Squamous Tussie-Mussie

[Jenjin]

A regional variation of the traditional prom corsage: black rose, purple carnation and belladonna with a spray of baby's breath, dusted with frankincense, opoponax, and crushed yew seeds.

This smells like your best friend in high school. I'm taken back to the original Herbal Essence shampoo in the green bottle. You know the one with the girl shampooing in a waterfall of flowers? This is dark FANTASTIC! I get the black rose upfront and YES purple carnation, but it's not just florals here, but herbal green yew too along with resinous frank. The opoponax gives it a vintage tone, like a classic prom night with massive corsages and greenery decorating a forest dance floor. It's pretty wonderful, herbal, woodsy without being overly floral. Fabulous, deep and refreshing, I'm gonna wear the heck out of this over the summer. Edited May 17, 2017 by Jenjin

[zankoku_zen]

Cool black rose, with a touch of carnation around the edges, green belladonna, and a touch of frankincense as a base. This smells like Cthulu going to the prom. On wet, there's a much more distinctive green and almost aquatic edge to the florals. This is a rose blend - but not super rose. It's actually really well balanced on my skin. However, as it dries down, you get some of the things that are creeping in the background, including the frankincense, and it stops veering into the aquatic territory and ends up directly in a somewhat dark incense and dirt kind of vibe.

 

You know, if Cthulu was your prom date. It starts off with roses and cool ocean breezes, and definitely ends up in a crypt, with mud on the floor, and incense burning an altar.

[LizziesLuck]

Thank you to the lovely forumite who sent me a tester of this!

 

Wet: At first it smells like there's patchouli in this, and I have to go look up the notes because I didn't think there was! But by the time I looked it up and saw nope - no patchouli, and then took another sniff, it had morphed anyway. Now I am getting mostly a deep, dark rose and darker opoponax. It's very nice, but for sure a "dark" scent. I do keep getting hints of something earthy (whatever I had mistaken for patchouli, most likely). Overall, I really do like this so far, and keep thinking, hmmm, I wonder if I could find a bottle....?

 

Dry: Very darkly pretty. Like putting on a ball gown with combat boots, you know? Dark rose, dark opoponax. Just sweet enough. Really fantastic.

[Little Bird]

I was hoping for more carnation spiciness and resinous tones to this, but I don't smell them at all. This is a very perfumey (like department store white musk) rose with a soggy, green, plant-like something from the belladonna and yew. Smells like a Rappaccini's Garden blend, and almost none of those actually smell pleasant to me. It's a cold, artificial, musky rose and cold, artificial, soggy herb thing... incredibly sharp and, after an hour, has a strange, dusty sharpness as well.