Friday, December 27, 2019

5 Stereoplasm Reviews: Miss Pollywobble - Bumblywitch Fare - Dreaming Kitten - In Pace, In Fiori - La Mia Magia!



Surprise! There's a review set today! I'm not gone, just slow. 2020 might end up being the year of the tortoise for me.

When I got my last Stereoplasm package it contained press samples of their Cozyfoot Cabin series and two of their La Vita a Lecce series. That's what we're covering today!

New year means, for me, tweaks to the review format. Y'all will probably notice some small changes down in the reviews - most notably I've altered how I do my "verdicts". I'm also going to try and get my methods section briefer. Links to the individuals scents will be paired with the reviews now instead of up top!

( P.S. Don't worry, friends - it's faux fur in the photograph. )

On to the reviews:

Methods:

Time rested: A few weeks

Where were they kept: Cardboard box in a drawer.

Was there a risk of scent cross contamination: Minimal - the scents were tested on different days, and skin was not "reused". I do use scented lotions and soaps most days - so small risk.

Bottle (re)review:

It's been a while since I originally reviewed Stereoplasm's 1mls and they've changed a little! I wanted to give a fresh review here. These little bottles are screw tops (yay), and are clearly labeled in a legible font. The tops screw on well, and there were no leaks with this order! I find it very easy to apply a good amount from each bottle. The labels hold up well to standard use.

Reminder: Each nose and each skin's chemistry is different. Your mileage may vary.

Miss Pollywobble [ store link ]

In the bottle: The first thing I smell my brain screams SWEATER. Woolen? Cotten? I don’t know, but it’s got that kind of slightly-stinging textile scent to it I associate with warm sweaters (jumpers for my European friends). Under that is something a touch green and leafy - tea maybe? A dried leaf accord? There’s a touch of something classic and golden-floral to round it all out over a woodsy note (cedar?).

Wet on my skin: Nutty, slightly gourmand and pale-brown note at the top mixing with that sweater-textile scent. Midnotes are still leafy, tea reminiscent green and a bit of sharp piquancy from a classically perfumey floral. Base note of what I’m pretty sure is cedar.

Drydown: The nutty scent dies back quite a bit but is still there mingling with the textile note. Under that is still tea leaves and whatever that classically-perfumey floral. The base is still cedarish. I also am wondering if there’s an alcoholic note in this - there’s that degree of sharpness to the scent. It smells kind of like an androgynous, elderly forest witch who drinks tea and brandy (perhaps not together).

After 30 mins: Stable to the drydown, perhaps a little fainter. Strong scent starts right at skin level - not much of cloud at all. Good for a relatively subtle scent - though I do wish it had more throw to it.
Official Notes: Chopped maplewood, chimney smoke, english breakfast tea, gingerbread and black currant jam.

Oh wow. Okay, let’s run through this. At the top the brown, nutty note is the gingerbread. I don’t know what’s smelling like a sweater to me in here (I’d guess some of the earthy black currant + a touch from the smoke). The black currant jam isn’t terribly sweet or fruity at all - mostly slightly sweet foresty earthiness. The almost-alcoholic sharp smell is the chimney smoke. The tea is the tea. The woody base is the chopped maplewood. The kind of ‘classically perfumey’ smelling note in here is probably some of the maple combining with the smoke and maybe even part of the black currant.

Verdict: For me this is a ‘won’t wear much’ scent. In terms of personal preference the scent reads a bit too ‘mature’ for me in a snuggly, witch-at-the-end-of-the-path way. While I do like smelling like a forest witch I like to think I lean a bit more Granny Weatherwax than Nanny Ogg - and add in a stiff shot of apple alcohol and you’d have a Nanny Ogg scent on your hands here.

The scent’s greatest strength is capturing that kind of ‘cozy’ hygge vibe the collection is going for - it’s greatest weaknesses are the lack of throw and the lack of almost any fruitiness from the black currant. Aside from the smoke, tea, and maple I wish every note in here were a touch stronger.

Bumblywitch Fare [ store link ]

I recall this one having a chocolate chip cookie note.

In the bottle: Delicate coffee, chocolate, and a sweet sugared resin. The sugared resin reminds me a lot of the ‘pink sugar’ note that Stereoplasm has used before. There might be a floral buried in here too - something sweet and feminine, but it’s hard to tell under the coffee and chocolate. Touch of creaminess in the scent.

Wet on my skin: Creamy coffee, toast and chocolate layered over resin. With the toast… did this have a poppy-bread note? There might be a floral like heather mixed in with the sweet resin (think an amber) at the base.

Drydown: Coffee-like note dominates. It’s a little sharp - like espresso, but also very creamy and sweet like it’s brown-sugar sweetened (I might be imagining things but something about this is also reminiscent of chai spices). Beneath that is the chocolate and the poppy-seed toast smell. Amber at the base with a touch of what I think is heather.

After 30 mins: Stable to the drydown. This has a strong throw on it as well - kept getting whiffs at arm’s length. Strong scent cloud starts about 2 inches from skin.

Official Notes: Country spice cake, chocolate chip cookies, orange cream and warm hazelnut coffee.
So! The ‘toast’ or ‘poppy-seed bread note’ and the ‘chai spices’ are the spice cake. The chocolate - and probably some of the ‘sugared amber’ notes are the chocolate chip cookies. The orange cream is the creamy scent, and I can see a tiny touch of orange in here - it’s more floral than fruity though. The hazelnut coffee is the coffee I was getting. I’m going to guess the amber/resin I’m getting is part of the chocolate chip cookie accord.

Verdict: Great winter scent! I’m debating how often I will wear it - but I know if this were available in lotion or candle form I’d be lighting that candle up all winter and using that lotion frequently. This scent reminds me of a slightly richer, more complex, slightly lighter-on-coffee version of Sucreabeille’s Cup of Ambition. So if you like that coffee scent you’ll probably like this one too.

The strengths of this scent are its rich chocolate, the contrast of light and airy with dark, rich, and earthy gourmands, and it’s stellar throw. In terms of weaknesses - I can see this perhaps being too earthy-dark-bitter for the people who like sweet scents, and a little too sweet for the people who usually like earthy scents. I also think this would be a scent that’s a bit too heavy to wear outside of cool weather.

Dreaming Kitten [ store link ]

In the bottle: Pink, powdery, soft and lavender-y. At the top I get a soft, powdery note I think might be cashmere (I remember this having some sort of cashmere or fur accord I think). Below that is a bright pink floral and what I’m pretty sure is lavender. All of this is wrapped up in a soft, musky base. The scent is very floral-sweet, powdery, and feminine musky.

Wet on my skin: Pink grapefruit - I think that’s what I was reading as a floral. It’s hardly sweet at all the the fruity nuances only came out once it was out of the bottle. Beneath that is a floral I’m still pretty sure is lavender and that powdery soft cashmere-or-fur note. At the base is musk. The scent smells kind of bubbly-clean and girly. Imagine slashes of aggressively pastel pink, purple, and gray.

Drydown/After 30 mins: Got distracted and neglected to write down the drydown. So! Notes on the scent.

It’s morphed considerably. A lot of the powderiness and sharp pastels have died down leaving a sweetly white floral (reminds me a lot of one of the florals in First Bloom) and citrus musk scent. It’s still quite feminine - but not so much as when it was applied. The creamy musk, white floral and citrus dominate with a hint of soft fur/cashmere and a touch of lavender and a breath of powder.
This scent has an extremely strong throw. Could smell it constantly at arm’s length. Up close the scent cloud begins about 3-4 inches out and is kinda semi-unsmellable because it’s so strong.. But at a distance it’s All Dreaming Kitten All The Time.

Official Notes: Soft bed sheets sweetened with honeysuckle, bergamot, ginger and himalayan fur.

