beauty review – Bronze Butterfly

Three years ago, I finally reviewed a scent that I’d had in my collection for a while. As a longtime fan of Calvin Klein scents and fashions, I added CK In2U Eau de Toilette into my collection without much thought. This was a regift from my mom, who didn’t enjoy the scent profile but figured I would probably like it. I spent a lot of years enjoying CK One – it was an extremely popular unisex scent, worn and loved by both men and women – though I’ve never worn it myself. So exploring another Calvin Klein scent seemed like a fun, nostalgic nod. As mentioned, CK In2U is an eau de toilette, so it’s a less concentrated scent that doesn’t have the wear time of an eau de parfum, but lasts longer than a cologne. I went into this review knowing that this fragrance is here for a good time, not necessarily a long time.

The top notes are pink grapefruit, Sicilian bergamot and red currant leaves. This gives it a bright, citrusy opener that has a slightly fruity spiced and herbaceous undercurrent. As a general rule, I don’t prefer the sour and bitter citrus top notes (think lemon, lime and grapefruit), but I thought that the bergamot note (which is much sweeter to the nose) would balance it. Unfortunately, the bergamot balanced the grapefruit to the point of neutralization, rendering the two citrus top notes somewhat nondescript in this fragrance. The currant leaves were a pleasant contrast to the citruses, and gave the scent a little more personality in the opener.

The mid notes are sugar orchid and white cactus. Similar to the grapefruit and bergamot, I found these notes underwhelming, though I’m sure that they serve to give the fragrance a bit more complexity and body. I could detect the orchid note, but the white cactus was not identifiable to me: I’m guessing that’s because I don’t have any other fragrances with cactus notes, therefore I had no basis for scent comparison. Overall, my impression of the mid notes was pleasant but not impactful.

The base notes are vanilla, red cedar and amber. Now these three notes are very familiar to me. I love amber scents, and I enjoy the opulence and sweetness that comes from this note. Red cedar is normally one of my favorite notes, and it happens to be VERY prominent in this fragrance. If you don’t like woody notes, then you should just go ahead and bypass this one. The vanilla is timid in this scent, but it’s there, and it adds a little extra sweetness to the base. It isn’t doing any heavy lifting, but it’s a good addition.

Despite having amber and red cedar in the base, this scent is listed as being crisp and clean. I actually agree with this scent description: the citrusy top notes and floral mid notes significantly softens the woody base. I liked the scent overall: it’s a fantastic summer option that works really well for indoor/outdoor events (I think it would be really delightful for a day on the yacht or brunching with friends). It’s easy to wear, has an uncomplicated profile, and allows the wearer to shine. I think what I like best about this scent is how it’s crisp without being acidic: it’s fresh and outdoorsy without being rustic. That same fresh profile is why, even though I think of this as a summer fragrance, it could easily transition into the fall (particularly, the base notes work well with cooler weather). Fresh scents work all year round, since they are usually pretty inoffensive and smack of cleanliness.

It’s worth noting that this scent has the CK signature: something about the formulation is tremendously reminiscent of several other popular Calvin Klein fragrances (like CK One). If you don’t usually like CK scents, then this one should be avoided. Something about it definitely reminded me of CK One and Eternity. This isn’t unusual for perfumers: many of them will have a basically template that they use, adding different top and mid notes until they come up with something new but not completely original. So if you enjoy the signature, you may like this scent. I also want to note that the scent can be found several different vendors, though I recommend Amazon, FragranceNet or Walmart for the best prices. It retails for around $20 per bottle.

Here’s my review of CK In2U on YouTube:

Last year, there was a huge TikTok trend that promoted Al Rehab’s Choco Musk perfume as the IT fragrance for the IT girls. I never enjoyed being a slave to trends, so I usually avoid them like the plague. However, my YouTube channel features a ton of fragrance reviews, so I figured I’d learn more about Al Rehab and figure out what’s the big deal with their perfumes. I had to know for myself: are Al Rehab scents worth trying?

