Venus Libertina - Arcana Soaps

Details: 
Venus Libertina
Arcana Soaps (bought from The Rhinestone Housewife)

Notes: 
Night-blooming tuberose, pink gardenia, wax myrtle, tiare, bay rum, sandalwood, cucumber, iris and a teensy spill of champagne. 

Don't those notes sound lush? I imagined this to be a gorgeous, rich white floral with a dry down warmed by the sandalwood - pretty much my jam. And yet what I got was... lemon toilet cleaner. I don't get it. There is nothing lemony mentioned in the notes. Could it be the bay rum? I know sometimes that can be a tad limey. The wax myrtle? Wax myrtle gives us the scent bayberry. Fine and dandy except I have no idea what that smells like. Is it lemon?

Not to put too fine a point on it, this was grooosssssssss for the longest time. I really wanted to scrub it off, but I wasn't going out anywhere so I stuck it out, hoping that somewhere along the line it would morph into the amazing white floral I'd been expecting. Nope. Never happened. Instead after about an hour the toilet cleaner finally went away and I was left with a very faint, generic pot pouri floral that was completely gone within 2 hours. I considered trying it again the following day to see if there was just something weird going on with my skin chemistry, but you know what... I didn't want to.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 224!

What Larks! - Arcana Soap

Details:
What Larks! 
Great Expectations
Arcana Soaps (bought from The Rhinestone Housewife)

Notes: 
A happy blend of English strawberries and salted milk caramels strewn across polished wood. 

Hmmm. The thing about caramel with me is that it often treads dangerously close to vomit. This perfume really teeters on the edge of that for quite some time. And maybe that's just me, because I know a lot of people love caramel scents and they are really popular in things like candles. The beginning is super sweet caramel and I never really did get a distinct note of either strawberries or wood.

It did mellow after a while, but never really changed all that much - the dry down was more of a sticky date pudding kind of caramel than the lolly kind. Perhaps that was the wood after all, warming it a little. The sillage is quite high, and I was pretty careful about only applying a smidge because it smelled so strong in the bottle. It lasts a really long time - it was still quite strong on me at the end of the day, and I could smell traces of it the following morning before I had a shower. I think I'm going to put this one away for a while and see if the sweetness mellows out a bit.

Rating: 
3/5 

Day 223!

Estella - Arcana Soaps

Details: 
Estella 
Great Expectations
Arcana Soaps (bought from The Rhinestone Housewife)

Notes: 
Quietly stunning ambre blanc and vanilla bean with a kiss of cognac.

I bought this unsniffed after reading rave reviews about it. I bought several other bottles at the same time, two of which were also perfumes I'd not tried before, and since I received the order I have not given those other two more than a cursory sniff, because I am obsessed with this. I've been wearing it most days at some point, even if at night just as an excuse to sniff it. It is so beautiful - I thought at first that it was a lot like BPAL's The Shadowy and the Sublime, but I dug that out to compare and it's not really that similar. There are elements that make each remind me of the other, but Estella is in a world of its own.

I was a little concerned that the amber would be overpowering but it's not at all - it's smooth and mellow and blends gorgeously with the vanilla. This is a very warm, comforting, girly perfume. A snuggle scent, if you like. The cognac is detectable, but it's not a boozy smelling perfume - that note just adds a grown up element to it.

Lasting power is fantastic - I've put this on first thing in the morning and I can still smell it after dinner. Sillage is medium - if you splash it on you'll probably be announcing yourself for an hour or two, but if you apply subtly it's just enough to let people know you're there without screaming it in their face. I freaking love this perfume - I am definitely getting another bottle before it disappears. Possibly even two.

Rating: 
5/5

Day 215!

Catch Up Post #7 Solstice Scents Summer Sampler

I don't have a lot to say about any of these, because I didn't really like any of them. A rare miss for me with Solstice Scents, but I guess we can't all love everything. 

Coquina - Sandalwood, Orange Blossom, Clementine EO, Beach Sand, Plumeria Absolute, Coconut, Ginger EO, a splash of Sea Spray
Reading that list of notes this sounds like a fun, bright scent, but on me it was just a fruit cocktail. It smelled a teeny bit synthetic too. I didn't hate it, I just thought... meh. It didn't last long either - it had gone entirely within two hours. 2/5

Hand of Darkness - Oceanic Accord, Rain Accord, Woods Blend, Black Pitch, Buddha Wood, Lime, Coriander, Tarragon, Amber
I would have bet money there was sage in this - what I smelled was sage and dirt. After a few minutes there was a peppery note. Longevity was about 6 hours or so, sillage medium. I was surprised when I came to write this and saw what the notes actually were because I did not get any of that. 2/5
Note: For an alternative view, Rachel was more appreciative of this one than I was. 

