Yule - Possets Perfume

Source

First sniff: 
Possets' distinctive 'vomited up caramel' cream note. Blech. I really do not want to put this one on.

First applied: 
The same vomity note but also ginger and something else that smells a bit like rancid butter. This is not good.

After 30 minutes: 
The cream and ginger are still there, and it's thankfully no longer very potent. Do not like this at all and I can't get to the 3 hour mark. I have to get it off.

After 3 hours: 
I scrubbed it off with an exfoliating facial scrub just after the 30 minute sniff and I can still smell lingering whiffs of it. Gah.

Longevity: 
20 years, apparently. I don't know - it was a total scrubber on me. I couldn't stay the distance.

Actual notes/description: 
Cream with a velvety vanilla and a bit of rummy character, this one will have you slurring and smiling before you know it. A lovely creation which showcases the good things for which Possets is known. Of course you do know that egg nog is about the last of the real possets of old to survive into the 21st century right? Mmmm.

Availability: 
Possets Perfume
Limited Edition - Yule 2009
No longer readily available.

The All Chocolate Dinner - Possets Perfume

First sniff: 
There's almost something medicinal about this at first - I think there is supposed to be mint in there? To be honest, it smells like chocolate-y bandaids.

First applied: 
That weird bandaid note is still there but it recedes into the background and the top is all chocolate and coffee. There's something slightly fruity as well - it smells a bit like... apples? Caramel apples, maybe.

After 30 minutes: 
It still smells mostly of coffee, or at least a mocha. I guess there's some chocolate there but it's really not standing out. The bandaid smell seems to have disappeared but now there's a slightly dusty note.

After 3 hours: 
Dusty coffee, fairly faint. Can't smell any chocolate.

Longevity: 
About 4-5 hours. At the 6 hour mark it was very, very faintly there - I could barely smell it even with my nose pressed right up against my wrist.

Actual notes/description: 
To round out the wicked foodies this Yule, it's time for an all chocolate dinner. Bring on the milk and dark chocolate and while you are at it, haul out the rum to wash it all down. Make that a rum toddy, with a nice fat pat of butter in it. Mmmmm. What an evil indulgence!!! Well, you only can get it once a year and this is it! Enjoy.

Availability: 
Possets Perfume
Limited Edition - Yule: Dark Revels 2012
No longer readily available. You might pick it up in private sales.

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!

Field of Reeds - Possets Perfumes

Details: 
Field of Reeds
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Relief and relaxation, paradise Egyptian style. Sweet sandalwood and two ambers, a touch of wood for reeds, and a kiss of golden musk, black pepper married with a drop of labdanum and this conjures the eternal happy golden light in which the elect must have bathed every day. A smooth and resinous sweet blend but with enough of the spice kick of a modern perfume to escape being downright primitive.

I was expecting this to smell more 'green' so I was a bit surprised to find it was nothing like that at all. In the vial it's musk, with what I thought was some kind of incense, though now I think that might be the pepper. The woody notes are quite sweet, and keep it on the feminine side of unisex. The amber comes out in the dry down but is not too overpowering - it makes it deeper and warmer. Sillage is quite high at first but it settles after half an hour or so. Lasting power is very good - I could still smell it just before I had a shower 7 or 8 hours later so who knows how long it would have gone on for. I liked this, but I didn't love it and I don't feel the need to buy a full size. It was just a nice perfume, nothing amazing.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 197!

Catch Up Post #5

Haus of Gloi The Brier Path - Sun drenched trail leading to a day dream of ripe berries and woods rose, rich forest loam, ozone, dark amber and cream.
Very fruity, floral, but I don't get any of the forest, woody, dark amber, etc. It's odd - it smells like an old lady floral with a potent fruity top note. Considering how fruity it is, I actually quite like it, but I don't need a full bottle. 3/5

Twyla Perfumes Migraineur - A blend of essential oils, including clary sage and cannabis flower oil. 
This is one of Twyla's aromatherapy blends and I originally got this sample not for headaches, but to see if it would do anything to help me sleep. It smells herby and mellow, very smooth and soothing. As with Solstice Scents Quiet Night, I don't think it did anything to help me get to sleep, but I do think it helped me stay asleep. 3/5

