bambi

In the decant, I get a whiff of the blackcurrants, which seem both bitter and sweet. There's a hint of cinnamon, and a strong smell of buttery pie crust. On my skin, I get a brief moment of horrible chemical smell that cinnamon always does on me, but it's quickly beat back by the blackcurrant. The seem like a mix of fresh fruits with jam/pie filling, which is nice. The pie crust is still buttery and there, but the blackcurrant is definitely the star here. Toward the end, I barely get any of the spice (which is ok for me), and the pie crust is just giving the currants something to rest on.

In the imp, this is a clean, creamy aquatic. The aquatic note takes off on my skin and takes a while to settle down into something that isn't soap or dryer sheets. Eventually the milk comes out on my skin, and it ends up smelling on my skin almost exactly how it smelled in the imp. If you like clean aquatics, this is for you.

I was a little hesitant about this one because of just how many notes it has. I feared my nose would get overwhelmed. But, this is beautiful. In the decant, I get fruit, citrus, and vanilla. Applying, I get hit with both the cedar and balsam, citrus, tart red fruits, and a sweet creaminess from the vanilla. Dried down and settles, I definitely get Christmas vibes, but in the best way. It's sweet, woodsy, and fruity, and all of those together make it lovely.

In the decant, this smells of fruity incense. On my skin, the agarwood makes itself known, and definitely shares the stage with the incense note. There's definitely a wispy floral here working with the fruit. This isn't a "mature" incense scent. It isn't super earthy or dark. This is like a youthful version of most incense scents. The fruit and the florals keep this from being too deep or earthy, and the agarwood, musk, and champa attar ground this. It's the perfect happy medium between youthful and mature.

In the decant, this is a very sharp pear scent, almost fizzy, and something about it does say "silver." On my skin, the pear is very clean and fresh. Drying down, I get a creamy note out of nowhere, which must be the musk mixing with the lemon and pear. It ends a little soapy, but still pleasant. I would have preferred the lemon and pear to stay juicy and fresh. Low throw, but it sticks around for a while.

This is so much prettier than I was expecting. I am not a huge florals person, and gardenia is one of those florals that can be overwhelming. But I really like this. In the decant, this is all nectarine and peach. There's a hint of floral, but it doesn't make it's true appearance until it's on my skin. Once applied, the peach jumps out, and that gardenia makes its presence known. It's heady, but not cloying, and the fruit is fresh and bright, weaving in and out of the gardenia and keeping it from being all gardenia all the time. I don't get any frankincense until much later into the wear, but it adds a slight earthiness to the overall brightness. It's very gardenia-forward on me, but very well-blended, feminine, and pretty. Like walking through a flower garden while eating a peach.

2009 version here. In the decant, this was apples, nuts, and something boozy. On my skin, that boozy note turned to a weird chemical smell. As it dried, I got the nuts, a very SHARP apple, and dirt??? I did not like this at all until, suddenly, I did. Fully dried down, the apple softens, the dirt and chemical smell disappears, and the nuts add a bit of earthiness that rounds out the fruit. I never get distinct blackberries or mulberries (I wish!), but it's pretty all the same. I'm just not sure it's worth the wet and early-dry stages, though.

This scent is really fun! In the imp I get a sparkly melon-citrus. On my skin, the herbs come out a bit more, but it stays fizzy and light. Completely dried and settled, I get a light, fresh, herbal melon. It's really nice, and I think it'll be good for spring and summer wear.

In the decant, this smells strongly of red musk, brandy, and beautiful berries. I also get distinct cherries. On my skin... It's mostly red musk. The berries and brandy make a slight comeback, but this is mostly faint, deep berries, booze, and very strong, powdery red musk. If you like red musk, this is perfect for you, but it's unfortunately not what I'm looking for.

This is, excuse the pun, dreamy! In the decant, it's mostly all rice milk and musk. Very sweet and creamy. On the skin, the pear comes out sharply before settling down and mingling with the rice milk and musk in a very soft, wispy scent. A previous reviewer said it reminds her of shea butter, and I definitely get that, as well. In the end, it's a light, wispy, creamy pear that is very fresh and sweet. It's somehow both innocent and sophisticated.

This scent almost gave me a conniption. In the decant, this smelled like a fizzy vanilla mint. Upon application, it smelled SO FAMILIAR. It took me several minutes of huffing my wrist wondering what in the world the smell could be, when it hit me: BUTTER MINTS. You know those super soft, buttery, vanilla-y mints that come in all those pastel colors? Those. At one point, the violet leaf wafts in, then disappears. There's definitely a background note of blackcurrant, but butter mints is what my skin is giving me.

