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!

The Shadowy and the Sublime - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Details: 
The Shadowy and The Sublime
Gothic Literature Vol 1
Halloweenie 2010
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Notes: 
A sudden and shocking insight into the vast, ineffable, overwhelming power of Nature, stirred by a vision or experience of perfected beauty and perfected terror, that changes the soul irretrievably. An epiphany: Moroccan amber, wisteria, ambergris accord, white rose, magnolia, white mint, angelica, bergamot, and myrrh.

When I first got this, I adored it. This is what I wrote about it back then. 

Anything that includes wisteria, white rose, magnolia... I'm there. It doesn't disappoint either. This is a gorgeous creamy white floral with no really dominant notes that I could distinguish. It's beautifully blended, with a medium throw and reasonable staying power. I wish BPAL would do more of these gentle florals, because they're obviously really good at it.  

Unfortunately, once this perfume had aged a year or so, the amber became really prominent and pretty much took over the 'gentle floral' entirely, and I'm a bit devo because it was so, so beautiful before. Although I can still smell the floral notes, it's mostly just amber, and a really heady kind that makes me feel a bit headachy and nauseated after a while. It's been a long time since I last wore it, but I pulled it out to compare with Estella, hoping that further ageing had mellowed it somewhat. Not to be. This perfume has very high sillage and lasts for ages - I put a teeny amount on my wrist in the morning and when I woke the following day I could still smell traces of it. It's a clinger. I loved you once, lady, but you got old. :-(

Rating: 
2/5

Day 216! 

Courtly Love - Possets

Details: 
Courtly Love
Possets Perfume

Notes: 
The slow stately thromb of courtly love as the man adores his lady and shows his love every day. Coconut (here used more as a serious element rather than a novelty) dances with apricot and a light kiss of vanilla and a very sweet, not stinky, jasmine to make a honey-ed note stand out. Swoony nice.

I wore this for three days in a row because it was so pretty. It's just a sweet, girly gourmand, but something about it just kept me gravitating back for another wear. In the vial I can smell the jasmine and vanilla - it's a prettier than usual version of any number of white floral vanilla scents. Once applied, the coconut comes out and the jasmine just kind of hovers around the edges - this is definitely  a foody perfume rather than a flowery one. The coconut is more creamy than coconut generally is in perfume, and the apricot makes it smell like a delicious dessert - it reminded me of something custardy like a pannacotta or a crème anglaise.

Sillage was medium to low - it didn't really scream its presence at all, but I could smell it when I moved my arm. It didn't last a long time though - it was virtually gone in 3 hours or so.

Rating: 
4/5

Day 157! 

Lady Nightingale - Sarawen Perfume Art

Details:
Lady Nightingale 
Dragon Age Set
Sarawen Perfume Art

Notes: 
Fragrant white flowers of ginger blossom, jasmine, and gardenia over a sensuous base of light musk. Topped off with a single note of sweet vanilla. Delicate and innocent, yet charmingly sexy. This scent is an ultra-feminine floral musk inspired by Lelianna.

In the bottle there's something that smells almost fruity, but once applied this is definitely a white floral - the jasmine in particular is prevalent. It's quite strong at first, with a medium to high sillage, but after 20 minutes or so it dries down and softens a bit. The vanilla and musk base sweeten the floral. It lasted about 6 hours on me before I felt I had to reapply.

There is nothing unique about this perfume - it's a pretty standard white floral musk, but if you like that sort of thing, it's a very pretty version. I found myself sniffing my wrist a lot when I was wearing it.

As a side note, I can't believe this is the first Sarawen perfume I've tested for this blog! I just got a haul of samples the other day so there will be more. I love the packaging - the little bottles with screw top lids instead of vials with wands are a great idea.

Rating: 
3/5

Day 148!

White Rabbit - Enchanticals

Details: 
White Rabbit
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes: 
The frantic little fur ball...always running around with that over sized pocket watch. What was he in such a hurry for down in Wonderland? This perfume is in homage to that cute little fella with a blend of white things like white gardenia, a hint of fluffy coconut, then I added some fresh orange essential oil, dark juicy berries, tree barks & mosses and ancient ambers. Subtle, fresh and super alluring while being completely enchanting and fit to be adored by all on both sides of the Rabbit hole. Fragrance Family: Modern/Floral, Feminine.

In the vial White Rabbit smells foody - I can smell the orange and the berries, but applied to the skin the white floral comes out and it's quite potent.  It's sweetened by the coconut, which I took for vanilla until I read the notes and then realised immediately I was going up the wrong path there. This is a heady, 'perfumey' perfume - I was right on the edge of a headache with it for the first half hour or so. Once it dries down it softens to a smooth, foody floral, but it still has a fair bit of throw. Longevity is medium - I reapplied after about 5 hours. The moss and amber were lost on me - this was straight up floral gourmand. 

Rating: 
2/5 Meh. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. 

Day 138! 

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!

Garden of Desire - Deep Midnight Perfumes

Details: 
Garden of Desire
Deep Midnight Perfumes

Notes: 
Garden of Desire Perfume Oil: Draw him into your circle of desire with your unique magnetic presence. This blend was a special request from my customer Nia. Blended with rare and delicious Mignonette, tuberose, ylang-ylang, and a touch of magic. Sensual, sweet, and heady!

