astarinel

This is a cranberry version of Fearful Pleasure, to me. Dark tart cranberry juice mulled with a mix of rich spices. A little thick and heavy and not overly sweet. Decent throw and lasting power. I quite like this as a foody holiday scent, but I'm not sure how much I'd actually reach for it, so I think I'll be satisfied with just a decant. Definitely my favorite of the foody Yules this year, and not quite like anything else with the strong, prominent cranberry note.

This is creamy candy after-dinner mint, and I do like it, but it's definitely pretty much identical to last year's Lick It Softly on my skin. Lovely mint, and the mint note actually sticks around a fair bit on me. If you missed Lick It Softly, or find the Lick It series in general a bit too sharp and bracing, this is a great alternative in the same family of scent.

Annnnd this is the black musk that smells like baby powder on me. Leather + baby powder + faint soapy rose. I don't know why I thought this would work for me, but all the reviews last year calling it super sexy and amazing made me go temporarily insane and forget that black musk, leather, and rose are some of the worst notes with my skin chemistry. This is honest to god terrible on my skin, so if you have the same issue with black musk going weird, you might want to steer clear. It smells amazing in the decant. I keep huffing the decant and then smelling my skin and being horribly disappointed all over again.

This is extremely woody wet, and I definitely had the moment some other reviewers mentioned where it comes off as masculine/unisex at first because of the heavy cedar. The wood + musk combo reminds me of Aziraphale. I really wish the other notes were more evident, because I love honey and neroli/orange blossom, and I start to smell them if I sniff REALLY close, but the throw is all musk/wood on me, even long into the drydown. This isn't a particularly complex scent on my skin, which is unfortunate because I actually really like almost the entire note list with the exception of cedar, and that's definitely at the forefront here. I find it sort of pleasant and unisex, but I'd rather wear Aziraphale for a similar vibe. I was expecting more bright sparkly-ness from the notes, so I'm a bit disappointed.

This is the same ozoney-minty snow note that doesn't really like my skin, and in a bigger dose than it was in Almond Blossom, unfortunately. I don't get much in this scent other than the amping of that snow note, particularly given how citrussy notes tend not to stick around. Beneath the snow I can smell a bright sparkly citrus-floral, but it never really ends up smelling like that on me. If you like the most common snow note, however, and the description appealed to you, you will probably like this.

This one is the ozoney, minty snow note that my skin doesn't like, unfortunately. It's a little lighter than usual, so it doesn't completely take over the scent, but the ozone aspect definitely starts to get a little laundry detergent once it hits my skin. It's a shame, because the rest of this scent is a soft, creamy, vaguely almond-y floral scent that I like. In the long drydown, this is what emerges, but it takes way too long to get there on me. If you can handle the ozoney snow note, though, this has the potential to be really pretty, and I wish it were closer on me to the way it smells in the decant.

This is super pretty in the imp, but for those of you who (like me) have plastic issues with Snow White, this does the same exact plasticky thing that Snow White on my skin. I really wish these scents worked on me, but there's only one "snowy" note that isn't terrible on me unfortunately. For those of you who love Snow White, this is a simpler, sweeter version. Clean, sugary, delicate. Man I wish that plastic would fade away.

The carnation is definitely strong wet, along with the leather balsam and evergreens. I was all set to be disappointed, but as it dries the notes meld together really well into a soft, spicy, musky scent. Very well-balanced and snuggly, I like this much more than I thought I would.

Herbal mint with green tea. I don't really get the fruity notes at all, so this ends up being a little too bitter and green for my taste. Definitely fresh and green, not really for me.

Goes on fruity, but dries strongly resinous. My boyfriend got a bottle, and this definitely reads as masculine to me. He loves it but the myrrh doesn't play nice on my skin. I do like the fruity pom blast at the front, but that's about it.

I am a glutton for pumpkin punishment. Every weenie release, I always end up going against my better judgment and trying a pumpkin scent or two, fully aware that they will most likely turn into hot buttered fail on my skin. This was unfortunately no exception. Thick buttery pumpkin. Not very spicy, slight honey-waxy note, but oh my god pumpkin. Maybe next year I'll be able to stop myself. Probably not.

This goes on really nice almond buttercream, but dries to pure red hots. I do find that I tend to amp cinnamon, but the complete disappearance of the other notes is pretty disappointing.

Lavender vanilla powder. I was hoping for more of the honey musk, but this one is very strongly lavender on me. I prefer either TKO or Dorian for scents in this family. I'm amping something in it all to powder and I wish I knew what.

Tart. sugary blueberry lollipops. Definitely a sugary candy scent, and reminds me of a blue version of Treat #1, with the same tart hard candy vibe. If you thought the description sounded appealing or like hard candy scents, this is a good one. I will probably give a bottle a pass, since I have Treat #1 and Blue Phoenix to satisfy my desire for candy and blueberry, but I'll hang onto the rest of the decant.

I got out my bottle of released SGA to compare them side by side. In the bottle, the prototype is more strongly apply and less snowy. On, I find the apple note in the released version very light, and the scent has a clean, soft white musk to it with the snow note prominent. The apple in the proto version is sweeter and hangs around longer on my skin, and the snow note has a bit more of an evergreen aspect to it. For me, the difference is that the released version's apple is lighter and tarter, and the musk is more prominent in drydown. The prototype has a stronger, sweeter apple note, and the particular snow note used is a bit different to my nose, less ozone, more pine. I think I actually like the prototype slightly better, but I love the released version as well, and I'm glad I have a bottle of both.

