Dead Leaves, Spanish Saffron, Patchouli, Laotian Oud, and Honey Hair Gloss

[strick9]

[No additional description provided.]

When I first saw the notes for this, i knew I had to have it. I ordered this one along with Dead Leaves, Licorice Root, Tonka Bean and Pachouli, and I'm really happy to have full bottles of each of these. I tested this on my forearm to see how strong they are; I'll report back when i do a hair test.

In the bottle: strangely floral. I'm guessing this is the saffron and honey playing together. I get very little pachouli, but the oud is definitely there. This almost smells aquatic to me in the bottle.

On the skin- I applied a very small amount, and on my skin it dries down quickly. This smells nothing on like it does in the bottle, and I'm really quite glad. This actually reminds me a lot of The Thales Eclipse in the bottle, which has made me realize that the oud in these particular scents amps animalic on me. In this particular blend, I love it. In Thales, along with the castoreum, the funk needs to mellow.

anyway- as i said, the dry-down happens super quickly and i'm left with no residue or greasiness at all. The floral note has turned super rich, and it's a very golden scent. The patchouli is barely there, and seems to act as an anchor. It may be mingling with the oud and producing the base earthy funk that i really love. I'm not sure that I get "dead leaves" from this as a note- i do get it as a vibe though. This scent is like walking through a forest on a sunny, slightly breezy day while the leaves are in their red, orange, and yellow splendor.

I'm of the opinion that this could be worn almost year-round. It might be a bit heavy for summer, but the rest of the year? Absolutely. One surprising thing to mention- a little seriously goes a long way, at least on my skin. the scent is strong, and i hope that when worn in the hair it mellows some.

Overall I'm super happy to have this as a whole bottle.

[lookingglass]

The Dead Leaves note smells quite green here mixed with the honey, like a freshly fallen raked pile of leaves...only their ends are crispy and dry. I get almost a neroli note-slightly bitter, green snapped stem...The saffron adds a soft, golden dusting. Oude and patchouli are embraced on the drydown, grounding the drying leaves with an earthy, slightly bodily, not too animalic sweetness. It's at once fresh and dry and warm, like modern chypres. I'm very happy here. Yes, I think this could be worn year round.

[renfair]

I got a set of Dead Leaves gloss decants cause Dead Leaves is one of my favorite collections and I wanted to TRY THEM ALL before picking out a favorite or two to buy "big." This was the third one I tried: not my usual go-to set of notes, but I'll try anything with Dead Leaves in it!

First Sniff Impression: Very sharp and "yellow"

Wet in Vial: Sharp, herbal, and yellow-green straight away.

Drying Down: Drying down some notes are combining to make almost an orchid note to me. There's something incredibly familiar about the general scent, but I can't place it. The gloss is smelling amazingly "pretty" wafting from my hair, since the spray on my hands still is sharper and more like incense. I didn't get any of the honey specifically straight off, but I'm sure it's there warming up and sweetening the overall scent.

Dry: Dry, this scent is well blended, but it's not my personal style. I'm not great at describing it since I don't usually wear these sort of notes often. I'd say it's pretty heavy on the saffron, from what I can tell. I don't get much outright patchouli at all, and I'm terrible at picking out oudh (I get more of a "feeling" from scents with oudh instead of an actual scent). The honey does seem to be giving everything a sweet, golden glow though I don't get a strong honey note like in Hair Loosened and Soiled gloss. And honestly I don't really get much dead leaves at all. I feel like the other notes are overpowering them, but it may be one of those instances if I smelled the same thing without the dead leaves then I'd notice and miss them.

Conclusion: Glad to try it, because I love stepping out of my comfort zone to experience different things. But overall something about these notes together reminded me of my grandmother (and hey, that's not a bad thing. She was amazing and always smelled really nice. I just kind of don't want to smell like her, you know?) I think I'll be passing this decant on to someone who's appreciate it better.

[annemathematics]

in the bottle, this smells like rich floral honey over chewy, leafy patchouli. i'm anticipating a rich earthy honey HG variation!

 

but applied and worn, it's quite different. airy dried leaves with occasional wafts of woody (woudy?) patch and very very light floral (saffron!) honey. like walking down a very dapper street on a windy autumn day, getting wafts of the fine colognes and perfumes of the gentlefolk you pass on the street.

 

it's gorgeous and I love every stage of it, from bottle huffs to the actual scent-in-my-hair.

[Minh Scent]

This is a beautiful concoction. The dead leaves accord is the main player in this to my nose. The other notes are very light, adding to the overall perfumey prettiness. If you were put off by the oude note, don't be, as it is barely there.