Kheimistrii is the next of my Etsy giftcard new-to-me adventures. They’re a company that started cropping up a bit on Reddit right around the end of the year, and happen to be based in the DFW metroplex (That’s Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, in case we have international readers/anyone unfamiliar with US geography among us)! This is local to me, so I was super excited! I made my order on January 11, it shipped on the 20th, and arrived on my doorstep on the 21st! It also just so happens that Kheimistrii is based right down the road from my old apartment, so I was super stoked at just how local they ended up being for me!

My order was fairly small – it consisted of two bars of soap and one mini whip’d soap. The reason it took a bit to send out is because there was some sort of mix-up on inventory and one of the soap bars I ordered was out of stock. I was quite generously given the option of refund, another bar, or a full size whip’d soap in the same scent as the out-of-stock bar, along with an apology for the mix-up. (spoiler: I chose the whip’d soap because I’m obsessed with whipped soaps lately!) It was whipped up, and everything was sent out to me a couple of days later! I find myself impressed with Kheim’s customer service. She was very up front about the issue and already had a plethora of options at hand to resolve it. I’m not a fan of things going wrong, but she made sure the error swayed in my favor and was super kind; I find myself completely satisfied with her customer service!

I’m sure you’re ready for pictures, right?

As you can see, everything arrived safely, packed snugly in a little box. Each item was wrapped individually, which I also appreciate!

The individual jars didn’t come with any seals beneath the lids, and the mini jar had a bit of soap gathered on the outside edge. I’m certain it’s because the jar was completely packed full. Which isn’t such a bad thing 🙂

Here’s everything out of the box!

Onward!

First up: French Kiss

I love the look of handmade soap bars, and this is no different! Here is the description of this scent from Kheimistrii’s Etsy site:

“A troika of vanillas, interrupted by star jasmine, freesia, heliotrope & ylang-ylang, intruded upon by rosewood & musk, cloaked by shaved almonds and dusted with sugar. Soft, not too sweet, not at all dessert-like. Reminiscent of almond-vanilla-cream, but for grown-ups.”

Random thoughts:

I find the scent of this soap to be really subtle on my skin. The florals in this are very, very faint; mostly I smell a warm, sweet, woody smell with a bit of almond in the background. As stated in the official description, it isn’t a gourmand smell, which I really enjoy! It makes me think of late Autumn afternoon sunlight spilling through a window. The bar itself didn’t smell overly strong in the shower and the scent was very subtle on my dry skin. I will also add that this subtle scent layers exceptionally well with … almost any… of my Solstice Scents perfumes, especially those in their Manor, Woodlands, Foxcroft, and Foxcroft Autumn Festival collections!

As for the soap’s performance, it’s really nice! It took a bit to lather up the first time around (which from what I’ve experienced is the norm for hot/cold process soaps). It does provide a nice light lather. It feels smooth and didn’t dry my skin out any more than it already was. This is an impressive feat, because my skin is being extra dry and sensitive this year, which is also weird because it’s been a ridiculously mild winter thus far!

Moving along: Indonesian Autumn

The random yellow’y color on top here is actually a swirl of gold that was added into the top of the jar. It added a nice touch! Until I dug into it 🙂

Here is the official description of Indonesian Autumn:

“Sitting by the fireplace on a lazy, Autumn evening. Shadows of falling leaves are swept across the ceiling as the sun begins to set, while dark flames pirouette from the wooden logs, leaving behind sparks of slumber. A memory of days past, when the leaves were beginning to fall, as my family all gathered around the fireplace after my husband had lit us a peaceful fire. So enchanting. A unisex scent with masculine notes of Indonesian teakwood, amber & patchouli.”

Random Thoughts:

In the tub, this smells like woods and exotic spices. On skin, it mellows out just a bit and a slightly smoky/fiery note comes into play. I’m generally pretty wary about patchouli, but let me tell you, Kheimistrii can do patchouli like I’ve never experienced before. The spicy/woody notes in this scrub reminded me of a much more mild version of Tyto, from Darling Clandestine, so of course I had to experiment with layering it. For science. They go pretty wonderfully together!

Next up: Rivendell

official note listing:

“Fragrance notes: wild strawberry, sugar, amber musk, cedar wood, patchouli”

There wasn’t a grand story or anything to go with this one, but really… come on guys, it’s Rivendell, we all get the picture here!

Random Thoughts:

I try to avoid fruit scents that I think might make me feel like a kid/pre-teen wading in some fruity concoction from Victoria’s Secret (not that I have anything against VS in general). I tentatively bought a mini jar of this and it. is. wonderful! It is clearly strawberry, first and foremost. But this… this, readers… it’s very realistic, fresh, ripe strawberries grounded by woody and musky notes. On my skin, it’s pretty much the same, just more subtle. It’s fresh and light. It makes me feel just a tiny bit girly without going into the realm of girly girl. Plus, I love the smell of fresh strawberries!

Bonus Round: Kyoto

Here’s the note listing:

“Bright, fresh and very clean spa scent. Fragrant notes of green bamboo, white grapefruit, lemongrass and sugarcane. This is Kyoto.”

Random Thoughts: (this one is long, bear with me!)

This is a fun scent, and it’s quite a journey! Their idea of this being a spa scent is pretty correct, except that seems too… sterile… of an idea for me. This one reminds me of being outside in a refreshing place, not in some marble, clean, sleek spa. Maybe if the spa had some sort of meditation garden, that would be pretty dead on. In the end, this scent is lightly fruity, supported by lemongrass and sweet things. Getting there, that’s an adventure:

Kyoto Adventure, Part 1: for the first solid minute or two after I put this on, I smelled the overwhelming smell of lemongrass. It smelled like lemon/hay, in the very worst way (yay, rhymes)!

Kyoto Adventure, Part 2: a couple of minutes in, the lemongrass is taming down nicely, but taking on a scent of lemon cleaner. Have no fear, this part only lasts for a couple of minutes as well. And it’s not super strong, astringent cleaner, so I found it easy to deal with

Kyoto Adventure, Part 3: “Two paths diverged in a yellow wood…” Sorry about that. It was the first thing that came to my mind when i thought of this phase. If I had to describe this scent as a color, it would be some sort of yellow/green, and part three of our adventure has entirely separate notes taking the forefront on each of my wrists. On the left side, we had predominately lemongrass, though not smelling a bit like cleanser anymore, alongside sugary smells, backed up by faint fruit. On the right side, we had almost the exact opposite: sweet, juicy fruit (though I couldn’t tell you it was grapefruit until I looked at the notes), backed up by light lemongrass. This one brought back some scent memories for me, and has hit a very special place in my heart. I did think my nose was going a bit wonky at first, so I confirmed with a coworker that they did smell quite different (he thought they both smelled good)! This stage lasted longer, about 2 hours or so, plus the time everything took to settle down into it’s final stage. Which leads to…

Kyoto Adventure, Part 4: This is the part where everything settled into what I said in the beginning: lightly fruity, supported by lemongrass and sweet things. It’s nice and light, and I think it will get a fair amount of wear this Spring. As for overall wear time, At least three to four hours, maybe more. I’ll be honest and say I forgot I was wearing it! When I checked it in the evening, it was very faint, almost gone completely. It does stay pretty close to the skin unless you bathe in it. That’s a plus for me, especially since I work in pretty close-quarters with quite a few other people. Plus, our office has the worst ventilation and air flow.

Overall, I think this order was a definite success! I’m already scoping out a few more things I want to pick up from Kheimistrii in the future! For your browsing pleasure, you can find Kheimistrii here on their Etsy store, or on their standalone store here