Iceblocks

The opening honestly reminds me of (yellow) Tiger Balm.

I say this as a compliment - I like the scent of Tiger Balm - and that's honestly where my mind first jumped to. Vanilla, and Tiger Balm.

It's a tiger that has its claws sheathed, however. Unlike the balm, the medicinal-camphorous-menthol-y note that forms the backbone of this scent never quite manages to comes close enough to the surface to bite, draw blood - it's leashed, adding texture to the scent without overpowering it. One sniff of this won't knock out your sinuses (unlike the balm)... which is good, because it's actually quite lovely.

A warm vanilla/amber/hint of cinnamon overlays the whole thing, and it really does put me in mind of Autumn - clear, cold blue skies, holding a warm mug of something and staring out at trees dressed up in reds and browns.

It's an unusual combo - vanilla, cinnamon, and camphor - warm, but bracing at the same time. Balanced quite well in that the camphor doesn't hold the rest of the scent hostage, instead working in concert with the rest of the notes.

I don't know if I'd wear this, personally, but I keep raising my hand to my nose to smell it. I can see how it ended up as a finalist - this is well done.

As seems to be a trend with their fragrances, this is both light and "polished" - however, unlike the fragrances I've tried so far, this is slightly sharper and with a bit more of a "kick".

This is a pepper fragrance so it's not too surprising, but it's something to keep in mind. Despite that, however, this is still quite transparent and inoffensive - very breezy, without much of a body behind it.

I actually dislike this one - but take that with a grain of salt, as I tend to dislike an overabundance of pink pepper / patchouli in general, which this seems to lean on a little more. Given the singular other review, though, hopefully I'll at least help someone.

Starts with a blast of citrus and pepper, but the citrus quickly seems to fade to a supporting role to everything else - it adds some "juice" to the fragrance but I wouldn't say it's citrus heavy. Seems to turn slightly sour on me, like a stale spice cabinet - it's (very) light woods, edged with a certain amount of light pepper, but both of these are faint and feel slightly distant. The ginger, too, isn't present in any significant sense - here it's bloodless, a ghost of a ginger root that lived in a kitchen once. The patch then rears its head and adds a memory of dirt behind the whole thing, which is ironic considering this is primarily available as a bodywash.

Doesn't seem to project much - hopefully it won't last long, either.

Stale, burnt popcorn lightly flavoured with disinfectant. Like the inside of a trash can at a state fair, or the built-up grime on 90's neon arcade carpets. Cinema seats that have been wiped down, but never properly cleaned.

I will give it props in that it does, indeed, smell like the movies - and like the packaging promises, firmly of the "b-grade slasher flick" genre - but I'm echoing reviews elsewhere in that this is unwearable. Transportive, and I'm glad I tried it, but unwearable. The fragrance itself just feels rough - sharp and chemical, with a weird plastic note that underlines the whole thing. Arguably the plastic works in the context of what it's trying to deliver, but on skin it just turns sour and "off".

Would work as a room spray for when you really want your home theatre to feel authentic.

I've never scrubbed a sample so fast. Just for that alone, it's kind of impressive!

This is unpolished and rough as guts. Feels like three essential oils were thrown into a shaker, stirred with a stick, and poured into a bottle. It smells like a $2 children's "chocolate cupcake" lipbalm was left in the sun, melted, and then went rancid. If a cookie smelt like this I'd want the baker shut down.

I had some high hopes for this one as I love gourmands but I just can't with it. Unfortunately it starts strong, stays strong, and clings to skin. Why is it always the awful ones that last forever?

Avoid this one, there are better gourmands elsewhere. If you must have "milk and cookies", layer some of the Demeters and make your own.

(After thinking on this for a while: perhaps the difference is cultural. USAmerican chocolate manufacturers (definitely Hershey's, likely others as well) put their chocolate through controlled lipolysis, which results in the presence of some butyric acid - which is also present in parmesan cheese, sour yogurt, and vomit. Most other places in the world don't process their chocolate this way, and I had the same instinctive "NO" reaction to nibbling on various types of USAmerican chocolate after a friend carried some home from a holiday. So it's possible that this does smell like a choc-chip cookie... it's just that I have a very different baseline of what that's supposed to smell like!)

Transparent, light, and very warm. This isn't a "sharp" ginger, but a warm-smooth-base of ginger, like a soft spicy blanket wrapped around a vase of flowers.

It's not quite a watercolour of a fragrance but it's getting there - it's very present, but there's a lot of "space" around the scent. It announces itself, but it's not overpowering, and from my singular test it doesn't project much. Twilly by Hermes claims similar notes, but they're more cousins than siblings - Twilly is 'stronger', with a bigger punch of florals from the tuberose and the citrus providing more sparkle. This one, in contrast, is softer, more rounded - quieter and older.

Very lily-forward in the florals but it's overall well-blended between that and the ginger - you do more or less get exactly what the name suggests. Cosy is a good word for it - it reminds me of a lazy Sunday afternoon, slowly basking in a sunbeam.