OUTPOST (Winter Collection 2011)

OUTPOST
Sugar Crystals, Spruce, Fir, Soft Woods, Bayberry, Mistletoe & Amber

NOT TO BE USED BY WOMEN WHO ARE PREGNANT OR NURSING.

Perfume, Ganache, Whipped Soap and Burnishing Glace

A beacon of light amidst cold, desolate wilderness. Pass through a copse of young evergreens into a warm cedar cabin and thaw out under a soft Afghan blanket by a blazing fire while sugared treats from the kitchen fill the air. Notes include sugar crystals, spruce, fir, a medley of soft woods including sandalwood, agar, cedar, aloeswood, patchouli, guaiacwood, bayberry, mistletoe and a touch of amber.

This complex and unique blend will take you on a morphing adventure, not unlike Witch's Cottage from the Fall Collection, though Outpost is a distinctly different blend. On cold sniff and initial application, sugar encrusted evergreens emerge as the top note. The evergreen is primarily detectable early in the life of the blend though remaining ever-present in the since it is a wash off product which can retain the top notes. The blend of woods emerges to greet the sugar crystals after a few minutes with a hint of bayberry in mistletoe in the background and the spruce and fir far behind. The dry down is a very soft, warm, sweet and comforting blend with a tiny wisp of sweet smoke. The green notes are very faint and barely detectable at this stage.

Despite the evergreens and woods used, this is a very gentle blend of soft woods as opposed to a dark, heavy, woodsy blend. The sugar keeps it light-hearted and the other notes bring a festive winter impression to mind. A mega morpher that is very fun to journey with when you're outside on a cold day. Cool weather really brings the notes of Outpost to life and enhances the blend. If you liked the complexity and warmth of Witch's Cottage, with sweet juxtaposed next to herbal and woods, you should like Outpost!

This does remind me of Witch's Cottage; it's like a scent journey through the woods. It goes on smelling like cool, slushy evergreen with hints of woodsmoke and a lovely, sweet waft of sugar. The drydown is sort of like sugared woodsmoke, like if you turned woodsmoke into a cotton candy. It's a pretty, sweet, edible smelling smokiness on me.

Outpost is an odd blend on me. When I first put it on, I thought I might have to wash it off. Sugar notes amp up on me and I know this, it isn't Outpost's fault, but I was hoping it wouldn't morph into hairspray. A lot of companies sugar notes end up hairspray on me...and this one is on the edge of hairspray.

But then comes the middle section of its run. The about-to-be hairspray note vanished, leaving a icy forest. Like the rest of it was woody green forest goodness, then the sugar became cool mint. It has a black ice feel. I love it in this stage.

Then the sugar comes back with a vengeance. It is now strong, almost overpowering burnt sugar smell. Once the perfume is worn for awhile, this note is the only one that remains.

I would love this blend if it would only stay in the middle stage. So overall, I don't like it, then I LOVE it, then I don't like it again. Weird. I get no smoke from this blend. I wish smoke was there to try to tackle the burnt sugar.

Angela's description for this blend is pretty spot-on; It's definitely a morpher.
I get a burst of cedar and evergreens when first applied, which quickly dissipates into a sweet, woody blend. It doesn't smell like sugar crystals on me, just a slight sweetness that adds to the woods. I'm really liking this scent, and it's certainly one of my favourites from the winter collection.

I thought Snowshoe pass would be my favorite, but I think I like Outpost a bit more! Wet, this is very sweet with soft evergreens in the background. The sweetness smells almost like how simple syrup tastes, if that makes sense. (Simple syrup is when you boil sugar and water to make a thick sugary base for candies or sweet tea). The spruce, fir, bayberry, and mistletoe keep it from being foody. The effect for me is like hardened liquid sugar over green boughs. The sweetness burns off after a couple of hours, leaving a trace of greenery behind. It's very soft and close to the skin, which I love.

Edit: This has agar and aloeswood, which I adore in Thornwood and Manor. No wonder I like this one!

rinster wrote:

I thought Snowshoe pass would be my favorite, but I think I like Outpost a bit more! Wet, this is very sweet with soft evergreens in the background. The sweetness smells almost like how simple syrup tastes, if that makes sense. (Simple syrup is when you boil sugar and water to make a thick sugary base for candies or sweet tea). The spruce, fir, bayberry, and mistletoe keep it from being foody. The effect for me is like hardened liquid sugar over green boughs. The sweetness burns off after a couple of hours, leaving a trace of greenery behind. It's very soft and close to the skin, which I love.

Edit: This has agar and aloeswood, which I adore in Thornwood and Manor. No wonder I like this one!

I'd like to second this description! I don't think I could add any more to this even if I tried.

It's totally wonderful and my Ganache was able to be detected across the room just after I had opened the jar!

rinster wrote:

Edit: This has agar and aloeswood, which I adore in Thornwood and Manor. No wonder I like this one!

I agree also! Outpost reminds me very much of Manor without the vanilla - they both last a very long time on me.

Now this is a unique and complex take on the Yule scent; the Bayberry is evident yet balanced with the other notes, with which it dances between fore- and background. The sugar, soft woods, and amber keep it from being too masculine and make this a gorgeous unisex blend. I got a vial of this with my Winter 2011 sample pack and definitely need a bottle!

