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Showing results for tags 'Art of the Unicorn'.
Found 28 results
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Patchouli absolute, white orris, agarwood, and ambrette seed. Wow. Something comes across as honey or beeswax ish which I can't stand on my skin. In the next 15 minutes it transforms and blossoms...the patchouli and orris are a great combo. It reminds me of an earthier Dance of Death (which I love) and then I think I start smelling the ambrette and it turns into an almost sweet, sensual outdoorsy scent. Whatever it is, it smells comforting and I can only imagine how well this will age. It feels like a late Autumn scent to me, so I will put it away till then. Another beautiful creation and I am happy to have a bottle. ETA: I give. I cannot stop huffing my wrists...it feels like Our Lady of Pain with the lavender replaced with orris...feels. Absolute love. I think I need a bottle to cellar...anyone waffling on this? Don't. It is a masterpiece. ETA 2: this keeps getting better. I had to edit the funky bit I wrote because it just isn't happening anymore. Pure love.
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Sugared peony and rose-tinted vanilla with mallow, white musk, lavender buds, and a touch of apricot. This unicorn starts off with a delicious mix of lavender (sweet & powdery, not herbal), vanilla, and mallow. It's a fluffy purple cloud of a scent that reminds me of a sweeter version of TKO. After a while, the scent smoothly morphs to a sugary, musky pink floral. I never picked up on apricot, but perhaps that will come with settling/age.
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White sandalwood and tonka with sweet tobacco incense, vanilla-infused mahogany, rum absolute, and golden oudh. In the bottle, and as the first impression on my skin, St. Clare leads with tobacco. To this point I've mostly found that I can't do tobacco-heavy blends, and that the leaves are just good for me as a support note, like how it blends into an earthy base in Gaueko. But this is a lush tobacco, not dry or jarring, and I think it's changing my mind. Not just it, I guess, but the way it plays in this blend: there's a warm, deep, and almost sugary vanillic tone to the rest, a little bit woody, and very full, from the vanilla mahogany and... I guess tonka, but when I smell this I want to say benzoin, too. The whole is colored with a golden vapor of rum, warm and a little caramelly. The golden warmth might be coming from the oudh. I was afraid of the tobacco and rum but, on me, the former is lovely, and the latter is a lovely support. This'll be a precious for late summer and fall, that time of year for temperature warmth shifting to color warmth. Love.
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Blushing rosehips, pink rose petals, and vanilla cream with white jasmine and a drop of bergamot. This unicorn starts off as a naturally sweet & juicy rose with just a hint of bergamot. Eventually the jasmine shows up in the background. The white jasmine is different from the typical jasmine notes, it is smoother, less perfumey, and quite lovely. The drydown is a sugary rosey-vanilla.
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White sandalwood, black currant, and pomegranate. In the bottle - Berries and sandalwood. Heavy on the latter. Wet - Sandalwood and I get along great, so it’s no surprise that it turns silky smooth the minute it hits my skin. Man, this is teetering on the edge of gourmand. The sandalwood grounds it juuuust enough … or does it? I don’t care; I love foody scents. Drydown - The fruits are marinating in a gorgeously creamy bed of sandalwood. I feel like the blend is actually getting juicier as it wears on, and I’m even slightly reminded of winter cranberries. Not sure where that’s coming from. The sandalwood core emerges gradually as the hours wear on and the berries fade. Thankfully, the currants start acting a lot more like themselves: sweet and a bit spicy. (Actually, they’re authentic enough to trigger flashbacks to when Eat Me was in heavy rotation.) Verdict - I can’t shake the Eat Me comparison now. Hah! I wish the pomegranate had come out to play a little bit more, but my skin chemistry tends to eat it up. Still, Prosperine is a solid blend that will get steady wear from me as we transition from fall to winter.
