Conjure - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Conjure
Dark Spring 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
A magical blend of Vanilla, Amber, Cedar, Spices & Cauldron Smoke. 

As with Manor, I can smell something a bit leathery in this perfume, even though it's not listed as a note. In fact, this perfume is vaguely similar to Manor - quite masculine but also a bit sweet from the vanilla and amber. The spice smells a little bit like ginger and maybe even some nutmeg. (I have whole nutmeg - nutmegs? nutmeg nuts? - in a jar in my kitchen and secretly I like to just stand there sniffing it - gorgeous).

The dry down is a smooth, smokey woody vanilla. I do like this, but I think it's a bit like Old Cedar Magus, just blokier, and since I already have a beloved full bottle of that I don't think I'd spring for this one. Sillage is medium to high - I was quite aware of it most of the day. It lasted a good while too, I could still faintly smell it 12 hours later.

Rating:
3/5

Day 147!

Private Eye - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Private Eye
Dark Spring 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Cocoa Absolute, Myrrh, EO, Pink Pepper EO, Black Pepper EO, Tonka Absolute, Buddha Wood, Tobacco Absolute, Coffee EO, Guiacwood, Rosewood, EO, etc. 

In the vial this smells like dark, dark peppery bitter chocolate. It's woody and I can also smell the tobacco, a very masculine and intense fragrance. Once applied, the first thing that came to mind is that scene from Withnail and I when they drive past the school girls and Richard E. Grant hangs out the car window and screams, "SCRUBBERS!" I don't know what happened but it just went immediately acrid on me and I hated it. It was sharp and bitter and although I left it on for over an hour hoping it would morph into something else, it stayed stubbornly that way. In the end I just had to get it off. Definitely not for me.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 146!

Vanilla Pipe Tobacco - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Vanilla Pipe Tobacco
Dark Spring 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes:
Vanilla Absolute, Tobacco Absolute, Tonka Bean Absolute and Sweet Clover Absolute.

For the longest time this perfume smelled like nothing but pipe tobacco. My grandpa - who died about 30 years ago - smoked a pipe, and this is the exact smell I always associate with him. It's funny how there's something I find comforting and warming about pipe tobacco smell, but if someone was standing next to me with a cigarette I'd be giving them stink eye.

After about an hour I could finally smell the other notes - well, not really specifically, it just morphed into a warmer, sweeter pipe tobacco. I wouldn't wear this as a perfume - I don't want to smell like I smoke a pipe - but I really like it a lot. Sillage was medium, longevity also medium - about 6 hours before it was too faint to really pick up.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 145!

Midnight Oil - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Midnight Oil 
Dark Spring 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Cocoa Absolute, Blood Orange EO, Yellow Mandarin EO, Aged Patchouli, Labdanum Absolute, Coffee EO and Mushroom Absolute.


Well, this is a quirky one. When I first smelled it in the vial all I got was a big hit of patchouli and I was wondering what possessed me to buy it. Man, I really don't like patchouli. Once applied I could smell what I was convinced was grapefruit, but looking at the notes now I realise that was blood orange and mandarin. So for a while I had patchouli with a greenness to it and a note of (what I thought was) grapefruit hanging around, and then suddenly I could smell chocolate - a very dark, bitter chocolate. A couple of hours later the citrus was the most prominent note, but it was like citrus in a dark, damp, slightly musty cellar. Not quite earthy, but definitely... dark. The citrus was kind of threatening to turn into fly spray at any second but that never happened (thankfully). Sillage was medium and longevity was decent - 6 hours or so.

Rating: 
Undecided. I don't like the patchouli, but the other things in it make it a really interesting blend. I don't know if I actually like it, but I was sniffing it a lot trying to work it out. I think it's worth trying for curiosity if nothing else.

Day 144!

Dark Winter's Tale - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details: 
Dark Winter's Tale
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes:
The winter night air freezes your breath on your scarf as you walk towards a waiting haven of light, safety and the inviting smells of a winter cottage. Hurry to get inside from this dark winter night, and an evening of warmth and joy awaits you! Inspired in part by a fantastic cookie recipe from Morgan Crone, this holiday perfume contains many wonderful scent notes, including: dark gingerbread, rich vanilla, molasses, cardamon, anise, and black pepper. A scrumptious, gourmand, rich and spicy unisex winter scent!