Oh Outpost!!!!! You threw me for a complete loop! I was totally prepared to not like this scent because when I saw sugar crystals, I immediately thought sweet and FOOD. Boy, was I wrong! This scent is my absolute favorite of the entire Winter collection. When I first read the scent descriptions, I thought that Flintlock would be my favorite and MAYBE further down the line would be Outpost. Nope!

One thing that I've found Angela does better than ANYONE is creating scents that morph incredibly. I've always noticed that about some of her scents, but lately she's had some real morphers that just blow my mind. I find it amazing to sniff a scent out of a bottle, apply it, smell it 10 minutes later and then about 1/2 hour after that... and each time the scent is different. This happened with my favorite of the Fall collection, Foxcroft.

Angela remarks that Outpost is very similar in it's morphing to Witch's Cottage.... but honestly, I think it morphs more like Foxcroft. The scent starts out sweet and full of evergreen. Sweet, you say? Not candy sweet, which is what I thought it would be like. It's a sweetness that is not overpoweringly sweet or I wouldn't like wearing it. It becomes woodsy, a bit spicy and warm (I think from the amber). There is always the hint of evergreen in this blend, but it does become less prominent in the drydown. This is not a dark blend, but it's a wonderful change from the darker Autumn scents. It's perfect for winter with it's hints of bayberry and softer woods.

I've been wearing this scent almost constantly since I've received it and I just seem to like it more and more. What a wonderful complex, uplifting blend for a dark and cold time of year! My favorite of the entire Winter collection.

Delurking here on the forum to say that Oupost is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. It's this wonderfully piney, woody, bayberry blend, heavy on the evergreens. I wore it in Portland, OR when we spent a week out there and it felt perfectly appropriate.

It actually smells like it could have come from one of the high-end niche fragrance houses, quite a bit like a Serge Lutens perfume, which I totally mean as a compliment and I hope comes off that way! It's hard to pick a favorite Solstice Scent, but I think this is mine. Pure, heady WIN.

This scent is fascinating, I haven't decided whether it's for me yet or not. When I first applied it I found the sweetness a tad overwhelming, but it smelled like an immensely fresh, chilly air, which I enjoyed. I instantly thought of being in a forest on an ice cold day, and it wasn't unpleasant at all, in fact I liked the feeling the smell conjured for me, just perhaps a little too strong for my taste. (It's amazing to me that all Angie's perfumes, whether the smell is for me or not, all seem to instantly conjure up an image or a feeling or a place in my mind upon smelling it.) After about an hour or so it started to die down and become softer, still very ever-greeny but not overwhelmingly so. I enjoyed it much more after it died down a tad. I want to describe it as floral but that wouldn't fit, it has a softness and a crispness at the same time, reamarkably complex. I think the sweetness was not for me but I know some people who would die for this scent, thinking of making it a present for some friends this year It's just so wonderfully christmasy, not in a warm christmas kitchen indoors feeling but in a truly elemental way. If that makes any sense. I'm rambling!

The bayberry, woods and soft fir are what I enjoy most from this fragrance. Very outdoorsy, without smelling too much like pine. I see cedar listed, but it's not very dominant, which for once I'm actually quite appreciate for! Sometimes you just want to have cedar take a ride in the backseat, you know what I mean For all the potential sharp woody notes this blend has, it's blended out to be quite smooth and tame.

I don't find this to be very sugary, sure it has a tone of sweetness to it, but for people who aren't into the pink sugar types, cotton candy sugar hits, this is quite enjoyable. Even during the dry down I still don't find it to be over the top. I'm not sure if it'd be sweet enough for those who possess a sweet tooth.

This might suit those who thought Shoikan Grove was too dry or green for their liking, but would still like a hint of evergreen.

On opening the bottle, the scents that hit me were strongly organic; they hit the nose as clove oranges, lemongrass, tea – the kind of things one would consume at a remote and distant outpost cabin to sooth the spirit and stave off scurvy.

Hitting the skin, these scents shifted and yet remained: it was clove tea, sweetened with honey. The citrus tint of orange and lemongrass remained but it was as if were drinking said tea from a warm and polished-smooth-from-use wooden mug in front of a fire.

Some twelve hours later, the scent remained distinct upon the skin, but shifted again to be almost entirely woody and sweet. The fire has burned down, leaving behind only the scent of the wood for tomorrow’s burn warmed and dried upon the hearth, and the remnants of powdered sugar in the air from a long-since-eaten dessert.

I really really like this one! At first it smells pretty strongly of evergreens, with maybe just a hint of sweetness to it. As it dries the sweet woods become the main scent with evergreens just in the background. It smells very cold somehow, it's a really interesting scent... I can really smell the snow on the trees! It feels like a delicate yet masculine scent to me, and I really enjoy wearing it. It feels calm and peaceful, like a cold winter day in the woods. This is a truly lovely scent! (Also: the sweetness in this really is just like a simple syrup, that description was right on!)

This review is for the Glace: once it hits my skin, it smells like damp and rotting leaves and woods. It feels more proper to wear at the end of autumn. I was expecting something entirely different.

Weird, this doesn't smell very piney or evergreen on me at all. It's more like an abstract rendition of christmas. Sweet from the baked goods and very much like an expensive cologne. It does have an ozone quality that might be interpreted as green but although the adjective "sharp" fits, it's not really a fresh green smell, on my skin at least. It gets more musky sweet and even floral on me as time goes on. If this is a western outpost it's more like the 'cat house' a lonely cowboy looks forward to visiting when he gets into town . Interesting scent but I don't think it's quite my style.