Smoky Mountain Mallow - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Smoky Mountain Mallow
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Wood Smoke, Fossilized Amber Resin, Lapsang Souchong CO2, Guaiacwood, Labdanum, Nutmeg EO, Marshmallow

I bought this maybe 6 months ago, but when I first tried it I got nothing more than smoke, so I put it away for a while to see what would happen when it aged. I still get little more than smoke, to be honest. In the vial it smells like a resinous smoky fire. Once applied, it's pretty much the same though there's an element of cigarettes as well. It's ever so slightly sweet, but just barely. It didn't really change on me at all in the 8 hours or so it lasted.

I have a lot of these smokey kind of scents because I really love them, but this is not one of my favourites. I wouldn't buy it in a full size. However, I appear to be in the minority as many people love this one, including Liber Vix, Amanda, and Rachel.

Rating:
2/5

Day 180!

Spellbound Woods - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Spellbound Woods
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
A soft, incensy blend of vanilla, sandalwood, cedar and amber.

I pulled this one out and immediately smelled amber and sandalwood in the vial, so I was a bit wary of it. However, once applied, it was the cedar that came out – blended with the vanilla it made a sweet, woody scent. Not reaaaaally my cup of tea, but actually quite nice. I kept waiting and waiting for the sandalwood and amber to take over again, but they never did. They were definitely there, but this is so nicely blended that everything just drifted along together. There’s a definite hippie vibe about this one. Longevity is good – I could still smell it 8 hours after applying. Sillage is medium to low – once it dries down it sits quite close to the skin.

Rating:
3/5

Day 123

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!

The Cake Is A Lie - One Hand Washes The Other

Details: 
The Cake Is A Lie
Winter 2011 (now permanent)
One Hand Washes The Other

Notes: 
But it smells so REAL! Lemon-filled butter cake with thick, fluffy frosting. Lemon, sugar, cake batter and frosting. 

This perfume came in my recent package from Rachel, and having never tried any perfumes from One Hand Washes The Other, I was a bit excited to get in and try it. The Cake Is A Lie is one of those weird phrases that I have heard a million times but don't know the etymology of - I assume it's from some fandom or other. Regardless, I've had at least a couple of other perfumes of that name in the past. In the vial, this one smells like sweet lemon cake. I like it, but I feel like I've smelled the exact same perfume 10 times in the last few months. It doesn't change a lot on application - perhaps a bit more sugary. About 20 minutes in it goes a bit dusty and stays that way for a half hour or so. The dry down is sugary vanilla custard. The sillage and longevity are both fairly low - it was gone in a couple of hours.

Rating: 
3/5 As I said, I liked it, but I feel a bit caked out these days.

Day 88!
 

Arizona - Sage and Honeycomb - Possets Perfumes

Details: 
Arizona - Sage and Honeycomb
Possets Perfumes

Notes: 
I have had a lot of requests for a desert scent. Many people love the sagey smell and thin clean atmosphere that comes with some very heat. Arizona seeks to capture the spirit of the state. A drop of honey mingles in the astringent fuzziness of sage, a good shot of evening musk lets you know that people really are here. A very beautiful blend, clean but appealing and bright. USA. 

This was one of the (many) freebies I received with my last Possets order; I would not have bought it myself as none of the notes appeal to me. As herbs go, sage is not a favourite of mine (give me the smell of basil or coriander any day), and even if it was, I don't like smelling like herbs - I like walking into a kitchen and smelling them. In the vial this is indeed herby and sweet, and there is also a note that makes me think of hay (my mum is married to a sheep farmer - I have smelled a lot of hay). What I don't have is a lot of experience of deserts - my last trip to a desert was a school excursion 30 years ago. However, when I smelled Arizona, it actually did make me think, "Yes, this is what I think a desert smells like." Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it's effective. And I wonder if maybe the 'hay' smell is just a smell of 'dryness'? If so, that's clever.

Once applied, I can smell the honeycomb - or more correctly, honey. I'm not a fan of honey, either in taste or smell. It's one of those slightly sickly sweet scents that makes me screw my nose up, and combined with the sweetness of sage (man, there is a lot of alliteration in this sentence!), I was not loving it. And it continued to get more and more sweet as it went on. Of course, because I was not loving it, it lasted FOREVER. I put it on early evening and the next morning I could still smell traces of it. The sillage was not too high, but I think if you slathered it on (I didn't), you would risk announcing yourself from the next room. The dry down is musky and still sweet, with the sage hanging around until the bitter end.

I can understand why a lot of people would like this - it has a whole 'nature' thing going on that many people find appealing. However, it's not for me.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 81!

