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Showing posts with label Arcana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arcana. Show all posts

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Review & Recommendation: Arcana's Ravenous II (4 Scents) + The Terrors (4 Scents)

I bought a bunch of scents from Arcana and finally got around to reviewing them now. For this review, I'm reviewing every scent in the  Ravenous II (except for Apples Crave Cider, the Pretty Indulgent exclusive) and The Terrors collections.

For my previous Arcana reviews, which include a discussion of their longevity and sillage, you can click on the Arcana label on the right or here.

As of publishing date, most of the scents are still available, but Arcana sells out fast. Some of the scents from those two collections are returns from previous years' collections, so if you missed them this time, they may come back!

If you're looking to buy these scents, there are several places where you can buy Arcana scents:



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Review Notes


As always, reviews are done blind until the TL;DRs are written. For the Ravenous collection, since I suspect all the Terror notes are the same, I didn't read the scent description until the very end. 

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.


I've reviewed Pumpkins Crave Terror and Apples Crave Cake in Dec 2014, so I'm copy+pasting my past review with an updated review so you can see how the scents have aged after slightly over a year.

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Ravenous II Collection


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Apples Crave Apples 

"Notes of golden apple, green apple, Winesap, Fuji, fresh apple, baked apple, spiced apple, apple cider, and a hint of apple."

Oh wow. Very fragrant perfumed apples. The kind of apples that are cool, and crisp, and clean. It...kinda makes me apple room sprays. They're definitely the expensive kind of room sprays that aren't sold in drugstores, but still room sprays.

After about 5 min, something in this is giving me a headache the way some room sprays do, so I'm definitely not sniffing myself too much. I smell that typical room spray "red apple" note floating around, and when I get closer, I get that extremely clean, room spray "green apple" note.

I kept thinking it'll get better, but after over an hour, it's still that extremely clean and searing room spray apples. The red apple room spray fades faster than the green apple room spray, so the scent left lingering on your skin is green apple room spray.

TL;DR: Apple room spray.

Final Verdict: Destash

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Apples Crave Cake

"Fresh, crisp red apples blended with our Yellow Cake layering note."

Previous Review: 
The apple here starts off as an apple candy sort of apple, but it's not the headache inducing type of artificial scent. After about 10 min, it becomes more of an apple soap sort of apple.  
I was worried the yellow cake portion will smell like those play-doh-ish artificial cake scents but nope. Somehow, the two typically artificial scents combined to become  the most delicious gourmand apple scent. It smells like a wearable apple perfume, with something underneath that's triggers your lust for food, even though you can't identify what you're hungry for. 
TL;DR: Apples & food lust.
...1 year later:

Oh gods, this is delicious! So I'm writing this without reading my previous year's review so I can review this scent as if it's new. I've worn this several times, but now that I'm really paying attention, I feel that the cake bit isn't as strong as I remembered it to be.

This is red apple juice and that hint of satisfying deliciousness in the background. Last time, I couldn't identify what the deliciousness is, except that it hits my stomach straight away and makes me feel happy. Now it smells like a frosted cupcake. But maybe it's because I'm now more familiar with Arcana's cake note and start particularly looking out for it. After about 10 min, both the cupcake and the apple juice melded together, and now it smells like sugarcane juice with hints of cupcake and apple juice. I'm also getting a bit of a dry, dusty sandalwood in the background. Maybe the sandalwood's a quiet note that isn't listed and is only amplified with age? I distinctly don't remember any sandalwood.

After about 20 min in, the scent's more of a cool, perfumed apple pie. I love how complex the apple part is, to the point where I keep thinking of bouquets of apple scents, blooming into one amazing apple perfume...with hints of cake. Oh and just because I've been dying to show everyone this pic...here's a rat hoarding a bucket of apples:

I can't believe rats can be so cute!
Awesome pic by Анна Тюрина


TL;DR: Cool, perfumed apple pie.

Final Verdict: Like


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Apples Crave Red Musk 

"Candy-red apples and lascivious red musk."

Er. I had to sniff several times to be sure, but this smells like apple-scented toilet cleaner. It even has that super sterile chemicals sort of scent. The apple does get stronger as the scent wears on, but it's still a room freshener sort of apple. It smells like a toilet after it has been cleaned, and sprayed with an apple room freshener. 

After about 20 min, the part that smells like disinfectant and strongly reminds me of toilet cleaners calms down a bit, but not enough. At times, I can pick out the red musk portion, which tends to smell like game-y incense. The apple is still the kind of apples you find in household cleaning products though. Now it smells more like an apple-scented clean toilet rather than a toilet that's being cleaned with apple-scented products at that very moment. 

As it dries down, I'm getting this green, plant-like scent, but I can't get out of the toilet impression. It's still a green-scented toilet cleaner with hints of apple room spray. 

TL;DR: Apple-scented toilet cleaner

Final Verdict: Destash

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Apples Crave The Tropics

"Lots of green apple and sweet coconut flesh with sexy tuberose, Tahitian Tiare petals, and a drop of lime."

Oh yes.....this is that summery poolside sort of scent that Arcana does so freaking well. You get this note in Frisk and Marble Flowers too. I know there's apples in this from the name, but to be honest, if I didn't know there were apples in it, I wouldn't have guessed an apple note. The apple note just blends in to create this fragrant, sweet and tart chewy candy sort of scent. It smells like a sweeter and less boozy sort of fruity milky candy cocktail. The kind that looks like this:

Well, this is actually a coconut champagne cocktail, which isn't what the scent smells like...but the scent smells like what you expect this to smell like at first glance. For the recipe, you can head to henorstag.com


I think there's probably that Arcana cognac note here, since it reminds me so much of Frisk and Marble Flowers, but this scent is less boozy, so maybe it's a quieter note here.

The scent keeps getting sweeter on me, and after about an hour, it becomes this cool, vaguely fruity sort of sugary candy that can go great or nauseating, depending on your preference.

TL;DR: Chewy fruity candy cocktail.

Overview: Looks like there's no cognac note in this...still smells a lot like Arcana's perfumes that usually have the cognac note though!

Final Verdict: Like.

