siren6

A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend of leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense. I found Les Infortunes unfortunately muddled on me. In the imp it was surprisingly masculine, although it took a few sniffs to pin that to the leather scent. On the skin the citrus was much more noticeable with the moss bringing a nice green depth to it... and from there it kind went downhill for me, as an odd waft of floral joined the party. The manly suggestion of cologne with the pocket full of posies was just too at odds for me (and I'm usually a fan of unisex scents). A while later it had further mellowed to an almost woodsy amber scent; quite pleasant actually, but it seemed like a lot of work to get there! Too heavy to be casual, too floral to be butch; this one just didn't make sense to me. I'll be passing it to the Man who has completely different body chemistry than I to try.

Bastet was a wonderful, unexpected find! All soft creamy warmth, I never got the reported "cherry blast" at the beginning and I'm not sure I got the lotus anywhere at all. The amber, saffron, myrrh, almond, and cardamom wove a dry but warm golden skin scent. I found it very soft and well blended from the application through dry down. I adore cardamom and my body chemistry loves almond, this seemed to soak right in and I smelled like "me," but better! This was so much like a second skin on me I had to keep re-applying to make sure I was catching it right... which leads to my only complaint, really: Bastet has a very limited throw and a relatively fast fade on me. The scent is so worthy though, I don't mind re-applying it!

This scent fully delivers on it's promised description: dry and spicy - leathery - pumpkin. Having said that, once the scent fully dried on me it went a little artificial smelling: a little shopping-mall-candle-store crossed with cologne. Although I'm usually partial to gender-bending scents on me I'm chalking up the mis-match to my body chemistry. I have the suspicion on the right guy this might be delectable.

Not completely foody, not totally woodsy, not something to stick in your pipe; Tiresias eases through all these notes and resolves perfectly blended. The cinnamon is dry, the caramel not overly sticky or sweet, the tobacco subtle, the woods are lovely. The only disappointments were that the currants made only a brief appearance and the end went a touch powdery on me (which I don't like); otherwise this would have shot up into my personal top 10. As it is, its a great everyday scent for my spicy tropical lifestyle. I can see how it would wear well on a guy too.

This was a freebie in my latest order, and an unfortunate reminder of the fact that aquatic florals don't work on me at all. I picked up freesia, maybe gardenia too? I found the floral a little too sweet, too cloying: less "ocean breeze" and more "granny's bathroom". I typically tend to gravitate to more earthy, spicy scents, so this was probably a reach for me anyway. Most likely a lovely scent on a floral-lover with kinder body chemistry than I.

Masabakes was a disappointment for me, I have to confess. I didn't get warmth, I didn't get darkness, I didn't get comfort, I didn't get spice or fruit or incense. I got thin green perfume-y (mimosa?) powdery bug repellent. I'm not sure what happened, but Masa and my chemistry did not mix.

Bon Vivant is a more robust Fairywine: the berries are turned all the way up, with a fizzy bright champagne sparking around them. A great apéritif for a hot day!* * Note: not for actual consumption!