puellacaerulea
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Everything posted by puellacaerulea
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Bergamot, Himalayan Cedar, and Lemon Peel
puellacaerulea replied to Jenjin's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Starting off, the cedar is definitely dominant in this scent -- combined with the very bright and pithy lemon peel, it does give strong natural-cleaning-product vibes immediately after application and as it's drying down. After drydown, the cedar and lemon peel soften quite a bit and the bergamot peeks out more -- at this stage, it's more of a soft, slightly sweet citrus with soft woods in the background. It can come across as too loud and harsh in the early stages, but I do like it once it's calmed down on my skin. -
On application, this is primarily a dry cacao, with the coconut and musk notes adding richness. The sandalwood note comes out more after drydown, complementing the dryness of the cacao note. This is definitely one for the gourmand lovers, though the sandalwood and musk keep this from strictly foody territory.
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This one starts out promising, with soft lemon blossom backed with slightly more green and astringent lemon leaf. There's something a bit powdery and vintage-perfume about it, but still bright and appealing. As it wears, the anise slowly takes over -- after drydown, this is predominantly anise with faint greens and citrus lurking in the background. This one's a like, but not love for me.
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The best way I can describe this is as a pale green/white scent -- it's white floral and resinous, but very lightly so, while the celery seed and white moss add a clean, mildly green freshness to the scent. Overall, a light and airy take on a white floral and resin scent. I find myself reaching for this a lot in late winter/early spring, and I'm glad I was able to track down a full bottle after being frimped a decant.
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In the decant, this is all polished black leather. Once it's on, it leads with a huge blast of herbaceous lavender that drowns out the leather, which is warmed up by the hay and ambrette as it dries down. Overall impression is a soft and cozy scent, leading with lavender, hay, and musky ambrette backed by leather in the background.
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This is a bold, spicy, purple floral that evokes late 80s/early 90s floral perfumes to me. This smells like my aunts and grandmas in the late 80s and early 90s, evoking images of big, permed hair and chunky gold jewelry. It's not a scent I'd wear myself, but I enjoy this for the scent memories it evokes.
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This one is definitely a non-spicy autumnal gourmand. Golden, buttery pumpkin and apple notes are prominent, but they're backed with sweet nutty notes instead of spices. I never quite pick up on the smoke or incense -- this is mostly warm, sweet, and nutty on me. Not unlike Songs of Autumn IV.
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In the bottle, I pick up on the leaves and apple, with a hint of rose and citrusy cubeb in the background. On my skin, the cubeb and rose amp up quite a bit, giving the impression of a citrusy floral. After drydown, the cubeb softens and the vanilla, benzoin, and patch come forward. My overall impression is a vanillic rose 'fume with a slight autumnal twist -- the leaves and apple are surprisingly subtle, barely perceptible in the background. Can't speak to the intentional/ritual effects, but I can see myself reaching for this often as a more floral alternative to my usual autumn scents.
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Muguet, Tea Rose, and Ylang Ylang
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This starts out with the muguet and tea rose as the dominant notes, but as it wears, the ylang ylang amps up, adding a little bit of tropical, white-floral headiness to what would otherwise be a fresh, springlike floral blend. This could be a good blend for someone who is curious about white florals but is wary about loudness or screechiness -- the fresh/green qualities of the muguet and tea rose balance out the headiness of the ylang ylang nicely. -
Ghost Lily, White Sandalwood, and Ambergris Accord
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
On my skin, the sandalwood is the most prominent note, but it's much more of a sharp, green sandalwood rather than a soft one. I think the lilies might be contributing to this -- they contribute something more chilly than distinctly floral to this scent. It's a little hard to pick out the ambergris specifically, but there's something just vaguely salt-air about this that complements the airy, chilly lily and sandalwood notes. This feels to me like a less obviously aquatic, more floral cousin of the Teakwood, Moss, and Salt trio. -
Osmanthus, Benzoin, and Bourbon Vanilla
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
While I like these notes individually, together they're a bit too sweet for my liking. In the bottle, I can mostly pick out osmanthus and benzoin -- sweetly floral and resinous, but with a sort of sickly medicinal quality to it. This improves as it dries down, with the bourbon vanilla coming out more and adding a creaminess that slightly moderates the sweetness. Definitely a floral-gourmand that leans on the sweet side. -
In the bottle, this is fresh green grasses, sea spray, and coconut -- tropical, but with a springy greenness to it. On my skin, the jasmine really amps up and overtakes the green notes, although the coconut stays prominent. Overall impression is a heady tropical floral with a hint of greens. I like it more in the bottle than I do on my skin, but I'll keep my partial for summer wear.
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Almond Blossoms, Patchouli, and Sea Salt
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This is an unusual one! In the bottle, I'm getting patch with marzipan-like sweetness, with just a slight funk that I think is coming from the sea salt. As it dries down, it goes sour and plasticky on me, but that settles after drydown, leaving me with a light but sweet and chewy patch, a hint of sweetness from the almond blossoms, and a bit of salty funk. Agreed with the above reviewer that the salt note is more post-workout skin than oceanic. -
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.