Briarthorn

Powdery rose. Very powdery, but in a good way. I didn't get much honey in the opening but there is a bit of orange blossom in there. Just a tad. After it warms up the pollen and honey come out. It's very pleasant. A lovely scent. It wears very close to the skin and lasts about 6 hours.

Jun
03
2014

This is the latest formulation I could find of this. It's still very affordable and I believe it has greatly improved it's general appeal for a larger number of people.

Design opens strong with a very sweet punch. It's not a gourmand, edible sweetness but a more floral sweet with a heavy peach and current touch. I was surprised. It's not the civet bomb I remember and there is no soap, no sharpness and no powder from the white flowers. I like this smooth and almost creamy take on white flowers. I've never been as thrilled by heavy soap or sharpness. The florals in the opening are mainly honeysuckle and tuberose but the sweetness is intense, just walking the line between alarming and eccentric.

After an hour or so the sweetness has faded and I'm left with a lovely smooth and silky honeysuckle dominated white bouquet over a sweet musky sandalwood base. The peach and current aren't "notes" so much as impressions now, lending their sweetness to a clean musk. It's warm and almost comforting. I don't detect any civet or really any anamalic hints at all. I'm also not getting that peppery bite of carnation I remember. I am really enjoying wearing it. I also like that honeysuckle is the main star here. This is a floral that is very under-represented in my wardrobe and this is a good use of it.

The dry down is very much like the heart. There is not very much evolution here. The sandalwood is a bit more prominent. It's smooth and creamy over that sweet musky base. Lovely. The Gardenia becomes the dominant flower in the dry down. It actually begins to almost shout in a creamy, coconutty, kinda sweet way. I didn't expect this. I really noticed it about 9 hours after application. I love gardenia, so this is a good thing.

This didn't become a skin scent until well after 9 hours and I was still catching snatches of it up to 14 hours later. Overall the scent wears very well and doesn't fall apart at the end. It's well blended and not at all what I was expecting from the bottle design. I didn't realize I made judgments on a scent just by looking at the bottle until this scent surprised me. A great buy for the price, just use a light hand because it really has a big reach.

I don't get syrupy waffles at all.

This is the only scent I get complimented on every single time I wear it.

It opens with a strong creamy coffee. The creaminess in the coffee I believe comes from the Vanilla and amber. Tonka Bean and Lavender give it a nice earthy facet and I think the tonka also add a bit to the creaminess. The coffee and cream is strongest in the opening.

The heart has a vetiver feel to it. It's not vetiver, but it's vetiver -like. I think it's just the perfect blending of the bergamot and patchouli that give it the citrusy and earthy vetiver feel. The coffee and cream are still there but tempered by the lavender and vetiver-feeling notes. The heart is heavy with bergamot and patchouli.

The drydown is very woody with the mix of patchouli and cedar. There is also more Lavender in the drydown, as well. There is a real creaminess in the drydown too, from the Vanilla and amber.

This scent has really big projection so use a light hand. I have caught snatches of this scent up to 24 hours after applying it, though it's mostly gone after about 16 hours.

May
20
2014

The Frangipani, Vanilla, Amber, and a hint of sandalwood blend to make a creamy and fleshy Coconut opening. My first thought was "Wow, that's a nice coconut." Then I thought, "Wait. No, it's so much more." It's very well blended and works beautifully. There is a hint of the osmanthus and Tiare in the background adding a bit of depth to the "coconut". The dry down was a faint skin scent that consisted mostly of Tiare and Ylang-ylang with a hint of sandalwood. It lasted about 4-5 hours and mostly clung to the skin with low projection.

A very beautiful and well blended scent.

Feb
24
2014

This scent opens very soapy with a serious citrus zing from the Bergamont, mandarin, and lemon. There is a hint of greenness too, from the orange leaf maybe. It's a bit sharp and almost too soapy but you can sense the spices and creamy bouquet hiding under the citrus punch.

After about thirty minutes the extreme soapiness fades away with the citrus opening and we are left with a very lovely heart. There are two very distinct things going on here. A spicy side and a creamy floral side. The spices are beautiful blend of the coriander, cloves and carnation. The carnation lending a nice peppery bite to it. The other side of this is the creamy bouquet. Jasmine, and Ylang-ylang with a bit of sweetness from the tarragon and amber. It truly is lovely. There is a smooth creaminess that prevents the florals from being sharp and clashing with the peppery spices. I believe this creaminess is from the benzoin, sandalwood, and amber. I didn't get any rose.

The dry down is less floral and more of the spice side of the heart. Cloves, coriander and peppery carnation. It's also a little powdery from the orris root and there's a pop of musk and creamy amber and sandalwood.

This is a truly classic and beautiful scent. It has the complexity and ability to evolve on the skin that you would expect from a high end niche perfume house. I cannot believe I paid so little for it. It's cheap but smells luxurious. The sillage is nice and personal. Not too loud but someone standing next to you will smell it. Over all it lasted about 10 hours on me but was a skin scent after about 6.

May
18
2014