Review of Demeter Essential Oils, Patchouli

So the perfume/beauty shop near my place just started carrying the Demeter Essential Oils collection. These things run for around $70 a piece, even though they're just oils. There's a difference between the oils and mainstream perfumes you should know, if you don't want to end up wasting your money.... the sales-lady apparently did not know this Me: "Do you sell essential oils?" Her: "Hm....Is that a brand?" Me:(in my head) "No, get re-trained, but your eye makeup is lovely" Me:(actually) "No..." (I had to control my over-active tongue). So back to the point, the mainstream perfumes usually are a variety of diluted oils in an allcohol-base. Meaning they don't last very long, and that's why Sarah Jessica Parker's "Lovely" is a number 1 seller on Amazon, most of the time. Why? Because it keeps running out, imho. Also why? Because maybe it smells nice, too. But I find more evidence in peoples' comments "Oh this smells so nice, but it runs out sooo fast!"

Just because a perfume sells very well does not mean it's necessarily very good. It's probably partially because it's very diluted in alcohol. So don't use Amazon best-seller lists on perfume to make a judgment on what smells good. So back to the main point.... I was a little shocked and mildly amused that they were charging so much for an essential oil. "Limited time only!" as if that is supposed to make me want to buy it more (it did, sort of). But I resisted... mainly because I know that The Body Shop carries a wholeeeee line of essential oils, for much cheaper...... 16 bucks a shot..... very nice. Plus their profits help benefit third-world farmers, I heard? Yay for contributing to good causes.

Why do I like oils over perfumes? Because it's unhealthy to spray yourself with the kind of alcohol and all the other chemicals which companies commonly use in perfumes. Oils also have better staying power, meaning you just need to dab a bit on your pulse points (neck, wrists, chest) in order to have basically the same effect. With alcohol-based perfumes, you're often spraying yourself throughout the day and night. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to have to remind my sweetheart every 30 minutes that I *need* something else in order to smell good. Him leaning in for a kiss... me spritzing myself beforehand... "Ok now we can kiss".... Him leaning over for a hug.... "Wait I need to spritz again, the scent's fading away".... I mean, come on. I need a fragrance which will last.... and obviously I want him to believe that I naturally emit the smell of fresh flowers, citrus and amber musk.

Point established that Demeter Essential Oils in Patchouli made me smell like a hippie emerging from a moss-covered cave, who had been living off organic mens' aftershave for a few weeks. But after a few hours, it started smelling very warm and vanilla-ish on my skin, which is a huge surprise to me. Patchouli usually reminds me of incense and outdoors huts, and musky men sitting next to overgrown fern by an Amazonian waterfall... but this one actually turned out smelling quite feminine, nice and pleasant on my skin after a few hours. Keyword: after a few hours....