Smell Bent Radio Dada review

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Beautiful, confusing scents from those who do it best: Smell Bent!

Smell Bent Radio Dada review photo: we heart this

Smelling good is serious business. Globally, we spend 15 billion dollars a year on perfumes alone—that’s a lot of coin. In this serious business of scent, it’s time we start cutting budgets. If Washington has got to, well, so do we, the smell-good public. And just because this is serious business, why the heck to we have to take ourselves so seriously? All right, Smell Bent, you can come in now…

Smell Bent is an L.A. -based perfume company that seeks to catch your fancy with their whimsy. Hand-blended perfumes made with fine ingredients that are seemingly built around silly names and cartoon characters. Though the scents are absurd by Smell Bent’s definition, their incongruity is surprisingly fitting. I don’t know which would be more fun, creating the curious names, selecting the appropriate scents, or illustrating the labels?

All this fun and whimsy does not come at great cost to us, the consumer: a perfume oil sample can be had for a mere $3.75, a 4 ml travel spray is $6.50, 8 ml perfume oil $20 and 50 ml spray is $45.

I received trial size sprays of their entire latest collection Radio Dada, (which you too could get collectively for a mere $25):

Lobster Cellphone – pink grapefruit, citrus peel, tomato leaf, ozone over musk
Fuzzy Teacup – white champa flower, peach jasmine, cream, honey, muhuhu oil
Mots Verts (Risque Puns) – hyacinth, rhubarb, green carnation, katrafay over crisp vetiver, vanilla bean, cream musk
Disagreeable Object – bitter orange and petitgrain spiced with cumin, celery, curry leaf, pepper, siam wood, bois de rose
Exquisite Corpse – bergamot, tuberose, mimosa, white and green pepper, sweet earth underscored with animal notes

Of these all, I found Fuzzy Teacup to be the one I wore over and over. Leaning heavy on the peach and honey, this one is sweet and light – perfect for lunching with the ladies on the veranda if you do that sort of thing.

I also enjoyed the floral bouquet of Exquisite Corpse which, thankfully, has no trace of roadkill in its scent though does slightly remind me of a funeral home. I give passes to Mot Vert and Disagreeable Object, both of which take the absurdist theme of the company to heart, creating purposely discordant notes that grind and confuse my senses.

Pros:
Fantastically free-spirited, wacky scent combinations that are fun to try.
Playful packaging.
The light-wearing spray balances well with adventurous scents.
Reasonably priced for all!

Cons:
Some of the combinations are just a little too wacky.
Difficult to tell what scent will suit you based on its name (though they do sell samples and the name does make sense after you try it).

I give Smell Bent 5 stars for creativity and 3 for wearability, a 4 overall. This is definitely a company to shake your funny bone at when you’re dancing on the beach. So come on ladies, summer is just around the corner and it’s time to play!

we heartsters, love Smell Bent? What’s your favorite scent?

Sherri is co-author of What Would You Do With This Room? My 10 Foolproof Commandments to Great Interior Design, and of course, a wht writer!

Disclosure: This review includes products that were provided by the manufacturer/PR firm for our consideration. For more info, or any questions, please see our disclosure policy.

Author

  • sherrishera

    Sherri is a writer, dog lover, old movie fanatic, history detective, political junkie, fashion pundit and social media consumer advocate. “A fancy dinner and expensive champagne are better than writing a rent check any day of the week.” skin tone: NC 25 skin type: oily/sensitive favorite beauty product: anti-aging anything

9 Comments

  1. I’m a diehard BPAL fan, but I do enjoy Smell Bent; it’s a quirky company that doing its own thing and doing it well!

    These sound interesting, @sherrishera, but I’m curious about the consistancy of your sample. Was it like a perfume spray, dry oil spray or body splash?

    1. These are perfume sprays but are exceptionally light. I would liken them to Demeter perfume sprays in terms of strength; these have slightly more potency than a body spray.

    2. I should also point out again that perfume oils are available, but they are not what I sampled.

  2. I love the artistic angle on this collection (although admittedly my understanding of Dadaism is mostly based on repeated readings of the Rob Thomas YA novel Rats Saw God). And the drawing/graphics are a kick – love the kitty in high heels on Exquisite Corpse!

    1. @tyna – did you think of the Hedwig and the Angry Inch song Exquisite Corpse when you saw this? I sure did. I wonder if it’s an influence?

  3. Wow, this is a really intriguing company with really weird but cool products. I must admit, I definitely buy a lot of fragrance. More than I could possibly use. And that internet garage sale is very tempting–but fragrance is one of the few things I won’t buy online unless I’ve tried it in person.

    1. @lipglossandspandex – you might not get them in time for the garage sale – but they do sell really inexpensive samples. That’s the only way I’d buy a fragrance online. I think it’s so smart when companies offer them!

  4. I don’t know how I’ve lived this much of my life without a Fuzzy Teacup.

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