Mother Shub's Squamous Sea Salt Caramel Cookies

[suki]

Dusted with mineral-rich salts dredged from the foetid depths of the Nameless Sea!

In The Bottle: Wow. Straight outta the bottle I'm indeed getting: cookies. caramel. sea salt.

Wet On Skin: The same. It's like the 2012 Sugar Cookie plus salted caramel.

Dry Down: In the dry down, a touch of the 'depths of the Nameless Sea' have emerged- usually aqua and water notes go all Mr Clean on me and it's a bad scene, but the foodie elements of this scent seem to be keeping it this side of just briny, which is going pretty well, actually.

In All: Low to medium throw, I didn't put a ton on this time and I might continue to be cautious until I see how that briny note plays out over the course of an entire day. It seems to mellow pretty quickly, so there may be no issue. but if you tend to be on the fence with water notes, I'll proceed- but with caution.

[cherrycherry]

The salted caramel note hits me first. It's gooey and rich and buttery. There is a tiny lick of the sea in there but the aquatic doesn't bother me too much. On my arm, the cookie note comes out to play and I'm huffing myself and thinking how perfect this is. The gourmand notes almost completely cover the aquatic note and really, it's all cookies and melted, salty caramel.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Very sweet and surprisingly cherry. No really. This seems to be mostly cherry with a rich, caramel underbelly and a hint of salt. I am starting to wonder if there was some sort of decanting accident, though it could be a parsing error where my brain is masking accidental accords out of bits of the accords in the blend, which happens. Wet: I’m still mostly getting lots of cherry now with whipped cream. Now and then I can get it to resolve into salted caramel, so I’m thinking this is a scent my brain doesn’t parse well. It’s lovely when I concentrate enough to make it work, but mostly, it’s sundae toppings. Dry: Ah! There is the caramel. It’s gorgeous on the dry down and nothing like cherry at all. If it smelled like this to me the whole time, I’d be in love, but it’s a bit intense in the early stages.

[MuskWitch]

In the imp, sweet creamy salty caramel, a cookie note, and a marzipan note with a tiny bit of vanilla?

 

On skin, wet, caramel, beautiful sweet creamy caramel, the marzipan is still there, but it isn't the irritating yucky smell of artificial almond, it is almonds, real almonds. This is mostly caramel cookie with a teensy bit of marzipan, maybe even some coconut?

 

Drydown, well, this won't be fair at all, my skin did the same thing it usually does with the caramel note. I was so hoping it wouldn't! It just turns icky on me.

 

If your skin agrees with caramel, you'll probably love this. Caramel is one of my favorite things to eat, I SO wish I could wear it on my skin! This would be AMAZING if I could.

[dementia_divine]

In the decant: This is so strong that I can smell it without even opening the decant! Very strong, salty caramel! I am not really getting the cookie note at all at this time.

 

Wet: Super salty caramel. It seems to be getting saltier the longer it sits on my skin. I can't believe how salty this is! I think there is a bit of almond extract or something similar in this blend as well. That note is seeming to fade away now, and the sea salt is taking a step back to reveal the caramel itself now. It's very rich and gooey. I am not really getting any cookie from this!

 

Dry: Very salty caramel.

 

Verdict: This is way too intense for me. I won't be keeping my decant, but if you like foodie scents with a lot of throw, you will probably enjoy this blend.

[Numanoid]

In Decant: YUM! Even before I open it, I can smell the caramel! But sniffing...a blast of it!

 

On Skin: I smell everything...the caramel cookie, salt, and slight tinge of the aquatic!

 

Drydown: Caramel falls back a bit...it's there, but not overpowering. Can smell the salty-ness mostly. Get a tiny bit of cookie and still the faint aquatic scent. Don't know how she does it. This makes me feel like I am on my way to the ocean...eating caramel cookies, but still a ways away, but you can start to smell the salty ocean air....very faintly!

 

After about 5 minutes, I still can smell all the notes, but all are tamed down quite a bit...not a lot of throw. My decant is enough....don't think I would need a full bottle!

