DryFrogPills

Frankincense, rose resin, white patchouli, rockrose, and stone. The stone note is very true in this, and cool and lovely. More than anything, it smells like if you lit a thread of frankincense on an ancient stone altar that someone had rubbed down with rose petals the night before. Very atmospheric and evocative, with the patchouli and rockrose not distinct, but rather adding to the air of something serene and sacred. It has a relatively short lifespan on me, perhaps four hours, but it's so lovely and unique that I can easily forgive having to reapply.

I wouldn't call this sharp anymore, but it IS very dark and heavy - the opoponax and tobacco are very rich and almost earthy, with a slight edge from the pepper and red ginger. I find that it's pretty aggressive during the first half hour or so, but it slowly mellows and reminds me of a non-sweet pipe tobacco, while the red ginger glows hot against it like the lit end of a cigarette. It's not a gentle scent, nor should it be with this name, but it's strong and heady and rather feels like having on a heavy protective coat. I can't imagine wearing this every day, but on certain days and moods, it's just right.

Maybe a bit more cinnamon than cloves to my nose, but pretty balanced. Just a bit of copal to take it beyond just the spice drawer. Z_z is right, it's very warm, cozy, and spicy. The sort of place you'd want to linger and read a book.

[No additional description provided.] Being me, I was worried this one would go unloved, so I had to try it out. Very logical. I'd honestly describe it as October after the Rain; it's very much of the same slightly cologne-y dead leaves note as October, with a touch of wet, cold ground underneath, like an autumn rain fell an hour or so and it's mostly dried down, but not quite all the way. Or like the sort of big cement patios like my grandmother had, with wet leaves all around. It's not a natural scent, but it's one I find surprisingly pleasant and an effective invocation of the ideas it names, even if it's not an exact olfactory match. You definitely have to be okay with atmospherics though.

[No additional description provided.] Sprayed this over my bed last night. It's primarily a moss scent, with soft hint of dead leaves on the ground and fallen peony petals. It's floral but faintly so? I find it hard to explain. Still, primarily, green moss, slightly sharp, as is the peony, over crunchy, slightly cologne-y leaves. Not a sleepy or soothing scent, seems like a sitting room or study to me.

[No additional description provided.] This is a gentle sage grounded in a fairly dry, natural leaf note, floating over light apples. I'd worried it'd be heavily foody, but it's not. This'd be good for a kitchen or dining room, or for setting the mood before Thanksgiving - it won't make people terribly hungry, but it has enough savory adjacent notes that it'll blend nicely with cooking food and smell inviting.

[No additional description provided.] Tried this one today! It's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, in exactly that order too. I get a slightly vegetal dead leaves blast with not too sharp eucalyptus primarily. The spearmint tends to appear and disappear like a ghost, but it helps keep the overall 'green' feel of the scent. Honestly, I'll probably wear this more in the spring. Even though the notes are theoretically more fall/winter, the impression I get is of daring green shoots shoving up through the dead leaves of the last fall and getting ready to grow like crazy.

#52 - This is fairly close to classic Samhain in the bottle. On the skin, I can pull out the addition of something bitter, but in a good way, and an additional fruit. I'm still not at all sure what that bitter edge is, and it's definitely /bitter/, but it acts to balance the sweetness I get from rosin and adds a slightly menacing edge in the first few hours of wear that I enjoy. Later, it fades down to a long lasting glow of rosin made edgier by what I'm now pretty sure is currant and apple. The currant, if that is the fruit note, fixes the apple a bit so it lasts longer. Rather than turning into super-sweet honey rosin on me after about an hour and a half like regular Samhain, this stays complex for about two hours, then the fruity-slightly-bitter-honey for about another six, and a very slightly fruity soft rosin even beyond that. I'm happy, since the mood of the original is maintained, and this makes it more lasting and forgiving of my skin chemistry's insistence on amping rosin into overwhelming sweetness and keeps it a complex, moody fall perfume instead.

