duende - fantome perfumes
oakmoss, cedar, fir, resinous labdanum, benzoin, tree sap, wild violets, lilac.
*** the one that started it all! duende has been recommended as a top pick for "you want to smell like a forest?" so i had to snag it. i really like duende, but on me the florals really stand out. so it feels more like the forest the last unicorn resides in at the beginning of the book than "creepy and weird forest" which personally i would like to smell like that more on a daily basis over 'meadow clearing'. however, it's still a lovely scent and i like to wear it, but i tend to reserve it more for days where i feel a little more feminine than normal. also for some reason one of my cats goes crazy for this one, she's always trying to lick my wrists when i wear it... which is bad!!

coyoacán - fantome perfumes
desert wind, sweet nectar, cool stone, mexican vanilla, creosote, hibiscus, sage.
*** i got this one when i picked up duende so it would be a contrast since they were my first two perfumes. now i'll be honest most of the notes in this one just don't register at all to my nose. what DOES register though is the vanilla, and it feels like a very "warm" vanilla. vanilla beans you've left to dry on the hot steps outside. since some of the other notes are supposed to be things like desert air and cool stone maybe that's what they're going for. i wear this one more than duende since the vanilla doesn't feel as "creamy" which makes it more gender-neutral (to me).

made of - cherrykas trunk
spanish moss, romanian birch, cypress, dirt, moss, gunpowder, mushrooms.
*** this is a scent inspired by My Beloved ethan winters from resident evil. i really like this scent a lot, however, it is really strong on my skin at first and since a lot of the notes in this are meant to invoke a sort of wet floral landscape, it can be almost pungent at first. the scent mellows out super quickly into like. a floral bog scent that isn't nearly as overwhelming, but those first couple of whiffs are like whew. this is a scent that definitely reminds me of the baker house; a house hosted in a bog in the humid south with lots of wet fauna and flora in the vicinity.

silver handsome - cherrykas trunk
leather, tobacco, gunsmoke, ocean, ginger, cherry blossom, tequila, sand.
*** a scent based off of johnny silverhand. i bought this one kind of on a whim to wear while i play cyberpunk and i wasn't sure if i'd like it much given the tequila note, but i really like it a lot. it's fiery, a little boozy, but also shockingly grounded, which works perfectly for johnny's impulsive behavior despite his well-rounded insights.

sandalwood guns - cherrykas trunk
gunpowder, denim, leather, tobacco, desert, red rose.
*** i have no idea what character this is supposed to be based off of but it's good. the leather and gunpowder stand out the most on me. it smells...well-oiled?? like you're in a workshop in the desert and you're oiling a gun or something mechanical. for that reason, i actually associate this scent kind of with fullmetal alchemist and wore it when i cosplayed edward elric. my friend made fun of me for trying to match perfumes to my outfits, but when i had him smell this one he agreed that it did smell like something ed would smell like, so i guess i'm right lol. warm, mechanical, a little dusty, grounded.

cthulu - black phoenix alchemy lab
seaweed, oceanic plants, seawater.
*** i really like how watery scents interact with my skin, and cthulu is certainly the wateriest scent i have tried so far. the seaweed takes a minute to show up, but it is definitely there--and i like it, but it doesn't really offer the nice floral element that restless dreaming's lavender does. cthulu smells stormy and bristly. funnily enough i wouldn't say it smells like seawater to me despite the sea note. rather it makes me think of a large looming lake teeming with unknown secrets. so maybe the seaweed smells more like algae to me? definitely one to pick up if you really just want to smell like a wet lake, since there's nothing particularly floral to this scent to me. definitely something to wear whenever i pick subnautica back up again for the full immersion!

codex - calyxfragrance
old books, leather, dusty pages.
*** i said that i've been looking for a book scent -- this one, i think, fits the bill perfectly. it starts off very pulpy and light, almost creamy in scent, but overtime the scent morphs into something darker and more leathery. per the etsy description it is meant to transition from "new modern bookstores" into "aged tomes" which i think makes sense - it's interesting to have the scent go from something creamy to something more dry. it's really good if you're looking for a book scent, but i will say it doesn't last terribly long on my skin nor does it project much. i also think i prefer the initial 'pulpy' and creamy scent to the later notes of the leather. definitely one i'll restock or maybe get as an essential oil for a diffuser.

