Hia all, I'm new here to posting but long time lurker and fairly new collector.

I've been following this youtuber for some time now because he is a chemist and he makes videos on flavor and aroma compounds. So fascinating!
His latest video struck me as something that could be useful for those of us who struggle with identifying notes or feel like we can't smell anything at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM9jStVhNeU

He walks us how to do 2 different techniques on how to train our noses and brains to be able to identify compounds.

He is very helpful and informative and deserves more recognition and likes!

Let me know what you all think and if this works for anyone!

This is my first Fall ordering from SS, and I am so excited! For those who have ordered from SS in the fall, what should I expect? When does the fall release usually happen (I saw on the sub closer to Halloween, but that feels so late!)? Does stock go quickly? Should I buy enough to last this fall and into next fall?

For those ordering this year, what are you planning on sampling or FSing?

Personally, I've tried as many fall samples that were available out of season (maybe 5-6). I know I was to FS Farmhouse in Fall and Foxcroft Fairgrounds. I might want to FS Foxcroft. But I also want to get my hands on samples of Witch's Cabin, Jack & The Devil, Maine Moon, and Pumpkin Spice Latte. I'm really trying not to blind buy!

I'd love to chat about this!

Hi all! I'm looking into some new spiced gourmand fall scents. I've never tried CocoaPink and I've heard a lot of hype around their gourmands and particularly their marshmallow note. I'm a huge marshmallow fan, so I'm intrigued!

Does anyone have recommendations they really love from this house? Their catalog is huge, I have no idea where to start! Doesn't have to be fall related either!

I love vanilla, white sugared baked goods (think sugar cookie, buttercream, white cake), caramel, butter, creamy/milky, marshmallow, anything that could fall under "chai spice" (cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, etc), and lavender. I won't touch patchouli, chocolate, incense, anything even vaguely smoky, coconut, almond/almond extract, and white florals. On my list already I have apricot eyelet, black marshmallow, & gingerbread noel. Thanks in advance 🫶🏻

ETA: I am lukewarm about pumpkin but I love apple.

Part 1 (Lawn Girl, Lake Days, Sunsphere Sunset, and Red Daisy)

I'm baaaaaack! With more long-winded reviews of frags from what is shaping up to be one of my favorite indie houses! I was originally going to include reviews of two prototype samples of Sunsphere's fall scents in this series, but I have decided to just purchase the whole fall collection and do a separate post of them (since it's only 5 scents). So Parts 2 & 3 will just cover three fragrances each. Part 2 (this one) will cover 1928, 1991, and Homegrown Tomatoes. Part 3 will cover Coconut, Candoro Marble, and House Mountain, and I will post it tomorrow (I've worn everything but House Mountain, but got behind on writing my actual reviews).

--

1928

I LOVE gin, and I love ambery scents, so I figured this one would be a slam dunk for me...and I was right! I think this might be my favorite scent from this house. It opens with a photorealistic gin and tonic--one made with good gin, where the juniper isn't too sharp/piney, and there are some interesting subtle botanicals and a hint of citrus. Smooth and balanced, a little sweet even?

Then there emerges a gorgeous warm resinous amber and some dry weathered/aged woods. Coupled with the gin and tonic, this creates a very convincing impression of a well-loved dive bar that may have once been an actual speakeasy. A place born in bright avant-garde glamour, then steadily worn and colored by the passage of time, ultimately developing the bittersweet cozy/lived-in patina of age that is the hallmark of all iconic dive bars.

On my skin, the juniper/gin notes fade within a few hours (they stick around all day on my clothes, though), leaving behind that warm woody amber and a hint of skin musk, almost a "your skin but better" scent. It gets very quiet (or I just get anosmic to it), and that's maybe the only thing that pulls it back from perfection for me. On my clothes, though, it is completely linear, surviving more or less unchanged all day long.

Wearing this perfume makes me feel like the ghost of a flapper, haunting her favorite watering hole generation after generation, making her presence known through phantasmal echoes of laughter and the clinking of glasses, occasionally appearing in the bathroom mirror to startle woozy patrons, or tying the shoelaces together of male patrons who overstep personal boundaries. This is absolutely my vibe! So much so that I'm going to overlook the way it fades on my skin, because this is definitely signature scent territory for me. There's nothing too intense/overwhelming in this scent, so I can practically bathe in it without issue to help out the longevity. I am definitely FSing this so that I can, in fact, completely douse myself in it.

Creativity: mid
Seasonality: year-round
Gender vibe: lo-femme
Longevity: all day
Sillage: Intimate
Will I Finish the Sample?: Yes
Would I like a full-size?: Yes
Overall: 11/10, will full-size, this is part of my signature scent rotation now!

1991

At first blush, this seems like a fairly masculine scent due to the strong aquatic opening, but the aquatic elements quickly pull back to let the grapefruit become the star, and it settles into something nice and unisex. Hooray! I have always loved the "idea" of aquatic scents, but I've been burned so many times by them coming off as either too masc or too soapy. 1991 is just aquatic enough to scratch the itch, without going soapy or excessively masculine. Here, the aquatic elements read as damp cool sea air on a calm day, where the sky is pure white with a sheet of featureless high clouds.

But as I said, the grapefruit is really the star of the show here! To my nose, it's a juicy WHITE grapefruit, not too sweet and just a touch of pithy astringence, and not as lush and round as a red grapefruit. Very realistic and suitably mellow, blending seamlessly with the aquatic notes.

