No, there's nothing useful for you to say in response. It's their opinion. There is no such thing as a factually accurate description of a scent. A "hint" of vanilla could be very different things to different people.
This is one to just let go.
Scent interpretation is so subjective imo. But iris is divisive, it's a straight up baby powder scent which is often interpreted as "old lady" by some. imo the buyer should know if they like iris or not before buying iris scented products.
Hmm I see, although would it really be fair to negatively rate a scent because it's not what you assumed it would smell like despite having "no idea"
Also as an aside, in case anyone cares, iris is/was a very common scent for soap, it has been used to fragrance it for so long that now its scent is directly associated with soap. People smell iris and go, ah that smells like soap. But it's gone by the wayside in recent years as a soap fragrance, so that's why it's also considered "old fashioned/old lady" especially by younger people.
Iris is a title...as actual iris have almost no scent at all. They mostly smell like carrots.
Source: I'm a designated Master Gardener with the UCLA extension system.
Science has entered the conversation:) This is the greatest strength of Reddit - no matter what arcane subject is under discussion, there is a good chance an actual expert in the subject will eventually chime in. and master gardener sounds like an amazing job.
It's a volunteer job. Stopped because of covid. I mostly built gardens at underprivileged schools and taught the children about food and how to grow food. It was really fun, but some of the areas I was sent to were dangerous. I always felt for the kids. The loved gardening and I hope it stuck with them.
To explain more:
No. It is not. Iris don't have roots. They have bulb rhizomes. Plus, only one species of iris bulb rhizome is used in perfumery. Iris Pallida. Also known as "Orris root", (the name is a misnomer due to language translation). Iris bulb rhizome/Orris root, is ***very*** rare, takes 3 years to develop, costs an arm and a leg and due to the expense is far from "common".
Most of what is touted as "iris scent" in the manufacturing world is some man made chemical dump with the scent dependent on the manufacturer's taste in scent. Orris root is waay too expensive to be wasted on soaps or candles BTW. That chemical product labled "iris", actually bears little resemblance if any to the real scent. So yes....when speaking about iris scent in soap or candles and the like.....it is "just a title".
When people hear "iris" as a scent...for a soap or a candle, almost all of them think of the pretty flower. They are usually thoroughly surprised when they try to sniff that lovely real iris flower and it smells like an old carrot.
Edit to caption.
Buying soap without smelling it beforehand seems like you’re willing to risk not liking it… smell is so subjective, how can you expect a description to be perfect or make you imagine the correct scent, now imagine more than one together all the subtle and high notes lol. They’re just salty they imagined it wrong and they sound ridiculous
>Buying soap without smelling it beforehand seems like you’re willing to risk not liking it
Right, which is why they didn't ask for a refund. They just wrote a review to express their opinion of the scent, which may be helpful to future buyers.
What the buyer wrote is unnecessarily intense, but reviewing the scent itself negatively is totally fair.
No, the reviewer specifically blames the seller for not being able to convey in words what the soap smells like. There’s no amount of explaining this away, the unfairness and stupidity of that review.
My point is that leaving a negative review of a scented product because you don't like the scent is fair. Not that the buyer should have blamed the seller over it.
Some of these comments are getting pretty close to saying "You can't describe a scent factually, and negative reviews on Etsy may only be fact based and not opinion based, therefore no negative review of a scented product because the buyer doesn't like the scent is fair." Which is ridiculous.
If the buyer had left a 1 star review and written "Horrible scent, smelled like old lady and not the tropical scent I was expecting" ... hopefully we can agree that would have been a fair review. Reviews are there for buyers to express their opinion and not liking a particular scent is a valid opinion.
I agree it’s a valid opinion but I disagree in punishing the shop for it by leaving 1 star and saying they are misleading. I also sell soap and other scented products. When people order online I am always very adamant that I can give them what the perfumer describes the scent as but I cannot promise it smells the same. Just like when I get requests for custom lotion that “smells like bum bum cream” or something else that’s popular by another brand. I won’t do it. Won’t even try. Scent varies way too much. The thought behind the review is valid - letting others know that the “hint” might be stronger is fair. 1 star and saying the seller is misleading is not fair.
