Jessye Gets Bubbly! Fortune Cookie Soap's “Old Hollywood” Fall 2015 Box!

By Unknown

Purchased

Fortune Cookie Soap Soap Box Fall 2015 
“Old Hollywood”

Ahhhh…August: Back to School, the end of the pool season, the beginning of the weather change, and Fortune Cookie’s fall scents fall upon us like the first leaves of Autumn. This is year’s fall box is “Old Hollywood: What Lies Behind the Silver Screen,” attempting to encapsulate that old glamour of Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and all those glorious Gene Kelly musicals. So, without further ado, let’s “time step” our way through the 8 scents and the new product that made up my Autumn box. (See what I did there? Cuz it’s a tap term, and the theme is “going back to Old Hollywood…” Yeah, apparently, Mr. J didn’t get it either. Sigh.)

"Dressed to Kill"
Fortune Cookie Soap

Dribbles of mulled, red wine, swirled with dark, rich vanilla, and cut apples, and a dusting of spice.

Dressed to Kill is a softer scent than I am used to from FCS. It’s a soft, mulled wine scent, lacking any of the sharp notes that can be attributed to wine or apple scents. The scent is well-rounded, without any particular note playing triumphant for me. I really enjoyed it in the shower- it became prevalent but not overpowering. It certainly is making me wish I could curl up with a glass of mulled wine right now.

"Glitz & Glamour"
OCD Hand Sanitizer

Wet moss, polished woods, creamy vanilla

This is another scent that blended really well for me. Once the alcohol had dried, it smelled of sweetened woods for a little while before blending down to a soft vanilla, that while I’m still not a huge fan of, I don’t mind. It smells very much like a vanilla body spray I remember one of my teen-aged campers wearing while I was working at a summer camp in college.  It has that tang of vanilla mixed with a little bit of something that still comes out mostly vanilla.

"Tommy Guns & Baseball Bats"
Whipped Cream

Grandma’s hot apple pie, dusted with freshly shaved cinnamon, nutmeg and warm brown sugar, topped with rich, creamy, marshmallow fluff.

For you gourmand lovers, this is the gourmand scent. It is definitely the most realistic to apple pie I have ever smelled. I opened the lid and sniffed and without looking at the card, immediately thought, “apple pie.” It starts with pastry crust, and then the apple comes in with the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. The marshmallow floats in the background, just a twist like a dollop on top of a slice of pie. If you love that kind of smell, this is a must have for you this fall. I will definitely be passing it on to Kristin.

"Scandal"
Bath Powder

Creaking woods, wind blown leaves, and twisted rose thorns.

This scent is everything that I love about FCS. When I participated in one of their CYO (Create Your Own) events, I made a whipped cream with their Falling Leaves scent in it. I am pretty certain this is the same Falling Leaves scent. So I am partial to it already. This has a woody scent to it, that if you close your eyes and breathe deep, you can imagine yourself in the middle of a forest in a hooded cloak. It has that magical moment that takes you away to new places and new adventures, all without ever leaving your bathtub. I will be buying quite a bit in this scent.

"Pearls & Girls"
Perfume Oil

Crushed and distilled vanilla creeping with wild jasmine and a splash of juicy pear.

What the hell?! I’m blaming AG for this one. She’s been sneaking perfumes into my stash that dry down to vanilla, so my vanilla objections have almost gone out the window. The pear only lasted for maybe the first half hour, but the jasmine and the vanilla mingled together and stayed put for several hours. I must have gotten some hand sanitizer mixed in, because it’s reminding me of camp now, but it’s been this really nice scent of vanilla and jasmine, that while I don’t love, I’m not trying to scour my wrists with steel wool. Mr. J loves it, and pulled a Gomez Addams on my arm while sniffing away at it. He said that the vanilla almost comes out like vanilla bean, and it is exactly this kind of vanilla that he likes so much.