tweed waistcoat - calyxfragrance
cognac, vanilla, oakmoss.
*** smells like the creamiest earl grey or london fog you could ever have. this was my sample i received from them and i fell in love with it immediately. it's a gourmand scent for sure but because the gourmandy-ness reminds me more of adding milk to my tea, it's something that doesn't surprise me or make me feel like i need to be in a bakery or something. there's something there resembling leather for sure. i can see the dark academia influences, but i think for me it mostly reminds me of ordering london fogs when i lived in seattle because the perfume has a sort of 'humid' note to it that might be the oak moss, although i wouldn't say the perfume smells particularly watery or anything.

a riddle and an enigma - cherrykas trunk
violet, suede, almond, ozone, metal, green tea, fern.
*** this is a scent inspired by ed nygma from DC. i'm not a comics fan. however! this was initially a limited re-release of this scent from the store, and as a huge fan of their stuff, i knew i had to pick it up, especially since it had been discontinued initially since people were complaining it smelled too 'ozoney'. as a big fan of weird scents and of using fragrances for immersion, and since occult detective (from the same store) has a similar sort of floral ozone-y-ness to it, i knew i had to try it. and honestly people who were complaining it's too ozone-y for them are cowards. i know my skin tends to draw out floral elements, so the way the more gentlemanl-y notes pair with the ozone is something that works really well for me. i don't claim to know much about ed's characterization outside of the movies and ways i've seen him portrayed in games and stuff, but i think he'd be pleased to know that i, someone who could care less about his series, think the fragrance smells quite sophisticated while also undercutting that sophistication with hints of metal and ozone that make you wonder 'hmm...is there something wrong with this?'

leopardite - hexennacht
sandalwood, golden sandalwood powder, vanilla husk, chamois accord, cedarwood, tobacco leaf, black oak, cardamom, saffron threads, miel blanc.
*** a very sandalwood forward fragrance with an accord that i can only describe as 'sharp'. i'm guessing that's the chamoi. it's woody, slightly musky thanks to the musk sharpness? but it isn't hazy in the same way a lot of musky fragrances tend to be, at laest on me. this fragrance has a lot of body to it. the tobacco might also play a role in it. warm but not candle-esque. woody but not wood-centric.

santal - hexennacht
sandalwood incense, golden sandalwood, mysore wood accord, vanilla sandalwood.
*** basically does what it says: mmmm sandalwood! after being disappointed by the longevity of another sandalwood-centric perfume i got i thought this might be nice...and it is a significant improvement. i do get some of the mint-elements some synthetic sandalwoods have in this one, but overall this is very creamy and delightful and lasts quite a long time on me!

antikythera mechanism - black phoenix alchemy lab
teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco.
*** might end up giving this one to my boyfriend or somethin. don't get me wrong, it's good, i just like it on him that much more. very woodsy, very vanilla-y. smells like someone rubbed vanilla pods up against their oak desk. smells like sticking yourself in a vanilla-aged barrel or something. in short, i like the wood notes a lot, but not as much on my skin, which i probably should have expected in retrospect given boheme is a scented balm i hardly ever wear. regardless, this is blended really well.

strawberry fields forever - hexennacht
strawberries, fresh cut grass, dirt.
*** this one was a bit of a disappointment. i like strawberry as much as the next person but this smells primarily syrup-y to me with little 'real' strawberry to it, let alone any strength to the more green notes. over time the syrup-y nature of the strawberry does die down and get a little more green, but it never fully goes away enough to invoke any outdoor imagery to me. i'll be trying to get rid of this one i think, it doesn't do what i wanted it to do at all :(

boheme - madame scodioli
vanilla oak.

one of us - madame scodioli
sandalwood, cedar, cardamom, leather.

timshel - madame scodioli
tobacco, vanilla.

mojave ghost - byredo (edp)
ambrette, jamaican nesberry. violet, sandalwood, magnolia. chantilly musk, amber, cedarwood.
*** i tried the handcream of this at a store once and fell in love with the scent but admittedly the edp version of it is a little underwhelming for me. luckily i just have a sample size of it. it's still a nice scent, but at least on me the handcream comes out fruitier rather than muskier and i am just not super impressed with the edp's performance to justify the price. this also was a big hint for me in realizing i prefer the oils over the edps as i realized pretty fast i didn't like the lingering scent on my clothes lol. mojave ghost reminds me of sitting in the desert underneath a blooming cactus; the edp makes me think of that desert-like dry air with a little taste of something blooming on the air, whereas the handcream makes me think more of cutting open the cactus with your knife and drinking straight from it.

fall cashmere - skylar (edp)
roasted almond, cinnamon bark, spiced bark.
*** this was a gift from my friend who is subscribed to scentbird but didn't like this scent much. it's fine! it smells very warm, almost chai-like, but maybe a little too synthetic at times. i've since discovered i prefer perfume oils so i just don't wear it much. i'll probably give it away too (sorry rain).

