Nui Cobalt Designs: The Bee's 2020 Review

Another year another addition to NCD's brilliant Bee's collection. Honestly, I've never been someone who's obsessed with honey - I like a little smidge of it and I can definitely appreciate it in my tea or cakes, but it's definitely not the first note I gravitate towards. Honey in scents, can also be a super finnicky note and doesn't play well on everybody's skin, but Nui Cobalt's honey note is never one that screams and throws tantrums on my skin, which is just as well when they've got an entire collection dedicated to it. 

Previously, I had tried a few of the returning favorites from 2019, and if you want more info on that you can click on this handy link to a review for Bee's High Tea and Bee's Cotillion.  

These came in their new 1ml sample vial forms, with the trademark art deco labels, with no spills or smudging on the labels. This collection will be retiring on the 15th of July so be sure to pick up something soon, but the collections are yearly and do return by popular demand! You can check out more details here at their website: https://nuicobaltdesigns.com/ 

As always, a kind thank you to Josh and Forest at Nui Cobalt Designs for sending these samples to me!

Home Sweet Hive - Bulgarian lavender, oatstraw, honey-roasted chestnuts, maple sugar and a scant pinch of lemon zest.  

“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.” - Ray Bradbury

Wet: A blast of floral lavender syrup. It's all aromatic but never too soapy, like gourmet lavender marshmallows, or lavender shortbread cookies. I personally love lavender in desserts, so this for me is a divine opening note. The lavender sits on top of a nutty oatmeal with cream and honey flavored sugar. The oatstraw here features a bit of grassy freshness, but it's a quiet support to the lavender. The opening is reminiscent of Frollino Lavanda (Kyse Perfume), with an echo of waxy caramel. 

Dried down: The lavender fades gently during the wear, but the heavy nutty chestnuts and oatmeal note flourishes a bit. The resulting profile reminds me a lot of Flummery (NCD), with the rich oats and honey, although the maple syrup adds a shot of extra molasses, toffee-like sweetness. The lemon zest is largely absent here, as the richness of the scent really dominates. 

The overall scent has a super comforting vibe, it's a warm bowl of oatmeal, walnuts, honey, maple syrup and cream in the morning. 

Perfect for: Sky Above by Jacob Collier. It's driving along the empty highway in the peak of summer around the lavender fields, having an indulgent breakfast with a little too much honey as you watch the world wake up. 

Swarm - A honey-drizzled blueberry tart bejewelled with candied apricot in a toasted almond crust.

"Aerodynamically the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it, so it goes on flying anyway." - Mary Kay Ash

Wet: Intense, sticky dark honey over dark toasted rye bread. On my skin, the apricot leans medicinal and syrupy here, and the blueberry and almond are mysteriously absent for me.

Dried down: For my skin chemistry, I typically amp sweet notes, so this takes about half an hour to really ease into the skin, but when it does, it does so nicely. The dark honey mellows out to a rich amber, and the candied apricot offers a fruity, chewy counterpoint that you can really sink your teeth into. Despite this, I also get a little bit of tea in this scent, a strong cup of tea with a liberal amount of cream. By about two hours, the fruity sweetness picks up on its medicinal agenda again. 

It reminds me of eating way too many sweets, at about ten, it all just tastes about the same and you feel a bit sick. 

Perfect for: Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier. Despite its out of step rhythmic opening, it mellows out into a soft, sweet afternoon treat. 

Bee in Your Bonnet - Raw rhubarb and cardamom with toasted oats, Madagascar vanilla, ginger ale, and caramelized honey.

"Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind." - James Russell Lowell

Wet: Freshly cut rhubarb dominates the opening, punctuated with pops of fizzy ginger ale. I love the sweetness of the ginger ale here - and the rhubarb reminds me a lot of Rhubarb and Custard 1:29 (4160's Tuesdays), which I adore. The opening is a perfect rhubarb crumble. 

Dried down: The oats and spice comes forward a little more after the rhubarb fades. The cardamom note has a bit of a warmer finish here, but on my skin around an hour in, this ended up turning a little medicinal on my skin with the combination of the ginger sweetness clashing against the rich creamy vanilla. The honey also ends up adding 'too much' into the combination, which is a real shame because I enjoyed the opening of this scent a lot, but darn the skin chemistry. 

