theseagrows

i mostly get boozy woods with a hint of carnation. i just love these sort of scents in winter. it brings to mind an old study with a roaring fire while it's cold outside. warming and cozy. really like this one and i'll definitely keep my decant.

this is sharp and medicinal like others have said, almost like a really strong scented cleaner with a hint of florals in the back. or pine sol, that's kind of what it's like, but maybe slightly less intense. so it smells fresh and traditionally masculine. i don't seem to get any leather here at all. maybe a tiny smidgen in the dry down, which is a lot less sharp. thankfully. glad i tried this one but it's not really me.

at first i get something citrussy, and i'm not sure what that is. then i get white musk and a rubbery note. i am almost wondering if my decant was mislabeled. it basically remains that way, with no florals or vanilla to speak of. i am so confused here...should probably track down some more because something here is amiss. even in the spray vial it smells like an intense lemony/citrus note. 

i've wanted to try this for a looong time and finally got a decant of it. at first i get mostly rum, champaca and a white floral note. there is also a hint of nuttiness in here, from what, i don't know. the nuttiness and white floral aspects die off and i think i am getting a lot of ambrette and then the frankincense really amps up and turns to pencil shavings on me, as the lab's frankincense note often does. then it dominates and all i get is pencil shavings with a hint of champaca. it dries down to vanilla, champaca and is still dominated by frankincense. the frankincense finally lets up when the perfume is almost faded away and this point it's a pretty smoky vanilla-champaca. unfortunately overall, my skin chemistry is not playing nice with this one.

for the most part i avoid foody scents but i enjoy bpal's white chocolate note a lot. i knew it'd be really good with these notes and it doesn't disappoint! i really love the combo of all the notes, the chocolate is stronger at first with the other notes backing it up, and those notes are just a soft creamy melange supporting the chocolate. i find this one really comforting yet sophisticated. definitely in the same zone as the first love fades too, which is one of my favorite atmos ever. so glad i got a bottle recently on etsy 

damn, this is even more beautiful than expected. i love all these notes and to see them together is just perfection. this is primarily a creamy vanilla ylang ylang with hints of carnation and benzoin. this will be especially gorgeous in spring and summer. ? if you love creamy white florals, this won't disappoint.

in the beginning i get a lot of balsam and oudh which kind of reminds me of bpal's black musk a bit. after a minute i get a bit of smoke, then later some amber, warming things up. it's mostly a smoky balsam on me. i get the cinnabar and maybe some woods later, with a little hint of beeswax. the rose finally comes through after it's been on the skin several hours. it's quite pretty. but for me, it's a resiny balsam for most of the time.

i love this one in winter. i get a lot of pipesmoke and firewood with hints of leather and brandy. such an ambience to this one! love it.

i received a frimp of this. in all these years i've never tried it. it starts with a toasty hazelnut backed up by something green and slightly soapy...guessing it's oaklmoss/cypress. it gets greener and soapier as the hazelnut wears off. it's a mix of foody and fresh-kind of odd. the cypress and oakmoss end up dominating-it's a green, soapy traditionally masculine scent. nice to finally try even though it's not my cup of tea.

so glad i finally found some of this it starts off with sweet woods and resins. it's a sweet polished wood with something a bit golden and creamy, almost like honey or beeswax. later on i get something almost fruity too. this is sweeter than i was anticipating to be honest. it's a very comforting scent, i think it'd be great in fall/winter.

i smell mostly red musk and vanilla i think. for just a 'drop' of red musk, it is quite strong-the strongest note in fact. after a few minutes i get a hint of the oudh i believe. overwhelmingly tho, this is vanilla and red musk. it's pretty, and later turns into a lovely creamy vanilla scent. i like it at that point the best. glad i finally got to try this!

right off i should say i am not an apple/fruity fan but was intrigued by the other notes in this, so figured WTH. in the very beginning i get apple, wisteria and orchid. not terrible but a bit too sweet for me. a minute or so later, the apple fades a bit and the wisteria gets bolder. i like this better. then later the orchid takes over and i sense all the other notes, primarily orchid. it goes through a shampoo-like phase, clean and floral, then it gets more incensy, like an orchid incense with apples. a solid like but not a love from me. i actually would prefer this as an incense, rather than a perfume, come to think of it.

this starts with cacao, vetiver, opoonax and some musk. it's earthy and slightly animalic. awhile later i think i get a hint of queen of the night, and the cacao has died down a bit. it ends up a kind of damp vetiver for while, then turns into a vetiver-cacao combination with a hint of florals, which is kind of intriguing. on me. i wasn't sure about this one at first but am liking the drydown quite a bit. i'll have to try it again.

