puellacaerulea

This one starts out with a big blast of Lemon Pledge copal, but it settles down fast, letting the amber and cacao speak up. I wasn't sure what to expect with this combo of notes, but when the copal's just a faint background player, the cacao and amber play well together. This is primarily amber with a chocolate-y undertone -- the cacao warms and softens the amber, but doesn't overtake it. Over time, the cacao slowly amps up more. It's a warm, sweet-ish, surprisingly cozy scent.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a lavender/clove combo, but this works! The lavender stands out the most in the decant -- herbaceous with a slightly spicy edge that lends itself really well to the clove. The ambrette seed is a background player, adding a faint muskiness to the scent. Overall, it's a warm, subtly spicy take on lavender. My skin eats it up fast, though -- this one was gone within two hours.

This is very well-blended, and so it's tough to pick out individual notes. But: It starts out with a combo of cacao and deep earthy notes -- almost like patchouli, but that's not in the notes. I think the combo of the cacao, bourbon vetiver, and tobacco is giving me that impression, along with the musk. As it wears, the florals start to amp up, giving a subtle sweetness to the scent. I agree with reviewers above that the overall combination is sort of like BPAL's raw leather note, but also more than that. It's deep, musky, a little earthy, and definitely evocative of the name. I bet this one would do great with aging.

In the decant and once on, it's primarily lush, tropical vanilla floral. I didn't expect bergamot to play well with this kind of vanilla, but it really does -- the citrus is just a tad dissonant, but in a way that adds some complexity to the scent. The sandalwood is pretty subtle, adding a bit of dry softness to the scent. Over time, the bergamot and vanilla fade while the sandalwood remains constant -- hours later, I get a pretty soft sandalwood with a hint of that vanilla floral and bergamot behind it. Overall impression: lush vanilla floral, but the bergamot and sandalwood keep it from going into full dessert territory. A little on the sweet side, but the end result is great.

In the decant, it's dry, subtly sweet cocoa and sandalwood, not unlike Velvet. However. The second I put it on, the vetiver speaks up loudly and basically sucks all the air out of the room. So. Much. Vetiver. I still get a hint of the sandalwood/cocoa combo underneath, but this is primarily a deep, brown, earthy and slightly smoky vetiver. This one also has serious throw and staying power -- 8 hours later, I'm still drowning in clouds of vetiver. Not one to slather. I need to keep testing this and maybe try it in a scent locket to fully ascertain how I feel about it, but right now I'm vetiver'd out.

I love the smell of tomato leaf, so had to try a decant of this. It's definitely tomato leaf in the decant, green and slightly peppery. The black pepper mostly seems to intensify that slightly spicy aspect of the tomato leaf. So far, not picking up the hay. After it starts to dry down, I think I'm getting the hay in that the scent seems to warm up a little. Weirdly enough, the end result reminds me a lot of the Lab's dead leaf note, but lightened up for late summer/early fall. It's vegetal with a distinct peppery edge to it, but with a warmth to it that's distinct from the DL blends.

This one started out so promising in the decant -- a burst of peach and citrus sweetness, darkened by the amber. Very evocative of the description and label art. Unfortunately, this one was a skin chemistry fail on me -- I'm not sure which of the notes went off (I think maybe the peach), but the combo of the notes that went off and the amber became weirdly powdery and sour. It's great in the decant, though, so will hang onto it for scent locket purposes.

I went into this expecting something like O, and it does start out that way -- the honey is drier and more subtle than O, but combined with the cream, it's not dissimilar. The skin musk takes it into lighter territory, though. As it wears, the skin musk amps up and the cream and honey fade out -- they're there, but they're mostly giving the skin musk a slightly warm, toasty quality. It's basically a warm, slightly sweetened skin scent.

This is a really lovely, semi-sweet, golden scent. Even though this was the July lunacy, it feels 100% early autumn to me. It's very well-blended, but the hay, oatcakes, and amber stand out right away -- something about the amber and oatcakes blend makes it smell almost like vanilla, but this scent has a more dry, not fully foodie sweetness. The cardamom sneaks in later, adding a lightly spicy sweetness. I only wish it lasted longer -- a couple hours in, I'm mainly getting a faint whiff of hay, amber, and cardamom on my wrists.

This starts out as very strong fig and brown sugar -- extremely sweet and a little caramelized. The oak bark is nowhere to be found so far. As the scent wears, the intense sweetness tapers off, but it's still very figgy. The oak bark does start to make its way out a bit, adding a cool, grounding earthiness to the scent. Still, overall impression is that this is primarily a very sweet fig scent -- I think I was hoping for more oak bark. Still, if you love fig, this is one to try.

This one is fantastic. The orange blossom stands out most in the decant, but the vetiver and bergamot assert themselves more once on. The vetiver never gets too loud, smoky, or murky -- here it's understated, a deeper green counterpart to the bergamot. I was worried this would disappear instantly based on other reviewers' experience, but five hours in it's still there. This is a really fantastic, fresh and clean citrus and green scent, with a hint of white floral from the orange blossom. Has a sort of expensive, old-school cologne water vibe. I almost wish the orange blossom were stronger on my skin, but the end result is still awesome. Gonna need a full bottle of this.

Was recently frimped a decant of this. It's a lovely mix of rose and rosewood -- this rose manages not to turn to powder on me, and the rosewood adds depth and grounding. The vanilla is also noticeable. So, slightly creamy rose and subtle woods. Unfortunately, my skin eats this up fast -- it's gone within an hour. Still, I'll hang onto my decant.

File under "bottles I've had for years yet forgot to review." Probably because it's tough to describe this one -- it's so well-blended that picking out individual notes is tough. The matcha and leather accord do stand out the most, but there's a light, clean element to this scent that runs parallel to the leather notes that's hard to describe. (It might be the narcissus and petitgrain.) It smells vintage, expensive, and androgynous. I mostly save this one for special occasions or times when I particularly want that vintage perfume vibe.

