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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Review & Recommendation: BathSabbath Perfumes (Part 1)

I got my BathsSabbath order!

I asked for a random selection of 10 perfume samples, and Virginia tossed in 5 more because she feels bad about how high shipping is (it is T.T). It's just such a sweet gesture and completely unexpected. So these are the scents I got.


  • Bard's Song
  • Born of Fire
  • Cursed Be Iron
  • Duncan Hills
  • Fairies Wear Boots
  • Fiddler on the Green
  • Happy Little Boozer
  • Hellbent for Leather
  • Holy Diver
  • Hot Rockin'
  • Keelhauled
  • Moonchild
  • Once Sent from the Golden Hall
  • Winterheart's Guild
  • 99 in the Shade
Velvet pouch! Pretty!

I also got a black Sabbath Studdy Sabbath Soap in Keelhauled!

I have a mini confession. I originally got Keelhauled for my boyfriend, but it looks so pretty, I think I'm keeping it now. He never needs to know...

I'm not sure if I can use it either. It's too pretty!

Customer Service Review

The customer service is just amazing. Virginia is sweet and so responsive. She replied to all my messages in less than a day, even with the crazy time difference. Here's the TAT:

Ordered: May 20
Shipped: May 24

Also, I really appreciate her understanding about how expensive international shipping could be and giving me some extras. I guess I'm extra grateful since as I dove into indie brands, I ended up encountering several indie owners who are snippy about international shipping. No, I will not name them since I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were just having a bad day, or maybe they were annoyed I still messaged them asking about international shipping even though they clearly had 0 options for it.

Oh, and talking to Virginia was fun too. She even let me know what seasonal scents she'll come up with, so I can hold my orders until then to save on shipping. She's really awesome!

Price List


Sample Sets of 5, 10, 15: $10, $20, $30 ($2/sample)
1 Dram (1/8 oz): $9 (except Hellbent & Boozer at $7)
1/3 oz: $20 (except Hellbent & Boozer at $15)
1/2 oz: $33 (except Hellbent & Boozer at $25)

I guarantee you guys, the quality is worth the price!

I'm thinking of getting several 1/3 oz bottles once I'm not broke. I like the packaging of the 1/2 oz more, but the 1/3 oz bottle just looks easier to fit into my make up bag.

Perfume Oils Review


I wanted to wait until I'm done with more before writing this review, but they're so awesome, I have to share immediately. These scents are strong. I put them on my wrists and can smell them while I'm typing for about 2h. I'm saying "about" since my nose may have gotten tired and stopped smelling them, even though they're sill strong. They finally fade off my skin after about 8-10h.

Out of the many perfume companies I've tried out in the past month, BathSabbath is definitely up there in the top of my list because their quality is just amazing. My skin chemistry seems to love their concoctions (almost all of them, unfortunately..RIP wallet) so it's right now one of my favourite perfume brands.

These scents do not have that artificial scent that give me a headache, and the smells are just so captivating, they make you feel transported to a different place. The scents are also really realistic. When you smell coffee in their scents, you're not going, "Oh yeah, I guess that's how coffee smells like." the way you do when you when you buy a coffee-scented item, you actually smell coffee.

I reviewed these without looking at the scent description, I looked up the descriptions only after I'm done reviewing and then wrote down my impressions post-reading. I got exactly what they were describing most of the time.

These scents are also really unique and suit me so well. As you guys know from my previous reviews, I've had problems with my skin amping up certain sugar scents. However, BathSabbath's gourmand scents never got too sweet or cloying on me. It's perfect. I finally found my perfect gourmands!

I wanted to wait until I finished reviewing all the scents before writing up my review, but these are so good, I wanted to share straight away! So here's a review for 5 scents!

Bard's Song

"A unisex scent, woodsy with masculine leaning. Fallen leaves, wet bark, fresh soil, rounded out by patchouli."
Oh definitely earthy. I thought it was a bit too masculine for me at first but then a slightly heavy floral scent enters. I then spent a long time trying to decide whether I like or hate this. On one hand, there's this toned down Red Hots smell that reminds me of my favourite combination of Alkemia's New Orleans Love Spell + HoG's Splendiferous, just without the creaminess. At the same time, there's a stronger medicinal smell that smells like those patches old Asian dudes, like my dad, like using for pain relief. We call those patches "koyo" in Indonesia. My coworker caught a whiff of it and asked me if I sprained my wrist.
I don't care what model the marketing team uses, it still makes you smell like an old Asian dude.
Image from topnews.in

Fortunately, after close to an hour, the medicinal smell faded and you're left behind with a sweet, spiced wood smell, with the spicy edges mellowed out.

Post-description reaction: Huh...it eventually smelled too sweet to be masculine for me. But let me try this on the bf.

Perfume on the bf: For some reason, this smells very feminine on him. It became a gorgeous blend of creamy, sweet, spiced wood immediately. I wish it smells this way on me! He says it smells like "a very expensive spa." I'm not sure what it is with him and spas. He describes the scents of lavenders as "spa lemon" and the scent of cinnamon and cloves as "spa spices".

