Heloise

[Seajewel]

Polished limewood, myrrh smoke, and blackened spices.

[LavenderCoffee]

Heloise really does smell like a charming haunted witch puppet - stranger than the sum of her scent notes. Her scent is a bit sour and green, like she was working on a potion with eye of newt, etc. Maybe she was in the vicinity when Witches' Lace 2019 was being brewed. I suppose the polished aspect of the polished limewood (broomstick?) is what's coming forward, but it's not as prominent as other polish/lacquer notes I've smelled. There is much less of a dusty aspect than with Abelard, although the hint of smoke and spice suggest some age -  myrrh has been burnt and only smoke remains, the blackened bits of spices served their purpose. 

 

I am also testing Abelard and A&H together. Together, they smell happier and less haunted, more like a pair of well-loved old puppets you might keep in a drawer. The sourness of Heloise and the stale dusty aspect of Abelard are tempered when they are combined. It's not quite like putting the lime with the coconut, but they clearly belong together. I think I'd be more inclined to wear Heloise as a standalone scent because of the witchy-ness.

 

Edited to clarify the A&H combined scent - it's kinda cozy. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by LavenderCoffee

[Lecter]

Another bottle that arrived from the lab with hardly a whisper of a scent. After it settled for a week (I’m sure the scent will increase with time) the peppery/herby ness came through. Not herbs as in kitchen food herbs but herbs a witch would collect on a stroll through the forest 

[zankoku_zen]

Smoky, spices, and a note of pumpkin? Yep, that's what it smells like pumpkin spice smoke. Medium throw and wear length.

[ghoulnextdoor]

I blame a friend for the immediate association I made when I sniffed this perfume.  On Facebook, the other day, I was asking folks for their favorite persimmon recipes, and A. shared a sort of “salad of the underworld”: persimmons and radicchio and pomegranate seeds and a few other goodies, and they suggested serving it with a lime and ginger dressing. A sweet-tart-bitter and lightly spiced foil for all the unctuous richness at a banquet table for the dead. Erewhon salad bar katabasis.

[Little Bird]

I will never pass on a weird puppet scent, no matter what the notes are.  My dad used to tell elaborate stories with creepy puppets and dark twists and that's something that I grew up with and adored.  He was killed when I was 12-years-old and I hold on to those tender memories. 
I'm late on a lot of my reviews because I've been in the middle of moving and my 'Weenies in particular just got packed up into storage and are now making their way back out to haunt the new house.  At least they are well aged and settled now.

I love Abelard and Heloise because they both rest on a base of wood and creepiness.  Bpal really picked out notes that you smell and think, "Yep.  Haunted puppets."  Abelard is a bit creepier to me (in a good way!) because it has this dry, slightly sweet, odd wood note (but not powdery or dusty, just.. old wooden puppet) and a chilled note that makes you think of a ghost passing you in the hallway of an old yet well loved and well kept house.  The chill is almost a little plasticy, a little cucumber-y, with the tiniest hint of lime fizz, and a little vanilla-y, and I'm pretty sure I've smelled it in one of bpal's odd single notes (Crumpled Wrapping Paper?).  The hint of sweet vanilla, I think, must be the coconut, but this doesn't read as beachy or tropical to me.  The carnation and frankincense are nondescript, but give off wafts of warm incense smoke in the drydown.  The overall effect for me is haunted, but in a good way.  Old wood sprinkled with magic, cold vanilla, and wafts from a burning incense stick.

Heloise starts off much darker and more blunt and straightforward to me.  It has a cologne-like quality and I feel like I've smelled fragrances like it before.  Dark men's cologne musk, masculine spices, and dry, dark woods.  I felt like it wasn't terribly unique for the first half hour, but then I wind up liking this a lot more as the traditional masculine cologne settles down and the wood and sweet incense smoke gain strength with the spices smelling a little like bay rum + black pepper in the background.  I usually don't enjoy wood notes, but I like the woods in both of these fragrances.  My brother is a carpenter and Heloise smells like all of his woodworking projects over the years and heading into lumberyards, plus spice, dark incense, and cologne-y musk.