CocoaPink: Winter/Fall and General Collection review

Reviewing a few of CocoaPink's best sellers from their main catalogue and their Winter/Fall specials in their alcohol based perfume sprays, including Vanilla Bean Noel and Cinderella's Carriage.

Scents: 

Hazelnut Napoleons - Layers of a flaky pastry crust wedged between a marshmallow hazelnut filling topped with white chocolate glaze squiggled with rich dark chocolate.

The scent was a little strange before resting, leaning a bit towards the sour side but after resting, it smells a lot like Hot Cocoa but it's a bit heavier on the marshmallow and hazelnut rather than the more dry cocoa powder - more like a denser sweeter version of Hot Cocoa, a lot heavier on the 'nutty' scent. It's got a smidge of nuttiness, yet there's an underlying funk of plastic that I can't quite shake off during my wear.

If I had to describe this blind, it reminds me a lot of fake artificial 'hot chocolate' scents that you might get from bath and body products- I also used to own a bubble bath set of 'hot chocolate' scents. It smells like, vaguely artificial up close, but far away its just a very sweet and sort of light dusting of chocolate powder and sugar.  I tend to not enjoy the dustiness of Cocoa Absolute based blends and I get a lot of that dusty chocolate powder here, so this wasn't quite it for me. 

My favorite comment is from a friend, and I asked his opinion on what he thought about the scent.

 His reply, "If you blind folded me in a club and a girl was wearing that and I could smell it.... I'd go for it." So while it wasn't quite my cup of tea, I imagine someone will like this! 

Perfect for: chocolate lovers looking for a little bit of a change, but not that much! 

Hot Cocoa - There is nothing like a steaming mug of gourmet hot chocolate loaded with a milky froth on a chilly winter's day.

I once ordered a hot chocolate perfume oil from a wholesale site which I could never figure out how to use (because you couldn't use it straight) so I hope this EDP fills that 30ml oil gap in my heart. This basically is pretty much exactly the 50mL bottle but in alcohol based format, so I'm pretty happy with that one. After drying down and a bit of rest, this basically stays the same. It continues to be a little bit more like cocoa powder you use for baking with a touch of milk - and basically a lot like the sweet marshmallow with a lot of just chocolate powder. 

For some odd reason, after a month, this completely turned on me, and is the only one of my 10 samples to do so. What used to be a soft chocolate powder mix has turned into an indistinct sour note. Perhaps my nose has just gone off?

Perfect for: anyone looking for your typical hot chocolate in EDP form. 

Sweet Potato Souffle* - Golden sweet potato, soft brown sugar, condensed milk, and rich sweet vanilla extract spiked with a gentle drop of creamy coconut milk finished off with fluffy billows of partially melted marshmallows topped with chopped walnuts.

This smells nothing like sweet potato, but it does smell a lot like sweet dessert spices. I can smell a little bit of potato, but very sweet coconut milk and nutty based, and a bit of the marshmallow as well. I can also see how the walnut smell might be a bit 'wood' and 'musky', verging on the musky old spiced grandma cupboard, but my family has never used those spices ever, so I can't really make that connection at all. I can definitely get the walnut from this, I think it might be the strongest note in this scent, I'd describe it more as, generic sweet scent with walnuts and coconut milk... I think I'd call this one : walnut coconut milkshake. 

After resting and drying down, the coconut fades a bit more, and there's a very musky old walnut scent, which is pretty much unfortunately the "old kitchen cabinet" I was afraid of getting.

Perfect for: anyone who likes spices or woody notes with a bit of gourmand! 

Santa's Cookies - Vanilla Bean Noel, Sugar Cookies, Marshmallow Sugar, and a splash of Harajuku Banana.

It opens up with a really strong vanilla and then a really strong kick of artificial banana. This doesn't so much remind me of TokyoBanana - although it does have a touch of it (which is more of a mild banana puree), but it reminds me much more of Australian banana candy, or Allen's bananas if you've ever had them. While not as strong on the cookies as initially expected, it's a lovely sweet sugary note, but it has that fruity kick from the banana (which is very noticeable even on blind testings). After resting, it remains a nice slightly banana/fruity marshmallow scent, which is a safe linear scent without too much shifting, though personally if you ask me I think I would have named it something else though, maybe bananilla cookies....

Perfect for: Vanilla + Banana fantasies. This is a great combination. 

Vanilla Bean Noel - CP Exclusive-  Fresh vanilla bean, warm caramel and rich, comforting cream create this deliciously sweet holiday scent.  Caramel, sugar, vanilla, tonka bean and white musk.   This is our #1 bestselling fragrance.

