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A Very Belated Possets Yule Review
Feb. 21st, 2024 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
femmensteinHello, hello! We've finally reached the end of the year (suspend your disbelief and just pretend that it's still nearing the end of 2023). This year has been full of ups and downs, and quite frankly, I'm glad to be rid of it. š
The end of the year also heralds a new set of perfume reviews, since DH always offers to buy me some as a Christmas gift (it's a very easy, reliable gift idea, since there are always perfumes out there that I'd like to try). Possets was having their usual 25% off Thanksgiving sale in late November, so we ordered these a month before Christmas since A, it's a good sale, and B, I live in Canada and always get paranoid about perfume bottles cracking in the mail during December because of the low temperatures. Plus December is a horrible time for mail in general up here, so it's easier to just avoid that altogether.
These are mostly Yules, with one Halloween scent thrown in for good measure. Without further ado, onward to the reviews!
š Boughs (Balsam, spruce, cypress, holly, and whatever is decking the halls)
Preliminary notes: I'm gonna spare you from reading "This has been on my radar for 1-3 years" in every single one of the prelim note sections and just say that all of them, except for Treat, have been scents I've looked into numerous times over the last few years.
This one in particular, since I LOVE balsam and spruce notes. I'm a huge sucker for holiday greenery scents. Some reviews on the Possets forum mention underlying fruity notes in this scent, so we'll see if I can pick up on those.
In bottle: This is.. not quite what I was expecting. It smells like mulled wine, apples, and evergreens underneath. It's very fruity in the bottle, which I'm a bit unsure about. It smells like the imagery of a Victorian Christmas though, so I'm not mad about it. It's charming.
On skin: The evergreen notes come out a LOT more on the skin, and the fruitiness takes a major backseat. I'm pretty sure there's a bit of orange in this as well, and evergreens mixed with orange is one of my favorite scent combinations. I quite like it! The apple/mulled wine vibe comes back as it dries, and it's very festive.
Verdict: 4 evergreen boughs studded with fruit slices out of 5.
āØ Liquid Tinsel (Fir, heaps of sugar, a hint of peppermint)
Preliminary notes: I believe it was last year, I emailed the Possets team about very specific scent recommendations involving snow, A Christmas Story, and other holiday-related things. I apparently lost that email (still salty about that), but I do remember Liquid Tinsel being one of their recommendations. Again, big evergreen/holiday greenery fan, so I can't see myself *not* liking this.
In bottle: Again, kind of fruity (at this point, I'm assuming Possets' fir notes lean on the jammy side). The sugar and peppermint are definitely there as well. The mint veers into toothpaste territory a bit, and I'm REALLY hoping that goes away on the skin. It almost smells a bit cough syrup-y in the bottle.
On skin: On skin, I literally cannot distinguish the mint from the fir. They both blend together and create a very cooling effect. It goes between candy canes and frozen trees, which is really interesting. "Liquid Tinsel" is a very apt name for it.
Verdict: 4 candy cane forests out of 5.
š© Sticky Buns (A great cinnamon and sugar concoction)
Preliminary notes: (I know the emoji is a donut, but cinnamon bun emojis apparently don't exist, shh š)
As is probably well-known on this blog by now, I amp cinnamon. Always. This scent was on my "Yeeeah, probably" list until I read it to DH and he said he really liked how it sounded, sooo, in the cart it went. I don't even dislike cinnamon, really. I just don't always want cinnamon to make me smell like a Red Hots factory. Either way, I do really love the smell of cinnamon buns, so I'm hoping this is fairly realistic.
I read a Reddit review that mentioned Sticky Buns smelled like cinnamon sugar toast to the reviewer, so that's promising.
In bottle: Literally just smells like cinnamon sugar, which.. duh. There's a teeeeny tiny bit of something cake-y underneath that, but it's 95% cinnamon, 4% sugar, and 1% cake.
On skin: Wow, okay. So just going off of the aura of the scent before I actually smell my wrist, this smells uncannily like actual cinnamon buns, minus the icing. Up close, it's all cinnamon, which I'm not shocked by since my skin amps it. DH was very insistent that I pick this one up, which I was a bit apprehensive about because of my skin's tendency to make cinnamon notes ridiculously potent, but I'm glad I got this. It's a really lovely, sugary, foody cinnamon scent, and it fills a gap in my collection that I didn't know I had. If you're a cinnamon lover (or cinnamon sugar lover), definitely give this one a go!
