Horror Night At The Movies - Violette Market

Source

First sniff: 
No idea. Something vaguely floral and a bit sour, maybe some popcorn?

First applied: 
Still no idea - this is a complete mystery. I think there's some almond in there. That sourness is more pronounced and there's a very faint note of something else I can't put my finger on... I think there's definitely popcorn in there too but it's not distinct.

After 30 minutes: 
No real change, it's still a mystery. The base is very perfume-y, like something an old lady would wear. This is weird.

After 3 hours: 
It's almost gone but once it hit that base it didn't change from the old lady floral/musk thing at all. That sour note still stuck around a bit - I was beginning to wonder if the perfume had actually turned, but I'm pretty sure that note is meant to be there.

Longevity: 
To be honest, I stopped sniffing after the 3 hour mark because I didn't like it at all - not quite a scrubber, but just a bit bleh. It had almost gone by then though so I doubt it would have stuck around much longer.

Actual notes/description: 
Popcorn coated in vanilla salt, flecks of almond bark, droplets of crimson dragon's blood resin, and salty sweat mingled with the heroine's white musk perfume as she runs to escape the on-screen vampires.

Availability:
Violette Market
Limited Edition - The 1980s Collection 2011
Apparently very limited and forever gone.

Swimming Horses - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
Swimming Horses
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 
Water lily accord, ginger lily, magnolia, seaweed absolute, choya nakh, white musk accord, and ozone.

I had no expectation of liking this. I bought it because it has seaweed absolute and choya nakh, which is 'the aroma of roasted seashells' and I just had to smell that. I was actually a bit scared of it at first, because I had a horrible thought that it might be fishy.

It's not fishy, thankfully. In the vial it's very fresh and light, almost nothing - ozone, I guess. Once applied it's more beachy. I hate the beach, not least the smell, but this was actually... not unpleasant. To me it smelled like fresh clean air with just a hint of something floral in the breeze. This was a sample from before Twyla increased the strength of her perfumes, and it disappeared fairly quickly on me - within a couple of hours. It's not a bad perfume if you like that sort of thing, but it's not for me.

I gave this sample to my friend Jacquie, who loves these kinds of ozone/seaside perfumes. Her reaction after applying to her wrist: "Oh, this is nice!" *sniff sniff* "Oh wow, I really like this!" *sniff sniff* "Oh my god, I LOVE this!" So there you go - if you like those kinds of perfumes, check this one out.

Rating:
Me: 2/5
Jacquie: 4.5/5

Day 128!

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!

Rose Mallow Cream - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Rose Mallow Cream
Valentine's Collection (2013)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Moroccan Rose absolute, Bulgarian Rose absolute, Marshmallow Fluff, Strawberry Nectar, White Chocolate, Vanilla, White Musk.

Years ago my favourite perfume was MOR Marshmallow. I ploughed through a 100ml bottle of the stuff in a few months, then went and bought another bottle. I was about one third of the way through it, and suddenly decided I could not stand it anymore. I gave the rest of it to Noodles, and she still has it several years later. Every now and then when she and I are talking perfumes I smell it again, and I still can't stand it. It seems so cloying and sickly to me now, and yet there was a time when it was the one I would have immediately chosen if I were stranded on a desert island and could only have one perfume with me.

Rose Mallow Cream to me is a far less sickly, far more palatable version of MOR Marshmallow. It's not exactly the same, but it's similar enough that as soon as I smelled it, that's the first thing I thought of. In the bottle and when first applied it's a sweet, candy-like rose. The description on Solstice Scents' site mentions that the sillage is low, but on me it was quite high and I didn't apply all that much. Maybe it's just amping on me because of the rose. The middle is marshmallow vanilla, with the rose still there, but the strawberry makes it more foody than floral. The dry down is vanilla and white musk, very pretty and feminine. It lasted a fair while on me - at least 5 hours. If you're interested in more detailed reviews of Rose Mallow Cream, check out Liber Vix and More Tea, Wesley? for their opinions.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 73!

Black Pearl - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Black Pearl
Bewitching Brews
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Evocative of the sea's unplumbed mysteries. Gentle and lovely, but menacing and profound. Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk.

In the imp this is a sweet, candy-ish coconut, like a particularly froofy cocktail. Once applied, the sweet tropical coconut smell is still there but there's also a note that smells vaguely synthetic, like you sometimes find with really cheap makeup products. It's quite odd, and not all that pleasant. I wonder if it's the iris? It's kind of floral, but not really - very hard to pin down. I don't get the hazelnut at all, and I was a bit surprised by that because that's usually a  note that tends to be fairly dominant on me. The dry down is a slightly floral, watery musk. Sillage isn't high and it doesn't last long either. Kind of a dud, really.

Rating:
2/5

Day 72!