My Perfume Profile

I got the idea for this post from the blog of the lovely Undina. She made the point that when you read blogs about perfume you will at times feel the need to know more about the writers personal tastes. She remedied this by writing a Perfume Portrait detailing her perfume loves, likes and dislikes. I thought this was such a good idea that I'll do something similar. :)

General taste:

In general I tend to enjoy the following.

• Unisex niche perfumes with an attitude.
• Gourmand notes, boozy notes, white and yellow florals, immortelle, soft spices, sweet resins, animalics, leather, tobacco, oakmoss, sweet aromatics, conifers...
• Contrasting perfumes, unexpected note combinations. 
• Floral macabre. Anything innocently floral or gourmand "despoiled" by some rot, decay or skank!  
• Opulence! Dense and syrupy perfumes that are overly luxurious and decadent.

And I tend to dislike these:

• Anything too steretypically masculine or feminine.
• Any sharp, screechy or overly dry notes. Mainly aldehydes, galbanum, incense, olibanum, birch tar, sharp florals like rose, muguet, lilac, jasmine, dry spices or herbals.
• Labdanum turns sour on my skin. Almond usually goes very plasticky.
• Dominant wood notes, juicy fruits or berries, fresh citrus, aquatics... 
• Boring stuff that's been done a hundred times! The generic stuff that is so traditional that it lacks any sort of attitude. Even when done well it just bores me to death.
• Scents that are overly elegant or refined. I need a bit of dirt in a scent!

Top Perfume Favorites:

Slumberhouse Rume
Slumberhouse Zahd
Slumberhouse Sova
Slumberhouse Ore
Xerjoff Mamluk
Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn
Mona di Orio Nuit Noire


Other perfumes that I do not want to be without:

Slumberhouse Norne
Slumberhouse Grev
Slumberhouse Jeke
Histoires de Parfums 1740 Marquis de Sade
Histoires de Parfums Tubereuse 3 Animale
Mona di Orio Cuir
Smell Bent Werewolf Lumberjack Reclining on a Bearskin Rug
Carner El Born
Annick Goutal Sables
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Snake Oil


Gorgeous, when I'm in the mood for gourmands:

Kerosene Unknown Pleasures
Creed Virgin Island Water
Indult Tihota
Perfumes by Terri Douceur Brulee
Smell Bent Prairie Nymph
Reminiscence Dragée
Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille


Recent crushes, not sure if it's true love yet:

Guerlain Metalys
Jovoy Lys Epona
Kerosene Unforsaken
Roja Dove Reckless
April Aromatics Tempted Muse
Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777 Une Nuit a Doha
Smell Bent Gimel a Break


Perpetual Lemmings:

Slumberhouse Kere
Aftelier Tango


Vintage classics that I enjoy:

Shalimar
Mitsouko
L'Heure Bleue
Bal a Versailles
Moment Supreme
Tabu
Opium
Habanita
Rochas Femme


Perfumes that don't work for me:

Jean Patou Joy
Guerlain Samsara
Robert Piquet Bandit
Givenchy Ysatis
Guerlain Songe d'un Bois d'Ete
Creed Aventus
L'Artisan Seville a l'aube
Tauer L'Air du Desert Marocain

Tauer Reverie au Jardin

Kinski

Masque Montecristo
Amouage Memoir Man
Amouage Beloved Woman
Etat Libre d'Orange Jasmin et Cigarette
Tom Ford Black Orchid
Tom Ford Sahara Noir
Tom Ford White Suede
Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles
Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan

On life during a hiatus...

It has been more than two years since I last posted anything on this blog. During this time I have had several people encourage me to start writing again and I have always promised that I would get back into it someday... It just hasn't happened. Outfit pictures and blog post ideas kept piling up but still failed to make me more motivated. In the end I just haven't felt like it. I've had other things to do.

