torischroeder9
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Everything posted by torischroeder9
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In the decant: Cardamom and coffee bean. And it really is coffee bean -- like it smells like whole roasted beans, not ground coffee, not brewed coffee. On my skin: Wet, it's cardamom and coffee bean in about equal amounts. I get a touch of vanilla pod adding just a tiny bit of sweetness. As it dries, the vanilla pod amps up on me -- not to overwhelm, but just to about the same level as the coffee bean and cardamom. It's a dry but balanced scent, with a hint of sweetness and spice.
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In the decant: Coffee candy and cinnamon bun with gooey icing. On my skin: Wet, I can more easily tell that it's the icing sugar mixing with the black coffee that's making me think "coffee candy." Plus cinnamon. Cinnamon coffee candy? (Side note to life: Why is there no such thing as cinnamon coffee candy? We need this in the world.) As it dries, the syrupy quality of the scent softens, so that the sugar and cinnamon become almost powdery. This remains a very wearable gourmand on me. The black coffee is quite detectable up close, but it never overpowers. The cinnamon bun sweetness accounts for most of the throw, but the coffee keeps it from being cloying. I'm not sure I'd ever use up a bottle (I rarely wear pure gourmands), but it's quite a nice novelty experience. Edit: The more I wore this, the more I liked it. It's a cozy winter scent that's not outright Yule. It has the same feeling -- though not the same objective smell -- I get from Miskatonic University, only with less Irish coffee.
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In the decant: Sweet vetiver and new, soft leather. I don't get a coffee note at all. (I am reviewing and testing on the same day it was delivered. Will update as necessary.) On my skin: Wet, it's older, more worn leather with the barest hint of black coffee. As it dries, even the hint of coffee fades, and it's just lots and lots of leather. After it has time to dry and develop a bit, a softer, almost dusty note emerges -- it does smell like the pages of old books. The leather is still there, but now the whole thing is like standing in a collection of older, leather-bound books. This is a very interesting blend. I'm not sure I'll wear it for daily perfume, but to be honest, I purchased it more for the curiosity and experience.
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In the imp: Honey, mallow, vanilla, sandalwood, and orris. It's sweet, delicate and not cloying, and gently grounded. On my skin: Wet, it's mallow flower first, sweetened by honey. It stays remarkably consistent on me. It reminds me a bit of Elegant Vulvas, except that this honey is... simpler, cleaner, than the wildflower honey. It also has very little throw on me, though the scent is not faint up close.
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In Necessarias Unitas
torischroeder9 replied to zankoku_zen's topic in Gifts with Donation or Purchase
In the imp: Sweet patchouli and red oud. On my skin: Tinkly sweet patchouli; the tinkly aspect is a quality I associate with white musk, though I don't detect that actual note in this blend. The immediate drydown also yields fuzzy oakmoss. In the early stages, the oakmoss is pretty much having its way on me, giving it a bit of cologney quality and amping up the throw. During that time, the woods and patch come together closer to my skin, sweetened a touch by the honeyed vetiver. Overall, this is a very balanced, grounded, unified scent. Saying it's what would happen if someone -- most successfully -- tried to make patchouli cologne is both as accurate as I can describe it and far from being able to do this scent justice. The patch and woods are grounded but not harsh or bitter, the oakmoss is airy, the sweetness just dancing at the edges of the scent. Edit: I ended up wearing this as I was practicing yoga this afternoon. During savasana, the phrase "crystalline patchouli" struck me as appropriately descriptive for this scent. -
In the imp: Amber, benzoin, smoke, and cypress, in that order. On my skin: Wet, it's lightly smoky amber and benzoin. As it dries, the benzoin and amber become more pronounced. It's still very lightly smoky. The cypress is mainly brightening the resins while the vanilla warms them. Neither of those two notes is prominent on my skin. This is perfumey amber and benzoin, very beautiful and elegant. Not sure how at home it is on my skin, but it is lovely. Edit: The next morning, the remains of this scent had a similar quality to my "morning after" Mme. Moriarty (the 2006 version only). To my knowledge, the only notes these two scents have in common is "vanilla," and different types at that -- but there you go.
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This bottle is still only one day arrived at my house. Will update if contents shift after settling. In the bottle: 100% beeswax On my skin: Wet, it's still beeswax. All the best beeswax. I'm tempted to slather this because it's such good beeswax. Half an hour in, and it's still almost all beeswax. If I sniff closely, I can maybe pick up a bit of amber. That said, amber sometimes does a thing on me where it causes certain other notes to amp, without being all that detectable itself. That said, since my experience seems close to that of other reviewers, I really can't say if that's what's going on here. A couple of hours later, and it's still the same -- Maybe a bit of amber, but mostly soft, glowing beeswax.
