Old Cedar Magus - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Old Cedar Magus
Solstice Scents


Notes:
Old Cedar Magus is an amazing blend of fresh cedarwood on a bed of mystical incense and soft vanilla. Excellent as a unisex woodsy scent... slightly smoky and very alluring.

One of the most powerful attractants (is that a word? it is now) for me is smell. I don't look at people in the street but if I walk past a man who smells good I will stop dead, whip around and stare as he passes by. He could have a head like a robber's dog but I'll still be attracted. Ironically, my last two long term relationships were with men who hated anything that smelled the slightest bit perfumy - one because he was a hippie skank and the other because he gets headaches from strong fragrances (and also because he was a bit of a borderline hippie skank, it has to be said).

All this is a long-winded Grandpa Simpson way of saying that to me, Old Cedar Magus smells like the PERFECT MAN. It's warm, inviting, a bit sexy but not in that Sex Panther kind of way (you know what I'm talking about).

In the vial it's a freshy woody scent, like walking through a forest in the middle of the day - green and a bit zingy. You know when you go out to the country and you throw your head back and breathe deep and go, "Aaaah, smell that fresh air!" and look around smugly at the people you're with while they stare at you wondering whether you're going to be that annoying for the whole trip? Yeah, that.

Once applied, the warmth comes out - a rich, vanilla resiny wood, mildly smokey, just delicious. The dry down doesn't change a whole lot, but the vanilla comes out more as it wears on. Solstice Scents' vanilla note is just so far beyond anyone else's that it's ridiculous. Go home everyone, SS has got this covered.

Longevity is medium - I finally stopped sniffing myself after about 6 hours because it got to the spritzer hour and more important things were afoot. Sillage is medium - you could keep it subtle with a dab, but if you splashed it about or, say, took it out in the street and threw it on random men, you'd definitely know it's there.

Sidenote: When I tried this on at first I happened to be listening to this song, and the combination of the two conjured up an immediate feeling of warm snuggliness. Weird how that happens sometimes.

Rating: 
5/5 Full bottle ASAP.

Day 86!

Alchemy - Black Baccara

Details: 
Alchemy
Black Baccara

Notes: 
In this bottle is an Alchemist's lab strewn with bottles, jars, brews, and divinely scented, decaying cabinets of curiosities. A mysterious unisex perfume blend -deep and sensuous with notes of incense, honey, sandalwood, cardamom, and the faintest hint of plum.

This is a funny one - lots of weird things going on but I can't pin down anything in particular. When I read the notes, I was thinking, oh yeah - that's there, and that's there, and that's there... but without that to tell me I was lost. It's incense but not quite, spicy but not quite, woody but not quite. There's something in the opening notes that almost makes me dislike it, but then I kept getting drawn in to sniff past whatever that was (and I still don't know - something sweetly sour, like when a baby spits up milk). The whole time I was wearing this I sniffed it compulsively, even at work like a weirdo. It's so interesting, even though I can't decide for sure whether I like it.

The dry down is sandalwood, and it smells musky even though that's not mentioned in the notes. The base is more of a classic scent than the unusual opener. I've probably been of no use at all describing this one, but it's a mystery to me, even though I wore it for a couple of days in a row trying to get my head around it. Sillage is lowish, but longevity is good - 10 hours at least.

Rating: 
3/5 I might come back and make this higher eventually. I'm not entirely decided.

Day 85!

Marzipan - Alchemic Muse

Details:
Marzipan
Alchemic Muse

Notes: 
A truly delicious confection of sweet almonds creamed with raw sugar and delectable notes of buttery vanilla, almond milk, shortbread and a touch of sweet cherry.

This was a freebie sample - I would never have bought it in a million years, because I detest marzipan. It's smell, its taste, its very existence is offensive to me. I am eternally grateful to the person who discovered in the 1990s that wedding cakes did not legally have to have almond icing on them. Finally, marzipan began to die the slow painful death it deserved.

In the vial and when first applied, that hideous almond stench is all it is - marzipan, marzipan and more marzipan. I stuck it out, wondering if that's all it was going to be (I hadn't looked at the notes yet), but finally it started to mellow and that sharpness faded into the background. The drydown is a sweet pastry vanilla. I like quite a few of the Alchemic Muse perfumes but they almost all have a synthetic smell about them, sometimes not an issue (for me), and sometimes kind of  "Ew, cheap scented candle!". This one is somewhere in between. It's not unbearable, but there are so many better sweet desserty vanilla scents out there. The longevity and sillage was thankfully quite low on this one.

Rating: 
2/5 Not quite a scrubber, but not impressed.

Day 84!