These last couple of years I have kept working at a local library. A couple different part time positions. Nothing permanent, but at least I've had a pleasant job to go to every week. I really love working at a library, being around books and people who love to read is just... lovely! I spend my paycheck on food, basic bills and the rest on extravagant luxuries! Like expensive niche perfumes, decadent sweets, luxury booze... and some clotches and accessories of course. :D

I still love clothing and strive towards always dressing in keeping with my personal style. Working at a library I have to dress at least somewhat professional, not to mention practical, but I can still be creative and alternative. I have experienced rather a lot of change in my personal style over the last few years though. I tend to go through phases of obsession. For a while I was really into the grunge aesthetic. The rough textures, decay and post-apocalyptic vibes enchanted me. Then I went through a very minimalist phase. Then I played with the librarian stereotype a bit. Right now I'm in a phase of all black with focus on different textures. I think I'm in this sort of phase now because the cold spell we have here  gives me the pleasure of wearing my fur coats and thus adds one more textural dimension to my clothing. When I can play with fur, wool, leather, suede, iron (jewelry), and whatever other texture I can come up with, I really only need one color and that is black!

Kind of classic Nadja-style! ;)

From my grunge phase. (And look! I have a new mirror!)

Floral macabre, or at least delicate florals with rougher leather...

from my stereotypical librarian phase. Needs a bun instead of a hat though to be pure librarian! :D

All black texture play, without the fur coat.

But despite these experimental phases, I feel like my personal aesthetic has finally started to crystallized and take permanent form. It started with my perfumes. I think I have mentioned my love for Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn here on the blog before... Well it is a very floral macabre sort of fragrance, full of lush tropical flowers but also overripe fruits and an undercurrent of rot, decay and fecal matter. This scent is like a representation of the cycle of life and death! It is floral, full of innocent life and fecundity, as well as macabre, full of more sinister vibes, of death and stagnation... I crave this contrast in everything these days! I just love that slight hint of macabre in an otherwise innocent outfit, I love that hint of death or beast in amongst the fecundity of a sweet floral fragrance and I love overabundance to the point where decadence turns almost sinister!  (You know, like when a liqueur is so sinfully dense and sweet that it feels like forbidden fruit, like poison almost... I don't know if this makes any sort of sense to anyone but me...)

Floral macabre collage.

Speaking of liqueur. I have taken up a new hobby, in making liqueurs! Everything from classical berry liqueurs to more experimental herbal or flower flavored ones. I enjoy both making them and drinking them!

Cranberry liqueur... I think...

Lilac flowers macerating in vodka. I could make a whole picture post about liqueur making if anyone is interested.

I have also recently taken up embroidery as a hobby. I've done a bit of cross stitching from time to time before, especially subversive cross stitching. ;) But now I've started making more figurative embroidery. Mostly free-form fantasy flowers for now but I can see myself branching out, maybe to free-form landscapes or even portraits... I dislike patterns of any and every kind so I guess I'll just go as far as my talent can carry me.

My first floral embroidery. I am pretty pleased!

Oh, and I need to speak about perfume! These past couple of years have been such a wonderful fragrant journey! My collection has grown rather immensely and I have had such a great pleasure sampling all of these lovely perfumes. I have gone through olfactory phases too... I have been in turn obsessed by conifers, leather, gourmand notes, sweet florals, sweet citruses, balsamic notes... and so on. But at the end I am most fond of the floral macabre, the animalic florals, the rotting fruits, the skanky gourmands. And anything overly decadent! Slumberhouse is still my favorite house though and I doubt that will ever change. My current favorite scents are Slumberhouse Rume (in its 2015 limited cask iteration, dangerously sweet and smoky), Slumberhouse Zahd (the rather legendary very limited edition, decadently syrupy berry liqueur) and Xerjoff Mamluk (sweetly animalic and smooth like a mink coat).

Part of my Slumberhouse collection.

More of my Slumberhouse collection. 

Xerjoff Mamluk.

Anyway. Happy New Year everyone! I have a lot more pictures that I could post and a lot of topics to write about so I think I'll make it a New Year's resolution to not let this blog die again, at least not this year! I hope to see some old faces and some new ones, and I hope someone still follows this poor old blog of mine...

