puellacaerulea
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Everything posted by puellacaerulea
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Palo Santo and Frankincense
puellacaerulea replied to Belladonnastrap's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Skipped this one during its original run and later, after learning that I really like palo santo as a note, grabbed a secondhand bottle. In the bottle and once applied, it's soft, dry palo santo with distinctly lemony and anise-y undertones, along with smooth frankincense. I was worried about the palo and frankincense combo being too heavy, but the frankincense mostly adds a resinous depth without getting too dark or heavy for everyday wear. I'd probably find this too resinous if the frankincense ended up becoming the dominant note, but on my skin it's a background player to the palo santo. Overall, soft, dry, cool palo santo, subtly deepened with frankincense. Glad to have tracked some down to add to my growing palo santo collection. -
This one starts with a fresh-laundry cotton note -- fresh, but borderline screechy and astringent. The marshmallow (which initially almost put me off this scent) shows up after application and adds some sweetness, but it doesn't get cloying -- instead it helps tone down the sharpness of the cotton note. The frankincense is very subtle, but it adds a smoothness at the base of the scent that helps the whole blend hold together. Overall, a fresh cotton blend that could work in both spring and fall.
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This starts off a balance of herbaceous lavender and green notes. As it dries down, the lichen note amps up and becomes dominant -- it's clean, fresh, green, and kind of soapy in combination with the lavender, but not in an unpleasant way.
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Took a chance on a decant of this despite BPAL's white tea note often going too astringent on me. White tea and neroli are the most obvious notes at the outset. While I do get a brief astringent phase with the white tea, it fades on the drydown, leaving a very pale, light neroli with a little extra white floral punch from the champaca petals. Overall, a pale, bright, low-key white floral that sticks very close to the skin. On the fence about whether I need a 5ml of this, but I'll definitely keep my decant for warm-weather wear.
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Olibanum, Australian Sandalwood, & Blue Tansy
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
So I went for a decant of this one because TAL Isychia taught me that I do in fact really love blue tansy as a note. This scent is complex and morphs several times during its wear time. It starts out with deep, resinous, slightly sweet frankincense, with the blue tansy adding a bright, herbaceous floral note. As it dries down, a dry, soft sandalwood note amps up and calms down the resins. Eventually, after drydown, the frankincense becomes dominant again, but there's a faint breath of fuzzy sandalwood behind it, while the tansy is still there adding brightness. It's beautiful and complex, but the resin notes are dominant enough that I'm not sure I'd reach for it often enough for a full bottle. -
This blend is a cozy, warm, hazelnut-forward scent. The hazelnut cream and wool notes are at the forefront, but the cedar and vetiver are definite background presences, taking this blend beyond "cozy semi-gourmand" territory. The vetiver isn't loud or smoky, but blends with the cedar in a way that adds a deep, smooth woodsiness in the background. Still primarily a warm, cozy scent, but with a backbone that sets it apart.
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Cool, clean sage and bright, slightly tart lime. The sage starts off a little sharp, but calms down as it dries down. Simple and fresh.
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This blend starts out gardenia-forward, with the labdanum giving it a heavily resinous edge that reads almost medicinal alongside the gardenia. As it wears, the labdanum overtakes the gardenia -- more dark resin with a hint of white floral than the other way around. I'm not loving the medicinal quality I'm getting from the labdanum, so this one may go to swaps.
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Vanilla Husk, Nutmeg, & Hay Absolute
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This blend is warm but dry, non-foodie vanilla, with a bit of added warmth and sweet earthiness from the hay absolute. The nutmeg slowly amps up on me as it dries down, adding extra sweetness to the vanilla, but not going into full-blown gourmand territory. Overall, a warm, approachable vanilla blend. Haven't tried Antique Lace, so can't make comparisons there, but lovers of Hay Moon or Cedarwood & Smoked Vanilla will probably also enjoy this. -
In the decant and on my skin, the bourbon tobacco is the more prominent note -- dark, sweet, chewy, just a little astringent. The bergamot is a background player but is definitely there, adding a slight but distinct citrus brightness and astringency that plays well with the tobacco. Tobacco lovers shouldn't miss this one. Considering a full bottle for my fall/winter rotation.
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Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin -- soft, slightly powdery orris and gentle white musk. This is a pale, low-key, very understated scent. Sticks close to the skin, but has great staying power. It's very pretty in its simplicity. Might be a bottle purchase for me.
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2021 version: I don't know if it's something with my skin chemistry, but this was much, much different than what I expected. I pictured something lavender-forward (and lavender is more prominent in the decant), but once it's on, the pale amber and ambergris amp up in a way that is -- surprisingly -- like a kind of vanillic, old-books smell. It took me straight back to rooting through the small under-the-stairs closet where my aunt stored all the old board games at her beach house. While I love the scent memory, it's not necessarily what I want to smell like day-to-day, so just going to stick with my decant.
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This is a really gorgeous, mature, unique rose blend. This is a deep, dark red, jammy rose, backed up with soft, almost lemony palo santo. Rose often goes powdery on me, but this one doesn't -- I don't know if it's this specific rose note or that the palo santo is balancing out any powderiness. Over its wear time (which is very long; this stayed strong on me for over 12 hours), the rose slowly softens, gets less jammy, and fades in favor of the palo. This is likely to be a bottle upgrade for me just because I don't often find rose scents that don't go to baby powder on me, and I don't have any rose blends quite like this in my stash.
