puellacaerulea

The rose in this is very much a fresh rose -- light, juicy, and reads as pink to me. There's a bit of greenish dandelion behind it that comes out more after drydown and the rose (which goes a little intense and jammy, for lack of a better word, on my skin) calms down. Overall, very fresh, dewy summer florals. It fades fast on me, and I'm not sure I'd reach for this often enough to justify a full bottle, but will hold onto my decant.

This one starts out with rich red sandalwood and rose, with a whiff of vanilla underneath -- sweet and kind of girlish. Once I apply it, though, things start going wrong. A fruity note that is both sickly-sweet and sour on my skin amps up and clashes hard with the sandalwood and rose. I'm guessing it's the prune. While it does eventually fade after drydown, leaving me with a sweet vanilla rose that reminds me a little of Between Your Heart and Mine, that initial blast of prune was enough to put me off this scent.

In the decant: Fresh, clean aldehydes and cedar. The aldehydes are in that "fresh" category that I associate with white musk, rain, ozone, etc. When I apply it, the cedar amps up for a brief period before the aldehydes take center stage again. It's a little soapy to me, but in a nice, expensive, fresh-smelling soap sort of way. The cedar adds a little warmth and pushes it a little into conventionally masculine territory, but it's still primarily a fresh and clean scent. I would have said this would work better on a dude if the cedar had stayed as strong as it did right after applying, but I think it could work on anyone. Good wear time, but low throw after drydown.

In the decant, I get intense, marzipan-y almond and vanilla. Once I apply it, the orris explodes on me, and gets noticeably more floral and recognizably iris-y than I'm used to -- not sure if that's the orris itself or the storax playing with the orris. It gets extremely high-pitched and astringent on me, almost headache-inducing. The orris does chill out after drydown and leaves a soft vanilla-almond-floral. That initial stage is Too Much for me, though. This one's probably off to swaps.

On me, this is a very soft, neutral amber. It's almost more of a skin musk than traditional amber (and weirdly, reminds me of Like A Girl). The smoke is blink-and-you'll-miss-it subtle, and it's more snuffed-candle than campfire. Long wear time, and sticks close to the skin. Pretty and understated. Probably a bottle purchase for me.

Fancy dragon's blood resin soap. That's it. That's the review.

Was recently frimped a decant of this. In the decant: Apples! Lots of fresh apple and apple blossom. Once on, hints of dark greens and resins emerge in the background. I never quite pick up the pomegranate. This one fades fast on me, but it's basically bright, fresh apple with a mildly sinister deep green undercurrent.

This one's a bit of a journey in terms of morphing. In the imp and immediately after applying, I mostly get a fresh, clean marine accord. Then, as it dries down, Irish Spring. After drydown, I get more of a true ocean scent -- some of that freshness is still there, but there's also saltiness and a slight funkiness to it that takes it into true marine territory for me. Low-ish throw, but great wear length. I have other "ocean" scents I like better and so I can bypass a bottle, but I'll probably hang onto my frimp. It's a subtle enough scent that I can see potentially layering it with other aquatics to give them more of an oceanic vibe.

This one starts out with strong, sweetened myrrh -- resinous but not too heavy, and also a touch powdery. As it dries down, the myrrh calms down and the fig gets more prominent. Sweet and resinous, with a true fig note after drydown.

This one starts out with a blast of cardamom over heavy musks. As it dries down, the cardamom calms down but stays front and center, while a soft leather note comes out more and the musks settle. Overall post-drydown impression is soft leather and gentle musks sweetened and warmed up a bit by the cardamom. It's almost like Leather Phoenix's warmer, muskier cousin. Disclaimer: I've never tried Smut, but have tried Snake Oil but find it a little too heavy for my usual style. This is a take on SO that I find myself enjoying a lot more, probably due mainly to the leather and cardamom notes. Did end up buying a full bottle to see how it ages.

In the bottle, I get bright lemon peel and orange blossom. This isn't a harsh Pledge-type lemon -- it leans a little on the sweeter side and balances out the bittersweetness of the orange blossom. When I apply it, the lemon peel amps up a lot, with the orange blossom more of a background player. It's big on the citrus, but it's never harsh or bitter, just bright and sunny goodness. I can still smell it on my wrists several hours later, but the throw is pretty low. Highly recommended for citrus lovers.

In the imp, it's smooth and creamy musk with a hint of iris. The iris gets loud, sharp, and powdery on me after application, but fortunately it fades as it dries down. The end result is mostly a smooth, subtle, nutty musk -- I wouldn't have known coconut was a note if I hadn't read the scent description.

Deep, dark, incensey, and heavy on the opium. Agreed with Supreme Cort that this has a very 80s opium perfume vibe. As it wears on my skin (we're talking over the course of hours; this has staying power), the opium calms down a little and the benzoin comes out more, making the scent just a little softer and sweeter in a way that almost reminds me of sweet tobacco. Not sure if I'll hang onto this one -- maybe for special occasions -- but it's much heavier than my usual style.