Five Things From My Wardrobe

This post is in part inspired by the "five things tag" that is moving around the blogosphere right now. It is an interesting tag, but I felt like modfying it to be more about personal style. This post is also inspired by some posts by Lynette at Evolution of an Aristocrat (awesome blog, do go visit!). She has embarked on a closet remake and while I have not found myself doing the same, I am doing this instead.

Lynettes posts about her wardrobe really had me thinking about what items make out the core of my wardrobe. What are my favorite items (right now)? Which items do I use the most (or wish I could use the most)? What items are indispensible? What items are at the core of my personal style? With these questions in mind I created a few categories and got to work.

Five Favorite Clothing Items

• Dark red velveteen shirt. As seen here and here.
• Black shirt with wide sleeves. As seen here and here.
• Gold and red brocade jacket. As seen here. 
• Pleather pants. As seen here and here. 
• Black skirt with ruffles at the hem. As seen here.

Conclusion: This was a difficult category as I decided to limit myself to just five items from my whole clothing wardrobe. But I learned a lot in the process of choosing these five items! They are items that work well together. Almost all of them have been in the same outfit at some point. They are also for the most part items that are second hand. They can also be said to be a representation of my personal style. 

Five Favorite Necklaces

• Raven skull necklace. As seen here.
• Gothic winged necklace. As seen here. 
• Wire eye pendant. From Twisted Sister Arts.
• Beaded black and silver necklace with key. My own creation.
• Rosary inspired amber colored necklace with key. My own creation.

Five Other Jewelry Favorites

• Forged iron ring. Recent find. 
• Leaf brooch. Recent find.
• Eye button brooch. As seen here. My own creation.
• Hematite ring. A jewelry staple in my wardrobe.
• Peace sign clip on earring. Good for a gal without pierced ears.

Jewelry concusions: I wasn't as strict with my jewelry categories. I have soo many favorite necklaces that they got a cateory of their own. Here too I can see certain patterns. I seem to have an obsession with anything gunmetal/oxidized silver/forged iron/dark silver colored... The wire eye gives a dark red splash of color and then there are the couple of bronze/amber/rust items. I notice a certain similarity in color scheme between my favorite jewelry items and my favorite clothes! Most of these pieces of jewelry have also been used in outfits together with my favorte clothes!

Five Favorite Perfumes

• Mona di Orio Les Nombres d'Or Cuir.
• Slumberhouse Jeke. reviewed here.
• Darling Clandestine Maudlin and Bedlam.
• Wild Hybrid Wrangler.
• Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn.

Conclusions: this is very much a "right now" category of favorites. Jeke is a long time favorite and I believe that Tropic of Capricorn and Cur might also stay favorites for a long time. The other two are ones that I am obsessed with at the moment but that might be forgotten tomorrow or next week. Still I notice patterns of leather, animalic notes, darkness, spices and a hint of smoke. These scents are definitely "me".

Five Other Indispensible Items

• Top hat. As seen in all of my outfits, it's always on my head!
• Brass (?) shot glass. Perfect to bring with me to parties. Why borrow an ugly glass when you can party in style!?
• Perfume notebooks. As seen here. 
• Gunmetal pocket watch. As seen here, there and everywhere really. 
• Ankh cross pendant. Why isn't this one among my necklaces you ask? Well, I, um, forgot about about it...

Conclusion: Several of these items are with me or on me most of the time! The Ankh is the odd one out here, but I adore it so sue me. Other candidates for this category were my black satchel bag, my winter coat, my beautiful tea cup and a few other items... but these made the final cut. What most of them have in common (sorry ankh) is that they are beautiful accessories with a practical use! 

I'd love to see some of you do this! It really is a learning experience and I am very curious as to how your five favorites would look!

A Spring-Summer Recap

Just to get into blogging again I have decided to do a post with mostly pictures. I have a whole heap of outfit pictures from spring and early summer that I need to post now or never... I especially love my eclectic spring outfits but I was too busy to write blog posts this spring so this here will be a recap.

I love this red jacket! It is one of my favorites for spring! I'll have to stay slim if I want to wear it for all eternity though, it's a thight one! This jacket is a vintage find from Beyond Retro (my favorite place for shopping strange vintage clothing!).

