togescents

[togescents]

originally i wanted to review poesie’s cardamom crush collection all together, but there’s one that is a standout smash hit and i want to talk about it briefly before i go to work

Cardamom Crush: cardamom, a golden and custardy vanilla paired with a resinous amber vanilla, precious hinoki wood, a splash of whiskey, velvet musk 

i’ve seen reviews of this one where people say they smell the custard and the cardamom and amber distinctly, but can i pick out those notes individually? no, no i cannot. to my nose it’s so well-blended it’s all one delicious, spicy, cozy scent and i am going batty for it

there is ONE note i smell very well, though. can you guess what it is? knowing what notes i tend to amp? yeah, it’s the hinoki.

i’ve tried poesie’s hinoki before, and every time it has overwhelmed the fragrance. i don’t get the subtle gentle notes of, what do people say hinoki smells like again? kind of citrusy? yeah, i never got that. it does smell like how a museum display of historical 100+ year old furniture smells to me though, which is neat! just not what i want to smell like.

but here? here it’s much softer, and it just works, somehow. i still get that historical furniture vibe, but it blends in SO well with probably the amber it just adds interest to the perfume instead of ruining it. the image poesie chose for this one of a velvet 70s armchair is totally the vibe of this perfume, in the best way possible.

i have a feeling this one will be GC lol

[togescents]

yes my poesie order arrived only a couple days ago, yes i cannot help myself and tested two already

Poesie’s White Rabbit: fluffy white fur musk, kumquat marmalade, lacy carrot flower, a wisp of hay and sweet fennel 

i sniffed this from the vial when it arrived (cold! it was near freezing when it got here!) and knew immediately i would adore it. we all know how much i love citrus perfumes, and that kumquat marmalade is to DIE for.

i tested it yesterday, and the marmalade faded faster than i would like tho i think it would get stronger as it rests (citrus tends to actually stick around on my skin, even though it’s known to be a fleeting top note). but it still added a lovely citrus fruity-ness to it. there’s a bit of earthy sweetness from the hay and fennel, and i don’t know what carrot flower smells like but i presume it’s helping either the marmalade or earthy notes. finally i got some of that fuzzy fur musk. fur musk and i have a contentious relationship, but since it takes a back seat to the rest of these notes, i quite enjoy it here.

i really hope this one comes back because i want to get a larger size. there’s still samples available through poesie’s lucky day sale, if you’re even somewhat curious i highly recommend picking it up!

Poesie’s Rich Ghost: Iso E Super, ruby red grapefruit, rich sandalwood, golden threads of saffron, a hint of jasmine perfume, grey musk, warm amber, marshmallow 

yup, today i tested the other citrus perfume i got lol. this is the one from last year’s ghost collection i really wanted to try, but since they were only selling sample sets or full sizes i didn’t pick it up. i guess they poured too many samples since it’s in the luck day sale, too.

this one definitely needs more rest. i figured it would since half of the notes are base notes, but i wanted to give it a go anyway because the combination of grapefruit and sandalwood in the vial was making me feel some kind of way.

i think this sandalwood is similar to the one sorcellerie has used in their sandalwood perfumes i’ve enjoyed, because it feels very familiar. the grapefruit also reminds me of NAVA’s grapefruit, which is a huge compliment since their grapefruit is what made me realize i go nuts for the note.

overall this blends together very smoothly, even though it needs more rest. the overall scent is a little on the muddled side. i’m not getting any jasmine (thank god) but i’m also not getting much else than light citrus and sandalwood + grey musk + other base notes. oh, and iso e super. that is also what’s reminding me of sorcellerie perfumes. i’ll set it aside and test it again in a month or so.

two other perfumes still for sale for their lucky day event that i own are Eat Me (peach lavender cake with a marshmallow frosting dotted with currants) and  Mayari (green bamboo, white tea, sea salt, ginger root essential oil, Cetalox).

Eat Me is delicious, reminding me of arcana’s popular Fille de Joie (Delicate lavender marshmallows and yellow peaches cured in a vanilla absolute bottle.) but more foody. the peaches are syrupy in eat me while they’re fresh in fille de joie, and the lavender is more smooth than fille’s very herbal lavender. i don’t normally like having perfumes that are so similar but these are different enough and i like them both that i’m not gonna get rid of either.