So, the powdery-clean-bubbly-lavender note is probably the ‘sheets’ accord. The honeysuckle is the white floral, the bergamot is the citrus. I can see the ginger in here blending with the citrus and adding some of the creaminess. The ‘sweet fur’ and ‘musk’ must be that himalayan fur.

Verdict: I did not care for this in its initial stages - it read as too soapy-clean to my nose. As it mellowed over time and the honeysuckle and bergamot (two of my favorite notes!) came out I found myself liking it a lot more. As it stands this scent is a ‘wear extremely rarely’ or ‘never wear’ for me partially because I’m not jiving with those initial stages and partially because it’s very, very feminine/girly. If you think that First Bloom was girly (I read is as a more gender-neutral-femme) this is like that times 5. That said it does mature well, and if you like powdery, clean, feminine scents this one is probably worth checking out.

In Pace, In Fiori [ store link ]

In the bottle: Ultra realistic, fresh flowers. I feel like I’m getting lilac in here - but I could be wrong. There might also by hyacinth? Think fresh, purple flowers hanging from vines (there is a touch of green in here). Maybe a bit of white musk at the base? But in the bottle it is just Flower City with a bit of green.

Wet on my skin: Hyper realistic flowers still - you can smell the petals. Very green, very floral in that kind of purple-flower way. A little tropical almost. Greenery is mixed in with the flowers. I feel like I’m getting a touch of musk and a touch of something a little different in here too - maybe a kind of sweet-stone note.

Drydown: Feminine, fresh, super realistic flowers (lilac I’m guessing - and I think another), greenery, stone, something else (I keep waffling on what this is. Is it fruity like grapes? It it resinous?), stone and clean, faint musk.

After 30 mins: Same as the drydown. Still can’t place that one note.

Wears quite strong - scent cloud starts 6 inches from application site and I kept getting whiffs of it throughout the test period.

Official Notes: Bougainvillea, wisteria covered stone walls, green leaves, blossoming black locust tree, sun-baked sampietrini, a cotton dress, orange blossom honey.

Well, the florals are the florals - the wisteria is probably what reminds me of lilac. The greenery is the green leaves and black locust. The sampietrini and stone walls at the stone note - the kind of ‘clean musk’ must be the cotton dress. The orange blossom honey is that scent I couldn’t place that was kind of fruity, kind of resinous.

Verdict: Waaaay too femme for me. But if someone’s looking for a straight floral… the flowers here dominate to a degree that I initially wondered if this had nothing but floral notes. The strengths of this scent are it’s throw, the cloud of florals (flower lovers rejoice), and the subtle notes that come out as it dries down. The weaknesses are that the strength of it can be a double edged sword (apply with care) and that for indie fans it might be a bit too straight forward with ‘very femme flowers’.

La Mia Magia! [ store link ]

In the bottle: Sugared lemons, vanilla, honey (lots of honey), and a tiny touch of something a little medicinal in a strongly musky (think skin or Egyptian musk) base.

Wet on my skin: Lemons and that kind-of-medicinal note come forward. The medicinal note almost reminds me of Stereoplasm’s sunscreen accord. Think… the lemon squares from Lovesick Lake (sugar, lemons, vanilla) combined with sunscreen and honey all in a musky base. I really like this one but I will warn that we’re talking very musky here. I like very musky. Musks and I get along. I know this isn’t true for everyone.

Something in the amount this is blending and the particular balance of the scent reminds me of an Alkemia scent! If you like Alkemia’s musks this one will probably fit broadly into your tastes.

Drydown: Relatively stable to how it was wet. The lemons have died back some and I feel like I’m getting a touch of baked good in here. Still getting the honey and the sunscreen/medicinal note. And musk. A bunch of musk.

With this scent it’s wearing ultra, ultra strong. I actually applied too much of it - I tend to slather for reviews and in this case less it more. If you purchase this I’d advise applying conservatively then working up with it.