Sorry for the picture quality here. I can't even blame the dusty mirror for this one. This outfit was the one I wore when I had just turned in my paper and wanted to celebrate that milestone! Both the jacket and the dress here are actually from H&M!

This dress is another Beyond retro find! I absolutely adore the dark teal color of it but that color is absolutely impossible to capture on camera, even in natural light... The mirror is extremely dusty here so I guess you can't really see the dress anyway. Trust me, it is dark teal velvet and gorgeous!

On my birthday I visited Stockholm one last time before my big move. I went on a big perfume sniffing spree and to a couple of Second Hand stores. I fell in love with Les Nombred d'Or Cuir by Mona di Orio and at Beyond Retro I bought this dress. I never thought that I would ever fall for floral clothing, but I did! It is the perfect summer dress, a thin, machine washable cotton with a lace up back!

This is an outfit for colder days. The tunic is one of my favorite pieces, wide sleeves, lace, tight around the wrists... All this AND machine washable! Just perfect!! I bought it at H&M a number of years ago and it remains one of the most unique pieces in my wardrobe!

Here is another of my favorite pieces from my wardrobe, my black velvet dress, previously seen in at least one other outfit. I love how versatile it is, it can be dressed up or down, made morbid or romantic...I bought it at Weekday a couple of years ago. Here it is paired with my dark floral tights.

And now we get to my absolute favorite outfit of all time.I just had to include more than one picture of this outfit! I wear it again and again and I never tire of it! All of these pieces just fell together one day and became this outfit without any premeditation on my part! My black velvet dress is the base, together with my golden party skirt. The skirt was bought second hand, the absolutely gorgeous jacket is from H&M, the necklace is from LeBoudoirNoir and the slippers were a gift from a friend.

Hope you have enjoyed this little exposé. It will unfortunately be my last outfit post for a while... I don't have a full lenght mirror here yet. I didn't bring the old narrow (and perpetually dusty) one back to Finland with me and I have no idea where to find the wall space for a wider one in my room, not to mention the money to buy one...

*******************

In other news, from real life, my summer job has ended. Since Midsummer I have worked as a library assistant in a small local library. I have had that little library all to myself for a whole month! I LOVED it! Working there full time is my dream for the future, but I guess I'll have to wait...

My room is also taking shape. All of my books have by some miracle managed to fit in my book shelves and all of my clothes in my wardrobe. I had doubts about both! There is even some space for more books (this is the real miracle, I have been cramming for years)!! Now I only have a few more boxes of assorted nick-nacks to unpack.

My post about my herbal teas will be up sooner or later, whenever I can find the inspiration to write a long text... I have soo many photos of herbal tea now that I'm thinking that I might have to split the post up into several parts... We'll see...

I also have A LOT of new perfumes in my life! An Alkemia haul or two, some giveaway packages, some full sizes from Darling Clandestine, some samples from Wild Hybrid and even my first real niche purchase,a small bottle of above mentioned Les Nombres d'Or Cuir from Mona di Orio. I smell good!!

Midsummer Magic - A Scentual Journey

Hi everyone! Sorry about the long absense! Finishing up my studies and moving back home again took a lot of time and effort.  My room is in chaos, too many books for such a small space, but it's getting less and less chaotic every day! I'm really happy to be back home again! Especially right now, Finland is so magical at Midsummer!

(This will be a very picture heavy post, consider yourself warned!)

It never gets dark here at Midsummer, the time between sunset and sunrise is so short that it never gets darker than twilight. One of my Midsummer Night traditions is to around midnight take a walk through the woods to a dark forest lake where I can swim naked and alone in the black water. That is Midsummer Magic for me. Last night I took my camera with me so now I can invite you all along on a little journey through a Finnish Midsummer forest! I will also make this a scentual journey by adding perfumes that to me give much the same experience as these landscapes.

The nature is so lush that the path is barely visible...

Ferns.