Mayari is quite possibly the best summer beach perfume, because it works great in humidity. the bamboo and white tea give off the vibe of green tea while the sea salt and cetalox give it that salty beachy edge to it. i literally don’t know how to sell it except to say it’s both something i’ve never experienced before while also being a “safe” perfume choice.

highly recommend checking both out if you haven’t already!

[togescents]

i said i would purchase but decided not to, because i wore between the sheets again and decided that while i adore it, it’s not something i would wear all that often.

also, they posted this to IMAM:

“Sorcellerie will have a Black Friday sale! 20% off of your entire order from Nov. 25 (midnight ET) through Nov. 28. We’ll also release our Winter Enchantments collection and we will have alcohol-based 15 ml sprays (still Extrait strength) of 5 of our best sellers: Fuckery, Something Wicked, Moon Magic, Aliens Go Ice Skating, and What Big Eyes You Have.

Also, PSA: the online store will be temporarily closed from Nov. 9 to Nov. 22.“

20% off flat is a great sale for an indie! i will absolutely pick up something wicked then (though not the alcohol spray, since it’s very strong as an oil and i don’t want it to be TOO strong). i’d forgotten how much i loved i think about you, too because it got colder lol, but it’s warm today so i’m gonna wear it again and decide if i’ll pick that up too. i might as well, since the 3.7ml is one of their cheaper scents at $11. i’ve also worn moon magic more than once since testing, despite me still wanting more lavender from it, because it genuinely is the best chai scent i’ve tried. too many of them are too dry and spicy. i love how smooth and soft it is.

i’m still planning on picking up party under the oak trees (it’s also one of the cheaper $11 3.7mls), so four is a pretty good sized order! i’m curious about their winter collection, too. if enough of them appeal to me and they’re still doing sample sets per collection i’ll buy that. if not, i’ll just buy individual samples.

so, sorcellerie is having a restock tomorrow, and it’s the last restock of the hauntings collection for the year. they also mentioned in ig (and i think tiktok too) that they’re having a black friday sale. so i think i’ll just pick up between the sheets and something wicked tomorrow, and maaaaybe a sample of clairsentient because it’s the last GC perfume i’m really keen on, and wait to see what the sale is like in order to buy the other GCs i want to FS. which i think atm just includes party under the oak tree, but i’ll retest everything else to check.

[togescents]

funny thing is, i somehow have never tried poesie’s Sleep Ghost (marshmallow pillows sprinkled with natural lavender essential oil and absolute for sweet dreams)

it is a pillowy marshmallow, but the lavender is too faint for me. i love a good, strong, herbal lavender, but here i barely smell it. actually, the marshmallow is pretty faint, too. and somehow it smells a bit like... liquidy? almost like there’s a drop of tea in here somewhere.

all in all, it’s nice! but simple. if the lavender was more herbal and more forward i’d love it. i wanna try layering it with sorcellerie’s Moon Magic soon...

[togescents]

so, sorcellerie is having a restock tomorrow, and it’s the last restock of the hauntings collection for the year. they also mentioned in ig (and i think tiktok too) that they’re having a black friday sale. so i think i’ll just pick up between the sheets and something wicked tomorrow, and maaaaybe a sample of clairsentient because it’s the last GC perfume i’m really keen on, and wait to see what the sale is like in order to buy the other GCs i want to FS. which i think atm just includes party under the oak tree, but i’ll retest everything else to check.

[togescents]

i noticed sorcellerie is having a restock tomorrow, which is going to include the 3.7mls of both Between the Sheets and Something Wicked so i gave it a full test on my other arm

yeah. yeah. i’m buying this.

the sandalwood has mellowed out into the smooth kind, and the clean patch is backing it up with a bit of the spicy bite i associate with clean patch. (which, as an aside, is why i’m not sure why it’s called clean? the earthy patch comes off as smooth to me... maybe i’m just weird. but i also think the earthy patch wouldn’t work here) and then the whiskey is very subtle, but really does add the edginess this scent needs. i can’t detect vanilla in an “oh that is definitely vanilla” way but i can tell it’s what’s blending everything together in harmony

this scent actually reminds me a lot of something, but i can’t place it. i think it’s the sandalwood and whiskey, honestly. something about it is familiar... i don’t think of another perfume, but probably a place. maybe i’ve been somewhere that was scented with sandalwood and someone was drinking whiskey? unsure, but i like it

i did open and sniff Something Wicked (vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, and whiskey) before choosing Moon Magic to test for the day, because it’s mostly base notes so i want to give it more time to chill. and i got some of it on my finger when doing so, so i can give a small impression!

