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 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 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!


Follow my blog on Bloglovin

Perfume mini reviews - BPAL

These are some of the BPAL samples I got from Su a while back. (You can view the whole awesome package here.) I have chosen to only review those BPAL oils that I enjoyed.

Velvet - Notes are stated as sandalwood, cocoa vanilla and myrrh. On me it starts out as a large burst or dry cocoa powder with a sandalwood and vanilla background. On drydown a sweet and fruity note emerges for a while before it turnes into a lovely but rather generic sandalwood/vanilla. Neither sillage nor longevity are terribly good with this one. Lasts maybe three hours and is quite discrete.

Vixen - Notes are supposed to be orange blossom, ginger and patchouli. At first I strangely get a strong note of lavender. The patchouli is also quite sharp, definitely not very aged. I don't smell any ginger, but it is possible that it contributes to the sharpness of the patchouli. After a while this turns sweet. It is not quite floral but I will attribute this sweetness to the orange blossom for now. I confess that I don't quite know what orange blossom smells like. The drydown is still sweet but now with notes of vanilla and chocolate I believe. The patchouli is still going strong. This one is possibly full size worthy. It is interesting with good sillage and about an above average longevity.

The Dodo - Notes for this one are red musk, lemon peel, sugar cane, cassia, white sandalwood, mango, and agarwood. I have heard said that BPAL's red musk is something special but I don't know, to me it smells like quite ordinary musk with a cassia background and hints of the agarwood. The musk soon turns quite powdery and I can smell the sugar. After this the mango emerges for a while. The drydown is musky and woody with some lingering hints of mango. I like this a lot at times, but on the whole it leaves me unimpressed. It seems somehow disjointed... Sillage is good, longevity is about average.

Al Azif - This is a strange one! BPAL doesn´t provide me with any notes on this one apart from the vague term of incense. And I don't smell any incense. I get a dark smoky sweetness, it is resiny but a very creamy sweet resin. There is amber in here I think, and maybe honey. Something here smells like that deliciously fragrant kind of plastic and there are hints of sun tan lotion and makeup. This might actually be full size worthy! It is definitely interesting and smells beautiful on my skin. Sillage is about average, longevity slighly less than average.

Miskatonic University - Notes are stated as Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls. This one is creamy and sweet from the start. I can't quite tell what it is I am smelling but on wet it does remind me a bit of Cake or Death. I will have to compare the two side by side. I can smell no coffee, no boozyness, no dusty books... Just that strange creamy sweetness, somehow nutty, together with a strong note of oakwood. There are hints of the same sun tan lotion as in Al Azif and some discrete spices. I swear I pick up some kind of while floral, a nice white floral, could be tuberose, but it is very faint. This one stays about the same on my skin the whole time. Slightly more woody on the drydown.  I am a bit disappointed that I can't smell those dusty tomes but the rest of this scent definitely makes up for that! When I read up on this scent I found lots of talk about the coffee, it is strange that I can't smell that at all! But I do have one other coffee scent, and I can's smell any coffee when I wear that one either, so maybe my skin just eats coffee notes. Anyhow, Miskatonic University is my absolute favorite of this lot! Definitely full bottle worthy! Both sillage and longevity are well above average.

On the whole my first meeting with the famed BPAL was positive. These are interesting, and rather unique, oils! Concentrated too, and long lasting! There were other BPAL imps in my package from Su, and some of them were absolutely terrible but I did end up liking five out of ten! :) I can't quite understand the BPAL hype but I'll probably end up ordering from there at some point!

Perfume review - Slumberhouse part 2

This is part two of this review, part one can be found here.

