I ordered a few samples form Wiggle Perfume (as you know, review of Nicosia here), a local Olympia line. Ordering on-line, I went with the descriptions. I really felt a connection with perfume, Little 5. I’m a gal now living in the Northwest that grew up in the Southeastern U.S., spending my time between Nashville and Atlanta, family still in both places. Mrs. Wiggle “got me” with her description of this fragrance:

For me, it all started in Little Five Points, Atlanta. On the corner of Euclid and Colquitt stood the Gypsy Market, where my perfume obsession began. Without fail, my husband and I would start fighting in the gawd-awful Atlanta traffic on the way down. I’d arrive all tense and flustered, and within twenty seconds of crossing that threshold, all my worries would melt away. The hot, humid, incense-saturated air seemed to make everything better. I don’t miss the weather, the fire ants, or the wrestling fans, but I still get all nostalgic when I remember the punks, hippies, and gorgeous cowrie-shelled dreadlock mamas that made Little Five the place to be.

This about brought tears to my eyes. This was my exact same experience. Little Five/L5P is one of those places that made me who I am today. Oh, how I hated the humidity, traffic, and rednecks! But, I loved the “different” people, the “others”: gays, punks, hippies, goths, witches, warlocks, “disenchanted urban dwelling misfits”. I felt safe in this bohemian environments even though I wasn’t about anything spiritual or drug-related. I read Wiggle’s passage aloud to my husband. He thought that I wrote it; that’s the “connection”.  I knew I had to try Little Five.

No doubt about it, Wiggle Little Five is one of those “hippie” scents. I get lots of that clean musk associated with hippie fragrance oils, like Egyptian musk. Under all of this, there is a ton of powder. I can’t emphasize POWDER enough. OK, so Little Five is that “opium” musk if you are familiar with hippie, head shop incense that you pick and choose and put in clear baggies. There is lots of powder in this from roses and amber. It’s a hippie powdery rose mixed with head shop musk. Little 5 is super powdery, like a hippie version of baby powder. OK, so you hate head shop incense and/or baby powder, then dare not try this. But, if you like that sort of thing, then give it a try. To put it bluntly, Little 5 reminds me of hair oils like Africa’s Best Ultimate Herbal Oil, a product that I still use to this day, and other things that kept your natural hair or dreads looking amazing. This also reminds me of my trips to Little Five Points: dreads everywhere.

Little 5 isn’t something that I’d wear as the perfumista that I am today…ever. But, it is nostalgic. It really does remind me of Little Five Points, one of the few places in Georgia where one (freaks) felt comfortable being themselves. Little 5 helps remember the very few things that I liked about growing up in the Dirty South. Other people, I’m talking U.S. coastal and city people, take it for granted that to be an unusual person in the South took courage. It took a few ass beatings and it required that you had awesome verbal skills to defend yourself. “Different” people/ “the others” from the South are such tough cookies. Do you know what it is like to be a freak in the “real” world? You West Coast weirdos have it so easy 🙂 For me, this is a nostalgic teenager scent. I really don’t want to be reminded of those years but this scent helps me remember the positive, the strength, of those angsty times. I wouldn’t be who I am today, a passionate weirdo fumehead freak, without those initial bohemian incenses.

Notes listed include: opium musk, or*ental rose, and sweetgrass.

The 15 mL retails for $39, the smaller size for $15. Little 5 is available at Wiggle Perfume’s esty shop.

Product picture © of Wiggle Perfumes