Geist

A pure oakmoss hit... since these kinds of atmospheric scents are my thing, collecting samples is great... this one is also the atmospheric type as I expected, and it's quite cold and balsamic. What I pick up the most is dark forest floor (wet and earthy) and a turpentine feel... Following that, the scent heads towards dark academia, a feel similar to smoky Russian leather but never dominant, and it gets earthier towards the end. There's ink, and one of my favorite notes, hemlock: dark green, wet, shadowy... The ink here isn't metallic to me, it's more like the ink we used as kids, slightly smoky and still. Everything in the scent is dark and mysterious... Someone made a connection to LLL Tellus, I saw that... and I remembered it too because I tried that one first. But there are differences between them. Tellus stays more floral and warmer next to this one. This scent on the other hand is fully gothic, dark, and like repressed emotions finding their scent. A witch comparison would go well for this one, dark academia would be superb, but I'm going to call this a necromancy student. There's a dark artist here who's putting in serious work to become a necromancer, burning the midnight oil in dark libraries, reading grimoire after grimoire. Tag(s): mossy, dark-green, earthy, smoky, atmospheric, turpentine, salty, dark academia, witchy, necromancy

@OlgaAnosova137: your complaint against the webshop as not fair is misguided, rather direct your complaint toward US postal service. US post has a list of substances that can't be shipped, perfumes included, if they are alcohol-based. I was never able to ship perfumes to Poland. If one decides to send a decant for you, than needs to fill out papers to declare what is inside and declare that what there is no forbidden substances (for example lithium batteries, perfumes, etc). and sign it. Parcels got to Poland via airmail. In airmail no liquids, or alcohol is allowed. "Perfume containing alcohol may not be shipped internationally or mailed domestically using air transportation. Perfume containing alcohol, however, may be shipped within the United States by ground transportation." according to US postal services. Please, take in account real information, before labeling La Curie's business practices as "unfair". This is a small artesanic business, I ordered samples from La Curie, and she is very fair. And even when trying to order perfumes to be shipped by Nordstrom, a company with much more resources and leverage than la Curie, if you put alcohol-based perfume in your shopping cart, you get an automated warning to remove it from the cart as it will not be shipped.

I took some extra time with this one before writing my review. So far, I've generally experienced scents as fairly linear, or they move through their stages within a few minutes on my skin. This one is a journey over several hours! It indeed has a dark, complex, and mysterious opening for the first ~30 minutes. Then I get a strong Christmas Tree experience, which I would likely enjoy in the colder months. After about 2 hours, the full dry down is my favorite of any fragrance I've tried so far as a newbie. It has something special to it that is hard to describe. I strongly recommend as a winter perfume for anyone into more atmospheric fragrances.

A great big dose of what I presume to be natural fir, turpentine-conifer and syrupy-sweet, over a rich soil accord with a big of bitter green and salt. It has a violet-like character to it, the way it projects with an assertive wooliness, and a deceptive lightness, likely brought to you in part by a large dose of iso e super. It's an earthy scent through and through, though it's set apart from many others by being fir-based, where many others use patchouli. I suppose there's likely a bit of patchouli in it, and that's probably part of where they're getting the chocolate note listed, but it's certainly not patchouli-forward. I like earthy fragrances a lot. One of my favorites is Pekji's Battaniye. I also love coniferous fragrances, but this one kind of misses the mark for me. It comes off a bit thin, lacking both warmth and any real camphoraceous bite. In that sense it smells very mid-rangey to me. I don't find an irresistible hook, or a satisfying dry down. This is in a category like Faunus, which I also liked, but I found it a bit lacking in depth, too neutral (also another one built on a hefty shot of IES). I like this perfumer's work, she definitely has an identity in what she produces, but I think her best work is still ahead of her.

This demands a couple hours to become something beautiful. Because, Jesus it is CHRISTMAS at first. Overwhelmingly turpentine-y from that dose of fir and distastefully gourmand with the chocolate. There is a subtle promise of what it will become: the grounding warmth of leather, damp oakmoss, musky hemlock, strangeness from the India ink. All these accords bloom slowly as the fir and chocolate recede. It’s the graveyard of stumps where your Christmas tree was harvested from dark and cold woods. Unlike La Curie’s other scents, this one kept evolving and projects well enough that I was frequently aware of Geist while wearing it. It is beyond the skin yet still so subtle and airy. Weird. Bizarre atmosphere.

Immediately starts off as harsh Christmas Chocolate Cake. Give it time to mature, and it becomes mystical. Cold and muddy. Sweet, and the warmth that comes from it is condensed sheep wool, packed and matted with mossy dirt. Damp leather. Minerals. A muddy mountain covered with snow and pines. The incense-y amber really brings out the winter ghost that haunts the landscape. Reminds me of Paysage D'Hiver's song König Winter.

When I first sprayed this I was completely overwhelmed with what I would describe as a varnish or turpentine smell. I almost hopped into the shower but decided to go with it and see where it ends. I am glad that I did. For the next six hours this changed every 2 hours where main notes came and went. At about the 7th or 8th hour I was saddened that this experience ended. I think that for each individual user, the notes that come and go will be different. I almost got a headache from the initial spray so some won’t be able to wait out the dry down. This is exceptionally unique in my collection as I do not have scents that change so dramatically over a couple of hours time. This was worth the $55 for 15ml as I now have something for occasions that will remind me exactly why I love this site and the offerings that it sheds light upon.

@gardenloverlabeling thank you for the info. I am not labeling La Curie's business practices as "unfair" in general, I am saying that there are webshops in the US that do ship to Poland, like LuckyScent for example. I know that they are retailers and the reason why they do send to Poland is probably that they are quite a big store and webshop...but IndieScents is also a quite big webshop still, they do not ship to Poland (although Poland is on the shipping list). I tried to order the Geist sample from IndieScents and all I got is an error:( Unfortunately, fragrance lovers in the US are also unable to experience some scents made in Europe as some fragrance manufacturers do not ship to/sell in the US. I am just frustrated that we in Poland are unable to enjoy some things from the US.

There was a 10 percent sale on the new bottle design on the La Curie site, so I blind bought a full bottle based on the notes and HOLY COW! This one is odd but amazing. This is why I love perfume and the uniqueness in scent that different perfumers offer. If Geist is this good I image the others on offer are too.

A Harry Clarke ink illustration of a boreal forest, the sky full of stars and glowing nocturnal eyes. A vast ink-black sky with such cold, effervescent air as to feel slightly haunted. A bog witch with dirty fingernails tempting you inside with a piece of chocolate cake. An exhumed grave slowly filling with rain.

The instant I put this on I thought... Santa Anita! The wood and leather scent smells like the bark and leather and shiny horses' coats at the racetrack. I've made it the perfume that I wear not only to the track, but on big racing days when I'm watching from home. It lasts well on me.

This one is absolutely phenomenal. Photorealistic smell of the darkest forest hour. Ultimately neat, intimate and somewhat personal. Beautiful botanical, mystical composition enhanced with this really thick ink, dense and light at the same time. Ultimate masterpiece of olfactory art.

I am intrigued by this fragrance but can't find a way to get a sample in/to Poland;( Can anybody here share a 1ml sample with me? It's unfair that today there are still online stores that do not ship internationally:(