celestia

Ahh it's been forever since I've done one of these! My recommendations include The First of Three Spirits, Bast, Under the Harvest Moon, and A Lady Tall and White and Mrs. Dunbar. They all have cold, crystalline vanillic and light floral elements in each- to varying degree. These might appease your love for both Pediophobia and The Girl, given the other scents you've listed also contain similar elements within ;D The sparkly champagne note in The Waltz, coupled by the lace aspects from Pediophobia make me think that Champagne Lace and Ava would be of interest. OLLA's Eve contains rose- and although it's not the same rose in The Waltz, you have listed Morocco- and to me, it's a pretty clear recommendation to make, haha. Mrs. Dunbar is my first immediate recommendations made by the observation that both Edith Cushing and Teatime in Roswell have a somewhat foodie/bake-y quality to them- and that your last listed favourite contains vanillic freesia. If you liked the Earl Grey tea from Teatime in Roswell, you might also like A Little More Tea. I've noticed you listed two scents with carnation in them- I might suggest High-Strung Daisies and both Pink Moon 2005 and 2017 for the sugary pink elements and Hod (original and resurrected) for the spiciness. Actually, Hod is almost like a foodie-ish spicy mix between Morocco with a bigger helping of amber and carnation mixed in- and almost as though someone threw butter rum cookie into it. Given you are not adverse to cookie/bakery/cakey like scents and that the majority of notes listed in the scents you like bare some sort of similarity to each other- it's most definitely something you'd probably want to try at least once anyway. Given that you have mentioned A Moment in Time, I assume you like lighter sweet creamy and vanillic lavender so I would give The Serpentine, Under the Harvest Moon, and TKO a shot. You might like to gamble De Vos' Unicorn or Pip for its ambery floral mallow note - but the former also contains rose - a note not listed anywhere on your list.. so take with caution! If you do end up liking Pip's amber note, you might also like Haloes- it shares comparisons to Atlas in quite a number of mentions in reviews due to its oak note.

♔ The Torture Queen In the Bottle: Sweet, sugared citrusy commercial perfume. Wet: This smells almost identical to a perfume I had when I was teen, and reminds me a little of Nina Ricci Les Belles de Ricci Liberty from my childhood. It has an astringent, yet sweet, green-citrussy fresh commercial-friendly fragrance, with a background of soft white florals. I don’t really think I can identify a specific ‘metallic’ note to represent the chrome, but I do get a gleaming kind of sheen from the green-citrus…which is probably the chrome now that I think about it, hahaha. The vanilla musk in this is really subtle and doesn’t really emphasise any creaminess or muskiness that is usually afforded with this note. Instead, it feels more so that the white tea and ambergris is what gives this scent its slightly crystalline and salty-sweet light musk character. The amber is soft and powdery, almost illustrious and sparkly. Drydown: The white tea itself is quite faint and appears mores in the drydown, the same white tea I get from Fee. It’s really very pretty and light, almost airy and …fae. I definitely not would have picked that this was called Torture Queen, it kind of smells more like how I’d imagine a forest sunlight faerie to smell like. There is more of a creamy floral note present here in this phase than during the wet stage. It’s slightly powdery now, but in a very beautifully bright, fresh, and clean manner. This phase of the scent is almost transcendent…and if the citrus wasn’t so dominant in the wet stage, I would consider seeking out a bottle. TL;DR: Sweet, crystalline, citrus-green tea, sparkly light amber and soft white florals.

♔ The Waltz In the Bottle: Vanilla champagne and pale rose petals Wet: The Waltz smells like a very smooth vanillic rose champagne. The amber seems to glisten into the champagne, with rose petal adding accents of flavour throughout the body of the scent. It’s not a very canon romantically feminine scent yet, but it is very refined and elegant- inviting and showcasing itself as one. The champagne note makes me think there’s some sort of citrus to help represent the effervescence of freshly popped champagne bubbles and fizz. Drydown: I don’t get much of the rosewood until the dry down stage, it is a very faint, delicate rose touched wood. An although it's not very potent, it does manage to ground the rest of the notes in place so that there is more depth beyond a shallow representation of simple champagne and pink rose. After settling, the drydown is glorious. It becomes a soft, champagne and pink rose- of which has now been reduced to a mild, effervescent fizz. I would liken it to a sparkling rose petal infused wine, with a beautiful creamy vanillic profile. It’s an utterly quintessential fragrance for an encounter leading to the first date. TL;DR: Creamy, sparkling rose petal wine

