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. worth mentioning since i first bought this it
has gotten significantly more forest-y the longer i let it rest, so now i get more creepy forest over
meadow, although my skin still loves the florals a lot. a very pretty but forest-y perfume.
restless dreaming - cherrykas trunk ♡
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 ♡
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.
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.
hunger - black phoenix alchemy lab
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.
black moon milk - paranormal perfumes ♡
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.
soft - poesie ♡
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.
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. one i'd like to keep on me for sure.
papier d'armenie - calyx fragrances ♡
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.
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 - 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.
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.
enchantress - alkemia - dec 2024
amaretto liqueur, star jasmine, orchid, bourbon vanilla caramel, guaiac wood, vetiver, botanical
pheromones.
*** the amaretto note is very strong and very liqueur-y, giving the opening of this perfume a 'sharp'
element that's not bad but not great either. but the almond that comes after that sharp liqueur scent is
sooo yummy it keeps me sniffing my wrist. the bourbon vanilla caramel shows up next, deepening the
amaretto and making it more sultry and seductive, promises of riches and a fae lady curling her pointer
finger to beckon you closer from where she lingers in the shadows. maybe it's because my skin likes
florals so much eventually this turns into more of a flourmand on my skin, but it's definitely darkened
by the wood, vetiver, and botanical notes, giving it a sticky sweetness and a sexy bog witch kind of
vibe. i really love that almond but less so the alcoholic tang or the caramel, it's a little too
poisoned sweets in vibe for me.
haunted and bewitched - alkemia - dec 2024
egyptian amber, jasmine, rosewater turkish delight, madagascar vanilla, caramel, patchouli.
*** this rose turkish delight note really does smell like rose turkish delight. a sweet, powdered rose
is the star here, but it's not an overpowering rose scent. eventually the caramel and patchouli peek
through the rose and give a sort of shifting, sultry element to an initially delicate and powdery
fragrance, although it's certainly not nearly as cloyingly sexy as enchantress is. i used to wear lush's
karma perfume a lot in high school and this kind of feels like a more grown-up variant of that, less
heavy on the citrus and patchouli and more sophisticated and complex with its other notes. again, not
really my vibe, but plenty yummy enough to wear.
head like a hole - sixteen92 - dec 2024
black ink, kohl eyeliner, scratched vinyl records, latex, fog machine and strobe lights, clove
cigarettes.
*** i could see this eliciting a very specific scent memory for people; on me the clove cigarette and
fake fog are what show up the most. it's a brutal, sexy but definitely "cheap" clove, which isn't bad
'cause who was rolling up to industrial clubs in the 90s with expensive cigs? no one. anyway i love the
fake fog note here, but it might give someone sensitive to that smell a headache. again, i could see
this giving someone who was lucky enough to be part of this scene in its heyday some flashbacks. it
definitely gives me the vibes of the harsh sexual brutality of early NIN works, and while it's not a
scent i'd go to for daily wear, it's cool they were able to distill pretty hate machine into a scent.
funnily enough my boyfriend gets more of the eyeliner note, which show up like grimy-esque pencil
shavings offset by the clove which is a fun distinction from how the fragrance works on my skin.
glass houses - sixteen92 - dec 2024 ♡
glass, wind, concrete, neon violet, static synthesizer hum.
*** inspired by skinny puppy's song glass houses. a quite subtle, 'cold' and weather-bitten violet.
stark violet, bleak in the edge of the city. a violet that makes you almost cringe to smell but not
necessarily because it smells bad--just that it doesn't really smell 'healthy' in the way you'd expect
it to smell in other perfumes. more and more of the concrete and rain come through on dry-down, giving a
petrichor-like quality to the perfume, although i wouldn't say it quite just catches that humid scent of
rain on the way. it's a shame that s92's reputation regarding fulfilling orders isn't so great because i
could see myself falling in love with it the more i wear it because it's definitely a one of a kind
scent but they aren't exactly well-regarded in the perfume community anymore (and if i had known of this
i wouldn't have ordered from them but i didn't oopsie).
pas de deux - sixteen92 - dec 2024
pink macarons, sugar wafers, candied pistachios, silk tulle, rosewater tea.
