Arkham

[Lucchesa]

A shadowy, unapproachable forest of maple, birch, dogwood, cypress and pine softened by a garland of New England wildflowers: bergamot, columbine, rue anemone, blue violet, creeping phlox, bloodroot, toadflax, and pixie moss.

 

This is sweeter than I expected and sunnier. I didn't get any evergreen notes, which can sometimes take over completely on my skin. Just a nice balance of greenery and floral scents, a little bergamot, some violets peeking out. Quite lovely!

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: Trees, yes, but more flowers and citrus than I expected! It's actually quite bright and pretty.

 

 

Dry: This gets almost candy sweet on me - verging on sickly. I think that's the violet, which I had failed to notice in the note list previously. Not for me!

[roseus]

In the imp: bright sparkling and herbal. Getting a hint of pine and maybe juniper?

 

Wet: Smoothing out a bit, but still smells like a bright sunlit forest.

 

Dry: Mossy and woodsy. Still bright, maybe a touch of citrus? Looking at the notes this makes sense but I wish I got more flowers. Moss tends to amp on me. A very pretty woods scent but not my thing!

[Bones613]

On me, this is mostly floral. The first time I tried it, the florals and the woods combined into an unpleasant, sharp, biting combination. However, I gave it a second shot, and I'm glad I did. It's never going to be one of my favorite scents, but the floral elements blend well with the woods into a scent that feels like viewing an old picture of a New England meadow. The woods are still pretty "biting" on me, and not like my favorite wood scents, which are smoother, and the florals are a bit too strong for me.

[doomsday_disco]

In the imp: An evergreen forest on a warm, spring day, with a field of sweet wildflowers right beside it.

 

Wet: The evergreen notes stand out to me more on my skin than they did in the imp, but the sweet wildflowers make this forest seem inviting as opposed to unapproachable, and they end up dominating the scent in no time. It is hard to discern which of the flowers I'm smelling. But I do think I can smell the blue violet and the phlox, and the scent only seems to be getting sweeter over time.

 

Dry: The florals are really cloying during this phase... with the violet being one of the main culprits. I cannot smell any of the forest anymore. It's sweet florals, all of the time.

 

Verdict: I thought this was really promising at first, but some of the wildflowers in this end up being too cloying on me (violet, I'm mostly looking at you). I also wish the tree notes weren't so fleeting. I'd enjoy this as a room scent, but don't think I'd reach for it over something like Elf. Still, I'm really glad I got to try it!

[quigza]

This is very sweet. Like, honeysuckle mixed with dragons blood level of sweet. Very faintly get the violet - I do not blame violet for this level of sweetness. Theres something not listed that is making it ridiculously sweet. There is a touch of something green, do not get Evergreen though. Juniper, I think. The flowers are muddled, not very distinct. I can only pick out the violet because it starts making things smell like sweet tarts candy after dry down. Eventually, it is sweet tart candy, and slightly soapy juniper floral.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Lemonlife

[Pika]

I wasn't expecting this to be as sweet and floral. It's pleasant, initially more green and wet, then drying to more pure floral. There's a little bite of evergreen or leaf/moss that lingers, but it's very subtle. I think "pleasant" is the right word... not love, but nice, and not as shadowy/dark/mouldery as I expected. I could actually see wearing this during the current season (spring/early summer).

[donkehpoo]

Wet: Floral, forest-like... shampoo. Expensive, classy shampoo! ... But shampoo. Poo.

 

Dry: There's an unexpected sweetness creeping in. Almost candy-like. I have no idea what it could be, but... it's still got the shampoo scent going on.

 

Not my thing.

[monocainsheresy]

Bright green! Not in an aggressive or gooey way - sweet like sap, sunny, airy - spring in a bottle. Like un-boozy Absinthe.

Warning: this will attract bees

[sionnain]

In the (4-5 y.o) imp: Green and quite sharp, almost bitter. Maybe something mossy?

Wet: This sweetens up pretty quickly on me – I’m getting mostly birch with some maple, moss and something flowery. I don’t pick up much cypress or pine.

