More goodies from Alkemia Perfumes! This is the last of the samples I currently have, though make no mistake, I’ll be getting more just as soon as I get over this small issue of moving states. Always something hindering the perfume buying.

De La Forêt contains notes of dry amber, golden musk, orris root, tonka, bergamot, rosewood, oud, sandalwood, paper, oakmoss, birch tar, and vetivert. Oooh a paper note! In the vial I get a nice amber and musk scent rounded out with lots of beautiful and fragrant woods. On my skin this is so golden and soft. The tonka is that beautiful brown fuzzy scent with a hint of the floral bergamot. Some people have issues with orris root and/or vetiver … I am so happy I’m not one of those people (though it did take a few years for me to fully appreciate vetiver). The birch tar gives this an almost sticky like feeling … you know when you get tree sap on your hand and it just never. goes. away. In this case this is a good thing. Oh wow, I get the paper too. It’s soft, freshly pressed and almost papyrus like. It’s homemade paper which was lovingly made by hand, not the college ruled paper from the store. The oakmoss is soft and slightly green. Overall I’m in love with this blend. It’s perfect for a beautiful soft forest-like scent. I could totally see this representing someone in the middle of a forest of tall trees looking up and soaking up the filtered sunlight.

Caveau des Innocents is all about the underground Parisian nightlife with notes of Tabac, dark coffee, piquant cloves, rum soaked pears, candied citron, dark caramel, and star anise bathed in intoxicating swirls of opoponax, labdanum, hashish, benzoin resinoid, vanilla incense, and guaiac wood. In the vial this was mostly candied citron and a touch of vanilla incense. Very soft and subdued – not at all what I was expecting. On my skin this is still soft, but it’s got that slinky feel, as though softly traveling just above the skin. There is almost a masculine quality about the blend, but it’s unisex too in a way. No one note is really jumping out. It’s all so very well blended and very intoxicating. As this dries and warms on my skin it becomes almost overtly sexy – there’s no come hither finger wave but more of a grab them by their shirt and yank them to you. Carnal is a good word to describe this scent.

Fumé Oud à la Vanille boasts notes of crushed tonka beans, woodsmoked amber, and bourbon vanilla aged with oud wood. The woodsmoke is prominent both in the vial and on my skin. There’s that wonderfully fuzzy tonka again and the oud is very fragrant. Overall this isn’t heavy vanilla, but it’s not a bad woodsmoke scent either. I would love it if the vanilla had come out more. This is very masculine in my opinion, woody, a little smoky (not enough to overwhelm) and slightly resinous.

Aphrodesia will round out this set with notes of deep eastern spices warmed with creamy vanilla and a few drops of golden frankincense. I have to confess I put this on yesterday when I was craving vanilla scents and fell completely and utterly in love with this. In the vial there are these beautiful warm spices from an eastern market. On my skin the frankincense comes out and you can smell those fragrant large resins being slowly and expertly burned in an incense burner. Their fragrant cloud wafts up to caress your skin and that vanilla with those spices just makes for this intoxicating scent. Sweet, a little spicy, and that lovely incense wafting in and out. This is a very unisex blend – not overtly one scent or another, but all the scents melding in together. It stays close to the skin and makes it a very personal scent. Oh man, I still can’t stop huffing. This is what I wanted another scent from another brand to smell like but it just never did for me. Beautiful!