L'ESSENCE DU CHAGRIN ( Read more... )

In the midst of moving and reno madness, it's time to stop and smell the roses admist the sawdust. I managed to get a few decants, so I'm going to attempt to review some of them here ( Read more... )

 BIWA...  tangerine, black currant, white musk, honey and tagetes.

This starts off with delicate, zesty tangerine with a hint of musk and honey. The marigold note is light and adds a floral complexity to the blend. The honey powders upon drydown, and with the musk creates a long-lingering loveliness that I wasn't expecting. I barely pick up the ( Read more... )

 
I wore an old favourite, Lucy, Kissed, (2009, from the Trading Post) when I went off this morning - one of my many red musk blends, this one with dark roses and violets, yew and juniper, patchouli and oude. Perhaps because I felt like I was one of the living dead at the time. But the day was actually far more pleasant than I expected, bright and ( Read more... )

THE RING... antiquated amber, frankincense, patchouli, hay, oakmoss, skin musk and white mint.  
This starts off smooth and mellow, with the amber and frankincense in soft, dusky accord, and just a faint hint of mint. The skin musk keeps this close as the moss and patchouli warm up and the hay is prominent but its all very well blended. I get a hint ( Read more... )

 The Venustas series, A Tribute to William Etty and the Elegance of the Human Form.

FEMALE NUDE, THREE QUARTERS LENGTH, BESIDE HER LEFT AN APPLE TREE... mahogany, rosewood, red apple.
A very well blended scent: the mahogany is glorious beneath a drift of apple. It's surprisingly delicate with hints of rose developing as it warms up. There's a ( Read more... )

 And here's the last three of the Ode to Aphrodite scents:

KATASKOPIA... tuberose, mandarin, jonquil, black sandalwood, green musk, styrax, hyacinth and violet musk.
HEELLLLOOO tuberose!  This is a big floral, sharp and green. And oddly watery, which I wasn't expecting. The florals mellow and the mandarin begins to hold its own but the best part of ( Read more... )

 HEKAERGE... red patchouli, myrrh, lemongrass, gurgum balsam, lavender and honey.
I wasn't sure I'd like this, because of the lemongrass, but I can't pick it up at all; this opens with patchouli sweetened by honey and myrrh; the lavender adds a nice edge. The balsam is in there somewhere, added to the overall spice-woodiness of the scent and as it ( Read more... )

 My Lupercalia decants arrived yesterday, so now I have to snif and test and decide which ones (if any) I want bottles of, and before next Monday, too. I'm going to start with the most likely candidates in the Ode to Aphrodite series and add the others in as I get to them.  So here goes...

ANTHEIA... grandiflorum jasmine, damask rose, ylang ylang, ( Read more... )

TEARS, IDLE TEARS... a bittersweet aquatic lifted by white rose, olibanum, amber, orris, davana and oude.

As a general rule, I'm not a real fan of aquatics, but this intrigued me enough to order a decant. It's watery alright, clear and bright with swirls of orris and faint resins. The rose is remarkably timid, at least until the davana starts to ( Read more... )