Jeke has a fascinating concept that started "with a batch of smokey cade oil and the idea of a night time stroll with burning autumn woods in the distance - something fiery and burnt yet chillingly desolate, November illusory, breath of fog, ablaze. Into this design I sought to embed a defined masculinity - something well-worn yet intellectual, a refinement streamlined with rustic attributes - warmth of cigars in humidors, old leather shoes and odd buckles, traces of a fragmented sweet spice, the mysterious atmosphere that adorns the well traveled."
Jeke is intriguingly smoky with warm woody notes, a sensual hint of leather and a fantastic tobacco! My mother rolles her own cigarettes and keeps her shag in a leather tobacco pouch so when I sniff this I get the image of that pouch in my mind. This does not smell like tobacco smoke to me, but rather of woodsmoke. We have a tradition of Easter bonfires in Finland and this scent transports me to such a bonfire. The dark forest, the chill in the air, but most of all that blazing heat of the huge bonfire, the smoke drifting towards the dark blue sky and my mother rolling a cigarette. I think I get this image because of the fact that I won´t be going home for Easter this year... I regret that I´ll miss that bonfire and I definitely miss my home... I suspect that at any other time of the year this would be a scent to make my inner Steampunk happy. It could provoke the feeling of being an explorer of the Steampunk kind, gritty and dirty from tinkering with the airship, garbed in leathers, smoking a pipe and looking at old maps of exotic unexplored places. I really want to own more of this some day, when I have the money.

Grev is described as "The interpretation of the dapperest embodiments of a true gentleman. A deep, spicy, earthy, rooty fragrance with an elegant kick of herbs tinted through shades of orris, clove, birch and fir".
This one doesn´t evoke as many feelings and images as Jeke but it truly is one of the most elegant scents I have ever smelled. Grev is dignified and self contained where Jeke is gritty and wild. Grev is cold where Jeke is warm. To me these two scents seem like opposites, the arrogant highborn gentleman and the uncaringly unkempt explorer. The scent itself is herbal and I get that powdery kind of smell that I associate with orris root. I can smell clove and woods too, but somehow they manage to be old and frosty. As you might be able to see in the pictures, this perfume is a pale turquoise blue color, and I feel that this color mirrors the scent very well. I get the image of a elegant gentleman all dressed up in his finery going for a walk in a frosty park.


Free samples:

Pear + Olive is, I believe, the most recent scent from Slumberhouse. On the Slumberhouse blog the scent is described, apart from the pear and the olive, as "soft shades of herbal sweetness from Roman chamomile, the bitter booziness of grape tissue from French white cognac oil, the wet and earthy hues of zdravets crowned with the rich, velvety green gem of the very rare aglaia absolute. A chord of massoia bark & calamus absolute was created to provide a trace of cream".
This scent is lovely, very balanced and well made, but I´m lacking a concept, an intriguing background. And it smells a lot like an Yves Rocher pear perfume that I had when I was little... Not a positive association at all... I will forever associate pear and apple notes with the pear and apple perfumes I owned and overdosed on back then. Anyone who enjoys pear will love this though. It has the same smooth depth as the other scents but it is a bright and happy fragrance and you all know that that´s not my thing. There are some intriguing notes here that I have never encountered before, but they can´t quite make up for that pear.

Baque is described on the Slumberhouse blog as "a warm amber tobacco flower perfume containing notes of smokey apricot, cedar, straw, vanilla, tobacco leaf, davana, ambergris tincture and parchment. Elegant, rustic, golden and warm properly sum the four corners of its tobacco and honey heart".
This one is a fine comforting scent! The tobacco is sharp at first but mellows and mingles with sweet notes of amber and honey. This scent is somehow dusty and dry, I can smell straw and I imagine that I sense that note of parchment. Baque somehow makes me think of autumn forests covered with dry crinkly leaves. I wouldn´mind owning more of this, but unfortunately it seems that it is an older LE.

Kere is described as "Milky apricot, white chocolate and spiced plum-meat accords add texture and color to syrupy orange honeysuckle absolute and licorice within a halo of vaporous aldehydes reminiscent of champagne fizz. A circus of bizarre pairings harmonized in a blurring fashion that slowly devolves into spicy sugared hay and caramel".
This here is the most awesome gourmand scent ever!! It is so complex, so deep, I can´t even tell what notes I am smelling but it is so utterly, utterly divine!! I can smell licorice and caramel but there is also a sharp bite of warm spice. I doesn´t evoke any memories or places, it doesn´t transport me at all, but hey, I don´t care! Because I´m quite happy with being right here and experiencing only this scent and nothing more! This is another brilliant composition, balanced and intriguing! And the sillage! It is monstruous!! I´d love to own a larger bottle of this one, but alas, this too seems to have been a limited edition scent... Maybe it will come again sometime, preferably when I have some money to my name.


