achildoftime

Abraham Blowmaert Soft brown leather and glowing embers of amber tinged with blood orange and crimson musk, and flecks of night-black coal dust. I'm not great with picking out these notes. They swirl together into an almost earthy scent in the bottle. Wet, it's much brighter. I get some juicy blood orange wrapped in brown leather. I don't know if I'd call it soft, though. It smells like a more rugged outdoor jacket. I also get something prickling in my nose like vetiver does, but it isn't the same. Maybe the coal dust? Dry, the leather has softened and the other notes have blended into each other really neatly. Whatever was prickling my nose mellowed out and dovetailed with the orange. I'm not experienced enough to pick out amber, but the whole scent has a richness and I'm thinking that the amber is what's stitching all of these elements together. I quite like it and I think it would be a pretty solid unisex scent.

Fear of Tyrants This has jack all to do with Yule or winter, but it sure does apply to current events. Proceeds from Tyrannophobia benefit the ACLU, thereby helping stem the imminent assault on civil rights. Birch tar, tea leaf, and black raspberry strangled in an iron fist. In the bottle it smells really strongly of raspberry tea. I may as well have stuck my head in a tea chest full a raspberry black tea, it smells just the same. And it stays this way wet and dry. It's really distinct raspberry, not the vague berry smell that sometimes happens. I don't get much of the birch tar till it dries. Even then it's not strong. Again, it's like sticking your head in a wooden tea chest. You notice the tea first, then the wooden container. It's simple but beautiful. I don't get any metal notes for those worried about that, but I'm sure YMMV. For those who are looking for a berry tea, this is strongly advised.

Ten Lords-A-Leaping Nine Ladies Dancing Eight Maids-A-Milking Seven Swans-A-Swimming Six Geese-A-Laying Five Golden Rings Four Calling Birds Three French Hens Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree Piping out drooping phantoms of kumquat, lime rind, icy lemon peel, and green-white musk. This is a very fun lemon scent. It's kind of like lemonhead candies if you're familiar with those. There is a bit of bitterness that I'm used to in lime rinds. It's more of a bite compared to the sweet tartness of the lemon. I don't get much musk while wearing, but I do get it in the bottle. It lasts all day, and then some, which is nice. I'd actually pin this more as a summery scent because it's so lively. Almost like carbonated lemonade. Lovely!

2011 version i feel like I don't really get roses or snow. I think it's just like cotton candy. It's very pink and sweet, but not cold or floral particularly. Dainty is a perfect word for this.

It's less workshop and more laundry room on me. I don't know if it's the age or my chemistry, but it's the very clean and slightly metallic tang of laundry that has just finished the wash cycle. It's all ozone, water, and stone. I like it, because it feels very fresh and clean, but it's not nearly as sinister as one would expect.

Nine Ladies Dancing Eight Maids-A-Milking Seven Swans-A-Swimming Six Geese-A-Laying Five Golden Rings Four Calling Birds Three French Hens Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree Traipsing over a stony, spiked abyss of opium pod and pink grapefruit with black plum and amber. I mostly get the opium pod freshly sprayed, but once it settles in a little it really blooms. I get plum and a little bit of grapefruit to pick it up a little. Having tried Mme. Moriarty on a lock of hair on the opposite side of my head from the one I tried this on, I feel like they could be in the same family tree. Kind of like Morticia Addams and her sister Ophelia. Not really the same at a glance, but have an obvious connection the more you look. This one is definitely the Ophelia. A bit more bright and perky superficially, but slightly sinister and aggressive the closer you get. Mme. Moriarty is the outwardly darker, but subtly sweet Morticia. What I'm trying to get at is if you like Mme. Moriarty, you might want to see if this is up your alley as well. I think the plum is doing it, but I think the opium pod also adding to the slightly smoky and mysterious vibe. Either that or my nose is off. Long story short, I think this is a big win for me.

I have the 2017 version. I get a big dose of warm musk right off the bat. There is a bit of lilac underneath, but it's not the main player here by far. I get tobacco when it dries to go with the musk. There might be a bit of coconut as well, but it's mostly a suggestion of it. I think this is a pretty sexy blend, but I also think there are others I'd reach for sooner than this.

This is for the 2017 version. I was looking for honeysuckle, but I mostly got jasmine. It's actually more of a mossy jasmine than anything. It's a bit green and damp, but also a bit heady. The sweetness of the honeysuckle peeks out a little bit when it dries, but it's not as strong as I was hoping. This feels like a heady floral aquatic without being an aquatic. I'm pretty sure the flowers and moss are just mixing do make it smell a bit dewy. Nice, but not what I'm looking for.

It reminds me of pillow mints, but with a Snake Oil support. It's a pretty sweet mint combination with maybe a breath of tea, but the Snake Oil almost corrupts it. It isn't a bad thing, but it does take a pretty cheerful and perky mint and twists it a bit. The spices linger the most after a few hours of wear. Most of the mint is worn down and there's just a chilled breath of spiced tea left over.