Possets Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn - Red musk, rockrose, benzoin.
Weirdly sweet and grassy smelling, slightly medicinal and went dusty quite quickly. Within a couple of hours it was gone. It didn't impress me. 2/5

Villainess Crushed - Crushed black raspberry against dark chocolate and serrated sandalwood.
In the vial this is ah-maazing. It smells like a double coated Cherry Ripe and the berry and chocolate is beautifully blended. On the skin it kind of falls over a bit - it's slightly insipid and doesn't last very long at all. Such a shame. I think this would be one that would be better in a soap form. 3/5

Arcana Puppy Kisses - A batter of rich cream, soft coconut milk, rice syrup, copaiba balsam, massoia bark and milky pearl musk is gently licked with sweet peppermint, sugared bayberry, and the tiniest smooches of Oregon lavender and Dalmatian sage.
Look, I get the futility of buying a perfume that smells like dog and then complaining that it smells like dog. But seriously, this smells like dog. The first notes are lavender and sage, then the coconut came out after about half an hour. The dry down is a sicky milk smell. Guys, it smells like dog! 1/5

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Snow White 2008 - Flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night blooming flowers. 
This was given to me a couple of years ago by a lovely girl from Livejournal's Aussie BPAL community, and I ADORE it. It's a chilly, ever-so-slightly floral, ever-so-slightly mint perfume that doesn't change much as it dries down. It lasts for hours and a little dab is enough, which is why I still have this tiny imp going. Of course, I'm pretty stingy about how often I use it. 5/5

@CandidaVirgo Cinnamon Donuts - Notes unknown, cinnamon obviously, almond, maybe ginger as well?
In the bottle and the opening note on the skin is strongly almond, but that mellows fairly quickly. I didn't love this one as much as I did Candi's Chocolate Macaron, but to be fair I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon. I'm sure there is ginger in here too, but that might just be because I'm associating the spiciness with baking products like gingerbread. 3/5

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Snow White 2012 - Notes as above. 
I had to buy this given my love for the 2008 version. It came out in 2010 as well but I dithered too long about buying it and missed that one. This one is slightly heavier on the floral than 2008 and doesn't have the same depth. It makes me think of a perfume clone - "If you like Chanel No. 5, you'll love etc..." like you get in the front bins at Priceline. It could just need ageing, though. I'm putting this one away for a while. 2/5

Haus of Gloi Vice - Steam billows rolling off a vessel of fresh made Turkish coffee, marshmallow goo tainted by graham cracker crumbs, toasted hazelnuts and blanketed in black chocolate.
Heavy on the coffee, but becomes more chocolatey on me as it dries down. This is the ultimate foody scent - rich and fairly potent. One of my favourites. 5/5

Enchanticals Mermaid Cove -  Wisteria, lilac, frangipani, oakmoss, pineapple, aquatic notes.
A really pretty, slightly watery white floral. It's like a lush garden after a heavy rain. 4/5

Days 186-195!

Cream - Possets

Details: 
Cream
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Why settle for simple milk when you can have cream in all its glory? Thick and rich, light yellow and smooth. This adds a milky layer to any of the teas in our line. Again you can wear this one alone if you like and it is a blend of several different ingredients, all of them offering a beautiful facet of the thought of cream which you may not have considered. Luscious.

This smells like baby sick. And Noodles was quite the chucker for the first year of her life so I know baby sick when I smell it. I didn't want to put it on, but I decided to brave it BECAUSE I AM A TROOPER, hoping it would do something else on the skin. Nope. Baby sick. I had to scrub it off after about a minute and a half. And I do mean scrub - there was a nail brush involved.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 182!

Catch Up Post # 4

Aaaagh! How did I get nearly two weeks worth of review notes piled up without making new posts? My mum is here for her yearly visit at the moment and she's gone to the casino for the afternoon so I'm grabbing the time while I can. I have just been flat chat with work lately and when I get home I'm too tired to do anything. I may not be back on track until after the end of the financial year when hopefully work will quiet down a bit.

