INCOMING PERFUME ENTRY NEEEEEEEER-*POW*
Apparently I forgot about perfume and haven't worn any for a long time, because trying on all the stuff K brought me has tripped some sort of neural switch of WHEE SMELL! It's nice.
Stuff K brought me:
Madame Moriarty, Misfortune Teller (Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, patchouli leaf and wild plum) - Enh. The pomegranate note (what I get of it) is nice, but the vanilla does its usual weird scented-plastic-doll thing on me, and with the patchouli and musk added in, it ends up smelling kind of like Strawberry Shortcake's unwashed stoner cousin. Ah well. It would have been kind of fun to have an appropriately themed scent for setting the scene for tarot readings, but I already have a "fear my arcane wisdom, RAR!" scent (Medea) so am not too broken up about this.
13 (reformulated - cocoa and vanilla beans, Mysore sandalwood, star fruit, orange rind, red amber, fig leaf, mimosa, rooibos tea, bourbon geranium, rose otto, nutmeg, and lavender) - Huh. Interesting. It's actually not all that different from the old one, even though I'm not sure any of the ingredients are the same. Vanilla-sweet and fruity-- I don't smell any cocoa, but maybe some cocoa butter, which was in the old one. Just like in the old one, the flowers make this a little bit weird, but mostly it's confection. Smells like a box of fancy milk and white chocolates with different fillings and dustings, maybe accompanied by a funky little nosegay. Nice, and interesting, but I don't really regret not getting a bottle when the getting was good. The only thing creamy vanilla cocoa is good for in my book is getting me to sleep (a la my preciousssss Velvet), and this one is probably too complex to get the job done-- I'd be lying awake going "Is that... rose? Was there rose in this? I am NOT getting up to go check the ingredients list. Rose... geranium, maybe?"
Creepy (butterscotch-kissed, caramel-smothered red apples spiked with a blast of coconut rum) - This is actually way better on me than I would have thought. I had convinced myself that BPAL coconut was death, because every blend I've tried containing it smelled hideously rancid to me, and even at the best of times coconut smells like suntan lotion to me. But this smells really nice-- butterscotch-sweet with a definite "fresh apple juice" note that I am also surprised to like this much (not usually into apple perfumes, though I love real apples). There is coconut, but it smells more like coconut flakes that you would roll a cookie (or caramel apple?) in: sweet and desserty. I don't smell anything alcoholic, or anything particularly caramelly. I do smell something spicy-- could this be the rum? It smells sort of like mulling spices. Not that strongly, but it keeps the scent from being a straight-up sugarfest, which is nice. I quite like it, really. Don't think I'll be needing a bottle, but the imp will be nice to break out every now and then when I'm in the mood for something sweet and fun.
Pumpkin Queen (Regal Egyptian Amber, red ginger, orange peel, mandarin, cardamom, fig leaf and warm pumpkin) - Oh my. Pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin and more pumpkin. I was not expecting this to be quite so... pumpkiny. I mean, yeah, the name, but pumpkin is the last note listed. It's quite sweet and buttery-- not disgustingly buttery like Jack (the GC pumpkin blend), but buttery enough. Besides the pumpkin, the main thing I smell is amber, which is also sweet and thick. The orange is sweet and rounded, not sharp or fresh-smelling-- it doesn't really cut the pumpkin the way I had imagined, and the spices are like baked spices in pie, rather than the dry smell of spices in the jar or the sharp smell of freshly cut ginger. I know it sounds kind of dumb, considering the notes, to say this is way foodier than I expected, but-- it really is. I was expecting something more elegantly autumnal, and less desserty. It's nice and all-- I bet it would be a nice kitchen scent-- but I don't think I'll need a bottle.
Punkie Night (apple orchards, bright cranberries, and a touch of warm cider) Apples! Bucketsful of fresh-picked apples! Okay, this is kind of awesome. When I read "apple orchards" in the description I was like "So... apples, then?" but this is disctinctively outdoorsy-- not baked or candied or scratch-n-sniff apple scent, but apples hanging off the trees and fallen to the ground. I smell something woodsy/treelike, too, and yes, definitely a top note of fresh, puckery cranberry. I'm not sure this is a perfume I'd want to wear often, but I have to admire the artistry of the scent-- it really does smell like apple orchards. Neat.
