Skin & Tonics : Skincare Guides & Product Reviews

Winter in NC hasn’t been especially harsh this year, but it has been unusually long. It is beginning to warm up finally, but as recently as yesterday we had temperatures in the upper 30s accompanied by bitter, chilly rain. The delayed onset of spring hasn’t stopped me from doing my seasonal perfume library switch, in which I store my cold weather scents away until fall, and bring out the light, bright, warm weather perfumes that have been hibernating in my closet all winter. I usually pick up a few new scents during the switch. This year, my first stop for new spring perfumes was Wiggle Perfume, the Etsy store for indie perfumer for Colleen Speights.

This wasn’t my first time visiting Wiggle Perfume’s Etsy shop. I actually came to the site looking specifically for a fragrance I wore and loved back in 2010 called “Black #1.” Black #1 is moody and sweet – its most prominent note is blackberry, but it also contains narcissus, patchouli, violet and clove. The patchouli and clove are very subtle – hardly detectible, in fact, but they do lend a certain melancholy to the blend, making it ideal for rainy days. The violet in Black #1 is soft, and I think responsible for the pleasantly powdery dry down.

 While I was there I decided to pick up some new spring florals. The first one I selected was Hala, Hala is described as “a blend of cool, crisp greens and sugary florals,” containing notes of linden, green tea, fresh bamboo, vanilla, peony, lilac, and just a little bit of honey and ginger. If someone asked me to imagine what spring smelled like, Hala is exactly the scent I would imagine. It’s has a really beautiful balance between the sweet notes and the green notes, which is what makes it so unique. Most sweet perfumes tend to be either fruity or straight-up gourmands, but not this one. The bamboo, lilac and vanilla are the headliners here. This perfume oil is light and happy. It smells like butterflies and warm rays of sunshine on a grassy knoll.

Lastly, I decided to pick up a bottle of Audrey, described as “a femmed-up twist on chypre.” I love chypres, so I couldn’t resist based on the description, which boasts notes of pink grapefruit, orange blossom, and vetiver with light musk and little saffron. In actuality, it doesn’t really smell very much like a chypre, but that doesn’t make me love it any less. It’s a really well-balanced citrus blend that gains depth through the vanilla and vetiver notes. It’s bright and classy, and though its description says it was designed with New Year’s Eve in mind, its light enough to be an easy, every-day, warm weather scent.

I’m very happy with all three of my selections. They all smell like spring to me in their own way, and the cute little bottles are perfect for dropping in my purse. All three of them are light on sillage, so you don’t have to worry about bulldozing a room with your perfume when you wear this. At $15 for a 15mL rollerball, these little bottles are affordable enough to pick up more than one at a time. Additionally, Wiggle Perfume sells sample vials for those who’d prefer to smell before investing in a whole bottle.

Skin & Tonics Rating

Performance: 4/5 – Beautiful, mood-listing scents that aren’t overpowering. They don’t last very long though – you’ll need to reapply every couple of hours.

Quality: 4/5 – High-quality, all natural ingredients in a cute little rollerball – although I do wish dropper bottles were available as well.

Value: 5/5 – At $15 for a 15mL bottle, it’s extremely affordable

Overall: 4/3/5

Follow me on Instagram: