this is the collection of perfumes i own. i'm not really into buying designer scents or anything but recently i've been enjoying going on etsy or to small indie perfumeries and buying samples and small rollerballs etc. all stores/perfumeries are listed!

notes i'm partial to: almond, sandalwood, benzoin, milk, paper, rain, vanilla, patchouli, lavender, ocean, ozone.

sometimes things get moved around from my favorites based off current taste but don't worry if i moved a perfume from my favorites to its traditional category, chances are high that i still really like the perfume, i'm just not as into it at the moment (*￣▽￣)b (and vice versa if something gets moved into my favorites from its original category)

as of dec 2024 i have started to add acquisition dates for organization purposes if/when i inevitably move things around but to be frank i have no idea when i got a lot of these anymore so it might be kind of disorganized...this will probably bother me more than it will bother anyone reading this.

i might also rewrite some of these descriptions, especially if they are perfumes i've fallen in love with over time...we'll see.

the short version of my current go-to perfumes: black moon milk (paranormal perfumes), papier d'armenie (calyxfragrance), a riddle and an enigma (cherrykas trunk), snake oil hair gloss (bpal)

favorites

restless dreaming - cherrykas trunk (oil)
birch, lavender, marine air, cotton.
*** a scent themed after james sunderland from silent hill 2 (i know). i really like this one a lot and it sort of kicked off my obsession with the themed perfume stuff. on me this scent is cold and watery but the lavender rounds it out more into a little more floral--for me it really reminds me of the initial part of the game where james is running down the forest path into the graveyard just before meeting angela. it feels a little lost, a little wistful, and deeply drenched in fog.

occult detective - cherrykas trunk (oil)
cistus, suede, amber, labdanum, coconut.
*** the best way i can explain this is "you read the description for maison margiela's jazz club and tried it but it ended up smelling overly coconut-y and not so much noir cigar lounge-y". on me this scent comes off as almost ozone-y, with a touch of coconut to round it out and make it more wearable. to me the scent reminds me of pathologic classic's yellow-hued streets, with the sweet far-off scent of twyrine in the air amidst an otherwise slightly oppressive-feeling landscape. aka this is my jazz club substitute. it's not really a scent for everyone but i really love it.

black moon milk - paranormal perfumes (oil)
sweetened condensed milk, warm vanilla, black cardamom, black peppercorn, musk, woods.
*** black moon milk is a really good name for this one. obviously the milk note really stands out (which i wasn't sure i'd like but turns out i really do) but the cardamom and peppercorn tinge it a little and make it more of a darker scent than something just smelling of sweet milk. also it's a pretty light scent, so i don't worry about offending anyone with it. also, it lasts pretty long for me even though it doesn't project much--but it's nice to reach up and muss my bangs or something and smell it again from where i applied it to my wrist.

cloven - madame scodioli (scented balm)
amber, sandalwood, vanilla.
*** this is a classic combination in perfumes for a reason, and the way the balm melts into my skin lasts forever and actually has more projection than i would ever expect from a balm. also, the balm formula makes it easy to travel with: no concerns about spilling or breaking the bottle or anything! i like to keep this one in my essentials pouch.

hunger - black phoenix alchemy lab (oil)
black narcissus, orange blossoms, vanilla.
*** the friend of mine who is a huge bpal fan once had us pick between some perfumes for him one night and this was the one i voted on after i smelled them so it only made sense to grab it for myself since i loved it so much. could not stop smelling his wrist that whole night. now that i've tried it out for myself, this is probably my favorite one of the batch!! the orange blossoms are nice and floral but in a more citrus sort of way -- but it doesn't smell like orange slices in cake or anything gourmand like that, but rather a 'brightening' element to the scent. narcissus is a floral note i'm realizing i'm especially fond of because it's not quite as "light" and "airy" as stuff like rose or lilac tends to be. it's deeper and a little more earthy somehow. basically, the floral is what feels like grounds the perfume while the orange is what uplifts it. like most of the other bpal scents, i'd call this a pretty sensual scent.

papier d'armenie - calyx fragrances (spray + oil)
benzoin, vanilla, sandalwood.
*** i got this as a spray because i thought it might make a good room spray given that the scent it's inspired off of is a sort of incense paper that is quite popular in europe but i've mostly been spritzing it into my damp hair. it's a really good neutral sweet scent, touched with just a hint of cream and smokiness. makes me feel like i'm sitting on a fancy balcony over a cobblestone street. sipping tea with a candle burning behind me in my apartment. since buying this i've been indoctrinated with buying the actual pieces of papier d'armenie paper and this gets really close to the real thing. highly recommend especially as a linen and/or room spray and a hair perfume.

soft - poesie (oil)
rice.
*** this does exactly what it says on the tin. it smells of steamed, slightly sticky rice. it's soft for sure. warm, comforting, something that lingers just above your skin. this is so yummy. i don't do bedtime scents due to sharing a space with my cats but i could see this being a great one. great for all weathers, if that's your thing too. if you are looking for a rice note, do yourself a favor and go here. neutral gourmand is probably the best descriptor for this.

