Darkersolstice

I really enjoy Wrath as a power scent. Wearing it gives me confidence on days when I know I'm up against something challenging. It's bold, spicy, and a great introduction to dragon's blood resin (Dragon's Milk is a similar introduction, but with a less fire-breathing and more sweet tone). Shub-Niggurath is something I picked up as an imp with my most recent order, and I'll be going in for the full bottle with my next one. I'm especially looking forward to wearing it in the fall, because the spice notes seem pretty apt for the season. And my go-to for date night, if I just really want to smell sexy, is Athens. I am very not a big floralsy person, so this is one of the more feminine picks in my collection. It's fruity-boozy on me and soft and tends to wear long enough for a whole night out with my datemate.

I'm not sure whether it's skin chemistry or decant age, or my nose, or something else...but what ends up being primary on me is the ouzo note, that anise/licorice/sweet, limned with boozy lightness (rum is that you?), rooted by something vaguely fruity that grows stronger as it dries down. Tea? What tea?

Have I not reviewed Athens yet? It's my default date night perfume when I'm out with the datemate (as opposed to the partner, with whom I'd be more likely to go for something like Incantation). It's sweet, wine-forward on me, to where the receptionist at work read it as 'fruit juice' at first. Great confidence builder, definitely a feminine sort of powerful, as compared to 'I am dragon, hear me roar'.

Given how I amp sweet notes, this started off as "someone dropped a lemon jolly rancher in a pile of hay and pine needles, and they're debating whether to brush it off and stick it back in their mouth", but by the time I got to work (~1.5 hours into drydown), it's subdued and mellowed into mostly hay and leather and vetiver, with lemon weaving through it, lifting it all up. I agree this one may need to age for a bit, but I kinda like what it seems to want to be.

I don't know what geranium smells like, specifically, but right now I feel way too floral for my own good. No edge of bourbon, no earthy vanilla and patch. I had hopes while walking to the train, but now that I'm at the office, this is so very flowery it's landed next to New Orleans in my "gift to someone who likes smelling womanly" bin. (That said, if one of my datemates wore this, I'd probably nuzzle into them like a kitten, and I agree with everyone who called it a summer scent.)

Has anyone mentioned Slippery Poppy Tincture? It's a very gently floral with some grassiness in it, not as loud as New Orleans, but with some sweet tones that I likes. Another idea is Envy, which has mint and lime and lavender with green herbs. That one did not last on my skin very long, but I loved it while it did.

Wow, this is wonderfully dark and mysterious on my skin. Like, individual notes are not easy for me to identify here. Cardamom and...spice drawer...and musk? Musk, sure. But I love how there's nothing in here that I amp to a hellacious sweetness, and this just ends up being wonderfully deep spice. This is not something I'd wear on my femme-presenting days, and I think a lot of people will read it masculine overall. But goddamn, I am loving it for the office.

Received as decant. Hrm, I'm not sure my skin chemistry is jiving with this one, quite. While I get the cranberries, I also end up with something vaguely soapy about it on me. Like...if Bath and Body Works made a Cranberry Orange body wash, that's what I'm smelling. Which isn't horrible--definitely not a scrubber--but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I wonder if that's the bergamot. Oh, please don't tell me that note goes off on me.

This is not chocolate, this is cacao. That's the first thing to get straight, if you're looking at reviews. It's bitter and dark and there's something clean to it, and when I grabbed it from my imp box and put it on without looking at the description, my first thought was "dirt. Good clean dirt." I mean that in the best way, though. It's an empowering scent, one that makes me feel really grounded as I'm wearing it. I definitely get the lift of the cotton blossoms, but this one never strays into the girly floral zone that I avoid like the plague. I'm debating getting a full bottle--this is a great warm-weather scent.

Yes, this goes amazingly, horribly sweet on me. That said? I like it as a bedtime scent. Like, the beeswax and pine are comforting in a way I wasn't exactly expecting.

So. Red Queen smells like wood on me, but Incantation is the woods, and that makes a lot of difference. Last night, I tried it as a bedtime scent without reading the notes, and I landed on it being pine-dominant before I got to this thread. Is that what vetiver does, that "astringent like pine bud candy" smell? I'm all for it. The lemon peel lifts without drawing too much attention. There's something 'clean' in here without it going full-on soapy to my nose. I'm entranced. While some people seem to be finding it too masculine for them to wear, I think I'd call it 'not overtly feminine' instead. It is not sweet, not flowery, but very green and herbal. For something I found myself describing as pine-y, I think it'll still be a superb summer scent, hearkening back to my days at overnight camp as a kid.

Chanukkiyah is a rich heady scent on me, fig-forward and almost inching too sweet. But it's not too strong a throw, so I'm unafraid to wear it for any occasion, though my first test was as a bedtime scent. I'm considering trying layering experiments with not-sweet scents (especially woody ones), to see if I can make the figs behave a bit better.

So, the interesting thing here is analyzing myself as much as the scent, because bottom line is that I like this one a lot. But I didn't like New Orleans because the floral was too feminine. So what stopped this one from making me go 'ew, I smell like a girl and that's not right for me'? Was it the berry note? Eat Me and Red Queen both have fruit notes I enjoy, though with Red Queen it's a top note that doesn't linger, whereas dementia_divine was very accurate in the assessment that Slippery Poppy Tincture goes from floral-forward to berry-forward. Was it the honey? I love how I amp honey, and how it lingers on my skin--The Fool's Tranquility is a favorite, though it seems too simple to really satisfy me. So this, honey with other noticeable notes might be filling that yen. Was it the nature of the floral? Wet and during drydown, there was as much cut-stem green scent as there was floral, and even when it did present, it was a very different floral than the honeysuckle and jasmine of New Orleans. Where those were big bold florals that ate up the bulk of my attention the whole time I was wearing the scent. Some people describe the floral in Slippery Poppy Tincture as red, but that isn't how my brain does floral scent -> color. There's nothing too in-your-face or eye-catching about this floral. It's just there, taking the foodie edge off the scent. Low throw, long last--I can still catch it 12 hours later, sniffing my wrist. And I'm glad to.

In Imp: Pure caramel, with a vague nutty underside. Butter pecan ice cream? Wet on skin: Ah, now I smell the coffee. But there's still something very buttery about it. Drydown: The coffee and oak are now up front, but there's still that buttery note I can't put my finger on. It's like the butter that melts into pancakes, a very pleasant edge. I also think I'm catching some more vanilla tones. Notes: this did not have a very long last or far throw in the end. Still, I'd bring the imp to reapply if it suited the occasion.

Nitpicks before I get into my review: 1. This should have been released in fall for Rosh Hashanah, rather than as a Yule. 2. The translation "kindness begets kindness" really misses the mark of what 'mitzvah' means. If I were translating, I'd go for something akin to "One good deed leads to another". That said, this is a lovely soft and mildly 'perfumey' scent, fruity and light. The eight honeys don't run cloying on this blend--it's no Fool's Tranquility--but they mellow everything out. When first applied, this one ran a bit sharp on me, and I was worried it'd be a scrubber. Something in the apple or pomegranate was tart in an offputting way, but by the time I got off the train and into the office (maybe an hour of drydown), it smoothed out wonderfully. This is not something I'd reach for on a cold day. It's a springy scent, despite the fact that I feel it's very Rosh Hashanah-esque, putting a little extra float in my step all day.