(review) fragrance oils from Exotic Fragrances

Have you ever wished your expensive designer perfumes would last longer on your skin?

Ever been curious about of making your own fragrances? Ever dabbled in aromatherapy?

 
I've been learning about fragrance oils recently. Apparently you can add a few drops of a fragrance oil into a carrier oil* and create your very own perfume oil! How cool is that? Just dab a little on your skin and it will last longer than alcohol-based perfumes on the market. Essential oils are stronger & more expensive than fragrance oils; essential oils are 100% natural but fragrance oils are often manmade.
 
*Carrier oil: good choices are coconut oil and grapeseed oil because they absorb well into the skin without much of their own scent. Other oils can be used (olive, avocado, almond, jojoba, etc) but be warned their scents can affect the overall fragrance of your perfume.

I ordered a few "inspired by designer perfume" fragrance oils from ExoticFragrances.com and here are my thoughts:
-website does not have good fragrance descriptions and some of the abbreviations used for designer dupes are confusing (but you can call for clarification, they're friendly)
-fragrance oils tend to only capture a few of a perfume's most prominent notes so don't expect perfect dupes
-I think this website makes great fruity and floral dupe scents but their heavier, darker scents are... too intense. Dilute with carrier oil or you will get headaches.

-bottles were filled full, thank you! And the spout lids are easy to use, love them!

CLINIQUE/PRESCRIPTIVES Calyx: green leaves, guava, grapefruit, papaya, passionfruit, mango, lily-of-the-valley

Review: heavy on the green notes, slight guava, slight lily-of-valley
COACH Poppy
Review: ❤ !!
COCO CHANEL Coco Mademoiselle: patchouli, orange, rose, bergamot, orange blossom, jasmine, vanilla
Review: this smells comparable to the current watered-down Coco eau de toilette, but lasts longer ha! Not perfect but a good purchase.
DOLCE&GABBANA One Rose: rose, lychee, peony, grapefruit, vanilla, black currant, lily-of-the-valley, orange
Review: very faint rose and grapefruit, nice for summer
DOLCE&GABBANA The One: lychee, vanilla, peach, amber, plum, lily
Review: lychee, plum, vanilla; nice but the original is so much better!
ESCADA Island Kiss: mango, passionfruit, raspberry, white peach, red berries, passion flower, magnolia, orange, hibiscus
Review: I can definitely smell white peach and passion fruit
ESCADA Moon Sparkle: strawberry, raspberry, black currant, red apple, citrus, sweet pea, freesia
Review: smells wonderful!! just like essence of candy ❤ very soft strawberry scent
ESCADA Pacific Paradise: sugarcane, banana, coconut, lime, apple, lemon, sunflower
Review: fruity and good, but does not smell enough like banana so I'm sad

GUCCI Bamboo: lily, bergamot, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, vanilla, amber
Review: lily, pretty but unexciting- stronger than the original but no amber or vanilla
RIHANNA Nude: guava, vanilla orchid, sandalwood, pear, orange
Review: not enough guava, too orange- this is ok but I wouldn't know it's supposed to be Nude if it wasn't labeled. This smells better if I layer it with the Sudanese Coconut scent I also purchased lolwhatever.
THIERRY MUGLER Angel Rose: patchouli, rose, chocolate, caramel
Review: rose and patchouli, maybe slight chocolate, pretty if you like Angel
TOM FORD Velvet Orchid: orchid, rum, honey, vanilla, myrrh, suede, jasmine, sandalwood
Review: I like it okay, but I think since this is an oil it makes the rum-note extra heavy. So dilute with extra carrier oil! lol when I dabbed some straight out of the bottle people commented I smelled like old lady. And it took 3 days of scrubbing to get the scent off my skin lol it's potent!
TOM FORD Jasmin Rouge: jasmine, ylang-ylang, neroli, cinnamon, woods, vanilla, amber, ginger, pepper, bergamot, cardamom, leather
Review: beautiful but strong! jasmine, cinnamon- dilute the hell out of this oil or you'll get a headache
TOM FORD Noir: vanilla, kulfi, amber, sandalwood, mastic, ginger, rose, orange
Review: this isn't too strong, it's really pretty like the original- but kulfi is kind of a weird note so do not blind buy this, smell the original first!
TOM FORD White Patchouli: patchouli, white flowers, coriander, peony, bergamot, ambrette, incense, woods, rose, jasmine
Review: this is a lot of patchouli- but good patchouli not stank weed
VICTORIA'S SECRET Bombshell: passionfruit, grapefruit, peony, pineapple, tangerine, vanilla orchid, strawberry
Review: I love this more than the thing! this smells so much better- and when I sweat in the summer while wearing this, I can smell the oil intensify hiding my B.O., it's just beautiful ❤
VICTORIA'S SECRET Poolside Breeze: water, hyacinth
Review: I haven't smelt the original but this dupe is lackluster.
VIKTOR&ROLF Bonbon: caramel, peach, amber, orange, orange blossom, sandalwood
Review: caramel and orange, not sweet, slight floral. I wish this had more of a peach scent

