Venus Libertina - Arcana Soaps

Details: 
Venus Libertina
Arcana Soaps (bought from The Rhinestone Housewife)

Notes: 
Night-blooming tuberose, pink gardenia, wax myrtle, tiare, bay rum, sandalwood, cucumber, iris and a teensy spill of champagne. 

Don't those notes sound lush? I imagined this to be a gorgeous, rich white floral with a dry down warmed by the sandalwood - pretty much my jam. And yet what I got was... lemon toilet cleaner. I don't get it. There is nothing lemony mentioned in the notes. Could it be the bay rum? I know sometimes that can be a tad limey. The wax myrtle? Wax myrtle gives us the scent bayberry. Fine and dandy except I have no idea what that smells like. Is it lemon?

Not to put too fine a point on it, this was grooosssssssss for the longest time. I really wanted to scrub it off, but I wasn't going out anywhere so I stuck it out, hoping that somewhere along the line it would morph into the amazing white floral I'd been expecting. Nope. Never happened. Instead after about an hour the toilet cleaner finally went away and I was left with a very faint, generic pot pouri floral that was completely gone within 2 hours. I considered trying it again the following day to see if there was just something weird going on with my skin chemistry, but you know what... I didn't want to.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 224!

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!

Rose Coloured Glasses - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Rose Coloured Glasses
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes:
This one is definitely for you Rose-lovers out there. Four different roses are used in this beautiful aromatherapy perfume, as well as a gorgeous vanilla, a generous dose of calming sandalwood absolute and jasmine sambac, and finally a touch of a beautiful and uplifting fresh mint absolute i've just found (and now i refuse to use anything else). I absolutely love this one, and find it especially good to wear on those days when my spirits need a bit of a lift. And if you're already feeling good, this will make you feel even better!


Super pretty rose perfume, with the roseness of the rose (heh) tempered by the sandalwood and vanilla, which adds a slightly musk candy scent. I don't really get the mint as such, but there's something there that adds a bit of a zing.I've worn this one a few times and I really like it - it's sweet and feminine and there's not a huge amount going on but that's okay. Sillage is medium - if you threw it about you'd probably announce your entrance to a room, but a bit of a dab is fine. Longevity is fairly good - I find it lasts 6-7 hours on me.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 178!

Eve - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Eve
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Chrysanthemum, ginger, pomegranate, apple, fig, milk accord, carnation, ginger lily, cassia, sandalwood and amber

I am doing a few Twylas this week because I want to do an order soon and I am checking out what I want in full sizes. Now, this was a funny one because I did not pick a single one of the notes above except for the sandalwood that came out in the drydown. Not even the amber, which usually romps all over me. It also doesn't smell particularly fruity on me. This is what it smells like:

Yes, this is exactly how I imagine Sandy smells at the end of Grease. What I get from this perfume is bubblegum and tobacco. In the vial there is a citrusy liquorice, though looking at the notes now, I wonder if what I took to be liquorice isn't actually ginger... Whatever it is, it doesn't come out on my skin at all.

Sillage is lowish and longevity is medium. I applied in the morning before work and felt the need to reapply at lunchtime as it had almost disappeared. I don't know what to make of this one - the notes confused me a lot. I see no bubblegum or tobacco mentioned but that's definitely what I smell!

Rating: 
3/5

Day 175!

Santisima Muerte - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Santisima Muerte
Dia de los Muertos collection
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 

Sandalwood absolute, golden champaca, rose absolute, blood-orange,  benzoin, sweet 

patchouli.

In the vial this smells like sweet orange - it reminded me a bit of Possets Florida, though not nearly as sickly. Once applied the sandalwood comes out and what I think is sweet patchouli. I definitely get a 'patchouli vibe' but it's not nearly as overwhelming as patch generally is for me. There's a floral note but it doesn't smell distinctly like rose to me, more like blossoms, actually. The perfume is quite faint (I don't recall whether this is one of the older, less potent formulas), and disappeared within 4 hours. 

Rating: 

3/5 Pretty, but not memorable.

Day 174!