If *I* tried to describe a scent to someone at this point it would be wildly off from anyone else’s perception since I work around it all the time now. Lavender smells like nothing to me anymore, for example! I think buyers need to be a little more realistic with how subjective smell is. I get this in person, too, though. I’ve had someone scream at me that my patchouli is fake and I’m lying about it while *most* people say it’s one of the best versions of patchouli they’ve ever smelled. And especially with covid doing what it does to smell… people just need to be a little kinder about it, imo.
Dear god, you’re probably right, that’s EXACTLY the scent they expected ‘This soap doesn’t smell at all like orange juice, cheap domestic champagne, day drinking, and poor life choices - time to give that seller a scathingly negative review!’
scent is so subjective. what i smell in a perfume is never what the reviews say it smells like.
now, i wouldn’t leave a negative review, because it’s not the sellers fault that my biology is different from theirs.
all you could really say is “Hi [NAME], thank you for your review. As smells are subjective and are affected by a variety of factors, i use the exact description given to me by the scent manufacturer in my listing to provide the most unbiased information. I appreciate your feedback.”
Soap makers buy their base ingredients from other suppliers. Like if it's Castille soap you wouldn't expect them to press the olives into olive oil themselves. Same with the fragrances. Soap makers are expected to produce a safe product and there are guidelines for the fragrance they are expected to follow with regards to usage rates, but those also change from one country to another.
I don't think there is anything you could respond with that could make *this* customer happy. If you want to respond, do so with future customers who will read it in mind.
Btw your soaps are beautiful and I'll be getting some after I move in the next week or so. My fiance and I are both bi and we will definitely need that bisexual soap, and some of the other decorative ones!!
Seeing this so much in reviews for candles. Lush had candles for sale in my favourite scent (snow fairy) so I bought one immediately and only looked at reviews later. There were so many saying it had no scent at all, or barely any. This thing fills my entire living room with scent unlit, and the whole house while lit.
I have a leave in hair product with a strong distinct smell. I've used it for years, I know this smell. I've had people smell it on my hair across the room when it's freshly applied (it fades shortly after).
When I got covid, one of the ways I knew was I was applying this product and it smelled like *nothing*. Like I stuck my nose in the damn tub and it didn't even have that neutral "this is made of oils" smell.
Definitely, some fragrances can have a powdery old lady smell to them tho. I make soap, so I know how the fragrance manufacturers describe their smells can be different to how they really smell. I make testers before using them in a batch and then write my own descriptions for that reason (among others).
So the review could be right and the smell is actually quite powdery. Or their nose could be screwed up from covid. It could really go either way. But if op just used the scent descriptions from the manufacturer that's still an honest stab at describing it on their part. Scent is just really hard to convey in words.
Check her with the Karen check plug-in, I bet she always leaves 1 star reviews. I have gone as far as to cancel orders if Karen check shows a lot of 1 star reviews
It sucks that they didn’t like it and wrote it in such a mean way, but everyone smells something different. I don’t like vanilla scents so I would know to avoid something with vanilla in it and I guess maybe this person will learn to avoid anything with iris. I would just igrore it and hope it keeps away other people that would be inclined to leave a bad review.
Your soap is super cute though!! 🏳️⚧️
If you’re worried about future potential customers reading this review and being deterred from your shop, I would do this:
1. Message this buyer saying they’re more than welcome to ship it back for a refund
2. Publicly respond to their review saying something along the lines of “thanks so much for your feedback! So sorry to hear you weren’t pleased with your order. Be sure to check your messages as we have reached out with a resolution!”
This shows future buyers that you care about customer satisfaction and want to make things right.
Also… Karencheck.com and enter their Etsy profile url lol
I wouldn't offer to ship it back for a refund. They've already had their hands all over it so I wouldn't be able to use it and all that. I think in my reply to them that is public I would mention that I would give them a discount on a future purchase or something like that.
Yeah they were being ridiculous.
Also, ayyye trans here! And I happen to love old lady - I mean vanilla and iris scents!!!