Cardamom Rose Sugar - Brown Sugar, Cardamom EO, Moroccan Rose and Bulgarian Rose
At first I get burnt sugar and rose petals, pretty but unremarkable. The rose disappeared after 10 minutes or so and all I was left with was burnt sugar. And that's pretty much it. I find cardamom to smell quite distinctive and I never for a moment picked up any of that. Disappointing. 2/5

High Noon - Worn Holster Leather, Tobacco, Whiskey, Woods, Sand, Gunsmoke, Musk and Soft Ladies' Perfume
This was the one I was most looking forward to, and it was just... ehhhhhhh. Really, all I smelled was leather. There was maybe a tiny bit of musk there but that was about it. I tried it a couple of times to see if it was just a quirk of the day or something, but nope. Same deal the second time. For such usually strong notes, it was surprisingly close to the skin, too. Longevity was about 6 hours. 2/5

High Desert - Desert Sage, Ceremonial White Sage, Sandalwood, Mitti, Cacti, Indian Tobacco, Prickly Pear Cactus, Hay, Smoke, Labdanum
At least I correctly picked the sage this time. I hate sage, and that note was overpowering on me, to the extent that I couldn't pick up anything else specific. This was a total scrubber for me - I had to wash it off after half an hour because it was making me feel a bit sick. One thing I will say is that it is extremely good at mimicking actual desert scents, and now I know why I don't like the desert - it smells like sage. 1/5

Sirocco - Moroccan Spices, Sandalwood, Hot Baked Earth, Myrrh Resin, Precious Saffron Threads and Oud
To me, this smelled like a less nauseating version of High Desert, which is odd since they don't have the same notes. There was more of a sweetness to it, almost-but-not-quite floral. I assume that's the Moroccan spices, which lean towards sweetness. Sillage and longevity were quite low with this one; it was gone in about 3 hours. 2/5

Tropical Moon - Coconut, Tuberose, Tahitian Gardenia, Lime Essential Oil, Pink Lotus Attar
If I went to the Reject Shop and bought a candle that was called something like "Tropic Delight" or "Hawaiian Nights", this is exactly what I would expect it to smell like.  Diappointingly cheap and synthetic smelling. Conclusion: much as I love Solstice Scents, their summer perfumes are obvously not for me. 1/5

Days 207 to 213!

Beguiled - Haus of Gloi

Details:
Beguiled
Summer Collection 
Haus of Gloi

Notes: 
Lemon cake made with the tang of fresh buttermilk and raspberry coulis - an otherwise innocent cake corrupted by cardamom and deceptive pink peppercorns.

Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake! (That's an in joke for Jacquie.)
This perfume is not so much cake to me, more like a sweet lemon custard. It's quite strong at first but does mellow. Very, very lemony for quite a while - thankfully not the toilet cleaner kind of lemon! The lemon fades a little in the dry down and blends more in with the other notes. This is when it becomes more cakey in my mind. I didn't get the spices at all - I found it very smooth all the way through. I did say earlier in the year I was a bit over cake/dessert scents, but I would almost be tempted to buy a full size of this one. It's very well done and super pretty. If you like gourmand scents, this is definitely one worth checking out. Beguiled lasted about 7 hours on me before I felt I needed to reapply.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 198!

Edit: Liber Vix made a cake from this scent's notes and it looks and sounds amazing. Definitely going to try this! 

Razzouli - Alchemic Muse

Details: 
Razzouli
Valentine's Day (?)
Alchemic Muse

Notes: 
An enticing mix of sweet raspberry puree, ruby red grapefruit and creamy vanilla combined with deep earthy base of dark patchouli.

In the vial, this is a tart fruity berry scent, but once applied there's a lovely creaminess there that makes this less about fruit and more about dessert. I really liked the way the tartness of the berries and the sweetness of the vanilla blended together. I had no idea there was even patchouli in it until I looked at the notes later on - it certainly never came out on me (thankfully).

There's nothing amazing going on here, but it's a cute, fun foodie perfume that I enjoyed wearing for a day. Sillage and longevity are medium - I reapplied after about 5 hours.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 151! 

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!

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!

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!

Dellamorte - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Dellamorte
Spring Collection 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Oak, White Carnation, Oakmoss, Egyptian Musk and Vanilla

I expected to like this one - I'm usually pretty fond of a musk/vanilla combo, I adore Solstice Scents' vanilla note, and I like carnation in perfumes a lot. But... no. There is something weirdly synthetic about this and I can't figure out what it is. The oak is overpoweringly strong when sniffing in the vial; it smells like wood polish rather than actual wood. That transfers to the skin too, which is not pleasant. The dry down is a little better, as the oak retreats to the background and the scent becomes a floral musk, but it's not distinctly carnation - there's none of that spiciness you usually get. Surprisingly, it didn't last very long either - it was gone in a couple of hours.