♔ Lady in Pink Speckled Kimono In the Bottle: Dewy almost pear-like watery sugared floral Wet: The peonies and vanilla orchid in this come off as quite dewy and almost fruit-pear-like without actually being 'juicy'. It smells like it belongs in the same family as The Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree even though none of the components are remotely similar. Drydown: The components in this blend are pretty solid and don’t do much morphing. The sugared peony blossoms remain very dewy, almost candied pear-like in fruit and the vanilla orchid is dissimilar to the muskier variation present other blends like Regan or Cascading Blossoms. It’s a beautifully bright, soft, creamy blushing pink. This is a great example of a perfect sugary and creamy floral- somewhere between dressed fresh and candied. TL;DR: Dewy pear nectar and creamy candy-like pink peony

♔ Joyful Moon In the Bottle: Vanilla orchid musk and light white florals Wet: The lunacy blends have never really captured my attention as much as other LE releases. Many of the lunar oils seem to have something that doesn’t quite work on me. Joyful moon is an exception. Firstly, French vanilla in this is perfumey, slightly foody, and almost vanilla-orchid musky. It is nothing at all like the french vanilla single note, which is mildly airy, milky, and custardy- more reflective of the process than a type of vanilla. Drydown: I don’t smell the honeysuckle, white rose, or the orris but there is a powdery sort of component I’m guessing must be the orris marrying the white musk- it’s a beautiful powdery element though! There is also an inkling trace of unlisted white florals in the description (that is white florals not already listed), and then the frangipani, though it isn’t very strong, comes forward in the drydown- it reminds me of a more vanillic version of cascading blossoms. A creamy ethereal. It’s so beautifully whimsical, I am so happy I can treasure my bottle! TL;DR: Light slightly foodier vanilla orchid musk and a light dusting of frangipani petals

♔ Romanti.Goth In the Bottle: Sweet, deep, resinous opium incense. Wet: Whoah the sweet incense in this smells like a thick puffy cloud of deep temple incense. It shares the same perfumey sweet-smoky vibe as Black Lace and reminds me exactly of this blend, sans the added sweet creaminess. The amber gleams through a little sweet and cologney, it’s one of my favourite ambers and blends seamlessly with other heavier resins! The plum doesn’t add any depth of fruitiness or sweetness to the blend. It glorious and heady, rich and intoxicating. Drydown: Such a dark incense with enough sweetness to be deemed playful, wistful, elegant and romantic…the darker side of romantic. Rich, ambery, musky incensy cologne. It’s so beautiful but having said that- I do prefer Black Lace. TL;DR: Sweet resinous incense and gleaming amber musk.

A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging! ♔ Pink Snowballs 2009 In the Bottle: Soft fluffy snow. Wet: This blend smells like soft cottony and pillowy snow with perfumed rose petals pushing through. It’s very gentle and delicate, but also quite simple. The rose starts out stemmy with a hint of freshness- but still evidentially quite perfume smelling. Drydown: No sharpness, no metallic notes, no ozone or menthol- nothing related to the normal associations of a snow scent. Just perfumed rose petals on softly perfumed, cottony linen sheets. TL;DR: Powdery pink rose and soft, slightly sweetened snow.

♔ Hellhound on my Trail I bought this when it came out, blind and direct... but years later I gave my bottle away because, much like Banshee Beat, I couldn't handle the dirty or herbally gritty aspect of the scent- but then my partner fell in love with it. I had to track another down for him. In the Bottle: Sweetened smooth patchouli, a little herbal and 'fresh' Wet: Sweet, herbally and fragrant but turns rather sour like dead leaves on me. There is no vanilla I can detect but there is a hint of smoke from the tobacco. The bay rum adds a bit of spice but it’s so blended into the rest of the scent I can’t detect it very well individually. Drydown: Crunchy leaves and green smoke. On my partner this phase smells incredible, like a somewhat dirty, herbal slightly sweet vanilla- quite refined and perfumey on him. Definitely worked with his chemistry there, not so much mine. Had the vanilla been extracted from the blend altogether into its own, I would purchase one for myself, but then it would clearly not be given this name. This bourbon vanilla variation is not similar to the others I have, it's slightly heavy, richer, and even a little boozy and smoky intermingling with the bay rum and tobacco.. it's not so much the dry sweet bourbon vanilla present in a lot of the more recent blends, though that might have something to do with aging. TL;DR: Nope. Green smoke, crunchy leaves, masking a beautifully hidden sugared vanilla It smells like dirty herbal slightly sweet vanilla- quite refined and perfumey on him. Definitely worked there.

