NCD: fragrances and festivities (Yule Reviews)

It's never too early to get out the Yule scents - I myself have already started to unapologetically loop Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas is You, and I will not be shamed for it. Here are some thoughts on previous Yule releases from previous years. NCD is also currently doing their fantastic Black Friday sales, and since their TAT is amazingly quick, may this be a kind suggestion that you should totally check them out if you're eyeing any of these scents! 

I've separated the posts for the 2020, and 2021 purchases/releases I made, so click here for part 2! 

In regards to CS and the processes of ordering - I've never had an issue with NCD's TAT or customer service, and all my purchases have come wrapped in bubble wrap, without any leaks (for both sample vials and bottles). For INTL orders, shipping usually starts at $18 USD. 

Making Snow Angels - The scent of joyful anticipation. Homemade sugar cookies fresh from the oven. Wear this toasty vanilla scent to awaken the spirit of play and frivolity.

One of my first NCD scents, this is a gorgeous sugar cookie dough, sprinkled with icing sugar and vanilla essence. I honestly just really love how it has this warm edge of butter and an a touch of rum just squished in there as well - it's a cozy, festive sibling to Rougery from April, but I just wanna stick my face into a bucket of these. Aging has also done amazing things to it - the sharper almond kick from it has mellowed out to a chewy almond meal, and it just makes me love this even more. 

Hell Freezes Over -A daring and diabolical scent for getting into delicious trouble. Decadent devil's food cake, still warm from the oven, fluffy marshmallow frosting and the lightest dusting of crushed candy cane.

This is one of my absolute favorite scents from NCD ever - it is just the most perfect blend of foodie gourmands ever. Think, blast of dense, thick, chocolate mud cake, just melt in your mouth perfection, decorated with shards of candy cane, mellowing out to this lovely soft marshmallow note. NCD rarely ever does chocolate notes, but this is such a rich and intense and edible chocolate note here that it's so hard to keep myself away from it, and I love smothering myself in it, I almost feel like it's chocolate icing and I'm just smearing myself in it. I'm really glad it's come back because if you're a gourmand fan, I cannot recommend this enough. 

Gingerbread Cabin* - This year's gingerbread house is a rustic construction of apple fritters sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, frosted ginger snaps, vanilla cream pie, candied orange peel with a teensy pinch of clove, and a surreptitious sip of Kentucky whiskey.

Honestly it is so hard to pick a favorite gingerbread blend, although this is definitely a top contender. NCD's gingerbread tends to lean a little fruity on me in general, but the addition of apple and orange here just gives me this pure rush of mulled cider vibes, spiked with a warming shot of whiskey too. As this wears on a little, the clove peeks through as the main note in the spice mix, and it's a really welcome note especially when it comes to the colder weather wear (in my opinion.) (if you love clove all year round, this is also good). For me, I think this is the greatest combo between the Hogswoggle apple fritter/pie vibes, just decorated in festive lights and doused in liquor, and like, what's not to love? 

Snowball Fight* - The scent of shared laughter and unbridled enthusiasm. Poached pears, rice pudding with nutmeg and allspice, a drizzle of caramel and a single fresh bay leaf.

This scent is very savoury. Initial application of this scent makes me thinks of black pepper risotto, which I 100% attribute to the bay leaf/allspice mix (i feel like there's cardamom in there, maybe I'm imagining it). I have a history of amping sweetness in scents, so the dry down in this slowly turns sweeter, with more of the caramel and the sweetness from the pears peeking through, but the rice pudding is largely absent for me. I find that NCD's rice pudding scents (unlike Poesie's) are very spice forward, and tend to feature a lot of the heavier aspects of the nutmeg and allspice (see: Wool Over Your Eyes). If you like a spice forward, muted gourmand, like a gourmand for people who do not enjoy gourmands (and NCD does them amazingly), this is it, but I'll stick with my cookies and chocolate cakes for Christmas. 

Gingerbread Sanctuary* - Warm, soft gingerbread baked with Tupelo honey and toasted almonds, a pinch of precious saffron, draped in lavender-lemon icing.

This is like, the work appropriate version of the gingerbread scents - the gingerbread definitely retains the soft spiced fruity profile, and while the toasted almonds adds a real warmth and foodie element to this (it feels real edible if you shove your note right against your skin), the saffron and lavender/lemon are more of a faint whiff of high end fruity floral perfume galore. Combined with the soft, creamy honey accord, this doesn't really scream festivities to me as much as much as it whispers, but nevertheless, it is still a sweet little treat. Since I do end up amping sweetness, I love the way this dries down on my skin as a sort of glazed honey cookie, but it's not quite the festive punch I imagined. 

Merry and Bright - Freshly-baked blueberry danish with a cinnamon-maple glaze sprinkled with toasted almonds

This, while wet, is sickeningly sweet. Tooth achingly sweet. I'm personally ambivalent about NCD's blueberry note after having not really loved it in Grey Cat (which I know is a favorite on the sub, but for me, didn't really work out?), and the blueberry note here is really more a straight blueberry syrup than anything. However, I do love NCD's really, warm, cozy maple sweetness and their almond notes, which is never really sharp and grating like some other renditions of almonds, and this one, after dry down, lets the danish and maple really shine. Much like the buttery pastry of their April blends, this really has the sweet whipped butter and sugar aspect down, and the blueberry just mellows out a lot. I love the feeling of this blend, it's really fused together after it dries down, just like a yummy little treat with a dot of blueberry. 

Flying South* - Pink lemonade, warm sand, tiare blossoms, and a flowy cotton sundress

That's me right now - while you're all enjoying the snow in the northern parts of the world, we're getting that sun just creeping around the corner. This blend is really channeling the beach vibes for me, although I have to say, the tiare blossoms and cotton flower vibes with its heavy floral profile is a little too heavy compared to the modest fizziness of the pink lemonade here. For me, pink lemonades are so shockingly sweet they'd give you cavities, but this is real reserved. I'd say it's definitely more of the kind of white floral scent you'd find in a fancy seaside resort, but it's not a bad thing, especially if you're missing sunny beach afternoons in the middle of a snowstorm. (As someone who's never lived with snow, I once had to scrape ice off a windshield with freezing hands to get the car going, and I was suddenly struck with the grateful, snowless existence for car maintenance purposes) (To those who live in a snowy area, I revere your strength).  

Disclaimer: Scents sent as press samples have been marked with an asterisk, and all others were purchased with my own money. I was not sponsored or paid for this review, and am not affiliated with this brand. All opinions are my own, and do not reflect any brand's opinions or interests.