let's find out how smart I am

there are a lot of them. i've been slightly unhinged.

( fig and tuberose and lily and also other things )

i am absolutely blazing through my sample backlog! now including my ratings for the scent (though many of them lose overall points for poor sillage/longevity).

By Kilian, After Sunset: Fresh not-quite-sweet green, juicy in a clean way. Becomes a bit marine after a while (this is a good thing). 3.5/5 (I also tried Rolling in Love, which is apparently the tiktok favorite from this maker, but it was way too gourmand for me and the promised tuberose was simply not there, 2/5, why are all the tiktok girlies obsesssed with smelling like dessert)

Histoires de Parfums, Tubereuse 1 La Capriceuse: A heavy blast of suede with a marzipan note underneath. A lot of the reviews mention a balloon smell and that comes through pretty soon; absolutely zero tuberose. I forgot to check on how this developed so I need to retry it. 2.5/5 for the initial scent but could be fun to layer.

Acqua di Parma, Blu Mediterraneo - Fico di Amalfi: This had a nice greenness and a hint of fruitiness, but in a gently creamy way that I haven't encountered before. I have now purchased a five scent fig sampler to compare it with. 4/5

Valentino, Voce Viva. A nice but generic fruity sweet scent with vanilla notes, but notable for being one of the few vanillas I've tried that doesn't turn sour on me. 3/5

Sucreabeille, Goth as Fuck: a gently spicy incense, somewhat high-pitched (this is also a good thing, in this case at least). 4/5

Naomi Goodsir, Nuit de Bakelite: This starts out fascinating and wonderful--a slightly pungent, slightly smoky green that dries to a lively woodsy green. Unfortunately, while it lasts a while, it fades to a mostly generic pleasant masculine scent. Initial scent gets 4/5

Clean, Reserve Skin: I have no idea how this could ever be a "skin but better" scent unless my chemistry is just bonkers, because on me it smells like a sickly sweet child's dessert. I broke out the alcohol wipes to take this one off. 1/5

Clean, Reserve Rain: Now THIS is a your-skin-but-better scent (light watery floral and light cucumber). Unfortunately it's not strong enough for me to smell it on myself, and at the moment the only person getting close enough to smell it on me is strongly opposed to all perfume. I want this to be my signature scent but I do not have the disposable income to be buying a perfume that no one gets to smell, not to mention it fades away fast. 4/5 for the scent alone, if I ever start getting regularly intimate with someone who likes perfume I might grab a bottle

Giorgio Armani, Si EDP: Starts off smelling like Lambrusco and almost alcoholic (in a beverage way, not the alcohol base), then the cassis REALLY takes over to the point where it's almost medicinal. Eventually fades a little into a gentler fruitiness and then a pleasant but hard to describe skin scent. This is interesting the whole time and never bad, but not actually good for the first hour. 3/5

Ermenegildo Zegna, Uomo: This has an absolutely fascinating evolution! First citrus, then strongly and pleasantly woody in the opening. An hour later it's moved on to a friendly light woodiness with just a hint of green, and continues to evolve as it fades. 4/5 for the whole cycle

BPAL, Brown Jenkin: I love this one at every stage even though it changes wildly. At first you get a slightly high-pitched sandalwood and then what I think is the orris root--something sharp that borders on an unpleasant candied note but lands on "actually very good." After an hour it starts to smell exactly like the discontinued Lush scent Snowcake (a well-rounded, not too sugary marzipan), which I mourn for every single day, and after that a growing hint of leather creeps in. 4.5/5, definitely going to get a 5 mL of this.

Hermes, Hermessence Muguet Porcelain: MAGICAL. An overwhelmingly lovely wet lily with a polite but present green note that dries down to something mostly the same but also almost unctuous, and after a while some woody notes emerge. In the second hour it becomes what I can only describe as "shrubbier" and "shaggier." This only lasted two hours on me but I bought a larger decant anyway because I simply cannot be without it, it's up there with vintage Fracas as simply the best things I have ever smelled. 5/5

marc jacobs, daisy: on me this smells EXACTLY like fresh cut grass. i'm not sure if i want to smell like that but it's not bad, just pure lawnmower. it starts to evolve into something else around the one hour mark but then disappears. a lot of perfumes just vanish into my skin, so i assume it's my personal chemistry and not that 80% of modern perfume doesn't last at all. probably.

hermes, terre d'hermes EDT: citrus with a pepper note, warms up wonderfully, and lasts at least 3 hours (although i have to get my nose up in my skin to smell it). magnificent.

annick goutal, bois d'hadrien: starts out woody with a hint of citrus, then develops a wetness and the spice notes bloom. very masculine, very nice.

serge lutens, sa majeste la rose: this is WILDLY green for a rose scent. like the rose is there but it comes out stem-first, then dries to a more classic floral scent. after about an hour it evolves into a fragrance i would describe as "lush decay."

hermetica, jade888: i got a bunch of hermetica samples but this and darkoud are the only ones i liked. this smells exactly like the san francisco botanical garden, i.e. a very tree/shrub botanical, not floral. wet and fresh and lovely, but not strong or lasting.

tocca, florence: a straightforward and lovely white floral. i am absolutely insane for white florals/tuberose so i will never be disappointed by one. lasts about three hours on me, which is better than average.

