Gateau

Holy smokes, this is love! If you're a French Tobacco SN fan, you need this. That is the caramelized tobacco note in this, which mixes beautifully with the floral and honey. I find it is a pretty delicate scent without a ton of throw, so a good one for when you want to be more subtle, but also great for layering on when you want more oomph. Definite bottle.

I love this! I get a gorgeous smoky rose-lilac-peony incense vibe. It puts me in mind of throwing open the windows to do some spring cleaning and airing out while burning a floral incense stick. I love that addition of the smokiness, which makes what might otherwise be a basic spring floral into something more interesting and evocative. Definitely getting a bottle.

I am massively in love with orris root, so this one was a must-have. Orris root is the dominant note in this, so if you like it, you must check it out. That quality of silkenness and sheerness in the scent description is really apt. The magnolia and the grey musk are both very creamy and light, and never go powdery on me. Overall, it's beautifully blended, gently sweet, and delicate. Easy to wear, and I think will be lovely year-round.

When I first apply this, champaca magnolia comes on very strong in that characteristic way it has. It's a note I like in smaller doses, so at first I was a little wary of this. However, once dry, the tobacco really takes over. It's a very leafy tobacco, and very much like the French Tobacco Single Note, so if you like that, or wish you had more of it, this will be a winner for you. I can't make out the bourbon vanilla specifically, but it's there pulling everything together and smoothing it out, and the white honey is very gentle and not powdery. This is an assertive scent, due to the champaca and tobacco, but with tempering notes of honey and vanilla, I think it's an easy to wear one.

I knew I was going to love this from the description and I do! When it's wet, I smell the fig milk strongly. Milk and cream notes don't work for me at all, but this is definitely a nectar of fruit, not a milk, but with creaminess to it. I also get a lot of vanilla orchid in its most warm and slightly musky stage. It's almost got a smoky white chocolate quality. It's a warm scent that is edible without being foodie. Once it dries, I get mostly a perfect vanilla -- not buttery or dry, but a clear pure vanilla, with the floral tinge of ylang ylang. It's very close to the skin. I only wish this had greater throw and longer lasting. That may come with some aging. As I have to slather it right now, I am thinking i may want to get a backup bottle.

I love this one, fruity and juicy with a tartness, but there is also something DARK to it that makes it something more than just a typical red fruit scent. It's very Black Phoenix, in that regard. I was looking for something fresh and less resiny or baked-goods-foodie to use at home (where my husband is not wild about my scenting everything in sight) and in the office, and this one does the job perfectly.

I haven't been able to get Silkybat off my mind since I got my decant. It's oddly compelling. I don't actually love it when I'm spraying it on -- it has a weirdly dirty, dusty smell and then I get a whiff of something oddly lemony, like Lemon Pledge, which is gone almost as quickly as it arrives. BUT THEN! It settles down into something quite gentle and softly smoky. If I press my hair to my nose I can't quite smell it, but when I least expect it I will get a waft of it when I move. It smells like I burned some sugared patchouli incense a few hours ago and a bit has clung to my hair. I'm sure I could lay it on very thick and get it to throw all over the place, but I really like that it doesn't do that on its own, makes it something I can wear daily instead of just when I want to blast something sensual and resinous.

I like this a lot more than I'd expected to! I love the blueberry note, which is indeed reminiscent of one of my favorites, Two-Barred Flasher. The sugar-candy with the fruitiness reminds me a good deal in impression of another favorite, Sugar Plum Fairy, though that scent is more complex and rich. The only problem I have with it, and what may hold me off from getting a bottle (but seek a partial) is a hint of a certain funkiness or pastiness I associate with some candy scents and the white musks.

I get very dry and distinctive frankincense and champaca from this. As I wear it longer, the dry edge softens a little, I think from the vanilla and red licorice, but they're not detectable to my nose as individual notes. I never get anything I think of as "rose" with the champaca. It's not for me as I'd prefer it with the opposite balance (more rose, vanilla, and red licorice, with a hint of frankincense and champaca).

In the bottle I smelled so,etching clean and lavendery, and that's how it starts on my skin. Then I start to smell what I think is oakmoss, maybe a little oak wood and possibly grassy vetiver. It goes from a sharpish cologne, very masculine, to something a little mossier and mellower. Then it picks up a powderiness that I tend to get with mosses, vetiver, and some dark musks.

I wasn't even going to try this because I really don't care for ozone and aquatics, but I do love absinthe. Lucky for me, this is strong on the absinthe, with mint, anise, sugar, and wormwood detectable. The other notes stay in the background while lending interest. Bottle in my future.

I wasn't planning to try this at all due to dread vetiver, but I dabbed some on to test. Was surprised by how much I liked the rich leafiness of it, almost a fresh tobacco leaf scent, and how little of the bad vetiver funk I got. This is more of the green leafy kind of vetiver. I did, however, get an odd sort of chlorine note, and eventually it dried into something strongly powdery. But while it was nice it was quite nice.

