Review & Recommendation: 4 Scents from ZOMG Smells' Gabriel's City Collection

I previously tried out ZOMG Smells (review here) and was impressed by their quality, so I got 4 more decants of their Gabriel's City Collection from Ajevie. I'll probably buy a sample set from them soon, but at the moment, I still have a huge backlog of stuff to review so I'm holding off on buying from them.

Anyway, while most of these scents didn't work out on me, I'm still really impressed with the quality and would recommend this scent to anyone. Especially people who love old English apothecary type of herbal smells.

So on to reviews! As always, reviews are done blind until the TL;DR's written. If anything in the notes surprise me, I write an overview.

_________________________________________________

Anna 

"Honeycakes, fine rose-petal tea steeped just long enough and no more, and a dab of neroli, vanilla, and the most expensive sandalwood"

Omg this starts off so gorgeous! There's honeysuckle and a sweet, candied sort of rose. It's different from my favourite honeysuckle-rose combo though (MDA's Rapunzel has it). The rose here is velvety and candied, and it's heavier on the rose. It's also more creamy rather than fresh & grassy.

This is the prettiest cake ever...and it's what I imagine would smell like this scent!
Awesome masterpiece by sweettweetsbakery.blogspot

The rose does get heavier with time, and there's hints of powderiness. It gets a bit too sweet at times for me, but my skin does amp up sweetness and I still like it overall. This is definitely a scent you either love or hate.

TL;DR: Creamy, candied rose.

_________________________________________________

Colin

"Refined French lavender, sharp amber, ambergris, Atlas and Virginia cedarwoods, and an expensively sweet herbal cologne with cardamom, frankincense, nutmeg, bay, and clean, bright sandalwood."

This is a very soapy smell. Have you ever tried eating soap as a kid? I did. I wasn't a smart child...anyway, this smells like eating soap. There's an absinthe sort of herbalness to it, which makes it smell even more soapy on me. For some reason, my skin eats this scent up really fast. After about 10 min, the scent got faint on me and it becomes more of a blue, soapy candy that's kind of dusty and tart, but it still feels like you're eating something you shouldn't be eating.

By 40 min, the scent's nearly gone. 

TL;DR: Eating a bar of soap & washing it down with absinthe.

Overview: Not sure what's causing the absinthe scent, but I'm guessing it's the cardamom mixed with everything else. I know cardamom sometimes has a soapy sort of taste, so maybe that's behind the soapy feel too.

_________________________________________________

Drake

"The refined blend of imported lavender oil has been replaced by fresh crushed buds, he's down to just the sharper of the two cedarwoods, the memory of nutmeg, and a less poncy sandalwood that warms the skin and rubs up against the new things in his life: grave-dirt, freshly-broken twigs underfoot, earthy patchouli-- and of course, dragon's blood."

This has a dirt and herbs sort of scent to it too, but there's a peanut butter sort of creaminess to it and a lavender sort of iciness. The herbs part is an old English apothecary sort of herbal poultice smell –smells bitter, clean and made up of crushed dried leaves and roots. I don't know what to make of this scent. It's....interesting. I can appreciate the quality, but I don't like it. Neither do I hate it. I'm just confused and don't know what to make of it. I'm not sure who would wear this, but the next time someone wants weird scents, I'm destashing this to him/her.

After about 20 min, the peanut butter creaminess gets more dominant so it kind of smells like a peanut butter milkshake that's been mixed with tea tree/eucalyptus/lavender essential oil, and then poured over perfumed, fragrant wood.

TL;DR: Peanut butter milkshake that's been mixed with tea tree/eucalyptus/lavender essential oil, and then poured over perfumed, fragrant wood.

_________________________________________________

The Green Lady

"Sharp green galbanum, fresh wild lavender, cedar coffinwood, vetiver, patchouli and sandalwood for a last touch of the living on their lost ones, and grave-dirt."

