Category: Somnium
I've been applying this every night before I go to bed for about ten days now...and for the most part I'd say it works really well. This is the first of the Dream Formulas that I've tried -- I didn't know that you could order them as imps, until someone in a decant circle thoughtfully included this.
The scent is predominantly lavender, with a strong thread of eucalyptus underneath it, and hints of anise here and there. They mingle to create a very medicinal odor -- as a perfume, this would be really bad, but as a component for relaxation and sleep, it's *very* useful. The strident quality of it is actually soothing...it reminds me of when I'd get colds as a child and my mom would smear Vicks on my chest and under my nose -- that same sort of 'OMG this is strong...but it's helping, so yay!' feeling.
By morning, it has worn off, so I never smell it when I get up...though I often can smell traces of the other perfume I've been wearing the day before. This is the perfect medicinal blend -- it does its job, doesn't interfere or interact with anything, and then evaporates.
The vast majority of nights that I use it, I can be asleep in under fifteen minutes, and sleep all the way through the night with no interruptions. While I rarely have trouble sleeping anyway, this past month I've been having lots of problems with anxiety and such, so Baku has been a blessing.
I tend to be a skeptic, but as far as I'm concerned, this stuff works pretty well.
Fig, walnut, and bamboo mingle together to evoke images of freshly-peeled bark, twigs, sticks, tendrils of curling greenery, and underneath it all, the moist, sheltering earth of a burrow. It's warm and sweet, like a little brown rabbit curling up somewhere safe. As if that lovely imagery wasn't enough, there is a teensy bit of caramel that gives it a chocolatey sort of feel...like a chocolate bunny, almost! (I was born in the year of the Wood Hare, so that must be where all the rabbity imagery is coming from). I really liked it, a lot! And I will probably rue the day that I decided to pass up on getting a full bottle of it.
I really loved all the Phoenixes. They are so very evocative in their own respective ways; I haven't had this much mental imagery from scents in quite a while. I really enjoyed my experiences with the Anniversary scents, and am grateful to have been able to sample them.
Someone else compared this to a 'high-end soap', and I totally agree! Not that it's soapy in a bad way; it's just really, really fresh and clean-smelling. It's almost minty, in a way. There is a definite air of teal-blue; brisk, cleansing water sudsed with sea-foam. Like nearly all the Phoenixes, it tended to hug very close to my skin, but was quite strong should I come nodding back for a sniff. I'd say it had about average staying power, say five or six hours.
I can see right away why this one is popular. It's dark and resinous, redolent with patchouli and spices and musk. I personally get a hell of a lot more 'incense' than 'vanilla' with this one, though I can also sense the vanilla; it wafts up every now and then in teasing little strokes, like a beckoning finger.
I'm probably going to really really really really really hate myself for not getting a bottle, because I have a feeling it's going to age REALLY well. Honestly cannot decide if I want to trade it or keep it. Swaps only, probably, if I get rid of it.
I was really leery of this one, but like all the Phoenixes, it was really nice. Believe it or not, but I really can 'smell' the 'gleaming white metal' in the description; it's like what the mirror-sheen on a stainless-steel table would smell like, if it had an odor. I think the honeysuckle is what makes it so palatable for me.
It's super-light, and seemed to fade really fast. This one won't be so hard to let go of.
Fresh on, it's very strong and strident with an air of cinnamon to it, as well as sweet florals. Like a spark, it flares up, and then settles down to the grim business of burning. It smolders all day long, and hugs my skin like the ember-flames of a fire licking at wood.
It was really pretty, so I think I will hang onto the imp for a little while, at least.
Of all the anniversary Phoenixes, this one was my favorite. There is a strong, sort of astringent note right at the beginning, almost like the sharp tang of *very* fresh barkmulch. Thankfully, this lasts but a moment, and soon there is just a lush blooming of green plantlife. 'Earthy' is an easy word to apply here, but it's very apt; they are just deep, green-brown, earthy notes. I get cypress, maybe some tobacco leaf, and just a teensy hint of cherry lurking underneath there. It lasts all day and as just enough throw to keep constantly reminding me of how lovely it is. Very nice!