Black Forest - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Black Forest 
Valentine's Day 2012 (now permanent)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Agarwood, Nagarmotha EO, Tobacco Absolute, Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Mousse, Cocoa Absolute, Maraschino Cherries, Black Cherries, Hay Absolute, Sandalwood EO, Whipped Cream & a drop of Pink Peppercorn Essential Oil

I have plunged face first into enough black forest cakes in my life to know what one smells like, so I was surprised to find that this perfume was nothing like I expected. In the vial, it’s quite dark. The chocolate is very bitter and leaning a little to the masculine – it’s not at all foody. On the skin, the cherry comes out strongly, and that’s more the classic gourmand cherry note I would expect, but the darkness of the chocolate tempers its sweetness. I thought I was going crazy because I could smell something smokey, and I couldn’t imagine how on earth that was worked into a black forest cake, but when I looked up the notes, there it is – tobacco absolute. And lots and lots of wood. Ah, so that’s what gives it all that depth. The wood comes out much more in the dry down, when the cherry has pretty much disappeared, but that bitter chocolate still hangs around in the background.

This is a unisex scent that leans quite masculine, and I’d say it’s the perfect chocolate perfume for people who don’t like chocolate perfumes. You will definitely not walk around smelling like cake wearing this (not that that’s a bad thing!). The sillage is medium – it is strong at first but the dry down is closer to the skin. Longevity is good – I could smell it for a good 7 hours or so, and the following morning (I applied early evening) I could still smell traces of the woodiness on my wrist. 

Rating:
3/5 I like it quite a lot, but even though it’s different from most other chocolate scents I own, I still have too many chocolate scents. I doubt I’d buy this in a full size.

Day 83!

Euphrosyne - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details: 
Euphrosyne
Fantasy, Legends, Lore
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
The Three Graces, or Three Charities, of Greek mythology were Charis, also known as Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. They were the goddesses of joy, pleasure, grace, beauty, festivity, adornment, dance, and song. Daughters of Zeus and the sea-nymph Eurynome, they were also the attendants, or handmaidens, of Aphrodite and Hera and protectors of vegetation. Euphrosyne, (yoo-FROS-uh-nee), comes from the Greek and Latin, meaning “mirth,” “merriment.” Her scent is a myriad blend of tropical fruits, fresh pears, red berries, cream, figs, Sicilian orange, pummelo, caramel, lily of the valley, and a barely hidden note of red licorice. 

In Greek mythology, Euphrosyne didn't do much except dance around with her sisters having a good time. She was kind of frivolous and a teensy bit pointless - an early Kardashian, I guess.  This perfume is also kind of frivolous. In the vial I can smell fig, orange and a faint alcohol scent I attribute to pear. I thought I caught some marzipan too, but I think maybe there's a dab of cherry in there - I often confuse those two in the first seconds of smelling them. Once applied it's a bit of a messy fruity blend, with a strong note of berries. It's very strong and the sillage is high. The caramel comes out in the dry down, but it's that kind of caramel note that borders on smelling like vomit. If someone took a younger Kardashian into a lab and said, "Blend together the things you like the smell of and make a perfume", this is exactly what I would expect them to come up with. It smells like a cheap, trashy celebrity perfume. Gross.

Rating:
1/5

Day 82!

Arizona - Sage and Honeycomb - Possets Perfumes

Details: 
Arizona - Sage and Honeycomb
Possets Perfumes

Notes: 
I have had a lot of requests for a desert scent. Many people love the sagey smell and thin clean atmosphere that comes with some very heat. Arizona seeks to capture the spirit of the state. A drop of honey mingles in the astringent fuzziness of sage, a good shot of evening musk lets you know that people really are here. A very beautiful blend, clean but appealing and bright. USA. 

This was one of the (many) freebies I received with my last Possets order; I would not have bought it myself as none of the notes appeal to me. As herbs go, sage is not a favourite of mine (give me the smell of basil or coriander any day), and even if it was, I don't like smelling like herbs - I like walking into a kitchen and smelling them. In the vial this is indeed herby and sweet, and there is also a note that makes me think of hay (my mum is married to a sheep farmer - I have smelled a lot of hay). What I don't have is a lot of experience of deserts - my last trip to a desert was a school excursion 30 years ago. However, when I smelled Arizona, it actually did make me think, "Yes, this is what I think a desert smells like." Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it's effective. And I wonder if maybe the 'hay' smell is just a smell of 'dryness'? If so, that's clever.

Once applied, I can smell the honeycomb - or more correctly, honey. I'm not a fan of honey, either in taste or smell. It's one of those slightly sickly sweet scents that makes me screw my nose up, and combined with the sweetness of sage (man, there is a lot of alliteration in this sentence!), I was not loving it. And it continued to get more and more sweet as it went on. Of course, because I was not loving it, it lasted FOREVER. I put it on early evening and the next morning I could still smell traces of it. The sillage was not too high, but I think if you slathered it on (I didn't), you would risk announcing yourself from the next room. The dry down is musky and still sweet, with the sage hanging around until the bitter end.