Genteel - Arcana Soaps

Details:
Genteel
Arcana Soaps (from The Rhinestone Housewife)

Notes: 
Made exclusively for The Rhinestone Housewife by Arcana, Genteel is the well-bred housewife who pens perfect thank you notes and always matches her carpet to her drapes. Aniseed, 2 vanillas, dry amber, sugar and cashmere musk with wisps of fine sandalwood and cedarwood. 

Oh my. You know I love a liquorice scent, and this is one gorgeous example. The vanilla and sugar sweeten the aniseed, the woody notes deepen the dry down and whatever the heck cashmere musk is it's awesome and should be in everything because I'm assuming it's the amazing musk note hovering around poking everything else. Oh my. I don't know what else to say. Full bottle, stat.

Sillage is medium, longevity also medium. I reapplied after about 6 hours, but I could still smell it. I just wanted to smell more of it.

Rating:
5/5

Day 159!

Bloody Valentine - Black Baccara

Details: 
Bloody Valentine
Black Baccara

Notes: 
A perfume for those who like their florals with a hint of gloom and doom. Bloody Valentine is a story of aged papers and Victorian flowers enhanced by a tinge of the metallic and earthy. It is a strong, floral blend best suited for those who love the smell of "vintage" flowers and Victorian inspired perfumes. The scent here is from another time and place. The strongest notes are those of violets, followed by rose, sandalwood, a hint of red wine, a trace of soil, and clove pennyroyal, among others.

The dominant notes in this floral are violet and rose, and boy are they running the show. It's like Bea Smith and the Freak fighting for supremacy in Prisoner (the real one, not that travesty of a remake). This is a true head kicking perfumy perfume, and not for those who like their scents delicate. There is a sweet note that could be wine, and a sharpish spice note that might be clove or nutmeg. The dry down was like a mildly spicy soap, and once that soapiness made an appearance it stayed until the perfume disappeared about 4 hours later. No likey. 

Rating: 
1/5

Day 155!

Snake Oil Salesman - Enchanticals

Details: 
Snake Oil Salesman
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes: 

"Hurry, hurry, step right up! Find it here and here alone, the one, the original Snake Oil Liniment direct from the Santa Rosa Mountains. What does it do you ask?! It heals the sick, and grows hair on your head, rub it on your belly and watch it shrink overnight. Got a headache? Muscle aches? Just rub a bit on the affected area an VIOLA! Pain be gone! This stuff cures all that ails ya, and if you act right now, you can be the one millionth and oneth happy customer who has purchased this miracle ointment!" Ok, I'm lying but I think you might like this one! A sultry unisex fragrance created with tons of love and essential oils like this: Blended together are ancient cypher's, incense accord with frankincense, Egyptian sandalwood, a shot of whiskey, spices like ginger and cardamom, and a bunch of deep dark secrets that well, if you told you I'd have to kill ya ;)

In the vial this is a spicy incense; applied to skin I can smell ginger and what I think might be cloves. Some kind of strong spice, anyway. It's quite masculine and dark. After a couple of minutes it took a horrifying turn and became... fertiliser. I'm not kidding. You know in Spring when the council comes out and lays fertiliser in all the nature strips and it's kind of fresh and country-ish but also gross and manky at the same time? Yeah, that. I thought maybe I was imagining things at first - that I'd stepped in something and that's what I was smelling, but nope, definitely fertiliser.

Like the trooper I am, I stuck it out and thankfully after 20 minutes or so when it had dried down, the fertiliser smell faded and it morphed into a spicy resin, very masculine and not too bad but definitely not my thing. Longevity was low-ish to medium - it had gone completely in 4 hours. Sillage was high at first but didn't last long.

Rating: 
2/5

Day 154!

Chapiteau - Nevermore Body Company

Details: 
Chapiteau
Nevermore Body Company

Notes: 
The wild, musky scents of the Big Top Circus are combined in Chapiteau as you take in Patchouli and musk accented with hints of violet and sandalwood.

In the vial this is sweet and candyish - it reminds me a lot of the carnival scents I have. There's violet, but it smells more like sugared violets like you'd put on a cake than the flower just growing in a garden - there's not that tart green note. I never did get patchouli in this, thankfully as it's not a note I enjoy. I did get musk in the dry down but again it was a sweet candy musk, and the sandalwood gave it a bit of depth so it wasn't just a straight up lolly scent. This is a very pretty, foody perfume but it's far too young for me - I think Noodles might like it. 

