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!