BPAL Defututa - Olive blossom, honey, smoky vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine, sandalwood and champaca flower. 
There is nothing unique about this, but it's a really pretty honeyed white floral with a slightly spicy vanilla dry down. Sillage and longevity are quite high - it's one of those ones that will make you sneeze if you're prone to perfume sensitivity. 3/5

BPAL The Lights of Men's Lives - The wax and smoke of millions upon millions of candles illuminating the walls of Death's shadowy cave, some tall, straight, and strong blazing with the fire of life, others dim and guttering.
One of my first BPALs and stil one of my favourites - I don't know why I don't have a full bottle of this. It's a smokey honey scent that lasts for hours. I'm not generally a fan of honey perfumes but I do tend to like BPAL's. 4/5

Paintbox Soapworks Tw*twaffle - Buttery waffles, black cherries, warm maple syrup and shame. 
I wanted so much to like this, but it just smells too synthetic. It's really strong too - it gave me a bit of a headache. The cherry note (which smells a bit almondy) is overwhelming and gave me a bit of a headache. Bummer. 1/5

Possets Custance (The Man of Law's Tale) - Sandalwood combined with a drop of Oude infusion, a kiss of tobacco flower, and a light dusting of dry incense.
What I mostly got was incense, but it's not too heady and the tobacco flower seems to add a bit of floral to it. It's not one I'd seek out, but I quite liked wearing it on the day. 3/5

Possets 301- Musk and cashmeran. 
This is a really lovely, simple musk perfume. It doesn't change on me from start to finish, but it's comforting and warm and I enjoyed it a lot. It's quite strong and lasted most of the day. 4/5

Sarawen Girl on Fire -  Wild strawberries gathered from the forest blend with the comforting scent of leather hunting boots, and in her hair a very faint hint of sweet forest herbals.
In the bottle the strawberry smells a bit fake and cloying, but once applied it's actually lovely. It blends beautifully with the leather and the green foresty note, preventing it from being too fruity. Sillage was medium and it lasted about 6 hours or so. Really like this one - could be a full bottle. 4/5

Sarawen Scandal in London -  Feminine lilac and ylang ylang flowers blends with feisty dragonsblood with a light hint of eastern sandalwood. A touch of Holmes' favourite tobacco tops off this sultry floriental perfume.
Another Sarawen winner. I love me a floriental - they're probably overall my favourite kind of perfume. It reminds me a little of Givenchy Ysatis. The dragonsblood and tobacco add a smoothing element to stop it from being a full on heady floral. Nonetheless the sillage is pretty high making this more suitable for evening when you're on the prowl than knocking everyone out in the office. Love it. 4/5

Firebird Woodsmoke & Vanilla - Spicy, smoky, resinous, warm and sweet- with notes of frankincense and myrrh, fir needles, balsam and cedar, on a soft base of vanilla and honey.
I have a few of these 'sitting by the fire' kind of perfumes and this one is probably my favourite. It smells like a bonfire out in the forest - I can definitely smell the fir. The vanilla stops it from being too strong or too masculine. It's warm and cosy and one of those ones to wear when you're snuggled up in a giant aran jumper. 4/5  

BPAL Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal - A deranged darling, sweet and sociopathic! Clotted vanilla cream, pink pepper, grapefruit, blood lily, red ginger, English pear, and lemon-squeezed candyfloss!
I hate this perfume, I have had it for several years and have always hated it. I keep it because I love the name, though. I pulled it out for the first time in at least a year to try it because I though ageing might have improved it a little. Nope. It smells like vomited up canned fruit and turned cream. Gross. Still love the name, though. 1/5

Arcana Vulgar -  Dirty cherry with dark chocolate, vanilla-infused marshmallow, honey, pepper, patchouli and a hint of smoky bacon. 
So for years I've been banging on about wanting a bacon-scented perfume. Now I have one, and guess what - smelling like you've been rolling around in your breakfast is not that great. The cherry dominates in the bottle, but once applied the bacon really comes out, and it's slightly sharp and acrid. There's a very bitter chocolate note that might be what's adding to the sharpness. The dry down is sweeter as the vanilla and honey come out and the bacon subsides to a faint smokiness. I could get to like that part of it but it doesn't last all that long. It had pretty much disappeared entirely within 3 hours. 2/5

BPAL Mad Kate - Honeycomb, red currant, freesia, vanilla, rose geranium, thyme, and gardenia.
Honeyed floral - another pretty BPAL honey scent. The gardenia is the most dominant for a while, but the dry down actually smells like chocolate. Weird since it's not listed in the notes. The sillage is high before it dries down - that gardenia packs a punch. I like this, but I don't love it. 3/5