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that most of Deep Midnight's perfumes are sadly not for me. The vanilla note - which is in a lot of the ones I chose or were sent for free (from memory, the owner was particularly generous with free samples) has a distinct synthetic element that just bugs me. It's not that hideous toilet spray vanilla that some companies use, but it's just a bit NQR on me. Dark Winter's Tale has that note and it immediately put me off as soon as I realised. It's kind of an odd thing - it almost smells like coffee. There's a spice note in the vial as well, gingery but also probably the cardamom. Something like allspice in a Christmas cake. Once applied the ginger really comes out on me and combined with the pepper it actually made me a bit sneezy for a couple of minutes. When it settled a bit I didn't mind the ginger, if only that synthetic note would have gone away. After 20 minutes or so it started going dusty on me and stayed that way. Sillage is low and it didn't last terribly long - very, very faint by about the 3 hour mark. 

Rating: 
2/5 

Day 143!

White Rabbit - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details:
White Rabbit
Mad Tea Party
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.

In the imp I get spicy, gingery honeyed vanilla. The tea comes out once applied to my wrist, but it smells like a very weak, milky tea at first - more like just sweet milk, really - like how hot milk generally smells sweeter than regular cold milk. The pepper is there and it made my nose twitch a little.

The tea comes out more strongly in the dry down for a while and then the perfume is pretty true to the description, but not really my cup of tea (see what I did there!). I like it a lot more after an hour or so when it morphs again to a sweet honey vanilla - it's quite nice and pretty much stays that way. Sillage was medium to low - it stayed fairly close to the skin after the initial burst of activity on application for 10 minutes or so. Longevity was medium also - about 6 hours.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 142!

Perpetual Orgasm - Possets

Details:
Perpetual Orgasm
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
The divine honey which the bees make on the dry and craggy plains is the starting point for such a melting blend. Malta is an arid country and the non populated expanses are covered with tough aromatic growth which needs little rainfall. It is in that hard herbal mat that the bees wrestle the tiniest drops of nectar out of sparse light blue flowers and somehow manage to manufacture honey of such brilliance it’s almost as if the sun was captured and liquefied. Added to this is a shard of sharp lemon zest and the smooth modification of orange, both citrus which can be found in abundance in the Mediterranean, and which naturally compliment Maltese honey, and you will have found a paradise in a bottle.

So apparently a perpetual orgasm smells like orange sherbet. There is a dab of lemon, and something a bit.. not minty but kind of icy that just wafts through every now and then. It's bugging me no end what that is actually - it's right on the tip of my tongue but I just can't... quite... get it. AGH! I'm not a big fan of citrus scents generally, but there's a sweet edge to this from the honey that makes it much more palatable to me. I like it a lot. It really is just basically sherbet though. Who knew that's what an orgasm smells like? Sillage is quite high at first but mellows after 30 minutes or so. Longevity is good - 8 hours or so.

Rating:
4/5... and what the heck is that note?

Day 141!

Chapiteau - Nevermore Body Company

Details: 
Chapiteau
Nevermore Body Company

Notes: 
The wild, musky scents of the Big Top Circus are combined in Chapiteau as you take in Patchouli and musk accented with hints of violet and sandalwood.

In the vial this is sweet and candyish - it reminds me a lot of the carnival scents I have. There's violet, but it smells more like sugared violets like you'd put on a cake than the flower just growing in a garden - there's not that tart green note. I never did get patchouli in this, thankfully as it's not a note I enjoy. I did get musk in the dry down but again it was a sweet candy musk, and the sandalwood gave it a bit of depth so it wasn't just a straight up lolly scent. This is a very pretty, foody perfume but it's far too young for me - I think Noodles might like it. 

Sillage was medium and it lasted about 6 hours or so. 
 
Rating: 
3/5  

Day 140!