i’m not getting the chewy earthy patch i love, which makes sense since this is called “a patchouli for patchouli haters” so it’s a “clean” patch. the sandalwood is more of the sharp than smooth kind, assisted by the whiskey. i’m not detecting vanilla but i imagine it’s helping to keep everything from being TOO harsh.

all in all, i think i’m gonna love this one. unsure if it’s something i would wear often, but if i like it this much when i do a full test, i’m gonna full size. it’s got a nice rebellious edge to it without being stanky or smelling like i went to a bar and spilled my drink on myself.

i am genuinely such a huge fan of sorcellerie now it’s astonishing. i’m usually wary of trying new houses because i don’t want to get sucked into spending too much $$ on stuff i end up not liking like i have in the past, but they’re working out great for me. plus the collect is pretty small, so it’s easy to keep up with. AND their stuff lasts all day on me. it’s crazy, i’ve only had this happen with arcana and nava and some poesies.

[togescents]

today it’s Between the Sheets: Figs, cream, beeswax absolute, cashmere, wool, skin musk 

a complete 180 from yesterday’s scent!

i was unsure when i first put it on because it was a bit muddled, but after the drydown it’s lovely. the fig is very soft, adding just a bit of fruitiness to it. it doesn’t come off as obviously fig to me, but does smell like it if i’m sniffing trying to find it. the cream is nice and mixes with the beeswax to make it tangy a less like straight cream. i’m not sure how to describe it, but i’m a fan!

i thiiink the cashmere and wool is also mixing with the cream and beeswax in the background, adding a fuzziness to it. the listing calls it an “animalistic musk” and it does feel fairly animalistic to me, but i’d more call it a gourmand-y animalistic musk than straight animalistic musk. the listing also mentions this scent has rose ketones in it, and i dunno if that’s the power of suggestion, but it do smell something somewhat floral in it too, which i actually like a lot. i’m not the biggest fan of floral-forward scents, but i like floral supporting notes.

also: something about it smells a little cold to me. i dunno how! but it does help make this a fall scent because the note list itself comes off more as a spring scent, or seasonal transitional scent.

i’ll have to see how it wears during the day, but right now i’m a huge fan! the 3.7ml is currently out of stock and i doubt i’ll wear it enough to justify a larger size, so if i still love it at the end of the day, i’ll hold off on buying a FS until the 3.7ml is back in stock.

[togescents]

today i’m testing A Light in the Attic: Dry vanilla, smoke, fallen leaves, suede, juniper leaf, almond, resins, maple syrup. 

...eugh

i can see what it’s going for and i think this perfume achieves that. it’s mainly dry, reminding me of burning fallen leaves in a campfire almost, with a resin base and the slightest bit of sweetness from the maple syrup. but i wanted more vanilla from it and dry leaf notes and i don’t really get along, and it’s mostly that. thankfully i’m not getting any almond.

yeah, basically, i think this perfume is what it says on the tin but it’s not my cup of tea.

[togescents]

i did open and sniff Something Wicked (vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, and whiskey) before choosing Moon Magic to test for the day, because it’s mostly base notes so i want to give it more time to chill. and i got some of it on my finger when doing so, so i can give a small impression!

i’m not getting the chewy earthy patch i love, which makes sense since this is called “a patchouli for patchouli haters” so it’s a “clean” patch. the sandalwood is more of the sharp than smooth kind, assisted by the whiskey. i’m not detecting vanilla but i imagine it’s helping to keep everything from being TOO harsh.

all in all, i think i’m gonna love this one. unsure if it’s something i would wear often, but if i like it this much when i do a full test, i’m gonna full size. it’s got a nice rebellious edge to it without being stanky or smelling like i went to a bar and spilled my drink on myself.

i am genuinely such a huge fan of sorcellerie now it’s astonishing. i’m usually wary of trying new houses because i don’t want to get sucked into spending too much $$ on stuff i end up not liking like i have in the past, but they’re working out great for me. plus the collect is pretty small, so it’s easy to keep up with. AND their stuff lasts all day on me. it’s crazy, i’ve only had this happen with arcana and nava and some poesies.

