# Sweet Cakes Aria by Culti - Totally Degraded :(



## Aline (Sep 13, 2015)

I absolutely adore this scent but have recently discovered that the first 4 oz I purchased in August 2014 has _totally _ degraded to the point of smelling quite unpleasant. Unfortunately I purchased a pound of it in November 2014 and this has started to lose it's beautiful scent too.

I'm SO bummed. And what is worse is that I created a gorgeous perfume blend that used only 10% of Aria by Culti and it seems to have destroyed the entire perfume. This totally baffles me...

I found out after getting a 1 star review from a customer who purchased two bottles! (I refunded her and have just taken the perfumes off the shelf at the B & M store I sell at).

I'm sure Sweet Cakes will just say 'that's normal - it's a year old' but I have over 100 FO's and none have degraded like that! Even citrus ones and FOs over 5 years old! I store all my oils in the dark BTW. 

This also makes me wonder if companies track how old an FO is before they ship it out. I think if an FO is prone to degrade relatively quickly a company should note this in the description.

Anyone else use A by C?


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## JayJay (Sep 13, 2015)

That's concerning.  They should definitely track the shelf life of their oils, just like with anything else being sold on the market.  

Hopefully they will acknowledge the error and compensate you.


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## Aline (Sep 13, 2015)

It will be interesting to see how they respond. Even if I had used it within the year, the fragrance needs to last longer than that in the hands of the consumer...



JayJay said:


> That's concerning.  They should definitely track the shelf life of their oils, just like with anything else being sold on the market.
> 
> Hopefully they will acknowledge the error and compensate you.


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## galaxyMLP (Sep 13, 2015)

I agree that it needs to last longer than a year. I have many perfumes that I keep for a very long time and I've never had an issue with them. I have noticed that some will degrade after years (3+) and to me, thats ok.

 Lets say its fresh when they make it and all of the individual components are fresh and new. You buy it within a week of them making it, and make the product within another week. Then, it sits on the shelf before being purchased for a month. That gives the consumer at best, only 8 months to completely use up and toss the bottle (thats using the November timeline). Thats definitely not enough time. 

I would contact Sweet cakes and tell them what happened. Its already degraded in LESS than a year. That makes it a problem.


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## Aline (Sep 13, 2015)

Thanks for your feedback. I was wondering if I have no right to complain....



galaxyMLP said:


> I agree that it needs to last longer than a year. I have many perfumes that I keep for a very long time and I've never had an issue with them. I have noticed that some will degrade after years (3+) and to me, thats ok.
> 
> Lets say its fresh when they make it and all of the individual components are fresh and new. You buy it within a week of them making it, and make the product within another week. Then, it sits on the shelf before being purchased for a month. That gives the consumer at best, only 8 months to completely use up and toss the bottle (thats using the November timeline). Thats definitely not enough time.
> 
> I would contact Sweet cakes and tell them what happened. Its already degraded in LESS than a year. That makes it a problem.


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## galaxyMLP (Sep 13, 2015)

Yes, if you purchased a fragrance in november 2014 and you can already tell its changing, to me, that warrants the ability to complain. Do they have shelf lives listed? For example like WSP or natures garden?


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## not_ally (Sep 13, 2015)

I think you have a right to complain.  They have an argument, e.g., they could very easily say "we suggest  that you use these oils w/in a year of purchase."  But I have been buying oils for about three years, and I don't think any of the ones that I have used regularly since then have gone off.  Hopefully they will take the gracious, customer friendly option and replace/refund.


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## jblaney (Sep 17, 2015)

Aline - this may be a coincidence, but I have only had one fragrance turn on me and it was a Sweet Cakes one.   It was their Fresh Pink Jasmine.  I loved it, but after about one year it did not smell the same and I had to toss it. It went bad for sure.    I have some Aria too that's old, but I don't really like it and would not know if it turned or not.  

I do not think Sweet Cakes will take responsibility.  I hope I'm wrong, but I don't sense good customer service from them.  They were not even able to tell me how much vanilla was I in a fragrance I purchased.  

Good luck and let us know what their response is.


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## Aline (Sep 28, 2015)

Hi Jen, Just saw your post! 

Just heard back from Sweet Cakes and am totally disappointed. In a nutshell: they told me I can be confident ordering from them because they don't send out old oils. And then gave me some storage tips for extending their shelf life! 

This is my response (not sent yet because I realize I need to tell them what I actually want from them!):

_"As I mentioned, I do store my FOs in a cool dark place. I have also concluded that decanting oils into smaller bottles will help, but I still believe this FO should have lasted a year (the current one is almost full). I sell this as a standalone fragrance as well as in a blend and the customer's bottle is not going to remain 100% full.

I am generally confident about the quality of your oils but responding to this issue by saying it must be how I stored it does not engender confidence!  I purchased 15 other bottles of fragrance oil at the same time as the 4 oz of Aria by Culti that completely degraded.  They were stored in the same place and they are all still fine. Same goes for the 1lb bottles I purchased in November."_

Advice re how to deal with this welcomed!


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