gentle-twig
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Fresh out of the mail, this was reminding me of liquid hand soap, but now that it has settled for some months it has really turned into something quite lovely. The lavender, sharp when freshly applied, mellows into a round purple thing, accompanied by the lavender ash. I would never identify this note as ash independently: there is nothing smoky or dark about it, just a soft, dry, powdery quality that I recognize from Dumb Cake. The resemblance to Dumb Cake is actually quite strong, with Dumb Cake feeling leaner, more austere, more luminous to the round and cuddly GG. It makes me wonder if there is a little unlisted vanilla here, or maybe that is just the musk somehow. The musk is definitely adding VOLUME to this blend, but I don't feel like it is very important to the actual scent. I realize I am neglegting the thistle, which is really the main player here ! Kind of a simple, but romantic floral note. Not much to say for me really, but I don't want lack of words to make you feel like it's a supporting player. There is also a suggestion of dewiness here, but this is in no way aquatic (the soapiness I got initially is due to the thistle rather than any aquatic element), rather just seems to glisten somehow. Further in the dry down I experience a slight spiciness--an unlisted touch of clove or allspice? Very textural now, like a threadbare, well-loved stuffed donkey. I wonder if the moss is contributing to this experience. I don't smell anything mossy per se but it may be blending with those phantom spices, whatever they are. Then the iris takes over -- if you are an iris hater, I would still give this a chance. The romantic watercolor meadow of the rest of the scent keeps things from going too creamy/powdery/cosmetic. Nor do I experience any strong lilac, but its thistle-adjacency may be boosting what I perceive to be that note.
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This is one easy breezy scent. Lots of Pom up front but but firmly chypric. It reminds me a lot of the tobacco and cherry Chypre duet from last year’s goose moon release. The same textural interest from the Chypre, with the dry tobacco switched out for a gleaming aldehyde and the cherry switched out for the (much more wearable to me) pomegranate. I really like this, but find it a bit feminine for me. After the first hour or so it has an earthy but put together Chypre thing that reads as tweedily unisex today . Simple-ish, fun without losing diginity. One of my favorites of this year’s Yules.
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When I first tested this it was all tomtegröt on me and I thought this was another gourmand fail. Now it has thankfully improved. The porridge note is still overpowering for the first minute or so, and I am disappointed that it seems to be made out of oat rather than rice on my skin. But soon the scent becomes much more complex and compelling. Lingonberry is the strongest note and I also get something akin to date (maybe part of the tomtegröt accord). Along with the bright lingonberry, there is an elusive cool note, smoother and less obtrusive than other BPAL frost notes I have encountered. Next the frankincense and woody branches appear. I don’t read the frankincense as such, it just provides a slight incense touch to the spindly woods. As yulween dries down, it shifts from cold to warm on my skin. There is still a hint of porridge but I largely get a warm dry wood, reminding me a little of the inside of a sauna. This is still too gourmand for me to desire a full bottle, but I will enjoy using up my imp on days I want something warm and cozy but with a little bit of gauntness.
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I just used up the last of my decant of this and I have to say I really love it. I get milk and carnation in equal parts, not much of the other notes. I like Alice as a perfume oil but this just does it for me on another level. Pretty present for a day or more but not overwhelming. There is just something a little reserved about the scent that plays nice with other fragrances and is always welcome.
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This reminds me a lot of other greenish BPAL blends that have woods and resins in them. As in many other cases, this is a little too sweet on my skin. Still, the weedy green accord, just this side of spa, was enchanting this heat wave morning. Very much a scent that evokes just escaping a blast of summer (or in my case spring) heat — on a dewy morning or in a pool of deep shade. On Teaching is certainly on the traditional masculine side of things, and indeed there is a calm and staid quality in line with the best of that heritage. I say this reminds me of a bevy of other, half-remembered BPALs (Anubis, some dead leaves blends), but this is best in class, with the cloying resinous notes fading to tolerable levels after the opening. Still, as a devotee of non-BPAL perfumes as well, I don’t think can oust CdG Laurel from its niche in my collection. I will probably dump the rest of my imp into a hot bath on a cool summer morning and then apply that number for the heat of the day.
