THE REST OF THE SCENTBIRD HAUL

ROOM 1015 CHERRY PUNK

Cherry, Saffron, Sichuan Pepper
Violet, Jasmine Absolute, Mimosa
Patchouli, Tonka Bean, Black Leather

The inspiration: 

430 King’s Road, London, the Vivienne Westwood store called SEX, this is where it all begins. Cool kids with bleached hair swapping rare vinyl records. Distressed denim, hand-painted leather, latex, tartans, prints that would make your parents blush and lock you in the house for the whole summer… Did Punk invent fashion, or did fashion invent Punk? From underground clubs to national TV, Punk always had its own style, its own press (fanzines), its own movies, its own poetry...So we figured it should have its own fragrance. Loud like the rehearsal in the room without sound isolation. Powerful like youth riot but still sweet and romantic - the idealism of adolescence wrapped in a heavy leather jacket.

This smells exactly like Punk, or the closest I ever got to punk, a secondhand Punk clothing shop in Manhattan and watching Sid and Nancy. The first fragrance I have tried with such a dominant leather note. It reminds me of when I received my leather jacket from Quince. It had such a STRONG odor. I thought the company spray-painted the jacket black—there would be dark stains on my finger after I touched the leather. Nope. The jacket is made of genuine leather and not my familiar pleather.

As expected, Cherry Punk opens up with a cough syrup cherry. I do not smell any of the other notes. The fragrance is briefly cherry and then mainly leather. Incredibly realistic leather. No numbing spice from the Sichuan Pepper. No floral notes. The musky, funky earthiness might be the Patchouli and the Tonka Bean, but these notes are buried deep under the leather. My very first impression was rubber tires against hot asphalt. 

This fragrance will replace your leather jacket when the temperature is too hot. 

The dry-down reminds me of Phantom by Paco Rabanne.

Glad I tried this fragrance because of the punk inspiration and to understand the hype around the perfume, though it is not my cup of tea. 

ARQUISTE INDIGO SMOKE

Bergamot, Mandarin orange oil, Lapsang souchong accord, Vetiver
Apricot accord, Cassia oil, Carrot seed oil, Gaiac wood
Maté tea absolute, Cedar leaf oil, Pine tar, Incense

Loosely keeping to the Rock them going on: the name of this perfume reminds me of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." 

About the fragrance:

For centuries, diligent monks in the Wuyi Mountains have grown tea and indigo plants in neatly terraced plantations. In 1646, their monasteries were attacked by Qing soldiers from the north. As the monks were forced to flee, they smoked batches of tea leaves over a pinewood fire to preserve their crops. This would become the smoky lapsang souchong tea. Mixing with the fresh mountain air and the incense from nearby shrines, the intoxicating plumes of indigo smoke captured the colors of the Wuyi Mountains and their dramatic river narrows. 

Evoking the traditional smoking of tea leaves in ancient China, Indigo Smoke is an aromatic landscape of narrow serpentine rivers, blue mountains, and incense-filled temples condensed into a complex formula of black tea, woody notes, and incense. Rich, realistic, and long-lasting.

Apricot, Guaic Wood, sour/tangy, incense, woody. Never drank Maté tea, so I am unfamiliar with the aroma. People say it smells like wet hay and green tea. None of the former, but I picked up a subtle green tea-like freshness, like the one in cosmetics.

Indigo Smoke is not the tea-forward fragrance I expected. It is more of a smokey, woody stone fruit fragrance. It smells like dried apricots that sat in the bag for too long: dry and leathery. The copy is working its magic and transporting me to the Wuyi Mountains. The perfume smells oriental/exotic. The most likely culprit for this is the incense. The copy works synergistically with the scent/is part of the scent discovery experience.

I don't smell the tea, but I smell the qualities of lapsang souchong (smokey.)

RAG & BONE ODDITY

Main impressions: Black Pepper, Leather, Incense, Vetiver, Amber
Sichuan Black Pepper, Cardamom, Angelica Root
Leather, Incense, Licorice
Vetiver, Amber, Vanilla Bean 

The main impressions are spot on. I am hit with vetiver, leather, and then incense. This fragrance is for vetiver lovers, especially those who love bold, heavy, and smoky vetiver. Reminiscent of Le Labo's Vetiver 46, but not as cedar-y and sour. Very similar to Cherry Punk, too. I cannot smell the amber or the vanilla bean. The perfume has a subtle anise, licorice, or peppery quality. Slightly medicinal. The perfume is advertised as unisex but smells traditionally and unabashedly masculine. Smells like Rick Owens (the fashion brand and not the designer.) Dark color palette, leather, statement shoes, and distressed, bleached denim.

ELDO YOU OR SOMEONE LIKE YOU

Mint, Grapefruit, Bergamot, Anise
Green Notes, Cassis, Rose, Hedione
White Musk

"You or Someone Like You is a welcoming fragrance: neither off-putting nor strange. It is a contemporary creation built around timeless materials.

It embodies the women of LA — someone like Anne Rosenbaum: cool and crisp; once foreign but now indigenous; very exposed to Hollywood’s silver screen dreams yet untouched by its materialistic machinery. Anne finds comfort in literature, and the garden of her home, which nestles in the hills overlooking downtown LA."

SOAPY! Summer, green, floral, juicy citrus and clean. Smelled a lot mintier when I tried it at Scent Bar. Smells super grapefruity and rosey on me. The perfect scent for summer because it's refreshing and clean. It doesn't smell contemporary. It is timeless with its clean scent quality. Super cool, crisp, and forever in style, like a high-quality white button-down shirt for the summer. 

Out of all the fragrances, I gravitate towards this scent the most. It's offensive and I throw it on without any hesitation. 

After testing all the samples, I never found out what fragrance perfumed the package. The fragrance is potent. It even perfumed the drawer in which I stored the samples. It smells like a lavender essential oil. The lasting power is absolutely insane. Over a month since I received the samples, and my drawer still smells like when I first opened the mailer.