Deidre

First off, for someone who studies philosophy and who thinks it's the most awesome and interesting thing to study in this world, well, a perfume with the word "philosophy" in it's name is very appealing. Anyway. In the bottle, this smells sweet and creamy with a medicinal tang to it, which must be the saffron. But then, as soon as this gets on my skin, the medicinal smell fades incredibly quickly and the it morphs into a warm, soft, creamy vanilla. I can't pick out either the cream or the vanilla; it is perfectly blended into one round, and, well, warm and comforting scent. I love this. I love this. It stays that way for hours, and I can't stop sniffing myself. Keeper, hoarder (I guess this will age well, too)! I have tracked down three bottles of this already, and I'll look out for more... ETA : almost two years later, I still love this as much as the first day! It's simple and straight-up, warm, sweet. It hasn't changed much with aging; the saffron is a bit more prominent in the bottle (=medicinal sharpness), but it fades completely on the skin.

Preconceived notions : This has milk, honey and bergamot in it, scent which I adore, well, when it's real milk and honey and Earl Grey tea leaves, but I don't know if they will work on my skin. Rose is just blah, and I have no clue what carnation smells like. Im the imp : very spicy. And yet soft. I can't detect the milk and the honey, and the rose has yet to make an appearance. I would be tempted to say that I mostly smell the carnation, although I don't know what it smells like. Wet on skin : Still spicy, perhaps slightly creamy. The milk - which, alas, as I had noticed earlier with White Rabbit and Milk Moon, turns sour on me - makes some teeny tiny appearances when I bury my nose in my elbow, and I catch those faint but worrying whiffs of sourness. Drydown : The sourness fades away, thank God, and leaves only spicy creaminess. Still no roses, which is very very good. I don't smell the milk and honey and bergamot, but that's probably because my nose is uneducated; they must be there, rounding up the carnation, giving it that mellow creaminess... I used this in a very hot milk-and-honey bath yesterday, and God was it gorgeous. It complemented the bathing ingredients wonderfully, no milk turning sour, no roses, just that carnation spiciness wafting over the steamy water... Keeper? Well, if I hadn't by mistake used my entire imp in the bath, I'd say yes. But now I'll have to get a 5 ml...

All I'm smelling is amber, amber, amber. Which isn't a good thing, because amber is one of my no-go notes... As it dries down I think there is some hay absolute blending into that amber, but not enough to tone it down. Edit : still amber, and fading fast. *Sigh* Other people got lemon, hay, and even honey out of it - well, it was worth a try...

Yes, Strawberry Moon had caught my eye - but to me, it seems almost impossible to find! I have ordered an imp of Bon Vivant - does the strawberry come out well underneath the champagne?