Sillage was medium and it lasted about 6 hours or so. 
 
Rating: 
3/5  

Day 140!

Beatrix - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Beatrix
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Beatrix (as in Beatrix Potter) - a scent evocative of spring blooms, warm bunnies, cotton dresses, ripe fruits and honey. Jasmine, melissa and mimosa; warm fuzzy musk, honey, grapefruit, sandalwood, clean cotton and peaches.

In the vial Beatrix smells like a fizzy floral - I realise that sounds weird but that's what comes to mind, as though there were sherbet in it. When I sniffed it my nose twitched AND WRITING THIS I JUST REALISED LIKE A RABBIT!! I have no idea whether that is deliberate but I'm delighted by it nonetheless.

Once applied I smell a very feminine, pretty floral, daubed with honey (which I realised later reading the notes is actually honeysuckle). I could smell something citrus and it took me a few seconds to work out it was grapefruit - one of the rare fruits I actually enjoy the smell of. The tart of the citrus early on tempers the sweetness a bit, but that disappears in the dry down, which is a honey musk, but one of those floral honeys like orange blossom or the like. Thankfully the peach never made an appearance on me, and the cotton just added a 'clean' element that wasn't so much a smell as a vibe. This perfume is gorgeously sweet but not sugary. Ultra girly but not sickly. I really like it. The sillage is fairly high for the first half hour or so - sensitive types could find this one a bit headachey. Lasting power is good - I put it on in the morning and reapplied mid-afternoon.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 136!

Pyrotechnik - Darling Clandestine

Details: 
Pyrotechnik
Darling Clandestine

Notes: 
Carefully blended and infused by me in small batches in vintage glass wine bottles, this fragrance is a sangria-spicy concoction with bold notes of cantaloupe and raw sandalwood darkened with smoke and earth. A multitude of different scent elements and weeks of methodical alchemy make Pyrotechnik no ordinary scented oil mix—it's a truly inimitable fragrance. The spice element in this one can warm the skin a bit, so take note if you're a sensitive type.

It took me ages to work out that what I was smelling was melon - in the bottle and when applied wet there was a strong watery element that I thought might have been cucumber for a while, but then realised it was too sweet. There is also a green note and something that smells like damp earth. I don't really get spice or sandalwood, though it does warm up as it dries, so maybe that's just those adding some heat rather than specific scent notes. This doesn't last a long time on me - maybe 3 hours, and although it starts off quite strong it sits close to the skin once it dries down. However, the bottle I have is huge so frequent reapplication doesn't bother me at all. 

This would be a lovely summer scent; the melon is fresh and bright without smelling 'fruity'.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 134!

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

Trick or Treat - Alkemia Perfumes

Details:
Trick or Treat
Alkemia Perfumes

Notes:  
A grownup confection of black licorice, mandarin orange peel, caramelized brown sugar, bourbon vanilla, candied ginger, tonka bean, blonde patchouli, cedar tips, oakmoss, and sandalwood. Utterly sexy on both men and women... While this perfume smells like a sumptuous treat, it's got a secret trick... Dr. Alan Hirsch (Director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation) did several studies on the effect of black licorice on the responses of men and women. He found that black licorice increased blood flow to *ahem* certain parts of both the male and female anatomy simulating sexual arousal.

I bought this sample late last year, tried it, adored it, and intended to buy a full bottle immediately, but for some reason never got around to it (too many scented distractions, too little time...). I'm moving it up the chain of full bottle priorities because I am wearing it today and I love it as much as I did the first time. In the vial it smells like orange-scented liquorice, very much a Halloween kind of scent with black and orange. It doesn't say in the seller's notes, but I am assuming this was originally a Halloween edition perfume. Once applied, the alcohol comes out - the bourbon vanilla (more bourbon than vanilla), the liquorice, the orange, that tonka warming it all.. unf! This perfume is TO DIE FOR. The tonka holds through the drydown, and there is a woody note as well that I guess must be the cedar tips (though I don't know what the difference is between that and a regular cedarwood note). Thankfully, I don't really get the sandalwood at all - I've been having a rough time with that of late. Blonde patchouli - what the heck is that? Whatever it is, I can barely, barely smell patchouli in the dry down, but again, it is thankfully in the background and not dominating. I could not detect the ginger either, though there was a tickly spicy note that popped up now and then fleetingly that might have been that.

