puellacaerulea
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Everything posted by puellacaerulea
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In the bottle, this is tea rose with a hint of something sort of high-pitched and medicinal (a quality I usually associate with mugwort as a note). However, once applied, that medicinal quality fades and the tea rose and honey amp up fast. I don't pick up much black tea in this -- on my skin, this is mostly soft, honeyed tea rose with a soft, sort of mallow-like note behind them (I don't know what notes go into the silk accord, but I'm guessing that's what I'm smelling). Reminds me a bit of TAL Rose-Tinted Mirror.
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Oakmoss, White Sage, and Woodland Fern
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This one's similar to the Fern, English Ivy, & Oakmoss Ménage in that it's a very deep, mossy green blend rather than a bright, grassy one. What differentiates this one is the white sage, which ups the herbaceousness and adds a light, almost effervescent herbal note on top of the deep greens. It does go slightly powdery as it wears, but not unpleasantly so. Reminds me a little bit of the Pré de Provence sage soap. -
The lime and cucumber are the strongest presences here. This is a very tart, dry lime note that makes me think more of dried lime zest than fresh lime. The cucumber note keeps the whole thing in refreshing rather than unpleasantly tart territory, though. The freesia is a bit hard to detect, but there is a subtle floral note under the lime and cucumber. I don't need more than my decant, but I'll be reaching for this one this summer.
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Pretty much a perfect spring/summer green floral. Fresh, bright dandelion and stemmy greenness. Smells like being outside in a dandelion-filled yard. Very glad I found a bottle of this.
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This one starts off with fresh, sweet-tart green apple. As it wears, the floral notes and skin musk slowly amp up, so that by drydown it's more of a soft skin musk and apple blossom blend. Pretty and spring-friendly.
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I do get the impression of old, dusty bookcases from this blend, with the oak and leathers notes standing out while the sandalwood slowly amps up as it dries down. This scent has a dusty bitterness to it that is accurate to the description, but ultimately I have other old-books scents in my collection that I like a bit more.
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This one is deep, mossy, herbaceous greens. These aren't the super bright, grassy, slightly bitter greens I associate with BPAL's grass and lettuce notes. These green notes are much deeper and darker, but still clean. Oakmoss can go slightly woolly and powdery on me, and it does here, but it doesn't really detract from the overall clean impression. It is just slightly soapy, but not in an in-your-face, Irish-Spring sort of way. This reads as a very much all-gender green scent to me.
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Sandalwood, Lime, and Tahitian Ginger
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one -- I think I expected more fresh lime, but my skin amps the sandalwood in a way that makes the lime very dry (more dried lime peel than fresh lime). There's something oddly antiseptic about this to my nose, and I don't know if it's the way the sandalwood is interacting with the lime, or the ginger (I'm assuming this note is ginger flower rather than root, which I'm less familiar with). The comparisons to aftershave make sense to me and might be what I'm reading as vaguely antiseptic. -
Tuberose, Wild Tobacco Flower, and Red Clover
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This blend is definitely white florals, but more low-key and restrained than loud and heady (and zero screechiness here). There's a creamy tuberose and tobacco flower, but there's something almost dusty about this blend that I don't tend to associate with big white florals. I'm having a hard time picking out the red clover specifically, but I'm wondering if it's contributing to what my brain insists is dustiness (maybe a deeper green note is happening here?). It's not the elusive tuberose scent of my dreams, but I like it well enough to keep my partial. -
Black Pepper, White Sage, and Tea Rose
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This one's more tea rose and sage than pepper -- the pepper's not noticeably sharp or spicy, but just adds a very subtle roundness to the scent. This is mostly light, fresh, pink rose notes with cool, herbaceous sage. The sage doesn't exactly blend with the rose -- my experience of sniffing this is more "oh, there's rose! and now sage! and now rose!", but the sage seems to ground the rose and help keep it fresh rather than powdery. Overall, a really lovely, light, fresh herbal rose scent. It does give expensive soap, but I mean that in the best way possible. This will probably get a lot of wear from me this spring, and I might want more than the partial I currently have. -
This one is warm amber, woods, and cream, with a kick of black pepper in the background. Overall, a warm, brown, floofy scent with a bit of spicy bite. It's pleasant, but I have other blends in my collection that scratch my itch for this particular scent family. Fans of scents like Judgmental Longhorn and Year of the Ox might enjoy this one.
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This one leads with heavy, polished mahogany, which gives me a distinct scent memory of (of all things) the smell I'd be hit with as I walked into my grandparents' house. As it wears, the black musk and amber amp up. On my skin, this is more heavy woods and musks than florals, but that said, red musk does tend to overwhelm everything else on my skin. A little too heavy for my liking, but I did appreciate the scent flashback to my grandparents' furniture.
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The rose notes in this scent are fresh and heady, with a slight lemony edge that the Oman frankincense complements well. The sandalwood is soft and adds some grounding. Feels very vintage, classic, and romantic.