The forest I walk through is dark and dense. Moss covered rocks, ferns and blueberry shrubs are shaded by slender white birches and dark green spruces and pines. This part of my journey reminds me of Norne by Slumberhouse. This dark and mysterious forest is just as magical as that fragrance. Herne by Arcana would also suit this landscape. This scent is heavy with powerful resins enhanced by spicy cinnamon. Definitely what a dark god of this forest would smell like.

Suddenly the forest ends but what is coming is hidden on the other side of a hill and will be invisible for a few more steps. Anticipation bulids because I know what I will see and it is always magical. The lake is nestled in a deep bowl surrounded by the rugged rocky forest hills. The suitable scent fro this part of the journey is Samhain by Haus of Gloi. There is a hint in the air of something wet, of humid soil and green herbs.

The sun is already rising in the northeast, or maybe this is the lingering glow from the recent sunset in northwest... It is hard to tell when the wholse nothern sky is aglow above the mirror calm lake. Sometimes there is mist on this lake, but not tonight. The scent that would suit the beautiful dark lake is Gaea by Alkemia. This scent is water over rocks, decaying plant life and the clear scent of white water lillies.

Blueberry and Cloudberry shrubs and birches.

The edges of the lake are wet and marsh-like, very lush and green. Devils Milhopper by Solstice Scents has a similar note of fresh green leaves. A powerful green, full of life and growth, just like Midsummer is the height of the growing season.

Labrador Tea leaves and flower.

Other parts of the lake edge is dryer and rockier, here flourish baby pines and lingonberry. But all around this lake grows Labrador Tea, looking like rosemary but with its own unique scent and white flowers. As the name implies this fragrant herb has been used for tea. Every year I collect and dry the fresh sprouts so that I can drink this tea and enjoy this wonderful scent all year.

Tea of Labrador Tea and Veronica flowers.

You can get an idea of the scent of Labrador Tea by sampling the perfume oil with the same name by Salmonberry Origins. Or if you are really interested in smelling the real deal I can just send you a little sprig of Labrador Tea!

That's the end of the journey folks. There are no pictures of me skinny dipping in the lake...
The quality of the pictures is a bit influenced by the thousands of mosquitoes that landed on me every time I stopped to take a picture. Sorry about that. I have pictures of what my arms, legs and neck looked like afterwards, but I'll spare you. I looked like a victim of bubonic plague...
Several of the scents mentioned here were gifts from the wonderful Amanda of more tea, Wesley?, she really nailed my tastes when we swapped packages! Here is a picture of the perfumes I got from her! :D

Hope you all had as wonderful a Midsummer as I did, those of you on the Northern Hemisphere who celebrate the solstice that is... ;)

Perfume - Spikenard Oil and more

Around Easter I won a giveaway that was hosted by The Perfume Dandy but created by The Fragrant Man. The prize was a little bottle of spikenard in sweet almond oil, meant as a massage oil, and a sample of a perfume blend that goes by the name of Alabaster Wrists. These blends were made by a lovely lady by the name of Brie who apparently enjoys making perfume in her spare time but who doesn't have a shop or sell her creations (yet?).

I knew next to nothing about spikenard before winning this giveaway. I had seen it as a note in some perfumes, but not in any that I had tried. Fragrantica tells me that spikenard is a flower that grows in the Himalayas and that the roots of the plants are used for both medicine and perfume. I am also told that this plant was used by both the ancient Egyptians and the Romans for its fragant properties. The scent is described as herbaceous, resinous, spicy and animalic.

It seems that the scent of spikenard is one that you either love or hate. When I wore the spikenard oil as perfume yesterday my mother asked "What's that stench??" and my friend (and skin chemistry guineapig) Blomma hated it too, but personally I love it! It has a sweet and musky herbal smell in the bottle. On my skin it is more spicy and is more distinctly animalic in nature. It doesn't smell like any musk that I have smelled in perfume though... It smells more like wool, unwashed fatty wool (where have I smelled that?)! So, yeah, if you want to smell like wool, try spikenard! ;D I love it though, I seriously do, spikenard is all the things I like right now, dark, herbal, sweet, resinous, animalic and spicy!

