need this place to exist. Maybe she can work on that for next year? My favorite time of year has arrived! Solstice Scents has released their new fall collection, and though I said it with the Manor Collection, and then with the Foxcroft Collection, Angela has once again pole-vaulted over my high expectations with Foxcroft's Autumn Festival, another visit to this wondrous, mythical town that seriously needs to be an actual place. Really, Ithis place to exist. Maybe she can work on that for next year?





I digress...onto the scents!





I questioned the necessity and fairness of doing blind reviews, as I'm always so entranced by the scent descriptions that I read them multiple times and was already pretty well versed in the note lists of each one before I even received my samples. But, for funsies and all, I will share my initial thoughts on each one. For the most part they were easy to identify based on what I knew about each one; only a couple tripped me up. Before I smelled Sycamore Chai, for a second I suspected that Riverside Hayride was it. But as soon as I got to the actual Sycamore Chai, it clearly stood out as the real deal.









Mystery Scent #1: Nutty, toffee-ish, malty, buttery, a little boozy but very smooth. Reminds me a little of Sugarvale. The butteriness reminds me of Haus of Gloi's Sweet Potato Treat.





Owl Creek Aleworks



Sticky English Toffee Pudding, Blackburn's Parlor Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel, Toasted Coconut and Hazelnut, Sugared Pumpkin Cream Stout





This is delish! It's very warm and cozy. It does have a similar vibe to Sugarvale, so I'm guessing if you like scents like this, and maybe Kitchen too, you might like this. I can pick up on the malty, nutty, spicy, toasty notes, and can pick up faint hints of coconut here and there too. The butteriness that reminded me of Sweet Potato Treat is pretty much just on cold sniff. It stays steady after that and dries down to a pleasant, warm, pumpkin-spice type scent.









Mystery Scent #2: Atmospheric, earthy, super-sweet, like taffy maybe. Sugar explosion. But something else too. Intriguing.





Foxcroft Fairgrounds

Cotton Candy, Cream Soda, Vanilla Taffy, Gridling's Funnel Cakes, Powdered Sugar, Crisp Fall Air, Woodsmoke, and a Tendril of Incense





This one, I wasn't quite sure what to make of when I first smelled it. It is sweet. Chewy taffy and cotton candy and a hint of something sugary and fried. I like the sweet stuff, and I wasn't sure if I could do this one. But there is something compelling and compulsively sniffable about this. Once the vanilla tinged sweetness starts to burn off, there is a very soft incensey note that draws me in. Though extremely sweet, the latter notes keep this from smelling too "young" or cutesy. I suspect this is a blend that would react to people's skin in different ways, leaning towards either the gourmand or the incense.









Mystery Scent #3 : Tea. No. Not tea. More earthy, like hay or grass. White florals, a little spicy. Sharp and refreshing. Faint fruitiness.



Riverside Hayride

Moist Dirt, White Carnations, Fallen Leaves, Bare Branches, Hay and a Hint of Pressed Apples Carried on the Breeze from Corvin's Apple Orchard





Swoon. Solstice Scents does atmospheric so well. I don't really think of florals in the fall. Mostly it's the usual gourmands and spices, maybe some dirt thrown in. Florals? Not so much. But for me, carnation always translates into a wistful, haunting, slightly melancholy floral, so what better flower to evoke a mysterious nighttime hayride? This smells really elegant to me, and while it sets the scene of the Riverside Hayride perfectly literally with the breezes and dirt and whiff of apples, it also just smells like a really classy perfume. The white carnation is sweet, delicate, and invigorating rather than super spicy/clove-y. Beautiful.





Mystery Scent #4: Now, that is tea for sure! Spicy chai tea, strong on the ginger. Clear, astringent quality. Reminds me of the ginger in Lemon GInger Creams. Will have to layer.





Sycamore Chai

Vanilla Chai Tea and a Ginger-Pumpkin Roll Filled with Marshmallow Creme





I noticed I sometimes use "clear" as a word to describe certain scents, and I'm not sure why I do that. Some scents make me think of a clear, clean glass of water, rather than,

say, a cup full of thick, dark molasses. So maybe it's a visual thing, but I think I also mean clear as an auditory thing, like certain scents smell to me like the ringing of a chime or bell, rather than the deep strum of bass. Scent construction is often described in terms of musical notes, so maybe I'm not too far out in the strato sp here? Sycamore Chai has that clean, clear smell to me. The tea note is very apparent along with the ginger and a touch of cardamom, but the bakery notes, the marshmallow and pumpkin roll, aren't as readily apparent to me. Perhaps as it dries down it starts feeling a little more like sweet goods, but it doesn't feel heavy.





Angela has recommended this for layering and I agree. I tried it with my Lemon Ginger Creams, and YUMMO! The ginger in both provided a nice spicy bite, and the tea and lemon cookies melded perfectly together. She also suggest ed layering it with Manor on Facebook and I tried that too, though I had my reservations: no, it is really lovely as well ! That dusty, vanilla woods mixed with the tea and spices worked better together tha n I would have expected . Worth a sniff if you have both.













Mystery Scent #5: All Apple. All the time. Creamy too. Like an apple cider float. Big mounds of vanilla ice cream floating in a mug of apple cider. Is there such a thing? There should be.





Corvin's Apple Fest

Apple Pastries, Caramel Apples, Fresh Apples, Warm Apple Cider, Vanilla, Apple Pie, Apple Cream Cheese Danish



