puellacaerulea
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Everything posted by puellacaerulea
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Angelica Root, Ambergris, and Bois de Rose
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with angelica root as a note. That said: This is a smooth, gently musky and woody blend with a slight floral tinge to it. I associate ambergris with aquatics, but there are no aquatic elements here, just a gentle muskiness. There's something classic, mature, and sophisticated about this blend. -
This is a really lovely, more floral and musky take on BPAL's salty aquatics. In the decant and in its early application stages, the salt air is there, but the linen and rose notes add a bit of dryer-sheet sharpness and perfuminess to the scent. As it dries down, the sharpness fades and the ambergris, sandalwood, and driftwood (similar to the Orange Blossom & Driftwood Duet note, but softer) start to come out more. The driftwood note and something musky (the ambergris? blue musk?) temper the linen, rose, and salt notes in such a way that the scent is recognizably aquatic and beachy, but with a floral twist. It also has great staying power -- 12 hours later, I'm still getting whiffs of smooth ambergris and driftwood on my wrists. Very happy to add this one to my slate of aquatics.
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In the decant and on application, this one leads with fresh, stemmy florals and polished black leather. The combination of the two is a little too sharp for my liking at first, but as it dries down, the florals and leather soften and the salty air note comes to the fore. I wasn't a fan of the wet stages, but the end result is clean and atmospheric.
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I think, in contrast to the above reviews, I was hoping for more bergamot! In the decant, it's pale, bright bergamot with a slight musky whiff of ambergris in the background. On my skin, though, the incense smoke takes over and drowns out the bergamot, leaving me with a thin haze of church incense for most of the wear time.
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This blend starts off with noticeable ozone, but accompanied by a beeswax note that keeps the ozone from getting harsh or high-pitched. This scent is a weird but lovely interplay between cool and warm notes, with fresh, cool ozone contrasting the sweet beeswax and slightly vanillic old-paper notes. This one's a likely bottle purchase for me.
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This is one of those blends where all the notes just mesh together incredibly well. My first impression is evergreen notes and creamy magnolia. On application, the bergamot and white musk amp up a bit more, brightening the scent and amplifying the creaminess of the magnolia. I can pick out the orris, but it's not noticeably powdery; rather, it just softens the edges of all the other notes. This almost reads vintage floral perfume to me thanks to the magnolia and orris, but the evergreen notes and white musk take it into a cooler, airier territory.
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This one starts off with an aggressively sweet and nutty praline note that goes a bit plasticky on my skin, with the more wet, cologne-like DL accord intensifying it. Fortunately, it calms down quite a bit on drydown, shifting to a not-too-sweet nutty vanilla blend, with a faint hint of dry leaves in the background.
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Dead Leaves, Boot Leather, and Sweet Grass
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Halloweenie
The most prominent note here is soft, well-worn leather, with wet leaves in the background. The sweetgrass amps up on application, adding a pleasantly sweet and green backing, but as it wears, the main impression is soft leather and wet leaves. This isn't one for the leather-averse, but if you enjoy leather notes, this is an atmospheric and evocative blend. -
On my skin, this is primarily creamy rice milk and soft cinnamon (more ground cinnamon than aggressive fall candle cinnamon.) I'm having trouble picking out the dead leaves specifically, but there's an oddly bright note that's somewhere between vegetal and lemony under the rice milk that might be the DL accord blending with the rest of the notes in an odd way? Overall, a creamy, spiced blend with something sneakily vegetal hanging out in the background. Definitely not unpleasant, but a departure from the DL blends I'm used to.
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This blend is pale amber and black tea first and foremost. I can't pick out the other notes specifically, but there is a woody, earthy spine to the scent that grounds it. It's subtle, though -- no intense dead leaf note or dirt note here, just a faint earthiness grounding the scent. This is in the same vein as October 32, without the wool and cream notes. Overall, a pretty, wan-in-an-appropriately-autumnal-sort-of-way amber blend. This might be a bottle upgrade for me.
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The rice milk in this blend starts out surprisingly strong and creamy, with an almost sour edge not unlike BPAL's goat milk accord. It settles quickly, blending into the bergamot and palo santo. The palo santo and sandalwood are there, but the bergamot and rice milk make this much more of a sweet and creamy than a woody scent. This leans more gourmand on me, but the wood notes keep it from being Too Much. Unfortunately, my skin eats this up fast, with maybe two hours or so of staying power.
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Yep, that's leather. This is well-worn leather first and foremost -- I can't quite pick out the tobacco and smoked vanilla, but there's a resinous, cool undertone to the leather notes that makes me think of soft, well-worn leather that's been sitting out in the cold for some time. It is a bit reminiscent of Ü, but the balsams and vanillic notes are more pronounced in that scent. This is sort of like Ü's more rugged cousin.
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She Loves the Bare, the Withered Tree
puellacaerulea replied to Silvertree's topic in Limited Editions
This is rooty, slightly spicy patchouli first and foremost, but the carrot seed gives it this vegetal, cool, and sort of airy quality that makes it intriguing and wearable for a generally non-patch person like myself (I'm here for the carrot seed, really). Reminds me a bit of Lush's Blue Skies bubble bar, another exception to my general no-patch rule. Overall, a blend that's earthy, cool, and atmospheric at the same time, definitely evocative of late autumn. -
The white mint is the most dominant note here, with the ti leaf adding more of a fresh, green edge. As it dries down, I'm able to pick out the lilac more, and it blends surprisingly seamlessly with the mint. I never pick out the amber, but this scent has much more staying power on me than other green/minty BPAL blends, so maybe it's in there helping somehow. Overall, cool, clean mint and lilac. Fans of scents like Ghost Music, The Listeners, and Fuck This Heat might also like this one.