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The Terrors Collection


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Apples Crave Terror

"Holy Terror (burning frankincense, sandalwood, deep myrrh, and dusty beeswax candles), ice-cold apples, and an extra shot of smoky frankincense."

This is beautiful! Ok, this is definitely a scent you either love or hate. I only know there's apple in this because of the name, otherwise, I wouldn't know since it doesn't really smell distinctly of apples. It's more of a soft, slightly sugary sweetness that I can't really identify. It's sugary without smelling like that piercing "sugar" note, vaguely fruity but it's beautiful and complex, there may even be florals in it. 

Now the other part of the scent that you either love or hate...there's this spicy sandalwood that I love, as well as this odd scent that smells kind of like gasoline and a mixture of burning items –like burning clothes, books, photographs, shoes...you get the drift.

After about 10 min, I can also pick out a scent that smells like tonka beans of vanilla at the base of it, giving it this feminine sort of powderiness. It's the kind of powdery that makes me think of girls who like way too much lace and frills. 

That's it. I know what this smells like. It smells like a Valentine's Day bonfire. It's like someone created a bonfire out of scented love letters, teddy bears, various pink frilly things, a wooden jewelry box, and one of those powdery vanilla perfumes. Basically, the kind of things that would be completely at home in a room that looks like this:

And you kinda expect them to like small dogs or cats.
Image courtesy of themerooms.blogspot.com

I feel like a girl who likes too much lace and frills can be counted on to make the most epic Valentine's Day bonfires. A girl who keeps getting sent way too much lace and frills would probably enjoy making an epic bonfire too.

This scent has a surprisingly low throw on me, and it makes me a tad paranoid because I'm wondering if I'm anosmic to parts of the scent. I recently tried a scent with Arcana's Terror note (this was before I bought these decants), and it smelled like a Chinese grandma's altar, so now I'm wondering if I'm emitting a strong scent of Chinese grandma altar without knowing it.

When the scent fades, it leaves lingering traces of that perfumed red apple scent.

TL;DR: Frilly, pink bonfire.

Final Verdict: Love.

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Peaches Crave Terror

"Yellow and white peaches with Holy Terror (burning frankincense, sandalwood, deep myrrh, and dusty beeswax candles)."

Oh wow. The first thing I got is a burst of juicy peach gummy. It's definitely a tart rather than a sweet peach and it smells like the most delicious peach gummy ever. It doesn't smell like an artificial, bubblegum sort of peach, but it's definitely the kind of peach that you get in gummies or chewy candies. I know comparing it to gummies make people think of artificial scents that usually smell gross, but it's definitely one of those gourmet, all-natural, realistic sort of gummy. I'm just calling it a gummy because I've never encountered peaches that can be this juicy and fragrant, while still being tart and almost unripe. 

Yes, I smell that burnt and sandalwood scent that I've now associated with Arcana's Terror note, but in this scent, it just makes the peach smell more realistic and so very wearable. This is definitely an easy scent to like. 

As the scent wears on, I can definitely smell more of that burnt scent at the base, but it stays close to my skin. It's also more of the "natural" scent of burnt paper or wood, rather than the scent of burning rubber or cloth, and I kind of like that charred paper/wood scent. 

After about 30 min, I smell that vanilla or tonka bean base that the Terror notes seem to come with. It still smells like mostly realistic tart peach gummy, but now it has this adorableness that makes me want to hug myself, without being a kiddy scent. I guess here's a picture that captures this scent best:


This kid is too cute!
Adorable pic by Alena Romanovskaya

When the scent fades, you're left with this faint burnt scent.

TL;DR: Realistic peach gummy.

Final Verdict: Like


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Pumpkins Crave Terror


"Our Holy Terror(burning frankincense, sandalwood, deep myrrh, and dusty beeswax candles) blend with glowing pumpkin and a small dash of pie spices."

Previous Review: 
This smells like a really delicious pumpkin pie. There's something that smells like sandalwood, but it could also be a very dry cinnamon note. As it dries down, it becomes that dry, woody potpourri scent with hints of pumpkin pie.
While I hate the dry down, the initial scent was so delicious, I'm getting this in full size. 
TL;DR: Extremely delicious pumpkin pie, turning into woody potpourri.

...1 year later:

It starts off with that typical heavy, oily sort of note that's you may be familiar with if you've gotten perfumes that supposedly feature a waffles/doughnuts/fried dough sort of notes. Luckily, it lightens up pretty fast. It slowly gets taken over by this heavily cinnamon and raspy sandalwood note. There's hints of pumpkins, but it's not the dominant note.

Usually, but about 10 min, this scent is leaning towards woody potpourri, with hints of oily pumpkin and bitterness. I noticed that at certain times of the month, the scent even goes even more bitter and smells medicinal on me. I remember buying a full size of this hoping aging will make it go the way I wanted it to, but unfortunately, it went the other way.

TL;DR: Woody potpourri, with hints of oily pumpkin and bitterness

Overview: Yeah, there's no more pumpkin pie in this scent after aging.

Final Verdict: Destash


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Strawberries Crave Terror

"Deep red strawberries and Holy Terror (burning frankincense, sandalwood, deep myrrh, and dusty beeswax candles)."

Oh, my gods.....I love this too. It smells exactly like freshly squeezed strawberry juice, but with hints of sandalwood and something else to make it more wearable as a perfume instead of smelling like you just had an accident in your local cold-pressed juice bar. I can't really put my finger on what that something special is –it smells pink and makes me think of pink bubblegum or cotton candy, but without the nauseating artificialness.

After about 3 min, the strawberry melds into the scent and the scent is less distinctively strawberry. The burnt part of the terror note's also coming out. The resulting scent is is a vaguely pink, sweet cloud of scent, with freshly bitten, tart strawberries, and something burning. 

20 min in, and the pink bubblegum/cotton candy part has been amplified and now the scent is...odd. On one hand there's that really grown up charred sandalwood scent, but then there's that extremely kiddy, sweet pink bubblegum/cotton candy. Throw in the freshly bitten, tart strawberries, and I don't know what to make of it.