Bar Sinister - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Bar Sinister
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Green Bourbon vanilla extract, sweetbriar, a powerful green musk, and a very highly refined leather, a background of labdenum, and a high and intoxicating silk accord. If you were born to gentry, you might have a stripe running from right to left on which you would have some heraldic figure. That is if you were legitimate. if you were the love child of a powerful man, you might  have a coat of arms with the bar running from left to right and the same figures on it to show who your father was and why you were powerful. This wasn't always granted, but often enough to have the bar sinister be a feature in heraldry. All of the elements of illicit love at play here. Sultry sultry sultry.

In the vial and applied wet, this is a masculine vanilla, kind of boozy and musky, and there's a sharp green note as well. There is a resin note from the labdanum that is thankfully not overpowering - resin can amp on me sometimes and give me a bit of a headache. It just stays in the background warming up the scent and making it all manly mannish. Leather comes out more in the drydown, and the combination of that with the vanilla made this one compulsively sniffable for me. The whole time I was wearing this I was: *sniff sniff* "Mmmmm!" *sniff sniff* Mmmmm! I think this would do nicely with a smokey note too - I'm going to try layering it with something like Alkemia's Smoke & Mirrors once the heatwave is over (if it's ever over - waaaah!), and see what happens.

Sillage is medium - it doesn't throw itself around the room, but it's definitely there. It lasted a long time on me - upwards of 8 hours. And let me tell you, I enjoyed those 8+ hours immensely. *sniff sniff* "Mmmmm!" If I passed a guy in the street wearing this, I'd probably follow him home.

Rating:
5/5 Definitely a future full bottle purchase.

Day 68!

The Golden Lilies - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
The Golden Lilies
Maia Collection
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 

This scent starts off strong on the Lily-of-the-Valley,  tiare and apricot, with a beautiful and golden, earthy base of resinous amber to anchor the sweet, almost candy-like tonka bean.  Davana is said to have the unique property of smelling differently on every person's skin. I find it to be rather woodsy, with a hint of herbal-vanilla.  The smooth, deep sandalwood and unusual, almost musky floral of the fire tree - which smells a bit like a musky lilac with a hint of apricot, round out this unique and lovely blend.  

I know I bang on endlessly about how much I hate fruit scents, but one note that can always reel me in is apricot. In the early 1990s I went through many bottles of a much adored apricot vanilla fragrance oil from my local hippie shop. In the bottle this is all apricot to me, the lily of the valley and tiare comes out wet on skin, and it’s a phenomenal combination – a sweet, lush, tropical scent. The dry down is mostly white floral with a lovely vanilla-ish sweetness from the tonka. As with most Twyla scents, the sillage is quite low and it doesn’t last long – it had more or less disappeared within 3 hours. (On that note, Twyla stated on her Facebook page recently that based on feedback regarding longevity and sillage of her otherwise gorgeous scents, she has strengthened the fragrance, so hopefully that is less of an issue now. For now I’m happy to just frequently slather this one and enjoy it immensely while it’s there.)

Rating: 
4/5 It would be a 5 if it lasted longer.  

Day 67!

Vasilissa - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Vasilissa
Marchen
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
She herself had cheeks like blood and milk and grew every day more and more beautiful: creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine. 

There’s something about this that reminds me a little of yesterday’s Puce!, though this is not nearly as sickly. In the vial I can smell something sort of woody and slightly medicinal – I think that is the myrrh. On the skin, it smells like a sweet musky confectioner’s vanilla, the kind you’d find in a pudding. Odd since vanilla is not mentioned as a note – maybe it’s the pink musk? The jasmine adds a note of white floral as well. The dry down is sweet musk and lasts about 3 hours. Sillage is medium. 

Rating:
2/5 Eh, not hating it, not loving it.

Day 65!

Puce! - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Puce! 
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
THE popular color in the 18th century. No self respecting dandy would dream of having a waistcoat of another color, no lady would think of ordering a moire silk dress in any other hue. Reviled and lauded, snickered at and loved, puce is the color of controversy. A moderate value bluish red at a low intensity. Slight spice and a hint of raspberry cozy up to a distant and ditsy pressed floral whiff. Captivating and romantic as only puce could possibly be. Live the legend of PUCE! Sweet, foody, gourmand, fruity.

In the vial this is spicy and fizzy, and reminds me of sherbet. Once applied it’s very sweet and lollyish, with a bit of light bright fruitiness (the kind I hate). The dry down smells exactly like Fruit Tingles. I haven’t eaten those for years, but after smelling this perfume I wanted to go out and buy some. Overall though, this was definitely not me. Maybe I would have liked it if I were 12 years old – I feel like even Noodles is too old for it. Sillage was fairly low, but lasting power was good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) – it stuck around for about 5 hours or so. 