I got very, very lucky here, I think. Bottle #48: Pumpkin spice cake with ginger syrup and a bourbon vanilla glaze. I could eat my arm. It's primarily the ginger with a warm 'baked' note and the other spices, then grounding it, a rich, creamy vanilla drizzle that's the base note of the scent and lingers. Delicious.

Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine. In the imp: A garden in spring, with pale flowers and a hint of mint. I think that might be how my brain is interpreting the mix of tea, ginger, and mandarin? It's sort of wild-smelling, it's a garden, but not a manicured one. Worn: Yeah, I /definitely/ get something that reads as mint in here when it's on and fresh, even if it's not in the notes. I feel like that's the tea, if it's fairly fresh. There's a wild tangle of soft woods, greenery, and some delicate flowers underneath. There's so much going on here, and it's so blended that I can't pick out much specific, other than ginger. Long term: Once fully dry and over time, I get ginger glowing over ancient woods, rather than fresh greenery. I'd expect to be able to pick out the rose, champaca, leather... sandalwood... but I still can't, it's just, well, it's all wild woods and spice and glorious and atmospheric. A rich mix and well suited to the poem!

In the imp: Sometimes apple, sometimes rose, sometimes lemon. It seems like every time I sniff, the exact balance is a little different, and I can't quite pin it down. Worn: The apple is strongest a few minutes, with the rose rising up behind it to draw equal. Over time, the lemon reappears, making it seem like the apple slices were dipped in lemon juice to keep them fresh, then laid on a plate of fresh rose petals. The rose eventually becomes the central note, with the apple and lemon juice dancing around it erratically. It sounds like it shouldn't work and it shouldn't, but... I'm actually really, really into it? It's never too sweet or too floral, and it's definitely not predictable!

In the imp: Sandalwood and roses and... Christmas? I have no idea why this particular combination makes me think Christmas, but it does. Worn: On me, sandalwood is strongest, with patchouli and rose supporting it. It still smells like Christmas. That said, my skin tends to amp up sandalwood, although only part of the time, so it's unpredictable. Long term: As I wear it, the rose gets stronger and grows more even with the sandalwood while the patchouli hangs back behind. At this point, it stops feeling too strongly like Christmas. It's smooth and pleasant. After another hour or two, the rose wisps away, leaving the sandalwood and patchouli, and the patchouli becomes the dominant note, but it's still a very smooth mix. Long term, the sandalwood gains a slightly musty-sharp unpleasant edge, which is something it does on me at erratic intervals, but I'd consider it a very pleasing scent overall.

Tested from a rather aged imp. In the imp: Green tea and lemon verbena Worn: Something about this combination of notes goes musty in a way that I don't expect it to. This stage lasts for a few minutes, and my gut wants to blame the mix of green tea and neroli, mostly because jasmine doesn't usually go weird on me. Before too long, it relaxes into just being a faintly floral green tea scent. Not too interesting to me, but if you're into green tea scents, this might work!

Disclaimer: champagne and white wine notes go HORRIBLY wrong on me. This proved it. In the imp: Fizzy strawberry booze! Worn: For a few minutes, STRAWBERRY, in your face, not very real, but not super-fake either, odd as that seems. There's a hint of champagne behind it. And then, rapidly, it all goes wrong. The champagne promptly turns sour and chemical on my skin. It's not a note I like. It really isn't. Long term: I had to scrub it. Overall, avoid if you also have issues with booze-y or white wine type notes. I don't think this is a fault of it being a bad scent, but it's sure AWFUL with my skin chemistry.

In the imp: Dragon's blood, more than anything, herbal, crisp, clean. Worn: As in the imp, dragon's blood with some clean herbs under it. Something bitter/sour on the back end, but you have to look for it. Long term: Eventually, this turns sweet, loses the herbal edge. Overall, to me, pretty unremarkable, but I'm not a big fan of dragon's blood.