carnaval diabolique reviews
This is one strange update. The scents that sounded like they might be fab on me are blah, and the ones I thought for sure would be terrible are the ones I want more of.
I ordered a bottle of Organ Grinder: Almond milk, sarsaparilla, tobacco smoke, black patchouli and white pine bark.
I couldn't resist! It sounded like my lovely Tombstone. Alas, whereas Tombstone is richly spicy and resinous, OG is sweet root beer, with occasional furtive hints of deepening into androgyny that never really materialize. It's a nice enough scent for those who don't like the leather note in Tombstone, but I'll be swapping this.
Pulcinella & Teresina: Your eyes are drawn to a gilded miniature stage whose sign reads: "All Praises to the Lord of Misrule!" Upon the platform, a sneering wooden jester waltzes with a hollow-eyed and bleeding wooden maiden, while a wooden devil floats above them.
Labdanum, cedar, teak and red rose.
*This* on the other hand, is a lesson in why I'm happy to have purchased the full set of decants, because I never would have tried it on my own. I thought for sure the cedar and/or the rose would be overpowering, but oh my saints and ancestors! This is my new rose love, me who said she hated rose perfumes. First Beth made me love Kali, and now, I want to bathe myself in this stuff. Sweet and spicy and woodsy and....guh. It layers perfectly with my B&BW sandalwood rose bath gel where Rakshasa did not. Must.buy.bottle. Or three.
Midnight on the Midway: Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense and night-blooming flowers.
This was another one I thought might be really fabulous on me. Sugar? Yes. Night-blooming flowers? Generally. Incense? yes! However, what I got was a faint, blah mostly-jasmine drying down to vanilla. No incense. Nice, but unexciting.
The Phantom Calliope: Ghostly, glowing, sweet and dark: black cherry, patchouli, cassis, cardamom and verbena.
I *hate* cherry scents. They go to cough syrup on me. This blend was another big surprise. It starts out sharp/sweet/fresh, like orange peel. It must be the interplay of the verbena and cherry. Then the spice and patchouli come on, and are they *gorgeous*. I contemplated making this one of my new Fall scents. The cherry eventually becomes more true to form after at least an hour and a half or so, but the spices mingle with it enough to make me almost love it. Cherry-lovers will adore it.
Theodosius the Legerdemain: Earl Grey tea leaves, a white fougere, jasmine leaf, pearlescent white musk, and vanilla bean.
The one that's most true to expectations. A more refined, dryer version of Dorian. Gender-neutral and very nice. I'd love to smell this one on my hub. If you liked Usher, you'll like this one too.
Melisande the Puppet-Master: Behind the diminutive stage, the puppet mistress stands, a pale and grinning Professor, the Lady of Chaos. Her hands are tangled in web-like strings; a swazzle peeks through her violet lips. Behind her, you see a wavering image, with all the vague haziness of a mirage: a leaping coyote, a flame-haired and scarred Norseman, a glittering golden spider, a laughing monkey, a leering satyr, a shadowy flutist, and an African youth dressed in black and red. Jasmine sambac, dark musk, violet water, vanilla bean and mimosa.
Violet is one of my arch-nemeses. I tried Le Serpent Qui Danse and hated it, surely this would be the same? Nope. The jasmine and musk beat violet's mint/soap smell into submission, and it all blends into a lovely "medium purple" sort of scent, something I'll be slathering on come spring, I can tell already. Damn. Now I'm going to have to give all sorts of notes second chances, aren't I?
I ordered a bottle of Organ Grinder: Almond milk, sarsaparilla, tobacco smoke, black patchouli and white pine bark.
I couldn't resist! It sounded like my lovely Tombstone. Alas, whereas Tombstone is richly spicy and resinous, OG is sweet root beer, with occasional furtive hints of deepening into androgyny that never really materialize. It's a nice enough scent for those who don't like the leather note in Tombstone, but I'll be swapping this.
Pulcinella & Teresina: Your eyes are drawn to a gilded miniature stage whose sign reads: "All Praises to the Lord of Misrule!" Upon the platform, a sneering wooden jester waltzes with a hollow-eyed and bleeding wooden maiden, while a wooden devil floats above them.
Labdanum, cedar, teak and red rose.
*This* on the other hand, is a lesson in why I'm happy to have purchased the full set of decants, because I never would have tried it on my own. I thought for sure the cedar and/or the rose would be overpowering, but oh my saints and ancestors! This is my new rose love, me who said she hated rose perfumes. First Beth made me love Kali, and now, I want to bathe myself in this stuff. Sweet and spicy and woodsy and....guh. It layers perfectly with my B&BW sandalwood rose bath gel where Rakshasa did not. Must.buy.bottle. Or three.
Midnight on the Midway: Lightning splits the sky, illuminating the skeletal skyline of the carnival rides: sugared incense and night-blooming flowers.
This was another one I thought might be really fabulous on me. Sugar? Yes. Night-blooming flowers? Generally. Incense? yes! However, what I got was a faint, blah mostly-jasmine drying down to vanilla. No incense. Nice, but unexciting.
The Phantom Calliope: Ghostly, glowing, sweet and dark: black cherry, patchouli, cassis, cardamom and verbena.
I *hate* cherry scents. They go to cough syrup on me. This blend was another big surprise. It starts out sharp/sweet/fresh, like orange peel. It must be the interplay of the verbena and cherry. Then the spice and patchouli come on, and are they *gorgeous*. I contemplated making this one of my new Fall scents. The cherry eventually becomes more true to form after at least an hour and a half or so, but the spices mingle with it enough to make me almost love it. Cherry-lovers will adore it.
Theodosius the Legerdemain: Earl Grey tea leaves, a white fougere, jasmine leaf, pearlescent white musk, and vanilla bean.
The one that's most true to expectations. A more refined, dryer version of Dorian. Gender-neutral and very nice. I'd love to smell this one on my hub. If you liked Usher, you'll like this one too.
Melisande the Puppet-Master: Behind the diminutive stage, the puppet mistress stands, a pale and grinning Professor, the Lady of Chaos. Her hands are tangled in web-like strings; a swazzle peeks through her violet lips. Behind her, you see a wavering image, with all the vague haziness of a mirage: a leaping coyote, a flame-haired and scarred Norseman, a glittering golden spider, a laughing monkey, a leering satyr, a shadowy flutist, and an African youth dressed in black and red. Jasmine sambac, dark musk, violet water, vanilla bean and mimosa.
Violet is one of my arch-nemeses. I tried Le Serpent Qui Danse and hated it, surely this would be the same? Nope. The jasmine and musk beat violet's mint/soap smell into submission, and it all blends into a lovely "medium purple" sort of scent, something I'll be slathering on come spring, I can tell already. Damn. Now I'm going to have to give all sorts of notes second chances, aren't I?