LavenderCoffee

Ohhh hello. Freshly applied this is reminding me of the coffee cardamom powerhouse Café Mille et une Nuits (shisha and thick coffee brewed with cardamom pods, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, and nutmeg) except, in spite of the dragon-y reputation of dbr, it becomes a sweeter, cozier café scent by comparison: as it wears throughout the day it's giving me a coffeehouse incense vibe. Subtle in terms of sillage and not overly resiny or musky. A very wearable dragon!

I keep forgetting to review this, but I can't stop wearing it. It's simple and perfect. Must love honey, and I'd call it appropriate for the oudh-curious. Not indolic on me at all. Plus if you've found the honey dust note a little too sweet in other blends, this warm woody oudh is a really nice counterpoint.

this is so, so good. I'm getting similar vibes as pbsw's pokeberry (berries/cocoa/wine/leather) but the musk and oak make it more complex and ever so slightly delightfully feral. early in the dry phase I can pick out every single note down to the toasty goodness from toasted sandalwood. the blackberry stays out of jam territory for me and adds a wonderfully rich dark purple facet. just wanna cuddle up and nuzzle this. I do have little cocoa blobs in my bottle so I would give it a bit of a shake to wake those up.

I slept on this last night and it was much muskier in the morning. it also layers gloriously with the honey dust/oudh duet if you want to punch up the sweetness by a notch, don't be scared of that oudh! I also really like the golden tobacco/beeswax duet on its own but I don't like it as much layered with the parent blend. overall this lunacy release was a really good one for me!

This one has rested a good bit and I think it needed it. I was not sure what to expect from golden tobacco but it is delightfully distinct from other tobacco notes I've smelled. There is indeed something golden about it: a light, warm, perfume quality, for lack of a better descriptor. The beeswax is lighter/less sweet than I was expecting, with a gentle earthiness that I suspect is contributing to an impression of soil others are getting.

Overall impression of the duet on its own is that of a high end skin scent, have not layered this with anything yet.

Edited to add: the beeswax really sticks to me and develops more of the honeyed aspect later in the wear - even though there's not much throw the weartime on this is great.

I was not sure what to expect from Treasure and it just so happens that I *adore* it. My skin definitely grabs onto the honey dust at first but it's not a honey dominant scent for the majority of the weartime. It doesn't strike me as particularly aquatic but it would absolutely be a gorgeous choice for a beach day. Glimmering and warm like the sun in shallow water. And I love the florals in this! the way the osmanthus connects the honey to the mimosa, and the mimosa connects to the grapefruit. All the lovely jewels in the box get to sparkle a bit.

I don't really have much to add to what's already been said but I will ramble a bit anyhow. I'm not usually a full on foodie person, and have not been particularly fond of either matcha or cheesecake scents to date, so I wasn't expecting to swoon so hard for this combo. it's perfect! the drydown is a swirl of vaguely fruity, powdery tea with the tangy sweet delight of the classic dessert, an elevated tea and cakes. more dry than creamy but that's not a complaint. super comforting.

this one has been consistent each of the three times I've worn it: a big hit of hazelnut when first applied, which disappears into the blend quickly. throughout most of the weartime I'm getting a gorgeous hay peeking through a haze of toasty carnation cream, and then by the end of the day (6-8 hours later) I'm wondering who's wearing the french vanilla single note - it's that awesome custardy rich vanilla. really lovely blend.

This is lovely. I wasn't sure what to expect from the calamus, and it really came out swinging when I tested it fresh out of the mail, skewing heavily towards spice. Now a few days later it's found a pleasant balance with the amber. There's a lemony sort of brightness to the scent without anything distinctly citrus or sharp, so it doesn't go anywhere near cleaning products. It's a fairly subtle bay as well, so I'm getting some fleeting hits of leafy green without getting hit over the head by it. Curious if this one will evolve more in the coming weeks as it rests, I really like it as it is and I keep sniffing myself. Seems very wearable without being plain. 

"I'm not the one to turn into a laurel wreath" (Tori Amos, Apollo's Frock) but I will be one to wear it in scent form!

This is such a happy match for me, my skin loves it and so do I. No idea if it would have worked for me when it was originally released, but the bottle I was lucky enough to snag just turned 10. It's perfection in my book: not too sharp nor too sweet, it almost reads a bit musky and has a pleasing amount of sillage.

On 7/1/2024 at 4:59 PM, elissamay said:

Pure Strawberry Nesquik frothed with marshmallows. Super sweet and PINK.

 

If you like your sweet a bit more dirty, layering with the Pink Moon Wild Stawberries & Patchouli is pure perfection. 

Ok, uncanny: just came to the forum to write this exact same review! Now I'm off to the store to get some Strawberry Nesquik.

Found a decant of this the other day and decided to wear it today. The osmanthus comes on strong at first, but then everything comes together and there's no single dominant note. The petrichor is so expertly applied here, and I love plum and benzoin together. Perfectly enchanting and achingly lovely.

I can't recall now when I acquired her but it was secondhand from someone here on the forum since 2020. At first the scent seemed a bit intense, as others have mentioned, so I've inadvertently aged it by passing over it for other options over time. I think I thought it had tobacco flower in it (that's Ginny), which is hit or miss for me, but this is straight up tobacco.

and it's really good now! A gorgeous dark rose that gives you the middle finger. Would not have guessed white rose at all. Starts primarily as rose/tobacco/patch for me, but the vanilla/oakmoss/myrrh pops out more later on.

