tomservoandcroooooooow

Theoretically, I should hate this perfume. Of all the notes, the only ones I typically like are patchouli and bourbon vanilla. I dislike amber and fig and tend to amp honey and BPAL's roses unpleasantly. And yet I love this. Somehow all of this come together to make a warm, tobacco perfume? Somehow? Even though there's no tobacco notes? This is easily the weirdest perfume I've had but it's also one of my favorites.

This one is really interesting because most of the time I don't notice much shifting from wet to dry down but this one has very decided stages. 1. King manderin shouts, "Behold I have come!" 2. A sort of soda pop/champagne fizziness settles in with the King manderin. I think it's the white musk since it's fizzy of like 51 is. 3.The King manderian softens and a dried fruit comes in. 4. The dried fruit and white musk continue but there's a strange hint of herbs. I'm not sure if that's oudh or if the white musk fougere has deepened. It might just be there's less competing notes at this point and I can finally notice the fougere part of the white musk.

Okay, so this probably isn't a surprise to people but Wilde is nice. I'm not a lavender person at all and jasmine is not my friend but I had to try it for Oscar Wild's sake. The lavender is def. there but it's a soft and not very herby and the citrus balances it out. No sign of jasmine and I'm okay with that.

I got to try this thanks to fourumit Carrie's generously and it's really warm and comforting in a way I didn't expect. Vetiver is one of those notes that I want to like more than I actually do (much like amber in that way really) and I'd just gotten around to thinking, "You know, maybe I don't like vetiver" and then this came along. Vetiver is probably the strongest note on my skin and here it takes on a warm and comforting tone. So if you are wary of vetiver, give this one a try.

Wow, now this is what I wanted out of a mint scent and have had to typically seek out in pine based fragrances. It's strong like cut through your congestion strong, like it's not scared of being minty and fresh.

This how winter feels once you take away all the gormands. It makes me think of those nights when my Mom would turn off the lights, lite candles and put on Christmas records. Not my Dad's mid-century crooners or Burl Ives, but the sacred music with the high choirs singing in german and the reedy, folk singers with broken voices singing about cherry trees and "the little tiny child." There was this interplay between darkness and light and just stillness. It's very much an incense smell but not church incense. There's smoke and woods and decidedly citrus, though the exact smell seems to shift each time I wear. It's probably my favorite BPAL and its definitely my Mom's, she's discribed it as "Pure Magnificence."