Common Brimstone Halloween Scents

(this isn't my image, I borrowed it from the Common Brimstone facebook)

I picked up the Common Brimstone six scent sample pack of their Halloween release a little while ago as there were a couple of the scents in there that appealed to me. Sadly due to some illness and moving issues for the owner (which is fair enough, she's a one person team and I believe also has a 'proper' job) it was fairly late on when the scents arrived and it's taken me even longer to review them (that one is totally my bad). This means that the collection has now vanished from her Etsy store, I do apologise for that, but you may well find them in blog sales or on IMAM. As with all perfume 'reviews' my experiences with these scents could be vastly different from your own due to my unique skin chemistry and my nose. I don't know what a lot of things smell like, so my descriptions and analysis are probably wildly different to the detailed ones a good perfume reviewer could give you.

All of these scents seemed to last on me at wrist-sniffing distance for a decent amount of time, I only re-applied at lunchtime (around 2pm for me) and given that I usually apply perfume before I leave the house around 8:30, that's not bad at all. You have to be fairly close to smell these, but I have a decent waft of the scents around myself for an hour or so after application.

Holy Water is a gently blend of fresh water and water blossom ivy, infused with basil to ward off evil, angelica for safety from curses, aloe for luck, and a finish of benzoin for purity and and success.

This is one of the scents I wasn't sure of, it sounded a little medicinal with the aloe and the only thing I know basil from is cooking. Luckily I actually think it's not so bad, though not one that makes me think of autumn and I'm undecided on whether to keep this. On me this is a light feminine floral scent. Grown up, but still floral. I'm not a big floral person, but I don't hate this like most flowery smells on me.

Nosferatu is a chilling blend of cool iris root and angel's trumpet, underscored with spicy black musk and a hint of grassy hyssop from the graveyard.

I thought I would hate this one, as I mentioned above I'm not a floral scent person and the description of this is nearly all flowers. It is very much a floral scent, but not girly floral more kind of woods at night scent. I think the musk and maybe the hyssop are what give it the woods at night feel, I can certainly smell what I'm guessing is the musk as it's a very not floral scent.

Vampire's Bride is an ethereal blend of jasmine, calla lily and lilac blossom, veiled in white musk and vanilla bean. A streak of smoky copal and a bite of bitter clove hint at the monster beneath her innocent façade.

Initially with this I get a lovely mix of floral and something warm which may be the musk or the clove, the mix of the two turns the floral into a more fruity smelling scent on me which isn't too bad. As it dries more of the spice and musk come forwards, which I like a lot more.

Vampire Hunter - Boozy top notes of rum mingle with leathery nagarmotha to create a masculine start. A hint of ambery styrax combines with acorn (for good luck charms), caraway (to ward off the evil eye), and hawthorn (to keep away evil spirits) for a warm and woodsy dry down.

This is by far my favourite from the collection. I bought the full size before they went off sale, my first and only full size perfume oil. I had no idea what to expect from this when I first put it on, I know what rum and leather smell like but none of the other words (heck, I don't even know what half those words mean. The smell I get from this is buttery popcorn (when I say this I mean it smells the way the popcorn flavour jelly babies and american “move popcorn” tastes, that sounds odd but it's my best description. It's beautiful and delicious and I want to lick myself) but not entirely just the popcorn, there is something more warm and masculine to it. Dries to a more woodsy, warm scent but that butter popcorn is still there.

Vampire's Kiss - Top notes of bold dark cherry and foxglove give way to the snap of cardamom and clove. A base of decadent cocoa absolute and deep, dark musk creates a beguiling and haunting fragrance that will lure them in and leave them helpless.

This has a combination of notes I should love – cherry, cardamom and cocoa – and had my skin chemistry not thrown a total hissy fit I imagine this would have been one of my favourites. Unfortunatley my skin hates me and this turns into soap on me, pretty much as soon as I apply it. I've actually only worn it once because of that, maybe I should try it again to see if it was a crazy one off experience. But the soapy smell made me feel ill.

Wooden Stake is a combination of strong woods - sandalwood, oakwood, and oud - with a pinch of allspice for determination and energy (you'll need that to kill a vampire), and a fragrant whisper of nag champa incense (to overpower any garlic you might be carrying).

Initially I get spice, which I'm guessing is the smell of the allspice in there (reminds me of clove actually)! Then dries down to a very woodsy scent, like old wooden furniture. I really like it. Lasts several hours as a wrist sniffer.

As you may have guessed far and above my favourite from this collection is Vampire Hunter. I did buy the full size. I do rather like Wooden Stake as well. I will probably be selling off some of my other samples from this collection on indiemakeupandmore soon.