the ghost in the shell - etat libre d'orange (edp)
aqual, yuzu, hexyl acetate, milk, skin, jasmine, nugane, orcanox, vinyl, moss.
*** wow this is a weird one. i obviously had to get this because of its name. it definitely lives up to it. unfortunately the yuzu lasts all of a handful of seconds on me before the dry-down takes over and it morphs into something strangely milky-sweet. it's not a bad scent, i actually like it, it just feels almost like a cold glass of milk on a hot day, not the spiced milk i love of black moon milk. it feels too-clean yet organic, and while some people said it feels unsetling for them, i didn't think so. i really like how this smells but i will say i got a little tired of the milk scent clinging to me after a few hours so eventually i just scrubbed it off since i was tired of always smelling its scent bubble. more reason for me to stick with oils i guess. but it's so unique, i think it's worth picking up a cheap sample from ebay like i did, especially if you like to feel like a weird android from time to time. this feels like what chii from chobits would smell of. an unrecognizable sweetness that is just a bit off.

recently i've been getting a little more into vintage perfumerie and having fun getting my hands on some older samples just to sniff.

l'heure bleue - guerlain (EDT splash)
anise, neroli, bergamot, heliotrope, carnation, violet, tuberose, iris, vanilla, benzoin. (amongst others per fragrantica)
*** this one is something of a classic, so when i found a vintage vial for a good price, i figured why not. it smells really, really lovely, but being around as long as it has, i also can't help but associate it a bit with an older lady lol. i don't think that's intrinsically bad or anything though. l'heure bleue is soft, powdery, very floral (especially thanks to my skin chemistry), and true to its name the blue hour, it's a little sad somehow, too. it's about powdering yourself in front of a vanity as the sun sinks into twilight, and staring longingly out the window wishing for more as fireflies dance in the distance. it's serene, melancholic, and a bit glamorous. the deathly pallor of sleeping beauty in her castle.

white diamonds - elizabeth taylor (splash)
aldehydes, white lily, orange, neroli, ylang ylang, tuberose, jasmine narcissus, sandalwood, oakmoss. (and others per fragrantica)
*** got lucky with this at a garage sale for 2 dollars so i figured why not. adorable bottle. smells nice, overpoweringly floral for sure, especially with my skin, but not in a way that feels overwhelming... it's just very much the sort of perfume i smell and think 'i don't want to smell like that' and was a big resaon why i avoided getting into perfume since i thought it would just be floral city for a while. however! despite my personal associations, i do think this is a really nice and slightly glamorous scent. it feels of an older lady adjusting her fur shawl in an upscale vegas resort, or dipping your wrists in a tub of petals and soapy water so you smell both soapy and floral. and like i said, the bottle being cute is a win too!

blood kiss - black phoenix alchemy lab
vanilla, honey, clove, cherry, vetiver, poppy, wine, musk.
*** in the bottle this smells exactly like sweet cherry with a little dark somethin' somethin' to it--and it smells like that for about two seconds when i swipe it over my skin before it almost immediately dries down into something almost smoky with the lingering touch of a cherry. it really gives me vibes of the femme fatale in a noir playing with her cherry in her now-empty drink in the worn-down bar she has invited the detective to. and of course, she has to be wearing a deep red lipstick. ** gave to my boyfriend because i liked how the wine note smelled on him more than on me!

mouse's long and sad tale - black phoenix alchemy lab
vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea, white sandalwood.
*** in the bottle this smells surprisingly floral. it smells very similar to cloven, the scented balm i carry with me, probably on account of having pretty much the same notes except for the addition of the sweet pea. which i really like! it brings a sort of cool edge to the scent. it's still largely a 'warm' scent but i do like the slight cool floral the sweet pea brings into it and almost makes it feel like it brings 'fresh air' into the scent. i will probably end up using cloven more just because the balm is easier to travel with, but this is a nice sample. also, out of the bpal scents i've tried thus far, this one has lasted the longest on my skin. ** idk where this went but i'm not too pressed about losing it, i barely wore it.