I can understand why a lot of people would like this - it has a whole 'nature' thing going on that many people find appealing. However, it's not for me.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 81!

Belle Epoque - Black Baccara

Details: 
Belle Epoque
Black Baccara 

Notes:
Inspired by Marchesa Luisa Casati, one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century and the Queen of the Belle Epoque. This blend captures the decadence of the time period and the sensory delights that might have surrounded the eccentrics of high society. A feminine yet bewitching blend featuring an unusual combination of florals and gourmands. Deep florals of hyacinth, geranium, carnation and a touch of rose make up the floral bouquet, which is blended with a decadent brew of tobacco, chocolate, vanilla, anise and black pepper. As the scent unfolds on your skin, you may also catch glimpses of strawberries and rum as it settles into a complex chocolatey floral. Belle Epoque is a soft, yet extremely seductive and enchanting blend reminiscent of vintage perfumes of days gone by.

This perfume is so tightly blended that I struggled to pick out any specific notes. It smells like an expensive, slightly old-fashioned perfume of the type I could buy in the less tizzy section of the David Jones perfume department. One of those ones that has a classically heavy cut glass bottle. In the vial it's floral - nothing stands out, just a bouquet, as the decription says. Once applied I thought I could detect vague snatches of something smokey now and then, but every time I tried to sniff it properly, that note disappeared. After 20 minutes or so the perfume deepened - I guess the chocolate and vanilla warmed it up, but I honestly could not detect either of those notes in themselves. It was just... a warmer, deeper floral than it had been minutes before. Several hours later they become more apparent - it's still a floral blend, but the chocolate and vanilla are there, faint though they may be, and the rose has finally dominated the other flowers. I did not get either strawberries or rum. Sillage is quite high when wet, it almost made me a bit headachy at first, and I don't know whether this was more caused by the cold I am currently getting over, but for the first 10 minutes or so after I applied this I was sneezing like a mofo. It lasts quite a long time - I have had it on now for about 6 hours and it's still chugging along. It's definitely an 'older' perfume; I could see this being more suitable for someone 35+ than a teenager or young person.

Rating: 
3/5 I do like this, but it's nothing amazing.

Day 80!

Creeper - Delightful Rot

Details:
Creeper
Delightful Rot

Notes:
Ssssss... That's a nice everything you have... A powder keg stuffed with sweet lime and grass, this scent is innocuous at first with a smoky, spicy undertone. 

My thoughts on this perfume:

*sniff* "Oh god, this smells like lemon floor cleaner. I don't want this on me - I wonder if I can put it back and pretend I didn't pick it out?"
"No, can't do that... okay, here goes. Oh god, it smells like floor cleaner and tyres! "
"Now it just smells like tyres."
"It's like a mechanic's garage. A similar note to '67 Chevy Impala, but not nearly as pleasant."
"That citrus is back again. Now it smells like the freshly cleaned toilet of a mechanic's garage."
"This is gross."
"Still gross."
*about an hour later* "Bearable. Smokey diesel oil. Not as awful as it began, but not my thing."
Sillage was annoyingly strong at first but not so bad when it finally morphed into something more mellow. Longevity was about 7 hours or so.

Rating: 
1/5 I resisted the urge to scrub, but only just.

Day 79!

Mad as Birds - Darling Clandestine

Details: 
Mad as Birds (prototype)
Darling Clandestine

Notes: 
Mad as Birds is a sweet, cool, garden-dew fragrance with notes of pear and mint and amber and marigolds. A multitude of different scent elements and weeks (months!) of methodical alchemy make Mad as Birds no ordinary scented oil mix—it's a truly inimitable fragrance. 

A few weeks ago in the middle of the really hot spell towards the end of summer, I was stuck in the house and bored and read a Facebook post on Darling Clandestine's page offering a special deal of 3 full size (specific) bottles and a 'bitsy' (Evonne's version of a sample - though really it's not that much shy of a full size bottle of, say, BPAL) of a prototype of Mad as Birds, a perfume that had been available in the past but was now reformulated. I had no idea what the notes were in any of the perfumes in the deal, and I'd never bought anything from Darling Clandestine, but I decided on a whim to grab it anyway. White wine spritzers may or may not have been involved.

In the bottle, Mad as Birds smells green and fresh, with a tiny hint of the mint discernible and a slight wine-ish note. This might just be me - when I was little my grandpa was always making wine out of weird things like bananas and pears, and since then I've always thought pears smelled slightly alcoholic.