Haloa (Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes)-- I already said this in my other entry, but dude, this stuff is pure eau de Baucis and Philemon. It's not nearly as sweet as I was expecting from the reviews, which kept mentioning cheesecake and vanilla-- I don't get any vanilla or any of the rich creaminess I associate with cheesecake. There's a bakery smell, but it reminds me more of-- buns, maybe. Do you remember that part in A Little Princess where orphaned pauper Sara is stumbling, half starved and freezing to death, through slushy streets, and then miraculously finds a fourpenny piece in the snow, and takes it into a nearby warm, lighted bakery where the plump and kindly baker lady gives her six penny buns for it instead of four? Kind of the smell of that bakery. All warm and hospitable and take-another-dearie-it-will-do-you-good. And then there's the wine note, which is also warming and a bit spicy, like mulled red wine, but lacks the sharp note that I associate with alcohol scents. Maybe it's mellowed away by the bun scent. The resins don't overwhelm on me (which is astonishing, as my chemistry generally treats resins like a cuckoo nestling, frantically nourishing them and causing them to become strong and fierce enough to whack their starvation-weakened fellow nestling-notes out of the nest, leaving the cuckoo [amber, usually] in sole and triumphant possession of the nest [me]). They linger subtly and richly in the background, lending this otherwise foody-type scent a lovely subtle complexity, like the gods in their disguise as weary travellers. Just unspeakably evocative for me, this scent. Bottle must be had.
Stardust (champagne, hyacinth, tuberose, ylang ylang and flashing white musk with jonquil, tobacco flower, white sandalwood and a pale poppy) - I wibbled over this one last year, didn't get it, and had decided against it again this year. It's a difficulty, see: I love white musk, tobacco flower, sandalwood and poppy, but loathe "heady" florals (hyacinth, tuberose and ylang ylang). The scent itself bears out my ambivalence-- it's neither awesome nor terrible on me, but has elements of both. The heady florals are there-- the accursed ylang ylang is much in evidence with its vile and overbred sweetness, aiding and abetting a blast of tuberose and a very strong and authentic whiff of jonquil (my mom grows them, so I'm familiar with that scent, and not overly fond). And underneath that, I can just smell the lovely gentle spicy fragrance of the notes I DO like. Unwearable, though, alas, just as I suspected.
Now, as far as other things I want to try right now, the only one I'm super excited about (now that I've tried Haloa) is Winter of our Discontent (balsam, myrrh, mandarin orange, bitter clove, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, dark musk, smoke and cypress). I am about to flip my wig sideways just imagining this one. The pine and orange and clove and nutmeg and hearth-smoke and magus-myrrh, those are all the smells of Christmas, right? But it's Christmas gone all dark and sullen with the dark musk and cypress and wormwood, and narrow-eyed about the festivity (mandarin orange, bitter clove). The scent of-- like-- A Doll's House, or Chekhov's "At Christmas Time," or any dark and tragic human thing set up against the impersonal gaiety of the Christmas season. The only thing that worries me is the rosewood-- I really hope it doesn't act like rose on me, because Ivory soap is really not that evocative-- but I have to try it regardless. But it will be up until after Christmas, so it can wait until then.
Stuff K brought me:
Madame Moriarty, Misfortune Teller (Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, patchouli leaf and wild plum) - Enh. The pomegranate note (what I get of it) is nice, but the vanilla does its usual weird scented-plastic-doll thing on me, and with the patchouli and musk added in, it ends up smelling kind of like Strawberry Shortcake's unwashed stoner cousin. Ah well. It would have been kind of fun to have an appropriately themed scent for setting the scene for tarot readings, but I already have a "fear my arcane wisdom, RAR!" scent (Medea) so am not too broken up about this.
13 (reformulated - cocoa and vanilla beans, Mysore sandalwood, star fruit, orange rind, red amber, fig leaf, mimosa, rooibos tea, bourbon geranium, rose otto, nutmeg, and lavender) - Huh. Interesting. It's actually not all that different from the old one, even though I'm not sure any of the ingredients are the same. Vanilla-sweet and fruity-- I don't smell any cocoa, but maybe some cocoa butter, which was in the old one. Just like in the old one, the flowers make this a little bit weird, but mostly it's confection. Smells like a box of fancy milk and white chocolates with different fillings and dustings, maybe accompanied by a funky little nosegay. Nice, and interesting, but I don't really regret not getting a bottle when the getting was good. The only thing creamy vanilla cocoa is good for in my book is getting me to sleep (a la my preciousssss Velvet), and this one is probably too complex to get the job done-- I'd be lying awake going "Is that... rose? Was there rose in this? I am NOT getting up to go check the ingredients list. Rose... geranium, maybe?"
Creepy (butterscotch-kissed, caramel-smothered red apples spiked with a blast of coconut rum) - This is actually way better on me than I would have thought. I had convinced myself that BPAL coconut was death, because every blend I've tried containing it smelled hideously rancid to me, and even at the best of times coconut smells like suntan lotion to me. But this smells really nice-- butterscotch-sweet with a definite "fresh apple juice" note that I am also surprised to like this much (not usually into apple perfumes, though I love real apples). There is coconut, but it smells more like coconut flakes that you would roll a cookie (or caramel apple?) in: sweet and desserty. I don't smell anything alcoholic, or anything particularly caramelly. I do smell something spicy-- could this be the rum? It smells sort of like mulling spices. Not that strongly, but it keeps the scent from being a straight-up sugarfest, which is nice. I quite like it, really. Don't think I'll be needing a bottle, but the imp will be nice to break out every now and then when I'm in the mood for something sweet and fun.