Morderteile Kelah - Darling Clandestine

Details: 
Morderteile Kelah
Darling Clandestine

Notes: 
This is a fragrance I've created in honor of a magnificent lady with magnificent knockers. Amber, hyacinth, milk and strawberry jam are just a few of the elements that capture Kelah. As if anyone ever could capture her completely. You need a butterfly net, I bet. It's sweet and sultry and spicy and summery, and I'm so very happy with it.

I've never set myself up as a perfume expert (far from it), and I've never claimed to be great at describing them. I try to get across how each perfume smells on me to the best of my ability, and hopefully that is helpful to some people. However, I struggle so much with Darling Clandestine perfumes. The blends are such that I can rarely pick out any specific notes, and it's not that they are a big mess like, say, some of the BPAL general catalogues. It's just that they're so damned unique that I can't just go, "Oh yes - that's X!" with any confidence. I think I smell something like vanilla, but that might be the milk now that I've seen the notes. It's creamy and sweet - more like condensed milk now I think of it. There's something vaguely alcoholic in there... something a bit smokey... there's a dab of sweetness that's bordering on fruity but not quite (the jam?). Gosh, I don't know. It's very pretty, though.

This perfume went a bit dusty on me after a while, which was a pity because I was quite enjoying it until then. It didn't last all that long - maybe 3 hours or so. Sillage is quite low too. Once again, Darling Clandestine defeats my attempts to get my head around a fragrance! 

Rating: 
I don't know... 3/5? I like it a lot, but then it goes dusty. And even when it's good on me it's probably not one I'd buy a full bottle of. 

Day 139!

White Rabbit - Enchanticals

Details: 
White Rabbit
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes: 
The frantic little fur ball...always running around with that over sized pocket watch. What was he in such a hurry for down in Wonderland? This perfume is in homage to that cute little fella with a blend of white things like white gardenia, a hint of fluffy coconut, then I added some fresh orange essential oil, dark juicy berries, tree barks & mosses and ancient ambers. Subtle, fresh and super alluring while being completely enchanting and fit to be adored by all on both sides of the Rabbit hole. Fragrance Family: Modern/Floral, Feminine.

In the vial White Rabbit smells foody - I can smell the orange and the berries, but applied to the skin the white floral comes out and it's quite potent.  It's sweetened by the coconut, which I took for vanilla until I read the notes and then realised immediately I was going up the wrong path there. This is a heady, 'perfumey' perfume - I was right on the edge of a headache with it for the first half hour or so. Once it dries down it softens to a smooth, foody floral, but it still has a fair bit of throw. Longevity is medium - I reapplied after about 5 hours. The moss and amber were lost on me - this was straight up floral gourmand. 

Rating: 
2/5 Meh. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. 

Day 138! 

Manor - Solstice Scents

Details:
Manor
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Woody-Vanilla Musk, Vanilla Accord, Glorious Black Agarwood & Exquisite Aloeswood.

When I test perfume samples I pull them out randomly (unlike bottles, which I use as the review of the day if it's just something I feel like wearing and I've not reviewed it previously), but sometimes I pull one out and it's a complete mystery to me. I can't decide whether I like it, I can't pick what it smells like, I just find it confusing and I can't write about it because it makes no sense to me. Manor is one of these perfumes - I have pulled it out several times this year, tested it for the day, found it baffling and put it back in the drawer for another time. I suspect it might be partially because it's a warm perfume and probably more suitable for cold weather, and since it's finally getting cold here in Adelaide, I'm starting to get my head around it a bit. I still find it a bit odd - for example, in the vial and throughout its lifespan on my wrist I smell leather, which is not mentioned at all in the notes. It brings to mind an old, antique Chesterfield. The wood is definitely there - this is very resiny - and the vanilla is not distinct to me as vanilla, but there's definitely something there sweetening it up a tad.

Manor is quite masculine, those who like the more unisex kind of perfumes might enjoy this. The sillage is fairly high for at least an hour or so, and it lasts a long time. I've been wearing it since about 9am (it's just gone 3pm now) and I can still smell it when I move my arm around. I still don't know whether I like it or not - I certainly don't hate it.