In the imp I get soft florals and a note that's similar to old-fashioned fruit hard candy. On my skin, this gets sweeter (if that's possible). It doesn't hit cloying levels, but this is definitely SUGAR plums. It's also a fairly bright scent. As it dries, I start to get rose from it, or at least something fairly similar to rose? Rose has a tendency to smell like an older ladies' bathroom on me, but the plum stops that from happening completely. Completely dry, this does smell a bit plasticky on me. Like a lipstick or something. I can't tell what it is, but it's triggering some sort of scent memory 😂 it's a pretty scent, but not exactly my taste.

In my decant, I get a very fresh black currant note and a hint of fried dough. On my skin, the blackcurrant goes very perfume-y. It's not bad, but I was expecting it to be a bit more foody. It's a dark, almost floral blackcurrant, and it's sweet, though not cloying. As it dries, it starts to fade quite a bit, but I start to smell more of the powdered sugar and pastry. If you want a suf that toes the line between foody and sophisticated, this is the one for you.

In the decant I get both the blueberry and a faint hint of the pastry note. When applied, I get a rush of WHOA BLUEBERRY. It's a mix of realistic, bubbling, bake blueberry, and an artificial blueberry note. That said, it's not at all unpleasant. As it dries, I get a creamy note, though I don't think sufganiyot have cream in them typically? I could be wrong. This smells almost like a really nice blueberry cheesecake. I enjoy this a lot, but it is very sweet and very foody, so if that's not your thing, this will not be. I get great throw and standard wear length.

This is so much better than I anticipated it being. In the decant, I get lots of sugary ginger with a nice smoky note. On the skin, a hint of the grapefruit shines through, and there's a slight floral note, which must be the wisteria. It doesn't scream floral, though, and sort of fades into the background and blends into the general sweetness of the blend. It dries down sweet and smoky, and sort of smells like a bowl of sweet rice pudding with candied ginger chunks and a squeeze of grapefruit juice over top. Actually, that sounds delicious, and I want to try making it 🤣 The wood notes are dry, and they go really well with the sweetness of the rest of this.

PBSW has their Yuletide Winter collection out sans candles (http://paintboxsoapworks.com/new-limited-edition/2020-yuletide-winter-limited-editions/) that are coming soon. Is there anything you'd like? Also any scents you'd like as candles when they come out? These all sound lovely! Black Twig and Sozzled especially for the winter collection. GTFO and Halcyon generally. If you like incense what type to you use? Stick/cone/loose? I usually go with sticks, but cones are also ok! Do you have a favorite animal? Snakes! And badgers (both the British and the American ones). Owls, frogs, foxes, lizards, too. Would you like gloves/mittens/scarf/winter hat? I like scarves! Do you prefer loose tea or bagged? Either is wonderful! Would you be interested in trying out anything from Nocturne Alchemy Lab? (http://nocturnealchemy.com ) Most of their blends look a little resin-heavy, which generally isn't my thing. But anything I don't wear, I can use in some other way! Would you like a batch of home-made bath salts? (if you have allergies / skin sensitivities, rest assured, I can make them with pure epsom salts and pure essential oils- just tell me what you'd like - or what to avoid) Who doesn't love bath salts! My only sensitivity is cinnamon (I can use it in perfume oils, but not bath products). 3. Anything catch your eye from Dandelion Chocolate? (https://store.dandelionchocolate.com/pages/home) All of these look great! Secret is, I'm a huge slut for fancy chocolate. 4. What's a thing you always tell yourself you're going to get just for you but haven't yet? Name one thing under $10 and one thing over $10 Probably one of those little travel watercolor sets for over $10. For under $10, probably candies 🤣 (I love airheads, sweettarts, etc.), but I rarely buy them for myself. What's your favorite type of chocolate? (milk, white, dark, with nuts, with fruit, flavored chocolate, etc.) I love dark chocolate. With fruit, nuts, fun flavorings, etc. I like milk chocolate. I don't like white chocolate very much at all. How do you feel about stationery? (letter sets, stickers, pens, etc.) I love stickers, fun paper, and letter sets! I don't like typically cute/kawaii things. My style runs more in the vein of cottagecore/dark academia. Thoughts about lovely bespoke cleansing scrubs a la Sugar Spider (https://sugarspider.shop/) or PBSW sorbets? Those both sound wonderful! A lot of the PBSW scents sound lovely. A bespoke scrub intrigues me! Briarberry, coconut ash, supernova, and devil's food all sound pretty. So does their fall scent "pinup pumpkin." How about literary writing gloves? This isn't something I'd have much of a use for. Tokidoki, anyone? Other cute kawaii goodness? Plushies, blind boxes, etc?. Since I live in Japan, I'm not really in need of anything kawaii. Fun cloth masks? Holiday themed or no? Favorite style? I've got plenty, so I don't necessarily need more. Journals or Sketchpads or Sketchbooks - yay or nay? Maybe a watercolor paper pad, but other than that, no, thank you. Face masks (like the kind that come one to a package? I have plenty already, so no, thank you. Anything from Sock Dreams? Nothing that sticks out to me.