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White oak, pine pitch, and a shattered shard of golden amber. In the bottle - Gentle oak with a nip of pine about it. It’s foresty, but despite the pine it’s not a “cold” forest. Wet - Wow, that’s getting sharp. It feels like there’s something green in there, which doesn’t quite fit with the scent description. Maybe the white oak is throwing me? I think I've only tried blends with plain ol' oak in there. Except this scent doesn’t smell like a woodsy, freshly-chopped trees kinda green ... more like mossy rocks green. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t like it as much as I did in the bottle, but this isn’t a dealbreaker. Drydown - Ahh, THERE it is. Amber saves the day. Everything evened out and I’m quite pleased with where it ended up. If I had to sum it up, I guess I’d say golden woods in the family of Haloes? But that's not quite it. If Haloes smells like a sunlight-dappled grove, King Pursued would be a forest where all the trees are gilded with gold leaf. There, that's the best I can do. Verdict - King Pursued has an elegance befitting its name. I’m cuckoo for woodsy scents, so this was right up my alley. This unicorn has definitely earned a spot in my stable of staples.
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Dark myrrh, teakwood, olive blossom, a scattering of crushed asphodel petals, and a drop of green cognac. This is such a clean, woody scent. The olive blossom, asphodel, and cognac are the front winners while it's wet. As it dries, the teak wood starts to peek out to say hello, but only subtly. This would smell amazing on my husband. Such a lovely, subtle manly scent.
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White leather, opal musk, and amber-limned rose. Wet on my skin, roses and soft leather remind me of The Book. This isn't a bad thing, because that's my favorite rose blend to date. The roses lean more pink than I anticipated, but as in The Book, it kind of smells to me like there might be some red in there, too. I smell white leather and sometimes smell a soft, light tan leather with it. It gives the white leather more depth. Drying, Boticelli's Unicorn is like The Book with less vanilla and more amber and musk. The opal musk. There's something a little fruity-floral in it, something that smells to me like a tiny red-purple gleam almost lost amongst the dominant notes, but mostly, this is roses wrapped in soft, pale leather. I love this.
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A sugared rainbow: strawberry, blood orange, lemon peel, lime, blueberry, raspberry, and blackcurrant. Really nervous about being the first to review, but....this scent! In the bottle it's a veritable explosion of skittles goodness (confirmed by husband who thinks a lot of BPAL is 'babypowder') On the skin, I smell the blueberry, raspberry, lemon and lime. It's a sugary rainbowy skittles sweet fun-time scent. I want to cover my black heart in rainbows and butterflies and run around giving people candy. The lemon-lime gives it a soda-y kinda effervescence and tang. Smells like Sprite with raspberries and blueberries, totally a good thing in my opinion. I have a sinking feeling it'll be eaten up by my skin, but I don't regret blind-buying this bottle.
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Sweet red amber and red currant swirled with bourbon vetiver, cassis, mimosa blossom, and red wine grape. A little woody in the bottle, but very berry on the skin. Still wet; I almost thought it was too sweet & spiced (I made my husband take a whiff and he said "Christmas."), but after it dried, the berries evened out with the amber and vetiver making it a less "festive" spice and more comforting like an oaky cabernet with pie. I really, really love this after about an hour. Now I have to get my husband to quit singing Carol of the Bells.
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Watery cerulean musk winding through crushed grass, apple blossom, wild mint, and pine needles. Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: The musk is probably on the blue/green side enough that it won't amp the other notes to death. I love apple blossom and mint. I like pine and can tolerate grass. In the Bottle: VERY apple blossom! The pine and grass make it smell like being in an orchard in bloom. A beautiful blast of spring. Wet: Hello, musk. Please don't amp too much, musk. I really really like the apple orchard scent and want to keep some of it. Drydown: Thank you, musk. Deepening the scent and adding a hint of a stream through the orchard is nice. That's just right. I'm going to just assume the mint is hanging around, keeping things cool without shouting its presence. Verdict: This is a must-try if you love apple blossom. If you were hoping for a lot of mint, try a decant first.
