puellacaerulea

I accidentally received a bottle of this in a sales snafu, but it ended up being a happy accident. A bit foody and classically autumnal -- mulled cider stands out the most, with a backdrop of warm, baked pumpkin. It's a little iffy with my skin chemistry -- it goes through a slightly plasticky phase at one point -- but it does eventually settle to that warm pumpkin and mulled cider again.

This is definitely a glowing, bright orange scent. I had forgotten that peach was a note in this until I opened this thread -- my impression was buttery and sweetened baked pumpkin along with the spices. The peach seems to give it that bright quality that makes this scent so evocative of a lit-up jack-o-lantern, though. It's borderline too sweet for me, but the spices help balance it out. It disappears fast, though -- I found myself reapplying within a couple of hours. It's like a cheerier, more fun take on a lot of the usual autumnal scents.

2011 version, which I apparently never got around to reviewing despite having had it in my stash all this time: This is a floral-musk blend with a bit of a classic perfume feel to it. This isn't what I normally think of when I think of gardenia -- it's not lush and tropical, but cool and watery. I'm guessing it's some combo of the muguet, white musk, and davana that's giving me that impression. I can see how one would read this as a kind of aquatic scent. No soapiness or sharpness here, just cool, slightly murky, appropriately Weenie-ish florals.

In the bottle, I don't get pumpkin so much as the chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnut, with a hint of coffee. Nutella and coffee, and I am here for it. When I put it on, the pumpkin amps up loudly for a bit, and the combination of notes is almost overwhelmingly sweet. It does eventually settle to something closer to the in-bottle scent -- buttery pumpkin swirled into a hazelnut latte, as opposed to a PSL. It needs to settle on my skin before I really enjoy it, but I do like the post-drydown result.

This one's a bit of a morpher. The dead leaf note starts out strong in this one -- intense, vegetal, wet fallen leaves. It's strong and almost sour initially, but as it dries down, the leaves soften and the vanilla and myrrh come out more. After drydown, it's a kind of somber, bittersweet vanilla with an undertone of dead leaves. It might just be the weather where I currently am, but something about it makes me think chilly, gray fall days. Pretty and evocative, and super long-lasting, which is fortunate given I don't start really liking this until it's dried down and gotten past the sour phase.

There are so many notes here that it's hard to differentiate them clearly. In the decant, it's more evergreen and wood notes with a hint of mulling spice. But as it wears, the mulling spices, pumpkin, wine, and fig take over. I definitely wouldn't call this Mainstream Fall Candle, though -- the spice is too subtle for that. It's like a sweet, lightly spiced mulled wine.

This one was a bit of a journey. In the decant, the spicy, floral carnation stands out first, with a bit of earthy patchouli. After application, the patchouli and frankincense amp up A LOT. It melds with the carnation in a way that's not only quite strong, but also reminiscent of stereotypical hippie patchouli. Over time, the patchouli calms down, and I get a softer, less spicy carnation with resinous frankincense backing it. Still, I'd probably steer clear if you have any reservations about patchouli.

As you might expect, all florals, all the time. Weirdly, it smells like honeysuckle in the decant. I dunno why. This reads as a little less of a fresh/green sort of floral to me than other floral duets/menages I've tried, but the lily of the valley keeps things just a little greenish. Still, I sniff it on me and keep picturing a big pink bouquet. Not quite my jam as florals go, but this is still one to try if you're very much Team Florals.

This one's definitely a morpher. It starts out with lavender and a hint of dark plum, but as it dries down, the lavender disappears and I get that same indolic quality, which I'm guessing is the jasmine. It's not full barnyard or anything, but it's a noticeable departure from the lavender. As it continues to wear, the lavender slowly creeps back in, but it's still primarily jasmine, with labdanum and slightly powdery mosses and a lavender undertone. Overall impression is that it's a pretty, somber floral; worth considering especially if you're a jasmine fan.

This is a fantastic light citrus/floral blend -- I can pick out all three notes in the decant, but none overwhelm the others. It's bright, herbaceous, citrusy, and just a little floral from the orange blossom. It goes slightly soapy after I apply it, but not enough so to be a dealbreaker. The only drawback is how fast the throw fades -- I can still faintly smell it on my wrists eight hours later (and at this stage, orange blossom stands out the most), but it stays *very* close to the skin after the first hour or so. Still, this one's slather-worthy. If you like all or even any of these notes, don't sleep on this one.

In my decant, I get a mix of cedarwood, faint vanilla, and the balsam adding a deep, slightly evergreen note. Woodsy but subtly sweet. Soooorta like Ü, if you swapped out the leatherbound book smell for cedar. If you're looking for something to assuage Cedarwood & Smoked Vanilla FOMO, this doesn't really fill that gap, but it's lovely in its own right...until I put it on. And then: pencil shavings. I had managed to evade cedar going to pencil shavings on me until today. This one was a skin chemistry fail on me, but I'll hang onto my decant for scent locket purposes.

Initial impression of this scent is exactly what Casablanca said, except the white mint also really does make me think of a peppermint patty that you just bit into. It's chilly, bright, and bracing eucalyptus and mint, with just a hint of lemon. As it dries down, the mint fades to a quieter, peppermint tea sort of note, and the lemon peel is barely there. Drydown on me is a subtly minty, cool eucalyptus. I like it more in the decant than I do on my skin, but I haven't ruled out a full bottle of this yet, mainly because I would love to experiment with this as a room scent.

I love all of these notes but wasn't sure how they'd work together, so I at least wanted to give a decant a go. In the decant, it's dark, chewy tobacco sweetened up by the benzoin and ylang ylang -- for lack of a better way to describe it, it's almost like slightly indolic bubblegum. As it dries down, the tobacco becomes the dominant note on me and that weird bubblegum-esque scent disappears. It's the same kind of chewy, darkly sweet tobacco from French Tobacco SN, but the benzoin and ylang seem to tone down the astringency of that version of tobacco and make it just a little lighter and sweeter. Basically, think post-drydown French Tobacco without having to power through the astringent phase.

