What's That Smell? TONKA

In the "What's That Smell?" series,  I'll explain some of the less obvious perfume notes that crop up in many indie perfumes. Keep in mind my descriptions and comparisons are based on my own experiences and your impressions may not be the same. Perfume notes are NOT ingredients. They can be natural essences, artificial isolated compounds that imitate the natural substance, blended accords, or a combination. Therefore, the note you like in one perfume may be unrecognizable in another. As with all sensory, subjective things, your mileage may vary.

Tonka is a tropical plant that yields beans, like cacao or vanilla. Its beans have a sweet, smooth scent reminiscent of vanilla. The characteristic smell comes from a chemical isolate contained in the bean called "coumarin." Coumarin can be described as sweet, powdery, and it's a very versatile perfume note, though it's commonly associated with Oriental fragrances.

Tonka is not 1 for 1 a vanilla note, although it can be used to deepen, complete, or enhance vanilla notes. To me, tonka has a slightly less "foodie" feel than vanilla, although it was used in edible recipes for hundreds of years. I say this because vanilla notes in perfumes are usually sugary to the point where they're inextricable from their gourmand associations. But tonka (in general) has a slightly more neutral tone, more like spice or a nutty smell than the rich, creamy sweetness of vanilla. I would describe it as having the lightness and inoffensiveness of vanilla, with nuances of raw almond and something like nutmeg. This is not an overwhelmingly spicy note, but it has the natural spicy feel of fresh mown hay (also associated with the coumarin scent compound) or dry, split wood.

Tonka can be used to add sweetness and smoothness where vanilla would be too "obvious" or too jarring. It works as a natural partner with deeper wood and spice notes. It can be a great companion to fresh or green notes, which need depth and richness without added sugariness. It adds another layer of depth and interest to a fragrance with multiple gourmand notes, especially ones that already contain vanilla.

Perfumes featuring tonka:

• Alkemia Trick or Treat: This is an example where tonka adds more depth and spiciness without tipping the character of this already-sweet scent into cloying territory. In fact, the tonka works with both the candied fruit and vanilla notes and the earthier patchouli and wood notes to marry them without contributing more to one side or the other. The result is a balanced perfume that's both masculine and feminine, sweet and earthy. 
• Solstice Scents Cameo: This perfume is unapologetically gourmand and sweet. It has fruity-floral, almond, and cake notes, but the tonka does double duty here. It completes the yellow cake note, giving it a realistic earthy toothsome feel (if you've had yellow cake, you'll know it's heartier and richer than white cake), but it also grounds the whole scent so that it doesn't float off into powdery sugary fantasyland, where too many badly-formulated gourmands end up. This scent may be entirely foodie, but the earthy tonka makes it both realistic and complex enough to smell all day long without feeling sick.
• Sixteen92 Grimm: While this scent features chocolate, it couldn't really be classified as a gourmand. This perfume is more of a wet, damp green scent, where the chocolate and tonka are earthy modifiers that create a pleasant dirty scent. Here, vanilla would be too obvious and smell like a cupcake dropped in a forest clearing. Tonka is sweet enough to keep the chocolate company, dark and earthy enough to balance the wet and fresh notes. 

What's That Smell? LINDEN BLOSSOM

In the "What's That Smell?" series,  I'll explain some of the less obvious perfume notes that crop up in many indie perfumes. Keep in mind my descriptions and comparisons are based on my own experiences and your impressions may not be the same. Perfume notes are NOT ingredients. They can be natural essences, artificial isolated compounds that imitate the natural substance, blended accords, or a combination. Therefore, the note you like in one perfume may be unrecognizable in another. As with all sensory, subjective things, your mileage may vary.

Linden blossom is one of the floral notes you won't find by visiting your local flower shop. Linden is also called "lime blossom." It's a beautifully bright, sunny, sweet, and sharp scent. It's reminiscent of honey, honeysuckle, and grass. As a perfume note, I think it needs to be balanced by deeper or smoother notes, as its honeyed vibes can tip dangerously into cloying or powdery when not used correctly. Used right, it smells like being outdoors in a park on a sunny spring day. It smells juicy, sharp, bright, and very sweet. Although it has a powerful sweetness, the greenish sap nuances make this note versatile, more so than honeysuckle in my opinion, because it can be used as a brightener in masculine blends too.

Perfumes featuring linden blossom: 

• Possets Linden Blossom Tea: Linden is the main note in this perfume, and it's at its most bright and honeyed. This doesn't actually smell like a cup of tea- it smells a bit grassy, green, and syrupy, like the pollen from a flowering tree. This blend really underscores the green vibrancy of linden, which makes the whole scent a bit more unisex. A woman or man could wear this, and it wouldn't be out of place.
• Deconstructing Eden Beloved: This is a more feminine scent, fruity, fluffy, and sweet. The apple and cucumber have a raw, vegetal juiciness that is only made more complex and interesting from the sweet green linden. I love how the linden functions as a fluffy sweet AND a bright green modifier here, because there are no contradictions or jarring combinations here, just seamless fruity-floral harmony.
• Deconstructing Eden Jealousy: Another DE scent, this one is far more masculine and powerful than Beloved. SO incredibly green, this fragrance is wild, jungly, fresh, and herbaceous. There's basil and figs, which have a raw green quality, and the touch of linden sweetens the blend without creating an overpowering floral impression. 

What's That Smell? BENZOIN

In the "What's That Smell?" series,  I'll explain some of the less obvious perfume notes that crop up in many indie perfumes. Keep in mind my descriptions and comparisons are based on my own experiences and your impressions may not be the same. Perfume notes are NOT ingredients. They can be natural essences, artificial isolated compounds that imitate the natural substance, blended accords, or a combination. Therefore, the note you like in one perfume may be unrecognizable in another. As with all sensory, subjective things, your mileage may vary.

