Aveya

Source : leftover Imp from my Decant circle

Preconception: I assumed this would be masculine and odd. Wouldn't have tried it otherwise.

 

First Sniff: Lime. Wood. Active. Reminds me of.. my grandfather. But not in an old-dude way. He's an outdoorsy kind of guy, always whistling bird tunes too.

Skin: About the same as the imp-sniff actually. The lime tones down slightly and I get a touch more wood. Overall bright and slightly sweet, with a citrus zip. There's a touch of floral on the edge but it's not taking a forefront. Tobaccoo starts to creep out as it dries.

Drydown: Oh hi there Honey. Oh... hi there floral :|. Lime unfortunately doesn't last into the drydown, but that's the nature of lime. Once honey and lily enter the game, it's a battling match between sweet cloying honey, floral kudzu-style overtaking, and a peppery tobacco background. Happy to report I think this stays well balanced between those notes.

 

Early it's very unisex, but once drydown hits it's notably feminine to me.

 

Verdict: Fresh, bright, citrus/floral/honey dom. Good throw, nice staying power. Lovely scent over all.

Source: Bottle from forum member

Preconception: Fearful of this scent but also really irrationally hopeful for the plum and lemon to work.

 

Bottle Sniff: Dark floral musty fruit

Skin: Oh god you have so much floral vibes happening why. But next to that is a fizzy bizzare fuzz. Literally "scrabbling" is the best description ever for this. I'm surprised by how much I love and hate this at the same time. It's like, literally, a black bird with poor motor skills trying to sit it's butt down on some lemon sugar eggs. There's these wafts of black fuzzy dark floral feather, then wafts of super sweet sugar and citrus. It's... super bizarre.

Drydown: One of the eight legs of plum has to be plum blossom. That floral turns "clean" on my scent and starts to overtake. I'm really sad this didn't go fruity for me.

 

Verdict; Light but black floral musk, with electric zips of sugar citrus.

I too must join the club of slight plastic, rootbeer, and commercial vanilla.

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely vanilla. The rootbeer note threw me for a loop (takes a few minutes to come out but then I can't unsmell it lol). It reminds me of this Vanilla and Brown Sugar perfume I had as a kid, from I think Bath and Body works. It was literally the first perfume I had that i liked and wore the crap out of it when I was like, 13.

 

So, to me, this is a juvenile, entry-level scent. I think my history has given it bias it doesn't deserve. But I was really hoping for something much ... more extravagant and elegant and extreme for some reason.

Source - Ajevie decant

Preconception - Assuming it will be as smells, assuming I won't like it cause incense is usually a dry thing, but trying it out for funsies.

 

Imp: Sweet Incense.

Skin: At first a sweet grape-like wine-like sugary incense. Then all the sudden ... Rose? Bitch - you rose. Rose wtf you doing in my perfume. You best sit back down I didn't get candy incense to get engulfed by you.

Drydown: "Rose" or whoever TF she is comes and goes. And it's this rotating door of sweet wine then rose. If the door went faster and they blurred together I could dig this scent.

 

But based on the amount of ampage this mystery floral is doing, I'm going to just call her Rose and walk away.

 

Verdict; Rose is laughing her ass off at me while drinking wine. Dat ho.

 

Oh - but if you aren't currently pissed at rose for not behaving EVER, this is a very lovely sweet wine-rose scent.

I have two imps ; one clearly from 2012 and one undated, and I'm confident it's from 2007 release based on the smell. So. Two reviews in one!

 

2007:

Source : Swap - Unknown year. Label seems older, makes me THINK 2007 but I have no proof.

Preconception: Really want JUICY PEAR please!

 

Imp: Much more "perfumey" than I thought it would be...

Skin: Pear is super subtle on me. This is all vanilla. Gentle vanilla - but vanilla. Maybe there was a pear in there that got cooked once? It's coming across as foody vanilla.

Drydown: More of the same. Gets that lovely vanilla long-term drydown moving. Almost has a sandalwood-esq vibe to it for me. Smooth and warm.

 

Verdict: Vanilla foody scent. I feel like the fruit was lost on the way to my skin.

