This is my final Deconstructing Eden (DE) but I'm so placing an order with them again soon. Out of the 21 scents I got, I really like most of them, and there are at least 3 scents I need to buy full sizes in. I'm heading to the US at the end of the year, and I'm definitely placing an order with DE. I'm just torn on whether I should get those 3 scents in full sizes, or buy samples of all the scents I haven't tried yet instead!
For the rest of my DE reviews, you can find part 2 here, and part 1 is here.
As always, reviews are done blind until the TL;DRs are written. If any of the notes surprise me, I write an overview. I've also started adding a "Final Verdict" section to help me keep track of my perfumes and figure out what to destash, since my perfume collection is starting to get messy. Here are the categories I came up with for my "Final Verdict":
"Gardenias, honeysuckle, sweet jasmine, ambergris, tea olives and palo santo wood."
I have sweet, thick white florals with something musky making the scent heavier. It's one of those waxier white florals with thick petals and smells like lotion. The heavy, musky part may be a leather note mingled with the florals since there's a bit of bitterness to this. It's a very mild bitterness that's covered by the florals and makes this scent more complex though.
Like with all DE scents, this is just so elegant, but the heaviness does make me think of an older sort of woman –someone in her late 30s. It's not an "old lady" sort of scent though, I'm thinking more of Nicole Kidman in The Others...the parts where she was an elegant, stately lady of the manor and not going crazy, of course.
After about an hour, the scent gets creamier and lighter, and now it seems perfect for someone my age (26)!
TL;DR: Elegant lady of the manor.
Overview: Oh, looks like the muskiness is from ambergris and not a leather note after all!
Final Verdict: Like
"Rare and precious orchids, a drop of vanilla orchid, living peach and pear, a soft touch of Naamah's roses, topped with a sparkling citrus cocktail of pink grapefruit and sweet orange."
This starts off as a powdery sort of vanilla with a fruity tartness and a floral bitterness that I'm guessing comes from orchids. It made me think of delicate, alabaster white porcelain dolls that's so beautiful and delicate, yet with heavy, Victorian style dresses. Then things start going wrong on me –I start getting this heavy, musky part that smells animalistic and not in a good way. By 30 min, the scent smells like what I think a skunk would smell like. I don't know what's going wrong with the scent, but it just hates me. Why.
TL;DR: Skunk.
Overview: Ok, looks like orchids are the only culprits for the skunk like smell. Well, orchids look pretty, but I always thought they smelled like death. No idea why I would think it would smell different in perfume form.
Final Verdict: Destash
I smell intoxicatingly sweet, rich old wood but there's something cloying at the base that makes me think of fruity chewable calcium supplements. There's that honey note I love in this –the one that's a sweetly thin, woody honey that would be a melodic high note if it were a sound. By about 5 min, I can hardly pick out the fruity chewable calcium supplement part, but it's still there, making the scent a bit cloying for me. The sweet, honeyed wood bit is amazing though. While sweet, rich old wood scents often end up smelling a tad difficult to wear, this is so wearable since it's lighter and cleaner. At around 8-10 min, a powderiness enters and that powdery part gets more prominent on me as the scent wears on. By 15 min, the cloying part is gone and I LOVE this scent.
You know how when someone first enters indie perfumes, they say they want "wood" or "earth" type of scents when they mean, "Wood/Earth, but with something else. Don't go full wood/earth."?
This scent is like that. It's an earthy, woody scent turned powdery, light and clean. Like all DE scents, it's pure luxury. It smells like a luxurious version of a "rustic" sort of scent –it's like the perfume version of glamping. I'd pick this picture for an ad for this scent:
For people who really like perfumes that go full wood/earth, this perfume will be a disappointment, but for people who want to venture into earthy, woody scents and just want a wearable, small taste of it, this scent is perfect.
TL;DR: Luxurious, clean and powdery version of that rich, earthy old wood scent.
Overview: I'm not sure what was causing the fruity calcium supplement scent at the bottom since everything seems safe. And wow. I swear I love DE's patchoulis. I normally hate patchouli, but DE does the BEST patchoulis.