I guess it's like kids dressed in high fashion and acting all grown up. Creepy, or cute? It can go both ways. This pic captures the scent the best:

I personally find this pic a bit too creepy...maybe it's the duck hat.
Awesome photography by Alexander Bootsman

The scent it leaves lingering on your skin is strawberry bubblegum.

TL;DR: Vaguely pink, sweet cloud of scent, with freshly bitten, tart strawberries, and something burning.

Final Verdict: Interesting.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Review & Recommendation: Arcana Sunk Lyonesse Collection (7 Scents) + 2 Halloween Scents

Ok, so I finally got my Arcana scents and finally finished reviewing them! For my previous Arcana reviews, which include a discussion of their longevity and sillage, you can click on the Arcana label on the right or here.

For this review, I'm reviewing every scent in the Sunk Lyonesse Collection except for Sabbath Eve. So 7 scents in total. I'm also reviewing 2 additional Halloween scents, Little Ghoulie and Poison Candy.

As of publishing date, most of the scents are still available, but Arcana sells out fast. Some of the scents from those two collections are returns from previous years' collections, so if you missed them this time, they may come back!

If you're looking to buy these scents, there are several places where you can buy Arcana scents:
And if you're interested in getting Arcana decants, definitely check out Ajevie's Circles! I can't recommend Ajevie enough! Her scents are always professionally packaged, her service is amazing, and the items ship fast.


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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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Sunk Lyonesse Collection


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Isolde

"White chocolate, pale almond milk, delicate vanilla, cream, and a touch of sheer musk."

At first I got delicious chocolate but soon, this almond cream scent emerges. At first they were like two separate scents, but then they merged into this one, delicious almond cream with chocolate flakes scent. It's definitely Chinese style almond cream dessert, that's usually the most fragrant, rich almond dessert I've ever encountered. It looks like this:

Check out Christine's Recipes for the SUPER EASY recipe!

I've always been on the hunt for a realistic almond cream scent, since almond notes have the tendency to come out as cherry cordial instead (I'm not the only one, Evonne from DC discussed this and talked about how hard it is to get an actual almond scent in her interview). Arcana totally succeeded in getting this to smell like almonds. It's amazing.

The chocolate also smells super realistic, like freshly shaved chocolate flakes.

Almond cream and shaved chocolates may sound simple, but the scent is so realistic, rich and complex, that I'm pretty sure 20+ different notes went into it to get this amazing scent.  I need this in everything!

The almond cream bit fades faster than the chocolate, so after about 30 min, it slowly morphs into a thick and creamy chocolate drink that's still light and not overly heavy. As the scent fades, there's hints of sandalwood lingering on my skin.

TL;DR: Almond cream and freshly shaved chocolate.

Overview: I'm willing to bet there are way more notes than the 5 listed.

Final Verdict: LOVE.



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Marble Flowers

"Opulent tuberose petals, neroli, sheer bergamot, white amber, pearl musk, and white cognac absolute."

Ok, marble flowers is an apt name, because that does describe the scent. This is definitely a floral scent, and there's a coolness in it that's not icy at all, and comparing it to a marble sort of coolness is definitely apt. The florals are slightly sharp and makes me think of pink and purple florals, and at the base of this scent, there's this sort of light, lotion-y musk that makes me think of white marble. The light, lotion-y musk is very familiar and is one of those scents I associate with Arcana. I'm trying to place what it is.

After about 10 min, there's a sort of boozy scent that reminds me of Arcana's Frisk. Now it smells like tropical, lotion-y florals. It's a great summer scent, but still very elegant and demure. It's like the scent for elegant socialite moms on vacation. You know those kind of moms –the kind that can still look elegant, poised and perfectly made up while on vacation and running around after her children, instead of sweating and melting under the sun. Basically a woman who can look poised and pretty, even after having a handful of sand thrown at her like this woman:

How are people this gorgeous? If I attempted this, I'd look like I just got my ass kicked by a mob of kids high on sugar. The model's name is Lera but that's it. No further info. So sad I can't stalk her because she's just stunning!
Stunning photography by Kerry Moore

And yes, it makes me think more of a resort pool rather than a beach. Something in this has a scent that reminds me of pool towels for some reason. I really don't know how Arcana does it. There's none of the typical citrus or pineapples, but somehow, they just evoke summer.

The scent is too floral for me, but I can see this being very popular.

TL;DR: Elegant, lotiony summer florals.

Overview: Oh yes...the pearl musk and the cognac note. The cognac note seem to be in every scent that gives me that summer poolside feeling, and the pearl musk seems to be the one responsible for this distinct, Arcana lotion-y musk. I need to look out for them because they're awesome.

Final Verdict: Ok




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Nereids

"Shimmering water, sweet apples, Tiare, rain, pink jasmine, green musk, and wildflowers."

Ok. I'm getting a room spray blue and that cottony musk that makes you think of baby rooms and baby oil. The cottony musk does make the strongly clean, room spray blue more wearable and I can see people liking this, but I'm not a fan of super clean blues in general. It's definitely one of those room sprays with names like, "Morning Rain", or "Blue Lake", or.....ok. I suck at naming room sprays. You get the drift. You know, the kind of room sprays that would have a picture that looks something like this on the can:


Well...maybe something like this, but cheesier looking and less well shot.
Amazing landscape shot by Michael Thien

After about 15-20 min, the room spray bit calmed down and became less sharp. Now it smells like a cool, almost candied blue room spray, with a cottony musk. It definitely got more bearable for me at this point, but unfortunately, the cottony musk bit fades faster on me than the room spray blue. Towards the end, it smells more like walking into a room where someone just went crazy with a "Morning Rain" (yes, I'm rolling with it) type of room spray, and crashing into an elegant young mother who smells of baby oil turned into a delicate, beautiful perfume. Objectively, it's nice enough, but it's not for me.

TL;DR: Blue room spray and cottony musk.

Final Verdict: Destash




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The Kraken


"There's a Kraken in the Celtic Sea? Of course! There's a Kraken in every sea. Gorgeous smoked vanilla, black vanilla, saltwater, China musk, and black musk."