Rating: 
2/5 No matter what stage this was going through, that synthetic note was there to some degree all the way, and it really put me off this one.

Day 116!

Aequitas - Darling Clandestine

Details: 
Aequitas
Darling Clandestine

Notes: 
Yes. It's a fragrance inspired by the Boondock Saints. Smoke and blood and whiskey and damp alleys and leather and steel and gunpowder and sweat and denim and sweet wooden rosary beads and a bit of clover struggling up through concrete cracks. It is unisex and so, so, so sexy.

Aequitas contains highly concentrated German chamomile, so it's got a bit o' the green. And since it also contains real whiskey, the dark resins and lovely insanely green oil-bubbles tend to separate and settle at the bottom. Just give the bottle a shake, and the perfume turns the color of a luna moth. :)

I wore this for three days in a row trying to get my head around it and I'm still baffled. I can't really pick out any notes, it smells like... green. In the bottle I think I can smell the steel note and also the whiskey, but to be honest I could only pick out those notes once I knew they were there. It's very masculine - slightly too masculine for my tastes. Once applied it stays that way for quite a long time, but then a couple of hours later there's something floral about it - no particular flower, not particularly girly, but definitely floral. It's weird. I have no idea whether or not I like it. Sillage is medium, longevity is about 10 hours.

Rating: 
Undecided. I'm going to try it again in a month or so and see if I can make more sense of it.

Day 114!

Chiffon - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Chiffon
Spring Collection 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Vanilla, White Amber, White Musk & Lemon Myrtle EO

I almost bought a full size of this unsniffed, and I'm glad I didn't because I don't like it nearly as much as I thought I would. I've come to realise that I have pretty much outgrown gourmand perfumes, which I'm slightly devo about because a) I so want to love them, and b) I have a million of the damn things.

In the vial and when first applied this smells like a delicious sweet lemon custard - the kind of scent I like a lot, but also the kind of scent I have several more of stashed around somewhere. It's when it begins to dry on my skin that the trouble starts - the amber and musk come out and just party like it's 1999. The amber in particular is SO strong on me that it gave me a bit of a headache. I could still smell the sweet lemon fluffiness in there and I was clinging to that, but in the end I had to concede that this perfume was not for me. The headache went away just before I got to the point where I was about to scrub it off, and the scent hung around forever (of course). 12 hours at least - with reasonably high sillage. This is not one for the faint-hearted.

Let me say up front this is not a bad perfume by any means - I just did not react well to it. If you like lemony gourmands and amber doesn't tend to amp on you, you will probably love this. I think it would also be much better as a body lotion or a shower gel than as a perfume.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 113!

Lucy - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Lucy
Literary Ingenues - Spring Collection 2013
Twyla Perfumes

Notes:
Lucy - from C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" books.  Valiant, down-to-earth and loyal - Lucy never wavers in her simple honesty and conviction, bravely facing dangers head-on with a dignity beyond her years.  Bulgarian lavender, honey, sweet vanilla, neroli, pine and oak moss.

In the vial there is a bright, green fresh note. It might be the pine, but that's a note that usually makes me feel a bit sick and this one doesn't at all. Applied it's more piney and sweet, not enough to induce nausea, but enough to know straight away I'm not going to love this. I can detect the lavender, but it's subtle. The dry down is mossy and slightly sweet, probably the honey. Ehhhhhnnn, I can think of a few people who would probably love this, but it's not for me. Longevity was good - I could still smell it 8 hours later. Sillage was quite strong when first applied, but subsided within an hour.

Rating:
2/5

Day 109!

Alice Liddell - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Alice Liddell 
Literary Ingenues - Spring Collection 2013
Twyla Perfumes

Notes:
Alice Liddell - from the Wonderland/Looking Glass books by Lewis Carroll.  When i was little, these books helped to form my already rather overactive imagination.  Alice was the epitome of the Ingenue - sweet yet quick-witted, brave and with a sense of the absurd, and totally uncorrupted by the pedestrian world in which she lived...
A sweet, proper English scent with a bit of a silly twist, Alice is sweet, floral, quirky and the epitome of innocence. Apple blossom, carnation, rose alba, lilac, bergamot, and roobios tea with milk and honey. 