There's also a woody element here, gentle and dry with a kind of sunbleached feel to it? I've noticed this is kind of a hallmark of the Sunsphere style, using subtle woods to lend dryness, warmth, and grounding to scents with lots of bright elements, and also to enhance the sense of place that seems to inspire Amber so much! In the context of 1991, the wood suggests a pier, or a boardwalk, or a beachside picnic table. As someone who grew up in a perpetually-foggy coastal town in California, 1991 very much reminds me of home--which is wild, considering it's about as far from the climate of Knoxville as you can get within the continental US!

This is definitely an easy scent for me to love. Like 1928, it seems almost impossible to be too heavy-handed with it, but at the same time, a little goes a long way, and the longevity is excellent. 5 spritzes of it in the morning, and I was still smelling a quiet woody grapefruit on myself as I drifted off to sleep that night. I might FS this next spring!

Creativity: mid
Seasonality: spring/summer/early fall
Gender vibe: unisex
Longevity: all day
Sillage: ~1 foot scent aura
Will I Finish the Sample?: Yes
Would I like a full-size?: Yes
Overall: 10/10

Homegrown Tomatoes

Right away I could tell this one was going to run afoul of my veramoss sensitivity, so I applied it with a very light hand.

This is EXACTLY what it says on the tin! It opens with an absolute BLAST of damp soil, reminiscent of Lake Days to an extent, but there's no body of water here. Just wet, damp, fertile soil. Then the GREEN arrives. Yep, that's tomato leaf, and also kind of the glossy scent of tomato skin? Something a bit bitter, too.

I've never grown a vegetable garden, but my late aunt Sue (RIP) had a massive and gorgeous one at her estate in the verdant forestlands north of Philadelphia, and I have fond memories of visiting in the summer and helping her gather veggies for family dinners. Summer storms were very common during my visits, and the smell of warm rain-dampened greenery holds a prominent place in my memory. This fragrance hits that note very powerfully.

That said, this one is not particularly wearable for me. Not just because of my sensitivity to the veramoss in it, but because the soil note is just so much more powerful than everything else in it, and there are just not many occasions where I want to smell like I just dug myself out of the ground, lol. Fond memories aside, this one is a miss for me--but if you're looking for a pure soil-and-greenery fragrance, this one is top-notch!

Creativity: mid
Seasonality: summer
Gender vibe: agender
Longevity: all day
Sillage: ~2-foot scent aura
Will I Finish the Sample?: No
Would I like a full-size?: No
Overall: 7/10 -- full marks for executing on the concept, points off for wearability

I have been wearing On The Wing (creamy white amber, velvety cashmere, shimmering silk voile, salty Orcanox, and diaphanous musk) from Arcana Wildcraft for the past three days and I am obsessed.

This is an EDP flanker of their Moth Like Stars perfume oil, which I understand is meant to be a fancier, more luxurious version of the original. They refer to it as "A sheer, airy, yet strong and concentrated skin scent." I haven’t tried Moth Like Stars, but I can tell you that On The Wing is a confoundingly gorgeous study in contradiction.  It's taken me a day or two to get my thoughts together, but here is my best approximation of a review...

On The Wing opens with a balsamic sheerness, a paradoxical shimmering shadow. When you think of skin scents, you probably think subtle, delicate, and intimate... but what of, say, Maleficent's skin scent? It's not just clean, soft, and simple. Imagine a fragrance that embraces both light and shadow, a scent that sighs and susurrates with complexity and depth, that embodies the beautiful…and the terrible. Take what you thought you knew of skin-like fragrances and remix it with the most masterful, barest glimmer of midnight glamour and gothic opulence. As it unfurls, this effervescent richness ebbs and flows - champagne bubbles rising through inky depths or the cold vapors of the void with an incandescent vein of cosmic dust. This juxtaposition of light and heavy is disorienting, an olfactory illusion that tricks the senses. You're wearing a scent as weighty as a motheaten cloak, yet as insubstantial as mist. It's the broken-winged beating of the hollow heart, the devastating language of wounds, the darkness that embraces everything. On The Wing rasps a silken truth: you do not have to be whole or perfect or even good to claim your own skin. Your wild darkness and your luminous scars are part of your magic, so wear it like you mean it, in all that contradictory glory.

"Fantasycore", ethereal, medieval, sparkling, gorgeous fairies and warriors, chainmail, swords- I wanna smell like that! I definitely lean toward sweet and gourmand, but I'd like to open up and fulfill this little fantasy of mine this fall/winter. I'd love any and all recs! <3

Does anyone know where to find legitimate and reasonably priced Sugarock palette/s? Retail price and slightly above is fine. Just not trying to buy from price gougers or buy an over priced replica.

Heyo! SSE just released their Halloween Scents and I don't see them talked about much here so I thought I'd share their Facebook post! Personally I think Vampires of London sounds fantastic.

Also just a little fun fact about them, the reason why I like this house so much is because the owner says she purposely tests scents to see if they trigger a migraine for her and will avoid those notes. I wear SSE a lot in public settings like air planes or meetings because it feels a little more... considerate? Anyway here's the Halloween info from her post!