BPAL Saint Foutin de Varailles - Beeswax, frankincense, dried rose petals, and a dribble of wine.
Again with that honey note! Somehow I seem to have collected a good number of BPAL honey perfumes and tested them all at the same time. Weird. This one is quite similar to The Light of Men's Lives, and come to think of it might be the reason I don't have a full bottle of that. The wine adds a bit of a boozy element to it though, so it's not exactly the same. Sillage is high and longevity is good - I wore this all day and could still smell traces of it on my wrist the next morning. 4/5

Darling Clandestine What Mandy Makes - What Mandy Makes is deep, vague, very smoky, very potent, with undertones of Oriental musk. It has a cucumber topnote, though there's no "cucumber" fragrance ingredient. The drydown is smoky sweet. A perfectly unisex fragrance.
Cucumber always smells like melon to me - in the bottle and when first applied I smell melon. It's pretty and summery but it deepens quite quickly to a smokey musk. It's lovely would be perfect on either a man or a woman but it fades and disappears annoyingly fast. This is one to reapply frequently. 3/5 

Days 161 to 173!

Nevada - HEAT - Possets Perfume

Details:
Nevada - HEAT
Possets Perfume

Notes:
Nevada, it's HOT. It's exciting and it gets YOU hot! They work at that, and it's a natural phenomenon. Supersweet vanilla grabs a sassy orange/citrus for a fast ride through the desert at sunset. Resins drip into and out of the blend, and a blast of spice comes from nowhere to tie it all together. Heat isn't for everyone, and certainly not for the timid nor for the conformist, unless you really want to have a brief holiday from your hum drum existence. Gives you all the excitement of that last shake before you roll the dice. USA, spicy resin, long lasting.

There's an episode of one of Nigella's Christmas specials where she soaks a turkey in a bucket full of brine to which she has added a ton of seasonings like orange peel, cloves, star anise, vanilla pods, and so on. Oddly enough, this is exactly what Nevada made me think of when I first smelled it. It doesn't conjure up any kind of hot weather for me at all - quite the opposite. It makes me think of a cold, wintery Christmas.

In the vial it's mostly citrus, but the spice comes out on the skin and the vanilla sweetens it, but thankfully not in the same sickly way as Florida. The drydown is spicy citrus resin, still resolutely holiday food, but deeper and darker. 

Sillage is medium and longevity is quite good - about 8 hours later I could still smell it on my wrist. I don't know if I like it all that much - it's not bad but it just doesn't make me think of what it's obviously supposed to represent. I think this perfume should actually be called Nigella's Christmas Turkey.

Rating:
2/5

Day 153!

Florida - Possets Perfume

Details:
Florida
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Florida, is there a place which is more closely tied to oranges? Several different natural orange essences from a variety of different sources giving different nuances to the idea of orange. Then we have barded it over with an intense and wild musk for staying power, spices to keep it interesting and a strong a bitter sort of musk which mimics the bitterness of the peel if you put your tongue to it. Bracing but sexy, not for the faint of heart, and real alluring. This is as interesting as a weekend in South Beach!

Well, this is definitely orange, but it's a sickly sweet orange that frankly makes me feel a bit nauseous. It's like an 'orange fruit drink' - the kind that pretends to be juice but isn't. After about 20 minutes this was literally making me feel sick and I had to get it off, so I can't tell you anything more about it. Definitely not for me!

Rating:
1/5

Day 152!

Perpetual Orgasm - Possets

Details:
Perpetual Orgasm
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
The divine honey which the bees make on the dry and craggy plains is the starting point for such a melting blend. Malta is an arid country and the non populated expanses are covered with tough aromatic growth which needs little rainfall. It is in that hard herbal mat that the bees wrestle the tiniest drops of nectar out of sparse light blue flowers and somehow manage to manufacture honey of such brilliance it’s almost as if the sun was captured and liquefied. Added to this is a shard of sharp lemon zest and the smooth modification of orange, both citrus which can be found in abundance in the Mediterranean, and which naturally compliment Maltese honey, and you will have found a paradise in a bottle.

So apparently a perpetual orgasm smells like orange sherbet. There is a dab of lemon, and something a bit.. not minty but kind of icy that just wafts through every now and then. It's bugging me no end what that is actually - it's right on the tip of my tongue but I just can't... quite... get it. AGH! I'm not a big fan of citrus scents generally, but there's a sweet edge to this from the honey that makes it much more palatable to me. I like it a lot. It really is just basically sherbet though. Who knew that's what an orgasm smells like? Sillage is quite high at first but mellows after 30 minutes or so. Longevity is good - 8 hours or so.

