theseagrows

this opens with the fabric notes and some creamy milky vanilla, and i get the oakmoss if i inhale deeply. rose comes out more after it's been on the skin longer, but stays fairly subtle. i get a toasted note but it isn't sweet like marshmallow. the creaminess fades and the fabric and oakmoss are the strongest notes on my skin. this leans unisex on me, bordering on traditionally masculine. a like but not a love for me.

this opens with silk, a little tea and a little rose. it's subtle at first then the tea blooms more as honey enters the picture. the tea adds a slightly astringent quality. later on, this ends up mostly rose and tea with a honey background and little hints of silk, then turns almost pure silky honey deep in the drydown. very pretty and has a bit of creaminess from the honey. 

i've been really into creamy lemony vanillas lately so i was drawn to this. at first i get vanilla cream and lemon. it's so pretty and cozy. after a few more minutes i get more musk and amber, which add a kind of incense element. dries down to mostly vanilla cream and amber with little hints of lemon. so cozy! i think i need a bottle.

i get a lot of lilac at first with musk and amber.  there's a hint of jasmine shortly after dabbing it on. moments later i get herbal notes. after awhile it becomes a musky lilac with resins, amber and rose. the lilac and musk continue to be the most prominent notes on me, after an hour. the rose is quite subtle on my skin, but later jasmine takes over and it gets really beautiful at this point. it definitely has a vintage vibe, which i can appreciate. 

this starts with hibiscus and shea as the most noticeable notes on me. after a minute or two i get a hint of smokiness from the nicotine. the hibiscus has a greenness to it. this is not a sweet floral at all. i am trying in cool spring weather, and it's nice, but i want to try it in hotter weather-i think it'd be even better then.

this one starts with a lot of aldehydes, it's bright and clean and smells kind of like fresh laundry as mentioned above. there is something else here, but i can't place it, almost like a soft citrus? then i get the musk and other notes, but they are buried deep beneath the laundry fresh detergent. i was hoping for less aldehydes and more of the other notes, but unfortunately the inverse is true here. the other notes do get stronger over time, but still not quite enough for my tastes/.

i believe i get tobacco flower with a huge dose of smoke. this is very smoky, but not quite as charred and campfire-y as some smoky scents i've tried. the smoke calms after awhile but is still quite prominent along with tobacco. amber is just a background note and not that noticeable, at least on my skin. 

this starts with a light, citrussy tea with a hint of vanilla that is leaning slightly nutty/gourmand on my skin. the vanilla gets stronger and balances out the tea note, then the incense comes through amping up the tea note and damping the vanilla down. then finally, all 3 notes seem to be in a perfect balance after approximately 30 minutes. there are certain stages when i like this better than others but overall it's a nice, light, refreshing tea perfume with some sweetness from the vanilla.

this starts with an indolic jasmine, then i get a hint of mallow seconds later. gardenia is in the background with the mallow but i find jasmine to be the strongest note on my skin. it gets less indolic over time, but that element is still there. jasmine with a creamy softness.

starts off a lovely tuberose with a hint of something that seems almost like a soft musk? i dunno what that is. i get a hint of red clover i think? there is something slightly green when i inhale deeply. this strikes me as a non creamy, non indolic tuberose.  over time that sort of clean slightly green note gets stronger and balances the tuberose. one of my favorite GCs is neutral, which is like a soft tuberose with musk. this kind of reminds me of an opposite version-stronger tuberose with soft musk but everything amped up a bit more. after 45+ minutes it gets very clean smelling and the tuberose is fading away. it smells like laundry detergent on me now. i never get any tobacco, but for me the beginning stages are good but i am not liking the drydown. it's too clean and i prefer a creamy/indolic tuberose.

this starts with musk, rose and something effervescent. later i get some spiciness from the peppercorn. that effervescent thing is the strongest note here. it's kind of odd. yeah this isn't really working for me. later i get some incense notes but never any honey or benzoin. not really what i imagined at all...probably my skin chemistry misbehaving?

so, i can't do regular snake oil, but some of its offshoots are my absolute favorite BPALs. i love amber and rose so knew i had to try this one. it opens with a dark incensy rose. over time it turns into a spicy dried rose. very pretty, reminds me of a couple BPALs from the early aughts when i first discovered them. ❤️

starts with a lot of honey with some vanilla and labdanum. it's a bit like incensy root beer with honey. i think it's the honey but something is going somewhat baby powdery on me. ok but sometimes honey goes wonky, and in this case it does, along with the bushman's candle. i think that combination is going strange on my skin. this isn't terrible on me but not great either.