 

2012:

Source: Decant circle 2012 I've neglected.

Preconception: Pear and vanilla YUM

 

Imp: VERY Sweet! Pear syrup and vanilla. Good start.

Skin: Vanilla prominent. Pear takes a biiig back seat. So sad.

Drydown: Pear sweetens up, and this stays a very graceful pear and vanilla scent. It's very soft and faint, I wish it had just a bit more kick to it. But then that wouldn't be a haunted house, would it?

 

Verdict: This is fitting for the namesake, it hit the brief. Gentle and soft vanilla and pear. Stronger pear than the 2007 version, less smooth and warm as well. But still faint and gentle, not a juicy pear in your face scent on me.

Source: Forum swap

Preconception: Uuuuh bloody rings?

 

Bottle: Kind of sweet amber

Initial Skin: Uuuh nope. Bitter, tart, blood.

Drydown: Amber takes a few to warm up per usual. Once it does it's a powdery amber, sweet vanilla-hinted base, but still mostly bitter & dusty.

Testing: 2006

Source: Forum trade, testing from an almost empty bottle

Preconception: Pinesol!

 

Bottle: SUUPER sweet almost vanilla pine.

Skin: Jesus why is this beautiful? It all oak at first. Then pine. Then sweet lemony verbena. it's actually surprisingly beautiful.

Drydown: There's a woody overtone that takes hold and goes a little bit to cedar-chip / #2 pencil territory. But then the sweetened verbena is amazing and makes it worthwhile. Glad I got to try this one.

 

Verdict: Oaky sweet citrus.

Source: Forum Trade

Preconceptions: Figured it'd be too weird to wear, but thought what the heck.

 

Bottle Sniff: Leather, and oiled bronze. Huh.

Initial Skin: Mostly leathery cologne.

Drydown: The "cologne leather" accord jumps to "dazzling floral" and back again. Kind of confusing for my nose. But ultimately it settles into an ozone-smoke. Which isn't something you run across every day.

 

Verdict: Fits the namesake. Ozone Smoke over-top gently leathered vanilla skin. Unisex, medium-far throw.

Source: Swap from a forumite

Preconceptions: Some reason I didn't know this one existed until I saw it in a swap-list. I thought "Huh those notes sounds interesting". I'm attracted to "Skin Musk" scents, after have success a few times with that. Lately I'm realizing Tobacco scents are actually incredible (I always assumed they'd be too masculine for me). And I also recently learned I shouldn't be afraid of labdanum - Dunno what it is exactly but I'm learning. Anyways - educated dice roll.

 

Bottle: Kind of empty to be honest.

Skin: I'm not going to bother with the stages on this one - it's dark, musky, warm, nay hot, summer nights. Sweaty with a breeze. Smooth but dirty. Sandalwood-esq in overall vibe. Sweet but salty. God why didn't I try this years ago?

 

This is going to be a slaterer for me. This is incredible.

 

Verdict: Sex in the back of his car at midnight in the middle of a hot summer. With a foreboding breeze trickling through.

 

Strong sillage to start, incredible staying power. It feels feminine to me but honestly I don't know why. Really sexy musty.

Source: Lab Blind-Buy (or rather, impulse buy with my last order for my decant circle lol)

Preconception: APPLE please pretty please. Reviews look promising - Apple apple everywhere!

 

Bottle Sniff: Honey apple.

Initial Skin: HONEY! HI THERE. Shew so much richer and honey-heavy then the other reviews led me to believe. Really really thick, sweet, dark. I'm thinking it's all Honey and Tar.

Drydown: On me, the apple literally got smushed and trampled and I'm left with faint apple background adding crisp sweetness, but the star of the show is this rich rich rich tobacco "tar" - which smells amazing by the way. Thick, sweet, tobacco is more an afterthought adding a smokey edge. I think the black tea is merging into one with this - making it feel fresh and natural, but yet dark and devious.

 

I figured I'd love this scent because APPLES. But no. Apples is a side-show for me. This is all rich, dark, decadent, black, sweet. Think black treacle.

 

Verdict: Forget apple. This is Black Honey Tar. And it's amazing.