Rating:
4/5... and what the heck is that note?

Day 141!

Les Girls: Sugar Puss - Possets

Details: 
Les Girls: Sugar Puss
Possets Perfumes

Notes: 
Sassy enough to grab all of the attention, clever enough to keep it. Sugarpuss is very very sweet but manages to maintain a sophistication and character which puts it squarely in the vanguard. Sugary, with a kiss of red jam and the smooth creamy note which Possets is so famous for.

This is a super sugary fruit cocktail of a scent - very strong and perfumey. It smells like something between jam and port wine jelly. I actually quite like it despite how sickly it is, but I feel way too old for it. Might pass this one on to Noodles. It lasted quite a long time - over 7 hours - and sillage was high at first, mellowing out a little after an hour.

That name, though. I'm not touching that.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 135!

Isabella - Possets

Details: 
Isabella
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
So very ladylike but so very seductive. Notes of rose are combined with a light resin, white tea leaf and a rare honey/milky-musk. This one starts off as demure and gradually becomes more and more seductive as it warms on your skin. Finally the musk comes out, and it is the sort I call "cream musk" as it becomes very brightly smoothly sweet as the mixture matures. A light dusting of familiar spices round out the mixture and make it the perfect portrait of Isabella and what she must have left behind after she lingered in a room. Enchanting and uplifting perfume. 

I got a Possets order the other day and the entire package smelled like this perfume, to the point where I thought it must have leaked. It hadn't though - it's just incredibly strong. In the vial it's a creamy scent, distinctly musk but quite unusual, and the rose is there but that musk is running the show. There's a faint candy note - it's not like those pink musk lollies, though. More like the milk bottles you get in the Allen's Retro Party Mix.

This perfume doesn't change all that much as it dries down, but the musk deepens a little and the honey adds a sweetness. The sillage is really high - you definitely need to have a light hand with it. It also lasted a really long time - well over 12 hours and then I had a shower. It's really pretty and quite old-fashioned, but I'm not sure I could tolerate wearing it too often. It's the very definition of a head kicker.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 129!

Snow on Bare Skin - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Snow on Bare Skin
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Sweet but not foody, sexy but not crude this would be a perfect scent for a midnight Yuletide wedding with the bride dressed in winter white carrying a bouquet of blue flowers, the church lit only by tapers, and a handsome groom in breathtaking blue-black. Romantic as it can be. Midnight blue and purple. Strong smell of snow in the air, your nose is cold but you can feel your hand on your breast and it's warm and soon all of you will be cozy. One of the most sexy scents I have ever made. So good, it's even perfect in the summer! Musky, spicy, perfumy.

In the vial this is a really faint, cold vanilla. It smells like almost nothing. Applied, it’s a sweet vanilla with a light minty note. Pretty much your generic ‘snow’ smell. Is this what snow actually smells like? The last time I was anywhere near snow was when I was a little kid and as soon as my feet got wet and cold I sulked and sat in the care reading a Laura Ingalls Wilder book while my family enjoyed toboganning. Crazy people.

Anyway, this doesn’t change much. The mint fades and the vanilla hangs around for about 3 hours and then disappears. Sillage is quite low. It’s... meh. There’s nothing bad about it, but nothing really interesting either.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 105!

Catch Up/Round Up

I have had some family dramas going on lately - nothing major or out of control, but it's sapping a lot of my time and energy so I've fallen behind on reviews and comments (and reading other blogs!). I'll catch up with comments in the next day or so but I have decided to do a quick montage of the perfumes I've tested in the last week to get up to date. I'm just going to put a few brief words about each - really just the impressions I write down as I am testing them. Sorry to do this, but I feel like I'm just going to keep falling behind otherwise, and I'm really into this project and don't want to abandon it. Hopefully I can resume normal daily reviews in a couple of days. I'm linking to the creator's description of each scent.

Twyla Lirrit - Sweet and candyish but not sickly. A fruity floral I don't hate - a very rare thing. Doesn't last long. 

