Notes: Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Cardamom, Pepper, Black Tea, Steamed Milk, Cocoa, Roses, Vanilla, Musk, Leather

Baruti Chai impresses me. Considering it has so many things in it that have the potential to overwhelm (e.g. cinnamon, pepper, leather), it never does. It could be a study on the subtle use of spice in perfumery. If Opium, Cinnabar and Jungle l'Elephant are rough, Chai is smooth and polished. 

Chai is more like a suggestion of the beverage, rather than the literal beverage. This is preferable to me because as much as I adore authentic masala chai, I'd rather not smell like I bathed in it. Instead, what I get smells like strong sandalwood and something wonderfully smoky, like a singed piece of bark. The perfume is marvelously sandalwoody on me, and I am baffled that there is no mention of woods anywhere on the internet because it is perhaps more sandalwood on me than anything else (works for me!). 

There is something like mint in it, but it blends beautifully with the other notes, perhaps to imbue the scent of fresh, green cardamom husks. I don't actually detect any cardamom; one of my favorite spices to cook with, I am quite familiar with the scent. I also notice fresh ginger from time to time as well as gentle hand of Saigon cinnamon and a hint of savory black pepper. 

Then there is my favorite part--one of the most perfect and gorgeous *non-vanillic* creamy accords I have ever smelled, and I can not get enough of it! It smells like a cup of warm, sweetened milk. It was at the 10-hour mark that I felt there could be any vanilla at all.

It projects well enough for my liking for hours, though never a sillage monster, heavy, or cloying. Longevity is excellent. 

I don't take this as the literal scent of chai, nor did I ever expect it to be based on the notes, which list things that I have never seen in any authetic chai recipe, much less drunk: leather, rose, musk, cocoa. It does not even read as gourmand on my skin, rather a floral-woody-musk.

In any case, Chai is a definite winner that makes me curious about the rest of the line.

Available at Indigo Perfumery, $110 for 30-ml extrait or $4 per sample

Finally a Slumberhouse that I dig from beginning to end, with every twist and turn, and that I am likely to purchase a full bottle of. 

It's like wearing an favorite leather jacket, and on this jacket is a smattering of stuff from many years of house parties and dive bars--women's makeup and perfume, men's cologne, traces of cigarette smoke.

Within this bottle I smell the most perfect lipstick-and-powdery-makeup accord ever (albeit short-lived and relegated to the top notes like all the others of its kind. I'm looking at you, Lipstick On! And you, Incarnata!). 

In my mind "New Sibet" means "new civet," as it smells less like goat and more like a nice synthetic civet accord, which is great, I am all for synthetic civet over the real thing. 

Very long-lasting and has fairly strong projection. 
I love it. 

​I have a perfume locket from Velvet and Sweet Pea's Purrfumery that is filled with solid perfume in Honey, and I absolutely love it. The scent is unlike other honey-based perfume I have ever smelled. There is an unexpected medicinal earthiness I get right upfront. It's slightly smoky, mossy, herbal. The beeswax smells phenomenal and plentiful, with a touch of golden honey. The florals take on a radiant honeysuckle-like sharpness that blends so beautifully with the other notes. Altogether you have this very natural smelling perfume, but it has a lot of depth to it and smells totally unique.

It projects softly for about 3 hours, and then it becomes a skin scent for a few more hours. In those last few hours, it takes on more vanilla and becomes less earthy. At times it smells almost like a vanilla marshmallow. Beautiful at every point. My daughter loves it too. I dab it on her because it's 100% natural. When she smells it, she exclaims, "Fwowerth!!!" (flowers!)

Perfumes with honey and orange blossoms make me think of a bright, sunny day with golden sunshine. The earthiness of Honey makes me think of the same thing, except that the sun is rising over a green valley. There is a darkness to the scent that I find so beautiful, like the rising sun is spreading its golden light over damp mosses and hay.

I have not smelled everything from Velvet and Sweet Pea, but I would not be surprised if Honey was my very favorite from this house.

Heckofa name for a perfume and heckofa name for a house, LOL! An obscure violet perfume, but I highly recommend seeking it out if you are a violet lover. 

This is one very pretty and demure perfume. It smells like a fantastic mix of plastic dolls hair, lipstick and powder from a compact, and violet pastilles. There is a strong, bright bergamot note in the top, almost too tangy for me. Somewhere in the base lurks some type of gauzy, sheer lactone. At one point it smells faintly coconutty. It took several wears for me to notice anything creamy at all. I gave it a rest for several weeks, then I tried it again after having worn dozens of other perfumes in that time, therefore, "recalibrating" my nose. Then I could smell the "vanilla", but it's not very strong and seems more like some other kind of creamy note. 

It feels like this type of violet perfume has been done many times before, but this is one of the nicest ones of its kind.

I recently smelled just the nozzle of a vintage bottle of Royal Bain de Caron, and it smells identical to this perfume. Can't vouch for them being the same thing, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.