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Florentine orris butter, red sandalwood, white patchouli, leather accord, and ambrette musk with a drifting eddy of King mandarin, wild bergamot, bourbon vanilla, and gold-limned saffron. Mythological Scene reminds me of a lot of the Phoenix anniversary blends at first, in that it has a warm, glowing feel underneath darker notes. In the drydown, it reminds me a bit of Morocco. The red sandalwood is prominent, giving off a warm, almost incensey woods note, with the mandarin giving it a sweet, citrus brightness. The patchouli and leather add a dark, earthy hint, but that's barely there on my skin, and I have to really search for the leather, especially in the drydown. In the drydown, this is mostly vanilla and sandalwood on me, with the orris giving it a plush, powdery softness. Woody, warm, red sandalwood and creamy vanilla with a hint of powdery orris. I smell a soft, white, suede-like leather every once in a while, but mostly this is a soft vanilla-sandalwood. -
Frankincense, dried red roses, and myrrh with soft orris, labdanum, and red clove. In the bottle, Crucifixion smells to me like frankincense, dried red roses, and a little myrrh sweetened with clove. On my skin, my first thought is that the red roses are too dried for me, which was my only concern about this one... but after a few moments on me, they become more like very mature roses, perhaps in their last night of full bloom before they start to wither. The frankincense is prominent up front, too. It's not as grainy as in some frank blends; it's more smooth. After a while I find the labdanum coming out, but it always seems like a note permanently in stealth mode to me. Around the same time, the clove grows on my skin, but it's still acting as a support note. This is a spicy floriental rather than a floral or resinous spice, if that makes sense. The throw on me is a lower than I expected; age might change this, but it's a close skin scent for now. I like this as it is, but I'm very eager to know what it'll be like in a few months or more. ETA: This is beautiful layered with Rose Cross for a fresher and deeper combined rose note.
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The palest of green mosses, mist rose, white pear, white incense, white sandalwood, and a hint of vanilla. Pale, misty mosses indeed. I spilled a little Virgin and the Unicorn on my arm so it's stronger than it would normally be -- but wow. I'm sitting in a Virgin cloud. I feel a bit lost in its initial dense mist of tranquil, pale green moss and a muted pinkish-purple floral that seems to be the roses mingled with a more delicate flower I can't place. I also catch a fresh, glistening pear, not dominant, and more like a sheer overlay. As this dries, the faint pear recedes, and incense comes out strongly on my skin, emerging from the mist. I don't know what kind of incense it is, but it smells white, as listed, and powdery. The powdery quality doesn't bother me in this case, though. After a while, the white sandalwood comes out, its paleness closely pairing it to the incense. I never pick out vanilla. I find Virgin perfumey. Not alcohol-smelling, but perfumey. It's also summery, a blend filled with the muted colors of lazy dreams, the colors you might dream in if you fell asleep in a sunlit hammock, your eyelids awash in light.
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Honey cake hair gloss. So. Sharing of the Cake between the Lion and the Unicorn. When I first sprayed it, all I could think was that this smelled like the White Bees Swarming HG. I'd say it's the same honey note, and just like with White Bees Swarming, it's potent. I got a whiff before the mist of spray settled and was almost knocked over by how strong the honey is. After a minute, though, the cake came out and it turned into a nice, sweet blend that doesn't tip over into more cloying, headache-y territory. The honey stays prominent. Oh, and this does not smell like Eat Me's cake note. Sharing of the Cake isn't as much of an in-your-face "THIS IS CAKE" kind of scent. Coworkers and friends aren't going to wonder if you smashed up a cupcake in your hair or anything, and I really like that. It's a gentle, wearable scent. I'd say medium throw; it sticks pretty close to my hair, but every now and then I get a whiff of it after turning my head.
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Wooly musk, soft leather, cashmere, cardamom, and leather oudh. This one is really subtle. It starts with a warm, slightly sweet musk, with a touch of brown leather. The cardamom peeks out in the drydown, so it's sweet and a little... Not incense, but toasty? Must be the oudh. It's pretty close wearing, but not invisible. It's going to be really great when the weather cools down. Overall, very smooth and sweet with a bit of spices. I can definitely see how this one's a little "wooly"!