After 30 mins: The lemons have returned! Woo! This is probably my favorite balance of the scent. All the elements are still there but the bright lemons are bright again and the musk has calmed itself some. Bright, a tiny bit gourmand in a citrus way, and gender neutral.

As mentioned earlier this has a heckuva throw on it. Scent cloud starts 4-6 inches from the application site.

Official Notes: Velvet carpet, melting beeswax candles, dusty vials of dragon's blood, gilded rosewood wooden mask, labdanum, crackling electricity, well-worn playing cards.

Okay - wow. Let’s break this down.

The lemon I think has to be the crackling electricity. The ‘sunscreen’ type smell is probably the playing cards. The musk in this is probably the velvet carpet accord and Stereoplasm’s particular dragon’s blood (which in previous scents has gone musky instead of resinous). The beeswax is probably what I was interpreting as ‘musky honey’. The rosewood is probably that little sort of medicinal smell. There’s not much ozonic, metallic, or even particularly resinous to it. The smells smell organic, sweet, and natural.

I dunno in here what was reading kind of gourmand to me (there’s something kind of nutty) and what’s got me thinking ‘vanilla’ - but I’m definitely getting something. I also don’t know where the labdanum is fitting in other than adding a bit of darkness and depth to the scent - maybe a tiny edge of resinousness.

Verdict: I can totally see this as a musky old bookshop or magic shop with some honey-lemon bars on the counter. This will be a ‘wear sometimes in early spring rotation’ scent for me. The scent’s strengths are it’s lovely musks and the kind of creamy, lemony sweetness it embodies. The lemons smell sweet and fresh and not remotely ‘floor cleaner’. The scent’s weaknesses are that I don’t think it matches the given notes on the site perfectly and that it is very, very strong compared to most Stereoplasm scents I’ve tried. It needs to be used conservatively - and actually would make a good EDP/spray scent.

I also think it would make an amazing soap/lotion scent. It’s got this kind of softness and breadth to it that I think would make for a good ‘base’ scent for layering.

Blog Plans for 2020

SO. Everyone has probably noticed that my review posts have gotten less frequent. I've tried a bunch of different solutions and so far nothing's worked so here's the nitty gritty: I'm chronically ill in a variety of ways. They're not life threatening, but they do sometimes get to the point where functioning in a meaningful way is a beast.  One of the medical folks I'm working with has advised me to not commit myself to working with deadlines when my health is like this.

I'm in the process of getting things back to a manageable state. I've talked some about this before - but this time there's no promises involved other than 'I'll still be updating sometimes'.

So what am I planning going into 2020?

1) Reviews will continue but there will be no set schedule. They'll happen when they happen. I have 'good' days and I have 'bad' days. Working is possible on the good days - so I'm taking a Make Hay While The Sun is Shining approach.

2) I'm going to try and find shorter content to do than review sets. Some announcements on this in the future! At some point!

3) While this is happening I'm doing a lot of Behind The Scenes health work - my goal is to get back to an update schedule because I like producing content.

Thank-you guys for sticking with me! I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 1, 2019

A Winter's Ball ROUNDUP!

So! If you somehow missed it in the last week. We did another collaboration! Here's the round-up post.


Check out all the reviews at the following links!

  • The GRAND ANNOUNCMENT [ link ]
  • Day 1: Lizzy's Fine Dark Eyes Perfume Oil from Sucreabeille [ link ]
  • Day 2: Two Dances with Darcy Perfume Oil from Poesie [ link ]
  • Day 3: The Netherfield Ballroom from Nui Cobalt Designs [ link ]
  • Day 4: Truth Universally Acknowledged from Deconstructing Eden [ link ]
  • Day 5 + 6: The Marble Gallery At Pemberly Soap from B. Perry Studios & The Gentlemen of Derbyshire from Libertine Bath Haus [ link ]
You can check out of photos of what the collection actually looks like plus  uh, buy it [ here ].