Here are the notes of the new Halloween 2024 perfumes in the collection, available now! Www.sirensongelixirs.com

Blood Magic - Cherry, Smoke, Almond, Cinnamon, Incense, Amber, Black Leather

Cloak & Dagger - Cotton, Cashmere, Tobacco, Tonka bean, Myrrh, Patchouli, Soft Leather

Cyanide - Almond, Brown Sugar, Vanilla Accord

Dark Harvest - Baked Apples, Baked Peaches, Pecan Praline, Bourbon Vanilla, Cinnamon & Sugar, Caramelized sugar, Toasted Marshmallow

Deja Vu - Daffodils, Lemon, Star Anise, Blackberry, Caramel, Aged Vanilla, Cream, Labdanum, Dark Florals, Oud wood

Ghost Lights - Absinthe, French Lime, Violet, Galbanum, Lavender, Pear, Shea, Cashmere, Silver Birch

Ink & Ivy - Graphite, Dark florals, Black Plum, Black Currant, Blackberry, Amber, Cedar, Sandalwood, Musk

Ode to the Abyss - Amber, Patchouli, Orris, Peony, Dark Water accord, Incense, Oud, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Lemon Cream

Southern Gothic - Magnolia, Vanilla Accord, Night blooming Jasmine, Oakmoss, Tobacco leaf, Cedar wood, Sandalwood, Black amber

Vampires of London - Earl Grey tea, Lavender, Coal, Tar, Black Amber, English Rose, Chamomile, Vetiver, Black Leather, Smoke, Black Resins, Oud, Dragons Blood

Not necessarily straight up marshmallow scents but scents that were really enhanced by it as a note (can body or home fragrance)

There are no bad questions! Ask away!

What indies are you using today? And we mean everything! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

• Makeup
• Clothes
• Jewelry
• Bath and Body (lotion, soap, shampoo, bath salts, etc.)
• Nail polish
• Perfume

Please feel free to leave mini-reviews and include photos of whatever you're using. We'd love to know your thoughts and see the products too!

This thread repeats daily.

Hi! I'm still inexperienced doing anything other than lurking on reddit so if I mess up, need to repost with a different flair/take this down please let me know! :3

Alright, Short version:

I'm searching for a fragrance free lotion that's petroleum free, alcohol free, and vitamin C free!! Would like to avoid beeswax. Would ALSO love multiple size options.

Long version:

I've begun my tattoo journey, starting pixel by pixel on a themed sleeve, and my local shop offers cheap 3x3 tattoos every Tuesday.... soooo I'm almost out of my current lotion. It's had an oat/oat milk base but I didn't love the formula, too thin for my personal taste. In the past I tried Haus of Gloi's Pumpkin Butter (scented) and LOVED it, especially the texture!! I guess I'm wondering if anyone had any experience using it for tattoo healing, or if you have any favorites you can recommend! I do have texture issues so avoiding anything incredibly thin or oily would be nice!

For reference; my skin is quite dry, it will drink almost anything I put on (ESPECIALLY SCENTS TT^TT would love advice on that as well if possible lol) I've noticed that coconut oil bases doesn't soak in as much as vitamin E(???) or shea, but I don't know if that's by design, but as it's namesake.... it does end up leaving me oily and also overstimulated. Honestly, I need to avoid that if possible especially because I'm planning a LOT of artwork for the next few years.

Anyways, gonna try and stop rambling, feel free to ask any clarifying questions you need!! Thank you in advance!!

About a week and a half ago, my gorgeous boy kitty Kinoko helped me open my first package of perfume from Poesie. I've had a chance to rest and then test them since then, and I thought I'd give my thoughts.

Firelight Study - remnants of your pumpkin spice latte and vanilla scone crumbs on a rosewood desk, a wool blanket with the lingering scent of a cozy evening by the fireplace

Okay, I'm cheating here. This wasn't in my package. Instead, this is the very first Poesie scent I tried , which was included as a freebie from a destasher. I loved it. It's smokey, sweet, and warm. Dries to a sweet wooden scent. Very fall, comforting and cozy. It gave me scent memories or working in the sceneshop/wood shop in the theatre building sets in college. Wood cut by an electric saw. It smells like the organizers you can buy that have been cut by a laser saw. I immediately started looking for a way to have more of this scent and it's the reason I decided to place an order. 4.5/5

We Fly With Our Spirit - free pancakes and syrup for breakfast, broom straw/hay in the sunshine, sassy black cat fur, stormy night air/rain, a tiny bit of clean cotton sheets in a cozy attic room... and absolutely no herring pie.

I got fomo when I read it was leaving the collection and fullsized it blind. Mistake. It's very coconut-y to me. There is a good rain scent I get from it that takes up space soon. It seems very atmospheric and I do like it for that, but it's not something I would've bought bigger if I tried it first. 3.5/5

Village Bakery - stacks of delicious Japanese milk bread

Coconut. It was at this point I started to worry there was a base or something that wasn't going to work for me because why do both of these smell like coconut when neither list it in their notes? I can pick up yeast notes, but this bread is a sweet coconut roll. 3/5

Green Girl - pistachio, wildflower honey, oatmilk matcha latte, heliotrope blossoms, marshmallow musk

Imagine my relief. It's not as strong of a scent as I might like, but this smelled like matcha immediately. I got floral as well. Later on honey shows up to the party and then your girl is very happy. Once it develops into a honey matcha scent? Love. 4.5/5

Elemental Tea Party - a swirl of autumn leaves on chilly air, brewed black tea with a discreet splash of whiskey, overturned earth, distant bonfires

This kind of just came across as generically earthy to me. It was less brewed tea and more tea leaves with incense. 3/5

Madar - Comforting, creamy Basmati rice pudding flavored with orange flower water, saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, and dried rose petals, then piled high with sugared pistachios

I think maybe my skin amps cinnamon? Not the first times it's taken over a scent for me. Maybe a semi creamy cinnamon, but its also pretty powdery. 3/5

Whisper Your Bitter Things - pressed coffee beans, dried clove bud + cassia bark, jasmine and neroli blossoms, roasted vanilla pods

This is too subtle of a scent for me. It's earthy and clean, and seems like a rainy day scent. But it also is a bit soapy on me. 2/5

Morning Mayhem - vanilla French toast sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with maple syrup, coffee milk, balsam fir, wrapping paper

I wanted to love this. Making French Toast is a regular cherished memory of my life and possibly the first thing I ever learned to make. My family makes it with peanut butter and it is so tasty. Unfortunately this smell is just sweet, with a hint of something I associate with juniper berries/syrup. Sigh. 2.5/5

Bessie Smith - blackberry, praline, honey whiskey, cigar tobacco, ebony piano wood, velvet, cinnamon

This is very honey forward while wet. With the drydown comes the blackberry and alcohol. It feels hot. This is the first time a blackberry scent has worked for me. I would absolutely be up to fullsizing this, but not a priority buy. 4/5

Thrushcross Grange - creamy pumpkin flesh & soft vanilla creme, caramelized sugar, a faded whisper of honeysuckle.