Oh this is gorgeous. It's such a familiar scent, but I can't really place it. It's one of those scents you expect to smell in hotel, spa or country club toiletries. There's this lotiony sort of musk that makes you think of light, milky body lotions, a delicate powderiness that's light enough that it won't turn men off, and a really clean scent that makes you think of fluffy, fresh towels.

I'm surprised by how delicate this scent is. From the name of the scent, I'm expecting something more....dark and stormy, I guess? Instead, this is just so light, delicate, dainty and clean. It's the kind of scent that can only be described as pretty. It's the kind of perfume I see on one of those women who are extremely pretty in a dainty, sweet sort of way. The kind of women you instinctively handle with care because they look like they can shatter to bits. If I'm naming this perfume, it'll be something like Seraphim Feathers Lightly Floating In A Super Duper Gentle Breeze Over A Calm And Not So Salty Ocean, or something. Definitely not The Kraken.

Wearing this scent makes me want to wear flowing skirts, talk softly, giggle more (in my mind, it'll be one of those tinkly sort of giggles instead of a cross between a cackle and a squawk). It's the kind of scent I want to wear and also dab on little kids (of both sexes) to make them smell more adorable. Maybe I'll even dab this on my fiancé when he's in one of those emo moods after I force him to share his dessert. I wish Arcana makes bath products too, because I want this scent in my conditioner, body lotions, cuticle balms, EVERYTHING.

It's not an overly "perfumed" scent, and smells more like you've stepped out of the bath after using some high end toiletry. I can see this scent on men, women and children. Well, it's not a unisex scent, but if a dude's wearing it, it just smells like he just finished showering with the free toiletry from the luxury hotel/spa/country club.

It's basically how you expect this scene to smell like:





After about 30-40 min, I'm getting an almost almond like scent. It's more of the powdery "almond" note rather than actual almonds though. Overall, the scent stayed pretty much stable – pretty, dainty and clean.

TL;DR: Pretty, dainty, clean type of scent that you can find in country club/luxury hotel toiletries.

Final Verdict: Love





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The Sullen Courts of Sleep

"A tenebrous blend of amber resin, coconut milk, skin musk, and French cognac."

Mmmmm....there's this boozy coconut that I just love! It's the same boozy coconut as in Arcana's Frisk and it's so uniquely Arcana. Coconut notes are hard to do and often descend into the sunblock territory, but this is just delicious, boozy coconut. If you love Frisk, you'll love this. They're actually really, really close together. The difference is that this has a warm, resinous, almost "dusty", wood, while Frisk has a more cool, sweet, tropical twist to it. If Frisk is the summer version of Arcana's boozy coconut scent, Sullen Courts of Sleep is the winter version.

The warm, woody part is also another familiar Arcana note that I just can't place. If I remember it, I'll definitely update this review! This scent is like the product of two great Arcana scents mated together.

Anyway, even though I own Frisk, I definitely need a pair of these scents. They're so similar yet so distinct.

If Frisk is sitting with a coconut cocktail (not piña coladas...it's way more unique) by the poolside in summer, The Sullen Courts of Sleep is sitting in a wooden alcove in winter, watching the snow while sipping on a warmed coconut cocktail and buried in cushions and a thick blanket. It's beautiful!



Look at those stockings. They hint at the existence of multiple kids in the household. You definitely want booze.
Gorgeous pic by Alexandra Erofeeva


TL;DR: Sitting in a wooden alcove in winter, watching the snow while sipping on a warmed coconut cocktail and buried in cushions and a thick blanket.

Final Verdict: Love




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Tristan

"Sandalwood, caramel, animalic musk, sweet tree roots, and a hint of Cornish violets."

Overall, the scent is this heavy, musky caramel. Underneath, there's this sweet, red boiled candy scent that I like, and there's some wood too. The heavy, musky caramel and wood makes me think of one of soft, luxurious fur coats. It's a scent I see on posh older women.

Ok...after 5 min, the red candy part gets a bit nauseating actually.  Mixed with everything else, it smells like that sickly sweet odour rotting fruits give off. I keep thinking this smells like puke on a fur coat. I love the boiled candy part, I love the woody, musky caramel part...but together, they smell like puke on a fur coat.

After about 20 min, the sweetness gets less pungent and now it smells like jackfruits that have been out in the sun for too long, waxy almonds and musky wood. I'm still not a fan. Hopefully this ages well after a year?

TL;DR: Puke on a fur coat

Overview: That's so weird...I normally like violets. All those notes sound like notes I like, but maybe they just don't go together.

Final Verdict: Age it.

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Unearthly Lovely

"Dusty honey, bee pollen, and vanilla bean."

Oh gods. This smells sooooo good. It's definitely vanilla, but there's something else in it making it so unique. There's definitely that coconut sort of creaminess to it, but there's no scent of coconuts in this.   It's just such a soft, fluffy vanilla that makes me think of how I imagined marshmallows would smell like if I've never smelled marshmallows before.

There's a beautiful sweetness that I just love –it makes me think of golden boiled candies. It's one of those sweetness that make you imagine melodic high notes. The scent pretty much stays balanced and steady as I wear it. The vanilla's a cozy sort of vanilla, but the light sweetness pulls it away from being too heavy. It ends up cozy and cool, comforting and light, at the same time.

I smell like I'm sinking into a cool, fluffy bed made out of a giant marshmallow. It's cozy but not heavy, sweet but not too sugary, powdery but in a light, fluffy sort of way, and absolutely delicious. Here's an old but perfect picture for this scent:

Anyone knows the source of this? It's been around for so long and reposted so often, I don't even know who the original photographer is.


Seriously, this scent is awesome.

TL;DR: Sinking into a cool, fluffy bed made out of a giant marshmallow.

Final Verdict: LOVE.


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Other Halloween Scents

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Poison Candy


"Ripe pink strawberries are tainted with musky ambrette seed, pure cassia, rich cream, cinnamon sugar, honey, copaiba, and wild oat extract."

This scent turned me off in the bottle but I was hoping it'll smell good on my skin. Wrong. In the bottle, there's a rotten sort of sourness to the scent. On me, it smells like rotting tropical fruits. In Indonesia, there's a lot of uncovered street side trash cans, and it smells like walking past the trash can next to a rojak (a kind of Indonesia fruit salad) or fruit juice stall. It even has that boozy, fermented sort of scent.

