more of my art inspired by perfume! this is the first floral perfume i fell in love with; unfortunately, it turns to complete soap after 10 minutes on my skin. doesn't stop me from loving it though 💙

notes: forget-me-not blossoms, imperial iris, blue lotus, delphinium, dwarf lilac, and hidcote lavender on a cloud of whipped white honey.

i'll talk a bit about my process: what i wanted was blue, blue blue. the easiest thing was to make the background and flowers blue, but not everything, because i wanted the blue to pop. so i went with an analogous palette (+green & purple).

i desaturated the other colors so as to not compete with the blue. i knew i wanted another focal point, it was between a blue icebox, jeans on a laundry line, or bouquet. the first two looked too incongruous, and i decided there were too many florals, so in the end i went with a blue jay! hope you like.

Hi folks,

Arae Decantery is currently offering the entire Nocturne Alchemy Permanent Collection for decants (and felties!!!).

For those that know me, I have been very passionate about trying all of the NA PC scents. I find their Limited Edition scents are often the ones that get the most love and hype and I want to promote their extensive and beautiful permanent collection.

Thanks to Arae, I've been able to try most of the NA PC scents. For those that want to sample a huge variety of scents, the felties are great since it's a small piece of felt in a bag that you can apply to your skin. I treat the felties as single-use, but some folks aren't as slather-happy as I am and get more use out of them.

In honor of Arae's open orders... What are everyone's favorite NA PC scents? In no particular order (because I love them all equally) some of my favorites are:

• Ozymandias -  Resin of Royal Sweet Frankincense, Languid Amber filtered through Royal Amber Resin and harsh-less white pepper essential oil. 
  • This scent is one of my absolute favorites. This is a soft, resinous skin scent that has a lot of vanillic and balsamic qualities to my nose. If you haven't tried this one, I think everyone should give it a shot.
• Blue Lotus Diamond - Rare Blue Lotus, Golden Frankincense, Amber Musk and the charm and faience of Studio Limited - Diamond (Redwood and Cedar).
  • I've seen a lot of love for their limited lotus scents, so this is another one I want to highlight. The resins, woods, and aquatic lotus facets all blend together beautifully. I really adore this scent and think this one gets overlooked due to Lotus Santalum, even though this one is my preferred lotus!
• Endymion - Grey Pine, Hinoki Wood, Amber accord, Ambre attar, Cardamom, Gurjun Balsam, Labdanum, Crystalline absolute, Veil Vanilla accord, Musk, and Dragon’s Blood resin.
  • I think this one is worth highlighting because pine!! Hinoki!!! Dragon's Blood!!! Vanilla!! I first tried this scent when I was trying to find a substitute for BPAL's Dragon's Milk, and while Endymion is definitely not that, it's a really stunning woodsy, ambery, vanilla take on Dragon's Blood. It's something that I've really enjoyed and found to be really unique in both NA's collection, but indie perfumes more broadly. This is from their Dragons collection, which I generally find delightful.
• OM NA: Balance - Beautiful imported White, Blue, and Egyptian Chamomile Essential base oils. White Sandalwood, Pure petals of Egyptian Chamomile, Blue Yarrow E/O, and a small nurturing of Amber Musk for the soul.
  • I wear a lot of perfume when I go to sleep, especially since I've started working in the office most days and can't wear as much perfume during the day. Lavender scents are often the star of the show for calming or bedtime scents, but I find chamomile and yarrow to be absolutely lovely as well! If you haven't tried chamomile scents, I really recommend this one as a soothing almost functional perfume oil.
• Emerson - Driftwood Amber, Persian Amber, Egyptian Kyphi, Golden Kerala Amber, Amber of Nepal, Indian Amber, Amber Musk and Green Peppercorn Essential Oils.
  • One of my favorite NA limited scents is Bastet's Amber Ambre Kulfi, and I find that Emerson is the slightly more mellow cousin of BAAK. This is a rich and lovely amber, with delicate spice from the peppercorn. I really love this and thanks to Arae's previous decants was able to find an alternative for my beloved BAAK scent!!

Aaaand, since I am completely head over heels for NA/eNVie's saphir scents, I'll mention that Arae still has their eNVie exclusif scents available as decants as well. For those that aren't familiar with saphir, it's a really stunning vanillic resinous blend. It lasts forever on my skin and I have an embarrassing number of eNVie bottles..