This is, indeed, silly and playful and effervescent. It is grape soda and chewy, juicy fruit candies, so many fruity varieties that they just sort of mingle together in a wet, bubbly mauve haze. It has little throw, and tends to fade fairly fast.
Just like candy, this is a scent that would be nice to indulge in once in a while, but a constant olfactory diet of it would be unhealthy. But I'm thankful for the sweet treat, all the same!
This is a moist, white, freshly-made cupcake with a thick layer of cream-cheese frosting, adorned with a juicy dollop of strawberry pulp. And, as if that wasn't delicious enough, every now and then there is a redolant little whiff of spices...like nutmeg and cinnamon. Did I order a bottle? Are bears Catholic? YUM.
Man...what a flippin' cocktease.
I get a brief, teasing whiff of orange, and then a pine branch smacks me in the noggin. But I like the orange...so I keep coming back to sniff again...and keep getting pine needles shoved up my nose. And then amber and incense come around afterward to douse my wounds in a medicinal bath, and prep me for round 7,531 of this endless cycle.
It's an exercise in sadomasochism for me.
It's not floral, and only a bit fruity -- it's mostly a smell that could be termed 'foilage'...various leaves and branches and twigs, gently stirred by a night breeze. The fruit note does smell like apple, so I agree with the 'apple orchard at night' images that others have noted. It's actually pretty impressive, because it comes off as cool and airy without being an aquatic scent, and on the dry side without being dusty. Even though it doesn't suit me, personally, I'm impressed with it, as these qualities really stand out as being unique to me.
It's got a very 'cologney' type vibe to it...not that that's a bad thing, at all. It starts off on the masculine end of the spectrum, maintaining a very deep, earthy atmosphere, but you can smell the sweeter notes lying underneath, and as time passes, those come up and give it a nice, more feminine elegance. So, I would agree with another reviewer who called it a unisex scent. I think if it would have projected more, I would have really been aching for a bottle of this; it's nice, but doesn't quite cut it for me.
Peachy flowers. While the peach note is really pretty, on me the notes just all meld together into a very generic sort of sweet-fruity-floral scent. It's a bit like a girl who is very pretty and sweet and demure, but also very vapid, and easily-forgotten. I'm sure the character this is based on is *nothing* like that, but it's the personality that seems to be put forth by this blend, to me at least.
There's definitely lots of cedar...it's a wet sort of smell, very definitely like freshly-upturned earth and roots, and it's very fascinating in that regard.
It has little throw, and clings very close to the skin. While appropriate, it lessens the enjoyment somewhat for me, personally. And it seems to wear off pretty fast. Not for me.
Hm, odd. The first time I tried this, I got all clove and spices and balsam and a hint of orange punch. Not wicked at all, but certainly yummy. Over the day, it morphed into something woody, and by the end of the day was getting a bit soapy...but it behaved so nicely for the majority of its stay that I was willing to forgive that.
Now that I'm sniffing it again, I get primarily bitter mandarin orange, with some balsam or cypress...something sweet but woody. That's a bit more...wicked, I guess. Perhaps things had settled -- I didn't really bother with rolling the imp or anything, this time around.
In both cases, however, I very much like it. I'll need a bottle.
The good news: It smells exactly like it says it's supposed to. One instantly gets an air of fine, misty rain, permeated by the dust on one's sandals, and the incense burning in the sheltering temple atop the mountain. It's beautiful, and it sums up the concept of 'rain' perfectly. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it smells like a purifying, Oregon rain -- the kind you'd feel sweeping in straight off the ocean, as you stand on the beach.
The bad news: It lasts about six seconds on me, then evaporates.
I can see how some reviewers get a 'Sprite' vibe from it. There's definitely a citrus/lime tone to it, probably to preserve that fresh, purifiying aquatic quality of the perfume. I rather liked it.