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In the decant: Very dewy and green, but with a bitterness that's a bit off-putting. As it wears, the bitterness calms down, and the white musk softens the greenness a bit. I do like it once the bitter edge comes off the green notes, but the very low throw and short wear time might keep me from getting more than a decant. Fans of scents like Cholorophyll and Sprouting Grass Moon may like this one.
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Testing this one was a journey! In the decant, it's greens and juniper. Once it goes on, the leather and oud really amp up, and a slight smokiness enters the scent. At this point, it's leaning noticeably masc. After drydown is where this scent really shines. The smokiness and the leather note calm down, and the green tea, mint, and citrus notes reassert themselves. The oud is still a strong presence, but it's non-indolic -- just a sort of creamy woodiness that complements the leather note. (The juniper also pretty much disappears on drydown, but I don't particularly miss it.) After drydown, this is a really beautiful interplay of light, clean, green notes and more grounded leather/oud. It smells gender-neutral and expensive. I have to wait until drydown for this blend to get to a place where I like it, but once it's there, it's great. I don't have anything quite like this in my collection and will probably want more of it.
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This one is beachy coconut first and foremost, amped up by the pearl accord and orris. There are hints of clean (as opposed to salty) aquatic notes in the background, but the coconut is strongest on my skin. I'll keep my decant for summer wear, but I think I was hoping for this to be a little more aquatic-forward.
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This is the cool, creamy, slightly minty snow note from scents like Almond Blossom, with a bit of pink pepper adding spicy brightness. As it wears, the "smoldering" aspect of the scent starts to come out -- a noticeable smokiness starts to overtake the snow note. Well after drydown, I'm mostly getting pink pepper and smoke.
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This starts out as a warm, brown scent between the musk and tonka (a la Judgmental Longhorn), but there's something weirdly sharp and overpowering about this blend on my skin. It might be the amber and mandarin along with the other notes, but this was more sharp, intense musk on me than warm and cozy.
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I was prepared to dislike this one based on the strong, sweet almond note in the decant, but the full complexity of the scent comes out on my skin. The black tea and lemon peel are light and astringent, but they're grounded by distinctly chewy patch and tobacco notes that complement each other well. The oud is hard to detect and doesn't go noticeably indolic on me, but there is a smooth woodiness going on alongside the patch and tobacco. This is an unusual but really appealing scent -- the interplay of the lighter black tea and lemon with the darker, deeper, sweeter notes makes this feel like a distant cousin of Dorian to me. Haven't ruled out a bottle purchase.
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This one starts off with loud, sweet-tart cranberry, but as it wears, the cranberry calms and a clean, just vaguely soapy skin musk emerges. This is more of a skin musk with a faint hint of cranberry on my skin. I can pass on a full bottle, but I'll keep my decant.
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Avocado, Lemongrass, and White Musk
puellacaerulea replied to Silvertree's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This one starts out almost like a lemongrass SN on me, but there's more to it. I've never tried a perfume with an avocado note, so I can't say I can place it specifically, but there's something subtly creamy behind the lemongrass that makes me think avocado. As it wears, the lemongrass calms down and the white musk amps up, such that it's eventually more of a white musk with a pale green lemongrass edge. Fresh and clean, and I can see the comparison to Avobath or just a general Lush product vibe. Good throw and staying power. This one's a keeper for me. -
Cabbage accord was a hard sell, but this blend worked out surprisingly well for me! It opens with watery greenness, with just a little bit of cruciferous-veggie funk that really is evocative of green cabbage. The cabbage accord is never overpowering, though -- the green musk and cucumber notes keep the scent a more watery, grassy, fresh sort of green. This is a green blend that manages to be vegetal, grassy, and watery all at once. I can see myself wearing this in warmer weather.
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This leads with lavender in the decant, with white florals and luminous blue musk behind it. As it wears, it's mostly a lavender-heavy twist on white floral blends, with the orris adding a slightly powdery softness. It's pleasant enough, but doesn't really wow me. This might work well for someone who likes the idea of white florals but tends to find them too loud -- the lavender and orris keep the florals from getting out of hand.
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Old book smell, but make it extra cozy. This starts off heavy on the woods, old paper, and leather -- it's a somewhat sharp leather note, but it slowly mellows as it wears. The old paper is the most prominent note, and it's extra vanillic. There's not a beeswax note listed, but there's a slight sweetness behind the old paper notes that reminds me a lot of beeswax. If you like the idea of an old-books scent but found Ü too dusty or heavy on the balsam, this could be a good alternative.
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This started out promising in the decant, with the citrus notes (with the mandarin balancing out the tartness of the lime and bergamot) and tea standing out. Unfortunately, on my skin, the plum amps up and overtakes the whole blend -- sweetly fruity, but also weirdly spicy, in an autumn-potpourri sort of way. I may hold onto my decant for scent locket use, because while I do like it in the decant, my skin takes the plum note and does unpleasant things with it.