In introducing their new Egg Nog fragrance, Demeter made the claim "If you love Egg Nog, you'll love Demeter's Egg Nog...and if you hate it, maybe you just haven't had GOOD Egg Nog". I am in a different bind: I can't remember what egg nog really tastes like. I haven't had it in years. I don't think I ever liked it, but honestly I'm not even sure.
So this review won't follow the usual Demeter pattern of yep, it smells just like its name. Demeter Egg Nog smells like sweet egg-y milk, reminiscent of their Condensed Milk scent, and as with the Condensed Milk, it reminds me of flan or egg custard. In this case, a flan spiked with a healthy dose of holiday spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) and vanilla.
There is a splash of rum in the top notes, but it doesn't last. The rest of it lasts for a surprisingly long time for a Demeter though, and it maintains its spicy kick well into the dry down. Like last week's Un Crime Exotique from Parfumerie Generale, it would make a perfect fragrance to wear on Christmas morning. Unlike that one, it is cheap enough that you could buy a half dozen of the small splash bottles for stocking stuffers.
Demeter usually does a pretty good job of evoking whatever scent they're reaching for, even if it isn't something I want to smell like (Pure Soap hits its mark, but the appeal is lost on me — I'd much rather smell like Dirt or Thunderstorm). I was intrigued by the idea of Crayon, which promises to "smell just like that new box of Crayolas you opened on your first day of school". I can't decide if this one works. The top notes are fizzy and diffusive, and might be just too much crayon. Once it settles, well, if I smell a Crayola up close and then smell the Demeter, I can see the resemblence, but something is missing — the Demeter version doesn't really remind me of crayons, and it wasn't as much fun to wear as some of their other offbeat efforts. Speaking of which, did anyone get to smell Play-Doh?
Demeter Egg Nog and Crayon are available in 15 ml Splash ($5), 30 ($20) or 120 ($39.50) ml Cologne Spray, and in matching bath & body products and Room Spray. For buying information, see the listing for Demeter under Perfume Houses.
Didn't smell Play-doh, but wanted to tell you I accidently layered Gingerale with the Michael Kors fragrance you reviewed a little while ago, which I'd never tried. It was fabulous! I never layer, I just kind of mis-squirted at Sephora and it was great – the Gingerale toned down the white flowers right away.
Their Play-Doh smells great — spot-on. Although I've been told there's a U.S. cultural reference there, and people who've never smelled Play-Doh think the scent smells revolting. The girls and I sniffed some actual Play-Doh recently and agreed that, separated from its childhood pleasure reference, it does smell vaguely toxic.:-P
My opinion: the Crayon is *wrong* somehow. It's too strong, there is a note there that's off. Crayon's a nice smell, like wax or pencil shavings. It's like he got the ingredients right but the proportion doubled? I actually stood here and smelled the fragrance, then the basket of crayons, and the crayons are better.
You know, I almost never layer either, but it occurs to me that there must be tons of scents that would layer really well with Gingerale. Hmmm…must experiment!
The idea that both of us actually pulled out the crayons to compare to the fragrance is very comical!
Play Doh absolutely smells toxic, I agree. But toxic in a good way! Glad to hear it works in the Demeter, and will have to find a tester.
Laughing a lot at “toxic in a good way”!
I think each release in this line would probably hold about 10 seconds of novelty for me. Scratch-n-Sniff for grown-ups, maybe? They're definitely fun, but they push the absolute limits of wearability. I guess I prefer some of the things that CB has moved onto with his own line, even though several of those have a similar novelty factor as well which puts them out of the realm of personal fragrance.
All that said, i wouldn't mind 5ml bottles of a bunch of these to pull up some “scent memories” whenever I wanted.
You know, many of them are just that: 10 seconds of novelty. But a surprising number hold my interest far past that. Have been wearing Egg Nog all day today, and its a nice foody-comfort scent, and doesn't smell “weird” as a personal fragrance.
Adore egg nog. Must get this. Soon. Like very few sweet foods or drinks, but if someone tells me that there will be egg nog at a holiday party, that's the party I'll be going to. And those prices! Brilliant! I'm getting almost numb about price points. I've reached the point where $200 just seems normal. Not a good thing.
Have never smelled real Play-Doh, but keep meaning to. Will probably smell Demeter's before I get to the real thing. Loved POTL, though, so am thinking I'll like the stuff.
I didn't give Egg Nog much of a chance, I threw it in my recycle box. But now I'm off to dig it out if it's still there, you're making it sound very attractive, I love a good comfort scent.
And I didn't have to dig the crayons out — they're sitting right there, an enormous box of them, in the kitchen for the twins. Play-Doh on the other hand is a banned substance, along with Floam and some other things.
Play-Doh banned?? Hope there isn't something about Play-Doh that I don't know. We are past that now, but we went through lots of it at one time.
Ah, then you'll have to tell me if Egg Nog recalls the “real thing”.
I don't know how much profit Demeter makes on the 15 ml bottles, but gosh, what a great marketing strategy. It doesn't take much thought to order a $5 bottle just to try something.
Hope that someday they'll make 'warm cinnamon bun'. Just love that and it's so comforting too.
Robin, could you write about layering perfumes? Would like to know what people layer and the results it gives. There are days that I like to wear two perfumes at a time but not layered, just different places. Layering can be very interesting, a bit like inventing a new scent :D.
You know, I wouldn't be a good person to write about that because I so rarely do layer. One of the other perfume bloggers will have to take that topic on
No no, nothing toxic (that I'm aware of)
but they're the sort of kids who managed to work anything sticky into the 50 square feet of wood floor, carpet, wall, etc. around them. Picking Play-Doh out of the cracks in the floor and wood table top eventually ended the love affair for me. And don't even get me started on Floam. I am *still* picking clumps of it out of things although I threw it all away last January…
That Egg Nog is great! I wore it last night. I OD'd on egg nog as a kid and haven't touched a drop since, so I'm not sure about the smell, but the fragrance is indeed a lovely comfort scent, and surprisingly long lasting for what it is.
Ah yes, that part. We still have some play doh in the cracks between the floor boards. Happily, I don't even know what Floam is.
Glad the Egg Nog was worth pulling back out!