Tamarinda

In the decant: Blueberries, roses, and lavender.

Wet: Lots and lots of blueberry! Roses and lavender play supporting roles along with some background sweetness.

Dry: The blueberry has left the building and now I'm left with a sweet, rosey lavender scent. I normally hate the smell of lavender but this perfume seems to be the exception. Lavender is the dominant smell and I'm not sure if I'm just sensitive to it or if I amp it. The roses in the background are very lovely and it's overall a beautiful pefume with strong projection and an 8 hour plus lifespan.

This is roses and geraniums the whole way through. Very pleasant but I wish I got more of the other notes. It's a slightly dusty rose to me and I would attribute that to orris, but it's not listed in this perfume. This is a nice perfume for dusty rose scent lovers.

In the decant: Kinda fruity, kinda rosey, kinda red. I don't know what rhubarb smells like but I'm guessing it smells fruity?

Wet: Roses and a hint of strawberries. Just a tad smokey but not quite incense to my nose.

Dry: The roses stay and the strawberry fades to the background to make room for the red amber, which smells musky to me. This is so lovely for about an hour and then it fades away. I really wish it had lasting power, it's such a fun take on roses. The projection was not quite moderate on me, but I wouldn't say it has low throw. Maybe two clicks above a skin scent.

Alas. Powder. This seems to be a thing with both white musk and white honey on my skin lately. It's a very pleasant smelling powder, but not what I was looking for.

I don't know what this smells like, but it is interesting. I suppose the note I'm smelling is the lotus. Honestly, I have no idea how to categorize this. It smells smooth, which must be the cream accord. I don't notice any amber, powdery or otherwise. I can't place anything woody, which I'm fine with because most woods smell bad on me. And the lotus does not smell floral, but I've never smelled lotus flowers before, so what do I know?

The verdict for me is unfamiliar, but interesting. I like what I'm smelling even if it puts me off just a little because it's so novel to my nose. Hopefully time will bring out the other notes in a pleasant way. I like this. I do not understand why, but I do. GVaRB lasts at least six hours and has moderate projection on my skin. I do not regret blind bottling this perfume even though it was a total gamble. May it continue to play well with my ever-evolving skin chemistry!

A beautiful greenery and rose scent that fades in about an hour. Kind of amazed that anything with oakmoss would fade on me since I tend to amp it. It's lovely for as long as it lasts. Hopefully a little bit of age will help it last longer.

In the bottle: Smells like sweet taro and coconut cream. 

Wet: And there's the white chocolate to join in the taro cream. This is nice. Very edible. 

Dry: The white chocolate mostly goes away on my skin and what's left is the smell of a taro mochi. I'm a fan. It's creamy and earthy and sweet. It's got medium plus projection and lasts at least eight hours. This is such a cozy, lovely scent. I try to rotate my night scents but I've been coming back to this one a lot lately.

In the bottle: Wine. Lightly spiced.

Wet: Ooooh, this is lovely already. I'm smelling a nice wine note and some clove-y spicyness.

Dry: A gorgeous, smokey, clove-forward sweet wine scent. This is so wonderful already. It faded a bit aftter an hour, but this hasn't had much time out of the mail. I will test again later and hope that it stays amazing.

FYI, my order landed on Monday, March 4th and while I'm providing a review to help others make their decisions, I will be waiting until the two-week mark to make my first real judgements.

In the bottle: Spring bouquet, just slightly sweet.

Wet: Lilies and a green smell like... pulling weeds?

Dry: Celery. The smell/taste of celery. Very loudly green and a bit bitter. Not scraggly-bunch-of-celery levels of bitter, but still. Bitter celery.

Ok, this is why I dislike reviewing perfume that hasn't had sufficient time to recover from travel shock. I tested this earlier today and when I stuck my nose to my arm, I got celery. But as I wandered around my house, cleaning, I kept getting whiffs of lilies. I'd smell my arm and the scent was very faded after half an hour, but still distinctly celery. And yet, wanderwanderwander, vague lily smell. Weird! I'll probably give this perfume a month before retesting just to help me forget our first less-than-stellar encounter.

UPDATE: Ok, time has helped soften the bitterness I was getting when this landed. This is a lovely greenery and lily scent. Hopefully a little more time will bring out the plum and tobacco.

In the Bottle: Slightly floral orange creamsicle.

Wet: NARCISSUS. A dash of orange blossom.

Dry: Ok, it's back to orange creamsicle but orange blossom instead of orange fruit. The narcissus has calmed down and is coasting on top of the creamsicle note. There's something under there that I can only guess is the red leather since it has a fabric type feel. It's more apparent on my left arm than my right. I'm not really catching the red musk, which is fine since I tend to amp red musk to high heaven.

This is damned beautiful and I expect it to age gloriously. I got this bottle in a swap and it landed two days ago so for me, this is just a "trying it on" review rather than one for my notes. I will update in about two weeks, which is when I do my "srs bizness" testing. I'll compare it to Hunger at that point.