Slumberhouse really is such a fascinating perfumery! There is an intriguing depth to all of these scents, a rounded and smooth feeling that makes these seemingly simple scents so very complex and deep. Again and again I find myself using the word deep to describe them, I´m sorry I can´t seem to put this feeling of depth into better words... I also love the mysterious concepts behind them and the beautiful images that come to my mind when smelling them! Some of them take me away to other places and situations and all at least evoke certain moods!

All of these scents have good longevity and sillage, some more so than others. You can definitely tell that they are very concentrated! As they have no top notes there are no sharp changes in scent through the drydown. Some reviewers have remarked that these scents change dramatically about half an hour an hour into wear but I have not had any such experiences. What I get at the beginning is what follows me for the whole time!

Samples of Norne, Jeke and Pear + Olive can be ordered from the Slumberhouse website. Rume, Vikt and Grev have now been discontinued but are still available at places like indiescents until the stock runs out.

Polyvore collage - Norne

Norne by ladomna on Polyvore

I was just inspired to make a collage based around the scent of Norne, because it is just so evokative!

Perfume review - Slumberhouse part 1

My review of these fascinating scents from Slumberhouse has been forming in my head for almost two months now and finally I feel ready to write down some words. These scents are really the best and most intriguing I have encountered so far on my perfume journey!

Norne is described as "Fog caked needle, lichen, fern and moss perfume the nocturnal air beneath grandiose canopies of fir and hemlock...". The undertitle of this scent is "Ind i Fjeldkamrene" which, it seems, is a song by Ulver, a Norwegian folk music inspired black metal group. I´m not a fan of any kind of metal myself, but I do love scandinavian folk music! This particular song is inspired by the folklore belief that there were supernatural beings who governed the mountains. These could abduct the unvary and keep them imprisoned in the mountain. In the case of this song a maiden has been taken into the mountain and is begging with her last dying breath to be released therefrom. I found the lyrics and an English translation (because my Norwegian sucks) here.

The song paints a picture of a cold blue mountain in the wild north, it paints a picture of a dark night without moon and stars, of rain and of storm. To me the scent of this does not paint quite that same picture. This perfume is dark deep green and the scent of it is the same, a deep dark green coniferous forest. This is resinous and it carries the scent of recently cut wood, only darker not as fresh. I have never before smelled a perfume with such lifelike wood resins! On me there is no evergreen in this scent, only coniferous resins. Norne is neither complex nor simple. It does not change much on my skin but it is so wonderfully deep and evokative! Notable Scents did an interview with Josh Lobb, the perfumer behind Slumberhouse, in which he mentions that he doesn´t use top notes. That lack of top notes is definitely noticeable in these scents, and I like it! I like it a lot! This particular scent is also completely natural, made using only absolutes! Despite being all natural this scent has terrific staying power and fabulous sillage! If I could afford a full size I would buy it in a heartbeat!

Rume is described as "Inspired by a room - the explorer's hideaway. A burgundy/silver cologne with animalic pulse paired alongside a warm hush of clay, cola, filbert and hay. Rume is an idea, communicated through fragrance, of the desire to constantly seek out, experience and explore. An idea that contentedness is a poison and regret is the aftermath" and as having notes of bay, myrrh, labdanum and praline. I don´t have at all as much to say about this one as about Norne. I don´t quite understand the inspiration behind Rume, nor does it evoke any images. Many have waxed poetic about this scent, about it being resinous, spicy, smelling like gingerbread... But on me it just turns sour and the only one of the notes above that I can smell in this is the hay. It is rotting hay and a sour whiff of urine, it smells like a not so clean stable or barn... It´s definitely a chemistry malfunction though! When I try this on my favorite guinea pig, also known as my friend Blomma with the completely different skin chemistry, it is fabulously spicy and sweet with just a golden hint of dry hay! I love it on her but hate it on me...

