puellacaerulea
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Ceaselessly By My Side the Demon Stirs
puellacaerulea replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
This is one of those blends that goes through significant morphing. In the decant and first applied, I almost wondered if I got a mislabeled decant because I couldn't pick up any amber, tonka, or vanilla -- just sharp, rooty, murky patchouli and vetiver. As it dries down, the patch and vetiver settle down and the warmer notes start to come out. My overall impression is a warm brown scent, but with a faint background sharpness from the vetiver and tea that keeps it from being as cozy as other Lab amber/tonka/vanilla blends. -
Tomie definitely shares some DNA with Ava -- I think it's the bourbon vanilla and almond blossom. This is more delicate, soft, and girlish, though -- where Ava leans more on heady white floral, the jasmine in Tomie is hard to pick out. This is soft sandalwood, gentle vanillic rose, and almond blossom first and foremost. Very classically pretty floral, but in no way loud. I think Ava is a bit more me, but I'm definitely considering a full bottle of this.
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This one's a morpher! On application, it starts out heavy on the myrrh and black tea -- heavy, sweetly resinous, a bit astringent. At this stage, it puts me mind of Thunder Moon from a few years ago. As it wears, the woods come out more and the heavy resinous notes settle down. The rain and leaves never really assert themselves that much -- my post-drydown impression is soft woods with hints of resins in the background. Gonna skip a bottle of this, but will hold onto my decant.
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Sweetgrass and Dandelion Butter
puellacaerulea replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Limited Editions
This is a fresh, green floral, with extra emphasis on the green. This is the same sappy, fresh dandelion note I love from Wild Dandelion SN, but with extra green oomph from the sweetgrass. It does lean soapy upon application, but the soapiness calms down with wear. As with most scents like this, it fades somewhat quickly, but is still a lovely, fresh summertime green scent. Fans of Wild Dandelion SN or any kind of fresh-cut grass scent will want to check this one out. -
I was expecting to like this one less than As Above due to the coconut/patch/musk combo, but this is a surprise hit for me. This is amber and copal on me first and foremost -- the cardamom is there and is a little discordant upon application, but it blends in better on drydown. I have a hard time detecting the coconut -- my overall impression is a lightly resinous, slightly mineralic, almost effervescent amber/copal scent.
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In the decant and on the skin, the bitter almond is the predominant note. After application, the jasmine also comes out more. The leather is there, but it's subtle, and the patch and oak seem to blend pretty seamlessly with it -- they're mainly grounding the almond and jasmine and keeping them from getting overly sweet or screechy. To me, it's a bit like the darker, gothier cousin of Ava from the OLLAs (it's probably the almond/white floral combo leading me to that comparison).
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In the decant and immediately on application, the iris, mallow, and white tea are most prominent -- subtle and pale, but a little astringent. The scorched milk comes out more after application. The scorched milk note isn't as overtly gourmand as it is in scents like Snake's Milk -- it's mostly serving to smooth out the astringency of some of the other notes. Eventually settles to a subtle skin scent.
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In the decant, this starts off reading "green" to me, between the floral, slightly bitter neroli and fresh mandarin and tangerine peel. The musk is detectable, but it's a background player and is sort of smoothing out those fresher notes. On my skin, the musk explodes and becomes the dominant note, while the neroli and citrus notes are adding a slightly bright, fresh counterpoint to the heavier musk (and at this point, my impression of the scent shifts from green to emphatically orange). I'm enjoying the way the musk blends with the neroli and citrus notes, so I'll hang onto my decant, but this is the kind of musk I find too heavy for everyday wear.
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Based on the tobacco flower and grey amber, I was also expecting something in the general neighborhood of To A Wreath of Snow. It's not *unlike* that scent, but it is a somewhat floral-forward, creamy tobacco flower with fairly astringent black tea in the background. My skin may just amp the black tea note too much, but the florals and tea astringency end up a bit screechy on my skin.
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I love the heady, indolic smell of fresh tuberose (a flower vendor at my local farmers market always has it in late summer, and the smell of tuberose in my house is one of the only things that can redeem swampy midwestern Augusts for me). In the bottle, I get that particular kind of tuberose (and without gardenia butting in, as mentioned above), while the sweet amber isn't much of a presence. Unfortunately, on my skin the sweet amber takes over and does some very weird things, going vaguely plasticky and dusty while the tuberose retreats into the background. Going to chalk this one up to a skin chemistry fail and continue the search for my perfect tuberose 'fume.
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Definitely an aquatic, but not in a stereotypically beachy way -- a little mossy, woody, and musky, and I notice that the fresh salt note recedes a bit after application. Reminds me a bit of the Teakwood, Moss, & Salt trio, but it's not as bracing and cool as that trio -- this is warmer and more conventionally summery. I wish that fresh, clean salt note hung around longer, but I'm still likely to get a full size of this for warm-weather wear.
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This one doesn't morph much from the decant to my hair -- there's amber, but the mineralic notes have a light, effervescent quality (while still being obviously mineralic -- is pretty, sparkly sand a thing? Because that's where my brain is going) that lighten up the amber. I can sometimes find amber scents a little too heavy, especially for everyday wear, but this hits a happy medium.
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In the decant and immediately upon spraying, this is straight-up bright lemon. Once it's applied and had a chance to mellow, the softer floral notes come out. It's a white floral, but a bit softer and more white musk-adjacent to my nose than, say, orange blossom. The lemon notes are still there, but they're much quieter and mainly brighten up the floral notes. Overall impression is a soft, fresh floral-citrus. I'll probably want a full size of this.
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In the imp and upon application, this is cool, herbaceous lavender and citrus that reminds me a bit of Fuck This Heat. As it dries down, the ylang ylang starts to come out more, but is never a loud presence; it's mostly adding a subtle, creamy floral back note to the citrus and lavender. Well after drydown, the lavender fades to the background and the citrus and ylang become more dominant. The sandalwood is there, but it's very subtle and just adds a bit of grounding to the citrus and creamy floral. Unusually good wear time for a lavender/citrus scent -- this was still present on my skin about 12 hours later.
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In the decant and immediately after applying, this is a warm, autumnal gourmand -- even though oats aren't listed in the notes, it reads like honey and oats (which could be the hay) to my nose. If anything, it reminds me of a local soap shop's oatmeal stout soap (in a good way). As it dries down, the leaves and vetiver come out more, giving the scent an ever-so-slightly cologney (again, in a good way) backbone and taking it out of strictly gourmand or fall-craft-store territory. Warm, autumnal, and earthy-sweet -- like Corn Riggs but with some pleasant oomph from the vetiver.