Olympic Orchids don’t make perfumes, they make olfactory experiences. Similar to Zoologist, they must be approached as works of art rather than a scent worn to get compliments or be pleasantly forgotten. Often I find myself respecting them for their photorealism or unusual accords more than as a wearable fragrance. Ellen Covey’s work in chemosensory research as a scientist shines through in the unusual blends and I am a big fan. OO had a 20% sale in December so I bought a passel of samples 15 minutes before midnight on December 31st. On to the reviews!
Woodcut: A hot, dry cedar sauna. As someone who loves a classic wood-fired sauna and spends as much time as possible in one, I love this. Gorgeous.
Lil: Metallic raw rhubarb. It almost makes me salivate and I can practically taste the crunchy stalk, though it is not a juicy scent. Very interesting.
African Orchid: A smooth pleasant floral that has a note very similar to lilac. Approachable and crowd-pleasing floral, quite linear with moderate longevity.
Kyphi: Frankincense that somehow translates to the scent of exploring an old haybarn in the summer, as I’ve done many times in rural Minnesota by my auntie’s farm. Warm and dry pine boards, piles of hay to jump into from the rafters; you can almost smell the sunlight streaming in the open windows. Not at all stale but a bit dusty. For me, pleasantly nostalgic.
Red Cattleya: A sweet, peppery opening with distinct apricot and melon notes over a gentle indistinct floral.
White Cattleya: Soapy mint, a bit toothpaste-esque. Oddly pleasant.
Elektra: Oh, no. Fruit and heavy amber; why is it always the scrubbers that have monster projection? I may have picked this one because it had a cool name but it is not for me at all.
Chevalier Vert: The greenest green that ever greened. Smells not of fresh cut grass but fresh cut weeds, like nettle and curly dock. It’s striking but entirety too much and has infinite longevity.
California Chocolate: Dark chocolate and orange. Very good for being exactly those things and nothing else.
Seattle Chocolate: Dark unsweetened chocolate. There’s supposed to be a pine note, but I don’t get it at all.
Blackbird: Juicy blackberry with an odd metallic note. Entirely linear with good longevity. I like it! Very wearable but quite simplistic.
Mardi Gras: Powdery civet that smells like a diaper. If you are into animalics or indoles, this one’s for you.
Salamanca: Leather and vetiver, but not a smooth, refined Tom Ford-esque leather. No, this is smoked pig leather. Hard no. I honestly don’t know who this is for.
Dev One: Foreplay: Indolic, dirty patchouli.
Cafe V: Not the coffee scent I expected. Leather (clean, not like Salamanca) and a little cacao, not a coffee or gourmand at all. I can only define this one by what it isn't, as it makes little impression otherwise.
Night Flyer: The original Bat. Dirt and a cave full of bats, though it does not smell indolic. I don’t really get the banana, more the dirt and what everyone I’ve shared it with describes as a cave. Very experiential. I like this one on Halloween.
Olympic Rainforest: Wet soil on a hike through the forests of the Pacific Northwest. More of a damp note than Night Flyer, and suggests living trees more than the shorn logs of Woodcut. Evocative. I quite like this one but have a difficult time wearing it as a perfume.
This is by no means exhaustive because they have a huge line for what is essentially a one-woman show. I can’t say any are frequent reaches but they are all exceptionally crafted and truly unique. Edited because I said "very" too much, but it's a very kind of brand.
A lot of other people have posted great reviews of Olympic Orchids scents, but I seem to have ordered samples of perfumes that not a lot of other people have reviewed so hopefully these are helpful. For context, I'm female and tend towards unisex-to-slightly feminine preferences for my perfume. I prefer my fragrances on the realistic side, which is in line with Olympic Orchids' brand. I prefer green, incense, floral, woody, and amber scents, and tend not to like powder, aldehydes, gourmands, or fruit. I have high tolerance for "dirty" notes like patchouli and oud, and low tolerance for sweet and animalic. I'm definitely on the side of considering perfume as art, and I like my perfumes weird. My concept of "wearability" is probably pretty different than a lot of people on this sub, so I won't say much about that, other than that all of these are at least a bit odd, this is not the house to look to for crowd-pleasers or frequent compliments. Many of these won't even register as a perfume to a lot of people. Most are completely unisex, I'll mention when I think one of them leans masculine or feminine. Night Flyer: Just to get it out of the way, this is the original Zoologist Bat and probably Olympic Orchids' most well-known scent. It's a mixture of banana (ripe, but I don’t get the rotting scent from it) and a very realistic cave smell. The cave is a mixture of a damp rock smell, and the clay note that’s also in Salamanca. It’s quite linear, that’s pretty much all I get from it. I find it interesting for an artistry perspective, the cave scent is very well done, but I can’t say that I expect many people to want to wear it and I’m not sure I find it all that captivating either. I’ve smelled it, I don’t have a ton of desire to smell it again the way I do some of the more complicated and interesting perfumes. Salamanca – The opening is rough leather and hint of herbal/mint. Vetiver and maybe sage and clay come forward more later on for a clay/herbal/leather mix, the rough vetiver coming out more and more as it ages. This is quite a masculine scent. Kingston Ferry – The opening is noble fir (more citrus-y than Doug), with an almost urine undertone (which does match my experience of small ferries so I guess maybe that's realistic?). I think that might be the diesel fuel others get but is really just urine to me. Very photorealistic. Urine completely disappears in about half an hour, becomes a diffuse cedar with a touch of salt and aquatics, and actually quite nice. Olympic Rainforest: Like the perfumer Ellen Covey, I'm from the Pacific Northwest and grew up in the temperate rainforest she's depicting in this perfume. This is 100% photorealistic, an accurate depiction of PNW rainforest in the rainy season after a windstorm. It opens with a mix of cedar and fir boughs, green, sharp, and resinous. There's a touch of slightly sweetened woody notes under the green. It's much more green than Kingston Ferry, sharper and sweeter, but also more linear. Big sillage, long lasting, it dries down to a pleasant cedarwood scent. Despite liking the opening and concept of Olympic Rainforest better, I actually prefer Kingston Ferry on the dry down as it’s a little more interesting and Olympic Rainforest feels a bit like a room spray. I find it too much of a spot-on perfect depiction of the forest, and like a perfectly done photorealistic painting that could be a photograph, it's not as interesting as it could be if there were more artistic interpretation. Hamsa: Bone dry lime peel and oud are most prominent notes for me in the opening. I don’t know what Palo Santo smells like, so I can’t pick it out, unfortunately, but I've seen a lot of reviews saying there's a lot of it in this. Citrus stays as resin and wood scents come in. The end result is a smooth, refined, slightly astringent, and calming sandalwood-heavy scent. Chevalier Vert: opening fresh green lime and rhubarb, leading into a green and slightly bitter tomato leaf. This is a beautifully alive, green, and exuberant smell. Thoroughly unisex. The dry down comes out with a dried grass, coriander, and hay and oakmoss blend with a little pop of the rhubarb. Pleasant and cheerful, with strong sillage and longevity. I think I'll be getting a full bottle of this one. Lil: Evil twin of Chevalier Vert. CV is like gardening in a pleasant garden, trimming a few plants, surrounded by bright and bitter greenery under a warm sun. Lil is ripping out noxious weeds choking an overgrown garden. Lil is a very specific scent, I spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out which plant it smelled like because I was convinced I remembered some sort of noxious weed that smelled exactly like it. It might be daphne (spurge laurel), which is a poisonous invasive species in the PNW. The point being that all the notes come together for a very blended fragrance, one that is incredibly realistic, and one I don’t like. Woodcut: I loved this more than I thought I would. I’m not into gourmands or sweet scents, so the burnt sugar notes made my leery of it. I was pleasantly surprised, and didn’t find it sweet at all. The focus is very much on the wood. The wood notes are piney, roughened, and a little dirty. This isn’t sawdust or a woodshop, this smells like the small local mill I buy lumber from, where whole logs are processed and you smell the cut bark as well as the heartwood. It's almost entirely wood, and a bit linear, but still has some complexity. Carosello: I love this one, and may get a full bottle. The opening is undeniably a fruity, sweet white wine with big peach and apricot and vinous scents. The dry down is nuanced, unusual, and very wearable, a mix of quiet spices (nutmeg, I think) with spicy geranium and rose. More feminine than most of the others. Cryptical Envelopment: This was a risky one to order. I had seen some reviews calling it beautiful, others saying “feet and cheese”. For me, it might be the worst perfume I have ever put on. It is vile. “Feet” is definitely the most noticeable note. There’s something else, rotten and organic, that isn’t quite cheese but I couldn’t bear to keep it on long enough to figure out what it was, and I can’t make myself put it back on to try again. Kilauea: I don’t have a sample of this, but I’ve tried it from someone’s stash and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of reviews of it. The opening is gorgeous lush greens and tropical flowers. While I doubt this is what Hawaii actually smells like it’s a beautiful idea of Hawaii. The lava notes are really what sets this apart. I was expecting a metallic note like the hot rocks in Commes des Garcons Odeur 53 or the clay note from Night Flyer and Salamanca. Kilauea is very different. The lava is hot, spicy but not in a foody way, and organic rather than mineral smelling. The lush tropical plus spices is a very unusual combo but it works surprisingly well. This is feminine and very beautiful. Seattle Chocolate: I don’t like gourmands, and I don’t like sweet perfumes, and this one is right at the edge of too much of those for me, but doesn't go over. It is definitely a chocolate perfume, but a very dry and bitter dark chocolate (maybe cocoa nibs, instead), offset with strong scents of fir and pine that pull it away from the gourmand side. The combo reminds me of the strawberry and pine of Imaginary Authors Cape Heartache, but I think the chocolate works better with the pine than the strawberry does. This is a cool weather perfume for sure, and a monster as far as sillage and longevity go. Tucson: formerly Arizona. Licorice, pine and grasses on the opening, moving quickly to a root beer-like sarsaparilla and licorice with leather and a bit of wood. The leather comes out more and more over the dry down, but the warm spices stay present. Slightly sweet, gourmand, and masculine. Enough leather and grasses to keep it interesting and not entirely foody, but it’s a fun, approachable, youngish scent. I think this may have been reformulated when it was renamed recently, because most reviews describe this as a realistic forest and the southern equivalent of Olympic Rainforest, and what I got was not really a forest at all and more the southern version of Seattle Chocolate. Blackbird: Big blackberry note that dominates everything. The blackberry is slightly cooked, like a fresh blackberry sauce, but not all the way to a jam, and quite natural rather than synthetic. Unfortunately, that’s about all I get. I was hoping for the dried grasses and balsam, but right as the blackberry tones down and those start to come to the fore, the perfume fades to nothing. There are the bones for a great fragrance here, but it feels unbalanced. Sonnet XVII: opens with a osmanthus-like floral underlaid with something animalic and dirty, without losing the calm and beauty of the top notes. It reminds me a bit of the civet in Chanel No. 5 and other older perfumes. I’ve seen people suggest lanolin as the note, and I can see that. That note fades quite quickly, though, and ends up barely there and supporting the refined and pretty peachy Osmanthus and jasmine. It’s interesting, mature, feminine and complex. I get the picture of a woman in her 50’s in a perfectly tailored suit, past the point of caring whether others find her intimidating, but all the more compelling for her self-assurance. The seamless evolution from feral opening to beautiful dry-down is pretty extreme, and I can't decide if I like that journey or think it should have been two different fragrances. All in all, I've very impressed by the house. I originally got a half dozen of the more conventional fragrances and was interested enough to want to see how Ellen Covey would do with the stranger ones and I'm glad I did. The perfumes seem to be high quality, well blended and mostly well balanced. With the exceptions of Cryptical Envelopment and Lil, I found them worth experiencing even if they didn't all end up being something I'd want a bottle of. The house seems to combine the inventiveness and creativity mostly found in indie perfumes with the higher quality that I find they often lack. If anyone is starting to find the mainstream scents a little boring and predictable, or who likes the creativity of houses like Zoologist and Imaginary Authors, this house might be worth a try.
BPAL Winter 2020 scents dropped! What are you getting?
Black Alchemy Phoenix Lab just released their Winter scents on their website, and Ajevie will be taking pre-orders despite being on break! Ajevie has part 1 and part 2 separated on their shop site. I'm new to indie perfumes this year, and I've never tried BPAL, but I'm interested in this release. Let me know what you're planning on getting! Below is the list of perfumes, copied over from Ajevie's most recent email:
PART ONE
Bear Prince Shaggy fur, snow-flecked and rose-touched. Black Coffee With an extra shot of espresso to get you through the rest of 2020. Black Ice Winter Lovely, dangerous, slick, and bitterly cold: chilly white sleet-like notes with a hint of vetiver, a breath of smoky asphalt, and winter wind. Burnt Cocoa Bombs It’s a total disaster, but the house smells great. The Cherry-Tree Carol Cherrywood, frankincense, amber, red berries, cherries, white rose petals, and myrrh. Chocolate Fruitcake Because it’s amazing. Cucidati A spicy Sicilian lemon-frosted cookie filled with Calimyrna figs, dried dates, orange peel, dark rum, and almond paste. Don’t Lick it An extra-sweet vanilla peppermint for an extra-sour year. Gingerbread and Leather Black leather, gingerbread, clove, and tobacco. Hearth Sweet pipe tobacco, cherry wood, the warm, worn leather of an easy chair and a pleasant, subtle waft of fireplace smoke. Hot Buttered Rum Hot buttered rum with a touch of molasses, lightly spiced and swirled with a touch of cream. Joulumuori A glowing hearth, luumukiisseli, riisipuuro, and sima. La Befana Candy charcoal, winter lilies, parma violet, a sprig of cypress, a poof of chimney dust, and holiday sweets. Lavender and White Chocolate Madelines Winter Pulled from a stack of recipes I keep in a folder called “Things I Will Never Be Skilled Enough to Bake.” Mari Lwyd Welsh cakes and ale with a smattering of dried lavender. Marshmallow Snow Soft poofs of chilled marshmallow. Meigetsu Ya Red mandarin dusted with frost. Midnight Mass This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Oatmeal and Apple Spice Cookies With brown sugar, nutmeg, and walnuts. Peacock Queen In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Personent Hodie Plumes of olibanum, cassia chips, benzoin, storax, and myrrh smoke swirling around a stained-glass pane of red pomegranate, purple currant, and golden amber. The Poinsettia Gown Rose cream, jasmine cream, mallow, vanilla foam, and sweet amber. Pomegranate Sufganiyot Erupting with pomegranate jelly with a touch of cranberry and red currant. Rose Red The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut. Snow White A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers. Sugar Cookie Affectionately nicknamed ‘The Devil’s Bake Sale’. To a Wreath of Snow Tobacco flower, white oud, lavender bud, and ambergris accord. V’al Hanissim Beeswax glowing softly amber. Yule Cat Malevolent musk, a drop of infernal civet, vetiver, club moss, birch, goosefoot, and rowan.
PART TWO
Addons, Full sizes, Various sizes, and unlimited stock are available until3pm est Wednesday December 23rd GINGERBREAD MONSTERS Ghost Milk Goat’s milk, marshmallow, vanilla cashmere, honey dust, and white chocolate. Gingerbread Invisible Man Champagne-soaked gingerbread, candied ginger, lemon, and white sugar. Gingerbread Mummy Gingerbread wrapped in bourbon vanilla, white sandalwood, and marshmallow butter. Gingerbread Vampire Gingerbread, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and star anise. Gingerbread Witch Gingerbread, pumpkin pulp, Arkansas black apple pulp, rosemary, and lemon peel. Gingerbread Wolfman Gingerbread, honey, molasses, pulverized chestnut, powdered sugar, nutmeg, and hazelnut. Gingerbread Zombie Gingerbread, vanilla bean, peppermint, and milk chocolate chips. LUX BRUMALIS A Moonlit Winter Landscape Smoky grey amber, frost-black oak, snow-covered soil, Tuscan iris, storm-grey musk, fenugreek, linden blossom, and benzoin. Gebirgsschlucht Im Winter Indigo blossom, tobacco absolute, oakmoss, cypress bark, black vegetal musk, and candied blackberry. The Icebergs Mountains of ice jutting through an iridescent pool of peach musk, fir needle, immortelle, white moss, crystalline turquoise musk, juniper sap, apricot rind, fleur de sel, white rose, misty orris root, and white amber. Im Tiefen Winter Icy water cascading over smooth, mossy stones and a trickle of hearth smoke in the distance. Klosterruine Im Winter Mit Blick Auf Heisterbach Crumbling marble under a blanket of snow, echoes of incense smoke, and crushed frankincense tears. Last Tavern at the Town Gate Vivid red musk streaked with sleet, hearthsmoke, a glimmer of lemon rind and yellow amber, and oak-aged whiskey. Partridges in the Snow A bundle of roasted chestnut, oak bark, sawdust, balsam, and warm brown musk against a backdrop of white sandalwood, orris butter, and juniper. Snow-Covered Landscape Blue lilac, winter narcissus, snowdrop petals, ambergris accord, white musk, ambrette seed, and wisteria. Sunrise in Winter Roman chamomile, golden ti leaf, and crystallized amber illuminating blackened vetiver and smoky oud. Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning Hay, white peach, opalescent musk, orris root, pink carnation, osmanthus, and rooibos. Winter Night. Figure on the Bridge Indigo musk, blackened lilac, wild plum rind, opium tar, tobacco flower, and snow. Winter Scene in Little Russia Bulgarian lavender, white tea, and pine smoke in a haze of snowfall. Winter Sunset An radiant inferno of blood orange, sheer amber, tangerine, clove husk, red cedarwood, and red myrrh bursting against jagged peaks of black pine, fir needle, and snow-white musk. WINTER DUETS Amber and Cardamom Candlewax and Chocolate Cinnamon and Clove Cranberries and Popcorn Fir Needle and Smoke Narcissus and Snowflakes Peppermint and Pine Rosewater and Myrrh Sandalwood and Lily of the Valley Weed and Whiskey
Let’s Talk About Hex, Bay-Bee! Hexennacht Reviews, Pt. 1 of ???
