puellacaerulea

In the decant, it's a chilly, bright, fresh scent, but with a distinctly bitter undertone from the juniper and cade. Once applied, it has a brief period where the bitterness recedes and I get just the fresh notes...but then something goes wrong and it becomes both astringent and powdery. Not sure which of the notes went off my skin here, but it stays in that sharp powdery place the rest of the wear time. I had high hopes for this one, but it seems to be a miss with my skin chemistry.

I called Fragment 38 from last year's Lupers Defututa 2.0. This is Defututa 3.0. It's a really lovely warm, sweetened skin musk with a distinct olive blossom note -- rich and floral, but not cloying or in-your-face. I can't specifically point out the sandalwood, cedar, or orris, but there's a depth to this scent that takes it beyond floral + skin musk territory; meanwhile, there's no powdery orris to be found here. Despite the light musk, olive blossom, and woods, I wouldn't call this a heavy scent -- I agree with the above reviewers that there's a summery, Mediterranean vibe to this scent. It's like they took the best parts of Defututa and Like A Girl and merged them. This'll definitely be a bottle purchase for me.

This one starts out primarily cacao, but the lime rind and coconut amp up once on. The coconut in this is very much like the coconut note in the Coconut, Smoked Vanilla, and Fig Menage -- more fancy coconut-scented soap than suntan lotion. The notes all play really well together, and the cacao note has a certain creaminess to it that I haven't noticed in the other Pile of Cacao Pods scents I've tried so far. The best way I can describe the end result is like the smell of an expensive bar of cocoa butter soap scented with lime and coconut. Summery, but not in-your-face coconut and citrus. Probably my favorite of the cacao scents I've tried thus far.

In terms of scent, this is a really lovely palo santo-dominant blend backed with resins. It's that slightly minty, slightly anise-y palo santo note with a strong whiff of frankincense behind it. There is something very calming about it, and I've been using it as a sleep scent after especially stressful days.

This one starts off all strong, very smoky vetiver; no cacao or pepper in sight. As it wears, though, the vetiver slowly mellows out and lets the cacao and pepper come out. A few hours in it's smoky and peppery cacao with a bit of slightly earthy depth from the vetiver. I like where it goes once the vetiver chills out, but that intense BBQ smoke phase early on is a lot to power through.

In the decant, I get just cacao, but the cubeb immediately blooms once I apply it. It starts out, as has been mentioned above, as a fudgy chocolate along with a bright, sweet lemon scent from the cubeb. Like a brownie with lemon icing. As it wears, both notes soften -- a couple hours in it's more of a dry cocoa scent with a sort of soft, not-quite-powdery lemon. I don't get a peppery note from the cubeb, but it could just be blending really well with the citrus and cocoa notes. I probably won't wear this often enough for a full bottle, but it's a fun combo.

In the decant, this is an amazing, atmospheric chilly salt air and rain scent. When I apply it, the mossy green notes amp up a lot, with just a little not-unpleasant soapiness. The green notes remind me a lot of Liadain and Curithir, but this scent has more of a distinct salt-air note to it. I like it a little more in the decant than I do on my skin (more of that salt air note plz), but still might need to track down a full bottle.

Yep, this is muddy. In the decant I get a combo of cocoa and a distinct earth note (think the one from scents like Zombi). As it dries down, the earth note morphs into a wood note and then disappears entirely, leaving me with a dry cocoa scent with a slight creamy sweetness. I never do pick up the tobacco absolute. It's a fun scent, and go for it if you like cacao scents, but I don't need more than a decant.

This one starts out green tea and bright, somewhat antiseptic lemon peel. It's a fairly well-behaved lemon peel, though -- not Lemon Pledge, but not candied, too-sweet lemon peel, either. As it dries down, the lemon peel softens more and the green tea takes center stage. Overall, a simple, clean, bright green tea and citrus blend. It's a bit like Cooling Breeze with a citrus kick, or a simplified version of Shanghai. It could benefit from stronger throw and wear time (applied it in the morning and it was just the faintest whiff of green tea on my skin by mid-afternoon), but otherwise, no blind bottle regrets here.

Seconding that this is more floral than you might expect from the notes listed, but in a good way! I expected something dusty and powdery from a violet/orris/sandalwood combo, but this is surprisingly not that. This is probably one of the least powdery takes on violet and orris I've tried. It's subtly floral, slightly spicy violet, with some backbone from the sandalwood and cedar. I suspect this one's going to get less love than Muddy Armadillo and Judgmental Longhorn, which is too bad, as it's a very complex floral/wood blend without the powderiness and sharpness I got from similar scents like Violet & Pale Woods. I can see this blend aging well, too.

In the decant, I get cacao, tonka, amber, and brown musk. Once it's on, the vanilla and benzoin start amping up along with the musk -- I end up with a warm amber/vanilla/musk combo with a sort of creamy sweetness to it. It's like Year of the Ox without the wood and tobacco notes. The musk takes it into semi-masculine territory and gives it a slight expensive-cologne vibe, but I do think anyone could wear this.

As other reviewers have said, don't expect vanilla in this scent -- this is a soft, sophisticated floral scent. In the bottle, it's a creamy floral with a little stemmy greenness to it. It does go through a troubling sour phase it dries down, which (luckily) settles after drydown. It's a light, spring-friendly floral, but without the loudness or screechiness you can sometimes get from floral + green scents. Glad I was able to snag a secondhand bottle of this.