Rating: 
2/5 Not quite a scrubber, but a little on the sickly side.

Day 64!

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!

Anastasia - Sweet Anthem

Details: 
Anastasia
Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Notes: 
A bouquet from her beloved and only friend, hung to dry during winter; the gunsmoke of an approaching revolution, the remnants from the last afternoon tea, still left steeping, and an ethereal musk, white as snow, hanging on until the that. Champaca absolute, civet, dogwood, fresh snow, green tea, honeysuckle, white patchouli. 

A green floral in the bottle, once applied to skin the tea note comes out. Champaca always smells like magnolia to me, and that's what I am getting here with the honeysuckle - it's lush and gorgeous, with the tea adding a sassy edge to it. The dry down is quite 'perfumy' and smells expensive - the musk and patchouli combined with a slightly chilly note that I assume is the 'fresh snow' combine in a beautifully complex, classy blend. I really love this - it would be a perfect one to wear with a 'special occasion' frock, or even to make sitting around in your pyjamas watching BBC dramas into a special occasion. Sillage is medium - if you splash it about, it becomes quite pronounced, but a light touch produces a subtle effect. Longevity is about 6 hours or so. 

Rating: 
4/5

Day 62!

Alize - Enchanticals Perfume

Details:
Alize
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes:
White Chocolate covered Raspberries and Cream!

In the vial this smells of milk chocolate, which is slightly odd as the notes state that it's white chocolate. On the skin it's chocolate and raspberry, with the berry dominating and making it more tart and fruity than other chocolate berry perfumes I have. There's a 'perfumy' note in there too, something I can't quite put my finger on, but it makes this scent not quite as foodie as I'd expect. Several hours later it's mostly chocolate, with the berry dying down a bit. Sillage is low to medium, but the longevity is good - I could still smell it after 6 hours.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 60!

Garden Gate - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Garden Gate
Spring Collection 2011
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Voluptuous Lilac blossoms in the foreground combine with faint traces of cascading wisteria and subtle, fresh, green grass notes. Contains a blend of fragrance oils and African Bluegrass EO to creat a sweet, creamy and gorgeous floral. The dry down is an intensely beautiful and very wearable floral that smells true to the light purple flowers that inspired it.

This perfume is similar to several other 'cottage garden' ones I have, which is why I never bothered buying a full size. The lilac is most prominent on first sniff - that's pretty much all I get. It doesn't really change any until the dry down, and that's when the wisteria and the 'green' show up. It's lovely if you like garden florals (and I do very much). There's really not a lot more to say about it. Sillage and longevity are both on the low-ish side. I could still smell it after 3 hours, but it was extremely faint. 

Rating: 
3/5

Day 58!

Silver Lavender - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Silver Lavender 
Possets Perfume

Notes:
An instant classic, the unbelievable wonder of a vanilla like lavender such as this beauty I have found, paired up with the Silver accord we all love, with a drop or two of sandalwood to mellow it all out and you have a perfection of fragrance fit for any occasion from seduction to a family dinner to a tax audit to a declaration of true love. Yes, this is one of the few really 100% versitile fragrances out there. Always correct, always beautiful, can be icy and can be hott. I think the secret ingredient is you, the perfume just conforms to what you want to be.

I don’t mind lavender in soaps, shampoos, and those sewn up scent bags you buy at school fetes and hang in your wardrobe. However, I’m not a fan of lavender in perfumes. I received this as a freebie in a recent Possets order; I would never have bought it myself. In the vial this is a soapy lavender with a bit of vanilla. Applied to my skin, a creamy note comes out, which does take a little of the soapiness away, but it still reminds me of something you’d buy at the last minute in Chemist Warehouse because you forgot to get your Grandma a Mother’s Day present. The dry down is a bland vanilla sandalwood, with the lavender coming and going. Sillage is reasonably low for lavender – I caught whiffs of it when I moved my arm, but I was unaware of it otherwise. It did last quite a long time though – at least 6 hours at which point I forgot about it because it was just so uninteresting to me.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 53!

Spellbound - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

*I'm still a couple of days behind after bailing during the heat, and I probably won't catch up on that (or comments and other people's blogs) until the weekend. But I haven't forgotten you! 

Details: 
Spellbound
Ars Amatoria
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Perfectly enchanting! An irresistably sexual, utterly rapturous blend of three roses, radiant amber, and sensual red musk.

In the vial I was confused about this before I looked at the notes.

