All Activity
This stream auto-updates
- Today
-
This is doing the exact thing that deters me from trying most "red" scents, something bitter and medicinal that lingers for hours - I first smelled it in Voluminous Red Blanket. I took a chance on a decant because the notes sounded so yummy and nice but alas, this isn't for me. For the first half hour I smell the good things I was hoping for, red fruit, candy and marshmallow, but it turns bitter on me over time. I'm blaming my skin chemistry on this phenomenon.
-
An oil of energy, power, authority, and inner strength geared to help you keep the fight going with passion, alacrity, and infectious fervor. Contains: sweet orange, dragon’s blood resin, master root, and High John the Conqueror root.
-
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite. Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody. But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements? Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing; And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes. I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house. Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows—then let your heart say in silence, “God rests in reason.” And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky,—then let your heart say in awe, “God moves in passion.” And since you are a breath in God’s sphere, and a leaf in God’s forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion. Rest in reason and move in passion: smoked rose attar, honeyed saffron, red sandalwood, red tea, clove bud, and frankincense.
-
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears. Violet water and plum juice with wormwood accord, pungent tagetes, and dry, bitter, wholesome green tea.
-
Hubris shattered: roiling incense clouds of divine fury, scorched leather, smears of labdanum and golden pitch, bitter almond, smoldering black amber, and naiad’s tears. Peter Paul Rubens
-
Speed and light translated through divine geometry: quicksilver and chrome musk blaze through bergamot, French lavender, white frankincense, blood orange, blue lilac, tangerine, yuzu, and cubeb. Giacomo Balla
-
Beams of citrus, apricot, raspberry musk, and neroli herald daybreak, illuminating ambergris and myrrh shadows. Felix Edouard Vallotton
-
Light, motion, and divine radiance. A transcendent perfume, brilliant bursts of solar glory in a haze of celestial grace. Golden neroli and amber with heliotrope, osmanthus absolute, pink pepper, and white myrrh and a triumphant gallop of mallow and honey-tinged sandalwood. Odilon Redon
-
in the decant it's... hard to discern what i'm smelling? i don't think i could individually pick out the notes besides some sort of creaminess and sweetness. i think it's mainly the ginger and vague black tea if i had to say? it doesn't quite smell like white chocolate to me. and it stays the same on skin like it does in the decant. but after like eight hours? (i think, i put it on before bed) it does turn into the most realistic, creamy and delicately sweet white chocolate note, like to a T white chocolate. while i adore the realistic drydown, i'm not completely in love with the wet scent or how long it takes to get there.
-
This was posted on Instagram last week, wanted to make sure it was properly announced here. Exclusively from Haute Macabre: DRACONIS Once the guardian of the garden of Hesperides, the Dragon constellation Draco coils around the sky’s north pole. Never sleeping and never setting below the Northern Horizon, Draco and its Draconis stars within are now the celestial guardian, forever watching over us all. A protective blend of dragon’s blood, clove, and amber. https://hautemacabre.com/products/draconis-by-black-phoenix-alchemy-lab-1
-
I’m always wary of buttercream, as it tends to be too much for me, yet took a chance on a secondhand bottle of Eros’ Valentine for the rose & suede. Risk paid off! It’s definitely sweet and rich, yet the combination of suede & musk tempers the buttercream overload effect perfectly. The rose tints the edges of the scent so beautifully. The drydown is dreamily cozy, and it’s a perfectly romantic scent experience.
-
This was a frimp, I was interested because I like a lot of stuff with red musk, with patchouli, with vanilla... but had yet to try anything with all three. Though Snake Oil isn't too terribly different at least in description. In the vial I smell red musk, and pretty much only red musk. The perfume oil itself is a lovely reddish colour. I have applied it a few times on my wrists today and there's a very slight colouration on them from the oil, but that washes right off. On my skin I smell red musk, patchouli, and vanilla. Something a bit smokey as well? Not sure what that is. It could be the musk actually, I could be reading it as smokey. Like a lot of musks I prefer this one with my nose a bit further away from my wrist than right up against it. It has a decent amount of throw when freshly applied. I think I smell the red currant too, with my nose further away, something is a bit fruity. I don't know if I smell anything citrus, and I tried looking up chypre and I'm not sure how to define that separately from the rest. It lasts a long time, especially the musk and patchouli, hours and hours with a decent amount of throw even after six or more hours of wearing it, though the other notes fade and it does get closer to my skin. I'm not getting any bergamot I don't think, unless that's in the fruity element too? Could be. It's really not like Snake Oil, though it has the musk/patch/vanilla combo, it's still distinct enough to me that it's different. I'd say Snake Oil is darker and this one is a bit brighter because of the fruit. The chypre adds a woody element too and brings that out of the patchouli. I really love this and would like to get a bottle one day in the future. So it's in my favourites wishlist. ^.^
- Yesterday
-
I've worn this a few times since I got it, and I've loved it every time. It's a bright light creamy green and floral scent, which is absolutely what I was hoping for. The green tea has a touch a of a zing to it that is almost floral that blends well into the peony. The peony is creamy with the milk element, and fresh and light as well. The cala lilies have a hint of fresh greeness to them that smells like the whole plant rather than just the flower. I'm not getting a ton of lilac, but there's just a hint of it in the background on my skin. It's harmonious with the lily and the peony but not quite keeping up with it. I am definitely going to be wearing this regularly when I want a clean bright scent.
