Room 1015 Sonic Flower Review (by someone who knows nothing about perfume)
Hello! So, background context. I know jack shit about scents, except for what I’ve picked up in the past week from looking at the fragrance subreddits. So… If I use the word dry down incorrectly, my bad lolol
My lifelong love is the OG Glossier You formula. I have a bottle that’s still about 2/3rds full. I’ve never been into perfume beyond loving that one scent. I was recently gifted JHAG Not a Perfume and it was similar enough to You that it’s sparked a horrible new interest in scents lol.
I posted a week or two ago to some perfume subreddit asking about dupes for You, and Room 1015 Sonic Flower popped up repeatedly. I filed it under “things to possibly buy down the road,” mostly because I didn’t have the perfume itch yet.
SAME DAY, I saw that Scentbird had their 60% off the first month sale going. Did I do very much research? No. Did I see pepper as a scent note and black out? Yeah. So, I spent 9 whole dollars on a 10ml sample of Sonic Flower, and I got a fancy little case for it.
I immediately had buyer’s regret after researching it further. I saw the description kneaded eraser and pencil shavings thrown around 💀 I got the vibe it was a love it or hate it scent.
I got it 2 days ago, and I’ve collected my thoughts!
I LOVE it. I found 3-4 spray is perfect, and it has pretty good lasting power. Projection is decent, but I don’t think you’d want this scent to project too far 💀 It’s the sort of scent where like if you accidentally bumped into someone on the subway, instead of being embarrassed you’d be like damn you smell good. But you wouldn’t smell it from a seat or two away. If that makes any sense?
The first 5 minutes is straight pepper and pencil shavings. I probably will not apply this one right before leaving the house lol. The pencil shaving smell chills the fuck out and so does the pepper—I think they start to blend with the ambroxan, the sweetness of the jasmine starts showing through subtly, and then the cashmere sort of settles it all out. The orris is just sort of a lovely wash over the entire thing. The longer it sits, the more the floral develops. Musky, peppery, and floral would be my descriptors I guess. If the smell I’m thinking is cashmere is actually cashmere, that’s a little strong for me. I think it makes it a little warmer than I’d prefer. But it’s sort of at the tail end, not a strong starting note. It feels like You’s more mature cousin lol.
I feel like an idiot trying to talk like you guys, but I hope all of that makes sense. I can completely see why people would hate it. It is startlingly reminiscent of pencil shavings at first, and it’s a very nuanced scent. If applied heavily, layered poorly, or it didn’t mesh with your body chemistry, I can see this being sort of nasty.
So, given that I think I love contentious skin scents, and that it works beautifully with my skin chemistry, I rate it a solid 9/10. It might shift to a 9.5 after more testing.
I’d say don’t blind buy unless you really fuck with You/Not a Perfume/weirder skin scents. But if you’re looking to try something funky, then I’d nominate this as a suggestion. I don’t feel like I did a good job of selling anyone on it, but I’m excited to have a new hobby!!!