♔Banshee Beat I had no idea I even owned this... but I found it in my stash from when I lived in Australia years back.. so this is the original version, and it's definitely been aged well. In the Bottle: Sweet herbal patch, dirty but smooth? Wet: Sweet gnarly patch. Creamy, herbal and dirty. Dry and medicinal- herbally scent gives the impression of incense and coupled together with vanilla creates a can't incensey green herbal musk. I would not wear this, but it smells great on me. Great now I smell like dead leaves and ash. Drydown: WOW how come it took so long to get to this stage? This is MUCH nicer, much sweeter, still dry but less herbally- more feminine. a little straw-like It's raw and gorgeous and you know what? I still don't like it! What on earth possessed me to pick this up? It must have been really early while I was still exploring what I liked and did not. It's a very dry, sexy and earthy scent. But I am none of those things and probably why I find it difficult to enjoy on an olfactory level. I do like it more than Hellhound but it Is definitely not me and should not be here. It has since found a new forever home, where it will be appreciated and loved properly. TL;DR: Sweetened, almost sugary, gnarly-earthy-dirty patchouli

♔ Lady Tall and White In the Bottle: Sugary Sparkly crystalline, woodsy vanilla Wet: Oh! I bought this scent almost half a year ago! I knew I bought this for the vanilla sandalwood, and I can tell from the bottle, the vanilla will amp up nicely. It’s a delicate, sugary sweet vanilla. The snow note is almost sparkly. I don’t agree that it smells like mint, or ozone.. it’s actually sparkly and crystalline… the same kind of effervescent fairy dust note in Butterflies Flowers and Jewels Attending (BFJA), Ava, Muse of Fire, and Fairy Market. This sparkly, sweet crystalline snow note is much more gentle compared to what I get from Go to Sleep Darlings (GTSD), and while GTSD smells more like minty cotton candy, this smells much more like a crystalline vanilla. And although I would have expected a vanilla sandalwood to smell golden on me, it smells ethereal and ‘white’. Just lovely! Drydown: This dries down to a sparkly, creamy, crystalline vanilla musk. The vanilla smells kind of like a vanilla sugar.. it’s really pretty and quite a lot sweeter than I expected for this blend, actually. TL;DR: crystalline sugared, slightly woodsy vanilla

♔ Elf v4 It's taken me a long time to review this, but I know words will never do it justice. I'm absolutely in love with this, I've always worried that my review would either either not do it justice, or praise it so highly that I'll never track more down...but such a perfect scent deserves to be talked about. So this is my review of what I deem to be my long time, signature scent. In the Bottle: Gorgeous, regal Madagascan vanilla musk with a hint of beautiful white florals Wet: A creamy vanilla orchid, much like that in NAVA Kobalt in the bottle which I absolutely adore. as well as the same Madagascar vanilla bean in Celeste. It bares uncanny resemblance to the vanilla used in XCDL13 and Black Lace too. One of my long sought-after holy grails. Along with NAVA Crystalline and Eternal Ankh, this is one of the best non-EDP vanillas I’ve ever smelt. It’s sweet, musky, non-gourmand, but rich and slightly creamy. There are definitely white florals of some sort in this, really it’s a musky rich vanilla orchid. It’s smooth and has a creamy, almost velvety transparent texture that kind of looks like sheer gauzy cloth. It almosts reminds me of a 'mid-day star' counterpart to the 'midnight star' aspect of the blend, Zorya Polunochnaya. Both use the same vanilla, but while Elf v4 is a beautiful, slightly warmer, ethereal glow, Zorya Polunochnaya is a little more powdery and tinted pastel blue. Drydown: In this phase, it smells even more beautiful, like a more refined and elegant Antique Lace, with a lot of depth, gorgeous vanilla musk, ethereal, semi-transparent and absolutely perfect in all of its stages. It’s just so perfect on me, I’m convinced it’s my signature BPAL scent which depresses me because something this good ought to be a GC. I will keep hoping, wishing and praying it manifests again. This is better than Antique Lace to me and even though I draw similarities between NAVA Kobalt, the depth and chemistry from Elf v4 reacts a lot better to my skin. TL;DR: The perfect Madagascan vanilla bean infused into a beautiful, delicate vanilla orchid musk- and a hint of beautifully delicate, soft white florals. ETA: comparisons of Elf v4 with Zorya Polunochnaya.

