This marks my first perfume review post. I don’t claim to be a scent connoisseur by any means, but I figure most people who buy indie perfumes aren’t either, and my relatively novice impressions might help someone, since buying perfume online can be pretty daunting. I also am still in the middle of my journey of finding out which scent notes work with my skin, which don’t, which I like, and which I don’t, so you get to watch me figure all that out (I mean, if you want to).

Anyway, a few weeks ago I received my order from Smelly Yeti. I ordered a 5 sample set, and received one free sample.

About the Brand – Smelly Yeti is a vegan perfume brand based in Utah, owned by Abby. They are a fairly young brand, with a catalog of 27 scents, including the Hellmouth collection inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Garden of Earthly Delights (a trio of perfumes named Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio), the Cinema Scents collection which features scents based on various movies, and currently two general catalog scents. If you have a few minutes, I recommend looking at the About Us page over on Smelly Yeti’s website because Abby is hilarious. She also includes little dinosaur figurines and temporary tattoos in her packages which are super cute and fun.

Sizes and Prices – Perfumes are offered in full size (7.4 mL for $15) and in sample sets of 5 choose your own scents (1mL each, set of 5 for $12).

Longevity – I consistently got about 3 hours of wear.

My Order Details – I ordered a choose your own sample set on February 23, it shipped March 10, within the stated TAT of 14-21 business days. I have since let them rest and worn each at least twice. I chose Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and Not the Bees from the Cinema Scents, Proserpine from the general catalog, and Pipsqueak and Buffybot from the Hellmouth collection. My free sample was Slayer, The, also from the Hellmouth collection.

How I Review – Like I said, I let the perfumes rest at least a week before swatching for review. The site description is in italics, then I have my impressions of the scent from the bottle, wet on the skin, and how/if it transforms over time, then my general thoughts on the scent.

Remember that these are perfumes we’re talking about. Skin chemistry plays a large part in how a scent wears and people simply like different things in perfume. Perfumes that went sour on me could wear beautifully on someone else, or vice versa. Make sure to look at multiple reviews of scents before buying to help get a better idea of how they can change from person to person.

Now on to the scents!

Not the Bees – “It might actually be more accurate to call this “Yes The Bees” because this perfume is a lovely sweet confection of candied honey and honeysuckle, punctuated by a hint of citrus and underscored with smooth vanilla. Nicholas Cage screams not included.”

In bottle: a sweet floral with a bit of sweet orange.

a sweet floral with a bit of sweet orange. Wet on skin: more floral, most likely honeysuckle with the same background of sweet orange. If you’ve ever had a chocolate orange, that’s what it reminded me of.

more floral, most likely honeysuckle with the same background of sweet orange. If you’ve ever had a chocolate orange, that’s what it reminded me of. After a while: a realistic honey scent comes out to complement the honeysuckle.

a realistic honey scent comes out to complement the honeysuckle. Thoughts: Unf I love this so much. While I don’t own very many perfumes yet, I have a very extensive wish list/documentation of the scents from different shops that I want to try, and honey is a note that sparks my interest and after Not the Bees, I’ll definitely have to try some more honey scents. This is probably one of the stronger perfumes out of the ones I got. My favorite of the bunch.

Buffybot – “With slightly singed wire, motor oil, ozone, and a smooth metallic finish, this perfume calls to mind warm electronics. Subtle and slightly sweet, this perfume is just strong enough to get people slightly worried that the robot uprising is upon us. Just slightly worried. And, you know, sometimes you just want to smell like a robot. A slightly malfunctioning, overly peppy robot.”

In bottle: menthol (not as strong as something like Vicks), slightly dusty with a very slight sweetness in the background.

menthol (not as strong as something like Vicks), slightly dusty with a very slight sweetness in the background. On skin: menthol (still not Vicks strong), more of that dusty note, and something that reminds me of basements.

menthol (still not Vicks strong), more of that dusty note, and something that reminds me of basements. After a while: it gets much lighter and has very little throw. The menthol note faded and I got just the teeniest bit of metal. It ended up fairly light and sweet, and kind of reminded me of how Darling Clandestine’s Halochrome wears on me.

it gets much lighter and has very little throw. The menthol note faded and I got just the teeniest bit of metal. It ended up fairly light and sweet, and kind of reminded me of how Darling Clandestine’s Halochrome wears on me. Thoughts: I was really excited about Buffybot. The weird and unconventional scents call to me and this was one of the scents that made me place an order in the first place. Unfortunately, I don’t get any metal, which is the note I was the most excited for. I think I’m getting a lot of the ozone, which isn’t exactly what I was looking for. I’ve seen a lot of people on IMAM say that to them, Buffybot smells like warm electronics, and I kind of see where that’s coming from, but that wasn’t what comes to my mind when I wear this one. Buffybot isn’t bad, just not what I was expecting and probably not something I’ll wear.

