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!

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!

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!

Blood and Donuts - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details:
Blood & Donuts
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Dark Egyptian amber and gaharu wood, well blended and served with creamy vanilla, cinnamon spice, rich chocolate, and a splash of turkish coffee. It's.... to die for.

In the vial I smell chocolate and vanilla. Once applied it’s spicy vanilla coffee. I don’t drink chai, but I imagine this is what it smells like (although is chai coffee? I’m not sure it is...). The synthetic note that a few of the Deep Midnight perfumes doesn’t show up in this one. The dry down starts as a fairly strong amber, which goes a little dusty for a while, then mellows to a slightly spicy vanilla amber. Sillage is low to medium – I caught a whiff of it now and then when I moved my arm but I wasn’t aware of it otherwise. Longevity is medium – about 5-6 hours.

Rating:
2/5 It has all the notes I like but it doesn’t really do anything for me.

Day 46!

Vaudeville - Nevermore Body Company

Details: 
Vaudeville
Nevermore Body Company

Notes: 
Freak shows, concert saloons, carnival show and Vaudeville captured in one fragrance of sweet chocolate base with spicy pepper, fresh brewed Espresso and a mouthwatering Merlot wine bouquet of wild grape, strawberry stems and a hint of spice.

When I test a perfume, I like to know as little about it as possible, as if I'm already aware of particular notes, I find that influences me and sometimes I start imagining I can smell them, even if I can't.Luckily, I have the memory of a goldfish, so when I order a perfume online because it sounds like something I'd like, by the time it reaches me, I've forgotten what the notes are. All this is a roundabout way of saying that what I got from Vaudeville, and what the notes tell me I should have gotten are two vastly different things.

What I expected from the name was a carnival-type scent, some concoction of popcorn, candy, fairy floss, etc. In the vial I can smell chocolate and wine. Once applied, I got an apple smell - sort of cidery and alcoholic. A couple of minutes later I sniffed again and got a big whiff of liquorice. Now, these are both notes I'd expect to find in a perfume called Vaudeville, but imagine my surprise when I looked it up and found neither of them mentioned. The alcohol can probably be explained away by the Merlot (though it really did smell distinctly apple-ish), but where's that liquorice coming from?

A couple of hours later it was almost gone - the sillage is quite low and the lasting power... meh. I reapplied and this time I got the coffee. I wonder if that's because now I knew the coffee was there? I swear I did not smell coffee the first time I applied it. How odd.

Rating:
3/5 Interesting, and I like it, but I don't think I'd buy a full size of it.

Day 41!

Circassian - Darling Clandestine

Details:
Circassian
Darling Clandestine

Notes:
Carefully blended and infused by me in small batches in vintage green glass wine bottles, this is a warm chocolaty fragrance with intriguing notes of amber and blossoms. A dozen different scent elements and several days of methodical alchemy make Circassian no ordinary scented oil mix—it's a truly inimitable fragrance.

It's weird that the label of this has nothing written on it. I received it from Su, so I don't know whether there was maybe a tag attached that has been removed or what. It would be confusing if you bought a whole bunch of them, though.

In the bottle I smell chocolate and coffee, a deeper version of Haus of Gloi's Vice. Once it's applied the chocolate recedes and the coffee really comes out strong. There is also a note in there of something a little sharp and green, and something slightly floral. The dry down is a chocolate floral with a dab of amber  sweetening it up. On paper, this is my jam, but there is something there I don't like, and I cannot put my finger on what it is. It wasn't a scrubber on me, it was just.... not what I would have expected.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 28!