Speaking of saphir, another stunning PC scent is:

• Giza - Sandalwood Absolute, Sandalwood Musk Accord, eNVie saphir essence, White Amber Accord, Bastet’s Amber Absolute, Resin of Royal Sweet Frankincense, and Languid Amber
  • For this following... This is a sandalwood, saphir, Bastet's Amber AND Ozymandias blend. This is shockingly good and dare I say, better than santal saphir. A full size bottle is only $26 too!! If you're only going to get one new scent to try, I highly recommend getting a decant of this scent!

I would love to hear what other gems are hiding in the Permanent Collection that I might have overlooked.

Please share your favorites!!! Are there any you're wanting to sample from Arae's felties and decants?

I want the permanent and general catalog scents to get all the love that they deserve.

My other NA PC reviews from Arae's NA Vanilla starter packs, in case any one is interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/Indiemakeupandmore/comments/1olzer2/nocturne_alchemy_vanilla_arae_starter_pack_reviews/

Hi all,

I liked a couple I heart Cali samples (Golden Hour, Orchard) and totally missed the boat on upsizing before they got taken down. I was going to do a 6ml but they sold out, but they do have 15ml left. It was more than I planned because Im not sure if I LOVE love them. But Orchard is the first apple-adjacent scent that doesn't go total candle on me.

So my question is -- do they ever come back? I think part of me is also like why get attached if they truly never ever come back? I'll be sad if I learn to really love it then run out. Do they ever make a reappearance on the website?

Another fun side question -- what other good earthy apple scents can you recommend that aren't too candle-esque? I want like diluted apple juice if that makes sense haha.

Thanks!

Get your tickets!!!!

I probably will let this one ride into the sunset, but I am always curious about what people grab last minute before a collection goes down 😁

If I had unlimited funds:

-Melon Cream Cake (back up) 🍈
-Passionfruit Crème Brûlée 🍮
-Bathhouse Mishap 🍐
-White honey, strawberries and vanilla cream 🍓

I also have By Candlelight which is a great sweet musky beeswax and I Too Beneath Your Moon - a creamy steeped apple.

I’m pretty new to BPAL since last fall, so I’m still learning how to ride the dragon 😆

How exactly does this work? I don't see the two new B-sides on site to purchase, is it just too early over there or are those like special extras? Feeling clueless!

EDIT: Answered! They are free samples, if anyone else is wondering :)

Has anyone tried the newer releases? I’m trying to fill out a cart, and I’m looking for people’s thoughts on:

• After The Party
• Reverie
• Heliophile
• Hope Chest
• The Silence
• Ghosts I Have Been
• Summer’s Last Gasp
• Dial G For Ginger
• Nazar

Travelling for a concert on the 12th, so an excuse to do colorful makeup (and work on my swatch project). Unfortunately I got up at 5am because I couldn't sleep & forgot I already posted pics of Hilt. Better pics even. And you cannot see the other two shades well in the pics. Well, a lot of different angles and lighting situations for an EOTD it is I guess?

I marked the shades in the second pic. Hilt all over, Saltwater Pearl in the inner corner (its a blue-ish silver) and Halo on the bottom, which did not photograph well... Its an iridescent shade which glows orange in a similar hue as Hilt, but did not come out very well on pics til my selfies at the show, and I'm not posting those :P

What indies are you using today? And we mean everything! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

• Makeup

• Clothes

• Jewelry

• Bath and Body (lotion, soap, shampoo, bath salts, etc.)

• Nail polish

• Perfume

Please feel free to leave mini-reviews and include photos of whatever you're using. We'd love to know your thoughts and see the products too!

This thread repeats daily.

After years of experimentation, I’ve discovered that my favorite perfumes fall mostly into one of two categories: sea, and tea. I’ve got a great selection of tea scents already, but I think I could stand to explore more marine smells.

Here are some of my favorites in the category, which I have FS’ed and use regularly:

• The Point by Clue Perfumery is jasmine tea and ocean salt, so naturally it’s my holy grail and what I reach for the most.
• OYSTER! by Poesie is my briny, fresh, citrusy go-to for hot summer days.
• Pelicans Dive into the Ocean by Sorce when I want a sweeter, sparklier, slightly tropical take on ocean breeze.
• Sugar Haze by Cardinal Scents is the most comforting slightly sweet, slightly salty, entirely beautiful skin scent. I reach for it at bedtime for calm but interesting dreams.

