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 - 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 Reviews - The Leather Note Mystery

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I have noticed several times now that leather scents often smell like saffron to me. This post will look into this mystery and compare the leather scents that I have tried so far. Dungeon and The Haunted Mansion are both from my recent Enchanticals haul and they have been very instrumental in making me understand the leather note. Aragon by Darling Clandestine and Canus Lupus Arctos by Salmonberry Origins have both been reviewed before by me (here and here). I will revisit them now that I have a better grasp on leather. Hedonic by Haus of Gloi (in my recent package from Su, the awesome enabler) has been included because it is a saffron scent that ironically enough smells like leather on me. ;)

The one scent that really solved this mystery  for me was Dungeon because that scent is all about the leather. It smells like the real thing but in a way that allows me to sense the different notes that make up the real smell of leather. Sniffing Dungeon and sniffing some real leather made me realize that, as a scent, it is made up of three parts. One part cold and sharp herbal, one part saffron-like sweetness and one part dark animalic.

The Haunted Mansion has the same leather note as Dungeon, but accompanied by chocolate, patchouli and sweet tobacco among others. So the sweetness is amplified here and the saffrony note is more apparent. But this one is still definitely a leather scent, unlike the following perfumes in this post.

Now that I have smelled Dungeon, Aragon makes a lot more sense to me. Aragon is the one out of all these five that smells most of saffron to me, even though there is not saffron but leather in the description. Still, there is a trace of that sharp herbal whip but Aragon is missing that animalic note that would make it be percieved as leather by my nose.

Canus Lupus Arctos is also missing that dark animalic note. The herbal note here is more ozonic and the saffron sweetness is subtle. So my nose percieves a bit of saffron, some ozone, but not a leather note.

Hedonic is an interesting one. Description says that this should be black fig, saffron, honey, oud and musk, but I smell only a leathery saffron. I guess the musk acts as the animalic note, the oud might act as the herbal and both of these together with the saffron makes my nose think that this is leather.

So, there is my solution to the saffron-leather mystery! Do you agree or am I, or my nose, just crazy? Do you enjoy leather scents? Any favorites? Or how about saffron scents and favorites?

(Btw... I have a new laptop and you all can´t understand how strange and revolutionary this is! I have never before in my life owned a new computer. The only computer I have owned was the laptop I have had these past few months that was one my little brother bought cheap and second hand in 2008... It was really worn and finally gave up last Thursday... But now I have a new one, and it is fabulous!! All the things I can do that I have never been able to before! <3 p="">

Perfume - Wonderful things in the mail today!

I got this avesome collection of samples in the mail today! They are a care package from (the awesomely generous, kind, my hero) Su (IOU)! I was in heaven as I explored this lot, a package of perfume full of suprises is such a rush!! As of right now I have six different perfumes on various places on my hands and arms... I stink! ;D And there are still so many more to try on!! I already know that I adore Miskatonic University, it is going on my top ten list! I have also tried on the arabian scents and they are all really high quality and gorgeous. Cake or Death is on one of my hands and it is really really strong on me, with a monster sillage and longevity, but thankfully very lovely! Su reviews most of these here, here and here. But it seems we have quite different skin chemistries as I smell very different things in these than she does. 

So, this has been an awesome day and this lot of samples holds much more for me to try on tomorrow, and the day after that, and the rest of the week really!! Thanks Su for brightening my day, week and month!