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Ghoulnextdoor is right on the money with this paradoxical sliquid scent. A blizzard of frosty aldehydes clears to reveal a vast white tea glacier—limpid, smooth, frozen solid. As it cracks and slides, it reveals glimpses of moss below until it meets a frozen ocean where sea spray is suspended in the air, the salt and ice forming nacreous, flowing sculptures where land, sea, and sky meet in a reconciliation of the elements. In a different register: I tried this decant after Snowman Beatdown, which immediately won me over. They share that frosty opening, but the Crumpet-Fanlight Expedition is less of a total white out and dries down to a remarkably polished white tea chypre—genteel indeed, full of textural interest but somehow also smooth, polished, with a fastidious quality that feels appropriate for the ball gowned and smoking jacketed world of Edward Gorey. White tea and ambergris are both hit or miss for me, but they work so wonderfully together here, the ambergris encrusting the sharper edges of the tea, the tea lending an herbaceous backdrop to the salt sparkle of the ambergris. The musk here is not a classic white musk, but nor is it particularly funky. It casts a silver sheen on the proceedings, and lends this scent a wonderful sleekness. Color associations: Blinding white and the lime green version translucent blue glacial ice. Scent associations: Lyonesse in a cold snap, Mars and Venus takes to the tundra. More complex and hence not quite as chilly as Snowman Beatdown. A pale green chypre counterpoint to the deep red Pomegranate and Scarlet Chypre. Verdict: Love, my immediate favorite of my (overall exceptionally successful) Yule decants.
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This one is kind of the inverse of what I expected: a snowball with a shadow of wood and incense rather than a frost dusted branch. In the opening I get the same aldehyde frost as in other Yules like The Crumpet-Fanlight Expedition and Snowman Beatdown. Here it is subtler than in the other two scents, scrubbed quite clean by eucalyptus and given heft by ambergris. I would say this is an ambergris-dominant blend, and it is doing a kind of gourmand frosting thing on my skin that I don’t care for. There is a supporting sizzle of opoponax and at times I get a dry splintery wood, not something I would necessarily recognize as oud. Over the life of the scent, the wood gets stronger and there are moments when it really does conjur rime-coated branches. At these moments this is a love for me, but they are too fleeting. I know from other blends like Lace Lichen that the particular effect of the ambergris that I dislike here is likely to fade with time, so I will hold onto my imp but so far this is unlikely to inspire a full bottle purchase. Overall, a chilly, chiaroscuro scent but with an emphasis on the bright white notes. I would recommend for people who are looking for a frosty scent that isn’t just a blast of ice.
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All frosty aldehydes—the kind used in sport colognes like Polo Sport, and more recently and intensely in CdG’s Odeur 10–and a little bit of sprightly sage. Great staying power and moderate throw, an easy breezy chilly scent. Yes, it goes cologne-y. That is part of the charm here! If you are looking for a cold, soapy, (now) classic masculine profile, with a little cheery herbal twist, this is definitely for you. It is very simple and enjoyable. With simple scents like this it’s hard for me to know whether I will continue to simply enjoy them or get bored—time will tell!
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Got this as a free decant from a lovely decanter here on the forums and I love it so much. Soft and sparkly patchouli, frosty aldehydes. Not much vanilla for me. Really hope this one gets brought back some day !
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2025 Version: This is one that is difficult to parse based on the description. There’s a lot of overlaps between “cologne” and “herbs,” and possibly even “ashes” and “cake” ! I will say that there is a gourmand aspect to this iteration, albeit subtle. The opening is buttery with a bit of herbs and possibly moss? But quickly a luminous citrus enters the scene. I imagine this is part of the cologne accord, but it brings to mind a barely sweet panettone (or another austere Italian dessert) with candied citrus peel. The scent straddles the divide between herbal citrus cake gourmand and classic fougère for a while, before the cologne finally wins out. Now it is in line with some other masculine BPALs of the more fae sort. If I had to take a stab at some of the components in this cologne it would be: bergamot (and possibly petitgrain), lavender, tonka, oakmoss, possibly musk. I totally get the Dorian comparisons and I also see a resemblance to Jareth. There is a kind of gold fougere glow to Dumb Cake that both of those scents also have. Ironically, I find Dumb Cake to be much less sugary and therefore more wearable than Dorian, whose cotton candy halo always feels like it belongs to someone else on me. Instead of sugar, this Dumb Cake is dusted with… flour? It may be the ash accord (if not I don’t know where the ash is here) but it isn’t smoky at all, and it reminds me a lot of the flour accord in Marlou’s Doliphor. I eyed this back when it first appeared in 2014 and didn’t get a bottle, so I’m glad I could snag one this year! It’s everything I was hoping it would be: a little dapper, a little spooky, a little cold, but a little cozy too. For the moment it’s quite soft, but surprisingly persistent. Very very happy with this blind buy.