 

Don't get me wrong - Apple is there. But to my skin/nose, it's like the friend you have in common that sets you up together - the star is this new friend you never would have thought to like but omg. Dark and mysterious, yes please.

Source: Lab Blind-buy ; Label is song birds. Super cute.

Preconceptions: Flipping love the 13s. They're never quite the same, but I've had some life-long favorites come from them. So have to roll the dice every time. This time; hoping for mulled wine.

 

Bottle sniff: Thick, goopy wine with a hint of chocolate spice.

Wet on Skin: Brief splash of chocolate then VANISH - nothing.

Drydown: So this is the weirdest scent I've reviewed. Usually you can shove your nose into skin and inhale every intimate detail of the scent. NOT THIS TIME. This has like 10% of the scent on my skin, and 90% in the air 3 feet from my skin... Weird one.

 

So in skin, it's a gentle herbal spice blend.

In air? and remember I get none of this from my skin itself so it feels like floating magic - it's all red mulled spiced wine. Noseferatu wine, mulled with some new 13 spices. The throw is amazing - I just walk through a hallway, do some stuff, walk back through the hallway and am like OH HI WINE. It's not thick and gloopy wine, it's rich and mulled spice. I swear a hint of creaminess to it as well? Any chocolate in this scent is participating as a spice, and not a main note.

 

Verdict: Beautiful mulled wine with insane magical throw. Crazy staying power.

 

Edit to add : Wore to work today; it lasted 4-5 hours of mulled wine spices then faded back to a skin scent for the rest of the day.

Source: Lab Buy (for a decant circle)

Preconceptions: Expected to hate it - assumed heavy florals gone awry. Hopeful best case - Rose with a patchouli drydown.

 

Bottle: Dusty rose

Initial Skin: This was much more developed of a scent than I expected. Rose is there, sure. It's dominant but it's not overtaking. It's dark and woody, maybe even dusty. Feminine but strong and badass.

Drydown: Mid-way, rose amps up and overpowers into a floral hot mess on me - All I can smell is ROOOOSE. Then this vanishes from my skin in about 2 hours. Just, sucked up dry. Super disappointing. I'm wondering since this was a fresh lab buy if there's any shot with some aging she'll have more staying power? I was really hoping the sandalwood and patchouli would give it a long-lasting cozy hum, at the least.

 

Verdict: Dusty Rose, amps to Rose single note, then vanishes. So depressing for me ;_;

Whoa no one's reviewed this yet?

Source: Lab blind-buy
Preconceptions: Hoping for creamy earthy sweet amber. Unfamiliar with MOST of these notes so thought this would be a fun scent journey for me.

Bottle: Milky, watery, sweet.
Initial Skin: Reminds me of almond milk. It's surprisingly light. Very gently floral, sweet, faintly nutty, feels very milky & wet.
Drydown: Warmth starts to peak out a few minutes in, amber comes out almost like morning sun on a dew-covered flower. Starts to dry up that overall wet vibe I got and changes the blend from a white-cool scent, to a golden gentle glow. Cozy amber isn't amping like it can on me, vanilla isn't going sour, behaving very well, thank you! Staying gentle in every note - nutty, floral, creamy, gentlest touch of amber, barest hint of vanilla sweetness. Well balanced with each other. Surprisingly more milky than I expected, but beautiful.

Very soft, feminine, gentle. But don't confuse it with delicate. This doesn't evoke anything innocent or girly - this feels very self-possessed womanly. NOT the earthy amber I thought it would be - Champaca was a big question mark in my mind, and I think it ended up helping to steer this blend into a more feminine zone.

Verdict: Dew covered summer flowers being warmed by first light. Medium throw, and has lovely staying power.

Source: TPP Decant Circle

Preconception: More just curious - black pepper leather could be cool.

 

Imp: Sticky manly leather death (what? I don't..)

Initial skin: Surprisingly sweet! Wood dominant on me. I'm not as familiar with the notes in this scent, so my brain is turning this into #2 pencil.

Drydown: Sadly this sticks with the wood note for me, some reason the pepper add REALLY makes this smell like my old school desk from Elementary. Leftover crayons, books, possibly a newt, grocery-bag-wrapped textbooks, but mostly wood that's been carved into from previous generations.

