Hammy Northern Mockingbird

[zankoku_zen]

A dusty, dry woody scent that manages to be surprisingly flamboyant: white sandalwood, violet leaf, orris root, cardamom pod, and Texas cedar.

[VetchVesper]

Wow,  this one smells surprisingly floral to me.  I expected something warmer and woodier with florals taking a back seat. The violet leaf is prominent, and its got a green bite that separates it from just smelling like normal violets.  I think the cardamom may be adding to the sense of green floral as well.  The cedar and sandalwood aren't prominent, but they add a little husky complexity in the background.  A flamboyant floral, but not a super girly one, and the cedar behaves on my skin, which is rare.    This one's not for me, but it will be nice for summer, and I imagine it will gain depth, and perhaps more woodiness, as it ages. 

[puellacaerulea]

Seconding that this is more floral than you might expect from the notes listed, but in a good way! I expected something dusty and powdery from a violet/orris/sandalwood combo, but this is surprisingly not that. This is probably one of the least powdery takes on violet and orris I've tried. It's subtly floral, slightly spicy violet, with some backbone from the sandalwood and cedar. I suspect this one's going to get less love than Muddy Armadillo and Judgmental Longhorn, which is too bad, as it's a very complex floral/wood blend without the powderiness and sharpness I got from similar scents like Violet & Pale Woods. I can see this blend aging well, too.

[doomsday_disco]

Violet and I are not friends, but I grabbed a decant of this for my boyfriend (who wanted to try it because it's a mockingbird scent) and decided to test it as well.

 

On me, it's mostly about the violet leaf. There's a lot of violet in the violet leaf note, but the leaf aspect makes it sharper than most violet scents, which can be candy-sweet or super powdery on me. It dominates the scent throughout wear on me, although the white sandalwood and a touch of cedar join in after a few hours to give it a dusty quality, with some powderiness behind that thanks to the orris. I couldn't detect any of the cardamom, sadly.

 

It smells much better on my boyfriend. It's violet leaf and cedar on him right out of the gate, but it eventually dries down into a sandalwood-dominant scent tinged with the violet leaf.

 

If you're averse to violet, like me, this won't be up your alley, but those that enjoy violet and would like a dusty floral and woods scent might appreciate this one.  

[ka hulu]

I thought I detested violet, and orris root too. But I definitely couldn’t stand what happened in the Lone Star state this winter. And I love the mockingbird that sings all night outside my bedroom window every season, and I’m moving away from that nesting place soon. So I had to have this scent no matter what, for my heart, and for the good cause.

 

Maybe it’s just me or maybe I should have let this little guy rest out of the mailbox. The one outside my bedroom window never seems to sleep, though, so I tested HNM immediately.

 

Wet: neither dry nor dusty, but exuberant with something clean and bright. I think this must be what living violets smell like. Just beautiful. If this is orris root, it’s the irises you dug up from the yard to give to a dear one on Easter Sunday. Not dirty: just real. 

 

Dry: the cardamom gives it just a touch of fire, and the sandalwood and cedar play nicely together, graceful flourishes in this season’s tailored melody.

 

This is a scent for leaping off the tops of telephone poles for aerial displays at sunrise, and for nuzzling the lovely cohort or the littles in the nest. I’d bought a partial here just to try it, and look: now there are two brand new ones in my cart. If you love any of the notes, I bet you’ll love the whole song.

Edited April 7, 2021 by ka hulu
word :)

[Threemoons]

This one is a total morpher on me.  In the bottle:  Getting light, cut grass with almost a floral note.  On, wet:  A mix of dry and wet cut grasses and something almost hay-like.  Drydown:  This one stays very light on the skin on me, almost like a veil.  It literally gets "dryer" as it dries, getting what is almost like wisps of distant incense or burning sage, with teeny pops from the cedar.  Stays very close to the skin, low throw and medium wear.

[frizzlechicken]

Wet, it's beautiful fresh cut lilacs and grass with a light undertone of sandalwood. As it dries it fades to a really nice cedar/floral blend. I don't detect any cardamom. It's very soft and has low throw.