snake oil - black phoenix alchemy lab
patchouli, vanilla, musk, spice.
*** this is a really nice scent. i can definitely understand why it's bpal's signature. it's a "dark" vanilla that slowly dissipates into a spicy, sweet musk. i can see this really appealing to people who like 'not a perfume' sort of scents with a darker edge to it. it feels like a perfume that is really designed to bounce off your body chemistry and if you're into these sort of darker, witchier, mysterious vibes that bpal caters to, this is definitely going to be a perfume to get. buuut i'm not intrigued by the 'not a perfume' perfumes and i like mixing and matching based off what i'm feeling or if i'm going somewhere specific or want to feel a certain way. so even though snake oil is a lovely scent, it doesn't really feel like it has much of an 'identity' beyond that. that said, i love the hair gloss that i own in this scent, and will likely repurchase that even though i can't see myself buying the perfume in a larger size. ** i ended up giving this to my boyfriend who likes to wear the perfume more in exchange for more of the hair gloss!

library - cherrykas trunk
leather, books, rain, tea.
*** as you might have gleaned from my other pages i love the idea of smelling like i live in a bookstore. this one comes pretty close! on me the tea scent shows up a bit more than the paper notes do, but this just makes it a little cozier for me. it feels like i'm inside on a rainy day pouring over the stuff i have to sort with a cup of tea steaming into my face. i'm still on the hunt for something that will smell more like old paper and bindings, but this is a really nice scent, and probably more wearable thanks to the tea note. unfortunately my skin eats it up pretty fast so i have to reapply this one pretty often, but at least that means i'll probably actually get through the sample size i ordered. ** i ended up giving this away to someone who would wear it more than me!

unreliable narrator - cherrykas trunk
oakmoss, fern, lavender, musk, black pepper.
*** i was worried this one would be too similar to restless dreaming but the black pepper somehow makes a big difference. there's an edge to this scent that the pepper draws out, which accentuates the restlessness an unreliable narrator might feel in their situation. i opt for restless dreaming over this one, probably due to my personal association with silent hill, but this is still good! ** gave it to the same person as the above!

old demons of the first class - black phoenix alchemy lab
siberian musk, black clove, opoponax, tonka, black pepper, neroli.
*** not sure what to do with this one. in the bottle i wasn't particularly happy with it but tried wearing it for a day - the drydown is much more bearable, but i think i liked it mostly when i could barely smell it on my skin so it gave a sort of resin-y smoky after-scent to my skin. i even tried layering blood kiss on top of it to accentuate the smoky notes in both perfumes while hoping the cherry and lighter notes of blood kiss would offset all of old demons of the first class's notes but...no dice. i'll hold on to it and see what it does after a little while of resting, but i'll likely get rid of it. this is a very incense smoky-scenting perfume imo, but without any of the 'sweet resin' scent incense tends to have. it's a sophisticated blend, but much too harsh for me to like it.

** ok so i gave this one away to my friends and had a little fun experiment where i made the three of them all try it on. and it was really fun how different it smelled on all three of them. on one it went from tobacco-y to very vanilla, on another it got very clove and pepper-y, and on another it stayed rather incense-y like it is in the bottle. i liked smelling it on all three of them a lot so i'm glad that i could appreciate the scent while still managing to get rid of it bc there's no way i'll be wearing it myself.

baba yaga - fantome perfumes (finished)
black and red musk, a smoldering cauldron, cracked bone, cardamom, hanging animal skins, burning mugwort.
*** i only finished this one because i accidentally spilled a lot of the sample size i got from them. oops, lmao. but it smelled really good! kind of witch's cauldron-y. been a while so i can't really say more than that but it did really smell like what the notes advertise (to me).

red rock canyon - cherrykas trunk (gave away)
chaparral, pomegranate, rose, dhatura, sage, honey, spring water, rosemary.
*** yeah this one didn't do it for me :( i obviously really like this store's scents and recommend their stuff, but on me the perfume ended up mostly smelling like dirt with honey drizzled on top of it. i gave it away to someone who really liked it though, and i'm hoping she gets more wear out of it than i did!

spirit medium - paranormal perfumes (gave away)
calla lily, fern, teakwood, bergamot, patchouli, vanilla musk.
*** this was the sample i received with black moon milk. i actually really liked this scent but i have two cats and the store mentions she works with natural oils where she can/is feasible to do so. since one of the main notes in this is calla lily and it's extremely toxic for cats, i decided to give it away just in case that was one of the naturally-derived notes.

golden sandalwood - body oils by brenda
*** this is a single-note sandalwood scent, which is my favorite note and something i think is sort of a 'signature' for me. it smells quite good and i recommend it if you're also a sandalwood enjoyer, however it's worth mentioning that at least on me i have to reapply it really often if i want the scent to last. so i probably will not be repurchasing even though it smells creamy and delightful and not peppermint-y like a lot of single-note sandalwood scents seem to do.