Poesie: Tudor Lace Collection Review

I have previously raved about Poesie before, although several changes have been made to the shop since my first order and I have amended the information in my previous post, and here as well. 

They also recently released a reissue event which was very exciting, and I placed a small order as well with the updated prices. 

If you're looking for more Poesie reviews, I've got a few for the old GC, and you can also click here, here, or here. Or check out the Poesie tag! 

TUDOR LACE COLLECTION: 

The Tudor Lace collection was released shortly after the Bonny and Buxom collection and Valentines Day, and as I am a huge fan of vanilla/sweet scents, I found myself running to try this collection out. I'm a huge fan of all the accords used, so I was very excited to get these. It took almost two months for this order to get to me too. 

"The Tudor Lace collection is a study in vanilla, these scents go beyond the dessert plate and explore what vanilla can be. Each scent is built around the airy vanilla extract note of our Vanille accord and an antique lace accord that adds an ivory-tinged warmth with hints of faded florals and sweet vanilla."

The antique lace accord is what I would describe as a sweet, slightly floral and musky vanilla leaning note, it doesn't smell foodie, but more a distilled "vanille", like vanilla extract but if you spilled it on a well used coaster. I wouldn't call these gourmand at all, but they're certainly for people who like sweet scents. If I repeat "sweet" a lot in this review, it's because the base scent for most of these are basically the same faded sweet vanille note. 

If you're familiar with Poesie's catalogue, the lace accord has a bit of herbal sharpness that reminds me of the violet note in Myself Invisible, and in a way reminds me a bit of the musty and aged smell you get from antiques - a very apt name for something that seems more like a concept than a smell! 

It's definitely a strong and noticeable component of these blends, so if you're partial to musky and sweet scents, this will be something worth checking out. 

Ethereal Lace -- white lilac + old books, Vanille, antique lace

In the vial: It's a nondescript scent, almost like a freshly washed bok choy. It's very heavily "vegetable", and it's very much as green as it gets. 

On my skin: It is eerily, a spot on scent for bok choy, with the soil, in a wash basin for me - and I distinctly remember this being a lot more floral before resting. After a while, the green vegetable note softens into the sweeter antique lace, just a little dusty, green and sweet. 

It's a strange combination for me, it just reminds me of Chinese kitchens before just fading away into a forgotten lace doily with a grass stain you'll never quite be able to wash out. 

Perfect for: anyone who loves greens or florals, but like a tinge of sweetness to their blends.  

Ivory Lace -- three vanillas lashed with amber honey + wrapped in antique lace

In the vial: a delicate sweetness, a light creaminess topped with a dash of bright amber. 

On my skin: The vanille is really amped up on my skin, and the burst of brightness from the amber honey note- it borders on maple syrup, but it's not too dominant. The slight muskiness of the vanilla accord also reminds me of Blanket, yet it's a lot cleaner and sweeter with just a slight kick at the end from the antique lace to remind you, stop putting your nose into dusty cupboards. 

Perfect for: anyone who likes the Poesie vanille note, either with Sucre Vanille or Blanket. This is a delicate but very single minded "vanille", not foodie, just comforting and a little bit faded around the edges. 

Lemon Lace -- sweet-tart lemon combines with sweet Vanille + antique lace

In the vial: sweet lemon sherbert and a touch of that dusty sweetness. 

On my skin: it warms up, a beautiful warm lemon fizz, like citric acid. It's not quite bright, and it's not tart at all, it's airy in the sense that it's just a spritz and a sprinkle of lemon into a tablespoon of vanilla essence, dumped into a big cake mix and just sort of mixes out into nothing. It's the imprints of lemon stains on your gran's couch from when you dropped that lemon sorbet, which is just a faded memory and a ghost of a scent you used to remember fondly but can't quite grasp anymore. 

Bath salt: This is lovely in the jar, it's slightly musky, but a muted and kind lemon sherbert. Unfortunately, most of this scent fizzes away in the water, but great if you like subtle bath scents. 

Perfect for: anyone looking for a soft and (very) subtle rendition of lemon but mostly you're looking at that lace doily in fond nostalgia. 