this starts with a clean sandalwood incense and ti leaf. it's clean and woody-very 'spa like' to my nose. after awhile the honeyed saffron takes over and it's really nice, and dries down to saffron and ti leaf, though it's quite subtle, i can see how it would be good for layering, but i'm not really into layering...anyway, still a pretty scent but also gives me a bit of a headache? so i'm not sure about this one. i think it's too cologne-y for my tastes.

this starts with green tea, cedar and green mandarin-a woody, citrussy tea scent. it smells fresh and classic. a minute or two later i get a hint of rose, and it's a bit sour in this. luckily it's subtle. i love rose but bpal has some rose note that goes sour on me at times. i think i get even more cedar because this turns quite woody and green on me. it's like irish spring soap with woods on me...not really what i was expecting! was hoping for more rose and honey in this. oh well.

this one is intriguing. i honestly get a melange of all the notes except wisteria at first, and i love how the carrot seed and iris are combining making something earthy and suede-y. however, after awhile this goes through some unpleasant stages for me-first it gets very green and masculine then the iris and carrot seed turn very soapy and most of the other notes are gone.

right off i smell lemon peel and something that's foody in a toasted way, which is not my favorite, it smells like a lemon cookie. i hope this dissipates soon. after the drydown it's primarily lemon peel with marshmallow. kind of nice, but i was hoping for an orange blossom marshmallow with a hint of lemon, and there is no orange blossom that i can detect and on me the lemon is quite strong.

i received a frimp of this one! i smell the indigo musk and geranium most strongly at first. it's musky and slightly herbal. this musk reminds me more of bpal's red musk than blue musk but it's softer. i get a hint of jasmine and plum which are also fairly soft. it's mostly a dusky, musky plum on my skin. nice but not my cup of tea.

right off i get all three notes, fairly balanced to make an interesting scent that seems both warm and cool at the same time. after a couple minutes i get something mildly...dusty? not sure how else to describe it. it does smell very golden. after about 30 minutes i get a little woodiness, which is nice and rounds the scent out nicely. this is really pretty but not my cup of tea so i will be passing it along...maybe to the bf, i think this might smell better on him than me for some reason.

i get a fresh green fig and some olive blossom-it smells candle-y at this point, but also it's fresh and reminds me of the scent of a spa where you'd get a massage. it's very 'clean' smelling but not really aquatic. an interesting scent, and i love the notes but this one just isn't working like i imagined it would.

right off i smell the tobacco and rice milk. prettier than expected! the tobacco seems to change somehow as the 2 notes seem to blend more seamlessly, after a couple minutes. i think the frankincense is a background note adding depth but is not overly obvious. it gets smokier/spicier over time. very nice, not as creamy as expected, much more tobacco heavy. luckily i like tobacco a lot so i am enjoying this.

i smell a slightly toasted cream and honey at first. i think the skin musk is quite subtle and making up the background notes. this is a sweeter more floral honey, not a beeswaxy one. this one is pretty linear on me and doesn't change much.

at first sniff this is primarily honeysuckle with some wisteria floating in the background. it's very fresh and springy to me. the wisteria gets stronger later on and dominates more, but mostly it just seems like a honeysuckle/wisteria melange. after about 15-20 minutes i think i get a bit of jasmine as well that seems almost a bit rough for lack of a better word, but that's not a bad thing, i feel like it dirties up the florals a tiny bit, which i like. i'd been longing for a wisteria scent and this does the job.

White coconut, thick wildflower honey, and threads of saffron. this starts off with something a bit rubbery and sweet smelling, then out comes the coconut and honey. the saffron is sweet bordering on fruity. it smells like a pina colada to me. the honey seems to be just hanging in the background adding richness. this scent is very, very sweet on me, but i tend to amp sweet/fruity notes, so maybe that's why. it takes awhile but after about maybe 45 minutes the sweetness is tempered some and it's getting a little more honeyish, which improves the scent on my skin. it smells very tropical, honestly. not really what i was expecting, but my skin chemistry does strange things sometimes.

i received a frimp of this and am testing on my arm. very strong cherry liqueur at first and does remind me of cough drops a bit. after awhile i get the amber which tampers down the sweet booziness a bit. i swear i get something a bit spicy later. nice if you love cherry, but personally too sweet for me.