"Smells like rose. Wait... is it? No... maybe lotus? No, wait - I'm sure that's rose. Noodles, what does this smell like?"
"Niceness."
"Thanks. Super helpful."

It's kind of rose, but kind of not. It's more of a super musky sweet oriental than overtly floral. Very feminine, very sexified - a good perfume for a night out when you're frocked up and have got the spanx and your fanciest earrings out. The dry down brings the rose out a bit more for a while, but that doesn't last more than an hour, and then it's back to musk. This perfume has quite a lot of throw and lasts for ages - I was pretty conscious of it most of the day and wondering if I'd gone a bit OTT with it. On the downside, for the first hour or so it made me feel a bit sneezy. I wouldn't buy a full bottle of this because I don't frock up very often and it's not the kind of thing I'd just wear out and about, but I do like it quite a bit.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 51!

Pink Snowballs 2012 - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Honestly, it's late at night, I've had a few wines, and I can't be arsed getting up and taking a picture - here's a Google image of 'pink snowballs'. 

Details: 
Pink Snowballs
Yule 2012
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging!

In the vial this is vanilla with a chilly, sort of mint note. Wet on skin the rose comes out as well, and it’s a bright, cold girly scent. I’d say this is quite young – I could see Noodles pulling this off nicely. The rose goes powdery fairly quickly and stays that way for quite a while, but it mellows nicely eventually with a lovely musk note. The sillage is fairly low but it has really good longevity – I could still smell it on my wrist at the end of the work day. 

Rating: 
2/5 I think I’ll put this one away and age it for a while. I like the opening quite a bit, but I’m not keen on the powdery dry down bit in the middle before it finally goes to a musky rose. BPALs generally age well, so hopefully it will improve if it’s tucked away for a few months.

Day  50!

Vice - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Vice 
Sin & Salvation
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Voluptuous and indulgent! A deep chocolate scent, with black cherry and orange blossom.


In the vial this smells like chocolate and something medicinally herbal – it’s quite masculine. Once applied it becomes... well, I don’t know if anyone else has this experience but there are quite a few BPAL scents that just turn into a generic mash of smells on me, and this is one of them. It smells of nothing in particular, it’s neither pleasant or unpleasant, it’s just there. The dry down was the same – I couldn’t pick out a single note or compare it to anything aside from the other BPALs that have this effect on me. Sillage and longevity was medium.

Rating:
2/5 Not a scrubber, so I wouldn't give it a 1, but... meh.

Day 48!

Cri de Coeur - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Cri de Coeur (Cry of the Heart)
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
This fragrance is a real stunner, a true Posset with large lashings of Vanilla, nougat, coconut, sweet musk, tobacco flower,swirling cotton, a drop of nag champa, chypre, black musk and sugar cane. There is the essence of a very good dragon's blood in it, a small amount of lime, and lime blossom. This is quite a complex beauty. Very sweet without being totally foody, long lasting and strong.

There’s not a lot of change here from vial to dry down. Essentially it’s smooth, creamy, sweet and warm, with a super faint hint of citrus. It makes me think of milk that’s been warmed up with a cinnamon stick and a piece of lemon peel. This perfume sits very close to the skin – barely any sillage at all – and it disappears very quickly. I couldn’t smell it at all after an hour, and reapplying only extended its life a smidge longer. I want to like this, but it’s just too fleeting.

Rating:
2/5 If it had hung around a bit longer I’d have given it a 3, as it is pleasant and comforting.


Day 47!

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!

Luminaria - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Luminaria 
Yule 2012 - Dark Revels
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
No idea. I can't find the original description. Mint, vanilla, something-something...

On the first sniff of this on skin there’s a rush of cold air, like that iciness you get in extra strong mints. It’s odd and a bit startling. It’s very fleeting – I could almost convince myself I imagined it – and then I’m left with a creamy, cakey scent with a touch of mint. The dry down is a slightly smokey vanilla, like buttercream icing that’s heavy on good vanilla extract. The kind of vanilla that Ina Garten would use. This perfume didn’t have much throw on me, and faded a lot within a couple of hours. I’m undecided about whether or not I like it. I certainly don’t hate it, and it’s interesting enough that I kept sniffing my wrist all the time, but it wasn’t what I expected. For some reason I imagined in my head that this would be more like BPAL’s Snow White and it’s not at all. I remember snow was mentioned in the description, but I don't get anything like that other than that weird cold rush at the very beginning, just a warm gourmand perfume. Oh well, I have a full bottle so I can keep trying it to my heart’s content until I make a decision one way or the other. 

Rating: 
Undecided.

Day 39!