♔ Mother Ghost In the Bottle: An airy vanilla-white musk with a bit of a citric kick Wet: I get citrus tea blooming onto my skin, though I much prefer what I got from the source itself. I detect a powdery vanilla, faint white rose, and a lemony, almost crystalline white tea. It’s a very gentle scent, a cold tea but not a cold scent- certainly not reflective of its name. It smells like an embracingly warm scent from a much loved holy figure, rather than a mother. It’s beautiful and elegant…refined and a bit distant- perhaps the conceptual portrayal of ‘ghost’. Drydown: The powdery vanillic aspect of this scent is turning into a rice flower type scent? Hmm It’s still beautiful and wispy, the lemony component isn’t at all offensive to me and kind of blends very beautifully in the same way that allows me to tolerate Dorian. Overall, Mother Ghost smells a lot more sweet and floral to me than I expected based on the character itself and the manner which she is presented. I don’t detect much of the rose at all which is quite nice. TL;DR: Crystalline lemon-tinted white tea, powdery vanilla and faint white rose.

♔ Fairy Tales and Lies In the Bottle: Ambery Floral Chypre Wet: I don’t get the same kind of crystal shop rose I dislike, this is nice blended with the amber, the rose and lilac become non descript. It’s also a little sweet and a bit sour. It’s quite an old-classic take on the concept of a fresh scent, a little citric from the bergamot, but not offensive. Drydown: The lilac and rose notes don’t ever seem to separate which is fine by me, but the citric quality from the bergamot amplifies moreso in this phase. Chypre adds a unisex quality to the blend and I also get a sweet water note coming through, which I suspect is supposed to be the lilac water. The amber is barely a glimmer, and in a transient moment, even slightly reminds me of the black amber in Sir Thomas Sharpe…but then it fades into powdery florals brightened up into freshness by citrus. Wew. The late stages of dry down smell a little metallic to me, probably because of the way chypre interacts with amber on my chemistry, eh. TL;DR: Non descript blue, purple and red watery florals splashed with a bit of citrus.

♔ Impressions of the Floating World In the Bottle: Slightly soapy, but beautiful, dry vanilla musk. Wet: The patchouli that was super strong on me has COMPLETELY burnt off since the first time I tested it?!?! I got wafts of an incredible, slightly powdery vanilla orchid-like musk matched with a slightly soapy, and cold ricey clay-like texture that reminds me of the clay note in Clockwork Couture: Female... I imagine these notes interplayin together is the conceptualised vanilla silk? Drydown: The patchouli leaf amped on me, it’s earthy and a little nutty- as did the smoked part of the honey, which seems to smell completely separate and individual from the aspect of honey. It comes off a little waxy, like beeswax. I seem to linger these final notes a lot more in the drydown. I don’t get any of the vanilla silk that was so dominant during the wet stage, it’s still lovely, but has pretty much showcased another dimensional facet which I’d have to admit is no longer ‘me’ anymore. TL;DR: Clay-like dry vanilla musk and an earthy smoke with a hint of beeswax.

♔ Aristocratic Couple In the Bottle: Creamy sugared and slightly spiced stone fruit, nectarine? Wet: I get a creamy, fresh stone fruit with a hint of spice. It’s simple, understated- definitely not a candy-like scent, it’s not very complex on my chemistry. The vanilla smells quite smooth and creamy, but it’s also very light in flavour, that is, it’s not a very heavy, or foody and slightly dry kind of vanilla. Drydown: The cardamom amps a little in the drydown phase so I get more of a full bodied experience here, I can smell the apricot a lot more clearly now, it manifests as a dried apricot though, not a fresh one- a bit like apricot conserve- though a little too dry to be jam or preserves in itself. I remember asking about a three-way comparison between Haloes, Aristocratic Couple, and Katharina. The apricot in Katharina smells a lot brighter or “innocent”, The apricot in AC is more gourmand and “decadent”, while the apricot note in Haloes glows a lot more and smells more “refined and mature”. Having since tried all three now, I can safely say that I quite prefer the apricot note in Haloes more than this, but I do prefer this compared to Katharina. It smells a lot better on me now that my chemistry is reverting again. TL;DR: Creamy, lightly spiced, dried apricots