[Honey Girl]

Sadly I didn't get any cookie smell to me. It smelt sort of like..a can of cashews? It smelt very salty/nutty to me. Not sure why it reminds me of eating nuts of some sort, maybe the salt..

[tinyvulture]

At first, almond extract? OK, that's random.

 

When that goes away...buttery cookies with caramel. Like a tin of those shortbread cookies you get at Christmas. Super buttery and sweet.

 

I didn't know the meaning of "squamous" so I googled it and it means...scaly.

 

After a couple minutes, I get the aquatic note that other reviewers have mentioned. Oh, darn, it's that aquatic note that goes sweet on me, like pineapple.

 

I'm trying to tell myself, "Well it still smells okay, like pineapple upside-down cake." But honestly aquatics don't do much for me and as far as this year's foody Yules, Pumpkin Pecan Treacle Tarts has already won my heart.

[ScabbyLucy]

Pretty accurately caramel/sea salt, but there's a harsh note that's unlike any other aquatic I've worn. Throw is crazy too (my mom could smell it half the house away with one dab- it made her mildly nauseous too)

[stellamaris]

Delicious, I smell like an evil cookie. I love that Mother Shub, everything she bakes is good for me.

[ReallyZeb]

When it's wet it's Almond Daim bar, but it dries to cookies with a salty plasticky tang. Not for me.

[Deliciousness]

In the imp, this is a very sweet, foody concoction.

Wet on skin: I smell marzipan! It's so good, it makes my mouth water . After a bit, this easses up to reveal a wonderful caramel covered sugar cookie.

Dry down: The cookie scent becomes more prominent and buttery. The caramel is still present, but becomes a little less sweet as the salty aquatics come to the front.

 

This is one of those scents, at least for me, which morphs continually while wearing. This scent starts off very gourmand and turns into a foody aquatic. Unfortunately, I find the cookie starts to go stale toward the end of the dry down, just as the aquatic starts to make an appearance. I would totally buy a bottle if the buttery cookie stayed fresh, because this is a really great blend otherwise.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Deliciousness

[zankoku_zen]

Evil sea salt cookies! There's a very heavy aquatic element to the sea salt cookies, and it smells sort of... well, evil.

 

These are the cookies that Cthulu eats when he wants a midnight snack. So if you see the sign/meme/tshirt "Come to the dark side, we have cookies?"

 

Well, they serve THESE cookies.

[Magycmyste]

In the imp: (closed) Salted caramel. (open) Sweet caramel cookie

 

Wet on skin: Caramel cookies. Almost reminds me of gingersnaps.

 

Dried down: Still sweet caramel cookies, but there's an almost watery note that's beautiful. I'm not sure where it's coming from. Maybe it's the sea salt making me think "aquatic, but I think it'd be more than that. Hmmmm.......

 

Throw: Sugar and salted caramel. It makes me happy.

 

Verdict: **** 1/* Yes, yes, and yes. Bottle, please.

[welcometothefamily]

In the Imp: Treacly caramel, almost alcoholic in it's richness. Slightly salty.

 

Wet: Mmmmmyes. Very caramelly, and I swear I can smell nuts.

 

Drydown: Caramel....nuts.... bananas? O.o I wasn't expecting banana, but it is delicious. It smells like banana choc chip bread drizzled in caramel and chopped pecans .

 

Verdict: This actually quite odd, I'm definitely getting pecans from it. If I didn't know any better, I'd guess this was MS's treacle pecan tarts instead of caramel cookies. It is however, delicious, and I think I want a bottle.

 

4/5

 

Edited: posted the wrong review by accident.

Edited January 14, 2014 by welcometothefamily

[Astarial]

In the decant, this is strong caramel with a hint of cookie. Once on my skin, it becomes a salty, sometimes aquatic caramel. Very little morph even over an entire day - just plain old delicious salted caramel. In tandem with Dia de los Reyes, I smell like a salted caramel mocha.

[astarinel]

I get a lot of the slightly sharp aquatic salt other people have mentioned.

 

The caramel aspect is more prominent when wet, but this doesn't smell particularly like cookies to me, ever. It's mostly just a very salty caramel. As it dries the caramel and other foody aspects to the scent fade away, and it's mostly just this dark salty scent. I'm going to pass it off to my boyfriend who likes odd, more masculine foody scents, but this one was heavy on the sea salt, light on the caramel cookies for me.