Vikt is described as "Dark balsamic woods slowly oozing sweet metallic oils - motions of soft smokey black agar woods through syrupy bronze resins". I don´t have much to say about Vikt either, it isn´t very evokative for me and I don´t quite get the concept. I have a feeling that there is an interesting concept behind it, but it is hidden and so fails to add intrigue to the scent. This scent is so balanced that I can´t quite sense any individual notes. It is woody, but not in any traditional way, the resins are so sweet and deep. Not coniferous like in Norne but rather more exotic. There is a slight sour note in this too, but this one is much easier on my nose and it is not quite the sharp sourness of Rume but a more rounded sourness. I have heard said that oud can sometimes be a bit sour so maybe it is that. Still this scent is soft and gorgeous and I love it but I´d love it more if it didn´t fail to transport me.


Part two with reviews of Jeke and Grev and the free samples can be found here.

Perfume Mini Reviews - Gourmands

In my recent care package from Su of My Perfume Diaries there were so many gorgeous scents that I just can´t review them all one by one. So I decided to group them and do some mini reviews. Here are a few of the noteworthy gourmand scents.

Sweet Anthem - Colin

In the jar this solid perfume is a creamy gourmand with hints of cardamom.
On wet it kind of disappares for a while, I get just a very soft benzoin. After a few moments it warms up and amber emerges. Cardamom is in the background but starting to get more noticeable. I get no frankincense or myrrh at all, for which I´m thankful as I´m not a fan of incense or oriental resins. Cardamom and honey become more and more dominant as this dries and it takes quite a while before they fade. This stage is wonderful! I LOVE cardamom! Amber and benzoin dominate the drydown together with some lingering hints of honey. Longevity is about medium with this one. Sillage is minimal, but then that´s quite normal with solids. I´d love to sample this as an oil as it is very lovely, unfortunately it seems to be a discontinued scent. :(

L'Aromatica - Kulfi

I´ve never eaten kulfi, so I have no idea what it is really, but in the vial this smells exactly like cardamom dough to me, the kind that I use to make cinnamon rolls! Delicious! On wet cardamom dominates in big way. At this stage it doesn´t smell like dough anymore, just a powerful cardamom. The cardamom soon calms down and turns more creamy and sweet. I can definitely smell the coconut and it is such a  delicious coconut! This is incredibly mouthwatering! This scent stays a creamy cardamon/coconut all trough the drydown, but it gains a background of sandalwood. Both sillage and longevity are about medium. Kulfi is much more powerful than Colin and the associations I get are equally powerful, all in all a very nice experience! I don´t quite know if I want a full bottle of this one... It is absolutely gorgeous and a year ago I would not have hesitated, but now this is just not quite "me"...

SaraWen - Cake or Death

In the sample bottle (tiny and really pretty!) this is a  rich and moist vanilla cake, very sweet. On wet there is a lot more amber in this cake and it is not as foody as one might expect from smelling it in the bottle. There are hints of spice in here, I think I get a whiff of cardamon. Something about this scent is also slightly medicinal, at least on my skin, a dark sharpness like some hidden poison. The drydown is a soft vanilla amber, nice but not very special. The sillage is of monster proportions, at least at first, while longevity is about medium. This scent is nice, but not very complex and it doesn´t change very much on my skin... The sweet cake together with darker, more sinister, notes makes for an  interesting as well as enjoyable scent, but I would actually have prefered the rich and moist cake that I could smell in the bottle.

Trying on these scents has reminden me of why I´m not very into gourmands anymore. They are all absolutely lovely, creamy, gorgeous and delicious! But they just don´t take me anywhere, they give very few associations outside of the food they smell like, they bring no images to my mind or transport me away to places in my memory or imagination. Out of these scents Kulfi was the best in that it actually stirred my memory and brought me home to my kitchen and memories of cardamon dough.

Do you enjoy gourmand scents? If so, what are your favorites? If not, why? What scent types do you enjoy the most?

(Sorry about the particularily ugly photo, I couldn´t  be bothered to seek out better light as I am a lazy bastard!)

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!