I suspect this would be a polarising perfume - if you hate liquorice or orange, forget it. This is not for you. But if you like those notes, you must try this. It's not like anything else I own or have tried, and seriously - WHY DO I NOT HAVE A FULL BOTTLE YET?

Rating: 
5/5

Day 122!

Catch Up/Round Up 3

Yes, I have slacked off yet again and need to catch up in a job lot. I just can't seem to get much time on my laptop lately before it starts heating up dramatically so I have only been using it for downloading. Fingers crossed it behaves this morning while I do all my blog and comment catch-ups. Anyway, I decided to be lazy and put all the rest of the Solstice Scents Spring collection perfumes in one post. I'll put some links to other people's reviews at the bottom so you can get more detail if you'd like. I'm not sure how long these will be around for, but I presume at least to the end of this month. I've already done Chiffon and Dellamorte, and Garden Gate from one I bought a year or two ago.

Cascade of Gold - Sandalwood, White Sandalwood, Honeysuckle, Champa and White Lotus
Oh dear. On me this is honeysuckle-scented fly spray, which I think might be the champa, as I've had that happen before. I didn't really expect to like it anyway because I'm not a big fan of sandalwood, but it really doesn't agree with my skin chemistry. 1/5

Blossom Jam Tea Cakes -  Southern Tea Cakes, Petit Fours, Floral Infused Jams & Preserves, and a delicate aroma of Tea
Whenever I go to farmers' markets I invariably buy jam (even though I don't really eat it) and if there's some kind of weirdo jam there that I can't readily find elsewhere that's the one I go for. Hence I have in my lifetime tried a few floral jams. The jam note in this perfume is very true to those - not sweet or fruity, but a bit tart and fresh, and conjures up images of a well-used country kitchen. It smells just like a jam-filled cake you'd get out of the Country Women's Association cookbook (which I have, because my mum is a farmer's wife and sends me those kinds of things). On the skin there's something a bit smokey, which confused me. I don't know what it is, but I like it. The tartness of the jam stops this perfume from being too 'foodie' - it's one of the few cake ones I've tried recently that doesn't just smell like all the others. It's very unusual and lasts a long time. Not sure it's a full bottle, but I am enjoying the sample I have. 4/5

Chantilly Cream - Whipped Cream, Peach Nectar, Vanilla and Yellow Mandarin EO
I expected to haaaate this, as peach is one of my least favourite scent notes (remembering all my friends drowning themselves in The Body Shop Fuzzy Peach back in the late 80s/early 90s *shudder*), but surprisingly I didn't mind it. The peach nectar is a little deeper than the usual peach note, and the cream smells like it's been dowsed with a nip of brandy or rum or something. Basically, it's like an old-fashioned boozy trifle. 3/5

Devil's Millhopper - Heather, Oakmoss, Fern and Delicate Wood Notes
In the vial I get mostly heather, but once applied the fern comes out and there is a lot of greenness going on. The oakmoss and fern add something damp that smells ever-so-slightly mould-like, which I'm not keen on. This is one of those deep-in-the-forest scents that fans of 'darker' perfumes would probably love, but it's not for me. 2/5

Spirit Tree - Delicate White Flowers, Soft Vanilla and Sandalwood
This is a pretty common blend - in fact, trashy celebrities have been churning out some version of the white floral-vanilla fragrance for the last few years and they have succeeded in really giving it a bad name. However, I still love a well-blended version, and this one starts off beautifully, a lush white floral with the vanilla adding a hint of sweetness. The sandalwood behaves on me at first, just adding a bit of creaminess, but sadly it all goes south as it drys down and the sandalwood takes over. For some reason Solstice Scents' sandalwood note just amps on me, and I really wish it didn't because I loved the rest of what was going on here. Boo hoo. :-( 2/5

Spring Collection reviews from Amanda at More Tea, Wesley?
First sniff
Chiffon
Blossom Jam Tea Cakes
Chantilly Cream

From Amanda at Iris Handmade Soaps
Chantilly Cream
Chiffon

And finally here is a review of last year's Spring collection from Liber Vix, which has some of the same scents.

