puellacaerulea

In the decant, this is a really interesting mix of bright, juicy peach and plum notes and the Lab's dead leaf note -- deep, earthy, and a little vegetal. It's almost like they don't blend per se, but my nose keeps alternating between noticing one note then the other as I sniff it. The interplay between these two things is really intriguing in the decant, but it goes horribly wrong on my skin -- it dries down to what I can only describe as sour kitty litter on my skin. This isn't the first time peach has gone wrong on my skin when paired with the wrong things, so this may not be your experience if peach is a consistently good note on your skin.

If you're expecting another citrus + neroli Duet, I'm pleased to report that this is not that. This lemon blossom note is more of a light, creamy, almost vanillic floral with just a hint of lemon. When I apply it, the neroli does briefly amp up and go soapy before settling and letting the lemon blossom come to the fore again. Think floral + lemon creme than a full-on lemon scent. This is reminding me a lot of something from my childhood -- I want to say Love's Baby Soft, but I can't be sure unless I actually chase up some Baby Soft to sniff (because it's been decades). But it has that kind of very youthful light floral vibe.

This one was a morpher. It started off sharp and medicinal in the frimp (the labdanum, maybe?), with hints of dark musk and polished wood underneath. As it wears, the medicinal aspect fades and the musk amps up. Post-drydown is deep, smooth musks and woods. It's not "me" enough for a bottle, but I do like the post-drydown phase.

Yep, this is classic frankincense & myrrh. This version starts off dry, a bit lemony, and more incense smoke than resin. After drydown, the frankincense kicks in more and it gets smoother, deeper, and more resinous. Not the kind of thing I need a bottle of, but do recommend if you want a classic resinous scent.

Lotus is super iffy on me, in that it can go bubblegum sweet, but this one works. I get a watery, faintly sweet floral that pairs well with the salt notes. Sort of like a very low-key aquatic floral blend. Probably wouldn't have gotten a decant of this myself due to the bubblegum lotus associations, but glad to have a frimp.

Cool, fresh green tea and mint, with just a hint of cucumber. Nothing synthetic or sharp about these green tea and mint notes, just fresh and slightly sweet greenness. It fades super fast on my skin, otherwise I'd be hunting down a full bottle. Will enjoy my decant in the meantime.

In the bottle: Soft sage and incense. When I apply it, the sage gets extremely loud and almost acrid -- to my relief, it calmed down quickly as it dried down. Once the sage chills out, this is incredible -- soft sage-y and mossy greens, light honey, and non-heavy incense. I rarely like incense notes, but I love this. Glad I took a chance on a bottle when this popped up on Etsy.

This one started out all blackberry, all the time. Given fruity scents tend not to agree with me, I was skeptical. Once I apply it, the oud blossoms -- it's not super indolic, but it's a recognizable, rich oud that gives the scent some complexity and counterbalances the blackberry. Surprisingly, I get very little of the iris and sea salt -- on me it's mainly blackberry and musk backed by soft oud and other woods. Surprisingly complex in comparison to the in-the-decant scent.

This starts out as a creamy clove with rice flower and fig in the background -- creamy, but also just a little too sweet, almost sickly so. (I'm noticing I tend to have this impression with scents where rice flower is a note and am beginning to wonder if I have to add it to my list of death notes.) Fortunately, after drydown, the sickly sweet aspect fades and I'm left with a soft, creamy, slightly toasty vanilla. It's pleasant and snuggly, but also incredibly skin-close.

Grabbed a secondhand bottle of this for the skin musk, tea, and rice flower notes. This starts off as a pretty, subtle skin musk, light and clean. As it develops on my skin, however, it starts to get fruity and almost candy-sweet -- a little too cloying for my taste. If you're okay with a bit of fruitiness, though, this does have a light, ethereal quality to it that makes it worth checking out.

I wasn't sure about the clove and patchouli, but the sea salt and kelp was a whole lot of yes, so I took a chance on a secondhand bottle. In the bottle and on application, sea salt is the most prominent note -- I can't quite pick out the clove and patch. It's mostly sea salt and seaweed, an oceanic aquatic without the soapiness you can get from some aquatic blends. The clove starts to peek out a little bit as it dries down, but it's still very much a background player. It's the kind of "ocean" scent I love -- salty and fresh and a little green without being soapy, cool, a little moody. Agreed with the above review that it's evocative of chilly North Atlantic waters. I'd call this more unisex than traditionally masculine. Glad to have come across a bottle.

This one opened with intensely smoky woods. The woodsmoke is a little more incense than bonfire -- it made me think of those palo santo sticks you can burn, possibly because I swear there's a slightly anise-y undertone to the smoke. After drydown, the wood and smoke notes calm down and the tobacco becomes the dominant note. There's something sweet and a little vanillic about this tobacco. It's like a lighter, sweeter version of French Tobacco without the astringency. This scent also gets very skin-close after drydown, but has great staying power.