 

Verdict: Elementary school desk. Wood heavy, masculine-slanted, medium throw.

 

If the leather was a bit more, I think it would combat the desk-vibe I can't shake. Hopefully someone else can enjoy this for me.

Source: TPP Decant Circle

Preconception: Unsure about this one, but got a decant for the scent experience.

 

Imp: Dark, dirty, damp?

Initial skin: Warm. Fuzzy. Gritty. Dark. Dry spices

Drydown: Vibe is super dark, masculine, spiced, lightly sweetened like a vanilla-esq musk vibe.

 

Verdict: Really well blended, very very dark, musky, earthy, masculine-leaning.

 

Sort of feels like a forest at night in the summer. Spooky stories then getting lost. Horror-themed snipe hunts.

Source: TPP Decant Circle

Preconception: It's a dog scent come on! Too cute!

 

Imp: ... Lemongrass?

Initial skin: ... ... You're lemongrass, right? There's a fizzy happiness from this that's a lot like lemongrass to me. That's cool. More of that please. There's a note like this in a bunch of the Fool's scents. He's a happy dude what can you say.

Drydown: Green fresh notes pop out. Something fuzzy and warm. and YOU'RE LEMONGRASS JUST ADMIT IT. I have no idea what Yew smells like exactly, and I mean best guess on ivory-white fang, right? But this scent has a green freshness, lemongrass fizzy sweetness, warm fuzzy clean dog fur, and the gentlest musk backing it all.

 

Verdict: Happy, bright, clean. White or Yellow if it was a color. Slightly citrus to me.

 

There's a general clean-soapy vibe form this scent, and that will prevent me from getting a bottle because it's not my thing. But it's absolutely beautiful and joyful.

Source: TPP Decant circle

Preconception: Fig has played weird with me in the past so I'm skeptical, and I'm not usually an almond girl. But was excited about that buttercream note and thought I'd give it a shot.

 

Imp: Milky amaretto. Reminds me of horchata.

Initial Skin: It's all wet nutty milk.

Drydown: Get these MASSIVE wafts of cloying foody heaviness as it morphs from first stage horchata and into something heavier. It's inconsistent to say the least.

 

Verdict: Bipolar - Horchata vs fig cake with dripping gobs of honey almond buttercream.

 

It's having a cosmic battle on my arm trying to decide it's identity. Rough for me personally, but the foodies should love this scent - no matter which side wins out.

 

Edit to add: It's obviously Horchata WITH fig cake. Gotta wash down that icing somehow.

Source: TPP decant Circle

Preconception: I honestly saw Carnation, Vanilla, "Spices", and "Other" and thought heck why not. Little lazy on my part but hey!

 

Imp: Pine anise. I was a bit scared.

Initial Skin: Cedar & Pine.

Drydown: Balances out wonderfully. I think people waiting for this to be less spicey might be disappointed. Aged carnation will just replace the notes that temper down with time, imo.

 

So early application I was SURE I wouldn't like this scent. But in the drydown something happens and I just... yum. This is RIGHT up my ally. The notes all start to play together artfully and I'm left with this eclectic mix of spices. Some "spice" blends can get dry/incensey, this one stays full bodied. I really like how this plays with the idea of the Fool Juggler. It feels active, dangerous, haphazard, but alive and strangely happy.

 

Verdict: Bengal Light. Eclectic and vibrant spices. Medium throw, strong staying power. Scent likes to dance around from note to note - just like a juggler would. I only wish it had a stronger base note, it's not AS full bodied as I like, but makes it a less enveloping version of Bengal for me.

 

Like it a lot. Going to try out a few more times then probably grab a bottle.

Source: TPP Decant Circle

Preconception/Hopes: One of my favorite scents of all time is Phobos. I just love lemongrass. I was really hoping this one would be in that ballpark.

 

Imp: LEMONGRASS and lemon and wonderful sweet lemon.

Initial Skin: Oh super disappointing. It's just the faintest lemon curd ever. Faint, soft, creamy lemon. And that's it. 0 throw. Super faint even if I shove my nose into my skin. Is it because I have no faith? Is it the absolute faith that allows me to smell the heavens? I am doooooomed.