Day 117-121!

Black Lotus - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Black Lotus 
Rappaccini's Garden
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes:
Born in the shadows of a Temple to Set, this corrupted Egyptian scent evokes images of black pyramids, river demons, and bleak, deadly desert sands. Black lotus flower, amber, myrrh and sandalwood.

Well, for me this doesn't evoke images of river demons so much as old ladies wearing waaaay too much perfume. This is an extremely strong, cloying, sweet floral. In the imp it's candy-like, very sweet and a bit sickly. I thought I could smell something faintly almond in the background but if that was ever there it was gone once I applied it. This is an old lady perfume, but not in the good way (I do love me some classic old lady fragrances). It's that nightmare one you don't want to get stuck next to someone wearing on a long bus trip or you'll be sneezing and headachey all day. As for the smell itself, lotus always smells a bit like rose to me so I find it similar to any number of cloying rose-ish floral scents. And yet another of those BPAL mish-mash perfumes that just seems like a bunch of things randomly thrown together. Eugh. Longevity and sillage are pretty high - this one screams that it's coming in the room.

Rating:
1/5

Day 111!

Clara - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Clara
Literary Ingenues - Spring Collection 2013
Twyla Perfumes

Notes: 
Clara - from the Nutcracker ballet. She inspired the little aspiring ballerina in me to many hours of practicing arabesques in the basement - leaving me with visions of flowers, dolls and sugar plum fairies dancing in my head! This lovely perfume is deeply sweet, wistful and dreamy, laden with sugared plums, a faint breath of Christmas roses and the sweet scent of sandalwood. Plummy, fruity and smooth - like the Christmas dessert wine I was allowed a little glass as a child - with just a touch of sparkle and spice. 
Plum accord, gardenia, sandalwood, bourbon vanilla, apricot, grapefruit, rose absolute, pink pepper and a teensy drop of sweet patchouli. 

In the vial this is indeed a rich, fruity sweet wine - it makes me think of a particularly boozy Christmas fruit cake. Despite the fact that none of us liked fruit cake, my mum would still make one every year at Christmas, and this is what it smelled like while it was cooking. On my skin though, something very weird happened - I get a slightly orange-scented liquorice. I had not looked at the notes before testing (I rarely do, as I'm the highly suggestible type and I want to see what I can smell before being led down the path), and I just assumed there would be anise and orange in there, so I was pretty surprised to find they weren't listed. I was so confused I wrote to Twyla and asked her if they were there but not listed; she said there was a natural isolate with hawthorne that can be anise-ish, but was largely blackcurrant. Apparently not on me! Not complaining, because I love the smell of liquorice, and had I looked at the notes before trying I would have expected some sweet fruity concoction I probably wouldn't like.

The dry down is still pretty much liquorice on me for quite a long time - it never goes away, but it does retreat to the background eventually and then I mostly get the boozy vanilla and plum with a touch of the florals. There is a spicy note as well that I assume is the pepper. The patchouli is in the background, but very slight. It doesn't dominate at all and really just serves to add some depth to the base.

The sillage on Clara is medium, and lasting power is excellent (yay for the new strength blend!) - I could still smell it at the end of the day, though on a non-testing day I'd have reapplied in the middle of the day just to zing it up.

Rating: 
4/5 I don't know if the anise would come out on anyone else but it's something to be aware of if you're interested in this perfume but really hate that note, as many do. I'm undecided about whether to get a full bottle of this - I'm really tempted and it's only around for another week or two (until May 1**), but I'm trying to be restrained. *sigh*

Day 106!

**I'm going to review all the Twyla Spring perfumes consecutively as there are only 4 of them and they're not around for much longer. However, if any grab your attention and you try a sample and like it, she does have some dealio where you can buy a bottle up to a month (I think) after it comes down. You'd have to ask her for the actual details as I can't recall, but she's lovely and very approachable. 

