puellacaerulea
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In the decant: Banana and nail polish remover. Oof. Once on, whatever is giving the impression of nail polish remover calms down, and the sweet, vanilla-y marshmallow notes start to come out more. After drydown, it's primarily a sweet, floofy vanilla with a hint of boozy bite in the background. Turned out better than expected, so I'll hang onto my decant.
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Labdanum, Red Musk, Scorched Vanilla
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This one starts off heavily musky and resinous, with the sharp, medicinal quality I tend to get from labdanum. No trace of vanilla in the decant. As it dries down, the medicinal edge of the labdanum calms down and the vanilla starts to come out. The vanilla isn't noticeably smoky (the red musk and labdanum are still stronk and might be drowning the scorched aspect out), but it does moderate the musk and labdanum and soften the scent a little bit. This one started off a bit too aggressive for me, but it ends as a heady, vanilla-sweetened red musk. Not the kind of thing I'd wear often enough for a bottle, but I could see grabbing the decant for special occasions. -
In the bottle and on application, there's a strong blast of sea spray, backed by mineralic notes. There's a hint of salt, but it's more a fresh and borderline soapy aquatic than salty. As it settles, the kelp, tobacco flower, and balsam come out more and moderate the sea spray note -- it's still definitely an aquatic, but with a soft smoothness underneath that takes it out of straight-up sea spray territory. The black tea adds a slight astringency, but not an overpowering one. Surprisingly subtle after drydown, and the tobacco flower and balsam gives this blend something that differentiates it from all the other aquatics in my stash. No blind bottle regrets here.
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In the decant, this is a subtly sweet, musky ambergris with a slight herbaceous edge from the sage. As it dries down, the sage fades into the background and the cognac amps up -- I never am able to specifically pick out the elemi. After drydown, this is predominantly an ambergris and white cognac blend, but not a noticeably booze one -- the cognac adds a extra dimension of smoothness and slight sweetness to the ambergris rather than being specifically boozy. Overall, an understated, musky ambergris blend.
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This one starts off with clean, cool rain notes, with a distinct amber in the background. Once on, the amber and moss notes blend in a way that's a little too floral-perfumey for my liking (why does it smell weirdly like potpourri to my nose? Is my nose broken?). After drydown, that perfumey quality fades and is replaced by a soft, smooth beeswax. Overall, an atmospheric, clean rain scent with beeswax. I don't love the early stages but do enjoy the post-drydown, so this will be just a decant for me.
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This blend is bright, sweet citrus and apple, both in the decant and on the skin. The amber and cedarwood give a little bit of grounding, but the citrus and apple are the stars here. It's a pretty, bright, and happy scent, but fades super fast on my skin. I'll hang onto my decant, but the short wear time takes this out of bottle territory for me.
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I was hoping for the sea spray and moonflower to be the dominant notes here, but unfortunately, the sweet pea stands out the most to me, both in the decant and during wear. There is a pretty, shimmering aquatic musk going on here, but the intensely floral sweet pea takes the blend into soapy territory. I'll keep testing my decant, but the floral notes are probably going to keep this out of my aquatic rotation.
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This one starts off with mandarin and sharp, medicinal labdanum in the background. As it wears, the labdanum calms down and the orris, vanilla, and benzoin start to amp up. Overall, it's sweet mandarin with sweet, creamy vanillic notes and a hint of resin in the background. It's pleasant, but I've got other citrus scents that wow me more, so will stick with just my decant.
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These notes should have been a slam dunk for me, but in the decant, the citrus and mint notes blend with the cedar (maybe also the musk or magnolia?) in a way that has an unpleasant, musty funkiness to it. As it dries down, the funkiness dies down and the cedar comes forward. The end result on my skin is a dry cedar with hints of citrus and cool mint in the background. The end stage is pleasant, but I'm not going to brave the musty beginning stage often enough for a full bottle's worth.
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This one starts out heavy on lacquered wood notes, with slightly nutty-sweet tonka and vanilla behind it. After application, the lacquered quality fades a bit and the tonka, vanilla, and a creamy almond blossom note start to bloom. The woods never completely fade, but blend with the vanilla and almond blossom in a way that gives the blend a smooth, woodsy backbone. The comparisons to a high-end, gender-neutral cologne mentioned above make sense to me. Overall, sophisticated vanilla, amber, and woods. I might want a full bottle of this.
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In the decant: A strong whiff of black pepper, with a soft oud behind it. Woodsy and a bit traditionally masculine. As it wears, the pepper softens considerably and the toasted honey and bourbon vanilla amp up more. The toasted aspect keeps this honey note from getting high-pitched and adds some extra sweetness to the vanilla and oud. Overall, a sweet, musky, woodsy blend; it's almost like a more gender-neutral version of O that swaps the amber for deeper wood notes. I could see myself wearing this a lot in cooler weather and haven't ruled out a bottle purchase.
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This one had a rough start on me, with the white tea and narcissus going very screechy and astringent. After drydown, the high-pitched elements of the scent calm down a bit and the white tobacco and vetiver come out, giving a headier and more earthy impression. Agree that this scent has vintage, old-fashioned floral perfume vibes. I don't think I need a bottle, but will keep my decant.
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This is a Perfume About My Dog Eating Peaches
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Event Exclusive Oils
Finally, a peach note that behaves on me! The vanilla and marshmallow notes are most dominant on me, while the peach is a background player, adding a little extra fruity sweetness. It could be the combination of notes, but there's something warm about this peach note (like baked fresh peaches), in contrast to other peach blends that have gone syrupy and cloying on me. Overall impression is a pleasant, warm peaches-and-cream scent. -
In the decant, this is Snake Oil with a deep, intense, boozy peach. On my skin, the peach gets extremely loud and syrupy-sweet, almost overpowering the SO and, to my nose, clashing a bit with the SO notes. Going to pass this one on to someone whose skin chemistry likes peach better than mine does.
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Georgia Peach, Oakmoss, Sage, and Vetiver
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Event Exclusive Oils
In the bottle, this is a promising blend of sage and oakmoss -- deep, herbaceous greens, with a whiff of peach in the background. Unfortunately, once on my skin, the peach does what peach notes tend to do on me and gets overpoweringly, cloyingly sweet. Where the peach note complemented the greens in the bottle, on my skin the intensely sweet peach is an unpleasant contrast with the green notes. Tl;dr: Peach might be a death note for me.