Arcana: Vanilla Craves Bread, The Kraken and Winter Malaise Review

I have a few random Arcana bottles to review, I am fairly active on Reddits /r/indieexchange and /r/indiemakeupandmore where I can swap/sell/buy new perfume or bath & body products.  I had listed a few things from my collection for sale and a girl reached out to me wanted to purchase quite a bit was wasn’t sold on the price so we decided to do a partial swap + money, which is always great.  She had a few bottles I’d been wanting to smell, plus The Kraken which I’d had to sell a bit ago when we were in a tight spot and needed quick money. (See, perfume comes in handy!)

Arcana can currently be purchased from their Arcana Soaps eBay, Pretty Indulgent, The Rhinestone Housewife, The Soap Box Co and  Femme Fatale or on the two Subreddits I listed above, Indie Exchange any day of the week or Indiemakeupandmore on Sundays during the Sunday Swap.

Winter Malaise 

A carb-laden base of syrupy sweet mango and thick, rich vanilla is prodded with cinnamon, clove, black anise and iron-distilled patchouli. Perfect for that date with your light box. Yule LE

Wet in the bottle, the first sniff is all fruit and the fruit in this is almost similar to Peaches Crave Vanilla it is super rich like fresh preserves rich.  Not sugared down fake smelling fruit.  Syrupy sort of sweet.  As I kept smelling it in bottle in transformed into more patchouli with the backing of boozy fruit.

On my skin is something entirely different, gone is the boozy syrupy fruit and HELLLLOOOO spices.  Anise is the star of the show now, which I know I say it every time, but my skin amps spices like nobodies business.  Which is okay.  I like Anise and I don’t mind its transformation at al. I do wish some of the boozy fruit was left behind but what can you do.  I’ll let it age for a bit and see if it changes at all. Since I got this in a swap I don’t know exactly when she bought the perfume originally.  As is, I’d give this one a 7/10.  I hope as it ages it turns more patchouli and fruit.

The Kraken

Gorgeous smoked vanilla, black vanilla, saltwater, China musk, and black musk. Halloween LE 2015 (It is still available on Arcana’s eBay store)

Wet in the bottle, it’s sweet, boozy vanilla extract with a wet damp smokiness. On the skin, there’s quite a transformation. The boozy vanilla turns smokey and the sweet note disappears to the more lingering background. Then the musks really take the stage, if you haven’t realized by now, I really like musks.  The black musk is a touch metallic, sharp, and masculine, but is complemented by the more powdery China musk.

Dry, there’s definitely an aquatic, saltwater edge to this. This is a unisex leaning feminine perfume, and might be the first aquatic that really wins me over, I usually can’t get behind that wet smell but it just works in this capacity.  There’s almost a woody scent overall – like burning ships on the high seas, sunk by a vengeful cephalopod.

This is hands down in my top 10 Vanilla blends.  (Speaking of that, Do you want top 10 lists for different categories with tiny reviews?)

Vanilla Craves Bread

Vanilla bean, soft brown bread, a drizzle of honey, and a hint of bakery yeast. Yule LE 2015 

It is exactly what the same says it is, you want a literal perfume, here is one right here.  In bottle, it is yeasty, warm, fresh bread with a touch of honey and what smells like to me cinnamon or clove without being super spicy.  It smells like you stepped straight into the freshest bakery ever.  Arcanas Crave series is some of my absolute favorites and this certainly earns its spot in with the rest.  It makes me want to go get some super fresh rich eggy bread and drizzle honey all over it.

On my skin, rich yeasty bread, it is very bready and not so vanilla so if you wanted a super true vanilla scent this probably isn’t it but if you did want something interesting with a vanilla twist this is probably it.  Arcanas scents are always super strong on me so as soon as I put it on the scent of fresh bread just hits my nostrils in the best way possible. As it dries it does take on more vanilla with a rich deep honey scent.

Wanting smell like bread definitely feels a little odd but I love how perfume can fit absolutely any mood I’m in and you know sometimes I want to smell like I just rolled around in the back of a bakery.

 

<3 – K