Casablanca
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Everything posted by Casablanca
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Cocoa powder drizzled but not yet dissolved in warm buttercream. Some of the cocoa. Alllll of the buttercream.
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Rich dark chocolate with nice depth, and some hot-beverage-vibe hazelnut cream. When this first arrived, I also got a lot of whiskey. But now it's been a month or so, and I'm not really picking that up anymore. This is okay with me... my happy is centered in the other notes. Sans the whiskey, this has planted itself in foodie-land. It smells to me like a delicious hot liquid dessert, an unusually rich winter beverage.
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From the first application: Warm-toasted kettle corn? But I can kind of break it down to mostly toasted rice and honey dust. Warm, sweet toasted rice simmering in honey that has gone a little caramelized? That sometimes reminds me of like... stove-warmed Malt-O-Meal with honey? Yes, that's about the way of it.
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Martial Arts is lovely to try. Initially, I get a beautiful smoky note set against russet amber and lacquered woods. I often love smoke notes, and I certainly love this one and the way it complements the rust-colored amber and woods. This lacquer doesn't trouble me like the one did in Warrior Couple Preparing for Battle. While it has a chemical quality, the tone blends well into the other notes, which smell more naturalistic to me. I get some mushroom after Martial Arts dries, and it also blends well. I never get vanilla bean from the "smoked vanilla bean," but find abundant smoke. This is a unique one with a unique, specific mood. Lovers of woody or smoky scents should give it a try.
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Juicy, grape-like plumeria, freshly applied. The plumeria I've smelled in person didn't smell like grape, and the grapey quality fades before long, though the plumeria blooms on. I'm s'posing there's an unlisted grapey note. The plumeria gets potent in drydown, but this blend also reads to me as intensely musk-powered. Hellmouth goes straight to both heady and heavy, and as I keep sniffing it to look for other notes, I can feel a headache trying to form between my eyes. To this one, I say: Nah.
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Juicy, pulpy peach and bright blood orange. Froot! Very daytime froot for a night visitor theme. The peach sings first and orange makes it a duet before long. Interestingly, Nocturnal Visitor starts out on me as super juicy and pulpy and bright, but soon shifts toward orange pith and peel. It's not quite bitter, but there gets to be a lot of pale pith overpowering the pulp. And... that's more or less where this sits for me. I never find sandalwood or labdanum. It's juicy froot to pithy froot.
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Liking or loving all listed notes, I thought this would be an easy win for me. In this case, that didn't work out... Phallus is, for me, a snoot-full of conflict and overwhelm. The heavy berries seem to fight with the lavender and ylang ylang as they swim and slowly dissolve in vanilla milk, like an angry breakfast cereal. It all feels like a surprising and strange clash and struggle. Some weeks of settling haven't soothed this blend as I hoped they would. This one isn't for me.
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Holding Hands is a pretty and spring-like swirl of apricot cream, coconuts, and white tea. After this dries, I catch a dry, herbal whiff of clary sage. I have a clary sage EO that is so very intense... It's amazing how soft it is here. By this time, though, the whole scent is so skin-soft I barely find it. With its apricot cream and coconut milk, and delicate spring nature, this one reminds me most of The Secret Meaning Behind Flowers from the same release. Secret had a bit more carnality, with its fig, and it also lasted longer on my skin. Both blends are delicate... between the two, I think the tea and sage bring out more delicacy in Holding Hands.
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Hi, I'm here for the plum juice. What lands on my skin here is mostly an airy, powdery floral blend. I get wisteria and lily white-musky powder poofs in a faint plum flower cloud. I don't find any juiciness, but white musk-friendly lovers of pale, soft floral blends may enjoy this one.
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Freshly applied, this one brings a lot of white tea on my skin, alongside cocoa and cashmere. It's at once very pretty and a little bit jarring, as it feels as though the white tea has such a different character than the rest, and tries madly to pull away from the crowd. And... it succeeds? The cocoa and cashmere drop out and vanish, and quickly. Left to itself, the tea note thins and diffuses, becoming quite soft and almost hollow. At this point, I also get a floral hint. Peony-ish? Soft, pink. The scent thins out until it's scarcely there. I don't think this one is playing as intended on me.
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Lilac and smooth beeswax. First thing... this reminds me of a Shunga... a purple one about a candle. Um. Chasing the Midnight Candle? A Candlelight Study Interrupted? Melted Wax Entanglements? (Does anyone else ever think a Shunga Name Generator might be cool...) Flickering Lantern. That was it. This one is all about lilac rather than purple rose, but the beeswax and mood seem similar. Another cousin would be Eusapia, though that one is like a soft nightgown on me, while Vigil has more oomph. Vigil is a pretty blend. I don't notice any broomcorn or bone, but this a deep lilac wax from start to finish.
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This one opens with a cheery and sugary lemon cream. It actually reminds me of lemon frosting on cookies --- the sort where the frosting is of firmer stuff than cake frosting. A more golden quality comes out on my skin as it dries, a blend of the amber and musk. But mostly, this stays a sweet lemon cream throughout its life on me.