On mobile, sorry in advance for format issues. I’ll try to fix when I have access. Also, thank you guys so much for the awards! I feel Reddit-validated 🥰 Hello, fellow smellows! I made my first post in this sub a little over a year ago after a friend introduced me to indies. Since then, trying and investing in perfume has become a full-fledged hobby of mine, and I’m still enjoying trying out new scents/combinations each month. I started my scent journey by delving into the Hexennacht collection, and DANG was I impressed. The thing about me is that when I find something I like, I commit to it. Hard. That, friends of every and no gender, is the background of the story of how AllTheCake tried the vast majority of the scents in the Hexennacht collection. And now, I’m passing my savings down to YOU. (Don’t get me wrong, though - I’m still definitely a newbie nose and I have no idea what I’m doing. After taking extensive notes over the span of a year+, I’ve finally decided to be brave and post my thoughts regarding these scents, and I think I’m going to start with the scents I’ve tried falling between the letters A and C because HOLY shit, there’s like 30+ smells in those alone. I’ve never done reviews of...anything before, really, so I’ll be doing my best to condense and simplify my convoluted rating structure in noting how I feel about them because...god I wrote so much. Quick warning: I ramble and cuss. A lot. If either of those is a review dealbreaker, you may want to skip this series. ALSO, keep in mind that these reviews are based on my skin chemistry - shit’s fickle. Finally, I’m not being sponsored to write these. I’m just a crazy person who committed way too hard. Last minute: I’m all over gourmands, spices, ambers, and cream/milk while being completely not into grape, super clean smells, heavy citrus, and niche atmospherics like motor oil, weed, etc. Fruit/berries and musks tend to be in, heavy florals tend to be out, greens and aquatics are touch and go, but everything has their exceptions. LET’S GO.
Alexandrite (Incense, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, plum, strawberry, dark patchouli, oudh): What better way to see what berry notes work on you than to try ALL OF THEM AT ONCE. The incense is immediate with a twinge of white smoke, but the berries are of course more prominent. Thankfully, it never got strong enough to hit what I call The Headache Threshold, which is what happens when some fruit notes are WAY too much for me. I appreciate the incense sticking around to negate some of the big sweetness (the title of my next album). The blackberry and strawberry showed up first. The raspberry kicked in a bit later and mixed nicely, but when the blueberry started to strengthen halfway through my work day, I was SUPER excited because apparently I really like blueberry. I think the plum may have played a more subtle role, and I only briefly smelled a smidge of patchouli near the end of the scent’s lifecycle, which was a pleasant undertone. Make no mistake, this is absolutely more fruit-forward than anything, and it is a heady sweet at the beginning, but this is summery as fuck, and I really like it. Verdict: Full sized, fruitilicious
All Soul’s Night: Short and sweet review here. Roasting marshmallows over a campfire from wet to dry and everything between! The strength of the smoke element of this takes it to another level...you can really smell the embers and burn from the wood. At the same time, the marshmallow never shies away from the foreground, so it’s a great mix. Like Marshmallow Fireside from B&BW except more realistic and way better, in my opinion. This is a forever favorite. Verdict: Full sized, full size forever.
Amityville (Pumpkin pecan waffles, pumpkin brûlée, marshmallow, sugar cookie, vanilla bean noel, salted caramel popcorn balls) : So sweet Ready-to-eat-my-wrists sweet. The waffles and the popcorn balls lead the way right off the bat with this...smells very much like I’ve gone to the state fair and am indulging in everything fried and bad for me, which is very much a me move. (I tried deep fried Oreos for the first time recently and now nobody can stop me.) I could absolutely see others describing this as cloying because it really doesn’t mess around with the sugar, but I think it’s great. My sweet tooth is massive, so...take that with a grain of salt. The caramel strengthens on the dry down, but the waffle scent sticks around as the strongest note for sure. It’s nice because the popcorn helps it keep the smell buttery but not enough to overwhelm. After several hours, I get nice warm sugar cookies fresh from the oven. I can’t say I ever really got the pumpkin brûlée...there may have been a bit of a bite in the background? Still, fantastic gourmand, but be careful because this will make you want to eat through your pantry. I want sugar cookies now, but I’m dieting. Life is unfair. Verdict: Full sized, threatening to my stomach
Amortentia (white chocolate, raspberry cordial, rose petals): I’m getting the oddest combination of vague rose and sweet peanut butter when I put this on, which is the most confusing thing, considering there’s 0 peanut butter here. Maybe it’s the white chocolate? Is my nose broken? After a couple hours, the white chocolate formerly known as Peanut Butter forcibly drags the raspberry cordial behind it, which it then shoves into the forefront to take center stage whether it likes it or not. It went from something very strange to raspberries dipped in weird white chocolate with someone kind of lightly trickling down rose petals in the background, which isn’t that bad of a mix! The result is mild and sweet, and it strikes me as a spring gourmand...that said, after two tries, I think this is fine but wouldn’t be something I’d actively grab for. Verdict: Sample, very much like the Jif Berry Blend PB from the late 90s
Apparition (Spectral amber, alabaster vanilla, bone-white woods): The internet really lives for this one, huh? Getting big Loup-Garou vibes from this when applied...I’m guessing it uses the same white amber note, which isn’t a bad thing. The amber and woods are really the stars of the show here, and they are bright! I feel so much fancier than I really am in this as I sit around in a tee shirt and capris. The vanilla makes its appearance about 15 minutes in, and the just-there sweetness that it brings is really pleasant! This one sat for a while to get this effect, but I’m a much bigger fan than I though I’d be. Verdict: Full size, chilli vanilli
Arsenic (Chai, pumpkin puree, buttercream, vanilla cookies, powdered sugar): Pumpkin purée and chai come out first which is a lovely sweet and spicy combo! It has the same sort of air as Chai-mallow at the first go-round, which I like a lot. As it starts to dry down, the buttercream pops out more and mellows the chai a bit, which adjusts the scent profile to a more normal gourmand-y smell. The pumpkin and buttercream stick around the most on dry down...it’s interesting because to my nose, this seems to transform from a pumpkin chai cookie to a nice pumpkin roll cake sprinkled in powdered sugar...subtle transition, but pleasant. It’s familiar but new, and I really like it. Verdict: Full size, ready to bake
Aziraphale (Marshmallow-topped hot cocoa, rice, wool, crepes, leather-bound antique books, and old, wooden bookshelves): Skin chemistry is a really bonkers thing. I don’t know if it was the leather or the wooden shelves or what, but whatever I smelled in that sample bottle was so pungent and unappealing that I trashed this. I could smell it on my hands even after washing them, and my hands only smelled like that note too, which is a real shame because I was particularly excited for the crepe note. It was just...burnt and harsh. Sorry but no. Verdict: BIG nope, mourning crepes
Babooshka (Slow-baked sweet gourds, Russian tea cookies, pipe tobacco, Autumnal spice accord, caramel, nutmeg, honey, coumarin, beeswax absolute, cardamom sugar, crushed apples, black pepper, liatrix absolute): Autumn autumn AUTUMN. I’m already getting a good throw from this, a good start! Spices and tea cookies as the wet notes...thinking the cardamom sugar and pepper are the spices I’m getting the most. The gourds and apples showing up the more it dries give this a more earthy scent and pushes the spice into the background, which is good because a lot of spice scents go cinnamon-forward and that’s that. It’s not the sweetest scent I’ve tried in this collection which sort of surprises me given the note content, but I really enjoy it because of that! I actually think it being a little more subdued is working in its favor. This smell screams fall from the get-go, but not in a scented-candle-headache way. Also, my wife loves this one which is a bonus. Verdict: Full sized, aw yiss wife hugs
Baltic Amber (Golden amber, pinus succinifera, cedarwood, jammy fir absolute, oakmoss absolute, tree moss, verdant musk, cardamom, balsam, lightning-scorched ancient boughs): Ohhhh, wow! This takes Hex’s lovely amber note and blasts it into overdrive with the help of the succinfera making it smell cold and woodsy. It’s a bright and resinous amber that sticks out really nicely. The hint of cedarwood at the start enhances the brightness and even gives it hints of the white amber note used at times. I get little bits of the balsam bursting in and out through the day which pushes it in a wintery direction, but it’s woodsy resin all the way down. It does fade quickly though...want to say it’s been about an hour 45 and it isn’t extremely strong, but I wonder if resting will give it more oomph? Or maybe just an extrait would be needed? Regardless, mmph. This is my favorite amber of the Hex collection so far. Verdict: Full sized, smooth criminal
Banana Milk (Sweet milk, melted ice cream, vanilla pudding mix, banana): The bottle really amps up the pudding note more than I expected. It doesn’t show much banana to start, only a hint at the very end that smelled almost a little tart to my nose. As soon as I put this on, though, WHAM BAM THANK YOU BANAN. This is screaming banana pudding at my face which, as a southerner, I can definitely get behind. This is what I wanted to get more of in Bellypopper. It’s not an overpowering banana scent by any means, and it actually comes across as more realistic to my nose than the banana in Bananas Foster...maybe because the intensity of the sweetness isn’t as in-your-face? Even my wife, who has some touch and go issues with ID’ing what some perfumes should smell like, knew instantly it was banana. The pudding smell mixed with the sweet milk note quickly as well. I want to say it’s the same as the condensed milk note in Moloko Plus, one of my favorites, and I couldn’t be happier. About an hour or so in I start to get that ice cream note that goes plastic-y on me, but thanks to the miracle that is this banana, it’s not having that effect!!! What!? Maybe it’s because it’s warmer weather right now or a mix of the ingredients, but whatever is happening, it’s creamy and smooth...there’s a hint of that plastic there, though in this context, it doesn’t come across the same way. Hard to explain. I’ve been seeing reviews saying it’s a powdery smell on them, but this couldn’t be further from the case. On me, this is a smooth and milky banana pudding, and while something light like this isn’t what I would normally call luscious, to me it very much is. I’m in love. Verdict: Full sized, bathe me in this forever
Bananas Foster (Caramelized bananas, buttery rum sauce, vanilla ice cream): This starts off a strong banana runts kind of smell, though as a fan of banana runts, I’m fine with this. Apparently this is actually what banana smelled/tasted like in the past which is a fun fact I knew offhand as a smart person and DEFINITELY didn’t learn from a YouTube video about hard candy. The rum sauce comes through pretty quickly to booze the banana up...it’s a little sharp, but it mixes well with the sweet banana. The ice cream note is kind of artificial (think this is the same note I mention in Butterbeer below), and it unfortunately sticks around WAY too long. The silage to me is weak, but other people I saw that day said it smelled nice, so I guess my nose just got used to it. I think this is nice, but Banana Milk is my new Banana Bae. Verdict: Occasional sample, but not unpleasant
Bay Harbor Butcher (Red strawberries and fresh, salty ocean air): This definitely gives you what it says it will! The strawberry note is sweet and fresh, and it’s not for the faint of heart. I’m not sure how realistic it is off the top of my head, but it’s pretty intense...in a good way! It’s more realistic than your candy store strawberry because it has just a smidge of tartness behind the sweet. As it mellows out, you can get a touch more of the salt in there to give this a bit of oomph. And no headaches! I’ve gotta go back and edit my Alexandrite review, I think it was the blackberry scaring me about headaches after all. If you really want a treat, layer some Spectre on this one for a strawberry milkshake experience. Verdict: Either repeat sample or full size, haven’t decided
The Bell Witch (Blood musk, ebon musk, feral musk, nag champa, sandalwood, incense, guaiacwood, vanilla, bergamot, aged dark patchouli, woodsmoke, amber): This was applied very conservatively because I thought it’d be intense when too much is worn. I smelled one or two of the musks (not sure which), the nag champa, and just a hint of the woodsmoke when I put this on. It’s very much a resinous scent, and it relies on the blend of scents rather than starring one note as the main focus and branching off from it. I got a smidge of the bergamot when it started drying down, and then the scent was just....gone. I’m not sure if it was a speedy nose blindness or it just faded fast because I didn’t put on enough, but by 1 1/2 hours in I could barely smell it. A whiff of musk here, a smaller whiff of amber there...but nothing for the rest of the day. Frankly, I don’t think I can give it a full, fair assessment. Going to put this one back in the cabinet for a few months and try it again later to see how it matures. Verdict: ??? Where did she go?