-
Eros Scolded by Venus reminds me a LOT of one of my favorite LE’s from last year, Vision, which is somewhat surprising given the absence of silk, neroli, carnation, clove, and and oakmoss in the listed notes. Eros Scolded by Venus is simpler, more languid, and a lot more rosy than Vision. The roses are the star here and to me they read as a unified accord. In fact all of the notes seem to meld into a lovely, multifaceted rose. BPAL rose aficionados may be able to tease apart the red and white roses and there’s elements here I imagine might correspond to those colors. The rose is clove-spicy (red?), raspberry-jammy (red?), musk-creamy (white?), with a subtle green sharpness especially in the first hour (thorn?). Not sure where the blood is—BPAL has so many ideas of blood in its roster so it might be contributing to the spice or the subtle, pleasant metallic quality of the green that I am reading as the thorn. Myrtle to me often reads as shadowy and somber, and I think it may be there if I search for it—the rose aspects are quite bright but there is a depth to this scent that myrtle might be contributing. Luscious, dreamy, gorgeous ! And just as loud as her winter sister, Vision!
-
This is fuzzy. And cozy. And sweet. And it all lies SOFTLY on a bed of sweet light patchouli. It's not very patch forward at all. Light is the keyword like a moth. It's like a little moth alighted on your arm and left the sweetest lil cute scent on your arm and then fluttered off. It's a bit too pretty for me. I like a grittier Patchouli as I've come to realize. However, it is gorgeous.
-
Pomegranate, Brown Sugar, and Tobacco
SmellsPrettyGood2Me replied to Seajewel's topic in Halloweenie
Very candied fruit in the bottle, thankfully less cloying on skin. The brown sugar is much more molasses and has that condensed, cooked down sweetness. I really have to get my arm up into my nose to find the tobacco at all and would have loved it to be represented more strongly in the blend. Definitely berry (and, with gratitude) not cherry on my skin. I can see this being a great summer-to-fall transition scent as well as nice to layer with a bit of smoke to balance out the sweetness. -
Wow this has STRONG throw. It smells like caramelized pipe tobacco. It's a very sticky tobacco.
-
In the bottle and freshly applied this was chalky, minty, root beer deliciousness. Once it started to dry down the root beer disappears altogether and just leaves the chalky slightly minty candy cigarette smell. Fully dry I get occasional whiffs of the root beer but if I sniff my arm its just a vague call candy smell. Still love it though even if I do nothing but huff the bottle forever 😂
-
I picked this up as part of my never ending quest to make peace with jasmine as a scent note, because it is so often paired with other notes that I really enjoy, but I can so rarely wear it with pleasure. Jasmine is the first note to hit me here, followed by honey, then neroli, but no rose. Another reviewer referred to it as "nostalgic", and I would add old-fashioned and vintage to the adjectives. This is definitely the boudoir scent of a 1920's geisha who is burning incense on her vanity as she gets ready to entertain. Very softly powdery, and a decidedly wearable floral even for people like me who usually run screaming for the hills. Lower sillage and moderate longevity.
-
I love this very, very much, but have been struggling to write a review of it! Partly because so many reviewers in this thread have articulated it so beautifully already, and partially because my experience of this perfume is so ineffable and difficult to put into words. It most definitely has a shimmering quality, golden but as once translucent, almost opalescent; it feels a bit paler and cooler than sunlight to me, like a film of light over skin. As it goes on I get a sweetness from the vanilla and honey, sharpened and given shape by a gently woody cedar which never takes over, and with a citric edge which is almost lemony but not quite. As it dries down, the skin musk and olive blossom combination is definitely at the center, and it's utterly stunning - at once sensuous and elegant, bodily while also feeling clean. I agree with previous reviewers who described this as extremely Hellenic, and I love that about it, though for me I'd say it doesn't so much evoke the beach as it does the feeling of sitting on sun-warmed stone in a high place, sparsely forested but with cedar and gray-green olive trees with their tiny yellow blossoms. I'm still not great at picking out orris butter as an independent note, but triangulating with other blends I can definitely track a continuity with From Whose Eyes as They Glanced's orris butter-skin musk combination, which is very distinctive and also, for me, very difficult to describe. Whatever that combination is, I love it, and I love that it's a version of sensuality I feel able very authentically to inhabit. I am so glad to have this perfume in my life; I'm trying to keep it as something I wear for non-work days to keep to the association of leisure, but I love it so much that I may have to let go of that intention eventually. I have been trying to avoid buying backup bottles of things, but with this one I am definitely tempted.
-
This is simultaneously the platonic form of a summer grapefruit cocktail by-the-sea, and a bubbling Renaissance lobster song There's the bpal effervescent note in full swing in this scent, as well as lots of citrus, fruit and aquatic notes. Normally full blown aquatics (when the scent is IN the water) don't work for me, but this one (The lobster has climbed out of the ocean to sing, and is thus a little dry) works much better and doesn't get soap-like
-
These raspberries have been crushed at the bottom of the picnic basket but are still stunningly sweet and delicious; they definitely won't make it home but will get all over your hands Like Les Fraises this has a ton of throw, and a quintessentially fruit scented without other notes
-
This is fresh, wet strawberry scent, as if they've just been rinsed off in their little turquoise cardboard pint box. Not actually aquatic but very fresh and unbruised A lot of throw
-
Fully agree with previous reviewers that this is a very gentle and pleasant scent. On my partner, whose skin amplifies sweet notes, this leans almost unwearably foody (he described it as "the platonic ideal of porridge"). On me it's much more balanced - soft but distinct almond foremost, perfumey honey, and smooth milk; the grains are present but more in the background. Reasonable longevity for such quiet notes. This is lovely and I'm happy to have an imp of it, but I don't imagine it's one I am going to wear often enough to want a bottle.
-
Beautifully fruit centric and captures midsummer heat; a crow asleep in the hay after gorging themselves on figs and currants. I get fruits and mild hay like grassiness It's not nearly so sweet as mouse or harvest moon (my other hat forward pints of comparison)