By the way, be warned those who wear light-coloured clothing - this is one that will probably stain - as evidenced by the yellow mark it left on my wrist.

Rating: 
Undecided. This one is another mystery.

Day 137!

Beatrix - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Beatrix
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Beatrix (as in Beatrix Potter) - a scent evocative of spring blooms, warm bunnies, cotton dresses, ripe fruits and honey. Jasmine, melissa and mimosa; warm fuzzy musk, honey, grapefruit, sandalwood, clean cotton and peaches.

In the vial Beatrix smells like a fizzy floral - I realise that sounds weird but that's what comes to mind, as though there were sherbet in it. When I sniffed it my nose twitched AND WRITING THIS I JUST REALISED LIKE A RABBIT!! I have no idea whether that is deliberate but I'm delighted by it nonetheless.

Once applied I smell a very feminine, pretty floral, daubed with honey (which I realised later reading the notes is actually honeysuckle). I could smell something citrus and it took me a few seconds to work out it was grapefruit - one of the rare fruits I actually enjoy the smell of. The tart of the citrus early on tempers the sweetness a bit, but that disappears in the dry down, which is a honey musk, but one of those floral honeys like orange blossom or the like. Thankfully the peach never made an appearance on me, and the cotton just added a 'clean' element that wasn't so much a smell as a vibe. This perfume is gorgeously sweet but not sugary. Ultra girly but not sickly. I really like it. The sillage is fairly high for the first half hour or so - sensitive types could find this one a bit headachey. Lasting power is good - I put it on in the morning and reapplied mid-afternoon.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 136!

Les Girls: Sugar Puss - Possets

Details: 
Les Girls: Sugar Puss
Possets Perfumes

Notes: 
Sassy enough to grab all of the attention, clever enough to keep it. Sugarpuss is very very sweet but manages to maintain a sophistication and character which puts it squarely in the vanguard. Sugary, with a kiss of red jam and the smooth creamy note which Possets is so famous for.

This is a super sugary fruit cocktail of a scent - very strong and perfumey. It smells like something between jam and port wine jelly. I actually quite like it despite how sickly it is, but I feel way too old for it. Might pass this one on to Noodles. It lasted quite a long time - over 7 hours - and sillage was high at first, mellowing out a little after an hour.

That name, though. I'm not touching that.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 135!

Pyrotechnik - Darling Clandestine

Details: 
Pyrotechnik
Darling Clandestine

Notes: 
Carefully blended and infused by me in small batches in vintage glass wine bottles, this fragrance is a sangria-spicy concoction with bold notes of cantaloupe and raw sandalwood darkened with smoke and earth. A multitude of different scent elements and weeks of methodical alchemy make Pyrotechnik no ordinary scented oil mix—it's a truly inimitable fragrance. The spice element in this one can warm the skin a bit, so take note if you're a sensitive type.

It took me ages to work out that what I was smelling was melon - in the bottle and when applied wet there was a strong watery element that I thought might have been cucumber for a while, but then realised it was too sweet. There is also a green note and something that smells like damp earth. I don't really get spice or sandalwood, though it does warm up as it dries, so maybe that's just those adding some heat rather than specific scent notes. This doesn't last a long time on me - maybe 3 hours, and although it starts off quite strong it sits close to the skin once it dries down. However, the bottle I have is huge so frequent reapplication doesn't bother me at all. 

This would be a lovely summer scent; the melon is fresh and bright without smelling 'fruity'.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 134!

Baneberry - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Baneberry
Rappaccini's Garden
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes:
A poisonous fruit-bearing member of the buttercup family. The scent, like the plant, is dark green, herbal and plump with bulging black fruit. 

Erg. This is one of those BPALs that just turns into a smooshy mess on me. In the vial I can smell a herby green note and a sweet, berry-like fruitiness. Once applied it's just a giant fruit salad. Not for me at all. Sillage and longevity were medium - it lasted about 6 hours or so. We all know how I feel about fruit scents - enough said here.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 133!