Bellypopper (Chocolate and banana puddings, whipped cream and white chocolate shavings): This is 100% like I’ve opened up a pudding snack pack back in middle school. I immediately get the chocolate and banana from this - the banana note is actually really nice and balanced the chocolate well so it wasn’t overpowering like some chocolate notes tend to be, at least on me. (Looking at you, Tokyomilk.) The white chocolate comes in a bit later, but unfortunately, that’s about as much as I got. The smell just kind of disappeared after maybe 3 hours - it was there, but just barely. My wife couldn’t even tell I had anything on. I guess it’s fine? I don’t think it left enough of an impression to hold on to. Verdict: Not a repeat, lunchroom favorite
Big Toddy Goth GF (Spiced buttered rum, bourbon, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove cigarettes): The buttered rum and bourbon come at you straight from the get-go, though they relax quickly, leading into the nutmeg a bit. Smells like a holiday drink (which I guess it is because toddy...). The buttered rum is a smidge cloying and sticks around on the dry down, but I don’t dislike it...I have a lot of fond memories eating those old fashioned candy sticks in Butter Rum flavor specifically at the beach as a kid, so I’m okay with it. The clove makes its way in a few hours in, and it sadly doesn’t have the stronger clove cig notes I was looking for...I’ve never been able to find a clove cigarette scent emulated properly to bring back those sweet “summer of 2010” memories, so the hunt continues. Still, it’s sassy, boozy, sugary, and the spices mix really pleasantly with the overall scent, so it still fits...no harm in smelling like classy Buttershots. Verdict: Full sized, full-tittied
Bisou (Smeared lipstick and warm, flushed skin: vanilla, orris root, violet, sugar, cetalox, skin musk, and safraleine): I asked Caroline to send me her current favorite scent as a sample with my second full-size order, and this was the result. Honestly, I wrote Bisou off when I saw the description because 1) it has violet in it, which on me usually smells like baby powder, and 2) I’m a scent note babby and have NO idea what half of the ingredients in this were supposed to smell like. It‘a a sweet floral in the bottle (thinking it’s the orris root...I LOVE irises so that’s nice!), but on my skin, it changed almost immediately! It starts off with an inoffensive but artificial note that I think is the lipstick note with a violet edge to it. The orris root seems to be balancing that violet undertone out, which I couldn’t be more thankful for because this violet is miraculously not as powdery and feels more like a light dusting because of it. A lot of people I’ve seen that tried this call Bisou a sexy smell, but that’s not my interpretation. Smelling this, my brain immediately brought me to an incredibly specific memory from when I was some single-digit age in the early 90s waiting for my mom to finish shopping at Talbots. A Sting song was playing over the speakers, and I was watching a video they had on a small TV of a fashion show where models were showing off looks made with the clothes in stock. This was a really weird tangent, but I guess the point I’m trying to make is that this smell is really evocative, and I actually...like it a lot? To me it reads as extremely confident, like a businesswoman in the 80s with big shoulder pads and bigger dreams. (And I guess she shops at Talbots.) I feel like I’m not enjoying it for the reasons I expected to, but the end result is good! My only sadness with this is that it didn’t last super long on my skin the first time I wore it, but I wore this again to my wife’s family Christmas party and I’m still smelling it now (and I got several compliments!), so maybe it just needed more rest time. This came in a generous 5mL sample, so I’m still working through it, but I’m going to keep this around. Verdict: Full size, this review brought to you by Talbots apparently
Blackberry Lavender Lemonade: This is pleasant! Very summery, it reads like it’d be nice during warm weather. Every note is present and bright in this order, not one thing overshadowing the rest...lavender really likes to star in scents, so this is good news. I’ve found that most lemon scents get a little cleaner-y on me, but the lemonade note doesn’t ever take on that feeling with the blackberry background. I don’t think I want this in a full-size, but I’ll revisit samples now and again. Verdict: Repeated sample, summer lovin’
Black Mass (Smoked vanilla, frankincense, Peru balsam, labdanum, amber, vetiver, Atlas cedarwood, patchouli, night musk, and scorched marshmallows): This is one of a few reviews that I’ve doubled back on and am re-reviewing after my first time wearing it to see if it resting changes my mind. My first try saw it as a little sweet, then a strong plastic note that was too much to get over, leading to dislike. This time around, I think I’m getting mostly frankincense, amber, and balsam on application, as it vaguely reminds me of the forest-y note in Thanatos but much more resinous...the frankincense is definitely the plastic note I smelled before, and thankfully it chilled out more the second time around. It picks up on just a smidge of woodiness, and by the end of the day, it becomes much more like marshmallow with some green resin undertones...not much shifting here. That said, I’m really glad I gave it a second chance. It’s a very warm forest-y smell with just that bit of gourmand sweetness helping it out, which is a weird description, I know. I still think the frankincense can be a bit too much like plastic, but it toned down massively since the first time I tried this to a point where it doesn’t last long enough for me to count it out. I can’t even put my finger on what kind of scent this is, but it’s worth trying. Verdict: Probable full-size, fantastic plastic
Black Phillip (Black amber, dragon’s blood, black musk, tonka, black oak, firewood embers, black currant, soft woods, black pepper): The black amber and black currant are the first two things I personally smelled here, spicy with a hint of fruitiness. I got more dragon’s blood out of the bottle initially than I did on my skin, but that quickly changed within maybe 10 minutes. Eventually, the whole smell mellowed out and I got more of the musk and the tonka with just a hint of that currant and woods keeping it from getting too dark. I haven’t seen much of the pepper or embers which is disappointing because I sort of like that slight burn to those notes. It’s a nice smell, but it wasn’t spectacular to me in any regard. Verdict: Discontinued. That’s it, no funny follow-up
Black Vanilla (Golden amber, three different vanillas, marshmallow fluff, musk) Goes on dark, Amber and musk are the two head notes on this and it’s just what I was hoping for. It’s dark and very much wants to be noticed...BV’s the girl with smokey eyes and black lipstick checking you out from across the room, and you want to approach her but also you have anxiety. The vanillas slowly poke out to make themselves known after this little onslaught which helps to mellow the smell out a bit. I can’t honestly pick out which vanilla is which in the collection, but they blend together really nicely. Then the marshmallow pops out. Everything makes an appearance little-by-little, with each note being careful not to step on its predecessor’s toes. This is definitely a “feel sexy” scent. My only concern is that the silage/throw is a bit weak. May last better in spray form. I’ve been looking for a smell like this...definite full purchase. Verdict: Full sized, forgot to get it as an EDP. Whoops
Blood Moon (Dragons blood, smoked vanilla, pipe tobacco, beeswax, sanguine musk): If you’re looking for something strong/with a good throw, consider Blood Moon. The dragon’s blood is no joke! It and the pipe tobacco are heavy and present from the start - my wife could smell me from several feet away when I put this on. With a stuffy nose. It doesn’t have a Smaug-like aggressiveness to it because the red musk note isn’t as intense, but it’s still there, still looming, and has still respawned all the enemies you’ve killed thus far to keep your game balanced. Weirdly enough, the tobacco became the strongest element in this after a bit of time...DB usually doesn’t step back as much on my skin, so I appreciated this. The smoked vanilla made an appearance about an hour and a half in, and it’s the first time I’ve actually been able to pick it out - this is a neat note! It’s fiery without being a heavier smoke like the note in ASN or Fumer...it adds some sweetness without being too “yo here’s vanilla what up”. I’d say it’s almost reminiscent of C’eci Ne Pas Une Pipe. The beeswax and musk is what it generally ends on, but it’s a nice journey. I thought I wasn’t going to like this as much as I did based on how Smaug worked out comparatively (spoilers), but that vanilla changed my mind. The blood moon will rise again, I think! Verdict: Full size, LIIIINK
Boo-berry (Blueberry cordial, blueberry cobbler, vanilla bean): This is a treat! The cobbler smell comes in pretty quickly on this, giving a hint of baked good to turn this into a fruity gourmand very early. The cordial lightens the scent back up, though, so it isn’t buttery or pastry-reminiscent for more than a moment. The vanilla pops through more later in the day with the cordial backing it up, but it feels like a more authentic vanilla, which is nice. I really enjoy this smell, but its biggest drawback is that I think it has the weakest silage of all the Hex scents I’ve tried so far. Started getting weak around the 2-3 hour mark,which was disappointing. Still, the smell is fruity, fun, and doesn’t make my head hurt - wins all around! May have more luck with this as an extrait, which I’ll be buying in this scent when I grab a full. Verdict: Full size, da ba dee da buh di
Bourbon Street (Coffee, beignets, mahogany, pipe tobacco, cocoa, cardamom): This is so different! I feel like I very specifically smell like a coffee shop in a classy way. The coffee is the most prominent note, but I get this masculine undertone of what I think is the pipe tobacco...or maybe a mix of that and the mahogany? It’s this odd balance that makes me think of an aged wooden coffee house table that has been stained with the subtle smell of cigarette smoke over the years. The coffee fades a touch after a few hours, and I finally start to get that sweet beignet note...reminds me of Sucre due to the powdered sugar. (Would a touch of that be good here?) I also appreciate that the cocoa note in this is more of a support role to deepen the tobacco and coffee...I’ve realized that too much can be overwhelming for my skin, but this is just enough to give the smell that oomph. This is REALLY good, probably my favorite coffee scent by Hex thus far. I’m impressed. Verdict: Full size, I miss going places
Butterbeer (Sweet, golden, drippy butterscotch, rich vanilla ice cream, hot buttered rum): Sugary butterscotch immediately, a smell where you know for sure what you’re eating is terrible for you. It may be tempting to lick your wrists. Do not do this. I love the immediate sweet notes of it, but unfortunately, the dry down leaves a lot to be desired. The ice cream note was artificial on my skin, and the butterscotch all but disappeared. The buttered rum does make an appearance at the very end as well which helps, but the ice cream is the main note for me and makes it hard to look past. I probably would’ve liked this back in high school, but I’m 30 now and can’t get away with this. If you like sticky-sweet-tastebuds-on-fire-oh-god-my-teeth-where-am-I gourmand, then this is for you. I had high hopes for it, but on my skin, it’s a no-go. (Slightly related, if anyone finds a Butterbeer recipe with no carbonation/cream soda involved, let a girl know.) Verdict: Destash, dear god the sugar
Cake (White/yellow frosted cake accord): So full disclosure: when my bottle of this from Ajevie came in, I was scared. In the bottle, this was frosting. Only frosting. Like grocery store, crunches-when-you-bite-it, way-too-sweet frosting. Even I have my sugar limits. I only used a little in the crook of my elbow because I was already wearing a scent, but...y’all. I‘m ready to slather myself in this. I should have had more faith in Caroline. The frosting note isn’t nearly as strong when applied, but within 30 minutes, it had nearly completely transformed into a BEAUTIFUL cake smell. I’m talking the most realistic warm, baked cake scent I’ve ever smelled. I hadn’t seen the full description when wearing it and couldn’t decide if it was more like white or yellow cake...from me to me, surprise, dumbass, it’s both. I never thought I’d find a cake smell that wasn’t overly generic or cloying, but my search is finally over. Verdict: Glad this blind buy was a full size, I match my username
Calm The Fuck Down (lavender, ylang ylang, bergamot, vanilla, and patchouli): When wet, the lavender and what I think is the ylang ylang make their move first. It’s a light floral that almost takes on a minty tone even though there’s no mint involved. Perfume is crazy! It’s a very simple scent at first, but these notes stick around for a while thankfully, to help the calm induce in. On dry down, the patchouli only made a brief appearance. I wish it’d stuck around because it really added some depth to the scent. The vanilla arrives near the end to make it a sweet floral, but then it switches back to the ylang ylang as the big note, which I didn’t expect, as vanilla usually shows up the most on me out of all of these. It’s a nice soft floral that isn’t necessarily a favorite, but considering floral isn’t my immediate personal style, I like it enough to try again, just not sure if I like it enough. Verdict: Probably repeat sample, you can’t tell me what to do you bottle of smell
Camp Crystal Lake (Lake water, fishing dock, seaweed, forest): Once again, Caroline knocked it out of the park with this...I’m not usually a fan of atmospherics, but this one is great. I feel like I’m getting almost everything promised from this on application: the blue aquatic notes from the water, the slightly salty tinge of seaweed, the green notes from the forest...just missing the old fishing dock. This is a weirdly refreshing smell and really makes me long for the summer. Not like mid-summer where it’s 100 degrees out and everything is melting...I want that 85 degree summer where jumping in the water feels the best. The wood dock smell eventually comes through, and it’s awesome. It’s a sweeter wood, but it has just a hint of tang to it that makes it feel just aged enough. This makes me hate that we’re in the middle of winter because I think I want to wear this at the beach. Off topic! This is super refreshing, and while atmospherics haven’t been great for me so far, this is a change that I’ve really enjoyed. Also? It lasted all dang day. I’m on hour 9 now and I can still smell it. Sticking with it!. Verdict: Likely full size, “damp” used as a positive
Ceci N'est Pas Une Pipe (Aged Madura cigars, spiced vanilla, beeswax votives, golden honeycomb): I hope I like this, my dumb ass bought two samples by mistake. This is a heavy scent, I can already tell. Strangely enough, I’m first getting both the cigars and the honeycomb on application, which I didn’t expect since it was listed as a lesser note. I was pretty scared about the cigar note because actual cigar smoke is way too thick and noxious to me, but this is more subdued than I was expecting...I guess what I’m getting is the oil that would be in the maduro wrapping itself, not the smoke. It’s warmer and deeper to the point of...comforting? It’s deep. I like it! The only slight bummer is that I don’t get a lot of vanilla in this, weirdly...vanilla usually pushes its way through on my skin, but the honey is actually putting out more sweetness than anything. It’s subtle, though, and it’s muted by the beeswax, so it isn’t giving me a honey headache. This scent is dark and more unisex, though it reads feminine and just a tad floral on my skin. I’ve really grown to love the warmth it has through the day...this is a rebuy for sure. Guess it’s good I got two after all. Verdict: Full size, about to invite you into my parlor to chat about the man I know you killed
Cereal Killer (Fruit Loops, Cap’n Crunch berries, Trix cereal): Deadass, in the bottle, this smells like Trix or Fruity Pebbles. I’m baffled. What mix of notes created this? After putting it on, this amps up the fruit to the nth degree...I do get background notes of cereal, but some fruity note in particular is trying its damndest to make itself known. What IS that? Orange and lemon mixed? It really pushes its way up front first, but everything else eventually catches up. This is a nice and very accurate take on these beloved cereal scents...but why I’d ever want to smell like this is beyond me 😆 Still, I think this would be a fun smell to wear around children. Verdict; Occasional sample, follow your nose
Cereal Marshmallows (Is what it is!): Another quickie review. Artificial and muted-fruity, just like the shmallows themselves! It really doesn’t change past this and is very one-note, but for what it is, it’s nice. If you like cutesy and sugary smells, you’ll be a fan, but I think I’m okay with just having a sample. Wonder how this would mix with Cereal Killer...? Verdict: Discontinued, you can buy a whole bag of cereal marshmallows on Amazon for real
Chai-Mallow (Marshmallow, buttercream, black tea, chai spices): You know it’s going to be good when you put it on and immediately think “yeeees.” The buttercream and the black tea acted as the opening notes on this, which I really love. It’s an immediate sweet-bitter balance that almost reminds me of a mild coffee with sweet cream and sugar. It sweetens back up again as the tea fades a touch, though. The dry down is a nice warm, sweet spice that isn’t too overpowering and really gives you that “I’m drinking chai-shmallow tea in a Barnes and Noble” feel. At the end of the day, it’s exactly what it says it is: a spicy marshmallow. I LOVE this. Verdict: Full size, the spiciest marshmallow
Chakra Khan (Amber, sandalwood, vanilla, orange blossom, tonka, patchouli): I’ve been convinced there was nag champa in this for like a month, but apparently not! This reads very bright. The amber and slightly sweet sandalwood play together nicely here, taking on a slight floral quality with the orange blossom peeking through the background. The vanilla becomes a bit more apparent several minutes after application too, and it’s a nice vanilla. Not gourmand-y, just light sweetness. It does have head shop vibes to some degree, but I’m appreciating this because it’s light and not so “head shop” as to overwhelm my sense of smell like some nag champa or incense-forward smells can. It’s odd too because for an amber perfume, it reads very “spring” to me. Any patchouli in this is masked by the amber in my case, but it evens out to a nice mellow sweetness. If you’re an amber fan, I’d say it’s worth giving a shot! Verdict: On the fence about full or repeat sample, not on the fence about this being nice
Champanilla (Nag champa, vanilla liqueur, vanilla bean, musk): Spirit Temple’s loud big sister! The nag champa is powerful in this on application and is definitely the main note of the scent by a landslide...my wife woke up with a stuffy nose and could still smell this right after I put it on. It’s almost a smidge bitter after letting it sit for a while, I’d say. The weird thing is that this doesn’t give me as much of a head shop vibe as Spirit Temple did...I think the fact that Spirit Temple’s version was NC incense instead of straight up NC makes a difference. That said, once it dries, it’s still very much the nag champa and not vanilla. The vanilla bean is back there trying to poke through and sweeten the smell a bit, but the champa has Diva Syndrome and won’t let it come out of the background. When the musk shows up, it gives it some depth, but I really wish I got more vanilla out of this. It’s not bad by any means, but I find it a smidge intense. Will probably let this one sit and give it another shot later. Verdict: Meh, Spirit Temple coming at a later date
Children Of the Corn (Candy corn, caramel corn, kettle corn): No mincing words on this: it smells almost exactly like caramel corn on application. This has buttery popcorn notes to it, but there’s a hint of the candy corn’s starchy sweetness in there too. This is super gourmand and definitely invokes the caramel corn imagery, but I think its overall sweetness makes it more palatable for me. I can dig it! Verdict: Repeat sample, I do love me some corn
Cloven (Spun sugar with a dash of clove): Oh Cloven. Dear, dear Cloven. I’m so saddened by you. The spun sugar is VERY strong on application to the point of sickening. This smells more like jelly beans than spun sugar to my nose...maybe the cotton candy jelly bean that Jelly Belly makes. On dry down, the clove does help to comfort it a bit, but at the same time, it still feels like a cycle between smelling like spicy jellybeans and anise for some reason, neither of which I like smelling like as a singular note. By the end of the day, it just smells like a light dusting of sugar versus the jellybean, but it isn’t enough to redeem the rest of what’s happened. I respect the clove for trying to make this right, and I still love it as a note...but the two of them desperately need to see other people. Verdict: Ugh, fatal attraction much?
