artisjok

Traded for a bottle of Brown Sugar, Cream, & Earl Grey Tea, and still felt it was a gamble…. Turns out, it was a well-played gamble! Opens quite smokey, disconcertingly so. Fairly swiftly, it shifts into this clean tea note, lovingly embraced by brown sugar and an echoing cream. The overall effect is brown-toned, yet feels like I just stepped out of the shower. At the same time, it feels like a classy scent that my alter ego living in New York, and frequenting fashionable bars and restaurants nightly would rock. It also works as me now, wandering through the backyard jungle garden, cleaning the kitchen, reading and daydreaming next to the window…

Ut Ameris, Amabilis Esto is a fairy-touched wonder blend. I keep comparing it to Rose-Tinted Mirror, since they are both sweet roses with compassion-centric vibration. ~Rose-Tinted is definitely that inward-focused love. It’s melting into your skin to coat a hardened heart, to gently take your face in its hands and kiss you with tenderness and a little heat. You can face yourself again, and thus face anything. Each wear opens the heart a little deeper. ~Ut Ameris is shining outwards, a twinkling in it’s eyes. There’s an uplifting sense that pulls you outside to bask in the sun, and, in turn, attracting the attention of the other. The glimmering shimmering feminine (we’ve all got it) invites everyone to break into smile. Before we even know what’s happening, we’ve joined together and are moving through space with grace, our hearts synchronizing beats. So lovely! The scent is excellent. I am glad to have a bottle. It was instrumental in getting me through the recent Libra Full Moon weekend.

Here to join team “love this” and “this is beautiful”! Shadow Self is sultry smooth smoked lavender and sandalwood and myrrh on me. There are complex gems hidden beneath, waiting to be dug from their earthen house, to be seen in the light, washed and polished. I cannot sense the identity of these gems, I can just feel the power and complexity they impart to this lovely scent. A humming beneath the primary notes. Movement behind the theater curtain. It reminds me a lot of A Noiseless Patient Spider, but that one was too faint on me, and it was a sadness. This one has throw! Shadow Self is a gladness. It is glamorous and comforting. I would wear it anytime, all the time. Embrace the shadow and you will find the light hidden within~ 🖤💜🤍🖤💜🤍🖤💜🤍🖤💜🤍🖤💜🤍

The Thirteen from March 2020 has it going on! And from the reviews, Lights, Camera, Something may also have that lemony aspect.

Shelter-in-Tomb is potentially amazing, yet the fig goes really green on me. Vegetal in a way that works in some blends, yet not so much right now. I really wanted a sultry red incense-y scent with a touch of sweet fig…. It does smell like that on my hands. Will the fig calm down after a while? Is it better in dry hair than the damp I applied to? Will keep sniffing to see if it shifts. Maybe I’ll try it as a body spray & see if it’s more appealing to me that way.

Flickering Lights, Fluttering Curtains gives me the visual of walking towards an open window in the night, layers of sheer curtains flowing into my face as the wind enters the room. The moon is shining outside, and no matter how close I get to the window, I never seem to arrive. Stuck in a bedroom full of dried flowers and antique face powder, aching to see what in just beyond the windowsill, I continue wading through the floating fabrics until I open my eyes in another reality. Which one is the dream?

My most recent “dry” love is Pyramid of Skulls (A blend of four sandalwood oils stained by tobacco absolute.)! Real good.

I was having a Sugar Cookie Cathedral kind of day recently (fun and laughter with sprinklings of ritual and internal emotional work), and I was so pleased to have this blend with me to wear! I enjoyed the mix of resins & sweet, though it was hard to explain the overall effect. Definitely get some frankincense and wood, sugared up in a tasteful manner, as in it didn’t make me hungry or feel too youthful for profound occasions. A little after I applied (and forgotten), someone in passing commented “mmm smells like palo Santo in here…” I shrugged and looked around, realizing an hour later that I was the smell bearer. If you need some coziness during your spell working, or a reminder that you are supported in times of trial, if you want to be purified with loving laughter or feel sparkling under scrutiny… this blend does the trick. Feels appropriate for Aquarius season, too! Very glad I got decants of the full Sugar Cookie set, or I would have skipped this beauty.

I was wary committing to a bottle of Pinched with Four Pumpkins, because coffee rarely stays on my skin. There was the chance it would feel… hollow, unfinished. Yet, I’m over here rejoicing at my leap of faith! 🙌🏻❤️‍🔥 I can’t quite tell if the coffee bean husk actually sticks around, actually. My dearest beloved Pinched with Pumpkins bottle is both rich and dry on me. Syrupy pumpkin tobacco (not as syrupy as Pumpkin Snake Latte) and strong woods backing it up and lifting it out of complete gourmand territory. There’s an almost chocolate feel to it (coffee husk, is that you?) It’s regal and snuggly, disciplined and extravagant. It’s pure unadulterated yum!

Warm rice granules and grapefruit pulp, sweetened and decorated with flowers petals and candied ginger shreds. The wet phase (above) is great, and then the rice flees and the flowers amp, and it’s just not something I would reach for… more perfumey that I like. It does convey a spring festival full of tradition and sidelong glances and fresh breezes.

Chibi Skull is thick mallow butter, spread on a wafer of patchouli and topped with a dollop of sweet cream. It’s a thin granular sweetness, covered in a dense cream cloud. Super fragrant. Rich, yet not cloying to me. I first thought it was a lot like Silkybat, but when comparing both, the patchouli is so much fainter that it’s hard to make that comparison. Probably the same type of patch, but buried the gourmand notes. This reminds me of DL, Honeycomb & Vanilla Cream, and scratches the same itch, so now I don’t feel the need for a bottle of that. Yay for satisfaction!

I’ve got a spell on me. October 32 caught my eye right away, as I’ve been enjoying A Cozy Sweater and an Apple Cider for bedtime. Amber and thick cream with that clean wooly note? Plus, tea and leaves?! Yes, please. Upon wearing the scent, I get less cream than I wanted, no discernible tea, and only a smidge of amber to warm the leafy clean sweater. Later on, I have a soft warm scratchy wool scent, only huffable at close proximity. Not a total win…, And yet… I can’t stop reaching for this bottle! It’s already December, yet my consciousness is still riding the October wave.

Traditional Sheet Ghost is primarily the lemony frankincense on my skin, supported by fresh breezy cotton and poofy, barely-sweet, a bit powdery marshmallow. I can see how this could turn into wood polish for some. It’s definitely one for bright sunny days. I’m getting a similar vibe as Venus Caelestis, so if you enjoyed that one, you might want to jump on this ghost in a hurry. It’s a different vibe, yet still has that perfumey resinous lemon feel. Not sure if I really need to keep this decant. I have a bottle of VC that I really enjoy, and I like sweeter-leaning clean scents (like Good), but maybe the marshmallow will come out more with time?

DL, Honeycomb, & Vanilla Butter is yuuuummy on my skin! I get the blast of dead leaves up front, and the sweet waxiness of the honeycomb. The DL quickly fade into a light powdery version of themselves, a touch of the dry crackle, typical for that note on my skin. Then, the vanilla butter amps and entwines into the honeycomb. And it is buttery, yet not overwhelmingly so. I feel like it’s a cousin to Snake’s Kiss for me. The throw is low/medium yet lasts really well. I hope it will increase in throw…. I only got the decants in the mail a couple days ago. I’m really tempted to bottle this baby!

I feel like The Trackless Erg might be a good atmo spray for him. I haven’t tried it, just from reading reviews. I have considered buying it for my own younger brother!