I had never heard of mignonette. Apparently it's a fragrant flower that was popular in the Victorian era. When I first smelled this I thought it was violets. There was also a very faint almond-ish note that I could smell in the vial of this perfume, and I wonder if that's mignonette as well? That note had gone when I applied this perfume to my wrist. What we have here is a fairly standard floral. The smell of violets (which of course I know now it isn't) dominates in the first 20 minutes or so and then a white floral scent comes out - the tuberose and ylang ylang. Super flowery, super girly. Sillage was quite low for a perfume that was entirely floral, and it had disappeared within 3 hours. It's quite old lady-ish, which normally I would enjoy, but there was a synthetic element to it that put me off. 

Rating: 
2/5

Day 127!

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!

Lucretia - Enchanticals Perfume

Details: 
Lucretia
Enchanticals Perfume

Notes: 
A Victorian, Gothic Mourning fragrance straight from the halls of the finest Funeral Parlors draped in velvet curtains, lace doilies under fine crystal vases of floral arrangements, and perfumed handkerchiefs dampened by tears of love lost. Soft powdery vanillas, a bouquet of funeral wreaths with Attar of Rose, Lilies, and Jasmine, with black Amber and a few other dark secrets.

In the vial Lucretia is a sweet vanilla floral, the kind of perfume I am always guaranteed to like - it's my jam. Application to my wrist brings out a pastry/cake note and a very faint hint of something lemony. The amber is present right from the beginning but it's quite soft. I can smell the jasmine and lilies in a beautiful blend of white floral, but the rose is not distinct - that's a good thing in this kind of perfume, it could easily take over. There's nothing much unique going on here - I've smelled many versions of this kind of perfume, but this is a particularly lovely blend. The dry down is a really pretty floral musk. Sillage was medium for a couple of hours, but even when it faded, the scent itself lasted for ages. I applied it early evening and I could still smell it on my wrist the following afternoon (for the record, I would normally have had a shower in that time but I'm on holidays so I'm skanking around the house).

Rating: 
5/5 Loved it, couldn't stop sniffing it. Definitely going on the full bottle list for my next Enchanticals purchase.

Day 87!

The Golden Lilies - Twyla Perfumes

Details: 
The Golden Lilies
Maia Collection
Twyla Perfumes & Apothecary

Notes: 

This scent starts off strong on the Lily-of-the-Valley,  tiare and apricot, with a beautiful and golden, earthy base of resinous amber to anchor the sweet, almost candy-like tonka bean.  Davana is said to have the unique property of smelling differently on every person's skin. I find it to be rather woodsy, with a hint of herbal-vanilla.  The smooth, deep sandalwood and unusual, almost musky floral of the fire tree - which smells a bit like a musky lilac with a hint of apricot, round out this unique and lovely blend.  

I know I bang on endlessly about how much I hate fruit scents, but one note that can always reel me in is apricot. In the early 1990s I went through many bottles of a much adored apricot vanilla fragrance oil from my local hippie shop. In the bottle this is all apricot to me, the lily of the valley and tiare comes out wet on skin, and it’s a phenomenal combination – a sweet, lush, tropical scent. The dry down is mostly white floral with a lovely vanilla-ish sweetness from the tonka. As with most Twyla scents, the sillage is quite low and it doesn’t last long – it had more or less disappeared within 3 hours. (On that note, Twyla stated on her Facebook page recently that based on feedback regarding longevity and sillage of her otherwise gorgeous scents, she has strengthened the fragrance, so hopefully that is less of an issue now. For now I’m happy to just frequently slather this one and enjoy it immensely while it’s there.)

Rating: 
4/5 It would be a 5 if it lasted longer.  

Day 67!

Lady Victoria - Poison Apple Apothecary

Details:
Lady Victoria
Poison Apple Potions

Notes:
An embodiment of the Victorian Gothic era. A lady in all outward appearances, but there may be something darker lurking underneath…. Jasmine and Vanilla laid gently upon an enigmatic veil of musk.

This is one of my favourite perfumes and I don't wear it often enough. After deciding that I'm going to use my 'spesh' things instead of just buying them and hoarding them away, I pulled this out for a go around the block. There's nothing really complex about it - it's pretty much exactly as described. In the bottle and applied it's a gorgeous, lush blend of jasmine and vanilla. The musk comes out in the dry down and it lasts for hours. The sillage is medium. If you dab a smidge on your wrists it sits fairly close to the skin, but if you slather it on it does have a bit of throw.

Edit: I just realised that this smells quite similar to Solstice Scents Nightgown, so if you like the sound of this one, then that's worth checking out. 

Rating: 
5/5

 Day 31!

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!

Nightgown - Solstice Scents

Details: 
Nightgown
Valentine's 2012 Collection (now made permanent)
Solstice Scents

Notes: 
Vanilla, white chocolate, tuberose, tiare flowers.

Floral haters look away now! In the vial this is a pretty white floral, but doesn't smell like anything different to any number of other pretty white florals (and I have a lot of those). On the skin it comes alive. A gorgeous creamy, lush tuberose and tropical tiare flower. Oh man, I cannot stop sniffing my wrists!

Nightgown doesn't really change that much on the dry down, though the vanilla and white chocolate make the florals super creamy. Sillage is quite low for a white floral, a minor disappointment because I want everyone around to know how FABULOUS I smell in this. It did last a good few hours though, so that gave me plenty of time through the day to creepily sniff myself.

Rating:
5/5 I adore this. I will definitely be buying a full bottle, and probably whatever else I can get in this scent. If you like white florals at all this is a MUST TRY.

Day 12!