Corpse Bride (Black roses, white amber, damp earth, vanilla, tonka, musk): Phew, this is potent from the start...you want floral? You’ve got floral. The earthy note is there and gone to make way for the strong rose note (maybe a tinge of it is left, but I can barely smell it), then the bright amber pops in too and fights the rose for the status of main note. It’s got a pretty heavy start, not gonna lie...feels as though the throw on this is really strong even though I put on LESS than usual. When it settles, I pretty much only get rose with a bit of musk at the tail end...not smelling any vanilla at all in this! I’m just glad the rose calms down because...phwoof. It’s a bit too intense for me. It’s a nice scent, but honestly, I don’t think it’s the kind of scent that fits me. This kind of floral isn’t quite my thing. Verdict: Nah, I’ve got a gnome and I’m not afraid to use it
Crowley (Black tea, bergamot, tobacco, vanilla, amber): Starts off more dry and earthy than other Hex scents I’ve tried so far. It looks like the black tea doesn’t contain cream in this mix because that tea note is bold! It’s pleasant and almost slightly floral. The brightness of the bergamot seems to enhance this and gives it more of a woodsy tone while it develops. The tobacco was really subtle when it came through, and I wasn’t able to smell it until I caught a whiff of it and the amber an hour and a half later...it likes to sneak up on you to give you a pleasant surprise. Even with the light sweetness of the vanilla, this never gets to be “too much” of any one note, which I always love in developing scents because it keeps them balanced. This smell is really not like me at all, to be frank, but I’m thoroughly enjoying what it’s turning into. I can see what all the hype was about! Verdict: Full size, the genderfluid demon of our dreams
So there we go! I’ve got a lot more to come, so this won’t be the last you see of me...also won’t be the last after I’m done with all my Hex reviews. I will take any advice on how to make the next one of these more manageable. Shit’s going to be stressful for the next week, everyone keep safe ❤️
Carine Roitfeld 7 Lovers discovery set - quick reviews
Hi again! It's been a while since I've made a new post and I've mostly been testing whatever random designer samples I can get my hands on for free or cheap, but I got a few niche discovery sets at Christmas that have allowed me to do some more intentional exploration. Among those was the Carine Roitfeld 7 Lovers collection (from The Perfume Society in their Indulgence Discovery Box - I don't know if it's available to buy on its own elsewhere, but it came in a small embossed sleeve of 7 x 2ml spray vials). The collection is themed around 7 imaginary men from different international cities, and marketed as unisex - I was drawn to the idea of scents named after men but filtered through the female gaze (though I believe all the noses were male), like the more sophisticated, globe-trotting version of stealing your boyfriend's hoodie, or adopting aspects of your partner's style over time (if you're like me, or like Brad Pitt ). I thought each of the scents offered something unique, complex and wearable. The full size bottles are £190 for 90ml, or there's a travel set of 7 x 10ml vials for £180 - definitely not cheap, but a price I might consider for the uniqueness and quality. I made most of my notes on these from first impressions sprayed on paper, though they stayed fairly true to these impressions when I wore them on skin. There are a few I might need more time to get to know, but I'd love to hear if anyone else has tried these and has other takes on them! Aurelien - Paris My first impressions were: powdery, rich, deep floral spiciness. The opening was strong and heady, but it relaxed into something of a fancy hotel soap vibe, still remaining resinous. The notes include jasmine, orange blossom, myrrh, benzoin, amber and patchouli - on skin, I definitely picked up on more of the sweet orange-y floral note, and overall found it a comforting, elegant scent, easily unisex. George - London Immediately, I got fresh, green, rosey floral and citrus, then lemon, lots of lemon , kind of just surface-cleaner, furniture-polish lemon. At this point, I looked up the notes - no lemon, but rose, violet leaf, oakmoss, iris, galbanum, leather and cannabis. I still couldn't get past the opening to detect anything else, so continued through the rest of the collection and came back to it. The sharp opening did eventually evolve and mellow and a musky, sticky cannabis note emerged, putting the fresh, green, citric facets into context. Then it seemed to become room-filling and I put off trying this on skin until last out of fear I'd just stink of weed to anyone who walked past. Thankfully the projection (from the two most gentle mini-spritzes I could administer) wasn't so aggressive, and the overall effect of the scent felt pleasant and balanced with the fresh, floral and green aspects. The inspiration for the scent is a London punk, and with that in mind, it has the potential to be a cool t-shirt and leather jacket fragrance, but I still wouldn't wear it to a job interview. Kar-Wai - Hong Kong Of course named for director Wong Kar-Wai, I can't speak much for the relevance to his films (having only seen the not-great My Blueberry Nights), but the description ("a full-throttle, technicolour olfactory experience") didn't really chime with my experience of the scent. However, it took me somewhere else entirely - the old textbooks, dusty shelves, leather, wood and vinyl of a school library. The notes include bergamot, cardamom, smoked Longjing tea, osmanthus, jasmine, rose, musk, vetiver and leather. I can pick up on the Asian inspiration, having recently tried another Asian-influenced discovery set from new brand Maison de L'Asie (in particular, Kar-Wai shares similar notes with their scent Nanyang), but the effect is overwhelmingly nostalgic. The dusty, floral-herbal-green opening quickly turns warm and smoky on skin, and could be as much an old man's whisky pub as an ancient classroom, but in the spirit of the collection, I'll stick with a smartly-dressed English teacher with dreamy eyes handing out a stack of yellowed paperbacks. If you're trendy, this could be an ideal dark academia fragrance. It's mature and a little challenging, but cosy and atmospheric - something I'd absolutely wear for myself. Lawrence - Dubai My first impressions were way off - I thought I picked up something fruity or woody, even minty, but the notes were all spice, with cumin, coriander, saffron, jasmine, oud, musk and tolu balsam. For a scent representing the Middle East, I found it fairly mellow and agreeable - I didn't get anything sweaty or animalic from the oud or cumin, the spice was all balanced with floral sweetness and it was slightly soapy on skin. I don't feel I've pinned this one down yet beyond being pleasantly sweet-spicy. Orson - New York First impressions on opening were resinous, sweet, deep and woody, evolving to something more floral with hints of fizzy-powdery candy sweetness, reminiscent of some of the Hermes Merveilles line (I have a small decant of L'Ambre des Merveilles that makes me think of fizzy sweets, specifically). The notes include tuberose, ylang-ylang, pimento peppers, sandalwood, benzoin and tonka bean, and the inspiration is a New York artist type - personally I find it hard to connect the scent to the personality (most of the art boys I've known just smell like cigarettes or 3-day-old painting clothes) and the sugary note is not to my usual taste, but overall it still feels like a well-made and layered scent. Sebastian - Buenos Aires Pickles, dill, olives and deep green woods were the first things I noted, and I was surprised not to see any savoury food notes. Instead, the listed notes included sandalwood, vanilla and "spicy" florals - immortelle, which I quickly discovered is known as the curry plant and would explain the foody effect - and tuberose. Probably the most unique out of the collection, and in general. When I tried it on skin, it reminded me of something I'd tried before - eventually I realised it reminded me of Zoologist's Elephant. Both share sandalwood, rich florals (tuberose vs. jasmine and magnolia), greenery and a slightly musky vibe, and I could draw similarities between Elephant's creamy cocoa and coconut notes and Sebastian's vanilla. Ultimately I found Elephant a bit intense and hard to wear, and while I was interested in Sebastian's composition, I felt similarly about its wearability. Perhaps it's not the most ideal scent for the middle of British winter and could be better suited to spring or summer. Vladimir - St. Petersburg At first I picked up on a patchouli note that wasn't there, then a vanilla sweetness and soft, ambery freshness. Notes include amber, vanilla, cedar, incense and orris, with bergamot, grapefruit, sage and geranium on top. This felt like the most conventional, modern, mass-appealing masculine fragrance of the collection, but still layered and interesting, and enjoyable to wear. The description talks about balancing hot and cold, with the cool, fresh, peppery side avoiding screechy-blue aftershave territory with the warm, spicy and green notes. I regret not taking more notes when I wore it, as it seemed more balanced and interesting on skin, and more comfortably unisex than my first impressions. If you get on with spicy, woody, oriental (a word used a lot in the marketing that I know is controversial) and green fragrances, or you just appreciate a good story, I think this is a collection worth trying. As I mentioned, I'm not sure where else these are available to try without blind-buying, so if anyone has leads (especially outside the UK) feel free to drop them! I think my favourite is Kar-Wai for the journey it took me on, and I'm looking forward to wearing Aurelien, George and Vladimir some more.
I've been sitting on sample vials from Valas Enchanted for a long time, and I decided to make a project out of testing each one in my collection. I've ordered a few different sample packs from the Etsy shop over the last couple years, so some of the scents I have are now discontinued. :-( It turns out that the perfumer, Vala, doesn't keep descriptions of discontinued perfumes posted...so I've learned from my mistakes and copy-pasted her descriptions for posterity. Here's my list! I would love to hear other people's thoughts on these. I would especially love it if anyone could clue me in on what's actually in the discontinued scents. Conceptual Scents 1 • Mermaid - Mermaid is a seductive green floral blend of Jasmine, Blue Water Lily and Seaweed absolutes, created to remind the wearer of beautiful coral reefs and a salty sea breeze, while carrying a sensual, mystical, feminine vibration. Notes: This one has a very sunscreen quality to it. It's really pleasant, even if it doesn't smell especially unique. • Siren - Siren is a feminine, floral but citrusy fresh blend with a firm but gentle base, blended from Aloisia (Citrus Verbena), Rose centifolia and Cedar wood, to create a refreshing and sensual blend worthy of a modern day Siren. Notes: Citrusy and mildly spicy tea fragrance, delicious and refreshing. Good for sunny days. • Nymph - Ethereal being of the forest, the Nymphs are known for their beauty, cunning and sensuality. They are the spirits of nature, elusive, yet fascinating and beautiful. Recreating that notion with the gentle scent of Ylang Ylang, sensual and erotic Pink Lotus flower, becomes easy, like magic. Notes: Ylang, Pink Lotus, and Galbanum. Opens with leafy, nutty tree bark and whifs of ylang, before a smooth, rounded floral scent -- lotus, presumably -- emerges. Light and ethereal in the dry down. • Hamadryad - Hamadryad is inspired by beautiful and fragile spirits bound to trees and creates a sweet, green scent with woody undertones, reminding of the strangeness and comfort of the ancient wilderness, where spirits live in harmony. Blended from the unusual absolute of Coffee blossom, Green tea and earthy Patchouli, it created a home for the heart of the modern wild woman. Notes: Mouthwatering coffee blossom shines with the green tea and patchouli backing it. Unsure how wearable it actually is, but definitely smells like the notes listed. • Shrine - A Shrine is a place for rest, reflection, safety and protection. Like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket with the scent of warm pastries around you, or lighting sweet exotic incense at your personal altar, Shrine will create a feeling of safe space, wherever you are - combining warm, sweet comforting notes of Euphorbia, floral sweetness of Agaila flowers and a powdery softness of Tonka bean. Notes: Opens with some alcoholic floral notes before quickly drying down to astringent tonka. Light and transparent despite incenselike and resinous tonka base. Has a bit of a Raid-ish root beer dry down, but addicting and tasty. • Magic Circle - Casting a Magic circle is a time then incense is burning and altars are adorned with offering of fresh flowers and so this scent as well combines deep smoky notes of Styrax incense, with dry, almost salty powderyness of Henna (also symbolic of drawing shapes) with exotic floral note of Frangipani, the queen of flowers. Notes: Strange, sour incense opening with an astringent quality. A syrupy sweetness peeks out after a minute or so. Frangipani is hard to detect. Dries down completely to bitter henna. • Crystal Ball - Crystal ball blends rare absolutes of Blackcurrant blossom, Spinach leaf and Frankincense resinoid to create an almost translucent, yet smooth, and firm scent a little bit reminiscent of painted glass or vivid visions in a crystal ball. The scent is slightly sweet and fruity with a refreshing green tone. Notes: Truly transparent with a linear fruity-floral scent. Light, intimate, and poor longevity. Opens with clear blackcurrant before drying down to a fresh, slightly indolic plant smell. It would be my favorite if the blackcurrant managed to hold out longer. Conceptual Scents 2 • Datura, White Lady - Her scent is a combination of strange green tones of spinach and seaweed, which hint at the subtly unsettling scent of her of her leaves, with beautiful white floral notes of lotus flowers, ylang ylang and osmanthus that recreate the intoxicating scent of datura blooms - all with a sweet incense base of balsam fir and opopanax. (Does not feature any actual Datura extracts:)) Notes: Smells like a flower snapped off at the stem. Slightly sweet and powdery dry down with a definite presence of ylang, while the spinach and fir give it a green leafy underside. • Absinthe Fairy - It is an artistic reinterpretation of the traditional absinthe recipe, featuring more than 10 ingredients like wormwood, mugwort, anise, fennel, angelica with a base of frankincense, oakmoss and vetiver. A very green, fresh scent, which is not only very reminiscent of quality french absinthe, but also plays with the personality of the plant spirits and rituals which accompany this traditional recipe. Notes: Opens green and spicy, probably very much like a shot of absinthe, then eventually dries down to a punch in the face incense that lasts forever. • Maenad - Reminiscent of ancient bacchanalia, entrancing joy and the taste of rish wine, this scent combines blackcurrant, elder blossom, cannabis with boronia and osmanthus. Notes: Opens very fruity, like a delicious berry jam. Dries down dank, from the cannabis mixing in with the other scents. After the cannabis middle fades, it starts to smell like delicious osmanthus. It smells very true to the listed notes, which is unfortunate because I hate the smell of weed. • Melusine - a light, airy scent of high altitude frankincense, tahiti gardenia and magnolia leaves combine to create an image of an ethereal water nymphs of legend Notes: Sharp, mouthwatering opening that softens to a spicy floral. Doesn’t project far and is not overwhelming or heady despite rich scent. Has a very slightly musty urinal scent in the dry down, which may be the frankincense. Seven Classical Planets • IOVIS • Jupiter, also known as the Greater Fortune, rules the sphere of wealth, wisdom, opportunities and expansion both personal and otherwise. This Jovian scent is a rich heady scent composed of main notes of magnolia, linden blossom, copaiba balsam and agarwood (aloeswood). Notes: Really yummy floral with a sweet balsam base. Somehow smells like a milder version of Dusita Erawan. • MERCVRII • Mercury, rules the sphere of all that is in one way or another mercurial among these are good fortunes, communication, understanding, dreams and divination, but also science, medicine, and the rational mind. This Mercurial scent is a fresh herbal scent consisting of narcissus, fennel, fenugreek, lavender, lemongrass, elemi, vetiver, and vervain. Notes: Sexy and refreshing salty herb opening-- from the fennel and elemi combination, possibly. Most unique and enjoyable out of all of them so far. • MARTIS • Mars, also known as the Lesser malefic rules the sphere of wahealing (physical healing in the body is a war of a kind), potency, victory, judgement, discord and conflict. This Martial scent is a sweet piquant blend of main notes of catnip, coriander, hyacinth, myrrh and ginger. Notes: Sweet and spicy, wearable in all seasons though especially great for autumn. • SATVRNI • Saturn, also known as the Greater Malefic, rules safety, power, success, intellect, authority and self-discipline but also boundaries, restriction, separation, malediction, death, black magic and curses. This Saturnian scent is a dark floral combining cypress, redcedar (thuja p.), thyme, tomato, night-blooming jasmine, jasmine, tobacco and grapefruit. Notes: Soapy green opening with odd wet-dog whiff. • LVNA • The Moon rules the sphere of manifestation and also the divine feminine, travel, physical health, protection, material wealth, the cycle of water, emotions and the subconscious. This Lunar scent is an ethereal combination of almond, clary sage, iris, rose, tomato, lotus, waterlily, storax, and night-blooming jasmine. Notes: Sweet, floral, and soapy like white Dial or Ivory. • SOLIS • The Sun rules the spheres of renown, success, prosperity, ambitions and acquisition, but also pride and tyranny. This Solar scent is a warm, sweet scent of cedar, benzoin, frangipani, saffron, frankincense and red orange. Notes: Sweet, citrusy incense. Really juicy orange with a yummy spice from the saffron. • VENERIS • Venus, rules the senses, sensuality, joy of life, beauty and the arts, but also jealousy, strife. She is associated with fertility, motherhood, love, desire and affection. This Venusian scent is a playful, powdery floral consisting of benzoin, honeysuckle, jasmine, myrtle, tonka, vanilla and violets. Notes: Soapy, astringent, floral, and feminine. I was told by a couple of friends that it's very "old lady" -- I'm thinking the mix of violets and tonka might be causing it. Three Norns • Urd - It’s substance are earthy smells; vetiver, patchouli and various roots intermingled with green mossy notes and herb leaves crushed underfoot. Labdanum, white sandalwood and sacred frankincense linger long after the flower has outgrown its roots. Notes: Green and herbal with a smoky incense that starts off subdued but eventually dominates the whole piece. There’s a medicinal undertone that gives everything a zingy, energizing vibe. It smells a bit like eucalyptus or mint. The labdanum has a bitter, tanned leather lean that combines well with the rest of the mix. The fragrance is not what I would consider perfume and seems more like an aromatherapy blend. • Verdandi - Blooming roses and carnations, and accents of hyacinth. Base notes of this perfume include the beautiful and lasting sandalwood and myrrh that give substance to the ever changing current moment. Notes: Opens with a nutty scent that reminds me of walnuts mixing with flowers. The rose lags behind, warming up with the sandalwood and myrrh. Smells like fancy floral soap. • Skuld - Her scent is the ethereal of them all, combining the light, dreamy notes of white and pink lotus with blue water lilies, airy lavender, cleansing sage and three different kinds of frankincense. Notes: Delicate incense with florals and herbs. Blue water lily and lotus blend really well with the frankincense. Very nice fragrance, good for fall, winter, and spring. Restrained. Other • Aurum - The Aurum fragrance is smooth and delicate, combining a satin iris root powdery note with fresh melon and citrus sparks. Notes: Opens with citrus peel, like old dried up oranges, before melon and satin emerge in a weird sweet bitter powder. Actually ends up smelling like a wood of some sort, almost like cedar. • Apis - The scent inspired by the fascinating society of honeybees is sweet, honey like with notes of beeswax, syrupy scent of honey myrtle and a touch of honey floral in the Spartium flower. Notes: Opens with a green and herbal blast before slowly drying down to an intimate, photorealistic honey. Discontinued Nakhi’el - Citrus; Fruity perfumes, featuring juicy, edible notes varying in freshness and sweetness. Notes: Smells like honey lemon cough drops when it opens, spicy -- possibly ginger mid -- with a tart, dusty herb base. Very nice for a sluggish day. Mikha’el - Spicy; Spicy, oriental scents, usually warm, musky and featuring various spices and resins. Usually unisex. Notes: Kind of a spicy, tart citrus with a rich dry down. There’s a little bit of a floral mixing with the spices, turning it a bit vegetal. Unfortunately, I can’t place the specific notes...it might be ginger and saffron for the spices, the citrus is probably orange, something green and herbaceous like tomato leaf or spinach, and an airy floral that might be jasmine. Very zingy and energizing opening but dries down rounded and mildly indolic. Och - Earthy; Earthy scents, featuring prominent herbal, mossy, "damp" notes. Usually unisex. Notes: Did not enjoy this one on its own because it was overly resinous and powerful for tropical weather, even in October. Became more wearable after layering over JHAG Not a Perfume, but still best for freezing cold climates.
