Skin & Tonics : Skincare Guides & Product Reviews

Checking the mail is a life moment I consistently look forward to. I recoil every single time my phone rings, and the doorbell makes me want to hide in my bathroom, but the sound of the mailman stopping and then driving away from my house fills me with an indescribable feeling of joy, even when my day is really shitty. I think some part of me always believes there is a chance that there will be perfume in my mailbox. That’s not always the case, and when it isn’t, I tend to feel a little disappointed. However, the day my Sweet Anthem perfume samples arrived, there was no disappointment to be found.

Let me back up here – Sweet Anthem is a microperfumery & boutique in Seattle, WA that’s owned an operated by Meredith Smith, indie perfumer extraordinaire. In addition to her hand-crafted in-house line of fragrances, Meredith’s shop also carries niche fragrances by CB I Hate Perfume, Sonoma Scent Studio, Tokyo Milk, and many others. Meredith sent me some samples of her in-house perfumes to try, some of which are from her Spring line, and some of which were just perfumes I thought sounded particularly interesting.

Here’s what was in the sampler I received:

Hippolyta
Hippolyta is a complex composition that somehow manages to be buttery and smoky while still being relatively soft. It’s edgy but still feminine, and definitely not for the lady who likes to play it safe. It contains notes of lemon leaf, lotus, opium, osmanthus, tobacco, and vanilla. Hipplolyta is part of Sweet Anthem’s Spring Seasonal Collection.

Nell
Nell is creamy, spicy, and slightly rosy, like a crate full of luxury French teas. It’s floral and mysterious, and somehow manages to be simultaneously daring and understated. Nell smells like finding flower petals pressed between the pages of a tea-stained Victorian journal. It contains notes of black tea, cardamom, carnation, creamy milk, peach, and rose. Nell is part of Sweet Anthem’s Spring Seasonal Collection.

Anton
Anton is warm, spicy wonder. A true unisex fragrance, this composition somehow manages the perfect balance of masculine and feminine qualities. It contains a complex blend of apple notes, horseradish, Opium, orchid, saffron, and Teak. I couple of winters ago, I enjoyed a brief obsession with Tom Ford’s Amber Absolute, an insanely expensive perfume that was deep, sweet, warm, and heavy. Although Anton smells very different, it does possess the same depth and warmth I found in Amber Absolute. Anton smells more like fall than winter. More specifically, it smells like sitting in a mahogany leather chair next to a roaring fire, while wearing a velvet robe, reading an old book, and sipping hot cider. Anton is part of Sweet Anthem’s Year Round Collection.

These are just the sample bottles. The actual bottles are larger and have beautiful labels.

Caroline 
Caroline is straight-up mystical. I don’t know how Meredith did it, but somehow this fragrance really does smell like all the sweetness and fizz of Champagne. It’s light, soapy, floral, and fizzy – as in, it actually smells like fizz. Caroline is a true, classic, herby, chypre, complete with citrus top notes and oakmoss in the base.

Have you ever smelled Mitsouko? Mitsouko was the original and still quintessential chypre, created by Guerlain in 1919. When I first started getting obsessive about perfume, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. When I finally did, I thought it smelled like sadness, and not just any sadness. It smells very specifically like sadness that ‘s nearly 100 years old. I still appreciate it, and I did wear it, but only when I was alone, and only when I needed to feel like a grieving World War I widow. Caroline is the opposite of Mitsouko. As a chypre, Caroline is just as true, but instead of melancholy, this smells like undiluted joy. The notes in Caroline include Ambergris, Bergamot, Champagne, Lemon, Jasmine, and Oakmoss. If you only try one Sweet Anthem fragrance, this is definitely the one to wear. Caroline is part of Sweet Anthem’s Year Round Collection.

Photo from sweetanthemperfumes.com

Joan
Joan is beautiful and soft, and smells like summer. It opens with a beautifully herby top of white mint and coriander, which quickly opens up into a slightly sweet (but not dessert sweet) floral accord comprised of tomato leaf and pink peony. The whole composition is slightly warm thanks to the unexpected beeswax basenote, which makes everything smell like it’s bathed in sunbeams, in case you were wondering. Joan is part of Sweet Anthem’s Year Round Collection.

Selene
Selene is amazingly bright and fresh, and very closely resembles a flower and herb garden in full bloom just after the rain. It’s slightly sweet, but not at all dessert like. Selene has notes of Bay, Guava, Rose Hip and White Musk. It smells like wearing a white dress, gloves, and a sun bonnet. It also smells like an invitation to a tea at the estate of a Baronet. Selene is part of Sweet Anthem’s Spring Seasonal Collection.

I was really impressed by Sweet Anthem’s fragrances. They each have a little sillage – just a whisper. Each of Sweet Anthem’s fragrances are very high quality, and available in solid, oil, or eau de parfum form. They range in price from $8.50- $42. There are definitely a few in this sampling that I’ll be purchasing. If you’re a fan of niche perfumes, Sweet Anthem should be at the top of your list. And if you live in Seattle and can actually swing by the store, I’m extremely jealous of you.

Skin & Tonics Rating:
Performance: 5/5 – Long lasting, well-blended fragrances with the perfect amount of sillage.

Quality: 4/5 – The ingredients are very high quality, which is evident in the way the perfumes unfold.

Value: 4/5 – The broad price range makes these fragrances very accessible.

Overall: 4.4/5

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