Benzoin is another trusty tree resin (where would perfumery be if tree resins weren't a thing, man?) which has an incredible effect on blends. In its natural form, it's a very thick, viscous resin (it's not pourable at room temp) and it has a light sweetness but is a powerful fixative/base note for any formulation. It's reminiscent of vanilla, but without that characteristic rich, vanilla...thing. To me, it adds a roundness, a sweetness, without actually adding to any sugary or food aspects of a scents. I love benzoin in combination with sweeter scents, because it supervises and herds those flightier notes, complements them, but doesn't add to the mix or make it cloying. 

To me, it is the gentlest and most easy-to-like of all the popular perfume resin notes. It has no characteristic OOMPH or power where you smell it and immediately go, "Yup that's benzoin for ya!" Instead, it has a silky, soft, wraparound quality where it transforms in any scent to add a hint of smoothness that binds all the notes together in an unobtrusive way. If you like lighter amber notes, you will probably also love benzoin. If you like gourmands, but find they get too sticky, look for something with benzoin notes to lend sweetness without being overpowering. If I had to distill it into a few words: it's vanilla without the rich foodieness, and it's a less-sweet version of sugar.

Perfumes featuring benzoin:

• Cocoa Pink Vintage Halloween: In this blend, the benzoin serves to add sweetness and softness to the bright, herbaceous green and ozone/air notes. Benzoin is doing an excellent job of balancing the richness of the vanilla notes so that this doesn't become a BAM vanilla scent.
• NAVA Bastet Amber: This is a classic "skin scent," which gives you an aura of something without explicitly smelling like perfume. The amber and benzoin are both at their lightest, sweetest, and most lingering. You basically can't smell this if you sniff your wrist, but you will find it in the air around you for hours after you apply it.
• Sixteen92 Paper Moon: Peachy vanilla floral could easily turn little-girlish and body-spray like. However, in this blend, benzoin adds a resinous anchor note that plays nice with the lighthearted top notes without joining them. It basically supervises them to keep them from being cloying.

What's That Smell? TUBEROSE

In the "What's That Smell?" series,  I'll explain some of the less obvious perfume notes that crop up in many indie perfumes. Keep in mind my descriptions and comparisons are based on my own experiences and your impressions may not be the same. Perfume notes are NOT ingredients. They can be natural essences, artificial isolated compounds that imitate the natural substance, blended accords, or a combination. Therefore, the note you like in one perfume may be unrecognizable in another. As with all sensory, subjective things, your mileage may vary.

Tuberose is the Big Mama of white floral notes. It's bold and distinctive. In large amounts, it can really take over a fragrance, but in small amounts it can lend a nice depth without killing the vibe. Tuberose can only be described as waxy, fatty, and lactonic (creamy, milk-like.) If you imagine crushing the petals in your hands, instead of getting a juicy, fresh fragrance, you'd get a rich and creamy type of scent. And actually, tuberose smells almost salty in large amounts. It's pretty much the flower version of coconut milk. It's dense, rich, and not sweet exactly, but very powerful. It smells distinctively tropical and summery. If I had to break it down into non-hand-wavy adjectives, I would say tuberose smells like a mix of salt, coconut milk, beeswax, a tiny pinch of sugar, and gardenia.

Some people report that tuberose scents make them nauseous. From my own experience, when my hormones are out of whack, my nose amplifies tuberose's natural saltiness and I end up with a very confused and upset nose. I think one of the big mistakes people make with tuberose is they expect it to smell like gardenia, which is tuberose's more well-behaved, sweet, prim cousin. If you go into a tuberose fragrance expecting something unusual and bold, you won't be disappointed. It's one of the most unique and characteristic floral notes around.

I must note, as with all white florals, tuberose does contain indolic nuances (no way around it, indoles smell like feces.) But if you've ever smelled a sexy, dirty human who smelled natural and good, you know that indolic/dirty notes shouldn't be feared. In tiny amounts, they can be a powerfully magnetic scent component, giving you great balance and interest in what could otherwise be a bland scent. The nausea/distaste many people associate with tuberose is, I believe, partially due to its indole content (like with jasmine) and partially because of its distinctive salty-sweetness. 

Perfumes featuring tuberose: 

• Ava Luxe Fleur d'Oranger: This fragrance uses the natural lusty, strong scent of tuberose to anchor the famously fleeting scent of orange blossom. Orange blossoms are technically white florals, but they are some of the hardest to capture in scent form. Many perfumers default to using an orange zest scent in their place, which you know, if you've ever smelled a real orange tree in bloom, is no substitute. The indolic, broad tuberose in this provides a booster in longevity and strength for the wimpier orange blossom/neroli notes and allows this perfume to retain its sweet, full scent for longer. 
• Solstice Scents Nightgown: Oh, Nightgown, you are a polarizing beast. Because this perfume uses sweeter florals like tiare (Tahitian gardenia) and an ultra-luxurious white chocolate/vanilla blend, it both amps up the sweetness of the tuberose, and starts a bit of a messy fight with the natural saltiness of the flower. I have noticed this scent definitely smells funky if I'm not in the right mood/hormonal state to appreciate it. It's a very tenuous/delicate balance of sweet and salty. If you catch it at the right moment, on the right day, in the right season, this scent is one of the most intoxicating, sensuous floral-gourmand blends in existence. Ever had salted caramel? It can go wrong, but it can go SO, SO right.
• Cocoa Pink Fleurs Siagne: This is a really easy-to-like blend. It's entirely composed of flowers: jasmine, tuberose, rose, and orange blossom, and the more distinctive sweetness of rose and jasmine keep the weirdness of tuberose in check. The orange blossom is the light top note, the rose the rich, pink base, and the tuberose the broad, smooth heart. I love this fragrance because the tuberose, which is such an assertive note, doesn't have to fight for prominence here, and thus it ends up being a very pleasant and tame component. 