Once I applied to my skin the pear was more distinct and true to its fruitiness, and I have to say, I really liked it. Am I actually coming around to fruit? Noooooo! The green note (is that marigold? I don't know what marigold smells like), still with that little dab of mint, keeps this perfume light and bright; I would have liked to have had this in the above-mentioned heatwave. The fragrance doesn't change all that much throughout, though the dry down is a bit deeper, with the amber darkening it all just a touch (not too much, though - it certainly doesn't scream "Hey, I'm amber!" as many others do). Sillage was medium, as was longevity. I had this on from early evening and could still smell it when I went to bed. In the morning there was just a tiny faint hint of it left.

Note: As this is a prototype, it may or may not be the same version as the one currently available on the website.

Rating: 
4/5 I don't feel like I need a bigger bottle of this at the moment, but I am glad I have more than a standard size sample. I have hardly any 'summery' perfumes, so this is something a bit different for me.

Day 78!

Slammerkin - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Slammerkin
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Golden amber, my own hand-blended, proprietary version of Egyptian Musk, vintage patchouli, pink lotus, carnation, Russian rose otto, bourbon vanilla, benzoin, immortelle and bitter almond.

I don’t know whether this has any relevance to Twyla's perfume, but there’s a book called Slammerkin by Emma Donohue, and I love it, so of course I had to try this. In the vial, Slammerkin is almost medicinal – there’s something strong and herby about it. Applied to my wrist, it’s a patchouli fiesta. For the first couple of hours that is all I can smell, and even though Twyla’s aged patchouli is pretty much the only patch I can stand, it’s still too much for me here. I don’t get the musk, the resinous amber, or the florals – just the patchouli and maybe a teeny tiny hint of bitter almond. After quite a long time it eventually fades and that’s when the amber, benzoin and vanilla come out on me, but by that time it’s quite faint. I know loads of people adore this one – Su, for example – but on me it was just a big smack in the mouth with a patchouli plant.  

Rating: 
2/5

Day 77!

I Tricked Your Treat - Enchanticals Perfume

Details: 
I Tricked Your Treat
Halloween 2012
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes:
A bag full of goodies with candy corn, butterscotch, chocolate, a hint of fall apples & oranges, spiked with buttered rum and a few other cauldron filled secrets ;) Super yum!

In the vial this is sweet, slightly lemony vanilla pudding. It smells so delicious I want to eat it. Once applied, it's sweet lemon pastry. It's super foody, but in a way I really like. It reminds me a lot of BPAL's Eat Me and The Garden Bath's Lemon Chiffon. I am a sucker for a perfume that smells like dessert!

This goes a bit dusty on me after about 20 minutes, something about the heart of it doesn't work on me very well. Thankfully that doesn't last long - just when I was beginning to get disappointed and think it was going to turn out to be a scrubber after such a promising start, it mellowed to a warm, caramel vanilla scent. The specific notes listed don't really come out on me - I don't know what actual candy corn smells like anyway. I don't get apple or orange, though I do get that slight lemony citrus. Buttered rum and butterscotch could be that caramel vanilla, I guess. Basically, it starts off on me as crème anglaise and on the dry down it turns into sticky date pudding. Either way, I want dessert now. Sillage and longevity are both medium - it stuck around for about 4-5 hours.

Rating:
3/5

Day 76!

Monster Mash - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Monster Mash (discontinued)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Monster Mash is a blend of the Mahogany paneled walls in Dracula's castle mixed with a background note of musk and some other dark and mysterious incense smoke and spice. Notes are Mahogany Wood, Amber, Vanilla and Cedarwood combined with Essential Oils of: All Spice, Black Pepper, Sandalwood and Cardamom. All these scents meld together to create a dark, rich wood with a hint of sweetness and a pleasing spice note. 

This was one of the perfumes that Rachel sent me recently to play with, and I was a bit excited because I've really come to love Solstice Scents. For some reason, I expected this to a sweet, candy kind of smell. I assumed that with a name like Monster Mash it would have been a Hallowe'en perfume, and they're generally foody. So I was pretty surprised to sniff it and find it was actually spicy and woody.

I wanted to like this, and in the vial, it seemed promising - a smokey, spicy resin smell sweetened by a dab of vanilla. I can get down with that. However, applied to my skin it's... fly spray. It stays that way for about half an hour and then completely disappears. It was so weird that I decided to try it again a few days later, thinking that maybe something I'd eaten or some other product like a body lotion or soap or something on my skin already was affecting it. The exact same thing happened. I want the scent in the vial, damn it! The second it hits my skin it turns to fly spray and stays that way. It's so bizarre!

Rating: 
2/5

Day 75!

