puellacaerulea

Agreed with the above reviewer that something about this scent says church, museum, or an otherwise quiet and reverent space. It might be because the frankincense is reminding me of church incense from when I was a kid (but better!), but there's something about it that makes me think of big, polished halls with a slight whiff of incense wafting through. The dominant notes throughout are frankincense and amber, but there are herbaceous and mossy notes in the background that keep the scent from being heavy. I can't specifically pick out the dragon's blood, plum, or mandarin, but the mosses and tansy are there in the background. Very much a unisex scent, and great wear length. Might consider a bottle upgrade for this one.

Was frimped a decant of this in a sale earlier this year and remembered to test it before autumn's over. It's a pretty, light mix of crisp, fresh apple, florals, and light musks. One set of notes never quite overtakes the other -- I kept expecting the florals to overpower the apple, but they're balanced really well, with little morphing. Definitely has a kind of crystalline quality to it.

I'm iffy on strawberry as a note, but I do like red musk and bourbon vanilla, so I wanted to at least give this one a try. In the decant and upon application, it's intense, super sweet dried strawberries, strong enough that I'm not really picking up the other notes. It feels sort of childlike to me, probably because it reminds me of 90s-era strawberry scents from my teen years. Over time, the strawberry fades and I get a subtly sweet red musk and bourbon vanilla. I'm good with that post-drydown stage of the scent, but the strawberry is a little much for me.

In the decant: Rich, oily fried dough. Borderline sickeningly rich, like biting into a piece of cake with too much frosting (just me?). Once I apply it, I get a big blast of cinnamon, which slowly settles and starts to blend with the dough. The cinnamon helps tone down the richness of the dough into something more doable. After drydown...it's basically like sticking my nose into a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not the kind of thing I need a full bottle of, but I'll keep my decant for when I want something fun.

Agreed with the previous reviewers that this starts off super sweet. If this is lemon peel, it's a candied one (or a super sweetened white tea). Definitely lemony, but very, very sweetly so. Fortunately, as it dries down, the grass and tea amp up and tone down the sweetness (the grass manages not to go to plastic on me, as it sometimes does). Overall: bright, grassy, and citrusy. Doesn't have the longest staying power, but it gets a few good hours in before starting to fade.

Disclaimer: I've never tried a scent with a papyrus note before. This is a strange one! I'm also getting a weird sour note to start off, but it reads to me not briny so much as musty -- it's so close to Old Book Smell, but with an intense sourness that's off-putting. I can get a hint of the balsam in the background, but not a lot of cardamom yet. The musty/sour smell does calm down with wear, and the cardamom gets more noticeable, adding a slight warmth and spicy-sweetness. However, the overall impression is still Old Books Gone Off.

This is definitely an inky, musky, incense-y kind of scent. In the decant, I get the musk, amber, and a hint of terebinth, but there's also something that's slightly musty to me in there -- I think it might be the oud. Fortunately, the oud behaves after application, and the musty note calms down. As it wears, it's primarily dark, smooth musk and amber, and even though incense isn't a listed note, there's something there that makes me think of a heavy incense. It has great wear time, and over time the myrrh slowly comes out and sweetens the scent a bit. The end result is nicer than the first sniff in the decant suggested, but it's definitely not the kind of thing I'd grab for everyday wear.

There's so much going on here that it's tough to pick out individual notes! It's definitely primarily a white floral to me, especially in the decant -- the moonflower and ylang ylang stand out to me, while there's a sort of green, aquatic-ish undertone (I'm guessing that's the cucumber and lettuce). It does go a little powdery with wear, but stays primarily bright white floral.

I agree with the above reviewers that this is a green scent, but in a muted, dry, slightly smoky sort of way. The dead leaves are strong in the decant, but after application, the ambergris, amber, and vetiver start to amp up. Despite that, it's not a heavy scent -- I think the leaves, along with a slight sweetness from the cardamom and carrot seed, are keeping it from getting heavy and smoky. My overall impression is a dry and smooth take on the dead leaves blends -- think muted greens and browns.

