Wild Berry Shorties Fairy Dust

 

Second review - scroll down for earlier

 

Cute fairy dust sprinkles and pleasant modern scent on the stick. But the fragrance on the burn is mostly smouldering wood. There's a light perfume floating on top which I like, but it is dominated by the smoulder. 

Date: Aug 2025    Score: 19

First review

Regular, or irregular, readers of this blog will know that I don't think much of "America's most popular incense" - Wild Berry. In my experience Wild Berry are all about the marketing rather than the quality of the product. They appear to aim their product at those with little experience of incense. Grabbing the customer's attention by having the perfume-dipped incense sticks open in jars in stores so the customer would be attracted to the scent. But perfume-dipped incense evaporates when left in the open, so the customers were buying an illusion. Perfume-dipped incense can smell great when left open, but the scent doesn't last long that way, and when burned, the high notes have already left the stick due to evaporation so what is left will be some middle notes and the heavier bottom notes which in the case of Wild Berry tend to be coming from the sawdust and charcoal and binding agents which hold the perfume and allow the stick to burn. Not good. 

But over the internet the sellers don't need to leave the sticks exposed in order to attract customers, and so can take better care of the product by keeping the sticks in plastic zip-locked pouches, such as The Scenter, which is where I got these little shorties from a little while back. (Yes, still working through my backlog!)

The scents I have experienced from Wild Berry, have not been my thing. I like modern perfumed incense, as it can offer a greater range and more fun than traditional natural incense. Different moods and different moments call for different types of incense, and sometimes what is needed is something a bit funky, something a bit cheeky, something a bit naughty, something which invokes the right atmosphere.  Stamford's Mythical Black Incense series is great fun, and the foil wrapped incenses have delightful scents. Along the same lines as Wild Berry in terms of the modern perfumes, but better packaged and overall better quality, are Juicy Jay's Thai Incense - if you like Wild Berry, it might be worth giving Juicy Jay's a try. 

Anyway, these Wild Berry Shorties Fairy Dust sticks are cute - they are a little longer than a finger and can sit in the palm of your hand. There's fairy dust glitter sprinkled on the base of the stick. The sticks are machine made from a paste that appears to have been pre-impregnated with the perfume as the perfume has remained on the stick, and has not evaporated. 

The scent is delicate and not unpleasant. It is quite light, and that may be due to the age, but has attractive mid range floral notes. A little smoky at the base, but not intrusive. Few top notes - and that is likely due to age. On the whole I quite like this. A fairly modern and low key scent. 

Date: Dec 2020   Score: 23

***

Wild Berry