The Shipman - Possets Perfume

Details: 
The Shipman
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
An aquatic as only Possets can do them. The tang of the seashore, rushes up against Lime Bay Rum and a good shot of ship's wax which was used to lubricate the wood aboard, and skin musk to keep it going for a long time. An outdoorsy fragrance with an unexpectedly smoky note, but still very pretty with a great deal of depth and fun to it. Not somber at all and more of a jolly scent. 

In the vial this is a lemony lime ozone scent, definitely not my kind of thing, but in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. Unfortunately, once I applied it to my wrist, this turned to some kind of hideous lime cleaning product scent and almost made me gag. I stuck it out for 20 minutes, hoping it would become something different on the dry down, but after that I could stand no more and had to wash it off. On me - definite scrubber.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 74!

Rose Mallow Cream - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Rose Mallow Cream
Valentine's Collection (2013)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Moroccan Rose absolute, Bulgarian Rose absolute, Marshmallow Fluff, Strawberry Nectar, White Chocolate, Vanilla, White Musk.

Years ago my favourite perfume was MOR Marshmallow. I ploughed through a 100ml bottle of the stuff in a few months, then went and bought another bottle. I was about one third of the way through it, and suddenly decided I could not stand it anymore. I gave the rest of it to Noodles, and she still has it several years later. Every now and then when she and I are talking perfumes I smell it again, and I still can't stand it. It seems so cloying and sickly to me now, and yet there was a time when it was the one I would have immediately chosen if I were stranded on a desert island and could only have one perfume with me.

Rose Mallow Cream to me is a far less sickly, far more palatable version of MOR Marshmallow. It's not exactly the same, but it's similar enough that as soon as I smelled it, that's the first thing I thought of. In the bottle and when first applied it's a sweet, candy-like rose. The description on Solstice Scents' site mentions that the sillage is low, but on me it was quite high and I didn't apply all that much. Maybe it's just amping on me because of the rose. The middle is marshmallow vanilla, with the rose still there, but the strawberry makes it more foody than floral. The dry down is vanilla and white musk, very pretty and feminine. It lasted a fair while on me - at least 5 hours. If you're interested in more detailed reviews of Rose Mallow Cream, check out Liber Vix and More Tea, Wesley? for their opinions.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 73!

Black Pearl - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Black Pearl
Bewitching Brews
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Evocative of the sea's unplumbed mysteries. Gentle and lovely, but menacing and profound. Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk.

In the imp this is a sweet, candy-ish coconut, like a particularly froofy cocktail. Once applied, the sweet tropical coconut smell is still there but there's also a note that smells vaguely synthetic, like you sometimes find with really cheap makeup products. It's quite odd, and not all that pleasant. I wonder if it's the iris? It's kind of floral, but not really - very hard to pin down. I don't get the hazelnut at all, and I was a bit surprised by that because that's usually a  note that tends to be fairly dominant on me. The dry down is a slightly floral, watery musk. Sillage isn't high and it doesn't last long either. Kind of a dud, really.

Rating:
2/5

Day 72!

Lovechild Meltbaby - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Lovechild - Meltbaby
Yule: Dark Revels (2012)
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Cherry, coconut, and rose. What a wonderful combination to which I add a bit of extra secret wonderfulness. I think you will find this to be a perfume you will have a hard time putting down. It's very sexy and feminine.

Oh, good lord. First of all - it is not a good idea to try out a very sweet, rich perfume on a day that is 38 degrees celsius and in the middle of a two week heatwave. This was so revoltingly cloying I had to wash it off, and I could still smell the ghost of it all day.

A few days later I tried again with a bit better luck. At first I thought I smelled marzipan in the bottle, but once I applied it, I realised it was the cherry. It doesn't really change at all from the first sniff in the bottle to the dry down - it's a pretty even blend of the cherry, coconut and rose, and it is suuuuuuuuuuper sweet. It smells like sweet, floral coconut and cherry advokaat. Another one of those perfumes I feel like I am 30 years too old for. I might just pass it on to Noodles, as it's more up her alley. And that's pretty much all I have to say about it.

Rating: 
2/5 If you're 14 you will probably love this.

Day 71!

Hasta la Muerte - The Morbid The Merrier

Details: 
Hasta la Muerte
Valentine's Day 2011
The Morbid The Merrier

Notes:
The innocence of lily and carnation, sweetened with vanilla absolute, smashed and marred by an undercurrent of heartless black spice.

This is one of the few perfumes I have left from The Morbid The Merrier, and it's never been a favourite. When I first bought it, I found it just okay, but nothing about it kept me going back. After a couple of years, this has aged quite well (interestingly, because the other TMTM scent I reviewed for this blog was the opposite). In the bottle, it's a sweet, very faintly spicy floral, mostly the lily with a dab of vanilla evident. Once applied though, the spice comes out and I get the carnation as well. It's so different from bottle to skin - almost like an entirely different perfume. This is what I'd call a unisex floral - you can definitely smell the flowers, but it's not girly. The spice makes it more deep and masculine.

