Spirit & Shadow - Arcana

PERFUME: Spirit & Shadow

COMPANY: Arcana

AVAILABILITY: Limited edition scent, still available at Soap box company.

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Worn leather with 3 vanillas, propolis, marshmallow cream, rata honey, and a faint whiff of warm linen.

BEFORE I SMELL: Vanilla, leather, and marshmallow! You know I love all these notes. I am so excited!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Very sweet leather dipped in honey.

WET ON SKIN: The honey is stronger and the hint of propolis makes this more interesting. I wish it was more apparent as I love propolis scented products in general. On my skin this is a leather scent and I can feel it’s presence for hours. The vanillas are sweet and I can smell a milky note too. What is more, if this had a taste it would be a honey dipped cereal.

DRY DOWN: The full dry down of this perfume it’s after hours . Then, it’s all vanilla with a hint of linen.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I really like this. I still have a half decant left and a little goes a long way with this so, I don’t know if I will buy a full bottle soon. An image that came to my mind when I first sniffed this was a leather jacket thrown to a Candy Land! All in all, this lasted almost 10 hours to my skin, that’s fantastic staying power!

I have yet to find an Arcana I don’t like!

The Phoenix At Midday-BPAL

PERFUME: The Phoenix At Midday

COMPANY: BPAL

AVAILABILITY: BPAL Anniversary 2011

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: The blazing fires of nona hora: blood orange, mimosa, gingergrass, golden amber, saffron, tonka absolute, pomegranate, neroli, and bourbon geranium. This Phoenix embodies vitality, ferocity, determination, passion, and strength of will.

I wore this today because I had a job interview and I really needed determination and strength of will. Not that it was my dream job but anyway. The funny thing is that when I arrived to the office for the interview I never entered… It was in a neighbour with a very bad reputation and even if it was only 2 o’clock in the afternoon I was feeling so uncomfortable I decided to leave…. I could see only prostitutes, “red light” houses and junkies around me. Well, I am so glad I am home!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE:  Red musk isn’t listed but I think I can smell it here. As well with the bourbon geranium (and lately I love that note!) and the Neroli. It’s very complex and every time I put the decant close to my nose I smell something else.

WET ON SKIN: This is a red colored oil by the way, very pretty!  Wet in my wrist is very juicy blood oranges and gingergrass. I continue to smell bourbon geranium.

It’s a citrusy blend but not a tart or a fresh one. The amber, the saffron and the tonka make this richer  and they give another dimension to the fruits.

The floral notes here are very faint except from the bourbon geranium.

DRY DOWN: Pomegranate and oranges. I am getting the light spice from the saffron and a hint of tonka. It stays that way for hours.

SERAPHIM-POSSETS

SERAPHIM-POSSETS

AVAILABILITY: Available all year round!

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Five vanillas (most of them fat and buttery vanillas cut with lean and sharp vanillas) and are blended with six different ambers which give the hypnotic part to the whole.

I bought this unsniffed when it first came out in 2010.  If I remember correctly, Possets had an offer that time when with every two bottles you could get one free  So, I chose this one because how you could go wrong with vanilla and amber?

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Sweet and buttery vanilla, an alcoholic note and lots of Amber!

WET ON SKIN: This is full of comforting base notes.  I love the buttery French vanilla here which is not sickening sweet but it’s definitely a little bit sugary. The amber gives a perfumy element and makes the perfume deep. It’s like you smell a cat’s neck if she was wearing a perfume lol!

DRY DOWN: I could smell the amber notes all day long and I asked myself Why I don’t wear this more often? Possets amber it’s different from the Bpal’s one but I really like both of them.

FINAL THOUGHTS: If you have one million Vanilla-Amber scents you may want to pass this, but if you don’t and you enjoy that notes try at least a sample. I love that combination  and I layered with an Amber body oil that I had from Crater Lake company. This was more perfumy and it had a floral note as well. The combination worked very well!

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   Philtre #5 Embrace from Arcana. Not the same scent but the combination of buttery vanilla and amber exist in both of them.