Final Verdict: Like, but may change to love
It's starts off smelling like candied florals with a creamy, edible base. The florals are the typically heavier sort of florals that smells musky and velvety, but somehow, they're made light as if they were candied. The creamy base isn't plain vanilla and I can't seem to figure out what it is, maybe it's coconut. The candied bit smells almost like tropical fruits during certain times of the month. Either way, this starts of strong on me and I just adore the scent.
After about 10 minutes, the florals got even lighter and smells like the lightest, powder dusting of florals. Mixed with the creaminess, it reminds me of a lighter, cleaner version of Nanette Lepore scents. It's extremely feminine and elegant, but lighthearted and fresh at the same time –I love it! I think this picture captures the scent best:
When it starts drying down on me at about 50 min, I get mostly an old wood mixed with the kind of florals that reminds me of floral offerings in Hindu temples, mixed with a metallic sort of sweetness.
TL;DR: Lighter, cleaner version of powdery floral Nanette Lepore scents.
Final Verdict: Love.
Initially, it reminds me a lot of an old, Asian altar. I can't exactly pinpoint whether it's a Hindu or a Buddhist altar, but it definitely is one of those old people altars that has tons of red, red lights, and colourful paper that smells old. After about 2-3 min, I finally get this spritzy grape soda & Red Bull sort of scent. At certain times of the month, this spritzy grape soda & Red Bull scent mostly covers up the altar scent, but at certain times, it just smells like you've just desecrated some old person's altar.
I'm not a fan of this scent during either times of the month. At the desecrated altar stage, it just smells like a grape soda gone wrong, with old people altar wafting around. At the spritzy grape soda & Red Bull stage it gets sweeter and sweeter with time and ends up smelling like one of those colourful candy that looked good but just tastes 100% artificial sugar & artificial grape. The ones that look something like this:
TL;DR: Desecrated altar or purple candies.
For the rest of my DE reviews, you can find part 2 here, and part 1 is here.
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Review Notes
As always, reviews are done blind until the TL;DRs are written. If any of the notes surprise me, I write an overview. I've also started adding a "Final Verdict" section to help me keep track of my perfumes and figure out what to destash, since my perfume collection is starting to get messy. Here are the categories I came up with for my "Final Verdict":
- Love: Most awesome perfume ever. Need endless supplies of it and will swap my first born child for the last drops of it if it's limited edition.
- Like: I like it and may buy a full size of it, but it's not urgent.
- Interesting: I don't really like it or I don't think I can wear it in public, but I appreciate the artistry of the scent. It's like a beautiful but unwearable runway piece you won't buy on your own, but don't mind owning.
- Ok: It's okay. I like it enough, but may destash for a good price to keep my collection manageable.
- Destash: Kill it with fire.
- Age it: Maybe it will smell good one day. One day. Just wait.
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Opening Night
"Gardenias, honeysuckle, sweet jasmine, ambergris, tea olives and palo santo wood."
I have sweet, thick white florals with something musky making the scent heavier. It's one of those waxier white florals with thick petals and smells like lotion. The heavy, musky part may be a leather note mingled with the florals since there's a bit of bitterness to this. It's a very mild bitterness that's covered by the florals and makes this scent more complex though.
Like with all DE scents, this is just so elegant, but the heaviness does make me think of an older sort of woman –someone in her late 30s. It's not an "old lady" sort of scent though, I'm thinking more of Nicole Kidman in The Others...the parts where she was an elegant, stately lady of the manor and not going crazy, of course.
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| Ok, she looks freaked out in all the pictures from this movie. Image courtesy of amcnetworks.com |
TL;DR: Elegant lady of the manor.
Overview: Oh, looks like the muskiness is from ambergris and not a leather note after all!
Final Verdict: Like
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Orchis House
"Rare and precious orchids, a drop of vanilla orchid, living peach and pear, a soft touch of Naamah's roses, topped with a sparkling citrus cocktail of pink grapefruit and sweet orange."
This starts off as a powdery sort of vanilla with a fruity tartness and a floral bitterness that I'm guessing comes from orchids. It made me think of delicate, alabaster white porcelain dolls that's so beautiful and delicate, yet with heavy, Victorian style dresses. Then things start going wrong on me –I start getting this heavy, musky part that smells animalistic and not in a good way. By 30 min, the scent smells like what I think a skunk would smell like. I don't know what's going wrong with the scent, but it just hates me. Why.
