For the last few Valentines, Stereoplasm has released their Strawberries and Peaches collection. I actually bought this collection during last year's event, but since they're back (and you can get them here), here's a little review to go with them!
I'm missing one scent from the collection (Laissez-Faire: Cool coconut cream whipped together with sugared strawberries and maple syrup over cinnamon and pecan crust), but the whole collection is available for purchase. These have also been re-released this year in a higher concentration based off recent feedback about the longevity and performance of these scents, but the ones I have are the old formulation, although I've not had any problems with the performance of this collection at all.
As I purchased these last year, they were still being sold as 3mls, and retailed at $15 CAD. These vials are now actually 4.5ml (although the bottles themselves actually hold a little more than that too), and with the new concentrations, are now $16.50 CAD. They also come in the 1.8ml vials, these 4.5ml rollerballs, and also the huge 7.5ml rollerballs as well. The price breakdown for each would be 1.8ml ($4.45 CAD for 1ml), 4.5ml ($3.6 CAD for 1ml) and 7.5ml ($3.54 CAD for 1ml). If you'd like to see a price breakdown and comparison, this is at the end of the post.
Last year's TAT was a little long (a little more than a month), but the current TAT is 5-12 business days since they're phasing out the general collection, and I imagine that's also why they didn't add some extra scents, or a new release this year. Personally, I'd love to see some more fruit, like some lychees or cherries.... Perhaps an idea for next year? (Because I am a sucker for both and would purchase those in a heartbeat). (No seriously Stereoplasm if you're listening, make this a thing.)
Fuzzy - gummies with bright key lime zest, squeeze of lemon and touch of black cherry.
This one is a bit of a morpher - seesawing between the sweet chewy peach gummies, with the tartness of sour lemon squares, lime juice, and a hint of purple plums. On my skin, I don't quite get a ton of black cherry, but when it settles into my skin, I get whiffs of vintage perfume over stone fruits that dart in and out. While it has elements of a peachy sugar high, yet there's something unsettlingly dark underneath the sweetness.
Perfect for: Actual Valentine's day. Try not to look too hard underneath all the pink and red decorations, the cards, the balloons, the chocolates, and the excessive marketing - just take the discounted sweets and go home.
Pêche Immortelle: Saturn peach and aged cognac enclosed in humid jade glass, unearthed after midnight alongside dewy blooms of star jasmine and clary sage.
For people who'd like to dabble in 'green' scents, but can't quite move away from the sweet fruity scents - this is perfect. It's not a heavy, earth green, rather Peche immortelle is all about sweet spring greens, and it's surprisingly refreshing with a touch of sweet grass, syrupy clary sage and candied star jasmine. Topped with a burst of glossy candy peaches, the saturn peach dances on top of the dewy sweetness of the greens.
I don't quite get cognac in this, but my skin tends to eat alcoholic notes, but I love how refreshing this is - it really evokes a feeling of a greenhouse, a spring garden and fresh juicy peaches.
Perfect for: A mysterious peach pink candy shop, perched amongst exotic plants blossoming in a warm glass greenhouse.
Kindling: Sweet jasmine incense, sunset musk, fresh sativa and strawberry wine.
This scent opens with a burst of sweetness, a whiff of strawberry wine, strawberry syrup and sugary hard candy. After dry down, this fades out into a soft and almost atmospheric scent, as the strawberry cotton candy smells like body wash and lotion, and faint creaminess of a lingering scent. The sunset musk here gives a fluffy and warm texture, while the jasmine incense is just a light touch that drifts over the candied strawberries, flecked with smudges of crushed sativa.
This has the same type of 'atmospheric' feeling as Peche Immortelle, with more of a softer sweetness from the strawberries, but still incredibly evocative.
Perfect for: a candle lit dinner on Valentine's, with a bouquet of flowers, shimmery edible body glitter, silk and strawberries.
Bloom & Pucker: Delicate strawberry blossoms, sour lemon candy, strawberry sugar and frosted daiquiri.
If you're a fan of Lovesick Lake, this is perfect for you. This scent is all the things that I love about Lovesick Lake, with the bright neon pink sweetness of strawberry hard candy and the dabs of tart lemon dotted throughout, and just sticks with the strawberry syrup and lemonade. This really says, pink lemonade, lemon zest, strawberry hard candy and strawberry cotton candy.
It's unabashedly bright pink, and I can't help but adore its straightforward sweetness - and I confess, I think prefer this over Lovesick Lake.
Perfect for: Lovesick Lake's older sister. She's a little more delicate, so she wears pink lace miniskirts instead of neon pink vinyl ones, and sips frozen strawberry daiquiris on marble benchtops in pink stilettos. She's classy, a little more mature, but still as bright and excitable as Lovesick Lake.
Sun Blush: Nearly-naked (and perfectly ripe) fresh peach slices with a hint of ginger root, mulled Rosé wine and fresh marshmallow crème.
One of my absolute favorites from this collection - and it's really one of those blends that you really can't go wrong with. There's a little hint of marshmallow creme in here that definitely reminds me of the marshmallow from Toasted Matchimellow as well.
However, on the skin, this captures and bottles the scent of white peach juice, peach gummies - it's got a lovely realism to the peach note that doesn't lean too artificial. Paired with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and the light fizz of ginger syrup and pink lemonade, this is just a scent combination that absolutely works - it's light, refreshing, fruity and juicy just like an actual glass of white peach juice, and I am totally enamoured with this scent.
Perfect for: The delicate branches of peach blossoms, wearing pastel pink, packets of peach hard candy, white peach juice with ice cubes and a lot of self love.
Price breakdown and comparison:
In regards to the 4.5ml, this round up to $18 CAD for 5ml (I've done the currency conversion for this post, so this is correct at time of posting, but may change depending on the conversion rates). This roughly equates to $14.5 USD. I've done a little updated reference charts for other indie brands, so you can see how it stacks up price wise.
This chart has been calculated according to the closest 5ml size offering; how much per 5ml.
Hexennacht: ~$8
CocoaPink: $9
Deconstructing Eden: $9.75
Fantome: $11
MoonaLisa: $13.95
Death and Floral: $14
Stereoplasm: ~ $14.5
Astrid Perfumes: ~$16
Sucreabeille: $16
Solstice Scents: $17
Nui Cobalt: $19
Poesie: $21
BPAL: $19.50-$26
NAVA: $22-$26
Arcana: $26-28
Disclaimer: Kindling and Fuzzy were sent for review. The rest of the scents were purchased with my own money. 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.
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