BrambleBerry S.O.A.P Panel Fragrances First Impressions

After sniffing the 10 fragrances from www.brambleberry.com for a couple of days now, I’m beginning to form some impressions.  A friend sniffed along with me, and it was interesting to get her take on them.    

Does anyone else smell in color?  When I smell a fragrance, I usually have a color in mind for it.  So I’ve mentioned colors for the ones whose colors I smelled. 

Here are my first impressions of the fragrances named 1-10.

1.    Fresh and Sweet.  First came a clean breeze.  Then a bit of melon.  This one smells like the color green.

2.    Citrus with a grapefruit dry down.  This one has stayed consistent for me.  Kind of reminds me of Yuzu.  It smells pinkish orange. 

3.    Fruity at the beginning, moving into earthy, then green with a hint of floral.  Wow.  I think my nose was on overdrive for this one.   I don’t have a color for #3 yet. 

4.    I’m stumped.  First it was earthy and smoky.  But the next time it seemed sweet and a bit fruity with a hint of wood trailing along at the end.  Thinking I would choose between the two, imagine my surprise when I smelled fabric softener the third time I opened the bottle.  My friend and I think it smells a bit like the spring when you open the window and drink in the fresh air.  We named it Open Window just for kicks.  It seems blue. 

5.    Fruit Punch.  I had trouble pulling out anything individually.  When my friend opened it and I didn’t have my nose right up to the bottle, I sensed raspberries.  This one is either pink or red.  I can’t quite decide.

6.    Very sweet.  I like it.  I think it will make my mouth water once I put it into soap.  I smell mango, peach and papaya.  It smells like the color orange.  My friend smelled some black cherry and maybe almond.  Mostly I got mango.

7.    Hawaii.  That's my first impression.  This became a favorite the second I opened the bottle.  Very heady.   I think it smells white, with gardenia as the prevalent note.  If this one is “wet dog”, then I’ve got to get one of those dogs.  If you didn’t read Anne Marie’s comments in this blog post, http://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry-news/summer-2012-s-o-a-p-team-clap-clap-clap/, then that sentence made absolutely no sense. 

8.    Uncle.  No, it doesn’t smell like one.  It’s what I’m crying because I am stumped.  My initial impression was a sweet bakery type, but I can’t put my finger it.  The funny thing is, my friend got a spicy, masculine, “in the woods” vibe.  For now this one is tan.  Initially I think it’s not a favorite, but by the time I put the cap back on, I want to smell it again. 

9.    Ginger and peach were my first impressions.  From there it went to a possible bakery type.  Maybe I am just hungry for pastries?  This one has an orange hue to it.  Maybe it’s peach pie.  Now I want a piece of peach pie.

10. Alluring was my gut reaction to this one.  It’s a favorite for sure.  The second adjective that popped into my mind for this one was sultry.  Deep maroon is the color I smell for this one.

Next week I’ll post updated impressions and/or photos of what I make.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy Super Bowl Sunday.  If you’re not into football, then enjoy the ads!

Brambleberry S.O.A.P Panel Fragrances Arrived

Today the Brambleberry (www.brambleberry.com) S.O.A.P Panel Fragrances Arrived.

You would have thought I won the lottery the way I whooped and hollered when my box of S.O.A.P Panel fragrances showed up on my doorstep this afternoon.  Even though I was in the middle of 10 different things at the time, I stopped everything so I could open the box and take a whiff of the goodness inside.

The box was so cute!  Ten little bottles of fragrance were neatly packed amid pretty tissue paper.   Bottles are labeled with numbers.  No hint of what they contain is given.  And some little pipettes were included, cutely wrapped in a cupcake paper.  That just added to the fun.

I took a quick sniff of each bottle, and then sniffed again.  Wow.  I never thought about how much I depend on the name of a fragrance to help me know what I’m smelling.   

I was so anxious to smell them all that I only spent a few seconds on each fragrance before moving onto the next one.  By the eighth or ninth bottle, I think they were all swirling around together in my nose.  I will spend more time on each fragrance, and will allow a bit more time between sniffing bottles. 

I like all of the fragrances, and I have marked two as favorites so far. 

I am so excited to be part of this testing process, and am anxious to see how the fragrances do in the products I make.  I’ll write more on this in future posts.

Thanks again, Brambleberry, for this wonderful opportunity! 

Bramble Berry SOAP Fragrance Panel

So, it's been a while since I wrote. The last couple of months have been crazy-busy, which is wonderful! I had my best ever holiday season and have been working to get my stock built back up.

Yesterday I made several batches of Cold Process Soap From Scratch. It was a blast. Soon I get to check on them all and see if they are ready to cut. Some Bramble Berry fragrances I used yesterday include Cherry Blossom, Oatmeal, Milk and Honey, and Lilac. I also made some loaves using Bramble Berry's Clove Leaf Essential Oil and ground clove. These soaps will be ready for use in about a month.

Bramble Berry, www.brambleberry.com, (also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bramble-Berry/100412115503) is an awesome soap supplier! They are having a contest to choose a panel of soap and makers to test some new fragrances they are considering. I am a fragrance hound. I love trying new ones! And I love Bramble Berry’s high quality fragrances. They include lots of great information about their fragrance oils on their website. There’s lots of great information there that helps me choose which fragrances to try. I would be honored to get to be a tester for a few new fragrances that are under consideration.

It is really hard for me to narrow the field down and choose one fragrance as my favorite. There are so many that I just can’t live without. But if I had to, I would choose Brambleberry’s Oatmeal, Milk and Honey http://www.brambleberry.com/Oatmeal-Milk-And-Honey-Fragrance-Oil-P3931.aspx. For those of you who have used my Oatmeal soaps, this is the fragrance you love too! The oatmeal soaps, both cold process and melt and pour, are consistently my best sellers. Thanks to all of you who have sampled, purchased, and used them J 

And thanks to Bramble Berry, a wonderful supplier who provides high quality products, stellar customer service, and lots of projects, tips and support for their products and for business in general.
Oh, and one last thing. Dear Bramble Berry – Please pick me!