For my fellow South East Asians in countries where wet markets still exists, you know that scent when you walk past a fruit stall in a wet market and there's always a trash can that must be full of several day's worth of rotting fruits? That scent.

As the scent wears on, it gets more boozy and sweet, and some people may even like it since it smells like boozy, fermented jackfruits. Unfortunately, to me, it ends up being associated with rotting tropical fruits that have been out for so long, they turn boozy.

I tried giving this away for FREE during the LA meet up I had with other people from /r/IndieMakeupAndMore, and guess what? There were no takers. What the hell is this scent? It's like Arcana's taking the name literally and creating something you'd gift to someone you hate but are obliged to buy a gift for. I've given this to someone who likes sweet scents and seem to have the opposite skin chemistry as me, and I'm dying to know her opinion of this scent. If she hates it too, there's no saving it.

It doesn't get better as it dries down too. It just smells like you've gotten puked on and the puke has all dried up.


TL;DR: Rotting tropical fruits.

Overview: I was wondering why the hell I got this scent until I read the notes. Wtf! They sound amazing! Wtf is this??

Final Verdict: DESTASH.

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Little Ghoulie

"All the scents of a small, terribly excited newbie to the trick-or-treat scene. Jack o’ Lanterns, ginger cookies, chocolate candy, and a frisson of overwhelming delight."

Oh gods. Chocolate. It's that nutty, dark chocolate scent that's soooo good. It's not one of those protein bar sort of artificial chocolate, it's actual chocolate. It's the less milky type of dark chocolate though –the kind that's over 90% cocoa, tastes bitter and kinda sour like coffee, but supposedly good for your health. After about 5 min, I'm starting to get a soapy spearmint scent mingling with the nutty chocolate. It's nice and icy and just makes me think of drinking hot chocolate in a café that has that slightly soapy spearmint room fragrance.

By about 20-30 min, the soapy spearmint part has morphed into this sweet, clean and slightly soapy fragrance that reminds me of office buildings. This now smells like drinking a heavy hot chocolate in your office, after it just got cleaned.

I first tried this in the US during winter and it was soooo perfect. Now that I'm back in Indonesia where it's hot and humid, the scent is too heavy for me and gets a bit heady. I definitely want a bath melt in this scent, and sniffing this on my pillow while sleeping in an air-conditioned room sounds perfect. Wearing it out though? Too heavy.


TL;DR: Heavy, heady hot chocolate in a newly cleaned office.

Final Verdict: Like



Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Review & Recommendation: 11 Scents from Arcana's Cocktails for Charity, Honey and Venom, & Meow Collections

I ordered Ajevie's decants for Arcana's Cocktails for Charity, Honey and Venom, & Meow collections, but only just got my decants since I had them sent to Singapore. A lot of the scents I ordered are sold out already, so I'm only reviewing the scents that are still available for purchase. So if you want to purchase Arcana, you can go to either of these sources:


Since the scents available are spread out between these stores, I'll list out where you can purchase each scent from to make things easier. Arcana sells out quickly though, so the listings may have changed.

For my previous Arcana reviews, which include a discussion of their longevity and sillage, you can click on the Arcana label on the right or here. As usual, reviews are done blind until the TL;DR's written. If anything surprises me, I write an overview.

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Cat's Whiskers 

"Only for true sybarites. Rich eggnog, dark rum, a suggestion of waffles, a hint of smoky bacon, and 1 tiny drop of sparkling mint." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent)

The first thing that hit me is that kind of oily sort of of gourmand note that's often referred to as pancakes/donuts/funnel cake/etc. It was cloying at first, but started getting lighter. There's a maple syrup sort of sweetness and something else in this that reminds me of Pumpkins Crave Bacons, and I love it as much as I love Pumpkins Crave Bacons. This just has more of a wood resin sort of dryness to it and a real soy milk sort of milkiness to it.

By 10 min, it smells really close to Pumpkins Crave Bacons, so I need to sniff both at the same time.

TL;DR: A light version of that pancakes/donuts/funnel cakes note with a maple syrup-like sweetness and a real soy milk sort of milkiness.

Overview: Here are the notes for Pumpkins Crave Bacon:

"Sugar pumpkin with maple, nutmeg, and smoky bacon accord."

Now that I'm sniffing them side by side, they're definitely very different. Cat's Whiskers is warmer and more "oily" in scent, and also has that wood resin sort of dustiness to it. Pumpkins Crave Bacon is cooler, with a drier sort of bacon. You also get pumpkins in it, which can go slightly tart on my skin. The bacon in both scents are also very different; Cat's Whiskers is maple syrup drenched, streaky, and oily bacon, Pumpkins Crave Bacon is dry, savoury, maple-glazed bacon. If I'm asked to pick my favourite out of the two, I'd pick Pumpkins Crave Bacon.


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Cupid the Archer: Silver

"Petitgrain, sweet coconut, Omani frankincense, tiare petals, and silvery narcissus." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent)

When I first opened the bottle, I got coconut water –not artificial coconut but actual coconut water. Not the soft drink type of coconut water either, it's the kind of coconut water that's fresh from a newly opened coconut. On my skin though, I just got a burst of smoke at first. It worried me a bit but after three minutes I start getting this very rich musky coconut. There's the scent of tropical flowers mingled into this. The tropical flowers tries to lighten the scent, but overall the coconut weighs it down and it becomes a very heavy, heady scent.

The coconut bit start reminding me of sun tan oil after 10 min, with slightly piercing florals. The florals kept getting more and more piercing on me to the point where it smells like obnoxiously perfumed sun tan oil. The initial scents are just so perfect, that I'm cursing my skin chemistry right now. I think this scent will smell heavenly on a different skin chemistry!

TL;DR: Obnoxiously floral perfumed sun tan oil.


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Cupid the Archer: Gold

"Bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, cocoa absolute, spiced rum, 10 year aged cruelty-free beeswax absolute, and a pinch of blood orange." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

I got delicious cocoa wafting up, but at the base there's an off smell that didn't reveal itself to be this waxy orange until 2-5 min into the scent. Theo cocoa is the richest, dark chocolate that makes me drool. The orange part smells like the gooey, liquid centre of an orange chocolate truffle. Unfortunately, the waxy part makes me think of these sort of orange-flavoured wafers:


This is actually a soap! You can buy it from LoveLeeSoaps on Etsy. I've never tried this company though!


