LavenderCoffee
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This is lovely. I wasn't sure what to expect from the calamus, and it really came out swinging when I tested it fresh out of the mail, skewing heavily towards spice. Now a few days later it's found a pleasant balance with the amber. There's a lemony sort of brightness to the scent without anything distinctly citrus or sharp, so it doesn't go anywhere near cleaning products. It's a fairly subtle bay as well, so I'm getting some fleeting hits of leafy green without getting hit over the head by it. Curious if this one will evolve more in the coming weeks as it rests, I really like it as it is and I keep sniffing myself. Seems very wearable without being plain. "I'm not the one to turn into a laurel wreath" (Tori Amos, Apollo's Frock) but I will be one to wear it in scent form!
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This is such a happy match for me, my skin loves it and so do I. No idea if it would have worked for me when it was originally released, but the bottle I was lucky enough to snag just turned 10. It's perfection in my book: not too sharp nor too sweet, it almost reads a bit musky and has a pleasing amount of sillage.
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Ok, uncanny: just came to the forum to write this exact same review! Now I'm off to the store to get some Strawberry Nesquik.
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A Night In the French Quarter
LavenderCoffee replied to zankoku_zen's topic in Black Phoenix Trading Post
Found a decant of this the other day and decided to wear it today. The osmanthus comes on strong at first, but then everything comes together and there's no single dominant note. The petrichor is so expertly applied here, and I love plum and benzoin together. Perfectly enchanting and achingly lovely. -
I can't recall now when I acquired her but it was secondhand from someone here on the forum since 2020. At first the scent seemed a bit intense, as others have mentioned, so I've inadvertently aged it by passing over it for other options over time. I think I thought it had tobacco flower in it (that's Ginny), which is hit or miss for me, but this is straight up tobacco. and it's really good now! A gorgeous dark rose that gives you the middle finger. Would not have guessed white rose at all. Starts primarily as rose/tobacco/patch for me, but the vanilla/oakmoss/myrrh pops out more later on.
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This is gorgeous! Probably need to appreciate narcissus, as I do, but the honeyed tea and pear gently sweeten this sharper, headier note so nicely, and plum provides a stunning complement. I had to fish out Astronomical Twilight for a plum/narcissus comparison, but that one seems to have mellowed with time and this is so bright and fresh! The snow is not a sweet snow, more of a crisp, outdoorsy atmospheric. Truly I just want to bury my face in the crook of my elbow for the rest of the day.
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This simple combo is unexpectedly fresh and delicate, with a subtle, pleasantly earthy sweetness and an unobtrusive pulse of blood musk tying it all together. I am not getting candied or pickled ginger, and it's not even as sharp as I was expecting raw ginger to be. Plus the beet is a bit sweet, and the earthiness does not read as anything dirt or soil adjacent, so they just harmonize so perfectly. The musk got a bit bigger since I slathered this and let it settle in, but it's still way more mellow than any red musk blend I've tried recently. Honestly I think I would have guessed vegetal musk, thanks to the beety goodness, or maybe I'm just not super familiar with blood musk. Either way it's not what I was imagining and I dig it. Give this one a try!
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This one was a lovely surprise - I just wanted to see if you could pick out the smoked lilac, and you can, but I'm quite enamored with the composition as a whole. I don't get fresh lilac from this, I get a creamy lilac (more lilac butter than orris butter, but probably the combined effect) accented with vanilla and a hint of smoke and oakmoss. Very wearable.
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Quicken the Soul goes on with a big boom of cacao, which is very much my jam, but then the cacao promptly settles in with the patchouli, which is also my jam. So there's a familiar base to the blend, but then the jasmine/chamomile/white tea in top range seems to stand out in contrast. These come across as a chord to me rather than as distinct notes, and it is a strangely dissonant one. I want to say there's something a bit rude about the way the base notes and top notes grapple with each other - it's definitely not just an omg jasmine moment for me - but I keep coming back to sniff at it anyway. Ultimately it comes together for me a bit more after it dries completely, but I can't quite describe it and it's got me a bit vexed! I've had my decant for about three weeks and I kindof love that it still feels tumultuous and angsty. Dolores may be deadly but she's also elusive.
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Whew, ok, tell me more about his hands! 😅 This is incredibly sexy and impossibly subtle on me, given the notes. Definitely getting opoponax, clove, and leather with hits of sleek vetiver and moss. I will wear this for sure, but this is also one of those where if I caught a whiff on someone else I'd be in trouble.
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This scent is so heartbreakingly delicate! The waft is all purple lavender and sweet fig, but leaning in you can also pick up the cedar. A perfect distillation of quiet anguish.
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This is a gorgeously dark dramatic scent. Old movie/noir glam is spot on. Also agree with samanare that there's a cashmere richness to it, although I came to say that I thought the orris butter was adding something pearlescent, but both can be true. My scent brain remembered In Time of Plague having similar notes, but that blend is quite stark and severe in comparison to this richness. Black rose is featured more prominently here and I think the oud pairing helps it smell more like a living rose than a dried one. Plus the kyphi is holding its own with the tobacco note, which adds more dimension.
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I've had this bottle since December 2020 and I only realized I never reviewed it when I wanted to compare it to one of the 2024 Lupers (Roses, Pearls, and Onyx). In the bottle and freshly applied, I get a big hit of dark rose, but as it settles on my skin, rose takes second place to tobacco, which reigns throughout wear. Opoponax remains very much in the background, denying any wisp of resiny sweetness, and although the clove is equally shy, the 'bitter' descriptor of that note is apt for the scent overall. This is not a scent for the living, it is a perfectly dried funereal scent for the dead. Something for the lurking-in-graveyards genre of goth.
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For me, the teak is peak! In a joyous union with the other notes, a creamy golden teak, well and truly glowing. It smells rich, in every sense of the word. A stunner.
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When I first tested this tengu I couldn't really pick up on the peony and poppy. Now, a couple weeks later, they bring a rich, almost creamy floral heart to the scent that distinguishes it from other carnation/clove options. Only gently spiced and softly sweet, with wafts of subtle vanilla in the drydown. Lovely!