♔ Cascading Blossoms In the Bottle: Creamy tropical and white florals with a hint of coconutty dryness Wet: Creamy gardenia and plumeria, light pink florals, and perfumey, musky vanilla orchid wafting around it. It’s a very perfumey floral, that quite heady, in that there is a cloud of Hawaiian florals surrounding me which have clearly manifested and can evidently smell- but also quite soft, in that it is not offensive, not overpowering and not in the least bit cloying. Drydown: The resulting drydown is a lovely bouquet of white florals and tropical blooms with a vanilla orchid musk that reminds me a little of a cross between Pele and Regan. I can easily appreciate this, it’s different to a lot of my other florals but it’s so beautiful on skin and in bottle. TL;DR: Tropical white florals drenched in a sweet orchid vanile musk.

♔ The Fairies In the Bottle: Apple scented shampoo? Wet: I get the impression this is quite a soft, and gentle take on fae creatures- the florally apple is most prominent and doesn’t quite smell like how I imagine apple blossom to smell- but nevertheless! it’s a perfumey rosey-white apple floral along with some light moss and soft herbs. It’s not a glittery scent - it has a gauzy, almost fuzzy like quality to it. It’s a pale green pinky milky white scent, gentle…uncomplicated. Drydown: Not much of a morpher, haha. This remains a very petal-soft forever spring blend, it’s clean but unspectacular. Its perfumey quality in the floral musk makes me reluctant to label it as fresh or airy, it’s the same kind of sheer milkiness in other floral blends that tend to mute sharp notes so that they aren’t too overwhelming. It's pretty and delicate but not ethereal enough to transport me anywhere. TL;DR: rosey apple floral shampoo

I veer towards softer, sweeter scents, so a lot of my suggestions won't be the awesome hard winter smells a lot of people like when they want to be reminded of winter. For Samhain-level equivalent to Winter, L'Inverno always appeals to me I like A Lady Tall and White and Go To Sleep Darlings for their respective vanilla-centric and sugar-centric take on snow. Original Skadi has its own following, and was really really coveted back then! I get barely a whisper of gentle crystalline snow with Midwinter's Eve- the 2005 version is especially candied sugared plums and no snow. I like Sugar Plum Fairy more for this aspect. A Lady Tall and White: A fur and cap all made of snow: frosted vanilla sandalwood. Go To Sleep, Darlings: Kiss-soft clouds of spun-sugar snow. L'Inverno: White musk, winter plum, pine wood, benzoin, orchid, and stargazer lily. Midwinter's Eve: A melancholy, deep scent, poignant and brimming with nostalgia. The perfume of sugared plums over a breeze of winter flowers. Skadi: The Snow-Shoe Goddess, Giantess, the Norse embodiment of winter. Frost-rimed winter berries, crisp pine needle, and a slush of bright snowy notes. Sugar Plum Flairy: Queen of the Kingdom of Sweets: sugar plums, vanilla-infused sugar, tiare, amber musk, apricot peel, and a light dusting of cacao. Can't wait to get my hands on the BPAL and BPTP Yule update. I have a few I would already commit to blind buying, but there are others I am very, very curious about! This update should be wonderful for finding perfect winter scents ;D

♔ Lady Una In the Bottle: Honeyed tea musk Wet: This is such a gorgeous floral honey musk and creamy, gentle vanilla bean because it doesn’t have the same tangy amber effect on me as other aged vanilla-honey blends. The honey tea starts out smelling a lot like a spicier, strongly honeyed Dorian. Not a sticky honey like O, but a lovely floral honey. The vanilla is creamy and soft and the spices in this are gentle and subtle..together it smells a bit like a vanilla chai tea…with lots of floral honey and a helping of fruity blackberries, though it’s definitely not jammy, it is sweet, a little green…. but it’s a supporting background note on me than a front runner. It reminds me of her bird form..and birds love blackberries! It’s not just tea and berries though, this is Lady Una.. expertly blended to reflect her character. She Is not just honeyed tea and fae spices, nor is she that with a plonk of blackberry fruit on the side. This was masterfully executed. Absolutely spectacular. Drydown: The honeyed, spiced tea turns to lightly spiced, honeyed vanilla musk I don’t get much of the blackberry or tea in this phase. I’m surprised this didn’t go herbal on me given the green tea leaf, blackberry leaf and fae spices could have been quite herbal together. TL;DR: Honeyed tea musk, vanilla chai spices, with a trace of sweet blackberries and greenery.

