Woobie reviews: Wizard of Oz, Halloween, Valentine, Scorned Love LEs
More Woobie reviews:
Ruby Slippers
In vial: exotic sandalwood incense, almost nag-champa like.
On skin: amber, and lots of it. This is a glorious amber fragrance, rich and golden and sweet and sticky but with darker, woodsier, resinous and smoky undertones. This reminds me of a black/ Tunisian amber fragrance and also of the woodsy labdanum of Pulcinella and Teresina, only lighter and less heavy-it’s very exotic, warm and sultry. The scent is like wood lacquered with amber resins with hints of incense smoke, it is warm and golden like a desert sunset. I love the strong amber scent this has, and at times, the amber reminds me of honey or even beeswax. I can’t smell spices, but I do also smell candle smoke in here, it seems. And it seems there’s something like frankincense and myrrh to it too. A beautiful and gorgeous amber-incense fragrance, I love this stuff. The only disadvantage is that it is very faint/close to the skin, which is a shame because if it was a little stronger, I’d probably get more!
Ghost Poo
In vial: toasted marshmallow with a hint of almond. I have this in both perfume and lotion. The almond is stronger in the lotion.
On skin: gorgeous, almost vanilla-milky toasted marshmallows with a nutty almond twist. In the lotion the almond smells more like marzipan/cherries, whilst in here it smells like actual toasted almonds, much more of a nutty scent. I love toasted marshmallow scents and this one is really delicious, and the almonds offset the scent nicely. It also has a creamy, milky, vanilla like scent which I adore. it gains more of a fluffy, white, untoasted marshmallow scent at times which is lovely. Overall, a fantastic marshmallow scent with a wicked name!
Soul Cake
In vial: yup, this reminds me of Eat Me, but with tarter berries and with a more ‘bready’ background instead of cake.
On skin: berries and bread! It really does smell like sweetened bread, right down to the hint of yeast. And the blackcurrant and cranberry really shine in this scent-they are sharp, bright, dry (in the way wine and cranberries are dry) and crisp, and quite realistic. It’s like I’ve taken fresh berries and placed them on top of freshly baked bread to make a fruity sandwich and sugar free alternative to jam…there’s very little sweetness to the scent, just a hint in the bread, but it’s tiny compared with the sugary deliciousness of Eat Me. I do like this scent and it makes a difference to have a foody scent which isn’t very sweet/creamy, and the bread and berry notes are spot on, but I do prefer BPAL Eat Me because of it’s sugar and vanilla, this one is a little too sharp for me, sometimes the sharp berry notes are almost perfumey (but not in a bad way). But I’m impressed-this is a very realistic food scent.
Playing with Fire
In vial: ginger-lemon tea! This smells just like the Twinings herbal lemon-ginger tea!
On skin: whoa, that’s lemony. I don’t get cinnamon yet, just fizzy, sharp lemon with ginger. The lemon in here smells like a cross between lemon tea, washing up liquid, lemon sherbet, and 7up. It’s not a sweet lemon at all. Just sharp, sour, effervescent and zingy, but harsh. The ginger gives the lemon heat, it smells fiery and scorching. It smells like inflamed lemons, there’s nothing but infernal heat and biting acidity in here. I want the cinnamon to come out but it seems to be lost in the lemon flames. It really does fit the name and I like it for that, but it sometimes smells a little bit too soapy and at times it reminds me of lemon-flavoured fizzy indigestion tablets, and that’s not really my thing. This lemon does fade though and the scent becomes pure ginger powder, an almost savoury, scorching, dry ginger scent…I wasn’t sure about the soapy lemon phases but this dry ginger scent sure is interesting. It’s arid and hot, like shimmering desert heat, and a little dusty too. It smells almost like a curry spice as well. I like it as a pure ginger scent but I want cinnamon, dammit!
Black Heart
In vial: blackberries. Sweet blackberry jam! Delicious!
