Sweet Tea made me feel happy, feminine, pretty. Cool and well-hydrated in the summer. Nicely honey-nourished (like a comfy bear) in the winter. I actually used up a bottle (admittedly, a mini, but that's still almost un-heard-of) and the trauma of being briefly without it led me to buy two full-size bottles.
Then I encountered other teas. Harmatan Noir. L'Eau Rare Matale. Yerbamate. Moroccan Mint Tea. Comme des Garcons Tea. They crept in, one by one and beguiled me with their bitter or herbal or astringent or dry-cleaning-fluid charms. And as a result, I haven't worn Sweet Tea in a year or more.
I feel bad neglecting my old favorite. So that's why I'm reviewing it today - in the hope that you'll try some. Because it's still lovely. Feminine but not too girly. Sweet but not a tasteless sugar sweet. Again, lovely. And, I should add, really inexpensive.
It's just, well, not weird. And you know me - I need the weird. So give this one a try - it just might become your best-loved tea.
Review Roundup: Blogdorf Goodman and Now Smell This and Basenotes and MakeupAlley and Feminine Things.
Photo: By Kanko. Wikimedia Commons.
Is Elisabeth W the brand? Sweet Tea is the scent. Your blog is an incredible education for me. This sounds like such a nice normal scent, like something you'd find at Bath and Body Works ... well almost ... except that I don't shop there.
ReplyDeleteYup - Elizabeth W makes fragrances Sweet Tea, and Rose, and Tuberose, and Magnolia, and several others- they're all high-quality, pretty, normal scents. Except for the Chamomile one. I hate that one a lot. If you wanted to try them, they have a nice website where you can buy a travel size of any of the fragrances for...er.. around twenty dollars. A very reasonable price.
ReplyDeleteI'm addicted to Rose as a bath oil, though it's not weird enough for me as a perfume. :) It's a very pretty straightforward garden rose, extremely wearable, neither childish or vampy, and not at all synthetic to my nose.
(Y'know, I was just saying that I avoid scented products other than perfume, wasn't I? But not in the bathtub. Any fragrance has to be compatible with the remaining traces of Rose. I don't generally review a new fragrance that way, but for day to day wear, yep, it's there.)
I've never heard of this. Is this limited to US only? Sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHmm. It might be, or it might just be so niche that it's seldom seen - I've rarely seen it in stores even in the Bay Area, where the parent company is.
ReplyDeleteChecking the website, I see that they say that they do ship internationally, but they want you to call for a shipping quote.
Have you tried L'Occitane's Honey&Lemon fragrance?
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of the brand Elizabeth W, I must say - not to be confused of course with Elizabeth W, our Queen.
ReplyDeleteThe only other tea scent I could commend to you is L'Artisan Tea for Two. I think SIP Black Rosette had black tea in it, but that is just plain weird otherwise.
I've heard of Elizabeth W's Tea on NST but have never tried it. Samples are impossible to find. It does sound lovely though. I did mention CSP's Ecume de The which is a light and lovely, booze-free Long Island Iced Tea. But, I did recently hear about a discontinued CSP called The Eau de Parfum (The being French for tea :-) )
ReplyDeleteFrida, I think I have, and I think I liked it, but not quite enough to buy a full-size bottle - I remember wishing that they had a mini. (I should check to see if they have a mini now.) Himself liked it OK, too, which is somewhat unusual.
ReplyDeleteflitternsniffer, apparently the brand was named after the founder's grandmother. Or mother? Anyway, not the Queen. :)
ReplyDeleteTea for Two! How could I forget Tea for Two! Probably because to me it's a "hot" tea fragrance, and most of those others are iced tea fragrances, though I couldn't say what makes something iced tea to me. But Tea for Two is lovely. And it's not even very weird - at least, it's only weird to the delighted, "Oh, what is that?" level and not the "Why would you want to smell like _that_?!" level.
Oh, danger, danger. I looked up Black Rosette and am fascinated now. Perfume-Smellin' Things' quick review includes the phrase "alluringly bizarre, slightly minty, astringent beginning". Cool. :)
lovethescents, yep, they have a bad policy on samples - I think that they won't mail them or sell them to you unless you buy something else. For a line that's sold in very few stores, that's a bad policy; it's hard to get that first thing that you know you want to buy. They do _make_ carded samples - it's not as if they're so mini that they can't afford to print the cards or anything. They just don't give them out very generously.
ReplyDeleteI suppose they could argue that the minis are their samples. But twenty dollars plus shipping is a little much to sample just one fragrance. (Or perhaps two, if they'll throw in an actual sample sample with the order.)
Oh, yes I remember making a Note of Ecume de The. I'll add a second Note. Maybe the two votes will make me remember to get a decant. :) The Eau de Parfum? Also a Note.
CF if we lived closer I would give you my bottle - I'm not as fond of it as I initially thought I was!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thought, Frida. :) Maybe you'll turn back to it, or does it feel permanent? (Just wondering if I'd be likely to stop liking it, if I did buy some.)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure CF...if I do decide to give it away, I'll contact you!
ReplyDeleteI should clarify - I never participate in swaps or giveaways, because I know I won't reciprocate, because I have Postal Regulation Phobia. :) So I appreciate the thought, but wouldn't take you up on it.
ReplyDeleteSomeday I really should get over the Phobia. Or have a nice talk with my postmaster to be absolutely sure of the legal ways of mailing perfume. Or something.
Actually (from what I just read in Burr's book, The Perfect Scent) perfumes use denatured alcohol which is not drinkable, so it's safe to send them.
ReplyDeleteBut i could be wrong!
Ooh! I always thought the postal regulations were about flammability, not drinkability. It would be cool if I were wrong.
ReplyDelete