Flowering Chrysanthemums

[Musamea]

Chrysanthemum, marigold, golden sandalwood, vanilla, cinnamon, and amber incense.

 

Etsy purchase from the Lab

 

In the bottle: Undifferentiated florals and mostly something that very much reminds me of the Lab's honey note

 

Wet: Initially, whatever I'm reading as the honey note really blooms and the scent is almost overwhelmingly cloying; after about 5 minutes, the honey fades back and the spiciness of both chrysanthemum and golden sandalwood moves forward, with a hint of amber incense floating in the background. This stage is much more pleasant and wearable for me – it's light, yet exotic, floral, and I love the chrysanthemum as a different take from the Lab's more usual carnation on a "spicy" flower. I tested on my wrists and in the crooks of my elbows – what's really interesting is that the above description is all from my wrists; my left elbow amps the incense waaaaay up – it's all smoked flowers and sandalwood loveliness, while my right elbow went straight to soapy marigolds. The throw from far away still yields a bit of honey musk.

 

Initial dry: The scent seems to get darker and drier, with more and more of the incense coming forward and mixing with the dustiness of sandalwood and cinnamon; the chrysanthemum still peeks through, but rather than the crystalline, pulpy scent of a fresh flower, it's more like the after-image of a flower, more like dried petals of chrysanthemums and marigolds held in a wooden chest than anything else.

 

Full dry: First, Flowering Chrysanthemums went just a biiiiit feral on me (may be a time of month thing); the scent also weirdly fades in and out of my skin. At full dry, I first get smoooookey amber incense that felt a bit too dark and murky for me to see myself using up the bottle, but then that faded out and now what's reemerged is warm vanilla sandalwood with a hint of incense and spice – a very sexy second skin scent

[LizziesLuck]

Wet: really pretty. Sweet, feminine, floral without being FLORAL. The amber and vanilla and very present. This is lovely, just as I imagined

 

 

 

Dry: A lovely, soft, feminine, almost citrusy floral. Sweet and innocent. I think I actually get more marigold than chrysanthemum. It's very nice.

[Casablanca]

In the bottle, I smell a golden floral, and maybe a little vanilla.

 

On my skin, this opens as a lovely, golden, lightly spicy, and incensey floral. It reminds me of Flor de Muerto, but with incense and a spicy edge. This doesn’t change on me as it dries, other than becoming much more faint on the skin. Cinnamon often amps on me, but here, thankfully, it remains soft.

[Pinewoodtea]

This scent makes me think of this:

It's right at the end of the season for the beds of chrysanthemums and marigolds. You fell into a bed of them with a lover (or lovers...), and throughly exhausted everyone involved in the best ways. You all made your way home, picking stems and petals off your brightly patterned clothes, wiping off any errant sap from the stems. Everything is bright as you wander through the fading gardens. 

Laying in a pile of pillows in the middle of your room, the bamboo flooring and closed screens keeping you cool. The light dims and the room falls into grey tones. Someone set a few sticks of sandalwood incense burning, but you can't find the energy to crack the screen door open. You can hear someone mumbling in their sleep, but you can't quite reach oblivion, so you watch the rise and fall of sleeping chests amid the tangles of embraces. 

[storme]

This is a sweet, soft, golden-blonde floral. It's got less of a spicy kick than I'd expect from chrysanthemum and cinnamon, but it definitely has a warmth to it. It's such a delicate blend, somehow never tips into too-sweet or too-woodsy or too-heated or too-floral. Gorgeous, and I'm very glad I managed to get a bottle!

[stwbrymlk]

This smells very floral from the start. It's a very fresh floral with a warm base of sandalwood and vanilla. I don't get any cinnamon from this at all but the amber incense is super pretty! It's not too warm but it adds a really pretty and subtle smokiness to the scent that keeps it from being too floral. When dry, the florals fade into the back and this becomes a very warm amber incense with sweet vanilla and smooth sandalwood.