I really wanted to love this. Leather and wool is like a dream scent, but it was just way too soft. It was a bit leathery and a touch woolly, but it was the perfume equivalent of butterfly kisses. Kind of cute in theory, but not substantial at all in practice. It's kind of heartbreaking because I love all the notes listed.

Frankincense and leather are the strongest notes here. There is also a bit of rose, but not much. Just enough for interest. It's pretty dusty, which I'm not sure why it caught me off guard, but it did. Probably because conservationists try and get the dust out of almost everything. I actually get more frankincense with the leather and paper playing support. I only get beeswax hours later.

This is like sticking my face in a giant bouquet. I get roses, iris, and a bit of lily as scents that I can identify. There are a lot of other floral notes to go with it, but it's such a cacophony of flowers that it's tough to really pick out anything special. Even the rose, iris, and lily get a little buried once it dries. It's definitely like a handful of spring blooms.

It's a very quiet night to my nose. Blue musk and wisteria gently comes through with a suggestion of a sweet lemon. It's more like these scents are being picked up on a breeze. It's almost taking a walk at night in late spring, so there's a briskness to the air. It's pretty and evocative, but I wish it had some more throw for me.

Cream and honey all through the wet stage. I'm getting very little lilac here, oddly enough. I can tell there is a soft floral, but I'd never be able to identify it as lilac going in blind. Drying brings the amber out for me, but that's it. Creamy, honeyed amber with minimal floral. Whomp-whomp. It's not a bad scent by any stretch of the imagination, but what happened to all that lovely lilac others had? Dumb chemistry

As one would expect, it's a very chilly scent. Oddly enough, I'm getting way more lotus than I am lilac. It's sweet and floral, but decidedly not like a fresh lilac bush for me. It does remind me of flowers that bloomed early before a big snow and are still managing to pop up through the drift. It's still spring florals, but I wouldn't peg it as lilac, sadly.

Lilac, blue musk, dianthus, cedar, neroli, ozone, and luminous Eastern herbs. I have the 2013 version, for what it's worth. It's a nice lilac perfume with a bit of cedar and herbs. There's a very subtle spice to it, which I'm enjoying. I don't find the cedar to be like pencils, but more like an old chest. Lilac can sometimes get so airy that the herbs and cedar give it a little platform to dance around on. It also keeps the whole thing a bit warmer, which is a nice take on lilac as I usually find it a cooler note.

I'm a little surprised how much sandalwood I'm getting from this one. That's mostly what I get along with a bit of musk and violet. I was hoping for a bit more lilac based on the notes. I'm very on the fence about this scent. On one hand it is a very serene and uplifting quality to it, but out of all my florals it's not one I'd reach for often without the lilac showing up on me.

I picked this up banking that the assumptions about it being the Lilac Wood proto was right, because who knows when I'd get a chance to try the actual release. I'm glad I took a shot because it is a pretty lilac scent. I think I might be getting some tulips and some sappy stems as well. It smells like the beginning of spring to me. I'm glad I gambled.

I think this one smells like apple bubblegum or hi-chew. The sweetness isn't like raw sugar, it's more like biting into a perfectly ripe apple.There is a floral aspect that kind of makes it almost like very sweet apple blossom when it dries. For me, I think it's pretty but apple isn't my favorite note to dominate a scent. Plus it's a little sweet for me. It would be a great addition to a candy apple lover's collection.

A very soft apple scent. It's kind of as if someone made a mildly sweet apple whip cream. It's not candy sweet or anything, just a little bit sugary with cream and apple. Something in this is also going a touch soapy on me, so it also resembles an apple shampoo. At least it's a really high-end shampoo, but I can't shake it from my mind. I'm sure this will b wonderful for someone, but it's not for me.

I feel like this is a gingerbread forest. As if the trees and plants were all constructed of gingerbread so their scent is a hybrid of what they usually smell like and gingerbread. It's foodie, but it's a foodie that I almost get along with. The vetiver makes it a little more biting, especially since it's paired with the clove. It's not something I'd get a ton of wear out of, but it's not bad at all.

Soft roses and earth just like I imagined. It's not as strong as I was expecting it to be. It stays pretty close to the skin on me. The roses are dried or drying because they aren't particularly fresh, but they are pretty strong. The dirt is is more of an undercurrent rather than up in front. Not a bad rosy scent.

Vanilla is doing it's vanilla thing on me and turning this into a lemon cake. It's not a very strong scent in general, but what I do get is a lemon iced cake. Since I don't really like smelling like cake, it's not for me.

Ethereal is a good word for this one, as is listless. There's a bit of fruitiness, but it's kind of nebulous fruit. It's not clearly defined and I can't really tell what kind of fruit is is. Same with the soft floral aspect. It's undefined and kind of hazy, as if the whole scent woke up and can't quite get going. That's not to say that it has low throw or isn't an effective perfume, it just doesn't have definition to my nose.

This is a nice pine with a smidge of opium for smokiness. It reminds me of a dark forest for sure. There's a mysterious air around it that I really like due to the smokiness. It's not like a bonfire while camping, but more like stumbling on a cottage with a stone hearth in the middle of the woods. It's a shame it's been discontinued.