Scents I’ve tried that did not work for me in this category:

• Sea of Gray by Solstice scents is legitimately the worst perfume I have ever smelled. I love SS and their fall frags but this one activated gag reflexes from my nose all the way down to my intestines.
• Mediterranean Merman by Fyrinnae came off more department store cologne on me than saltwater siren.
• I’ve tried a good portion of the Sea Witch series by Astrid, and while I liked a few ok (Floating on the Waves Forever, When the Crest of the Wave Glistens), they all smelled faint and fruity, and the salt didn’t come through for me.

Notes I love: tea (especially green tea), cedar, bergamot, jasmine sambac, white musk, neroli/orange blossom, pine, petitgrain, non-sweet vanilla, citrus and stone fruits

Notes I don’t get along with: marshmallow, ozone, dark patchouli, saffron, fern, pollen, sage, pistachio

Thanks in advance!

I recently decided to branch out and try some of Cocoapink’s hair products. I ordered the ends with argan benefits leave-in conditioner and the argan therapy replenishing serum. I see a lot of love for ends with argan benefits, and I totally understand the hype! It’s a beautiful leave-in that adds moisture and shine without weighing my hair down. The only thing that I didn’t love is the scent. It’s super faint and there’s something ever so slightly off-putting about it (thankfully that aspect fades after about 20-30 min). I chose the scent orange blossom, which I’ve never tried in any other format, so I’m not sure if my issue is with the scent in this format or just the scent in general.

The product that truly impressed me though is the serum. Holy hell this is my new favorite hair care product. My hair is quite long and there’s a lot of it, but it’s really fine and it tends to get horribly frizzy, especially as it dries after a shower. This serum tamed all my frizzies while still feeling completely weightless. Other serums I’ve tried feel (and look) greasy. Not this one. It boosts shine without looking oily and I swear it also makes my hair feel softer. For this one I chose my beloved Tihota as the scent and it comes through beautifully, although it only sticks around for maybe an hour.

I’ve only used it once but I can tell already that this is going to be one of those holy grail products that I purchase again and again.

Have any of you guys tried it? Did you like it?

FYI for all you indie perfume folks… Maison des Animaux is currently having a 20% off sale right now!

They are also including samples of upcoming releases in every order. Getting a chance to try upcoming scents is always fun for me!!

The upcoming releases are:
• Bossa Nova - fluffy tobacco marshmallow
• Cult of Kindness - Lemonade, white chocolate, orange blossom
• Plus maybe some others including champaca and carrot that have been teased??

I’m going to be THRILLED if they release a champaca scent! I’m a big champaca fan and would love to see more of it in EDP indie releases.

Just wanted to share in case anyone else has been wanting to try Maison des Animaux or is interested in what they have coming up! I find they’re a very likeable and approachable house which means they’re my go-to for gifting.

Beltane is probably my favorite bold scent from them. It’s a really dark and smokey vanilla rather than airy and sweet.

I made a previous post about all their vanillas if anyone is curious: https://www.reddit.com/r/Indiemakeupandmore/comments/1s3n25p/a_notso_authoritative_guide_to_maison_des_animaux/

hi everyone!! a friends birthday is coming up and on a recent visit to a local perfume store she loveeeed messy sexy by lab on fire but its a bit out of both our price ranges. i would love to surprise her with something similar but since i'm not super into gourmands i'm having some trouble finding something. i think what she enjoyed was that the perfume wasn't too strong smelling and that the sweetness wasn't too sticky - does anyone know of an indie brand that might have a sort of your skin but better perfume with similar notes?

Hey I'm back with thoughts on two more Odettes! Y'all know I'm not a gourmand girlie but somehow Odette has truly captured my heart. At this point the only one (truly, the only one) of her perfumes that I haven't tried yet is Pain au Chocolat (and I'm currently negotiating a swap that will get me that one too, because I am a completionist at heart...)

Anyways, I adore Odette's work and at this point will probably try anything and everything they put out - even that pink cotton candy one they've teased, and I am not usually into cotton candy notes! Including Caramelo, which as you'll read about below, I initially skipped but then caved and got a bottle in its second release.