I'm glad I pulled this one out - I really like a lot this time around. The vanilla stays in the background, just adding a slightly warm, sweet base as it dries down, but the carnation is the most definite note, there all the way through. Sillage is medium - like many carnation scents, it would be easy to go overboard with this, but subtly applied it's not too out there. Longevity is pretty good - I could still smell it 6 hours later.

Rating: 
4/5 A forgotten gem.

Day 70!

So how about this weather, eh?

Hiiiiiiiiii. Yes, I have fallen behind in my daily reviews again, and yes, it's because of the heat again. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME, WEATHER GODS?

It's cooled down now since yesterday, but just when I was about to get back on track with everything I've let slide while it's been too hot to peel myself off the couch, I have had to deal with some Noodles Teenager Issues. Long boring story, but here's the short version: Wagging School. Got Caught. Grounded. Took Phone. Teenage Meltdown Over Loss Of Phone. Dramarama. Tears. Etc.

I probably won't catch up til the weekend now, but then I'll bang them all out and get back up to date again, and since it's now Autumn here, hopefully this is the last of the heat. HOPEFULLY.

Snowdrift - Alchemic Muse

Details: 
Snowdrift
Winter Collection (2012)
Alchemic Muse

Notes:
White jasmine and crisp heliotrope floating over rose, carnation, gingered peach, and juniper berry in a sheer base of aged patchouli, smoky vetiver, sandalwood with a stray drop of black vanilla.

In the vial, this is sweet and lollyish - no idea what in the notes is making that happen. It smells like a candy carnival sort of perfume. Applied to my wrist it changed to a snowy white floral peach. Ugh... I think peach is pretty much my most hated of all fruit notes. The heliotrope makes it smell a bit synthetic as well, which is not always a bad thing (to me - I know it's an instant deal-breaker for many), but in this case combined with the peach it's not great. The dry down is a little nicer - it mellows to a slightly smokey vanilla blended with a light patchouli that doesn't overpower. Sillage is quite high on this - again I was wearing it when I was with Ben the perfume hater and he complained about it. It lasted about 4 hours.

Rating:
2/5 - maybe 3/5 I'm not entirely decided how I feel about this. I hate the peach, don't love the heliotrope, but the dry down is pleasant. Not a full bottle, though.

Day 69!

Bar Sinister - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Bar Sinister
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Green Bourbon vanilla extract, sweetbriar, a powerful green musk, and a very highly refined leather, a background of labdenum, and a high and intoxicating silk accord. If you were born to gentry, you might have a stripe running from right to left on which you would have some heraldic figure. That is if you were legitimate. if you were the love child of a powerful man, you might  have a coat of arms with the bar running from left to right and the same figures on it to show who your father was and why you were powerful. This wasn't always granted, but often enough to have the bar sinister be a feature in heraldry. All of the elements of illicit love at play here. Sultry sultry sultry.

In the vial and applied wet, this is a masculine vanilla, kind of boozy and musky, and there's a sharp green note as well. There is a resin note from the labdanum that is thankfully not overpowering - resin can amp on me sometimes and give me a bit of a headache. It just stays in the background warming up the scent and making it all manly mannish. Leather comes out more in the drydown, and the combination of that with the vanilla made this one compulsively sniffable for me. The whole time I was wearing this I was: *sniff sniff* "Mmmmm!" *sniff sniff* Mmmmm! I think this would do nicely with a smokey note too - I'm going to try layering it with something like Alkemia's Smoke & Mirrors once the heatwave is over (if it's ever over - waaaah!), and see what happens.

Sillage is medium - it doesn't throw itself around the room, but it's definitely there. It lasted a long time on me - upwards of 8 hours. And let me tell you, I enjoyed those 8+ hours immensely. *sniff sniff* "Mmmmm!" If I passed a guy in the street wearing this, I'd probably follow him home.

Rating:
5/5 Definitely a future full bottle purchase.

Day 68!

The Golden Lilies - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
The Golden Lilies
Maia Collection
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 

This scent starts off strong on the Lily-of-the-Valley,  tiare and apricot, with a beautiful and golden, earthy base of resinous amber to anchor the sweet, almost candy-like tonka bean.  Davana is said to have the unique property of smelling differently on every person's skin. I find it to be rather woodsy, with a hint of herbal-vanilla.  The smooth, deep sandalwood and unusual, almost musky floral of the fire tree - which smells a bit like a musky lilac with a hint of apricot, round out this unique and lovely blend.  

