Happy June! 🏳️‍🌈

 

June 1: Frostbitten Dorian '17 -- I decided to go through seven bottles of GC variations this week. :3 The ones I have come in four flavors -- frostbitten, pumpkin patch, gingerbread, and pumpkin spice. I'm alternating them. Dorian's one of the GCs I go back and forth on. Sometimes I really love it and sometimes it's almost too sweet. I've bought and sold or swapped a few bottles of it over the years. This one, however, has stuck. Unlike some of the other Frostbitten scents in which the frosty notes take over the scent of the base GC, Dorian stays pretty powerful, if somewhat chillier. It maintains Dorian's vanilla tea & lavender-green cologne and adds a chilly undertone as it dries. The last faded notes on my wrist when I woke up (I put it on a few hours before I went to sleep) were mostly snow. I had a similar experience with Frostbitten TKO; that note has tenacity. Wear length is excellent, throw is solid.

 

June 2: Alice in the Pumpkin Patch -- I do not love Alice on her own; I've always wanted to, but the carnation interacts weirdly with the milk and it just ends up smelling funky. But this, this I love. Somehow, adding pumpkin to it turns it magical. This weirds me out on multiple levels, because fairly frequently pumpkin goes odd on my skin, too. But ignoring all the base notes of this perfume, what it smells like on me is a cup of sweet, very slightly milky rose tea steaming at a table with a jar of honey open somewhere nearby. There may or may not be a pumpkin pie at the table, sometimes you think one is there, but when you look again it's not. It still manages to be very Wonderland-y while also being a lovely fall scent. It's really amazing. It's never that spicy, it doesn't feel like Pumpkin Spice. There might be a drop of clove, but that could just be the carnation doing that thing it does. Wears like a dream, lasts until the end of the tea party.

 

June 3: Gingerbread Goblin -- Goblin's another GC I'm not super fond of. It's pretty simple and composed of things I generally like, but it's just kind of scratchy patchouli and thick coconut on me and feels kind of ...boring? Is that the word I want? I don't sniff it and go ahhhh, yum; I go, eh. Adding gingerbread elevates to something pretty awesome, though. It gets sweeter and thicker, like proper gingerbread made with molasses, or even ultra-sticky steamed brown bread, if you took out the raisins and added coconut shreds. The patchouli is still back there, being patchouli. It's less prominent than in regular Goblin, but it gets stronger over time. It has fairly good wearlength, though I re-applied halfway through the day because I wanted more sticky coconut gingerbread action, so I can't give an accurate impression. Not much throw, though, it sticks pretty close to my skin. Definitely more of a treat than a trickster, overall. Yum. 

 

June 4: Pumpkin Spice Harlot -- I actually like the base of Harlot, it's super-simple, just roses and cinnamon, but it wears very briefly, maybe three hours tops. I bought this, I admit, partly out of curiosity because I didn't think it would change that much. 😂 In the bottle, the blend smells like a rose-scented non-acetone nail polish remover I once bought. It's better on the skin, but the balance is way shifted to favor the spices, as you would probably expect. After it dries, it shifts back. And then forth. I really feel that if you have regular Harlot, this isn't an improvement, just a tonal shift. Regular Harlot dries down pretty gracefully into a puff of rose petals, this one vanishes after about two and a half hours. It was like I never put on perfume. I like it, but if I want spicy roses, I have other things that accomplish that better and are more grounded.

 

June 5: Gingerbread Villain -- Hey, look, another GC that I'm not that into, but adding something else to it turns it into an I LOVE IT. Villain itself was strongly cologne on me and while I don't mind that general scent profile, something about it made me slightly headachy. Adding sweet gingerbread ameliorated that aspect entirely. These early gingerbread scents had very spicy & delicious (and prominent!) gingerbread, and this one adds a pleasantly citrus & floral aspect that makes me very happy to sniff. It's a wrist-huffer. Good throw, moderate wearlength, stays yummy the whole time, though it's mostly just gingerbread crumbs by about four hours in.

 

June 6: Miskatonic University's Pumpkin Patch -- Take the thick, sweet, coffee and mild woods of Misk. U and add pumpkin & a bit of spice. It's my preferred kind of pumpkin, the more squashy one, that smells more like pumpkin puree. There's a couple of places in the city that do lattes with pumpkin puree in the fall, and if you added a half-pump of Irish Cream syrup and drank it in a library, this would be almost exactly the scent memory of that experience. It's pretty strong and goes through a brief phase of being All Spice All The Time, but then it goes back to being mostly coffee and woods. Good throw, decent longevity. It is quite similar to Pumpkin Latte, though with a slightly greater depth from the very slight woody undertone, so if you're kicking yourself for missing this, just get a bottle of that & you'll be set.