*** this is definitely a different scent for me since i don't generally opt for gourmands, but i like
macarons and pistachios and was curious what 'silk tulle' would do to this. sugary-sweet scent for sure,
i really get the candied pistachio...it almost smells marzipan adjacent, but more sugary. as the oil
dries the rosewater comes up to soften the sugar and sophisticate the scent a bit. it definitely stays
in sugary-sweet territory, but i like how the rose mixes to bitter the sugar when i'm so used to it
being a strong floral. i think i'm realizing i like rose when it plays against musk and dust-like scents
or when it can tone down an otherwise bright and powdery scent. i still have no idea what silk tulle is
supposed to smell like but i do get a sort of sugary nutcracker ballerina vibe from the fragrance
overall, so i'd say mission accomplished.
lady amalthea - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025 ♡
white winter musk, lilac, wisteria, white chocolate, white mint, tuberose.
*** i've wanted this one for a while purely because i adore the last unicorn so much but i've always
held off just because i wasn't sure if i'd like it and with bpal's collabs and LEs you unfortunately
can't order them in trial sizes. after my recent alkemia order upon which i realized how much i adore
heliotrope i've warmed up more to floral-centric perfumes, especially when used in a more atmospheric,
dreamy way. this perfume is just perfect for amalthea. a wilting droop of sad and cold florals--then
made just a touch creamy by the white chocolate and musk. the mint cools the perfume wonderfully and
doesn't actually invoke much mintiness imo, which is nice. i think the florals take a little while to
peek out of the dry-down and shine, but once they do it's an invocation of the softest, dream-like bed
of ice cold petals, soft and delicate but frost-lined and cold to touch. in my experience bpal stuff
gets closest to its intended scent profile after a few months have passed, so i'm excited to see how it
does in march. very evocative of the character it is named for, and i'm glad i took the chance on it.
caramelized pecan rum cake - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025
exactly as described.
*** i can smell it through the little freebie vial, that's how strong it is. smells very true to its
notes. i'm not someone who usually opts for gourmands like this, but i like them plenty as candles! just
not as perfume. anyway me and my boyfriend tried this on at the same time; on him it truly smells like
what it is, the rum especially shining on his skin. it smells like a very boozy, sweet, caramelized and
candied cake. on ME however, i mostly get a sweet pecan. which is honestly something i'd prefer to wear
as a perfume anyway. it's light, airy, still got a little bit of that cake element but it mostly smells
like opening a bag of candied pecans, especially if the candied element is on the lighter side and not
super intense. kind of surprised by how much i like this on me especially with how intensely like a rum
cake it smells in the vial and on my boyfriend.
djinn - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025
smoke, flame, ashes.
*** this smells exactly like promised. whatever my skin chemistry does to this is just lovely too, since
i tend to play better with cooler notes. this is the first perfume i've smelled and gotten a distinct
scent memory of: being outside camping in the mountains sitting around a fire, breathing in the smoke
and relishing in the heat and the pine. i don't think there's actually a pine or tree note in this. and
it does smell more like "fire" not "campfire" specifically. but that's what it reminds me of. on people
with warmer skin chemistries i get more of a direct flame image, more of an indoor fire vibe than the
outdoor fire i get on me.
snow white (2007) - black phoenix alchemy lab - jan 2025 ♡
snow, winter wind, night-blooming flowers.
*** got lucky with a full bottle from 2007 of this on ebay. this initially pulls quite similarly to moon
lust on my skin somehow... which i like! i really like moon lust. but there's a bitter almond note in
here that i really adore that peeks out as the opening slowly dries onto my skin, and a similar minty
note i get in the lady amalthea perfume too--i assume they use similar notes to replicate winter air. i
feel like this one does a better job at smelling like a powdery kind of 'cold' than amalthea does by
which i mean i get more of a direct winter chill effect while amalthea reminds me of frost-crusted
petals if that makes sense. snow white is cold wind and lady amalthea is cold flowers. this has that
bitter non-gourmand-y almond scent i've been searching for as well as capturing a delicate, ethereal
floaty snow vibe...huge fan for sure, glad i took a chance on the ebay listing.
milk teeth - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025 ♡
strawberry milk, toasted vanilla, white musk, amber.