WHITE BLUEBERRY- HAUS OF GLOI

Haus of Gloi released some Reverie  perfume oils and whipped soaps in addition to their Spring line. You can find them here. If any of these sounds good to you, buy it now because they tend to sell out quickly. Last year I bought samples of all of them but only Mango Sticky rice made it to full size.

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Blueberries awash with white vanilla sugar, cream and a sprig of white thyme.

Unfortunately, we don’t have blueberries in Greece. I have tasted them though and they are delicious! I wish we had more berries here. Not that this was relevant with the perfume! Lol

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Tart Blueberries and thyme. I love thyme in perfumes. In small doses it can lift a blend to a whole new level. I want to make a blueberry- thyme soap someday… I have to test it out!

WET ON SKIN: Now the vanilla and cream are more apparent but in the same time I can still smell the blueberries. This blend isn’t heavy at all. If you are afraid of the thyme note, don’t be! It isn’t very herbal or savory in the blend.

I would say that it gives a “fresh” tone to the whole composition.  

While I was in the bus today and the whole trip lasted 1, 5 hour, something that usually takes 45 minutes! I felt so good smelling my perfume the whole time!

DRY: Fresh whipped cream and blueberry!

FINAL THOUGHTS: It lasts on my skin and it’s lovely. I finished my imp but I can’t decide if I want a full bottle or not.

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   Possets- Blue Pepys. The same blueberry note but with marshmallow.

CHANTILLY CREAM-SOLSTICE SCENTS

NOTES: Whipped Cream, Peach Nectar, Vanilla & Yellow Mandarin EO

Another sample from the Solstice Scents spring update! 

From the sample: I can detect a tiny bit of mandarin. Peach and cream are the heroes here. The vanilla here goes a little bit “fake” but in general smells very juicy!

Wet:  Sweet peaches in a simple syrup with a dollop of cream on the side.

Simple and fruity stays hours on the skin.

This morning I put it on a friend of mine who loves sweet blends and she loved it.

As for myself, I think I will continue wearing my lemony Chiffon.

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE: Lathers and Lights PUMPKIN WENCH

COURTYARD PREMIUM FRAGRANCE-SOLSTICE SCENTS

NOTES: Lavender, Oakmoss, Sandalwood, Coriander, Lime, Labdanum, Gardenia & More

I bought this little sample last year but I hadn’t done a proper full day wear since then. To be honest, the first sniff wasn’t positive and that’s why it stayed hidden in my sample stash, not getting any love.

When I first put this on today it reminds me of fresh, thick olive oil. The colour of the oil is dark green but the smell was so similar I couldn’t stop making this connection.

I was brave enough to put some more. Then, I realized that maybe I had to shake the sample vial.  I can smell the lime top note and the lavender. I totally agree with the official description on the site this Lavender is different. On the other hand, I don’t find it as sweet as the description on the site suggests.

While I was wearing this I thought that there is a light smokiness maybe from the Sandalwood and the Labdanum.

I don’t get any floral.

It’s a unisex scent for sure and I would love it as massage oil as it reminds me some aromatherapy blends that can be found in some “Bio” shops.

All in all, this scent doesn’t work on me but I can’t love them all!

BPAL-KUBLA KHAN

PERFUME: Kubla khan

COMPANY: BPAL

AVAILABILITY: General catalog/ Bewitching Brews

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst dancing waves of serpentine opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine.

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Leather and Mandarin. The leather is strong and smoky.

WET ON SKIN: Medicinal Leather tempered by the vanilla and the jasmine.

DRY DOWN: A smoky leather scent with floral notes. It doesn’t agree with my nose as I find the leather and the whole composition in general a little bit too masculine.

After some minutes I can smell the tea note as well.  

In full dry down it gets sweeter but even though I love vanilla it’s not working for me. Maybe it’s the sugared lily. Labs lily goes sour on me sometimes and it can become very heady.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Too much going on in this fragrance and it doesn’t work on me.

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   Possets Amulet,  Spirit and Shadow-Arcana

Perfume reviews, a haul, Possets new update and a pic of my dog!

 Even though that it feels like Spring, I wore some fall scents the last few days!

