Alchimia Apothecary - Review and Swatches

Disclaimer: I attempt to talk about perfumes in this post. I know nothing about scent and apparently neither does my nose. I apologize in advance...

I've just gotten into the indie perfume scene, and Alchimia Apothecary was a name I saw around constantly. When OHWTO on Etsy finally pushed me into my first indie purchase, Alchimia followed closely behind.

Full disclosure: I feel rushed to write this, because a few days ago Alchimia posted on their Facebook page they will be discontinuing their cosmetic line. They will be traveling the country in an RV and feel unable to provide a sanitary environment for cosmetics. Fair enough - I appreciate them being upfront about it. So I wanted to get this out in case you want to buy their cosmetics!

A few weeks ago I had found out that Erin, the owner, does a Choose-your-own-adventure type thing where you pick notes and she makes a custom blend for you. I had just discovered John Varvatos cologne (but its price, gah!) and sent her its description, then asked what notes would be appropriate as a dupe. She was very helpful and responded quickly.

Well, I finally placed an order for it, as well as some other things, including a blogger bundle! A blogger bundle contains three eyeshadow samples, a perfume, a mask/serum/elixir, and a lip sample. I will be listing these out separately, but know that Slink, Sinless, Wheat Back, Warrior Slink, Tiger Lily, and the clay mask were all part of the blogger pack.

 I placed my order on May 15th, it shipped May 20th and I had it May 23rd. I want to note that Alchimia does not provide order confirmation. This kind of threw me, and I messaged Erin on Reddit (/u/echobunny) to make sure my order went through. I find it to be a pretty serious flaw in their website design, to be honest.

Here's what I got:

Eyeshadow Samples in Slink, Sinless, and Wheatback, $3.50 for mini and $6.95 (!) for full-size

I have to say I love how Alchimia displays their eyeshadows; rather than straight line swatches she draws designs like fish. Kinda cool, but also a bit jarring when you're browsing. I decided on these three.

Wheat Back: This metallic shade looks like the antiqued reddish bronze like copper of an old wheat back penny. ...I have no idea what a wheat back penny is, tbh, but the reddish bronze is right

Slink: The lightest of our shimmering nude shades. I don't like the practice of calling beige things 'nude', but yeah, it's more-or-less white-people skin-tone. 

Sinless: A pasty shimmery pale green. This is almost white in most lights; it's really stunning. I want to compare this to Fyrinnae's Jade Ghost or Shiro's Angry Cuccos; I may do the former later!

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I was also sent a sample of Alchimia Apothecary's answer to Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy, Sparkle Spackle. 

This is intended to help keep loose shadows on. I've heard it's easier to work with than Pixie Epoxy and I disagree. Pixie Epoxy is tricky as hell, but this just seemed goopy and uneven no matter what I did. 

See the weird gel-like texture?

It still felt wrong swatching these without it, so the left half is over Alchimia's Sparkle Spackle and the right half is over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy.

Top to bottom: Wheat Back, Slink, Sinless

So... really, not much difference between the two. I'll stick to Pixie Epoxy. As for the shades, they're pretty enough, but nothing revolutionary.

Lipstick in Tiger Lily and 1987, $7.95 for .15 oz tube

I ordered Tiger Lily in the blogger pack, and was given 1987 for free. This was REALLY exciting to me, because I'd actually been eyeing it. (Duochrome lipstick? Purple? GET AT ME.) 

Tiger Lily: A bright, bold, shimmering orange. 

1987: This lipstick reminds me of all things 1980s. It's a metallic purplish pink lipstick with a blue interference.

Tiger Lily on left, 1987 on right

I was super excited to try these out... and unfortunately, they were a pain to work with. Tiger Lily was a lot easier than 1987, and I realized quickly it was because I had been sitting on it, warming it up. I had to work a lot harder to get 1987 to swatch, even after doing the scientific thing and placing it in my bra; when I did, it had none of the duochrome-y goodness I would have hoped to see.

Top: 1987, Bottom: Tiger Lily

I went to do a lip swatch for Tiger Lily and it was such a pain I gave up. The tube's so tiny it's hard to use a finger, even if you wanted to, and I much prefer lip brushes for these type of samples. I tried both  my Jane Iredale and OCC lip brush and both couldn't get much product. I'm bummed these didn't work for me!

