mei

This one is simultaneously so fun and so comforting, zero regrets on blind bottling! I definitely get the yeasty bread note which is front and center for me, and right alongside that is the sugary buttery cookie dough - but no chocolate chips for me. Wafting in from the side is some greasy savory cooking oil from the fries, which turns this from a dessert gourmand to an atmospheric that absolutely brings me back to that mid-pandemic period when I couldn't leave my house for months at a time and was basically marinating in the smells of all sorts of baking experiments and takeout meals in my tiny apartment. Sure there was a lot of dread during that period, but this scent manages to capture the one joy during that time of being able to eat whatever I want all day in my sweatpants at home. I have to sniff real close to get the cotton, but it's there, and it just rounds off the scent to make it super cozy.

Surprise frottle from the lab, yay! Cherry tootsie pops was exactly what I thought when I applied it wet, but like with bitter chocolate and inside out - chocolate first, then some dark cherry candy lurking underneath. The dark chocolate and sarsaparilla work beautifully with the earthy, woody notes to smell less like candy you'd hand out at a birthday party and more like candy you'd give to the older kids chaperoning their siblings for trick-or-treat. But after a while l just smell like a clumsy kid who spilled Sarsi (the drink) on herself... where'd my yummy dark tootsie pops go?

A few-week old imp from the lab: Lotus tea paired with a delicate almond pastry. Not overly foodie or sweet. After a few hours, I've finished the almond pastry and am left savoring the fragrant lotus tea with lingering sweetness from the pastry. It's definitely yum, but less in the I want to jump you or nibble you sense and more in the I want to curl up next to you and maybe lick a small stripe of your neck sense. So, so beautiful and comforting.

I absolutely I do smell the roast turkey (or some sort of glazed meat), along with the pineapple and toffee and buttery pastries. But the meat is like honey-glazed ham, so it strangely kinda works with the rest of the sweet notes. No cherry on me though. It's like eating a hawaiian pizza and washing it down with a salted caramel milkshake. Very foodie, very fascinating.

I didn't even hesitate in blind-bottling this, and now I'm wondering why I didn't just order multiple bottles to begin with. Pomelo is one of my favourite fruits to just pick up and sniff (and sniff and sniff) and this is spot on! Perfectly ripe, juicy pomelo that only becomes sweeter (hello, white musk) throughout the day. Doesn't have a huge throw, but that's ok, I don't need strangers thinking I spilled pomelo juice all over myself. For those unfamiliar with the fruit, it's an ancestor of grapefruit and it smells both less acidic and less pith-bitter than its descendant.

Starts off as a cool, musky cedar with a smear of coconut. Eventually morphs into a grim expanse of ambergris and stays as so until it fades. No harsh frost, just a sense of desolation. I didn't get any of the coziness some of the other reviewers had.