Possets-Big Black Cat

Sweet and strong, but full of character, like a majestic big black cat! Buttery creme with a smooth caramel undercoat, bourbon vanilla (the kind with the tiny black specks), gourmet candy corn crushed and put in the mix, and a crust of burnt sugar with a crunch from some indefinable but thoroughly delightful source. All this with a kiss of cinnamon, a very small puff of clove, and one grain of allspice.

This smells like other Halloween scents I have tried. It’s not very unique but if you are looking for a simple sugar and spice blend this is for you.

Burnt sugar and allspice rarely do work on me and this is not an exception. Not a scrubber but not something I would wear.

If you like this you may like as well:

 Possets: Nom Nom Nom

Lots of thick dark sugary goodness here. Just a hint of spice, but it's sort of an indefinable spice like a new and exotic clove which you just can't quite put your finger on. Lashings of liquified brown sugar heat it all up and in the end you have a very hawt melange of foody lovers goodness. Just the thing for Halloween.

Possets: Damn if you do

Brown sugar drenched in a crunchy crust of turbinado sugar, a hint of molasses and a very very light dusting of clove and allspice to keep things from going cloying. This is for the child and gourmand in you. Let yourself indulge in it all and be at least darned.

None of these worked for me. Maybe Sugar hates me.

Possets -Limoncello: La Dolce Vita

Of course, Possets had to celebrate the superb desserts of Italy, and

the South has some of the most ineluctable temptations on the planet.

Neapolitan Lemons spike the Limoncello here, with the most creamy of

panecotta (a triple cream custard with a subtle vanilla and not too

sweet). All this is accompanied by a homemade almond biscotti. Just to

smell the fragrance of all these treasure is to be in Italy with your

love.

I thought this would be a winner but it smells so bad on me I had to wash it away. Limoncello, panecotta and Almond biscotti? No thank you.

BPAL- LE LÈTHÈ

Red musk and sweat-damp golden skin musk with labdanum, golden amber, nutmeg, tobacco absolute, black orchid, and hemlock accord.

This is one of my favourite poems EVER! I was so excited to receive this as a frimp from the Lab!

From the imp I get juicy red musk and Hemlock. Like a less sweet Smut.

On my skin the tobacco absolute is the strongest note.

Lasts 4 to 5 hours on me and I think I have to buy a full bottle soon!

On dry down I get a hint of spiciness from the nutmeg and gorgeous perfumy-floral notes  from the black orchid.

If you like red musk and Tobacco you have to try this.

I sawAmanda’s Arcana Haul from the More tea, Wesley? Blog and she described Cake Lust like  butterscotch cake. The perfume stuck on my head and I had to have it! So I bought it from a person on Bpal forum!

Arcana- Cake Lust

Golden bakery cakes spiked with blonde tobacco, pipe tobacco, Balsam of Peru, cardamom, and mace.

When I first put it on I get cardamom as a top note and a hint of mace( nutmeg).

Then the tobacco becomes more obvious. I love what Arcana does with tobacco and I love when they combine foodie scents with resinous top notes. For the record, Morphine is the Arcana which I love the most!

In a while, I get boozy vanilla like the vanilla they had in their Rich vanilla scent.

This is a morpher. It’s not that spicy  on drydown but more foodie. Grownup and Sexy Foodie. LOVE!!!!

Last but not least, Possets new Spring update is live! The theme is Sacred Geometry. I learned so many new things reading her description and I find this update very original!

If you are into Grapefruit or lime you will scream from joy!

If I had to choose 4 perfumes from this update they would be:

Arc of Venus: Sandalwood , black lavender, a very small hint of calendula, "abstract" musk, and a bit of sharp grey musk

3:5:8: Black musk, smoky vanilla, jasmine, night blooming cereus, incense

Dodecahedron: Green vanilla, nectar, smoke, citrus paradise oil

Arabesque: Madagascar vanilla, Arabian Amber, bamboo citrus

I am also curious about:

Golden Section, it says floral but not what kind of floral. Rose? Jasmine? Sunflower?

Phyllotaxis is ruined for me from the cassia and the spice which can make a blend very spicy for my liking.

Quantum Interconnect is ruined by the black coffee and black tea. I will keep an eye for reviews though.

 

So, Is anything that you find appealing in this update? 

