During July, Nui Cobalt was selling their Critters collection as well as the Fae Folk and Otherworldly Beings so I bought a few I had been eyeing literally all year. I was happy to snag Blossom Bat in the Critters collection as well which will be fun to try out and compare to Night Flyer from Olympic Orchids. These are all oil perfumes, and the samples are $4.75 USD for a 1.15 ml oil sample.

Today, I will be reviewing Red Admiral Butterfly. This is an Archive scent and I don’t know exactly what that means, but it makes me feel like maybe it won’t be coming back next year. I was really drawn to this scent because of the strawberry note and the basil note! I like those two and I think they make a good combination. There are just not enough perfumes out there with a strawberry note. The other other perfume I know that has strawberry and basil in it is Fantome’s Lorelai which I hope to get a sample of someday. 

Notes: Blood orange, nasturtium flower, coriander, subtle blackwood, wild strawberry, and fresh garden basil.

I honestly forgot there is supposed to be blood orange in this and I am not crazy about citrus so I am so glad this doesn’t smell like oranges. I don’t mind it blended in, but I wouldn’t want it overtaking the entire thing. I know sometimes, the first listed note is the main note and seeing as I bought this because of the last two notes, I am glad that’s not the case here.

This is definitely an aquatic, which I am pleasantly surprised by! It’s fresh, wet, dewy, and floral. I think first and foremost, I smell the nasturtium flowers, which are kind of cucumber adjacent? Its like a nice light green scent. I get a tart strawberry smell after and maybe a bit of basil, or another herb, the coriander. It all blends together to make a soft green aquatic scent. It kind of reminds me of like generic cucumber melon scents that are in body wash or deodorant, which I have gravitated towards in the past. I’m glad I tried this but I don’t think I will want to full size it. I don’t really get much strawberry or basil which is disappointing. Also, this is a very mild scent, I didn’t get any wafts of it throughout the day, and could only smell it on my wrist a couple hours later when I brought it to my nose. At that point, it became a faint aquatic musk.