BPAL, lust: my notes describe this as "indoor florals" and "ceremonial", eventually simplifying to a sweet and mellow incense. i like it a lot but like all the BPAL i've tried it's too weak and quick to fade for my tastes.

juliette has a gun, pear inc.: this was a brief hit of pear, then faded to something vague and faint, then the pear reemerged but sweatier. not great.

robert piguet, bandit: a farm smell but more of an old farmhouse than a barn. very masculine, very leather. wonderful but doesn't last too long on me, although i haven't tried a full all-over application yet.

tommy bahama, maritime deep blue: listen, they can't all be top shelf. if you want a fresh green ocean breeze scent for relatively cheap, this will do fine. it's not at all complex but i liked it.

elizabeth arden, untold: a powdery green that gets less powdery, eventually evolves into a chilled olive-oil-esque green. absolutely delightful and very long-lasting.

frederic malle, lys mediterannee: lily! intense lily! the scent itself is not as strong as i would like but it's LILY and i adore it beyond reason. just put this one on so no word yet on how fast it fades.

i am accumulating a significant collection of perfumes that don't work for me; sometime soon i'll post a list and see if anybody wants them.

successes since my last post:

• hermetica, darkoud: this is bliss, intense oud/wicca store vibes and it lasts FOREVER on me. not available on the decant sites but the website does sell relatively large (1.5 ml) samples for five bucks each so i will definitely get like four of those at some point
• robert piguet, fracas (modern): i enjoyed this one but my final notes were "this is slightly excessive" so i have to admit defeat before the Tuberose Bomb. still gonna wear it though
• hermes, Un Jardin Sur Le Nil: absolutely delightful, green and wet in a bright sunny way. on the larger-decant wishlist for sure
• Frederic Malle, Lys Mediterranee: ohhhh this was dangerously lovely, apparently i really like lilies. i smelled none of the other notes and it stayed the same the whole time but that's fine bc it was great
• azzaro, pour homme: citrus leather that evolves into sandalwood, i love it
• givenchy, gentleman: also very leather-forward with fruit notes, which is a FASCINATING combination that i like

interesting failures:

• papillon, spell 125: my notes on application include "compellingly ugly" and my one-hour-later note is, in its entirety, "what the fuck". not keeping this one but it was an Experience
• Parfum d'Empire, Fougere Bengale EDP: this smells like curry powder on me. like literally exactly like a jar of curry powder from the supermarket. what

also i did confirm that i do indeed still hate flowerbomb and black opium, which is nice to know.

so the samples i got from surrender to chance arrived today (well, the first order i placed arrived today, there's another on the way bc i have a Problem) and also i have tried several others in the meantime. i still have enough different scents that i could sample another one every single day until may before running out, which is also the date i have set as the soonest i'm allowed to buy any new samples. (i am gonna buy larger decants of a few that i really love, especially if they're a discontinued scent. but nothing new!)

more general thoughts: i would KILL for a perfume with higher(??) sillage. also for one that lasts more than a couple hours. i want to apply perfume and smell it in the back of my mind for the next hour without having to bury my nose in my elbow to huff it. this seems BIZARRELY hard to find. like it know it went too far in the eighties but that was over thirty years ago, surely we can find a middle ground.

some reviews under the cut (rose, "men's" i.e. green/herbal/woodsy, misc.)
( Read more... )

scents i'm looking forward to trying soon:

1. flowerbomb and black opium, which i HATED two years ago and i really want to find out if i still hate them

2. Robert Piguet Fracas EDP (modern version), bc anything called white floral has been my favorite so far. i don't dare try the vintage version bc what if i fall in love with it. like StC sells it, but obviously it's Expensive and i would NOT be able to restrain myself

3. the BPAL imps i bought and largely didn't care for a few years ago, which are mostly from the RPG range--i have druid, chaotic, half-elf, cleric, and gnome, plus a random imp of lust

4. i have 75 samples i haven't tried yet (or not in years) so all of them, basically

(to be clear, i only bought about 40 of those in the last month, the rest i accumulated buying too much lipstick from sephora and getting free samples)