Perfume Samples - Slumberhouse

I recieved a package of samples from Slumberhouse today! I have had a bit of a problem with shipping lately as former flatmate accidentally removed my name from the door when he moved out... so all my mail got returned to sender for about a week or so. But now I finally have this long awaited set of samples! A while back I stumbled upon a really charming interview with the perfumer behind this brand at Notable Scents as well as some really fascinating reviews of Slumberhouse scents at both Memory of Scent and Smellythoughts and the brand just sounded so interesting and definitely right up my alley! The samples were really generous and affordable too, so I went for it. The sample pack that you can buy at the Slumberhouse website consists of 2 ml spray samples of the five scents that make up the general catalog! In addition to these five I also recieved three free samples! That´s an amazing 16 ml of quality all natural indie perfume for $20 + affordable shipping! Just awesome!

These are the scents in the sample pack:
Grev - A deep, spicy and earthy scent with an elegant kick of herbs. Notes: copaiba balsam, fir resin, clove, orris root, cedar.
Jeke - Burning wood, November leaves, trees, cigars and leather shoes. Notes: cade, tobacco, patchouli, benzoin, labdanum.
Vikt - Dark balsamic trees that exudes sweet metallic oils. Notes: oud, styrax, ravensara (laurel from Madagascar).
Norne - Nocturnal air beneath grandiose canopies of fir and hemlock. Notes: pine and fir resin, lichen, fern, moss.
Rume - The explorers hideaway. Notes: bay, myrrh, labdanum, praline, clay, cola, hay.

Freebies:
Pear + Olive - Notes: pear, olive, chamomille, cognac, zdravets, aglaia, massoia bark, calamus.
Baque - Notes: apricot, cedar, straw, vanilla, tobacco leaf, davana, ambergris.
Kere - Notes: apricot,white chocolate, plum, spices, honeysuckle, licorice, hay, caramel.

As of yet I have only tried on two scents, Per + Olive and Grev. I started with the ones that are not really my thing, but I like them more than I thought. Pear + Olive is admittedly very far from my comfort zone but it is still rather nice and wearable, the pear reminds me a bit too much of the Yves Rocher pear perfume that I had as a child though... I also thought that Grev might be too much of an elegant cologne for me, but it is fabulous; fir and clove and powdery orris!! I´m really looking forward to trying on Vikt, Jeke and Norne, but I´m saving them for last!

Which of these scents do you find most interesting? Have you heard of this brand before?

Perfume - Winter Is Coming...

Beware of geekery below!

I am a huge fan of Game of Thrones! Huge! Tonight I watched the third episode of the second season... I have read the books, several times, but the show is still so exciting! (Though they could cut down on the randomely nude women and the excessive sex scenes... Sex scenes are soo boring!) I love so many of the characters and the story is such a wonderfully complicated web, constantly teasing me with little clues to the whole picture, but letting me slowly put it together myself!

So I love A Song of Ice and Fire (and isn´t the name of the book series much more intriguing, though rather a mouthful?) and the Game of Thrones TV series. As you all know I also love perfume, and who says you can´t combine the two! As I watched the show today I suddenly remembered that I had come across some Game of Thrones inspired perfume on Etsy... After the episode had ended I had a look, and I found some! Here are a few of the more wintry, House of Stark inspired, scents that I found!

A Stark Winter by SaraWen is inspired by the House of Stark. This scent contains notes of the nothern forest, cedarwood, ivy and vetiver with a dark base of leather and benzoin.
To me this sounds absolutely awesome!  I imagine the mild warmth of the hearth in the morning, the fresh and earthy woods outside and a warm scent of leather. Not too cliché, but still with strong ties to the inspiration, I like that!  Also, dark and masculine is how I like my scents nowadays!

Winterfell by Black Cat Creatives, inspired by the ancestral castle of the House of Stark, is more feminine with notes of fig, mandarin, heliotrope, jasmin, amber, myrrh, sandalwood and musk.
I don´t quite get the connection between the inspiration and the perfume with this one... I like the oriental resin base, it is warm and comforting like an old castle perhaps, but a bit too exotic for The North... Combined with the rest of the notes, I don´t think this scent would take me away to Winterfell. To Dorne perhaps, but not to Winterfell.