Carny Wedding - Darling Clandestine

Details: 
Carny Wedding
Darling Clandestine

Notes: 
Carefully blended and infused by me in small batches in vintage glass wine bottles, this fragrance begins butter candy sweet and mellows on the skin to resiny wood and honeyed nectar. A multitude of different scent elements and weeks of methodical alchemy make Carny Wedding no ordinary scented oil mix-it's a truly inimitable fragrance. 

Jeepers creepers - in the vial this is sweet and smokey with a slight hint of candy, and when I applied it to my wrist I got a big hit of smokey bacon! Not at all what I was expecting. I don't quite know what to make of this. I have found with the few Darling Clandestine perfumes I've played with that they never smell like the (often scantly mentioned) notes lead me to think they will. And don't get me wrong, I love the smell of bacon. It's just so completely unexpected. When the perfume dries down that note goes away though the smokiness stays in the background.

Regular readers will know that within my perfume obsession I have a little side obsession with any kind of carnival/fun fair/freak show kind of scents, but they are almost all within a family of notes - foody, sweet, sticky, etc. I had expected Carny Wedding to be perhaps a more artsy version of one of those, and it's just not like those at all. Do I like it? I don't know. It's intriguing, and it's not quite like anything else I have. And I like that Darling Clandestine perfumes are often a puzzle.  As for whether I want to walk around smelling like this, I've yet to decide...

Rating: 
Undecided. A mystery!

Day 132!

Daydream Nation - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Daydream Nation
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Musk seed, nagramotha, cardamom, dark patchouli, myrrh, clove, pomegranate accord, spice, amber and rose otto.

This is quite sweet in the vial, not in a sugary way but like the kind of spices you get in rice pudding. Applied to skin this is very heavy on the patchouli - at least for me. I'm not a patchouli fan, as you'd know if you read this blog regularly, and even though Twyla uses one of the few patchoulis I can tolerate, this one is too much for me, especially blended with amber. There's a spiciness to it and something that smells a bit like hay. It's very hippie-ish and could be worn by either men or women. I found this quite strong - the sillage is high for a Twyla perfume (it's one of the newer stronger versions), and it lasted a good 7 or 8 hours.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 131!

Burlesque Lounge - Nevermore Body Company

Details: 
Burlesque Lounge
Nevermore Body Company

Notes: 
True to its name...this musky combination of Patchouli, black leather and tobacco with a floral hint of Frankincense, violet and amber is perfectly blended in fresh lemon, mandarin, juicy plum, red apple, cinnamon and fresh clove, dipped in vanilla and cherry cordial. Let the intoxicating scents of a 19th century Burlesque Lounge tickle your senses and take you back to another time.

In the vial this is fruity and sweet - I can smell the apple and plum, and there is a candy-ish note that might be the cherry cordial. It's basically the same on my skin but with a hint of lemon. This perfume went dusty on me within minutes and stayed that way. The sillage was low and it didn't last very long. I don't like fruit scents so even without the dustiness it wouldn't have been my cup of tea.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 130! 

Isabella - Possets

Details: 
Isabella
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
So very ladylike but so very seductive. Notes of rose are combined with a light resin, white tea leaf and a rare honey/milky-musk. This one starts off as demure and gradually becomes more and more seductive as it warms on your skin. Finally the musk comes out, and it is the sort I call "cream musk" as it becomes very brightly smoothly sweet as the mixture matures. A light dusting of familiar spices round out the mixture and make it the perfect portrait of Isabella and what she must have left behind after she lingered in a room. Enchanting and uplifting perfume. 

I got a Possets order the other day and the entire package smelled like this perfume, to the point where I thought it must have leaked. It hadn't though - it's just incredibly strong. In the vial it's a creamy scent, distinctly musk but quite unusual, and the rose is there but that musk is running the show. There's a faint candy note - it's not like those pink musk lollies, though. More like the milk bottles you get in the Allen's Retro Party Mix.

This perfume doesn't change all that much as it dries down, but the musk deepens a little and the honey adds a sweetness. The sillage is really high - you definitely need to have a light hand with it. It also lasted a really long time - well over 12 hours and then I had a shower. It's really pretty and quite old-fashioned, but I'm not sure I could tolerate wearing it too often. It's the very definition of a head kicker.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 129!