Thanks for tuning in all! Regularly scheduled reviews will start up again Friday with catch up being played on the two review sets I missed in November (not both at once... but they're the first two in the hopper - Nui Cobalt Designs and then Stereoplasm).


A Winter's Ball Day 5 + 6: The Marble Gallery At Pemberly from B. Perry Studios and The Gentlemen of Derbyshire from Libertine Bath Haus

How ironic is it that I ended up having to combine two days of this because in laws came into town and I had to entertain them? These kinds of social encounters look different on the surface from Regency ones but:

  • The Cleaning. Oh, THE CLEANING. 
  • Greyhounds never change
  • My in-laws come into town and for some reason we have to have dinner with... my parents? Because that's part of the entertaining? 
  • My husband who lives in T-shirts was suddenly in a button-down. 
  • The living room, which mostly exists for the aforementioned greyhound to nap in, actually got used as a sitting room where we talked.
  • I literally got asked if there were local mansion tours.
ANYWAY, here we are talking about soap and hair oil! The Marble Gallery At Pemberly is the soap, The Gentlemen of Derbyshire is the hair oil. In terms of Regency style experiences: Our modest house lacks a marble gallery, but, we do have a variety of neat statues (including a museum quality replica of a whale vertebra). I've also never been to Derbyshire. I assume they know how to party.

To cover what needs to be covered: The soap was rested in a drawer in my bathroom for like, a week. The hair oil was rested 24 hours. In terms of packaging: neither came in the packaging they'd be in in the box - the soap was shrinkwraped in plastic (which protected it tell) and the hair oil was in a vial instead of in the large dropper bottle.



The Marble Gallery at Pemberly (Soap)


Texture/Appearance: The soap is a really lovely layered soap with a bit of shimmer tucked inbetween two of the layers near the bottom. When it’s dry to the touch it’s deceptively soft - I say deceptively because the last B. Perry soap I tried I was like ‘wow, soft, almost like clay’ and I thought it would melt super fast. It didn’t - still going strong (admittedly I only use it as a facial soap).

This one is a touch firmer than that - reminds me more of a firm wax in texture than a clay. When wet the soap takes on a thick, almost sticky sud-coating to it. Very luxuriant feeling to the touch.
One thing I will note about this soap - it’s only major “negative” point (which is in heavy quotes because it’s  ultimately so minor) is this soap is a little messy! The black in it is a charcoal or something and when the soap bar gets laid down (it’s a little too narrow to stand on end) it leaves black soap-residue. For those of us in The Order Of The White Bathtub you might want to set this on to of a washcloth or soap dish.

Performance: When lathered just using my hands it made a syrupy almost gel-like lather that felt super luxuriant going on the skin.  This would probably make an excellent shaving soap when used straight on the skin, or on hands. When applied to my shower pouf it formed a super, super fluffy thick lather that felt great going on. It left my skin feeling very clean and seemed to have a very slight exfoliating effect even though there was no rough texture.

Official Notes/Scent Analysis: Cold stone - petrichor, and earth -  at the heart of a bright dance with lemon, pomegranate, verbena, and apple.

The dominant notes in this soap are the petrichor and earth followed by the lemon and verbena. The soap is kind of a contrast - on the one hand it’s super, super earthy (but, I want to emphasize not mulchy or green or hothouse) but the brighter notes also give it a firm ‘clean’ vibe. 

I’d say at the top you get the realistic earth and petrichor followed by the cold stone with, as mentioned, the earth/petrichor dominating. Then you’re hit with the lemon and verbena - the lemon smells ‘clean’ but not ‘floor cleaner’ and the verbena gives the soap an almost medicinal tang. The pomegranate is subtle and blends with the earthier tones and the lemon and gives the scent some needed sweetness to take the edge off of the more bitter earthy notes. I didn’t really get the apple - I suppose I could see a kind of apple-peel sort of apple bridging the brighter notes and the earthy ones.

