TeaWithMilk

She is the most beautiful iris-based perfume I have ever encountered--a cold, powdery iris blended with warm, velvety cacao. She exudes elegance, is dressed impeccably, has the loveliest smile, and is unquestionably sexy. You can't help but stare at her from across the room. You know you don't have a chance, she is way too good for you, but you need to talk to her all the same....

Out of all of Minya's perfumes, this one seems the most exquisite. While the original Hedonist screams luxury, this one is more restrained, which somehow makes it less approachable, therefore more exclusive, yet equally well-blended and equally beautiful.

SUMMARY: A stylish, modern iris perfume for the woman who will always be out of your reach.

Hedonist grew on me with time. It is an extremely sweet, peachy, boozy scent with subtle hints of tobacco and vanilla, but the tobacco really "makes it". It is a velvety scent and is very luxurious somehow. A bit of spice lingers in the base, but it is hardly noticeable. Really Hedonist is a delicious gourmand for quite some time, but the floral aspect becomes stronger after wearing for a few hours. I smell jasmine in the summertime. This is a very different kind of fruity-floral--not innocent but very alluring.

SUMMARY: A Georgia peach socialite

A winter perfume this good may never be repeated again in history. It does not remind me of the Holidays as much as the the entire winter season itself. It's smells like icicles melting in the winter sun, the pure and clear water carrying the scent of pine wood with it. It doesn't remind me of fires or spiced desserts, it reminds me of white snow, delicate little snow flakes, and the icing on a gingerbread house rather than the gingerbread itself. Something is very cool and fresh about this perfume.

This is a sweet woody perfume. Sweetness in woody perfumes tends to turn me off. But something about the sweetness of this one draws me in. It's sweet, yet it retains a naturalness and contains a subtle green quality. Resins are beautiful and become just barely smoky as the perfume dries down. They smell more like oppoponax than bitter frankincense, but I suppose the frankincense could be used so sparingly that it is not bothersome. This perfume is a winter delight--such a crying shame it was discontinued.

SUMMARY: Winter in a bottle, not Christmas.

Not very. More people dislike this perfume than care to admit on Fragrantica. I came upon a couple of samples very easily, as people were quite eager to pass them on. It's a nice perfume, but it's sickeningly, cloyingly sweet. There is nothing about it that conjures forest images. It smells very much like concentrated fruit juice. If there anything natural about it, it might be some little wooden sticks floating atop the gigantic bowl of fruit juice. I do believe this can work on the right person, just like all perfumes have that ability. But it's not going to work on me.

I find the number of notes to be perfectly acceptable. The problem is that the top notes are so heavy and cloying that the perfume is totally unbalanced.

I dislike the bottle and just don't "get it". Normally I love all things magical--Disney, Le Petit Prince.... However, I would not want my $200 bottle of perfume to look like something I would give to my 8-year-old daughter. It's beautiful and whimsical, but it looks like a Disneyland souvenir.

SUMMARY: Someone spilled their punch all over me. I can't wait to get home and take a shower.

It sure smells like it! This fragrance is very masculine to me, but somehow I can pull it off. I would describe the scent as mostly a woody amber, but not too spicy or heavy. I really adore this fragrance. It somehow manages to smell "old"--as in it takes me back in time to a whole different era. It maybe has a slight metallic feel to it because I can easily imagine a giant wood and steel ship making its way through the dense, gray fog as it enters New York Harbor. This perfume really captures my imagination. I think it's one of the very best by Strange Invisible. Could be a fun fragrance for people who romanticize old times--classic literature, leather bound books, hoopskirts and frilly blouses, wrought iron candelabras, candlelit saloons, and so forth....

SUMMARY:
"Oh, a sailor's life is the life for me
How I love to sail o'er the bounding sea
And I never, never, ever do a thing about the weather
For the weather never ever does a thing for me!"
~The Sailor's Hornpipe