thought the first time I took a whiff of Fruity Blooms Frangipani and Brown Sugar Body Mist. The former was my aunt's signature scent for so long. She especially wears it when she hears mass. I think it's the floral note. VS Love Spell Midnight is hypnotic blossoms and vanilla. I've always wondered what hypnotic blossoms are. The flower on the VS Love Spell Midnight bottle looks like Blue Paradise which I don't know the smell of. I don't know the smell of frangipani either. 

See, frangipani is known as kalachuchi in the Philippines. When I was a kid I was told it was a flower for the dead, bulaklak ng patay. Too scared, I stayed away from it even if a tree produces a lot of blooms. I didn't bother asking why it is regarded as such.

Baby Bench Cologne in Bubblegum Review and Recalling Daiso / Saizen's Carnival Scents

There was this post that circulated over facebook and twitter sometime ago.

Grade School: Baby Cologne 

High School: Daily Scent 

College: Bench/Penshoppe 

Working: Vicks/Efficascent/Katinko/Omega

It's a generalization of what scent an age group usually wears. Except in high school, our generation were into colognes formulated/made in Spain (Nenuco, Denenes and Angel's Breath) and those colognes in bottles you can squeeze. The one who originally posted this may have overlooked the fact that Daily Scent is a cologne line from Bench and Bench has baby colognes, Baby Bench Colonia. But we know what they are getting at.

Anyway, I don't go to school anymore and yet I have all of the above in my dresser. One of them being Baby Bench Cologne, well Baby Bench Colonia, in Bubblegum.

Baby Bench Cologne in Bubblegum does not straight up smell like bubblegum. Some names of the colognes in the Baby Bench Colonia line are a misnomer since they don't smell as such.  Ice Mint is not minty and Jelly Bean is not jelly bean-ish.

Bench Bratsplash Strawberry Shake Cologne Review

A few days after I published my post on Bench Bratsplash Hand Sanitizers, I saw a tweet announcing that Krispy Kreme now offers Spring Doughnuts, fruity doughnuts with flavors like Kiwi lemon, Raspberry Melon, Strawberry Blueberry, etc.

I felt I gotta post a review on Bench Bratsplash Strawberry Shake Cologne to round off my own fruit basket.

Reflecting on / Over Angel's Breath Perfumes and How to Spot Fakes in the Update

Here's the scene.

Glamworks Addicted to You Fragrance Mist

I am a sucker for sales. I stock up when there's a price off and Glamworks Fragrance Mists were BOGO at Watsons, less than P200 for 150 ml. Wouldn't make much of a dent in my wallet so I gave its Addicted To You variant, yes there are other variants, a shot. Sister would later tell me that Glamworks Fragrance Mists have been BOGO since last year. :/

Avon Kate's World Pretty Magical and Pretty Rockin Body Spritzes Review

Although generally I am into citrus scents, I do believe life is too short to live for just a signature fragrance. I tend to switch fragrances depending on where I am going, the season and if it's night or day. I find Fragrantica a very useful guide in determining whether the scent I have is better for cold or warm weather. See, some scents can be suffocating or do not linger as much if used when the temperature is all wrong.

Since it's the brrr months, I'm now using the last few mls of Avon Kate's World Body Spritzes which have been with me for a couple of years now. Sugary, creamy Pretty Magical and Pretty Rockin smell strong initially, taper off then barely there by the time I take my mid-morning/post dinner snack.