avilion

Wood, grasses, mud and moss -- just like the description said. This scent is absolutely wild, as in, it makes me smell like I've been tearing through the woods and I should have rips and snarls all through my clothes and burrs clinging to my hair. For an extra witchy twist I've been layering it with my imp of Peacock Queen, but I might need a bottle of this.

I finally got to try this Lovecraftian horror, and it's also laundry detergent for me. Womp womp.

Quote

I've written here before about smelling like the mall, and how I truly - and perhaps unjustifiably, I'm very willing to be told I'm wrong - believe that everyone who loves perfume must, on some level, however secret, want to smell like the fancy mall. If you grew up in any kind of suburb, or even in a large city (especially in recent years as cities have begun to more and more closely resemble wealthy suburbs themselves), then you understand what I mean by the fancy mall. The fancy mall might have marble floors. Most of the things in it are white, starting with the floors and the walls. The ceiling is probably glass, but the light filters through all the white floors and white walls around it that by the time it gets into the mall it seems lighter, as though scrubbed. There might be a fake palm tree, or a large number of them; there might be a fountain or some other kind of water-involving decor. The food court calls itself a "hall" or a "market." The bathrooms are very clean. A fancy mall is a mall where every part of the mall feels like the beauty section of its largest department store; the spritzed florals from the marble-and glass funhouse of the perfume counters chase through the entire mall structure.

- Helena Fitzgerald, from The Dry Down

She was writing about Estee Lauder's "White Linen," but Divine Scientist just wrenched me back in time 15 years to the Short Hills Mall where I am waiting for my mom to be done shopping at Chico's already so I can go to GameStop.

I was hoping for a cousin to Transeo, but my skin is also turning this into a mandarin single note, which reminds me of the Body Shop lotion I slathered on myself as a teenager. Not exactly what I'm going for. Swappity swap!

Floral laundry detergent. Moss, dear moss, where are you?

Powdery old lady rose on me! WTF? Nope.

Review in TikTok form here!

This pulls up a vivid emerald jungle green in my smell/color synesthesia sense, and I don't' have anything else that comes anywhere near that color in my collection...that said, I don't think this is a good color for me. Big old smack in the face with green apple and mint soon as I pop the imp open, overpowering everything else. I put it on, and I'm getting green Jolly Rancher and dentist's office...oh no! I wait an hour and it's mellowed out significantly, but it's not sparking enough joy for me to keep it. I'll pass this one no.

Clearing out my never-tested frimps drawer to make room for Liliths, I gave this a go and posted a 60-second TikTok review.

In celebration of my full bottle arriving, I did a 60 second review on TikTok.

My 60second review on TikTok!

All these notes should work on me! All these notes usually work on me! But this...is soap. Just pure powdery soap. I get rose and spices if I take a deeeeeep whiff of my wrist but ... otherwise, it's soap.

Off to the island of adoptable smells with you, Romans.

Fall wine and pumpkin and a hint of apple smoke and that glorious rich, satisfying note that I get from my imp of 10-year-old Snake Oil. (What IS that note??) This is everything I thought L'Autunno would be but wasn't. Interesting that Hellionetic clocked this as Yankee Candle, because Autunno smelled to me like "bathroom with two Yankee Candles burning, Live Laugh Love stencils on the walls, Mr. and Mrs. bathrobes"

I think I may need a full bottle of Harvest Moon along with my Weenies. RIP, my wallet.

This is almost a nag champa single note with a hint of something floral. It smells like the witchy shop near me that has some weird culturally appropriative stuff but I go in anyway because I like their enamel pins.

I might test again but it looks like this might be my first OLLA in the swap pile. I'm surprised, considering how well Diamond Star worked on me!

I picked up a decant last year and somehow never got around to testing it. With fall colors starting to hit the leaves near me, I decided I might give Lucy's Eyes a try...

In imp: Lilac with something else blue. Can't smell amber.