On skin: musk? Now I smell a little tinge of white/pale musk, and a bare smidgen of plastic. But that fades and the scent becomes a lovely blackberry-vanilla-musk scent. juicy, tangy and dark blackberries, sweet vanilla and smooth musk. There’s a sharp citrus like note poking out of here every now and then but I think it may be part of the blackberry scent. so it’s really a nice blackberry and vanilla fragrance-I like it, I don’t love it though because it sometimes smells a tad plastic-like, and smells a little faint and I wish the blackberry didn’t go all sharp and citrus-y, it didn’t stay juicy and rich and ripe. It’s pretty but didn’t last long, and I was hoping for more complexity.
Red Lace
In vial: whoa, this stuff is the colour of maraschino cherries! I’ve never seen oil this red. The scent is pure Egyptian musk, the light ‘second skin’ kind (not the same as Woobie’s GC Egyptian Musk).
On skin: pure Egyptian musk. This is very pretty and fresh, EM tends to melt into my neutral skin scent, so the scent really is like what my skin smells like after a shower-clean and fresh. This is a little more exotic though, EM tends to smell like clean sun warmed skin on me and I get that here, a real ‘second skin’ scent. There’s just a hint of something that could turn warm and exotic and spicy, but it’s mainly the subtle skin scent of EM that I smell here, almost a single note of musk. I like this a great deal but I was hoping for more complexity-it’s just Egyptian musk on me, and not even red Egyptian musk at that, it’s very similar to Auric Blends Egyptian Goddess which I like, but I was hoping for more musky complexity and some exotic spiciness like I get in the GC Egyptian Musk, which is my favourite Woobie scent (and one of my favourite easy-to-get EM scents).
Ex Repellent
In vial: soft, aquatic, slightly soapy fresh florals.
On skin: mmm, this is so pretty! This is a fresher version of the Lotus Blossom scent, but with a hint of something tangy and fresh to it, probably the waterlily. There’s a hint of the sweetness of the lotus with the cool aquatic waterlily on top, it actually smells quite perfumey, but in a nice way-it reminds me of something I used to wear as perfume, or of a scent called ‘Lotus Bleu’ which I tried in Paris…but sweeter. I really like this. It’s not soapy on me either, but it is a very clean scent. This seems like a scent that would be great in summer. It becomes sweeter, almost fruity and sugary, over time. it then becomes almost like a candied citrus floral scent which is very pleasant. Like tangy watery blooms and lemon peel dusted with a pinkish layer of sugar. It even resembles peach at times.
Player
In vial: mmm, lemon and lavender with a sweet undertone. This has the potential to be a little bit like Dorian.
On skin: mmm, lemon and sugar, I adore that combination. This is a gorgeous lemon-lavender with a delicious sweet creamy vanilla base. The lemon is strong, almost lemongrass like, but the creamy vanilla amber musk underneath is delightful and has the potential to get even better over time once the lemon dies down. Indeed, soft vanilla and amber seem to waft from my skin when I smell this from afar, but close to the skin the herbal lemon prevails. The lemon lasts a lot longer than I expected but the vanilla is starting to make its way through the fresh tangy lemongrass-lavender scent. I do like this scent but I was hoping for a less herbal lemon (I’m amazed at how long the lavender lasts though-that note only lasts about 15 minutes on me usually) and more in the way of the vanilla amber musk, but this is a nice scent and would be nice on both men and women. The sweet, creamy base comes out very nicely after a few hours, a delicious soft vanilla-amber.
Love Letters
In vial: oh, the jasmine in here smells good, like real jasmine essential oil. Rich and heady and deep, sweetened by vanilla.
On skin: whoa, jasmine! There’s a lot of that powerful flower in here. but it’s a very good jasmine. It’s a little sharp when smelt close up, but it is reminiscent of good quality jasmine attar. The vanilla isn’t as strong as before, but I do smell it, and the musk is very subtle and just adds a smooth soft base to the jasmine. The scent also has a very slight papery feel, which is fitting. Eventually this settles into the most gorgeous jasmine vanilla, no sharpness here now. It reminds me of Attar Bazaar’s Tunisian Jasmine with added vanilla, and also of BPAL Peitho, and is a bit reminiscent of a violet-less Melisande. This is pretty and feminine and deeply heady, and the jasmine note is very true.