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I just received this bottle today. Normally I don't review so soon, but I'm too excited to wait. Will revise and update as necessary. In the bottle: Apples and cranberries on first sniff, followed by rosemary. On my skin: Wet, the scent initially separates into two layers -- a leathery streak and a cran-apple streak. As it dries, I get wafts of leather, apple, rosemary, and clove. Once it settles, it's predominantly leather and clove -- not unlike Fortuna Restitutrix, though the Yule is rounder and warmer, I'd guess from the fruits. The throw I get from this is on the shorter side of medium.
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I thought I'd reviewed him before, but I guess not. In the imp: Tickly sweetness, a little perfumey. Can't determine specific notes. On my skin: Wet, I can definitely pick out the rosin, the leather, and the tobacco. The rosin and leather are presently keeping the tobacco at bay. As it dries, something a lot like white musk comes out though I can still make out the tobacco and -- more faintly now -- the leather and rosin. Ultimately, the tobacco settles down so that it blends seamlessly into the white musk. The leather and rosin remain an undercurrent, warming and rounding out the scent. I'm not sure how "me" this is, but it's a very cleverly conceived and elegantly constructed scent.
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In the decant: Lots of honey, with a hint of something else, not sweet -- but it's also not strong and is fleeting. On my skin: Wet, ZOMG! It's wildflower honey! I am a fan of honey. I am a fan of the Lab's honeys. This is by far my favorite incarnation of honey. As it dries, every once in a while, if I sniff close to my skin, I get a whiff of what could best be described as baking powder biscuits -- but the throw is still all honey. And that's where it stays. I will admit that the baking powder biscuit is not my favorite element of this blend, but as I have to stick my nose in my skin to get it -- with all the rest being glorious wildflower honey -- I am just not going to worry about it.
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In the decant: A faint sweetness that might be... just about anything. On my skin: Wet, the wax note does start to come out, along with some faint blackberry. As it dries, the blackberry fades back again, and the wax becomes almost smoky. I also pick upon the milk note, which goes a bit sour on my skin. Eventually, the milk does fade -- and the blackberry does too -- and it's mostly just soft beeswax on my skin.
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In the decant: Mostly cranberry. On my skin: Wet, it's mostly pine pitch. As it dries, the pine recedes, and the cranberry -- now along with blackberry -- becomes the prominent note. It's backed by the woods, and the snow note here is working to soften everything; the entire scent here is not as strident on me as regular Jersey Devil is. It doesn't morph much from here, and it stays a very low throw scent on me.
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In the bottle: Foody gingerbread with extra gingerbread spice. On my skin: Wet, it's immediately foody, with the nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon jumping out as it dries. Once it settles, it's mostly baking spice with a soft undercurrent of gingerbread as a baked good. Doesn't morph much after that. Very big on spices, not overly foody. My kind of gingerbread.
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In the bottle: Slightly spicy and resinous sweetness. The best comparison I have is to blends that contain honey and champaca, though this is deeper and not citrus-bright. On my skin: Wet, it's spicy floral with an undertone of honey. Even as it dries, the honey remains a background note here and doesn't go all heady (and very powerful) on me, like honey can sometimes do. As it develops, it goes a touch powdery but otherwise stays very nice. This is a very wearable honey blend, possibly the most wearable on me of the Apiary scents I've tried so far.
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Bottle from Ebay. In the bottle: Mostly honey with a bit of a tobacco tinge. On my skin: Wet, it's mostly tobacco, though honey is detectable underneath. As it dries, it balances out -- though it continues to flit back and forth just a bit between which note is stronger.
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I acquired this recently in a swap. In the decant: For sure Snake Oil and teak, with other notes I can't quite make out swirling in the background. On my skin: Immediately, I notice that this has the viscosity of aged Snake Oil; it's thick like syrup. In terms of smell, at this stage, it's straight Snake Oil on my skin. As it dries, a soft woody note emerges; it's skin-close, almost underneath the Snake Oil. Given more time to develop, there's a note that's lighter and fresher than either the Snake Oil or the teak; I'd be most likely to term this green bamboo. Ultimately, this is a fresh, woodsy version of Snake Oil that's not floral nor as in-your-face-green as Green Tree Viper is on me. I'll miss it when the decant is gone, but I'll assuredly be using it up!
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In the decant: Wild plum, sugared fig, and mimosa. On my skin: Wet, it's wild plum and benzoin. As it dries, the benzoin dies down, and the tobacco amps up... and up... and up. The drydown is plummy tobacco on my skin. There might be some oud and musk grounding the plum, but it's a bit hard to tell: 1) because I don't know what scarlet musk smells like; 2) on account of all this tobacco. The tobacco dominates the scent's throw for well over an hour, but gradually, some muskiness does emerge in the skin scent. If this note is scarlet musk, I'd call it much calmer and more refined than red musk but still sweeter and fuller bodied than the brown musks (often in puppy-type blends) I've tried. Okay, an hour after that, and I think I'm going to call it. Though there are other notes, this is just too much tobacco on me.