I have no list of notes for the Alabaster Wrists sample but it is a gorgeous scent!  I think I smell vanilla and tuberose. This was a very familiar smell for me and I couldn't  understand why, but then I remembered what it reminded me of... I have one scent, Saffron and Balsam, that is from a lovely Etsy shop called Plume Perfume and when I ordered that scent I got a sample of another scent, Vanilla Tuberose. I fell so much in love with that Vanilla Tuberose scent and it was on my FB list, but then Plume Perfumes went on vacation and has been so now for more than a year... :( I still have that little empty sample of Vanilla Tuberose and I sniff it vistfully from time to time... But Alabaster Wrists reminds me a lot of Vanilla Tuberose! Finally I get to indulge in that luxurious and sensous smell again!! I'm guessing that there is both vanilla and tuberose in this blend too! Jordan River at The Fragarant Man mentioned that there would be a post about Alabaster Wrists on that blog before long and that this post would disclose the contents of the scent, so I'm keeping my eyes open for that!

You might have noticed that there are also two little bags of peppercorn in this package. Those really confused me, literally had me scratching my head! However I later read at The Fragrant Man that these peppercorns aren't just any old peppercorns... They are Cambodian Kampot pepper, apparently one of the worlds best peppercorns! Who knew! I will have to get a pepper grinder and try them!

This was such a great package of olfactory experiences!

Oh, and I faintly remember promising to post some pictures of our dogs, so here you go!

Paavo male Jack Russell Terrier, Tyyne female Miniature Pinscher and Irmeli female Jack Russell Terrier.

Irmeli.

Paavo.

Paavo and Irmeli.

Tyyne. Although she might look quite dangerous here, this is actually her way of imitating  a human smile.

Perfume Mini Reviews - Midnight Gypsy Alchemy part 2

A while ago I wore the first part of this review, where I focused on the winter collection if scents. This time I will review a few scents from the general catalog. I ordered a sample pack of four scents from the Midnight Gypsy Alchemy etsy shop but you can also order from their web site. 

Ancient Oak

"A mystic green yet powdery sweet scent that captures the magical and mythical element of the ancient oak. A blend made with oak moss and balsam peru resin ,vanilla absolute, infused with fig fruit extract, real figs, green tea leaves and vanilla beans."

This one is a simple but delightful oak and vanilla blend with just a hint of something fruity. It is warm and comforting. I get oakwood rather than oakmoss from this one. On me it is not at all green but rather a creamy vanilla wood. I almost get a library kind of vibe from this, a little hint of leather and it might have smelled like old books. There is no real change in Ancient Oak as it dries down, and then it is gone, or so blended into my skin that it is barely noticeable anymore. On my skin this lasts less than an hour and the sillage is very limited. I like this a lot, it is gorgeous, but I want a scent to stay for at least a few hours.

Alma Gitana
"A complex and rich fragrance that embodies the gypsy spirit in a daring and bold scent of ancient resins, dark fruit and exotic florals with notes of tobacco smoke. Created with jasmine , tobacco and vanilla absolutes,plum extract, essential oils of bergamot, cinnamon, patchouli,black pepper, and tuberose with resins of myrhh and amber infused with dried plum fruit, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, tobacco and patchouli leaves."

On me this one is very fruity. It is definitely a very dark fruit, plum with a hint of dark berries. Apart from the fruit I can smell jasmine, some spice and maybe a hint of tobacco. The images I get from this one are of nighttime in some exotic place, lush fruit trees, jasmine flowers and a starlit sky. The fruit dominates this scent in the beginning but then the jasmine becomes the main note for a while. And jasmine tends to give me a headache... So I'm not very fond of jasmine and the combination of plum and jasmine is not very me at all. I feel that I would have loved this if there was more tuberose than jasmine and if there was more spice and tobacco. Ths one lasts longer than Ancient Oak but still only a couple of hours, and has better projection (damn that headache inducing jasmine).

Quill and Candle
"Sweet yet wooded notes of smokey intrigue with undertones of exotic spice and fruit. A blend of clove, cardamom,black pepper and ginger essentials .Infused with a touch of rose absolute,apricot extract , coconut flakes , pepper corns, clove buds and real apricot fruit."