As it turns out, Al Rehab is a company under the Al Rashad parent brand based in Ohio. According to the Al Rashad website, the Al Rehab perfumes are sourced from UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The products feature both concentrated oil (alcohol free) formulations, as well as denatured alcohol in the spray formulas. The sprays are determined to be halal (approved for use by Muslim customers). The company has a wide range of scents in both spray and rollerball dispensers. I checked the Al Rashad website, as well as Amazon and Fragrantica, to see reviews and fragrance notes for some of the most popular scents available through the Al Rehab brand. Most of the reviews were overwhelming positive, and the fragrance notes had me intrigued.

After doing a far more exhaustive than expected level of research, I purchased several scents from the line. I got 5 fragrances: Dalal, Dehn Al Oud, Musk Rose, Sabaya and Soft. I purchased three of them – Dalal, Dehn Al Oud and Sabaya – in a gift set, but the set is no longer available (it is still possible to purchase them, just separately). You may have noted that Choco Musk was not one of my purchases: while I thought it could be a nice fragrance to have in my rotation, I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to wear such a popular scent right now. Also, I’m a little picky about my gourmand fragrances: anything too “sweet” smelling tends to annoy me. So I decided to focus on the scents that seemed to fit my typical preferences, and I’ll review Choco Musk on another day.

I wore each of these fragrances and, though the scents vary wildly in their notes, I did notice a few things that each of Al Rehab’s perfumes had in common:

Insanely affordable. Each of the perfumes I bought were from Amazon, and they cost less than $8 each. In fact, the price of the trio gift set (Dalal, Dehn Al Oud and Sabaya) averaged out to $4 USD per roller ball. The “priciest” of the fragrances I bought was Soft at $5.20 USD! On the Al Rashad website, the prices are similar, landing somewhere between $5 USD and $8 USD per fragrance. I didn’t do the all of the math to compare these perfume prices to some of the other “bargain” perfumes I’ve tried (comparing cost per ounce seemed specious, especially once you read the next bullet point). But, as far as the costs of getting new fragrances goes, the financial investment is quite low.
Minimal product application needed. Since these scents are concentrated, I used a light hand to apply them, and I could easily smell the various top, mid and base notes of the fragrance while wearing them. Sometimes, when I purchase a “bargain” perfume, I have to apply liberally or pair with other products (like companion body washes, oils or lotions) in order to get a “sense” of the fragrance. That is not necessary with Al Rehab: dabbing a bit on the pulse points is sufficient to experience the complexities of the perfume. Which leads to my next point . . .
Lovely sillage. These fragrances will get compliments, even when applied lightly. You don’t have to ask anyone, “How do I smell?”: if they aren’t congested, they will pick up on your fragrance easily. Consider this when applying: you may want to use significantly less if you’re going to the office or any other space where heavy perfume is not encouraged. For what it’s worth, the scents themselves aren’t “heavy”, but a heavy application can take them from lovely and fairly perceptible to bold and impossible to ignore. But what good is great sillage on its own? The sillage is always best when it’s paired with . . .
Incredible wear time. Full disclosure: while each of these scents can be purchased as a spray, I chose to do the concentrated rollerball dispenser for each. I wanted to ensure that the dispensers and, hopefully, the formulation, for the perfumes were fairly equal. I applied these in the morning and could easily smell them 8 to 12 hours later. NONE of these scents faded on me. I don’t consider myself someone that struggles to keep a fragrance vivid on my skin; however, there have been times where I applied a lovely perfume that has completely vanished within 4 or 6 hours. I generally expect about 1 hour of wear time for every $20 USD I spend on a fragrance. If I purchase a perfume for $100 USD, I expect to be able to detect it on my hair, clothing and (hopefully!) my skin in 4 or 5 hours. If I spend more, I expect the scent to last longer. For scents that are less than $20 USD per bottle, I fully expect that I will need to reapply every hour or so. Imagine my surprise when these $5(!) scents lasted all day. I wish other perfumers would take notes!

So, I’m back to the question I posed earlier: are Al Rehab’s perfumes live up to the hype? I can confidently say “YES!” I’m still in awe of how the company manages to offer such lovely, high-performing scents for such a nominal cost. In any case, I won’t look the gift horse in the mouth: I’m thankful for Al Rehab, and I won’t question how they do it! My most recent video is a review of Al Rehab’s Soft: you can check it out here. I’ve also embedded the video below. If you are interested in the other four reviews, they are linked in the cards as well as below the embedded video: