Dead Leaves, Violet Candy, and Sugar Crystals

[Upstart Crow]

[No additional description provided.]

As a lover of violets, sugared florals, and dead leaves, I just had to get a bottle of this without sampling.

It is everything I hoped it would be. A sweet floral that edges more on the sugary than the floral side with a gasp of cologny-dead leaves behind it. It's an unusual fall scent, and I think it could be worn year round, really.

 

Another violet winner! Definitely pick it up if you think even one of the notes would appeal.

[stellamaris]

This is beautiful! It starts out classic Dead Leaves, then the dry down is sweet violetl

[WinterSong]

In the bottle, I get dead leaves, and dead leaves only. I was admittedly a little concerned since the dead leaves note can be a bit overpowering at times. But this dries down to a sweet, sugared violet with just a hint of that dead leaves note that was so strong in the bottle. This is absolutely delightful. I think I'll be wearing this one a lot!

[zankoku_zen]

I mainly get violet candy. Honestly, this to me is just a stronger violet candy with a bed of ivy underneath, which is an odd way for dead leaves to code for my nose, but there you have it. Violet candy, and ivy stems. Good throw and wear length.

[bheansidhe]

This is the sweetest and lightest of the dead leaves this year, and is surprisingly lovely. It's like the perfect kid's version of Dead Leaves.

 

This is not a soapy floral violet. This smells like Choward's old-fashioned violet pastille candies, which to me smell like happy road trip memories.

 

After the violet wears off, you're left with a light, simple sugared dried ivy note.

 

I'm still working my way through the Dead Leaves and Blackberries from last year, so I don't need this one, but if you enjoyed that one, DL VC & SC has a similar vibe.

Edited November 14, 2017 by bheansidhe

[Leopard403]

I get “powdery dead leaves” here. No identifiable violet but I know that’s where the powder comes from. It’s slightly sweeter than other DL blends so that’s likely the sugar. It smells nice, but it doesn’t really smell like me. I’d love it on a man though!

[artoria]

This is violet candy on me! There's something grounding all the sugar, though -- probably the dead leaves. Sweet, but not too sweet. Floral (but not sickening) and a little woodsy. My friend calls this an "enchanted forest" scent, and she's not wrong. It's faerie candy. I love this.

[patina]

It starts out really sweet, almost a medicinal grape syrup. That soon settles down into something nice and the cologney, leaf-moldy leaves come out, before stepping back. I think I smell mint somehow. On the final drydown, it smells like soft violet candy with the occasional faint whiff of something woody.

 

I've never smelled pastilles in my life but I'm pretty sure this is how they would smell. My only reservation is that this scent goes very faint and close to the skin after only a few hours.

Edited November 27, 2017 by patina

[freyasfae]

Violet tends to do soapy and/or powdery on me, but I thought with the Dead Leaves and Sugar Crystals, this one was worth a try. It does have a slight sense of soapy and powdery, but the sugar counteracts that to a degree, and the Dead Leaves linger in the background, like a backdrop to the violet and sugar. I am glad I tried it, but this won't become a part of my regular dead leaves rotation.

[KatyC]

On first application, this was overwhelmingly dead leaves - almost headache-inducingly strong DL with no hint of sweetness or violet. After about half an hour though, the DL had totally 'burned off', leaving pure Parma Violet - exactly what I wanted! Once it gets to the violet stage is has good throw and wear length.

[thecaitycat]

In the bottle

Dead leaves, violets, and sugary sweetness. But the dead leaves are at the forefront.

 

Wet on skin

This is more violet-forward once this is on my skin. It smells like this candy I bought at a couple of old-fashioned candy stores a long time ago, but with the dead leaves to make it less candy-like and more floral.

 

Dry on skin after 30 minutes

As this dries down, this smells more and more like violet candy and the dead leaves note fades, slowly. It really does smell like violet candy!

 

Thoughts

So, if anything like this comes back, or if I find this on eBay/Etsy, I'm buying another one, because this is divine and I love it. This isn't as distinctly autumnal as my other Halloweenies, especially once it's dried down for a couple of hours.

[torischroeder9]

In the decant: I can smell the dead leaves note but not much else. 

 

On my skin:

 

Wet, the dead leaves note is still the most prominent. As it dries, it develops a powdery quality that's neither leaves nor violet nor any kind of sugar or candy but may be the quality of a scent in flux.

 

But, no -- lies! Dead Leaves and Lots of Baby Powder is what stays on my skin for the next hour (until I shower to wash it off). I've not had this reaction to a sugar or violet note before; this is only my second time testing dead leaves. 

[Lucchesa]

I love all things dead leaves but generally avoid violet, which goes old lady on me, so I hadn't tried this until it was gifted to me in the marvelous rodeo PIF by the generous forumite immediately preceding me here.  It starts out all dead leaves on me, and over the next hour or so, they largely recede in favor of the sugared violets.  The combination is actually quite nice on me, although my skin eats it up within three hours.  

[starryeyes]

I had really high hopes for this blend, it has such a lovely name and seemed to imply a bitter but sweet scent. Unfortunately the violets go very, very soapy and powdery on my skin. I cant even make out the sugar crystals, just soap and leaves. I tried mixing with Blood Rose, and the dragon's blood sweetened it up quite a bit but not enough. Gonna have to pass on to a friend that it will likely work for, but glad I tried regardless.

[bygraveyardlight]

In the bottle/wet, this is all in-your-face bell pepper esque DL (which I do love!) with a hint of something sweet underneath.

After drydown, the leaves take a back seat and the gorgeously soft, sweet but not overwhelmingly so violets come out to play. I've had disagreements with violets in the past but these violets are beautiful, gentle, sweet and mind their manners  i get a whiff of the dead leaves creeping about behind every so often- I absolutely adore this!! This is beautiful!