carrioncupid

love! rose isn’t a favorite scent note of mine but this one was so interesting i had to pick up a slink of it from ajevie. this one has a LOT of projection and i can definitely tell it’s in my hair. i think this would’ve been a safe blind buy for me (was a little iffy about the cognac) because it’s great! it’s a lovely powdery rose backed up by a very prominent lacy vanilla note. i didn’t really like other lace spin offs i’ve tried such as, harlow’s lace and batty lace because they were wayyy too sweet. probably due to the caramel and honey in them, but this one is just right for me! it’s like powdery rose candies dusted in extra powdered sugar. i can’t wait until my bottle of millarca arrives! i think they will be simply phenomenal together.

i was a little apprehensive about the chrome and gardenia note, but it was such a good deal in a destash that i chanced it anyway, and it paid off! i don’t smell any sort of chrome note, rather it’s like a lovely fruity and lush tea scent on me. it very much reminds me of “i sit and sew” but it lacks that distinct sour twang that threw me off. the tea is full bodied for being a white tea, and i think it’s supported by that gardenia– it’s slightly dewy and green and luscious. it's like a lovely fruity floral tea on me, something i can really get behind. sadly no vanilla musk, but i really can’t complain.

? snake oil is that you??? it smells exactly like my imp of snake oil in the vial. ok. well, the snake oil does dissipate on skin. the spices basically ditched me the moment it touched my skin. it's a little soapy... a little woody, i hate saying it reminds me of carved wooden bridal shop again but it does. woody, and slightly rosy for some reason. not my favorite, i would pick morocco or snake oil over scherezade any day. y'know what, lemme test my imp of morocco side by side. morocco is warmer, and spicier-- and more incensey. more sensual. scherezade is a little too-- perfumey? it really demands attention, unlike morocco which is more lax.

an utterly beguiling scent to me, i think i can smell all or almost all the notes in here (i still can’t for the life of me determine what red musk smells like) it’s so… weird? i can smell the porcelain, the bergamot, the violet leaf, the fougere… but i just don’t care for it. i wish there was a whole lot more vanilla in here, and less of the… fougere (iris and bergamot) i suppose. i think i’d prefer floral still life with cat for a porcelain note. this was also sent off to a better home.

made me realize that neroli is not a note for me. bitter neroli in the beginning and for much of the wear time until all the other notes shyly peek out hours later. was sent off to a much better new home.

smells oddly…mainstream-y? to me? my first thought was my very old bottle of chanel no5, my mom handed down to me. it’s about 30 years old, and ravenna smells like that to me, but sweeter. i also asked my brother for his opinion on it and he agreed it smelled like a mainstream perfume. ravenna is very, perfumey, let’s say. it’s one of those BPALs where i have difficulty picking out single notes (when i’m usually good at that) and instead it’s just a blend of… smells. like, yep, it sure smells like something, not sure what, but it does. i’m sad about it. wish i got the luxurious, heavy and sensual smell others are getting, i do really well with those types of scents. but oh well— can’t win em all.

i don't know for sure what i'm smelling. i have limited experience with violet, and, quite honestly almost all of the other notes in this blend besides the patchouli. it's green smelling? i think if i had to say i don't really get any of the so-called violet. it's the patch and the moss i think, there's nothing fruity or floral in this blend on my skin. stale green moss and patch? i don't care for it.

minty… herbal… almost medicinal in quality. it reminds me of my mom’s tiger balm. ooh. there’s two scents entwined within one another, a woody scent and a fruity scent. there’s also a slight smoky quality that lingers beneath the fresh scent. it’s mainly blackberry and pitch pine. there’s also a slightly spiciness that comes from the tomato leaf, although it doesn’t smell like tomatoes. it’s very interesting. not my preference for scents but it’s certainly one that may be good for warmer months. becomes a lot gentler on the dry down, with the only thing really remaining is a blackberry musk. all other notes fade a lot into the background and it’s just like you got done eating a whole blackberry bush.