This is a medicinal green and dirt. It's fresh leaves cut to make some herbal remedy that's bitter, cool & sharp. The scent is definitely unisex, leaning towards masculine. Despite all the herbal bits, it's still cool, light, and has hints of a masculine green note I've sniffed before in high end men's cologne. It's definitely not a boring mainstream high end cologne though! If you like earthy, herbal scents, you'll definitely love this. It's the scent of trudging in a forest turned into a refined perfume. I personally love this and think it smells like a guy who's very refined & elegant, yet kind of quirky and probably loves experimenting with....herbs. Somebody Johnny Depp-ish. Here's a picture I'd pick for an ad for this scent:

Ok...I think steampunk styles are so hot.
Awesome photography by Mascha Seitz

TL;DR: The scent of trudging in a forest turned into a refined perfume.

Overview: Oh wow...I normally hate patchouli but this isn't bad at all!

Review & Recommendation: ZOMG Smells' Spoopy Life (3 scents)

Happy New Year everyone! This post is a very short scent review this time!

I got to try 3 scents from ZOMG Smells' Spoopy Life collection thanks to Ajevie's decants. This is my first ZOMG Smells orders and I have to say I'm impressed with the quality and uniqueness of these scents! Even though I only found 1 scent I liked out of the 3, the quality of these scents are still great.

The scents usually start of at faux whispering distance, though some notes float up to casual conversation distance. It goes down to whispering distance at about 40 min and by 2h, you have to get close to your skin to catch a whiff.

So on to reviews! As usual, reviews are done blind until the TL;DR's written. If anything in the notes surprise me, I write an overview.

Orc Audacious

"Iris, Ylang-Ylang, orchid, deeply feminine musk, and the faint, sweet smoke of your warband's campfire."

Oh my god, this is gorgeous! It's a clean floral scent, with the bitterness of orchids. I'm just really impressed they captured that bitter orchid scent. I know it's not for everyone though, since I've heard the smell of orchids compared to death before. There's also a smoked wood base to this. This is definitely a unique yet extremely classy, high end sort of floral scent, and the bitterness adds a dark mysteriousness to it.

It smells like a very expensive, artistic floral arrangement by an artist that wants to make an emo statement with flowers for irony, or a scent that can easily be the scent of the year among the fashionable crowd who are attempting to achieve a mysterious, ethereal look through emaciation, and want a perfume to capture that. Here's the perfect model for this scent.

And add a touch of emo-ness because that totally adds depth to your character.
Amazing photography by Brian Harwood, the model's name is Sasha and I can't find any other info on her.

Oh, and just because you guys would crack up over this too, here's one of the comments on that picture:

Unfortunately, after 40 min, the scent dries down to just a very, very sweet scent, with a hint of bitterness.

TL;DR: Dark, mysterious and clean florals.

Peasant Under Glass

"This tastefully entrapped peasant has been fed fresh, wholesome peasant loaves, white cake, and rubbed with white musk, lemongrass and ginger. The cow in the picture is just for decor."

This smells like a perfumed spiced cake. The perfumed bit got sweeter and stronger until it smells like a yellow car perfume that comes in tins. It's a bit too strong and cloying for me. The initial spiced cake scent was delicious though, and I can still smell it underneath, but it's drowned out by the cloying sweetness.

TL;DR: Really sweet yellow car perfume with hints of spiced cake.

Overview: I definitely can identify the lemongrass on 2nd sniff. It's the part that turns yellow car perfume.

Woodwife

"Niaouli, dripping honey, and the beguiling notes of a forest rendezvous."

Omg, medicinal wood! Really, really medicinal wood. With something icy. The wood is medicinal in more like the mushrooms and European herbal salves sort of way. I'm now thinking of Granny Weatherwax.

One of my favourite characters ever and this is the closest illustration to how I imagine her to look like.
Artwork by Paul Kidby

I don't know how many of you read Terry Pratchett's Discworld, but Granny Weatherwax is one of his characters. She's a witch who prefers using psychology and medical knowledge rather than magic to help people. This is how I imagine she'd smell like after making a round around the village –soaked in herbal salves for healing wounds, but still radiating her usual steely, icy coolness.

TL;DR: Granny Weatherwax