Sudanese Coconut
Review: almost a toasted coconut, okay but not sweet or creamy
Exotic Cactus Flower
Review: I don't know, this just smells weird to me, like cactus juice and Splenda?
Neroli (Orange Blossom) 10% with Jojoba, ready to use
Review: this didn't smell like I expected, it smells like orange peel and slight blossom. I need to dilute it more to take away some sharpness. Almost like a cleaning product scent.
DIOR Poison
Review: I love Dior Poison, I have a collection of empty bottles I've worn it so much lol but... No No NO! this smells harsh- I diluted the Hell out of this oil but it is still super intense on the incense! and not obvious with any other of Poison's beautiful notes. This is the only oil I strongly do not recommend.

1oz diamond cut atomizer (you have to cut the sprayer tube length to fit the bottle yourself)
1/2oz ball roll-on (these are cute like little nail polish bottles, I like the flip-top cap)
1/3oz swirl glass metal roll-on (these are the BEST!! I prefer these bottles, oil rolls on so easily!)

embarassing sunburn & tan lines?

I stayed out in the sun too long and got a sunburn :-( and even worse the tan lines weren't even cute!  WHY didn't I wear a sexier bikini?!  So I scoured through the internet for a hack to fix my problems... (which was frustrating as Hell because I'm allergic to aloe and everyone's #1 suggestion is aloe. EYE. ROLL.)   Here's a photo of my bikini bottom/hip area :-( you can see it's RED and blistered ---->

Fun fact: aloe is in the same plant family as garlic and onions LOL garlic makes me feel sick (and I think it tastes like wooden pencil), and I HATE onions. Now that I know these plants are all related it makes perfect sense! Crazy, huh? 😂 #TruFax

1. BURNS- how fast does Neosporin work on normal burns?

because I was slathering it specifically on the big red spot up top of my bikini bottom... 2 days later there was no change :-(

 

 

2. PAIN- a 'hack' told me to marinate in Noxzema (cold cream for you face) and that felt good/cooling... but the minute I rinsed it off I was back in pain and still red. Another 'hack' told me to soak cotton balls (or washcloths) in milk and put them on the super burned spots... ok, but it didn't say if I'm supposed to rinse off afterwards(?) I assumed no rinsing off and after an hour I smelled funky and felt gross.Washcloths soaked in witch hazel, on the other hand, had a very nice cooling effect :-)

I also read about taking oatmeal baths or pressing black tea bags against your skin, but I didn't try those.

 

MOST IMPORTANT NOTE I HAVE FOR PAIN= I took a maximum strength pain reliever every few hours, aspirin also helps with the inflammation :-) White willow bark is supposedly a more natural form of aspirin but I haven't tried it *shrug*

 

3. REDNESS- supposedly tomatoes will remove the red from your sunburn... so first I cut a tomato in half and rubbed it all over my body LOL I am such a hippie! I stood in the bath tub until the juice dried and tomato seeds were stuck in every inappropriate place possible(!!) and then rinsed off. This is ridiculous! I found some Yes to Tomatoes bodywash at Ross and tried marinating in that next. OKAY we're done with this hack, it's not working! You know the color when hamburger beef goes bad? It's red but with this brown/grey overcast-- that was my skin :-p abort mission!  >.<

Another 'hack' told me to spray my body in vinegar HAHAHAHA NO! I can't smell like that, sorry.

