I get a lot of e-mail informing me of the latest new trend in selling beauty products online. I get enough that I can’t imagine what a real make-up blogger receives. Most of them are easily ignored by me because perfume is not part of the offerings. One I received at the end of the year caught my attention because they did offer perfume. Even then I still would have passed until they mentioned the name of the perfumer they were using. That got me interested enough to obtain a sample set of the first three perfumes. One of those three stood out for its quality; Beauty Pie Brazilian Lime, Fig Leaves, & Tea.
Beauty Pie is a new way to sell beauty products by asking people to pay a monthly membership which gets them deep discounts on the products they buy. As an example, on the perfume side you can buy any of the Beauty Pie perfumes without a membership for $125. If you join with a three-month minimum, at various levels, you can buy one of the bottles of perfume for about $21. I don’t have a great handle on the economics of it all and I may have oversimplified it.
Frank Voelkl
What caught my attention on the perfume side is they asked perfumer Frank Voelkl to produce the three perfumes. They allowed him to go in whatever direction he wanted to. What has resulted is three perfumes which all felt like a step up from typical department store fragrance. Red Apple, White Peony & Cashmere Wood is an expansive fresh fruity floral. Petals, Heliotrope, & Ambrette is a fun musky white flower style of fragrance. The third is Brazilian Lime, Fig Leaves, & Tea.
What helps set this apart is Mr. Voelkl uses a Brazilian orange to form the sweeter Brazilian lime accord. If you’ve ever had an authentic caiparinha cocktail you know what a Brazilian lime smells like as the lime gets crushed in the making of the drink. The first moments of this reminded me of sitting by the beach in Bahia with a caipirinha in my hand. Mr. Voelkl then allows a tendril of green ivy to wind around the citrus. It connects to the creamy feel of the fig leaves waiting in the heart. Mr. Voelkl throws leaves of black tea into the mix. It adds depth while still maintaining the leafiness of the ivy and the fig. within all this there are threads of violet to be found. This is the part which connected with me. This is a fantastically realized accord. It ends on a soft woody base of cashmere woods.
Brazilian Lime, Fig Leaves, & Tea has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
I’m not the desired customer for Beauty Pie to be sure. If they are going to give other perfumers the leeway they afforded Mr. Voelkl, or just ask him for more, I might join just for the perfume. Brazilian Lime, Fig Leaves & Tea has me figuring out if its worth it to join for one perfume.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample set I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