In the decant, it's bright and herbaceous, with the lavender standing out quite a bit. The citrus is more of a background player, but it adds a noticeable brightness to the lavender and juniper. Once on, the herbaceousness of the lavender dies down, and I get something that reminds me of soap, but not in a bad way -- it's bright, clean, and refreshing. Unfortunately, it fades super fast on me -- after an hour, I get just a faint whiff of mandarin on my wrists. Probably going to pass on a full bottle due to the short wear time, but I'll hang onto my decant. I feel like this would be a fantastic room scent.

I apparently never got around to reviewing this despite having and loving my bottle of this since its original run, so. It's a simple, pretty blend of fresh rose and dry autumn leaves. The leaves are slightly bitter, but not the very vegetal, cologne-like kind sometimes associated with the Lab's dead leaves blend. The rose manages to avoid going to baby powder and stays fresh and greenish, which provides an interesting counterpoint to the dry leaves. I wouldn't call this similar to Zombi in that Harvest Moon '13 doesn't have that heavy-smelling soil note that Zombi does -- rather, it's more light, dry, and a little bittersweet. I especially like to haul this one out in early autumn.

This might be a new favorite of mine among the dead leaves blends, and I don't know why I didn't pick up a bottle of this during its original run. In the decant, it's true, dry, crunchy dead leaves, alongside a bright, herbal lemon verbena that complements the DL note surprisingly well. On my skin, it starts off with a loud blast of lemon verbena, but then it settles to a mostly DL/cedar scent, with the lemon verbena providing a faint brightness in the background. The cedar blends almost seamlessly with the dead leaves, helping give the leaves that dry/crunchy quality. Like walking through the woods on a dry, bright, windy late fall day, with lots of leaves crunching underfoot. Glad to have scored a decant after the fact.

I accidentally received a bottle of this in a sales snafu, but it ended up being a happy accident. A bit foody and classically autumnal -- mulled cider stands out the most, with a backdrop of warm, baked pumpkin. It's a little iffy with my skin chemistry -- it goes through a slightly plasticky phase at one point -- but it does eventually settle to that warm pumpkin and mulled cider again.

This is definitely a glowing, bright orange scent. I had forgotten that peach was a note in this until I opened this thread -- my impression was buttery and sweetened baked pumpkin along with the spices. The peach seems to give it that bright quality that makes this scent so evocative of a lit-up jack-o-lantern, though. It's borderline too sweet for me, but the spices help balance it out. It disappears fast, though -- I found myself reapplying within a couple of hours. It's like a cheerier, more fun take on a lot of the usual autumnal scents.

2011 version, which I apparently never got around to reviewing despite having had it in my stash all this time: This is a floral-musk blend with a bit of a classic perfume feel to it. This isn't what I normally think of when I think of gardenia -- it's not lush and tropical, but cool and watery. I'm guessing it's some combo of the muguet, white musk, and davana that's giving me that impression. I can see how one would read this as a kind of aquatic scent. No soapiness or sharpness here, just cool, slightly murky, appropriately Weenie-ish florals.

In the bottle, I don't get pumpkin so much as the chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnut, with a hint of coffee. Nutella and coffee, and I am here for it. When I put it on, the pumpkin amps up loudly for a bit, and the combination of notes is almost overwhelmingly sweet. It does eventually settle to something closer to the in-bottle scent -- buttery pumpkin swirled into a hazelnut latte, as opposed to a PSL. It needs to settle on my skin before I really enjoy it, but I do like the post-drydown result.

This one's a bit of a morpher. The dead leaf note starts out strong in this one -- intense, vegetal, wet fallen leaves. It's strong and almost sour initially, but as it dries down, the leaves soften and the vanilla and myrrh come out more. After drydown, it's a kind of somber, bittersweet vanilla with an undertone of dead leaves. It might just be the weather where I currently am, but something about it makes me think chilly, gray fall days. Pretty and evocative, and super long-lasting, which is fortunate given I don't start really liking this until it's dried down and gotten past the sour phase.