When wet, I pick up the spicy pumpkin, in about equal measure with the Snake Oil. As it dries down, I find the pumpkin mellows out, and makes this a somewhat softer Snake Oil with a slightly more pronounced spiciness. Once fully dry, though, I find it hard to distinguish from regular Snake Oil, so I probably don't need a bottle.

Count me as one this didn't work for. I love Morocco, and almost ordered this unsniffed. Luckily I went for the decant, because there is something about the way Morocco combines with the pumpkin that just made me have to wash it off. If I had to guess, it's some kind of clash between the musk and the pumpkin. Sad.

Wet this is brilliant--deep red rose with dry, crackling leaves. Very strong--just a drop has huge row and lasts for hours. Unfortunately for me, my stupid skin turns this powdery after drydown. I'm going to try layering with French Tobacco to see if I can hold onto that marvelous leafiness.

I get lemony cedar from this, with an overlay of a slightly soapy white flower (that actually may be the tomato leaf contributing some edge). As it opens up, I lose that slight bitterness and get mostly green and cedar. It's a really nice, fresh scent that does smell like a delicious orchard or garden. No peach I can detect!

This is such a pretty-smelling hair gloss! The white peach isn't syrupy or heavy, it's light and sweet without being cloying. The incense is quite sheer too, not like standing over an incense burner or anything like that. I don't make out strong champaca, either. It's all gently sweet. I applied about 3-4 squirts to my very thick shoulder-length hair, and unlike some other glosses I find I can't really smell this after a few hours. I'm sure it's there and the shower water will release it, but I suspect I will apply this one more generously than some of the others.

I was so attracted to the scent description that I decided to get a bottle from a lovely fairy even though many of the notes were iffy for me. I am so glad I did! This is a deliciously resiny, woody blend, but with enough softness and fruitiness to keep my nose affixed to my wrist. It's not focused on the fruit, more a meditation on the tree or the orchard, but the fruit is there. It's a very nice way to wear peach after the summer is over. One thing I do note, though, is that so far my skin seems to eat it after a couple of hours. I hope aging helps with that.

For me, this one comes down to how well you do with the BPAL honey notes. If you like, you'll like this, but if it goes musky or powdery on you in a way you don't like, I'd stay away because on me the honey was very present, with recognizable hits of peach and white tea. I didn't get a ton of neroli from it. Actually, if you liked A Thought From Propertius, you'll like this. They are very, very similar in the drydown, once that cayenne note in ATFP settles down. Or, if you have ATFP and were sad you missed this, in my opinion you're set.

This is very sweet and grapey -- like a dessert wine. I smell more grape than peach, but the peach is definitely there. Oddly, I never get anything specifically rose, which isn't a bad thing! The rich floral is there, but it doesn't amp as "rose" the way most other roses do for me. I only got a decant of this because I wasn't sure I'd like it enough for a bottle, and now I'm not sure that was the best idea. I like it a lot more than I'd imagined I would -- the wineiness of it keeps it from being just too sweet and jammy.

This is a very aquatic blend on me. I get a large blast of fizzy citrus with the tangerine, but there is also something almost soapy or soapy floral to it that doesn't please my nose. Peach and tangerine would be nice, I think, but that extra champagne -- which is pure fizz, not sweet grapes -- kills it for me. Really the only one of the whole collection I didn't like.

This is WHOA, LAVENDER from beginning to end. It's the very sharp, medicinal kind. I happen to like it, but if I am going to wear it as perfume, I really need it to soften down at some point and this just didn't. It seems to crush the benzoin entirely on me, but i did start to get some of the oudh late in the game. It's a very masculine blend on me, not something I can wear.

This one didn't work on me at all. In the vial I can smell some of the vanilla, but it's mostly woody frankincense. On skin, I don't even get that tiny bit of vanilla, just something in the pencil-shaving family. Once it's been dry about an hour I can make out some vanilla sweetness and softness but that woodiness really dominates. Perfect for you if you love woodiness.

Well, I love this. In the bottle I smell sweet peach juice and leafy tobacco. It goes on super sweet and peachy on my skin, and I was afraid it was going to stay that way and make me smell like peach candy, which is not a favorite. But after it dries down I get more of the tonka, tobacco, and red musk (a note I am usually not a fan of) that blend really nicely with the sweet peach and give me a sense of that natural woody muskiness that a nice ripe peach gives off when you smell its skin. I don't get a strong sense of the honey by itself, so in that regard it does make me think about Pussy Moth, which is what I was hoping when I ordered it from my kind fairy. I hope one bottle is enough!

This is a delicious creamy coconut on me, sort of fruity and vanillic, but the hazelnut and amber accentuate a bit of the woodiness coconut can have, that bit of husk. The nut adds to the creaminess of it, while the anise (a note I love) eventually blends in on the woodier side. I don't love when hazelnut is prominent, but here it's a supporting player. It's a very nice coconut scent, that evokes all the warmth you may associate with coconut, but without making you smell like a beach.