Fruits & Passion ~ Solstis
Fruits & Passion Solstis is one of those scents I’d heard dismissed in the past as a fruity-floral composed in the key of bland. But curiosity got the better of me (per usual) and I decided to give it a whack anyhow, since one of the ancillary products appealed to me.
What a nice surprise! It’s fruity sure, its heart dominated by a melon note that seems “marine”-like to me. The melon itself would be utterly unappealing, were it not for the strong and strangely refreshing accents of fennel. This fennel note smells very much like catching the aroma of a basket of fresh fennel greens at the market. Something wonderfully palate-cleansing happens when I wear this, and indeed, Solstis bears traces of curly parsley. The herbal brightness of the scent I feel elevates it beyond many of the more expensive and widely available fruity scents floating about in department stores. At the base I find something that makes me think of light powdered vanilla. However, this is not at all a powdery scent. I’m suspecting this may make my list of top summer scents this year.
The real hit for me was the deodorant. I can’t believe I’m saying this about something I stick in my armpits, but this is really well done. The deodorant is clear, so you needn’t worry about staining your clothes. Soft and slick, the texture is as well done as my favorite deodorant, Tom’s of Maine unscented, and it’s just as gentle and non-irrritating to the skin as Tom’s. The way the fragrance is handled is *perfect*. It smells when applying, and for shortly after, yet it is not strong enough to interfere with whatever scent I choose for the day (and I’m sure that with me you can guess that changes pretty much daily.) Without delving too deeply into my pits, I will just say that it controls my B.O. just as well as my Tom’s, if not better. I’m going to switch over to this instead of Tom’s as long as they’re selling it. For me? That is saying A LOT. Now I’m wondering if there are other great scented deodorants out there that I’m missing out on, or at least those that aren’t found at the drugstore.
The Solstis lip balm came to me as a disappointment. It’s far too waxy in texture to moisturize my lips. Too waxy to even be pleasurable wearing - I’ve worn lip glosses that weren’t this waxy for cryin’ out loud. The flavor emphasizes the melon more than any other note, and I found it enjoyable. But it’s not enough for me. I actually held the most hope for this product, and it’s what compelled me to order the eau de toilette and deordorant since I was at it, because it’s hard to really screw up lip balm. And while this isn’t quite a screw up, it is fairly pointless to buy. I’m sticking with my shea butter and my Anna Sui moisturizing stick, thanks. This one goes into the trash bin.
(Has anyone tried the shower and bath products from this line? I’d love to hear what you think of them.)
Coming either Friday or Monday: Fresh Cannabis Santal. (Haven’t decided which yet, sorry!)
Also, in other beauty-related news, I need mention that Lipgloss and Laptops has released their inaugural podcast. This episode covers, naturally enough, lipgloss, including the history (hee!) of lipgloss, and a very funny little section on “meaty” lipglosses of the past.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Fruits & Passion make very nice bath and body products. I have not tried Solstis, but you make me want to give it a go. Your mention of curly parsley piqued my interest–I love that smell.
February 28th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Ach, I may have to try them, then. Especially their bath/shower scrubs which currently have my eye on… uh, once I use up the approximately one million bottles I already have in the bathroom, that is.
Yeah, it’s got that feel to it like curly parsley, which I happen to enjoy as well. In cookbooks and with the televison chefs, they always emphasize to use flat leaf parsley in your dishes, but they seem to miss that the curly can have some interesting qualities as well. There’s a breakfast dish that I use with curley parsley garnish specifically because of its slightly grassy taste, which compliments this particular dish. I kind of wonder why more folks haven’t explored the smell of curly parsley now that I think about it - it cannot possibly be just you and I who enjoy that smell.
March 1st, 2006 at 2:32 am
The deodorant sounds great! I don’t like parsley though, so I’ll check out their other scents. Now I’m curious about your Anna Sui moisturizing stick too :D
March 1st, 2006 at 5:41 am
Melone, marine, fennel…no, cant do! :-) I would love to have that deodorant though…in some other scent :-) Is it available online?
March 1st, 2006 at 10:07 am
Another line I haven’t heard of! It never ends!
Looking forward to your review of the Fresh CS, I found it quite surprising.
March 1st, 2006 at 5:00 pm
I love that ol’ Tom’s unscented armpit stick! It works great…. never even occurred to me there were perfume deodorants, although I have (ahem) occasionally sprayed there directly with scent… that’s not a crime, is it?
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Kuri - the Anna Sui mosturizing stick is lovely. It’s got a light rose scent, but it’s not anywhere near as heavy on the fragrance as her other cosmetic products, and it’s got lots of Vit. E. I love it. It’s supposed to be for both around the eyes and the lips, but that seems really unsanitary to me, so I only use it on my lips.
Marina - yeah, the F&P stuff is online. You can order direct from F&P in the US now, too.
Robin - it’s a cute line, more akin to say, the Bath and Body Works shops than anything else. Very middle-class-y line, so I suspect the virulent snobs will upturn their noses, while those that only look for “brand names” will wax overly ecstatic about it. There’s some nice stuff in there that’s affordable, but also some duds. For example, the hand cream smells nice but it’s way too greasy, but the household cleansing stuff isn’t bad, and I like the smell of the Tulip glass cleaner so much that I’m using it for my countertops instead of just glass.
March, I do tend to avoid the perfumed deodorants, in general, even the Tom’s ones that are scented, but I’ll make an exception here for this one. Dunno if it’s a crime to directly apply perfume in that area, but I could never get away anything like that, since I can just guess how overpoweringly strong that would be on me.