"Hollywood Dreams"
Shampoo Bar

Brown sugar dusted graham crackers, fresh churned apple butter, sprinkled with nuts and a hint of maple.

We haven’t reviewed the shampoo bar on the blog yet- mostly because I don’t review the other FCS purchases I make. I used these for about a year. My first was in the scent of Unicorn Farts, but I got tired of the scent and bought a new one in Miss Popular. My first shampoo bar was great- it lathered well and got my hair nice and clean. Bonus points for the lack of packaging waste and the fact that I can keep it in a tin if I need to. My second one just wouldn’t lather. It didn’t matter what I would do. I just couldn’t get it to lather enough to use. I would end up getting a little and having to do this several times to get all of my hair washed. I had significantly more hair then. I didn’t stop using it due to this problem. I stopped using it because their conditioner bar is just too oily for my scalp. And I really like my hair smelling like Miss Popular. :( I did not have the lather problem with this shampoo bar.

This scent is heavier on the brown sugar. It smelled almost exclusively like brown sugar to me while I was using it. There was a little apple butter and a little maple, but I would say it definitely had that sticky sweet smell of brown sugar. It doesn’t seem quite as rounded as Tommy Guns & Baseball Bats, but could still be very enjoyable for those gourmand lovers.

"American Royalty"
Pomade

Rose milk, thick honey and warming tobacco blossom wrapped with caramel and notes of mandarin.

Let’s talk pomade. Pomade can be used by EVERYONE for styling. It’s great for adding texture. You can do this with hair wax as well. These are all relative similar products with different weights, textures and holds. I use wax regularly. My hair is short and fine so I use it all over as a styling tool to give my hair texture and hold. When I had longer hair, I would use wax in my roots to give my hair volume and texture. It definitely has a learning curve.  Too much, and your hair is greasy, stuck and it hurts. Too little, and your fingers are going to get stuck in your hair and it’s going to hurt trying to work it through.

My regular wax vs the FCS Pomade

This particular pomade is a much denser product with a much lighter weight than I am used to. You can see how much I used, but I might have used a touch too much in trying to work it out, though as it’s settling, it doesn’t feel like I did. You want to really work it into your fingers before you work it into your hair. The pomade really wanted to cling to my ends and not so much my roots- my ends are dyed and probably a little damaged, my roots are healthy and naturally oily. This has just the right amount of hold for me. It gives my hair a textured look and some form and volume, but it’s going to allow the wind to move it about and play with, and if someone runs their hands through my hair, they’re not going to get caught on the product. I will definitely be buying this in a different scent.

Sadly couldn't replicate this kind of effect with the Pomade.

As smells go, I’m not really certain what to tell you. Anything with tobacco in it is really hard for me to describe. I’m always confused by it. It’s this sweet, earthy scent that usually gives me a headache. I spend so long smelling it trying to figure out what it is that I end up with the headache regardless of how long much I can actually smell on me. I can only smell the tobacco when the scent is by itself. After using the product, I washed my hands with Future Primitive’s Miss Ruth LE Bar Soap, and it became this mellow, honey powder scent that was really beautiful, and I’m betting that’s closer to what it will smell like to someone who doesn’t get overpowered by tobacco blossoms.

"Famous"
Wax Tart

Warm amber, wild orchid, fluttering white cotton, sundried herbs.

Okay. I don’t know where the hell I got this, but before I melted it, it smelled “fruity with a hint of bubblegum.” I have no idea. I’m looking at the scent notes and I just don’t know. But that’s what I’ve got for you. “Fruity with a hint of bubblegum.” And then I melted it, and it still smells fruity to me, but lacking that bubblegum edge. I’m calling broken nose. It’s a lovely, feminine scent that I really quite like and might need to buy a thing or two in- I just can’t smell what I feel like I’m supposed to be smelling.

Final Thoughts

Old Hollywood releases August 21st. The party starts on their facebook page at 6pm CST. Be sure to tune in for all the fun, prizes, and know exactly when the collection goes live!