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I ordered an imp of this recently along with Morocco and Scherezade to try out some of the lab’s spiced musk blends. At first, Morocco felt the most wearable to me, a vivid blend of bright spices. It wasn’t super exciting to me but it was very nice. Now that it has settled, the honey and musk do something on the drydown that I don’t like very much. It’s not even weird or funky, just not to my tastes. Conversely, as Morocco ages its surprisingly buttoned-up charm wins me over more and more.
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Air and Sunshine Galore Home & Linen Spray
gentle-twig replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Atmosphere
This is mostly about the citrus for me, perhaps mixed but mostly LEMON! The amber and heliotrope sweeten it up and I get the impression of a lemon cough drop, only with more depth and complexity. I think the amber is really keeping this from going into commercial cleaner territory despite its subtlety. The aldehydes make this feel open and airy where it could go all sticky otherwise. At times they read a touch soapy but mostly they just make the scent feel bright and make this one pretty addictive for me. I have been loving using this as an air freshener in my bathroom, where the squeaky clean elements feel right at home. I don’t get anything metallic at all. -
Agree with others about the greige/pink vibe of this scent. The dead leaves are there but staying in their lane, not pulling citrus but feeling light and fluttery and just a tad husky. As far as DL blends go it reminds me of October or October 32 but in a musky vanilla direction that opens cool and airy and dries down to something like a felted millennial pink frosted cookie on a wooden table. Cooler and thicker than October; leaner, more outdoorsy, and less soapy than October 32. I thought this lacked interest at first but the more I wear my decant the more it is growing on me and feeling more complex and interesting in its surprising woody nuances.
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Dead Leaves, Funeral Lilies, and Beeswax Candles Home & Linen Spray
gentle-twig replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Atmosphere
This one is really nice. The dead leaves don’t really read as such to me here. The Néroli/petitgrain that is in that accord comes to the fore in wonderful harmony with the creamy lilies. There may be a hint of something brown and toffee-ish that I get from many of the “browner” dead leaves blends, but it might be a facet of the beeswax at play. The beeswax is definitely a major player, but I wouldn’t necessarily be able to pin it down as beeswax. Nothing funky, just round, slightly creamy sweetness. Dead Leaves, Funeral Lilies, and Beeswax Candles actually reminds me a lot of Elizabeth Taylor Sparkling White Diamonds, only less sharp and warmer. I think this is totally viable as a personal scent on clothing, but I have also enjoyed it as a warm, golden, yet creamy floral room scent. -
I previously received a mislabeled decant that was supposed to be zombie flash but was (probably) pumpkin trash bags. The decanter kindly replaced that decant but I find Zombie Flash puzzling even now. This is definitely the right scent now, the mushrooms and ink are clearly present. But otherwise Zombie Flash is quite surprising! In the opening I get something quite sharp that I struggle to identify, possibly a “shampoo” style musk wedded to a subtle floral? The ink is there as well, and clashes discordantly with whatever that sharp note is. There is also a deep sweetness present that recalls decomposition and just a hint of moss, giving an impression of mildew. I find this jumble quite unsettling, and it could almost belong to this year’s Yellow Wallpaper collection but for that dark ink note. Soon I get something almost indolic before the ink and mushroom really start to come into their own. This was the point at which I thought “yep, this is definitely the right one this time.” The sweetness starts to come to the fore while also smelling less off-putting. Now there is a distinct tart fruity quality. I had wondered whether brains might be a gummy candy accord before I tried Zombie flash, and this is the closest ZF comes to that preconception. The scent begins to get mossier around the edges but never really loses that fruity quality. It kinda just gets softer until it fades away. Overall, well, I don’t like ZF that much. Its clean facets and decomposing facets come together in a way that is just too uncanny together. I was hoping for graveyard dirt and ink, but this all about the mushrooms and brains. I hope that more people try it and review it because I have a hard time making sense of this one and I hope it is a more coherent and beautiful experience for others !