Rayleigh

Oh, Gaueko, we could have been so nice together. In the imp, this is dark, brooding lavender coiled around smoky incense. A hazy, mysterious nighttime scent. Then I introduced it to my skin. Bye, lavender, bye, smoke. Hello weirdly gooey, caramelized note clawing to the top. Is that the tobacco? Or the labdanum? There's an overly-sweet tobacco variety that doesn't agree with my chemistry, but it tends to be more mulchy-damp than this. Gaueko seems to be a GC gem for many, and I can get whiffs of what makes it wonderful on others beneath the note I'm amping. But on me, this is a sickly sweet chemistry clash. I would still say this is worth a try for those looking for a darker take on lavender, because it could have worked so well. For an alternative darkly smoky scent, I would recommend Hellfire or The Scales of Deprivation. Hellfire has a much warmer smokiness, with a dose of mischief in the mystery. The Scales of Deprivation has smoky lavender and is drier, ashen, and complex.

This is a white floral, which means it was not made for me, but I appreciate what it is. I don't get any ginger, which I would have liked to make this stand out more to my nose. It starts off soapy, but turns into a clean, creamy floral blend. Good for hot weather and pretty -- I would love to spend time in a garden that smelled like this, and it would be beautiful in an oil diffuser. Moderate wear time, low throw.

This might be a super obvious one, but Bengal is one of my favorite spice blends (skin musk with honey, peppers, clove, cinnamon bark and ginger.) It started out pretty dry, but with age, it's melding beautifully. I find the honey secondary to the melange of spices, but other reviews mention a more honey-forward scent. It's been way too long since I wore it, and I really need to change that! I also like Bien Loin D'Ici (red musk, benzoin, caramel accord, golden honey, and spiced Moroccan unguents,) which might have a similar vibe to the Snake Oil with the red musk and honey. The unguents are definitely "spiced" rather than "spicy." It's a bit like a lighter tint of Scherezade + honey, and it's extremely smooth. Bard (bay rum, honey, and white musk mingling with the scent of harp wood and lute strings and the twang of horn brass) I only smelled once as I got it as a gift for someone else. I remember the rum being fairly spiced, and mingling perfectly with the honey, but it's been a while since I smelled it. I'll also second Mead Moon! It's spiced-honey blackberry goodness.

The vanilla-cedar from Tombstone, with a splash of warm mint. I have a hard time finding chocolate in most scents, and that's the case here. As it dries, the cedar settles and it sweetens up, and then I can pick up a bit of the pistachio. This is a recent frimp. I'm hoping pistachio comes up more as this ages, because it's such a fun note for a perfume. I still don't get much chocolate, but that's fine with me. The cedar saves this from going entirely foodie -- I'm sure the oak moss is helping, but I don't notice it much. This is a quixotic, cute little scent!

Narcissus lives up to its name and steals the spotlight away from what could have been a great scent. Myrrh and opium make for a smoky backdrop, but narcissus runs wild on my skin and turns into a sharp, screeching top note. The "just blown out candle" thing that other reviews mention is definitely there, but I just don't get much of it behind the narcissus. In theory, I like the contrast between bright and dark, but my chemistry is unkind to the balance. This would work well on anyone looking for a mysterious scent and whose skin gets along with narcissus.

This reminds me of Florida in October, where it rains regularly in ten-minute downpours, and the heat hangs in a haze and swelters in between. Damp, lush, vibrant flowers. The musk here seems like it's the same one in Wanda, which makes this a slinky, playful scent -- summertime Wanda, when it is too hot to wear her leathers. I get barely any mandarin -- citrus rolls off my skin like water off a duck, as usual. Most sniffs are musk and damp petals, but there are little sparks here and there -- I don't know how else to describe it. It's almost like the olfactory equivalent of pop rocks? Little jolts of fizzy brightness. It's weird and hard to explain, but I like it. Very good wear time, and it stayed consistent. Moderate throw. For being so humid, it's actually refreshing. It complements hot weather rather than being overpowering. It has interesting depth, a balance of sweetness and fierceness, and it's just fun. With this godawful endless heat wave, I've been reaching for this one a lot recently.