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Based on the notes, I expected a warm, brown, woody scent in the vein of Judgmental Longhorn or Partridges in the Snow. That impression is there thanks to the tonka and sandalwood, but the almond and beeswax are the dominant notes in this blend. I get a warm, woody base, with the beeswax and almond adding a light, almost honeyed sweetness on top that adds a sort of creamy, fuzzy, vanillic quality to the blend. Over many hours of wear, the beeswax and almond fade a bit and the tonka and sandalwood come out more. Overall, a warm, floofy, pleasant scent. Low-ish throw and long wear time.
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Fern, Red Clover, and Wild Lettuce
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
In the bottle and on the skin, this is fresh, vegetal green notes and a light, slightly spicy floral. There's a slightly bitter undertone to the green notes as this dries down (possibly the lettuce note?), but it doesn't spoil the blend -- if anything, it keeps the greenery realistic and helps keep any soapy impressions at bay. Otherwise, there's very little morphing on me. Just fresh, light, springlike greens. This'll definitely be going into my warm-weather rotation. -
Caramelized Pecan Rum Cake
puellacaerulea replied to Silvertree's topic in Gifts with Donation or Purchase
This one starts out with loud and sharp booze and burnt sugar, but slowly settles down into a sweet, nutty, and maple-y scent. The rum is there, but it's not as loud and aggressively boozy as it is in the imp. Not a fan of the opening stage, but the post-drydown is pleasant. Like Pecan Pie Oud's sweeter cousin. -
In the decant: Banana and nail polish remover. Oof. Once on, whatever is giving the impression of nail polish remover calms down, and the sweet, vanilla-y marshmallow notes start to come out more. After drydown, it's primarily a sweet, floofy vanilla with a hint of boozy bite in the background. Turned out better than expected, so I'll hang onto my decant.
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Labdanum, Red Musk, Scorched Vanilla
puellacaerulea replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This one starts off heavily musky and resinous, with the sharp, medicinal quality I tend to get from labdanum. No trace of vanilla in the decant. As it dries down, the medicinal edge of the labdanum calms down and the vanilla starts to come out. The vanilla isn't noticeably smoky (the red musk and labdanum are still stronk and might be drowning the scorched aspect out), but it does moderate the musk and labdanum and soften the scent a little bit. This one started off a bit too aggressive for me, but it ends as a heady, vanilla-sweetened red musk. Not the kind of thing I'd wear often enough for a bottle, but I could see grabbing the decant for special occasions. -
In the bottle and on application, there's a strong blast of sea spray, backed by mineralic notes. There's a hint of salt, but it's more a fresh and borderline soapy aquatic than salty. As it settles, the kelp, tobacco flower, and balsam come out more and moderate the sea spray note -- it's still definitely an aquatic, but with a soft smoothness underneath that takes it out of straight-up sea spray territory. The black tea adds a slight astringency, but not an overpowering one. Surprisingly subtle after drydown, and the tobacco flower and balsam gives this blend something that differentiates it from all the other aquatics in my stash. No blind bottle regrets here.
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In the decant, this is a subtly sweet, musky ambergris with a slight herbaceous edge from the sage. As it dries down, the sage fades into the background and the cognac amps up -- I never am able to specifically pick out the elemi. After drydown, this is predominantly an ambergris and white cognac blend, but not a noticeably booze one -- the cognac adds a extra dimension of smoothness and slight sweetness to the ambergris rather than being specifically boozy. Overall, an understated, musky ambergris blend.
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This one starts off with clean, cool rain notes, with a distinct amber in the background. Once on, the amber and moss notes blend in a way that's a little too floral-perfumey for my liking (why does it smell weirdly like potpourri to my nose? Is my nose broken?). After drydown, that perfumey quality fades and is replaced by a soft, smooth beeswax. Overall, an atmospheric, clean rain scent with beeswax. I don't love the early stages but do enjoy the post-drydown, so this will be just a decant for me.
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This blend is bright, sweet citrus and apple, both in the decant and on the skin. The amber and cedarwood give a little bit of grounding, but the citrus and apple are the stars here. It's a pretty, bright, and happy scent, but fades super fast on my skin. I'll hang onto my decant, but the short wear time takes this out of bottle territory for me.
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I was hoping for the sea spray and moonflower to be the dominant notes here, but unfortunately, the sweet pea stands out the most to me, both in the decant and during wear. There is a pretty, shimmering aquatic musk going on here, but the intensely floral sweet pea takes the blend into soapy territory. I'll keep testing my decant, but the floral notes are probably going to keep this out of my aquatic rotation.
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This one starts off with mandarin and sharp, medicinal labdanum in the background. As it wears, the labdanum calms down and the orris, vanilla, and benzoin start to amp up. Overall, it's sweet mandarin with sweet, creamy vanillic notes and a hint of resin in the background. It's pleasant, but I've got other citrus scents that wow me more, so will stick with just my decant.