Pipsqueak – “A funky and fruity and extremely tweeny blend of mulberry, strawberry, and sparkling lime. Initially created as a joke, (to include as a surprise with other orders, a la her reveal in season five) it ended up actually being good. Too good, in fact, to keep secret. I was going to make some sort of “key” joke here but I couldn’t think of one.”

In bottle: really fruity gum, like Zebra Fruit Stripe gum; tart.

really fruity gum, like Zebra Fruit Stripe gum; tart. On skin: still very fruity gum

still very fruity gum After a while: tart, fruity, a little less gum-y, with a bit of artificial lime.

tart, fruity, a little less gum-y, with a bit of artificial lime. Thoughts: I’m kind of surprised I like this one so much. It’s tart and fruity and girly and bright. To me, it’s reminiscent of those glittery goopy body sprays from the 90’s that were bright blue and supposed to smell like that fantasy fruit blue raspberry (does anyone know what I mean?). Yet it somehow has a more grown up twist to it. It has a nice throw, nothing that everyone can smell the minute you walk into a room, nothing that you have to be an inch away to smell. My second favorite of the six, after Not the Bees.

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster – “According to Douglas Adams, this drink feels a bit like getting your head smashed by a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick. While it doesn’t have Fallian marsh gas going through it, our version is a striking citrus mint cocktail with a powerful sparkling punch. Unisex.”

In bottle: lightly lemon/citrus with a weird undercurrent that I can’t quite pin down.

lightly lemon/citrus with a weird undercurrent that I can’t quite pin down. On skin: more citrusy, but with an unfortunate note of antiseptic at the end.

more citrusy, but with an unfortunate note of antiseptic at the end. After a while: ends up as an herbal citrus scent that reminds me of how Haus of Gloi’s Apothecary wears on me

ends up as an herbal citrus scent that reminds me of how Haus of Gloi’s Apothecary wears on me Thoughts: I was really excited for Gargle Blaster. While I haven’t gotten around to reading the entire Hitchhiker series, I really want to because I loved Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (I even like the movie, though I did see that before reading the book). I’d seen a few reviews for Gargle Blaster around saying it smelled like lemon Pledge, but I bought it anyway because I loved the book and I’m a sucker for indie items themed after my favorite things. To me, it’s less lemon Pledge and more artificial citrus in a hospital. I’m chalking the hospital-esque antiseptic note up to something disagreeing with my skin chemistry, which makes me rather sad, but so it goes. This one wears pretty close to the skin and ended up pretty light.

Proserpine – “Dark and deep pomegranate mingles with cool and twisty caverns; a hint of gloomy underworld grounds and balances this scent.”

In bottle: too old fruit; cloyingly sweet and sour at the same time. To be honest, the first time I smelled this, I didn’t even want to put it on.

too old fruit; cloyingly sweet and sour at the same time. To be honest, the first time I smelled this, I didn’t even want to put it on. On skin: very strong artificial pomegranate with a musty note in the background.

very strong artificial pomegranate with a musty note in the background. After a while: the mustyness goes away and it’s just straight pomegranate.

the mustyness goes away and it’s just straight pomegranate. Thoughts: Whatever it is that I dislike on cold sniff from the bottle eventually goes away and it mellows out to a one note sweet pomegranate. It wears better on my skin than in the bottle, but it’s not something I’ll reach for. Strength wise, I think I was a bit more sensitive to this one than the others cause I didn’t like it very much, but I could smell it most of the time I was wearing it.

Slayer, The – “Before she was a slayer, she was a teenage girl. Sweet, bright and feminine, this scent is a delicious blend of light and fruity Californian citrus. Blood orange, tangerine, Meyer lemon, and lime with a creamsicle sweetness. Feminine.”

In bottle: creamy orange with a bit of oomph.

creamy orange with a bit of oomph. On skin: orange, more feminine and floral. If it makes any sense at all, it makes me think of a scent that would be in a hairspray, but without that hairspray-smell.

orange, more feminine and floral. If it makes any sense at all, it makes me think of a scent that would be in a hairspray, but without that hairspray-smell. After a while: a light, sophisticated orange scent.

a light, sophisticated orange scent. Thoughts: I said orange a lot for Slayer, The, I know. But while there is that creamy fruity orange note, it ends up as more of an orange feeling scent. Some scents just feel like a color, and to me Slayer, The is orange. It sits fairly close to the skin, which I would prefer for a nice light feminine perfume. I like it, but it’s not a home run for me.

Overall – While not every scent I ordered worked for me, I still consider this a successful purchase with half of the scents agreeing with my skin chemistry (Not the Bees and Pipsqueak being knock-outs and Slayer, The quite nice). I haven’t seen overwhelmingly poor reviews for the other three. Many people like Buffybot and Proserpine (possibly also Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, though most reviews for it I’ve seen aren’t home runs), so I’m considering them duds due to skin chemistry and personal preference, which I think realistically should be the default reasoning.

What are your favorite scents from Smelly Yeti? Or if you don’t own any, are there any on your wishlist?

Avery