 

4. SOOTHING- ok so by day 3 my skin was getting tight and painful (preparing to peel, oh joy!) A few 'helpful hacks' suggested different oils for sunburn so I picked up a few oils: grapeseed oil, arnica oil, lavender oil, and coconut oil. So I mixed these up in a little bottle (mostly the grapeseed with a few drops of everything else) and massaged my entire body. I smelled so good! It massaged right in and dried rather quickly, so I repeated every couple hours. Anica oil helps reduce swelling and pain. This did NOT prevent me from peeling however, grrrrr! BUT while rubbing this massage oil in, some skin did gently rub off without hurting so that was nice :-) Good hack!

Another 'hack' told me mix a couple drops of tea tree oil in olive or coconut oil- HAHAHAHA NO! I can't smell like that, sorry.

 

Many 'hacks' suggested Vitamin E *sigh* ok I'll tell you why this is a fail for me. The vitamin e oil never dried/soaked into my skin. And trying a punctured vitamin e capsule & rubbing it on- well that felt thicker sticky and gross, still did not dry & there was no way I could put my clothes on after that. I will never do that again! Gross! I read that Aloe is high in vitamin e and that is why "aloe is so good for sunburns"- but aloe has NEVER worked on my sunburns! so I'm not surprised vitamin e is also worthless to me here

5. PEELING- time to exfoliate my ugly, damaged body *sigh* in case you didn't know: shaving your legs is great for removing dead skin cells so if you do that (gently!) then you won't have to worry much about exfoliating them :-) for the rest of my body I bought some scrub gloves. At first I used my bodywash with the gloves (St Ivea Oatmeal & Shea Butter, it's good for dry skin) ...but frustration= eventually I was just using the gloves dry rubbing across my peeling skin and making a huge mess just to make the nightmare end!! it was like grating cheese or something :-) AHHHHHH!

[just as a sidenote here: don't think you can scrub your tan lines off lol I tried and all it did was cause damage *sigh* more damage that needs to heal so more time your body will be miserable]

One PAINFUL 'hack' I encountered was to use an AHA cream... Don't Do This! glycolic acid is exfoliating and will eat away at the dead skin- but when if you accidentally touch any fresh skin IT BURNS!! and the pain is not worth it.

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1WEEK LATER: my sunburn has healed into a nice tan :-) And now I will use Malibu "Hemp Golden Glow" ($5 at Walmart) to keep my tan glowing as long as possible. I use this lotion year-round for a healthy glow so I highly recommend it. I rub it all over my body after showering, and then again on my legs before bed [because I shave every day and that fades leg tan fast!] And make sure to wash your hands with soap and clean between your fingers or else they might turn orange, haha

Coconut Oil as Makeup Remover

I use coconut oil to remove my eye makeup before washing my face every night.

The coconut oil never stings my eyes and it leaves my skin soft. 

Best of all: it removes all types of eyeliners, even the water-proof ones!

Do NOT use "Lou Ana" coconut oil that you can find in the baking aisle at Walmart!

That coconut oil is ok for your feet but not for your face. I've tried it and it broke me out BAD. I warned you.

Go to your local Asian or Indian food supermarket and get pure coconut oil. The only ingredient on the label = "coconut oil."

Unrefined (virgin) is best because it still has all the great nutrients for your skin (but refined is still fine to use on your hair).

I just dab a q-tip in some coconut oil and then gently swipe across my eyelid to remove my eyeliner & mascara.

A few long-lasting/water-proof eyeliners I like to use are Milani "Infinite" and Mac "LiquidLast"-

normally these take a lot of painful scrubbing to get off with normal makeup remover :-(

but since they're oil based = coconut oil works like a charm! EASY!

 

Other decent options for removing waterproof eyeliner & mascaras are- well basically anything "oil" haha :-) Baby oil (mineral oil) does the job but leaves my skin greasy. In emergencies I run to the kitchen and grab olive oil. Or if you're a hippie you might have apricot oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, or almond oil in your cupboard to try out... But I still prefer coconut oil!