Drydown: Yeah I'm getting nothing new. This was just eaten by my skin. Soft lemon whispers.

 

Verdict: Super faint, whisper of lemons. No throw. My skin just ate this up. Super sad.

There's a slight resemblance to scents like Bengal, but it's Bengal's shy little sister.

 

Agree - This is most certainly Bengal's shy younger sister.

 

At first it starts out strong dominant honey - and I can feel the pink pepper tempering the honey. It's rich and sweet and spiced. But on drydown as it starts the vanishing act, it gets closer to skin. And pulls out that Bengal-feel of skin musk and spice. The honey is thin and gently sweet. No cloy.

 

But man does it vanish. Not much throw after the first apply; but you can still sniff it on your skin for hours. And it's flipping beautiful soft sexy honey skin. Has the barest touch of powder in a good way. Just has no lift.

 

Verdict: Really great sex scent. Just saying. Feminine, light, sweet, innocent. Gently spiced, SUPER close to skin. They're only going to smell it when buried in your neck.

Source: Lab bottle buy

Bottle sniff: Strong sweet tobaccoo

Initial Skin : This was surprisingly sweet to me. Just a gentle backdrop supporting a rich smooth patchouli and gently spiced tobacco. Plum isn't very apparent to me as a fruity note though. Just dark, feminine, smooth patchouli, slightly dusty tobacco.

Drydown: The later drydown is when I can actually detect plum proper, as a fruity note. It maintains the dark, warm, gently spiced vibe.

Late Drydown: It starts to get an almost leathery vibe on me in the late game. I'm not a huge fan of this late stage.

 

I'll be trying this out a few more times to see how it wears. That sweet mid-late stage I really enjoy. If I can get that 90% of the time this will be a keeper & stockpile for me. But if the leather-vibe sticks around I'll have to swap out.

Source: Lab buy - 2018 version.

 

So first sniff I felt like I'd SMELLED THIS BEFORE I KNOW THIS SCENT. It took me a bit, but this is 100% scent-memory-style for the Atomic Luau line and Velvet Pink Kitty. It's not, by any stretch, those scents exactly. But it has the same kind of boozy fruity vibe I'm always fighting to find. i did NOT expect to find it here.

 

Velvet Pink Kitty, in my brain (it's been so long since I've smelled it) smells exactly like this. Something about the fruit, cognac, and brown bag give it just the right level of fuzzy happy booze. That said I'm usually afraid of Fig (goes gloopy sweet) and I expected a lot more leather. Neither of those are doing a whole lot on me in this blend right now.

 

This is a looove of mine now...

Source: Lab buy. I'm late to the game but I still get irrationally angry about the whole ordeal. So, this was a spite buy. Plus, who doesn't love apple pie?

Bottle Sniff: OH MY JEEZE APPLE PIE NO JOKE. This made me think very specifically of McDonalds apple pie.

Skin: Beautifully blooms into a more sophisticated cinnamon apple scent. Reminds me a bit of fried apples (still uber american to me). It gets green for me in this stage, but it feels ... right. There's also this faintest background scent of something heavier - like a musky spiced almost leather barest whisper hint. Like, like a football. I'm projecting probably.

 

Verdict: Don't be afraid of the grass note. This is beautiful fried cinnamon apples eaten on the lawn with family.

First sniff on skin: Grapefruit.

Then, soap.

Then, floral?

Then, really nice bath.

Then pine.

 

It's a strange sweet, floral, fruity?, soapy scent. Then randomly bubblegum. Weirdo scent, you.

At first - I'm on board with the "Radish" description from earlier. It starts off a sour, sweet, tart, weirdly earthy yet zippy ginger-esq effervescent blend. Like, literally, goblins inside a physical server. Static cling is even in the air.

 

Later drydown it's like a skin musk/leather musk & cinnamon/spices blend. But you can still sniff out the static cling. Like Gremlins legit moved in and set up camp. There's maybe an undertone of something sweet/vanilla.

 

Pretty cool scent. Not one I'd reach for but definitely a cool one to sniff. Will be sending off to get some love.