[togescents]

Moon Magic : Lavender sugar, vanilla steamed milk, chai spices, tonka bean, Cashmeran, Ambroxan, crystals charged by the moonlight (our crystal accord)

i’ve been keen to try this one since sorcellerie launched it, but half the witch collection doesn’t interest me so i’m glad they offer individual samples now.

i’ve seen raves for this one, and i understand why! it’s soft lavender vanilla steamed milk with chai spices. yup. it’s exactly what it says on the tin. the lavender is softer than the milk and spices but it may come out more as it gets a longer rest. genuinely very cozy and suitable for colder weather. not sure what their crystal accord smells like but maybe it’ll come out as it wears and the milk and spices fade.

however, the chai spices are in the balance i’m not wild about, with more cinnamon than cardamom. it’s not bad! and it smells like chai without a tea note. i just am so tired of cinnamon.

i’ve never been a sleep scent person but i may wear this one in the evenings, and if i make a good dent in my sample then i’ll upgrade.

[togescents]

sorcellerie came in yesterday and because i’m good at waiting, tested 2AM in Lafayette (Vanilla co2, oakmoss, cafe au lait, ribbons of caramel, beignets dusted with powdered sugar) today.

in the vial and fresh on the skin it’s perfect. vanilla and powdered sugar and the same slightly-burnt coffee from Cake for Breakfast. then the oakmoss comes out, and... i think i need to admit i just don’t care for oakmoss. i would love maybe the green humidity note from Party Under the Oak Tree instead.

and, well. the coffee lasts longer on my skin than most coffee scents, but it still disappeared. it’s vanilla and oakmoss, with a bit of powdered sugar, from here on out. it’s still pretty strong on my skin too, even though i put it on eight hours ago. do recommend for people who like oakmoss and has skin that doesn’t devour coffee notes!

[togescents]

trying out poesie’s Introvert Goblin: chai tea with extra cardamom, a cozy stack of old books, marshmallow, sweet pumpkin flesh enrobed in warm pumpkin spice

it smells lovely in the bottle. i’m not getting a ton of poesie’s tea note but i smell the spices - mostly cardamom, which is great - and soft, sweet pumpkin. but on my skin it kind of smells like bubblegum? like i still get the rest but something is reminding me of bubblegum. i’m very confused and kind of disappointed. it smelled a lot more like bubblegum when i first tried it last week and now i’m getting more of what i think is the book smell, but... still bubblegum. what.

i think this is a skin chemistry issue because i remember having this issue with perfumes in the past, but i can’t remember which ones. maybe they were also chai perfumes? which is odd because all those notes individually work well for me. maybe it’s poesie’s pumpkin note...?? i don’t think i’ve tried any of their pumpkin perfumes before.

i thought this perfume was a sure winner, so now i’m sad.

[togescents]

poesie sent me a free sample of a perfume called Goblin King with a note “something a-maze-ing is coming” so, you know, a labyrinth collection. as a result i have no notes for this thing so i’m kind of flying blind here.

in the vial it smelled SO FAMILIAR when i sniffed it straight out of the mail. i eventually put together that it reminds me of lush’s lord of misrule. then i saw someone say they smelled tea so i went back to it, and, yup, there’s poesie’s black tea note alright! i was sitting there like huh i expected leather, not tea, patch, vanilla and pepper, so what’s in this thing?

tested it today, and yeah there’s leather in it. at least there’s something i THINK is leather. i normally avoid leather notes like the plague bc i don’t like the way it smells, but this is fine! it’s smooth and dark and pleasant, and is taking a back seat to the tea note, and i’m still convinced there’s patchouli in here. i smelled a bright vibrant green note in the vial but on my skin it’s all smooth darkness, and i’m no longer getting anything peppery. it’s still sweet, too, so i’m really loving it so far.

genuinely curious as to what notes are in it! if there’s black musk i’m gonna be shocked since i hate almost every single musk i’ve encountered (red musk is a personal nemesis of mine), but i feel like there’s something else in here. maybe labdanum? i’m not 100% sure what labdanum smells like but i’ve liked perfumes with it in the past, and google says it’s like black amber or animalistic or like leather (!), so it might be that. otherwise i’d guess black amber. my gut says labdanum though.

basically, this one has surprised me. in a good way! depending on how it wears and how it changes when it rests more, i’ll probably upsize to at least a 2ml because unfortunately it’s in one of those sample vials that always gets oil everywhere when you try to close it, no matter how careful you are.