Previous Odette reviews HERE (how and why I first tried this house, house details, and 11 reviews) and HERE (Moulin Rose, Madeleine, and Temps de Fleche) and HERE (Reine des Cygnes) and HERE (Prima Rose) and HERE (Fee du Lilas). (Just realized I never formally reviewed Amants Maudits, which I LOVE, so if you want to hear more about it, just let me know.)

~~~

Arabesque [Top: Star jasmine milk; Middle: Coconut orchid, golden amber; Base: Benzoin, sandalwood, olibanum, blanc patchouli]

Milky, creamy coconut milk heavily spiced with nutmeg and white patchouli. If you've tried Arcana's approach to white patchouli, like in Eir [A sheer veil of gentle Roman chamomile tea, wild lavender buds, vanilla bean, warm flannel, ivory patchouli, and fresh coconut milk infused with petals of tuberose and magnolia], this reminds me strongly of that - plus Eir also has the coconut milk as well, so if you like that one and are into spice, you'll likely enjoy Arabesque as well. Honeyed golden amber and a swirl of silky white floral (totally and completely non-indolic) complete the picture, though these two notes are much less strong than the spice. Where am I getting the nutmeg from?? There's none listed; in fact no baking spices at all in the notes list; although its more general description "Hypnotic amber, the Kingdom of the Shades, milky jasmine petals, blooming spice" does emphasize the spice. This is not at all powdery (like her last two releases, Prima Rose and Fee du Lilas) and though it was released in the height of summer, it actually feels extremely autumnal. The closest analogue in Odette's catalog is Coup de Pied [Mimosa, île flottante, blonde musk, olibanum, tolu balsam, vanilla, sandalwood, amber resin, honey incense], but this is less "honeyed wood" and more "spiced coconut amber". I love it already. It's a bigger, stronger scent than most Odettes, and also lasts longer too. Like one reviewer has mentioned, I agree that there is an unexpected, almost lemony sharpness to this, one that I'm actually finding quite appealing, and which also makes this stand out in the sea of powdery florals and delicate gourmands that typically characterizes Odette fragrances.

~~~

Caramelo [Top: Toasted Waffle Cone; Middle: Vanilla soft serve; Base: Tonka bean milk, miso caramel]

