sarahmarie

Light on the weed - I couldn't actually detect it by itself, but it's a vibe, you know? This is very Wonderland, a little dark and a little sweet with a sharpness to it, flowers and fruit woven through. It is definitely evocative! And I love Alice in Wonderland, so I was pretty excited about it. On my skin though, the sharpness really drives the scent and it kicked up the beginning of a scent sensitive migraine situation, so I decided it's not for me. Definitely worth a try if you love a Wonderland vibe though!

Ok, I love popcorn scents and I love this, in the foodiest way. It's just warm and cozy and smells sweet and tasty. I will admit that someone near me while I was wearing it kept asking if I smelled pancakes, or maple syrup, and I was like no, what is up, I do not smell that. But then I did smell that...and it was me, wearing this oil. So if you like smelling like sugar cookies, popcorn, or even pancakes with maple syrup, this is likely to be your thing!

Oh my goodness. This smells like a feeling, like a childhood lullabye sung by a storybook mother. It makes me think of Wendy from Peter Pan. It's quite strong on me, but it's also a very soft scent, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure if this is for me exactly, but I do think it is perfection as a piece of art. It's exactly the right mood for The Garden of Shuteye Town. Beautiful.

I love sugar plum candy and the *idea* of sugar plum so much, and Snow White is one of my favorite scents. I've worn this one a couple of times and I am not sure how I feel about it yet. The sugar plum is considerably stronger than the Snow White on my skin, and as with most fruity scents and my particular skin chemistry, it goes a bit sharper than I wish. But, the Snow White does bring some balance, giving that slightly sharp fruity scent a creamy grounding. So it has potential! And as it dries down, it gets much closer to the skin but also smoother. It's very pretty. 

Snow White is one of my favorites ever, and Sugar Cookie hasn't worked well for me in the past. Together, they blend together surprisingly well - I couldn't quite imagine it, but it fits so nicely! Wet it's beautifully balanced, and dry the Sugar Cookie comes out a bit more and starts to edge toward the problematic place that scent went to for me when it was by itself - but then the Snow White balances it out again in a way that tames it, and keeps it sweet and smooth with a hint of sugar cookie spice. I'm going to wear it a few more times to ensure it continues to play nicely on my skin, but it's really enjoyable and I hope it works out!

Fresh on the skin, I get a sort of woody coconut gingerbread, warm and delicious and veering a touch masculine if you interpret things that way, and strangely it's not actually all that foody to me, it's more about the wood and spice. It's spicy toasty goodness! It's also quite strong. 

 

After drying down, the spice is pretty much gone. What's left is a warm, close to the skin scent that is smoothly blended such that I cannot really tell you what it smells like. It's cozy though, and again, not a gourmand sort of experience. 

In the bottle, this is licorice and nutmeg with scents that ping my brain in a way that smells of smoke and leather. Which are not listed, but, that's what I smell in the bottle! Soon after applying it, it is a bit root-beerish, momentarily a hair medicinal,  with an undertone of that smokey leather scent. After an hour or so, it's smoothed out into a less identifiable series of notes and is instead more of a smokey leather licorice *feeling*, if you will tolerate my saying so. :) It smells sweet, deep, a little masculine, a little leathery/spiced in tone rather than gourmand. I'm not sure if it's one that suits me to wear, but it has a lot of potential! 

Out of the bottle I smell snake oil most strongly, with a boozy whiff of peach. On my skin the peach changes, everything is quite lovely for a moment...but then, it all turns very acrid on my skin, which is a thing that often happens to me with boozy scents. Right before my skin destroyed it, it was seeming really great, so if your skin chemistry works better than mine I expect you would love this! I wish it had worked for me.

I love this so much! It's comforting and delicious. It smells quite peachy on me, starting out bright and mellowing into a creamier, sweeter peach as it dries. It also lasts a fairly long time for me, though it's very close to the skin I could still smell it hours later. Beautiful. I'm so glad I chose this one!