I've not seen any reviews for these so I thought I'd try some. Plus I feel like I already reviewed half of them in replies to other peoples posts, so might as well put them together. Beastly(For the Beast hoping to be saved by Beauty: Ancient castle stones, the brooding airs of a dark forest, a threat of winter; a fougere fit for a prince, the musk and leather of a beast; a library filled with rare books; and a single red rose) I think I wanted too much from this, and forgot my skin’s tendency to amp leather above everything else. From the bottle, all sorts of good wild things. On the skin, forest with a hint of something foody, and then warm leather, lots of leather that is actually warm, like a leather coat left in the sun. hat’s one of the few things I don’t like so much about this house, they can be heavy handed with the ‘tobacco’ family of scents (leather, maple sugar, gingerbread, even smoke sometimes) and it gives me a sore throat. Big Bad Wolf(For the cunning acquaintance of Red Riding Hood: Brown wolf musk in white cotton; a basket of creamy vanilla cakes; a posy of tiny forest flowers; a cheerful little fire in the hearth; and a lascivious grin of red musk.) In the bottle it was a nice tangy syrup, with a good woodsy musk, a slightly soapy floral, and a hint of cake, which went together weirdly well and I liked all of it. But when I wore it my skin amped the wrong thing (either the red musk, or the ‘white cotton’ note reading like hot laundry?) either way my skin turned it into root beer and/or something medicinal. Red musk and ‘clean laundry’ (hot metallic aldehydes?) are notes I wear badly. Though if I just spray this on my clothes it stays nice. Get Off My Bridge(For the peaceful troll who’s tired of goats and idiots: Green and misty trees, piles of moss; damp earth, tender ferns, fresh herbs and cucumber; and under weathered stone: dark licorice and clove.) I was nervous about this because I hate liquorice, but it’s barely detectable and/or well blended in. This scent is surprisingly wholesome and fresh, like a garden, with newly dug earth and plants and leaves and damp cool air. You can almost smell the sweetness of mist. Then the musk comes in, which is like the sexy gardener coming over to help (bow chikka wow wow). I thought it might smell like a troll, but it’s more like the ideal gardener: very clean and a little bit dirty. ;) Good With Rats(For those who follow the Pied Piper: A temptation of creamy vanilla, amber, and sweet maple sugar; soft brown fur musk; village woodsmoke; dark stone, burning agar wood; and glowing spice embers) As I said in a review for this elsewhere, it smells like being down wind from an actual old village, just after the sun has set, and people are lighting their fires (reminds me of a holiday in Yorkshire). But there’s also something sweet and tangy about this, and sort of nicely sad? There’s an earthy incense depth to it too, maybe the agar wood. I had an oddly emotional reaction to this scent, it felt melancholy, creepy, romantic, all of the above? I can’t decide, but I def want to do it again.. This is the sort of scent I’d like for when I’m reading a fantasy novel. Mother of Apples(For Snow White’s queenly stepmother: The woods, earth, and mosses of a northern forest; winter air, snow accord; one magical red apple; and a heart-shaped box) Surprisingly masculine for something with ‘mother’ in the title. It does smell wintry and strict, cold (at first) but with a warmer woodsy heart. The apple is restrained here. The longer I wore it the more I liked it. Nibble, Nibble, Little Mouse(Who is nibbling at my house? For the innocent witch in her delicious cottage: A perfect cottage of gingerbread, chocolate dipped marshmallows and vanilla cream in a picturesque forest clearing. Incense-laden smoke trickles from the chimney) I got a sample of this just for the sake of completism, I was sure I’d hate it because CP ginger notes have tried to kill me in the past, but this was really nice. A sort of gingerbread latte with a hint of damp woodsmoke and incense. Really comforting yet quite atmospheric. No More Wishes(For the all-powerful jinn released from Aladdin’s lamp: Lush coconut and musky ambrette seed, warmed by chypre, copal and sweet tobacco; an offering of golden honey, figs and plums before a brazier of champaca and flames of ginger; a rising sinuous thrill of black musk) Okay this started a lot fruitier than I expected. I got the fig and the plum first together (reminded me of Japanese sweets made from dried plums), then fresh incense on one side and honey on the other. After a while it all dries down to a warm, dark gingery musky oriental. Every sniff of this seemed different from the last one. No Princesses Here(We’re the witches, we’re the bad fairies, we’re the monsters and the beasts. We don’t need rescuing, there’s no princesses here. Rich blood orange and sweet chili pepper; a heart of dragon’s blood; smoky oud, fresh dirt, vetiver and cade.) The name and the description on the website suggest something tough, rather than girly, and it really is. Also, despite the name, it smelled very unisex. A guy could totally wear this. It starts off quite fiery. The resins here are red and tart, not smoky. The chili gives it a lovely kick. The earth and cade notes threaten to go a bit soapy? but just before that happens it settles down into something richer and calmer. Smells like a dragon more than a princess, and I love that. Wear it if you have to confront your ex or your arch nemesis. Off With Her Head(For the unpredictable Queen of Hearts in Wonderland: A confection of buttery puff pastry adorned with strawberries; a croquet lawn of freshly-cut grass; white roses stained raspberry red; and heady pink flamingo musk) Pastry! I am inside a croissant. Someone else reviewed this and got all florals and cut grass, I’m still croissant. Though with wear I get a hint of summer garden and strawberry jam, and popcorn? It’s like I can smell a garden party on the other side of a fence which is made of pastry. (Has anyone else tried this, did you get the pastry side or the floral one?) Sea Witch(For the formidable sorceress who gave the Little Mermaid what she wanted: Salt breezes over dark ocean depths haunted by green weeds; rich black earth and unearthly incense; a jewelled flash of petitgrain; a ribbon of pure vanilla as sweet as a mermaid’s stolen song.) Another unisex one, despite the name/character it’s based on. I love this. A sweet, deep dark green aquatic with hints of lost mountains, some distant earthy notes, and a ghost of something floral? The vanilla in this is rich and warm amid all the dark green and blue. Someone else reviewing this got the seaweed notes, but to me it’s surprisingly clean, almost cologne like, but sweeter and stranger than most colognes. I want this in a linen spray so I can make me, and my house, smell of it. Another good one for reading with. Thorn & Spindle(For the sleeping spell and wall of thorns surrounding Sleeping Beauty: A fortress of ivy, creeping leaves, dark woods, and rich shadowy amber; a golden spinning-wheel of sandal and rosewood; a crown of wild roses; and a thread of sweet spun cotton candy) Big dark, dark forest with tiny little dewy flowers, and dark smooth woods for the ‘thorns’. The sandalwood and rosewood give it a warm sexy heart, and that little hint of spun sugar makes you want to follow it to whatever terrible doom it probably leads to. I already said in a review for this somewhere else: it’s basically a princess in a long white nightgown, running around a scary forest barefoot, with ominously sad music playing in the background. Love it. Ten Years, Pumpkin(Our sweet pumpkin caramelised with our own heavenly burnt-sugar blend; made decadent with oud, vanilla, and dulce de leche; and grounded in deep musky earth and cement. Unashamed gourmand badassery) If you like pumpkin, particularly CP pumpkin (which tends to be sugary and gritty, not spiced or bitter) then just get this. The only note here I wasn’t sure of was the ‘cement’, but that’s more of a background thing. The pumpkin itself here is very syrupy, boozey, rich and decadent with warm earthy tones, and hints of dark caramel, and coffee? It smells like one of those expensive deserts that’s served with real gold leaf on it. I really like CP pumpkins, this may be my favourite one so far. I want to eat it omg. Out of the whole bunch there was only one I didn't get on with, and about six that I need bigger sizes of. Very happy with that hit ratio.
Almost Every Strange South Perfume Known To Man (an ungodly number of reviews) *PART 1*
HOLY COW, alright, so I’ll freely admit I love the shit out of this brand. So much so that I’ve been gradually collecting every scent they’ve put out into the world. I’ve wanted to make a massive review post for EVERY STRANGE SOUTH PERFUME EVER for like a year, and for a while I did have every perfume in their catalogue, but let myself get held up in waiting for new releases and long-ass TAT. That, combined with a tumultuous 2020, means this monster list is still missing a number of things - everything new from this year, to be specific. But with the big sale going on I figured it was time to compile my notes and unleash this beast for anyone looking for reviews. Annoyingly, they won't all fit into one convenient post, so this will be split into two parts. This part ends at the letter H! The scents are listed alphabetically (not counting instances of the word "the" at the start of a scent name). Just ctrl+F for what you’re looking for :) And yes, I know how bad it looks to start off where it does, but that’s alphabetical for ya! Final note: I don’t yet have a solid grasp on which carrier oil performs better between fractionated coconut or meadowfoam seed, or how subjective that is. That's a future experiment that remains to be seen. _____ 3 Witches in a Fir Tree Oleander accord, muddy leather boots, pokeberry-stained ivy rope, and fir needles.
Aaugh, this is reading as mildew. Getting mild berry and elements of the other notes but altogether this smells like a wet, mildewy coat. Eventually the pokeberry starts to remind me of certain berry-scented soaps but the mildew never goes away. Hurk.
_____ 300 Years Candle wax shrouded in dust, chilled earth, and brittle black fur.
Super smokey, less woodsmoke-y than Devil At The Crossroads but still pretty heavy. Candle wax does balance this out a bit and soon enough the candle note overtakes the grill. There is a dustiness to this, and overall it does smell old. Not sure about that “brittle black fur,” though…
_____ A Skull Where Her Face Had Been Old letters, moths nesting in a fur coat, lettuce, brandy, and bitter wind.
Papery, astringent, bitter, a hint of booze. Potent! Smells like paper heavily perfumed with bitter high end florals. Intrigued by “lettuce” as a note, especially because lettuce smells like almost nothing to me. Certainly getting no definitive lettuce here, but I can easily imagine it’s that note giving this a somewhat watery green flair. This scent is pale, mostly clean (brandy muddles this a bit), and cold, so watery-pale-green is a fitting descriptor. An interesting contrast in that this smells wispy, almost ghostly in character, but the scent itself is really strong with serious throw. This is a ghost that wants attention. Love the idea behind this one; it evokes decrepit, distant memory and mournful decay. The brandy is an afterthought for me but does give this a slash of warmth at the base.
_____ Abe Lincoln, Ancient Astronaut Expert Damp corners with boxes full of stained notebook paper. Burned out halogen bulbs, an otherworldly fog, and the remains of this morning's breakfast: cinnamon and sugar toast. Blended with our unique base, The Ancient One.
Doesn’t even need a review, the description captures it so well. A core of The Ancient One, added atmospherics of fog and wet paper, and yes, cinnamon sugar toast. I’m amazed at this one. Damp, atmospheric, doing that “spiced frog” thing I get from Ancient One, all with a touch of toasty sweetness. This is a treat for weirdos.
_____ The Ancient One Kentucky timber, cedar chips, cherrywood, amber, and lavender fougère.
What an interesting affect the lavender fougère and cedar is having on my nose… Backed by the amber and other woods, this smells strangely spiced (in an herbal way), wet, and slippery. I’m visualizing frogs?? Looking at the notes it all makes sense. Without that reference it’s weird and unearthly. It’s really cool and wearable even if not something I personally want to wear.
_____ And From the Strong Comes Sweet Honeycomb, peach syrup, galbanum, rice milk, and a lock of golden hair from the lion's mane.
Warm, honey-sweet, and what is striking me as a spicy bitter green - I guess that’s galbanum? The peach note is very faint, more like a background flavor of the honey rather than it’s own thing. This is strange and interesting, warm and smooth. What I think is the rice milk strengthens over time and that warm-sweet-smoothness is flavorful and comforting.
_____ Baby Shoes Upturned dirt, gasoline, powdered skin, smashed apricots, cream, and white musk.
Strong initial blast of realistic cream, baby powder, and white musk. Strangely enough I kinda like it despite how unappealing that sounds to me. Definitely getting that smooth gasoline I’m so very familiar with from TSS, which is playing bizarrely well with the cream. Gasoline strengthens very quickly but doesn’t overpower. Not getting much on the apricot front but there is a subtle fruitiness here. Same for the dirt, which is more of an underlying hint than a blatantly noticeable smell. All in all this is actually quite unsettling! Absolutely reminiscent of babies but there’s something not quite right with this child…
_____ Banshee's Holler Moonflower, wilted carnations, white musk, birch bark, and decaying leaves.
Vaguely smoky? Dank leaves and undergrowth, spicy carnation musk. At first I thought I was getting the clean white musk as advertised but no, this is much deeper to my nose… Which is likely just the way it’s mixing with the woody bark and such. Smells like a sexy, outdoorsy ghost. Only a few minutes in that “smoky” scent ebbs away along with some of the pungency of the vegetation. I would whine about this except what’s left is beautiful - a little paler, softer, and more ethereal. More floral centric too. Generally a bit closer to what I expected reading the notes. Only downside is this gets a little too pale much sooner than I’d like. Sinks to a very light skin scent after about an hour. While still pleasant, doesn’t quite have the oomph it previously did. I don’t mind reapplying scents but this would be frequent.
_____ Before the Drop Peppermint, green tea, marshmallow, heather, violet, and evening rain.
Inexplicably beautiful and weirdly familiar. I can’t figure this one out. It’s dusty, sweet but mild… Makes me think of opening the door to a dust closet (what my mom called the cupboard where she stashed the vacuum & broom) and taking a big whiff, then stepping outside to watch storm clouds rolling in, the air heavy with the scent of summer rain. And also there’s musty marshmallows?? Doesn’t sound great out loud but I LOVE this blend and these impressions are hitting me in the most positive way possible. I think the “dust” feel is what’s so nostalgic for me. Looking at the notes, some of it makes sense: can pick out just about everything and see where some notes are combining to make “musty” (matcha green tea + somewhat powdery violet + marshmallow), but altogether it’s still a nebulous, nameless atmospheric feeling of a perfume. It’s fantastic, perfect for summer, and totally bizarre. To me this has a petrichor feel even if it doesn’t have a direct petrichor smell. Doesn’t specifically read as floral to me but that becomes a little more apparent over time. Lasts like 8-10 hours.
Smells like wet dog! Even gets the hair grease scent right! That’s too damn bad because after ~30 minutes it actually smells nice: warm, a little nutty, vaguely good in a difficult to distinguish way, and no more dog. I just can’t disassociate wet dog at the start and that makes it tough to get a read on even after the dog has left.
_____ Black Cat Oil A tincture of bay leaves, sage, three catnip leaves, opoponax, Himalayan sea salt, and iron nails, with honey (vegan), patchouli, tuberose, orchid, clover, cinnamon, and skin musk.
For all that’s going on in here I don’t seem to be getting much. At first blast, pleasantly herbal and sweet. Light vegan honey and pungent white tuberose (not overbearing to me; blends in quite well). The tuberose chills out fairly quickly and now I smell greenery and clean skin with a light hint of flowers… and that’s kinda it. Wears very close to the skin, have to press my nose there to smell it. Reminds me of a very nice, unobtrusive hand cream.
_____ Black Widow Chocolate covered berries, bitter coffee, and dank bud.
Yes, the gang’s all here. The bud is clear but inoffensive; wearing this doesn’t make me reek of weed. This is a fresher shade of marijuana green, uplifted by the berries but grounded and sweetened with chocolate and coffee. Smells like a delicious snack. I’ve really come to admire the straight chocolate note TSS uses, it’s so dark and smooth and real. Everything blends together more thoroughly as this dries and the chocolate, once prominent, takes a backseat. Starting to get a bit blah with the berries popping out as the most noticeable note - I think my skin is eating this one. Much prefer the fresh wet stage over this dry down: wet, this is thicker, headier, and wonderfully unique/tasty; dry, on me it becomes a shadow of its former self. To counter this I dabbed some oil on my hoodie and I 1000% enjoyed the comforting, scrumptious cloud I sat in. For someone who dislikes pot IRL I think the bud is an excellent contributor.
_____ Blackout Layering note. “How much more black could this be? The answer is none. None more black.”
Spinal Tap reference! Mmm, the house blend Black Musk. It’s a good one, a lovely balance of what I like and dislike about various black musks: black, almost oily, with a strong thrum of that sweet, sticky, nearly coca-cola quality I can’t stand sometimes. This smells dangerous, like animalistic motor oil and coke. Dries down to a beautiful version of its wetter self with cacao-like hints of bitter dark chocolate replacing the syrupy coke-feel, but that makes it no less thick and viscous. Goes on strong and intensely potent, calms down to heavy but quite soft. Can see this will make a wonderful layering note that won’t drown out the scent you’re pairing it with. That’s a damn great black musk.
_____ Blood Layering note.
Wow, does that ever warm up on my skin! Heat really makes this blossom. Spicy (perhaps involving a dash of cinnamon?), resinous, deep red, and fruity the way dragon’s blood is. If dragon’s blood isn’t actually involved in this, I would never be able to tell. Getting a slight tangy sensation - not much, and not in the extra coppery, meaty way real blood is, but it does elevate the idea. More reminiscent of fake blood than real, but that doesn’t cheapen it. This is a fantasy blood accord, and it’s a vampy teen gothic romance. Very long lasting.
_____ Blood on the Moon Pine needles, frozen leaves, frankincense, crystallized honey (vegan), blood, and patchouli.
Icy and cold. Light honeyed frank without the expected warmth and a sinister backdrop of patch and blood. Almost dreary; winter approaches. This is autumn decay on the cusp of winter and could easily be the olfactory setting of a Poe story. Gorgeous. Still going 8+ hours later.
_____ Burning Rain of Death Damp wood and stone, ginger, pink peppercorn, cardamom, snuffed smoke, and wormwood.
Yet another blend that strangely reminds me of dogs at the outset, but at least this dog hair isn’t wet and smelly. That gently but quickly fades after a few minutes and the result is oh so pleasant. Everything is so well blended they melt into one another; all is soft and cozy. Ginger at the forefront, closely followed by peppercorn and cardamom and soft smoke. Wood and stone add depth and character. Wormwood may be the exception in that I either barely smell it or I simply don’t know what I’m looking for. Too cozy to associate with burning rain of death! Instead, yeah, a warm, snuggly dog. I’m picturing a golden retriever. Much later, wood, stone and smoke take the forefront and cool the scent down. So maybe the dog got up and left, but his presence lingers.
_____ Carrion Son Gasoline, blood, honeysuckle vines, swollen cranberries, and tobacco leaf.
Super tart cranberries. Honeysuckle, some greenery. Tobacco blooms after a minute or two. The cranberry hovers in the middle range instead of remaining on top, with the crisp tang lost to a more domineering tobacco. That is a fantastic development for me. Pretty sure I’m getting a hint of gasoline, but it’s a BG note for now. Same kind of gasoline smoothness as in Some Mother’s Boy. Blood is in there and it works especially well with the cranberry - the blood accord leans fruity, but that is offset enough by equally fruity berries to allow me to focus more on the BLOOD aspect. It’s pretty great. Aging has done beautiful things here and has amplified tobacco as the backbone of this scent.
Burnt sage is incredibly prominent, smelling singed and smoky. Altogether very herbal and fuzzy. The fruits are present but well hidden in the background, giving this a soft, plummy or deeply fruity base. Not sweet at all to me. Faintly floral in a way that compliments the greenery. Something in here prompts me to describe it as “herbal dust” but unsure if that’s due to the sage or another note. Fuzzy warmth spreads as this dries down and the fig shows its face a little more. After about 30 min the sage chills out enough to stop dominating. Soft, furry, herbal, lightly warm, and backed up by fig. A fresher kind of fig, not too thick and sweet and heady as I usually get. Can easily get a sense of warm cat fur after he’s been rolling around outside on a sunny day.
