zankoku_zen

Green, viney, honeysuckle. Fairly realistic. I do love this note and would love it as a bath oil or atmosphere spray.

Slightly woodsy sandalwood, with orris and carrot-seed. The carrot-seed as a mournful note, and there's a tiny bit of vanilla on the drydown. This one smells like cold marble, sandalwood, and mournful florals. Beautiful and haunting. Medium throw and wear length.

Mulled spices, dry leaves, clove, a mishmash of other Fall notes, and yes this smells like fall, autumn breeze, and baked goods. This is the smell of a cozy sweater by the fire. The smell of baked goods in the oven. The dry crackling of leaves as they rustle in the wind. Medium throw and wear length.

Boozey rum with a ton of spices. In some ways this reminds me to Pais of Canela. Cinnamon, clove, cardamom all make an appearance over a bed of boozey rum and a swirl of buttercream. I'm sort of really digging this. Medium throw and wear length.

2016 version

 

Bear in mind, I haven't tried Hope in a long long time. And my tastes have changed. On wet, it smells most strong of rose water. As it dries, I get the sugared aspect much more and I'd definitely call it a sugared rose water at this point.

I am amping up the flowers in this one. I get ylang ylang, orris, blue amber, and a touch of sandalwood. But really its sharp white florals over an amber base. It's sort of a starry dark grey blue sort of night. Medium throw and wear length.

Cedar, vetiver, tobacco and amber. I agree that this smells like a smokier, dirtier Jacob's Ladder. Instead of it being golden, this is a much more gritty, smoky, dark grey sort of blend. Whiff of sage. Actually, I think this would make a fantastic male amber blend on the right guy. UGH. Medium throw and wear length.

Sweet, cream, sugary butter cream and coffee. There's a whiff of booze to this. This is sort of what I wanted Misk U to be minus the wood and wood polish. Sadly, its almost too sweet on my skin. Medium throw and wear length.

UGH, this has the same clove/tobacco base that Voodoo Queen does but I get more amber, rose, and a touch of chypre on it. But oh yeah, this is lovely. It's that clove/tobacco leaf base that I love though. Medium throw, great wear length.

 

And while lovely to smell, do not get this on your finger tips and then attempt to eat the cookie. I tasted more of the chypre than I smelled on my skin. Let's just say chypre was not made to be tasted.

Rubber, grime, effervescent Fresca, and ozone. Yeah, I don't get this either. But HELLO SCENT WONDERLAND TRIP. This is sort of like the Disney version of It's a Small World, but instead of giving you a five minute tour of a diorama of around the world dolls singing loudly and cheerfully, it's more like a five minute tour of a gritty neighborhood in a city that you've been warned is too dangerous for a tourist like yourself to be wandering through. Low throw and low wear length.

This one definitely has some cedar in it because I get that woody, slight-just sharpened pencil that I typically get from cedar. There's a slight sandalwood undertone to this cedar note though. There's a bit of cocoa in there as well, and would agree with Midnight_Aeval that this seems like a less sweet version of Banshee Beat. It's aged pretty well though. Medium throw, and medium wear length.

Swanky-citrus booze with a dash of pink pepper. This one is kinda pithy on me, and its sour-sweet, fizzy and citrusy. However, it disappears on my skin after an hour.

 

BOO.

Peach, lychee, and musky oudh. I get a fair bit of both lychee and bergamot on wet, but it dries to a peachy-musky type of blend. I am really intrigued by the auburn musk in this blend and hope that it makes an appearance in others, so I can get a better sense of it. Fruity, peachy, and definitely with whiff of lychee in it. Medium throw, medium wear length on me.

Cherry blossom, rice milk, and a bed of sandalwood. This one is much much lighter than I expected. It codes as vaguely Shunga-esque actually to me. This one is a light, delicate, smell.

Actually, I would love some of my skincare products to smell like this. Delicate florals, luxurious, comforting. Low throw and wear length.

No Pls, you win as the strangest of the Dragon blends this year. I get mainly blue musk, cedar, whiffs of both tobacco and black pepper with just a hint of orange blossom. To me, you smell like a perfume pencil. Its like if you dreamed that you had this pencil, and instead of writing, it just squirted perfume. Yup. That's how I envision this working out.

Great throw and wear length though, so A+ for performance, and A++ for weirdness.

So neither BPAL strawberry or red musk have been great notes for me. With that huge caveat, Jaunty Cap is probably the most surprising dragon to me. I've been loving the BPAL strawberry note that has been in use lately (ever since 2012), since it stays fresh and sweet on me as opposed to turning to plastic. That said, sometimes it would be too sweet.

And here, the red musk has been sweetened and tamed. For me the strawberry is more like strawberry leaf, as there's quite a bit of fresh greenness around the edges. There's also another element on the drydown that grounds the musk down.

I've decanted all of the 2017 dragons, and this is the one I'd keep for myself. Part of me wanted to lie in the review and go "Horrible, give to me for proper disposal". Medium throw and great wear length.

I get mainly cocoa, sugar, caramel, a whiff of chewy tobacco. Coffee appears to have take a look at the chocolate trifecta and hightailed it straight out. It's a smooth, cozy, chocolate. The tobacco keeps it from being too sweet or sugary. But still a very chocolate blend. Medium throw and wear length.

This one smells like a softer more Lace interpretation of Calaveras Catrinas. There's a bit of sugar, but it's mainly lace, incense, and just smells old, Mexican and churchy. Low throw but good wear length.

Sweet, sugary lavender is what I get the most. On the drydown I get white chocolate. I think there's some vanilla or marshmallow in it.

 

It's a soft, pretty, sugary floral. Medium throw and wear length.

A touch of orange, chocolate, over a base of patchouli. Its a sweet patchouli blend. If you love patchouli, I'd give this a whirl. Good throw and wear length.

Juicy peaches, a ton of honey, and a whiff of vanilla. This actually turns up the sweetness up to 11 on my skin. There's something sort of lush and overblown like the Flowering Lines scent for Century Guild. It's got that same golden and juicy fruity sweetness going on. Good throw and wear length.

Strawberry candy with a soft base of dragon's blood resin. This is a sweet, sugary blend. I'm surprised at the longevity of the strawberry note. This is that delightfully sweet and fresh strawberry note that we saw in Strawberry Moon. Sweet enough to rot your teeth out. On the drydown I get a slightly lily vibe from the DBR, which makes again the comparison to Strawberry Moon stronger.

 

Strawberry Moon's little sister amped up on sweetness and sugar. This one goes to 11.

On wet, I get mainly a red and black musk combo. As it dries, I get a whiff of the patchouli at the very bottom, but there's also touches of carnation. To me, the oakmoss gilds both of the musks. It smells dark and haunting. But also very luxurious. This like the equivalent of a black velvet cape. It's luxurious to the touch and wraps around you so stylishly when you're off to your nefarious undertakings under the moonlight. Good throw and wear length.

Lemon verbena and chypre give way to gardenia and tuberose, with a base of tonka. This one starts off as a very effervescent and light citrusy blend, and dries down to a sparkling, cool metal floral which I think is the combination of the chypre, gardenia and tuberose. It's definitely much more gender neutral than Flowering Lines. To me, this is like a crisp cool white wine. Refined, elegant, cool.

Juicy apricot, lilies, sweat pea, with the spicy carnation as a base. This one is an opulent, and what I'd consider more along the lines of a traditional perfume, but very heady and very Art Nouveau actually. There's something both joyful and blooming, and curvy about this blend. It's just gorgeous. Great throw and wear length.