Scented Musings

Hello, yet again! Previous parts of my Possets reviews can be found here and here, which also explain a bit about how this is laid out, what TAT was like, etc. etc. I initially just went to purchase Well Bred, buuut then I got sucked into the spring retour rabbithole, and.. well, obviously it didn't just end with Well Bred. 😂


🍵Well Bred (Highly refined tea, a green and refreshing heart note) (Valentine's retour)

Preliminary notes: Something about this one grabbed my attention when I first came across the listing and refused to let go. I'm a sucker for tea scents, as noted in my other reviews, but this one seemed extra special for whatever reason. I've been getting into Peaky Blinders lately, and something about the description for this one reminds me of the mood of that show.

DH's preliminary notes: Tea time in a British park? Certainly has nothing to do with the fact that we're watching Peaky Blinders.. (Eyyy, I'm not the only one)

In bottle: Very tea-forward with something that smells almost like coffee or soft leather. Interesting.

DH's thoughts: Whoooa, that's like peppery almost. It's got an interesting musk to it. Is there like, some sort of tree in there?

On skin: That coffee-like nuance is still there, and the tea has taken on a slightly dusty quality, but dusty in the sense of like.. it smells like the bottom of a loose-leaf tea tin when you reach the bottom of it. I still can't figure out what the "green and refreshing heart note" is, but it's not mint. Maybe a bit of lime leaf or labdanum? I do love the tea note in this, which isn't surprising at all, given my previous experience with Possets' tea notes. This is no exception. The coffee-esque tone this has makes it really nice for wearing in the morning.

DH's thoughts: Is there cinnamon in that? Really? It smells like cinnamon apples. Like green cinnamon apples. Is there apple in that? Fuck's sakes..

Verdict: 5 morning coffee/tea spreads out of 5. I do really like this. I've never smelled a scent that has both coffee and tea in it (even if the coffee note is per my own imagination), and it's very interesting. It kind of does fit the Peaky Blinders theme.


🍍Perkin (Pineapple, the smoothest of custards, dripping with cream and vanilla) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: I used to hate pineapple. I hated the smell of it, I hated the taste and the texture; it was repulsive to me. I don't know what changed, but a few years ago, I got inspired to try fresh pineapple again, and suddenly, I loved it. DH and I regularly have fresh pineapple chunks and/or pineapple juice in the house now. I don't have many pineapple scents, and this sounded delicious and perfect for summer.

DH's preliminary notes: Sounds like a Hawaiian treat of some kind.. Hawaiian Delight, that's what it's called!

In bottle: Yesss. This reminds me of Alchemic Muse's Pineapple Milk a little bit, but it's so much better. Pineapple and custard are a perfect match for each other. There's something slightly crumbly and softly spiced lurking beneath the pineapple and creaminess, which smells akin to a graham cracker crust.

DH's thoughts: Chocolate. Mint. Mint chocolate.

On skin: So I don't know if pineapple cream pie is a real thing, but if it is, I'd imagine it smells exactly like this. There's a very distinct pie crust-like note in here along with the pineapple and custard. I want to eat this. The pineapple and custard/cream/vanilla are very well-balanced, and it really does smell like a fresh slice of pie. Unexpected but fantastic. The pie crust-like note goes into almost saltine cracker territory sometimes, which I don't overly enjoy, but the rest of the scent is stellar.

DH's thoughts: Whoa, that caught me off guard. That's a real mix of smells. Whatever this is, these are smells I've never seen paired together before. It has a very unique, fascinating smell.

Verdict: 5 potentially fictional pineapple cream pies out of 5. I have nothing else to say about this beyond it's amazing and one of the best gourmands I've smelled.


🌸Tidal Wave (Cherry blossom, aquatic notes, splintered green woods) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: Much like pineapple, I used to think I hated cherry blossom. BPAL's Cherry Blossom Vulva changed that. The description for this one sounds like sitting in a park lined with a grove of cherry trees with a decently-sized pond in the background (or maybe in the middle).

