Last month the owner of The Porcelain Tub (found here on Etsy) posted on the IndieMakeupandMore Reddit page asking for bloggers to review some press samples. I was excited to try this new brand, and after giving her a general idea of my taste in perfume, she sent me four samples for the purpose of an honest review. While I received these samples for free, my reviews are absolutely honest, as always.

The sample vials were individually wrapped and theirs labels contain the full notes list, as seen in the sample set listing. This makes a convenient reference when testing them out, although the size of the labels might complicate storage for people with limited space (such as the common ammo box storage), and I had one label snap off when I was wrestling with the lid. I think the branding is beautiful and professional, especially for the price point – you won’t find a better deal than 10 for $10.

Black Peach

Bergamot, peach, grapefruit, rose, patchouli, oakmoss

In the vial: Peach and rose, elegant and just a little sweet.

On my skin it’s about equal parts peach and rose, with very subtle bergamot and pink grapefruit accents. The peach is amazing, sweet and juicy but not candied, like ripe peach flesh. The rose leans soft and powdery but it isn’t too strong, and it adds a certain elegance to the peach. After 10 minutes, the rose becomes stronger, fairly powdery and leaning old-fashioned, but balanced with the crisp fresh peach. There are some darker notes in the background that give it an almost spicy-floral quality.

Around 30 minutes, the oakmoss gets aggressive, bitter and leaning sour, which is not uncommon for moss notes on my skin. Combined with the strong rose note, it gives an impression of powdery and slightly sour fruit. However, it settles down by an hour and loses that sourness. The rose is still strong but the peach is prominent, just darker and less vibrant/juicy. There’s some earthiness from the patchouli and moss, so it’s like a really dirty fruit scent offset with powdery rose. It’s unexpected and intriguing.

By 2 hours, I’m getting a good bit of patchouli peeking out. It’s fairly dark and gritty, which probably won’t win over any patchouli haters, but I like it and it’s not overpowering. The peach note becomes more nectar-like and the soft rose sticks around. The bitterness of the oakmoss fades. After 3 hours, its’s earthy with dark peach, and it stays a beautiful sweet dark mossy peach scent until it fades entirely.

Verdict: I absolutely love the peach note in this, it starts so juicy and not artificial at all, and I really like the late drydown when it’s a dark earthy peach, very appropriate for the name. It’s a little elegant in an offbeat way. Unfortunately, the oakmoss and rose are a bit iffy on my skin for a while, and I don’t get any actual sillage when it’s in that great final stage.

Sillage and longevity: Fairly low throw, fading to a skin scent by 3.5 hours, and completely gone by around 6, making it fairly low longevity for me.

Summary: Starts crisp juicy peach flesh and powdery rose, some bitterness from the oakmoss in the middle, ends sweet dark mossy peach.

City Lights

Peach, bergamot, orange, amber, jasmine, lily of the valley, vanilla, vetiver



In the vial: Mostly orange with a hint of peach, over vanilla. Like a creamsicle but not particularly sweet.

On my skin it’s much the same, except for a bit of floral peeking through. After about 10 minutes, I’m getting something a bit musty and warm that reminds me a bit of patchouli. It’s a bit muddled at the moment, and I have a hard time picking out any notes between the peach, orange, and vanilla sweetness, but it’s not unpleasant.

By an hour, it still strikes me as a bit muddled with no distinct high or low notes, but it’s nice, like a soft, warm, elegant creamsicle-inspired scent with a lot of plush dry amber. Unlike a lot of amber scents, I never get anything that reminds me of baby powder. It stays consistent for the next few hours. By 5 hours, it’s a warm and slightly fruity vanilla-amber scent, with a touch of vetiver. It never gets particularly sweet on my skin, even with the vanilla. In the late stages it has a slight similarity to Gatsby Gold’s late stages, but without honey and with the added fruitiness.

Verdict: This is pretty nice, but it’s not a new favorite, and I do wish the floral notes were stronger on my skin. The occasional muddled feeling might be resolved with a bit of aging or different skin chemistry. It’s overall quite pleasant and hard to dislike. Between that and the low throw, I think it would make a good work-safe scent.

Sillage and longevity: Throw is slightly low, dropping to a skin scent around 3-4 hours. However, even without much throw the longevity is decent, easily lasting past eight hours and fading out gradually after that.