Swimming Horses - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Swimming Horses
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Water lily accord, ginger lily, magnolia, seaweed absolute, choya nakh, white musk accord, and ozone.

I had no expectation of liking this. I bought it because it has seaweed absolute and choya nakh, which is 'the aroma of roasted seashells' and I just had to smell that. I was actually a bit scared of it at first, because I had a horrible thought that it might be fishy.

It's not fishy, thankfully. In the vial it's very fresh and light, almost nothing - ozone, I guess. Once applied it's more beachy. I hate the beach, not least the smell, but this was actually... not unpleasant. To me it smelled like fresh clean air with just a hint of something floral in the breeze. This was a sample from before Twyla increased the strength of her perfumes, and it disappeared fairly quickly on me - within a couple of hours. It's not a bad perfume if you like that sort of thing, but it's not for me.

I gave this sample to my friend Jacquie, who loves these kinds of ozone/seaside perfumes. Her reaction after applying to her wrist: "Oh, this is nice!" *sniff sniff* "Oh wow, I really like this!" *sniff sniff* "Oh my god, I LOVE this!" So there you go - if you like those kinds of perfumes, check this one out.

Rating:
Me: 2/5
Jacquie: 4.5/5

Day 128!

Garden of Desire - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details: 
Garden of Desire
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Garden of Desire Perfume Oil: Draw him into your circle of desire with your unique magnetic presence. This blend was a special request from my customer Nia. Blended with rare and delicious Mignonette, tuberose, ylang-ylang, and a touch of magic. Sensual, sweet, and heady!

I had never heard of mignonette. Apparently it's a fragrant flower that was popular in the Victorian era. When I first smelled this I thought it was violets. There was also a very faint almond-ish note that I could smell in the vial of this perfume, and I wonder if that's mignonette as well? That note had gone when I applied this perfume to my wrist. What we have here is a fairly standard floral. The smell of violets (which of course I know now it isn't) dominates in the first 20 minutes or so and then a white floral scent comes out - the tuberose and ylang ylang. Super flowery, super girly. Sillage was quite low for a perfume that was entirely floral, and it had disappeared within 3 hours. It's quite old lady-ish, which normally I would enjoy, but there was a synthetic element to it that put me off. 

Rating: 
2/5

Day 127!

Womb Furie - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Womb Furie
Lupercalia (Valentine) 2010
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Oh, that wily womb! Hippocrates and his followers considered the womb a mobile creature, causing mayhem as it writhed its way through a woman's body. Sometimes this ornery organ, due to lack of sexual activity, would create conflicts within a woman's system or would become blocked itself, causing anxiety, nervousness, water retention, and sleeplessness. With the assistance of doctors, nursemaids, hand tools, or, occasionally, self-manipulation, this vexing condition could be alleviated through hysterical paroxysms. Or, as we call it nowadays: orgasm. An itch that needs to be scratched: Snake Oil and three types of honey.

This perfume is a gentler version of Snake Oil, with the honey softening the head kicking element of the original. In the bottle it smells like sweet incense, and applied the honey and vanilla come out. It's so beautiful, I sniff myself nonstop like a creeper whenever I wear this. It's been brought back a few times, though sadly not this year or I would have bought another bottle - hopefully next Valentine's Day. I had a bit of a rave about it way back when I first got it, and I would say my thoughts from there still stand.

Sillage is medium, certainly not as strong as Snake Oil. Longevity is also excellent - again I could smell it the morning after I'd applied it. This is a good evening perfume if you are after having people sniff your pulse points all night, for sure.

Rating: 
5/5

Day 126!

Snake Oil - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Snake Oil
Ars Amatoria
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes:
By far our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesion oils sugared with vanilla. 

It's been a long time since I wore some of my classic favourites, so I dragged a couple out for a run around the block, starting with Snake Oil. It's no surprise this is BPAL's most popular perfume - it's awesome. It's one of the few I ever get asked about when I wear it. My bottle is from December 2009, so it's aged a bit and I can't remember what new Snake Oil smells like. I have been intending to get a back up bottle sometime, but their shipping is so ridiculous (both cost and length of time) that I only order from them once or twice a year.

