Casablanca
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Everything posted by Casablanca
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Anticipation opens as a quiet white pumpkin-and-black-pepper blend with an odd lilt of bergamot and orange blossom. That last, the blossom, is a lighter touch than in many blends --- oftentimes orange blossom or neroli turns to orange lollipops on my skin, but that isn't happening here. The white pumpkin reminds me of the similarly soft white pumpkin notes sometimes found in Bath and Body Works candles, but a touch nicer (and more subtle). As the blend dries, it turns cologne-like on me. I don't personally wear colognes well, but this had an interesting and delicate early phase.
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This is a pretty, semi-powdery ozone with a mild, natural beeswax and aged yellow paper. The ozone begins fresh but fairly quickly shifts more and more powdery --- and dryer sheety --- as the blend dries. Lovely atmospheric blend that just unfortunately becomes too particulate on my skin.
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Spicy bell-pepper dead leaves accent a leather that... Well, I have no idea how it smells specifically like boot leather, but it does. The leather is a well-worn grayish-brown leather that smells hard-packed with caked dirt and some preservative blackish oil or boot polish. This is a very specific and distinctive leather for leather lovers. There is a later-developing bit of dried, stalky sweetness that mingles in as the sweet grass. The combination of these three notes is deeply outdoorsy and rugged AF. I simply have no better way to describe it.
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First impression: Sweet, damp herbal clay. This smells like a craft from the thatch-roofed cottage of an artisanal country witch. The dampness here is a more-than-mild aquatic touch to herb-littered, moldable clay. I seem to smell ginger and sage and something a bit dried and stalky, and something else that reminds me of a heather plant --- could those be the rushes? The blend also carries an ambient dustiness or fuzziness, which develops quite a bit more in drydown. I believe this is the feathers and fur. I'm a complete animal nut. But animals to me are usually like foods are to many... I love them out doing their thing, or in my hands, but not necessarily worn on skin as a perfume. Unfortunately, after the pretty herbal clay opening, this goes all feather dust and animal fuzz on me. The beginning was charming and lovely, though.
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This yellow balsam is interesting: It smells to me like sprigs of balsam pressed and dried against yellow parchment. The leather, which smells a dull grayish-brown and indeed well-worn, adds to the impression I’m getting of an old leather journal, perhaps abandoned with everything else at a rustic explorer’s camp… its mysteries waiting to be solved. There's a scent of candle wax, too, also a bit yellowed and even cracked with age. It’s a little creamy, still, despite its age and abandonment. I don’t notice musk or mud, but there is a wan darkness and some dusty wool fallen into disuse. Without looking at the art at all, this smells to me like a scent of rustic isolation and some manner of wistful departure, whether of an area, or of a life, is unclear.
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Freshly applied, La Danse is a cloud of sweet, sugared and honeyed ambers on me… with a nuanced, indeterminate background. But before long, I too seem to notice an unlisted pinkish rose. The gleam-polished woods also peek out in drydown, and the early notes fade. This has gone from sugared honey amber in its early phase to woods rose in its midlife. Quite a midlife change, but not a crisis. I liked the sugary opening. I don’t need a woods rose blend, though, so I will need to pass on a bottle.
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Craving bay rum apples? Daddy may have you covered. Bobbing for Daddy is essentially bay rum apples (which do, by the way, smell gleaming and well-polished) in a soft cloud of fougere. I never notice incense, but cologney bay rum apples? Oh, yes.
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I'd like to note for the record that the oil in this decant is a light teal color. Now that that is out of the way... Mostly, I'm getting a not-quite-aquatic musk, what I assume is the inky musk. The other notes are quite soft, almost hollow and ghostlike. This smells to me like a faint, perfumey bluish apple musk, with a touch of saffron-like dryness. That dryness combines with the apple musk to read almost like a dry cider, and I can see the craft cider comparison. This is a little odd, and certainly perfumey, but interesting and likable.
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This here be a more whimsical Bobbin. Well-sugared pinkish apples and musk, what I thought at first was pink grapefruit but may be the lemon mingling with pink musk, and a relatively mellow mango. Fruity, sugary, pinkish, playful.
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I mean, yes. Well, now. This is very much as described in its notes! The apples are red and do indeed gleam, the whole fragrance is lush --- just a bit creamy and a little more honeyed --- with extra red from cherries, poppies, and wine, and a positively vampiric dose of musk. Clove and vetiver are more blended in, but clear enough once I read them listed. The vetiver, or something, is also a touch grassy and smoky, to the degree of reminding me of Endless Corridors, with its beeswax, candle smoke and vetiver. I definitely notice the vetiver more and more as this dries. This is sheer, unapologetic (bitch, please) vampire glam.
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Bright, jooooocy pineapple floating in a sugar-syrupy Dole can. You know the stuff I mean? That remains the dominant impression throughout wear. Before long, though, a little opened-up prickly pear joins in, along with something vibrantly green. It's not immediately musky, but the musk emerges with time. Pumpkin is more of a background warmth than a distinct note at this river, and the grasses are an eventual hint. This is mostly about the fruits, with a little quirky edge of green and whiffs of musk.
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Out of the (cat) gate, this is black musk (with that lemon myrtle thing it often has) and hay with fluffy balls of fuzzy brown fur musk. After a few minutes, a deep golden amber and cedar creep in, with hints of clove and cinnamon. This is going to be popular with some (like my friend whose decant this is!), but for me, there's too much fuzzy musk. This definitely evokes the kitty, though, and the art cracks me up.