Oh she nice! This smells like Astaroth from Fantôme, which I love. But, like a distilled to sweeter version. Sweet, creamy, fruity..... I would fullsize immediately if the option was available to me. 5/5

Fireside Reverie - A crackling wood fire, holiday blend of cinnamon & nutmeg, precious resins of frankincense, myrrh, and benzoin

This immediately smelled like Christmas. Then we get the nice woody smoke smell I like from Poesie so much. This smells to be like the wood smoke I've cooked salmon in. There does seem to be a bit of an artifical smell in here. 3.5/5

Pink Christmas - juicy pink grapefruit, frankincense resin, coconut snowballs, cypress needles, vanilla bean, Cetalox

Well, damn! Surprisingly a favorite. The citrus is bright and juicy and rounded out by a rich sweetness. Love at first scent. Like an ideal citrus, and I don't like grapefruit. Why are all my favorite scents from this house discontinued?? The only thing keeping me from being heart broken and immediately doing everything I can to get more of this is its poor longevity. The citrus and resin I fell in love with soon fades to the coconut and kinda musky? Sadness. I'm still considering it. 4.5/5, just for the part where I loved it.

Trying to narrow down my cart from there and failing miserably 😂

I'm looking for a black lip product that lasts. I love Lip Ink, since it truly does last all-day, but they currently don't offer a black lip product. I've been eyeing the Silk Naturals black lip stain for some time now, but recently heard of a brand called Black Moon, and they offer a black lipstick. Their product listing says it lasts all day, just to avoid oily food (same instructions as Lip Ink), so now I'm not sure which one to buy when I have the chance.

Does anyone know which one lasts longer?

Got my first ever order from Clionadh Cosmetics with a few of the Glitter Iridescent Multichromes and I’m in love. But I also want to try formulas from other brands. What shadows with this effect would you recommend?

Basically ones with a transparent/clear base with colored reflects. Another similar comparison is the Houdini glitter that got popular with Euphoria.

Thanks!

so if you don’t live in an awful place (hell houston) like me, odds are the weather has cooled off and fall is starting to hit! and with that usually comes changes in the scents and/or makeup you wear.

so i wanna know! what’s being taken out of your daily collection from summer, and what are you putting in rotation for fall?

what makeup, nail polish, perfume, whathaveyou, are you reaching for now that things have started cooling off?

I have the Witch House perfume oil and the Baba Yaga EDP. I have been on a quest to smell like a dangerous and alluring witch, and this combo IS IT! I felt like both scents on their own, while they are both unique and undeniably witchy, I was missing something. Witch House (at least the oil version) was lacking the herbaceous/smoky notes I was looking for, and Baba Yaga needed something fruity and cinnamon-y to tone down the old lady aspect. Omg. Layering these two scents creates the most magical, feral, sexy, smoky, sweet, authentic, and complex scent that people will immediately be able to identify as “witch”. I think using the Witch House EDP would be even better as the fruit note is brighter and more forward apparently.

I also feel like layering Villa Diodati from Poesie with these could be amazing too!!

Also a question for those who have the Witch House EDP, do you recommend it over the perfume oil?

Quick (ha, oops) and dirty stream of consciousness reviews of samples from my first passionate but sometimes misguided indie orders. They either need to leave or need to be worn. To avoid falling under the spell of the same prose that encouraged me to buy these, I’m not going to reference the scent notes before testing. I have no idea if anyone will find these reviews useful, but I thought it was time to contribute after enjoying so many of everyone’s reviews for so long.

General likes, dislikes, biases – I like it dirty (in all senses of the word), atmospheric, leaning towards masculine, indolic, cold, industrial. I like my florals white and my caves dank. There will be no gourmands in any of these reviews. The town I grew up in smelled like October at Micheals all year long and I never need to smell Fall in a Jar again.

Sorry for the random order, I just yanked them out of the drawer and went for it.

Riverside Hayride:  Not verdant, but the ghost of verdancy. The tired hot smell of a twice cut hay field in late September. With some spice/apple cider/essence of craft store layered thickly overtop. There’s a sweetness that is like absolute zero of sex - it is not possible for the concept of sex to exist to a lesser degree than it exists in this perfume. Not a wholesome absence of sex, a creepy void. I want off the wagon ride, immediately.

Actual Notes: Moist Dirt, White Carnations, Fallen Leaves, Bare Branches, Hay & a Hint of Pressed Apples

When I’d wear this:  If I ever get homesick for an economy based solely on fall tourism.

Yay/Nay: Nope

Midnight Marquee:  Dr. Pepper Chapstick at the bottom of my mom’s purse nestled amongst the limp gum wrappers that are almost starting to compost, corroded pennies, and flecks of tobacco. The greenhouse effect in your grandmother’s Oldsmobile. A Baptist preacher.

Actual Notes: Black Musk, Gasoline, Supple Leather, Earth, Tobacco, Moss, Leaves, Foxcroft Air, Vanilla Musk. (This should have been right up my alley. Damn.)

Where I’d wear this: If someone drags me back to a Baptist church, perhaps it will confuse and repel the preacher and I can avoid the clutching handshake and prolonged eye contact.

Yay/Nay: Absolutely not.

Manor Fire: This is kind of boozy, the idea of an aged liquor. Earthy, boozy, traces of a fruity sweetness. Based on the name I suspect this is supposed to be smoky. Not getting that. But I am getting hot wood and maybe an unlit cigar. Sneaking god knows what liqueur from the dusty liquor cabinet at grandma’s and sipping it in the attic cedar closet.

Actual Notes: Manor base, Smoke, Charred Wood, Melted Beeswax, Wood Resin, Dry Wood, Burning Leaves, Worn Leather. Manor Base: Woody-Vanilla Musk, Vanilla, Agarwood (Oud), Sandalwood

Where I’d wear this: When someone drags me to a pretentious bourbon bar.

Yay/Nay: Eh. It’s not super me, but it is nice. Lives another round. I go to pretentious bourbon bars often enough.

Gehenna: This is fun because I have absolutely no memory of what this is. Is it rain? Is it more hay? Is it tropical florals? Oh! It’s a civilized nightmare hippie girl*! Unexpected. This is the air *outside* of your adolescent head shop. It’s not crazy strong and that fresh air mixed in keeps it well on the clean side of dirty hippie. It’s the accumulated general waft of perfume oils, candles, jars of incense, and unflattering hemp pants.

Actual Notes: Red Musk, Dragon's Blood Resin, Burning Wood, Somalian Myrrh, Egyptian Musk.

Where I’d wear this: To buy my mom a Mother’s Day gift at Pier One Imports.

Yay/Nay: Nay. But teenage me would have loved it.

*Nitemare Hippy Girl is my favorite Beck song, no offense intended toward any hippie girls, nightmare or otherwise…she’s a frolicking depression, she’s a self-inflicted obsession…

Gunnerson’s Pumpkin Patch: (I’m so tempted to look up the notes for this, based on the name I had no business ordering it.)  Vegetal. Not green, not grass, not floral, not trees. Just plant matter. A well-used mug, with an indelible patina of sweetened coffee. Maybe some booze. An overripe apple. My grandfather’s after shave. If Riverside Hayride was an 8/10 on the Fall in a Jar scale, this is a 2.5/10.

Actual Notes: Leaves, Vines, Autumn Air, Pumpkin Flesh, Lavender, Moss, Balsam, Tonka, Hay, Caramel, Dirt, Patchouli, Mushroom.

Where I’d wear this: To mow the grass for the last time this year. No, really, this will be the last time. Surely.

Yay/Nay: Nay. That aftershave/sweet thing catches in my throat a little. It’s either nostalgia or nausea, hard to tell. Hour later: Damn it, it is nostalgia. I’m keeping it, but not for wearing. Just in case one day I really need to smell my grandaddy when he came in from an afternoon of yard work.

Tropical Moon: White floral. The ghost of sunblock. Just the very barest hint, the concept of a hint, of tropical funk. Coconut. This smells like my luggage when I unpack from a beach trip.

Actual Notes: Coconut, Tuberose, Tahitian Gardenia, Lime.  

Where I’d wear this: To the airport if I were flying to Omaha, to confuse people.

Yay/Nay: Sure. I’m a sucker for white florals. No harm in embracing my inner basic beach bitch on occasion.

Foxcroft: Not gonna lie, this is day three of testing this house. And I’m kind of dreading this. Have I mentioned my youth spent awash in Fall in a Jar? Yes? Okay. Here we go. Hey! This isn’t bad. This is that same field from the hayride, but just after the second cutting. It’s fresher, greener, a more natural sweet, and no one has plugged in an Autumn Splendor air freshener. There’s a touch of something, a little petrichor, a little potting soil, that I quite enjoy.

 Actual Notes: Decaying Leaves, Rich Black Soil, Dry Leaves, Fall Air, Woods, Chimney Smoke. (Apparently I can't smell their smoke note.)

Where I’d wear this: Trail riding at the state park or when I really start to grumble about how underwhelming September is in Texas. (Like now.)

Yay/Nay: Yay! Finally.

Foxcroft Intense: What’s going on here? Citrus? That seems unlikely. I’m confused. There’s a (maybe) creamy medicinal orange layered over that nice late summer hay field. It’s hinting at fallen leaves, but really crispy ones. Those mystery notes eventually mature into something fairly masculine and vaguely autumnal. Maybe a 1.5/10 on the Fall in a Jar scale. For once in my life, I prefer the less intense option. I kind of want to rub them together and make Foxcroft Medium.

Where I’d wear this:  Second date at a state fair? It’s outdoorsy adjacent, unusual but not outright weird. I feel like the cows and goats would like it and I’d get to pet them.

Yay/Nay: Eh…yay. I don’t know if I’ll wear it, but just in case I get to test my petting zoo theory.

Actual Notes: Decaying Leaves, Dry Leaves, Dirt, Wood Smoke, Fir Balsam, Cedar, Cypress Wood, Oakmoss, Patchouli, Vetiver, Rain, Bayberry and more.

Full Dark: Overripe fruit. In a very sensual, pleasant way. There’s something brown. Old suede? The very well-worn arm of a wooden chair? Something sharp, acrid, but just a glimpse of it. The bar in a very old, very nice hotel. Dim lighting, leather chairs, a deep red dress. That soft, lonesome, wanting feeling, solitude begging to be intruded upon.