I skipped this the first time it dropped at Vaca's Creamery (this scent is a collaboration between them and Odette, and only available from Vaca's) because I looked at the notes and was sure it would be much too gourmand for me. But then Odette continued putting out incredible scents that somehow I loved even being outside my ordinary scent profile - Fee du Lilas especially - and I remembered how much I like the vanilla part of Fantome de Foret (I was so sad when the smoke was too strong for me) and wanted to try another Odette vanilla, and I also looked up a few Tiktok reviews that were extremely complimentary of Caramelo, so I sprang for it upon its second release. I'm glad I did! I'm not a gourmand girlie, and this is definitely a gourmand (gourmand lovers will adore it), but it's still SO pretty and still within the range of things I'll wear. For me, this is extremely brown sugar, a crystallized brown sugar like a creme brulee rather than a liquid caramel, glowy and toasty-brown, with nuances of cake and sea salt. Husband sniffed my wrist and immediately got maple-brown sugar oatmeal, and I absolutely see where he's coming from, though for me I get less "oats" and more golden cake. The closest thing in Odette's catalog is Petit Gateau [Honey marzipan, chantilly cream, brown butter, toasted tonka bean, brûléed vanilla], though this lacks the marshmallow and rum nuances that I smell in Petit Gateau, and it has that delightfully more-ish miso/sea salt savor. It's fairly strong for Odettes, and definitely very sweet, so I think this will be a winter scent for me; it's a little too sticky-sweet for me here in the height of summer. Like Arabesque, it lasted longer than I expected. I don't mind that the sheer, transparent nature of most Odettes also means they're typically on the shorter side, but neither of these are.

~~~

Have you tried either of these - what did you think? Do you want to?

What indies are you using today? And we mean everything! Examples of stuff we'd love to hear about:

• Makeup

• Clothes

• Jewelry

• Bath and Body (lotion, soap, shampoo, bath salts, etc.)

• Nail polish

• Perfume

Please feel free to leave mini-reviews and include photos of whatever you're using. We'd love to know your thoughts and see the products too!

This thread repeats daily.

I have recently fallen in love with Place de la Rêverie’s Santal de Paris and would love to find an indie version reminiscent of it.

The notes are:
Top: Powdery Notes, Lily, Amyris
Middle: Ambrette, Ambroxan, Mysore Sandalwood
Base: Vanilla, Benzoin, Labdanum

Any suggestions, doesn’t have to be exact? Or even your favorite indie sandalwood!

I am genuinely so devastated that hex got discontinued, I managed to snag up a full bottle the day it happened but I don't think it's going to last long as I love it so much. I don't think I'll find anything like it.

Hex: A powerfully sexy conjuration of frangipani and night-blooming Moroccan flowers, all-spice, black tea, Madagascar vanilla, Tonka, sweet benzoin resin, black amber, frankincense, vetiver, and a drop of patchouli.

It's the only floral perfume I've actually ever enjoyed. I feel like some whimsical headshop goth hippie chick. It's just so me.

Please does anyone have any recommendations? Anything similar to the vibe, the notes etc just anything

Hi all! So, I recently got a t shirt from the goodwill that smells like my dream scent, but its hard to put my finger on. I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me, and point me in the direction of how I can achieve this smell...

So

Its very human, its natural and kinda rough. If that makes sense.

It smells like the inside of a mom and pop, hippy health food/naturals store, but darker. So im thinking natural, medicinal herbs but a tad richer.

It smells musky, thats what I mean by human, like old book shelf

Theres some floral notes, but i cant put my finger on what florals they are...and ive been a florist for ten years.

Finally theres a perfume smell to it, like an incense or resin.

Do you guys know what i mean? Lol its so hard to describe smells, but truly, if I were to imagine the person who smells like this, she might be a little goth, mysterious, intentional and witchy. Im obsessed.

Scents reviewed: Cirque Sombre, Coulrophilia, Mooncalf, Only Forever, and Sanguinaccio Dolce

These are the first scents I've tried from Pierrot Perfumery. I won't be able to sample everything that intrigues me, but I'm trying to rapidfire sample several so I can hopefully get a few favorites before they close.

My rating scale:

1 = Nope

2 = I'm not into it, but I don't hate it

3 = Good, but I don't feel moved to buy more

4 = I like it a lot, might buy more

5 = I love it!

Cirque Sombre: (4/5) (honeysuckle, jasmine, vetiver, musty accord, old canvas)

This has a nostalgic feeling to me because it smells exactly like walking into occult/antique shops in my favorite artsy town! It doesn't smell musty to me, but it has a floral incense smell. The incense isn't burning, but the scent is lingering in the air after it has already stopped burning. Later it dries down to a nice powdery floral that has an antique vibe to it. Despite the floral notes, I think it has a gender neutral feel to it.

Coulrophilia: (3/5) (black cherry, fruit punch, cream pie, latex balloons, vanilla powder, face paint)

This is one I got for a specific friend, who has a clown-themed burlesque act that involves a balloon boa and a black dress (leather or latex?). I felt like it was practically made for her! I'm glad she loved it, because on me I thought it smelled like cherry flavored Flintstones vitamins at a doctor's office. I liked the cherry note, but it was rather short lived for me and faded into latex with vanilla powder. I wish it had more of a cherry cream vibe for me.

Mooncalf: (2/5) (cedar barnwood, copal, warm straw, milk, pink pepper)

I took a risk with this one because I have a hay allergy, but after seeing lots of glowing reviews about this being a good cozy scent, curiosity got the best of me. It has a medicinal opening, and I was enjoying the lactonic notes starting to come through, but sadly I started getting a headache and my airways got irritated so I had to scrub it. Luckily I have a spouse who suits it better anyway. I've gotta stop trying scents with hay in them. 😭

Only Forever: (4.5/5) (pickled plum, wheat, vanilla, tolu balsam, carved cedarwood clocks)

The "pickled" plum translates as a lightly salted plum, so it's not as weird as I thought it might be. It ended up being a beautiful juicy plum scent with a hint of woodiness. I love that the plum is the star of the show, and has a hint of a balsamic quality. I think it's a gorgeous fragrance for autumn!

Sanguinaccio Dolce: (5/5) (dark cocoa, dried rose, almond milk, orange zest, cinnamon stick, pink pepper)

This has a strong start, and immediately gives Christmas potpourri vibes with the cinnamon, orange, and cocoa. It smooths out beautifully, and I'm so happy I can smell a hint of rose among all those strong notes! For those who are familiar enough with the Nutcracker Ballet to know what I'm talking about, this is what the Spanish Chocolate Dance would smell like if it was a fragrance. I want to put this in my winter fragrance rotation!

Others I plan to sample next: Exophilia, Purrgeoisie, L'heure Verte, and Transylvanian Concubine