I got an imp of this secondhand, so I'm not sure how aged it is/if aging has had any impact on how it works on my skin. I'd always meant to try this one before it got discontinued but never got around to it, and came across an imp recently. It's ozoney, airy notes in the imp...and then it turns to some kind of high-pitched, sour plastic on my skin. It does eventually calm down, but once it does, I mainly just get a very faint whiff of white flowers and rain. Oh well, at least I finally got to try it.

In the imp, I get light citrus and maybe a hint of white floral, but white musk stands out the most. When I apply it, my skin mostly eats up the citrus notes and lemon verbena, leaving me with soft white musk and a bit of powdery sandalwood. Even without the citrus notes, it's still a pretty, inoffensive, spring-friendly scent. Apart from being a good springtime scent, I could see this being good for office situations or other places you might want an unobtrusive scent. Low-ish throw and medium wear. (NB: This is a lab fresh imp, so I'm curious to see if aging brings out the other notes more.)

Very fresh and green in the decant, with a blast of citrus and salt to brighten things up. The citrus fades fast on me, and I'm left with green notes that are just this side of Irish Spring on my skin, but the saltiness keeps it from going into full soap territory. I miss the citrus notes, but it's pleasant greens and salt air on my skin. Not sure if this is going to be a bottle purchase for me, but I'll keep using my decant.

I'm not a big fan of currant, but I like fig and really love neroli, so I wanted to at least give a decant of this a shot. It's very fruity and sweet, and just a little tart -- currant seems to be the predominant note, but the fig is definitely kicking up the sweetness. I never do pick up the neroli between the fruit notes. A little too sweet for my tastes, but if you like juicy fruit notes, you might enjoy this one.

In the decant, this starts off with a spicy blast of cardamom and black pepper, with the salt and wood notes just under it. On my skin, the spices fade fast, and the wood and salt notes get more pronounced and a little camphor-y. I never do pick up the patchouli and tonka. End result on my skin is camphor, woods and salt air, with a breath of spices underneath. Sort of like the Teakwood, Moss, and Salt Menage, but with the camphor toned down some and a bit of extra warmth from those faint spices.

In the decant, it's mostly strong, freshly ground coffee -- I think the Turkish coffee description is apt. Unfortunately, coffee bean notes can go a little weirdly sharp and powdery on me, and this one does that. The caramel does amp up and smooth out some of that sharpness -- it's not an intensely sweet caramel, but it's noticeable and does tone down the sharpness I'm getting from the coffee beans. Given the way the coffee note in this goes on me, probably going to stick with just my decant.

In the decant, this is a whole lot of heady, dreamy white florals, with moonflower and honeysuckle standing out in particular. It does remind me of Blue Moon, and maybe also Cold Moon minus the snow note. On my skin, the orris amps up and makes the scent a little powdery and adds a slightly bittersweet undertone (I think I might also be getting thyme here), while the honeysuckle gets understated. Several hours later, the florals have mostly faded, and I finally pick up a faint whiff of white mint and thyme. Not 100% sure if I need a full bottle of this, mainly because I like it better in the decant than I do on my skin (honeysuckle, come baaaaaack). Still, fans of white florals in general and honeysuckle in particular will probably enjoy this one.

In my decant and once on, I get a sweet, fresh, non-soapy mandarin. The osmanthus starts to come out more as it dries down and is pretty well-balanced with the mandarin -- it's a soft, gentle yellow floral, almost a little peach-like. No soapy, screechy, or intensely citrusy notes here. I do wish it had a little more staying power, but it's pleasant while it lasts. If you like the idea of a citrus floral but are worried about the notes getting out of hand, give this a shot.

This one did appeal to me both for the scent notes and the intention behind it. Starting with the scent: It starts out woods and bright resins and even something like camphor, which I'm attributing to the copal and elemi alongside the palo santo. On my skin, it settles to a very soft palo santo and sandalwood, very similar to the Palo Santo & Sandalwood Duet. Which is in no way a bad thing, as I find that a very calming and peaceful scent. I think I need to test it a few more times to really get a feel for how it works in terms of intention, but this blend really does have a gentle, calming quality.

Scent-wise, this starts out as a mix of citrus and resins, then settles to a sort of spiced coffee scent, with star anise being the most prominent of said spices. If you're interested in intent/energy on this one, I don't feel as qualified to speak to that, but I chose to wear this on what's currently my most chaotic/busy day of the work week. I did feel like I was handling things a little more easily, not in a relaxed way, but more in a riding-the-wave sort of way.

This one starts out more cardamom-forward -- a little earthy, spicy, and subtly sweet. The amber is there in the background adding extra warmth to the cardamom, however. As it wears, the amber seems to get more prominent. These notes play really well together -- this is basically a warm, rich, spicy-sweet amber (and, as others have noted above, not spicy-sweet in a gourmand kind of way).

This is a pretty, classic, gentle white floral. It's primarily lily of the valley, with the sandalwood in the background softening the scent and keeping the white floral note from getting screechy. The lily of the valley does go soapy for a little bit, but it eventually settles. So, overall, gentle white floral and soft sandalwood. It has a sort of vintage feel to it. Fairly low throw and moderate wear time on me.

The star jasmine definitely stands out the most to me here -- heady white floral, a little indolic, but not super screechy. The beeswax mostly adds a slightly honeyed sweetness to the star jasmine. The amber's very much a background player, adding a little bit of warmth and grounding to the sweet florals. Jasmine fans will like this one.