As a sidenote, this smells even better if you're outside in cooler temperatures. Phenomenal.
Verdict: 5 sugary cinnamon buns out of 5.
š® Calorie Neutralizer (Light cloves, heavy sugar, a great sheet of the most buttery of toffee)
Preliminary notes: I love cloves, I love sugary scents, and I love toffee. The only thing I'm hoping for here is that it doesn't go fruity on me like Reason did. I've found a grand total of 2 reviews for this scent (both on the Possets forum), and both of them said it smelled like custard, so I'm hoping that's accurate.
In bottle: So I get none of the listed notes and instead get a fruity, almost floral cream scent. Reason was very fruity to me as well, but thankfully, this one isn't nearly as rich in that way.
On skin: Still fruity. It does have a custard-esque character, but I don't get any toffee or clove. Just fruity (specifically some kind of red berry) custard, which in itself isn't bad, just not what I was expecting. Calorie Neutralizer smells like a cousin to The Glutton's Delight, so the fruity note might be raspberry. It does smell decidedly festive though. I'm not sure how I feel about it, so I'll probably re-test it in the future.
Verdict: 3 unexpectedly fruity custards out of 5.
š¬ Treat (Sugar, caramel, chocolate, candy corn, marshmallow, popcorn, peanut butter, spice?)
Preliminary notes: So we have to talk about this one. I'm sure you've noticed the question mark at the end of the note description, and that's because the original description of this scent is basically just "a bunch of sweet, candy-like things." I made my own note list going off of what was said in reviews on the Possets forum, since the notes above were cited more than anything else was, so I'd wager I'll at least be able to smell a few of them.
In bottle: Holy crap, this was B O O Z Y upon first sniff. I don't know if it's the chocolate or what, but I said "WHOA" out loud. I can absolutely see the parallels between this and Spook, but Treat is MUCH richer and more dense. Spook is a lighter cousin, and definitely not a sibling.
On skin: Chocolate, jelly beans, and popcorn! Getting a bit of caramel and candy corn as well. Treat basically smells like a loaded candy bag at the end of Halloween night, and once it's on the skin, it definitely smells more like a sister scent of Spook than a cousin. I really enjoy it. As it dries, it goes kind of dusty, and then a peanut buttery note comes out. It's a morpher.
Verdict: 4 Halloween candy bags out of 5.
The end of the year also heralds a new set of perfume reviews, since DH always offers to buy me some as a Christmas gift (it's a very easy, reliable gift idea, since there are always perfumes out there that I'd like to try). Possets was having their usual 25% off Thanksgiving sale in late November, so we ordered these a month before Christmas since A, it's a good sale, and B, I live in Canada and always get paranoid about perfume bottles cracking in the mail during December because of the low temperatures. Plus December is a horrible time for mail in general up here, so it's easier to just avoid that altogether.
These are mostly Yules, with one Halloween scent thrown in for good measure. Without further ado, onward to the reviews!
š Boughs (Balsam, spruce, cypress, holly, and whatever is decking the halls)
Preliminary notes: I'm gonna spare you from reading "This has been on my radar for 1-3 years" in every single one of the prelim note sections and just say that all of them, except for Treat, have been scents I've looked into numerous times over the last few years.
This one in particular, since I LOVE balsam and spruce notes. I'm a huge sucker for holiday greenery scents. Some reviews on the Possets forum mention underlying fruity notes in this scent, so we'll see if I can pick up on those.
In bottle: This is.. not quite what I was expecting. It smells like mulled wine, apples, and evergreens underneath. It's very fruity in the bottle, which I'm a bit unsure about. It smells like the imagery of a Victorian Christmas though, so I'm not mad about it. It's charming.
On skin: The evergreen notes come out a LOT more on the skin, and the fruitiness takes a major backseat. I'm pretty sure there's a bit of orange in this as well, and evergreens mixed with orange is one of my favorite scent combinations. I quite like it! The apple/mulled wine vibe comes back as it dries, and it's very festive.
Verdict: 4 evergreen boughs studded with fruit slices out of 5.
āØ Liquid Tinsel (Fir, heaps of sugar, a hint of peppermint)
Preliminary notes: I believe it was last year, I emailed the Possets team about very specific scent recommendations involving snow, A Christmas Story, and other holiday-related things. I apparently lost that email (still salty about that), but I do remember Liquid Tinsel being one of their recommendations. Again, big evergreen/holiday greenery fan, so I can't see myself *not* liking this.