Anyway, Snake Oil is a sweet incensey perfume, very deep and sexy. I sent a sample to Nadja who said it reminded her of something else but she couldn't think what, and I've been having that same problem for years. It reminds me of one of those headkicking orientals from the 80s - like Shalimar or Opium, but it's neither of those. Damned if I can figure it out. The sillage on this is high - it's definitely not one for work if you sit in close proximity to others. Lasting power is excellent too. I put it on in the early morning and could still smell it the next day when I got up.

This is one perfume that I think everyone should try - you might hate it, but you might just fall in love.

Rating: 
5/5

Day 125!

Leather Rose - Black Baccara

 

Details: 

Leather Rose

Black Baccara

Notes: 

Leather rose had been in the works for some time, as I wanted to created a leather and rose blend that was deep, rich and evocative while at the same time not being too floral. This is not a delicate floral, and it is comparable to my Black Rose blend in regard to the darkness of mood. I also consider it the female counterpart to my popular men's cologne, Marquis De Sade. This blend contains four different types of rose including Hawthorne Rose and Tea Rose. The roses dance with a deep, dark leather. This blend goes through many changes. At the onset, the different rose varieties begin to bloom, seemingly one at a time. Soon after, the roses retreat and make way for a subtle leather whisper, which gradually grows in intensity.

Where is the leather? There is no leather in this that I could smell at all. I just got rose, rose and more rose. This smelled like Yardley Roses. There’s not much more I can say about it, really. 

Rating: 

1/5

Day 124! 

Spellbound Woods - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Spellbound Woods
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
A soft, incensy blend of vanilla, sandalwood, cedar and amber.

I pulled this one out and immediately smelled amber and sandalwood in the vial, so I was a bit wary of it. However, once applied, it was the cedar that came out – blended with the vanilla it made a sweet, woody scent. Not reaaaaally my cup of tea, but actually quite nice. I kept waiting and waiting for the sandalwood and amber to take over again, but they never did. They were definitely there, but this is so nicely blended that everything just drifted along together. There’s a definite hippie vibe about this one. Longevity is good – I could still smell it 8 hours after applying. Sillage is medium to low – once it dries down it sits quite close to the skin.

Rating:
3/5

Day 123

Trick or Treat - Alkemia Perfumes

Details:
Trick or Treat
Alkemia Perfumes

Notes:  
A grownup confection of black licorice, mandarin orange peel, caramelized brown sugar, bourbon vanilla, candied ginger, tonka bean, blonde patchouli, cedar tips, oakmoss, and sandalwood. Utterly sexy on both men and women... While this perfume smells like a sumptuous treat, it's got a secret trick... Dr. Alan Hirsch (Director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation) did several studies on the effect of black licorice on the responses of men and women. He found that black licorice increased blood flow to *ahem* certain parts of both the male and female anatomy simulating sexual arousal.

I bought this sample late last year, tried it, adored it, and intended to buy a full bottle immediately, but for some reason never got around to it (too many scented distractions, too little time...). I'm moving it up the chain of full bottle priorities because I am wearing it today and I love it as much as I did the first time. In the vial it smells like orange-scented liquorice, very much a Halloween kind of scent with black and orange. It doesn't say in the seller's notes, but I am assuming this was originally a Halloween edition perfume. Once applied, the alcohol comes out - the bourbon vanilla (more bourbon than vanilla), the liquorice, the orange, that tonka warming it all.. unf! This perfume is TO DIE FOR. The tonka holds through the drydown, and there is a woody note as well that I guess must be the cedar tips (though I don't know what the difference is between that and a regular cedarwood note). Thankfully, I don't really get the sandalwood at all - I've been having a rough time with that of late. Blonde patchouli - what the heck is that? Whatever it is, I can barely, barely smell patchouli in the dry down, but again, it is thankfully in the background and not dominating. I could not detect the ginger either, though there was a tickly spicy note that popped up now and then fleetingly that might have been that.