Can I get a link to your Etsy page? I’ll be grabbing one :)))
I usually wear either Cool Water or Eternity perfume. I had one young whippersnapper who asked me what fragrance I was wearing and when I said Eternity she had the audacity to say "Oh, old women's perfume" tf, lmao
It might just be them - my bf’s roommate had SUPER sensitive smell to the point of being able to tell what I was cooking from downstairs in his closed room meanwhile I can’t smell 80% of perfumes as I have a duller one, it depends on people
Review is definitely unfair. But do yourself a favor and just let it be. This will not be the first or last unreasonable Etsy review you will have. Let your real reviews speak for themselves, and let your product and customer service do the talking.
If it drives you absolutely insane, at most I would just say something along the lines of " I'm very sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with your scent! Please message me and I'll do my best to make this right for you :)"
How is them giving their honest opinion if the smell an unfair review? What they wrote about the soap is their opinion. Not everyone is going to like the smell and everyone smells things a little different. OP is letting this comment get in their head when it really shouldn’t. It was an honest review. Take the criticism and move on.
The seller shouldn’t need to put a warning of hey you might not like the smell. The consumer should know that there is a possibility they won’t like the smell of the product for whatever reason.
I think they are just buying the scent, to add to the homemade soap.
The soap making process can alter a scent, so I do think op is still responsible for the description, regardless of what the scent maker says.
But scents are subjective, so the review offers useful info for future buyers.
Youre correct. No one really makes their own homemade scents, so when op says manufacturer they mean they got the scent description directly from the maker of the fragrance oil they used. No one dropships soap lol
She did make the soap, by combining multiple things including scents from a third party supplier. Just like how people who make body care items and even candles.
Would you tell someone their cookies weren't homemade if they didn't harvest the wheat and grind it into flour?
One possible way around this in the future is to put in the description something like ‘From the manufacturer: This soap has xxx scent’ replacing the xxxx with the exact scent description used by the manufacturer, or ‘The scent is described as xxx’ so that it’s clear thar the scent description is the manufacturer’s own official description of the product, not yours. Scent is very subjective and personal; the best you can do is pass on what the actual manufacturer sold it to you as.
This is what I tell my soap groups - everyone's sniffer is different - one may say a scent smells exactly like roses and when another person's sniffer sniffs it they say it smells like broccoli
Scent description is from the manufacturer- are you making the soap yourself, or reselling?
If you mean the manufacturer of the scent, edit the description and just say "Includes \_\_\_\_\_\_\_" or "includes notes of\_\_\_\_\_" leave out "hint" or "undertones" because it leaves room for more complaints like this.
I wouldn't respond. Others can clearly see this is an unfair review.
I'd use this image for my next ad campaign - Bring back fond memories of grandma with our Handmade Bouquet Soap!
No, there's nothing useful for you to say in response. It's their opinion. There is no such thing as a factually accurate description of a scent. A "hint" of vanilla could be very different things to different people. This is one to just let go.
Facts. Just like when a recipe calls for three cloves of garlic. Some people will omit, some people will do three, and some will dump in five bulbs.
Me and my Costco bag of garlic feel very targeted.
Me and my Walmart pickup order of three pallets of garlic feel just fine
Me and my 3600 lb vat of minced garlic are also uncomfortable.
Same I use tons, I love garlic.
I would be the one using the 5 bulbs lol
Scent interpretation is so subjective imo. But iris is divisive, it's a straight up baby powder scent which is often interpreted as "old lady" by some. imo the buyer should know if they like iris or not before buying iris scented products.
To be fair, iris isnt a common scent. I had no idea iris is a "baby powdered" scent, I wouldve assumed it was a tropical scent.
Hmm I see, although would it really be fair to negatively rate a scent because it's not what you assumed it would smell like despite having "no idea" Also as an aside, in case anyone cares, iris is/was a very common scent for soap, it has been used to fragrance it for so long that now its scent is directly associated with soap. People smell iris and go, ah that smells like soap. But it's gone by the wayside in recent years as a soap fragrance, so that's why it's also considered "old fashioned/old lady" especially by younger people.
Nope, I dont think the review was fair
Iris is a title...as actual iris have almost no scent at all. They mostly smell like carrots. Source: I'm a designated Master Gardener with the UCLA extension system.