In the imp: Whoa, butter!
I get a lot of butter when it first goes on...then it calms down into more of a toasted pastry sort of smell. There's still a 'brown' edge to it, as there was with Butter Rum Cookie, but without the out-and-out burned smell...it's more like cookies that have been perfectly, thoroughly baked.
So, if you're looking for something just a touch lighter than Butter Rum Cookie, or *really* like butter (), give this a try.
My verdict is still out on this one. I originally really liked it, but now that I'm giving it another sniff, I'm just sort of 'eh' on it. Then again, I've got like seven scents on this hand, so it may just be an overloaded nose. I'll wash off, give my schnozz a rest for a bit, and try it again before deciding.
Oh...gods, this is beautiful. So pretty, that even this brief sniff that I'm indulging in to reacquaint myself with the scent is bringing tears to my eyes.
The lavender, geranium, and (I believe) the benzoin mingle to create a heady, floral scent that is clarifying, instead of being cloying; it is *almost* medicinal, but without any sort of nasty astringency to it. It's more like a scent you'd expect to find in an old-fashioned sachet. Beneath these, the poppy creates a soft, caressing sweetness; and even though I don't get oodles of the black amber and black incense, there is *something* there that creates a very dark sort of tone; so that even though there are those head-clearing notes atop, there is also a sense that this perfume is bottomless, that you could get drawn into it forever and ever. It is deliciously moody and dark and beautiful.
Definitely worthy of a bottle.
When first applied, I get frankincense and a hint of amber -- very lovely. I can see how people get the 'fizzy' feeling, though, because I quickly detected it there, as well. Then the incense morphs quickly to something sweeter; while I didn't get out and out 'grape' scent from the wine, it was vaguely there. After a bit, it just goes generically perfumey. Just not my thing...
Oddly enough, this is not 'cold' on me at all. Quite the opposite...I get the 'warm' notes of amber, sandalwood, balsam, and musk. There is a hint of pine/fir, sweetened vaguely by berry. It's pleasant enough, but somehow just doesn't do it for me. Alas!
I will vouch for the fact that cedar at no point comes out and bullies things the way it usually does. So if you are usually very leery of cedar, you may want to give this a shot.
Upon first application, it smelled like what I fancy an old-fashioned licorice candy would smell like: vaguely bitter, but with enough sweetness in its scent to lure one in for a tooth-achingly good time. I actually envision a licorice-flavored 'coal' candy with this one.
It is decent staying power and throw, and is pleasantly-sweet throughout; I can definitely pick out the licorice and leather notes. The coal dust makes it just a tad dry or powdery around the edges, without the whole thing crumbling into powderiness. It's very interesting, but an imp is most likely enough for me.
It smells slightly like generic perfume or cologne, but there is enough amber present to keep it interesting. Unfortunately, it turns very powdery fairly quickly...and while that's not necessarily bad, it's not really what I was looking for from this scent. Not for me.
Darn...I really wanted this one to work, since it sounded so delicious. Unfortunately, all I get is toasted pancake syrup. BPAL made me a cookie...but they burneded it.
Category -- Rappaccini's Garden
Oh God, this is gorgeous. Beautiful, sweet lily, smooth and velvety. It has a cool darkness without being damp, more an essence of the shaded light that surrounds the flower, rather than the earth it springs from.
If only it projected. It hugs my skin and really does not throw much, and this is disappointing.
(And, unfortunately, the only day that it really seems to amp -- is the day right before my period. I can't really justify wanting a bottle of something with such a...limited window of usefulness. )
Category -- Rappacini's Garden
As many others have noted, this is a 'green' scent, very evocative of a garden full of blooming plants late on a damp afternoon. I think I detect more peony than rose -- the floral components seem high and sweet without being too cloyingly so. It is a very inoffensive scent -- a modest amount of throw, and a pretty quick fade.
