Western Pygmy Blue

[torikitty]

A flutter of bronze and azure blue: coconut amber, patchouli and tobacco absolute with blue lotus petal, lilac, tobacco petal, dried blueberry and blackcurrant, and khus.

Dang, this is nice! A really nice summery twist for tobacco lovers. I feel that the floral parts are in the background enough to let the amber, patchouli, tobacco, and blueberry do their magic. I'd say the coconut amber really takes the stage, but the stage is definitely tobacco. The vetiver is so light, I don't detect it.

[Little Bird]

This and Queen Butterfly are the two that smell better in the bottle than on me this year. In the bottle, this is a beautiful scent of earthy patchouli and tobacco, sweetened with a baked blueberry note, warmed up with amber, and made all creamy from the coconut. On my skin, the blueberry and lilac quickly amp up and are a little too sweet for me, and the tobacco note goes smoky in the background. Blueberry candy and cigarette smoke. It also fades really fast on me and stays close to my skin with not much throw, which is strange for all of the deeper base notes.

[zankoku_zen]

Coconut, patchouli, amber, and whiffs of khus and blackcurrant. This is mainly a coconut-patch-amber blend on me. It's sort of deep, brown, coconutty goodness. Good throw and wear length.

[Teamama]

Love! When first applied, I want to call it Butterfly Lace, because the combination of delicate florals, patch & tobacco reminds me of my impressions of Lavender Lace, Solstice Lace, & Shadow Lace (not exactly the same, but generally.)

As it dries, the coconut moves forward a little more, & it's wonderful. Balanced, warm, & pretty darn subtle for a patchouli blend. This patchouli works for me, which makes me happy as I have been amping it recently.

I'm glad I got a decant, & I have a bottle in my cart.

[Padparadscha]

In the bottle: When I first got this from the Lab, it had a faint plastic quality that hung around a buttery, tropical, suntan lotion coconut mixed with berries and incense. I was super here for most of it, but I figured a little aging would take care of that mild plastic quality. It did.

 

Wet/top notes: Coconut and blueberries. Holy god, this is delicious. Immediately it has a massive, coconutty sillage. The tobacco emerges first, followed by amber and patchouli. They're all playing so well together and staying in the background--this is surprising because patchouli almost always dominates on me. Actually, all three of those notes are historically pretty strong on me, but none of them are competing. The tobacco is the sweet and sticky kind and isn't going "smoky" at all. I have a tendency to read most tobacco notes as "stale smoke" on myself (I also used to be a smoker for a number of years), despite the fact that other people tend to read tobacco scents on me as spicy/masculine.

 

Dry down/middle notes: Coconut calms down quite a bit, but it's still there in the sillage. The lilac is so soft and clean, and the blue lotus petal is adding a wonderful floral accent. The blue lotus blooms and is definitely more sweet than floral, bordering on that bubblegummy thing lotus can sometimes do, but that tobacco-amber-patch combo is keeping this firmly out of heady, overly floral, or cloying territory. The blueberry and blackcurrant are adding a delicious berry fruitiness to the whole thing. The khus is just a gentle aromatically green whisper on me, keeping this oil surprisingly fresh despite the heavy creaminess, but for those of you who fight with vetiver, I can't say for sure if this is a good thing: my skin likes vetiver, but it always stays mild and in the background on me.

 

Dry/base notes: This settles into a slightly spicy, creamy coconut with berries and incense after about an hour and a half. It basically comes full circle from how it started in the bottle, but warmed, blended, and spiced on my skin. I couldn't pick out any one note anymore: it's so spicy and creamy and fruity/sweet all at once. 

 

Verdict: I dig this so much and I'm looking forward to layering it with other coconut, berry, and incense fragrances. If you don't like coconut, I'd steer clear, but if berries, incense, and coconut sound delicious to you, definitely track some down. It reminds me a lot of a bath bomb/body butter/body oil line from Witch Baby Soap called Third Eye (blueberries, vanilla bean, coconut milk, and sandalwood), but Western Pygmy Blue is a tiny bit spicier and more resinous, more mature. This is such a warm, sweet, creamy, fruity, summery fragrance with a little spice to ground it. It makes a lovely day time summer fragrance and transitions well into nights out. It didn't morph too much on me, but I did get all the notes at some point. Love!

Edited April 30, 2019 by Padparadscha
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[doomsday_disco]

I got tobacco, blueberry, and khus right out of the gate, with touches of florals and coconut amber. The tobacco and khus gain strength over time and end up completely dominating the other notes after several hours of wear. It becomes especially strong on the grassy khus, but the smoky tobacco isn't far behind.

 

This was a lot darker than I expected it to be from the notes. It's not for me, due to the prominence of the vetiver (khus) and the type of tobacco involved, but it was nice to be able to try it.

[Tungerine]

This is a warm scent, slightly incensy. I imagine a hay meadow in late summer, grassy with yellow and purple flowers and lots of butterflies. I can't tell that there's any coconut, perhaps due to ageing, but I think I can detect non-coconut amber. The patchouli is subtle and not overwhelming. I think it's the combination of amber, tobacco and khus that makes me think of sun-warmed hay. Unfortunately the blueberry note spoils it for me (although it's not unwearable). I just don't like dried blueberries!