This is one where I feel like I can smell all the notes, but I'm not sure I really like the way they're coming together. Definitely mango/coconut/jasmine wet. This is not the jasmine note that I hate, it's the one that reminds me more of powdery candy. This blend starts fruity-floral, but as it dries the emphasis shifts to floral with only a vague background of fruity sweetness. The coconut hangs around in both phases, doing its coconut thing. Across this update, I was hoping for more fruit and sweetness than any of the blends had. So if you are not like me, and prefer blends that are relatively unsweet with fruit notes that hang in the background, you should try some of the ones from this update. I mostly ended up thinking they were all interesting or okay, and none had weird skin chemistry issues for me, it was all nose chemistry and just not smelling what I prefer.

The licorice is a little softer here than I expected, which is nice. This scent strikes me as unisex or masculine, and I'm definitely not smelling much of the fruits. It's mostly a well-blended skin scent of licorice, patch, and sandalwood (in that order, also, to me). There's a little bit of a fuzzy sweetness to this, which I guess might be the fruit and orange blossom. Orange blossom is a note that I either love (Katharina, Harlequin) or hate (Hunger, Vixen), but it's not terribly noticeable here. On the whole it ends up being merely okay on me, I just tend to prefer my licorice scents more candied and was hoping for the fruits to come out here, which they never really did.

Fresh mint, with a bit of lime and something else. I think the green-herbal aspects in this make the mint remind me of Nuclear Winter in terms of brightness and freshness. I was actually hoping for more lime, because there are so few scents with lime as a prominent note and in every one I've tried the lime burns off super quickly, and unfortunately this is no exception. It's an interesting twist on a mint-primary scent, but my scent preferences are more in line with the sweet Lick Its. It does strike me as a scent that might be good on a man (or someone with masculine-leaning scent preferences), as the freshness of it reminds me of some colognes, so I'll pass it along to my fiance so he can give it a go.

Mostly woods and greenery, unfortunately, with the red fruits fading into the background. They're not completely absent, but the balance in this one was the opposite of what I was hoping for, and it ends up being a piney, herbal blend with touches of fruity sweetness. Like others mentioned, the balance gets a little better as it dries, but it never tips over into something I'd wear.

I found The Gorobble very, very cinnamony. I feel obligated to mention my personal favorite marshmallow scent, since it hasn't been mentioned yet! Chewing Little Bits of String: Marshmallows, a bit of limp lettuce, and wads of soggy cotton soaking in a stew of tea (with lemon and honey!). I get lemon iced tea, with a big side of fluffy vanillic marshmallows. A lot of marshmallow-y scents can go a bit weird or powdery on me (Love definitely did this), but this one remained true long into the drydown. I also quite like Plastic Pink Flamingo: Pink sugar-crusted marshmallow, dandelion, and sap. It's not fruity, but it's very... pink. And there's a definite side of greenery, too, which cuts through the sugary marshmallow a bit.

I'm surprised by how much I like this. I often have trouble with grassy and outdoorsy scents because I'm highly allergic to grass, so even if they don't trigger my allergies in and of themselves, they make me unpleasantly anticipate an allergic reaction. This scent smells like the outdoors, slightly green and airy, but not overwhelmingly. It conveys a sort of outside, clean open air vibe without having anything ozone-y or grassy abouti t. The berries are sweet and keep it from being too fresh, and there's a bright sort of freshly-washed linen aspect to the scent. It's very wearable and had surprising lasting power on me given how light a scent it is. I've actually almost used up the half-decant I had, which probably means I need more.

Cookies. Not a sugary-sweet cookie, particularly, but buttery and heavy. I definitely agree with the reviews that have said anise, which was unexpected. I don't get any tea at any point, but as it dries the butter relaxes a bit and it starts to smell more musky, but more of a dark musk than a light musk. I guess I was sort of hoping this would be a bit foodier and muskier Dorian, but it's certainly not that.

This was my favorite of the scents that I tried in this update. It definitely has a gummi candy vibe, it's almost wet and chewy in texture. Unlike some other candy scents, that can get a bit muddled, the cherry and apricot are definitely noticeable and can be easily identified in this one. The cherry here is very nice, not particularly cough syrup at all, and reminds me a little of the cherry in Gothabilly, a dark candied cherry. The apricot is sweet and almost creamy, and despite being a candy scent I don't find this one overwhelmingly sugary. I found that a lot of the scents I tried in this update seemed to have relatively low throw and quick fade, but this one was still going strong on my skin when I woke up in the morning after dabbing on a test patch a couple hours before bed. I'm not sure if I'd ever use up a full bottle, but a partial might be highly welcome.

I liked this one allright when I first put it on, as it started out a creamy floral honey sort of scent. As it dries, however, I guess either the orris or gardenia or the combination of the two starts to take over and it turns into a generic sort of lotion scent on my skin. It's also an apt comparison because it's very low on throw and lasting power. It's very soft, but I prefer my honey scents a little stronger and sexier. This just smells light and floral and clean.

Creamy fruity sugary candy. I found the note list for this one very interesting, but I don't really get any of these individual scents. It blends together into a mush of generic candy scent on my skin, unfortunately. I wish I could detect the specific fruits, as I really love raspberry, orange, and lime, but although I get a bit of creamy sherbert/gelato aspect to the scent I don't really pick up on specific flavors. Both this one and Cykranosh were very candy scents, but I preferred Cykranosh for its better throw and lasting power and more identifiable fruity notes.