This one starts out with a big blast of Lemon Pledge copal, but it settles down fast, letting the amber and cacao speak up. I wasn't sure what to expect with this combo of notes, but when the copal's just a faint background player, the cacao and amber play well together. This is primarily amber with a chocolate-y undertone -- the cacao warms and softens the amber, but doesn't overtake it. Over time, the cacao slowly amps up more. It's a warm, sweet-ish, surprisingly cozy scent.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a lavender/clove combo, but this works! The lavender stands out the most in the decant -- herbaceous with a slightly spicy edge that lends itself really well to the clove. The ambrette seed is a background player, adding a faint muskiness to the scent. Overall, it's a warm, subtly spicy take on lavender. My skin eats it up fast, though -- this one was gone within two hours.

This is very well-blended, and so it's tough to pick out individual notes. But: It starts out with a combo of cacao and deep earthy notes -- almost like patchouli, but that's not in the notes. I think the combo of the cacao, bourbon vetiver, and tobacco is giving me that impression, along with the musk. As it wears, the florals start to amp up, giving a subtle sweetness to the scent. I agree with reviewers above that the overall combination is sort of like BPAL's raw leather note, but also more than that. It's deep, musky, a little earthy, and definitely evocative of the name. I bet this one would do great with aging.

In the decant and once on, it's primarily lush, tropical vanilla floral. I didn't expect bergamot to play well with this kind of vanilla, but it really does -- the citrus is just a tad dissonant, but in a way that adds some complexity to the scent. The sandalwood is pretty subtle, adding a bit of dry softness to the scent. Over time, the bergamot and vanilla fade while the sandalwood remains constant -- hours later, I get a pretty soft sandalwood with a hint of that vanilla floral and bergamot behind it. Overall impression: lush vanilla floral, but the bergamot and sandalwood keep it from going into full dessert territory. A little on the sweet side, but the end result is great.

In the decant, it's dry, subtly sweet cocoa and sandalwood, not unlike Velvet. However. The second I put it on, the vetiver speaks up loudly and basically sucks all the air out of the room. So. Much. Vetiver. I still get a hint of the sandalwood/cocoa combo underneath, but this is primarily a deep, brown, earthy and slightly smoky vetiver. This one also has serious throw and staying power -- 8 hours later, I'm still drowning in clouds of vetiver. Not one to slather. I need to keep testing this and maybe try it in a scent locket to fully ascertain how I feel about it, but right now I'm vetiver'd out.

I love the smell of tomato leaf, so had to try a decant of this. It's definitely tomato leaf in the decant, green and slightly peppery. The black pepper mostly seems to intensify that slightly spicy aspect of the tomato leaf. So far, not picking up the hay. After it starts to dry down, I think I'm getting the hay in that the scent seems to warm up a little. Weirdly enough, the end result reminds me a lot of the Lab's dead leaf note, but lightened up for late summer/early fall. It's vegetal with a distinct peppery edge to it, but with a warmth to it that's distinct from the DL blends.

This one started out so promising in the decant -- a burst of peach and citrus sweetness, darkened by the amber. Very evocative of the description and label art. Unfortunately, this one was a skin chemistry fail on me -- I'm not sure which of the notes went off (I think maybe the peach), but the combo of the notes that went off and the amber became weirdly powdery and sour. It's great in the decant, though, so will hang onto it for scent locket purposes.

I went into this expecting something like O, and it does start out that way -- the honey is drier and more subtle than O, but combined with the cream, it's not dissimilar. The skin musk takes it into lighter territory, though. As it wears, the skin musk amps up and the cream and honey fade out -- they're there, but they're mostly giving the skin musk a slightly warm, toasty quality. It's basically a warm, slightly sweetened skin scent.

This is a really lovely, semi-sweet, golden scent. Even though this was the July lunacy, it feels 100% early autumn to me. It's very well-blended, but the hay, oatcakes, and amber stand out right away -- something about the amber and oatcakes blend makes it smell almost like vanilla, but this scent has a more dry, not fully foodie sweetness. The cardamom sneaks in later, adding a lightly spicy sweetness. I only wish it lasted longer -- a couple hours in, I'm mainly getting a faint whiff of hay, amber, and cardamom on my wrists.

This starts out as very strong fig and brown sugar -- extremely sweet and a little caramelized. The oak bark is nowhere to be found so far. As the scent wears, the intense sweetness tapers off, but it's still very figgy. The oak bark does start to make its way out a bit, adding a cool, grounding earthiness to the scent. Still, overall impression is that this is primarily a very sweet fig scent -- I think I was hoping for more oak bark. Still, if you love fig, this is one to try.

This one is fantastic. The orange blossom stands out most in the decant, but the vetiver and bergamot assert themselves more once on. The vetiver never gets too loud, smoky, or murky -- here it's understated, a deeper green counterpart to the bergamot. I was worried this would disappear instantly based on other reviewers' experience, but five hours in it's still there. This is a really fantastic, fresh and clean citrus and green scent, with a hint of white floral from the orange blossom. Has a sort of expensive, old-school cologne water vibe. I almost wish the orange blossom were stronger on my skin, but the end result is still awesome. Gonna need a full bottle of this.

Was recently frimped a decant of this. It's a lovely mix of rose and rosewood -- this rose manages not to turn to powder on me, and the rosewood adds depth and grounding. The vanilla is also noticeable. So, slightly creamy rose and subtle woods. Unfortunately, my skin eats this up fast -- it's gone within an hour. Still, I'll hang onto my decant.