*** pierrot perfumery is probably my new favorite house. bf and i split on a 3 set sample pack and i
love every single scent. they are all so unique and blended really, really well. this is the house to
shop at for weird. so: milk teeth is just...unusual. there's that strawberry shampoo note a lot of
strawberry perfumes have, but it immediately gets almost smokified and smoothed out by the white musk
and the toasted vanilla notes, make it come across as the strangest, sheerest strawberry scented musk.
while this definitely hasn't been the green type of strawberry i've been on a quest for for from a
perfume this is way, way more my vibe, and i'm pretty happy to stop my strawberry quest here because
this perfume is just so unbelievably strange but addicting to smell. it's smooth and creamy and has a
breath of strawberry artificial goodness, it's even inviting--but also just straight-up bizarre.
ravenstag - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025 ♡
virginia pine, whiskey, pinewood, sandalwood, black musk.
*** a will graham nbc hannibal scent! this one takes inspiration from poor will from S1 when he's going
through it. so of course i got it. i thought this wouldn't be very wearable due to it referencing things
like sweaty skin and 'the plea of a mind on fire' but it really is. at first the whiskey is kind of
strong, to the point that my boyfriend said it smelled like a drink to him, but i didn't get the whiskey
as strongly as he did. it's still there though: whiskey and pine and damp. then the dry-down kicks in
and the musk, which is reminiscent of sweat but it's not gross or anything, it's more like a clean
sweat, comes in to hold everything together. slightly-hot skin pressing out against the forest. the
relief of stepping outside at night to cool down when you're overheating in bed. even when you know
being outside in the cold like that is probably kind of bad for you, it just feels so relieving anyway.
seriously, this house gets it.
the rice field - black phoenix alchemy lab - late 2024 ♡
rice milk, hay absolute, oolong tea, honey dust, champaca, frankincense smoke, golden sandalwood,
heliotrope.
*** my boyfriend got this one in mid 2024 but gifted it to me at some point and i forgot to ever add it
here. but geez this one is good. it lasts forever on me and actually has a decent amount of projection;
i don't really care about stuff like this but it can be fun to walk in a room and get comments of
'something smells good.' a bright, golden scent, dusted and warmed by the delicious honey that mixes in
with the smoke and hay to give me an impression of an amaterasu-blessed sunrise. like looking into the
red sun as it peeks up over a long stretching field of yellow grass. the frankincense is distilled
through the rice and hay to sort of emulsify those greener notes into something more warm, which i love.
i don't think i can pick up enough on the heliotrope to cite this as a heliotrope love of mine but
whatever it does in this perfume, it is very pretty.
person suit - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025 ♡
green fig, anise, iso E, sandalwood.
*** this is so special. i got an alcohol-free spray decant of this from a redditor. i believe it's
pierrot's most popular perfume and frankly it's easy to see why. this is a very mild fig, very green,
very fresh, but not soapy-fresh, just fresh--but as it dries down it gets warm and sort of skin-like and
just a little bit dusted with spice probably due to the anise. it isn't a warm scent but it isn't fully
skin-like either, the fig still peeks through. it is just a bit 'off' somehow. something lingering
beneath someone's skin. not in an ominous way or anything like the NBC hannibal title might imply, but
just in a way that suggests something else. it also lasts forever! i don't usually opt for sprays but
i'm going to have to get a big spray bottle of this when it comes back in stock because this is
seriously one of a kind.
the GHOST - black phoenix alchemy lab - feb 2025
white iris, osmanthus, calla lily, ivy, gladiolus, delphinium.
*** very pretty, although a touch too floral for my tastes i think. soft, dreary, reserved and dreamy
but also maybe just a hair too powdery for me. not sure if that's lily or iris to blame. it rmeinds me a
bit of l'heure bleue from guerlain but with more of a stone element to it. i don't think i can detect
the ivy, at least not enough to get a 'green' note in here, but my skin definitely pulls florals out
more than anything so i suppose that makes sense. bright but sad, stark, cold, pretty, but still mostly
a powder puff of a ghost. i got some vertigo after putting this one on, not sure if that's from the
perfume or i'm just feeling bad though lol. might be really nice on a very hot day but not one i'll
reach for very often; old books and fresh flowers reigns supreme for these 'dusty but pretty florals' i
think.
the kiss of the sphinx - black phoenix alchemy lab - feb 2025
black cherry and smoked plum resins, saffron and sweet labdanum, tuberose, patchouli, myrrh smoke,
crimson iris, red musk.