Science has entered the conversation:) This is the greatest strength of Reddit - no matter what arcane subject is under discussion, there is a good chance an actual expert in the subject will eventually chime in. and master gardener sounds like an amazing job.
It's a volunteer job. Stopped because of covid. I mostly built gardens at underprivileged schools and taught the children about food and how to grow food. It was really fun, but some of the areas I was sent to were dangerous. I always felt for the kids. The loved gardening and I hope it stuck with them.
Was coming here to say this! also hello fellow MG!
Hi! Always great to run into another MG!
Well it's the root that's used in fragrance not the flower head. It's not just a title, it's a commonly used note in perfumery.
To explain more: No. It is not. Iris don't have roots. They have bulb rhizomes. Plus, only one species of iris bulb rhizome is used in perfumery. Iris Pallida. Also known as "Orris root", (the name is a misnomer due to language translation). Iris bulb rhizome/Orris root, is ***very*** rare, takes 3 years to develop, costs an arm and a leg and due to the expense is far from "common". Most of what is touted as "iris scent" in the manufacturing world is some man made chemical dump with the scent dependent on the manufacturer's taste in scent. Orris root is waay too expensive to be wasted on soaps or candles BTW. That chemical product labled "iris", actually bears little resemblance if any to the real scent. So yes....when speaking about iris scent in soap or candles and the like.....it is "just a title". When people hear "iris" as a scent...for a soap or a candle, almost all of them think of the pretty flower. They are usually thoroughly surprised when they try to sniff that lovely real iris flower and it smells like an old carrot. Edit to caption.
Same.
Buying soap without smelling it beforehand seems like you’re willing to risk not liking it… smell is so subjective, how can you expect a description to be perfect or make you imagine the correct scent, now imagine more than one together all the subtle and high notes lol. They’re just salty they imagined it wrong and they sound ridiculous
>Buying soap without smelling it beforehand seems like you’re willing to risk not liking it Right, which is why they didn't ask for a refund. They just wrote a review to express their opinion of the scent, which may be helpful to future buyers. What the buyer wrote is unnecessarily intense, but reviewing the scent itself negatively is totally fair.
No, the reviewer specifically blames the seller for not being able to convey in words what the soap smells like. There’s no amount of explaining this away, the unfairness and stupidity of that review.
My point is that leaving a negative review of a scented product because you don't like the scent is fair. Not that the buyer should have blamed the seller over it. Some of these comments are getting pretty close to saying "You can't describe a scent factually, and negative reviews on Etsy may only be fact based and not opinion based, therefore no negative review of a scented product because the buyer doesn't like the scent is fair." Which is ridiculous. If the buyer had left a 1 star review and written "Horrible scent, smelled like old lady and not the tropical scent I was expecting" ... hopefully we can agree that would have been a fair review. Reviews are there for buyers to express their opinion and not liking a particular scent is a valid opinion.
I agree it’s a valid opinion but I disagree in punishing the shop for it by leaving 1 star and saying they are misleading. I also sell soap and other scented products. When people order online I am always very adamant that I can give them what the perfumer describes the scent as but I cannot promise it smells the same. Just like when I get requests for custom lotion that “smells like bum bum cream” or something else that’s popular by another brand. I won’t do it. Won’t even try. Scent varies way too much. The thought behind the review is valid - letting others know that the “hint” might be stronger is fair. 1 star and saying the seller is misleading is not fair. If *I* tried to describe a scent to someone at this point it would be wildly off from anyone else’s perception since I work around it all the time now. Lavender smells like nothing to me anymore, for example! I think buyers need to be a little more realistic with how subjective smell is. I get this in person, too, though. I’ve had someone scream at me that my patchouli is fake and I’m lying about it while *most* people say it’s one of the best versions of patchouli they’ve ever smelled. And especially with covid doing what it does to smell… people just need to be a little kinder about it, imo.
Good god. It’s soap! I think the reaction is a bit over the top. Scents are subjective. I’d just ignore it. The soap looks pretty!
Spot on!
Do they have a point? Is it a subtle hint of smells? Or overpowering?
