solstice scents kitchen

Solstice Scents Kitchen burnishing glace and perfume oil

Pumpkin, Sugar Cookies, Peach Preserves, Spice Breads, Danishes, Caramel, Vanilla, and Sweet Wood Smoke.

Kitchen is part of Solstice Scents' Manor collection, which I believe was their 2012 fall release. The concept is really interesting - each scent is supposed to embody a different room in a grand old house that's fallen into disrepair (the Manor in question). I ordered samples of Library, Kitchen, and Manor itself, and received a sample of Attic free with my order. I'll review them all eventually, but today we talk about Kitchen.

If it weren't for the wood smoke note in the description, I'd have ordered a full bottle of this straight off. I'm a big fan of foodie scents, but while I like smoke in theory, I've not had good luck with smoky scents in the past - that note tends to go nuts and take over, ruining otherwise perfectly lovely scents with acrid smokey badness. Hence the sample. But as soon as I opened the little vial I knew I had to have it, preferably in amounts large enough to bathe in. THIS STUFF, YOU GUYS. This stuff! I now have a full bottle of the perfume and the burnishing glace (obviously), and if/when the whipped soap comes back in stock I will have that too. And anything else SS releases in this scent. I WILL HAVE ALL OF THE KITCHEN.

But how does it smell, you ask? Like the most delicious kitchen ever, full of the most delicious baked goods ever. When the perfume is wet I smell peaches and apples straight off, then mildly spicy gingerbread with a drizzle of sweet icing. There's vanilla, warm and rich and caramel-y. It's amazing. The wood smoke is very much a background/peek-a-boo sort of note on my skin - I get little whiffs of it now and then, but it's not overpowering and it is quite a sweet sort of smoke.

The burnishing glace smells mostly the same, though it's a bit less fruity in the beginning, skipping straight to that mildly spicy caramel-y baked goodness. This is the first glace I'm reviewing, so I'll talk a bit about the formula. It's a dry oil spray that's lightly moisturizing and non-greasy. Seriously, it's not greasy at all. I even spray a bit on my hands and rub it on the ends of my (very fine, grease-prone) hair sometimes with no resulting oilies. SS says you can use it as a bath oil, too, but I've never done so because the roach-infested apartment I lived in in college has left me with post-traumatic stress issues re: baths. TMI! But I'm sure a normal person would find it lovely in a bath. Mostly I just use it as an after-shower moisturizer - a spray or two is all you need for silky, yummy-smelling arms and legs.

When layered together these two have wonderful lasting power and good throw. Even on its own the perfume is noticeable and sticks around for a good amount of time. I find most of Solstice Scents' oils to be quite potent and long-lasting, and this is no exception.

Misc. Notes: Completely unbidden, Mike commented that this smells "like brown sugar, and some specific baked good I can't put my finger on." He's a fan. Whenever I wear it he tells me I smell delicious.

Would I buy it again? YES. Oh my god yes. I can and will own this in ever product it ever comes out in. I'd buy Kitchen chewing gum and I can't even chew gum. It's one of those scents that I find myself desperately wanting backups of even though I've never in my life finished off a single bottle of perfume oil. I needs it, my preciousss. I'd love to see this become part of the general catalog, or at least be a recurring fall scent, because if I ever find myself without it I may cry. For real.