In the decant: Uh... I smell stuff, but I do not know what that stuff is. Something woody?

Wet: Yes. Woodiness and stuff. Something familiar, maybe the grey amber? I don't know what I'm smelling but it smells nice so far. Reminds me of teen boys.

Dry: OK! I get the teen boys reference that my brain made. It's the sandalwood note from Coty's Gravity. It's also in Strawberry Sandawood, which is amazing but gives me depression because it's too much like Gravity. But here, it is really compelling. It has other friends that keep it from being overpowering or monotonous. I keep sniffing my test arm and it is not making me sad. I'm really loving this. I'm not getting any oudh specifically but I feel like it's what's helping keep the sandalwood in check and making it stay on my arm even though the weather is bone dry in Southern California, which makes my skin eat up perfume lately.

Oh my god? Oh my god. This. This is the perfume version of Valrhona's Strawberry Inspiration couveture feves. It's so fancy. It has the fruity cacao butter thing going on with a beautiful, cherry-ish, perfumey haze underneath. I love it. This kinda makes up for my perpetual skin chemistry changes making all my faves smell terrible on me. This might have displaced Chocolate Stout Cupcake as my favorite chocolate BPAL. Absolutely gorgeous.

-- Quick update: This is 10+ hour perfume on me. I need moar.

Clearly, I hallucinate writing reviews cuz there's nothing here and I swear I typed something up. Well. My personal notes say "Fierce rose smell. I love this." And I did love it. Then for a while there my skin started to amp the blazes out of rose and I could not wear it because it went from "fierce" to "hostile." Then it became wearable again. And now? My skin ate it up in about 15 minutes. If you say so skin chemistry!

Ok, I thought I reviewed this but I guess not? This was mostly raspberry on me with a dash of the cherry lipgloss. I loved it. It was good times. Oddly enough, my  new, annoyingly thirsty skin chemistry does not eat this the way it does every other fruit-forward perfume, but it's amping the lipgloss note to annoying proportions. As a supportive player, the lipgloss note made this perfume interesting and kept it from being boring generic body spray raspberry. But the cherry part is gone and the lipgloss note is giving Dollar Tree candle x3. Not headache inducing, but distinctly unpleasant. It makes me sad.

In the decant: Extra coconutty Snow White with a dash of patchouli.

Wet: Coconut oil-fried Snow White.

Dry: Snow White and toasted coconut. I don't get any patchouli or benzoin from this. My skin chemistry is changing yet again and is now turning most coconut smells into fragrant coconut oil, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It works here mostly. It'd work better if the patchouli showed up. Not sure that will happen on me since it never did with Sugar Plum Goblin.

This is one of those perfumes that is, to me, indescribable from a notes perspective. This does feel like the night sky. It smells like being outside, somewhere verdant, not necessarily woodsy because I'm not getting distinct tree smells, but overall greenery in the humidity of nighttime. The airy water notes read "aquatic" to me, but without morphing into that awful axe smell that aquatic notes become on my skin. I suspect that orris, as my recently discovered magic ingredient, is keeping things in order even if I don't smell it outright. This is very beautiful and evocative and I remain forever impressed that perfume can smell like a picture.

In the bottle: Maraschino cherries, heavy on the syrup.

Wet: Still getting those syrupy cherries, and the cherry musk aspect is coming out. An extra sweetness is there from the honey.

Dry: There's the orris root! So now this is a fucking unbelievable cherry musk supported by the orris and honey. I can only suppose that the white sandalwood and ylang ylang are also playing support roles, but I cannot single them out. I'm fine with this, as white sandalwood has been a death note in the past and I've never been crazy about ylang ylang. So far, wear time is around six hours or so and the throw is medium.

UPDATE 1/24/2024:

Oh skin, why are you like this?? My skin eats this blend now. It's a wonderful blast of syrupy cherries with a dash of orris for about 20 minutes before it disappears to just the vaguest hint of flowers. =(

In the bottle: Light incense and burning beeswax candles.

Wet: Sweetness from the honey and that light incense/melting beeswax combo.

Dry: Vanilla-flavored something or other, light incense/beeswax, a warm amber, and I swear I get something red musk-adjascent that's dialed down to the palest blush. This is a stupidly amazing perfume that creates a warm scent bubble of sexiness on me. I don't get any almond, and whatever is carrying the vanilla does not smell like milk but that doesn't matter since it's already so good. If those two scents develop later, it'll be a nice bonus.

UPDATE: Oh skin chemistry, why are you like this??? HQV went from a sexy incense blend to smelling straight up like a toxic petrochemical-based candle. You know that smell. The absolute cheapest, buy-in-bulk candles that smell like melting traffic cones when you light them up. I am sadness = (

In the decant: True to title, ginger and lilies.

Wet: An almost savory ginger, like when you sautee ginger in soybean oil. But with the lily smell so it's confusing. It takes a few minutes more than I'm used to for this "wet" phase to settle down.