Perfect for: Lads of Alnwick by Kathryn Tickell. This scent is perfect for an indulgent weekend dessert where you're tucking into a rhubarb and custard crumble, somewhere tucked away in a quaint cottage somewhere in the country. 

Hive Mind - Delicate osmanthus blooming in an apricot orchard with spring harvest honey, toasted oats, and sweet fig preserves.

Wet: Dried, sticky apricots and chewy figs, with soft herbal osmanthus blossoms dipped in honey. Toasted oats, with its nutty richness peeks through every now and then. This is bright, sunny and sharp. 

Dried down: Apples and orchards blossom, a grounded base of wood starts stretching its roots and branches up, and more atmospheric elements show up after half an hour. It's still a "sweet" scent, as honey and apricot jam are the most notable parts of the scent, and the nutty sweetness of the toasted oats simmer away, but as you wear this in, there's a hint of that darker, green and woody orchard base that stays strong and true. This smells like lying on the roots of a tree, watching sunshine trickle through the leaves, an overflowing basket of handpicked fruit and honey. 

Perfect for: Franz and the Eagle from The Goat Rodeo Sessions. Seemingly simplistic, but it takes you to someplace special. This is like a soft introduction to atmospherics for the gourmand lover. 

Stinger - Blackberry brambles, honeyed black tea, and crushed coriander with ginger root, lemon myrtle, fresh basil, and fig.

"Even bees, the little almsmen of spring bowers, know there is richest juice in poison-flowers." - John Keats

Wet: Tea leaves rise up to greet you, flanked by, fruity, summery, candied ginger root. Suddenly, you're sitting under a fruit tree, drizzling your berries with honey. Turn around, it's a lemon myrtle tree. This opening is wild and takes a lot of twists and turns, all within five minutes of settling into the skin. 

Dried down: At around fifteen minutes, the citrus bursts to life here, with tart lemon, and honey ginger. For me, the most dominant note is definitely lemon myrtle. Although herbaceous scents aren't usually ones I gravitate towards, the dominance of the lemon myrtle sitting on a bed of caramel honey, succulent fig, and candied ginger just taps into a really nostalgic part of my brain - as lemon myrtle is indigenous to Australian soil. I've spent way too many school camps making bush damper with lemon myrtle, and this just taps straight into the olfactory memory. 

Perfect for: Hello World from the Saddle Club. Despite the opening notes of tea offering more of a grown up, mature element to this scent, lemon myrtle is such a rare scent outside of Australia that I can't help but associate it with those memories. 

Wasp - An austere balsamic blend for when you need to clean up and get organized. Fresh linen, crisp chardonnay, and a rain-quenched herb garden edged with impeccable boxwood topiaries.

Wet: From the vial, it's all sharp, boozy chardonnay, and then fresh linen, laundry powder and stiff sheets. It really is just like the scent of the laundry room, except with just a solitary grape (or a wine stain, whatever is age appropriate here.) For me, this scent reminds me of washing your sheets by hand in a garden. It is also an intense scent with a large projection, so apply with moderation! 

Dried down: During the wear, the soapy, green, fragrant nature comes out a little more. The green topiaries remind me a lot of pine, and there's a notable 'wetness' and 'dewy' note with a combination of all the herbal notes. I can pick out a little bit of coriander, and rosemary, but the rest of them are pretty indistinct to me. 

Despite the notes, I don't really get balsamic or resinous elements in this at all, although there are peeks of a fragrant, woody base (sandalwood? birch?) but it's all obscured by the heavy soap and green notes. 

Perfect for: Happy Working Song from Enchanted. It's very clean, oddly elegant, except maybe there's more nature involved than should really be normal.

You can purchase these at https://nuicobaltdesigns.com/. International shipping typically costs $14.25, and you can purchase these in 1ml vials ($4.25 USD) or 5ml bottles ($19USD). 

They are packaged in bubble wrap and a cardboard box, and I have not experienced any leaks or breaks with these vials. 

If you are interested in ordering, be cautious of the delayed shipping times due to current circumstances! 

Disclaimer: These items were sent for review. I was not sponsored for this review or affiliated with this brand, and all opinions are my own, and do not reflect the brand's opinions or interests.