I was so looking forward to this one but onfortunately it was too much of a rose perfume on my skin, so I scrubbed it. Apparently a touch of rose absolute is enough to spoil this one for me. So I sent it to Rachel, you can ask her to provide a less biased review of this one.

Mandrake Garden

"A wild and smokey yet slightly earthy blend of ginger, tobacco, and hints of a floral combination reminiscent to that of lilacs. Made with balsam peru resin, absolutes in tobacco,vanilla,honeysuckle,essential oils in ginger,fennel, jasmine , infused with ground ginger, fennel seeds, vanilla bean and tobacco leaves."

This is an awesome tobacco and vanilla scent. I can smell hints of fennel too. And I love fennel! I get no floral at all and I can't smell any ginger. Tobacco is always evocative for me, but this one is not a scent of home but rather a scent that reminds me of late party nights and smoking on a balcony while watching the stars recede before the first embers of dawn behind the distant towers of the cathedral. The tobacco is what dominates this scent from start to finish. It is a tobacco that is mellowed by the vanilla and I really like it! This scent is definitely my favorite of all the ones I have tried from Midnight Gypsy Alchemy! Mandrake Garden also has better longevity and projection than most of the others. It lasts a few hours so I might want a full size bottle of this one. 

My main problem with these scents is the lack of longevity. I have discovered though that Midnight Gypsy Alchemy offers two different concentrations for the oils. You can buy the full sizes in either 1/3 oz roll ons or 1/2 oz splash bottles and it is stated that the splash bottles have a much higher ratio of perfume to carrier oil. I don't know what concentration the samples are, but I would guess that they are the roll on concentration, to save money perhaps. I'll have to ask about that because if that is the case I really want a splash bottle of Mandrake Garden! These oils come so beautifully packaged too! The branding is phenomenal! Just look at the way my samples were packaged when they arrived!

Midnight Gypsy Alchemy also offers solid scents, candles, soaps, body cream and more. All just as beautifully packaged. They really should send free samples though. I'd rather have a little extra slice of soap or an additional perfume sample than those boxes the samples came in. I have a whole stack of boxes like these, from various other etsy purchases, and I just never use them for anything. Maybe the boxes could be an optional for gift wrapping or something. I like the little notes that come with every scent though, very pretty and neat! What do you think, packaging or extras? And what would you like to try from Midnight Gypsy Alchemy?

Perfume - Awesome care packages!

I got this generous package from Dee the other day!! She was kind enough to provide me with a multitude of decants from her perfume collection as well as some other samples!  Finally I got to sniff some Solstice Scents perfume! I agree, they are awesome!! I haven't previously sampled anything from Midnight Gypsy, Deep Midnight or Delightful Rot so I'm looking forward to those! All of the Darling Clandestine samples are amazing, as are the BPAL decants! I must say I totally get the Snake Oil hype, that one IS gorgeous!! 

Thank you so very much Dee!!

This awesome package was from Amanda! I got it earlier this week and it really made a rather dreary day much sunnier! Amanda gets the honor of intruducing me to a wider range of Possets scents as well as the fabulously named Ghost Puffs and Mango Sticky Rice by Haus of Gloi! She also included a sample of Chinese black tea (that I have yet to try), some candy (that I consumed immediately) and one of her soaps! According to Amanda the soap is berries and spices but I honestly can't tell what I smell, just that the scent is gorgeously addictive!

Thank you so much Amanda!

I'm in the last days of work on the paper for my Master's Degree so life is a bit crazy to say the least... I am preparing packages for both Amanda and Amanda, but with the general chaos in my life it's taking some time... Have patience with me! :)

Perfume Mini Reviews - Midnight Gypsy Alchemy part 1

Some time ago I received this pretty little package of samples from Midnight Gypsy Alchemy. Midnight Gypsy Alchemy (not to be confused with Midnight Gypsy, another completely unrelated indie perfumery) sells all natural perfumes with a mysterious gypsy twist. I ordered my samples from the Etsy shop. The perfumer, Nina, is on vacation right now but will get back to business April 6th. I ordered two sets of samples, one set was the winter line of scents and the other a selection of general catalog scents. In this part I will review the winter scents.

