WITCH'S COTTAGE (Autumn 2011)

I bought this perfume without really understanding the description. I guess I got so carried away with MY idea of a witches cottage that I glossed over Angela's wonderfully accurate description.

I was expecting it to be much more savoury and smokey and perhaps a tiny bit of incense. I guess my witch isn't as big a baker as Angela's; she's more of a hedgewitch than a kitchen witch.

When I first smelled it out of the bottle I was so disappointed. It was a very buttery, sweet praline and I thought for sure I would hate it. I didn't- and still don't like the scent of it wet on my skin but LOVE LOVE LOVE it after a couple of minutes. Its a very warm, nutty, sweet herby and buttery scent. It makes me smell like baked buttery goodness all day. I don't get any of the smokiness sadly, but I layer with Smokey Mountain Mallow when I want that note. Sometimes I get a hint ( a teeny weeny weeny hint) of the apples but mainly I get herby baked pastries.

My skin is prone to amping up the sweetness in scents so perhaps a different skin chemistry will show the smoke and tart apple.

A surprise LOVE smell. Its sillage is very good. I slathered it on at work in the morning thinking nobody would be in for a while and my boss walked in an hour later saying 'Oh wow what smells so amazing in here'....oops. It also last for hours and hours. A very warm and cosy foodie scent.

This is a homey and warm scent. The initial blast is that of tart apples being slowly warmed on a stove, or in a pastry. Delicious. As that subsides, the wood and hearth smoke comes out with a touch of the praline's. At the end it's just this comfortable well loved little scent that just smells like home.

It took me a while to try this scent because the notes didn't sound overly appealing to me (herbs?)....but I really can't pick out any specific notes.  It is so exceptionally blended, it is like magic in a bottle.  It's probably my #1 Solstice scent.  I wear it several times a week and get the most compliments from strangers when I wear it.  It is very warm and cozy, and takes me back to some childhood memory that is there but I can't recall what it is. Based on the scent description, I expected it to be more foody or gourmand, but on me it isn't at all. It's just a beautifully blended perfume. I have the oil, EDP, and glace.  I hope it never goes away!