puellacaerulea

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.

Peach and patchouli aren't notes I generally like, but they work weirdly well here! The peach is sweet and fruity, but not quite cloying, while the patchouli adds some incense-y weight to it. The amber and musk are mainly a backdrop, adding some warmth to the scent. It's a little heavier than what I normally would want to wear, but I'm keeping the imp around for when the mood for a peachy scent strikes.

In the imp: Mostly lotus, but the rose is there. Once it's on, the lotus does some very weird morphing, getting cloyingly sweet on me. It does eventually die down and give way to a slightly powdery rose with a calmer lotus in the background. The end stage is okay, but I'm not a fan of that intensely sweet lotus stage.

In the imp: Light, surprisingly delicate white florals. It goes slightly powdery once on, but overall it stays white florals -- no one note stands out. Appropriately for the scent description, this is very light and low-throw. Unfortunately, my skin eats it up -- it's barely detectable after a couple hours.

In the imp, I get lots of almond, with a bit of musk and florals. Here for it. Unfortunately, the almond fades pretty fast, and I'm left with mostly sandalwood and musk, with a bit of somewhat powdery florals. The almond is still very faintly there, but it's not the presence it was in the imp. While I don't dislike the end result, there's something kind of traditional-perfume about the drydown stage that makes me think I'm not likely to reach for it too often (I think Ava's more likely to be my go-to when I'm in the mood for an almond-floral combo).

Testing an aged imp that I never got around to reviewing. In the imp, I get mostly fig with just a bit of woody undertones. Once on, the rooty, woody notes amp up for a time before the fig takes center stage again. This is primarily a soft, sweet fig scent -- the woody notes are there, but they're pretty subtle. It also has great staying power -- this stayed strong on my skin for a good 12ish hours.

In the imp, I mostly get violet -- it's that kind of violet that's watery, yet a little spicy at the same time. As it wears, violet stays dominant (and gets very slightly powdery), with hints of lilac coming through after drydown. I never manage to pick out the tuberose. Overall impression is that it's a springlike floral, but think cool, dark, rainy spring days.

Definitely evokes the warmth and sweetness mentioned in the description. In the decant and for some time after applying, this comes across as primarily fresh, real rose. This morphs slowly over time -- first I get more florals, then, later, slightly creamy, vanilla-like notes (the benzoin and bourbon vanilla, maybe?) start coming out a bit, though rose stays the dominant note throughout. Pretty strong throw, and lasts for hours.

In the decant: Creamy, boozy chocolate and vanilla, with just a hint of pepper. Once it's on, it goes through a plasticky phase, and while this does go away on drydown, the chocolate mostly goes with it. The end result is a sort of peppery vanilla with a hint of whiskey -- surprisingly sophisticated! I'm pretty okay with the end result after the initial plasticky phase, but I don't need more than a decant.

In the decant: Sweet red musk and heady amber. It has an expensive, sophisticated, traditional perfume vibe to it, and for some reason my mind keeps jumping to the color magenta when I sniff it. It goes slightly powdery on me as it dries down, but otherwise morphs very little. Think what you'd wear for a fancy night out, date night, etc. This isn't the kind of thing I'd wear often enough to justify a full bottle, but will hold onto my decant for special occasions.

2020 version: In the decant, I'm getting mostly honey with a whiff of Snake Oil. As it dries down and develops more, the vanilla cream starts to come out more, and the spicy, resinous S.O. notes also start to amp up more. It's really well blended -- while the overall scent softens with wear, the honey and vanilla never quite overpower the S.O., or vice versa. If you like the idea of Snake Oil but find it too heavy/incense-y for everyday wear (which is why I don't reach for my imp of it that often), this might be one to try -- it's like a warm, sweet, cozy version of S.O. that's a bit less heavy on the resins. I might need a full bottle for when cooler weather comes back again.

2020 version: So I never understood what people were talking about when they talked about p'oud. This was never an issue I'd had with oud blends before. Reader, I now know what people are talking about when they talk about p'oud. In the decant, it's a very true, fresh rose with just a slight hint of woody backdrop. Then I applied it, and then p'oud happened. That weird, vaguely fecal smell does eventually settle down and I get rose with slightly hay-like woods, but that fecal stage is a bit tough to power through. I'll hold onto my decant because I want to see how it fares in a scent locket, but can pass on a full bottle.

In the decant, it's all soapy florals, but it develops fantastically once on. The ambrette seed, vetiver, and sandalwood amp up a ton (there's also just a faint hint of smokiness there), balancing out the white florals and creating something both comforting and sophisticated. It's probably because my skin's really amping the ambrette seed, but it reads to me like a lighter version of Wander Darkling in the Eternal Space, minus the myrrh and with more floral oomph. I might need a full bottle of this.