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Pom Turkish Delight brings a candy taffy-like texture and sweetness. This reminds me just a little of Atlantic City boardwalk taffy --- but admittedly, I'm not a big taffy snacker, so I'm probably missing some nuance. I don't get much pomegranate to this one. It's mostly about the candy.
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Bright red, juice-drippy pom and some apple with a bit of blackening to it -- perhaps not as much as Gingerbread Witch had, but it's noticeable. There's a dusting of spice dryness that reminds me of saffron's dry tone, but without actual saffron. It takes a while to resolve as anything pink peppery, and remains subtle throughout this blend's life on my skin. Which is short, by the way... This one doesn't live long on me.
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This is an attractive almond-vanilla-tonka blend, primarily --- but I can find most of the listed notes together with these, all well-blended. While the almond is clearly present, it's a little more relaxed than it sometimes behaves and does not overpower. Really, Breton Sorceress needs no time to develop before showing much of her glory: an immediate, creamy-yellow swirl of almond, tonka, cedar and oak, golden bergamot and a golden ambrette muskiness, warm vanilla, and a whiff of smoke. In a few moments, a mild-spiced patchouli creeps in, as well. I'm really enjoying this one's beauty... except for its muskiness. There might be a little too much perfumey musk here for me, but I love the other notes. I really hope to see cedar, oak, patch, vanilla, spices, and smoke together again in a less musky situation. ❤️
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The image up there says it all. Atmospheric, smoky pine pitch, and whiffs of greener pine needles and oak. Nocturnal Witches is mood.
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Dead Leaves, Scorched Pumpkin, and Marshmallows
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Halloweenie
This DL is the third I've tried from the 2022 Weenies DLs with only a bit of the dead leaves coming across. Which is nice --- I often dig the milder DL blends. Unfortunately, though, this one is otherwise skin chem-failing on me. I get a hint of toasted marshmallows buried in a scorch note that --- while mild --- still veers close to burnt plastic or vinyl. I've enjoyed other burnt and toasted scents, but this one isn't a match for me. -
The horchata DL is a little odd on me. At the first application, it smelled like dry straw and rice, with a bit of creaminess, all smelling distinct and separate from each other. Then it developed hints of cinnamon and lemon sugar. It seems to have a bit of strange fruitiness, mostly like lemon, but also like a pitcher of sun-brewed lemon tea that's now chilling in the fridge. It's almost Liptony. I can see the Wellerman comparison. The rice and creamy things do eventually blend into something rice-milky, but I'm not sure the blend as a whole is coming together on me at this time. It may need rest.
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For me, the dead leaves are rising up mainly as texture in this one. I don't get the overt DL-bell pepper-cologne thing at all. What I do get is a warm, cozy ginger mingling with other mellow, but inviting, spices. Ginger can often pierce, or sing out shrilly, but here she smells stove-warmed and softened, like in a chai. I like this balance of less DL, more warm spice. I may have to cut it, but this is in my cart for a bottle.
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Muffinses! The first oven blast on this one is of warm chocolate chip muffins. Specifically chocolate chips, rather than a chocolate muffin. The pumpkin is more the pumpkin spice than the gourd, and even so, comes out softly ... a mild, spiced warmth that actually reminds me of the ... hey, this is like the spiced rum from Noisy Goose Moon! I really enjoyed the way that warm, mild-spiced rum played with the vanilla-banana in Goose and I'm enjoying its effect here, with a chocolatish muffin. I think I love Noisy Goose Moon more, but this is a fun, unexpected Weenie muffin.
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A whole orchard cart of musk poured into a deeply fruity grape juice-blackberry wine. Musk. Lots. Whoa.
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Metal heads, look no further. This one not only visits the forge but plunges right into the fire along with the tempering sword. Forge of Vulcan is metal for days, with a darkening edge of soot and smoke. Eventually the blood musk tries to assert itself, but it struggles to emerge from the chemical metal cloud. I only find the note briefly in all the metallic sturm und drang. Aggressively metal, very forgey.
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This one packs a punch, filling the room as soon as I apply it. Early impressions are deeply, darkly cherry, but also surprisingly boozy. I get tones of sweet bourbon along with black musk, dried black currants, and almond (which smells a bit like almond extract, with the boozy impression). And a little anise? This goes through a phase of making me think something like: Cherry Black Licorice Smut. Sometimes, the blend smells wonderfully like its description; other times, it's more like the most intense Ludens cough drop. At the least, this is one for cherry lovers.
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On my skin, this one is a little odd and chemical for a moment, then poof --- beach-breezy, blue floral musk perfume. Emphasis on the perfume. Thankfully the perfumey cloud settles back in drydown. The underlying melange is weightier on ambergris, with whiffs of salt and creamy linen.
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I often amp both salt and butter, so let's see how this butter-salt cage match goes. On my skin, aquatic salt comes out swinging first. Within a minute, though, butter surfaces amongst the tides and washes heavily ashore. Butter and salty ocean go several rounds, but it's clear they are less in a fighting match than in a committed flirtation with one another. Gradually, a coy, soft vanilla drifts out, letting it be known that it is really responsible for the affectionate, flirty vibe that seems to make up the undercurrent in this ocean. So, yes? Buttery oceanic salt and soft, sweet vanilla.