King in the North by Bubble and Geek is inspired by Robb Stark, the King in the North... It is described as scents from the weirwood forest together with notes of lavender, oakmoss, cardamom, mint and vanilla.
This could potentially be a very nice masculine scent, although I am personally not a fan of lavender and mint. I would like to know what is in the scent of weirwood forest, if it is evergreen or more exotic. I´m imagining a resiny evergreen scent, but you never know...

The last scent on my list is Winter Is Coming by False Nostalgia. "Winter Is Coming" is the motto of the House of Stark. This one is described as a cold woodland breeze, icy snow, weirwoods, moss, smoke and ash. I find the description of this one really fascinating! Snow, ice, woods, moss, smoke and ash... judging by the notes, I think this one would really take me away to the far north, maybe even all the way to The Wall and beyond!

My House of Stark perfume would definitely be evergreen and resiny, with woodsmoke and moss, some cold green herbs and a warm and woody base...

So, Game of Thrones, do you like it? Do you watch it? Have you read it? What would your Game of Thrones perfume be like?

Perfume Review - The Voice of Reason

Saturday's trip to Stockholm did not yield much in the way of clothing, Beyond Retro was packed with knits and winter coats, neither of wich I am in need of... But my friend Blomma and I just happened to walk into a Lush store, and they just happened to have perfume, and I just happened to fall in love... Of course I had to fall in love with the most expensive one, why is it always like that? Anyway, I couldn´t resist, I bought this pretty bottle of  The Voice of Reason. This scent seems to be quite a new addition and I could not find many reviews about it...

Apparently it is inspired by the beat generation, and oh my is that a cool concept or what! The people on the bottle seem to be Gil Scott-Heron and Leonhard Cohen. I do like Cohen, and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised bu Scott-Heron is a genious piece of poetry!

In the bottle this is very boozy, at first sniff  I thought "hmm, boozy lapsang" but now I think it it smells and looks like smoky whisky, smoothened by something sweet and vaguely gourmand. On wet there is still that note of smoky whisky but now it mingles with warm woods and a faint floral that to me smells quite a lot like carnation, but that the bottle says is rose! Rose of all things, rose that I´m supposed to hate! Perhaps this is some good rose finally, some real rose, while I´ve only smelled synthetic rose before? I don´t know... I like it in here at least! This scent is fresh and spicy, woody and smoky. There is something slightly medicinal about it, a fresh almost eucalyptus-like hint that I should hate (I normaly hate anything eucalyptus, menthol...) but that really only adds interest here! The drydown of this is a warm, smoky, woody tonka.

This scent is wild and free, dirty and nonconforming, much like the beat generation! The boozy, smoky nature of it makes me think of  early morning after-parties, when most of the steam is gone and everyone is sated and philosophical. It hints are wild parties and decadence but the medicinal note adds some real life, some pain, some jail time perhaps...

The sillage of this one is very powerful to begin with, but it mellows quite soon and becomes quite intimate. The longevity is good, more than 6 hours on my skin. All in all this is a gorgeous scent, brilliantly inspired and very intriguing!

Perfume Review - Kashmire

Kashmire by Enhanticals Perfume

I dismissed Kashmire as rather uninteresting the first time I wore it. But now that I try it on again I find that I do like it very much. In the bottle this smells a lot like Incendere actually, lots of creamy cinnamon. But on wet all similarities to Incendere end. Om me, this scent is cinnamon and not much else. A creamy, smooth, slightly resiny cinnamon. The scent decription tells me that there should be coriander, labdanum, cashmere, teak, opium and sandalwood in here as well, but at most I can find hints of resins and woods. There is a honey yellow oil in this blend that is heavier and sinks to the bottom of the vial... It´s hard to get this oil to blend with the rest as you can´t really efficiently shake the vial. I don´t know  what oil this is or if it affects how I experience this scent... I also don´t know what cashmere smells like, so I can´t really tell if it is noticeable in this scent.