[milo]

Sweet caramel, with something fresh, like ocean air. I love the ocean air part of this blend, but the caramel is not one of my favourite scents to wear. I would, however, like to eat whatever the foody version would be though! As it dries, the fresh scent disappears, and we're left with salty caramel cookies. If anyone has made cookies with SKOR bits in it, I think this would be very similar. Nice to try, but I don't generally wear foody blends.

[thekittenkat]

In the bottle: Lots of that salled air that you get at the beach when it's low tide, there's tidal pools, and the wind's blowing inland.

 

Wet: Still the salty air, but blowing along w/ it something nutty, like I'm near a bakery.

 

The dry-down: This is more like the sea salt caramels (but w/o chocolate) than like cookies. Keeping my bottle for the scent locket, as I love that blast of salt air.

[Ajila]

In the bottle - Soft almonds oddly enough

 

Wet on me - Soft powdery almonds and a touch of something aquatic

 

Dry on me - A sweet dark rich incense

 

Overall - I love the dry down but there is a period between wet and dry when it smells like stale dishwater on me and I just can't get over that

[aiobhan]

In Bottle: Buttery, caramelly cookies. Very reminiscent of Butter Rum Cookie.

Wet on skin: Definitely caramel cookies, and the salt is there. Also a gentle aquatic note!

Dried, after an hour or so: Gorgeous baked cookies - dark caramel and very buttery. Love.

 

I came home after wearing this for 8 hours and my husband just kept exclaiming how good I smelled. I can still clearly smell the caramel note, even after this long.

 

I LOVE IT.

 

But I only have a half-bottle!

[elinox]

First Sniff: Salted caramel with some warm cookies and a bit of salty aquatics peeking through in the background.

 

Initial Wet Application: Aquatic: wet and murky. There’s a little bit of the cookie smell but it’s hiding and hard to detect.

 

Dry Down (first 15 minutes): As it began to dry down, this went light and watery. It’s clean, with some aquatic plants lurking under the surface. There’s a bit of salted caramel coming back as well, but it’s faint so far.

 

My Reaction: As this completed the dry down, it was still wet and aquatic which reminds me of The Old Ones from the lap. There’s a taste of salted caramel hovering in the background, which I love, and maybe some of the baked cookies too, but it’s hard to separate it from the water. A bit later it seems to switch between water and salted caramel; I can live with this!

 

Rating: 3.5

[cynderella]

I just had to try this again because it's OFFICIALLY fall and I was craving something sweet and comforting!

 

I bought this on the forums well over a year ago, and when I first tried this on, it didn't work on my skin at all. So I put the bottle in my cabinet with my other oils and let it sit for a year. I'm not sure if that made a difference, or if my skin chemistry is just different now, but it's now one of my favorites!

 

In the bottle: Strong, almost boozy caramel with a hint of almond. Mmm.

 

Wet: I can still smell the caramel and almond, but the booze has faded. The salt is coming out as well, but not in an aquatic note. More like salt sprinkled on fresh caramels.

 

Dry: The almond is completely gone, but I still get heavy salted caramel. It's so realistic and sweet without being sickening! I still don't get any aquatic notes like everyone else, but that's not what I was looking for anyways. However, both my mother and my girlfriend smell straight maple syrup from this for some reason? I don't get maple at all.

 

This also has incredibly strong throw. I just dabbed a little behind my ears and I went to pick my girlfriend up. I didn't tell her what I was wearing, and when she opened the door to get in the car, she said, "Why does your car smell like maple syrup?" Yay! Something that finally has some throw. Usually scents have almost no throw on me and I have to constantly reapply.

 

Even if they smell maple syrup, that's still fine with me! I happen to love the smell of maple syrup.

[aquazoo]

Caramel dipped in sea water. Or maybe that’s sea water with a little bit of caramel added. Two distinct scents that fight with each other.

[JTobias]

It's caramel sea salt cookies with cinnamon. Cinnamon, damn youuuuuu LOL