Scented Musings

🥀 St. Fabian (The most beautiful rose accord, two ambers (one dry and golden, one sweet/vanilla), a bit of incense smoke)

Preliminary notes: I've been wanting to pick this up for years, but I've missed the day it's available every single time. I'm so glad I'm finally going to be able to try it this year!

In bottle: "Most beautiful rose accord" is right. This is VERY rose-heavy, and the rose accord is extremely realistic. I get a smidge of vanilla as well, but it's like 99% rose in the bottle. It's not a fruity rose like in The Velvet Riding Habit, which I appreciate. Fruity roses are not my favorite.

On skin: This is absolutely beautiful. The rose accord is married seamlessly with the vanilla and incense, and the amber provides a warm base for it all. The rose accord still doesn't threaten to go fruity, which I very much appreciate. This could very well be a new holy grail rose scent for me. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and the whole thing feels very reverent and romantic.

Verdict: 5 curls of incense smoke enveloping a rose out of 5.


🍇 Bacchante (Concord grape wine, smooth patchouli, labdanum, a bit of red musk, a slight amount of a "bright" musk)

Preliminary notes: Grape can be hit or miss in general, but I'm a huuuge fan of Bacchus in mythology, and this sounds very slinky and sexy.

In bottle: Immediately upon opening the bottle, the first thought I had was "BPAL!" The wine/red musk combo is in a lot of my favorite BPAL scents, so I guess that's not far off. The wine accord here has quite a bite to it, and it smells like real grapes as opposed to like, grape flavoring. I quite like this already. It's sultry.

On skin: Once this is on the skin, it becomes quite dark and deep. The musks take over a bit, though the grape is still very much there. It's a very sexual and seductive scent. I love it. As it wears, it melds into this delightful woody incense scent.

Verdict: 5 wine-stained seductresses out of 5.


🔥 Joan of Arc (Churchy incense, smoke from a campfire, a bit of wood)

Preliminary notes: Incense and smoke? Enough said. I'm sold.

In bottle: Hmm.. something in here smells like a combination of baby powder and baby wipes. Hoping that doesn't translate to the skin. I don't get any smoke or wood.

On skin: Up close, it does smell like wood and smoke/incense. From afar, it smells very.. odd, and I'm not sure why that is. This is a very strange scent, and I'm not sure what to think of it. Can't say I'm a fan.

Verdict: 2.75 confused censers of incense out of 5.


🎀 Candybox Pretty (Sweet white flowers combined with a "champagne musk", lemon, candlewax, gardenia, tuberose)

Preliminary notes: This kind of sounds like a more floral Madame X, which I have and love. I'm a big tuberose and gardenia fan, so I'm imagining this could be a flirtier, pink sister to Madame X.

In bottle: This is quite light, and very pretty, so it's aptly named. The lemon note is very soft and fresh, and the whole thing smells very ethereal. Woodland faeries would smell like this during the springtime.

On skin: Veeery floral. I definitely smell the tuberose, lemon, and wax. It reminds me of something, but I'm not sure what. It smells very white-pink and is quite a flirty fragrance. It'd be great for the springtime. It's a bit too light/clean for me, but it's a nice scent.

Verdict: 3.5 flirty flowers out of 5.


💀 Jael (Cream, cardamom, clove, pear, lemon, Balm of Gilead)

Preliminary notes: I don't normally vibe with pear notes, but someone on the Possets forum described this as evoking imagery of an ancient feast, and that was enough for me. Something about the note lineup sounds medieval to me, so that checks out.

In bottle: This is VERY warm, and it smells like molten gold. The pear smells almost baked, and it's not a shampoo-y pear note, thank god. I kept pulling off the cap and smelling this repeatedly after the first sniff, so that's always a good sign. It's intoxicating.

On skin: Not much difference from the bottle, minus the potency. This has very decent throw. Everything melds together pretty seamlessly, but the cream and almost-baked pear are the strongest. I love this.

Verdict: 5 ancient feasts out of 5.


✨ Stewart (Black agarwood, light leather, sandalwood, buffed mahogany)

Preliminary notes: I'm not gonna lie, most of the motivation for getting this one was that it sounded like something my charlatan warlock character in D&D might wear or smell like (or, alternatively, what Gale's tower in Baldur's Gate 3 might smell like). I am but a simple woman. 😂

In bottle: This is masculine-leaning for sure and almost smells a bit soapy, like extremely expensive aftershave. The mahogany is the strongest note in the bottle for me. I quite like this.

On skin: There's something quite green-smelling in here, but I'm not sure what that could be, given the notes. Still very masculine, still smells like expensive aftershave, but I like it. I feel like there have been men in my life who have smelled almost identical to this before. It's quite intoxicating, I must say, and I passed this off to DH to enjoy instead, as it's a bit too masculine-leaning for me.

Verdict: 3.75 refined gentlemen out of 5.