TL;DR: Skunk.
Overview: Ok, looks like orchids are the only culprits for the skunk like smell. Well, orchids look pretty, but I always thought they smelled like death. No idea why I would think it would smell different in perfume form.
Final Verdict: Destash
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Possession
"Thick amber, the sting of black pepper, dark musks, dragon's blood, dark woods, patchouli, orange blossom and narcotic honey."I smell intoxicatingly sweet, rich old wood but there's something cloying at the base that makes me think of fruity chewable calcium supplements. There's that honey note I love in this –the one that's a sweetly thin, woody honey that would be a melodic high note if it were a sound. By about 5 min, I can hardly pick out the fruity chewable calcium supplement part, but it's still there, making the scent a bit cloying for me. The sweet, honeyed wood bit is amazing though. While sweet, rich old wood scents often end up smelling a tad difficult to wear, this is so wearable since it's lighter and cleaner. At around 8-10 min, a powderiness enters and that powdery part gets more prominent on me as the scent wears on. By 15 min, the cloying part is gone and I LOVE this scent.
You know how when someone first enters indie perfumes, they say they want "wood" or "earth" type of scents when they mean, "Wood/Earth, but with something else. Don't go full wood/earth."?
This scent is like that. It's an earthy, woody scent turned powdery, light and clean. Like all DE scents, it's pure luxury. It smells like a luxurious version of a "rustic" sort of scent –it's like the perfume version of glamping. I'd pick this picture for an ad for this scent:
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| And the model silently contemplates murdering the photographer for all the splinters she had to endure. Awesome photography by Ashley Lebedev |
For people who really like perfumes that go full wood/earth, this perfume will be a disappointment, but for people who want to venture into earthy, woody scents and just want a wearable, small taste of it, this scent is perfect.
TL;DR: Luxurious, clean and powdery version of that rich, earthy old wood scent.
Overview: I'm not sure what was causing the fruity calcium supplement scent at the bottom since everything seems safe. And wow. I swear I love DE's patchoulis. I normally hate patchouli, but DE does the BEST patchoulis.
Final Verdict: Like, but may change to love
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Saraswati
"White lotus, sweet milk, a touch of honey, champaca flowers, white myrrh, mysore sandalwood, orange blossoms, water lilies, white orris and white vetiver."It's starts off smelling like candied florals with a creamy, edible base. The florals are the typically heavier sort of florals that smells musky and velvety, but somehow, they're made light as if they were candied. The creamy base isn't plain vanilla and I can't seem to figure out what it is, maybe it's coconut. The candied bit smells almost like tropical fruits during certain times of the month. Either way, this starts of strong on me and I just adore the scent.
After about 10 minutes, the florals got even lighter and smells like the lightest, powder dusting of florals. Mixed with the creaminess, it reminds me of a lighter, cleaner version of Nanette Lepore scents. It's extremely feminine and elegant, but lighthearted and fresh at the same time –I love it! I think this picture captures the scent best:
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| I'd love to see the next few frames in this shot, where the model's most likely coughing and sneezing all over the place. Amazing photography by Oliver Oettli |
When it starts drying down on me at about 50 min, I get mostly an old wood mixed with the kind of florals that reminds me of floral offerings in Hindu temples, mixed with a metallic sort of sweetness.
TL;DR: Lighter, cleaner version of powdery floral Nanette Lepore scents.
Final Verdict: Love.
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Snow White
"Clean white musk, blood red roses, ebony wood, and a touch of forest."
When I first sprayed it on, I got that perfumed version of "fresh apples" that runs a bit too sweet for me. It's definitely a cool sort of perfumed apples and kind of reminds me of the DKNY Red Delicious perfumed apple scent. It makes me think of crystalline snowflakes on creamy apples in the woods, and the apples gets more velvety with time. The creamy part is not overly creamy and just slightly takes the sharp edge off the "fresh apples" sort of zing –I guess it's more of a fresh milk sort of creamy. This picture is a great ad for this scent:
As the scent dries down on me, I get the signature DE sort of powderiness, mingled with velvety fruity tartness. I really, really like what this scent is trying to do in theory, but it just stays way too sweet on me! To be fair, DKNY's Red Delicious goes way too sweet on me too, and this perfume reminds me a lot of it. I'm cursing my skin chemistry right now, and I think I'm going to age this to see if it'll calm the creaminess down.
