Yin And Ylang

This is a pretty citrus yellow floral perfume. Again w/ this brand it has a vintage vibe, but I find all of the fragrances done in a way that gives them a contemporary feel and wearability. This starts off a bit medicinal and animalic but that goes away quickly to reveal a sweet citrus and yellow floral delight. Lots of ylang ylang so it has a bit of a tropical vibe. Beeswax gives a bit of a creamy and sweet texture to the perfume. The ginger in the heart adds a warm spicy kick to an otherwise very animalic yellow and white floral. Going to be hard picking which perfumes to buy from this brand, they are all beautiful. The dry down of this one is very animalic. My husband says it smells like a worn white tee-shirt. I get that as well, but I love that kind of thing. I am really into animalic white and yellow florals, he hates them. I will keep samples of this one around to wear from time to time. You can't always wear perfume to please your man, it has to be for yourself as well. I ended buying a full bottle of this. I just couldn't say no. Love it.

This was alright, but it didn't last long nor project much, which surprises me because I have ylang ylang essential oil, and it is seriously potent stuff! Makes me wonder if this was made with synthetic ylang? I don't know. In any case, the scent of the white florals was satisfying, and I enjoyed it with the heavy dose of ginger. I get a lot of citrus in the top and a touch of moss and beeswax in the base. It didn't need to be a powerhouse, but I would have liked it to last longer and project more. In less than an hour there was no trace of it.

At first I disliked the opening but am not sure which was the offending component. The notes are so well blended it doesn't smell just like ginger or blood orange or aldehydes. On each try I think I like it l, but then sadly I always get a headache during the heart. I really like the dry down a lot though, and enjoy the presence of the beeswax throughout. For me this has excellent projection and longevity, a beast. It's an interesting, unconventional, and natural smelling floral--but ultimately not for me.

This is a direct, but characterful ylang and tuberose scent—both of which are notes so bulky and opaque that they can sink even the most hefty of fragrances. Fortunately, this one is kept afloat by the adoption of a texture that manages to create the illusion of space, revealing subtle spicy notes as well as a dab of animalics. Tuberose is very, very dense; ylang is is bright, but just as dense as tuberose. Beeswax and oriental bases have their own thickness, so what you might expect from this scent is a syrupy and suffocating thing. But that’s really not the case at all—largely due to the auxiliary rose and and ginger that provides a cleft of sorts, cutting through the solidity and allowing the scent to maneuver more than might be expected. The florals fuse into a buoyant yellow note that remains the centerpiece throughout the scent's lifespan. While the line has released fragrances in the past in which components are juxtaposed in interesting ways, here, the attention really is on the central combination with little else to distract. It’s bright and cheery, yet manages to sidestep predictability as there’s just enough texture to set the main notes off, elevating them against a faint relief. If you’re looking for either a natural ylang or a tuberose, this might do the trick. It’s not my cup of tea, but it’s well done all the same.

I love this. It seems to pulse out a deep, botanical aroma with a really attractive trace of smoke carrying it along. Like some of the other SSS creations I have tried, this feels like a precious blend of beautiful natural extracts and therefore perfumery in it's highest and purest sense, as opposed to what you buy from bigger brands, or even some of the other so called niche houses. Normally this level of product is prohibitively expensive to most, but I love the way Laurie Erickson does everything she can to make her products as affordable as she can. It smells tropical, rich, smokey and with a slight tartness that stops the honeyed elements becoming sweet. I think of golden sap dripping off trees, heavy pollen falling out of flowers, but also a citrus, gingery brightness. The animalic base notes which weave throughout this make the scent feel incredibly seductive to me. Seductive in a very primal and natural sense rather than cultivated. Longevity is fantastic for me (over 24 hours!) and sillage is just right for me. I can wear it to work or for special occassions, without feeling self-conscious. It's definitely one of my favorites and something I hope never to be without.

The honey/beeswax at the start kinda blunts the floral elements, but that quickly goes and you're left with a wonderful booming white (ish) blooming scent which is a treat for the senses. Again, this is TOTALLY not the kinda scent I go for, but I love smelling it, no less. Totally recommend this line, it's just that I haven't found anything that screams ME just yet. I have started off with the 'least likely' scents, though. Looking forward to seeing how my favourite notes are done...