atriel is a perfumer who sent me seven of her perfume prototypes from her about-to-open perfume company for review. I spent about a week with them. I was surprised that they turned out to be alcohol-based-- usually I only wear oil-based scents because perfumer's alcohol makes me sneeze. But for the most part, I did not sneeze, though I can only hope that these reviews are somewhat accurate due to the change in format. No notes were listed for any of these, so I'm going in blind. I can say that all of the scents had excellent staying power.


Kushiel's Legacy scents-- I'd held off on reviewing because the prototypes were being sent to Jacqueline Carey for review, but now that JC has gotten back to atriel, I've been given the go-ahead.

Melisande (v2):: Melisande oddly enough started off very baby powdery. From there, it went to almost a straight white musk scent, with a little drop of some sort of spice lurking in the background. It wasn't a savory spice like cinnamon, but something very dry-- allspice, maybe? Very unsweetened. Not quite bitter. This isn't one I'd wear, though it does seem faithful to the description of Melisande in the books. It's just not sensuous enough for me. I hear this one is being reformulated, however.

Jasmine House:: Jasmine, duh. But a very pretty jasmine. Ordinarily, jasmine turns to hairspray on my skin (or at least it does with BPAL's jasmine note), but this one is sweet and bright and not at all cloying. I can't pick out anything else, though-- on me, this is pretty much jasmine absolute.

The Exile's Lament:: A white floral. Let me tell you, that is about as descriptive as I can get, because I'm so bad with picking out most individual florals. It's white, and it's very dry. ETA: On second wearing, I can smell something a little herbal under it all-- someone suggested it might be lavender based on the books, but the lavender, if it's there, is not particularly pronounced and blends in with the other herbs. It's overall a little bit sweeter than my first shot at it, but not much-- the wet stage has a slight tinge of clover honey but then that completely fades off. The word 'pastoral' comes to mind-- like a French country house. Very subdued and pale green-- like the memory of grass or clover. Fresher and more outdoorsy than the first go. I like the second wearing far better than the first-- it's calming and not as perfumey as I'd initially thought. I wonder why that is? I don't know, maybe my sniffer is broken. ETA2: I just figured out what this reminded me of! BPAL's 'Szepassony!' Their dry stages are practically identical. Here's what I said about that: "For the life of me, I cannot pick out individual notes here. This is a blindingly white scent, with slight hints of spring yellows and greens. It smells like rain and ozone tinged with uncanny, unrecognizable hints, like grass or maybe twisted verbena." And yeah, The Exile's Lament is kinda like that.

I know that there's also a Cereus House & an Orchis House in development as well. Might I suggest a Tsingani scent-- something red musk-y with lots of spice and resin to balance out the floral nature of this series? Or Kushiel-- leather notes and musk? There is so much potential here, but in general, I just don't do flowers. I can brainstorm scents and notes all day, though.


Other Scents

Alice in Wonderland:: This one was the clear winner for me. It's a bright summer scent that is irresistibly happy. Starts of with a pale pink candyfloss sugar scent with a bright lemony topnote. As it settles, a vanilla roundness peeks out from the base notes. I really really enjoyed this one-- it was thoroughly fae.

Through the Looking Glass:: A dark cousin of Alice. The same candyfloss notes, though less pronounced. There is a distinct bubblegum note in there-- whether that's lotus or actual bubblegum (they smell exactly the same to me) is beyond me. There's also something red in there-- the musk is not a white musk at all, and is very subdued.

Sleeping Beauty:: A pink floral. I was expecting roses, but if roses are in there, they were very quiet ones. Again, I am terrible at florals, but I guessed sweet pea and maybe a little lily? This did not go sour on my skin at all, which was a surprise (mixed florals in general hate me). An excellent daytime scent for someone who enjoys florals.

Halo:: An orangey/gold floral, but one I really enjoyed. It shared (to me) some notes with the original release of BPAL's Litha, so I guessed heliotrope or honeysuckle. Something very pale pink hiding behind it all. Semi-sweet, not too overpowering. A great yellow-y gold spring and summer perfume that brought a smile to my face.

Last chance to send in your gemstone guess!

For the first time, most of the guesses I've received have been incorrect (though united in the fact that they were all negativity-banishing stones). This one is harder because the two most commonly known things about this stone would have made it a dead giveaway. Only three correct guesses thus far out of about twenty or so!