melodynamite

A gleaming auburn chypre shot through with streaks of pumpkin. This smells predominately like butterscotch, vetiver, and patchouli to me, with straps of gleaming black leather. It is the olfactory equivalent of drinking a tumbler of scotch neat, caramelized and raw with an aftertaste of peat. Or like eating candy in old study haunted by the ghosts of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway making out on the desk. Sexy, sophisticated, gender-bending. The far dry down of Pumpkin Chypre is gorgeously huffable, but I still think it needs aging to come into its full glory. Strong throw and wear length. I received a rather startled compliment for this one, perhaps because I dont have anything else like it in my collection, but it is in roughly the same vein as other warm, brown, sultry scents such as The Antikythera Mechanism, Perversion, and The Old Goblin.

Fortuna Populi Romani is appropriately populist in that anyone could wear it without raising eyebrows (although honestly, some people's eyebrows could use around the clock raising as a public service of sorts). This is a sleekly urbane golden sandalwood scent. There is a frisson of juniper in the beginning, and a haze of saffron throughout. The patchouli is the hair combed back, top button buttoned kind. The other notes melt together seamlessly into a subtly sweet, mellow whole. Overall, it is the scent of a hot, literate, person with impeccable manners and grooming, and perhaps a penchant for obscure handicrafts involving pieces of wood and plant matter. A haute lumbersexual vibe. My resident gentleman fell in love with this hard and claimed it as his own, but I am going to steal a nip from his bottle from time to time.

I live in a 90 year old fairy tale cottage, and this smells like home to me--stucco slightly damp from a recent rain storm, lingering incense from the night before, and something delicious baking in the oven. This would most likely appeal to you if you appreciate things that are worn and softened by time, used bookstores, attics laden with forgotten treasures, the wrinkled hands of someone you have loved for your entire life. It evokes a nostalgic, aesthetically-pleasing kind of melancholy in me, like paging through a decades old album of pictures of people from when they were terribly young, before anyone knew what would happen next.

If this were a crystal, it would be a scarred hunk of smoky quartz the size of a black bear. This is potent, weighty, strong. I pick up a gorgeously filthy aged patchouli first and foremost, followed by worn leather, tobacco, and a hint of cedar. I was a bit worried about the birch tar vetiver combo going full barbecue on me, but they just add a pleasant, slightly charred aura. Even with the bourbon vanilla and tonka, this is not an especially sweet scent. This is much less sweet than say, Nasty Woman. Although this is a grounding, comforting fragrance there is an understated ferocity to it as well. Perfect to dab on before calmly going into battle with alt-right trolls.

Seconding: Theoi nomioi, hyper-realist pine forest scent Thanatoptis, more macabre forest scent Incantation, darkly refined lemony woods with vetiver (this is gorgeous, I share this one with my husband) Calico Jack, salt crusted wooden ship Becoming Thunder, transcendent summer thunderstorm. This could read as borderline sweet depending on your response to frankincense, but it is one of my top favorites. Fenris Wolf, The Black Rider, and Fake News all seem very sweet to me (which I tend to like), but ymmv. Edited for more detail

New Snow in the Avenue from this year's Yule collection is an extremely pretty sugar-crusted plum, lily, and metric ton of white laundry musk scent. I am considering a full bottle, even though it is not my usual style.