In the vial, this smells like sweet floral tea. Applied to my skin it goes a little soapy, which I don't think I've ever had happen with a Twyla scent. I wonder if it's the apple blossom? I get spice from the carnation, and the tea is still there, along with the honey. The honey really comes out in the dry down, but that soapiness is still there and never goes away. Although I don't hate this one, it just isn't me. It doesn't seem to work with my skin chemistry at all. Sillage and longevity were medium, it lasted about 6 or so hours.

Rating: 
2/5 Not my cup of tea. (See what I did there!)

Day 108!

Lyra - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Lyra
Literary Ingenues - Spring Collection 2013
Twyla Perfumes

Notes: 
Lyra - from Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series.  This one in particular is very close to my heart - it was my son Jamie's favourite book - we must have read it together 5 times in the space of 3 years.  I dedicate this one to him.  

Mandarin, jasmine, lily, cedarwood, copiaba, soft musk, madagascar vanilla and pink pepper.

 

In the vial I get a musky sweet white floral with a teensy bit of pepper that made my nose twitch. Applied to skin the pepper comes out more. At first I wasn't sure about it, I didn't want to sit here all afternoon sneezing my head off. It's not that kind of pepper though - it adds a really interesting spicy  kick to what could have just been a pretty floral musk. There's a slight woodiness too - I looked up copiaba because I'd never heard of it, and apparently that can be a bit woody, plus the cedarwood adds that sweet resiny kind of note. The vanilla didn't really come out on me at all as a distinct note - more just adding a bit of depth and sweetness in the background. It was all quite light and bright at first (I never did detect the mandarin, but I suspect that is what was making it so bright), but although the scent itself didn't change a whole lot, it deepened considerably as it dried down. Although it seems quite feminine, I think this one would actually work really nicely on a man. Sillage was medium, and it stuck around for about 6 hours or so before fading right down. I could still smell traces of it at the end of the day, but only with my nose up close. 

Rating: 

4/5 I really like this one, and yet again I'm tempted to get a full bottle, but ehhhhhn. How many full bottles of perfume can one person get through? I'm still considering whether to make a last minute dash before this collection comes down. 

Day 107!

Clara - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Clara
Literary Ingenues - Spring Collection 2013
Twyla Perfumes

Notes: 
Clara - from the Nutcracker ballet. She inspired the little aspiring ballerina in me to many hours of practicing arabesques in the basement - leaving me with visions of flowers, dolls and sugar plum fairies dancing in my head! This lovely perfume is deeply sweet, wistful and dreamy, laden with sugared plums, a faint breath of Christmas roses and the sweet scent of sandalwood. Plummy, fruity and smooth - like the Christmas dessert wine I was allowed a little glass as a child - with just a touch of sparkle and spice. 
Plum accord, gardenia, sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, apricot, grapefruit, rose absolute, pink pepper and a teensy drop of sweet patchouli. 

In the vial this is indeed a rich, fruity sweet wine - it makes me think of a particularly boozy Christmas fruit cake. Despite the fact that none of us liked fruit cake, my mum would still make one every year at Christmas, and this is what it smelled like while it was cooking. On my skin though, something very weird happened - I get a slightly orange-scented liquorice. I had not looked at the notes before testing (I rarely do, as I'm the highly suggestible type and I want to see what I can smell before being led down the path), and I just assumed there would be anise and orange in there, so I was pretty surprised to find they weren't listed. I was so confused I wrote to Twyla and asked her if they were there but not listed; she said there was a natural isolate with hawthorne that can be anise-ish, but was largely blackcurrant. Apparently not on me! Not complaining, because I love the smell of liquorice, and had I looked at the notes before trying I would have expected some sweet fruity concoction I probably wouldn't like.

The dry down is still pretty much liquorice on me for quite a long time - it never goes away, but it does retreat to the background eventually and then I mostly get the boozy vanilla and plum with a touch of the florals. There is a spicy note as well that I assume is the pepper. The patchouli is in the background, but very slight. It doesn't dominate at all and really just serves to add some depth to the base.

The sillage on Clara is medium, and lasting power is excellent (yay for the new strength blend!) - I could still smell it at the end of the day, though on a non-testing day I'd have reapplied in the middle of the day just to zing it up.

Rating: 
4/5 I don't know if the anise would come out on anyone else but it's something to be aware of if you're interested in this perfume but really hate that note, as many do. I'm undecided about whether to get a full bottle of this - I'm really tempted and it's only around for another week or two (until May 1**), but I'm trying to be restrained. *sigh*

Day 106!

**I'm going to review all the Twyla Spring perfumes consecutively as there are only 4 of them and they're not around for much longer. However, if any grab your attention and you try a sample and like it, she does have some dealio where you can buy a bottle up to a month (I think) after it comes down. You'd have to ask her for the actual details as I can't recall, but she's lovely and very approachable. 

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!