*** definitely reminiscent of blood kiss with that cherry but goes much darker on me and also 'sharper'
than blood kiss which sort of lingered in a sultry cherry territory. this is still cherry, but deeper,
harsher, and with a cool glint of something resembling steel. deep and spicy but a bit cold. not soft,
not delicate, harsh and demanding with wisps of resin smoke in an iron-coated cage.
silver sandalwood - possets - feb 2025 ♡
possets' silver base, sandalwood.
*** the silver line is generally just designed to have possets' silver base pair well and amplify the note
that they are trying to capture; therefore, this is a true, long-lasting sandalwood that is dimmed in
warmth by a cool non-sugary vanilla musk. frankly with how much i like sandalwood and these colder notes
there was no way i wasn't gonna like this. it's a little bit simple in composition, being that it's
designed simply to smell of sandalwood with a bit 'more' to it but that doesn't detract from how yummy
it is for me, a sandalwood fan who generally prefers 'colder' notes. hexennacht's santal smells more
authentically 'of sandalwood' but between the two i would repurchase this one as i like the cooling
element of possets' silver base more.
the last unicorn - black phoenix alchemy lab - feb 2025
frosty lilac petals, iris pallida root, orris, violet leaf, white chocolate, coconut, lettuce,
sandalwood, gardenia, oakmoss.
*** eep i got another one. luckily i got this for much cheaper thanks to a reddit swap (i kind of went crazy
with the reddit swaps in feb. lol). anyway. amazed by how much like lettuce it smells in the bottle. the
white chocolate stands out a lot too, which kind of had me concerned, but thanks to my skin chemistry of
course the florals immediately dominate, veering just slightly into baby wipe territory for a moment but
luckily the white chocolate and coconut temper it into a sheer floral that wears quite close to the
skin. very pretty and distant; i don't notice the white chocolate as much on me although i think the
coconut almost mirrors a musk by sheering out the scent and diffusing it from straight florals into a
shimmery refractive kind of smell. i think i prefer lady amalthea to the last unicorn and i think it's
because the amalthea perfume features a winter musk note that only diffuses the florals even
more, bringing up imagery of a unicorn turned into a girl who cannot quite remember who or what she
is--whereas the last unicorn is certainly amplified by the green notes to wish the imagery of a wild
unicorn into existence.
namba - fantome - feb 2025 ♡
salt water canals, motor oil, neon, melting vanilla ice cream.
*** full disclaimer i got this one because someone was asking for recs for a perfume noodle from
gorillaz would wear and this triumphed to make me curious enough to want to try it, plus with how
much my skin likes sweet notes i wasn't worried about this just smelling like oil. i think it needs
to rest a little while for a verdict, but i definitely get motor oil and marine air. a
sweetness starts to peek through the longer i wear the perfume, although it doesn't quite show its
head--something in this almost goes root beer on me? lol. it's very atmospheric and invocative of a
place. i have never been to osaka so i can't speak to accuracy but i do want to live here, in some
industrial but fresh beach-lined urban place, yummy delicacies lining those seafront shops every block
or two.
parlour - fantome - feb 2025
mahogany, rosewood, spirit board, burning incense, vetiver.
*** a long time ago when i first got into perfume and only really knew about fantome i wondered
what perfume beatrice from umineko might wear and shortly after settled on this one--i was glad
it was my freebie sample when i ordered namba because it's not something i would order for
myself but i really love this! the rose is dark and filtered through the incense, which isn't
quite as front and center as other incense perfumes i have, which i prefer. the wood is dark,
deep, and resiny, smoke swirling and pooling overtop it like a layer of fog. the rose certainly
isn't 'fresh' but i find it works very well here, probably because it's rosewood specifically?
anyway, really good, not one i'll get a bigger size of but i will cherish my sample and i definitely
think this is a beatrice umineko perfume for sure.
english summer rain - pylies - feb 2025 ♡
earl grey tea, wet cement, geranium.