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2019 version In the decant: Cream frosting first, then pumpkin, then cardamom cinnamon spice. Even in the decant, this comes in layers. On my skin: Wet, it's cream frosting with cardamom and cinnamon. As it dries, a lot of the cream -- and the oomph! -- of the perfume goes away, leaving me with some skin-close pumpkin cardamom cake. It's very pretty but very soft on me.
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In the decant: Light carmel corn, not overly sticky or gooey. On my skin: Wet, it's much the same as in the decant. It's caramel corn on me, but not in the cloying burnt plastic way that caramel notes sometimes go on me. As it dries, a buttery note starts to emerge close to the skin, but caramel still dominates the scent's throw on me. Not too long after that, the caramel note does subside. The buttery popcorn note is the main note I get, but it's very skin-close.
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In the decant: Cinnamon red hots candy over Snake Oil. Sweeter than my bottle of Saw Scaled Viper; I think I'm detecting a sugar note. On my skin: Wet, it's a little less sweet than in the decant, so it's somewhere between cinnamon spice and cinnamon candy. The drydown, however, brings back what I'm going to term a sugar-type note, making this more like cinnamon candy than just cinnamon. Maybe it's just that with fewer spices, it's easier for the vanilla and sweetness of the Snake Oil to stand out? Broadly speaking, it's the most like SSV, but as someone who has a bottle of SSV in fairly regular rotation, Red Hot Snake Oil is subtly different on me. I would agree with the description that it's a sweeter, gentler cousin to SSV. Someone who wanted to love SSV but found it overpowering might do well with this. For me, I think, it doesn't fill a new need in my scent rotation.
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In the decant: Black leather and... clove? On my skin: Wet, it's still lots of leather though the clove note has disappeared. Additionally, something vaguely sweet and slightly fruity has surfaced. As it dries, the sweetness subsides, and I'm back to experiencing (though maybe not directly smelling) clove. There's something very like Fortuna Restitutrix about this on me. I'm another one who can't find the Snake Oil in this. Next steps: Allow to age and then retry. Edit, 11/28, Slightly Awkward Update -- A day and a half later, and the bra I was wearing when I reviewed this scent smells absolutely fabulous. Based on what else I wore around that time, Wax Vampire Teeth Snake Oil is the most likely cause of this. I can make out blood musk, something deeper, and sexiness.
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In the decant: No, not Boomslang. If you dunked your face in rich, warm, chocolate fudge (without burning yourself, obviously), this is what it would smell like. On my skin: Wet, it's chocolate so intense that it makes Bliss feel like a pale, distant cousin. A half hour after application, and the Snake Oil is just starting to come out, drier than the chocolate. Ah... there's the Boomslang resemblance. About an hour in, the Snake Oil amps up to bring some solid backing to the chocolate note. Overall, though, this stays much more chocolate on me, though it is similar to Boomslang. If Boomslang wasn't chocolatey enough for you, this is probably the BPAL to try.
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In the decant: Tartly apply at first -- Granny Smith -- followed by caramel. Snake Oil doesn't assert itself at all. On my skin: Wet, it's again apple first, followed by Snake Oil, followed by caramel. I wonder how much of this is going to be a battle between the Snake Oil and the other notes. As it dries, however, the apple note becomes decidedly floral on me. Apple blossom and a touch of honeysuckle. The caramel wafts on the scent's throw but disappears when I stick my nose close to my skin. There's a touch of Snake Oil underneath, patch and vanilla, but it's very subtle. Yep. Floral and a bit of caramel. No real Snake Oil for me. Maybe I need to let this one age a bit as well.
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In the decant: A tart candy smell followed by something that smells like strawberry bubble gum. On my skin: Wet, Snake Oil comes through almost immediately, and both candy notes recede to the edges. As it dries, however, the Snake Oil drifts backward again, and it's all tart candy lollipop, with just a wee bit of Snake Oil grounding. The true lolli candy note is where this one stays. I suspect my decant wants some aging to make the Snake Oil grow up.
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In the decant: So. Much. Cherry. And sugar. Like the syrup in cherry cordial. What Snake Oil? On my skin: Wet, it's still very cherry syrup, but at least I can detect the Snake Oil underneath. As it dries, however, the cherry-on-crack quality subsides so it's cherries and soft sugar over Snake Oil. Huh. About half an hour later, and it's gone very sweet powdery on me... almost like O. It's not quite the same as that, but it's more reminiscent of O (at least at this stage) than it is of any other Snake Oil blend I've ever tried. Another hour, and it's still slightly cherry O. I've checked the label twice. Clearly, my skin chemistry is doing something weird with this blend. It's not unpleasant, but it's not at all what I was anticipating from this blend. I'm maybe going to set this down, wait two weeks, then test it again.