Soft Spanish moss swinging over a gently flowing bayou. This is a swampy aquatic without ever overdoing it on the swamp factor, nor does it remain too wet. Everything smells so delicate to me, light and refreshing and so reminiscent of this scenery, but at the same time never getting too real (real swamps have a funk factor). Mossy green, delicate floral, muddy water. And somehow that yellow cake is there with a dash of nutmeg to cozy it up and it just works. Struggling to describe this one: it’s as it says, but better. Light handed in scent but not a disappearing act. \(Sucreabeille Indie Marketplace exclusive)*
_____ Cold Season Chimney smoke, black ice, holly, pine, and petrichor.
That is some intense woodsmoke on top. For sure includes burning wood but luckily isn’t crazy BBQ. Behind that lies cold and pine and dark, icy nights. It takes some time but the woodsmoke does ease up, though it remains prominent. This smells just like a starless, frigid evening with smoke heavy in the air. Note: aging seems to have removed some of that bitter cold this initially held, so if you buy this and hang onto it the perfume may “warm up” over time.
_____ Come Play With Us Bourbon, waxed wood, stale water, red musk, and blood orange.
Seeing as how I typically dislike boozy scents I’m truly surprised by how much I like this one. The bourbon isn’t hitting me hard at all, instead blending very smoothly with the rest of the notes. The strongest notes in my nose are red musk and “waxed wood,” followed by a bourbon-ized orange citrus (this is not a bright n’ happy citrus). It’s like drinking an Old Fashioned at a darkly stained, highly varnished old wood bar, plus red musk. The musk has a spicy, resinous quality about it (or that’s the bourbon’s influence, in which case wow these two play very well together). Not getting any sort of aquatic feel. This is moody and honestly quite sexy; great for date night. Definitely tell your date what you’re wearing!
_____ Commala Mugs of spiced cider, tanned suede, prairie grass, rice, rain clouds, and dust kicked up from a heeled boot.
Spiced cider is very well blended and more atmospheric than any other cider blend I’ve tried. No killer strong spices, more like holding a mug and the smell is wafting up from it. Love that. A little dusty and grassy, a lovely compliment to the cider. Ever so slightly hints at water. This leather though… I love a good, old, well-worn suede note, but this one is leaning toward newer leather just as much as it leans toward suede, and I’m not so into that. Regardless, this one really tells an olfactory story.
_____ Concrete Angel Cypress, magnolia, water lily, potted fern, tulip, warm red dirt, and damp headstones.
Spiced green florals and dirt. I don’t know if “spiced” is the right word, but that’s what I’ve got - it’s somewhat peppery. Starts off a bit astringent but that burns off pretty quick. Very green with wet stone appearing after a few minutes. An atmospheric clean green scent. There’s a danger in this type going soapy but that isn’t happening on me this time, which is a nice surprise.
_____ Dagon Layering note. “I felt myself on the edge of the world, peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.”
Didn’t realize this was a Lovecraft reference at first, but on first whiff it suddenly makes sense. This is powerfully aquatic and one of the least laundry-like I’ve sniffed of that combo so far. Absolutely involves ambergris. Can smell it faintly in the bottle and it blooms as soon as it touches skin, making this briny and sea-like without overdoing it. The water aspect of this is incredible: it’s strong and fresh but with enough salt and ambergris added to make it oceanic. Still manages to retain a freshness that really works. A wonderful perfume version of the sea; I can picture turbulent blue-green waves frothing along the shore.
_____ Damn, It’s Dark Down Here Jasmine, vetiver, clary sage, damp soil, and coffin wood.
Quite floral and yet not indolic; this doesn’t strike me as jasmine, but that’s because jasmine usually sickens me. Herbaceously green without astringency. Earthy. A good graveyard scent, a sense of deep rot but in a romanticized way… Southern Gothic romance in a bottle. Develops an almost pale honey sweetness as it wears.
_____ Darling Violet, bitter pomegranate seeds, marshmallow fluff, and frost.
Wow, I really love this marshmallow note. Never thought I’d say that about marshmallow, but this one is so musty and strange and I love it. (I think my love can mainly be attributed to my love of the smell of actual dust and musty old books.) Perhaps it’s the mallow+violet making this blend musty/dusty/powdery, or however it should be worded - Before The Drop has that combo as well. This is very like BTD but is a little simpler, a little sweeter, and extremely comforting. Dusty, fluffy, and light purple floral, and I do think the violet promotes that vibe further. There’s a greater depth in here I want to attribute to some kind of pale musk, but no such thing is listed so all I can do is shrug at that. Not particularly fruity; perhaps there’s a hint of pom but I can’t pick it out. No frost either, although the longer I wear this the more likely it seems there’s a tiny bit of chilly mint. Smells old fashioned and frilly, but not nearly as delicate as you might think. Sadly, my skin eats this one very quickly.
_____ Dead Men Only Play the Blues Menthol cigarettes, sassafras, brown sugar and coconut husk, tuberose and honeysuckle, vanilla, teak wood, and sandalwood.
Thick, hefty, very warm and darkly sweet. Applies like POW to the senses but chills out after a couple minutes. The sweet is on the cusp of being molasses but never really gets there, instead keeping its brown sugar form like it’s supposed to. Sweetness is further emphasized by the coconut husk, vanilla, and sassafras. The coconut adds just enough character to be present and lovely without ever going sunscreen or true foodie, so I fully believe it’s more husk than meat. Sassafras is in competition with the heavier notes, but seems to strengthen as it wears. Tuberose is not too waxy-white and backs up honeysuckle for a lovely shade of floral. The base notes here are powerhouses: smooth sandalwood and vanilla, woody teak and tobacco. Has the slightest amount of minty menthol to make it interesting. Hefty and lasts for hours and hours. Very gender neutral.
_____ Dear Bones Three musks, plum incense, amber, Indian sandalwood, and fuzzy tonka bean.
Thick incense, almost smoky, definitely musky but not heavily so - mid-range, I’d say, and clean; not very animalic. Background is indeed warm and fuzzy between amber, tonka, and sandalwood. Purple, musky incense and amber draped sandalwood - very witchy! Though not intrinsically animal-like, I’m picturing a warm cat tummy; a witch’s familiar if we’re staying on theme. Sillage and throw are way fainter than I expected and this sits very close to the skin. Aging gave this strength in that department, but unfortunately still it disappears very quickly on me :(
Smells like a perfume version of afternoon in late summer. Sounds redundant to say “a perfume version,” but I mean that as in this isn’t a true atmospheric: it’s more of a suggestion. Dry straw and corn - impressed with how strong the corn is. Dusty-smooth with a pale creaminess that becomes more apparent as it dries. I can’t explain that creaminess but suspect it’s the musk at work. Juniper is on the faint side, still adds a nice twinge of gin-like evergreen. I have no idea how to identify antler velvet! Perhaps the velvet is what’s helping along that dusty-smooth feel.
_____ Devil at the Crossroads Twisted, charred oak trees and snapped pines, leather, pimento, mandarin, dragon's blood, brimstone, and bourbon.
Strong woodsmoke with formidable throw. Reminds me of wood chips on a grill. Hoo boy, this one is an attention grabber. Was waiting for that to burn off but after like 40 min it’s still going strong. Under all that smoke and presumably brimstone I do get boozy bourbon, burnt wood, a hint of leather and spice. But the smoke is potent, yo. It drowns everything else out if my nose isn’t close to the source. I might smell like I’ve recently been on fire, and that in itself is actually fitting for the name, haha. Picturing Satan at the crossroads in a leather jacket, wearing sunglasses at night, smoke steaming off him. Somewhere over an hour later this is still prominently smoke but has eased up on smothering the other notes. Would be extremely sexy with the right skin chemistry or any member of a biker gang who wants a bad boy bonfire smell to match the look.
_____ The Drowned Choir Black oak, cypress, swamp mud, ambergris, moss, elderberry, and honeysuckle.
Lovely ambergris pairing so well with honeysuckle and oak. There is a thick, grounding backdrop of woods, moss, and mud (earthy but there is a touch of something wet). This is a romanticized perfume version of a swamp rather than a realistic interpretation, but I’m so pleased with how swampy it manages to be. Elderberry is hovering near the top, trying to add a brighter berry-sweetness, but it only partially succeeds. Similar to Slipped Between His Teeth, but Drowned is a bit brighteless dreary and feels more Southern to me than Teeth.
_____ The Emperor of Ice Cream Limp flowers on a windowsill, strawberry ice cream, tobacco leaves, tonka, and a dribble of young blood.
Disclaimer: I got a freebie sample of this before the notes were released, so this is broken up into first vs second impressions. My attempt to guess the notes is laughable but I did alright with the general feel. First impression: Pale honey and a very light, almost fluffy vanilla. Not as gourmand as I expected based on the name. Something golden starts to creep out. Blossoming into something beautiful - golden wood. Tobacco involved? Deepens and warms as it wears. Does not smell like ice cream to me at all. Makes me think of late summer warmth, with something green to offset the light sweetness. I wouldn’t be surprised if this had a mild herbal note involved. Second impression w/ notes: No honey, but the vanillic scent is explainable by tonka and probably whatever sweet creaminess makes up the ice cream. Was right about tobacco! Still not getting “ice cream” specifically but there is a faint, sweet creaminess involved (although I don’t taste strawberries). I’m either picking up on ice cream now because I know for sure to look for it, or that’s the awesome power of suggestion. As for the greenery, depending on how real TSS is with those limp flowers, perhaps there’s a bit of drying stem in there. And now I can pinpoint the bloody bite hiding in here. Still feels like summer warmth but with a spooky edge.
_____ The Family Plot Honeysuckle, carnation, pink peppercorn, dirt and kudzu leaf, dusty mahogany, and blood accord.
Watery floral but sans any actual aquatic. “Dusty” also works. If I focus I get honeysuckle, a hint of spice, a fruity kind of thing? (blaming blood for this) and an amalgamation of what could be dirt + wood + blood. Very pale, weak sillage, doesn’t smell like much.
_____ Don’t Fear the Reaper Creaky wooden stairs, spilled tea, and a menacing fog.
Whoa, that is some woodsmoke. Not subtle at all. After a bit, the smoke is thicker, wetter. Not the atmospheric fog I expected but closer to it than at the start. I’m willing to believe a fog accord is mixing with the ‘wooden stairs’ in a way that makes it smokier that it should be, though to me it’s like woodsmoke is an entirely separate note that was accidentally left off the list. It’s hiding the tea from my nose but I am picking up a muddled sweetness that suggests there was sugar in the cup. A heavier scent than anticipated but no less menacing. Roughly 30-45 minutes later (disclaimer: I’d stopped paying attention somewhere in that timeframe) this is right where it’s supposed to be: still faintly smoky but much foggier with dry, old wood in the background and a prominent tea-with-sugar note. If I’m going to be really, really specific this reminds me of a darkly brewed Thai tea.
_____ Fire in a Bottle Lemon balm, amber, vanilla, and distant campfire smoke.
Warm, sweet, and quite lemony. Smoke keeps to the background and actually feels distant. Uncomplicated and so, so lovely. Gets even prettier as it wears. Over time the smoke gets a little more prominent, as if we stepped a bit closer to the campfire.
_____ First Love A lone rose stands among hay stacks, threads of honeysuckle, cedarwood, oakmoss, and chypre accord.
A gentle floral with gentle sweetness and a lovely, blooming depth. Very pretty and what I’d consider “girly” without being, like, typical overly sweet teeny-bopper girly. A pale, delicate rose with equally delicate honeysuckle, softened by hay. The other notes add a warm grounding quality that really drive this one home and keep it from being too soft and pretty. Totally romantic and charming; perfect for a gentle first love. Like Ghost Milk I get strong nostalgic vibes from this.
_____ Fox's Wedding Summer rain, orange blossom, sunflower, juniper berry, white tea, and ylang-ylang.
A warm and summery floral afternoon in a golden field. What I think is sunflower is very pretty. Juniper berry is light but present. Leans soapy after some wear, which I think comes down to rain and white tea mixing with ylang-ylang and/or orange blossom. So, a fancy, good-smelling soap. This vibe calms down after a while, so I wouldn’t consider this any kind of screechy-soapy. Hours later, a simplified and very clean scent. Not mind blowing but it’s a super pleasant kind of clean skin smell that’s easy to like.
_____ The Gatekeeper Headstones buried under moss and ivy, rusted iron fencing, and gunpowder.
Cold stone, metal, peppery green. Seems like everything is accounted for! Much nicer than I expected. A fetching masculine scent on the surface but I would wear this. Murky green spiced with gunpowder. Stone and metal, neither sharp or strong, just there below a surface of spiced, dark green. There’s a very, very mild sweetness to this I can’t place, something that smooths the edges of this scent and adds a little warmth. I suspect amber. Over time I’m starting to get a hint of pencil shavings so now I’m suspicious of red patchouli (patchouli makes sense for the woody warmth I’m getting now). This would be a keeper but for the pencil note that I amp too much. Ah well. Still a good blend that I otherwise enjoy.
_____ Gatlin A cornfield burning against a night sky.
Very corn heavy, which is interesting and comes with a somewhat creamy texture as with Deerskin. The smoke is even heavier, raging and fiery, and comes out powerful at the start. Mellows out as it wears, which I appreciate. Hours later this is smoky, burning corn. Not like roasted corn, which is a whole different ballgame; this is more like a sinister fire and not at all foody.
This is a very likable vanillic amber. Smooth, gentle, and softly sweet; dreamy and a little powdery; baby-like, but not childish or screaming baby powder - this smells more like a sweet little girl. The orange blossom is just as soft as everything else and plays very nicely. Makes me picture white linen and lace and kind, young children playing on the floor of an old house, dressed in Victorian finery. There’s a gauzy haze about this one, like a glamour filter over a film lens. Good throw and long lasting. Super nostalgic, quietly beautiful.
_____ Glamour Violet, kudzu, cedar, black pepper, and warm rain.
Dusty florals, rain, greenery, strong pepper. Makes me think of a humid hothouse rainstorm. The pepper really packs a punch! Excellent. It dominates along with the rain and an ever-strengthening lush green, which overtops the wood and floral aspects. Has a clean edge that makes me think a wee bit of soap, but it’d be unfair to call this soapy. I’m pretty sure that’s just my general reaction to most aquatics. This is the kind of smell I’d associate with one of those fancy rich-people showers that has beautiful tiled floors, a luxe wooden shower bench, and jungle plants inside to help you soak up the hot water and steam.
_____ God Of The Lost Birch, mud, honey (vegan), pelting rain, and the hulking, faceless creature trailing your scent.
Dust, conceivably like old animal fur. Murky aquatic. Reminds me of the fur coat in Skull Where Her Face Had Been. This furry accord pops up a few times in the TSS catalogue but it’s pretty strong here. That remains the strongest part, but honey does come out to play in time. A woody base, but mostly that dry, musky, dusty old fur smell.
_____ Gravedigger Moss, recently disturbed soil, mahogany, citronella, strong black coffee, and the breath of the beast.
Fresh out of the bottle this is CITRONELLA like damn. Eventually other notes start cropping up, and I get soil + mahogany and maybe a hint of coffee? But otherwise it just kinda stays strong citronella forever.
_____ The Grimace of Love Rose, jasmine, spanish moss, rich amber honey (vegan), tonka, bergamot, black pepper, and patchouli.
Super in-your-face floral. Would definitely be a headache if strong rose and jasmine aren’t your thing, but if they are then this only gets better. Florals dominate but they’re backed by a chorus of interesting notes: I get the spike of pepper and bergamot, a lightly sweet honey, and the warm depth of patch and amber. Conceivably a grandma perfume, and does go a bit powdery, but grandma is awesome and smells great (if potent). This perfume is special to me in that it’s the first time I’ve ever sniffed jasmine in a bottle and not hated it. Impressive on that merit alone.
_____ Harbinger in White Black roses, black patchouli, and black feathers under a fresh layer of snow.
When first sniffed fresh out of the mailbox, this was sharp and astringent. Aging has done it justice: still carries the aforementioned traits at first, but they’re now deeper and more defined. That black patchouli is black as night. Roses are a sharp and dry floral, like a deadly dame’s perfume. There has to be black musk in here; I’m getting a hint of the Coca-Cola thing some black musks smell like to me. It’s thick but far less syrupy and not very sweet - now that I know what Blackout smells like I’m positive that’s what this is. Would all be so heavy if not for the snow, a cool and slightly aquatic feel that keeps things just light enough that it doesn’t fall into a pit of darkness.
_____ Heat Lightning Coconut, hazelnut, clove, night blooming flowers, benzoin, and humidity trapped under a tin roof.
Whoa, this is strange and otherworldly. Thick, dank, dreamily atmospheric… “humidity trapped under a tin roof” makes complete sense. Make of it what you will but the first thing that comes to mind is “steamy iced tea.” This is a gulp of room temp iced tea that’s been sitting out for a while. There’s still condensation on the glass. It’s not as refreshing as you want it to be, but it’s so hot and humid in here, and you’re panting, and you just need some liquid down your throat. There is no booze in this tea but you suspect something illicit and heady may have slipped in anyway. Or maybe that’s just how you feel in this moment. Something about this perfume reminds me of sex. It’s not sexy in a traditionally perfumed or raunchy way… More like the humid atmosphere it evokes puts me in mind of a hot, dark night with sticky, naked skin. It’s unexpectedly sultry and highly evocative; not so much seductive as it is post-coital, with a distant storm rumbling closer. Stepping away from verbosity and into the actual notes: coconut is there and playing very nicely - this is not a coconut forward scent. Neither is it foody; it’s more like fibrous, woody coconut husk to my nose. Definite florals involved but I can’t tell what specifically. TSS is great with white florals and I wouldn’t be surprised if this blend included something indolic to dirty it up a bit. Clove dirties it up for sure, especially with benzoin backing it up in the base. Hazelnut is tough for me to pick out but I know it’s in there as an interesting back note. Can’t begin to describe this humidity business but dear god it exists and it’s fantastic.
