DiZZysTARdust

i was luckily able to scoop a bottle of this secondhand. so glad i did because it is absolutely delicious. i love champaca. many times when it is blended with a lot of resins/spices it becomes very head shop. the champaca is definitely a main player in this from the get go but the head shop vibe is definitely muted and well blended with the other ingredients. the cumin, patchouli, and vetiver are all notes i tend to pick out of blends because they're so recognizable, but here they aren't main players for me. neither is the teakwood as, which i was hoping for more of as it's a note i love, but doesn't come out on its own so much here. everything blends together to create a beautiful, warm, lightly spiced background for the champaca. i agree with the above review, the champaca becomes less strong into the drydown but leaves behind the other notes which are still just as beautiful and well-blended without it. decent throw. definitely a win, can't wait to see how it ages

i'm not a cherry person so i avoided this scent when it was released. i recently saw it for sale on a secondhand post and picked it up out of burning curiosity/FOMO because i really love red musk. sniffing straight out of the mailbox because i couldn't wait. this is really like the perfect cherry for no-cherry people like myself. i don't mind the scent of that almond extract/maraschino note that i typically associate with "cherry" notes, however once on me it tends to go full bathroom cleaner/urinal cake. despite all the cherriness of the note list, this scent does not smell like almond extract to me either in the bottle or freshly applied. i agree with some above reviewers- cherry lollipop is the perfect description for this scent in the bottle. freshly applied it's still very candy sweet. as it dries the musk comes out more, becoming a seamlessly blended, almost boozy sweet, cherry red musk. still no almond extract in the drydown, and definitely not fresh fruit, this is all about the cherry candy. really nice addition to my collection of red musks and def agree with other reviews that this seems like it will age beautifully. one sad part for me is that my skin ate up the small test patch ETA def seems to wear quickly, after 2+ hours on me this is a sweetish musk with much less cherry and then quickly dissipated not long after. decent throw

i was hesitant about this one because of the muguet, aka lily of the valley. while i love florals esp lily of the valley, they often go pure soap on me. ambers can be hit or miss for me as well, although it tends to be white ambers that go powdery/soapy on me so this golden amber intrigued me along with the oak. omg i am so glad i did because this is all about that amazing golden amber-oak combo on my skin with no trace of lily soap anywhere. literally gorgeous. the oak adds a bit of nuttiness rather than a woodsy quality to me, so this scent is pure chewy golden amber. maybe it's the amber, maybe it's lilies peeking through but there seems to be a slight fizzy quality to this scent that reminds me of what labdanum can sometimes do. this scent reminds me somewhat of an oakier, nuttier mary magdalene (from the july 22 paintings) ETA still present after 2 hours of wear without much morphing. i feel like the lilies came out somewhat giving the scent a sort of green vibe but not in a floral, soapy, or grassy way. the oak definitely comes out more into the drydown, giving some dark woody definition. great throw

this.is.GORGEOUS. i don’t know what possessed me to buy this as i am not a huge fan of leather scents. they don’t smell bad to me it just tends to dominate everything else. i’m in the midst of reorganizing and i found this bottle and decided to test for the first time. in the bottle this smells like straight leather, i would say more like the black variety because the white variety seems a little higher pitched to me but could be wrong. still intimidating. i put on just one test splash and OMG, this is somehow a total morpher right off the bat and yet somehow stays very similar to the bottle scent. the leather stays very present but doesn’t dominate, if that makes sense. the other notes are coming out more (not sure if it’s the myrrh or black amber i’m smelling, although myrrh tends to go sweet-powdery on me and that isn’t what i’m getting) and they blend amazingly with the leather. it’s like the scent of a leathery-black amber/myrrh, not just leather and black amber and myrrh. really well blended and really gorgeous. 2-3 hours after the drydown the powderiness of the myrrh does come out more although the leatheriness definitely lingers. great throw from just the small test patch. i’m not sure if it would be different if i put more on but this is definitely a very wearable leather. this is absolutely a going out scent

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

ok not sure what i was expecting but “pink” and “girly” are perfect descriptions. this smells to me like melon bubblegum! more candylike than pure fruit, but def sweet and pink and fun.

this is like the ultimate tobacco scent. tobacco tends to amp on me and dominate whatever blend it's in. this is like the most ethereal, delicate, powdery tobacco. it dominates but isn't just a single note cologney tobacco. it's gorgeous and only gets better into the drydown, with the tobacco warming and increasing in throw. definitely agree it's a very comforting, cozy scent

let me preface this by saying i love hecate. something about the powdery myrrh does amazing things to the almond, which can sometimes be too cloying or generic for me otherwise. i’m not sure what it is, maybe the almond, but this disappears off my skin SO FAST. after an hour it’s a distant memory. other than that she’s gorgeous

in the bottle the orange blossom is coming out full force. this is cool because i’m not a fan of lemon verbena and that makes me nervous in a blend, but also too much orange blossom goes to soap on me so could also be potentially a downside. on the skin the citrus-white florals are balanced perfectly with the myrrh. they complement each other and blend well. there’s not much change in the dry down for me: big white blossoms dusted with some golden incense powder. i say powder because myrrh does tend to go powdery on me, and it does in this blend, but not in a talcy baby powder way. very good throw on this. every time i turn my head i catch a whiff. it reminds me of like an old fashioned dusting powder

as a tobacco lover, i’m sad to say i don’t pick much of it up in here. that’s okay tho because laura belle is beautiful no matter what. this is basically all carnation all the time on me. cool carnations with their spiciness enhanced by some of the other elements. it’s a little more bright and vanillic in the bottle and they blossom more on the skin, with the vanilla lingering around the edges for me and a little powderiness but mostly just big velvety carnation. decent throws and laaaaasts forever on me without much morphing

i received an imp of lyonesse in a secondhand purchase from someone, and i decided to test it. it’s been on my want list so happy to get the chance, and even fresh out of the mailbox i can see why it seems to be such a popular scent! two swipes from the wand are enough to create a test patch with serious throw and this is phenomenally gorgeous. very much a perfumey blend the way everything blends so seamlessly. to me the vanilla and lilies are the stand outs but it’s more the vibe of them than actually being able to pick them out of the blend. they give it a clean, cologne sort of vibe, but they temper each other to keep lyonesse from becoming a pure soap or axe body spray type of scent. definitely agree with above descriptions of woody, but like a huskiness rather than in a wood shavings way; more like that with a bit of saltiness from the ambergris combine to give it a sort of aquatic driftwood vibe. the aquatic nature keeps this from being something i would want a full bottle of so i’m glad to have a sample size. even still i can definitely see why this is so well loved and looking forward to future tests after letting the imp settle and age!