I love that I can either select my free sample(s) or have it selected for me from Deep Midnight Perfumes. I, not being super familiar with the catalog, let Cat over there select my samples for me! So far I’ve been super impressed with this company!

Dome of Stars sounds fascinating as someone who loves looking up at the night sky. Its notes include Sandalwood, orris root, lavender, myrrh, amber, soft evergreen, and light nuances of cinnamon and citron. Bonus this was inspired by Elrond! In the vial this is softly green and fragrant woods with just a light hint of lavender. On my skin you can almost smell the moonlit night. The evergreens are not overpowering but they lend a grand stillness to the scent – things come and go, but evergreens seem eternal. The cinnamon and citron, like the notes describe, are not prominent, but I can smell where they are adding their little touches to the blend. The sandalwood, orris, and myrrh mix together to give this a lovely bed of wood for the scent to lay upon while the lavender and amber seem to float around. This is simply stunning, unisex leaning feminine, and would be a perfect (for me) scent to wear at night. There is a bit of a throw to this, not a big one mind you but enough of one that I can smell it coming up to greet me.

Black Wings – and now for something completely different –Black leather, decayed black roses, dark aged patchouli, guggal incense, dark woods, and musk. I’m very picky about my leather notes. As of right now there are only two companies that make a leather note I like and can wear. In the vial this is straight up dirty hippy patchouli (I mean that in the best possible way!). On my skin this is super dark yet almost floaty. I’m not actually getting that sharp almost acidic scent from the black leather (sometimes it comes across as that pleather – fake leather – grossness) so that’s a bonus. But this is very dark, very dirty, very hippy-like. So if you’re into that sort of thing, then this is right up your alley! There is no sweetness to this scent – it’s dark and it wants you to know.

Ishtar Gate has notes of deep rose, oud, myrrh, lotus blossoms, and frankincense combine with other sacred attars and subtle spices. In the vial this is a deeply red rose scent, full in bloom and heady. On my skin this rose then mixes with lotus to enhance the sweetness and add a touch of dewiness to the rose. The oud, myrrh, and frankincense give a nice woody base, as though you are smelling the plant as a whole and not just the flower itself. This has a really good through and is a strong feminine scent (not strong like overpowering, but strong as in a emotionally/personality strong). Overall this is a beautiful heady perfume that takes full advantage of the largest, deepest, reddest rose around and highlights everything about it that makes it a rose.

Aloysius will round out these scents with notes of decadent old wood, rum, rich dark leather, and soft touches of sugar, citrus and mint. Another leather blend! Just initial sniff from the vial and my mind was filled with visions of Captain Jack Sparrow and musings about why the rum is gone. My husband is a lover of spiced rum so I know the smell very well. It’s in here and this very much smells like barrels and barrels in a wooden storage barn attached to their holdings by leather straps, each one filled with rum (though the rum note itself isn’t prominent, but it’s there and noticeable). This is a super masculine blend and I’m on my way to wanting to sing sea shantys! The citrus and mint are in there and I can detect them and they do so much to uplift this blend and really make it stand out without allowing all the other notes to overpower one another. Yeah, this is totally what Jack Sparrow would smell like (after a bath, mind you).