Pink Lace -- juicy strawberries + pink champagne, Vanille, antique lace

In the vial: sweet berries! almost bubblegum like strawberry sweetness with a touch of fizz. 

On my skin: This is a little heavier on the strawberry, but it's very much a strawberry syrup you find in drinks, and the fizzy quality in this is a bubbly touch to the antique lace. The strawberry leans a little too sugary to be "fresh", but the balance between the champagne fizz, the berry and the antique lace results in a cheerful and clean cut fruity scent. 

I find this blend works really well, it's like the afterthought of a strawberry bellini topped with some vanilla seeds- and you're just trying to get those last drops of that cocktail from the glass. 

The fizz in this reminds me a lot of Haus of Gloi's Ginger Strawberry Fizz, but very much toned down, though layering it has been amazing, it's soda, champagne and delicious bright and a summer drink on a hot day. 

Perfect for: anyone who likes a bit of fizz, a soft strawberry and a beautiful delicate drop of vanilla seeds to top it all off. 

Serene Lace -- palo santo incense + a haze of cedar smoke, Vanille, antique lace

In the vial: Sharp, smokey and a huge blast of palo santo incense. 

On my skin: I love the smoke accord from Poesie, (See: Thornfield or Falcon Rising) and this features it as a lovely heady cloud of smoke, but cutting through that brazen, smoked wisp is the unmistakable scent of palo santo.

Depending on how much you like palo santo, this will either be great, or not so great. It's resinous, it's minty, it's woody, but most if all it's a sharp one. 

While I love the smoke note: it's like smoked salt, it's charred woods, it's savory and atmospheric, the palo santo is like an unwanted visitor in my fire swamp. 

Not for me, but I hope I grow to like palo santo because it is objectively a great blend. 

Perfect for: palo santo fans. This is a strong scent, if you don't like it, you won't be a fan of this. 

Tea-Stained Lace -- rich pipe tobacco + black tea leaves, Vanille, antique lace

In the vial: 

On my skin: It takes everything I've loved about the herbal, notes of the black tea accord from Poesie. This is almost a little richer has a sightly dry and sweet quality from the black tea, . The tobacco features here as a warmed earthiness, slightly rough against the general airy sweetness of the antique lace, so it's a nice contrast between the two. With this blend, there's a much sharper, almost minty edge reminiscent of Serene Lace, which is a little bit hazy and intriguing at the same time.
The final feeling of this scent is very much, sitting in your Classics professor's home as he smokes a pipe and showing you his old wood cabinet in a dimly lit room with a pot of tea whistling away in the next room.

Perfect for: Anyone who enjoys tobacco and/or tea notes - this is very much the unity of both wrapped up in a wispy base of faded vanilla extract. This is probably the least delicate of all the Lace collection, and a smidge darker and a bit smokier than the rest of them .
If you're familiar with Poesie, this is a earthy and slightly muskier version of Opening Chapter, retaining many of the fragrant black tea notes but adding a dash of "aged' and "faded" to it. If you're a fan of more nuanced scents, this is definitely the same vein. 

Conclusion:

If you've had a good experience with Poesie's scents, you'll likely to be a big fan of these. These are a little more ethereal, faded and very vintage renditions of recurrent notes, but they're always masterfully blended by Joelle.

If you aren't so much a big fan of Poesie, you won't be convinced by these, as they're sort of the general image of what I would imagine when I think of Poesie's scents, they always lean a little sweeter and fragrant, in a way you'd get from fresh flowers or tea leaves, a subtle haze of scent on the skin.

In comparison to a lot of indie brands, Poesie has much more of a toned down and softer, more feminine approach to most of its scents (as you'd expect from the inspirations of the scents) and the scent profile and projection is something that I personally prefer, and they make somewhat hard to wear notes very wearable for me (like smoke, tobacco and incense).

I will openly admit that I am a big fan of Poesie's blends, but also am aware that their blends don't work on everyone, as a lot of people prefer stronger and headier blends, and if you're more of a fan of brands like BPAL, or something with strong projection, you might have to think twice before picking these up.

Overall: I've really enjoyed this collection and highly recommend it, and I'm very happy that I got to pick this up as it really is a lovely collection of scents.