Pre resting : this is lovely inoffensive cute straight vanilla and tonka bean blend, and I really like this as a vaguely foodie vanilla- which I really enjoy!

On my skin, this is a slightly smokey vanilla and caramel, but in my hair the sparkling vanilla, sugar and simmering caramel comes to life and stays much sweeter than on my skin like a haze of vanilla sponge cake doused in caramel syrup with dollops of cream.

As this is based off the Bath and Body Works scent, there has been a reformulation of the scent, but in comparison to the BBW version from 2019, there are only very small differences - but on the whole, mostly indistinguishable in my personal opinion. 

This also reminds me a bit of BAE Vegan Perfum's Vanilla Creme which smells incredibly similar just a little more subdued, although I have to say, this is my favorite out of the three. 

Perfect for: Fans of the original VBN - if perhaps you want to try it in a formula that CP offers, such as pumpkin butters or sugar scrubs. 

Ivory Eyelet -  Buttercream, lemon curd, marshmallow, vanilla ice cream.

I forgot this one had lemon curd as well and was a little surprised that it gave me that slight citrus kick! This one is a lot closer to Unknown Pleasures by Kerosene, but the lemon note drifts a little too close to toilet cleaner at times and is a lot simpler in composition. Marshmallow and vanilla are super strong before dry down, and then vanishes into more of a base note, and lemon comes out a lot stronger.

Over the life of this EDP, it's been both toilet cleaner lemon, mixed with the marshmallow note. At times doesn't smell mixed at all, it smells like two notes thrown together, and I've been told I smell slightly 'rancid', yet after a few months it's smelt like a relatively mild slightly astringent lemon, with a beautiful marshmallow vanilla base.

I still can't figure out what makes these CocoaPink scents so unstable, to the point where resting changes the composition and scents so much. I've since swapped this, since it never quite knew what it wanted to be.

Perfect for: those who aren't nervous around lemon going wrong in a gourmand.

Cinderella’s Carriage – What did Cinderella really wish for? We think it was this blend of Coconut Cream Pie with Marshmallow Meringue, Sweet Pumpkin, Spiritueuse Double Vanilla, and Vanilla Bean Noel. We think this is the REAL reason the prince fell in love, who could resist Cinderella in sexy foodie?

The dry down on this scent makes it smell a little more well rounded and more mature than the opening bloom of sweet vanilla sugar and caramel. I like that this scent has a bit of nuance, especially with the pumpkin, because it gives it that savoury edge. If you have either Pumpkin Waffle Delight and VBN, this is a little blend of both, with the savoury pumpkin topped with a lovely coconut vanilla warmth. It's lovely, warm, sweet, a little savoury, but this is definitely a favorite for a reason! 

I can see why it's so popular! I ended up full sizing this one. 

Perfect for: Pumpkin lovers, with just a touch of too much caramel and vanilla.

Marshmallow Fireside - Toasted vanilla marshmallows over a roaring fire. Our rendition of the smoky marshmallow favorite.

In comparison to the Bath and Body Works scent, this is very similar as the marshmallow is a subtle compliment to the wood and smoke notes. In comparison to Memoirs of a Trespasser (Imaginary Authors) this is a much simpler smoke scent.

This starts off with a nice balance of marshmallow and smoke, but a lot heavier on the burning smoke. I've heard one review regarding CocoaPink's smoke note and how they weren't really a fan, but personally I don't mind this.

Another review commented that this smells a bit like cedar wood, which I also get. This is quite similar to Hexennacht's All Soul's Night, and nothing like LuvMilk's Magical Girl, but the wear life for this scent stays very strongly smoke, with just maybe one or two marshmallows that fell into the firewood when the kids were making s'mores. 

Perfect for: those looking for the 'toasted marshmallow' if it was absolutely torched by the firewood/campfire, or anyone who's a fan of the BBW version and want it in another formula. 

Spun Sugar – A more realistic cotton candy blend with fresh strawberry, sugar and sweet vanilla.

A last minute pick, I wasn't really sure what to expect. On opening, you get a lot of the artificial strawberry, like strawberry liqueur with a hint of strawberry nail polish remover.  Unfortunately, it does smell a tinge burnt plasticky if you really inspect it too much, but it's not unbearably so. 

After dry down, I get a bit more of the realistic cotton candy blend - there's not much strawberry or vanilla but I can definitely get the huge blast of ~ spun ~ sugar, and even reminds me a little of Jumping Gym's candy floss and popcorn stalls when I was younger. I like this, although I wish there was a way to prevent it from smelling just a smidge less burnt and artificial.

