Now begins the Kurayami Hime Citrus Collection! My sister’s favorite perfume has been discontinued, and while she has enough to keep her going for a while, she’ll eventually want a replacement. We’ve been testing a whole lot of things. Therefore, the theme for this post and the next is going to be “citrus” — a category I haven’t really tried so far!

Lavender Lemonade (Haus of Gloi)
Described as what it says on the tin, “lavender and fresh tart lemonade.” Pretty straightforward, the only variation being that it smells more strongly of lavender early on, then more evenly of both notes later. It’s nice, but on me it also fades unfortunately fast.

Pink Pepper, Orange Blossom, and Lemon Peel
No description, but these trios obviously don’t need it. Peppery in the bottle, and lemon with a pepper edge when it goes on, but as it dries this just turns into pepper and floral. Bah.

Tweedledee
Described as “kumquat, white pepper, white tea and orange blossom.” Wow does this smell like orange Starburst at the outset — it’s exactly that juicy, sugar scent. It acquires a floral tinge over time and keeps the orange (more mellowed, less candy), but the pepper and tea never really come through. It’s not bad, but it isn’t for me.

Falling Into the Sea (Imaginary Authors)
Described as “lemon, bergamot, grapefruit, lychee, tropical flowers, warm sand.” This is definitely citrus, but on the bitter rather than the sweet end. Too bitter for me, honestly, especially since its other aspect is floral, and as usual I’m very meh about that.

Lemondrops (Haus of Gloi)
Described as “freshly squeezed lemon juice with a touch of lemongrass and little hint of honey.” In the bottle it’s very sugary, but it gets a little more tart when it’s applied. After it’s applied, it’s a nice, mellow, smooth lemon that I can only describe as sitting “on a cushion of honey,” so I guess I know why perfumers wind up writing ridiculous metaphorical descriptions for their products. 😛 Not bad!

Soleil d’Italie (Mancera)
My sister ordered a “citrus sampler” from LuckyScent.com, so you’ll see a few random companies appearing in here. This one is described as “pink pepper, cardamom, bergamot, bitter orange, mandarin, lime, aquatic notes, patchouli, rose, vetiver, cedar, ambergris, white musk, and gaiac,” which between you and me I think is waaaaay more notes than a single scent needs. Not that I can really pick them out: it really just smells to me like . . . perfume. Very, very generic perfume. I guess as it dried there was a brief patch where I could maybe pick out something aquatic, and then later something warmer that might have been the musk and/or cardamom, but . . . yeah, it just wound up as slightly warmer perfume. Very boring, and not to my taste.

Shanghai
Described as “green tea touched with lemon verbena and honeysuckle.” Goes pretty straightforwardly from “citrus tea” to “tea and honeysuckle.” I love honeysuckles in real life, but I have yet to find a perfume with that note which I like, so, meh.

Sundrunk (Imaginary Authors)
Described as “neroli, rhubarb, honeysuckle, rose water, orange zest, and first kiss” (because the final listed ingredient in their perfumes is always something randomly metaphorical). Like Falling Into the Sea, we’re firmly on the bitter end here, the zest of the orange rather than its juice. It also is too floral for my taste.