What's That Smell? AMBER

In the "What's That Smell?" series,  I'll explain some of the less obvious perfume notes that crop up in many indie perfumes. Keep in mind my descriptions and comparisons are based on my own experiences and your impressions may not be the same. Perfume notes are NOT ingredients. They can be natural essences, artificial isolated compounds that imitate the natural substance, blended accords, or a combination. Therefore, the note you like in one perfume may be unrecognizable in another. As with all sensory, subjective things, your mileage may vary.

Via Flickr

Amber is one of the hardest notes to encapsulate, because it can represent so many different things in a fragrance. Simply put, amber is a hardened resin produced by trees, and the word "amber" can be used generally the way the word "resin" is. It's not specific to any species of tree or geographical/historical point. It's a mixture of a real thing and a "fantasy" note. It exists both in reality (if not as one specific thing) and in the mind of whoever is creating the perfume.

Amber almost always smells sweet and rich. It can smell more powdery and dry, with a pale white feel, or it can be drippy and dark like honey. You'll often see it used to sweeten blends where vanilla would be too assertive and musk would be too light. While it's a non-gourmand note (you couldn't eat a chunk of amber) its sweetness works great with foodie notes. Obviously, its origins as a tree resin make it a perfect complement to woodsy notes. When combined with florals, amber adds richness and smoothness without making you think of floral cakes.

If you see someone refer to White Amber as a note, they are attempting to showcase a pillowy, dry amber that smells like soft powdered sugar and flour mixed with the warm, fresh smell of clean sheets. It's a non-cloying sweet, smooth scent. If you see Golden Amber, Dark Amber, or Black Amber in the notes list, the perfumer is most likely referring to a more syrupy, sticky, honey-like amber note.

Perfumes featuring amber:

• Alkemia Carmen 7: A great example of the white amber type of note. The amber is used to create a sweet, but not overly sweet, background for the sugary praline, vanilla, and fruit notes. It maintains the same overall sweet feeling without feeling clunky or out of place, but it doesn't add more sweetness on top, which would take it to a cloying place. You also definitely get the clean-sheet vibe from the amber here, as the overall blend is warm and fresh-smelling at the same time.
• Arcana Genteel: This amber, described as a "dry amber," sits right between my descriptions of white and dark amber. It reminds me of a beige cashmere blanket, dry, soft, sweet, but neutral. The spice and wood notes in this play very well with the smooth amber, which is a bit dark but not wild and sticky. 
• Deconstructing Eden Lakshmi: The amber notes in this rose-dominant perfume are used mainly to create a soft, warm bed for the floral notes to float on. You get the impression of pale golden honey, liquid and rich, but not dark/sexy. Neutral and elegant, neither youthful nor mature.
• NAVA Mists of Arcacia: This scent is gothic, incensey, and woodsy. It uses a blend of cedar and sandalwood as its main notes, and keeps it from being too dark and strong by wrapping the base in blackened amber. Here, the amber serves to sweeten the blend, as it's more rich and honey-like, but the overall scent remains masculine, deep, and mysterious from the dominant wood notes. 

If You Like...Then You May Like...Incense Edition

In the If You Like...Then You May Like...posts, I'll take a scent category and suggest specific perfumes within that category that certain people might be drawn to. If you usually ignore a certain category because you think you don't like it, you might be surprised! I think there's pretty much something for everyone to be found in each of the perfume families.

via naturaleinfiniti

Incense Edition

Incense is a word tossed around by a lot of amateur perfume hobbyists. It can often be found in newcomers' "definitely no" lists, and calls up images of high school bedrooms, head shops, and grandmothers (if you're Asian!) Oftentimes, I'll hear niche/indie perfume newbies complain that "every scent in my order from X shop smelled like incense!!" However, incense perfumes can be incredibly sophisticated, unusual, comforting, or exciting, depending on the blend. There are a thousand ways to describe incense, and even more individual "ingredients" or notes that can make up an incense blend. Some of the more popular ones include frankincense, myrrh, Dragon's Blood, Nag Champa, and amber/resin/wood notes. 

But incense doesn't smell like just one thing. Even if you consider yourself a lover of, say, only light florals, allowing your nose to experience a variety rich incense scents will allow you to better develop your sense of smell. Scents that all smelled the same to you when you first tried them may smell distinct and amazing after getting used to heavier smells. Incense scents are usually long-lasting as well, due to the heavy nature of the scent components, so if you find perfumes disappear too quickly, consider adding some incense blends to your collection!

If you like...Orientals, you may like...heavier incense blends containing Dragon's Blood, Nag Champa, and floral notes.

If you already like classic Orientals like Shalimar, you're in luck because you are already a budding incense-lover! The amber, wood, spice, and subtle floral notes in the Oriental family are commonly found in incense scents, and they make up some of the richest and most luxurious incense perfumes. Incense is probably already in your favorites category, or you just didn't realize you were missing out on something that's right up your alley. 

Notes to look out for:

• Oudh
• Amber
• Spice
• Dragon's Blood
• Nag Champa
• Jasmine
• Smoke
• Myrrh
• Benzoin
• Kyphi

Product Suggestions:

• NAVA Osirian Purnima Line: One of the most excellent and well-developed incense lines out there in the indie perfume world, this line has a wide variety of incense blends. They all smell distinct from one another, but they share a rich, soft, purring incense accord that is browned, blackened, spicy, and smooth. For a traditional-incense lover, my first pick is OP Anubis, which has a dark, honeyed amber note that wraps sinuously around the incense heart of this perfume. (Note, this is a seasonal collection that has been around for several months. It may return or stay permanent, or it may go away.) Second pick is OP Thoth, which mixes guaiacwood (like a less scary oudh) with kyphi (kyphi is a catchall for ancient incense scents, traditionally Greek or Egyptian) for a spicy, sweet, thick incense smell.
• Alkemia Hex: Although this only lists a few traditional incense notes, the spice and resin really make this a dark, sweet incense winner. The night-blooming floral notes lend a sweet lightness without taking away from the richness.
• Arcana Honey and Venom: This is an adventurous pick: the smoky dank oudh will shock you at first, but if you let yourself breathe it in, it blooms into something more complex and enchanting than a typical woodsy scent. The kyphi in this is spicy, heavy, and sweet. This is a blackened, assertive incense scent that develops into the richest, sweetest, warm perfume.

If you like...fresh scents, you may like...brighter incense blends with notes like frankincense, wood, amber, patchouli, vetiver, and fruit.

If you consider yourself a lover of fresh/green scents, you may be a fan of unisex/men's fragrances, and you may be a newcomer to the indie scene. Perhaps you're used to the light, citrusy EDPs that a lot of mainstream brands carry. Maybe you think that the most inoffensive, light perfumes are the only ones you can tolerate. In reality, the zestiness and freshness you are used to in your perfumes can be found in incense blends, they are just made deeper and more complex with the addition of darker woodsy and resin notes. Frankincense in particular is a note some people are unfamiliar with, but is one of the best ingredients for green perfume lovers. It's a tree resin, but it smells fresh, piney, zesty, and lemony, rather than the sweet honey you might associate resin scents with.

Notes to look out for:

• Frankincense
• Amber
• Cedar
• Teak
• Sandalwood
• Patchouli
• Vetiver
• Fruit
• Oudh (used sparingly)
• Herbs/herbal flowers like lavender
• Moss

Product Suggestions:

• Deconstructing Eden Gentian House: The ultimate fresh/green incense scent. This smells like a witch cleaning her house on a rainy spring day and burning sacred incense. The vetiver and herby floral notes make this scent unisex, fresh, green, but the opium smoke and frankincense make it an unmistakably lovely incense scent. See full review.
• Deconstructing Eden Black No. 1: This scent utilizes patchouli to its fullest. Patchouli is in the mint family, and is truly not as scary as some people think. It's dark, zesty, a little stinky in an interesting way, and totally complex. In this scent, the patchouli is raw, damp, and makes me think a rainy forest and muddy clearings, mingled with hazy spicy incense smoke. See full review.
• Haus of Gloi Snow Wolf: The pine-like zestiness of frankincense is on full display here, accented with evergreen notes and anchored by deep, dry cedar. A masculine scent, rich, but cold and fresh at the same time. If you think incense has to smell like fire or smoke, you're missing out! (Note: this scent is seasonally available as a winter/Yule scent.)
• NAVA Eternal Egypt Anniversary: The most incredible blend of aquatic(!) and resin notes. This is the most indescribably fresh, sexy, and cool-yet-warm scent. Everyone who smells it loves it, and it's especially good for men. It's like if Davidoff Cool Water were sophisticated and interesting (the bookish guy you meet in your lit class vs. the dbag who hits you up over the keg.)

If you like...fruity or floral scents, you may like...sweet, complex incense blends with notes like rose, jasmine, carnation, amber, myrrh, berries, and vanilla.

If you're normally a fruity/floral kinda girl/guy, you might share characteristics with people who like fresh/green scents. Either you are sensitive to strong smells, are used to very tame mainstream blends, or just like to smell pretty. Nothing wrong with that! Incense can add something mysterious and nuanced to your favorite floral and fruity notes, though. Berries and dark fruits make a wonderful accent for incense. They're not too light, but they bring some freshness and their juiciness complements the dark nature of incense. Myrrh is a fabulous incense resin that, like its cousin frankincense, doesn't smell like your typical idea of "resin." Far from being a plain woody smell, myrrh has a rich, fruity, sweet honey scent that is dynamite with berries and florals.

Notes to look out for:

• Myrrh
• Amber
• Jasmine
• Rose
• Vanilla
• Berries
• Bergamot/citrus
• Spice

Product Suggestions:

• Solstice Scents Thornwood Thicket: This fruity-incense scent mingles dark crushed blackberries with a very rich, dark incense background. The oudh and moss make this a very dark incense scent, but the fresh sweet berries make it more wearable for someone who enjoys fruit scents.
• Cocoa Pink Spell Caster: The myrrh works exceptionally well with mulberries and amber here. It's syrupy and juicy at the same time, golden and cozy.
• BPAL The Caterpillar: The rich floral notes in here (carnation, jasmine) mixed with the fresh vetiver and bergamot are a great balance for the heavy incense. You end up with a delightful mix of light and dark, fresh and deep.
• NAVA OP: Bastet: From the Osirian Purnima line mentioned above, this rose scent is slinky, spicy, sexy, and fruity. It smells like rose petal jam, Turkish Delight, and a whisper of incense in a luxurious, exclusive storefront. 

If you like...gourmand scents, you may like...sweet, powdery or syrupy incense blends that utilize chocolate, spice, sugar, honey, Nag Champa, and smoke.

Powdery can be a dirty word in the perfume world. People use it to describe scents that go flat or cloyingly-sweet, and they're often thinking of the ubiquitous, awful baby powder scent. Powdery in this case means something more like the scent/vibe of flour or powdered sugar. Light, fluffy, smooth, soft, and sweet. Nag Champa is a great note to look for if you like gourmands- its soft fluffiness mimics cakey or cookie notes, and it's complemented very nicely by spicy and food notes. Syrupy amber that is more on the honey side (rather than the dry, woodsy side) also does well in this category. You'll find that rich resin notes aren't as different from your comforting bakery scents as you'd think. Note that overt smoke notes do very well in this category because smoke + baked goods mingle in a very natural, harmonious way. Vanilla, obviously, is a stellar partner to any resin or incense/smoke scent.

Notes to look out for:

• Amber
• Copal
• Honey
• Kyphi
• Sugar
• Vanilla
• Marshmallow
• Nag Champa
• Dragon's Blood

Product Suggestions:

• OHWTO Venom: This could be filed under floral as well, but the floral-incense (Nag Champa) is used with the almond-amaretto and it ends up smelling like a powdered, sweet, floral cookie that you're eating, with just the memory of smoke lingering around you.
• Solstice Scents Foxcroft Fairgrounds: A great intro scent for those who are REALLY shy about incense. The main notes in this are the cotton candy and funnel cake, mingled with a great fresh air note, and a bare wisp of incense. Very easy to wear, great for wetting your whistle on incense scents. Full review here.
• Solstice Scents Smoky Mountain Mallow: A must-have for anyone who even vaguely enjoys marshmallow scents. This transforms the campfire treat into something more sophisticated and unusual by adding rich smoke, lapsang souchong tea, heaps of resin notes, and a dose of dark wood. Excellent for pushing your gourmand-only tastes further into the dark, complex world of incense perfumes. 
• NAVA Queen Amber: The honey is the star here, and it's accented by gingerbread-like spices which make this smell cakey, rich, and gooey. You can practically taste the syrup dripping from this, and you can absolutely smell the rich, dark, crumbly incense accompanying it. 

Comparison Post: Pumpkin #7 vs. Golden Morning

In comparison posts, I compare indie scents with similar notes lists. This allows me to cull my collection so that I have no repeats, and it may also be helpful for other people to decide which sounds most appealing.

The Contestants: 

Nocturne Alchemy Pumpkin #7 (Amber Pumpkin perfumed with 7 rich exotic Amber notes to create the ultimate Amber perfume base for this Pumpkin infused scent. Spices of fig and raw pumpkin swim in a vat of decadent Sandalwood)

Cocoa Pink Golden Morning (Cool vanilla wrapped around honeyed, pale pumpkin gently grounded with white oak, tonka bean finished with the barest hint of copal.)

Scent Characteristics: P#7 is woodsy, smooth, pale, and warm like a house with a fire crackling in the hearth. It's more sweet-wood than sticky-resin, and the amber notes here are powdery and dry like finished wood, and they complement the sandalwood perfectly. Tiny bit of spice, but not edible spice. This is a slightly fresh smell, like fresh pumpkin and sawn wood, but not "raw" smelling. GM is syrupy, resinous, and slinky. It's mostly a very golden, sticky honey note with complementary deeper resinous wood notes. The pumpkin is there, smooth and non-spicy, but like cooked pumpkin purée.  

How similar are they?: Not very. P#7 is a lot subtler and more neutral. GM is vivacious, sexy, and sweet. P#7 makes me think of a buttoned-up but pretty librarian, and GM is her younger sister who dresses very scandalously. They're related but they don't really resemble each other. They do share a common pale, sweet, smooth pumpkin note that's delicious in both, and the wood pops out of both, but it's made more dry in P#7 and more wet/sticky in GM.

Sillage: Both have very good sillage. Something that's characteristic of NAVA ambers in particular is that they will strengthen the more they sit on your skin. Sometimes I can't smell a NAVA amber when I first apply, then 10 minutes later, it's surrounding me and filling my nostrils. I will say it's hard to overdo a NAVA Amber, and P#7 is no exception. It's so pale and smooth that it never screams, even if you overapply. On the other hand, GM's big honey note has POW sillage and really wraps itself around you immediately. You can overdose easily, especially as it's a sweet scent, so best to apply sparingly. I love strongly-scented perfumes, so I'm definitely ok with that, but use caution.

Longevity: Both have great longevity. P#7 lasts 8-10 hours, no problem, but it does dry down into a more subtle skin scent thereafter. GM will last until you wash it off, or 36-48 hours, whichever comes first. 

Destashing any?: Nope, they are different and both lovely. GM is the perfect cold-weather sexy scent. Not too foodie, but just sweet enough. P#7 is an amazing daytime scent, and even though it's a pumpkin one, it's not so bold as to be an autumn-only scent. 

Cocoa Pink Twinkies Review

Brand: Cocoa Pink
Availability: General Catalog
Notes: A wonderful rich pound cake with loaded with heavy cream.

First impression out of bottle: Buttercream

Freshly applied: Cheap buttercream frosting

Drydown: Generic sweetness. Less cheap-smelling than at first but not special or expensive-smelling. 

After several hours: Same

Longevity: High
Sillage: Low Medium

Would an [X] lover love this? I think a gourmand lover would find this to be uninteresting and for me, it doesn't compete with other great gourmands (from Cocoa Pink and other brands.)

Would an [X] hater love this? No this isn't going to convert a gourmand hater.

Where am I? Eating cheap gas station versions of Twinkies, not the real thing.

Where would I wear this? I wouldn't.

Cocoa Pink Medieval Review

Brand: Cocoa Pink
Availability: General Catalog Fall/Winter (N/A Spring/Summer)
Notes: Raw sugar crystals, white rum, sweet fennel and orange blossom met with dark exotic myrrh.

First impression out of bottle: Rum, orange, and herbs.

Freshly applied: Powdery resiny myrrh and rum.

Drydown: Mmm the herby fennel really pops out here. I think the orange I smelled before was orange blossom mixed with fennel and making me think of an orange-fennel salad my friend once made. This is fresh, herbal, and sweet in a surprising, vegetal way. I like the combo of food-sweet from the sugar crystals and the earthy sweetness from the myrrh. Weirdly, and maybe again it's the scent association, but it almost smells savory like herbs in olive oil dressing.

Yummy fennel salad

After several hours: This loses some of its complexity and becomes more straight fresh/sweet.

Longevity: Medium
Sillage: Low Medium

Would an [X] lover love this? I think if you like licorice, anise, and fennel notes then this would be an unexpected twist. It smells like...salad...but also kind of sexy and earthy.

Would an [X] hater love this? I think if you hate herbs/fennel especially you will hate this. It's very unromantic, and honestly 

Where am I? Eating fennel orange salad at a summer party.

Where would I wear this? Daytime, summertime, springtime.

Cocoa Pink Bavarian Coconut Cake Review

Brand: Cocoa Pink
Availability: General Catalog
Notes: Rich creamy custard cake sprinkled with toasted coconut. 

First impression out of bottle: Sweet coconut

Freshly applied: Sickly sweet caramel coconut with butter

Drydown: Still a bit sickly, butter cake with coconut. Has kind of a rancid butter smell. 

After several hours: Same as drydown. 

Longevity: High
Sillage: Medium high

Would an [X] lover love this? I'm a gourmand lover and a coconut lover and I'm not a fan. I think Cocoa Pink can do milk/cream notes well, but the custard in this smells like scalded milk to me. Unpleasant. If you want to give it a try, I get the feeling it would be good on different skin chemistries. 

Would an [X] hater love this? If you hate milk notes or custard notes because they tend to smell burnt or sickly to you, maybe give it a pass.

Where am I? Eating coconut mixed with burnt microwave popcorn butter.

Where would I wear this? I wouldn't wear it, but if it smelled more like what I imagined, I'd wear it for daytime and warm weather. 

Cocoa Pink Signature White Review

Brand: Cocoa Pink
Availability: General Catalog

Notes: a blend of delicate shea blossoms, rice flowers, vanilla cream, sweet sugar and heliotrope with delicate undertones of amber and sandalwood.

First impression out of bottle: Clean sweetness.

Freshly applied: Sweet amber and floral pops out a little, reminds me a lot of Alkemia's Carmen VII at this point. 

Drydown: Lovely medley of flowers, smooth clean cream, powdered sugar, and a hint of fruity-floral that reminds me a bit of lilac mixed with cherry/almond (from the heliotrope I believe.) I like the blend of food and non-food sweetness here. Very fresh and clean but soft and sweet, not at all laundry-like or zesty. 

Like a white-themed tea party

After several hours: Same soft, smooth clean white smell. 

Longevity: High
Sillage: Low/Medium

Would an [X] lover love this? I think anybody who likes subtle scents will like this because it's so light but complex and fun. It's a wonderful and different "fruity-floral" that doesn't have too many obvious notes. Nothing competes, everything blends well.

Would an [X] hater love this? I think if you dislike fruity florals or florals in general, you might find this too princessy.

Where am I? A tea party with a white color scheme. 

Where would I wear this? Daytime, summer, spring.

Comparison Post: Golden Corn Cakes vs. Potluck vs. Iowa

In comparison posts, I compare indie scents with similar notes lists. This allows me to cull my collection so that I have no repeats, and it may also be helpful for other people to decide which sounds most appealing.

The Contestants: 

Possets Iowa (this one starts out with a crystallized vanilla...then there is a hint of turbinado sugar, and a large dose of an accord based on wheat...and a small amount of a whiskey-like addition) Permanent Collection

Haus of Gloi Golden Corn Cakes (Corn cake baked to a golden perfection, topped with butter and honey) Limited Edition Autumn

Cocoa Pink Potluck (True Southern-style cornbread set out next to our honeyed, buttered oatcakes and warm zucchini bread.) 

General Catalog (Autumn/Winter) (N/A during Spring/Summer)

Scent Characteristics: 

Iowa smells like an overcooked, crunchy cornbread cookie with a ton of butter. I'm surprised I enjoy the butter in here- it smelled rancid in Cream and Mrs. Rabbit's Carrot Cake, but it fits well in here. Like luxurious fresh salted butter, not the unpleasant microwave-popcorn note I got in the past. This smells like the brown underside of cornbread- not the yellow fluffy middle part, but the crispy edge.

Potluck starts out with a lot of zucchini/banana bread character. On the drydown, the prominent zucchini bread smell goes away and it's mostly oatcake and butter with a hint of cornbread. Sort of like a not-too-sweet spicy oatmeal cookie scent.

Golden Corn Cakes is a very well balanced, full-smelling honeyed butter and cake/bread smell. It smells of cornbread in the bottle, honey in the initial application and early dry stages, and the cornbread pops out again in the later drydown!

How similar are they?: These are very different in my opinion. I think that Iowa is the least cornbread-y of the three. It turns into that brownish burnt-edge smell that baked goods get. It's quite pleasant except that it turns "thin" near the end of its life. Potluck is a mishmash of different baked goods, and the spice turns it into a bit more of an oaty biscuit scent. They all have quite a bit of butter in them, which is successful in all three. Golden Corn Cakes is unique in that it's completely scrumptious. I can't stop sniffing it. It does have a common vibe with Potluck, but is more luscious.

Sillage: Golden Corn Cakes has the highest sillage, and the most robust/full scent that carries. Potluck has slightly less throw and is a bit "flatter." Iowa is harder to smell at a distance, and after it's sat on the skin for a while it really turns flat.

Longevity: Golden Corn Cakes has the best longevity and ages on the skin the best. It smells just as scrumptious throughout its entire life. It lasts the whole day. Iowa sticks around a long time, but not in a wearable form. After the golden-burnt opening it turns flat and blackened and even though I can smell it when sniffing my wrist, the actual scent isn't great for the rest of its life. Probably 5-6 hours of wear. Potluck has similar longevity to Iowa in that I can detect it for 6 hours, but it changes so much from the opening that I'm not really interested in what's left after a few hours. Mostly turns into a spiced oat smell after the first hour.

Destashing any?: I only have a sample of Iowa and Potluck but I'll probably destash them. I can't imagine ever craving a "cornbread" scent and reaching for either of these over the beautiful Golden Corn Cakes.

NAVA Polichenelle Review

Brand: NAVA
Availability: General Catalog

Notes: Warm Woody Clove Smoke, Vanilla Bean & Marshmallow Extract, Indian Kewda Attar Incense, Amber and White Musk

First impression out of bottle: Damp woodsmoke, wood, and clove


Freshly applied: Wet, very sweet clove syrup and smoke

Drydown: As the perfume dries, the scent "dries out" too. Instead of being so wet and syrupy, this becomes a little rougher like split wood sprinkled with spices. The incense complements the sweetness but isn't the star player. The smoke is there grounding the clove, but it's not a HEY SMOKE scent. The marshmallow plays with the vanilla and it's got this sweet fluffy foodie thing that's so lovely without being sickly.

Imagine this, but laden with sticky clove syrup

After several hours: Sweet, fluffy clove with a lovely spiced wood background

Longevity: High
Sillage: High

Would an [X] lover love this? Anyone who likes spice, especially clove, really needs this. It's a fresh/different take on a spice that has been done to death in a million holiday/foodie scents.

Would an [X] hater love this? I think even someone who shies away from spice will find this perfume wearable. The wood, smoke, and sweetness are all perfectly mingled with the dark, mysterious clove. This doesn't smell cliché or like anything you've smelled before.

Where am I? Toasting marshmallows in the wilderness and smelling clove cigarettes on the cold breeze.

Where would I wear this?  This is one of those awesome perfumes that would work well in cold or warm weather. I could wear this for a nighttime event because it's sexy and bold, but it's not too spicy or brash, so I can wear this for daytime too. Especially because the smoke is so delicate and wouldn't make anyone think I'm burning toast.

NAVA Carnival Arcane Review

Brand: NAVA
Availability: General Catalog

Notes: Black Kettle Corn with tendrils of black spun sugar that weave, like a web, though ethereal funnel cakes drizzled with aged black Crystal vanilla musk, Crystalline Syrup and sweet & salty accords

First impression out of bottle: Fluffy Kettle Corn


Freshly applied: Salty-sweet popcorn, over an almost fruity syrup base. I don't smell Crystalline that much...it's fruity and a bit "thin" smelling.

Drydown: Still lovely Kettle Corn, but now the thin/fruity syrup smell has been replaced with a really nice musky sweet smell. Crystalline vanilla is generally a pure, fluffy, musky vanilla and that comes across here, but it's a bit less complex and more playful/cotton-candy-like. I think it's nicely balanced as-is, but I want more of the Kettle Corn scent. I think this would be dynamite with more dark, caramelized notes.

After several hours: Same fluffy soft savory-sweet. Like Rice Krispie treats and cotton candy.

Pink fluffy Kettle Corn

Longevity: High
Sillage: Medium

Would an [X] lover love this? Gourmand lovers who like salty scents might enjoy this. I've never tried Sixteen92 Shadow Show but this sounds similar, without the metallic notes and earthy notes. It's very straightforward.

Would an [X] hater love this? I think gourmand haters won't like this. It's too straightforward and doesn't introduce any unexpected notes.

Where am I? Making carnival-themed treats for a kid's birthday party. Not actually at a real carnival though. 

Where would I wear this? Daytime, spring, summer.

NAVA Queen Amber Review

Brand: NAVA
Availability: General Catalog

Notes: Egyptian Honey Incense warms the Amber glow of scent in an indelicate sense of chins held high, Golden Crowns shining in the sun, jewels of lazuli and gold sparkling to the heavens and on her wrists and behind her ears the gossamer of delicious honey and amber elixir

First impression out of bottle: Dark sticky honey and cinnamon spice


Freshly applied: Fantastic hybrid of foodie syrup and woodsy syrup notes. There is dark mustiness from sacred wood as well as a robust, caramelized, nutty honey note. The "cinnamon" impression isn't really cinnamon but a complex blend of nutty brown spice that is super intriguing. 

Drydown: The deep woodsy resin notes are making me think of a super dusty and mysterious antique shop, with hidden magical treasures. The honey is still super strong, sweet, and syrupy-smooth. The nuttiness I talked about earlier is still there. It's like strong, earthy toasted nuts/wood. 

After several hours: Sticky, spicy honey and dancing wood and resin notes. 

Longevity: High
Sillage: High

Would an [X] lover love this? If you love resin scents. try this. It's totally unique and special while still highlighting what you love about amber. Honey-lovers also need to give it a chance, though it's sultrier and more exotic than you might be used to.

Would an [X] hater love this? If you think amber is "powdery" or sickly, think again. This is a totally sexy, earthy, sweet amber that is nothing like the soft skin scents you've tried.

Where am I? Drinking spiced tea with a huge dollop of honey in an antique shop, while talking to a woman who may or may not be a sorceress.

Where would I wear this? Nighttime, for sure. This is seasonless: the spice and nutty notes make it a holiday-friendly snuggly scent, but the bright sticky resin would be really great on a hot summer night as well. Year-round and all-occasion signature-scent worthy.

NAVA Ghost Velvet Review

Brand: NAVA
Availability: Limited Edition NAVAlloween Pt. 1 2015

Notes: Our velvet blend (Haunted ghost-like Jasmine, vespers of Vanilla bean, soporific musk all weave the scent of Eternal Ankh Vanilla Absolute) with the utterly beautiful accord of our SL Crystalline. Thick, rapturous vanilla velvet blanket for a ghost to keep warm in the dead of night or as a cozy blanket of velvet scent

First impression out of bottle: Sweet, caramelized vanilla

Creamy white vanilla

Freshly applied: Gooey vanilla and a hint of flowers

Drydown: The gooey, caramelized vanilla dries into the characteristic NAVA Crystalline, which is a slightly musky, fluffy true vanilla. The jasmine pops out more and becomes a co-star with the dreamy vanilla. Like in the other Velvet blends, the jasmine is complemented by all the other notes and is made to feel more true/realistic despite not being a lone single note. This evokes a very fluffy, creamy, pure white jasmine. It smells sexy because it's jasmine, but it's not a sexed-up scent.

Pure white jasmine

After several hours: Same creamy, intermingled jasmine-vanilla musk. It's now revealing these wonderful tropical, fresh nuances. There's now a note that reminds me of coconut cream.

Tropical, sweet, and fresh

Longevity: High
Sillage: Medium-high

Would an [X] lover love this? I think jasmine fans will really like this rendition

Would an [X] hater love this? I don't know if a jasmine-hater would like it, it's very pure and I can see where the vanilla (turning to coconutty vibes) might be a bit sweet and strong. I don't feel the scent itself is too assertive, but if your nose is bothered by sweet or white florals, maybe it's not for you.

Where am I? Hiking through the jungle to a really luxurious resort surrounded by waterfalls.

Where would I wear this? Daytime, summer, spring. It was released this fall but I really think I'll be getting a lot of use out of it with the warmer weather. 

Cocoa Pink Genevieve Review

Brand: Cocoa Pink
Availability: Fall/Winter 2015 (N/A during Spring/Summer)
Notes: Sweet milk, bourbon vanilla, sandalwood, burning sage & smoke

First impression out of bottle: Milk and toasted smoothness.

Freshly applied: Same toast-y milk scent with the bite of dried green sage. The sage is very warm and earthy here- not savory like turkey stuffing but herbal and clean like a witch's kitchen. A bit of tartness like Ava Luxe Milk (tart in a dairy way, not unpleasantly sour though.)

The sage here is not burnt in a blackened way, but pleasantly warm

Drydown: More smooth toastiness now, like if you could have toasted rice krispie treats floating in a pool of cream. Really creamy and lush but not sugary. Love the pop of sage here. The smoke note is not super strong, it’s like a wisp of gray kitchen smoke. I love that this has a toasted scent without smelling burnt or woodsy. It's very light, soft, and clean, while having a pleasant earthy substance.

After several hours: Same but faded to a faintly smoky and sweet white skin scent.

Longevity: High
Sillage: Medium at first, then fades to a low but persistent skin scent after a few hours. Better throw and longevity than something like Caramel Popcorn Balls, which is weaker and softer.

Would an [X] lover love this? I think gourmand lovers would adore this. If you like herbs of any sort or faintly smoky scents, this is perfect.

Would an [X] hater love this? I think even people who shy away from milky scents and find they go sour will love it- this is so pleasant and inoffensively creamy

Where am I? Eating rice krispie treats in a witch's kitchen.

Where would I wear this? Daytime, work, weekend. It feels very warm and cozy for autumn, but I could wear it year round, honestly. 

Haus of Gloi Golden Corn Cakes Review

Brand: Haus of Gloi
Availability: Limited Edition Fall (recurring)
Notes: Corn cake baked to a golden perfection, topped with butter and honey

First impression out of bottle: Savory cornbread with a hint of sweetness.

Freshly applied: Honeyed butter and toothsome cornbread. Heavy on the honey.

Drydown: Honey with a hint of savory gourmand-ness. It's quite a bright golden scent, not super toasted or dark. Sweeter than I expected, which is nice. More honey than anything else. Like a gourmand, autumn honey with a rich baked goods background. 

Heavy on the honey and butter

After several hours: Mm I love the syrupy deep honey with slightly earthy golden bready cake background. It's a really balanced honeyed bread/cake scent that smells more homey and less exotic than Arcana Ganesh. 

Longevity: Medium
Sillage: Medium

Would an [X] lover love this? I love honey and gourmands, this ticks all my boxes. It probably will suit your tastes if you like Arcana Yellow Cake, Ganesh, or Aestas. If you like Solstice Scents' sweeter stuff, this will also be a hit.

Would an [X] hater love this? Gourmand haters could give this a try, though I'll say it's straightforward and unsurprising as far as sweet, foodie stuff goes. This is a good, non-spicy fall gourmand but if you dislike or have issues with honey notes, this won't be for you.

Where am I? Eating corn muffins at home on a brisk fall day.

Where would I wear this? Autumn, winter, daytime, work, home. It's really cozy and sweet. I would even wear this for a date, because I think sweet gourmands like this go over well with dudes in general.