Pumpkin Queen (Regal Egyptian Amber, red ginger, orange peel, mandarin, cardamom, fig leaf and warm pumpkin) - Oh my. Pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin and more pumpkin. I was not expecting this to be quite so... pumpkiny. I mean, yeah, the name, but pumpkin is the last note listed. It's quite sweet and buttery-- not disgustingly buttery like Jack (the GC pumpkin blend), but buttery enough. Besides the pumpkin, the main thing I smell is amber, which is also sweet and thick. The orange is sweet and rounded, not sharp or fresh-smelling-- it doesn't really cut the pumpkin the way I had imagined, and the spices are like baked spices in pie, rather than the dry smell of spices in the jar or the sharp smell of freshly cut ginger. I know it sounds kind of dumb, considering the notes, to say this is way foodier than I expected, but-- it really is. I was expecting something more elegantly autumnal, and less desserty. It's nice and all-- I bet it would be a nice kitchen scent-- but I don't think I'll need a bottle.
Punkie Night (apple orchards, bright cranberries, and a touch of warm cider) Apples! Bucketsful of fresh-picked apples! Okay, this is kind of awesome. When I read "apple orchards" in the description I was like "So... apples, then?" but this is disctinctively outdoorsy-- not baked or candied or scratch-n-sniff apple scent, but apples hanging off the trees and fallen to the ground. I smell something woodsy/treelike, too, and yes, definitely a top note of fresh, puckery cranberry. I'm not sure this is a perfume I'd want to wear often, but I have to admire the artistry of the scent-- it really does smell like apple orchards. Neat.
Haloa (Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes)-- I already said this in my other entry, but dude, this stuff is pure eau de Baucis and Philemon. It's not nearly as sweet as I was expecting from the reviews, which kept mentioning cheesecake and vanilla-- I don't get any vanilla or any of the rich creaminess I associate with cheesecake. There's a bakery smell, but it reminds me more of-- buns, maybe. Do you remember that part in A Little Princess where orphaned pauper Sara is stumbling, half starved and freezing to death, through slushy streets, and then miraculously finds a fourpenny piece in the snow, and takes it into a nearby warm, lighted bakery where the plump and kindly baker lady gives her six penny buns for it instead of four? Kind of the smell of that bakery. All warm and hospitable and take-another-dearie-it-will-do-you-good. And then there's the wine note, which is also warming and a bit spicy, like mulled red wine, but lacks the sharp note that I associate with alcohol scents. Maybe it's mellowed away by the bun scent. The resins don't overwhelm on me (which is astonishing, as my chemistry generally treats resins like a cuckoo nestling, frantically nourishing them and causing them to become strong and fierce enough to whack their starvation-weakened fellow nestling-notes out of the nest, leaving the cuckoo [amber, usually] in sole and triumphant possession of the nest [me]). They linger subtly and richly in the background, lending this otherwise foody-type scent a lovely subtle complexity, like the gods in their disguise as weary travellers. Just unspeakably evocative for me, this scent. Bottle must be had.
Stardust (champagne, hyacinth, tuberose, ylang ylang and flashing white musk with jonquil, tobacco flower, white sandalwood and a pale poppy) - I wibbled over this one last year, didn't get it, and had decided against it again this year. It's a difficulty, see: I love white musk, tobacco flower, sandalwood and poppy, but loathe "heady" florals (hyacinth, tuberose and ylang ylang). The scent itself bears out my ambivalence-- it's neither awesome nor terrible on me, but has elements of both. The heady florals are there-- the accursed ylang ylang is much in evidence with its vile and overbred sweetness, aiding and abetting a blast of tuberose and a very strong and authentic whiff of jonquil (my mom grows them, so I'm familiar with that scent, and not overly fond). And underneath that, I can just smell the lovely gentle spicy fragrance of the notes I DO like. Unwearable, though, alas, just as I suspected.
Now, as far as other things I want to try right now, the only one I'm super excited about (now that I've tried Haloa) is Winter of our Discontent (balsam, myrrh, mandarin orange, bitter clove, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, dark musk, smoke and cypress). I am about to flip my wig sideways just imagining this one. The pine and orange and clove and nutmeg and hearth-smoke and magus-myrrh, those are all the smells of Christmas, right? But it's Christmas gone all dark and sullen with the dark musk and cypress and wormwood, and narrow-eyed about the festivity (mandarin orange, bitter clove). The scent of-- like-- A Doll's House, or Chekhov's "At Christmas Time," or any dark and tragic human thing set up against the impersonal gaiety of the Christmas season. The only thing that worries me is the rosewood-- I really hope it doesn't act like rose on me, because Ivory soap is really not that evocative-- but I have to try it regardless. But it will be up until after Christmas, so it can wait until then.