ethaisa

 BIWA...  tangerine, black currant, white musk, honey and tagetes. 

This starts off with delicate, zesty tangerine with a hint of musk and honey. The marigold note is light and adds a floral complexity to the blend. The honey powders upon drydown, and with the musk creates a long-lingering loveliness that I wasn't expecting. I barely pick up the black currant at all, except perhaps as a hint of sharpness in the blend, but that could be the marigold's doing, too; I'm uncertain. I probably won't get a bottle of this, but I"ll certainly enjoy the decant when I want a delicate bright citrus blend that isn't predominantly lemon.


And I'll mention here a blend of great fail on me, one that doesn't get SotD status 'cause I had to wash it off almost immediately.

BURNING VULVA.... vanilla infused amber, leather, beeswax, cyclamen, oakmoss, peru balsam, orange blossom, red ginger, tonka, opoponax, myrrh and black pepper.

So many notes that I love in this one. So many. And yet this scent is a complete disaster on me. In the vial, it's fiery ginger and orange blossom and leather with hints of pepper and oakmoss and resins. For a brief glorious moment wet on my skin, its a spicy conflagration and the beeswax and vanilla open into luxurious creamy goodness. And then, POW! WHAM! sour plastic. If it was honey rather than beeswax in the blend, I'd suspect the same honey note that makes O such a disappointment, but I don't think I've had a scent turn so bad so fast on me since WAR which, surprise surprise, also has red ginger. Is this the villain? maybe (but I love VILF!).  So definitely not for me -- the decant might scent a nice candle, tho. 

 
I wore an old favourite, Lucy, Kissed, (2009, from the Trading Post) when I went off this morning - one of my many red musk blends, this one with dark roses and violets, yew and juniper, patchouli and oude. Perhaps because I felt like I was one of the living dead at the time. But the day was actually far more pleasant than I expected, bright and sunny through the late morning/early afternoon and it actually felt springlike despite the piles of stubborn snow scattered about on gardens and under trees.

But its time now to look to the new Shunga scents, which are only up til the end of the month. So here's the first:


AN APPRAISAL OF SENSUAL PLEASURE IN THE FOUR SEASONS: wild plum, lemongrass, frankincense, honeysuckle and teak.

I'm surprised I like the plum and lemongrass notes as much as I do in this; they are mild and sweet and add a roundness to the frankincense. Even the honeysuckle is delicate and restrained. The frankincense remains the dominant note in the drydown, deepened by the woody teak. Intriguing blend.

TEARS, IDLE TEARS... a bittersweet aquatic lifted by white rose, olibanum, amber, orris, davana and oude.  

As a general rule, I'm not a real fan of aquatics, but this intrigued me enough to order a decant. It's watery alright, clear and bright with swirls of orris and faint resins. The rose is remarkably timid, at least until the davana starts to open up and then the rose beats it back, claiming front row in the floral array. I hardly detect the oude at all, except on the long drydown, beneath the final soft floral resins. A surprising amount of throw for such a soft scent, too.  Verdict: lovely, but not something I'll reach for often (I have many other rose blends I like more) but I'll be happy to keep the decant for those misty days when I'm feeling wane.

 THE RUSSIAN DANCE... florentine iris, black tea, labdanum, patchouli, champaca, benzoin and ambergris.  

Initially I was wary of this one because of the iris, but fortunately had a chance to test it thoroughly. As might be expected from the description, I find the iris note here quite similar to that in Florence - that orris note that I love. This opens as a light and faintly spicy floral mix of orris and creamy champaca that mellows quickly into a sweet, resiny incense blend. The tea note is distinct, more of a duet than a blend and the patchouli only comes though in the long drydown into a somber grey scent that lingers for hours. I look forward to seeing how this ages.

EBENEZER SCROOGE   ... neglected leather, oakmoss, tonka bean, black pepper, cumin and vetiver.  

This opens like I just walked into a leather shop, almost overpoweringly so. But that initial sharpness fades and the tonka plays sweet peacemaker between the pepper and cumin - all the notes are distinctly there, spicy, but playing nice. I don't get much of a sense of oakmoss, but that might be what's smoothing the edge of the leather, and the vetiver provides a nice ground note, neither overly smoky nor earthy and only a slight tang hinting of citrus. (I like vetiver is pretty much all its forms, but this one is particularly nice.)  Definitely a sense of dust and age and recluse to this scent - excellent for a pre-reform Scrooge. So glad I got a bottle of this.