Dry: The florals come out a lot more as it dries. I’m pretty sure I recognise the toadflax, and there’s a little bit of violet; some of the flowers I can’t identify are a bit high pitched and sharp (or is that the moss? I have no idea). It lasts easily 7 hours or more on me, and sometimes a trace is still there the next day.

Overall it’s quite a lovely spring scent, but I remember it being pretty sharp and headachey when I first got it. I do really like what it’s aged into, but the cypress and pine weren’t ever noticeable like I might have hoped, and you’d want to be a flower fan to really enjoy this one.
 

[cyborgutena]

Unfortunately, too herbal sickly-sweet for me. There's so many notes that I'm not sure what is what.

 

Wet, the scent is all green and has a sort of sharp freshness on the top. There's also a herbal sweetness somewhere in there that I dislike and I'm not sure which note it is. It might be the result of the greens mixed with the sweeter florals. To me, it's more the 'softened' part than the 'shadowy, unapproachable forest'.

 

As it dries down, the sweetness lingers and even becomes a little more prominent. Unfortunately, whatever note/s I'm smelling here means this scent isn't for me. It registers as 'medicinal' in my brain.

Edited December 30, 2018 by cyborgutena
posted slightly too soon

[FebruaryOwen]

This is an imp from 2015.  Arkham was a scent I was excited for, as I've lived in New England my whole life, particularly in the woods.  

In bottle: sweet sweet florals, with a whiff of bubblegum?

On skin: still mostly florals.  Weirdly when I breathe it in deeply it almost reminds me of the cabin we used to stay at on the Cape as young kids, it was way out in the woods but on a lil pond with a tiny beach.  A bit soapy

After a few hours: floral!  I dig it.

Definitely keeping the imp, and considering a full bottle in the future.  

[RoseThornAndOak]

Arkham is floral + soft woods (not super piney or anything) with a bit of an oceanic breeze on my skin. It's very creepy and atmospheric, like an old inn by the seaside that may or may not be made of driftwood, and there's flowers in the window sill, the moon is shining and the sea breeze is wafting in, but there's something very not right about the place. 

 

In other words its perfect. 

[artisjok]

Arkham is primarily sweet powdery florals on me. There’s a touch of freshness and an atmospheric sensation that does remind me of wandering about the wild. At one point it develops a grape smell, though it’s a fleeting phase. 
I wish it were mainly woods with a touch of floral, yet it’s lovely in its way. Not something I’ll reach for to wear. I might keep it for my oil burner on a bright happy day. 

[myrrhmyrrh]

In the vial: a forest I’d like to play and explore in, one with clearings full of flowers, none specific to the nose, they just all join into a chorus of different delightful odors with just the hint of something darker lurking just beyond the pale of your vision

 

On me, wet: some of the flowers come clearer but I can’t tell which - A fresh spring day in a Rhode Island copse, but there is still something else perhaps less entirely joyful here, menacing.

 

On me, just dried: Can I differentiate bergamot and violet, perhaps cypress too? Or is it my imagination? A resin of some kind underneath, or something rooting into the dark earth below ...

 

After 15 minutes: ooh, the floral is now all sweetness and innocence, something honeyed even

 

After 30 minutes: still very sweet but that lower note begins to emerge from the shadowy treeline

 

After 1 hour: more the bouquet of wildflowers. I am reminded of Alice Hoffman’s Red Garden.

 

After 3 hours: this is one stubborn floral, especially for wildflowers. It’s faint but still has a ghostly presence, a phantom nosegay

 

Verdict- I mostly don’t have much luck with frimps, but this is one I could see myself ordering- I am a floral through and through and this one sticks around for hours.

[zazkea]

- tested based on a frimp that might be a few years old-

 

Walking through a bright green forest, with white flowers along the path you take. Rays of sunlight are caught between the trees' shadows. The steps you take are soft, as if embedded or embraced by moss beneath your feet.

Some of the flowers along the way might be magical, but not poisonous, more like bringing some  renewed energy.
Ah, and probably, you're the giant in the family, but you're related to pixies somewhere in your blood origin, decades, what do I say, a few hundred of years, ago. You're probably on your way to your garden, located in the woods, but you would never get your hands dirty, you will let the flowers fly out of the soil, so your hands stay clean.