Again, I find these wear so much better in the hair, just like a vague wafting scent of sugar like you're standing a few games away from the cotton candy machine, it's not there but you can definitely follow your nose to that stick of pink fluffy goodness.

If you do sniff it up close - I do tend to get a weird, artificial plastic scent that hangs around on close inspection, but these scents are really lovely when you have loud scent clouds for social events. I did end up full sizing this one too - just don't get too close, and you'll have a fantastic time. 

Perfect for: Cotton candy lovers, except ramp it up 90% on the sweetness. 

Sigh - Whispers of sweet, European lavender and weeping apple blossoms cuddled in pillows of marshmallow clouds and vanilla cream.

This reminds me a little bit of the bleach scent from Falling into the Sea. All I can smell is the alcohol base, and then there's just a tinge of sweet vanilla base and a bit of tart fruit - which isn't the lemon toilet cleaner but you can't tell if it's lavender OR apple blossoms? It's just, happy and floral toilet cleaner. 

After resting, the vanilla marshmallow sweetness comes out a bit more, but it's not really the notes that are listed - I think of it more as candied grapefruit and a touch of vanilla, and its just overall a faint vanilla tinged sweetness. Even after months, I don't know what to make of this scent.

Perfect for: anyone who loves mild and indistinct floral/gourmand belnds. 

Extra: Pumpkin Waffle Delight (oil based) - “Pumpkin infused buttermilk waffles and creamy cake batter ice cream sprinkled with dark brown sugar coated pecans.”

Opening notes, very heavy on the cake batter, definitely get a lot of the nutty caramel notes as well. This is supposedly a dupe for the B&B scent, although I don't think pumpkin is a super strong note, this is not a bad scent. After drying down, it reminds me a touch of the gingerbread notes from Lebkuchen gingerbread porridge, but that said, I find this a lot more tolerable than the more 'spiced' gingerbread notes due to the heavy vanilla sweetness balancing it out. 

Perfect for: Anyone who finds Cinderella's Carriage a bit too sweet but love pumpkin!

Strawberry Noel (Voluptuous Body Butter) - it just keeps getting better. A perfectly balanced fresh strawberry that smells like real berries (not plasticy bubblegum strawberry), blended with VBN. 

Scent wise, this reminds me of strawberry yogurt, the sort of kind you can find on an airplane meal or when I used to have breakfast in the boarding house. The strawberry is sort of there but it's mushed up with some sort of dairy, which I interpret as a watered down yogurt scent, and it's overwhelmingly sweet. 

Due to the actual formula of the body butter (which is mostly shea butter based, with rice bran oil, avocado, meadowfoam and calendula) after rubbing it in a little more, I can smell the rice bran oil and shea butter come forward, which reminds me a lot of a greasy kitchen stove top underneath the strawberry yogurt, but that fades quite quickly to a nice artificial strawberry scent you might get from strawberry syrups that go in fancy sodas at a nice cafe. 

I personally do really like formula of this body butter, it sinks in really quickly into the skin and definitely gives a hydrating sheen to dry patches, and I think for 80 grams of product at $8.25USD, this is a super affordable and great option with all the scents available for anyone who lives around America, although I wouldn't go out of my way to order this for myself.

Perfect for: Anyone who likes the taste of strawberry yogurt tubes. 

A conclusion (that has been long thought out and revisited many times) :

The projection for some of these scents are massive, I found myself going back to my room of scent papers, and the whole room smelled like sweet vanilla marshmallow, so I'd say vanilla is probably the strongest note of all of them. In addition, I felt it was necessary to consult my scent inept friends, they agreed that these have a very heavy creamy note to most of them (probably the vanilla and marshmallow), although this might be in part due to the heavy use of Vanilla Bean Noel in most of the blends. 

The wear time is also pretty good (for an EDP, I compared these with Solstice Scents, Kerosene and 4160's Tuesdays). They are super long lasting and incredibly concentrated, with a wear time of 6-7 hours, but they really do cling on until 10 hours with faint throw. 

When I originally tried these, I really didn't know what to expect - they all leaned far towards the plastic, premade side and only tolerated them on skin and clothes, before giving them a lot of rest (2 years now) and I actually surprisingly enough, don't hate them on the skin. 

To this day, I still have very mixed feelings about CocoaPink because of my experience with them. A lot of the scents are fine (BBW dupes and blends that use a lot of VBN), but some of the others were honestly baffling (Hot Cocoa which went off, and Sweet Potato Souffle which never mellowed out). I believe this to be in part due to the huge catalogue and huge overlap, it's far too easy to find dupes of scents within their catalogue. 