In the bottle, I definitely pick up the astringency of the tobacco. As it wears, the astringency fades, and the scent becomes more of a chewy, caramelized, slightly sweet tobacco. So: a warm, brown, slightly sweet pipe tobacco scent. Has great staying power, which is good as I'm more a fan of the less-astringent drydown stage. It's great on its own, but I'm curious to see how it layers. Glad I took a chance and splurged on a secondhand bottle.

Today I learned that letting bottles/imps rest a bit really does work. When I got my decant a few weeks ago, I tried it on right away and was not a fan -- too heavy on the patchouli and amber. After a few weeks of letting the decant sit, I like the results a lot better now -- the patch and amber are still there, but are background players, giving a little grounding to what is mostly a jammy fig and lokum sweetened with bourbon vanilla. The patch and amber aren't too aggressive, but they keep the scent from getting overly sweet. Need to test a few more times to see if I need a bottle, but I'm here for both the concept and the cause.

Add me to the list of folks who got the Turkish Delight instead of the nutty experience of this scent. In the decant, I could pick out the fig, almond, and hazelnut, but shortly after applying, I got a huuuuge blast of rose candy (that also went a bit powdery on me, as rose often does) that was borderline overpowering. Well after drydown, the lokum calms down and the rich, nutty notes were able to get a word in edgewise, but the scent had faded pretty considerably on me by then. This one might not be for me, though I do want to see if the nutty notes develop differently after the decant ages a bit.

This one's all fresh, green, springlike florals. A little bit of powdery floral, but also the green note you'd get from a freshly cut stem. Very much a "spring" scent. If fresh florals are your thing, this is one to try.

In the decant and once on, I get resins and oudh, and unfortunately, it's a notably fecal oudh. This goes through several stages of morphing before settling -- there's the extra-indolic oudh stage, but then the iris upstages it for a while in an intense white floral phase. It does eventually settle into something better after drydown -- the iris calms down and the oudh gets more soft and golden and less indolic, while the frankincense adds another soft resinous note. Overall, a mix of soft resins and chilly white floral. It's unusual for sure, and while I have to power through some unpleasant stages as it dries down, I don't dislike the end result.

In the decant and once on, this is pale, creamy, slightly marshmallowy vanilla. I never quite pick out the osmanthus, but it might be blending with the subtle hints of sandalwood and frankincense to give the scent a faint woodiness/muskiness that helps counterbalance the foodiness a bit. Like other reviewers have said, the scent description fits. Like a more overtly feminine version of the Bourbon Vanilla, White Sandalwood, and Sage Ménage à Trois. Given I already have a bottle of the latter and it's a bit more my style, I probably don't need a full bottle of this, but will definitely keep using my decant.

In the bottle and wet, I pick up the sweet earthiness of tonka, but there's also a ton of almond in here. I don't find it particularly boozy, but it's definitely heavy on the almond. It's more subtle and low-throw than I expected -- sweet, warm, and a little earthy. It's probably the almond, but it reminds me of Salomé.

I can't believe I slept on the SNs when they originally appeared. I've snagged a few via sales pages and it's clear I was missing out. In the bottle, this is slightly astringent coffee, but most definitely fresh coffee, with a hint of sweetness. Once on, the astringency calms down, but the sweetness hangs out. One of my favorite cafes used to offer a "coffee soda" that consisted of their cold brew concentrate, plain soda water, and simple syrup -- this reminds me very much of that drink. It's not aggressively sweet, but definitely sweeter than sticking your nose in a bag of coffee beans. I like it a lot on its own, but I feel like this has a ton of layering potential, too.

In the imp, the coconut definitely stands out, but I also pick up the milk note, which keeps the scent from going into full suntan-lotion territory. Once it's on, my skin eats the milk up fast, and the coconut (with a touch of shea) dominates the blend. At this point, we are in full suntan-lotion territory -- classic, coconut-scented lotion (and I mean that in a good way -- no chemical-scented lotion here). If coconut's your thing, you'll probably want to try this one. Relatively low throw, but has great staying power. I could see myself reaching for this in hot weather or when I want to be reminded of the beach, so I'll definitely hang onto my frimp, but this probably won't be a regular-wear thing for me.

In the bottle and once on, I get a mix of deep amber, citrus, sunflower, and marigold -- they should be bright and sunny scents, but there's something darkened and muted about them. I never fully pick up the leaves, but there's a brief period where I get the off note that sometimes happens when a green note isn't playing well with my skin, so possibly the leaves? There's a slight astringency, but for the most part, this remains that mix of amber, marigold, and citrus on me, in that order. It's a little somber despite the brightness of many of the notes -- very evocative of the end of summer. (As a side note, this scent had its original run right when I was going through a significant life change that coincided with the end of summer. I always regretted not grabbing this at the time, and now that I've snagged a bottle years later, I'm amazed at how evocative it is of that period.)

This is sweet citrus and fruit to me, both in the imp and once on. There's also something a little creamy/vanillic about it -- the comparisons to meringue pie earlier reviewers made make sense to me. (On the other hand, this is a pretty well-aged imp, so that might be intensifying some notes.) If the scent's any indication, I can see this working as a mood booster; if nothing else, I feel less stressed and more motivated to tackle today's massive to-do list.

In the imp, this is a pretty mix of woodsy, mossy notes and pale, ethereal florals. Unfortunately, my skin eats the florals and amps the berry, so I end up with more of a mossy green/coniferous scent with berries. It's still a perfectly good forest scent, but the florals in the mix helped differentiate it from other forest scents in my stash. Will hang onto my frimp for scent locket use, though.