DH's preliminary notes: Sounds like driftwood on a Japanese sea.

In bottle: The mother of all laundry detergent scents. This makes me very sad. I know better than to take Possets scents at face value before aging them though, so we'll see how that goes.

DH's thoughts: It's kind of refreshing, like evergreens and some kind of tea infusion.

On skin: Fuck, this is the spitting image of wet laundry, like when you take laundry out of the washer to transfer to the dryer. Do not want.

DH's thoughts: Fresh linens?

Verdict: 1 pile of wet (but clean) laundry out of 5. I don't like clean scents or laundry-adjacent scents, and this is the queen of both. Great for someone else, but not for me.


💐Primavera (Hyacinth, lily of the valley, a touch of sweetness) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: I adore hyacinth, but it's not a note I see often in indies. The "touch of sweetness" is apparently similar to cookies, according to various reviews, so this kind of sounds like a romantic garden party.

DH's preliminary notes: Walter White's backyard before he became Heisenberg.

In bottle: Slightly floral cookies. The florals are nondescript and don't smell like anything in particular.

DH's thoughts: That's odd. There's something almost sweaty about this one, and something floral about it too.

On skin: I am.. not a fan of this. It smells like dusty, stale cookies. I don't get any floral notes whatsoever. Hard pass.

DH's thoughts: None. I scrubbed this off before DH had a chance to smell it and threw Reason on to cover up the remnants of it.

Verdict: 0 old, dust-covered plates of cookies out of 5. I am sorely disappointed by this one. I had high hopes for the hyacinth note, but it's literally nonexistent.


🥧Indy 499 (Fluffy peony, the flakiest and most tender of pie smells) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: Peony is another floral note I don't see often. It's been many a year since I've smelled a peony (minus a tree peony I had that smelled like lemon ice cream, before our neighbor accidentally mowed it along with the grass), but I do remember liking the scent quite a bit.

DH's preliminary notes: Eating pie at my grandma's farm. (How friggin' adorable is that?)

In bottle: Pie and peony is such an odd combination, but strangely enough, it works. It smells like a cut peony on top of a piece of apple pie, or maybe apple rhubarb pie. The pie note has a smidge of tartness to it.

DH's thoughts: A light floral scent with maybe a wine infusion of some sort, like maybe an ice wine.

On skin: Peony lovers, eat your hearts out. The peony note is potent, but in a good way. It's the most realistic peony note I've come across. The pie crust recedes a bit, so it ends up primarily smelling like eating apple slices in a garden full of peonies. It's very pretty and fresh.

DH's thoughts: Fresh linens and flowers of some type? Something like that.

Verdict: 5 apple-eating excursions in a peony-laden garden out of 5 (I'd give this a higher score if I hadn't limited myself). I was a bit worried that the apple pie portion of this scent would be overbearing, but it evens out really nicely on the skin and becomes almost a peony single-note, but with a bit of depth from the (presumed) apple. This takes me right back to being a kid and smelling my sister's peonies in the front garden after she moved into my grandfather's house. This will be lovely for warmer weather.


🏘️3336 Reservoir Road N.W. (Cool green tree-lined streets, a whiff of tea being served in some successful man's drawing room, a bit of class-laden perfume worn by the ladies at tea, the far away scent of labdanum) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: More tea, more Peaky Blinders mental associations. Neither are shocking at this point. Classy tea scents are a huge weakness of mine, apparently.

DH's preliminary notes: Sounds like somebody having an affair in a Victorian manor.

In bottle: I can't really make out anything beyond a really nice evergreen note and some tea. Quite atmospheric, this one. It doesn't pull too masculine, either. It kind of smells like an outdoorsy cousin of Well Bred.

DH's thoughts: There's something kind of earthy about this. What is it...

On skin: Yesss, this is so good. The evergreen note mingles really well with the almost-fruity tea, and the labdanum and nondescript perfume notes provide a solid backdrop for it all. There's a very faint jammy spice note in there, which could be the jamminess of the evergreens mixing with the spiciness of the tea. I adore this. The thing I really love about Possets' tea notes is that they smell somewhere between a hot, steaming cup of tea and a cannister of loose tea leaves, split pretty evenly. It's fascinating and ends up smelling incredibly realistic most of the time.