♔ The Bride In the Bottle: Creamy green, tropical white floral Wet: I got this blind bottled direct from the lab because I knew I’d love this. On wet, this is almost all fragrant, tropical fruit smelling white floral. It’s plush and thick but not at all cloying or heavy. Instantly, the vanilla begins blossoming a most beautiful and regal waft. It’s almost velvety sweet and creamy, most likely the vanilla chiffon at work. They honey musk on me is faint, but it’s a beautiful floral honey musk reminiscent of the one in Lady Una. Drydown: They are blended so well that I feel the honey musk lends to the sweetness of the flower’s profile while the vanilla emphasises its creaminess. I want to say that the magnolia is the star and highlight of the show, but the honey-like sweetness and vanillic creaminess make this apparent that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It is not as strongly honeyed as other honeyed florals, like Tissue or Adante Con Fantasia- and rather than drenched in honey, it’s only flecked with it. It is also not as vanillic and candied as other vanillic florals, like Lady in Pink Speckled Kimono, nor as creamy as other creamy sweet florals, like Reflected Vulva. It’s beautiful, fresh, bright, luscious, simple, refined and elegant… a very pure scent. TL;DR: Velvety, white tropical magnolia petals, flecked with floral honey.

♔ Monster Bait: Bloody Mary In the Bottle: Sugar powder coated sweet dark cherry liquor Wet: Syrupy dark cherry hard candy, a little like glistening cherry jolly ranchers and a little boozy with brandy… maybe cherry compote…Nommy! There’s a hit of the same powdered sugar note in Strawberry Sufganiyot, but it’s very subtle. The cherry note in this is both sweet and tart, it makes me salivate… If there was a sweet pastry note to this, it would have been an almost perfect instalment for a Cherry flavoured Sufganiyot or even cherry pie blend! I don’t get much cream and the red fruits smell like a combination of sugared tart berries like raspberries and strawberries, rather than citrus-based blood oranges or red delicious apples. The red fruits are so sweet and tangy it makes me think some amber may have been sneaked in with the cream accord. Years back when I first reviewed this, there was a lemony cordial aspect I detected which burnt off during the aging because now it's just wonderfully all shiny syrupy cherry berry goodness. Drydown: The powdered sugar in this has a creamy note, which is probably the sweet cream accord. This dark cherry component is still very jammy… but it’s not just black cherries, it’s definitely a medley of red berries too. It comes out more in the drydown. It is sooooo rich, sugary it dries down to a cherry cotton candy on me. TL;DR: Powdered sugar coated raspberries and strawberries with syrupy, tart cherry compote.

♔ Hime Gyaru In the Bottle: powdery pink musk and juicy florals. Wet: The pink musk is definitely heavy and powdery, like a pink musk cotton candy with powdery violets..it kind of smells like Australia pink musk flavoured Livesavers… but sniffing closer to the skin, the gardenia in this smells really fruity, like it’s been drenched in forest berry juice, and then candied with spun sugar, a little sparkly. It’s still fresh, but forever crystallised in a light dusting of sugar… it’s divine! Drydown: The fresh florals and pink musk continue to harmonise together. I think this is the pink musk from Serving Fish…and kind of smells like Serving fish, only less creamy, more amped up in sweetness, and more juicy to the nose. I don’t really get any white rose, and if it’s pink rose its lost in a pink floral bouquet. I get more fresh gardenia and powder violet, really… but its all wonderfully balanced by sugared, powdery pink musk. It kind of dries down to more of a light, bright and refreshing pink musk candy scent. Definitely not as heavy wet… but remains deliciously pink and subtly sparkly and lightly floral through all phases, much like the fashion style ;D TL;DR: Juicy pink floral bouquet and powdery pink musk.