This is lovely! In the decant I get honey, berries, lemon, and something sparkling, but on my skin it shines. I get all the notes I get in the decant, but there's also something earthy (probably the spices), and something herbal (probably the gruit). It says there's cinnamon in it, but it must be the tiniest bit. Cinnamon does a horrible chemical smell on me, but there's none of that here. It's quite sweet, but not cloyingly so. This is an well-blended, bubbly, warm scent. Perfect for summer and celebrating from Beltane to Mabon.

In the decant, this is absolutely sparkling and bubbly. I get a very tart lime and blackcurrant. On the skin, the lime definitely steals the show. It's very bright and clean. It edges on a soap/shampoo scent, but never quite crosses that line for me. It's a strangely sophisticated scent, especially once the lime calms down a bit.

This is very pretty. In the imp I smell both boozy peach and fresh peach, along with the spicy floral that is carnation. I get a hint of lemon, as well. On my skin, this softens considerably. I'm still getting the spicy floral, but it dies down a bit to make room for a creamy floral. Is that the tuberose? The osmanthus? The violet? I'm not sure, but it's probably all of them working together. I do get some blood orange along with the peach, but it's a very soft citrus smell. Overall, this is amazingly blended. I know that this scent was released in 2009, but I was lucky enough to snag a decant of it here on the forum this year (2021), so I'm not sure what this smelled like when it was originally released. Currently, it's beautiful. Equal parts creamy florals and bright fruits. Feminine and bright.

In the imp, this smells mostly of peach and apricot. I don't get much blood orange, but I can tell it's there. It smells very juicy. On my skin, I get a sharp burst of sweet citrus before the blood orange dies away. Then I get that brief nasty smell that apricot does on me before it settles down. I do get the geranium, its a nice herbal/floral note with the apricot and peach. The sandalwood is there in the background, holding everything down, and I never get any cardamom. This is definitely bright and cheerful, but something goes slightly soapy, and it smells a bit too much like a shampoo scent for me.

This is very pretty. It definitely evokes that right-after-golden-hour-fading sunlight. In the imp, its a very strong, cheerful citrus scent with an herbal edge. On my skin, this immediately softens. I think the amber helps it stay out of cleaning product territory and gives it a bit of sweetness. I don't get much throw from this and it doesn't last terribly long, but it is a lovely, soft, herbal citrus scent.

This is really nice! In the imp, it's very herbal, rosemary and lavender all the way. Wet, I get the musk, but it stays largely rosemary and lavender centered. As it dries down, I get a faint herbal-citrus note, which would be the bergamot. The blackberry is hiding in the background, but I can tell it's there. Fully dried and settled, I get mostly rosemary with blackberry backing it up. The lavender has softened, and the bergamot and musk have faded into background notes. It's definitely an herbal scent, with faint fruit notes on me. It honestly smells like a really, REALLY expensive handsoap.

I actually don't get a baked-good vibe from this at all! In the imp, I smell fresh blueberries, a cream smell that smells more like cream cheese or sour cream, and the sweet spiciness of cardamom. On my skin, the cardamom takes over for a few seconds until it starts drying, after which I can smell each of the notes again. The cream note loses that sour note, and it becomes almost a creamy skin note. The cardamom lightens, and the blueberries are fresh, weaving in and out, never very strong. It has a very low throw on me, and it doesn't last for long, but it's very beautiful.

This is a great foodie scent for around the holidays, especially for people whose skin doesn't play well with cinnamon (with cinnamon I get the itching, burning, redness, plus it just smells chemical-y on me). In the decant, this smells like cherry, tart apple, pastry crust, and a jumble of spices. On my skin, that tart apple takes over for a second before dying down and letting those delicious bubbling, baked fruits shine through. I get a soft cherry, raisins, and something a little earthier, which must be the fig? It does go through a stage where it smells like a candle store at Christmas-time, but that didn't bother me, and it doesn't last long. The real standout here for me is the crust and the raisins. Dry and settled for a while, those are the notes I get the most, along with a lovely sugary sweetness. If you want a winter-foodie scent but can't do cinnamon, this is the scent for you.

In the imp, I can smell all of the different parts of this, the musk, the apricot, the orange blossom. Immediately on my skin, I get that yuck, throw-up smell that apricot often does to me for a few seconds, and then this is beautiful. It's really light and feminine, and none of the notes are taking over or crowding the others. It's a subtle scent on me, too, I don't get too much throw. This would be a lovely "every day" perfume.