DH's thoughts: None.

Verdict: 5 high-class tea times in a fancy townhouse out of 5. It's very rare that I don't like a tea scent from Possets, and this is no exception. The balance of the notes is perfect. As with most of Possets' tea scents, this one has its own personality and stands out from the rest of them while also being very obviously related to them. This makes me want to try more of their scents with evergreen notes as well.


🔥The Great Housewife of Babylon (Deep black musks, smoke from incense braziers, thick black tea, a mighty wallop of tobacco resin) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: This sounds spooky and commanding, and also kind of like a speakeasy.. or how I'd imagine The Garrison in Peaky Blinders would smell. (Sensing a theme?)

DH's preliminary notes: My version of meditation?

In bottle: Primarily the black musks and tobacco. Still smells like a speakeasy or The Garrison.

DH's thoughts: It's kind of weird; there's something kind of almost peppery and sweet about it. It kind of has the scent of new clothing to it, like a new boot. I actually kind of like this one.

On skin: From a distance immediately after application, this smells powdery and almost sweaty. Up close though, it's almost caramelized-smelling. It is a VERY dark and intimidating scent, which I'm perfectly content with. I could not imagine wearing this in warmer weather, even in spring. It's quite heavy and intense. Still smells like a speakeasy or The Garrison, so I'm happy with that as well. I don't get any specific notes beyond the tobacco resin and resins in general. As this wears a bit, the tea comes out more, and let me tell you. If it hasn't been mentioned 500 times yet already, I love Possets' tea notes so much. They're my favorite tea notes from all of the houses I've tried over the years. The Great Housewife is very resinous, and very foreboding. It smells a bit witchy and would no doubt be a hit around October/Halloween time. There's also something a bit haunted cathedral-esque about it, or like drinking tea in a crypt.

DH's thoughts: None. Destashed.

Verdict: 3 very smoky speakeasies out of 5. There's a very distinct powderiness to this one, which I'm not a fan of at all, which I'm assuming is something in the musks. The tea, smoke/incense, and tobacco notes are nice, but that powderiness kills it for me.


🎃The Great Psychiatrist of Babylon (Bourbon vanilla, incense smoke, auxiliary smoke from punk fire, caramel, incense, a small shot of whiskey) (Orphans retour, special order)

Preliminary notes: This one was one of the first Possets scents I came across on the brand's forum, and it hasn't left my brain since. It also sounds spooky, and delicious.. *resists the urge to make yet another Peaky Blinders association*

DH's preliminary notes: A hippie party on All Hallow's Eve.

In bottle: That damned fruity-leaning Possets vanilla I'm not a fan of, but also whiskey, a bit of incense, and what smells like a soft suede note a la Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Not nearly as sweet as I was expecting.

DH's thoughts: Smells like a custard, almost. Like a very sweet, almost like a pudding of some kind. *tells him the notes* Fascinating. Well, it comes out smelling pretty great.

On skin: There's some sort of weird sour note when this hits the skin, but it burns off pretty quickly. It smells veeery similar to Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, sans the suede and with an added smoky note. If you like Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, you'll probably like this.

DH's thoughts: Sandalwood, pine musk, and something floral?

Verdict: 3.5 smoky, leather-clad psychiatrists eating caramels out of 5. I do like this quite a bit, but I wish it wasn't so similar to Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. I feel like you could get a very similar scent by layering Arrival of the Queen of Sheba with a tiny bit of Iowa or Reason, which I'll have to try at some point.


🍰Tea with Mr. Rosedale (Jasmine tea, cream, a sandalwood tray) (Valentine's retour)

Preliminary notes: More tea, again. This one has a bit of a reputation for going sour or savory on some people, so hopefully that doesn't happen here. This kind of reminds me of Keeping Up Appearances, to be honest. It sounds like one of Hyacinth's fancy tea/dinner parties.