♔ Strawberry Sufganiyot In the Bottle: Hnngggg sugar powdered strawberry jelly filling. Wet: Oh fuck me. This is all fried donut with powdered sugar and rich, gooey, strawberry jam filling in the centre. The donut note reminds me of a more buttery, fried funnel cake note to Midway. On application, the fried donut note fades into a subtle sweet fried pastry, and I get this sensational explosion of rich strawberry jam filling accompanied by a powdered sugar top. The strawberry is very distinct.. it’s not fresh strawberry from Strawberry Moon, it’s not candied strawberry, like Battle Fairy in Training or White Chocolate & Strawberry… it’s not even the same strawberry sugar note I get from L’Essence de L’Engouement, which to be fair is like fresh, sour strawberries sprinkled with dusting sugar. It’s the rich, sticky and jammy strawberry I get from The Instruction Manual. It’s ..so… fucking… good. I know I believe I’ve moved on from foodie scents, but I will ALWAYS appreciate smelling like desserts….*ALWAYS*….it is a guilty indulgence on my scent profile and one I’m still furiously trying to deny ._. Drydown: It stays , rich, sticky, jammy and true. The powdered sugar smells like its forever piled on top of the donut, almost covered the smell of the actual fried dough. It’s heavenly… sinful… really fucking indulgent. TL;DR: Rich, sticky, jammy strawberry jelly/jam filling buried under a powdered sugar top and a bit of sweet fried dough pastry.

♔ Hanami In the Bottle: Sweet cherry blossom and sugared Japanese plum blossoms Wet: I love how this smells in the bottle, it’s sugary and almost candied, but the wisteria is fresh and bright, keeping the sweetness in check. Japanese plum blossoms seem to have the same rich sugary floral note as sugared plum blossoms in Sugar Plum Fairy with a little added something juicy… melon? Sugar cane water?. For an infamous three-note blend, I usually expect all three notes to showcase equally, I’m actually surprised the plum blossoms dominate. The cherry blossom is so, so delicate and airy in this blend, much like it is in The Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree. The wisteria plays in the background and rounds the whole blend out, it’s uplifting, bright and fresh- but also very subtle in proportion, it also seems to smell more white than pale purple. It’s just so, so exquisite, simple and cleanly executed…very feminine and soft, but rich and plentiful. Drydown: Well the cherry blossom is a lot more prominent now, a little watery (not quite BPAL aquatic), and quite powdery. It smells sweet, but fresh. It’s mostly a sweet, pink springtime blossom now. The scent still lingers but what remains smells a more like high-end skin care lotion now. It dies quite quickly, but what was there, was beautiful. I should hope to find a way to make this last, because I do love cherry blossoms most when they are either candied, or fresh, sweet and live. TL:DR: Airy sweet, fresh, pink springtime blossoms.

♔ Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge Oh! I remember when I bought this in 2008… it’s only gotten more glorious with age. I seem to think even back then, I was well aware of the notes I liked and wanted to smell. I'm really glad I didn't miss this. I think buying from the Lab was so expensive for me back then, I could only afford one bottle a year, the rest were compensated with partials...and out of all the updates, I chose this for 2008! In the Bottle: Golden, sweet creamy amber with a slight woodsy note. Wet: Fresh, it reminded me more of Volcano in Springtime, creamy, golden and slightly tangy…but aged, it absolutely reminds me of a creamier, woodsier Haloes, sans the apricot. The lotus blossom has definitely come out more with age, rendering the blend a lot sweeter with the amber. There might even a little sugared vanilla amber-like tang from Snake Oil. It smells so expensive and golden, like a bright, creamy woodsy amber-resin. Drydown: Agh! I love this! It smells like Blossoms in Springtime when ‘wet’ on me, now… perhaps a little less vanillic, and a lot more amber-y golden, woodsier, and less floral. Glowing Vulva smells less perfumey and more full bodied, and rich. In this phase, the vanilla amber-like tang comes out more and it does begin to smell a bit like Khrysee too, albeit a lot more complex, woodsier, and rich. I think along with L’Estate, this is what decidedly turned me towards golden scents to begin with. One of my original first loves. I still have one bottle left! TL:DR: Woodsy, creamy, sweet amber - heavy ratio of the first three