'67 Chevy Impala - Delightful Rot

Details:
'67 Chevy Impala
Delightful Rot

Notes:
A man's scent. Bay rum, spiked with graveyard dirt, gunpowder, a touch of leather and a ring of salt, with an overtone of masculine musk. 

Manly men doing manly things. When I was 11 or 12 my aunt and uncle had a friend who was extremely masculine - I think he was a truck driver, and he could fix cars, had a motorbike, and wore neatly pressed Hard Yakka shirts with the sleeves rolled up and Blundstone boots. I had the biggest crush on him, even though he was probably in his mid-30s at the time. He smelled like this perfume - like a mechanic's garage - car oil, manliness and ability to fix things.

Once it dries down I can smell the bay rum (which I'm really starting to like generally as a scent note), leather and musk. This is an amazing masculine scent - I haven't been able to stop sniffing myself while wearing it. Having said that, I would probably never wear it - it's just too blokey for me. I feel like if I wore this I might grow testicles.

Rating:
4/5

Day 42!

Victorian Garden - Black Baccara

Details: 
Victorian Garden 
Black Baccara

Notes: 
Victorian Garden is a vintage-inspired floral, created with visions of labyrinthine stretches of green bursting with romantic blooming flowers. Rich soil is the backbone of this blend, from which rises up sweet carnations, dogwood, sandalwood, daffodil, hyacinth and roses wrapped in English ivy. A complex, old fashioned type floral blend reminiscent of perfumes of the Victorian and Edwardian era.

This is the perfume that made me pull out Jazz Funeral the other day, though when I compared I realised they are nothing alike. Jazz Funeral is much deeper, richer and melancholy. Victorian Garden is quite light and bright, despite its soil note.

In the vial and when first applied, this smells like damp earth and flowers. There is a watery element as well - it makes me think of a lily pond. There are no particular floral notes that stand out - I can't distinguish carnation or rose or any of the others, it's just a blend. As it dries down, the rose comes out a little more prominently than the other flowers - though could just be me, as rose tends to amp on me a lot of the time. Mostly it's a pot-pourri floral blend once it dries. It's nice, but it's not especially interesting or at all unique. The sillage is quite low for a floral - it stays close to the skin. Longevity was medium, maybe 4 hours or so.

Rating:
3/5

Day 24!

Jazz Funeral - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
Jazz Funeral 
Ars Moriendi
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
Bittersweet bay rum, bourbon, and a host of funeral flowers with a touch of graveyard dirt, magnolia and Spanish moss. 

For a long time, Jazz Funeral was my favourite BPAL, but then I discovered more and more of their fragrances and then branched out into other indie perfume oil shops, and this one was pushed aside and forgotten. I pulled it out today because I was testing some Black Baccara scents and one of them made me think of this. It's still as lovely as I remember it being.

In the bottle, it smells like damp dirt and wet grass (I guess that's the moss). Applied, the floral comes out, though the dirt note is definitely there. Something - maybe the dirt - gives the flowers a note of decay. You know when there's a vase of lush white flowers that's been around for a few days and they are just beginning to die? You can still smell the perfume of them, but it's beginning to fade and turn just a little? That's what this is like. It sounds awful, but it somehow works - I adore this perfume. The damp earth recedes as it dries down, and it becomes more of a white floral, but still with that element of decay. The bourbon and - I assume - the bay rum give it a bit of warmth and depth. The sillage is in the head kicker category - I stopped wearing this at work a long time ago because a lady who sat a couple of desks away from me complained that it gave her a headache. Lasting power is long too - I've had this on for about 6 hours and it still smells quite strong.

Rating:
5/5 I'm glad I was prompted to pull this out again - I forgot how much I loved it.

Day 19!