 

June 7: Frostbitten Black Phoenix -- The core notes of Black Phoenix stay very apparent, so it ends up smelling a lot like someone dunked Snow White in big bucket of almondy myrrh and perhaps a hint of rosewood or similar. After a while the frost notes almost completely recede aside from a very slight twang at the edges and it's just Black Phoenix hanging out being what it usually is. However, the very late drydown is all almondy frost, same as FB Dorian and FB TKO. I don't regret buying it, but it's not really different enough for me to call it a must-buy unless you really love Black Phoenix and the frosty note. Strength & lasting power are both moderate to strong.

 

And that does it for this week! I think I'm going to test some Luper decants next.

 

June 8: Asses Plus Long, Qu’un Siècle Platonique -- This sounded exactly like something I would like, so I snagged a decant. And I was right! It's exactly something I would like! Beautiful pale roses, scintillating and very fresh, dewy vanilla blossoms, sweet, almost-vanilla benzoin...yep, it's great. If you like lovely sweet (but not at all foody) florals you should definitely grab it. It's lovely, has a very delicate but distinct throw, and fairly good longevity. However, because I like things like this, I have at least three things that are in the same scent family already (maybe more) -- Opuhi (ginger blossom & vanilla orchid; the initial scent is more tropical but the drydown is quite similar); White Rose (BPTP; White rose buds, with vanilla tea, benzoin, orris, coconut meat, and frankincense; for this one the initial white rose is similar, but the coconut & orris change the drydown); and To Helen (Electric ozone, opaline notes, moonflower, white amber, beeswax, and three roses; has the opal & roses and a very similar...atmosphere, I guess? but the beeswax & white amber warm it up as it dries). So I don't think I need a bottle. It is really lovely, though, and I'll keep the decant to test a few more times before it goes away. You know, just in case.

 

June 9: Honey Marzipan -- One of the two honey scents I picked up. Thicccck, sweet, lightly floral honey (I agree, this is absolutely the same stuff that's in Harlow's Lace) and creamy marzipan (sweetened almond paste). 😂 It's pretty nice but knowing my tastes, I will never wear it. Delicious throw, lasts a while, fades gracefully.

 

June 10: Like the Very Gods -- I also got this one because it sounded like something I would like. ;3 I mean, why else do I pick decants these days? (Sometimes it really is just curiosity, tbh, but I sure do skip a lot more than I used to.) So... this reminds me of Lush's The Olive Branch. They don't share many notes, but they definitely share a vibe, and that vibe is Mediterranean woody freshness. I do really like this. The musk(s?) are mild, the blossoms are sweet and bright, the cedar is very tame, the sandalwood is mellow, and the orris is an excellent binder, bringing it all together without feeling dusty as it sometimes does. As it dries, it develops a more distinctly honeyed aspect and the orris gets stronger. Later drydown is a whiff of orris and honey. It's real good. The only thing is that it really reminds me of The Olive Branch. I have a solid perfume of Pansy, which is, depending on where you're looking, either Olive Branch 2.0 or just the same scent with a different name, so I pulled it out and put a bit on and it's very similar. Pansy ends in a place that's greener than this does, but they are definitely in the same scent family. I think this one may end up being a keep-the-decant-but-no-bottle for me as well. It's real nice, though. I might change my mind.

 

June 11: Cacao and Sugared Roses -- Man, DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. Sweet not-quite-chocolate and sugary pink roses, slightly heavier on the roses in the vial and chocolate on my skin, at least for the first while. The roses take over on drydown and just dominate after that. I don't have anything else major to say about it because it's so basic. It's a nice blend and I'm seriously considering buying a bottle, because I love the combo. Throw is pretty chonky, lasts a while, but not too long.

 

June 12: Honey, Sweet Orange, and Orange Blossom -- Seriously, the honey used in, at the very least, the two of these that I got, is incredibly thick, dark honey. I was expecting this to be a much lighter scent than it is, but it is not! It is quite dense and it completely dominates the orange & orange blossom.The other two notes are there, but they serve as adjuncts at best, and fade out almost completely within about an hour. I'd describe this more as honey made from orange blossoms rather than honey with added orange or orange blossom. It's ...fine? But the near-single-note-ness of it makes it a little boring for me. Throw is sticky, longevity is just okay.

 

June 13: Peach Vulva -- I've tried almost every Vulva they've released over the years and exactly zero of them have worked on me, and this one did not change that record. 😅 It's pretty nice in the vial and for about thirty seconds after it hits my skin. Big, juicy peach & apricot, lightly sweetened, a hint of cardamom... and then it goes sour and tangy and smells like sweat, and it does that for the next four hours. After about six hours, the weirdness fades and it becomes a soft peachy skin scent, and that phase I like a lot, but this is basically a world of no for me. It has excellent throw, naturally.