_____ Hellmouth Burnt sugar caught between gnashing teeth.
While this indeed smells of burnt sugar, it also smells remarkably like an ice cream parlor. Not getting literal ice cream, but I am smelling a mix of sprinkles, waffle cones, and other toppings. Just the all around sweet atmosphere of an ice cream shop. But especially waffle cones! The burnt sugar aspect gives the whole thing a caramelized veneer.
_____ Hysteria Blue wisteria, white jasmine, rock rose, crisp cucumber, and aldehydes.
Aging has improved this. Much smoother, less screechy than when I got it fresh (iirc) and is actually quite beautiful. Wisteria, I think, is giving a hint of the screechy-floral still but it’s well tempered now. The rose is gorgeous and rounds out the jasmine, which is white and indolic as usual but in an animalistic kinda-sexy way that I can only imagine is what other people usually get out of it. Finally, I get a taste of what makes jasmine so desirable (I am detrimentally sensitive to white florals/indoles). This has never happened outside of TSS, so this is basically a miracle. The aldehydes perfectly match with the florals and promote a lushness I struggle to describe. A classic floral that suits an attractive older woman - this isn’t your grandma’s perfume, but it’s definitely not a young girl’s scent either. The thought behind this one is great, as this is a sexier version of an old fashioned perfume to go along with the old fashioned concept and treatment of Hysteria.
I think Solstice Scents has to be my favorite indie house I’ve tried so far. They were actually the first indie house I ever tried! A little background: My favorite format of their perfumes is the EDP. For some reason perfume oils don't work for me. I have over 40 of them, five of which are from SS, and none of them last for more than 2 hours. My skin just eats them up, so my ratings for the oils will be lower due to that. Let me know what you guys think of these as well, if you've tried them. I'm always curious to know how similar my experiences are to others! Now on to the reviews! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amber Coeur (edp) - pure glowing amber. Resinous, sweet, slightly smoky. Excellent for layering and worn on its own. AMBER. Winter Collection
This one in interesting to me. Sweet and resinous, yet wearable all year round. It's warm and comforting, yet it also kinda smells like a glue stick so that’s that. it's starting to smell less and less glue like as it ages. Amber Coeur becomes a skin scent on me fairly quickly, within 3 hours, and when it does it becomes extra smoky, resinous and sticky. (6/10)
Conjure Dark (oil) - amber, fankincense, sweet incense smoke, dried rose petals, sandalwood, vetiver, woods, oud, vanilla. AMBERESINS/INCENSE. General Catalog.
Almost pure smoky incense on me. I’ve noticed my skin loves to amp up the incense SS uses. There is a woodiness to it, which is most likely the oud/sandalwood I’m smelling. Sadly I get no rose or vanilla. And thankfully no vetiver. I have found that I'm not the biggest vetiver fan. (7/10)
What an interesting one this was. I hated it a first. Something in this perfume went dust on me. Pure dust. So I left it to age for about 8 months now, and it’s wonderful. Super incensey with this underlying sweetness from the marshmallow and cream soda. It also has this minty toothpaste/menthol vibe going on. I get no rootbeer at all from this which I'm kinda sad about. And holy hell does it project for the first hour. (7/10)
Foxcroft Fairgrounds (oil) - cotton candy, cream soda, vanilla taffy, funnel cakes, powdered sugar, crisp fall air, woodsmoke, incense. DARK GOURMAND/INCENSE/EARTHY. General Catalog.
This is a love/hate perfume. I love the gourmand notes. It's sweet and sugary in the opening, which is 100% the cream soda, but something smells like freshly mowed grass. And sadly I don’t like to smell like grass. Even resting it for almost two months has done nothing to get rid of whatever note that is, which I'm guessing is the 'crisp fall air'. (3/10)
Gibbons Mischief Night (edp) - sugar cookies, vanilla frosting, white chocolate popcorn, toasted marshmallow, graham crackers, Gibbon's Boarding School, cream Soda, bourbon, pear brandy. GOURMAND/WOODY. Fall Collection.
I really like this one. It starts of super sweet. You can smell the white chocolate popcorn, and the vanilla, and marshmallow. I don't smell any sugar cookies, graham crackers or pear brandy. Just sweet sugary white chocolate popcorn and vanilla frosting. Then it takes a turn and goes woody a few hours in, which I’m assuming is Gibbon’s Boarding School. (8/10)
This one I'm really sad about because I can't smell it. It is so faint on me. What I can smell I do really like. It’s a woody, musky vanilla. (4/10 but would be an 8/10 if it was stronger)
Owl Creek Aleworks (oil and edp) - *REFORMULATED 2020* - toffee pudding, vanilla, caramel, toasted coconut & hazelnut, sugared pumpkin cream stout. GOURMAND. General Catalog.
I bought this as an oil and loved it so much I went and bought the EDP when it came back in stock. This is spicy, sweet, rich and creamy. You smell like a wonderful caramelized fall desert. (10/10)
Another really great gourmand from SS. This starts off smelling chocolaty and rich. You get the irish cream and the vanilla. And the coffee peaks through. It smells like a hot cup of coffee with a ton of Baileys and chocolate syrup. I can’t pick up the tobacco and the bourbon specifically, but I'm sure they're there in the background supporting everything else. (10/10)
I don't like this one. Something about it makes me nauseous. The rosewater comes off as powdery to me. I don't get any dates, pistachios, caramelized sugar or coconut vanilla custard. No saffron or cardamom, just lime zest. Baby powdery rose and lime zest. It's been resting for 4 weeks now but I'm going to give it a lot more time to hopefully come around. (1/10)
Rose Mallow Cream (edp) - moroccan rose absolute, bulgarian rose absolute, marshmallow fluff, strawberry nectar, white chocolate, vanilla, white musk. GOURMAND/FLORAL. General Catalog.
This is really good. The rose is slightly powdery, think powdered sugar and not baby powder. The marshmallow is super fluffy, and the vanilla really adds to that. The musk is soft and barely notifiable for me, as well as the strawberry nectar and white chocolate. I feel like those help to add to the sweetness of this perfume and help it to not be super loud and upfront. A beautiful light and airy sweet rose and vanilla. (9/10)
Sea of Gray (edp) - vanilla rain, saltwater, seaweed, ambergris (vegan), white amber, roasted seashells, white sandalwood, frangipani. AQUATIC/GOURMAND/VANILLA. General Catalog.
This is a super confusing perfume for me. It's changed about 5 times in the past few weeks. First it was all sea weed and brine. Then the vanilla peaked out a bit. Then it really came out. Then after that the seaweed and brine started coming back, along with what I assume is roasted seashells. And now it kinda smells like raw spinach and salt with a hint of fish and vanilla. The fish goes away after it dries down and I'm left with freshly washed spinach/greens of some sort and vanilla ice cream. I can't say that I don't like it because that's not true. I actually enjoy it a lot strangely. After a few hours the 'green' notes leave and it's a sweet vanilla. What a weird perfume. Definitely needs more resting. (5/10 for now).
I love Snowmint Mallow. It's vanilla and peppermint at the start. There is definitely coconut in this one. It adds a creamy kinda nutty vibe to it. And the marshmallow creme adds the perfect amount of fluffiness and creaminess to it. It has this coldness to it from the peppermint which makes it surprisingly refreshing to wear during the summer. It kinda reminds me of those big soft peppermints mixed with coconut and marshmallow. One of my absolute favorites from SS. (10/10)
Snowshoe Pass (edp) - white amber, white musk, vanilla accord, peppermint cream, cold winds. VANILLA MUSK/WOODY. Winter Collection.
Another absolute love from SS. This is a cold peppermint and vanilla that settles nicely on top of a bed of musk. I don't think I smell any amber in this, because truthfully I don't actually know what white amber smells like soooooo. Snowshoe Pass is a lovely vanilla peppermint musk. (10/10)
Solstice Magnolia (edp) - lemon-magnolia ice cream, sugar cone, hawaiian sandalwood, honeysuckle, thumbprint cookies with quince jam, unsweetened iced black tea
For me Solstice Magnolia opens with a super realistic magnolia and a lemon ice cream. It doesn't specifically say that the ice cream is vanilla based but I think it is. At least it smells that way. Or it might be the waffle cone that has this creamy vanilla scent to it. The lemon fades a bit but the magnolia stays strong. The dry down is creamy vanilla ice cream with fresh magnolia blooms. I surprisingly like this one. And it wears really well in the heat too. (8/10)
I am a big fan of the way my house smells during christmas. I think it's the smell of the tree mixed with the cold air. This is christmas tree in a bottle. Super strong fipine scents and a slight spiciness from the clove with a teeny tiny bit of orange to cut through the heaviness of everything else. I would not suggest this if you don't like pine or fir trees. For me it's a winner except for the lasting power. Curse my skin and it's inability to hold oils! (7/10)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's all of them! I currently have Estate Vanilla on the way which I'm super excited for. I've been waiting over a year to try it and I'm finally able to get my hands on it! I hope you enjoyed the reviews!
I wanted to get this out before August 1 because I’m excited about Hexennacht reopening (and I’m assuming a few other people are too)! This is my first review attempt, so...don't be gentle. Any tips? Any questions? Did I forget something crucial? Anything not clear? I tend toward the metaphorical sometimes, fair warning. And this is long. Like really long, stream of consciousness, probably more than you need to know. Featuring the word warm about a billion times. Sorry not sorry, writing these up has been half the fun of sampling so far. I've been lurking for a while, and trying a *lot* of things (well, ordering a lot of things to try), but I'm still pretty new to this. The descriptions from this community have been helpful beyond my wildest dreams, and I wanted to return the favor, but also heads up, odds are good I have no idea what I'm doing. I know just enough for it to sometimes sound like I know what I'm talking about, but I really don't. Believe me though, I’ll spend a lot of words doing it. If it helps you going in to know what I like and don’t so far: Basically sweet/food/gourmand is a hard no, if it smells realistically like outside I probably love it, amber and florals on an individual basis, new age shop smells (incense, patchouli, smoke) are questionable. This is so unhelpfully vague, but like...sharp clean smells (laundry, soap, linen, some florals) are also a no. Powder is not my fave but negotiable if it balances something else out. Apparently, as I just discovered with Trashcan Man, motor oil/gasoline might be a win (wtf nose), and one kind of sweet I can manage. Musk and I seem to be cool as long as it doesn't get too spiky/soapy. Testing info, etc etc: These are fairly early first impressions. The earliest rested for just over 48 hours (Trashcan Man - I did go back to it at the end though and I'd say my first take still stands). The rest have had longer, three days to more than a week. I am planning on giving some of them another shot after resting a lil more, especially the ones that were kind of close, but ughhh August 1. I've only been testing on my wrists; I’m prone to migraines and I need an easy to wash and far from my face escape hatch if things don't go well. I tried one at a time but I'm just too impatient to only try one a day, so I don't know about longevity on all of them, but it isn't a big concern for me unless it disappears or goes weird super fast. Side note, Ajevie totally blew me away. These were in stock and I think my package even got here a day earlier than the tracking estimate, six days total from when I clicked the order button. That sweet sweet instant gratification. Which means Hexennacht is the first batch I've really tested, despite being further down an embarrassingly long list of places I've ordered samples from. And here we go: ------------------------ Trashcan Man(notes: smoke, motor oil, low-octane gasoline) In the bottle: So perfectly what it is. It smells like stopping to get gas at a really clean gas station. Can't imagine I'll want to smell like this, but wow. Nailed it. Wet: Fuck. Yes. Revelation: apparently I am a person who loves the smell of motor oil/gasoline. I’ve never been that into it out in the world, but here we are. It’s sweet but not in a foody way, it almost smells like a leather store. Or a cozy friendly mechanic shop, where you know them and they're super nice people with dozens of thank you cards under the glass countertop and you always get good vibes when you take your car in. After a minute there's a note that's a little spicy/cologne but not in a way that gives me a headache. Also makes me think of riding behind a sexy guy in a leather jacket on a motorcycle in the fresh night air. Seriously this went from I don't want to smell like this to this is sexy af. Not sure if anyone else will like this on me, but that sounds like their problem. This is exactly why I've been excited about indie scents. I'm just unapologetically waxing poetic now. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): Still getting a close-up-to-a-guy vibe, but it's gotten a lot cozier. It mellowed a lot from "POW gasoline," to getting a warm slightly sweaty/musky hug from someone that just walked in from the shed or garage on a hot day. Kind of a spicy heat to it (maybe that's the smoke) and I still smell the oil and gas underneath. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): It's mellowed out a touch more, but otherwise mostly the same. Reminds me of someone now, in a good way, but I can’t place it. I feel like the "me up close to a dude" thing is melding into something more subtle and unisex—to me, it has feminine and masculine notes, which maybe felt a little more separate before, but more well blended now Verdict? Yes yes yes. I don't want it all up in someone's face who might not like it so I'll probably stick to the oil, but I need more of this, now. It'll probably be in my cart the second they open. It weirds me out a little just how much I like this. ------------------------ Fallen Angel(notes: rain-soaked granite, mountain air, petrichor, creeping ivy, damp earth) In the bottle: So green! This was one of a few samples I was hoping would smell like this secluded rocky beach in Maine I have a special thing for. It's maybe not exactly that, but it's got this really fresh vivid green smell. Kind of like when you snap open a branch, or the smell of grass while you're cutting it, that resinous bright "living thing" green. Really excited to try this one on. Wet: Still so green! It's more complex on me, I'm getting something almost sweet and earthy underneath now. Mountain air more than petrichor. Almost something a little floral. Like stepping into a greenhouse on a cool day, the smell is green and wet and hanging in the air, but there's a crispness to it too. As it's drying it's getting harder to pick out individual things, but I'm enjoying the forest as well as the trees (hah). Dry (after 10-15 minutes): Rain on granite after crashing through an un-cleared path. I’ve got stains from damp broken green stems on me, and there's kind of a fresh relieving smell like when it rains after a humid afternoon and everything's clean and so much lighter. Not soapy-clean at all, thank goodness. I could see actually smelling like this after being outside on a hot summer day and getting caught in the rain after raking up grass clippings or weeding, coming in with bits of plants plastered to my skin. I can smell it with my arms at my sides, and it's almost a bit aquatic from further away, but I still catch glimpses of that green. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): It stayed remarkably the same. Without all the imagery: green, damp (not mildewy, just lightly wet), something solid underneath—stone or maybe metal. A hint of cilantro? Is that soap? I know some people think cilantro tastes like soap, but in the "this smells so green" context it's reading like the herb to me. Giving it more time (I think at around hour 3 or 4) the cilantro's lingering. It's almost a sunscreen smell now. Maybe soap. Whatever it is, I don't like it so much. I don't hate it, but it isn't quite the rave the rest of the ride was. Verdict? Maybe. I’d love to walk around in a cloud of this, up until the cilantro sunscreen—the beginning is stellar and maybe planning to reapply would help. It's not the exact scent I was looking for, but it evokes some good feelings of being outside nonetheless. Maybe it's just one of those things that are so good at being what they are they feel familiar the first time you encounter them. I want to try a few more green scents I have on the way, but it’s in the running. ------------------------ Tomate(leafy, vine-ripe, garden-fresh tomatoes) In the bottle: Absolutely nailed this one too. Smells like tomato stems (fuzzy prickly green), and a warm freshly picked tomato. Wet: Yup, just like sticking my nose all up in fresh tomatoes on the vine. A little less warm “straight from outside,” more “cool on the counter,” but it really didn't change all that much on my skin Dry (after 10-15 minutes): Maybe a smidge coolesharper? It's pretty much the same but chilled out into something less OMG THAT IS A TOMATO and more wearable, where I could see someone asking, What is that smell? It's so familiar. Is that like...tomato? Later (from 30-60 minutes on): If Fallen Angel is dark, crashing through a forest, broken stems green, this is light summer gazpacho green. A hint of spice, or almost...celery, even? I think the spice was the fuzzy prickly green at the start, and that warm tomato skin note has sweetened just a little. It smells ever so slightly more like a "scent" now than how literal it was at the beginning, and while I wouldn't have been sad if it was TOMATO the whole time, to me that just makes it even more wearable. By about 4-6 hours it's really light, a pleasant almost sweet green smell. Verdict? Yes. It is what it is what it is and I love it for that, but hey, I love fresh from the garden tomatoes. My luck has been too good, I'm going to be in trouble. ------------------------ Elemental(notes: lush green cloverfields, dampened soil, petrichor, sunwarmed moss, wet pavement, ozone, rain-soaked thunderheads) In the bottle: I get wet green, something a little like ozone or petrichor, it does smell a bit like being outside after it rains. Maybe. Something a little sweet. Kind of vague, but I'm having a hard time picking out individual things. Wet: Still really sweet. Boo. I do get a green undercurrent. And...root beer candy. More sadness. So I've had this happen with Firebird’sSaltwater, and Paintbox Soapworks’s Calling the Storm. I'm going through the notes—could it be something that's supposed to smell like ozone? It's the closest thing to a common "theme" among the three, but it's not listed in Saltwater (ocean water, salt air, driftwood—salt air maybe?). Hm. Or is this an aquatic thing? Does this happen to anyone else? Root beer candy doesn't sound bad, but I really hate smelling sweet, and while I love root beer I don't care for the artificial candy version. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): There's something in here I like better than either of the other root-beer-candy culprits, maybe the soil and green. The root beer thing eventually fades for me with the others, but I'm not sure I'm up for waiting, I really don't like this. Going to give it at least another 15 before I scrub, for science. