Wellspring

I'm testing all of these fragrances from Smoke today, and currently I'm testing Wellspring. I love them all, but instantly this one became my favorite. I expected to love Night Cloud the most, because of the notes and description. I generally lean more "noir" with fragrances. I'm very picky about the "green" and "fresh" ones I wear. This one took me by complete surprise! I knew I'd like it a lot, but wasn't expecting it to be my favorite over all of them. This is so refreshing and invigorating. Aside from the notes listed, and on card, this is how I experience on my skin. It's medicinally herbal in the opening, slightly minty on my skin, but no mint on card test, so this is likely a body chemistry thing and may be different on others. I love it though! In this way, it reminds me of Mugler's Aura. Then it morphs into honeysuckle-sweet territory, but still very green, powdery violet, and waxy sticky yellow floral. I think something honeyish, whether actual honey, or maybe a rich honeysuckle maybe is what gives this "sticky, gooey, sweet" vibe. It has a beautiful depth and richness without being cloying, and somehow manages to blend contrasting consistencies of wet/sticky/gooey/dry expertly. Because, then it takes a dry turn with what I suppose is cacao but is softened by gooey amber. There's something a little woody to it but not an obvious wood, just there in the background. It's a bit sandalwood-y smelling on me, as it gets sweetly powdery but woody midway into dry down. The floral heart, and supporting notes of what may be bitter dry cacao, and rich liquid amber, are enhanced throughout with that green freshness. There's a bit of a vanilla vibe here. Not the strength of vanilla one would find with Aura, but a nutty type-vanilla, like almond-vanilla. Possibly the marriage of the violet descending into the cacao/amber/sandalwood that creates this illusion of vanilla. I'm not sure if these notes are correct, and if the ones I'm smelling were intentional and part of it's DNA, however on my skin this is just how my nose is associating what I'm smelling from it. This is so unique. It's defintely "green", but I've never had a green that is so tinged by contrasting genres in such a beautiful way. It's green, wet, yet floral and sticky, powdery, woody, dry, sweet, and a little bit gourmand. The fragrance itself isn't completely Aura-ish, but the way it's a little bit of everything is what reminds me of it. It's performance is incredible as well so far. Overall 10/10 Fragrance itself 10/10 Longevity 9/10 Sillage 7/10 Price/Performance/Fragrance Balance 10/10 Mass Likability 8/10 Vibe - Spot on with rainforest!! #Zen

This is surprisingly impressive! You can feel the damp/humid green rainforest aspect, and there is an almost bubblegummy (I can't explain it, but the texture of this fragrance is chewy) floral heart that's sweet without being overwhelming or headache-inducing. It's a real mood-lifter. Ed: the drydown is ambery (not strongly so) but there, I believe, some vetiver in there--even though it's not listed in the notes. I put some on last night, and this morning what's left is a hint of vetiver.