[togescents]

poesie order came in tomorrow, aaaand i’m not good at letting poesies rest, i guess!

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

i’ve been wanting to try this one since i came out, but by the time i decided to jump on it, it was sold out! and it kept selling out. i’m glad it was added to the GC so i finally got to try it.

see, i’ve been trying to find a genuine matcha perfumes since i’ve started collecting indie perfumes. every single perfume that claimed to have “matcha” in it was actually just a green tea. you know how green tea notes are bright and fresh, in the same way fresh water notes are, but clearly green tea? see, i love that smell! but matcha is earthy and i love how it smells, so i want THAT. i’ve seen people say green girl is genuine matcha, so... is it?

ah....... maybe?

perhaps this will change if i let it rest, but right now i get very little of what might be matcha. i actually mostly smell what might be the oatmilk, since it’s a note that’s very similar to Mysterious Fossils (smoked black tea with creamy vanilla oatmilk, cashmere sweater, tortoiseshell glasses with clear, shiny lenses, and a warm cedar chest that contains fossils encased in amber, sandstone, and limestone) which did not work for me. i think i’m getting the marshmallow musk too, since there’s some background note that feels similar to the ghost and goblin perfumes i got in this order too (both have a marshmallow base).

i honestly did not expect to get any pistachio, because for some reason i’ve never smelled it in any perfume that’s had it as a note. actually, thinking about it, do i even know what pistachio smells like? i know what it tastes like, because of course i do, they’re delicious, but smell...??? maybe i can’t smell it well for whatever reason? all i’m recalling is vaguely salty nutty smells, which can be anything.

heliotrope apparently are a flower that smells a bit like vanilla, or cherry pie, or even cinnamon, according to google. perfumers add it to add a bit of vanilla creaminess. since i’m not familiar with it i’m not sure, but i could also be getting that. there’s something else in here that smells a bit fresh and sharp, like i perceive most florals, but it’s very soft so i don’t mind it. or maybe that’s the wildflower honey? most lighter honey notes smell too sharp and astringent to me so at least i’m not getting that. i was honestly most worried about the honey.

man, this review is all over the place, and all i’ve said is i can’t really differentiate notes. let’s wrap it up with a tldr first impressions of a perfume that should probably be retested in a week!

it smells mature and classy, but still approachable. this perfume is the pretty quiet girl who always has a book on her, but is very friendly and also one of the coolest people you’ve ever met once you strike up a conversation. it IS green, but not in the way i normally mean when i say green - it doesn’t smell like fresh plants or patch or anything that stands out. everything blends together into something green, creamy, and soothing. so far i like it, but i’m not IN LOVE with it, so i’m glad i didn’t go nuts and blind buy a 5ml and get a 2ml instead.

...i DID blind buy a 5ml of Introvert Goblin (chai tea with extra cardamom, a cozy stack of old books, marshmallow, sweet pumpkin flesh enrobed in warm pumpkin spice) though. poesie is not offering individual 2mls of the ghosts and goblins, only 2ml sets, and i wasn’t interested enough in the others to get sample sets. and i knew ajevie wouldn’t have decants ready before the ghosts and goblins collection went down. i tested it briefly yesterday because i quite liked it in the bottle, and i think it’ll be a winner! i have an issue with chai scents that they’re too cinnamon-y for me, but this one with the cardamon is MMMM. the marshmallow and pumpkin just add a plush sweetness to it. i’ll have to give it a better test later, once i can!

as an aside, my introvert goblin rollerball is one of the others that does not want to roll at all. i struggled to get it to deposit any perfume on my skin. sometimes i get poesie rollerballs like this and it drives me NUTS. poesie is notoriously a softer perfume house, so sometimes i really want to slather their stuff, and this is one of hem. but i can’t if the rollerball refuses to work! maybe i should look into replacing them myself...