Love! I almost didn't try it at all because having lily water as the first listed component made me nervous, but I believe there is no such thing as a death note in the right company and this proves it. The lily here is identifiably lily, and distinctly lily water, but it's not overwhelming or high pitched, nor very aquatic. A little soapy right off the bat, but it doesn't stay that way. It blends perfectly with the resins and spice. It reminds me of the way lily petals feel, all hyper-smooth and soft. I love myrrh, and this is a great myrrh. It reminds me of the myrrh in Inez, which is rich and deep and spicy. I don't get much frankincense in the balance. The cardamom is more present when wet than dry, and then it all blends together so well I can't easily pick out other notes, and the dry spices get swept up in the creaminess of the lily. I don't get anything I can clearly identify as reeds or sand, though it does bring to mind an oasis scene, if mainly by power of suggestion and the contrast of the heat of the spices with the cooling lily water. Very unique in my collection. I like this more every time I wear it. Wonderful. Bottle for sure.

If you like carnation and you like incense, have I ever got good news for you! This is a big, full bloom, living carnation, mingled with a dark, rich incense. I can't identify what makes up the incense, but it's deep and smoky and complements the spicy floral. The carnation starts off almost bitter in its strength, but it rapidly intertwines with the incense and finds a balance. One never overpowers the other from there on out, and this sticks around a long time -- this is one of those blends that I applied in the afternoon, and could still smell faintly after waking up the next morning. I had high hopes for this one, as carnation and incense are among my favorite notes, and this easily lived up to expectations. Gorgeous.

Mmm. Smelling this is like getting a hug. The sugar has a bit of a citrusy note to it that I recognize from Dorian, and fortunately the sweetness is tamed by the creamy milk and a soothing, musky hay. It dries down to warm, vanilla-esque grains. It's a skin scent, with just enough throw that I can enjoy it throughout the day. This has broad appeal. Very cuddly-cozy, like taking a nap in the sunbeams.

Carnation mingled with vanilla and some added spices. The spices are softened by the vanilla and carnation. The first time I tried this, I found it surprisingly thin. It seems to have gained a bit of depth already, though it's still light. It is a joyful scent, for sure, and a pretty safe bet for anyone who likes spicy vanillas or carnation.

Love the brandied apricots, which are heady and tart and not at all syrupy on me. The woodsy notes overtake the apricot shortly, with the smallest splash of vanilla. I'm sure the musk is there, but it isn't very prominent. For how strong it went on, this faded away fast. I enjoyed how realistic the apricot was, but it didn't stand a chance of lasting against my fruit-eating skin. Pass on a bottle, but a fun one to try and think about apricot season.

Very jasmine. The beeswax is in the background, and with a hint of neroli and myrrh smoke. The peppercorn is spicing up the jasmine. This one comes across as a smush of notes competing with each other (jasmine is winning) rather than a cohesive whole. I do like the freshness of the jasmine and the neroli mingled with the resins and beeswax that this settles into a few hours into the wear time. I expect it to settle and meld more with time -- the distant dry stage is promising for that -- but it isn't there yet.

Light, sweet, soft, and downy. Slightly dusty. Calming. White honey is a more soft-spoken variant, because I wouldn't have identified this as a honey blend. Star jasmine is a lot more mellow than the other varieties of jasmine, as well. It smells like some sort of pale gold flower nectar. I'm rarely in a mood for florals, but this is a nice one for when I am. A walk through the wildflowers on a mild spring day. Alternatively, just after sunrise in the summer before the heat rolls in, reading poetry on the porch swing.

Spicy, earthy carnation, given some grit around the edges by the leather, patchouli, and balsam. Unexpectedly fleeting. I had to search for it on my wrist to smell it, and it stayed quiet the whole wear time, though it ended up lasting a long time.

This seems to be one of those hit-or-miss blends, and on me, it's a clear miss. I'm getting all of the advertised cynicism, and none of the redemptive softness others are finding. Bitter and medicinal, with a sharp edge and overlying dustiness. Opoponax, frankincense, and beeswax are usually safe notes for me, but they aren't strong enough to hold back the bitterness. I have not tried mimosa or linden blossom before, and I can't tell if one of those notes is going medicinal, or if it's some emergent property of the resins and flowers not agreeing with each other on my skin. This one isn't for me. It does make for a perfect partner to the poem that inspired it, though.

Goes on like rolling down a hill. A faceful of green grass! The grass is a cousin of the dead leaves note, similarly vegetal but distinctly green and fresh. Then comes the vanilla and coconut, and they play leapfrog with the grass for dominance for a while. It's not at all a suntan lotion coconut. The fig is very subtle, as I usually pick out fig immediately and I can barely find it here. The throw is all tropics, all the time. It's a strong throw, too. Long wear time, ending up as mostly a vanilla'd coconut. A scent to wear somewhere balmy and green, green, green.