Wow! This is much different than most scents I usually choose, but it's so nice! Fresh on my skin, it's mostly warm peach and grassy notes. As it dries, the jasmine comes out a little bit more, really grounded by the cedar so that neither is very loud. It smells like warm, lush, summery goodness. I think there's a lot of potential here for people who like a lot of different types of scents, and if you're on the fence it's definitely worth a try. It's beautiful. 

So, I ordered this even though I dislike orange scents, because it's worth trying a thing like that sometimes, and if there is anyone in need of a doomscroll blocker IT IS ME. And sniffing it in the bottle, the orange is there and not my fave, as one would expect - but there's so much more going on here! It's so clean smelling, herbaceous, and very grounding and soothing. I can totally picture this being something I could smell while in a doom scroll daze and getting snapped out of it, you know? It's not harsh, though - more of a gently shaking you back to your body from a bad brain space. And on my skin, the orange drops back and deepens into the background, and the herbal scents dominate. It's very nice. 

Very cinnamon buns, to me, though it probably also smells just like churros. - that's just not my personal point of reference because it's not a thing I've had very often! It's a sort of deliriously delicious kind of experience, though that's probably just me thinking about the possum as I smell it.  

Oh my goodness I love this so much. It starts out very spicy, and dries down to a pink cotton candy scent with just a hint of spice. I wish it lasted longer on me because it is absolutely delicious. I'm obsessed. I need to try this in a scent locket ASAP. If you like sweet, spicy smells definitely give this one a try.

This one was a surprise to me. I went to the Vermont Lunacy yesterday with a functional but definitely still existent migraine, and I wasn't sure how smelling things was going to go. Lots of things, I couldn't really deal with, but this one smelled comforting and good even when most smells were overwhelming. So that alone is a surprise, but also, I would not have guessed this would work on me based on the fact that I can't really wear straight Dorian (it gets very sharp on my skin), snake oil has only worked for me with additions, lavender is very blend dependent for me, and while I love the popcorn smells they haven't generally worked on my skin either. But together! Somehow it works! It's a comforting scent, warm and soft, and it lingers close to the skin for me (with some light throw early in the wear). I wore a little on my wrist to bed last night, even, which is not often something I can do with perfume. Heart eyes for real.

This was an unexpected beauty on my skin, and I forgot to review it and say so! I get smoke way more than sweet overall, with a spike of patchouli that settles down after a little bit into some dryness in the background. The sweetness does show up after a bit, and I get hits of toffee. But primarily this stays a warm, dry, sweetened-for-comfort kind of scent. It's really nice. 

This one didn't catch my eye when I read about it, but I tried it on today at will call in VT (yay!) and it's really lovely. No one particular note stands out to me, though I can kind of find the coconut and the sandalwood in there with the notes in front of me -  it's very harmoniously blended into a sophisticated scent that is subtly sweet without being at all foodie to my nose. 

I love lilac and beeswax and generally can't wear white tea because it goes very sharp and soapy on me, so this was a gamble! At first, it's sort of a candied lilac scent to my nose, which is really lovely. Then the white tea amps up, and for a little while I thought it was going south...but now that it has dried down all the way, it's much less sharp than I was expecting. The lilac and the white tea blend so thoroughly I can't really distinguish them separately, and the beeswax grounds it a bit, perhaps keeping it from going full soap on my skin. Overall it's a scent I would wear lightly, because it's quite strong...but I'm pleased that it may work for me! It's really pretty and unique.

Oh my goodness this one is amazing. I smelled it at willl call and liked it, but I didn't get a chance to try it on before I had to leave...and then I got it for Christmas! Lucky me!

I can pick out the fig, cedar, and pepper the most easily when wet, with a hint of the cardamom... and together those smell a) delicious and remind me a bit of nutmeg. It feels somewhat foody, and really just warm and delicious. As it dries, the leather, tobacco, and musk come out a bit more, grounding it and making it much less of a foody experience. I can still smell warm, slightly sweet cedar goodness, though, with a gentle underlay of leather and white musk. I keep applying it to myself, but also to my husband. It's a great blend of like, comforting yummy and also kinda sexy and masculine - but not in a way where it feels specifically cologne-y or like femme people would feel out of place wearing it. I'm wearing it and loving it. It's soooo gooooood.

