Vianne's Confession

Such a dreamy, romantic, gothic scent. Opens with musky rose and tomato leaf. Settles into the more savoury and woody notes. The tomato leaf, oakmoss, woods and cacao come through strong. Some labdanum in this stage. Very incense-y. Finishes really musky and woody, plenty of labdanum. I don't normally like geranium and I'm glad I can't detect it in this scent. The "church interiors and cobblestone alleyways" impression comes from the mixing of the incense musks and cool powdery cocoa. It's a clash of powdery and musky notes that creates a new note together. I do think it manages it quite well. It's not exactly like being there, but it's like a memory of visiting a church in a dream. I like this attempt at it, because a lot of "church incense" scents I've tried are just very bright and resinous, they just take the pure frankinscence resin scent and don't make an attempt at making it smell like the actual smoke hanging in the air. When I say "I want to smell like a church" I don't mean I want to smell like I bought a big container of frankinscence resin from the gift shop and took the lid off to smell it, I mean I want to smell like the remnants of the fragrant smoke clinging to the ancient dusty stone walls. I want to smell like a stone in the wall that has seen a thousand masses over hundreds of years, not like I just got back from the new age shop stocked up on resins. It's supposed to be dusty, powdery, cold, it's not bright, fresh or resinous. It should be more musky than balsamic. So I really really like that this went the right direction with a "church interior" scent, even if it doesn't capture it with perfect realism. I thoroughly enjoy the more romantic take on it though, I still think it's a church interior scent done right. I like that it's very evenly balanced with sweet and savoury notes. Incensy and floral but also strong on the tomato leaf and oakmoss. The tomato leaf is blended nicely so it doesn't feel like straight up walking into a sweaty poly tunnel in the summer, and merely adds character rather than being overbearing. Labdanum was an excellent choice for blending the two contradicting sides together. A good scent for the goth club or visiting graveyards. Great longevity too, which can be an issue with this brand.