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 Review - Twyla Perfumes and Apothecary

I have read so much about Twyla lately, and only rave reviews! So when I got the opportunity of a little discount I ordered some samples right away. I ordered Bone Flower, Dryad and Occula but I also received Chocolate Violets ( a limited edition Valentines scent) and Love & Squalor.

Bone Flower is a gorgeous scent! I ordered this because I thought that I might like tuberose, now I know I love it! In the vial it is very delicate and creamy but it blooms when it hits my skin. On wet this is heady and almost unsettlingly sweet, cloying in a way that I enjoy so much! As it dries it becomes softer and all too soon it is only a vague creamy white floral that clings very thightly to my skin. I love this one, I really, really love this one! I just wish it had a bit more sillage and longevity on me. It only lasts for about three hours and only for the first hour does it have any sillage to speak of. But I still feel tempted to buy a full bottle, I could wear it to bed and at home!

Dryad reminds me a bit of Mephistopheles when I first put it on, which is strange because, as far as I know, the only note they share is patchouli and that is not what I smell. Compared side by side the two are no longer as similar. Dryad is definitely more woody and resinous. I don´t think smelling Dryad after smelling Bone Flower is a good idea, somehow the heady smell of tuberose overpowers my nose and makes Dryad meek and uninteresting. Dryad is a bit difficult for me to make sense of, it is woody, resiny with som earthy patchouli thrown in, but it somehow manages to be delicate and almost powdery on my skin. I can´t really smell any of the notes clearly in this blend and it isn´t quite what I expected. I expected powerful resins and woods but this just falls a bit flat on my skin and fades fast. Perhaps it just doesn´t agree with my chemistry. Sillage and longevity are both minimal on me.

Occula is an interesting one! In the vial I can only smell the patchouli but on wet I get a strong flash of cloves that then linger and blend very nicely with the patchouli. In the background I get hints of honey and tuberose. I love this stage, it is spicy and creamy and dark! Unfortunately this one as well fades quite fast on my skin and, while I really enjoy the wet stage, almost all scent is gone by the time it is completely dry. By then the only thing left of this intriguing blend is only a rather flat and uninteresting patchouli and clove.

Chocolate Violets and Love & Squalor are scents that I would never have ordered myself but I found them surprisingly enjoyable. They both contain florals, but this is definitely the real stuff, not synthetics!

In the vial Chocolate Violets seems like a powerful chocolate scent of the kind that I generally dislike. Once I put it on I do get a strong chocolate at first, but that only lasts a few moments and then the violet takes over! This is a violet that doesn´t quite strike me as floral, but is rather more like violet flavored candies in scent, and I love those! The scent doesn´t really change much after this, so it is not very complex. Chocolate Violets doesn´t last very long, a few hours maybe, but it has more sillage than all the scents above!

Love & Squalor starts with a powerful note of jasmine. And I kind of hate jasmine. And, indeed, the first half hour or so is quite horrible. On my skin, jasmine is cloying in a way that I definitely don´t enjoy! But, yes there is a but, when the jasmine calms down this is actually a great scent that really likes my skin. Except for the jasmine I can´t really identify any other notes. It is very floral, so I really should hate it, but it is also both deeply complex and delightfully creamy! Out of these five scents, this one, the über floral one, is the one that has the best sillage (medium) and longevity (about 4-5 hours) on me. How is that for irony... I really wish this scent was more "me" as my skin seems to love it...

In the end I enjoy all of these scents, even the dreaded florals! I might even go so far as to say that, to my surprise, the florals were the best of the lot! I never though that I would actually enjoy a jasmin scent and I didn´t know that violets were so amazing! Unfortunately none of this scents had the longevity and sillage that I am used to with perfume oils. I don´t have dry skin, so that is not to blame. Perhaps these oils are just meant to be rather delicate and soft but I definitely prefer more power and longevity!