I know I bang on endlessly about how much I hate fruit scents, but one note that can always reel me in is apricot. In the early 1990s I went through many bottles of a much adored apricot vanilla fragrance oil from my local hippie shop. In the bottle this is all apricot to me, the lily of the valley and tiare comes out wet on skin, and it’s a phenomenal combination – a sweet, lush, tropical scent. The dry down is mostly white floral with a lovely vanilla-ish sweetness from the tonka. As with most Twyla scents, the sillage is quite low and it doesn’t last long – it had more or less disappeared within 3 hours. (On that note, Twyla stated on her Facebook page recently that based on feedback regarding longevity and sillage of her otherwise gorgeous scents, she has strengthened the fragrance, so hopefully that is less of an issue now. For now I’m happy to just frequently slather this one and enjoy it immensely while it’s there.)

Rating: 
4/5 It would be a 5 if it lasted longer.  

Day 67!

Black Rose - Black Baccara

Details: 
Black Rose
Black Baccara 

Notes: 
Perhaps the deepest, darkest, most brooding rose that rose fans can experience. This blend is the signature scent of Black Baccara, its namesake. A deep rose, but not too sweet, with a depth that lingers on the skin and grows deeper in time. Imagine a rose dying and coming back as a zombie, and you can start to imagine what is going on in this blend. It is extremely dark while at the same time being clearly rose. The faintest hints of two kinds of vanilla and sandalwood linger in the background to balance out the very deep rose aroma. A very unique, memorable rose blend.

Rose haters, run away now. I applied this lightly to one wrist the other night before going out for dinner with my ex, Ben – a perfume hater who gets headaches from strong florals. I was sitting outside on a still night, opposite him at a fairly big table and he still complained about the smell. This is a perfume that likes to beat you about the head in case you dare try to forget that it’s there. I am quite fond of rose perfumes, even though when it’s in a blend the rose note tends to amp on my skin and dominate everything else, and I’m also quite fond of head kicker florals, but this one was just a tad too much even for me. As I said, I had only lightly applied it and that was just for the intention of testing it – I wasn’t ‘wearing perfume’. Hours later I was still painfully aware that it was there, and I can only imagine what it would have been like had I done my usual slathering with it.

Although the notes state that there is vanilla and sandalwood, all I really got from go to whoa was that rose. It didn’t change much at all from vial to dry down, although the following morning, it had (finally!) mellowed to become a faint musky vanilla scent with the rose just mingling in. 

Rating: 

3/5 The scent of this perfume is lovely if you like roses; the strength is really the only thing it's got going against it. And I never thought I'd say that about a perfume...

Day 66!

 

Vasilissa - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Vasilissa
Marchen
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
She herself had cheeks like blood and milk and grew every day more and more beautiful: creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine. 

There’s something about this that reminds me a little of yesterday’s Puce!, though this is not nearly as sickly. In the vial I can smell something sort of woody and slightly medicinal – I think that is the myrrh. On the skin, it smells like a sweet musky confectioner’s vanilla, the kind you’d find in a pudding. Odd since vanilla is not mentioned as a note – maybe it’s the pink musk? The jasmine adds a note of white floral as well. The dry down is sweet musk and lasts about 3 hours. Sillage is medium. 

Rating:
2/5 Eh, not hating it, not loving it.

Day 65!

Puce! - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Puce! 
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
THE popular color in the 18th century. No self respecting dandy would dream of having a waistcoat of another color, no lady would think of ordering a moire silk dress in any other hue. Reviled and lauded, snickered at and loved, puce is the color of controversy. A moderate value bluish red at a low intensity. Slight spice and a hint of raspberry cozy up to a distant and ditsy pressed floral whiff. Captivating and romantic as only puce could possibly be. Live the legend of PUCE! Sweet, foody, gourmand, fruity.

In the vial this is spicy and fizzy, and reminds me of sherbet. Once applied it’s very sweet and lollyish, with a bit of light bright fruitiness (the kind I hate). The dry down smells exactly like Fruit Tingles. I haven’t eaten those for years, but after smelling this perfume I wanted to go out and buy some. Overall though, this was definitely not me. Maybe I would have liked it if I were 12 years old – I feel like even Noodles is too old for it. Sillage was fairly low, but lasting power was good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) – it stuck around for about 5 hours or so. 

Rating: 
2/5 Not quite a scrubber, but a little on the sickly side.

Day 64!