Actual Notes: Amber resin, saffron, black rose, black musk, oud, fossilized amber, leather, smoked amber, spice

Where I’d wear this: When I take myself to a pretentious cocktail bar. Anytime I have the opportunity to walk alone down a cobblestone side street with flattering lighting.

Yay/Nay: Yes. And I probably need more. Which means I’ll order more samples and be back here in a year.

I fully expected to get rid of most of these. Oh well. They really don’t take up that much space…

I just got back from a big trip and and am in brain fog land, still. So, I thought it'd be a good time to scope and plan out my autumn buys

Unfortunately the list got way too long and confusing, too fast for my brain fog lol, especially with some catalogs not being updated with fall releases officially, yet. Or they'll say fall is 'coming soon'

What would you suggest a Kitchen Witch look for?

I tend to lean towards fruity scents(I'm including pumpkin as a fruit in here 😅). But any kind of fruity lol, fruity-floral, fruity herbally/planty/woodsy, fruity/smokey, fruity leathery, fruity/gourmand-y, etc. And I layer scents, so I like scents that run all over the gamut.i just tend to stay away from Powdery/perfumey scents, or ones that go too 'cleaner fluid'. I like photorealistic and/or atmospheric scents

I'm particularly looking at getting some from Soltice scents, arcana, more from stone&wit (I need to get a FS neon Noir anyways 😅), and fyrinnae(I've been wanting to get their basil scent anyways). But I know I'm forgetting a few to look at and the brain fog is killing me.

Help a gourmand witchy woo out?

I recently reviewed 27 of Nui Cobalt's past Autumn 1 scents in preparation for the return of this collection; now I'm back with thoughts on eight more of them! I got six of this year's new releases (including both of the new Cats), plus one returning from last year (Playing Hooky) and one that came back but only as an Archive scent, meaning they're selling off the last of it and then it'll be discontinued (Vineyard in September). Most of these are beautifully autumnal, and the one that doesn't feel particularly tied to this fall season (You Can Sit With Us) became an instant holy grail for me (isn't it wonderful when that happens?).

Ordering specs: Nui Cobalt's website is easy to navigate, shipping is very affordable at $3.45, items come very securely packed, and customer service is always spectacular. I don't think I've ever placed an order that took more than 2-3 business days to ship (and recently it has usually been literally the very next day). Samples are generous - 1.15 mls at least - in vials with wand caps. Each order comes with one free sample, chosen by them (there’s no box to insert requests).

Nui Cobalt's typical annual schedule of releases: (I [and especially Nui Cobalt] make no promises, of course, that these collections will recur; this is just in my experience)

• Late January - Valentines (Philias, Crushes, and Les Désirs Dangereux)
• Late February - Bees, Favorite Things (formerly also Celtic Treasures)
• Late March - April Fools
• Late April - Critters
• Late May - Fae Folk
• Late June - Big Island, Dances, Vision
• Late July - Witches' Utility Blends
• Late August - Autumn 1
• Late September - Autumn 2
• Late October - Whole Being, Astrology (formerly also Ascended Masters, Good & Evil)
• Late November - Yule/Nutcracker
• Late December - Gamers & Geeks

These perfumes were provided by Nui Cobalt in exchange for an honest review.

You Can Sit With Us [Blush cotton, sweet pea, pistachio creme, ripe apricot, yuzu, and Australian sandalwood] - Nobody does clean-cozy the way Nui Cobalt does! And holy wow, this is one of their best. It's pearlescent, sweet and dainty, and super creamy, with cottonflower and pretty pink floral, a gentle touch of the same yuzu as in Kitsune [Peach blossom, yuzu, wisteria, sandalwood incense, and silk], and a fairly present but not overwhelming light green pistachio note (glory be, my skin isn't amping it to high heaven this time, like it did in Akhal-Teke [Fine ecru suede, raw silk, pearl musk, white amber, precious Hawaiian sandalwood, and creamy pistachio]). It's a close cousin to the lovely Grace [Sun-warmed pink magnolia, wild rose, pearl musk, vanilla orchid, and organic tonka bean butter], though without any rose. This is about the closest Nui Cobalt has ever come to the pastel-ness of classic Poesie, but with NCD's phenomenal cotton rather than vanilla musk as the base. I blind-bought this FS and I regret nothing. It is seriously one of the prettiest things I've ever smelled from Nui Cobalt. If you like the vibe of Lilac Rabbit [Nutmeg and tonka bean nuzzle up against toasted marshmallow, carrot seed, summerweight cotton, allspice, and pale lilac in a smooth fur accord] with its gauzy cotton-floral, this will be a must-try.

Lab Partner [Unripe mandarin, chilly grey cashmere, green peppercorn, flushed skin, and toasted oats] - With its tweedy fabric note and totally unsweetened quality, it's similar to Blanket Fort [Cotton flower, grey suede, warm amber, green fig, tumbled teakwood, and raw vanilla bean], Favorite Sweater [White oak and blonde teakwood, copal resin, crushed coriander, lamb's wool accord, a touch of creamy chai, and a spritz of green mandarin], and Chess Club [A lovely fougère accented with pale amber, cedar resin, slate, vintage grey tweed, styrax and suede], but I like it better than any of those because it's less leathery and dry, with a brighter burst of citrus accenting the snuggly cashmere. It's thoroughly non-gourmand, even with the oat note, which adds a warm, hay-like dustiness. It feels...inoccuous. It feels easy and inoffensive, and like an ideal perfume to wear to work.

