A Doll's Doll

[Failmingo]

I found this one to be DRASTICALLY different in all its various stages, catching me by surprise each time.

 

It's robust in the bottle I'm mainly getting snowberries, reminding me a bit of Marshmallow Snow: a kind of soft, minty evergreen that's been generously sweetened up with (in this case) something juicy. I wasn't mad at this, but I was surprised that I couldn't detect more of the other notes.

 

On the skin the mintiness/greenness/juiciness instantly calms and I get a sense of the pallid porcelain face peering out at me. It's not cold but... not warm, or living? And then here's where I start to get spun sugar and creamy carnation lace for the first time, just as plainly as if they'd been there all along.

 

While there's a lot of different notes included here, the overall effect is soft, peaceful, playful, and a bit chilly, with the sparse color palette you'd expect from the artwork. Further along it is more carnation-y than I ever thought possible. and only faintly sweet; it really seems like I'm wearing an entirely different fragrance than the one I put on an hour ago. Only still later can I track anything like chimney soot -- dark, smoky smudges kind of hiding underneath all the airy-fairy stuff -- but it's possible I'm gaslighting myself. 

 

Overall it is true to theme, reminding me of something endearingly delicate that belongs on a shelf. And dare I say there's a lonely quality to it as well? There are phantoms of feeling here, and they glow a bit, ending up in a kind of stalemate with melancholy. The smile is pleasant but the eyes just stare. Ya know?

 

So those who are seeking the quieter and subtler aspects of this scent, I'd say, definitely try it on the skin, and just give it time. 

 

 

 

 

[Jenjin]

Something to hold and play with during the solitude imposed by winter: cool porcelain cheeks glowing with a blush of spun sugar, lacy carnation frills delicately strung with pearlescent snowberries, and the faintest dusting of chimney soot.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Jenjin

[Geminirubyshoes]

If La Befana carried a doll that had a tiny doll, this would be the scent of that doll. I definitely smell the snow in the snowberries at first drying down into the spun sugar. There is a faint singed element which I’m guessing is the chimney soot? It’s hard for me to pick out the carnation as I feel like that and the snowberries combined gives it almost like a strawberry smell. 

My overall gist is that this is really lovely and interesting. Also makes me very nostalgic for my youth when I spent a lot of time alone in my room arranging my little ceramic figurines and listening to books on tape ❤️

[HerbGirl]

I am curious to see how this ages- the drydown is beautiful but it takes a while to get there. 

 

Oddly enough, I'm not getting anything I expected from this. It does remind me of Marshmallow Snow (I haven't tried this year's version), but starts off as a semi indolic floral fruit punch. ??? Interesting. Settles into the evergreen version of bpal snow with a hint of berry. Not sure how I feel about it but I am upset that my bottle arrived filled to well below the shoulder of the bottle. 

 

As it wears, the 'indolic fruit punch' does fade into a really nice scent. I'm trying to pick the scent apart for notes but just can't. And that's ok. This is turning into a beauty. The waft is gorgeous. 

Edited December 25, 2023 by HerbGirl

[LavenderCoffee]

I am unexpectedly but completely in love with this blend. the TL;DR: a cool sweet carnationberry that wears beautifully all day. 

 

A Doll's Doll is delicate and gently sweet without being overly sugary. what in the world does a snowberry smell like? I'm not entirely sure. it's not evergreen to my nose, but I agree with Geminirubyshoes that it seems to mash up with the carnation into a blush of something like a doll's idea of strawberry. I'm calling it carnationberry even though that doesn't make any sense! it's just the right amount of carnation to put the pink in your cool porcelain cheeks, where it lingers perfectly for hours on end.

 

also, for anyone who treads lightly around a BPAL snow note: I'm not getting snow, or at least this doesn't wear like Marshmallow Snow or Snow White in my experience. both of those have a drydown that disagrees with me in the same way, and this is decidedly different. 

[Little Bird]

I'm confused by A Doll's Doll. I was hoping for sugared carnation, but this blend isn't sweet on me at all and I don't smell carnation either. 

 

The whole thing is so sour, slightly soapy and dry. It's like intensely sour grapefruit pith and soapy, dusty aldehydes. I didn't enjoy it at all

[doomsday_disco]

I didn't love this one... and also didn't get any carnation from it, either, which is weird, because I usually amp the stuff.

 

But this is how it went on me: lots of snowberry at first, backed by some pink spun sugar. The snowberry has some slushy snow to it and reminds me of a more berry-infused Skadi, but accompanied by that very pink spun sugar. I get some champaca behind these notes that I think its representing the soot note. Wahh. And then it goes super sweet and pink on me as the spun sugar becomes the dominant note, cozying up to the berry, which has lost its snowy aspect.

 

I guess my skin ran away with that very pink spun sugar.

[Llanval]

I agree with HerbGirl, but I don't find A Doll's Doll dries down into something pretty enough to jump for a full size.  Definitely fruitier than I was expecting, with a strong snowberry start, with a little smudge of soot, and a waft of something cool enough to maybe be porcelain but it's very much buried under the other notes.  I get no carnations and it reads very much as a snowberry and evergreen scent, with a hint of sweeter sugar after an hour of nothing but SNOWBERRIES and snow/evergreen.

 

Was hoping this would be stronger on the porcelain and soot, because for the first hour it feels like the scent is going to morph into a magical attic filled with little yuletide treasures but alas, that's not how it plays out on me. Bummer.

[Biocarbons]

Wet: cold (mint), sweet, soapy carnation and fruity with evergreen in a Yankee candle way. 

 

As it sits on me, I get more cold ash. I do think this has a hint of the porcelain note in it, but this scent is dominated by the cold berry and soapy carnation smell and doesn't really smell like pediophobia for anyone who is wondering.

[Exquise-moi]

Thankfully I seem to be in the minority here, but this blend unfortunately went into berry poop territory on me. Where this fell apart for me was the berry, coolness, and soot against the carnation... I had hoped the delicate snowberry would be subtle, as berries don't play well on my skin, but this was not the case, so perhaps that's the culprit?

[PumpkinGuts]

I picked up a decant of this because I love porcelain notes and was hopeful that it might be a cousin to Pediophobia.

 

Unfortunately, all I'm getting here is overbearing slushy snow that irritates my sinuses, plus snowberries. I'm unfamiliar with snowberry, but it does have a strawberry-like aroma. After the snow note finally calms its tits, it dries down to a snowberry, carnation, and spun sugar trio. Carnationberry really is an apt description.

 

Alas, I continue my hunt for porcelain scents.

[Weirdgirlpilled]

I sold this off almost immediately because something in it was giving me a combo headache and sneeze-attack every time i put it on! It’s not the porcelain note because i’m pretty sure i’ve sampled other porcelain notes before (i believe cat with vase has it?).  The bright strawberry and carnation is gorgeous, it bloomed on the skin, but after testing it a couple of times i realised it was THIS that was giving me troubles lol. so disappointed as it was truly beautiful