Hope is the Thing With Feathers

[zankoku_zen]

Warm, golden, feather-soft: orris-dusted amber, white honey, osmanthus blossom, and star jasmine.
 

[Casablanca]

First impression: Powdery orris and white honey. Definitely a white honey, which kind of smells like white tea + honey to me. Between the white honey and the orris, this smells pale, though I get some creamy vanilla-gold from the amber.

 

This one mostly fades from my skin quickly, leaving a faint powdery white scent.

 

Cockatoos are white and powdery. This feathered hope might be a 'too.

 

 

 

 

 

[feyofthefellwood]

A light, sweet, floral scent. The honey-flowers combo actually makes me think of honeysuckle, although this has no honeysuckle. The white honey is much lighter and sweeter than the other types of honey the lab uses; it's a kind of ethereal honey. The star jasmine (a note I adore) is almost soapy but never actually gets there; it's lifted by the powdery orris, amber, and sweet osmanthus. This is basically the scent equivalent of eiderdown, soft and pale and floating. I'm tempted to get a bottle.

[zankoku_zen]

Honey, jasmine, and dusty orris. This one is a slightly powdery honeyed jasmine blend. Its very gorgeous but my skin chemistry eat this up after 20 minutes. Medium throw when it is around.

[theseagrows]

i definitely get a lot of orris and osmanthus in this. it's a soft, sweet floral. After about 5-10 minutes the scent gets more powerful as the star jasmine and honey comes through. I think the amber is just a subtle background note as I can't really sense it in this. overall it's kind of like a jasmine tea with honey. this isn't an indolic jasmine, but a sweeter, softer one. very pretty for spring!

[puellacaerulea]

In the decant, it's fairly loud honey and florals. Once it's on, though, the orris comes out and the honey and florals calm down, softening things up considerably. Of the notes, the star jasmine and orris stand out most to me after drydown -- I'd call this a soft, somewhat dusty jasmine. Definitely evocative of something soft, white, and fluffy. 

[Rayleigh]

Light, sweet, soft, and downy. Slightly dusty. Calming. White honey is a more soft-spoken variant, because I wouldn't have identified this as a honey blend. Star jasmine is a lot more mellow than the other varieties of jasmine, as well. It smells like some sort of pale gold flower nectar. I'm rarely in a mood for florals, but this is a nice one for when I am.

 

A walk through the wildflowers on a mild spring day. Alternatively, just after sunrise in the summer before the heat rolls in, reading poetry on the porch swing.

[Dancing Raven]

Oh, how I wish I got the soft, dusty floral that others are getting! It starts with promise. The white honey mixing with the flowers reminds me of Lily of the Valley at first. It's soft, gentle, and very pretty. About 5 minutes later... wow, this is potent! It's not screechy, and it's not a scrubber. However, when I go in closer to sniff, I can actually taste it. A lot. That lasts about 10 minutes before jasmine comes forward to soften it up again. The honey is bringing an almost milky note as a support for the intense florals. I swear I get a light cucumber scent as well. Something delicately green and juicy. I definitely detect some indoles, but barely.

At some point, it becomes very "perfumey".  I don't get any osmanthus, nor any orris. The orris may be in the base with the amber, but at this point it's so faint I can barely smell it. The amber and honey are mixing together to give a patchouli - like dry chocolate impression. Perhaps that is the orris - dusted amber at play.

Ultimately, this is a little too loudly floral for me. If it had stayed the way it was for the first 5 minutes, it would have been a keeper.

3.5 out of 5 stars. 

[trinitysite]

Add this to my quest for "honey that doesn't amp." (I don't know why I'm so obsessed with finding a honey scent that works. The only one that gets there so far is Fortuna Balnearis.) And...this comes close, but not quite right. The honey doesn't start out dominant, but it becomes dominant after about half an hour. I love jasmine but I can't identify it individually. Soft and sweet, and floral (which I thinks is the osmanthus, and maybe I should look for more blends with osmanthus?) but the amber keeps it from being floral overload. My go-to is always spicy autumnal scents, and I like this, and it's good to branch out a little.