Twyla Honekakala - Honeysuckle and tropical flowers. It's very pretty, normally honeysuckle makes me think of the American south, but this one reminds of somewhere like Hawaii. I imagine this is what a lei smells like. Again, didn't last more than about 2 hours, but most of my Twylas are the old formula and these have since been strengthened so hopefully longevity is no longer an issue. 

Twyla Bohemian Baby - This is one of the new formula perfumes, and it certainly lasted a while on me. Unfortunately it's mega patchouli so not really to my taste. If you're a patchouli fan it's definitely worth checking out. 

Possets Theodora - Resin, resin, resin. Very exotic and vampy, but totally not my thing at all. I’m not a big fan of frankincense and it amps on me like crazy with this perfume. The dry down is a strong, slightly masculine musk, but there’s something vaguely cheap-smelling about it. It makes me think of a men’s musk cologne that would be in a stack near the front counter of Chemist Warehouse and cost about $15 for a 100ml bottle. Sillage and longevity are fairly low – it lasted about 3 hours and I wasn’t sorry to see the back of it.

Possets Gingerbread Whorehouse -  In the vial, this smells like sweet cake with a dab of ginger. AGAIN WITH THE CAKE SCENTS. In my defence, this was a freebie – not one I chose even though I already have eleventy million cake scents. The ginger comes out a lot more when it’s applied to skin – I like the smell of ginger, but there’s something else in here that’s not very nice, a note of something that smells like turned cream. Thankfully, about 20 minutes later at the point where I was seriously considering scrubbing this off, that note disappeared and the perfume dried to a cakey, sweet vanilla. Oddly, given the name, the ginger doesn’t hang around. Sillage is medium, as is longevity.

BoondockG Vanilla Vanilla - Really strong, sickly vanilla toilet spray.

Delightful Rot Ravenclaw - One for the Harry Potter fans (I'm not). I like this but I don't love it. The pear is vaguely alcoholic - as pear always is to me, and the amberwood is soft and doesn't dominate. I don't get more than a flash of tea every now and then. It works well. It's just... not my thing. 

Black Baccara Old Fashioned Holiday Candy - I asked Noodles what this smelled like to her and she said pineapple and pina coladas. To me it smells exactly like Wonka Nerds, so I guess it lives up to its name.

Again, apologies for the half-arse catch ups, and if you want more information about any of these, please feel free to ask and I'll say more in comments.

Days 89 - 96!

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!

The Shipman - Possets Perfume

Details: 
The Shipman
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
An aquatic as only Possets can do them. The tang of the seashore, rushes up against Lime Bay Rum and a good shot of ship's wax which was used to lubricate the wood aboard, and skin musk to keep it going for a long time. An outdoorsy fragrance with an unexpectedly smoky note, but still very pretty with a great deal of depth and fun to it. Not somber at all and more of a jolly scent. 

In the vial this is a lemony lime ozone scent, definitely not my kind of thing, but in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. Unfortunately, once I applied it to my wrist, this turned to some kind of hideous lime cleaning product scent and almost made me gag. I stuck it out for 20 minutes, hoping it would become something different on the dry down, but after that I could stand no more and had to wash it off. On me - definite scrubber.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 74!

Lovechild Meltbaby - Possets Perfume

Details: 
Lovechild - Meltbaby
Yule: Dark Revels (2012)
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
Cherry, coconut, and rose. What a wonderful combination to which I add a bit of extra secret wonderfulness. I think you will find this to be a perfume you will have a hard time putting down. It's very sexy and feminine.

Oh, good lord. First of all - it is not a good idea to try out a very sweet, rich perfume on a day that is 38 degrees celsius and in the middle of a two week heatwave. This was so revoltingly cloying I had to wash it off, and I could still smell the ghost of it all day.

A few days later I tried again with a bit better luck. At first I thought I smelled marzipan in the bottle, but once I applied it, I realised it was the cherry. It doesn't really change at all from the first sniff in the bottle to the dry down - it's a pretty even blend of the cherry, coconut and rose, and it is suuuuuuuuuuper sweet. It smells like sweet, floral coconut and cherry advokaat. Another one of those perfumes I feel like I am 30 years too old for. I might just pass it on to Noodles, as it's more up her alley. And that's pretty much all I have to say about it.

Rating: 
2/5 If you're 14 you will probably love this.

Day 71!

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!

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!

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!