this opens with tea, sage and cedar. the sage is pretty strong. it's herbal, smoky and slightly medicinal as the incense mingles with sage. it almost has the sinus clearing properties of eucalyptus after being on the skin about 10 minutes. i finally get some jasmine after about 20-30 minutes. at this point i like it better as the smokiness and sage has died down a bit, and now it's more of a jasmine incense. the more jasmine i get the more i like it, but i am on the fence about this one. it may be a bit too herbal for me, and i need to re-try. 

this opens with amber and incense, and a minute or so later i get the vanilla milk and almond. this is a soft, light cozy perfume. in a nutshell: milky almond with a hint of soft incense on a soft  amber background. glad i got a bottle of this! the only downside it is very soft on the skin and doesn't project much.

starting off i get cherry blossoms and rose musk. a hint of honey comes out after a few seconds. it ends up mostly just being cherry blossom and a light honey...but basically a cherry blossom soliflore. perfect for spring!.

i get maraschino cherries that are quite sweet with a hint of something kind of woody in the background, maybe the white sandalwood. later on there's a sweetness from honey and the cherry has calmed down a bit but there is also something mildly toasty. not sure what that is. i don't seem to get orris and ylang ylang adds to all the other notes but is not super prominent. i like this one but it may be a bit too sweet for my tastes. 

this one starts with a strong lavender note with something kind of misty, maybe ambergris? a minute or two later i get the orris root and hints of wisteria and violet. after awhile it becomes a lavender/wisteria combination it's pretty and springlike. i am kind of wishing wisteria was stronger than lavender here (which remains the strongest note) but i still enjoy it. 

i get neroli with a spiced amber and something very clean and refreshing in the background, which i believe gives the feeling of this being a silk daffodil as opposed to a real one. it's a bit much for me but i am loving the other notes. the silk aspect smells like a strong clean laundry detergent on my skin. it does calm down after awhile, but i just can't get past it in this one unfortunately. without that i'd probably love this...

received a frimp of this one...starts with a woodiness and something bright and almost citrussy as well. a bit later i get something a bit more creamy/sweet. not almond but something that makes me think of it? i don't know but it's comforting. i think it's woods, heliotrope and something lemony-herbal. it is definitely meditative and calming.

this one starts with a lot of lilac, a little vanilla and some frankincense. after 1-2 minutes i definitely get leather and tea which adds a sort of odd element that reminds me of gasoline, but in a good way. maybe it's just my skin chemistry? lilac-gasoline...conjures up interesting images. it dries down to primarily lilac and vanilla with some other elements subtly in the background. a lilac with some depth. very pretty but i think i need to re-try in spring.

(2nd try for my own reference, in early june-late spring/almost summer: strong lilac with that underlying gasoline note happening again (maybe it's the black satin note??)  but more noticeable vanilla. kind of reminds me of BBWs pink lilac and vanilla candle. ultimately i think something in here amps up the lilac a bit too much for me.) 

i get the aforementioned funk at first (assuming this is the serpent scale accord? smells like it has oudh in it) and it kind of drowns out everything else. there is something fresher smelling underneath but i can't place it. maybe the silk. after about 30 mins or so the funk mostly dies off, and i get that underlying freshness. it takes quite awhile for the other notes to come through but i get something slightly sweet that helps the other notes. maybe vanilla/tonka. the vanilla/tonka/amber grows and the scent is improved but it still has that underlying 'fresh' note which must be silk, that i dislike. if that wasn't there, i could probably wear this. not what i was expecting but still very interesting for sure.
 

this one starts with a laundry detergent aspect mixed with slightly indolic florals...maybe that's some kind of herb? no idea. whatever it is it fades fast. i don't get ambergris as far as i can tell. i think it's all cotton and herbs. very fresh smelling, if you enjoy that kind of thing, but it's not for me.

this begins with wood and incense mostly, with a hint of sweetness from the amber. in a few minutes i get a lot of rose and sandalwood and the incense amps up. it's like a woody rose with incense. it's a dry scent, not a dewy rose at all. roses in a box that once held incense and the scent of it has embedded itself into the box. this is really pretty, but i have so many incense-roses. glad i just got a decant because i probably don't need a bottle. 😉

this one starts out with mostly spices and moss, with candlewax in the background. that grows stronger and melds with the mosses and spices. i definitely smell clove the strongest. dries down to a candlewax and clove with the yellowed parchment note. i don't seem to get any ylang ylang, at least not that strongly. it must be very faint. this is a solid like but not a love as it fades really fast on me.