*** i think i might be a little nose-blind to some of the notes in this but i do quite like it; i wore
it and went for a walk on a very sunny day and was confused every once in a while when i got whiffs of
what smelled like rain on the grass because there wasn't a cloud in sight-- only to realize, wait, that
has to be me. my boyfriend could smell it immediately too so i think there's more sillage on it than i
expected. this is a very light, subtle rain on concrete; it's bright in some capacities, not a deep
thunderstorm kind of way, although i don't think i can smell any of the geranium and i only get the
barest of hints of bergamot from the earl grey which i think lends a nice acidity to the rain note and
prevents it from going soapy. honestly to me it just smells like fresh rainwater without any of the
associated humidity i get from similarly foggy and petrichor-y notes. i'm pretty impressed by it. bummer
this house is closed. will probably have to come back to it when it's rested, i have a feeling the
geranium will show up more the next time i wear it again and remind me a bit of having tea in a sun-dappled
greenhouse.
the scent of your skin and some foreign flowers - death & floral - feb 2025
boxed chocolate cereal, oakwood, toasted brown sugar, tonka bean, pantry spices, dried roses.
*** i got this because it was a free sample in a reddit swap and assumed i would probably like
it from the name--and didn't look up the notes till after and was shocked to see chocolate
cereal lol. after trying it on i think i might be noseblind to a lot of it or something or
it does a great job at blending into your skin, because mostly what i get is just a very
faint chocolate milk cereal scent blended into my wrists. over time more of the florals peek
out, but it's very subtle, and i have to have my nose to my wrist to get any of that at all.
strangely evocative, perhaps a bit nostalgic for those of us who grew up with a bowl of
cereal every morning, washed out and diluted by memory. i don't really know what to
think of this one, i'll have to come back to it at some point. weird! but good? at least
from the little of it i can smell.
bats in the belfry - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025
vintage lace, dried flowers, dusty photos.
*** more dust notes in things please!! dusty, crumbly, glossy somehow--flowers falling to bits in your
hands as you shuffle through antique photos. sweet, lingering, dust-ridden vanilla notes lining your
hands as you try to avoid breathing in too much of an air that may or may not be bad for you, heavy
pollen that is transmuted and dampened by a very tangible dust note
that, shocker, i really adore, sinking through the air. this is very good, not quite old books and fresh flowers level for me,
but very close, and perhaps if i smelled it first i'd love it even more, and i think those who are more
hesitant to try out florals and especially heliotrope will get a lot of love out of this one! i think
i'll like it even more the longer it rests, it really hits that specific niche of perfumes i seem
to get a lot of personal enjoyment out of: dead romantic.
stardust motel - pierrot perfumery - feb 2025 ♡
vanilla, vetiver, jasmine, heliotrope, baby rose buds, cashmere amber, cigarette ash, satin.
*** this one has changed a bit since i first got it; it's way more floral-forward now (yay!) but
i get much more of the cigarette ash now too--which i was hoping for! this is a light blend of
distant flowers dancing alongside someone smoking a cigarette with a frosted glass ashtray that has
about three or four other recently smoked cigarettes stubbed out into the bowl. it's warm and soft,
the florals are still obfuscated and made somewhat liminal under the amber and vanilla, and
given that this perfume is trying to replicate an 80s horror motel, i think it does that perfectly.
i really love pierrot perfumery's work a lot, the little bead of ash that eventually gets washed out
is so pretty.
during the rain - solstice scents - feb 2025
petrichor, soaked Earth, limestone, loam, clay and wet concrete.
*** gift from a friend. this is a petriochor layering note. i think it does exactly what it promises
without any bells and whistles. this is being outside during a dark rainfall; i don't get any
impressions of greenery, but there is dirt and concrete for sure. i layered this over person suit
the other day which i quite enjoyed!
banshee - sixteen92 - mar 2025
frozen honeycomb, fog, sheer linen, spectral violet, moonflower, shattered glass.
phasmophilia - pierrot perfumery - mar 2025
vergil - fandom perfumes - mar 2025
V - fandom perfumes - mar 2025
subspace - nui cobalt designs - mar 2025
sleeping in - lunarlife apothecary - mar 2025