Fantasia Mermaid

This is alot nicer than the reviews make it out to be. It is a soft aquatic and it definitely has the ocean spray quality to it. There is a slight spice but overly its a breezy very calming scent. It smells quite natural really, it isn't very sweet , its truly more like salty air carried on the breeze. After a few hours the dry down does.... evoke a true salt spray. It quite literally smells like skin after being at the beach. So I believe that is the "pissy" element people are picking up on. I don't mind its quite strange but very true to the theme. To be honest, I think its true to what a mermaid probably would indeed smell like... just salty skin. I picture travelling in the car by the ocean on a clear day and the salty breeze just gently passing through the window. Its a very unique scent. And honestly its a grower. I was expecting something sweet with the lychee but truly believe that's what gives it that oceanic smell. Its not a sweet lychee at all, it smells like the musky undertone of lychee flesh. I think this isn't a sugar coated depiction of a what a mermaid may smell like, its a very realistic one. The musk of skin and sand... with a salty aquatic floral. Edit: Okay its been a day and I can officially say this perfume is something which will grow on you like no other. I think for people expecting a very feminine, girly sweet fragrance, yes you will be disappointed but trust me this scent is so brilliantly made. From paper it looks as those it has no aquatic qualities at all but upon smelling it my god again its a truly accurate ocean smell. I don't know how they did it. Its wonderful. Also a great scent for a pisces in your life! 7.6/10

I find myself reaching for this fragrance more than anticipated. I had gotten it in mind for the decorative, almost girlishly chic bottle, purely aestheticising the impulsive purchase for my own self-indulgence. I was pleasantly surprised upon researching further about the notes and came to the conclusion that although I found this for less than $30 at Chemist Warehouse its performance was out shadowed by the girlish charm of the packaging. I have never smelt anything similar, a pleasant almost sunscreen-y scent that lingers behind the sour tartness of the lychee and the smoothness of the honey and woods. The florals give into a more traditionally perfumy smell, but it isn't the centre of the perfume's heart, just makes it sweeter. The subtle spiciness of cardamom can be screechy upon the first few sprays, but it eventually mellows out (or at least in my batch it has) with wear or maturation. I always recommend working a little sweat into your scents, but this becomes something much more sensuous and mature as the saltiness is sort of already present, but as you sweat I think that the jasmine pulls out some of it's delicious indolic dirtiness, and for me at least, it can make this scent 100% more appealing in the ever enduring summer heat. Definitely an outperformer for most of my summer frags, and lasts surprisingly long throughout the day for an EDT, which has been experimented throughout the the arid and humid climates I've endured this summer. Definitely will be repurchased in the future, just wish I could find a bigger bottle!

Edit: okay, the more I smell this, the more I get the “mermaid” aspect of it. It’s not a mermaid who’s still very much tied to her home in the sea, but more of a mermaid who’s beached herself on a tropical island and is sipping on a a fruity cocktail with friends. Weird visual maybe, but that’s what I see as I’m smelling it. As a lover of mermaids, I’ve been trying to find the perfect “mermaid” perfume for a while now. Needless to say I had to try this! On me, Fantasia Mermaid is a soapy, sweet, yet light and easy to wear citrus combined with a syrupy honey and vanilla smell. It does pull “tropical” on me, and I think that’s because it resembles a tasty alcoholic beverage one might drink while on vacation. However, I’m not yet sure if the smell truly reminds me of a mermaid. I’ll purchase a bottle of Fantasia Mermaid if I see it at a low price, as it’s very pretty, surprisingly long-lasting, and the bottle is adorable. That being said, if you’re looking for other fragrances that just scream sirens, the ocean, etc. the best ones I’ve smelled so far are Tokyo Milk’s 20,000 Flowers Under the Sea and Song of the Siren. I have yet to try Anthemoessa, the third in TM’s Neptune and the Mermaid collection, but from what I’ve read it seems to be the best of the trio, so I’ll be trying that one next. Another mermaid themed fragrance that I personally haven’t tried yet, but that seems promising, is Ariel by DefineMe. Hopefully I will get my hands on a bottle soon and can test to see if that’s a better option than the others I’ve listed here.

I saw Fantasia Mermaid going around online and the bottle was so whimsical and cute, I decided I wanted to try it. I was lucky and managed to find two bottles in the 1 oz size and 1.7 oz size for a quarter of the price they usually go for. I can fully say that I love this scent. I love how warm and citrusy this is while still managing to be a fresh and clean. It must be the white wood but I swear that I get an almost salt air or sandy note in the composition. This is also paired with a slightly synthetic note that reminds me of the lingering smell of chlorine on a pool day. Strangely enough, I love it. It transports me to when I lived at the beach and would visit the outside beach bar my boyfriend worked at which was 20 feet away from a pool and 150 feet from the ocean. Somehow this scent manages to capture the core memory of sand and chlorine. While I find it inoffensive, I can see why it may be headache inducing to some people, as this lasts for hours upon hours. I’ve gotten 7+ hours of wear and still been able to smell it in the shower at the end of the day. Definitely perfect for summer. My boyfriend also loves this scent. It’s the only one he’s complimented on his own (I usually wear fruity floral scents or gourmands). He prefers marine or aquatic scents, and I think its because it reminds him of our time at the beach. He has asked to borrow this one on the rare occasion that he feels the need to wear scent as he usually avoids colognes. It works very well as a unisex fragrance, but you’d never know based on the bottle.

Ok, let's be real here. I had to have this perfume because of its lovely bottle. I didn't really care too much about how the perfume smelled, but now I'm here to say that the juice is just as lovely and unexpected as the bottle! Fantasia Mermaid dunks you in the ocean alright, but also very close to a vibrant Tiki bar. The bright, juicy citrus and dazzling litchi evoke a frozen tropical drink. Spicy cardamom is a surprise visitor, and I think it's the component that elevates this perfume from typical designer perfume to something more niche-like. The bright citruses and heat from the cardamom are sweetened beautifully by a soft but detectable honey note and rich vanilla, and the wood in the base feels more like driftwood than anything. Overall the scent evokes a sea breeze blowing through your hair as you sip an exotic spiced fruit drink in the shade of a thatch-roofed Tiki hut. It's a winner for me, and it's a scent I think shines best on humid summer days. Longevity is between 4-6 hours and sillage is a bit under arm's length. It's a winner for me, and the bottle looks beautiful on the shelf with the rest of my collection.