Cafe Mallowmel - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Cafe Mallowmel
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Rich Coffee Flavored with Decadent Caramel & Sweet Marshmallow Cream

In the vial all I get is coffee - and once applied it's much the same, aside from a slightly sweet, vanilla-ish note poking through a little. I love the smell of coffee but it's such an overpoweringly strong smell that I much prefer it in a candle or a home fragrance than a perfume. When I wear it I just feel like I'm walking around with an open jar of Nescafe 43 Bean. The coffee does subside a bit as it dries down, and the creamy caramel/vanilla note is more apparent. The sillage is medium - as I said, anything that smells of coffee tends to be reasonably strong. It lasted a long time - still going strong after 6 hours. 

Rating: 
3/5

Day 63!

Anastasia - Sweet Anthem

Details: 
Anastasia
Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Notes: 
A bouquet from her beloved and only friend, hung to dry during winter; the gunsmoke of an approaching revolution, the remnants from the last afternoon tea, still left steeping, and an ethereal musk, white as snow, hanging on until the that. Champaca absolute, civet, dogwood, fresh snow, green tea, honeysuckle, white patchouli. 

A green floral in the bottle, once applied to skin the tea note comes out. Champaca always smells like magnolia to me, and that's what I am getting here with the honeysuckle - it's lush and gorgeous, with the tea adding a sassy edge to it. The dry down is quite 'perfumy' and smells expensive - the musk and patchouli combined with a slightly chilly note that I assume is the 'fresh snow' combine in a beautifully complex, classy blend. I really love this - it would be a perfect one to wear with a 'special occasion' frock, or even to make sitting around in your pyjamas watching BBC dramas into a special occasion. Sillage is medium - if you splash it about, it becomes quite pronounced, but a light touch produces a subtle effect. Longevity is about 6 hours or so. 

Rating: 
4/5

Day 62!

Cabaret - Black Baccara

Details: 
Cabaret
Black Baccara

Notes: 
Inspired by the romance and decadence of the cabaret. A sexy, feminine scent blending the aroma of vintage perfumes with rich merlot and the faintest hint of cigar smoke tempered with sandalwood. This perfume encapsulates the essence of an old time piano bar or cabaret theatre; decadent ladies and gentlemen, wisps of smoke and libations, and hints of romance on the horizon.

In the vial I smell red wine. On the skin it's wine and smoke, with something woody in the background. The first part of the dry down goes weirdly fly spray-ish - it's quite strange. Thankfully, that doesn't last too long - eventually the sandalwood comes out and it's just a warm, comforting base with a bit of woodiness. I like this quite a bit outside the fly spray phase, but probably not a full bottle.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 61!

Alize - Enchanticals Perfume

Details:
Alize
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes:
White Chocolate covered Raspberries and Cream!

In the vial this smells of milk chocolate, which is slightly odd as the notes state that it's white chocolate. On the skin it's chocolate and raspberry, with the berry dominating and making it more tart and fruity than other chocolate berry perfumes I have. There's a 'perfumy' note in there too, something I can't quite put my finger on, but it makes this scent not quite as foodie as I'd expect. Several hours later it's mostly chocolate, with the berry dying down a bit. Sillage is low to medium, but the longevity is good - I could still smell it after 6 hours.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 60!

You Bring The Whiskey - Poison Apple Apothecary

Details: 
You Bring The Whiskey
Agnes Scott Collection / Fall Seasonal Rotation
Poison Apple Apothecary

Notes:
Based on our beloved tune, this boozy scent is heavy on the sweet southern whiskey and has lighter notes of Madagascar vanilla.

This is simply a rich, boozy vanilla liquor. It doesn't change much from first sniff to dry down, except that the dry down is slightly less boozy and slightly more vanilla-y. If you like vanilla, you'll probably love it - it's a grown up version, akin to something like Wiggle Perfume's Speakeasy Vanilla. I bought a full bottle unsniffed when it was on sale and I'm glad I did, because I love it. Sillage is medium - and if you ladled too much on it would probably be pretty high. It lasts a long time - I've had it on for about 6 hours now and I can still smell it when I move my wrists around. Gorgeous.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 59!

Garden Gate - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Garden Gate
Spring Collection 2011
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Voluptuous Lilac blossoms in the foreground combine with faint traces of cascading wisteria and subtle, fresh, green grass notes. Contains a blend of fragrance oils and African Bluegrass EO to creat a sweet, creamy and gorgeous floral. The dry down is an intensely beautiful and very wearable floral that smells true to the light purple flowers that inspired it.

This perfume is similar to several other 'cottage garden' ones I have, which is why I never bothered buying a full size. The lilac is most prominent on first sniff - that's pretty much all I get. It doesn't really change any until the dry down, and that's when the wisteria and the 'green' show up. It's lovely if you like garden florals (and I do very much). There's really not a lot more to say about it. Sillage and longevity are both on the low-ish side. I could still smell it after 3 hours, but it was extremely faint. 

Rating: 
3/5

Day 58!