Verdict: Torn. I really liked how this soap performed. In my last review of a B. Perry soap I was on the fence about the cost - in part because I was worried I’d go through a bar of their soap quickly. With how long that bar has lasted me however (again, admittedly only as a facial soap) I’d be fine buying more B. Perry soaps at their current price point just to keep one on hand for facial washing.
What I’m torn on this time is the scent. It’s very earthy. Fresh, cool dirt and stone. It smells like a winter’s day up on the Appalachian trail if you were up there surrounded by lemongrass, pomegranates, and apple skins. It’s kind of nostalgic to me in that respect. However - I’m not the biggest fan of heavily earthy scents as a class. So, I don’t know how I feel about this one on a personal level. Will I use up my bar? For sure. Will I repurchase this particular scent? No clue.

The Gentlemen of Derbyshire (Hair Oil)
So for the methods I this one: I took a bath and then after the bath I towel dried my hair (I know, I know. It’s short! I can get away with it! It avoids heat damage!) and applied what was probably ultimately a dime sized amount of the oil (I basically used my little vial to apply some to my finger tips, rubbed my finger tips together to warm it, applied it, and then applied more until I had what felt like good coverage).  This is how I’m determining performance.

For the scent analysis I just applied a small amount to the back of my hand and let it sit for half an hour. I considered just reviewing it like a perfume - but ultimately I expect hair products to be more mildly scented so they can be layered with other scents. (also with the thicker oil it would take longer to sink in than an oil based perfume). So I decided to apply it then wait half an hour for the scent to stabilize.

Texture: Oil is thicker than a perfume oil - but surprisingly not terribly greasy on the fingers. A smooth oil. I think I may have applied too much in thinking I didn’t have enough because the texture is relatively light compared to other hair oils I’ve tried.

Performance: As mentioned above I believe I applied too much. It wears very light on the hair with a non-greasy texture… but with the amount I applied I did get some hair clumping that looked kind of greasy. I think that’s user error though. 

I found it left my hair shiny, soft, and as mentioned no greasy texture.  It held moisture into the bleached (like, platinum blond bleached) chunk of my hair. The scent on it was mild and unobtrusive - though I did get small whiffs of it and can smell it on my hands after running them through my hair.

Official Notes/Scent Analysis: Tobacco leaf, leather, regal clove, and warm oakwood.

The oakwood dominates. I honestly thought this had a whiskey note until I saw the official notes. It smells a lot like scotch to me, edged with the tobacco leaf and leather.  The clove rounds it out - it almost smells salty. Overall the scent is earthy, very reminiscent of scotch whiskey (though, not boozy) and full of warm, rich, slightly sharp masculine notes. Perfect fit for smelling like a bit of Regency era debauchery.

Verdict: Love this as a styling product!  How light it wears is a big plus for me - I’ll just have to apply it more conservatively in the future. I can totally see picking up some of LBH’s hair oil based on my experience with this.

This is currently the only scent their hair oil is available in! I like the hair oil quite a bit, and I like the scent well enough (it’s earthy-masculine-oaky which is fine with me, but, not my absolute favorite scent ever from LBH) that I’ll be full sizing this from LBH… but I’d love to see it available in multiple scents!

You can get this scent as part of the A Winter's Ball set found [ here ]! 

You can also get the hair oil [ here ] by itself.


Friday, November 29, 2019

A Winter's Ball Day 4: Truth Universally Acknowledged from Deconstructing Eden

It's early - and by early, I mean late for me. I partook of the turkey, of the dressing, of the sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and rolls and I fell into a deep slumber far earlier than I should have, awoke in the middle of the night and then was like 'Aw, nuts'.  One thing followed another and now it's 10 in the morning (very late for me) and I'm getting the post up.