eh. grandma-esque soapy florals that also irritated my skin 😕 smells familiar to me, i think there might be another BPAL blend similar to this. if i had to say i think it’s old powdery florals. oh yes, it’s the drydown of carved wooden bridal shop, that specific rose note is prolific in many blends it seems. not much to say about it, les fleurs du mal is probably named that because of the skin reaction it gave me, and not the scent itself.

loooove it, love love love it! i agree with the first review that there is a slightly coconutty aspect to it, despite it not being listed as a note. i concur that it’s a warm, creamy and rustic take on vanilla. i have no experience with balsam, nor tumbleweeds but the vanilla just carries this whole blend so well. i’m in love! the cognac isn’t noticeable to me (and i have no experience with it as i don’t drink) but it doesn’t smell boozy— if it’s there it’s quite subtle. CSSG has immediately jumped up into one of my absolute fave vanillas, up there with the likes of my beloved zorya p, and arcana’s unicorn horn. eta: cssg is so good i have a second bottle of it otw hehe

my experience with lorrainna is like doomsday_disco’s, it’s mainly a lilac solinote scent on me which i’m a huge fan of. i loooove lilac, they’re one of my favorite floral scents ever. i’m unfamiliar with the scent of magnolia, and the scant experience i’ve had with it have been less than pleasant, so i’m so happy that it’s mainly lilac on me. the orris and the ambergris aren’t too detectable, but that’s a non issue for me. a beautiful, slightly sweet lilac that’s perfect for everyday wear.

i think i’m the odd man out here because all i got was an almond milk single note so incredibly disappointed. not even a little hint of rose or tea or tapioca— it’s as if a metric f*ck ton of almond milk was dumped on me. if you also amp almonds, like i do, then beware of this one.

a true wild card in my little imp collection! i love eating all sorts of mushrooms (not wild ones, only commercially farmed unfortunately) but i’m not sure how i feel about smelling like them. ooh. a mouth full of hay in the imp. a very dry scent, very wood and hay heavy in the imp. hm. smells like chewing on a 2x4 fresh from the home depot lumber aisle. or snorting a line of sawdust. a LOT more wood heavy than what the name would lead you to believe. there’s a slight hint of sweetness underneath the pile of wood, but whether that’s the slight natural sweetness of presumably hiba– or the mushrooms, it remains to be seen. hmm, it kind of reminds me of the natural dry sweetness of cinnamon? i mean, cinnamon IS tree bark after all. there’s a very dry subtle sweetness that’s reminiscent of cinnamon. i don’t detect any ginger root or ginseng in here. just pure woodiness. not what i expected going into it, but i kind of dig it.

ooh. floral bomb. and most florals that land quite outside my comfort zone once again. soapy… with a slight spiced bite from it, presumably from the lily of the valley. more sniffs reveal a sort of, laundry scent to me. this kind of just smells like snuggles detergent but not nearly as sweet. not the sort of scent i would envision when i think of what grief would smell like, but to each their own interpretation. grief smells like dryer sheets apparently.

hmm, three notes that i don’t usually go for, so this is quite outside the realm of my comfort zone. but i’ll give it a try anyway. the wine and the rose vie for equal attention in the spot light, with the dragon’s blood resigning itself to the backstage. it oscillates between wine and rose before eventually coming to a truce and settling down into a wine and rose scent. the wine is a sweet one, this blend isn’t a dry one– probably due in part to the rose. although it does lean quite soapy to me, or very perfumey. like in the after smell when i pull away from where it’s applied on the back of my hand, i can feel a sort of soapiness lingering in the back of my nose. oh! i was wondering why this was so familiar to me– it smells like a GC version of carved wooden bridal shop from last year’s yules! it’s less fruity than CWBS but i think the rose note used is the same– if not very similar. overall, it’s an unoffensive, albeit soapy rose scent, but i think i prefer CWBS more than this one.