Alchemy - Black Baccara

Details: 
Alchemy
Black Baccara

Notes: 
In this bottle is an Alchemist's lab strewn with bottles, jars, brews, and divinely scented, decaying cabinets of curiosities. A mysterious unisex perfume blend -deep and sensuous with notes of incense, honey, sandalwood, cardamom, and the faintest hint of plum.

This is a funny one - lots of weird things going on but I can't pin down anything in particular. When I read the notes, I was thinking, oh yeah - that's there, and that's there, and that's there... but without that to tell me I was lost. It's incense but not quite, spicy but not quite, woody but not quite. There's something in the opening notes that almost makes me dislike it, but then I kept getting drawn in to sniff past whatever that was (and I still don't know - something sweetly sour, like when a baby spits up milk). The whole time I was wearing this I sniffed it compulsively, even at work like a weirdo. It's so interesting, even though I can't decide for sure whether I like it.

The dry down is sandalwood, and it smells musky even though that's not mentioned in the notes. The base is more of a classic scent than the unusual opener. I've probably been of no use at all describing this one, but it's a mystery to me, even though I wore it for a couple of days in a row trying to get my head around it. Sillage is lowish, but longevity is good - 10 hours at least.

Rating: 
3/5 I might come back and make this higher eventually. I'm not entirely decided.

Day 85!

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!

Snowdrift - Alchemic Muse

Details: 
Snowdrift
Winter Collection (2012)
Alchemic Muse

Notes:
White jasmine and crisp heliotrope floating over rose, carnation, gingered peach, and juniper berry in a sheer base of aged patchouli, smoky vetiver, sandalwood with a stray drop of black vanilla.

In the vial, this is sweet and lollyish - no idea what in the notes is making that happen. It smells like a candy carnival sort of perfume. Applied to my wrist it changed to a snowy white floral peach. Ugh... I think peach is pretty much my most hated of all fruit notes. The heliotrope makes it smell a bit synthetic as well, which is not always a bad thing (to me - I know it's an instant deal-breaker for many), but in this case combined with the peach it's not great. The dry down is a little nicer - it mellows to a slightly smokey vanilla blended with a light patchouli that doesn't overpower. Sillage is quite high on this - again I was wearing it when I was with Ben the perfume hater and he complained about it. It lasted about 4 hours.

Rating:
2/5 - maybe 3/5 I'm not entirely decided how I feel about this. I hate the peach, don't love the heliotrope, but the dry down is pleasant. Not a full bottle, though.

Day 69!

Black Rose - Black Baccara

Details: 
Black Rose
Black Baccara 

Notes: 
Perhaps the deepest, darkest, most brooding rose that rose fans can experience. This blend is the signature scent of Black Baccara, its namesake. A deep rose, but not too sweet, with a depth that lingers on the skin and grows deeper in time. Imagine a rose dying and coming back as a zombie, and you can start to imagine what is going on in this blend. It is extremely dark while at the same time being clearly rose. The faintest hints of two kinds of vanilla and sandalwood linger in the background to balance out the very deep rose aroma. A very unique, memorable rose blend.

Rose haters, run away now. I applied this lightly to one wrist the other night before going out for dinner with my ex, Ben – a perfume hater who gets headaches from strong florals. I was sitting outside on a still night, opposite him at a fairly big table and he still complained about the smell. This is a perfume that likes to beat you about the head in case you dare try to forget that it’s there. I am quite fond of rose perfumes, even though when it’s in a blend the rose note tends to amp on my skin and dominate everything else, and I’m also quite fond of head kicker florals, but this one was just a tad too much even for me. As I said, I had only lightly applied it and that was just for the intention of testing it – I wasn’t ‘wearing perfume’. Hours later I was still painfully aware that it was there, and I can only imagine what it would have been like had I done my usual slathering with it.

Although the notes state that there is vanilla and sandalwood, all I really got from go to whoa was that rose. It didn’t change much at all from vial to dry down, although the following morning, it had (finally!) mellowed to become a faint musky vanilla scent with the rose just mingling in. 

Rating: 

3/5 The scent of this perfume is lovely if you like roses; the strength is really the only thing it's got going against it. And I never thought I'd say that about a perfume...

Day 66!