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): Okay, now I'm getting clover and soil, maybe wet pavement. It's all melded a lot more. I think this is how it's supposed to be. I can definitely get the rain on pavement, maybe walking next to a park. root beer candy isn't whacking me in the face any more, but I can't not smell it now. It's still a little sweet for my taste. Verdict? I’m amping something weird here, I think. I wish I knew exactly what it was so I could avoid it in the future. I can see how this would be amazing on someone else, but it's not for me. I might try again but I don’t have high hopes. ------------------------ Cetalox(notes: a post-modern synthetic ambergris perfumery component redolent of warm skin/papecedarwood/ozone/pepper with an ambroxan-like background -- and to \some* -- smells like nothing at all. Exceptional longevity. single note)* In the bottle: Pretty faint, but still pretty. I can't really place or pick out anything in particular, but it's sort of generically nice? I don't know if anyone else has tried Riddle oil (they seem somewhere between indie and mainstream), but if that's a little "darker" this feels like its "lighter" counterpart. Wet: I've smelled this before in other perfumes, for sure. It's a mild, sweet, animal smell to me. Seems a little musky. I can get the paper comparison for sure, and something a little sharp that hints at cedaozone/pepper. At first it kind of reminded me of taking my pet hamster out of the cage as a kid and snuggling it up to my face. A hint of the cedar bedding, and a warm soft fuskin smell. More paper as it's drying, like a sheaf of freshly printed papers from a big office or school copier—warm, paper, ink. I wouldn't have thought the two ideas were related, but I can get either depending on how I "focus" on it. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): Yup, freshly cleaned cedar bedding in the cage of a soft small pet. It's also reallllly faint, I have to get within 3-4 inches of my wrist to smell it at all, already. I'm not usually a fan of the "sharpness" of cedar or certain kinds of wood, but I kind of like this. It's got enough other stuff going on (even for a single note) that softens it for me. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): Cedar cedar cedar. Still a hint of the warm fuzzy fur. It hasn't changed much, just softened a bit more. Still pretty quiet and close. Verdict? Eh? It's not bad, despite the hamster cage vibe, but there are others I'm just so crazy about in comparison. ------------------------ The Grady Twins(notes: apothecary lavender, violet candies, wood, metal) In the bottle: I got this 100% for the Stephen King reference, and because it sounded weird af. I get the violet candy, and metal. It's not too sweet, wood and metal might be tempering it? A little floral too. Not sure if I like this. Wet: Wow, violet candies. Definitely a metallic twang in there. Something powdery over the whole thing. smells...kind of like a medicine cabinet, with some cough drops and a vintage bottle of perfume tucked away at the back. I swear I almost get band-aids too. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): The metal is tripping me out, it's really realistic and coming forward more. Something kind of warmer underneath too. Wood? It's still feeling kind of medicinal, but there's enough lavendeviolet that it's not completely astringent. Definitely feeling warmer as it dries. And, still band-aids. It's a far cry from medicinal (which I'm still feeling too), and likely totally dependent on the name—but I'm also getting haunted house vibes. Like that air-conditioned, props and plastic smell, and maybe you're walking too close to the next group so no one will jump out in front of you (ah pre-covid life, I miss you) and one of them is wearing a sweet/sharp powdery perfume. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): It mellowed out so much! I'm still getting a touch of band-aids, and powder, but it's a lot less unsettling. That hint of warmth bloomed (the wood again?) and it's turned into kind of a cozy smell, fuzzy and fluffy and lightly sweet. Which...is also weird, in that I kind of like it. Band-aids and powder, not things I'm usually wild about, but it's not yelling candy and sugar at me any more, so we're cool. If I really stick my nose up in there, I'm also getting something almost methol-y. It's coming back around to “medicine cabinet,” but now it's a well-lit one with expensive lotion and face powder. By about two hours in, it smells clean in a cozy way, like I just got out of a bubble bath: warm lightly scented skin in a soft bathrobe. It pretty much stayed like that until I went to bed, and was mostly gone by morning. Verdict? I don't hate this. I might even say I like it. It's really weird and I'm not sure I've ever smelled anything like it. Not a comforting smell at the start, I didn't think i'd actually wear it at all, but...I might if I have time to wait out the beginning. Either way, wow, really well done. It has a VIBE. I don't know if I'll need more than the sample size, but I'll be using it again for sure. If nothing else I'm going to be sticking it under people's noses going, you want to smell something crazy?! ------------------------ Ambre Blanc(notes: white amber, single note) In the bottle: Sweet. Kind of sweetly sexy. It's fine, but already I think I would maybe need to layer with something else to balance it. Wet, and drying: Sweet, creamy. Caramelized burnt sugar. It's really warm, and I would love to eat something that smells like this. I don't have a ton of experience with straight up amber, part of the reason I chose this one, so I could figure out notes I like a little better, and I’m getting the idea this one isn’t for me. The warmth is great, the sweetness, I'm not so down with. I bake a lot, but I don't like to personally smell sweet. It usually makes me feel like I didn't wash off a bit of batter or fruit juice well enough and it's dried and gone kind of sticky on me. After about 30 minutes: Yeah, sweet. I tried this on not too long before a shower, in case it was a no-go. I waited a bit longer for it to dry and settle a little, but it didn’t change much and I wasn't sad to get it off me. Verdict? Hard no. Objectively, it's a nice smell. I do want to eat it. I just don't want it on me. Testing this alone and seeing the note in other scents, I'm pretty sure (at least the white) amber’s one of the sugasweet/marshmallow culprits that has tripped me up in this set of samples. I think I need to try some other ambers, right now a little afraid it might end up being one of my no-go notes. ------------------------ Moonstone(notes: argent ambre, night-blooming jasmine, evening air accord, lunar musk) In the bottle: When it arrived I took a sniff and soooaap. But nice soap. After a few days...baby powder. Baby wipes maybe? Not a good sign, but here we go. Wet: Oh hello jasmine. I still get a touch of eau de baby behind it but it's getting better. I love jasmine, one of my all time favorite mainstream perfumes has a super realistic jasmine smell, so my hopes are still high. It's a little sharper, the really nice expensive soap vibe is back. I'm on the edge of my seat here. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): It's getting fancier by the minute, but still soap. Oh well. Not a scrubber, but not the indie jasmine of my dreams. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): Jasmine scented sunscreen? It's better, not as distinctly soapy, but there's still a sharpness I'm not into. It kind of tickles my nose when I inhale. Borderline headachy, but it's not quite that bad. Maybe going a little sweet too, which might be a plus for someone else but again, not for me. Yeah I am not into this, it's really not jiving with my skin chemistry. Verdict? No for me. Pretty much all of the notes in this have a chance of turning wrong on me, so I think it’s just my bad luck. ------------------------ Fleurs Blanches(notes: tuberose, iris, tiaré, paperwhite narcissus, night-blooming jasmine) In the bottle: White flowers, check. Unsurprising, I picked this one because I like some florals, particularly jasmine. Nice so far, no funky sour notes, just like a clean freshly picked bloom, or being outside in summer night air in Hawaii. Sweet, light, floral. Wet: Did I mention sweet? Now it's sweet. Maybe SWEET. I guess I'd still say this is a sweet non-gourmand floral, but hoo boy it is sweet and that is not my jam. Like...I'm smelling bubblegum and cotton candy, or cotton candy bubblegum. Weeeiiird. I've had mainstream floral scents I really liked, and I love jasmine with a burning passion (Have I mentioned that yet? Only every 10 seconds?), but this is doing something weird on my skin I guess. Or one of the other flowers is funky on me. Whew. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): Not much change. I’m getting a little more floral vs bubblegum, and it's gotten a little sharper, but not less sweet. I had a headache brewing this morning and this is not helping. Scrubbed. Verdict? Nope. I can't see it getting "better enough" that trying again would help. It's not as much of a pan as I’m making it sound, if you like everything that’s in it, don’t let me deter you. Jasmine seems to be okay for me most of the time, so I’m guessing I just don’t care for one of the other notes. It smells clean at least, not syrupy-sticky-sweet. I personally hate the smell of bubblegum (not mint gum, bubblegum) with the same level of intensity that I love jasmine, and I don’t think I would run away if I smelled this on someone else (how’s that for an endorsement). But it's 100% not for me. I am starting to suspect I may amp all sweet things?—of course I would—and maybe I shouldn’t put all the blame on poor amber. ------------------------ Bois(notes: plywood, lumber, sawdust. single note) In the bottle: Wood but not super spicy. I think. I don't get the kind of sharpness I don't like with some wood, but I also don't get the sweet-ish fresh-baked-bread smell I associate with sawdust. Wet: Oooh there's the spice. Way more than I expected once it got on my skin. There's a well-oiled machinery smell in there too. This smells more like a woodworking shop than straight up wood. I kind of dig it. Still on the hunt for a realistic sawdust scent (yes, really) but this is kind of scratching the itch. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): The spice just keeps amping up. I still get wood and oil but it's kind of secondary. Oh man, I want to curl up with my guy while he's wearing this, yes. I’m falling a little in love with it. It's a sweet-spicy cologne that smells like it's on someone who's been out in the garage working all morning. The more time that goes by the more I'm getting wood too. But like, the idea of wood. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): Pretty much the same notes, it's chilled out a lot though. There's something almost creamy to it now, a bit cleaner of a smell. Much later, it fades into something softer and a bit more unisex but it keeps enough of the edge to stay interesting. Verdict? Not a FS for me, but maybe as a gift. I might try and force a certain someone to try this, for my own benefit (and his, he gets to smell nice too). On me, it isn't exactly what I was looking for, and while I like the spicy motor-oil-ish background, Trashcan Man is so much more that. This reads to me as more of a (really nice) men's cologne. ------------------------ Waking the Witch(notes: patchouli, vanilla, cashmeran, oakmoss, black pepper, laurel leaf) In the bottle: Kind of sweet but like a sexy smoky candy on your breath sort of sweet. Low expectations on me. Oh patchouli, I wish I liked you more. I should have known better with it being, you know, the first note on the list and all, but here we are. I'm not sure why I picked this one...patchouli and vanilla are eh at best for me...and yet I still don't hate it. Wet: Sugared patchouli. Whewww. this is another one I feel like is objectively well done—the two seem to balance each other out, it’s just...neither is a smell I particularly like. Alas, the sweet smell is doing what sweet smells do to me and I smell like sticky berry juice is drying on my hands. After all that complaining, believe it or not, if it wasn't for that sweet tinge i might actually be kind of into this. Everything else is getting along pretty well. Hoping it evens out more. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): Okay, more like making fresh marshmallows, with incense in the background. The fluffier sweetness is kind of okay, still not my favorite, but I don't hate it as much as the stickier syrupy sweet. I'm only getting the latter if I put my nose like on my wrist now though. Later (from 30-60 minutes on): This one's making me kind of sad, it's so close for me, I’d have loved another wildcard NO, you’re wrong about everything you thought you knew scent. I could see it being amazing for a lot of people. The sweet note I don't love sort of went away, and it's just warm vanilla sugar marshmallows on top. I kind of like the rest of it. It's warm (I need a new word) soft, and I think I'm cool with the patchouli here?! If this is a witch we're waking, she's a good witch, with something nice baking on her warm hearth in the early morning with sun coming through the windows. It's really good at what it is. The parts I'm not wild about aren't too strong. I'd say warm complex vanilla by the end. For me, I don't hate it, don't love it, and that's saying a lot considering. After the bumps at the beginning it reminds me of an expensive perfume I can't quite place. It did get fairly powdery on me after a few hours. Verdict? This is like a friendly acquaintance. Nice, I like it just fine, we just don't have anything in common. We'd be fine and get along, but I can't see hanging out with it alone on purpose. ------------------------ Prehnite(notes: black sage, california sagebrush, golden amber, dark amber, white amber, white cedar, palo santo, sweetgrass, cedar, sandalwood, Egyptian musk, frankincense, myrrh, dark patchouli, saffron, vetiver, agarwood, smoldering incense.) In the bottle: Smells like a mainstream perfume, I can't place it though. Heady, strong, a little incense-y. Not straight up new age shop, but this is a particular style, and it's not mine, It's borderline headachy for me. Wet: Sweet and spicy, heady and intoxicating. Amber, be cool this time, please, there’s potential here after all. I can smell it starting to go a little sweet as it dries but...I kind of love the rest of it. I stand by the "not my style" assessment in the bottle, but oooh. I wouldn't mind being this person. Can't stop smelling my wrists. I still can't place why it’s familiar, maybe like someone I knew a long, long time ago. These are all smells I'm a little wary of, with the exception of maybe the sage and musk, but they're playing so well together. Dry (after 10-15 minutes): This is a scent I could imagine as part of some kind of ancient ritual. Resiny, warm, herbal, not a floral or green smell in sight. I can get some sweet/powder if I try to pick it out, but it's not at the forefront. More than Waking the Witch actually, it smells like magic—the herbalist in a cabin kind. It's like incense if I liked incense. I'm trying and failing at words here, it's complex and dark and really good. I'm kind of shocked. Maybe 30 minutes: Woody and clean and spicy. The warmth and spiciness reminds me a little of Bois actually, but it's not reading quite as masculine here. Something almost a little like sweet smoke, maybe the incense. A hint of the powder still but I think wrapped up in everything else it might end up being okay. Still worried about it taking over long term, it's been a problem for me. Aaand powder. It's like someone put a soft fluffy blanket over all of that spicy complexity. I know it's there underneath, but everything else is muted. Don't do this. :( After an hour: I'm smelling it constantly with baited breath. It's coming back around away from the sweet powder, and it's gotten a bit sharper too. Eventually pulls in and parks like...across the street from new age shop territory. I'm kind of okay with the tradeoff, incense isn't my top choice but have I mentioned, I really do not like to smell sweet? The complexity is back, that is redeeming it for sure. What. A. Ride. I need a nap. Verdict? My next weirdo wildcard came in at the end. It's so different. I went from eh, to I want to take a ceremonial bath in this, then a wobble in the middle, then...it's solid. This might be the best luck I've had with amber so far, stupid skin chemistry and stupid sweet smells. I’m kind of hoping a longer rest gets it closer to perfection for me—I'll wait for you, Prehnite. It's really outside my comfort zone. I consider this a win, it’s in the same realm of “wtf is this, I like it” as Trashcan Man, but like, hanging out at the border. ------------------------ This has really been my jam during quarantine. Little bits of happiness in the mail, something to satisfy my love of organizing and documenting things (not even kidding), a new giant spreadsheet to take over my free time. And this is such a fantastic, warm, community—even when I haven't been obsessively scouring review threads I've come to look forward to just checking out what's new on the regular. Thank you all for being you, and if you made it to the end, whew, good on you. <3
Florabotanica by Balenciaga is a Floral Green fragrance for women. Florabotanica was launched in 2012. Florabotanica was created by Olivier Polge and Jean-Christophe Herault. Top note is Mint; middle notes are Rose, Carnation and cannabis; base notes are Vetiver and Amber. A very interesting edition ... Yes, good quality weed often smells like marijuana. Try smoking some in a small, enclosed space. You'll smell like it for a long time, and if you're not careful you'll cop a buzz, too. [ . . . read about it in a book once. Wouldn't know personally.] It smells a bit like wet soil or a cold, dark basement. One of the best rules of thumb with patchouli scents is a little goes a long way. Patchouli oil can be worn alone as a single-note fragrance. In perfumery, it is often used combined with other popular base notes such as vetiver, sandalwood, frankincense, myrrh, or cedarwood. What it smells like: Vetiver is mainly cultivated for its fragrant essential oil which is distilled from its roots that are 18 to 24 months old. Vetiver oil, which is amber brown and rather thick, is a complex oil containing over 100 identified components. The odor of vetiver oil is described as deep, sweet, woody, smoky and earthy. So, first things first, this really smells nothing like vetiver essential oil. Vetiver essential oil is pungent and has an almost chocolate, wood earthen grass,musk characteristic. Most people are very turned off by it, even more so than patchouli. However, I LOVE vetiver. This fragrance, is Vetiver tamed and smoothed out. Oddly enough, people have actually claimed that their body odor smells just like marijuana. One possibility is that the smell is a result of consuming other plants. No studies currently suggest that if you smoke weed, you can smell it in your sweat. Some individuals swear by it, though. Do you think marijuana smells like any of these 10 things? Creed's Original Vetiver speaks for itself with its very classy quality - like the smell of honeysuckle with dew on grass on a cool morning. Lasts a LONG time on me, without becoming offensive. Has a mildly soapy sensation suggested greatly by scents like Gendarme V and Thierry Mugler Cologne. Smoky scents are good for the mind and the soul It's used for natural pest and weed control as well. Insects lay their eggs in the vetiver plant, the larvae get stuck and die. ... Vetiver is like a diamond, ... this is my boyfriend's favorite on me. It smells like like a strawberry scented toy from my childhood and I love it. He says it makes me smell like candy. Our workplace uses Purell in dispensers placed every 20 feet, and it smells neutral,” noted Pamela Dalton, a senior scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
Top 10 Most Complimented Best Mens Fragrances of all Time
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