Casablanca
-
Content Count
2,076 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by Casablanca
-
A Winter’s Walk in the Cemetery
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Black Phoenix Trading Post
Winter's Walk opens with a bloom of lilies and roses over green grasses and swampy-green cypress trees. After a bit, I find a little tumble or two of dried maple leaves when I look for it, but meanwhile, the lilies are going quite soapy on me, as they often like to. Now and then I think I catch a suggestion of Dorian's black tea, but I never notice lavender or other notes. The soapy lilies soap all over the place for the rest of the blend's life on my skin. -
Wooden Recorder With Fruits, Skull, Books, And A Feather
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Halloweenie
A "glut" is a perfect term for the cornucopia of fruits that unloads on first applying this scent: Syrupy peaches, grapes, apples, cherries! That's about the order of their strength on my skin, with sugar-syrupy peaches and grapes far out in front. It's a long time before I find any polished wood, and even then, it's really just a hint. This stays mostly about the fruit on me. -
I love the name "Dooting Skull," but the perfume test didn't work out quite so well on me. Right out of the gate, I get a blast of anise and a side of milky coconut. The licorice is a bit sugary and almost boozy in its intensity -- at first, it reminds me a little of Sambuca or something in that vein, but settles more into straight up black licorice with some time. Although none is listed, in testing, my friend and I both get leather. Now I'm picturing a Good 'n Plenty candy with a cartoon face, winking and wearing leather chaps. I can definitely pick out nutmeg at this point, but not really the other listed notes. Black licorice, coconut milk, nutmeg, and a hint of background leather. Quirky AF.
-
This is a friend's decant, and not really my style of blend, but it's fun to test. With that disclaimer: I tested this alongside It's All So Damn Beautiful, as they have a similar garage thing going on. This one begins with oak, leather, and motor oil on me, but then it swerves much airier and sweeter -- and kind of soapy -- with lavender. It actually reminds me of lavender and soft white floral soap. The earlier notes have completely vanished. Later, the lavender and white floral soap regains hints of its earlier leather and motor oil, but mostly the blend stays oddly floral and soapy. Not for me.
-
This is a friend's decant, and not really my style of blend, but it's fun to test. With that disclaimer: This was mostly oily oakmoss and petroleum on me. I got some charred lavender early on, but it faded out quickly, leaving a faint oakmoss garage smell. Long after drydown, opoponax came out and hung on for an hour or so, darker and a little more interesting, but ultimately this one is not for me.
-
From the wand, I get dry-toasted sandalwood and a little... perfumey skin musk? On my arm, it's akin to the wand sniff until it starts to warm up. Then some warmed pumpkin mash comes in: warm, plain, and a little buttery. Meanwhile, I start to get a kind of black peppery quality to the toasted note as it warms. This becomes a sort of black pepper-toned toasted sandalwood, with lots of that grainy texture I usually get from sandalwood. A skin-warmed musk wafts around supporting these notes. Essentially: Dry, toasty, slightly peppery sandalwood and warm pumpkin mash over skin musk.
-
On the wand, October 32 smells like dried leaves caught in scratchy gray wool. On my arm, this is really soft, even after some days of rest. At first, it's a faint dry wool with a little of the dried leaves. The image of gray wool army blankets fits what this is bringing to mind for me... gray wool army blankets flecked with dried leaves. In drydown, I start to find a little creamy amber. The blend stays soft, but the amber sweetens and strengthens it, becoming the salient note on me. It's a clear departure from the army blankets --- now this is an amber sweater of scratchy wool flecked with dried leaves. The black tea is the lightest presence in the mix, adding a bit of dark dryness. I haven't been ready to accept the post-Halloween holidays so far this year, which feels a bit like events are passing me by, even as I take part in them. So the concept of this scent feels close to me. I like how it rests on me once dried. It might be a little too soft for what I usually bottle, but I'll see how the decant ages.
-
Mm, apple-char smoke. I love most smoke notes, as well as the other notes listed, and this doesn't disappoint. Charred and heavily smoking apples, burning dried leaves, cedar, and a soft cinnamon. Beautiful autumn scent and my favorite of the Weenies tried so far. So glad I tried this for today, Thanksgiving.
-
Dead Leaves, Roasted Almonds, and Bourbon Cream
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Halloweenie
This Dead Leaves: burnt, buttery waffle iron? I think what's meant to be roasted almonds is, at first, closer to something that makes me think of butter and teflon on fire. Once this starts drying in earnest, this wild phase settles into a mild, lightly toasted almond on a rustling DL background. The cream is scarcely detectable. Better, but I'm not sure it's enough. -
This Dead Leaves opens with a burst of dry bell pepper cologne, the standard dead leaves thing. Happily, it doesn't stay there. The dead leaves linger on, but not alone; they're joined by a mild vanilla butter and a low-key, chewy comb note. This is a doable butter. It's not the White Larry movie butter or the face-socking buttah of a few of the baked goods perfumes. I'm not sure this is grabbing me enough for a bottle, but I'll enjoy the decant.
-
Beautiful opening on this one. Indigo plum musk, reddened with rose, freshened with a whiff of eucalyptus. Before long, I also get an amber incense impression behind these, though incense is not listed. It's a golden scent, like a golden frankincense or champaca incense. The honey doesn't stand out on its own for me, but there is a light sweetness helping to link other notes together. There's a lot woven through this. It's like a cool, translucent fabric of softly colored layers that partially show through the top. The eucalyptus seems to shimmer and throw a gossamer effect over the whole, like a top layer, under which move shadows of soft plum, indigo, rose, gold. After drying, the musk amps on me overly, as often happens with Lab indigo musk, so I think this won't be a bottle. But it remains intriguing and complex, and the early phases were a journey. This was a delight to try.
