Gibbon's Boarding School

I love so many of Angela St. John's scents (great scents, great service, great people), and this one, which I had put aside for half the year, came out today in EDP format. It is LEATHER. The backup player is oud, but not cheese/barnyard, more woodsy, and with a slight "amber-apple" sweetness in a few hours, an accord that reduces the more tannic aspects of the leather and oud. It is perfect for a fall or winter day and will transition nicely to evening. As a woman, I love more "masculine" scents, so this would smell heavenly on a guy (lean into the sweater!). But for the sexy outdoor gal, this works great with the high leather boots and jeans. As reviewers noted below there is a dusty quality and a tobacco-ish scent, but don't think TF. It lacks the vanilla-sweetness of TF and leads with a strong leather, not soft suede and not lipstick-oris-leather--just leather--bordering on animalic, but not quite. Any "ozonic" notes may be there to lift the scent and lighten it, but I don't sense them, and would never have guessed at that. They are probably added with a judicious hand to counter the oud. The slightly plummy dry-down conjures up your favorite place for goodies, crunchy fall leaves, a cup of apple cider.

Has a fall-like smell to it. Definitely leathery with woods and tobacco, mixed with some amber. It has a bit of incense in there too. Really great

Very much a leather and tobacco scent, with a fair amount of dark, smooth woods, and some dry papery/library scent in there too. Not very foody at all (for Solstice Scents, at least), but the tobacco blend does give it a sweetness, and tobacco, it would seem, is another note that likes to work really nicely on me. Rather fascinating!

Intriguing, complex, smooth but strangely very specific. Woods, burning incense, amber, books, worn leather, fall, dusty halls. Oddly, this is the unconventional fragrance of a cold institution's past, reeking of rich tradition and history. The opening is a disturbingly detailed scent story but it continues to transform. Like time itself the perspective is always moving. As it settles notes fall away or muddle together in slow motion, like a picture very slowly losing focus. You can't really register it happening but then you realize you don't recognize anything anymore. At the end you're left with a few semi interesting reminders of a recent memory that is fading fast... Dry down is a nondescript, woody fall fragrance. Review of official PERFUME EXTRAIT sample purchased directly from SolsticeScents.com

My husband wore this and it smelled like frankincense-apple-wood smoke. Really heavy, frankincense-forward, and I was surprised how much apple came forward too. Not what I expected.

I was surprised that the first notes that jumped out at me were gourmand—mostly vanilla. Over time, the vanilla top notes quiet down into a sort of sweet tobacco smoke and allow the heart notes of sandalwood, leather, dust, and cedar to come through, with a faint smell of dead leaves and conifers around the edges. It's an intriguing, layered fragrance. It's definitely not a "modern" scent, it smells antique, if that makes sense, like an old house. Like creaky boards and dust coming through the beams of afternoon sunlight. I'm definitely going to let this one age a bit and come back to it, because just from the transformation it went through in ten or fifteen minutes on my skin, I have a feeling this could settle into something really special.

This reminds me of sipping cask barrel whiskey with a hint of cinnamon or other spice, which is not listed, while wearing an old leather jacket. I’ve always been convinced I hate leather and wood, but Solstice Scents makes me question this stance. It’s interesting for sure, quite the dark vibe to it. After settling for 5-10 minutes, it starts leaning towards bathroom cleaner. Reminds me of the astringency of Fabuloso. I get the same thing from Replica Jazz Club.

My roller ball has a quick distinct pink bubblegum smell in the opening, its delightful given the desks/school theme. No one else mentions it tho. I would almost splurge on the EDP because I don't find this super masculine. And I really do detect the fun atmospheric notes! Camp Willow is also more gourmand/less masculine on me. I love to layer the two.