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Red soil and scattered pine needles, acorn husks and pine cones, burgundy pitch and oak leaves, drooping black cedar branches, woodmoss, and a cluster of pale, poisonous berries. Wow...I've never been first to review a scent. I hate to give a partially negative review but this isn't what I was hoping for. In the bottle it smells like being in the woods but on the skin it was all dirt. I could barely smell any other notes.After about 15 minutes the soil dies down some and I get some pine and what I think might be the acorn husks and leaves.There is a smidge of the berries. Getting past the soil part is difficult (for me) but it does get better as it goes. I'm going to retest later and will update my review if needed. Others may have a completely different reaction to this. I'm eager to read other reviews. ETA I should have explained that I can only take dirt notes in small quantities but honestly this is growing on me....☺ Note to self:do not try on heavier oils when you are just getting over the stomach flu and it's 90° outside. I feel this will work better as a Fall/Winter scent. It's a bit overwhelming in the heat. Funny thing:I went outside after it rained today and the air smelled a lot like this oil!
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Golden amber, leather, and tonka with Ceylon cinnamon bark, clove, myrrh, cacao, and star anise. Woohoo, first review! At first sniff, Saint Justina reminds me a lot of a mellow "The Avenue." I think its the warm cocoa and sharp, nose tingling spice. As it dries down the cinnamon starts to take over. I'm always cautious w/cinnamon b/c I amp the hell out of it, but this is actually working for me. It's soft, smooth, and understated and doesn't meander into Christmas potpourri or red hots territory. I get a little bit of amber and leather, but only because I know to look for it. The anise in this is not licoricey. More the dry, spicey type, like in the Robotic Scarab, but I like it here a lot more. The cocoa has softened into the background and this has lost all claim on being a gourmand, but it's still lovely. Overall, this is warm, gentle, creamy-sweet spices on me with a touch of cocoa, and I'll really enjoy wearing it once it starts getting cooler.
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Vanilla crepe de chine, ruby musk, golden amber, frankincense, honeyed saffron, smoked cardamom, sweet orange, star anise, and bronze fennel. This is SOOOOOO good. When I opened my package from the Trading Post, this heavenly scent wafted up to me and I knew I had done well. "Portrait of a Young Woman..." Is extremely well blended, and I really have a hard time seperating the notes. What I get most is a light sweet orange resting gently over a luxurious bed of rich amber and velvety red musk. There's a sort of smokiness to the scent that I find intriguing and something almost comes across to my nose as a dry cocoa note. Little wafts of vanilla trickle in at dry down, but over all this is just a beautiful, incensey, musky masterpiece. So glad I splurged on this one! ETA: I really just love this. One of my top 10, and strongly considering buying a second bottle, which I do next to never. Also, I work at a job where I do lots of physical labor w/my hair up, but this stuff lasts through all of it for days. When I let my hair down, it's just a blanket of heavenly descending.
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Ethereal white orris, pale early lilacs, mallow flower, Queen of the Night, white moss, and dusk-lit mist. Origin: Straight from the Lab Initial Thoughts: The notes list reads like the pale florals I love. We'll find out. In the Bottle: Interesting. It's rather green and a touch aquatic mixed in with very gentle florals. Wet: Lots of lilac to start with that watery thread from before. Drydown: It takes an interesting turn and I'm not sure how to pinpoint what it is. Not so aquatic and the green is soft. Something in here, and I'm not sure what, is actually giving a lot of sweetness to the scent. Verdict: A gentle, sweet floral that I could easily wear to work. Intriguing and lovely. -
White tea and gardenia softly glowing with opal iris, white musk, and lavender. Origin: Straight from the Post Initial Thoughts: I love gardenia and lavender. I can do white musk. Nothing against iris and tea. Worth a try. In the Bottle: Very strong in the lavender department, with some tea in there as well. If it stays like this, it has potential in my bedtime routine. On Wet Hair: I get a huge blast of lemon from somewhere, and then it settles into lavender and gardenia. After Blowdrying: It ends up a pretty quiet scent. The tea emerges and and has the florals dancing all around it. The musk is a soft note in the blend. Verdict: If you're looking for a sophisticated floral that isn't too powerful to wear to work, this might be it for you. I'm definitely keeping my bottle - we'll see if I need a backup.