-
Have to agree with the previous review. The initial burst on me is mostly movie theater butter oil -- that is, what I got from White Larry -- and a pretty but faint patch. In early drydown, a heroic vanilla cream mousse shows up and tries to save the day. It billows out against the butter oil and tries to push it back, but, alas, the butter oil wins simply by continuing to ooze forth and soak everything. The butter oil's goosh is not to be denied, no, not even by a rich and luxurious cream. The mousse collapses back into a faint background vanilla and lets the butter gooze have the day.
-
Yay, this smells like what it says! Dry coffee, tobacco, pumpkin, and cinnamon. That's about the order of strength on my skin. The woods are offering more of a vibe than a standout note, here -- and, overall, this smells dry. Not quite dusty-dry, though sometimes I get a little honey dust impression from it as well, and I can see the creaminess others mention. There might be a little cream in this coffee. The coffee, tobacco, cinnamon, woods, and dryness together remind me of a comfortable study, perhaps not one used every day. With the addition of pumpkin, I get Comfy Study in Autumn from this. Lovely.
-
This one is confusing me. Upon application, I smell... mostly a tart cranberry? The cranberry that was absent on me from Cranberry Mango Pumpkin Floss is abundant here. I don't really get other notes. Certainly not the anticipated. Not sure what to add. It is what it is... and what I get is tart cranberry.
-
Um, yes. Shiny-red candy apple, hello. As it sits on the skin, I too find something a little off-putting in the blend. It's kind of chemical, but I could see it as a concept scent for a little silvery metal blade. Something about it reminds me of "mirror" note blends, blends with silvery mirror concepts, but also a bit like a chemical garage smell. Mostly, though, this is shiny-red candy apple.
-
Freshly applied, I get loads of mango-pumpkin sugar. Curiously, the cranberry is absent. But I'm really enjoying the pumpkin sugar, which is more buttery pumpkin than pumpkin spice. As the blend starts to dry, the mango fades and I find some whiffs of cotton candy in the sugar. From this point on, the perfume is basically a skin-soft pumpkin sugar, with a little hint of cotton candy now and then. Going back to test the wand, I find a little airy cranberry there, though nothing very tart or standout. It never emerges on my skin.
-
I like this. My first thought on applying Mouth So Sweet was "Lady Una gone dark," with a similar honey over berries, and it looks like that's a shared experience. There is a plum hiding in this honeyed berry blend, though, and a not-quite-sinister opium incense. Like others above, I'm also smelling rose, mostly a red rose. The bourbon quality of the vanilla adds a little sophistication, lingering in the background. The balance is lovely: Honey, deep fruits, and opium are sharing a limelight on me, and working together, with the other notes rounding them out.
-
Marshmallow-poofed vanilla cotton with whiffs of a cool and mild lemony frankincense. This smells like warm, fresh-laundered cotton sheets poofing out in the current of a lemony sun breeze. Clean, comforting, cozy. I've been wanting a nice, happy cotton scent and here it is.
-
Oh gosh, how does the vanilla manage to smell just like vanilla powder? Spicy pumpkin latte (strong on the spice, faint on the coffee), whipped cream, and vanilla powder. Yum. After drydown, though, the pumpkin spice stomps out everything else on my skin. I'll see how this settles.
-
Hushed October is a dark green blend of a scent, reading as almost damp or swamp like. The greenery reminds me of swamp trees, but not the swamp itself. Leaves, grass, damp soil, and a whiff of fig. In drydown I get a little coffee wafting in. Other than the coffee, this is a drastically different October smell than I'd find in my state. 🍂 Eventually the damp soil mellows, and around that time I also lose the coffee, leaving an indistinct green scent.
-
I get mostly toasted cardamom, dry and almost peppery at first; then it settles into something like Perfectly Normal Childhood's spice. I'm not getting much lavender, but the bourbon vanilla is a soft, mildly sweet presence. So this is mostly a dry PNC cardamom speckled over mellow bourbon vanilla. Pleasant... I would turn to my PNC bottle before this, but if you'd like that cardamom with less foodiness and sweetness, this could be an easy choice.
-
All While Dreaming is a deeply melancholic blend of dried red roses, old polished wood, and smudges of patchouli. The red currants do no more on my skin than give the dried roses a bit of a fruitier tone; they're very subtle. Mostly this is about the dried red roses, especially their wistful, sort of yesteryear dried quality.
-
Soft cranberry on a... mixed orange-colored background. I smell pumpkin, a little carrot, scarce orange... The carrot and pumpkin combined make me think of yellow and butternut squash, for some reason. This is a little like sitting at Thanksgiving dinner, and the cranberry sauce is closest to you at the moment, with table smells behind it.
-
A full glass of ripe, strong blackberry-plum wine. More the deep purple fruit than the wine, but all are quite present. This blackberry-plum is... declamatory. Loud. These fruits are drunk and have a lot to say. I'm finding the lavender is all but drowned in the potent dark fruity wine, but I can smell a nice, calm white sandalwood under the party. This blackberry and plum wine borders on garish and I don't mind. I'll enjoy this decant, though I'm noticing as I huff it too much, it threatens to bring a headache.
-
Hm. I thought this would remind me of Lavender, Sea Salt, and Rain -- but it really doesn't! On my skin, when wet, Undine is so much airy sea spray, a little salt, and just a wisp of ambergris. I don't find any lavender. While drying, and thereafter until it soon fades, this one mellows to a very easy-to-wear sea-spray skin scent. Soft sea spray over soft skin ambergris... slightly salty (and amply alliterated?). It might be interesting to layer this with Lavender Lightning.