There are so many notes here that it's hard to differentiate them clearly. In the decant, it's more evergreen and wood notes with a hint of mulling spice. But as it wears, the mulling spices, pumpkin, wine, and fig take over. I definitely wouldn't call this Mainstream Fall Candle, though -- the spice is too subtle for that. It's like a sweet, lightly spiced mulled wine.

This one was a bit of a journey. In the decant, the spicy, floral carnation stands out first, with a bit of earthy patchouli. After application, the patchouli and frankincense amp up A LOT. It melds with the carnation in a way that's not only quite strong, but also reminiscent of stereotypical hippie patchouli. Over time, the patchouli calms down, and I get a softer, less spicy carnation with resinous frankincense backing it. Still, I'd probably steer clear if you have any reservations about patchouli.

As you might expect, all florals, all the time. Weirdly, it smells like honeysuckle in the decant. I dunno why. This reads as a little less of a fresh/green sort of floral to me than other floral duets/menages I've tried, but the lily of the valley keeps things just a little greenish. Still, I sniff it on me and keep picturing a big pink bouquet. Not quite my jam as florals go, but this is still one to try if you're very much Team Florals.

This one's definitely a morpher. It starts out with lavender and a hint of dark plum, but as it dries down, the lavender disappears and I get that same indolic quality, which I'm guessing is the jasmine. It's not full barnyard or anything, but it's a noticeable departure from the lavender. As it continues to wear, the lavender slowly creeps back in, but it's still primarily jasmine, with labdanum and slightly powdery mosses and a lavender undertone. Overall impression is that it's a pretty, somber floral; worth considering especially if you're a jasmine fan.

This is a fantastic light citrus/floral blend -- I can pick out all three notes in the decant, but none overwhelm the others. It's bright, herbaceous, citrusy, and just a little floral from the orange blossom. It goes slightly soapy after I apply it, but not enough so to be a dealbreaker. The only drawback is how fast the throw fades -- I can still faintly smell it on my wrists eight hours later (and at this stage, orange blossom stands out the most), but it stays *very* close to the skin after the first hour or so. Still, this one's slather-worthy. If you like all or even any of these notes, don't sleep on this one.

In my decant, I get a mix of cedarwood, faint vanilla, and the balsam adding a deep, slightly evergreen note. Woodsy but subtly sweet. Soooorta like Ü, if you swapped out the leatherbound book smell for cedar. If you're looking for something to assuage Cedarwood & Smoked Vanilla FOMO, this doesn't really fill that gap, but it's lovely in its own right...until I put it on. And then: pencil shavings. I had managed to evade cedar going to pencil shavings on me until today. This one was a skin chemistry fail on me, but I'll hang onto my decant for scent locket purposes.

Initial impression of this scent is exactly what Casablanca said, except the white mint also really does make me think of a peppermint patty that you just bit into. It's chilly, bright, and bracing eucalyptus and mint, with just a hint of lemon. As it dries down, the mint fades to a quieter, peppermint tea sort of note, and the lemon peel is barely there. Drydown on me is a subtly minty, cool eucalyptus. I like it more in the decant than I do on my skin, but I haven't ruled out a full bottle of this yet, mainly because I would love to experiment with this as a room scent.

I love all of these notes but wasn't sure how they'd work together, so I at least wanted to give a decant a go. In the decant, it's dark, chewy tobacco sweetened up by the benzoin and ylang ylang -- for lack of a better way to describe it, it's almost like slightly indolic bubblegum. As it dries down, the tobacco becomes the dominant note on me and that weird bubblegum-esque scent disappears. It's the same kind of chewy, darkly sweet tobacco from French Tobacco SN, but the benzoin and ylang seem to tone down the astringency of that version of tobacco and make it just a little lighter and sweeter. Basically, think post-drydown French Tobacco without having to power through the astringent phase.