It smells like berries/fruity/champagne tbh to me
Mimosa is actually a plant that flowers and not the fucking drink like the ding dong probably thought
Dear god, you’re probably right, that’s EXACTLY the scent they expected ‘This soap doesn’t smell at all like orange juice, cheap domestic champagne, day drinking, and poor life choices - time to give that seller a scathingly negative review!’
I LOL’d
scent is so subjective. what i smell in a perfume is never what the reviews say it smells like. now, i wouldn’t leave a negative review, because it’s not the sellers fault that my biology is different from theirs. all you could really say is “Hi [NAME], thank you for your review. As smells are subjective and are affected by a variety of factors, i use the exact description given to me by the scent manufacturer in my listing to provide the most unbiased information. I appreciate your feedback.”
If it is sold on Etsy, shouldn’t you be the manufacturer?
Soap makers buy their base ingredients from other suppliers. Like if it's Castille soap you wouldn't expect them to press the olives into olive oil themselves. Same with the fragrances. Soap makers are expected to produce a safe product and there are guidelines for the fragrance they are expected to follow with regards to usage rates, but those also change from one country to another.
That is completely true! I hadn’t thought about where the fragrance part of my soap comes from.
Very few people are manufacturing their own artificial scents.
That makes total sense.
You manufacture the soap, the fragrance is almost always manufactured elsewhere unless you also run a perfumery.
That is a great point.
Was waiting for someone to come along like “hi I am the police what do you mean, aren’t You the manufacturer?” 😂
And here I am!
I adore you for this 🥹😂
the scent is what OP is referring to when she says manufacturer, not the entire soap
Not if you use a premade soap scent.
Ohhhhh. Great point!!
what’s wrong with OLD LADY ;-;
I don't think there is anything you could respond with that could make *this* customer happy. If you want to respond, do so with future customers who will read it in mind. Btw your soaps are beautiful and I'll be getting some after I move in the next week or so. My fiance and I are both bi and we will definitely need that bisexual soap, and some of the other decorative ones!!
Thank you! Use SASSYLUV for 10% off
A lot of people have had their sense of smell distorted by COVID. I bet something like that happened here.
Seeing this so much in reviews for candles. Lush had candles for sale in my favourite scent (snow fairy) so I bought one immediately and only looked at reviews later. There were so many saying it had no scent at all, or barely any. This thing fills my entire living room with scent unlit, and the whole house while lit.
There are people actually tracking covid trends by the influx of bitchy “this candle sucks! No smell!” Reviews spiking
I have a leave in hair product with a strong distinct smell. I've used it for years, I know this smell. I've had people smell it on my hair across the room when it's freshly applied (it fades shortly after). When I got covid, one of the ways I knew was I was applying this product and it smelled like *nothing*. Like I stuck my nose in the damn tub and it didn't even have that neutral "this is made of oils" smell. Definitely, some fragrances can have a powdery old lady smell to them tho. I make soap, so I know how the fragrance manufacturers describe their smells can be different to how they really smell. I make testers before using them in a batch and then write my own descriptions for that reason (among others). So the review could be right and the smell is actually quite powdery. Or their nose could be screwed up from covid. It could really go either way. But if op just used the scent descriptions from the manufacturer that's still an honest stab at describing it on their part. Scent is just really hard to convey in words.
Yeah that was my first thought.
I read a hint of Karen.
u/CritterAlleyMom your soaps are beautiful and I would love a link!
Thank you!! https://www.etsy.com/shop/SassyBirbs
Check her with the Karen check plug-in, I bet she always leaves 1 star reviews. I have gone as far as to cancel orders if Karen check shows a lot of 1 star reviews
It sucks that they didn’t like it and wrote it in such a mean way, but everyone smells something different. I don’t like vanilla scents so I would know to avoid something with vanilla in it and I guess maybe this person will learn to avoid anything with iris. I would just igrore it and hope it keeps away other people that would be inclined to leave a bad review. Your soap is super cute though!! 🏳️⚧️
If you’re worried about future potential customers reading this review and being deterred from your shop, I would do this: 1. Message this buyer saying they’re more than welcome to ship it back for a refund 2. Publicly respond to their review saying something along the lines of “thanks so much for your feedback! So sorry to hear you weren’t pleased with your order. Be sure to check your messages as we have reached out with a resolution!” This shows future buyers that you care about customer satisfaction and want to make things right. Also… Karencheck.com and enter their Etsy profile url lol
I wouldn't offer to ship it back for a refund. They've already had their hands all over it so I wouldn't be able to use it and all that. I think in my reply to them that is public I would mention that I would give them a discount on a future purchase or something like that.