In bottle: Again, kind of fruity (at this point, I'm assuming Possets' fir notes lean on the jammy side). The sugar and peppermint are definitely there as well. The mint veers into toothpaste territory a bit, and I'm REALLY hoping that goes away on the skin. It almost smells a bit cough syrup-y in the bottle.
On skin: On skin, I literally cannot distinguish the mint from the fir. They both blend together and create a very cooling effect. It goes between candy canes and frozen trees, which is really interesting. "Liquid Tinsel" is a very apt name for it.
Verdict: 4 candy cane forests out of 5.
š© Sticky Buns (A great cinnamon and sugar concoction)
Preliminary notes: (I know the emoji is a donut, but cinnamon bun emojis apparently don't exist, shh š)
As is probably well-known on this blog by now, I amp cinnamon. Always. This scent was on my "Yeeeah, probably" list until I read it to DH and he said he really liked how it sounded, sooo, in the cart it went. I don't even dislike cinnamon, really. I just don't always want cinnamon to make me smell like a Red Hots factory. Either way, I do really love the smell of cinnamon buns, so I'm hoping this is fairly realistic.
I read a Reddit review that mentioned Sticky Buns smelled like cinnamon sugar toast to the reviewer, so that's promising.
In bottle: Literally just smells like cinnamon sugar, which.. duh. There's a teeeeny tiny bit of something cake-y underneath that, but it's 95% cinnamon, 4% sugar, and 1% cake.
On skin: Wow, okay. So just going off of the aura of the scent before I actually smell my wrist, this smells uncannily like actual cinnamon buns, minus the icing. Up close, it's all cinnamon, which I'm not shocked by since my skin amps it. DH was very insistent that I pick this one up, which I was a bit apprehensive about because of my skin's tendency to make cinnamon notes ridiculously potent, but I'm glad I got this. It's a really lovely, sugary, foody cinnamon scent, and it fills a gap in my collection that I didn't know I had. If you're a cinnamon lover (or cinnamon sugar lover), definitely give this one a go!
As a sidenote, this smells even better if you're outside in cooler temperatures. Phenomenal.
Verdict: 5 sugary cinnamon buns out of 5.
š® Calorie Neutralizer (Light cloves, heavy sugar, a great sheet of the most buttery of toffee)
Preliminary notes: I love cloves, I love sugary scents, and I love toffee. The only thing I'm hoping for here is that it doesn't go fruity on me like Reason did. I've found a grand total of 2 reviews for this scent (both on the Possets forum), and both of them said it smelled like custard, so I'm hoping that's accurate.
In bottle: So I get none of the listed notes and instead get a fruity, almost floral cream scent. Reason was very fruity to me as well, but thankfully, this one isn't nearly as rich in that way.
On skin: Still fruity. It does have a custard-esque character, but I don't get any toffee or clove. Just fruity (specifically some kind of red berry) custard, which in itself isn't bad, just not what I was expecting. Calorie Neutralizer smells like a cousin to The Glutton's Delight, so the fruity note might be raspberry. It does smell decidedly festive though. I'm not sure how I feel about it, so I'll probably re-test it in the future.
Verdict: 3 unexpectedly fruity custards out of 5.
š¬ Treat (Sugar, caramel, chocolate, candy corn, marshmallow, popcorn, peanut butter, spice?)
Preliminary notes: So we have to talk about this one. I'm sure you've noticed the question mark at the end of the note description, and that's because the original description of this scent is basically just "a bunch of sweet, candy-like things." I made my own note list going off of what was said in reviews on the Possets forum, since the notes above were cited more than anything else was, so I'd wager I'll at least be able to smell a few of them.
In bottle: Holy crap, this was B O O Z Y upon first sniff. I don't know if it's the chocolate or what, but I said "WHOA" out loud. I can absolutely see the parallels between this and Spook, but Treat is MUCH richer and more dense. Spook is a lighter cousin, and definitely not a sibling.
On skin: Chocolate, jelly beans, and popcorn! Getting a bit of caramel and candy corn as well. Treat basically smells like a loaded candy bag at the end of Halloween night, and once it's on the skin, it definitely smells more like a sister scent of Spook than a cousin. I really enjoy it. As it dries, it goes kind of dusty, and then a peanut buttery note comes out. It's a morpher.
Verdict: 4 Halloween candy bags out of 5.
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