DiZZysTARdust

adding to the oudh detectors. that's mainly all i get in the bottle and on well into the dry down, very agressive and animalic oudh, although this is just a day fresh from the mailbox so i''m determined to retest at a later point in time.

I am so glad to have gotten ahold of a bottle of Mary Magdalene. I was super excited for the notes, very happy that frankincense is very strong for me in this one. A gorgeous melange of resins going on that stays very much the same throughout the drydown. I was smelling myself and kept getting reminded of something but couldn't place it, and finally halfway through my shift it hit me that this is extremely similar to bath and body work's Smoked Old Fashioned. I love this one even more, and this has amazing throw. 10/10

i was super intrigued by the notes in this and was very excited to see how it plays out. the evergreen notes mesh very well with the magnolia/orris combo. they are more present when freshly applied, giving the scent more of a cool almost unisex vibe. as it dries those notes burn off and the florals are much more present. the powderiness of the orris and the white-green creamy floral vibe from the magnolia temper each other very beautifully. neither go too baby powder or soapy but just stay a very light white floral fragrance. i don't get much noticeable bergamot, if i had to guess i would say it probably contributed more to the cooler opening phases, rounding out the fir/juniper notes

i was nervous about this one because i’m not a fan of ozonic scents. but i love tobacco and no overall hard nos in the note list so i went for it. if you’re like me and don’t do the ozone-y scents, don’t worry. i think it must be combining with the tobacco to create a very “classic cologne” vibe. i could seriously see this in a board room

so consulting almost got the axe because the list of notes was a little intimidating but i ended up throwing it back in my cart and damn am i glad i did. in the bottle and freshly on i get almost a piney note, but looking at the notes and some other reviews i’m guessing that’s maybe a combo of the green mossy notes and the spices. after some dry time the beeswax becomes more present and the spices are more distinguishable. i love cardamom and clove but hate when they get lumped together with cinnamon and ginger to create the generic pie spice vibe. the clove/cardamom combo in this give a lovely spiciness with NO pie spice. i don’t really get any floral from the ylang ylang, i think that’s working with the black pepper to create a lovely, perfumey background for the other notes. very well blended, unique, and stunning

looooove this, testing fresh from the mailbox so i am def looking forward to retesting when the bottle has had some time. already though this is a gorgeous blend. it has the vibe of “headshop” from the champaca but the other resins are very complimentary additions that give some weight to the blend without overtaking. into the drydown the champaca blends with the other notes, going beyond headshop filled with incense into a well blended almost cologne like scent. i tend to read masculine notes as neutral due to being a resin fan although i can see how others may find this masculine leaning. definitely a warm resinous scent. good throw from a small sample patch. looking forward to updating further into the drydown and as this gorgeous scent ages, i got two bottles based on that 13 year myrrh oil and omg i am so glad i did 🤤👀

this went on smelling soapy so i was ready to be disappointed by tobacco flower. however after it has some drying time the saffron comes out and turns the soapiness into more of a powderiness. for a brief window in the drying phase for me there is a white floral-sweetness but that disappears. definitely still has the cleanness of tobacco flower vs the chewiness of other tobacco blends. very saffron forward for me, with a powdery edge. i don’t get much vetiver which can sometimes be very forward on me

this is somewhat medicinal in the bottle. like leafy green medicinal, almost like the camphor of eucalyptus but i suspect it could possibly be the labdanum, which can sometimes read as more herbally to me. freshly applied the strongest note for me is the mahogany, which i love. it’s very smooth and polished as other reviews have noted. imo it’s almost like a very light, sweet almost-tobacco-like note. not quite as chewy but gives off the same cologne-esque vibe. for that reason this seems more gender neutral bordering on masculine to me. stays pretty much the same into the drydown, an ethereal polished mahogany. good throw on it. i’m not really sensing the red musk yet, and no vetiver at all to me, although this bottle is brand new to me so might need some time to settle and bring out more notes, but definitely lovely and sophisticated as is! eta about 3 hours into the dry down i’m starting to pick up the vetiver. it’s very subtle and blends into the rest of the notes well, giving more of a grassy vibe than straight up vetiver

in the bottle this is somewhat flat for me (just purchased secondhand so it’s also fresh from the mailbox) but it’s one of those scents that transforms on the skin. it’s definitely an interesting scent, many of the reviews are spot on about both the cleanness of the musk/aquatic side while the headshoppy notes are also front and center. imo i love the combo, aquatics can sometimes go soapy on me and this is trying but the frankincense and champa are tempering it beautifully. freshly applied the frankincense is very present but it does calm down a little bit, i wish it was stronger but still very beautiful. as it dries it becomes slightly powdery. very soft and gentle scent

i really really want to love velvet void because just look at that note list. it smells very rich and heady in the bottle, like elderberry liqueur. unfortunately a lot of the complexity disappears on my skin. i hate to say it but it kind of reminds me of a cheap berry scented body wash. not because of any soapiness or anything but because all i get is a generic “berry” sort of scent. i’m still keeping it for two reasons, the first is because it does make a great layering scent and also because i’m holding out hope that with enough time the skin scent will match the in the bottle scent

eta i mistakenly posted here, coming back later to review irl

resurrecting this thread because i realized recently how much i love saffron. it does amazing things some faves are tonka bean and saffron duet, celeste, kimi ga da wei, mors syphilitica, love's philopsophy, grooming scene in a brothel, very grievous murraine, luke 10:25-37, crimson, lacus odii, qandisa, some strangeness in the proportion.

kanishta and hearts for ghost friends are two faves

omg if you can find amber, cacao, tonka hairgloss it's amazing. i believe the LEs great basin woodnymph and rubber poop also fit the bill but haven't personally tried either.

i was lucky enough to acquire a bottle of this second hand. in the bottle the nuttiness is like whoa. i agree with some other folks that the nuttiness gives it a warm quality without entering "foodie" territory. the nuttiness is so strong in the bottle that i couldn't get any other notes, but once on the skin the patchouli comes out to play and harmonizes SO perfectly with the nut. it's definitely possible that there's more to this but that's really all i get. totally possible that there's some musk in this however, black musk on me tends to go powdery and i'm not registering that here ETA after an hour or so into the drydown the nuttiness fades and leaves behind the most gorgeous sweetened patchouli