Riverside Hayride

Riverside Hayride opens with wet dirt and a hint of carnation and then dries down into a beautifully earthy spiced apple scent. It feels like going on a hayride through soil while apples are scattered as compost. It brings back memories of picking apples at the orchard as a kid. The scent trail it leaves is incredible. Earthy and slightly dirt-like but with so much more depth. The performance is moderate, lasting several hours on the skin with a gentle sillage. If you want a fragrance that smells purely like dirt, try During the Rain from Solstice. That is the most realistic dirt fragrance I have ever encountered even more so than Amouage Figment Man, Demeter Earthworm, or Demeter Dirt. This is fall air in a bottle and a hidden gem for anyone who loves warm spicy scents with an earthy edge. For a fall fragrance, I do not think it gets much better than this.

This one took a while to grow on me. I bought a roller bottle as a blind buy because I was intrigued by the name and description. As with all of my purchases from Solstice Scents, I have learned that they must rest for at least a few weeks before I can truly decide if I can like them and enjoy them. I find typically, that if something isn’t doing it for me, a few weeks or months later, I will try it again and love it. I tend to purchase their seasonal releases but have learned that I probably can’t truly enjoy them during the proper season until the following year. Ok. Enough rambling about resting. This is another scent experience that changes as you wear. I first got hit with some heavy carnation and Apple. I’m not a huge fan of apple scents and I thought the carnation made it a little too feminine and old fashioned for me. But once those two notes faded (20-30 mins), it got really good. The wet soil and moss came through, like the wheels of the wagon kicking up dirt. The hay comes in as the main star eventually. The carnation becomes faint and the apple note turns into whiffs of warm apple cider(because of some faint spice, maybe the carnation??). There is also a cool fall air kind of feeling the the whole time. This would be an easy pick for Halloween or even Thanksgiving. All in all, it does provide the scent experience of a hay ride for me. It actually reminds me of the time I got lost in a corn maze more than anything. LOL

I like this! I don't really smell soil, but a moss note lurks from the start; I smell it as dry and oaky, not green and damp. There is a spice note not listed above, probably part of the "wood notes." The spiciness mellows into carnation and hay, and the strong apple top note does fade away, but it periodically peeks through again during the drydown. The smokiness persists, which I enjoy. Note: this is strong stuff! One small smear from a sample vial on my wrist is plenty to experience the whole fragrance, and caution is advisable if wearing outside the house as a personal fragrance! I like this and will enjoy wearing it in the fall and winter. DEFINITELY not a spring or summer scent, imo.

This just smells like wet dirt. I appreciate the atmospheric nature of the scent and I love Solstice Scents, but I ain't walking around smelling like literal dirt.

UPDATE: Eventually carnations come through. * * * While its name evokes happy days in the countryside, Riverside Hayride smells like rotten wet moss, moldy hay, and dirt. Once I slept atop a haystack under the stars and another time took a hayride at a pumpkin patch, amid the sweet smell of sun-dried hay permeating the autumn air. Shouldn't have expected Riverside Hayride to go in the same direction.✿ Scent family: Earthy Floral (per designer) Longevity on me: moderate