Etsy: Mannaia Fragrances

I love geek inspired things, particularly when it's something like makeup or perfume. How someone else interprets something that I, and obviously they love is fascinating to me. Sometimes I agree with their interpretations sometimes I don't but it's like a new discovery each time and tells me a little bit about what that person thinks.

 

Products were well packaged, the little glass vials were placed in bubble wrap and I was sent a sample from Detrivore Cosmetics.

I bought six perfume samples in from Mannaia Fragrances.

Dark Passenger: A clean tropical scent with notes of orange, ocean water, nectarine, blood orange, banana, coconut, and a splash of shaving cream.
My Take: It's good, it triggers a scent memory in me of shampoo, that's probably the ocean water and the shaving cream coming through making it smell a bit soapy, but the fruit scents blend beautifully.
 
Three Pipe Problem: Notes of cherry pipe tobacco and smoke, with hints of black tea and black currant.
My Take: This description is pretty accurate. At first it smells a bit fruity but after a few seconds you start to notice a sort of smokey woody quality to it.

Bad Wolf: Notes of tea, scones, honey, strawberry jam, and clotted cream.
My Take: There's a strange rich scent to this that I think must be the clotted cream mixed with the scones and that's what you smell the most. Far below it I can sniff out the tea and honey but I can't smell the jam. It's a different sort of scent not for everyone.

Black Lodge: Notes of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of black coffee
My Take: Yup that's what it smells like. The coffee mellows out once applied but it pretty much smells like eating a cherry pie in a cafe. If that's a scent you enjoy you're gonna like this one.

Petrichor: The smell of dust after rain.
My Take: I knew this one was a long shot for me, for those not in the know petrichor is not actualy the smell of dust after it rains, it's the smell of oil plants extrude after it's been hot for awhile. When it rains this oil reacts with the water to make the scent of petrichor. It's long been one of my favorite things but it's was kind of wishful thinking to believe something could capture it in a perfume. I will say that this scent does smell like dust and clean soap.

Black Christmas: Apple pie, cinnamon, sugar, pine, clove, and pumpkin
 My Take: There's a lot going on in this scent, it smells like Christmas attacked a spice factory, threw the building into a bakery, planted it's flag, and said "fuck subtle". The major top note is cinnamon, below that is the pine, and then the apple pie, pumpkin, sugar, and clove all sort of mix in at the bottom.

So I like most of these, some of them are not to my taste but that's okay cause not everything is going to be. They last a long ass time, I even tried to wash them off but they are still there, so long lasting is a pretty good label.

 Etsy Conversation

  Shipping details

My problem is not the products it's with the store itself, let's look at the timeline here...

•  I bought these on October 16th. 
• On October 21st I was sent am email with a tracking number and I waited patiently for for my package in the mail because Milwaukie OR is about half an hour from where I live so I knew it shouldn't take long.
• After several days of waiting for movement on tracking I sent an etsy convo on October 29th to the shop owner because I was afraid maybe my package had been lost.
• On November 1st she get's back to me to let me know she will send that Friday November 2nd.
• After another several days of waiting I sent another etsy convo on November 7th asking if she'd really sent it on Friday because if she had there would have been movement on the package after 6 days. 
• I never got a reply back, but on November 7th the package was finally sent to me and it arrived in my mailbox the next day.

 I don't mind long waits on packages so long as the seller has let me know before time, in the shop policies it mentions it could take up to a week for packages to get sent in the mail, I waited 13 days almost 2 weeks before I finally convo-ed her about what was going on. When she told me "I'll ship it tomorrow" I'm thinking "okay, yeah that's fine. I can be happy with that." But she didn't, and I don't know the circumstances maybe she forgot, got tired, was too late getting to the post office, doesn't matter. She didn't send it for the next couple of days either, nor did she message me to let me know any of what was going on so all I can conclude is that she just straight up lied to shut me up.

Honesty and communication are very important to me, I've had a few online sellers string me along over the years and that's exactly what this felt like. I won't be buying from this shop again, I liked what I eventually got so I do invite you to give the company a chance if you find a scent you can't live without but I will be looking elsewhere.