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?'

perfume oils

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.

leopardite - hexennacht - july 2024
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 - july 2024
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!

strawberry fields forever - hexennacht - july 2024
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 :(

to different oceans - cherrykas trunk - aug 2024
vanilla, citrus, sandalwood, rosewood, ocean, lavender.
*** i'm not as into this perfume as i was when i first bought it admittedly. it's beachy, light, airy, and the way the vanilla and salt notes of the ocean interact on my skin is sooo yummy. it's just sophisticated enough to make me feel fancy wearing it, and yet the tang of the sea salt and ocean turns everything on its head to make it feel playful. the rosewood offers a nice floral element without turning it into a floral--instead it feels distinctly driftwoody, washing up on vanilla scented shores.

antikythera mechanism - black phoenix alchemy lab - july 2024
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. it's almost too dark academia-y and woodsy (say it ain't so) for my taste, but i can understand why this is such a popular fragrance of theirs.

moon lust - alkemia - dec 2024
creamy white ambers, blonde woods, luminescent skin notes.
*** when i first got into perfume i thought i would be all over wood notes but i think i've found they tend to be too 'astringent' to be something i like to actually wear. however, i've found such a happy place with ' blonde woods' and especially the ones in this perfume. almost like how blonde coffee just smells lighter than dark roast counterparts, the woods in moon lust smell bright and soft and dream-like, playing into the soft creaminess of the ambers. a warm, diffused glow of a perfume that settles easily into your skin. this is one of alkemia's "not a perfume" perfumes so there isn't much projection here but i think this is one i can see myself getting a larger bottle of, it's so lovely in a blurry ethereal but subdued rather than divine way. the warm impression of a ghost's hand on yours, suffusing your skin with heat. could see this being my go-to for daily wear.

luminae - alkemia - dec 2024
no listed notes, described as "an illumination of creamy olfactory radiance - your skin but better"
*** this seems to pull pretty differently on people based off their skin chemistry. a lot of people were mentioning a buttered popcorn element to this, calling it a more gourmand your skin but better perfume...fragrantica review are all over the place on its scent as well. on me it's not as creamy as moon lust is, and pulls into a more salty and maybe muskier(?) sweet wax-like scent. i get the impression of a weeping salt-scented beeswax candle. this perfume definitely still gives the intended 'luminating' effect, and i like it a lot, but i like moon lust that much more! but this is more about how my skin behaves with the scent than the scent itself, as people get pretty varied experiences out of this one. i'll be curious to see how it interacts on my friends.

the lady's yes - alkemia - dec 2024
fig, magnolia flowers, amber, white sandalwood.
*** when i smelled this right after it got here i really only could smell the sandalwood and amber, so i'm glad i didn't try it on right away. after a few days of resting when i opened the bottle all i could smell was fig, so i'm surprised that the note was totally dominated by the others in travel! this is a fresh fig indeed--ripe and juicy but lightened by the magnolia, and it blends nicely into the skin thanks to the amber and sandalwood which warms the fig just enough to give the impression of smelling like the palm of your juice-stained hand after you've eaten a few figs. i am very delighted by this, fig has been something i've wanted to try but haven't been interested in the more dessert-y and flora-centric takes from other houses (or i'm worried the other notes will override the fig and make it candle-y, which this does not do).

old books and fresh flowers - alkemia - dec 2024
neroli, heliotrope, paper, leatherbound books.
*** oh this is just beautiful. in the bottle the leather and paper give a stronger impression to perfectly mimic the title of the perfume--that is, pressed flowers between the pages of an old book. i don't get as much of the leather on my skin, but i can sense it lingering somewhere, giving the heliotrope and neroli a sort of dusty afterquality that i think is gorgeous. even as this is drying down on my skin i get more and more of that dust element, making it smell almost musty in a very enchanting way, like unearthing a secret love journal in the corner of the basement. a gasp of a kiss from words you forgot about. the heliotrope is awakened just enough by the citrus in the neroli to make it feel like a fresh floral and not an old one--fresh flowers dampened by old books, indeed. my skin loves florals so i was worried this would just go straight heliotrope on me so i'm glad that didn't happen. personally this is everything i want out of a floral perfume.

scented balms

timshel - madame scodioli
tobacco, vanilla.

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

edps, edts, and sprays

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.

vintage perfumes

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!

perfume graveyard page