I have a hard time specifically picking out the tomato in this, mainly because this is such a true-to-life cucumber note. Fresh, green, vegetal, just a little bitter. There's a slight acidity, but overall, this is fresh garden cucumber greenness throughout. As it wears on my skin, there's something that reminds me just a little of classic men's cologne, but don't let this put you off -- mostly it's making me wonder if cucumber is a note in said colognes. Debating a bottle so I can both wear this and make it into an atmo, because it would be an incredible summer room scent.

In the decant: gloriously bright, lush, damp greens. The green tea and bamboo stand out the most, and I think the wasabi's adding to the overall "brightness" of the scent without adding a lot of spicy bite. On my skin, this dries down to a darker, mossier green -- I think the musk and patch are starting to come out more on my skin, too. Probably going to stick with just a decant, since I like the in-the-decant scent more than I do the end result on my skin. It's the green tea scent I always dreamed of in the decant, though.

Very much a delicate fruit scent rather than a juicy, bright one. Soft mango and a creamy rice milk note -- even though it's not a super juicy mango note, it's not at all unlike what a ripe ataulfo mango smells like. It's a soft and pleasant fruit scent overall, but the creaminess threatens to go plasticky on me. That and the low throw and short-ish wear time will probably keep me from getting a full bottle, but I'll hold onto my decant.

In the decant and on, this is a fresh, juicy grapefruit with a hint of black pepper. The pepper reads as more dry and soft than spicy to me, and counterbalances the sweetness of the grapefruit a bit. Overall, a nice citrus scent that doesn't get too loud or too sweet. Unfortunately, the wear time is super short on me -- it's gone within two hours -- so I'll probably stick with just a decant of this.

In the decant, I get lots of pink fruity and citrus notes with a hint of coconut. The coconut amps up on me, taking the scent into tropical territory, with a hint of powderiness from the sandalwood. Unfortunately, this one fades super fast on me. Probably can skip a full bottle of this, but I'll keep my decant for warm-weather wear.

This starts in a weird, cologney place -- there's bittersweet orange blossom, but it goes through a brief sour period. It improves fast after drydown, and the driftwood notes become dominant. The post-drydown stage is a very "beach" scent, not in the sense of suntan lotion, but in the sense of salt and warm sand. Agreed that it's evocative of warmth and humidity without smelling fruity or stereotypically "tropical."

This is a very pretty and delicate milky coconut scent. The white tea adds some extra non-gourmand complexity and slight astringency, but it never goes loud. It reminds me a little bit of Lush's Furze perfume, but with more of a "white" aspect from the rice milk and tea. It has a summery feel to it, but I could also see this working in situations where you might want a more low-key scent. The only real drawback is the relatively short wear time (I needed to reapply around midday).

Agreed that this one starts out very much like Tennis Match -- lots of fresh greens and sweet grasses, but with a big whiff of dry matcha that differentiates it from Tennis Match. But the similarity ends once I apply it. Something about the green tea and sandalwood in this blend just isn't working for me -- on my skin, the fresh greenness goes away and takes on a quality that I can only really describe as Play-Doh-adjacent. Chalking this one up to a skin chemistry fail. Oh well, I still have Tennis Match for my green Luper needs.

This starts out with intense almond and bourbon cream -- sweet and boozy. The sandalwood comes out as it dries down and tones down the almond and bourbon cream -- at this stage it's reminding me a little of Judgmental Longhorn, but then the mimosa amps up and adds a little extra floral sweetness that puts an interesting spin on the bourbon cream + woods situation. Eventually it settles to a creamy sandalwood blend. It's pleasant, but I have enough similar things in my collection that I can pass on a full bottle.

I knew this was likely to be an odd combination of notes, but I really like white musk and elemi, so I decided to go for it. The best way I can describe the initial drydown stages of this scent is...dryer sheets dusted with cocoa powder. Later on the cacao fades and I get just a fresh white musk and elemi blend. An odd experience, but I'm glad I gave a decant a try.

To me, this is in the same amber-floral-honey category as No One is Above the Law and On Imagination, but it's a much more breezy, springlike variation on those scents. It's non-screechy spring florals lightly sweetened with honey and grounded with a light amber note, with very little morphing. I don't specifically pick up an ozone note, but I might just not be distinguishing it from the wildflower notes. That interplay between the amber, honey, and florals reminds me a lot of On Imagination, but where that one's more of a heady summer scent, It's All I Have to Bring Today is lighter and has more of a spring vibe. I might want a full bottle of this.

This stays salt-forward throughout. In the decant, it's all salt all the time. Once it's on, the carnation, cypress, and vetiver start to bloom, but they're still a background player to the salt. Very evocative of the beach -- the notes other than the salt don't really suggest things like carnation so much as they do dune grass and vegetation -- plants you'd be smelling the ocean breeze through. Not 100% sure if this'll be a bottle purchase, but I do like anything that's a scent memory of the beach, so maybe.