 

Have a nice weekend!

 

 My dog!!! Iris!!!!

 

My perfume Week!

Hi guys! It’s been a week since I update my blog and I thought to share with you how my “perfume” week went.

First of all, I got a lovely package on the mail!

While ago I ordered a bottle from a lovely lady on Live journal. I love Arcana perfumes but sometimes they sold out quickly so if I find a bottle that I want second hand I go for it! She included three more samples and some candies as well.

Arcana-Frivolous aside

A silly, sexy little blend which flirts shamelessly, teases everyone at the party, and flashes the top of its garter on the balcony. Bubbly champagne cocktails, vanilla frosting, deep pink musk, sugar cubes, toasty coconut, and a soft compress for your head the next morning.

When I first put this on it is very bubbly and it remind me Bpal’s Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys.

 The bubbly top note it’s like when you open a bottle of sprite and you take a deep breath immediately. It stays quite a while on the skin that way and then the foodie notes come to play as well. Butter cream and toasty coconut flakes like the one that you sprinkle on the cake come to my mind and I am already hungry!

Then I get whiffs of pink musk which totally works here.

To me this is a foodie-cake scent for spring or summer. It’s fresh, sweet and yummy at the same time. Delicious!!!

The freebies that I got were:

Bpal-Kubla Khan

Sidhe Creations- Sluagh

Zomg Smells – Lizard Queen

This week I made my first eBay purchase ever! I won a L’artisan gift set with the following 15ml perfumes:

Timbuktu Eau de Toilette 15ml
Fou d’Absinthe Eau de Parfum 15ml
Méchant Loup Eau de Toilette 15ml

I am so excited to receive this but it will take a while till reaches me because I send it to my uncle in the UK and then he will send it to me.

I haven’t tried Timbuktu and Fou d’Absinthe but I love Mechant Loup. They are a little bit on the masculine side so, if they don’t work on me I will give them to my boyfriend.

My perfumes of the day were the regular Possets or Bpal blends, I wore:

Possets Nevada Heat

Nevada, it's HOT. It's exciting and it gets YOU hot! They work at that, and it's a natural phenomenon. Supersweet vanilla grabs a sassy orange/citrus for a fast ride through the desert at sunset. Resins drip into and out of the blend, and a blast of spice comes from nowhere to tie it all together. Heat isn't for everyone, and certainly not for the timid nor for the conformist, unless you really want to have a brief holiday from your hum drum existence. Gives you all the excitement of that last shake before you roll the dice. USA, spicy resin, long lasting.

If you like spicy orange scents you have to try this one! From the bottle I get a creamy sweet orange scent. On the skin I get spices and maybe a hint of patchouli. It’s borderline foodie and it reminds me a kind of Christmas cookies that we made in Greece with cloves, cinnamon and orange juice. I don’t know why I keep thinking of ginger whenever I put this on. It isn’t a listed note.

Bpal- Laudanum

The essence of the most debauched hunger encapsulated into a perfume. Desire beyond love, anguish beyond sanity. Nutmeg, sassafras, black poppy and myrrh.

From the imp get Nutmeg, myrrh and vetiver. Wet it smells like sassafras but it’s very well blended. In that stage it becomes a little bit medicinal but in combination with all the resins it works very well.

 I really like this and it reminded me their Midnight Mass scent.

Resinous, medicinal with a hint of spice but not very unique.

Possets-Perpetual Orgasm

The divine honey which the bees make on the dry and craggy plains is the starting point for such a melting blend. Malta is an arid country and the non populated expanses are covered with tough aromatic growth which needs little rainfall. It is in that hard herbal mat that the bees wrestle the tiniest drops of nectar out of sparse light blue flowers and somehow manage to manufacture honey of such brilliance it’s almost as if the sun was captured and liquefied. Added to this is a shard of sharp lemon zest and the smooth modification of orange, both citrus which can be found in abundance in the Mediterranean, and which naturally compliment Maltese honey, and you will have found a paradise in a bottle.