It just spoils the entire scent for me. Luckily, after about 30 min, the cocoa is the most prominent part of the scent, and the part that wafts around as I walk. If I go close to the skin, I still get orange wafers, but if I avoid sniffing too close, it's rich, decadent dark chocolate. 

When the scent dries down after about 2h, the scent that gets left behind unfortunately smells like curdled milk on me.

TL;DR: The most luxurious orange chocolate truffle smushed between artificial orange wafers.


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Fanning the Fur

"Almond, vetiver, luxuriant amber resin, coconut milk, peru balsam, and whiskey." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

I get fragrant almond milk with something savoury, which makes me think of large chunks of chopped almonds. It really smells like chopped almonds. Actual chopped almonds, not a romanticized almond. Sure, the bit that smells like almond milk smells like a perfumed version of almond milk, but the savoury part smells like actual almond chunks. They even have that fibrous sort of smell. I feel like I'm sniffing a high-fiber, trail-mix sort of muesli with lots of almond, served with the most fragrant, sweet almond milk. I'm actually getting hungry sniffing this. I'm not sure how I feel about this scent. I love this scent, I'm very impressed by it and it makes me hungry....but it's like BathSabbath's November Coming Fire, which smells like the most gastronomically orgasmic lamb chops –it's not really something I want to scent myself with.

As it dries down, the scent becomes closer to a Japanese milk pudding flavoured chewy candy, with hints of wood.

TL;DR: Fragrant almond milk with actual chopped almonds.

Overview: Huh, on second sniff, I can smell a bit of the whiskey, which I think is the reason for the almond milk bit smelling as fragrant as it does. I think the amber resin, vetiver & balsam's the one that adds realism to the savoury chopped almond scent.


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Honey & Venom

"Honey amber, black amber, smoky oudh, black vanilla, and kyphi." (Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

Oh wow. When I opened the bottle, I got hit by that fragrant, thin honey note I just love. The kind that has an almost wooden touch to it and will be a melodic high note if it were a sound. This one has wood though. Old wood. Only it's not the kind of old wood that reminds you of coffins and grandparents' homes like NAVA's old wood. This is the kind of wood that makes you think of Indonesian palaces that are rich in history –it's dark, rich, almost incense-like. For the Asia-based readers, don't worry, this does not smell like a mama-san store/your grandma's altar/one of those old Chinese store manned by an old Chinese man in a singlet.

It's a very seductive scent and definitely makes me think of mystical Indonesian myths and legends. If I'm asked by the Indonesian tourism board to pick a scent that would represent Indonesia (the way we'd like to be represented...not how Indonesia actually smells), this is it. I need a full bottle of this. It's a matter of national pride.

indonesia, francesca tanmizi, bali
A photo I took of a barong dancer. Yup, he's jumping over fire.


TL;DR: Indonesian myths & legends.

Overview: Holy crap. That's it. There's oud in this and this smells so close to the Sumbawan oud I get from my dad's friend! I wonder if the oud Julia uses is Sumbawan oud.


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Jabberwoking

"Fresh gingerroot with ginger grass, strawberry, satsuma, raspberry, ruby grapefruit, apricot, chai, and green musk." (Arcana, Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

Oooh....this is a burst of fruits. It smells like a pink fruit punch, but with something vegetable-ish that I can't place. The scent ends up smelling like a pink fruit punch from a healthy juice bar, where they add stuff like wheatgrass, ginger and cayenne pepper to make the juice healthier and help you detox/balance/whatever.

TL;DR: Pink fruit punch made healthy.

Overview: I'm guessing it's the ginger grass, chai & green musk making it smell like a healthy vegetable juice.


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Paddling the Pink Canoe

"Dragonsblood, vintage patchouli, citron, pink salt, pink musk, and amber." (Pretty Indulgent, Rhinestone Housewife)

This is musky and sugary, in a soft, pink way. I don't know if I got pink from the suggestion from the scent's name, but it's very girly, and feminine, and just makes you think of soft, pink rooms. The sugary bit is cool and light, and not the piercing sort of "sugar" note that's similar to Aquolina's Pink Sugar.

Unfortunately, after 10-15 min, I start getting a bit of a searing, fizzy tartness that reminds me of room sprays. It's a really lovely scent, but I just can't get over that room spray bit.

TL;DR: Pink musk room spray.



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Giggle Water

"Champagne infused with tropical white blossoms, citron, mango, sweet skin musk, and green galbanum." (Pretty Indulgent)



At first I got a burst of mangoes but then it becomes that fizzy citrus scent that's often referred to as a champagne note, with the mango in the background to make it smell like a tropical fruit champagne cocktail. The fizzy citrus bit is definitely prominent and it starts getting sharp and almost woody at times. Unfortunately, the fizzy citrus bit also gets so amplified on my skin that it drowned out the other subtler scents, and this scent ends up smelling a bit one-dimensional on me after about 20-30 min. If I force myself to keep sniffing it until my nose gets used to the assault of the fizzy citrus note, I can pick up subtler scents like crushed, fresh, young green leaves, and mangoes. Unfortunately, the only thing I can catch when the scent is wafting around is just that single fizzy citrus note.

TL;DR: Fizzy citrus assault, with crushed, fresh, young green leaves, and mangoes hiding in the flank.


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Sitting Pretty

"Sugared rum poured slowly over warm, sensual vanilla musk." (Pretty Indulgent)


This reminds me of Pumpkins Crave Treats in that warm, brown sugar pie sort of way. If you've ever tried Momofuku's crack pie, it's similar to that scent, only a bit more perfumed. 


You can get the recipe for this here from epicurious.com. The pie is basically made up of sugar, egg, vanilla,  and cream. It sounds disgusting but it's really like crack – you can't stop eating it even though you know you'll hate yourself afterwards.