Campfire Hoodie [Heavyweight cotton infused with body heat, toasted marshmallow, and woodsmoke] - This scent is very THICK, like a smoke-laden wool blanket. It's a heavy, comforting weight. I smell a lot of marshmallow fluff in the vial, but less on my skin, where it's more an accent. "Campfire hoodie" is a perfect name for this, a plush sweatshirt infused with several nights of campfire smoke and the memory of smores-making. You must like strong smoke to like this scent. (I do not.)

Canoodling in the Woods [Verdant amber and oakmoss entwine among sunlit leaves of wild mint, hinoki wood, crushed cardamom, and fertile soil] - Very green & moss, with undertones of dirt and reddish amber. Husband, who immediately wanted to try this himself, says: "I get cinnamon and trees. It's a little apple-pie-ish on me," and indeed, on him it is - it's sweeter and slightly fruitier on his skin than mine. Are any of us surprised, given his preferences for tree and woody and oakmoss notes, that he promptly adopted this one for his own?

Feral Cat [Wild mulberry, nutmeg, auburn suede, a swirl of spiced honey, darkest patchouli, and woodland musk] - Sexy red musk with honeyed reddish fig-like mulberries (this honey note is beautiful) and a touch of spicy-earthy black patchouli. It kind of reminds me of Sultry [Two dark, lascivious vanillas swirled with dragon's blood, heavy velvet musk and the secrets of an old rootworker's conjure cabinet] - not a dupe by any means, but with a similar sweetness paired with the spiced, more earthy notes. This perfume turns out not to be for me - the red musk and patchouli are a bit too present for my taste - but if you love those or mulberry notes, or have ever hoped for another dark Bee, this one is well worth trying.

Tuxedo Cat [Soft Italian leather, polished ebony, white cashmere, pink peppercorn, elemi, and persimmon] - It's cashmere, peppercorn, and ebony - what a stunningly lovely combination! - and a fairly prominent but not in-your-face leather. In the vial, it smells somewhat similar to Ophidiophilia (Love of Snakes) [Pink sandalwood, Saharan musk, copaiba balsam, shea butter, dried fig, pale patchouli, and soft tawny suede], but on my skin, to my surprise, it reminds me very strongly of Ghost Cat [Cashmere, white amber, and ethereal ivory musk with blushing peony and pink peppercorn toe beans], with that same sort of super-clean (but not soapy) and very elegant character, though here in Tuxedo Cat, it's leather instead of pink peony. My second favorite of my new Autumn 1s, after You Can Sit With Us.

Playing Hooky [Bright cardamom, nutmeg, and ginger crown a languid infusion of sweet pipe tobacco, black fig, Hawaiian sandalwood, and a whisper of wild violet] - Sniffing it in the vial, I got all excited: the strongest cardamom I've ever smelled from Nui Cobalt! Theirs usually barely registers for me, if at all, so I got Playing Hooky purely due to my interest in the rest of the notes; I didn't expect to actually get much cardamom. But alas, I don't know why my skin eats up NCD's cardamom note, but it does - when I put some on my wrists, suddenly the cardamom barely registered. On me, this scent is a primarily an earthy brown tobacco, joined by a lovely sandalwood base and a slight accent of floral for a scent that is both playful and put-together...but no cardamom. I'M CRYING. Really, this is a fantastically well-put-together scent and if you like Nui Cobalt's tobacco, you should give this one a go. And if your skin doesn't eat up Nui Cobalt's cardamom, wear this with joy and let me live vicariously through you!

Vineyard in September [Olive leaf, oak barrels, green tea, sandalwood, dried apple, and lush vines laden with white grapes at the peak of ripeness] - Ooh, I love the way the white grape sweetens the grassy green tea, with the olive leaf and sandalwood adding a beautiful musty character. Up close, I get quite a lot of briny olive leaf and vegetal vine, but from a distance the green tea is most prominent. If you like the olive leaf in The Mentor [Ancient sandalwood, well-worn linen, olive leaf, oakmoss, Earl Grey tea, and sacred temple incense], definitely give this one a try! This scent feels very "early-fall harvest" with its herbal, fruity, and slightly dusty character. I'm not sure I get any oak or apple specifically, but they no doubt contribute to its gloriously autumnal vibe - but in a way that's not remotely pumpkins or chai or spooky incense; this is an entirely different approach to autumn and one that I really enjoyed. Pity it's being discontinued (I just checked and there are apparently still a goodly number of both FSes and samples left, though, because neither size has a "only X number left" countdown listed yet). I'm seriously pondering FSing it before it's gone from the Archive section. It does, admittedly, have quite low longevity, about three hours on me (which is another argument in favor of upsizing, so I could more generously reapply...hmm...)

Personally...

I will sing the praises of You Can Sit With Us far and wide!! What a triumph, it's so pretty! Tuxedo Cat and Vineyard in September are my other favorites from this set, one as an all-purpose (all year 'round) clean and elegant scent, the other as a nontraditional (no pumpkins or spice here!) and really lovely early-fall perfume that's delightfully a little outside my usual comfort zone.

Playing Hooky has too much tobacco for me, Feral Cat has too much red musk, and Campfire Hoodie too much smoke for my preference, so if you love those notes, they'd be good ones to investigate.

I’m looking for perfume recommendations that have both an alluring and sultry feel. Particularly ones with earthy, smokey, leather, spice, and/or fruity notes :3

I have more Halloween scents then I can wear in October and I love being able to wear a different Halloween scent every day of the month. I would love to do the same for December but I only have a few Winter/Christmas themed scents. I am not a gourmand fan, I prefer weird atmospheric scents, woods and incense. Please help me out with some recommendations :) Some of my favorite houses are Alkemia, Solstice, Amorphous, NAVA, and Poesie.