So, I do not like florals in general, but I do love Tiki Princess - plumeria works for me. Lily often doesn't, and strong, heady florals can be A Lot, so I was a bit nervous about this one...but I think I like it! It's warm and rich. Definitely floral, but in an unusual way. I can certainly smell the lily, but it doesn't take over and run away with everything like it sometimes can for me. It reminds me of DDLM - perhaps the chrysanthemum? But it wears better on my skin that DDLM tends to, even though I do like DDLM in theory. I'll have to wear it a bit more to decide what kind of mood I will wear it in, but I'm pleased that it's a possibility for me!

How can it be I never reviewed this? I looked through and didn't see, though I know I have tried this before, back in the early days. I got Lampades as a frimp from the Lab, and I remembered that it didn't work well for me - but that was probably 10 years ago, so I decided to try again. And I'm intrigued! It's really interesting. I get cranberry and lily with some spices, rounded out by musk - pretty much what it says it is, but it's surprising to me how well this seems to be playing on my skin given that fruits and lily don't usually. It's like the cranberry is grounded by the musk and sweetened by the lily, and the spices keep it balanced so it's not overbearing or too fruity or floral. In other words, it's well done, which is no surprise. But the magical combo might just work on me! My first tentative test faded quickly, so I'm on my second round to see what happens on the drydown when I apply a little more.

On me this starts out as a delicious chocolate scent, more brownie than bar, if that makes sense...I say that mostly because usually chocolate turns kind of sad on me, but this one remains very warm and rich while it lasts. There's also a note that smells to me like amaretto. It doesn't stick around, but it's there in the beginning. After a while, the chocolate takes a back seat and it smells distinctly of BOOK, which is fascinating and awesome. The candle wax is present in little hints. It's lovely. Once it's dried down it is hard to pick out the chocolate, but when I look for it, it's kind of there, and still very nice. It's a very unique scent.

 

It came with a cool paperback 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which I have never actually read! So that's super cool too.

 

EDITED to reflect more thorough notes on my second wear.

This is an unusual choice for me, and it wears very differently on me than it does on others here, it seems. For me, the lotus (and ylang ylang?) are very prominent, with some sandalwood for grounding...and it remains not foody at all for me. I was hoping for fig but don't smell it. But, the creaminess does keep the florals rich and soft, and I can see this being a very pretty warm winter floral scent. I'll have to wear it again before I decide whether it's for me, but it is very nice.

This was a gamble for me, but it turns out I really love it. It's much like Gingerbread Poppet, but with some morphing - gingerbread with spicy cinnamon candy, gingerbread with a fruitiness, gingerbread with vanilla. For me the gingerbread is a warm and delicious constant, close to the skin but with great staying power. The various accompaniments come and go and are delightful the whole time. I really enjoyed wearing this one on Christmas Day, and I anticipate enjoying it throughout the winter for its cheerful, comforting qualities.

 

EDITED to add that once it's completely dry it smells very distinctly of gingerbread with vanilla icing - it's really perfect and I love it. It's long lasting too. I think I prefer this to my beloved Gingerbread Poppet even! I'm in love.

So, my skin amps and does weird things to tea. It gets kind of soapy or something, and sort of sharp. I know this - Dorian fails on me, for example, because of it - but I keep trying. I should maybe stop. This is actually a really great, clove smokey smell on me, with just a hint of the cake. I was so hoping for that, basically, and I got hopeful. But then the tea...the tea blooms into a super strong amped up thing that overpowers everything else. If you are someone who likes these notes and can play well with tea, I think you should try this. It comes so close for me, and I think it's just my chemistry that sinks it.

This was such a surprise for me! I tested it at VT WC. Caramel is a note that I often try for and often fail with, and this one starts to go the way of the badness - but after a while, it settled down and was straight up delicious. With the cookie and apple, it's delectable - not cloying, just a really yummy perfect balance of slightly buttery, browned, sweet, apple. So good.