Lila - Wiggle Perfume

First sniff: 
Lilacs - very floral, very perfumey


First applied: 
Yep, still lilacs - this is a super feminine floral, quite potent. There's a green note in there too but it's delicate, the flower takes centre stage. Old ladyish but in a good way.

First 30 mins: 
Considering how potent this is when first applied it fades pretty quickly. I applied this to my wrists, behind the ears and in the cleavage (the warm spot - shut up, you know it's true) and I can only smell it now if I get close to my wrist and sniff. Not sure if it's a natural perfume - those tend to fade on me in minutes - but it's a shame that something so pretty is so fleeting.

After 3 hours: 
Almost entirely gone. If I press my nose to my wrist I can just barely catch the last remnants of it.

Longevity: 
Maybe 2-3 hours. 

Actual notes/description: 
Okay, so you may have noticed that I've been adding a bit of lilac to everything this spring. I found an amazingly true lilac scent and I've become completely obsessed. I love the summery promise of lilacs, but I wanted to give it a different twist. I read somewhere that the name Lila means "night", and combining that information with its use in a wonderfully dreamy Morphine song, I felt inspired to create a deeply dark romantic lilac scent. Lila combines a rich and retro-fabulous lilac note with an inky black musk, touches of vanilla and black tea, dusky black rose, and a healthy kick of black pepper.

Availability: 
Wiggle Perfume
Discontinued

Audrey - Wiggle Perfume

First sniff: 
Grapefruit and something green and lightly floral. Very zingy and spring time-ish.

First applied: 
The grapefruit is the most prominent, but the green note and the floral - now a little creamy - is still there. I really like this so far - I know I will regret not having bought a full bottle while I had the chance.

After 30 minutes: 
Very potent and super pretty citrus and green with the floral now not as noticeable. I'm sure I can smell a wee bit of vanilla in there but I can only occasionally get a whiff of it. This is a very perfumey perfume - it smells expensive and classy and if someone had told me it was Chanel or Dior I'd have believed it.

After 3 hours: 
Still gently wafting around me, smelling like something Joan or Betty from Mad Men would wear. It's faded a bit but I can still smell the lovely floral note with that vanilla peeking through now and then. I am really kicking myself for not testing this before it was discontinued.

Longevity: 
Five to six hours. 

Actual notes/description: 
This is the little black dress of perfumes. It's classic and modern at the same time, goes with any outfit or occasion, and easily defies seasons. A femmed-up twist on chypre, Audrey sparkles with notes of pink grapefruit, orange blossom, and vetiver, and is beautifully grounded by a light musk with hints of saffron. A touch of bourbon vanilla adds a delicate, modest sweetness. I designed this scent with New Year's Eve in mind, but it also strikes me as a perfect bridal fragrance, or just something lovely to wear with jeans or nothing at all.

Availability: 
Wiggle Perfume
Discontinued (sob)

Catch Up Post #8

Delightful Rot Poisonous Dream - The blackberry musk of of a sweet dream, distorted by cool mint and black oud.
This is a synthetic smelling soapy perfume. It smells like an old lady rose-scented soap set that's been gathering dust on the shelf of a country chemist for at least 10 years. Sillage is fairly low and longevity is low to medium. It was gone in about 4 hours, and I can't say I was sorry to see it go. 2/5

Deep Midnight Perfume Nivens - Nivens will lead you down a rabbit hole to tasty helpings of sweet creamy pastries, cakes and sticky puddings, topped off with plump wild berries and a touch of spices and soft florals. Fresh, sweet, and delicious!
This smells really synthetic to me, as most of Deep Midnight's perfumes tend to do. The smell is nuts, coffee and cream to my nose and it's all a bit sickly. The dry down is a slightly sickly creamy milk scent. This was pretty gross, to be honest. And of course, because I didn't like it, it hung around for ages - about 8 hours. Thankfully the sillage was lowish, so I wasn't inflicting it on anyone else. 1/5

Solstice Scents Violet Truffle - Dark chocolate, violet, violet leaf and vanilla absolute.
This is a sweet chocolate floral that reminds me a bit of Serendipitous. It goes a wee bit dusty in the first few minutes but doesn't stay that way for too long, maybe 10 minutes or so. I was just starting to decide that I didn't like this at all when it morphed into a vanilla base and became quite perfumey and pretty. The dust note was still there, but low key. In the end I liked this one quite a bit after the first half hour, but I doubt I'd buy a full size. 3/5

Possets Lovechild: Sweetbaby - Vanilla concentrated with lavender and amber.
At first this is sickly sweet - all lollies and baby chunder, and I almost washed it off. However, I stuck it out for the cause and it mellowed after half an hour or so to a sweet, creamy vanilla - somewhat similar to Courtly Love though more foody and not quite as perfumey. This one had average lasting time on the wrists - maybe 6 hours - but I also dabbed a little in my cleavage (oo-er missus!) and it really stuck around in there.  I was catching whiffs of it 12 or more hours later. This one's a clinger. 3/5


Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Regan A deceptively sweet orchid vanille with a faint trace of stephanotis.
A very heady powdery floral, pretty and old-fashioned, but nothing remarkable. I feel like I've smelled versions of this a million times. Sillage is highish and it lasted most of the day - not really an office perfume. Meh. 2/5


Days 217 - 221!

Monster Mash - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Monster Mash (discontinued)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Monster Mash is a blend of the Mahogany paneled walls in Dracula's castle mixed with a background note of musk and some other dark and mysterious incense smoke and spice. Notes are Mahogany Wood, Amber, Vanilla and Cedarwood combined with Essential Oils of: All Spice, Black Pepper, Sandalwood and Cardamom. All these scents meld together to create a dark, rich wood with a hint of sweetness and a pleasing spice note. 

This was one of the perfumes that Rachel sent me recently to play with, and I was a bit excited because I've really come to love Solstice Scents. For some reason, I expected this to a sweet, candy kind of smell. I assumed that with a name like Monster Mash it would have been a Hallowe'en perfume, and they're generally foody. So I was pretty surprised to sniff it and find it was actually spicy and woody.

I wanted to like this, and in the vial, it seemed promising - a smokey, spicy resin smell sweetened by a dab of vanilla. I can get down with that. However, applied to my skin it's... fly spray. It stays that way for about half an hour and then completely disappears. It was so weird that I decided to try it again a few days later, thinking that maybe something I'd eaten or some other product like a body lotion or soap or something on my skin already was affecting it. The exact same thing happened. I want the scent in the vial, damn it! The second it hits my skin it turns to fly spray and stays that way. It's so bizarre!

Rating: 
2/5

Day 75!

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!

Lady Victoria - Poison Apple Apothecary

Details:
Lady Victoria
Poison Apple Potions

Notes:
An embodiment of the Victorian Gothic era. A lady in all outward appearances, but there may be something darker lurking underneath…. Jasmine and Vanilla laid gently upon an enigmatic veil of musk.

This is one of my favourite perfumes and I don't wear it often enough. After deciding that I'm going to use my 'spesh' things instead of just buying them and hoarding them away, I pulled this out for a go around the block. There's nothing really complex about it - it's pretty much exactly as described. In the bottle and applied it's a gorgeous, lush blend of jasmine and vanilla. The musk comes out in the dry down and it lasts for hours. The sillage is medium. If you dab a smidge on your wrists it sits fairly close to the skin, but if you slather it on it does have a bit of throw.

Edit: I just realised that this smells quite similar to Solstice Scents Nightgown, so if you like the sound of this one, then that's worth checking out. 

Rating: 
5/5

 Day 31!