Summary: A warm, not-very-sweet creamsicle-amber scent that is a bit muddled at times.

Gatsby Gold

Vetiver, vanilla, lily of the valley, olive blossom, Egyptian musk, bergamot, honey

In the vial: Lots of honey, some vanilla, and a waft of lily of the valley.

On my skin, it really blooms. There’s still lovely honey-vanilla, rich and sweet but not too heavy, and that beautiful ethereal lily of the valley. If I sniff hard, I can detect a touch of bergamot brightening it. From a distance I get wafts of honey and a pale heady floral. The lily of the valley gets a bit sharp around 10 minutes, which I find common in perfumes with this note. By 20 minutes I also get a pale light musk and something a tiny bit fruity. It’s very pretty, fairly warm but bright and definitely golden.

After an hour the vetiver really comes out, the grassy variety with no particular smokiness. It’s such a soft take on vetiver and it doesn’t come off as aggressive or incensey at all. It really compliments the sweetness and warmth of the scent. By 3 hours, it’s floral-touched soft warm vanilla and vetiver. I can smell a bit of the musk but I definitely wouldn’t describe it as musky overall. By 5 hours it’s a complex and soft, almost ethereal vanilla with a bit of underlying vetiver, but hard to pull apart any other notes. It never gets dark or heavy, and gradually fades into just a vanilla skin scent.

Verdict: I really love this. It develops in interesting ways, and I enjoy it at all stages. It’s the kind of composition that evokes a classic perfume but manages to seem more natural, yet still sophisticated. Also, this is by far the softest and sweetest take on vetiver I’ve ever smelled, a good vetiver for people who aren’t vetiver fans. It’s unique in my collection while still being wearable and versatile, and I really appreciate that.

Sillage and longevity: Average sillage with some decent wafts, drops to low sillage after 3 hours and a skin scent after 5. It is a strong skin scent past 9 hours and doesn’t fade until past 12, which is a good performance for me.

Summary: Starts as honey, vanilla, ethereal muguet, and a light pale musk, dries to floral-touched vanilla and grassy vetiver.

Seattleite

Tuberose, coffee, vanilla, jasmine, chamomile, cinnamon, sandalwood

In the vial: Coffee, cinnamon, and a touch of tuberose and jasmine.

After a few minutes on my skin I get more tuberose, very creamy and sugared, but it’s mostly cappuccino (as described in this scent’s expanded description). After 10 minutes, I get that fleshy, rich, creamy, decadent tuberose front and center, sugared and spicy with cappuccino in the background. By 20 minutes it’s a very interesting spicy-sweet scent with a tuberose heart and a bit of woodiness grounding it. As it develops more, I smell vanilla merging into the tuberose. The tuberose is perfect and doesn’t smell too rubbery or indolic.

After an hour, the cappuccino is definitely quite sweet and paired with sugared tuberose. The jasmine is just an accent. I also don’t get much cinnamon, which is surprising since that’s a note that can often overpower a scent for me. After a while longer the cappuccino becomes more prominent than the floral, and after 3 hours it smells like mostly very sweet coffee drink with a little soft creamy tuberose woven in. There’s still that woodiness in the background. By 6 hours, it’s warm sugared cappuccino melded with the creaminess of tuberose and vanilla.

Verdict: I really like the sugared tuberose and I definitely don’t have anything like this in my collection. It’s warm and gourmand in a way that doesn’t make me hungry. I would recommend this to someone looking for a unique twist on the “sweet coffee beverage” theme or wanting to branch out from pure gourmands.

Sillage and longevity: This has good throw until around 5 hours when it gets quite low. Longevity is average, fading out by around 8 hours.

Summary: Sweet warm cappuccino, vanilla, sugared tuberose, and a bit of woodiness grounding it.

Final Thoughts

I would definitely order from The Porcelain Tub in the future. There were some very nice scents here, with my favorite being Gatsby Gold, and they all struck me as good quality. I had occasional issues with longevity and scent strength, but not enough to spoil my opinion of them. I think the floral elements (tuberose, lily of the valley) were especially nice, and the gorgeous peach note in Black Peach makes me want to try their other fruity scents. For the price, they’re an amazing deal, and I highly recommend checking them out.