Eve - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Eve
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Chrysanthemum, ginger, pomegranate, apple, fig, milk accord, carnation, ginger lily, cassia, sandalwood and amber

I am doing a few Twylas this week because I want to do an order soon and I am checking out what I want in full sizes. Now, this was a funny one because I did not pick a single one of the notes above except for the sandalwood that came out in the drydown. Not even the amber, which usually romps all over me. It also doesn't smell particularly fruity on me. This is what it smells like:

Yes, this is exactly how I imagine Sandy smells at the end of Grease. What I get from this perfume is bubblegum and tobacco. In the vial there is a citrusy liquorice, though looking at the notes now, I wonder if what I took to be liquorice isn't actually ginger... Whatever it is, it doesn't come out on my skin at all.

Sillage is lowish and longevity is medium. I applied in the morning before work and felt the need to reapply at lunchtime as it had almost disappeared. I don't know what to make of this one - the notes confused me a lot. I see no bubblegum or tobacco mentioned but that's definitely what I smell!

Rating: 
3/5

Day 175!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Silver Carnations - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Silver Carnations
Possets Perfumes

Notes: 
Long lasting and just beautiful from the start, Silver Carnations stays true from the first moment until the last. The "silver" part that you love combined with the spice and flower carnation that you wanted. A winner.

Several people suggested this one to me when I was waxing rhapsodic about carnations in my Lace Draped Spectre review, and I'm glad they did because I love it. In the vial it's straight up carnation with something a bit sweet - it's not sugary exactly, but it's like there's a dab of sweet syrup in there. There's no spiciness like the carnation in Lace Draped Spectre - this one is soft and feminine, though still reasonably potent. Once applied I can smell the 'silver' - something metallic hovering around the edges.  The sillage is medium - it's there, but it's not slapping people in the face. Lasting power is pretty decent - I reapplied after about 5 hours. This one's going on the full bottle list for sure.

Rating:
4/5

Day 43!

Angelita - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Angelita
Dia de los Muertos 2012
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Opening up spicy sweet and a little green, with a whisper of gentle musk, this lovely scent dries down with a creamy, almost candy-like softness - like rose-carnation cream. Rose Otto, Carnation Absolute, Honey Absolute, Massoia Bark, pink musk and Vanilla extrait.

I am beginning to think that Twyla has cornered the market on creamy florals. In the bottle, I smell soft, creamy carnation - not loud as carnation often is, but gentle and almost a little vanilla-ish. There's a touch of spice there, but it doesn't jump out. Applied the spice is more noticable, but it's sort of sweet, not one that makes you reel back in surprise but one you want to stick your nose into and sniff sniff sniff. When it dries down it's a creamy, vanilla-ish, sweet carnation scent. Dreamy and gorgeous. Love, love, love.

The first couple of times I wore this it disappeared fairly quickly, but I've been more conscious about moisturising lately and I've found it is helping considerably with the lasting power of my perfumes. This one gets a good few hours now. 

By the way, if this sounds like your cup of tea, you might just be able to snatch one up if you're quick - there are a handful still on the site.

Rating: 
5/5 Perfect. 

Day 16!

Bathsheba - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details:
Bathsheba
Ars Amatoria
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes:
Carnation, sensual plum and Arabian musk.

So the carnation is what made me hang on to this one for testing, but I can't distinguish it from the other notes. In the imp this smelled a little honeyish to me - not honey itself, but those blossoms that have a honeyish nectar. It's very pretty. Once applied I can smell a hint of something fruity - presumably that's the plum. Normally I can't stand fruity perfumes, but this note lingers in the background and is nicely blended with the floral, so it's not 'fruit' as much as just sweetening up the flowers.

The dry down is a lovely floral musk. There's something a little old-ladyish about this scent - not in a bad way. It's like something a sophisticated older woman would wear on a night out. Lasting power is excellent - I put it on about 10 hours ago and I can still smell it. The throw is not too strong - I can smell it when I move my wrist, but only snatches, and it's not at all overpowering.

Rating: 
3/5 I like this one quite a bit - not sure I need a whole bottle of it, but I'll definitely enjoy using the imp.

Day 13!

Lace Draped Spectre - Solstice Scents

Details:
Lace Draped Spectre
Fall Collection
Solstice Scents

Notes:
A hauntingly feminine blend of Madagascar Vanilla, Baby's Breath, Pink Carnation and a hint of Green Pepper Essential Oil. The scent of an elegantly perfumed ivory lace shroud adorning the fleeting image of a mysterious visitor. Soft vanilla accentuated with a hint of spice and creamy floral. 

When I was a kid my mum used to have carnations growing along the edge of the front lawn under the lounge room window, and there were so many of them that she was always cutting bunches and putting them in vases around the house. This is what this perfume immediately makes me think of. That smell of carnation reminds me so strongly of my childhood - an old-fashioned, pretty floral.

This perfume has a fair bit of throw and is quite strong when first applied. Vanilla comes out in the dry down, but that carnation still dominates. I can very barely smell the green pepper, just catching a whiff of something sharp every now and then. Even after drying down, Lace Draped Spectre remained quite potent for a good couple of hours.

Rating: 
4/5 This perfume is beautiful and feminine, with a creamy note I love.

Day 4!

Update: I decided to buy this in a full size Burnishing Glace Mist instead of a perfume oil, and now I can definitely smell the pepper. I still love it, but it's definitely more spicy in the mist than it was in my oil sample. And the sillage and lasting power of the mist is awesome!