I can’t decide if I want a bottle of this or not. It lasted all day on me and especially on my clothes.  It’s a sweet lemon and orange blend. I don’t get the floral part but as I am thinking about it while I am writing this I get a hint of bluebell. I had a Bluebell fragrance oil for soap making and it smelled soapy and fresh. Very similar to that fresh note in perpetual orgasm. By the way what a lovely name!

Thanks for reading:)

Nocturne Alchemy-Eternal Egypt

PERFUME: Eternal Egypt

COMPANY: Nocturne Alchemy

AVAILABILITY: Available as a general catalogscent.

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: White Amber, Red Egyptian Musk, Egyptian Amber, Sands of Egypt

BEFORE I SMELL:  The lovely Rachel from the Brighter Star of All blog sent me this while ago. Actually, she done a great job picking scents for me because I loved every single one of them!

I am new to Nocturne Alchemy. I do have two bottles which I bought on Live Journal very cheap. I think 5usd per bottle! I really like what I have tried from them and I would love to try more but I seem to always buy from the same companies over and over again. I don’t know why I do that. Sometimes I am thinking that my perfume habits are like I pay a subscription!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Amber and Egyptian musk. It has also an element that reminds me the aroma that comes from the pot when I am cooking basmati rice but here it’s sweeter.

WET ON SKIN: The amber is getting stronger. I detect a floral note as well but it’s on the background

.

DRY DOWN: Amber and musk. It stays close to the skin. In my opinion this perfume is perfect for when you want something subtle or when you are around to people who are sensitive to perfumes.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I like it and If I ever purchase from them I may grab a bottle!

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   Solstice Scents-Pharaoh but I like the one from NA better.

Bpal- The Lurid Library

PERFUME: The Lurid Library

COMPANY: Bpal

AVAILABILITY: Halloweenie 2012

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: The incense-tinged scent of forbidden tomes and the musk-laden remnants of infernal servants.

BEFORE I SMELL: When a scent is as popular as this one, I want to try it anyway to see what all the fuss is about. With this one it’s not only that. I love libraries and the smell of old books fascinates me.

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Pale sandalwood and incense. It does smell like an old book! It also reminds me a men’s cologne a little bit. So the final verdict it’s that it is the scent of a sexy librarian!  

It has an autumnal feel to it too. Like when you are reading in a library and then you go out and suddenly starts to rain.

It reminds me my years at the Uni…

WET ON SKIN: This is a very soft fragrance. Woods and cologne it’s what I get.

DRY DOWN:  Woody musk, soft leather and faint incense.I think I smell frankincense too Stays close to the skin. Low silage and longevity...

FINAL THOUGHTS: I really like this one on the decant but it doesn’t stay on my skin.  I love how it recreated an atmosphere though. If this was stronger it would be a winner!

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   Bpal- Philologus

PERFUME: Courtly Love

COMPANY: Possets

AVAILABILITY: Permanent

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION: The slow stately thromb of courtly love as the man adores his lady and shows his love every day. Coconut (here used more as a serious element rather than a novelty) dances with apricot and a light kiss of vanilla and a very sweet, not stinky, jasmine to make a honey-ed note stand out. Swoony nice.

BEFORE I SMELL: I got this as a froppet in a Posset order. I think I asked for Fabienne to include this because coconut, vanilla and Jasmine? YES!

FROM THE DECANT/BOTTLE: Tropical coconut, jasmine and sweet apricot. Imagine apricot marmalade!

WET ON SKIN: Deep and sticky jasmine notes combined with the stickiness of the coconut. This does remind me of a suntan lotion and I am immediately transported to a beautiful beach!  

DRY DOWN: I could smell this for at least 5 hours! The vanilla it’s the strongest note on the dry down. To me it’s mainly vanilla-coconut-jasmine.

FINAL THOUGHTS: YES! Definitely bottle worthy!

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LIKE:   I really enjoy toasty coconut scents and the scent of a suntan lotion So, I layer this with a body cream from Make Me Smooth in Beach Bunny:

Sweet and creamy, long and lush, the Beachy Bunny scent is so darn fine, it will bring out the Beach Bunny in all of us. Creamy, slightly toasted Coconut (think tanning oil Coconut-mmmmm yum!) smothered in a Marshmallow and Cotton Candy Accord.

Summer came to my house a little bit early!!!