Inside each of us there are two wolves etc etc, I think in my case there's the wolf that wants to smell pretty and the other that wants to roll around in something weird. The compromise is of course buying everything because neither knows how to budget. When I heard about this house (here, where else?) I knew I had to try everything. It wasn't the smartest financial decision. The pricing is definitely more niche than indie ($9 for 2ml, $44 for 10ml). But if I do a review then it counts as community service, right? Right?

When I do reviews I generally order by alphabet, because frequently I'm just looking for a scent when I read them and wanna jump to the chapter so to speak. However this house is… definitely unique, so I've decided to go with their “temporal” order of the year assigned to each scent.

TAT was one day, ordered it right before I started my international flights home and it was in my mailbox the day after I landed. The package was well packed with no leaking. All of their packaging including the mailer are environmentally friendly.

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cero- hot fax machine, mouse pad, mac carcass, tattered wire (1999)

Impressions- hot copper/metal, freshly printed paper, fizz, rubbery plastic

Review- Ah okay when wet this smells like when you heat up a soldering iron without enough solder and burn a copper jumper wire with it. Like hot coppery metal, but not smoky. When it starts to dry down that part recedes and it starts really smelling like the kind of industrial office printers where the paper comes out really warm and the ink is fresh. There's also this buzzy/fizzy note that smells like what it feels like when you get a very small current through your finger… not like real electricity where you smell ozone but the abstract interpretation of how it feels. A rubbery plastic note (mouse pad?) comes out on the later dry down finally. It's actually amazing this scent manages to thread between my death notes of smoke and ozone.

Feels- Love this. I'm thrilled to have another realistic industrial scent in my collection.

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bit bit- chard, soil, mugwort, wormwood, valerian, bitter greens (2021)

Impressions- anise, medicinal herbs, spinach, misc greens, soil

Review- Yeesh this one took some nerves at first to not immediately scrub. It was like the strongest medicinal plant smell laced heavily with anise. Bitter is apt. Yep I'm finding the anise nearly unbearable. However I have decided to persist because my imaginary friends on the Internet would be disappointed otherwise. After some time, the anise calms down a little (self protective nose blindness, maybe?) and it's definitely spinach-y with some rich soil. After much more time, the anise is definitely gone and so is much of the bitter greens quality. It is a lovely leafy green and damp healthy soil scent.

Feels- This is for someone for sure. I don't know who you are but you know who you are. The sample is pricey but go ahead and treat yourself.

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brood- trampled grass, cicada carcass, tree bark, tree sap (2024)

Impressions- green grass, wood, vetiver??, oakmoss??, palo santo??, cinnamon

Review- Note: I have not huffed a cicada carcass to know what it smells like to assess accuracy. If someone has a good description for how it smells, let me know. I have attempted the best I can to determine scent notes instead of reviewing on cicada-ness since maybe you’re like me and have also not smelled cicada carcass. This starts off as a very green grass but this fades to the background pretty quickly. It’s a dry, scratchy woody kind of smell that reminds me a lot of BPAL’s The Worm Shall Revive Thee with Kisses (minus the pomegranate) so I feel like it may be vetiver and oakmoss as well in this. There’s also that almost mentholy airy note I think is palo santo, which is pretty mild and hangs out in the background. The cinnamon which is not noticeable at all, probably at subatomic levels, is the last thing I smell when this scent is nearly gone because my skin amps the heck out of it. I don’t honestly think anyone else would catch it otherwise. The whole scent is buzzy and dry, woody and some sort of combination of both grounded and airy. It feels like the lifecycle of a cicada, first destroying some grass and then a husk on a tree.

Feels- Eh, nothing wrong with it but not as special or unique as any of the rest of the collection. I feel like BPAL regularly makes similar scents to this one.

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matsu musk- mushroom gills, skin (2077)

Impressions- cool bluish floral, skin musk, earth

Review- Not what I expected from the note list or creepy Last of Us-esque description! This is really pretty! Ngl if a symbiotic relationship with fungi smelled like this I would be down. (The current bacterial one is quite the opposite.) I suppose if I force my brain to consider “mushroom” in this I sorta get it, but without the prompting I don't. I'm getting a well blended cool floral with some skin musk and an earthy base. It's very fresh feeling and gauzy. It feels Adult. Someone who wears this organizes their closet and decorates their house.

Feels- If my brain hadn't decided florals were a migraine trigger, I'd really like it!

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damp- dampness, wet soil, earth (3030)

Impressions- exactly as the note list

Review- Ooh, petrichor/dirt people rejoice! I don’t even know what I can add here, it’s exactly as described. It smells like damp earth, the kind you get after a rain. Really healthy dark soil, rich, the kind you can sink your hands into. The kind of freshly dampened soil when you could find some worms near the surface. Lovely, perfect, the best petrichor + earth I swear I’ve ever smelled. Would be excellent for layering.

Feels- I love it. Straight into my collection with cero.

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Overall, I cannot rate this house higher for atmospheric lovers. If I have to be critical, I would say the longevity/strength aren’t as high as a lot of the other EDP houses (though I’ve experienced worse for sure) and of course the 10ml price is not exactly affordable for me right now. But the 2ml vials look like they are actually 2.5- 3ml capacity and they are probably overfilled a little, so I have plenty. This was the most fun I’ve had in a house review for a while, I really loved the whole concept and journey. I really hope they come out with more scents in the future!

I recently got a decant of Match Made in Heaven and it smells identical to A Party or Something by Sorce. Should I reach out to the decanter and see if there could have been a mix up, or is it possible that these two scents are just similar on my skin? Thanks!