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Dew-touched grass and tulsi, gleaming with muguet des bois, fir balsam, ti leaf, and violet leaf. Grass! The opening is pretty much like Egg Hunt Grass Stain. Muguet creeps out later on, but the green still dominates. Even with the edge of grass blade dulled as the time goes on, the scent is consistently on the fresh plant side, leaves adding to the greenery rather than providing herbal effect. Tulsi sweetens the mixture in the drydown, but only barely, just to take away the bitterness of freshly cut plant. I was worried about fir balsam adding a note too masculine for my taste, but it wasn't the case - it was a part of the background blend. I tried four unicorn scents (including this one) so far, and all four have been well blended. Some had a dominant note, some didn't, and this one definitely did - that fresh greenery. Everything else is there to prop it up. Wear length was moderate.
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Dried patchouli leaf, brown amber, woodmoss, red currant, labdanum, khus, and wild plum. I was looking for a fall atmo, and I have high hopes that with this collection of notes this will work well for that. Mmm. This is so good. Warm, woody. The patchouli is fairly dominant, but combines with currant I can't stop sniffing it (patchouli and currant is a favourite combo of mine). I keep getting hints of something that reminds me of sassafras/sarsaparilla - I wonder if that's the labdanum? It usually reminds me more of Cola than Root Beer, but either way, LOVELY. Overall this is warm and woody, with hints of fruit, just the right amount of sweetness, and a faint impression of something I can't put my finger on (that's super helpful, right? Lol) I love it and will use it this Autumn, just as I had hoped!! ETA: This is the warm, dry, woody version of Patchouli - not at all chewy or gnarly. A very different Patchouli note than Revenant Rhythm. Just thought I would add that.
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Gilded amber saffron, indigo chypre, pearled gardenia, blackcurrant, ylang ylang, frankincense, fir needle, and white patchouli. In the bottle - This is a doozy. There's a lot going on, and my poor nose is having a heck of a time trying to suss anything out. Definitely smells like the color green, but it's not a grassy-type "green perfume" if you get what I'm saying. Wet - Really well blended. Every time I put my nose to my wrist I'm smelling something different. A hint of floral here, a hint of sweetness there, a whiff of patchouli over there. It's giving me the sense of rushing water, but it's not an aquatic. And then, all of a sudden, it feels like I'm in a spring meadow. For a split second I'm eating a pastry, and then I'm walking in a garden. I don't know what to make of this, though I sure like it so far. I realize I'm giving the impression that it's a morpher, but it's not at all! It's just SO well blended that the tiniest little edge of a note will catch the light (or the nose) from one minute to the next. Drydown - Ooh, more of the amber-saffron is coming out. Not quite sure which, but it's golden for sure. Fir is one of the things I tend to amp, and I'm getting more of it now. It's not overpowering by any means. The softer components are tempering the notes that tend to go loud on my skin. I usually hate frankincense because it makes me stink to high heaven. Luckily, I can't even tell it's in here. Ditto on the patchouli, although that might just be because it's white patch. The longer I wear this the more I like it. Verdict - This may very well be a new favorite. It's interesting enough to keep me sniffing all day, and long-lasting enough to make that possible. Plus its mild sillage means it's OK for cubicle wear -- another bonus. So glad I blind bought this. Creation for the win.
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White amber and pale blossoms with white ginger, green apple, and tonka. I love this. It's even better than I hoped. Mostly green apple, but not that icky fake green apple that you're accustomed to from typical air fresheners. This smells like real, fresh, tart, green apple, with a good zing of ginger. The amber and Tonka ground it nicely and give it some real lasting power, as well as some sweetness. The florals are barely there, and I could not identify them to save my life, but I wouldn't be surprised if apple blossom was in there too, adding to the overall apple feel. This is gorgeous, and I will use it for the rest of the summer and then tuck it away for next spring.
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