This one has an oily, margarine-like quality to the scent though, and it ends up being much more heavier than Pumpkins Crave Treats. In suffocatingly hot, tropical weather, it gets too cloying and heavy, unfortunately. There's also hints of a raisin-like sweetness, similar to Possets' Gelato: Vaniglia and Solstice Scents' Kitchen.

TL;DR: Oily, margarine version of Momofuku's crack pie with raisin-like sweetness.


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Travelers

"A deep, dark blend of labdanum resin, worn leather, Mysore sandalwood, smoked resins of frankincense and myrrh, red dragonsblood, kush, and a hint of zazz." (Pretty Indulgent)

Crap. This kinda reminds me of a Chinese medicine store. One that tries to be brightly lit and modern, but the resulting scent is bitter Chinese medicine, a bitter, sterile smell, red joss sticks, and some lush, musky Lampberger room fragrance trying valiantly to hide all the other scents. 

It does get more luxuriously musky with time, but it's still mostly red joss sticks. Definitely a more luxurious, perfumed version of red joss sticks, but still red joss sticks. It's the way you can create a gourmet mac & cheese with 5 types of cheese and truffle oil, but it's still a mac & cheese. Red joss sticks reminds me of my grandma's creepy altar that glows red at night, so I'm not a fan of this scent.


You can fancy it up all you want, it still smells like your grandma's creepy altar.
Image courtesy of agarscentsbazaar.com


TL;DR: Luxurious red joss sticks.



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Twirling the Pearl

"Rich, golden honey, marshmallow, lavender milk, soft musk, and a tiny hint of green galbanum." (Pretty Indulgent)

Ok. I'm confused. On one hand, there's this light, watery lavender that makes me think of lavender toner swiped across your face during a spa treatment during. At the same time, there's the most realistic marshmallow note I've ever encountered. It's so realistic, it goes straight to my stomach and makes me hungry. But the lavender toner bit is inedible. It's two awesome scents combined together to confuse my brain —can I eat it, or should I keep my mouth shut?



As it dries down, it becomes powdery lavender marshmallow with freshly cut plant stalks. I love this marshmallow note so much, I hope Arcana does an entire marshmallow collection!

TL;DR: Lavenders and marshmallows.


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Review & Recommendation: 7 Scents from Arcana's Hieronymus Bosch Collection

Well, apparently the full name of the collection is the Hieronymus Bosch's The Seven Deadly Sins and The Four Last Things series, but that's too long for a title. Thanks to the wonderful /u/Saffrin, I got to try 7 scents from this collection! Before I go on to the reviews, I need to get all of you to appreciate how amazing this woman is. This is how she sent the sniffies:

Yup. Name, Year, Brand, Collection, & General Collection/Limited Edition. AND handwritten.

Oh and she also sent me a bag full of Fantales, so I love her forever.

For the uninitiated, Fantales are awesome and Australia's greatest contribution to the world. Koala's are cute and all that, but Fantales are delicious. As far as I know, I can't eat a freaking koala so in my book, they're useless but cute balls of fluff.

They're pretty dumb too. If they weren't so cute, they'd be extinct.


Anyway, enough about my koala tangent and on to the scent reviews. As always, they're done blind until the TL;DRs are written.



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Accidia


"Sloth. Ripened figs, thick vanilla, languid kush smoke, beehive dross, frankincense, bergamot, and citron."

When I first put this on, this scent went nuts, morphing for a fruity tartness that lasted too short to identify to something vaguely cough syrup like, to a minty vanilla –this is all within the first minute. Finally, the scent that settled on my skin is this sweet, icy complex citrus. The icy bit is cool and light, not searingly icy like eucalyptus or tea tree oil, but definitely more icy than mint.

Now this scent is very dependent on my hormones. When I'm on my period, there's the smell of something waxy and something old underneath. It's mild and adds to the rich complexity of the fragrance. The citrus is also less prominent and smells more like vaguely sweet, tart fruits. When I'm not on my period, the smell underneath is waxy and old cardboards and it grosses me out. The waxy old box bit also thankfully disappeared after about 15 min, thought there's still hints of something old and cardboard-ish.

TL;DR: Icy, complex citrus vanilla with hints of old cardboard or icy complex vanilla tart fruits with hints of something old.

Overview: I'm guessing it's the frankincense and kush creating that old cardboard bit.


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Avaricia


"Greed. A grabby, voracious mix of blueberries, salal berries, pomegranates, strawberries, and red currants over a base of creamy musk and white amber."

Delicious candied red berries. After about 10 min, there's this clean, yet cozy scent that makes the scent more wearable as a perfume rather than something that belongs strictly on the dessert table. The scent still stays light though! The scent is definitely very young, feminine, sweet, fun, yet elegant.

I somehow get reminded of winter, but maybe it's because it has those red berries scent that a lot of winter/Christmas scents seem to have. It's not a cozy, nostalgic sort of winter/Christmas feeling though. It's more of that giddy, giggly, excited feeling that you only get as a kid or as a grown up spending your first Christmas with a new love. Though maybe it's more fun as a grown up because on top of presents, you get to smugly be all nauseatingly cute and annoying everyone around you. And your family can't ask you why you're still single anymore.

Admit it, doing this in front of that annoying family member who's still single is much more fun than doing this in private.
Gorgeous photography by Olga Ordashevskaya


TL;DR: Giddy, giggly berries.

Overview: On second sniff, I do smell the blueberries. I normally hate blueberries but this goes great! I'm so impressed by Arcana's fruit notes.


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Invidia


"Envy. Green apples and winesap cider with bright Oman olibanum, white amber, pearl musk, and the biggest slice of cake."

This smells like cola with sugarcane juice at first, but after 5 min, it becomes the most fragrant, crisp green apple with champagne, mixed with a sugarcane sweetness. As the scent dries down about 40-50 min in, I get this most comforting warm musky scent at the base that makes me think of being wrapped in a soft, cashmere shawl. It's really the most gorgeous musk. There's just something so satisfying about this scent...it's like drinking a fresh, cold apple soda while wrapped in a warm cashmere shawl. It's an odd combination but oddly comforting.