When I first tried this brand, my first reaction was that the scents gave me this "pre mixed candle fragrance oil" scent which I've noted down below. Out of the scents I got, I felt very divided over whether or not I liked these at all, because all I could smell was a bit of burning plastic. Having had these for more than a year now, I find myself revisiting some of these and enjoying them far more than I used to (Vanilla Bean Noel, Cinderella's Carriage), but it's not often that I do. They can be overwhelmingly and oppressively sweet, and the long wear time and intense projection can be a lot. However, after having them now for just around two years, I've grown to find that there are days which I do want to wear Vanilla Bean Noel, Cinderella's Carriage, Spun Sugar and even Pumpkin Waffle Delight. 

Although my review was a little scathing at first, and the generally not great first experience, I wouldn't say not to trying CocoaPink out again. For me, I would not recommend them as a gourmand lover's first port of call, and especially not to a beginner, and I don't necessarily see them as a brand which does fascinating interesting blends either since my hit rate for non-gourmands was basically zero with them. I find their catalogue far too large, and I don't think the things I enjoyed from them were originals. That being said, what they have done and what works for them has been successful, and there are many people who do enjoy their scents and products, although it's taken them 2 years to actually grow on me. 

For me, I'd really love to try CocoaPink out again in the future (and also to maybe get VBN in a linen spray or something so I can get that spray element without the heaviness of an EDP and the leaky sample bottles). I want to know if it's just a resting issue, or an EDP thing, but if I do go back, I will want to give the catalogue another go to really minimize that margin of error. 

About the brand:

I'd heard a lot about CocoaPink, which is a very popular indie house which is well known for its gourmands and fruit scents. I was recommended this off r/indiemakeupandmore, and there are a few mixed reviews, both very good and very mediocre. Despite this, for the sake of reviewing and 'research, I think it's worth giving everything a try. 

CocoaPink sells a lot of bath and body items - as indicated in the name of the brand. A list of their products include body lotions, perfumes, scrubs, deodorants, body oil, shower butter, dry oil spray, linen sprays, shampoo and conditioner. There are a few more I haven't mentioned either, but the gist is that Cocoapink has a huge catalogue of different products too - not just perfume.

A few reviews have talked about how good the CocoaPink body butters have been and that generally all of their scrubs and other body items have been great - personally I just wasn't too interested in their body butters, but if you were interested, those are offered at 2.75oz/78g or 4.75oz/134g, which shouldn't be too pricey unless you order more than 500g. 

For me, what drew me in was definitely the raving about the gourmand scents - I put a little post up to r/IMAM and CocoaPink was recommended quite a few times - and one of the first things that struck me were CocoaPink's massive and almost overwhelming scent list, there are about 180+ and this has already been cut down massively from before (you can also check the discontinued scents list for the whole extensive catalogue). They offer a lot of scents, and around seasonal times they also offer more nuanced blends (especially around Halloween) and they have a small general catalogue alongside seasonal releases. For me, I was drawn in by the Winter releases most of all, a lot of baked goods, pumpkins, hot chocolates, and winter spices.

As a brand new buyer - I had a bit of trouble navigating the site at first - so I ended up picking a lot from the general catalogue instead of the special Winter/Fall limited scents, and also ended up making a repeat order as well. Due to me accidentally picking one scent twice, I quickly emailed to amend that change and got a reply within a day and had the order fixed up quickly!

The brand itself is not a one person effort although there isn't much on the site to indicate who runs what. From what I gather, Beverly is the owner, who I also spoke with in terms of customer service, and they have other dedicated employees in charge of other things - such as having a representative for the company on the r/IMAM subreddit. 

If you'd like to contact CocoaPink, they're active on Facebook and email mostly, so don't hesitate to reach out to them! I got a quick reply when I reached out both times, so there's definitely a good communication between the brand and customers. Additionally, their online polls are also to ask what customers usually want, which is great for them to listen and improve on feedback from customers, and they'll inform customers on a lot of the business decisions they make, which is another great part of buying from indie brands.

Shipping:

The shipping charges for CocoaPink are calculated with their site calculator, and they refund any overages on shipping. Domestic shipping around America is flat rate, depending on the size of the boxes that you order - and International shipping is charged by weight. For me, I decided to order the two sample boxes without ordering too much to bump the shipping up to the next weight bracket.

Shipping cost ended up being $14.25 USD, but this will most likely vary depending how much you order. I imagine for an order with body butters, it will be a lot pricier - so beware buying heavy objects!