Something in here reminds me of the Antikythera Mechanism? I don't know why. This is my first blend with copal, and I already love it. I haven't had a miss yet on my journey to become the number one fan of resins. But the issue is that Antikythera Mechanism had all the ingredients of something I would have loved, but it went funky on me. This has just a hint of that funk -- which I'm pretty sure was the tobacco there, so I'm not sure what it could be in this one. This is unfortunate, because I really like the blend otherwise. It's an earthy, resinous vanilla blend, which is my jam. Most sniffs are lovely, but that note keeps creeping in around the edges. I'll give my decant another whirl, because this is an almost hit on me, and I think it will be great on a lot of other people.

Fresh, pale green sap. Lightly sweet and cool, like rubbing aloe gel between your fingers. The juniper is clean and berry-soft, not crisp or sharp as the non-berry version can be. The sandalwood is pretty subtle on me. Soothing and mellow. Unfortunately, fresh scents like this get eaten alive by my skin chemistry, so it's gone in a flash. I'm glad I tried it, though!

Cozy, milky, and soft. This is gentle and fuzzy. The creaminess and wool are apparent. The coffee is much less so, but it's there. The only issue is that this is vanishingly faint on me. It lasts longer on fabric, but it's also more perfume-y on fabric than it is on my skin. This seems to be the same wool note that I adore in Cozy Pumpkin Sweater, but minus the spices and with a glass of milk in their place.

Beautifully blended. Champaca is the easiest note to identify, and the bourbon vanilla. This is a deep, smooth, resin-y incense. It's just a touch too strong on the grape-like note for me right now, but I have enjoyed it every time I tested it and I haven't ruled out a bottle. It gives me a steady, calm feeling, and I like how it seems to have layers in its waft, despite not morphing much throughout its long wear time.

This really glows. Strong, radiant beeswax and amber. It lasts ages, all through the next day after applying, with powerful throw. This is the purest essence of beeswax, buffeted by a deep amber. It really feels like being surrounded in a circle of radiant warmth. It's a little overpowering, actually, but I find it compelling even so.

Everyone has already nailed the description of this: pink mermaid musk. The bubblegum from the lotus only lasts briefly. Despite the three ambers, this doesn't register as much of an "amber perfume" type of blend. This is creamy and shimmery, with sugared pink grapefruit musk and a trickle of sea salt. Smooth, pearly pink in liquid form, but it's more understated and refined than that description probably sounds. A perfect scent for lounging in a hammock near the waterfront.

A big morpher on me. It starts out with a strong, plastick-y black leather, but it doesn't take long for some dust from the pages and a coffee-esque acidity to emerge. Now, if it would freeze at that stage, it wouldn't be my favorite "book" scent (it has some stiff competition!), but it would be a good encapsulation of its subject. Unfortunately, it starts getting sweeter and doesn't quite know how to stop. Within about two hours, it's mostly vanilla ice cream. It reminds me of benzoin, but I don't usually amp benzoin. This would be a more helpful review if I knew what was turning this so sweet. This is interesting, and the middle stage is nice, but I have other olfactory books that I prefer and that play better with my chemistry.

This was a pleasant surprise. I'm not much of a white floral fan, and jasmine can be a Bit Much for me. I wanted to try this one for some reason, regardless that I didn't expect it to work on me. It goes on with the expected poof of jasmine, but almost immediately the rest of the notes rise up and tell jasmine to chill and stop hogging the spotlight. From there, it stays as a softly floral, creamy, cool scent that is powerfully reminiscent of the height of summertime, and the way those welcome breezes smell on a hot night. The cognac is subtle but provides depth. The honey cream is way in the background until much later in the wear. This lasts for hours and hours, but unfortunately, after a certain point, it loses its balance and gets a little syrupy. That's about when it wears out its welcome, mainly by being so far from the scents I usually prefer. Ultimately, this just isn't My Thing, though it gets closer than I expected. If it's Your Thing, or even Your-Thing-adjacent, it's worth a whirl. It's certainly proof that it's worth giving a chance to notes that are generally outside my wheelhouse.

Smooth and warm. A lot of frankincense and ambergris, but it's extremely well blended. It lasted all day without losing much of its strength, and the only change was that I could pick up on the hay more and the ambergris got stronger. A bright, charismatic resin blend.