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Amor, To Show That He Was Pleased, Approvingly (In Silence) Sneezed
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Lupercalia
Starts with all the vanilla cream and lemon sugar cake in the world. This is... triggering my sweet tooth. I'm now hyper-aware that there's no cake in the house. The sugary, candy aspect strengthens on me as it dries. This vanilla-lemon frosting is creamy, but super-charged with sugary sugar. The cake is yellow, not too dry or moist. After drying, some golden honey comes out. Nice touch. I can imagine this one may overwhelm a few people... but if you can do foodie + creamy + (sweet x 5), you may like this one a lot. I seem to... -
(I have to say, before the review: When I read this scent's description, the "pious frankincense" made me laugh. Missionary position?) Honeyed red musk with an earthy patchouli and smooth vanilla, mostly. But there's clearly a lot going on here: I can pick out the leather and frankincense, and, after a few minutes, the cacao. When cacao makes its appearance, it doesn't mess around (so to speak)... The blend goes perhaps most strongly cacao for me, although the musk is nearly neck-and-neck. I could imagine a lot of red musk lovers enjoying this one, depending on how one's chemistry juggles the notes.
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I could see this one being a consistent love of red musk devotees. Spicy red musk and lightly sweet vanilla goat's milk are the most potent notes on my skin. Besides its spice, this red musk carries a cherry-like fruitiness that doesn't manifest in the published notes list; I think for me, it adds to this blend's appeal. The vanilla goat's milk is rich and also adds a lot of draw for me. I notice a sweet amber and a general woods impression in drydown. But mostly, this is a fruity red musk and sweet vanilla goat's milk.
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Dark pine is the strongest note in Snow Woman on my skin, but the sake follows it closely, and then an ice note completes the trio. The sake note reads as kind of thin, sharp, and tin-like to me. The ice is, similarly, thin and sharp to my nose... This sounded good to me from the description, but the pine is really the only part of this fragrance where I feel at home, unfortunately.
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Initially: Leathery, metallicky honey musk! And a fabric note is here, too --- quite unlike the wools or cashmeres or linen notes of the world --- but almost fully blending into the heavy metal and leather notes. But within a moment, chemical lacquer takes over much of this blend on my skin. The honey musk flits off, leaving behind a highly garage-smell chemical lacquer, metals and leather.
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The Judge of Hell is Jealous of the Sexual Exploits of his Petitioners
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Lupercalia
This one went through quite a shift while settling. When it first arrived, it smelled mostly of red ginger cream, with some amber and tobacco. Now, after some weeks, the ginger cream is gone. Vvvvt. Vanished. It's all peppery (more black peppery to me than pink) tobacco and myrrh. Mostly, this is peppery tobacco from one end to the other. -
This one is truly bone-dry, in a way that reminds me of a blend I can't remember the name of that had white patchouli. Here it's white sandalwood, although a white patch hidden note wouldn't surprise me. Otherwise, I get a hint of cedar, some white musk powder, and a soft ambient thing that doesn't yield individual notes. Soft, pale, woody, powdery.
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Silvery Moonbeams sits on me as a rainy, minty, matcha tea powder poof. The rain, mint, and matcha are pretty together... and now some pine and mosses are peeking through... but they are all almost thoroughly entombed in pale powder. This is mostly white musk-ish powder dialed to 11, with teasing glimpses of something more refreshing.
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On the wand, I first notice the reddish brick and amber notes... and then a rush of lemon, cedar, almond, and frankincense. There's a faint, ghostly outline of frost, barely noticeable. This sounds like an odd mix... but the notes make more sense together now, after some time to rest, than they did for the first sampling. On my skin, this starts as a lemony almond-amber. And it's a bit hollow, as though I somehow smell the absence of some notes. After a few minutes, the blend begins to fill out with some reddish cedar and frankincense, which add a meditative mood. This dries into a complex incense on me --- one freighted by a heavy brick redness, cedar, and sweetening almond, with glimmers of lemon and snow.
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Brilliant tangerine, orange, mandarin, kumquat and lychee open this New Year with a citrusy bang. Before long, peony and plum drift in, seating the blend comfortably in fruity floral territory. Eventually, I get a little pale green bamboo... but mostly, this is where the blend stays on me over time.
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Something in this has smelled odd in its first few seconds of life on my skin for both of its tests. But Love Let Her quickly shifts into clovey pink carnations, pink roses, a blush of peony, and a little dusty smoke. This floral is fairly powdery on me throughout its wear. It's not really my vibe, but may be a love for pink carnation peeps.
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Bright, bursty citrus in red-musky, fruity red wine. Tangerine is queen of this opening fruit rush --- but lemon and mandarin march gamely at her left and right sides. The wine reads as though fruit has already been soaking for quite some time... very sangria-like! Pretty blend that I could wear. Even though I often have trouble with red musk, it's doable for me in the bold, fruity wine.
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Strawberries, Red Musk, and May Rose
Casablanca replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Not a heavenly match for me, this one. This unusually dark, olive-ish oil opens on me with plasticky strawberries and the type of red musk that tends to shortly disagree with my skin... turning to spicy body odor. There is the flower, here, too... though I find it hard to separate from the rest. The rest is bombastic. Musky floral fruit.