Staurolite

[backwater gospel]

A gritty mineral musk with tonka bean, labdanum, oakmoss, and a drop of vetiver bourbon.

This was an amazing surprise!
In the bottle: damp, dark greenery. Maybe a little bit soapy, but not in an entirely unpleasant way.

On the skin: soapy greens. Clean, like pine and evergreen, but not too headache sharp. Normally, I don't like soapy, but oddly this is working.

Drydown: soapy turns to sweet, soft greens. I'll admit, I wasn't too impressed when the Dragon*Con exclusives were realised for this year, but I decided to test this one out when I was at the booth. I put it on, but then forgot about it as I continued to browse. I had already left the merchants room before I remembered to smell my wrist again. Glad I did though, because I turned right back around to go grab a bottle. Even thinking about picking up another bottle before the con is over.

[porcelina]

when i first sniffed staurolite, it really did make me think of rocks! "mineral musk" is such an odd description to me, but when you smell this, especially wet, you realize that it's quite apt! as it dries, the tonka sort of softens everything out. i don't get a lot of oakmoss- maybe just a tinge of green? and i do not smell the vetiver at all, which is good, because i'm pretty sensitive to vetiver as a major component. staurolite dries down to a soft, dry musk, maybe a teeny bit powdery. pleasant, but not my type of scent.

[zankoku_zen]

Dark green pine, oakmoss and hints of metal. There is definitely a metallic edge to this.

 

It dries down to a fairly masculine blend on me. Hmm, I may try this on mr. zee_zee and see what he says.

[Balame]

Huh, this smells like a good commercial cologne. Fresh green pine and just-showered skin, a vanilla-ish tonka. As time goes by the oakmoss does that thing where you can smell something dusty and dry. The labdanum gives it a slightly darker, incense-y edge. It gets more powdery and sweet as it dries... verging on musky baby powder but not quite. Makes me think of a cuddly cowboy? Pretty good.

[Jangzonrice]

cologney, then just scented baby powder.....

[milo]

This one kind of smells like minerals. I get a 'rock' vibe that I smelled in Black Opal, but this one is more of a dude blend, and a good one at that:) Bourbon vetiver and musk round this out very nicely, though it does get a bit sour. I'd like to try this on a guy.