So right now I'm very much in a 'How Human Use Word???' mode. So this intro will be brief. Today we're looking at Deconstructing Eden's addition to the A Winter's Ball set - Truth Universally Acknowledged. Which is kinda special to me because well... I was all like 'omg I hope at least one perfume is called that' and Toni had my back.

This review ended up being kind of special because it introduced me to a new perfumery family: fougere. As far as I know this is my first time smelling a fougere! Fancy.

To cover the bases: This perfume was rested somewhere between three days and a week (closer to five days but not a hundred percent sure). The packaging on this particular lil sample was so hot off the presses that it lacked a label! The big version of this that comes in the box does come complete with label however. (Here is where I spent far too long wondering if a winky-face emoji would be too disruptive to my writing style).

Since this is an EDP (and sealed in a bottle I can't figure out how to get open) I eliminated the bottle sniff section and combined the wet/drydown section... EDPs tend to dry super fast!



Truth Universally Acknowledged 

Wet on my skin/Drydown:  Musk and rich wood.  Sweet, arched with dark browns and golds with a kind of sharp floral edge to it.

So at the top I’m getting a bit of a piquant/sharp floral combined with a spice (cinnamon maybe?) coupled with another floral (kind of reminds me of a rose or even a lotus).  Under that is sweet musk (like a sweet-clove musk or a sugar-musk even) in the middle and below that rich woods with a bit of a citrus bite to them (reminds me of freshly cleaned wood).

After 30 mins: Rose at the top. Smooth and soft now - no sharp edges.  Under that I get a sweet musk (that kind of reminds me of clove), wood of some sort, and a touch of sweet amber. Maybe a tiny citrus bite in there (or something a little bitter) to balance out the sweet.

I do want to note for those with certain preferences:  The sweetness in this keeps verging right on the edge of bubblegummy for me - I think it’s the particular kind of sweet and musk in this. On some sniffs it’ll be like ‘oh that’s rich and musky and dark red’ and on others it’ll be ‘that’s kind of bubblegum’. There’s also like a tiny, tiny bit of powderiness to the scent.

Wears pretty close to the skin - strong scent cloud starts an inch or two away.

Official Notes: Rosewood and mahogany bookshelves, Russian leather chairs, a simple eau de cologne of English lavender, Bergamot, and fougere accord, a glass of cognac, a river of scotch, and tobacco absolute.

Interesting! So let’s break this down:

The rose is the rosewood - I’d say is smells more like the flower than the wood to me. The sharp floral at the start I’d bet good money is the lavender. The leather is a tiny touch in there blending with some of the later scent.

I’m going to bet the ‘sweet musk’ and ‘spice’ notes I was getting are the fougere and cognac - and I’d bet it was the cognac that sometimes went a little ‘bubblegum’ to my nose. Because I’m still learning a lot about perfumery I had to google what fougere is - and I’m guessing ‘sweet, musky, spiced, powdery - like a clove musk’ is my nose’s best attempt at describing that scent without knowing what it was! The scotch is what I bet I was interpreting as an amber, and the mahogany is the smooth wood/resin at the base.

Oh, and the bergamot is that nip of bitter citrus I was getting. I’m not sure how the tobacco absolute fits in - maybe it’s adding some of the sweetness?

It’s a pretty gender neutral scent - wasn’t sure where else in the review to note that, but, in my book that’s often a plus.

Verdict: Torn! I need to spend some more time with this one. This one excited me when I put it on, and when I got a non-bubblegum sniff. I was less excited about the bubblegum-sniffs. As the scent wears longer though some of the bitter undertones are coming out to balance out that sweetness. As it stands this scent is either a ‘keep my sample but don’t upsize’ or a ‘eventually upsize after spending some time with it’.

You can get this scent as part of the A Winter's Ball set found [ here ]! The set is on the pricey side (it's a luxury box!). However! Sucreabeille is also running a sale right now (11/29/19) and this would push you up into some of the higher tiers all on its own... so you'd get a box of lovelies and a bunch of other swag along with it.