Miyabi

So I really wanted to love this because peonies! lychee! green tea! It was going to be the fruity floral of my dreams. But on my skin and to my nose, the peony and lychee is nowhere to be found (and there seems to be no bergamot, for that matter). It is tuberose dryer sheets; lovely and would probably layer great with other florals, but also not why I ordered the decant to begin with. The throw is not very strong, as in I have to sniff harder to get an idea of it on my skin--it's more a whisper than anything else.

This was much heavier than I expected it to be. Nothing breezy, and the wildflowers seem to have gone out. It's what I would call very strong honeyed amber dryer sheets on my skin. The description sounded so pretty, but this is definitely why I go for decants vs. bottles most of the time.

I get the cherry blossoms when it's wet on my skin, but it does have a commercial perfume feel to it. I think that might be the cream and the gardenia, which is what wins out. It's lovely, to be sure, but I also feel like that what it becomes on me is not my type. Whatever fruitiness there is disappears with the cherry blossoms. I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it, but it's not for me.

In the bottle, it's definitely JASMINE, and even more so on my skin, with a bit of a plasticky note. Once I compare between the skin and bottle, I can detect the cognac in the latter, which gives it a slight commercial perfume scent. Anything else (honeyed cream, vanilla, sandalwood) are nowhere to be found. I was kind of hoping for the honey to sweeten things up, but I could layer this with Chaste Moon 2010 if need be for sweetness. It smells sharp, wet on the skin, but it seems to calm down as it dries.

Oh, I wanted to like this. Citrus! Frost! They usually go so well together! But the mandarin on me is coming off as a blend of orange Starburst and possibly bathroom cleaner. It's not for me.

I will never, ever, get sick of BPAL's slushy snow note: I fell in love with it with the imp of Skadi '04 and the rest is history. Marshmallow Snow does not disappoint when comes to slushy snow--it's the first thing that comes into my nose, and then there's the marshmallow to soften it, and this is gonna sound weird, but it smells...warm? Almost as if it's toasted. It's a sweet cuddly scent, and I'm glad I got it without trying decants first!

I am getting a lot of laundry, but the soft woolly kind, with just a touch of skin. It's lovely and cozy, but I was also hoping for more apple cider! I might just layer it with a little of Lambs-Wool (the mulled apple scent that doesn't burn me) to see if that does anything... EDIT 9/1/21: after my bottle has aged some, there is definitely more apple in this!

Bleeding Walls has a scary name, but it's really a sweetheart once you get to know it! I get hit with cherry gummies when it's wet, then it fades for a short while, leaving a "commercial" type scent, and finally it settles into a clean fruity scent with a bit of old paper, as if someone dropped some cherry jam onto the pages of a paperback. My decant just came in today, but I ordered a bottle earlier, and I'm glad I did.

This is lovely. Very fruity, very clean, and a bit floral from the lychee. So glad I bought a bottle.

oh, this is definitely lilac. it's definitely sweeter and more floral than Salt Phoenix, and I sense a bit of creaminess from the amber, but overall it's a very pretty springtime floral that I need a bottle of, sooner rather than later.

Ah, I see! I tend to prefer florals over incense (they tend to amp strongly on me, if not go weird) but I'll definitely nab the decant of Hotaru no Yu first before investing in a bottle!

I don't get almond from this, but I get a blast of cherry candy from the start, almost like those cherry gummies I had as a kid. unfortunately, within a half hour, all I'm getting is champagne, which is lovely, but I wanted both cherries AND champagne.

I'm not getting cherry from this, but it is a very nice rose upon the drydown, very clean. May need to consider a bottle.

Hey, I thought I'd ask: how lilac-filled is Hotaru no Yu HG? Thinking about nabbing a bottle without trying it, but I'm wondering how strong the grass and amber notes might be (otherwise, it looks a bit similar to Salt Phoenix, which works well)

So I thought the Peacock Queen HG was pretty. The perfume itself has some similarities, but on my skin it goes into old-lady potpourri with a bit of a sour/bitter note before it fades (much too soon). I'll definitely be keeping my HG decant, but the perfume isn't for me.

Slushy snow, with a definite sweetness from the sandalwood. It's lovely, but I don't think it's for me (I lean more toward Frostbitten Kumiho).

I love it. I really, really love it. It's the slushy, piney snow note that I adore with white tea. I'm not getting any ginger here, but it's a nice, clean, mellow smell that's just interesting enough not to dry down into dryer sheets. I might even layer it with Kumiho to see how that turns out. It's a cleaner, less sweet version of Skadi '04, and I'm considering a bottle.

For use when all the f&*cking noise is getting to be too much. A particularly useful reset after social media, especially when you’ve read the comments. Place a few drops on a white candle and a drop on your palms and let it gooooooooo. The components include French lavender, frankincense, steam-distilled Roman chamomile and hops flower. It smells of a gentle lavender (v. Peace, which is pretty much knock-you-out lavender). I tried it at one point as instructed--dressing a chime candle and anointing my palms, and while I didn't feel a rush of peace, I did feel better afterward. I'd like to try putting this on my palms and going for a walk, since that's usually how I decompress from my day.

It's straight up dryer sheets on me, which I find disappointing, since I usually love the Lab's tea scents! But if you're looking for something clean and inoffensive, this is a good choice.

Definitely cherry, although on me it's more cough syrup than red vines. No cream soda, which I was hoping for!

Very, very creamy, to the point where I think I'm smelling vanilla ice cream and not a cream soda at all! Also incredibly potent: I sprayed it in my kitchen to help deal with some funk, and just...stick to one spritz. Because when you spray more than that, it's less vanilla ice cream and more pastry shop, and while it's nice at first, it will stay for DAYS.

To me, this smells like Dana O'Shee or O with some apple thrown in. I actually smell a little vanilla that wafts in and out, but overall, it's a very perfumy type honey with the apple. Not sure if it's me just yet, but it's very pretty nonetheless. It's what I pictured Autumn Cider HG to smell like.

White fig, tea leaves, oakmoss, and lilac blossoms. Not for me, sadly. It does smell very green, and very much like a walk in the woods, but I think I got more oakmoss than anything else, and I was hoping for the tea and lilacs! I'll have to sell my bottle, I think.

Oooh, piney. Very, very piney. I like it a lot! It's a bit intense at first, but fades down a bit into an almost Skadi-like breeze.

Hmm. Powdery and sweet. Definitely not piney or bracing, which is what I was hoping for. Might try it again to make sure, though.