wasting all my money on indie perfume

hi there! i'm cedar (he/it), and i'm here to review far too many indie perfumes. i will tag each perfume review with the house it was made by. there will also be occasional posts that aren't reviews (updates on my life, photos of new fs bottles, etc.), and these will be tagged accordingly.

current house tags:

#alkemia

#death and floral

#osmofolia

#mythpunk olfactive

#pineward

other tags:

#indie perfume

#not indie perfume

#perfume review

#not a perfume review

pillowy marshmallows, hawthorn, misty rain, ozonic vanilla, crushed clary sage, lichens, pure oakmoss, moon-kissed amber resins

this was my favourite of the two scents i got that were *not* from the petrichor collection, and my second favourite of all of them. at its essence, it's a sweet-smelling forest. not cloying or thick, but fresh, even slightly damp. it opens with a light sweetness of marshmallow that hovers around you, with greens and wood throughout. as it goes on, it becomes thicker and settles more on you. it dries down to amber, quite resinous, with that green-ness remaining in the background.

longevity: 6 hours

will i use up the sample: yes, i like this one a lot.

the cozy aftermath of a seaside storm - maritime pine, ozone, heather, bloodmoss, rocky wet sand, black tea, wet wool drying by the fire

this was definitely my favourite scent out of the entire collection. i ended up wearing it to a concert. it opens with soft, salty seaweed--not overwhelming. it quickly settles into soft planty smells mixed with the black tea and wet wool mentioned in the notes. it's ever so cosy, i don't know how to properly describe it. there's not much throw, so it stays in a tiny bubble around you. it's extremely comforting. there's not as much salt and storm as i was expecting--the rage stays outside while one sits under a cosy blanket, watching out the window, waiting for it to pass. beautiful. i love this one so fucking much.

longevity: 7 hours

will i use up the sample: of course.

chaparral resin exudate, sweet orange, mountain laurel, cold rain warming on damp skin, sagebrush, pinon, wet sand, desert rain, scattered orange blossom petals

i've found most of the scents from this collection are warm rain scents, not cold rain scents. i live on the west coast of the united states, so we have our humid season in the winter instead of the summer. however, the perfumer is from texas, where the winters are dry and the summers wet. this fragrance is no exception to the rule. it smells of sweet citrus and orange blossom firstly, then melts into a warm wet sandy scent. many planty smells woven throughout as well. the plant smells reminded me a bit of glass jungle, though without the thick florals. the citrus does not smell like a cleaning solution, but rather like a fresh, uplifting brightness. this scent is pure dew-covered plants growing out of wet sandy soil, with orange blossoms spread throughout. a good scent for summer.

longevity: 5 hours

will i use up the sample: i like this scent a lot, but i'm not completely sure whether i like it enough to use up the sample.

sulfurous tropical fruit, crushed ferns, fogged glass walls, heady hothouse flowers, unearthly orchids & looming mushrooms, buzzing grow lights, irrigation tubes, sprinkler water

this is an unsweet floral--waxy and damp. not cloying or sugary. it's deep, a little thick, but not syrupy. it smells vaguely of green plants and heavy humidity. it's not a fresh springtime floral or "green floral" by any means--this is the scent of a greenhouse in the middle of summer, filled with tropical plants. it's actually quite wearable in professional settings. because of the floralness, it's just enough like a traditional perfume to allow it to be worn anywhere, but it's also just strange enough that it retains an atypicality.

longevity: 6 hours

will i use up the sample: almost certainly. i don't care much for florals, but this one is fascinating.

the rain on the plains - wet green grass, ozone, dust, dried hay, mud, green leather, warm animal musk, blonde tobacco, Virginia cedarwood

this one starts off with the freshness of grass and rain, as one would expect from the notes. you can easily pick out the cedarwood, but the more animalic, farm-y notes tend to blend together. it quickly settles into a musky, woody, dirty scent. however, it does not weigh one down--it's actually still a fairly light scent. it's definitely more weighty than the other scents i've tried from this collection, but it isn't an excessively strong or heavy fragrance. it reminds me of being on a ranch, as one might expect from the name. all of mythpunk olfactive's fragrances are very on point.

longevity: 8 hours

will i use up the sample: i don't think i will, just because this is a very specific scent.

sparkling maesil tea, potting soil, perilla leaf, rhubarb, bean sprouts, rain-soaked hinoki trees, hiba cedar mulch, lapsang souchong, garden rain

the scent opens very fresh, watery, and green, even a tad citrusy. it remains so for pretty much the entirety of its performance, but it does grow deeper as time goes on. it does definitely remind me of bean sprouts and vegetables in wet soil. not quite like the soil of my hometown, but close enough. it almost tickles the inside of my nose. it's very light and fresh, but not in a "summer cologne" way. dampness and green plants.

longevity: 5 hours

will i use up the sample: mm, i think so. i quite like this scent.

juniper berries, cold river water, mossy riverstones, rain-soaked forest loam, conifer needles, distant woodsmoke, damp woolen clothes

the scent opens with a burst of juniper and clean, cool water. it's not a salty or dirty aquatic--it's quite refreshing, actually. it has some nuances of a sweet-smelling wood that kind of make it lean cologne-like to my nose. i know the perfumer's from texas, so i think if i was from texas as well, it would smell more realistic to me. the smell as a whole is quite refined. it dries down to a sweet-smelling sort of thing that i can't really identify.

longevity: 7 hours

will i use up the sample: probably not. it's not really my favourite scent. i'm not the biggest fan of juniper.

- the crossroads of lost and lorn

- petrichor x dude ranch

- petrichor x glass jungle

- petrichor x perilla garden

- petrichor x the lighthouse

Yellow musk, salt, and rain on concrete

this is such a moody, grey scent. i didn’t like it when i first received it, but it needed several weeks of rest to bloom into what it is today. when you first apply it, it’s very wet and fresh and mineralic. it then transforms into something a bit deeper. it isn’t quite like the rain of the bay area, but it’s quite close. it’s also not like the ocean, either. it wasn’t exactly what i was looking for, but it’s absolutely wonderful.

longevity: 3 hours

will i use up the sample: bought this as a 5ml. i will 100% be using it up.

black tea, ozone, violets, humidity, rainfall, vetiver, ambergris, soil, petrichor

based on the notes, this sounds like it would smell perfectly like rain. to me, it does not. it smells far too much of violets, not nearly dank enough. it feels like more of a laundry detergent to me. the drydown was actually quite nice, but it takes several hours to get there. i just want to smell that soil and tea, please. no violets, thank you very much.

longevity: 5 hours

will i use up the sample: well, it's osmofolia, so i feel obligated to hoard it.

Melted black cherry popsicle juice, ginger ale cream soda, salty and hot summer skin, honeydew, golden caramelized amber

this one reminded me weirdly of being in a boba tea shop. it’s a very bright, fruity, cherry-ish scent. it quickly dried down to this sweet, still-vaguely-fruity amber scent. i honestly don’t care for sweet scents, but this one was pleasant. gourmands don’t often do anything for me—they mostly just smell like cheap candle—but this was really nice. it would be a good summer scent on someone else.

longevity: 4 hours

will i use up the sample: this one came as a random free 5ml (which i chose instead of the scent of the month). i’m not completely sure, but i might wear it on occasion. who knows if i’ll ever use it up.