In regards to shipping and turn over times, the TAT for my order was relatively quick. My order was shipped in one week/five business days, because I placed my order after the Black Friday and Christmas rushes, which meant that this would come quite quickly to me. A word of caution to those ordering around popular periods - CocoaPink will often bump up TAT to almost a month working on orders especially around Black Friday and Christmas, and so if you want to make an order you should either order earlier, or if you're waiting for sales, be prepared to wait a long time.

The good thing is that CocoaPink does regularly post order numbers and processing statuses for groups of orders, which makes it easier to sort of 'track' where your order is with the house itself before it gets posted out to you, so if you get curious or impatient, you can check the site. They also offer individualised statuses if you register an account with them - the website I find is pretty good at keeping the customer up to date on when products will be shipped.

In regards to actual shipment, I had a bit of trouble with USPS as my shipment was delivered but not logged into the system for a few days - but got here safely in the end without much trouble. 

It was shipped on the 17th of January, and arrived on the 1st of February - which is around 12 working days.

Usually shipments don't actually take that long, this was mostly due to the shipping situation around Hong Kong - this was around Chinese New Years so a lot of mail just took much longer in customs.

Here's a picture of my order!

The box, with a printed label "Winter 2018" and the 10 vials in a little box with some stuffing. 

They were packaged super securely in layers of paper and bubble wrap, so I wasn't afraid these were going to break in transit at all. None of them leaked as well, which is nice!

My box of sprays and a little bag of Pumpkin Waffle Delight and Strawberry Noel body butter wrapped safely in transit. 

They all come with a standard sticker label, with CocoaPink's raven looking bird and the name of the fragrance on the bottom. Unfortunately though, these printed labels are prone to smudging in the presence of oil or alcohol, so these have been leaving print marks, and just smudge off a bit like rubber from the lables, so beware if these leak or you place them on any oil/alcohol surfaces as the labels will just rub off! 

All the vials packed neatly in the box sandwiched in paper and bubble wrap! 

My order:

I ordered 10 vials of 2.5ml sample alcohol based sprays, an order of 5 sample sprays are $26USD so that breaks down to roughly about $5.2 USD for one. Comparably, these are about $2.08USD per mL, which makes it pretty middle ground in terms of prices - a little pricer than brands like Sugar and Spite or Kyse, but a little cheaper than Poesie, which sits on the higher end of indies.

The sample bottles themselves are similar to the ones from IndieScents, they're not particularly high quality and they do leak a bit when spraying - and unfortunately, these stickers will smudge. The packaging is, honestly, abysmal. While the sticker design is lovely, the printed labels are prone to smudging in the presence of oil or alcohol. These leave marks and will transfer to anything (your fingers, tissues), and will smear off completely. I ended up covering these in dusting powder to try to stop further smudging, but they stay very sticky.

Just a little bit of information regarding alcohol based vs EDPs, generally EDPs are less concentrated than 'parfums', but more so than eau de toilettes/EDT. Parfums will be generally more than 10% fragrance oils, so I assume these are more on the heavier side as they're called 'alcohol based' rather than EDPs. 

I can attest that these are on the stronger side of scents, they do last for quite a while.

I originally tried these on tissues rather than on my skin, personally because I don't like how skin chemistry can morph scents too much. I also prefer to wear these in my hair or on my clothes, and I find that these scents really last a long time on hair and clothes rather than on skin (which is not the case for a brand like 4160 Tuesdays)

I also luckily enough received two samples from them, an oil based vial of Pumpkin Waffle Delight and also very excitingly - a Voluptuous Body Butter in Strawberry Noel! This got a super positive review from u/mascaraforever, so I'm super happy I got a sample of this with my order rather than having to make another order to try this formula out.  

The TAT for CocoaPink is relatively quick, it was done in 5 business days - which was after the big Black Friday and Christmas sales and before their Pink Weekend, and it arrived to me from being shipped on the 16th of January and arrived on the 2nd of February - which is also relatively quick. 

I ordered 10 vials of 2.5ml sample alcohol based sprays, an order of 5 sample sprays are $26USD so that breaks down to roughly about $5.2 USD for one. Comparably, these are about $2.08USD per mL, which is a bit more affordable than a lot of the samples from IndieScents. 

Just a little bit of information regarding alcohol based vs EDPs, generally EDPs are less concentrated than 'parfums', but more so than eau de toilettes/EDT. Parfums will be generally more than 10% fragrance oils, so I assume these are more on the heavier side as they're called 'alcohol based' rather than EDPs.