 

June 14: Cacao, Sandalwood, Clove, and Hemp -- This is almost entirely cacao and clove on me. There's a very slight creamy woodiness that lets me know there's sandalwood in there somewhere, but the hemp is completely buried. It's very nice example of what it is, and if you're into a not overly sweet, clove-spicy chocolate scent, do give it a try. For myself, I've got a few other chocolate & clove scents from various companies and this doesn't do anything new, so it's an easy pass. It sticks pretty close to my skin, though I get a whiff of clove every once in a while as I move around, and lasts a few hours.

 

June 15: Travelers Under a Tree Observed by Foxes -- Pretty simple; starts with soft coconut & rice milk, turns into mild creamy tea scent. It does remind me of a non-dairy milk tea! Tea notes almost always smell kind of off on my skin (super-astringent, green more than white, white more than black), so I'd be more inclined to use this if it were a room spray*. Low throw, but it smells better from a distance than it does up close, and on me, pretty low longevity -- I put it on and could smell it strongly for about a half-hour, then I took a two hour nap and when I woke up it was gone.

*There's a jasmine milk tea scent from another company that smelled AWFUL on my skin, but I put it on before bed and my pillow smelled amazing the next morning. This is less immediately awful, but I'm betting if I put some on my sheets/clothes it'd be the same deal.

 

June 16: Balancing the Sake Cup -- I don't comment on the color of the oils very often, but this one is a bright turmeric yellow-orange. It's kind of neat. Anyway, it goes on with a big chonky sniff of waxy orange blossom and ginger, then turns into a mass of sweet sugary ginger (like candied ginger root) and clove with a delicate orange blossom throw, then dries down a soft gingery vanillic/resinous fragrance that lasts quite a while. There's something interestingly vegetal about it; sometimes it almost smells earthy, like...carrots, or something similar. I'm pretty into it and already picked up a bottle.

 

June 17: It's All I Have to Bring Today -- One big blast of air freshener flowers and then it somehow settles down? This scent really confuses my nose. I simultaneously want to BLRGH and mmm, nice about it. This was one of my three 'wellll, I probably won't like it, but I'm curious so why not?" decants (the other two are the Vulvas). And yet somehow I'm not disliking it at all. It's brighter and sweeter than I was expecting and the honey is very different from the honey used in the other LuperShungas from this year that I've tried. I usually avoid non-specific flowers, due to a strong dislike of a few common ones (lily, especially), but mostly what I smell here is a very sweet carnation and perhaps some sunflowers, along with some other indeterminate blossoms. There is a distinct but not overwhelming ozone note, as well. The amber and the honey are pretty mellow and quite light, compared to the flowers. I don't think I'm inclined towards a bottle, but this is a much more interesting blend than I thought it would be.

 

June 18: Cherry Blossom Vulva -- I figured going into this that this would not be good for me, but I feel compelled to keep trying the vulvas anyway. 😂 And I do like cherry blossom (more or less) and honeysuckle (sometimes) and even cream (less often), so ...maybe the plum blossom and gardenia would magically become not sour flowers once they hit my skin? ...Yeah, right. It's fine in the vial, very lovely pale pink & white floral, and then it touches my skin and immediately devolves into pickled blossoms. The cream isn't helping here, just adding a bit of extra milkiness to the whole mess. This scent sits, radiating warm pink unpleasantness for around an hour until finally the cherry blossom & cream take over and lead everything else offstage. At this point it's actually more or less fine, if a bit dryer sheets and milk. Not something I'm ever going to wear again, but fine.

 

June 19: No perfume today; got a real bad migraine. :<

June 20: Migraine continues.

Finally, after three days (it started the evening of the 18th), it's gone. Worst one I've had in a long, long time. >_<;;

 

June 21: Quies (TAL) -- Quies is a fairly neutral scent, very mellow. It feels like what it is, a ritual oil designed for peace and quiet, especially when stressed or overwhelmed. I don't tend to think about TAL scents in terms of how they smell or wear as perfumes (though sometimes they smell very nice! This one does, soft and woody with vegetal and resinous notes.) but rather as how they feel and wear with the intention behind them. After the stress of the last few weeks (my grandfather passed away recently) and pain of the last three days, this was perfect for me. I've used TAL Peace before, and it's different. If Peace is like someone holding your hands and leading you in a meditation ritual, this one is like someone giving you soft pillows and a cup of warm tea and putting you in a dimly-lit room with a bit of incense in the corner then leaving you the fuck alone because you need some time to decompress. It's good.

 

June 22: Vaginal Tales of the Nocturnal Palace -- Or, as the Discord has taken to calling it, Vaggie Tales. 😂 This is a little too sweet for me -- or rather, on my skin, sweet in a way I don't like, pale, floral-sweet, very much like Volcano in Springtime plus a bit of rather lovely blue lotus. It's nice, but ...just nice. I don't find it compelling, though I can certainly see how it would be absolutely beautiful on someone with different skin chemistry or with different tastes. This decant's going into the swap box.