On dry this scent is sweet, powdery and slightly woody with no clear notes that my nose kan sniff out. From what I have read about cashmere it is mostly a base not, so perhaps it´s cashmere I can smell here. Anyhow, it is sweet and lovely! Longevity is about medium in this one. The drydown sits very close to the skin while the wet stage has a medium sillage. On me it is not very complex or exciting, I´m not going for a full bottle, but it´s still gorgeous!

Perfume Review - Rama

Rama by Enchanticals Perfume.

Rama is a dark and murky blend. Before you shake it there is a thick layer of cocoa absolute at the bottom... I like that, it is really pretty! In the vial this smells sweet and boozy, a bit like a lovely chocolate liqueur or like one of those liqueur chocolates that I spend Christmas avoiding. 

On wet it changes completely, coriander and bergamot takes center stage for a short while. At least I think it is coriander, I can´t quite remember what coriander smells like and I can´t find any to sniff right at this moment. This stage is fresh and spicy in a way I can enjoy. After the bergamot fades it also smells a bit like yogi tea, not a cup of it, but the "tea" itself, a beautiful blend of dry spices. The vague spice stays for a while but is joined by wood, a dry wood, not a resiny one. This is also where the cocoa makes a reappearance, but now it is a slightly bitter dark chocolate, just the way I like my chocolate in perfume. The final drydown a soft, almost powdery, woody amber with hints of cocoa. I can´t quite find any tobacco in this one, even if the description says it should be there... If there are hints of tobacco here, it is the same tobacco as in Mephistopheles, a sweet and mild one and therefore quite hard to distinguish.

This one is about medium in both sillage and longevity. I love it, probably not enough to buy a full size, but there is something intriguing about it... The scent is dry in a way that I enjoy and I am a fan of woods and spices!

Perfume Review - Attar al Oudh and De la Forêt

Oud.
I know next to nothing about it. I know that another name is agarswood and that I love it! (If you are interested in this note, you can read more about it here.)

Both Attar al Oudh and De la Forêt contain this note, but in very different ways.

Attar al Oudh is all about oud. In the bottle it is a musty but sweet wood, slightly herbal and medicinal. On skin the true oud note develops, it is musty and pungent, woody and nutty, deep and resinous and probably not a scent that everyone will love. As it dries, amber emerges and the drydown is a gorgeous oud/amber.  This is a very simple scent, there are no surprises, nothing much happens... But if you love oud this is awesome!

De la Forêt is quite similar but a bit more complex. In the bottle this scent smells a lot like Attar al Oudh, but not as musty with more of a fresh forest character. On wet there is a flash of oud at first but then comes other exotic woods and a large dose of musk. This is a more delicate scent, not at all as musty and pungent as Attar al Oudh. The oud is still noticable but one of many notes rather than de dominant note. There are sweet notes of tonka and amber as well as sharper notes that I can´t quite place. This dries down to a gorgeous, but not very special, woody amber that at times morphs into something that smells much like fresh mushrooms. I get that mushroom note sometimes in various scents, I don´t know where it comes from, but I love it! My theory is that it´s a quirk of my skin, that turns some vanillas into this fungal note... There is no vanilla listed in the description of this scent, but it might still be there, so I´m not dismissing this theory quite yet...

Attar al Oudh has greater sillage than De la Forêt, but they both have about the same longevity, about six hours on me. I love both of these scents but perhaps not enough to get full size bottles. But I definitely want to experience more oud perfumes! Can you recommend any?

Perfume Review - DarlingClandestine Part 2

Okay, so a few of weeks ago I recieved a wonderfully generous package of perfumes and samples from DarlingClandestine. I did a review for three of the scents a while ago (you can find that review here) but three of the scents I din´t feel familiar enough with yet to sufficiently describe. You could say I had not gotten to know them yet or decided what my relationship was with them. I sometimes need prolonged contact with a perfume before I can decide if I love it or not. But as long as a scent works well on my skin it is mostly only a matter of time and adjustment before I fall in love with it!

