fruity

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Lilacs & Gooseberries

Shay & Blue’s iconic blue flask with black tall top, hung with a silver wolf medallion, sitting in a pile of sugared green gooseberry hard candy.

I was hoping this one would cast spells.

I’m a big fan of the show and the game The Witcher–for a male point-of-view medieval fantasy, it has some amazing and powerful women who call their own shots. (Side note: Henry Cavill looks so much better when he’s grubby.)
Yennifer, the main character’s usual love interest (and occasional foe) wears a distinctive perfume of lilac and gooseberry.
So of course I was excited to see her scent manifested in reality.

Shay & Blue’s write-up is pretty lush:
Nightmare dressed as a daydream. A twisted and addictive juicy floral. Obsessive Lilacs open to the thrill of dark demons. Twisted with sharp Gooseberries drenched in juice. Finishing this intoxication with smooth white amber.
And while that’s a great description of the sorceress’s vibe, S&B’s perfume interpretation is quite literal, and somehow more simple than I was expecting.

The eau goes on fresh and soft with light florals and tart fruits that linger somewhere between green peaches and Granny Smith apples at arm’s length. After an hour or two it settles inside personal space with a wet mineral amber that’s a little abrasive–not headache inducing, just a little prickly–and stays pretty for half the day.
The top notes grab cotton nicely.

I wish it were witchier, more chaotic, more like Yen, but I like it, and the geek factor makes me really happy.

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The bard in the series is an absolute drama queen. Jaskier (which means “buttercup” in the original Polish, though in the English version of the game he is Dandelion) is played brilliantly by Joseph Trapanese. Here’s my favorite song from season 2.

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Sun Moon Stars 2023

Black cat looking suspiciously at an iridescent white bottle with raised celestial motifs.
(Same, Luna, same.)

Strawberry sports drink, petroleum jelly, and secondhand embarrassment.

I have no idea why the original was discontinued, or why this mess was introduced, and I’m sad about it.

A pretty variation of the bottle, though.

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Today is a bit gloomy and melancholy-

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Zippo

Cologne flask in the shape of a silver cigarette lighter, open capped with a flame seemingly lit from the top.

Usually I pick music for these posts that tie into the name of the perfume somehow, or maybe a song is written by an artist from the fragrance’s country of origin, or even the year the vintage came out–
This time my brother challenged me to find a scent to go with this jam by the ’70’s prog-rock band Gong.

I went with Zippo because the song has a lot of disjointed sweet notes with some metallic resonance, it lasts a long time, and after sampling a few times it kinda grows on you.
Also the packaging is cute.

Opens with flares of apple peel and vanilla, snaps some high hat brassy herbs and spices, and finishes on slow woods.
Leans to the tenor clef.
Not terribly unique, but fun and accessible and upbeat.

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Edge Effects

Edge Effects sample spray with b+w post card, and a peach, a clementine, tomato leaf and basil, and a big box of nag champa incense.

The inspiration for this scent is the dual world at the line where meadow meets trees, and it’s lovely–multifaceted, but without hard edges–and always changing from moment to moment.

Citrusy green peaches at first sniff that immediately ripen, turning sweet and spicy and lush for half an hour or so, not too loud, but very inviting.
Labdanum smoke breezes in, delicate and airy over earthy pine sweetened with jasmine. We we linger here for half the day in personal space, whispers flicker in and out: small musky animalics, pleasantly bitter leaves, sugared herbs–
The peaches and jasmine turn creamy toward the evening with a bit of vanilla, almost like benzoin but lighter and less sticky on the skin.
Gone by morning, with just a smudge of sweet greens on cotton cuffs.

Absolutely big bottle worthy, and my birthday is coming up soon.

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Another Edge, much edgier.

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Cow

Promo card with a rather judgy bovine, sample spray, apple and kid’s cloisonne cow pendant.

Nestlé apple flavored Quik.
And Crayons.

Opens with some herbs and a basket of fresh apples, that soon turn milky sweet with lily-of-the-valley and violet powder, and then slides down to the skin with waxy musk for half the day.

I don’t know how to explain how silly this smells.

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Some ridiculous NSFW Doja Cat

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First Base

TokyoMilk Dark black bottle with a white lipstick motif, in a china cup.

Tea-time lingerie.

A splash of milky Earl Grey bergamot with a bit of fresh fruit on the side–a flirty opening that quickly gets shy, retreating to a hand-span off the skin, cologne weight–but it lasts for over half the day with a constant tease of voluptuous florals and bit of wood inside clothing.

There’s a brilliant stilted sexiness to it that’s hard to explain, kind of like art house porn that’s been edited to a PG-13 rating.

I might hang onto this one for a while.

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More tea.

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Macaque Fuji Apple Edition

Promo card with very dignified monkey and sample spray, and macaque mask.

After the whomp on the head with several big trees–and a few apple bruises–the resins of the previous editions swing in, but they’re much tamer now.

The bleach, musk and pee have been cleaned up with cider and polished with more frankincense, and the woods lounge just inside personal space for a long hot afternoon.

He’s still a cheeky monkey, but at least there’s no feces being flung anymore.

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Another monkey edition:

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Oh Ma Biche

Teal blue promo card featuring bottle with a doe, and sample spray. And some fairy lights to make my photo fancier.

Perfect for young teen things who still decorate their bedrooms with twinkle lights and ruffled throw pillows, but whose musical tastes are surprisingly quite refined.

Opens with orange juice and pink pepper, then settles into a nice peach Hawaiian Ice–that really wants to be a Bellini when she’s old enough to drink–inside social distance, and ends after a few giggly hours of sheer vanilla musk on the skin.

Cute and lighthearted, but not silly.

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Isla Crall is a very impressive young woman.

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Golden Nectar

Nest mini roller-ball bottle with dogwood blossom illustration, on pile of other Nest mini bottles.

A dentist’s office–kid’s fruity toothpaste, floral hand sanitizer, fish tank salt, vague panic and rubber soled shoes.
Gets a bit into the face and lasts as long as that smooth feeling on the incisors after a polishing.

This is the second time I’ve thought, “Maybe I won’t bother trying the new Nest when it comes out.”

I think I’ll go floss my molars now.

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My dentist pipes in “Hits of the Seventies.”