This is gorgeous! Probably need to appreciate narcissus, as I do, but the honeyed tea and pear gently sweeten this sharper, headier note so nicely, and plum provides a stunning complement. I had to fish out Astronomical Twilight for a plum/narcissus comparison, but that one seems to have mellowed with time and this is so bright and fresh!

The snow is not a sweet snow, more of a crisp, outdoorsy atmospheric. Truly I just want to bury my face in the crook of my elbow for the rest of the day.

This simple combo is unexpectedly fresh and delicate, with a subtle, pleasantly earthy sweetness and an unobtrusive pulse of blood musk tying it all together. 

I am not getting candied or pickled ginger, and it's not even as sharp as I was expecting raw ginger to be. Plus the beet is a bit sweet, and the earthiness does not read as anything dirt or soil adjacent, so they just harmonize so perfectly. The musk got a bit bigger since I slathered this and let it settle in, but it's still way more mellow than any red musk blend I've tried recently.

Honestly I think I would have guessed vegetal musk, thanks to the beety goodness, or maybe I'm just not super familiar with blood musk. Either way it's not what I was imagining and I dig it. Give this one a try!

This one was a lovely surprise - I just wanted to see if you could pick out the smoked lilac, and you can, but I'm quite enamored with the composition as a whole. I don't get fresh lilac from this, I get a creamy lilac (more lilac butter than orris butter, but probably the combined effect) accented with vanilla and a hint of smoke and oakmoss. Very wearable.

Quicken the Soul goes on with a big boom of cacao, which is very much my jam, but then the cacao promptly settles in with the patchouli, which is also my jam. So there's a familiar base to the blend, but then the jasmine/chamomile/white tea in top range seems to stand out in contrast. These come across as a chord to me rather than as distinct notes, and it is a strangely dissonant one. I want to say there's something a bit rude about the way the base notes and top notes grapple with each other - it's definitely not just an omg jasmine moment for me - but I keep coming back to sniff at it anyway. Ultimately it comes together for me a bit more after it dries completely, but I can't quite describe it and it's got me a bit vexed!

I've had my decant for about three weeks and I kindof love that it still feels tumultuous and angsty. Dolores may be deadly but she's also elusive.

Whew, ok, tell me more about his hands! 😅 This is incredibly sexy and impossibly subtle on me, given the notes. Definitely getting opoponax, clove, and leather with hits of sleek vetiver and moss. I will wear this for sure, but this is also one of those where if I caught a whiff on someone else I'd be in trouble.

This scent is so heartbreakingly delicate! The waft is all purple lavender and sweet fig, but leaning in you can also pick up the cedar. A perfect distillation of quiet anguish.

This is a gorgeously dark dramatic scent. Old movie/noir glam is spot on. Also agree with samanare that there's a cashmere richness to it, although I came to say that I thought the orris butter was adding something pearlescent, but both can be true. My scent brain remembered In Time of Plague having similar notes, but that blend is quite stark and severe in comparison to this richness. Black rose is featured more prominently here and I think the oud pairing helps it smell more like a living rose than a dried one. Plus the kyphi is holding its own with the tobacco note, which adds more dimension.  

I've had this bottle since December 2020 and I only realized I never reviewed it when I wanted to compare it to one of the 2024 Lupers (Roses, Pearls, and Onyx). 

In the bottle and freshly applied, I get a big hit of dark rose, but as it settles on my skin, rose takes second place to tobacco, which reigns throughout wear. Opoponax remains very much in the background, denying any wisp of resiny sweetness, and although the clove is equally shy, the 'bitter' descriptor of that note is apt for the scent overall. This is not a scent for the living, it is a perfectly dried funereal scent for the dead. Something for the lurking-in-graveyards genre of goth. 

For me, the teak is peak! In a joyous union with the other notes, a creamy golden teak, well and truly glowing. It smells rich, in every sense of the word. A stunner.

When I first tested this tengu I couldn't really pick up on the peony and poppy. Now, a couple weeks later, they bring a rich, almost creamy floral heart to the scent that distinguishes it from other carnation/clove options. Only gently spiced and softly sweet, with wafts of subtle vanilla in the drydown. Lovely!

Opens with a big bushel of lemony hay, and just keeps getting better from there. The tobacco flower gains prominence and the pepper provides a nice accent. During my first skin test, I thought I could pick out magnolia clearly, but it's less distinct today. In the drydown I get more of the amber and soft brown leather, adding a sweeter depth to balance the bright chord of top notes. It lasts all day with a low to modest throw, feels very neutral and wearable but also elevated.

Thought this would be more outside my comfort zone with the tobacco flower, but I'm really enjoying it.

this one has me all twitterpated. I was initially struck by the dramatic colors on the label art, and hesitated to purchase based on the plum note, which can go either way for me depending on the blend. I'm so glad I took the leap! the opening is unexpectedly sweet - not sugary, but fruity - as the plum and tea combine, perhaps with the silk, which I tend to have trouble isolating. seems to make the other notes silky and smooth, but perhaps there is some sweetness there as well. as it dries and wears I can detect a flirtation of lilac if I search, and the atmospheric smoky metallic scent emerges to form the backdrop of the train station. the whole composition is gorgeously balanced, but I would say it is primarily a plum-tea-silk perfume. I slathered it yesterday and it stayed with me all day long, although it doesn't have a ton of throw. something you could easily wear every day that still feels special.

this is an odd one, it went on fizzy (champagne or soda?), then bloomed floral (something waxy like a lily?), and dried spicy (maybe ginger? cassia?). I'm not getting the soapy aspect others have mentioned but the floral backs off a lot for me on drydown. there might be a lemon or lime note hiding in there but my nose is confused by this journey.