TL;DR: Cool, velvety version of DKNY Red Delicious.
Overview: Huh...there's no apples here. Then again, it doesn't really smell like actual fresh apples, it's more of what a perfumer would interpret an "apple" to be like when they're creating a wearable "apple" perfume. There's definitely a fruity tartness in this though, and I guess the fruity tartness mixed with the other notes just create that perfumed apple sort of scent.
Final Verdict: Age it.
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| The photographer did this series with nude models as well...I hope this is a composite picture, otherwise, I'd feel so bad for all the models who had to lie naked on snow. Awesome shot bye Fabrice Meuwissen |
As the scent dries down on me, I get the signature DE sort of powderiness, mingled with velvety fruity tartness. I really, really like what this scent is trying to do in theory, but it just stays way too sweet on me! To be fair, DKNY's Red Delicious goes way too sweet on me too, and this perfume reminds me a lot of it. I'm cursing my skin chemistry right now, and I think I'm going to age this to see if it'll calm the creaminess down.
TL;DR: Cool, velvety version of DKNY Red Delicious.
Overview: Huh...there's no apples here. Then again, it doesn't really smell like actual fresh apples, it's more of what a perfumer would interpret an "apple" to be like when they're creating a wearable "apple" perfume. There's definitely a fruity tartness in this though, and I guess the fruity tartness mixed with the other notes just create that perfumed apple sort of scent.
Final Verdict: Age it.
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Shiva the Destroyer
"Fragrant woods, frankincense, myrrh, rose attar and living peach."Initially, it reminds me a lot of an old, Asian altar. I can't exactly pinpoint whether it's a Hindu or a Buddhist altar, but it definitely is one of those old people altars that has tons of red, red lights, and colourful paper that smells old. After about 2-3 min, I finally get this spritzy grape soda & Red Bull sort of scent. At certain times of the month, this spritzy grape soda & Red Bull scent mostly covers up the altar scent, but at certain times, it just smells like you've just desecrated some old person's altar.
I'm not a fan of this scent during either times of the month. At the desecrated altar stage, it just smells like a grape soda gone wrong, with old people altar wafting around. At the spritzy grape soda & Red Bull stage it gets sweeter and sweeter with time and ends up smelling like one of those colourful candy that looked good but just tastes 100% artificial sugar & artificial grape. The ones that look something like this:
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| You just know they're better left as decoration. Even ants won't try to eat them. Image courtesy of candymachines.com |
TL;DR: Desecrated altar or purple candies.
Overview: I kept looking for the peaches but I think mixed with everything, it just ends up smelling like something artificial and purple.
Final Verdict: Destash
Final Verdict: Destash
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Wicked Stepmother
"Rich and warm ambergris, soft and alluring skin, dark ambers, the whisper of leather, black roses, a kiss of patchouli, and a drop of spice."
My first impression is that it smells sterile, like a dentist's office. There's a clean, sterile bitterness that just makes you think of sterile, white rooms with bright, white lights and people using masks and gloves. The thing that makes me really think of dentists is this particular scent that dentist chairs always seem to have. It's there. It's really hard to describe that particular smell —it's cool and clean, slightly plasticky.
There's also powdery florals that makes me lean more towards office, with a sweetness that somehow reminds me of sweet fluoride pastes my dentist used to put on me. But the fluoride paste part could just be a suggestion from the dentist chair scent. After about 20 min, the scent goes a bit more powdery, but it still reminds me of a dentist's office.
TL;DR: Dentist's office.
Overview: Ok, I tried sniffing it again and I can pick out the leather now, but it definitely smells like the leather that reminds you of dentist chairs.
Final Verdict: Destash
Overview: Ok, I tried sniffing it again and I can pick out the leather now, but it definitely smells like the leather that reminds you of dentist chairs.
Final Verdict: Destash
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