Dry: The savory aspect is gone and now this is a glorious fresh ginger and lily perfume that I'm torn between wanting to FS and wanting to never smell again. My Mom kept a fairly epic, wild garden when I was a kid and loved lilies. She kept tiger lilies in pots on the front porch and this smells like those lilies specifically, so I'm torn between the beautiful, fragrant tiger lily and the... sorrow that the last time I smelled them was when she was being shoved into her crypt. Maybe I'll make my sister smell this and see how she reacts. This would be a firm win if it didn't come with scent memory baggage.

In the bottle: Fizziness and vanilla.

Wet: Something floral along with a touch of vanilla and a light version of the lab's champagne note.

Dry: It's a slightly vanillic, fizzy champagne with a non-aggressive white floral that I do not recognize and does not smell like the taste of chrysanthamum tea. This goes on light and only lasts for three or so hours, but it's so lovely and worth reapplying. I suspect another month or two will give it a longer wear time.

This makes me think of a mimosa if mimosas were made with floral La Croix soda instead of orange juice. The fizziness is so sparkly here, with that dreamy floral. Definitely a blind bottle win.

I get comparisons to Unarmed and Laughing, since it has the champagne/vanilla combo as well. But they are not remotely the same vibe on my skin. White Silk Chyrsanthamum is airy and romantic whereas Unarmed and Laughing is laughing in your face with a dense, sugared vanilla. Second cousins, not siblings.

In the decant: Coconut oil heating in a pot on the stove, like when I'm about to make popcorn.

Wet: Freshly toasted coconut flakes.

Dry: Ok, now this smells like the fancy thin, waffle-style coconut wafer cookies I used to buy from Cost Plus World Market. It's a warm, brown, oily coconut. Not greasy, but just the natural oil that comes out when you bake, brown, or toast fatty foods. The sugar is light and the vetiver is juuuuust barely noticeable. It's a wonderfully gourmand smell that is somehow just shy of being truly foodie. Lasts about seven to eight hours with a medium low throw.

UPDATE 6/6/2023: Stupid skin chemistry changes. *SIGH* So this is now CLOVE ALL CAPS for a solid two hours before it fades into a vague, kinda nutty vanilla for an hour and then disappears. What a drag.

Original Review

In the Bottle: Smooth, creamy custard, lightly sweet and spiced.

Wet: Yep. That's custard. The kinda custard where the vanilla is taken for granted but much would be lost without it. The spices are blooming into an obvious clove and a hint of cinnamon.

Dry: Clove. A lightly sweet and pleasant clove, but almost exclusively clove. A teeeeeeensy bit of cinnamon. The other notes are on vacation.

I don't have a clove-forward perfume, so even though this isn't what I was expecting, it fills a hole in my collection. And since it took months before Almond Blossom went from a ghost's breath of almondyness to the long-lived realistic marzipan powerhouse that it is now, I will hold out hope for a future of clove-spiced marzipan. Mayhaps even the pistachio will show up!

In the decant: Bright, happy mango!

Wet: Still a nice, bright mango with some amber peeking out.

Dry: The mango is more subdued and I'm getting more of the amber cream. This is a soft scent, just one click shy of a skin scent. I was worried since I hate crappy mangos, and one of the reviews said that it smelled like bargain bin walmart mangos. Thankfully that doesn't happen with Gentle Hands (here's looking at you, Mango Lychee Champagne). I'm going to sit on this decant for a few weeks and revisit to see if the notes get stronger.

I think my skin does things with amber because, while mango is the common denominator with Rice Milk & Mango, they're... stylistically different. Like the difference between a circle skirt and a pencil skirt. If that makes sense.

In the decant: A creamy, nutty vanilla.

Wet: Oh, that's an interesting non-food vanilla, pistachio is coming out a bit, and wh-- what's that? Pickles. Pickles??? Skin chemistry, why...

Dry 1: Nooooooooooooo... This is so awful on me but I'm a masochist so I'll see where this goes. My skin chemistry is changing again so in the interest of science/self-flaggelation, I'll stick it out. This is both savory and sweet. It is totally bizarre, irrational even, but not remotely appealing. After a few more minutes, it's a sweetish vanilla béchamel nuttiness with that outta-left-field pickle smell. I'm nearly at the scrubbing point. I will see this through.

Dry 2: An hour or so later, the pickle smell is almost gone. It's like the faint smell of electricity in the air near overactive power lines, but pickles. The savory/sweet vanilla has faded in volume, at least. I'm confident once I finish this review, I'll be able to wash it off. What a mercy the cacao never showed up.

In the decant: Nerds candy.

Wet: Vaguely fruit punch. My skin's gonna eat this up, isn't it?

Dry:  Fruit punch perfume. Quiet, but not bordering on invisible. No nutmeg, no booze. No specific fruits. At least the brown sugar doesn't come out swining like it normally does on me.

In the "my skin chemistry" vs "fruity perfume" match-up, my skin is undefeated this season. *sigh*