Welcome to the Dark Side of Perfume

Monday October 24, 2011 - by Jessica Klein

On our last trip to gift market we took some time to see the new introductions of Love & Toast, that fragrant, fruity lotion and perfume line by Margot Elena. Last year we fell in love with the bright colorful packaging and fresh scents. It was an instant success at the store with Gin Blossom being the overall favorite among those who tested it. After we made our order to restock we made our way over to the next booth, which was from the same designer but a new line of scents.

No we don’t need another perfume line……but wait did you smell this? OMG! This is something totally different and irresistible.

The packaging is simple, a little goth, and makes me think of apothecary bottles in an Agatha Christy novel. The names are just as mysterious as the bottles, and the scents are wonderful! The hardest part is choosing which of the eight to try. Check out these unusual ingredient mixes.

Arsenic ~ with absinthe, vanilla salt, cut greens and fennel.
Bittersweet ~ with cake flour, dark cacao bean, osmanthus and bronzed musk.
Bulletproof ~ with smoked tea, coconut milk, cedar and ebony wood.
Crushed ~ with earth, moss, herbs, wild grass and jasmine.
Everything & Nothing ~ with sweet orange, petals, desert moss and tea leaves.
Excess ~ with amber, oak, blood orange and patchouli.
La Vie La Mort ~ with tuberose, cardamom, hibiscus leaf and jasmine.
Tainted Love ~ with vanilla, orchid, white tea and sandalwood.
Also available are handcremes with shea butter to match each of the scents. But with perfume at $36 and the lotion at $22, why not get both?

If that doesn’t make the selective process hard enough…well 6 different scents are available in a roller perfume. Cleverly packaged in a test tube, these vials are great purse/travel size. The scents are just as good as the bottles and impossible to choose. After the last few days of trying different ones my favorite is Truly, a fragrance note of blood orange, osmanthus, crushed cedar, sugared vanilla. At $22 these are also a rare deal in the world of perfume.