 

June 23: The Elephant is Slow to Mate -- Lovely. Dark red fruit and musk over deeper resinous notes, sweetened up by vanilla bean. This reminds me a bit of the older version of Mme. Moriarty, but a bit more complex, and overall sweeter. Same scent family, though, and they have similar auras, like a person in very dark red lipstick smiling at you charmingly through a smoky room. I never get much in the way of rose, though there is a smoky aspect to the scent. As you might expect, it has pretty fierce throw and lasts forever. I always enjoy these red, heavy scents when I wear them, but I spent so long unable to wear them at work that I almost never wear them even now, when I can wear whatever I want.

 

June 24: The Shell Box -- This one is overall not for me. I like certain aspects of it a lot: the saltiness, the blue lotus, the sandalwood, precious and pale. But the motia attar and champaca absolutely crush everything else after a fairly short time on my skin. It's a bright, pale-sands beachy sort of scent, the kind of thing that goes well with salt spray in your hair, swimsuits, sunglasses, and a cocktail at the cabana later. Throw starts quiet and then ramps up and it wears fairly long, but after a while it's just a champaca party.

 

June 25: Adventuresome Encounters -- I'm going to need to test this one again before I make a final judgement. It's interesting, much more perfume-y and less foody than I had expected based on notes & reviews. My first impressions are strong cinnamon and oakmoss, followed by fairly intense amber. The yam is there, and comes out more with wear, but it's not especially prominent on my skin. I like it, I think, but it's something I'll need to wear a few times to really make up my mind. I've only had it on for a couple of hours, so I can't comment on wear time, but it does have a nice throw.

Eta: Yeaaah, this ended up being mostly sticky amber, cinnamon, and oakmoss on me. Wore for several hours and I ended up not liking the final result that much.

 

June 26: Becoming Thunder (American Gods) -- I just got a fairly large order in and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a bit of a mix of everything, a GC, some LEs, a Lunacy, a TAL, and this. Bottle sniff and the immediate thirty seconds or so of wear are a big burst of green -- to my nose, it's the same as Give Me Thy Breath, My Sister's bog-moist greenery, which is neat -- and then it settles into a fairly glorious skin-musky frankincense with a hit of not-unpleasant ozone. I'm enjoying it a lot fresh, but I'm terribly excited to see what this is going to be like in a year or so.

 

June 27: The Country of Eternal Light -- It's too hot and my sense of smell is kind of borky today, so I went with something chilly that I hadn't worn in a while. It's from the Frankenstein series, from 2011, and it's minty-cold, slightly mossy ozone all the way down. It doesn't have a lot of depth, but right now, all I need is the perception of a chilly breeze wafting off my wrist, so this is fine! It's probably got a bit of white musk in there somewhere as well. It's not terribly distinctive among the many, many cold-snowy-icy scents, but it's pleasant.

 

June 28: Unmanageable Snowdrift -- Yep, still hot out, so ...this. This is a surprisingly bright and sparkly snow, at least at first, but there's a piney component to it as well as a hint of something almost dirt-like, at least on me. It definitely gives the impression of snow piled high against the window, which is a thing I've only experienced when visiting family in Idaho. It's clean, cool, and refreshing and makes me want to make mint iced tea. Later drydown is a bit reminiscent of clean laundry, but not quite in a white musk way.

 

June 29: Mountain Temple: I wanted something light and pleasant and aggressively inoffensive today, so I hit this one up. This was my personal biggest hit from Yule 2019; I bought a bottle untested and then later went back and bought a second one. I love it, and I can wear it most of the time. Soft incense, lightly piney snow, low throw but persistent.

 

June 30: Bloody Corridor -- I didn't actually like Endless Corridor that much; the smoke & vetiver made it a little dirtier than I'm usually fond of with beeswax. But I wanted to give this a try anyway! I thought the red musk would give it a different focus and feel and wow, I was really right about that. The red musk completely overpowers the smokiness on me, giving me a deep red beeswax scent that I'm pretty into. There's a hint of quasi-fruitiness and a little spiciness to this that Endless doesn't have. Later on the vetiver does come out more, but not quite in the same way. Like... okay, when I was a teenager I had these candles that were a couple of layers of black wax on the outside covering a red core, and when they dripped, it was intended to look sort of bloody. That's what this reminds me of, but with the colors reversed -- red outside covering a blackened center. Endless Corridors was a once-pale beeswax pillar candle that had turned mostly gray from smoke and grime. Chonkers throw, good longevity.

 

Whew, six months of a new perfume almost every day and yet I feel like I've barely gotten into my collection. ...Maybe it's time to hit the Therianthropics! ....I did review all twelve of them at one point, but I haven't worn any of them yet this year. It's a good opportunity to see how I feel about them now.