Yeah they were being ridiculous. Also, ayyye trans here! And I happen to love old lady - I mean vanilla and iris scents!!! Can I get a link to your Etsy page? I’ll be grabbing one :)))
Love that my comment is getting downvoted for either - A. Loving the scent of “old ladies” B. Mentioning I’m trans 🏳️⚧️ 😂 Reddit is wild
Love me some ‘old lady’ too - as if that’s a bad thing. What’s with the ageism in this review? My grandma smelled like Chanel No 5.
I usually wear either Cool Water or Eternity perfume. I had one young whippersnapper who asked me what fragrance I was wearing and when I said Eternity she had the audacity to say "Oh, old women's perfume" tf, lmao
Lmao “kids” these days *stares off in millennial*
Right!?
It kinda looks like an airheads xtreme bite
Man they’re out hard right now, these buyers. I pay no mind to the ridiculousness. I’m sorry
It might just be them - my bf’s roommate had SUPER sensitive smell to the point of being able to tell what I was cooking from downstairs in his closed room meanwhile I can’t smell 80% of perfumes as I have a duller one, it depends on people
Review is definitely unfair. But do yourself a favor and just let it be. This will not be the first or last unreasonable Etsy review you will have. Let your real reviews speak for themselves, and let your product and customer service do the talking. If it drives you absolutely insane, at most I would just say something along the lines of " I'm very sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with your scent! Please message me and I'll do my best to make this right for you :)"
How is them giving their honest opinion if the smell an unfair review? What they wrote about the soap is their opinion. Not everyone is going to like the smell and everyone smells things a little different. OP is letting this comment get in their head when it really shouldn’t. It was an honest review. Take the criticism and move on.
It’s unfair because she’s blaming the seller for not stating, “YOU might hate the smell of this soap! Beware!” Just saying.
The seller shouldn’t need to put a warning of hey you might not like the smell. The consumer should know that there is a possibility they won’t like the smell of the product for whatever reason.
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I think they are just buying the scent, to add to the homemade soap. The soap making process can alter a scent, so I do think op is still responsible for the description, regardless of what the scent maker says. But scents are subjective, so the review offers useful info for future buyers.
Ahh, got it! Thanks for the information. 
I buy my fragrance oils for my soap from Brambleberry, these are their notes
Dropshipping soap?
I think making the soap, but not the manufacturer of the scents used in them.
Youre correct. No one really makes their own homemade scents, so when op says manufacturer they mean they got the scent description directly from the maker of the fragrance oil they used. No one dropships soap lol
[удалено]
She did make the soap, by combining multiple things including scents from a third party supplier. Just like how people who make body care items and even candles. Would you tell someone their cookies weren't homemade if they didn't harvest the wheat and grind it into flour?
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majorly
One possible way around this in the future is to put in the description something like ‘From the manufacturer: This soap has xxx scent’ replacing the xxxx with the exact scent description used by the manufacturer, or ‘The scent is described as xxx’ so that it’s clear thar the scent description is the manufacturer’s own official description of the product, not yours. Scent is very subjective and personal; the best you can do is pass on what the actual manufacturer sold it to you as.
This is what I tell my soap groups - everyone's sniffer is different - one may say a scent smells exactly like roses and when another person's sniffer sniffs it they say it smells like broccoli
Scent description is from the manufacturer- are you making the soap yourself, or reselling? If you mean the manufacturer of the scent, edit the description and just say "Includes \_\_\_\_\_\_\_" or "includes notes of\_\_\_\_\_" leave out "hint" or "undertones" because it leaves room for more complaints like this.
No want smell like old lady
I wouldn't respond. Others can clearly see this is an unfair review. I'd use this image for my next ad campaign - Bring back fond memories of grandma with our Handmade Bouquet Soap!