 

Ok back to the scent, not the image it provokes for me:
Well-balanced: hard for me to distinguish individual notes, as cypress for example intermingles with bright moss and wildflowers.

I might have expected more pine, but I don't smell it at all, it's way sweeter.

 

In sum: bright, calm, flowery, and not woodsy on my skin. I like flower and wood scents, so its fine for me. It does have magic, but there is nothing 'creeping' at all

Very approachable, and this scent really couldn't be more safe for the office...

Edited March 13, 2021 by zazkea
typos

[Rane.]

Can't believe I never left a review for this. I bought it back in 2018. It's syrupy & silky to put on. In the bottle it is a pool of flowers & woods, almost sweet & candy-like. I can't pin down what that taste/scent is I'm getting. But I do know the dogwood, violet, & pine are giving it that sweet candy smell. Over time the other wood notes become prominent. This has great throw & length. Overall, I get two impressions. One is riding a horse buggy down a lovely wooded & shaded road with wild flowers & ivy growing everywhere. I also get a clean & scented bathroom smell. Not a bad bathroom smell at all. I don't think this one fits well for my more masculine presenting days, as much as I adore it. Definitely a femme smell. 

[skyturtles]

Green and floral, sweet fresh forest and violet-forward. I do pick up that slight grape scent every now and then. It's "nice" in that clean bathroom way but it is not what I'm looking for in a perfume oil. I'm actually a little embarrassed to be wearing it out in public, lol. My imp is of unknown age and I will be passing it on to someone who will hopefully enjoy it more.

[Cali]

I was expecting a dark, loomy edge of the woods type of evoking scent, it's that, but more at dawn or sundown in summer. It's quite floral forward, almost has a fruity quality to it. 

[Lin Swanson]

Wet, wet flowers. Mossy, rainy, damp - I had to read the notes and other reviews to realize that the reason this doesn't smell woody to me is because all my forest experience is northern CA - redwood, pine, Monterey Cypress - and this is decidedly a deciduous forest. Or more, an enchanted wildflower garden in the middle of a deciduous forest.  I was expecting Arkham to be a creepier town, honestly. If I had to place this smell in a fictional world it would be Alice in Wonderland - right at the edge of the Red Queen's garden, where it's less formal than the painted roses but before the creepy forest begins.

[ShadowEtienne]

This is a sweetly blooming meadow of wildflowers in a deciduous forest for me. There might be one pine tree in the distance somewhere, but the tree notes are mostly maple and birch on my skin and too my nose. The trees are in the background though, and the wildflowers take center stage. They're dewy and freshly bloomed in the morning, and it's hard to pick out any single wildflower, they're just growing together in a cacophony of florals.

 

This is nice, but I think I'm going to need to try layering it with something, possibly an aquatic to make it feel a little more right to me. Not my favorite Picnic in Arkham scent, but I'm glad I've gotten to try it.

[Jarek]

I picked this one to try and I'm not the biggest fan of it.

 

In the imp, wet, dry, a few hours later, it stayed pretty consistent. I was hoping what I didn't like would just be an initial scent thing. I don't know if it's the florals or the woods, though I suspect the florals, but I get this slight "stinky" sweet smell from them, though not as stinky as the (presumably) florals in the Bayou I tried the other day. That one changed as it evaporated into a scent I really liked, this one did not change at all. It's kind of powdery too, like a heavily floral scented baby powder. Not really enjoying it.

 

I tried wiping it off and putting on my Cthulhu which is a lovely mostly aquatic scent that I adore, but I didn't get all the Arkham off plus I think some stayed on my hoodie sleeves, and the combination wasn't terrible, in fact I kind of liked it. I do like the aquatic & floral combo of Bayou after it dries down for an hour or so, this is a different set of florals with some woods, but it goes quite nicely with Cthulhu. I might try it with R'Lyeh (another aquatic) too. Don't think I'll get a bottle though.

Edited November 17 by Jarek