Into the Woods

"A scent to capture the mystical aroma of the woods with a sweet smell of earth, and trees filled with the magic of night air. This perfume blend was carefully created with labdanum and benzoin resin,vanilla absolute,essential oils in creosete, frankincense, patchouli, cypress, and cedarwood,gently infused in patchouli leaves, frankincense resin, creosete leaves and vanilla beans."

This one is hard for me to describe. The prominent notes here are quite unfamiliar for me. At first I smell what I guess is the labdanum. It smells quite like amber but a bit leathery and slightly medicinal. The benzoin is also prominent right from the start and gets more dominant as this dries. I imagine that I can smell woods in the background. The wood I can smell tho most is not cedar, so I'm guessing that it is the cypress. It smells evergreen but not very fresh. The final drydown is a faint ambery vanilla. For me this scent is quite lovely, but it isn't quite as darkly mysterious as I had hoped. Nor does it evoke any forest I have ever been in. There is that hint of cypress but the rest is neither woody, earthy, mossy or green. As with most natural perfumes this is a bit lacking in sillage and longevity. The scent sits close to the skin and disappeares within an hour or two.

The Owl Moon

"A fragrance to invoke a bit of owl and moon magick in a wooded earth scent with hints of smoky vanilla undertones. Created with cedarwood, clary sage, hint of lavender, ylang ylang, essential oils delicately infused with vanilla absolute ,amber and benzoin resin , vanilla beans,cedarwood flakes and lavender buds."

This one is perhaps my favorite out of these four scents. But it is rather simplistic. It starts with a seamless blend of clary sage and lavender. At this stage this is sharp, herbal and medicinal. Lovely if that is your thing, but a bit headache inducing in the long run. Thankfully it mellows! As it dries I detect hints of cedar and a nice soft vanilla base emerges. The lavender slowly vacates but the clary sage stays a while. I can smell no ylang at all, which is good for me because I have started to hate that note. The final drydown is made up of little lingering hints of clary sage together with vanilla and benzoin with a little bit of cedarwood. I really like this one. It does kind of bring to mind a cold moonlit night full of frost covered herbs and, strange as it sounds, I imagine hearing the whisper of an owls soft wings. Of all these scents this one also happens to have both the best sillage and the best longevity, about three hours.

Black Velvet

"Dark and sweet seductive scent of mystic resins and florals uniquely blended with black tea, dark cocoa and subtle notes of woodland magick. A blend created with cocoa, labdanum, jasmine and champa flower absolutes, essential oils in vetiver, amyris, black pepper, clove, ambrette seed, black tea extract infused in black tea leaves, ground pepper corns and dark cocoa powder."

I can't really tell you much about this scent. My skin sems to have a tendency to amp champa, a note that I hate with a passion... So I scrubbed this one. :( This sounded so good, apart from the champa... I just hoped that the champa would be hidden. It wasn't.

Winter Gypsy
"The essence of winter snow and scents of the season in a forest inspired scent with warm spiced notes blended with memories of winters past. A fragrance of essential oils in juniper, bergamot, clove,cinnamon and cocoa absolute, infused with pear fruit extract,juniper berries,clove buds and real pear fruit."

I like this one too! It starts out with a sharp clove, some juniper and a soft bergamot. After this first stage mellows it smells quite like Incendere for a little while. And if you have read my review of Incendere you know that I associate that with chai tea. This is like the chai tea of Incendere without the carnation and with a lot more clove. This stage is creamy, foody and very comforting! On drydown this passes. The creaminess disappeares and what is left is a mellowed clove with a vaguely woody, sweet and maybe slightly fruity background. What I like about this scent is that short stage of chai. The rest of the time the clove dominates a bit too much... I like clove, but alone it doesn't charm me, it needs company! The chai stage transports me to the same happy memories that I describe in the Incendere review, but the rest of the time Winter Gypsy fails to evoke any images or associations. This one has a medium sillage and a longevity of about three hours.

In the next part, the general catalog scents and some final impressions of this quite unknown perfumery!


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