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Had high hopes for this one based on the violet, cashmere musk, and oakmoss, but the lychee ended up kind of spoiling this scent for me. My skin amped it hard and it went sickly sweet, combining with the ozonic notes in a way that just made me think of menthol-cherry cough drops. After drydown, the fruitiness does settle a little bit and lets some of the softer musk and violet notes come out, but I still can't shake the ozone and fruit impression.
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For a hot second I thought this would be what fills the Phantasm-shaped hole in my heart. It starts out with a big blast of lemon verbena, neroli, and white musk -- bright, herbaceous, and citrusy, almost exactly how I remember Phantasm. As it dries down, the green cognac, frank, and plum start to come out, adding a fruity, sweet, resinous quality that eventually shoves the citrus and herbaceous notes into the background. Like most non-citrus fruits, the plum comes out a little too sweet for my nose, so this is staying in decant-only territory for me.
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2020 version: In the decant and during wear, this is fireplace smoke and sweet tobacco, heavy on the cherry. The leather is more of a background player, but is there, balancing out the cherry and smoke notes. Whatever image you have of a very old-school study in your head, this probably matches it. Cozy and evocative of a winter study, but definitely not a thing I would wear regularly (because it is also quite strong). Keeping my decant around for when I want some cozy vibes on winter weekends at home, and agree that this could make a great room scent.
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This scent opens with a blast of harsh, dryer-sheet lavender -- not sure if that's the lavender alone or the ocean spray note contributing. Luckily, the harshness fades as it dries down, and then the ambergris comes out to soften the scent some more. Overall, a salty aquatic with a clean lavender edge to it. My impression throughout was "oh, this is like the Lavender, Sea Salt, & Rain Trio except with ambergris!" I need to deathmatch it with said trio to see if I'm correct on that one, but if you liked Lavender, Sea Salt, & Rain, there's a pretty good chance you'll like this, too.
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This is an ambergris-forward aquatic, with the kelp adding extra green aquatic depth. There's an ozone-y note adding a cool, airy, almost citrusy quality to the scent that helps contribute to the impression of fog rising off of the ocean. It's a little short-lived on my skin, which might be the only thing holding me back from getting a full bottle.
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This starts out with the oily, fried dough smell from Please Scream Inside Your Heart, paired with a strong, boozy coffee liqueur note. As it dries down, the fried dough note fades, the coffee gets less boozy, and chocolate and cream notes come out. This dries down to a really pleasant cocoa, coffee, and cream scent. Probably my favorite of this round of Black Friday frimps and will keep it on hand for when the gourmand mood hits.
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Trumpet Honeysuckle & Lemon Beebalm
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
On me, this one is distinctly floral, heady, slightly indolic honeysuckle brightened up and balanced out with herbaceous, green citrus notes. The beebalm is distinctly lemony but not aggressive, and is herbal in a way that reminds me of verbena. Bright, sunny, and green in a way that makes you think of summer and growing things. -
In the bottle, this is a warm, golden sandalwood and gourd scent. No pumpkin spice here, just sweet, golden, almost buttery pumpkin. There's also a hint of toasted pumpkin seeds coming through to my nose. It goes through a rough, slightly plasticky phase as it dries down, but it then calms down into a warm, soft sandalwood with golden, sweet pumpkin. Good throw and staying power, and surprisingly complex for just sandalwood and pumpkin.
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This one starts out with a surprisingly fresh, clean wool note dominating, with a breath of the DL note in the background (which, as it turns out, pairs well with that clean fabric scent). It starts out fairly chilly, but after drydown, the amber and black tea/cream come out a bit more and give the wool scent a warmer, softer quality and keeps the wool note from going full dryer sheets. A cozy and evocative take on my beloved DL blends.
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As the scent goes: Lavender! So much lavender. There's also a little bit of poofy vanilla, but this is a much more herbaceous scent than TKO. The hops and tansy are adding to the stronger, more herbaceous impression the lavender gives. If you find TKO a little too sweet, this would be a great alternative. I'm a notoriously light sleeper and I do seem to wake up less frequently when I use this. I like this enough as a sleep blend that I'm seriously considering a backup. (As a side note, this blend has more plant material in the bottle than any TAL I've tried so far! Lots of lavender buds letting you know this blend will involve a good punch of lavender.)
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Scent-wise, this is very much a sweet orange scent backed with lots of herbaceous notes. The lavender and rose geranium are more herbaceous than sweet, just a little camphor-y, but don't veer into medicinal-smelling territory. Intention-wise, slathered it through several days of holidays that were heavy on the family drama, and I like to think the uplifting nature of this blend helped with powering through it all.
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This is a gorgeous, sophisticated (and expensive-smelling) citrus/resin blend. If anything, I expected a stronger citrus kick based on the description, but the citrus notes seem to come more from the orange and lemon blossom than the blood orange and orange peel. Between that and the ambrette adding a slight muskiness, the citrus is bright, but surprisingly restrained. Over time, the citrus notes fade into the background, leaving a sweetly resinous scent with the ambrette and sweet myrrh dominating. I wish the citrus notes stuck around through the whole wear time, but the resinous phase is so pretty it doesn't really matter.