Possets: Arabesque

Arabesque is from the Sacred Geometry 2013 spring release. Only three of these make the cut in the final vote, and we won't know until June which ones will be final.

Now to the review!

In the bottle: This smells a bit smoky (sweet smoky), with a citrus vibe, and a touch of vanilla.

On my skin: The smoke is a little bit like the smoke from Gypsy Grave from Possets--a little bit ashtray, but cleaner. The vanilla is sweet, but not pudding sweet or candied. The citrus vibe holds strong--but it's a soft citrus like the mingling of lime blossoms and the heart of a grapefruit and a touch of clementine flowers all mingled together--but it's also not quite citrus at the same time. I'm sure that's the bamboo coming in, mingling with the amber.

As it dries: The smoke backs off a lot and drops down to the bottom, giving this a lovely wispy feeling base. The citrus note is becoming a bit woody, and makes me think of bamboo floors--clean, pale, softer in concept than other woods. I'm also getting a touch of amber that reminds me of the amber in Naples Yellow (a discontinued scent from Possets)--which is a lemony amber, and comes across as fresh and bright.

As it dries further: The vanilla comes forward a bit more. It's a creamy, perfumy, sweet vanilla, with just a hair of vanilla extract coming in to round it out a bit. The amber is stronger now, but hasn't gone to powder the way some ambers do, and it's helping to balance the sweetness of the vanilla. The soft citrus vibe has almost completely changed over to a citrus wood, but it's a pale soft wood that gleams in the sunlight.

Even though this is very perfumy, it also has a soft element to it. It's bright and tender. Sweet, but not sugary. The tartness of the bamboo and amber keep this from going overboard, although if someone is used to more masculine scents this might be too sweet.

Final dry down: This holds true to the amber/citrusy bamboo/vanilla for a long time, however there does come a point (hours out) when what remains is a sweet and cozy vanilla on the skin, with traces of amber and a faint suggestion of the bamboo. Every time I have worn this out in public, I have gotten compliments on it, and it's always one of those, "Oooooh, what are you wearing?! Do you mind if I sniff you?" moments.

One of the things I like most about this fragrance is that it is bright and clear and yet it is also calm and lovely at the same time. It's a perfect happy fragrance.