puellacaerulea

The myrrh and patchouli pop out at me first, incense-y and resinous. The other notes assert themselves quickly -- deep, green, mossy, and earthy notes all layered over the myrrh. Like incense mixed with freshly upturned earth and moss, in the best way possible. I recently started a small container garden, and just dabbed a little bit around the containers in hopes that the plants will get some benefit.

In the decant: Zingy pink grapefruit, with yuzu adding a touch of sweetness in the background. As it dries down, the white musk comes out more, adding some subtle grounding to the scent, but grapefruit is still very much the dominant note. If you like grapefruit, you'll love this. It's like a pared-down version of Bellicose Clam Alchemy Lab that swaps the lemony sweetness for all grapefruit, all the time. It does settle and fade pretty fast, but this might be a plus if you're looking for something that'll stick close to the skin. I wish it maintained a stronger throw for longer, but haven't ruled out a bottle purchase.

This one's a morpher for sure. In the decant, I get herbaceous lavender and a big wallop of corn-chip salt. Once it's on, the salt mellows and gets less corn-chippy, blending well with the lavender. The rain note is barely there at this stage, but it slowly amps up over the first hour or so of wear. At a certain point, it almost overtakes the salt. I do really like the end result -- a cool, atmospheric lavender/rain combo with a hint of salt. Unfortunately, my skin seems to eat it up -- it's mostly faded after two hours. Not totally sure if I'd spring for a full bottle, but will definitely keep using my decant.

In the imp: Woodsy notes (not necessarily pine/evergreen, just woods) and waxy, sweet berries. This doesn't morph much over time, and is surprisingly subtle -- it's definitely forest-like, but there's no Pine-Sol to be found here. Overall, a very low-key woodsy scent, something possibly worth seeking out if you're curious about forest scents but are wary of excessive evergreen notes.

I wasn't sure about 13 sugars, but I was curious enough to snag a decant. It starts out aggressively, cloyingly sweet, and almost fruity. Fortunately, it does mellow out after a bit -- the throw gets less intense, and the sweetness starts to morph into a more warm, subtle, molasses-like scent. Probably not something I'm going to reach for regularly, but I'm glad I tried it.

In the bottle, I get a musky vanilla floral with a strong side of smoke (think campfire smoke) and leather. There's a brief period of intense smokiness after I apply it, but it settles down quickly. If anything, my skin seems to eat up the smoke and leather -- after that initial super smoky period, the smoke and leather have almost completely faded, leaving me with a sweet vanilla floral. Which is nice, but I wish the smoke and leather were a little more prominent. Might give this one a try in a scent locket.

In the imp, the chocolate and lilac jump out at me. Once applied, the chocolate disappears almost immediately, and the other notes start to amp up, especially the oakmoss, wild lettuce, and violet leaf. The lilac's still there, but it's understated among a series of light, delicate green notes, with the orris giving it a slight powdery note. I never do pick up the coconut. Overall impression after drydown is delicate florals and greens.

In the bottle: Exactly what it says on the tin. Fresh, slightly green, slightly nectar-y pure honeysuckle. It takes a very faint powdery edge once on, but it's not super noticeable, and morphs very little otherwise. Medium-ish throw, and pretty good staying power (7 hours later, it's still faintly detectable on my wrists). Spring and early summer in a bottle, basically; glad I came across a secondhand bottle.

In the bottle, the first impression is clove, then soft leather, then black tea. The leather might stand out to me more because this reminds me a fair bit of Dead Leaves, Raw Leather, Bourbon Vanilla, & Clove, and so that leather/clove combo is familiar to me. Comparing what's in the bottle to how it fared on my skin, there's a slight sweetness in the bottle that gets lost on my skin. This doesn't morph significantly otherwise, staying mostly clove-forward with black tea (no milk or other spices here) and leather. It's definitely a soft, worn leather note, not the sharp smell you can sometimes get with black leather notes. This does lean a bit more traditionally masculine, but will definitely be putting it in my rotation come fall.

Oh wow. This is the closest thing I've gotten to a genuine old library/old books scent. In the bottle, I pick up soft, worn leather and dusty vanilla. The balsams amp up once on, and something also seems to shift with the leather, sharpening the scent considerably. I also start picking up slightly green, mossy notes at this stage (the balsams?), and the vanilla takes a backseat. Fortunately, as it wears, the vanilla creeps back in and softens the scent. Again, it's super evocative of old libraries to my nose -- sort of tweedily sophisticated and gender neutral. Great throw, especially in the first few hours of wear (I spent all morning on Zoom calls and was getting distracted by the scent wafting up from my wrists), along with really good wear length. While I like this a bit better in the bottle than I do on my skin, it's still great. I got this bottle secondhand, but I might have to go to the museum on my next trip home (here's hoping it'll be open again by then) for a backup.

In the imp: Yup, that's pomegranate and rose. Simple, fresh-smelling rose along with juicy pomegranate. The notes are balanced well, and this doesn't morph significantly, apart from rose's tendency to go a little powdery on me. The pomegranate note isn't overly sweet, and if anything it kind of tempers the rose note and gives it an almost solemn aspect, which seems apropos for the inspiration for this scent. (My imp is a few years old, so that might be why I'm finding this less intensely sweet than others did.) I could see this being a good rose scent for autumn.

