puellacaerulea
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Everything posted by puellacaerulea
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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.
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Sweet Potato Musk
puellacaerulea replied to Ina Garten Davita's topic in Gifts with Donation or Purchase
This one started out all caramelized sweet potatoes and spice on me. As it wears, the musk and ambrette come out more, taming the foodiness of the scent a bit. Overall, sweet and gourmand but not cloyingly so. That said, it's not the kind of thing I reach for often enough to justify a full bottle (and my imp of Pumpkin Pie Musk is just similar enough to scratch the autumnal gourmand itch when it arises), so I'm passing it on to someone who's more into gourmands than me. -
In the decant, I get lavender and cashmere musk layered over the tobacco, oud (which fortunately behaves), and leather. I can't pick out the florals specifically, but they add a tiny bit of floral sweetness to the tobacco, etc., while the lavender and musk give a sort of effervescent effect. That combination of deep, smooth notes under effervescent top notes reminds me a bit of Perversion, but this is its own distinct (and more floral) thing. Definitely has a classic perfume vibe but with a dark, moody twist, especially as the effervescent quality fades a bit after drydown. This is the kind of thing I'd wear for going out or special occasions.
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Oof. I had high hopes for this one (sandalwood and pepper? y plz), but it's not working out on my skin. It's warm sandalwood with a slightly spicy note in the decant, but once applied, the red pepper (and maybe also the blood musk?) amps up in a way that makes me think of cinnamon-heavy potpourri more than anything else. The sandalwood also gets a little more high-pitched than I'm used to. Overall, much less sandalwood and much more heavy spice than I expected, so something to be aware of if you're spice-averse.
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Somber, slightly powdery violet deepened and given a slightly green edge by the moss note. Violet can go a little soapy on me, and it does here, but not in a bad way -- think expensive soap. There's no sage in this blend, but I swear what this scent reminds me of is the Pré de Provence sage-scented soap with a bit of purple, gothy floral added in. Atmospheric and a little eerie. I might want a full bottle of this one.
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This is a lovely combo of soft sandalwood and sweet, chewy tobacco (think French Tobacco SN). Something in this blend adds a little extra lightness and sweetness to the tobacco note compared to French Tobacco, though, and while this is definitely woods and tobacco, it's by no means heavy, harsh, or overpowering. Smooth and refined, and light enough that I wouldn't call it traditionally masculine -- this reads more as an all-gender scent to me. This will definitely be a bottle purchase for me.
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This is much, much greener than I typically expect from a DL blend. First sniff in the decant is wet leaves, almost grassy (but not bright) greenness, and a hint of smooth wood. Once I apply it, the vetiver amps up and goes not exactly smoky, but more like dusty. As it dries down, the vetiver calms down and the dark green and slightly resinous wood notes come back to the fore. The overall impression I get is a very deep, almost murky green and woodsy scent -- like a forest scent without the conifer notes. It's not the kind of thing I'd wear often enough to justify a full bottle, but I'll keep my decant.
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BPAL aquatics tend to lean on the fresh, somewhat soapy side for me, or otherwise lean heavily on the sea salt. This scent is a wonderfully balanced blend of the two. I get a little bit of the sweetness other reviewers mentioned after application as it dries down, but it's subtle and not discordant. After drydown, it's all fresh (but not aggressively soapy) aquatic notes with a breath of salt air over top. It feels true to the way the beach and the wind off the ocean smell in the winter. I missed this during its original run, so I'm glad to have found a bottle on the Lab's Etsy.
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This one starts off great -- deep plum and musk, with florals and hint of honey adding slight golden sweetness in the background. The effect is like florals and honey muted under a cover of deep, purple-tinged notes. Pretty, but in a dark, somber way. As it dries down, though, something is amping up in a way that turns it into a sort of generic incense on me. Going to chalk this one up to a skin chemistry fail.
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Basically: Like Ü and Cedarwood & Smoked Vanilla had a cognac-soaked one-night stand. Starts out with something cedary (which I guess is how the tumbleweed note is reading to my nose) and a blast of cognac booziness in the decant, but then the booze settles and I get a non-gourmand vanilla, non-piney balsam, cedar, and a whiff of cognac in the background. Sticks close to the skin, but has great staying power. Definitely going to be a bottle purchase for me.
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In the decant, this is a really interesting mix of bright, juicy peach and plum notes and the Lab's dead leaf note -- deep, earthy, and a little vegetal. It's almost like they don't blend per se, but my nose keeps alternating between noticing one note then the other as I sniff it. The interplay between these two things is really intriguing in the decant, but it goes horribly wrong on my skin -- it dries down to what I can only describe as sour kitty litter on my skin. This isn't the first time peach has gone wrong on my skin when paired with the wrong things, so this may not be your experience if peach is a consistently good note on your skin.
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If you're expecting another citrus + neroli Duet, I'm pleased to report that this is not that. This lemon blossom note is more of a light, creamy, almost vanillic floral with just a hint of lemon. When I apply it, the neroli does briefly amp up and go soapy before settling and letting the lemon blossom come to the fore again. Think floral + lemon creme than a full-on lemon scent. This is reminding me a lot of something from my childhood -- I want to say Love's Baby Soft, but I can't be sure unless I actually chase up some Baby Soft to sniff (because it's been decades). But it has that kind of very youthful light floral vibe.
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This one was a morpher. It started off sharp and medicinal in the frimp (the labdanum, maybe?), with hints of dark musk and polished wood underneath. As it wears, the medicinal aspect fades and the musk amps up. Post-drydown is deep, smooth musks and woods. It's not "me" enough for a bottle, but I do like the post-drydown phase.