Whimssysteph

If you are on the fence about white florals or have never really experienced a heady tuberose scent, try this (or better yet, the body cream.) It smells lush and sweet and creamy, and the tuberose is there but it isn't screeching, as it sometimes does. It is a body spray, so it won't last forever, but it is on par with Sol's other body sprays--IMHO they last a lot longer than other body sprays, and nearly as long as some weaker EdTs.

Maybe because we are in an era of extremely saccharine, syrupy vanillas and other heavily concentrated candy-like scents, but I do not personally find Candy all that sweet. The powdery almost-orris quality of the musk tempers the sweetness enough that Candy remains a refined sweet scent that doesn't actually smell overly commercial or pedestrian. This is the kind of scent that you can smell on someone in public and appreciate it, but not think that it is overpowering or even particularly "perfumey." I did not get the hype when Candy was new, so I have only been wearing it for the past year or so, but to me (and in my collection) it is a great everyday, all situations scent that goes with every mood. It isn't bland, but it settles so nicely on the skin. The caramel does come out throughout the day, but the muskiness remains, keeping it from going too sugary. She's also quite good for layering, as the musk used in Candy tends to grip onto my skin and last 10+ hours in most cases. She isn't singular enough to be a signature, and I passionately hate the sprayer top on the bottle, but Candy is very deserving of a place in my collection. If I could only have one musk-forward scent, this would be it. I do not like scents like Narsciso Rodriguez as they are just too linear and boring, so Candy is my ride-or-die for a simple "spray it and go" no-brainer scent.

I think people who prefer the original Flowerbomb probably don't like this one, and that is fair. I am the opposite--the original Flowerbomb isn't really my thing. I don't hate it, but it is just kinda bleh on me. This one is a lot sweeter, with some earthy depth that makes it smell like a rich & creamy chocolate covered peach to me. The Flowerbomb essence is there, but it is not as assertive as the OG. I love the bottle as well. To be quite honest, when I first smelled this, I wanted to hate it, but it is my favorite go-to vanillic perfume now.

I think my nose is very sensitive to tonka in fragrances, and there is plenty in this Black Opium flanker. It is a little tobacco-y, a little smoky, and a little sweet. This isn't bake shop vanilla, but rather the raw stuff that still smells like it comes from nature. The spicy, citric jasmine fades pretty quickly and leaves me with the base, which is tonka, tonka, tonka, plus a little chocolatey patchouli. I do not dislike it, but for me it is more of a cold-weather scent. If you like tonka and want one that doesn't smell cheap yet won't break the bank, this is the way to go. The bottle is lovely, and the scent lasts for hours. Here in the states, big retailers put some of the Black Opium scents on sale from time to time, so it is easy to get a brand new bottle for a good deal. Overall, it is not something I would buy a full bottle of, but it does smell nice. Quite a needed change of pace compared to all of the obnoxious jasmine-vanillas we have seen recently. This is vanilla for an actual grown up who doesn't want to pay Tom Ford prices for a sexy vanilla.

Philosykos is very realistic and captures the feeling of eating a ripe fig while sitting on fresh grass underneath a giant fig tree. You get the fruit, pulp and peel and juice and all, plus the thick, almost gritty green leaves, a bit of the wood and bark, and even a hint of the dirt under the roots. This is how a squirrel or a bird experiences a tree redolent with ripe, juicy figs. The reason this perfume stays in such high demand despite how relatively odd it is, especially compared to other popular perfumes, even in niche.

To me, it is a bit *too* realistic. It lacks something that would make it a scent I would like to wear on my body. I can recognize the craft that went into making it, and I can recognize how spot-on it is. It smells exactly like walking out onto my back deck when I lived next door to a massive, decades-old fig tree that was beloved by the local squirrels and raccoons. In the mornings, there'd be partly eaten figs all over the ground and the deck, and this is a concentrated version of that smell. If it were sweeter or maybe a little more floral I would like to smell this on myself, but as it stands it is a beautiful piece of fragrant art I would like to smell on others. It smells divine on my husband, even though I would say this is truly unisex since it just smells like a tree on a sunny day.

If you have never experienced Philosykos, I would highly recommend it, as it gives a deeper glimpse into the art of perfumery. To my mind, it is a singular scent experience. I personally love fig notes so I am always happy when I get to sample this just for the sake of understanding fig perfumes better, but I will stick with scents that employ the fig as a motif rather than showing me the life cycle of a fig, from branch to dirt to return again.