Stereoplasm: monthly delights

If you're new around here, Stereoplasm is one of the very few houses that includes freebie samples withe very order, but they have a cool system where most months there's always a few special blends inspired by animals every month that come as free samples with every order! I've honestly never gotten around to really trying them out and writing down my thoughts besides sniffing them every so often with a fleeting thought of "mmm.... nice." But now - here's a modest handful of scents from 2019, from my very first order. They're not exactly available to purchase, which is a shame, cause I absolutely love some of these.

October (3/3) 2019 - Desmondus Rotundus (Vampire Bat): Fiery gumballs, peach keys and fruit punch spiked with copper.

This is such a fun scent! This is like a fruit punch with a light fizz, it's heavy on the peach, indulgent with the sugar, with a hint of this metallic tinge and a pinch of cardamom and cinnamon at the end. I think it's definitely true to the description, it's sort of, party vampire bats. Not your usual Dracula aesthetic, unless your idea of Dracula was a big disco guy. 

October (2/3) 2019 - Ogyoptynx (Paleocene Owl): Heaps of fresh candy corn, burnt brown sugar, and autumn air.

This one is definitely a quiet hitter, while it wasn't as sweet as I'd initially expected from the candy corn angle, I really like the gourmand/atmospheric vibes this one gives, more of a simmering brown sugar cake on top of damp autumn leaves. It's definitely more straightforward compared to some other more complex blends, but YMMV on this one, as I tend to amp sweetness and this definitely got more sweet the longer it wore on me. 

November (2/2) 2019 - Koala Ursus (Koala Bear): Sweet maraschino cherries and hazelnut in a coconut milk chocolate shell  

When I say it's a shame that we can't buy these scents, I ALWAYS think of this one. I generally enjoy Stereoplasm's chocolate note, it errs on the more, chocolate spread rather than photorealistic chocolate desserts, but this one here is just delicious - it's a sweet burst of tart cherries, on top of a bed of nutella and desiccated coconuts, and a hint of lamington. This actually reminds me a lot of ginja from Portugal, where they sell sour cherry liqueur in edible chocolate shot cups, and like, definitely one of the best things I've tried. If you're a fan of the chocolate note from Munchie Cat (Stereoplasm), it features here as well but definitely in a more foodie format. This one dries down pretty linear and fades to a soft chocolate note at around 3 hours, but I found it really lovely nevertheless.  

November (1/2) 2019 - Plestiodon Fasciatus (Five-lined Skink): Yellow passionfruit, fountaingrass and strawberry guava.

Okay this is another one of those scents that just hit right for me. I really love this one as someone who really loves a little fruity affair, although the opening of this starts off a little funky with the fountaingrass, a bit of freshly mowed psychedelic grass, before it dries down to an indulgent spritz of tart passionfruit and zingy guava juice. I put this on myself in abundant amounts during summer - it's the kind of summer cocktail slushie you need to cool down to kick back and relax with, and it's just fantastic.