Duncan Hills

"You’re dying for a cup. Freshly brewed coffee with hints of vanilla and cream."
It smells like a café. At first, you smell sweet, delicious and robust coffee, but there's more to it, making this scent really unique. There's a slightly smokiness and a smell that reminds me of old leather seats mingled in this, making you think of one of those cafés your wallet hates. You know the type -the kind where 80% of what you pay for is the ambiance, but hey, they have awesome, luxurious leather chairs so RIP wallet. I just want to sink into a leather chair, smoke a pipe (or maybe just hold it in my mouth because I don't know how the hell you smoke an actual pipe), and solve some mysteries or something.
I totally belong here.
Image courtesy of pducklow2000 on Flickr
Post-description reaction: Oh wow..the description makes an extraordinary scent seem so ordinary. This is a stunning scent and nothing I can say can do it justice. I think I'm getting more of this.

Winterheart's Guild

"A crisp blend of biting snow and tall pines"

On first whiff, I got hit by a very strong icy smell that reminded me of those balms that are supposed to clear your sinuses. But there was a hint of sweetness mingling in the scent, stopping it from smelling medicinal. The smell dries down to that icy scent mixed with a hard, slightly cool smell that I can only describe as steely. There's also a bit of a sweet grass smell, but it's not a fresh, green sweet grass, it's more of a sweet grass that has dried out in the sun.

It's how I imagine Winterfell or Valiance Keep would smell like. Well, a romanticized version, of course. I know castles before the time of proper sanitation mostly smelled like dirt and urine.

Don't think of how this should actually smell like.
Image courtesy of The Other Tank. Check his gorgeous WoW panoramas here: http://theothertank.wordpress.com/screen-shots-2/panoramas/

My skin loves amping up sweetness so this dries down to become a bit too sweet for a unisex perfume, but I still think think this will smell so sexy on a guy. I'm making the bf try this.

Post-description reaction: Oh there's pine in this? I guess the only pine scent I've tried has been the artificial, room spray type of scents, which tend to be sweet, airy and hollow. So I didn't expect pine to smell so grounded and well..real. I'm definitely blown away by this scent. I want to get this in full size too. What is wrong with me??

Perfume on the bf: It immediately smells like snow on him. He says snow has no smell and this smells like a "traditional cologne" (you can tell he sucks at descriptions), but I swear, it immediately turns into a cool, snow scent on him. And no sweetness at all. I think I'm going to get this for sure!

Holy Diver

"The smell of the midnight sea and fiery brimstone. A smokey, salty ozone scent with hints of wood."

Oh gods, this is one of the best blue scents I've ever encountered. Blue notes tend to teether on the brink of smelling like pure room spray, but this scent smells like a very deep blue, that makes you think of deep, still water. There's also a very subtle floral smell that makes me think of ponds in fairytale gardens, and imagine myself sitting underwater in the pond, admiring the water lilies drifting above me, while smelling the scent of flowers blooming around the pond, filtered through the crystalline water. Obviously, in real life, it'll be really muddy, I'd probably get constantly whacked by water lily stalks, and there's no way I can smell the flowers through the water without drowning, but I'm going with my fantasy version.
Now this is the fantasy version I'm talking about..
“The Little Mermaid” by Christian Birmingham

It's a very calming scent and one I can totally see being used for a meditation class, but like all BathSabbath scents I've tried, there's something it it that makes it smell so unique and work as a perfume (instead of an ambiance smell). I'm trying to figure out what's grounding this scent and making it smell more deep and luxurious instead of a room spray sort of scent, and what I'm getting is something that's dirty, but it's not exactly an earth smell. I'm not sure if I'm imagining things, but it smells like fresh seaweed and wood resin. The seaweed smell is a treated seaweed smell - the kind you get after the fishy smell has been cleaned off it, and it's ready to be used as a beauty product.. Either way, this is definitely not your typical blue scent.

Post-description reaction: This scent is calmer than the description makes it out to be. I guess I was right about the wood resin! Not sure how I got seaweed but I swear I still got it. It's not how you'd imagine seaweed to smell like, it's actual seaweed. My grandma loves making seaweed soup and it's the  smell before she adds in any seasonings. People think seaweed will smell fishy and slimy, but it doesn't. It's a bland smell with a bit of something that's just...well, seaweed. This scent is gorgeous. I want it...

Keelhauled

"The smell of coconut and pineapple with notes of buttered rum with sweet vanilla sugar."

I'm not sure if I have the wrong scent, but this smells like a bakery on me. Like absolutely delicious croissants, cakes, freshly baked bread, coconut pie and butter puddings. Definitely loads of butter. There's a slight lime scent that prevents this from turning completely cloying, like some of the "baked goods" smells I've tried. The coconut scent is also not the cloyingly sweet coconut scent I often find in perfumes. It smells exactly like coconut oil, so I end up getting the smell of klappertaarts without the raisins and cinnamon in the mix. For non-Indonesians, a klappertaart is a Dutch-influenced Indonesian dessert that's like a bread pudding, but with coconuts and cream. Here's a picture of it:
Image courtesy of puspa-swara.com, credited to Novi Saluntara's Cake & Pudding book

It's absolutely stunning, but I'm not sure if I got the correct scent. I need to check the description.

Post-description reaction: Oh it was supposed to smell gourmand! I'm trying to smell the pineapple but the slight tartness I smell still smells more lime or lemongrass than pineapples to me. This is a scent I absolutely HAVE to get. 


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