So excited for more Arcana scents! Julia’s been doing some wonderful things over there lately, so if you’re curious, check out the Arcana Addicts facebook page to get sneak peeks at some exciting things! Once again, these decants were courtesy of the wonderful Ajevie! Now, on to the real reason you’re here …

Adhara has notes that include, Vanilla cream, tangerine, clementine, Nagami peel, black coconut, and a touch of sweet violet. In the vial this is super citus-y and almost creamsicle-like! On my skin this is a lot of citrus peel with a dark coconut meat. The violet and vanilla cream add some much needed sweetness to the blend. I’m trying to wrap my head around this scent as it’s so completely different from anything I normally go for (that was actually on purpose for this group) that I can’t seem to pull together the right words to describe this. Eventually the sharp acidic peel-like scent smooths out and I get more of the creaminess from the coconut and vanilla with a touch of that purple violet. The citrus takes a chill pill and calms down and starts playing nicely with everyone. This is a bright and sweet scent, yellow-ish orange in feel and scent (and apparently oil now that I look at it). Unfortunately this is fading rather fast on my skin, though that could be an issue of the heat today rather than the blend itself.

Oh man, 10 minutes later and that faded feeling goes away and I get the full force of the beautiful creamy citrusy scent! It’s like an orange dreamsicle, but only if it took on a more tropical vibe. The coconut has come out more, but not overwhelmingly so. This has turned out absolutely beautiful and this girl who used to be iffy on citrus notes before has been converted to a citrus lover!

Belatrix is up next touting notes of Sweet, jammy fir absolute with 3 honeys, honeysuckle, tiny strawberries, and blood orange. Jammy fir sounds like my kind of jam! Oh man this smells like heaven in the vial! On my skin that jammy fir certainly is sweet with those honeys and bright honeysuckle. The strawberries are tart and the blood orange is deep and red. Man, I kind of thought I would like this – I did not expect to love it! This does lean a tad masculine but can teeter on that unisex border. And if you amp anything other than the fir, then it would likely be leaning feminine. But, lucky me, I amp conifer scents! Oh wow, I just keep huffing! This is just full of sweet woods, beautifully fragrant and unmistakably addicting. I need this in my life.

Betelgeuse boasts notes of Atlas cedarwood and blood cedar with smoldering oudh, osmanthus, brown musk, bacon, and vetiver. Bacon? Yes, bacon. Crispy fried bacon. No, it’s not super prominent, but it’s in there mixing with the brown musk and the vetiver. You bet it’s odd too. I think my chemistry is amping the brown musk as it’s almost overwhelming right now. Ya’ll, I want to keep this on and review it but I can’t. I just … I can’t. I do hope someone finds this and loves it. It’s unique and different, salty and brown to the extreme, but just too much for this girl to handle.

Electra is up next to relieve my palate of the aforementioned bacon with its notes of Pink carnation petal ice cream, Mexican bakery vanilla, eggnog, sweet cinnamon, and nutmeg. In the vial this is all vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg – almost holiday-like. On my skin it’s much of the same, except now I get that pink carnation petal ice cream (who knew?!) coming out and it’s delicious! There’s even a hint of “coolness” to it to really give it that ice cream feel. This is soft, pink, and frilly. The holiday-likeness goes away after a while and instead everything seems to be in support of that unique pink carnation petal ice cream (I may need to find some). For some reason this is just bringing memories of Jem and the Holograms to mind. Rockin’!

Miaplacidus may be hard to say, but it’s notes of Sea air, spring water, cucumber, juniper, hyacinth, lavender, China musk, and 1 drop of hyssop aren’t. In the vial this is very watery and lavendery (that’s totally a word, okay?). On my skin the sea air thankfully isn’t coming across as super salty (like the bacon was … wtf bacon … yes I’m still hung up on it), and the cucumber is giving a nice refreshing and clean aspect. The juniper is soft, but the lavender isn’t, at least not on me. On me it is almost screaming along with the china musk. Very odd. It’s almost as though everything in the blend is vying for attention at once. Okay, it took a few minutes but the screaming and fighting stopped (listens better than my kids) and now it’s soft and watery and flowing. This blend becomes gentle and beautiful despite the beginning oddness. Very pretty, clear blue in color and feel.

Mira is taking me out of my comfort zone again with notes of Tiare blossoms dipped in milk chocolate with coconut, sugared rum, French cocoa absolute, marshmallows, and white chocolate. So rum and I don’t get a long every since my husband decided that while I was pregnant with my first to get me to eat Häagen Dazs Rum Raisin Ice Cream and that begun my decent into morning sickness – or every time I smelled rum sickness. There are definite bits of cocoa in the vial so if you do get this, remember to shake gently or roll gently before applying to get it to mix in with the rest of the blend. This is pure chocolate in the vial. That creamy and rich milk chocolate that the rest of the world swears isn’t actually chocolate but us American’s just don’t care – we’re addicted to it. (Unless you’re not, in which case … SHAME ON YOU! Kidding.) On my skin it’s chocolate and rum and chocolate and some cocoa. And it’s way too overwhelming. I can’t – it’s too much for me. Some chocolate wearing lover is going to go gaga for this blend, I know it, but that person is not me.

Sirius rounds these scents out with its notes of Bright white grapefruit, golden amber, linden flowers, tart red currant, cassis, and pomegranate. Lots of favorite notes in here! I almost bought Sirius blindly without testing, but I wanted to try them all so here we are. In the vial this is bright grapefruit, tart and tangy and super juicy. On my skin that stays very true but now the linden flowers come out with a touch of cassis. The pomegranate is red as are the currants, but the grapefruit is making them really work to be smelled. I think I amp citrus notes in the beginning so I’ll stop sniffing it for a few minutes and see what it does when it settles. Hmm, even after a few minutes the grapefruit is still super strong and almost over powering the blend. It takes about 30 minutes but eventually the grapefruit stops overwhelming the blend and the rest gets to showcase themselves. I enjoy the bit of spiciness cassis brings to the group. This is only slightly sweet, completely juicy and tart, and a hint of spice.

And thus concludes the Arcana Flowers & Stars collection reviews. Hope it was helpful!