I suspect this would be a polarising perfume - if you hate liquorice or orange, forget it. This is not for you. But if you like those notes, you must try this. It's not like anything else I own or have tried, and seriously - WHY DO I NOT HAVE A FULL BOTTLE YET?

Rating: 
5/5

Day 122!

Catch Up/Round Up 3

Yes, I have slacked off yet again and need to catch up in a job lot. I just can't seem to get much time on my laptop lately before it starts heating up dramatically so I have only been using it for downloading. Fingers crossed it behaves this morning while I do all my blog and comment catch-ups. Anyway, I decided to be lazy and put all the rest of the Solstice Scents Spring collection perfumes in one post. I'll put some links to other people's reviews at the bottom so you can get more detail if you'd like. I'm not sure how long these will be around for, but I presume at least to the end of this month. I've already done Chiffon and Dellamorte, and Garden Gate from one I bought a year or two ago.

Cascade of Gold - Sandalwood, White Sandalwood, Honeysuckle, Champa and White Lotus
Oh dear. On me this is honeysuckle-scented fly spray, which I think might be the champa, as I've had that happen before. I didn't really expect to like it anyway because I'm not a big fan of sandalwood, but it really doesn't agree with my skin chemistry. 1/5

Blossom Jam Tea Cakes -  Southern Tea Cakes, Petit Fours, Floral Infused Jams & Preserves, and a delicate aroma of Tea
Whenever I go to farmers' markets I invariably buy jam (even though I don't really eat it) and if there's some kind of weirdo jam there that I can't readily find elsewhere that's the one I go for. Hence I have in my lifetime tried a few floral jams. The jam note in this perfume is very true to those - not sweet or fruity, but a bit tart and fresh, and conjures up images of a well-used country kitchen. It smells just like a jam-filled cake you'd get out of the Country Women's Association cookbook (which I have, because my mum is a farmer's wife and sends me those kinds of things). On the skin there's something a bit smokey, which confused me. I don't know what it is, but I like it. The tartness of the jam stops this perfume from being too 'foodie' - it's one of the few cake ones I've tried recently that doesn't just smell like all the others. It's very unusual and lasts a long time. Not sure it's a full bottle, but I am enjoying the sample I have. 4/5

Chantilly Cream - Whipped Cream, Peach Nectar, Vanilla and Yellow Mandarin EO
I expected to haaaate this, as peach is one of my least favourite scent notes (remembering all my friends drowning themselves in The Body Shop Fuzzy Peach back in the late 80s/early 90s *shudder*), but surprisingly I didn't mind it. The peach nectar is a little deeper than the usual peach note, and the cream smells like it's been dowsed with a nip of brandy or rum or something. Basically, it's like an old-fashioned boozy trifle. 3/5

Devil's Millhopper - Heather, Oakmoss, Fern and Delicate Wood Notes
In the vial I get mostly heather, but once applied the fern comes out and there is a lot of greenness going on. The oakmoss and fern add something damp that smells ever-so-slightly mould-like, which I'm not keen on. This is one of those deep-in-the-forest scents that fans of 'darker' perfumes would probably love, but it's not for me. 2/5

Spirit Tree - Delicate White Flowers, Soft Vanilla and Sandalwood
This is a pretty common blend - in fact, trashy celebrities have been churning out some version of the white floral-vanilla fragrance for the last few years and they have succeeded in really giving it a bad name. However, I still love a well-blended version, and this one starts off beautifully, a lush white floral with the vanilla adding a hint of sweetness. The sandalwood behaves on me at first, just adding a bit of creaminess, but sadly it all goes south as it drys down and the sandalwood takes over. For some reason Solstice Scents' sandalwood note just amps on me, and I really wish it didn't because I loved the rest of what was going on here. Boo hoo. :-( 2/5

Spring Collection reviews from Amanda at More Tea, Wesley?
First sniff
Chiffon
Blossom Jam Tea Cakes
Chantilly Cream

From Amanda at Iris Handmade Soaps
Chantilly Cream
Chiffon

And finally here is a review of last year's Spring collection from Liber Vix, which has some of the same scents.

Day 117-121!