Midnight Oil - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Midnight Oil 
Dark Spring 2013
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Cocoa Absolute, Blood Orange EO, Yellow Mandarin EO, Aged Patchouli, Labdanum Absolute, Coffee EO and Mushroom Absolute.


Well, this is a quirky one. When I first smelled it in the vial all I got was a big hit of patchouli and I was wondering what possessed me to buy it. Man, I really don't like patchouli. Once applied I could smell what I was convinced was grapefruit, but looking at the notes now I realise that was blood orange and mandarin. So for a while I had patchouli with a greenness to it and a note of (what I thought was) grapefruit hanging around, and then suddenly I could smell chocolate - a very dark, bitter chocolate. A couple of hours later the citrus was the most prominent note, but it was like citrus in a dark, damp, slightly musty cellar. Not quite earthy, but definitely... dark. The citrus was kind of threatening to turn into fly spray at any second but that never happened (thankfully). Sillage was medium and longevity was decent - 6 hours or so.

Rating: 
Undecided. I don't like the patchouli, but the other things in it make it a really interesting blend. I don't know if I actually like it, but I was sniffing it a lot trying to work it out. I think it's worth trying for curiosity if nothing else.

Day 144!

Burlesque Lounge - Nevermore Body Company

Details: 
Burlesque Lounge
Nevermore Body Company

Notes: 
True to its name...this musky combination of Patchouli, black leather and tobacco with a floral hint of Frankincense, violet and amber is perfectly blended in fresh lemon, mandarin, juicy plum, red apple, cinnamon and fresh clove, dipped in vanilla and cherry cordial. Let the intoxicating scents of a 19th century Burlesque Lounge tickle your senses and take you back to another time.

In the vial this is fruity and sweet - I can smell the apple and plum, and there is a candy-ish note that might be the cherry cordial. It's basically the same on my skin but with a hint of lemon. This perfume went dusty on me within minutes and stayed that way. The sillage was low and it didn't last very long. I don't like fruit scents so even without the dustiness it wouldn't have been my cup of tea.

Rating: 
1/5

Day 130! 

Lyra - Twyla Perfumes

Details:
Lyra
Literary Ingenues - Spring Collection 2013
Twyla Perfumes

Notes: 
Lyra - from Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series.  This one in particular is very close to my heart - it was my son Jamie's favourite book - we must have read it together 5 times in the space of 3 years.  I dedicate this one to him.  

Mandarin, jasmine, lily, cedarwood, copiaba, soft musk, madagascar vanilla and pink pepper.

 

In the vial I get a musky sweet white floral with a teensy bit of pepper that made my nose twitch. Applied to skin the pepper comes out more. At first I wasn't sure about it, I didn't want to sit here all afternoon sneezing my head off. It's not that kind of pepper though - it adds a really interesting spicy  kick to what could have just been a pretty floral musk. There's a slight woodiness too - I looked up copiaba because I'd never heard of it, and apparently that can be a bit woody, plus the cedarwood adds that sweet resiny kind of note. The vanilla didn't really come out on me at all as a distinct note - more just adding a bit of depth and sweetness in the background. It was all quite light and bright at first (I never did detect the mandarin, but I suspect that is what was making it so bright), but although the scent itself didn't change a whole lot, it deepened considerably as it dried down. Although it seems quite feminine, I think this one would actually work really nicely on a man. Sillage was medium, and it stuck around for about 6 hours or so before fading right down. I could still smell traces of it at the end of the day, but only with my nose up close. 

Rating: 

4/5 I really like this one, and yet again I'm tempted to get a full bottle, but ehhhhhn. How many full bottles of perfume can one person get through? I'm still considering whether to make a last minute dash before this collection comes down. 

Day 107!