#I added the Frosted Sugar Cookie creamer I've been LOVING

[herefortheships]

Finishing my gigantic cup of coffee now after having a late lunch. lol

It was a LOT of coffee. 😆

[zombiiesque]

Nocturne Alchemy Seth's Secret Six Collection

Originally published 5/29/2016

So long time no blog, eh? Life has been getting in the way and there are a few things I want to get written up for everyone, including the Summer Teas collection and Seth's Dinos, which I think I read are being renamed the Prehistorics? But first, Seth's Secret Six - I have four to review for you today.

As you can see, two of my labels are a tiny bit different. I got lucky, super lucky, to win one of these scents in a little giveaway during the holidays in the Tent, and the other I purchased during a little Facebook sale they had in the Tent right after the holidays. I really like the new labels!

Seth is apparently a wizard with foodie scents. Yes. I have to tell y'all I am not a foodie woman! Like, not at all. Granted, I have an affinity for coconut scents as I crave it especially in the summer, but that's about as far as it goes. I don't much care for foodie vanilla. I do like fruit scents, particularly peach and fig, but I think that falls into a different category. That being said, and emphasized, these blow me away, and if he continues to make foodie scents, I will continue to purchase them, because like so many other amazing blends from NAVA, they have a way of changing my mind on notes I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole before - I'm looking at you, lavender!

Let's just dive right into it, shall we? First up, Seth's Secret Hot Cocoa Cookie NAVAliday Confection (I'm going to call this Hot Cocoa Cookie for short). Notes are: Cacao Absolute, Seth's Cookie Dough accord, NAVA Hot Cocoa accord, some vegan marshmallows, a touch of French Cocoa, Belgian Chocolate, a little chocolate-amber absolute that Bastet made, a dusting of vanilla and a whole bunch of Cookie Monster love. In the bottle: mmmmm chocolate, cookies! Wet on my skin, yum. Cocoa, cookie, a bit of marshmallow/vanilla? Dry I'm getting a pretty evocative picture, the perfect mug of hot cocoa, complete with floaty marshmallows, with a nice little plate of warm chocolate chip cookies. This to me is more like baked cookie than raw cookie dough, but I am a little less sophisticated with scent detection than so many other great reviewers! This is...amazing. None of these except the coffee would belong in any other category besides foodie (maybe that's not even the best word for this category, either) but this is just - well, divine. It takes foodie to another level completely and for me to fall as hard for this as I have, I'm in shock. Yes, you need this.

Next, we have Seth's Secret Spiced Hot Cocoa Cake NAVAliday Confection (I'll call this one Hot Cocoa Cake). Notes are: Hot Cocoa Accord, Chai Spices, Crystalline, Chocolate Cake Accord, a drop of Black Santalum, a drop of Black Sugar and a smattering of Angel Food Cake accord. In the bottle, I'm getting cocoa, spices and cake. Mmmm cake! Wet: Ooooo chai spice! Chocolate cake! Hmm, something else going on in the background, but I can't pin it down yet. I can see this is complex. Dry on my skin, the angel food cake and vanilla is coming forward a bit and lightening up a very rich chocolate cake and the chai spice. I am catching slight whiffs of the Black Santalum and not really getting the Black Sugar at all, but I'm sure it's there adding to the complexity that this blend has. This is so, so different than anything else I've ever tried, much more foodie to me than Hot Cocoa Cookie, but I'm actually very into it, I absolutely love it. The chai and vanilla make it so interesting, and that little bit of Black Santalum in the background you would think wouldn't work - sandalwood in a food blend? Huh? It's AMAZING here, I think it's delightful. I'm not sure this could be more delicious. I'm in shock over these two blends, they're so very obviously out of my wheelhouse but I don't even mind!

Next up, Seth's Secret Very Vanilla Crystalline Angel Cake (we'll call this Vanilla Angel Cake for short). Well, I knew I'd love this, as soon as I saw the name. I got this initially as a sample skarab, and when I sniffed it, I smelled coconut and knew I was going to be in trouble. Hah. Notes are: SL Crystalline, toasted Coconut, a drop of French and Tahitian Vanilla, Angel Cake accord from Vanilla Bean and Coconut Husk e/o, a drop of Crystal and a touch of Vanille Noir #1. I knew I was going to grab a full bottle if it became available, so when they put this one up on the website, right into my cart it went. In the bottle: Oh man. Cake + vanilla + coconut heaven? Yes please. Wet on my skin - Oh my Gods I want to swim in a vat of this. Angel food cake, and I can actually tell there are several vanillas here, including my beloved Crystalline. Rich, toasty coconut. This feels like a coconut frosting on angel food cake. Dry - yes, coconut frosted angel food cake. Totally foodie and I don't even care. I looooove it. I want to nom my arm off, it's so delicious. The vanillas are beautiful, delicious, rich, buttery. I can't stop using the word delicious in this set of reviews. Sigh. The coconut is not the fresh, raw variety, but toasty. I actually don't much care for coconut to eat it, but I love toasted coconut in cookies and cakes. However, I love the smell of it in all varieties. The angel food cake is light and fluffy and balances out the richness of the vanillas. Seriously, get this blend! Hah.

Last, and certainly not least, is Seth's Secret Sweet Vanilla Bean Black Coffee, or Vanilla Bean Black Coffee for a shortened version. This is one of two new scents that were never sent out as previews before, and when I saw the notes I just knew I should blind buy it. I have only recently tried NAVA's coffee as I came across a full bottle of Mummy Daddy Espresso, and quite loved it. This one sounded perfect too. The notes are: Coffee without the dairy. Vanilla beans from Egypt, Mexico and Australia infused into a blend of roasted Egyptian Black Coffee beans, Arabic Coffee Beans and the accord of an Egyptian Sugar Cube that adds just the right amount of sweetness to give this one a nice wear. I got this and my bottle of Vanilla Angel Cake yesterday, along with a few other bottles, and this was the first one I tried - and went positively nuts over. Boy, was I glad I blind bought it. My notes here are actually transcribed from my review for the Tent: This is the most lovely sweet coffee. In the bottle, it's very soft coffee with vanilla bean. The vanilla is sweet but not too foodie - both it and the coffee are not strong and overwhelming! Oh, nice.Wet on my skin, the vanilla bean is more prominent than the coffee but you definitely get the coffee. Still not an "in your face" scent. Dry, this is delicious. I am obsessed with this. I want to nom my arm off. This was MADE for coffee lovers! This is a softly milky coffee, that vanilla bean is a creamer and there's just enough sugar here! This is actually quite evocative. It softly surrounds you with the scent of coffee, tempting you when you first wake up. So softly delicious, you can't resist. A must have! If you have Mummy Daddy Espresso to compare, I think you will find this one much softer, a less "in your face" coffee than that. Don't get me wrong, I adore MDE too! But this is lovely and if you are a little nervous trying a coffee scent for the first time, you cannot go wrong with this one.

Well, there you have it! Four of the Seth's Secret Six. In my humble opinion, all of these are total wins - I'm so, so glad I was able to get these. I had to unfortunately pass on Fantastic White Truffle Framboise Cream, and I know I will regret it, but I had to pick up a few more of the other Spring scents before they went away (and I still have regrets I wasn't able to get as many of those as I wanted!) so I had to make a tough choice, but if I remember it well enough, my skarab was delicious, and it seems very popular in the Tent! I hope this was helpful if you are still trying to decide which of these lovelies you need. Hah. You need them all, right?