On skin initially: The amber starts to come out, but it's a super powdery amber, very "perfumey." I feel like I'm going to sneeze when I sniff my wrist.

Half hour: Smells like my memory of my Italian Catholic great-aunt's bathroom. Super powdery and floral. 

Argh, I wanted so badly to like this one, but I'm avoiding smelling my wrist. Lucy and her eyes will be going into the swap box.

i'm feeling like an island in these quarantimes, and one of the things I miss the most is cafes. Not like I can't walk to a cafe and get a cup to go, but I miss the quale of being in a cafe, surrounded by life, with a chunky china mug full of latte precariously perched on the table as I type. I miss the busy, bustling, alive smell, I even miss the grinder noise, I even miss not being able to find an outlet when I need one. Enter my newly arrived decant of No Man is an Island. First whiff on my wrist like that first perfect just-hot-enough sip of coffee – I don't even drink hazelnut coffee but if drinking it ever tasted like No Man is an Island smelled, I'd drink it all the time – then it settles down as the patch and sage step forward, and I am feeling content and warm all over. The decant is a keeper for sure, and I'm definitely getting a bottle before it goes away.

Roses immediately, then something medicinal and sharp comes out , and it almost goes into "hospital corridor" for a moment before it dries down to a simmering, languid rose scent. I can definitely see this becoming a new "I'm writing" scent to wear while I'm locked down and working from home, and I might see about getting a bottle once my decant runs out.

4 hours ago, puellacaerulea said:

Deep, heavy, and sexy, sort of like Defututa 2.0.

Defututa without Miss Jasmine, who turns into Miss Litter Box on me – I like it a lot, but my decant will probably satisfy me plenty.

I smell like I'm about to go make a dawn offering to the fae, and I absolutely love it. Might need a bottle of this one. If anyone decides that Cacao and Black Moss isn't working for them, hit my messages

My bottle just arrived and I am in love. This is indeed radiant - sweet, soft and alluring with just a tiny hint of the sea eddying in the middle, but it's not an aquatic by any stretch. If Janelle Monae's "Pynk" was a perfume this would be it.

Smells like the sensation in my eyes when I lose track of time watching the eighth night's candles burn down. A beautiful morpher, with no diva notes or death notes. 

Wet, this smells so strongly alcoholic on me that I feel like I'm about to catch fire. Drying down tamps it down a bit, but not by much. I wouldn't wear this anywhere where my having drank would be an issue. I'd even be anxious about wearing this while driving, tbh. Maybe it's just me.

Bottle: Fig with a hint of earthy spices, smoke, and just the barest suggestion of apple.

On me: Fig and apple are amping, spices almost vanishing. Autumn Yankee candle in a McMansion with "Live Laugh Love" stencils on the walls and Mr. and Mrs. bathrobes hanging in the master suite. 

Sigh. Tis a shame.

I'm getting harsh static in the brain when I smell this, which is tremendously evocative of the scene in Bitch Planet. But for me, it also smells like the natural smell of someone I dated whom I was never actually attracted to. I might keep it as a morbid curiosity but if anyone wants to swap for it, out it goes.

Wet, I'm smelling the coffee and waking up! As it dries down, the coffee recedes and I'm smelling resiny warm spicy goodness - my smell-to-color synesthesia maps this onto a solid dark orange. I'm not getting cedarwood at all.

Two hours in, it feels like it's just an inch away from itchy incense but hasn't swerved into that area, thank gods. Medium throw.

Got a mostly-full frimp from ladyhyacinthe, who was doing a stash clear. It smelled lovely and spicy with just a hint of violet in the imp.

She said that the violet was amping too much on her and it smelled matronly. I gave it a try, and I amped the violet juuuuust enough that it smelled just a bit old-fashioned feminine with the right amount of spice. When I wear this, I feel like I'm sneaking out of my finishing school at midnight for a clandestine rendezvous with my girlfriend in the woods.