This one starts out heavy on the cardamom -- spicy, warm, a little earthy. It eventually calms down and lets the sandalwood amp up. This is a soft, snuggly white sandalwood, warmed up further by the cardamom. I'll probably be reaching for this one a lot in the fall.

This one starts out rooty and earthy on me, with a big blast of patchouli. As it dries down, the patch calms down and lets the amber, hay, and hazelnut come out more. It's still earthy, but less intensely so, and with a warm golden quality from the hay and amber. There's also a slight nutty sweetness from the hazelnut. Overall, sweetly earthy. Not quite "me" enough for a full bottle, but I'll keep my decant.

The sage and cedar in this blend stand out the most to me throughout this scent's wear time. It starts out intensely sagey, but then the cedar and other notes amp up a bit more, giving a warm, woodsy, slightly earthy impression. Think a woodsy scent (with the "forest" aspects coming from the cedar and juniper rather than pine) amped up with sage.

This one starts out rich, herbaceous lavender. After application, the oakmoss amps up but doesn't get overwhelming -- it adds more of a soft, mossy greenness that complements the lavender and keeps it from getting too herby/medicinal. Soothing and pleasant, but my skin apparently eats this one up, because it's gone in an hour. Will hang onto my decant, though.

The rose in this is very much a fresh rose -- light, juicy, and reads as pink to me. There's a bit of greenish dandelion behind it that comes out more after drydown and the rose (which goes a little intense and jammy, for lack of a better word, on my skin) calms down. Overall, very fresh, dewy summer florals. It fades fast on me, and I'm not sure I'd reach for this often enough to justify a full bottle, but will hold onto my decant.

This one starts out with rich red sandalwood and rose, with a whiff of vanilla underneath -- sweet and kind of girlish. Once I apply it, though, things start going wrong. A fruity note that is both sickly-sweet and sour on my skin amps up and clashes hard with the sandalwood and rose. I'm guessing it's the prune. While it does eventually fade after drydown, leaving me with a sweet vanilla rose that reminds me a little of Between Your Heart and Mine, that initial blast of prune was enough to put me off this scent.

In the decant: Fresh, clean aldehydes and cedar. The aldehydes are in that "fresh" category that I associate with white musk, rain, ozone, etc. When I apply it, the cedar amps up for a brief period before the aldehydes take center stage again. It's a little soapy to me, but in a nice, expensive, fresh-smelling soap sort of way. The cedar adds a little warmth and pushes it a little into conventionally masculine territory, but it's still primarily a fresh and clean scent. I would have said this would work better on a dude if the cedar had stayed as strong as it did right after applying, but I think it could work on anyone. Good wear time, but low throw after drydown.

In the decant, I get intense, marzipan-y almond and vanilla. Once I apply it, the orris explodes on me, and gets noticeably more floral and recognizably iris-y than I'm used to -- not sure if that's the orris itself or the storax playing with the orris. It gets extremely high-pitched and astringent on me, almost headache-inducing. The orris does chill out after drydown and leaves a soft vanilla-almond-floral. That initial stage is Too Much for me, though. This one's probably off to swaps.

On me, this is a very soft, neutral amber. It's almost more of a skin musk than traditional amber (and weirdly, reminds me of Like A Girl). The smoke is blink-and-you'll-miss-it subtle, and it's more snuffed-candle than campfire. Long wear time, and sticks close to the skin. Pretty and understated. Probably a bottle purchase for me.

Fancy dragon's blood resin soap. That's it. That's the review.

Was recently frimped a decant of this. In the decant: Apples! Lots of fresh apple and apple blossom. Once on, hints of dark greens and resins emerge in the background. I never quite pick up the pomegranate. This one fades fast on me, but it's basically bright, fresh apple with a mildly sinister deep green undercurrent.

This one's a bit of a journey in terms of morphing. In the imp and immediately after applying, I mostly get a fresh, clean marine accord. Then, as it dries down, Irish Spring. After drydown, I get more of a true ocean scent -- some of that freshness is still there, but there's also saltiness and a slight funkiness to it that takes it into true marine territory for me. Low-ish throw, but great wear length. I have other "ocean" scents I like better and so I can bypass a bottle, but I'll probably hang onto my frimp. It's a subtle enough scent that I can see potentially layering it with other aquatics to give them more of an oceanic vibe.

This one starts out with strong, sweetened myrrh -- resinous but not too heavy, and also a touch powdery. As it dries down, the myrrh calms down and the fig gets more prominent. Sweet and resinous, with a true fig note after drydown.