TL;DR: Drinking a fresh, cold apple soda while wrapped in a warm cashmere shawl

Overview: I had to go for a second sniff and now I think I can smell the Arcana yellow cake note, only when blended with the fresh apples and winesap cider, it ends up being that sugarcane sweet bit.


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Hell


"Pomegranate seeds, dragonsblood resin, black musk, and a smoldering lake of fire."

In the beginning, I got a burst of what seems to be nag champa, but it's gone pretty fast, blending into the scent. The scent settles into a red candy with clean smoke, and old wood you can find in Chinese temples. The red candy part is the same one as what I've sniffed Arcana's Murder Ballad Blues, so I think the two share similar notes. I describe the smoke as a "clean smoke" since it just smells like smoke –not a BBQ sort of smoke or a tobbaco smoke. It just smells like the scent left behind in romanticized smouldering ruins (the kind that's free of dead bodies, burnt plastic, etc.). The old Chinese temple wood is fortunately not so prominent on me, and just sits in the background.

I still feel like I'm eating red candy while walking through an old Chinese temple in winter (when the cold weather doesn't make the smoke unbearably searing), and passing by someone burning organic plant matter in the garden.

The scent left lingering on your skin when the perfume fades is that game-y incense smell NAVA loves using, with traces of red candy.

TL;DR:  Muted smoke, game-y incense & red candy.




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Glory

"Heaven. An ecstatic blend of fresh tuberose, tiare, blackberry, raspberry, grapefruit, angelic musk, citron, and lavender."

This has that clean, floral-citrus that unfortunately reminds me of a bathroom freshener. Fortunately, it's not the searing sort of citrus that reminds me of air fresheners, but it's definitely one of those bathroom scents that's in the form of an oil that you just leave sitting there. There's a berries scent that blends into this scent to make it smell like a clean, high end oil diffuser in a 5-star hotel, but it's still something I personally associate with room fragrances rather than perfume. I blame the citrus.

Luckily, after about 20-30 min, the citrus part faded and now it's this heavenly soapy, musky tart fruits scent. Tart fruits are often light and sweet, but this one is more warm and heavy. It's like a florid, heavy, powdery sort of tart fruits scent. The powdery bit usually makes me think of old lady powder rooms, but this scent is definitely not old lady. Older, but not old.

While the scent's not for me, I'm still impressed how well they blended a typical fresh, light sort of scent with a heavy, old lady sort of scent and somehow make them work so well together. If you're looking for a fruity scent that smells not too young but aren't ready to go full old lady yet, this is it. It's still fresh, but grounded, with the sort of texture that's similar to soft cashmere. I wonder if this has the same musk as Invidia.

The heavy powderiness is the first to go as this scent dries down, and after an hour, the scent is more of a slightly musky tart fruits sort of scent.  

TL;DR: Powdery, musky tart fruits.


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Luxuria


"Lust. Wild, carnal musk with blond tobacco, vanilla, dark resins, and sugared peach."

There's something sweet and delicious, lightly musky in this scent, that I can only describe as angelic.  It's warm, musky enough to be comforting, but light enough that it feels like you're being hugged by a bundle of feathers. The sweetness is complex and fragrant –it's some fleshy fruit I can't really identify since it's so blended into the scent. This smells like getting hugged by an angel while being bathed in the warm, evening light.

You know you want to be here.
Gorgeous photography by Anka Zhuravleva

Unfortunately, underneath it, I got that acrid, bitter, medicinal wood that can be a black tea note gone wrong. I'm kind of sad because this scent is amazing if not for that acrid, medicinal wood part. The acrid bit disappeared after about 5-10 min, but there's still this medicinally bitter wood at the base of this scent. It's like being hugged by an angel while being bathed in the warm, evening light....and knowing that any moment, she can drop you and send you plummeting to your death.


Enjoying a post-homicide smoke.
Gorgeous photography by Anka Zhuravleva

Fortunately, after close to 30 min, the bitterness finally completely disappears, and it becomes this powdery, musky, fleshy fruit scent that reminds me of another Arcana scent –Little Man on the Boat.

TL;DR: Darker version of Little Man on the Boat.

Overview: Here's the notes from Little Man on a Boat:

"Peach nectar and delicate musk dripping with Tupelo honey, Clover honey, and one dainty tuberose petal."

I'm guessing it's the peach & musk combo creating the similarities. I tried both of them together and I find that they're so similar but so different at the same time. Little Man on a Boat (LMOB) starts off as lighter, fresher and sweeter than Luxuria. Luxuria also starts off as a more powdery sort of scent. By 15 min both of them have this same comforting yet seductive fruity musk scent, only with different twists.  LMOB stayed more fresh and clean, and ended up having this twee sort of powderiness that makes you think of cute boudoirs that's most likely very, very pink. Luxuria has that dark, "dirty" and bitter bite to it –it makes you think of darker, more dangerous sort of boudoir where you want and don't want to be seduced at the same time. They're like the opposing sides of the same scent.


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Superbia


"Pride. Opulent vanilla musk and virgin coconut with Mysore sandalwood, neroli, cubeb, and petitgrain."

I got a burst of green when I first put it on, but it then gets enveloped in this cozy, amber-like vanilla note. After about 10 min, I got coconut too, but it's not a dessert sort of coconut. It's rich, creamy coconut oil, and more of a soothing rather than an edible smell. Eventually, the scent settled into the richest, most amazing coconut scent ever. This is the kind of coconut you want to bathe in and slather all over your body. It's buttery, rich and scented with opulent, warm vanilla and woody amber.

It's such a rich, decadent scent. It makes me think of languishing in chaise lounges, while a hoard of servants attend to my every needs. If I didn't know Invidia was sloth, I'd guess this was sloth. It's just an expensive, lavish yet sensual and cozy scent. I love this!

It does get very heavy at times, almost sickeningly so, but somehow it's a nice sort of sickening to me, if that makes any sense at all. It's the feeling of indulging in too much pleasure, but having no regrets despite the hangover/stomach ache/sore bodies.


Totally planning on indulging in gluttony only.
Gorgeous photography by Black ICE Studios



TL;DR: Rich coconut scent for someone who can live their entire life perched on a chaise lounge while getting pampered by a hoard of servants.