[togescents]

trying one of my last two untested sorcellerie samples

I Think About You, Too: wild orange, petitgrain, orange blossom, caramelized sugar, Ambroxan

this starts off with a BITTER orange note that i am really into! it’s ridiculous how much i love citrus perfumes and i think orange may be my favorite. now that it’s dried down it’s still pretty bitter, but is a lot sweeter. i definitely smell the sugar. orange blossom though? it doesn’t feel super floral to me, but it’s probably there.

that sounds very simple, and you know, it kind of is? but it feels like a mature take on an orange perfume. it kind of smells deeper than you’d expect from just “bitter orange and a bit of dark sugar”

all in all, really love this. definitely a warm weather perfume, so i’m sure i’ll be busting this out in spring, if i don’t full size before then. that is... unless it goes sugary-sweet orange in the next hour or two. i prefer the bitter orange.

[togescents]

tried out Arcana Craves Pumpkins Crave Cappuccino (Super roasted coffee bean EO, vanilla milk, pumpkin, and rum with shots of blackberry and black raspberry syrup) this afternoon!

this was very limited during their buy 3 get 1 deal, and i was early enough to snag one. when i first got it i was very nervous about the blackberry and raspberry syrup because it was VERY fruity and sweet and i could not see how it would mesh well with coffee and pumpkin.

turns out: i barely smell the pumpkin. unsurprisingly i also barely smell the coffee because of my dumb skin. so on me it’s a very creamy vanilla coffee with maybe a hint of pumpkin pie spice and some bright fruity berries. i don’t detect any rum. it’s very nice! however the bottle is VERY full and i doubt i’ll ever use this all up, so maybe i’ll decant some of it... i dunno, i always say that and then don’t do it.

[togescents]

revisiting this one today, now that it’s had more like two months to rest!

it still has that strong, almost burnt cardamom smell i remember from when i got it, but it’s softened. i actually smell a bit of the coffee! just a hint, but again, my skin eats coffee for, uh. for breakfast. ahem.

it’s still nondescriptly fruity, though i probably would identify it as more tropical fruit if i didn’t know the notes. still getting very little cake, to the point where i have to search for it, and i have a feeling that’ll come out even more as this sample ages. if i use up half my sample that’s when i’ll buy a full size, if it needs this much rest/ageing.

i pulled this one out today because i was sad that i missed out on The Ghost Wants Birthday Cake (warm peach cake spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom; vanilla bean ice cream, Indian sandalwood Mysore, Australian sandalwood.) which was sold in very limited quantities and i’d skipped buying the halloween sample pack when it first came out, partly because the one in there with the pecan note made me wary. pecans give me a rash so i really don’t want to put it directly on my skin, you know? anyway The Ghost... sounds like it’d be more my thing since it lacks the coffee i have issues with, and the tropical fruits. i like peach a LOT, as well as ginger and cardamom, though i’m really over cinnamon in perfumes i’m hoping ginger and cardamom are strong enough to hold up to it. i’m also turning into a sandalwood person, especially mysore sandalwood which has been very smooth and almost creamy in my experience. not sure Cake for Breakfast has completely scratched this itch, but i’m glad it’s nicer now.

sorcellerie is now offering individual samples instead of sample packs only, so i picked up five recently! i got the last three in the hauntings collection that i didn’t mention here, as well as moon magic and something wicked. i’m glad i can pick up something wicked on its own and don’t have to risk buying a FS unsniffed. their TAT is currently 8-10 business days so it should ship in two weeks. :)

@vyke since you asked for it

Cake for Breakfast: Birthday cake, ripe mango, pineapple, coffee, maple syrup, and a hint of cardamom 

yeah… this one needs more rest. or even aging. the cardamon is not overwhelmingly strong, but a lot stronger than i thought it would be. coffee tends to disappear on me but i THINK i smell a bit of it behind the cardamon, along with the maple syrup? i think it’s all combining together into some kind of sweetened coffee sitting next to someone grinding up cardamon

i get something sweet that smells a bit fruity, but wouldn’t be able to guess what it was if i didn’t know the notes. and i’m not really getting cake. i’m getting a little bit and it smells like it’s going to be a nice, spongey yellow cake, but it really needs more rest. it’s still really good like this! but i want more cake.