Desert Thunderstorm

(one of my favorite perfumes) I'll be honest, 50% of my reasons to get this is the name, the other 50% because S1 of True Detective is my favorite kind of TV, and the intro song mentions creosote... Yeah. Anyway, I was worried this would smell evergreen due to pine and fir, but it doesn't. You have to experience it for yourself, my only tiny remark is I don't smell ozone or petrichor but the latter is probably nonexistent in actual deserts. So when I feel like I need it, I'll just add a bit of During the Rain to it.

Got this in a pack of petrichor scents. It smells very similar to Alkemia 'Awakening Desert' with a hint more sweetness and spices. Sweet, weirdly peppery, and detectable cyprus. 4.5/5 for realism, 2/5 for wearability.

What an interesting fragrance/experience. My first Solstice Scents sample. I'm absolutely flabbergasted, in the beginning, I would say the first 10 minutes, this is a perfect rendition in my mind of what I imagine a thunderstorm in a desert smells like. Maybe it's just suggestive imagery... surely that must be it. But it's completely spot on. It's dry and hot, it's earthy/woody but it's also wet and muddy. It gets pretty spicy and then... then that's when it becomes bug spray. Incredibly medicinal. There is really no two ways about it, it's bug spray. This has to be, I assume, the 'pine' note. This phase lasts for a long while, like 2-3 hours. I wanted to hate it but then... ... from there it evolves again. It's still in a "bug spray" territory for me, but it's now pleasant and not medicinal. It's 100% pine. Very car air fresher type vibe. Which isn't bad, but it's not perfume territory. Some sandalwood, or floral notes might have balanced it back in a different direction, but alas. It's pine. Then comes the real dry down. Ultimately it does turn into something where you can really catch the sandy notes, smoke and resin, but it's a journey to get there. I like it, I don't hate it for sure but I also don't love it and wouldn't likely wear it alone. I will have to try it with something else as a layering fragrance, but it may be too strong for that. This has incredible projection (from across the room, people commented on me wearing it) and crazy lasting power. The dry down IS really lovely, but it's nearly 3-4 hours after applying. 6/10

SS site description includes these notes: Decaying Leaves, Rich Black Soil, Dry Leaves, Fall Air, Woods, Chimney Smoke. Extrait/EDP/WS/BG/BS. Oil based extrait. EARTHY/FOREST. Fall Collection. Still hunting for my perfect aromatic desert scent. This one is not it, but it has a lot to like. There is the familiar foundation of Solstice Scent's trademark soil tincture accord that is very specifically dank and earthy. Mixed with cool pine needles, warm resins, and a hot blast of sand, there's an interesting intermingling of temperatures and textures. This one is really lovely when you catch it in the air, rather than when I stuff my face into my wrist. Close to skin it still wears a little too resin sweet for my liking, whereas the fir and smoke strike a better balance when they catch air. Could be a future full bottle for me!

Very intense opening, but settles down into a nice smoky scent with hints of rain. I enjoy it a lot. Layered with Flowers Nocturnal from this brand (which I was not a fan of) but this scent saved it.

Just tried it today for the first time. Daughter asked me why I smelled like mildew - not a good start. Me, I wanted heavy creosote - and this isn't it, sadly. There are micro whiffs of creosote here and there but I guess I was wanting more. Lots of resin and pine -- I am in dry down currently and it's nice... nice for a sample but probably not nice enough to purchase a bottle. I do like it but I definitely don't love it. Anyone curious enough though, it's definitely worth a sample to see.

Really punches you in the face with the opening, one of the strongest scents I've tried, but it calms down after a while. Smells like if you infused pine needles in a sarsaparilla. Slightly sweet, but pine always pulls quite masculine for me. This would eat on a guy who dresses like a cowboy/works outside/is a park ranger/chops wood/catches snakes/drives a ute. The botanicals in this are resinous and dry and medicinal. Dries down very smoky, woody, tree resin

Scientist Richard Thomas explains that many natural dry clays and soils “...evolve a peculiarly characteristic odor when in contact with moisture,” and notes that this odor is particularly prevalent in arid regions and widely associated with the first rains after a period of drought. Thomas, working with partner Joy Bear, discovered a yellowish oil–trapped in rocks and soil but released by moisture–that appeared to be responsible for this smell, and the oil itself came to be named petrichor (from the Greek petra, meaning stone, and ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.) This scent of petrichor –the blood of the stone– is the powerful opening blast of Desert Thunderstorm. Steaming gusts of hot stone and earth, upon which beads of moisture dance and sizzle, and release a fizz of aerosols resulting in the scent of wet dirt and minerals. Later, the fragrance of peppery, sun-baked sagebrush and pine’s verdant astringency mingles with the dusty, resinous scent of distant canyon fire and the subtle sweetness of milky, musty sweetgrass. I’ve never spent time meditating in the desert (or any time in any desert at all, actually) but this is precisely how I envision a strange desert journey alone, curling inward with myself and my demons, for a spell of mediation and healing.

realistic, both fresh and mildewy. this has a problem I often encounter with atmospherics -- even the successful ones -- where in fully capturing what you might smell in a certain location they make that scent feel overly dense instead of diffused and immersive

Is ANYONE willing to part with one of these? I'm desperate!