puellacaerulea

Yep, this is muddy. In the decant I get a combo of cocoa and a distinct earth note (think the one from scents like Zombi). As it dries down, the earth note morphs into a wood note and then disappears entirely, leaving me with a dry cocoa scent with a slight creamy sweetness. I never do pick up the tobacco absolute. It's a fun scent, and go for it if you like cacao scents, but I don't need more than a decant.

This one starts out green tea and bright, somewhat antiseptic lemon peel. It's a fairly well-behaved lemon peel, though -- not Lemon Pledge, but not candied, too-sweet lemon peel, either. As it dries down, the lemon peel softens more and the green tea takes center stage. Overall, a simple, clean, bright green tea and citrus blend. It's a bit like Cooling Breeze with a citrus kick, or a simplified version of Shanghai. It could benefit from stronger throw and wear time (applied it in the morning and it was just the faintest whiff of green tea on my skin by mid-afternoon), but otherwise, no blind bottle regrets here.

Seconding that this is more floral than you might expect from the notes listed, but in a good way! I expected something dusty and powdery from a violet/orris/sandalwood combo, but this is surprisingly not that. This is probably one of the least powdery takes on violet and orris I've tried. It's subtly floral, slightly spicy violet, with some backbone from the sandalwood and cedar. I suspect this one's going to get less love than Muddy Armadillo and Judgmental Longhorn, which is too bad, as it's a very complex floral/wood blend without the powderiness and sharpness I got from similar scents like Violet & Pale Woods. I can see this blend aging well, too.

In the decant, I get cacao, tonka, amber, and brown musk. Once it's on, the vanilla and benzoin start amping up along with the musk -- I end up with a warm amber/vanilla/musk combo with a sort of creamy sweetness to it. It's like Year of the Ox without the wood and tobacco notes. The musk takes it into semi-masculine territory and gives it a slight expensive-cologne vibe, but I do think anyone could wear this.

As other reviewers have said, don't expect vanilla in this scent -- this is a soft, sophisticated floral scent. In the bottle, it's a creamy floral with a little stemmy greenness to it. It does go through a troubling sour phase it dries down, which (luckily) settles after drydown. It's a light, spring-friendly floral, but without the loudness or screechiness you can sometimes get from floral + green scents. Glad I was able to snag a secondhand bottle of this.

I got an imp of this secondhand, so I'm not sure how aged it is/if aging has had any impact on how it works on my skin. I'd always meant to try this one before it got discontinued but never got around to it, and came across an imp recently. It's ozoney, airy notes in the imp...and then it turns to some kind of high-pitched, sour plastic on my skin. It does eventually calm down, but once it does, I mainly just get a very faint whiff of white flowers and rain. Oh well, at least I finally got to try it.

In the imp, I get light citrus and maybe a hint of white floral, but white musk stands out the most. When I apply it, my skin mostly eats up the citrus notes and lemon verbena, leaving me with soft white musk and a bit of powdery sandalwood. Even without the citrus notes, it's still a pretty, inoffensive, spring-friendly scent. Apart from being a good springtime scent, I could see this being good for office situations or other places you might want an unobtrusive scent. Low-ish throw and medium wear. (NB: This is a lab fresh imp, so I'm curious to see if aging brings out the other notes more.)

Very fresh and green in the decant, with a blast of citrus and salt to brighten things up. The citrus fades fast on me, and I'm left with green notes that are just this side of Irish Spring on my skin, but the saltiness keeps it from going into full soap territory. I miss the citrus notes, but it's pleasant greens and salt air on my skin. Not sure if this is going to be a bottle purchase for me, but I'll keep using my decant.

I'm not a big fan of currant, but I like fig and really love neroli, so I wanted to at least give a decant of this a shot. It's very fruity and sweet, and just a little tart -- currant seems to be the predominant note, but the fig is definitely kicking up the sweetness. I never do pick up the neroli between the fruit notes. A little too sweet for my tastes, but if you like juicy fruit notes, you might enjoy this one.

In the decant, this starts off with a spicy blast of cardamom and black pepper, with the salt and wood notes just under it. On my skin, the spices fade fast, and the wood and salt notes get more pronounced and a little camphor-y. I never do pick up the patchouli and tonka. End result on my skin is camphor, woods and salt air, with a breath of spices underneath. Sort of like the Teakwood, Moss, and Salt Menage, but with the camphor toned down some and a bit of extra warmth from those faint spices.

In the decant, it's mostly strong, freshly ground coffee -- I think the Turkish coffee description is apt. Unfortunately, coffee bean notes can go a little weirdly sharp and powdery on me, and this one does that. The caramel does amp up and smooth out some of that sharpness -- it's not an intensely sweet caramel, but it's noticeable and does tone down the sharpness I'm getting from the coffee beans. Given the way the coffee note in this goes on me, probably going to stick with just my decant.

In the decant, this is a whole lot of heady, dreamy white florals, with moonflower and honeysuckle standing out in particular. It does remind me of Blue Moon, and maybe also Cold Moon minus the snow note. On my skin, the orris amps up and makes the scent a little powdery and adds a slightly bittersweet undertone (I think I might also be getting thyme here), while the honeysuckle gets understated. Several hours later, the florals have mostly faded, and I finally pick up a faint whiff of white mint and thyme. Not 100% sure if I need a full bottle of this, mainly because I like it better in the decant than I do on my skin (honeysuckle, come baaaaaack). Still, fans of white florals in general and honeysuckle in particular will probably enjoy this one.

In my decant and once on, I get a sweet, fresh, non-soapy mandarin. The osmanthus starts to come out more as it dries down and is pretty well-balanced with the mandarin -- it's a soft, gentle yellow floral, almost a little peach-like. No soapy, screechy, or intensely citrusy notes here. I do wish it had a little more staying power, but it's pleasant while it lasts. If you like the idea of a citrus floral but are worried about the notes getting out of hand, give this a shot.

This one did appeal to me both for the scent notes and the intention behind it. Starting with the scent: It starts out woods and bright resins and even something like camphor, which I'm attributing to the copal and elemi alongside the palo santo. On my skin, it settles to a very soft palo santo and sandalwood, very similar to the Palo Santo & Sandalwood Duet. Which is in no way a bad thing, as I find that a very calming and peaceful scent. I think I need to test it a few more times to really get a feel for how it works in terms of intention, but this blend really does have a gentle, calming quality.

Scent-wise, this starts out as a mix of citrus and resins, then settles to a sort of spiced coffee scent, with star anise being the most prominent of said spices. If you're interested in intent/energy on this one, I don't feel as qualified to speak to that, but I chose to wear this on what's currently my most chaotic/busy day of the work week. I did feel like I was handling things a little more easily, not in a relaxed way, but more in a riding-the-wave sort of way.