DH's preliminary notes: Old high-class British tea time.

In bottle: I can totally see where the savory aspect comes from for some people. It does smell a bit odd initially, but after the first sniff, it mellows out and smells like floral tea with a creamy/woody background. Something about this in the bottle reminds me of a dentist's office.

DH's thoughts: I smell tea, AND IT COULDN'T BE BECAUSE THERE'S TEA IN THE TITLE. Is there silk in this?

On skin: In the bottle, this has a touch of sourness to it, but it evens out on the skin and no longer smells like a dentist's office. I will admit that I've never had jasmine tea, so I have no idea what the real deal smells like, but this is very pleasant. The cream note is intoxicating. It very much smells like fresh cream, and it's fairly light but comes out more the longer it's worn. The sandalwood and floral tea notes are the strongest though.

DH's thoughts: DH popped into the room a couple hours after I applied and said, "It smells lovely in here, like a field of flowers." (Which is funny, because a major component of this scent is sandalwood, which he claims to hate)

Verdict: 4 lightly floral, fancy teas at dinner parties out of 5. This definitely isn't my favorite Possets tea scent of the ones I've tried, but I do quite like it. The floral tone makes it a bit different from the rest.


🌾Iowa (Crystallized vanilla, turbinado sugar, wheat accord, whiskey) (Permanent)

Preliminary notes: I had requested a sample of this in my second order, and it was on the draft list for wedding scents back before we decided to put our wedding off for the time being (because holy shit, wedding planning is stressful). This review was written when I received the sample.

DH's preliminary notes: It honestly just sounds like something I wouldn't drink. It ruined the whiskey on itself, which is not very good English. Yay, all of that gets posted. For fuck's sakes. ARE YOU ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THAT. God damnit..

In bottle: Very sugary whiskey with a caramel-like note. It smells almost like caramel corn but not quite as popcorn-esque as that. It kind of smells like burnt sugar. I'm sort of in love with it already. I was expecting it to be more wheat-forward, but the wheat might come out more on skin.

DH's thoughts: Ooo, my food senses are tingling. Somebody's baking for me. It's very inviting.

On skin: Still smells like caramel-laden whiskey and burnt sugar, no trace of wheat whatsoever. This is sublime, and I immediately upsized it. It's funny; I have smelled this exact scent outside of our apartment before (there is often a mishmash of foody smells out there during the day).

DH's thoughts: Has vanilla in it? Thought so. Uhhhhh... Is this one of the ones I said smells like baked goods? Yes? Aha!

Verdict: 5 boozy, slightly burnt caramels out of 5. I loved this in the bottle, and I love it on the skin. Caramel isn't even listed as a direct note, but it's one of the best caramel scents I've smelled.


🌷Tulipomania (Reminiscent of a huge field of tulips in Holland) (Spring retour)

Preliminary notes: Much like hyacinth and peony, tulip is another note I don't see much and is probably the most uncommon of the bunch. Tulips smell green and kind of peppery to me, so this should be interesting. For whatever reason, this kind of reminds me of the landscapes in Ghibli movies.

DH's preliminary notes: Sounds like Abbotsford.

In bottle: Doesn't smell at all like tulips to me, but it's a soft, sweet, purple-white floral. I have a feeling this is going to go soapy on the skin, but hopefully it doesn't go as soapy as Tidal Wave did. It's verging on smelling slightly fruity, but it never fully goes there.

DH's thoughts: That's an interesting smell. I actually rather like it, whatever it is. There's definitely something floral about it. I say that all the time.

On skin: Largely the same as in the bottle. Definitely didn't go as soapy as Tidal Wave and still retains its floral character. Still doesn't really smell like tulips to me, but it's a very pretty, happy floral.

DH's thoughts: None.

Verdict: 3.75 fields of tulips out of 5. I do like this, but it's very simplistic and lacks depth. There's a weird dusty undertone as well, which I've experienced with several Possets scents. I'm not the biggest fan, but at least it didn't go soapy.