Seaweed Facial Mask, $4 for 1/2 oz. tube or $10 for 2 oz. jar

This came in a tube I forgot to photograph until after I used it. Oops. It was filled to the brim with a brown powder that is presumably the clay and seaweed and whatnot. (Yes, the ingredients are listed on the bottle directly - ten points!) I had to look online for instructions, which said to slowly add water and apply when it was the consistency of cake frosting.

Due to my utter lack of grace - I am a bull in a china shop - I added too much. Fortunately I was still able to apply it to my face. If I were really devoted I would have done half my face to better compare, but I had already mixed the whole tube up and didn't want to waste anything.

I'm not big on masks; that is to say, I don't do them religiously or anything. I liked this one. The peppermint was a cool breeze when I walked back to my bedroom, the texture and smell were inoffensive, and it was SUPER easy to remove. As for the benefits, my skin definitely felt tighter? I don't know what it did, if anything, but I liked it. If I were a skincare gal, I'd buy this again.

Perfume Sample in Warrior Slink, $15 for 5 mL 

Finally - the reason I was excited to try Alchimia - the perfumes! Her samples come in rollerballs, which I was wary of but ended up being super easy to deal with. My sample in the blogger pack was from her Ladies of Firefly collection, and this scent was inspired by the utterly fabulous Zoe. 

Warrior Slink: Based on the warrior woman herself, this dark sexy scent is pure sophistication. Oozing with thick ribbons of benzoin and labdanum, sweet notes of chocolate wrapped in spicy worn leather bubble to the surface. Combined with black agar, there are hints of what can only be described as pure animal musk.

The first thing I smelled when I opened this up was the chocolate. On my skin, that doesn't change; it's definitely spicy, sexy, but it's still mostly chocolate. I like it, but it's not the scent I've been waiting for my whole life.

Now - on to the extras I bought.

Perfume Samples in Hook and Hellixir, $3.75 for 1ml or $15 for 5 mL

I like, in general, more masculine/complex scents, and these two seemed like scents I would enjoy. 

Hook: Grab hold of your bootstraps and open your sails up wide, for we are going on a pirate filled adventure! The scent of bay rum and leather surround a sweet bold body of rich tobacco leaf. Exotic notes of black tea bubble to the surface to mingle with the subtle salty air. Fun and playful hints of lime tumble around the bridge to ward off scurvy from you and your crew mates. Bringing everything together, this cologne oil makes for an addictive experience. 

I was expecting to absolutely love this one; unfortunately, I don't! I definitely get the tobacco and a bit of the leather smelling it in the bottle, but on my skin it mostly just smells clean and a little bit salty. It reminds me of body wash. Sad day, but this will be swapped.

Hellixir: This potion is hot! Molten sparks ignite the aromatic notes of fennel, nutmeg, Madagascar black pepper and other spices that are simmering around thick ribbons of spicy labdanum.

I can't pick out any individual notes in this one, but OH LORD I LOVE IT. On my skin it's nutty, peppery, spicy... yum. I could not stop sniffing this wrist. I may be getting a bigger size of this one! 

Choose Your Own Adventure ("Madeline's Adventure"), $15 for 5 mL

Here it is! I asked for vanilla & leather base notes, coriander/spice accord for the middle note, and a fig/date note for the top note. I was disappointed on first sniff; a little too much vanilla, it just wasn't quite dark/spicy enough. On my skin it definitely gets spicier over time, and I really like how it smells after about 20 minutes. This will definitely get used.

Overall, I really like Alchimia Apothecary. I think their products are solid, customer service is great, and I love that their owner is present on social media and updates customers. However, one caveat: their website is a pain in the ass. Everything pops up with descriptions, there's no good search feature, and it's just generally not fun for me to browse. Additionally, I think they could benefit from a master scent list like OHWTO or PurpleCat Creatives has. The website does look nice, though, so there's that. In any case, if you're curious about indie scents and perhaps picking up some cosmetics while you're at it, give Alchimia Apothecary a go!