In the imp, I get a surprisingly light, sweet take on juniper -- that might be the lotus providing the sweetness. Once it's on, the juniper amps up almost immediately, deepening and darkening the scent instantly. The mint's there, too, but it's playing second fiddle to the juniper, while the lotus has all but disappeared. I'd call this more a refreshing, evergreen-like juniper than I would an aquatic. I can see this working well in hot weather.

In the imp: Heady, steamy florals. Yup, that's magnolia. Once it's on, the musk (it reads like red musk to me) and spice amp up a lot -- I never quite pick out the mandarin. The spice is a little heavier than I'd like, but it doesn't overwhelm the florals. It has more of a classic perfume vibe to it, but the florals are lush in a way that evokes hot, humid summer nights. Going to pass on a full bottle since I can only see myself reaching for this on rare occasions, but will keep my imp.

This one starts off as a soft, watery, purple floral. Once it's on, the orris comes out in a big way, blending with the violet and mostly overtaking the lotus. The end result is a powdery, orris-heavy violet. A little too powdery for me, but I'll keep the decant for when I want this kind of subdued floral.

This is for a well-aged imp of Titania (not sure exactly how old, but pretty sure it's 2010 or earlier). It doesn't seem significantly different from how I remember it when I first got it -- intensely grape- and pear-forward, with florals in the background. While it manages to avoid being sickly sweet, the fruit notes are really intense on me, mostly overwhelming the florals. Unfortunately, this one just isn't for me.

I always regretted not getting this during its original run, so I was glad to recently snag a secondhand bottle. It's warm, soft, and nutty -- very much a harvest scent. While the vanilla, honey, hay, and nut notes are prominent, the vetiver adds a fantastic smoky complexity that keeps this from going full gourmand. It's warm and cozy, but more in a nutty, slightly smoky way than a sweet, vanilla-forward way. This is definitely going in my rotation come fall.

This one starts off very fresh and citrusy, with the mandarin adding a hint of sweetness to the yuzu, grapefruit, and lemon. After applying, the white musk amps up a lot, balancing out the citrus and keeping it from getting too aggressive. By drydown, it's primarily a clean white musk brightened up with citrus in the background. Would make a great warm weather scent.

In the decant, it's mostly honeysuckle with a hint of other light florals. Once it's on, the cream note starts to come out and blends surprisingly well with the honeysuckle. It doesn't morph much after that -- think light, pretty spring florals softened with a hint of cream. It does have a bit of a younger vibe to it, but that might be because it reminds me of a perfume I had as a teen in the late 90s, the name of which I can't recall anymore. Worth trying if you like honeysuckle blends.

In the decant and after applying, the fir is definitely the most dominant note on me. The mugwort and tobacco flower eventually start to push through the fir a bit, adding a faint but distinct yellow floral note to the fir and woods. Very much a forest scent, evocative of late winter (which is probably when I'd most want to wear a scent like this).

In the decant, it's fairly loud honey and florals. Once it's on, though, the orris comes out and the honey and florals calm down, softening things up considerably. Of the notes, the star jasmine and orris stand out most to me after drydown -- I'd call this a soft, somewhat dusty jasmine. Definitely evocative of something soft, white, and fluffy.

Grass notes can be hit or miss on me, so definitely wanted to test a decant of this first. In the decant, the grass jumps out at me the most. Once I apply, the coconut, fig, and vanilla amp up more, though grass and orange blossom seem to be the dominant notes. It's like a combo of fresh, springlike grass and orange blossom with fruity, creamy tropical notes lurking just underneath. Fortunately, the grass isn't a skin chemistry fail on me. I wish it had a little more staying power -- about 5 hours after applying, I'm just getting a faint hint of coconut and fig. Still, it's a really pretty and unique scent, somewhere between spring and summer.

This starts out as a very true herbal, somewhat astringent lavender, with just a hint of honey. This honey's different from the BPAL honey note I'm used to, but I might just be having trouble differentiating it from the beeswax. As time goes on, the honey sweetness amps up, but it's more like crystallized honey or honeycomb -- again, distinct from the BPAL honey note I'm used to. The end result is that honeycomb scent over a backdrop of very herbal lavender. I'm not sure if I need a full bottle of this, but hanging on to my decant.

Oh god it's so good. In the decant, I get a blast of ylang ylang. Once it's on, a really nice, creamy, not-too-sweet vanilla amps up and blends fantastically with the ylang ylang. The sandalwood is subtle, but it's there under the ylang ylang and vanilla. Eventually, the ylang ylang seems to get stronger tha the vanilla again, but the notes are so well balanced that it doesn't make a huge difference. Overall, a sweet, creamy, sexy vanilla floral. Bottle-worthy for sure.

… However, this bottle was not marked `poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off. This is definitely a weird one. In the imp, I mostly get the buttery/gourmand notes -- not getting cherry or most of the other scent notes. After some time on, it does turn into something that's reminiscent of roasted meat. Super weird. It eventually fades, going back to a sort of buttery, sugary scent.

In the imp, I get mostly fig, but toned down and made a little dusty by the dry cocoa and wood notes. This doesn't morph much as it wears -- the main impression is a subtly sweet fig paired with a dry, non-sweet cocoa. The woods are there, but they don't get overpowering. The comparisons to Velvet make sense to me, just a little drier and with fig in the mix. Unfortunately, this one fades really fast on me.