I am normally drawn to scents that are of a wood/spice/gourmand variety so a few of the scents I recieved were a bit out of my comfort zone. Vardogr, reviewed in part one, was described as a "dark, damp, herbal fragrance" and that was close enough to my tastes that I felt compelled to try it. Dark, damp, mossy I can handle, even like, maybe even adore, though I haven´t quite reached that state yet. Gram Negative was fresh green, dark floral and damp moss, not something I would expect to enjoy. Most florals fit somewhere on a scale between abhor and dislike for me, the only notable exception being iris, that I adore! Green or fresh in a scent description is also something that will usually turn me off. But there was that moss, and it showed in the scent as well, it wasn´t at all as frightening as it sounded... Of the scents I recieved, only one was really definitely true to my normal tastes. That was Big Top Train, spicy, loud, creamy and just gorgeous!

Out of the remaning three scents, one was a love at first sight that has since waned a little bit. The other two had elements I liked and elements I disliked... Of those one is still not quite a scent I love, while the other has grown substantially in my regard.

Aragon is a mystery for me, the description says lavender, sea salt, wine, leather, caramel and chocolate... on me it is SAFFRON (where did that one come from?) with some lavender and a drydown that is a comforting sweet gourmande, that might be the caramel and chocolate. From the description I also got a rather masculine vibe (not that I really care much about perfume gender, I much prefer unisex and masculine scents to feminine florals) the leather, the wine, the sea salt... but as I don´t smell any of those notes... um... Well let´s just say that I feel as if Evonne of DarlingClandestine describes one scent to me, but the one I smell is another altogether. I like this scent a lot, saffron is definitely among my favorite notes! But lavender has never really worked on my skin, and turns just slightly soapy. And however much I love the powerful saffron there is still something that I feel I´m missing about this scent... I feel like I don´t quite "get it"... It is sweet, comfortning, perfect for Christmas, but somehow I don´t think that was how it was intended to be. It also fails to develop on my skin, there are no curious complexities, no changes, and it fades after just a couple of hours. I´m blaiming my chemistry for this failiure, there must just be something in this that disagrees with my skin...

Another type of perfume I have a problem with are oceanic scents. They tend to be very sharply fresh, almost metallic, on my skin. Step Right Up is described as "a clean, oceanic, very unisex fragrance with notes of wood and spice". That sounds like a precarious balance to me, the clean and the oceanic on one side and the woody and spicy on the other. On my skin it IS a precarious balance, because my skin does dislike the clean sharp sea in this scent. On first application it is harsh, salty and slightly acidic (citrus in here somewhere or is that just an olfactory hallucination?). The middle of this scent is nice and the drydown is beautiful, woods and lovely spices. The oceanic nature fades quite fast, so I really just have to get trough that and then I can enjoy the rest of this scent. But as I can´t really appreciate the oceanic element much of the complexity of this scent is lost for me. The parts I can appreciate are nice and lovely, but not very complex. Again, I´m blaiming this on my chemistry, I know that it doesn´t handle clean and oceanic very well.

The last perfume in my package, Fisticuffs, has really made a stunning recovery after it made some really quite bad first impresions on me. My first thought was "ughh... fresh... soapy..." and then I moved on and rather forgot about this scent for a week or so. This scent is described as "wine and honey and hot blood and concrete, with the green rush of the thrill of the fight", so maybe it is supposed to give a rather harsh first impression, like a punch in the face. But the thrill of the fight did catch up with me! This scent is so unique and fast turning into somewhat of a signature scent! Where gourmand scents make me feel relaxed this scent empowers me! All the notes mingle so beautifully, and the complexity is stunning! This is a scent that really changes a lot during the time it lasts (which on me is 12 hours or more), sometimes it is wine at the forefront, sometimes the sweetness of honey, at times it is sharp and green (but in a way that works on my skin, just like with Gram Negative)... I don´t know quite how blood or concrete smells in a perfume so I cannot quite tell you if this smells of either, but this perfume would probably not smell this unique with just honey, wine and something green, so I guess they are there somewhere, hiding and adding something sinister and unsettling. Something I love with this perfume, that I lack with the other two, is the images and associations that come to mind. The complex story that unfolds! I´m glad I got a whole bottle of this gorgeous stuff, now I can try some layering, this stuff probably works wonders with anything slightly booring!


Do any of you have specific types of pefume that you love and any surprising crushes on scents that are really not your type?