Stereoplasm: Systema Naturae 1.4

The last part of the Systema Naturae collection, a whopping 21 (+2 bonus scents) piece collection released for winter. Check out the other parts of this collection in the Stereoplasm tag, or also click the fancy links for part 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3! This collection is available for purchase both individually and as a whole collection, and you can pick those up from the Stereoplasm website. 

I also realized, quite belatedly, that the art on the website for this collection are complimentary for certain scents (which might be why they're categorized into certain groups). I'm not sure if this was done for a thematic reason, or if they were just grouped together, but it's very cool and I really enjoy it. I think Magma Marble and Hyacinthian are definitely salt buddies, but I think they're also still great individually anyway. I spent a good ten minutes just going over the pictures on the website seeing the little changes in the picture, it was very satisfying. 

A huge thank you to Meaghan (as always) for sending through these press samples through! 

Lunar Anura - Vintage chypre, tidal waves, pearlescent amber, moon musk and white morning glory [vintage chypre/ocean/pearl amber/moon musk/morning glory]

Imagine this. It's floral, powdery handsoap, but like, if the handsoap was made of pearls and moonbeams. While this scent still retains a sort of, hand soap, airy 'fresh air' type of chypre, there are some nice things I appreciate about this blend, such as the tinges of bergamot, and the gorgeous full bodied white floral of the morning glory, with the light brush of powder and ambergris. I think this does give an aura of moonlight and lunar energy, but I can't but help feel the atmospheric dreamy elements of the blend are overshadowed by the soapy, clean floral notes. It's not to say this isn't a lovely scent that mainstream/niche perfume enthusiasts will absolutely enjoy, I just don't happen to be one of them. 

Necterie - Winter agave nectar, glassed chokeberry, blue magnolia, peach skin and purple tourmaline [frozen petrichor agave/magnolia-iris/chokeberry/natural peach/purple amber]

From the notes alone, there's no way I would have picked this for myself, yet I am pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this. On opening, this is exquisite, it's got this burst of frozen mixed berries, fizzy cocktails mixed with chambord, sliced peaches and a hint of green stems and fruity perfume from the department store. It has a very photorealistic and fruit forward opening, before drying down to a more floral body, with the heavier notes of magnolia and iris, the richer golden amber and the touch of petrichor stained green agave stems - the latter which makes up the base of this scent. For me, I really love how the touch of mainstream vibes are done here, it's not too overblown but the richness and sweetness of the fruity top notes just get me. I'm not one for fruity florals, but this is probably one of the first I've found myself really gravitating towards and enjoying. It's bright, fun and cheery - one of my favorites from this collection!  

Reverie - Frozen pollen, prickly gooseberry vine, raw cashmere wool and midnight blooming primrose [aldehydic-powdery floral musk/gooseberry fougere/cashmere/wild primrose]

As I mentioned, there's like a whole series of like, complimentary art and I'm assuming, scents. And this one is definitely a darker twin of Necterie - it's immediately darker, a little more bitter and very astringent, with peeks of florals (a little primrose, a little green English rose) here being the only brightness in this dark. This definitely fits more into a traditional fougere here, playing with the more abstract and impressionistic strokes of perfumery here with the powder, musks and aldehydes, but for me, I do enjoy the peeks of coziness from the cashmere and the sweet richness of the primrose. 

Sugibrite - Jeweled champagne fruit grounded in primordial amber, sugared ether and wet shelfstone  [champagne fruit/dark amber/sugared ozone/water/stone]

This is definitely fun - for anyone who likes a sweet blend with something sinister lurking underneath, this is the one to check out. The opening here is just a fun burst of sugar and fruit with a fizz of champagne, and it's giving me lots of tangerines, apply syrup, strawberry puree, and passionfruit pulp over a dark, rich amber. Underneath all the sugar is a dark, bitter astringent blend, between the resin and the stone, but it's a sort of. vague, shifty existence of dark fog and ripples in the water. I think this is fun, I love the play of contrasts between the sugary sweetness and the darker bitterness, it reminds me a lot of Poisoned Apple (BPAL), but if you turned that apple into a fruit cocktail. 

Yellowbird - Wedges of tangelo, pineapple and lime in spiced vanilla garnished with diamond frost and mint [orange/vanilla/pineapple/milk/mint]

If you've been observant, Yellowbird and Snowmallow have the same funky little bird on their art, but what you don't know is that Disco Stardust and Yellow Nog also happen to have the same bird - but you can definitely tell from the scent overlaps here, there's a lot of that fun citrus/tropical fruit energy going on with these and I enjoy the heck out of a good tropical blend. Although they're all relatively similar to each other, I'm never one to refuse a good theme (I'm the type of person who will pick up every rendition of a good theme, just ask me and my repeat vials of every single pumpkin scent from NCD). 

That said, this is a refreshing and very fun blend - I love the pop of orange creamsicle here with a good dose of pineapple juice, topped with this refreshing blend of spearmint - it's all breezy cold and a whiff of iciness. I love the way the mint is done here, rather than having the sweetness of peppermint, it's just the numbing airs of spearmint, and it reminds me of a sort of, fruity mint gum concoction, like if you smushed Five Gum flavors together. I don't think my description is giving it much justice (mental images of wadded up gum is less than pleasant), but this is a real fun and wintery twist on a tropical blend - and I really like it. 

Disco Stardust - winter Mai Tais, roll-on lip gloss, expensive sunglasses, tanning bed oil and new car smell [pineapple/tangerine/rum/sugar/glossy fruit/simulated plastic & car smell]" (GWP) 

So I had to do a lot of guesswork when I first got these scents since there wasn't any scent listings with my order, but I have to say that my initial guesses weren't too far off, although not entirely accurate. 

My initial impression of this was definitely more just sweet fruit, I listed mangos, tangerines, pineapple and sugar, but even upon revisiting this, I definitely don't get any of the simulated plastic and car scent - it's definitely more of a straight forward sugary sweet scent to me. I'd compare this to the others as this one sort of being the prototype, and other scents are just building off the fruity sugary base of this one, but I actually really like this one - it's a sort of tropical successor to my much beloved, Orange is Technicolor (Stereoplasm), but again, I'm a massive sucker for tropical fruits, and this one just hits me where it counts. A winner in my books. 

Yellow Nog - bright pineapple, tangelo and Mojito mint buried under heavy vanilla and heaps of coconut cream [bourbon-vanilla/smoked cinnamon/clementine/pineapple/cream] (GWP) 

Much like Disco Stardust, my initial thoughts on this were mint, tangerines, something like sharp almonds, something bitter and rather atmospheric or cologne adjacent. After letting it rest, and revisiting this, it definitely has the bourbon sharpness, with a sort of bitter orange rind, like Triple Sec and Cointreau, and rather than the sort of, soft powdered cinnamon, this is giving me like, raw cinnamon sticks and bright red cinnamon gum. This is comparatively the darkest scent of the four, with the combination of the dark liquor and smoky cinnamon, and after about 2-3 hours, the sweetness of the fruit is basically all faded away, leading to a darker scent than I'd anticipated. This actually reminds me a lot of Drunk Pumpkin (NCD), with its heavy rum, whiskey, cinnamon and ginger notes, although replace the apple cider in that with pina coladas and mai tais. I'm not a huge fan of the way the cinnamon reads here as I prefer my cinnamon a little less feral, but it's definitely an interesting parallel to Disco Stardust - and they're lovely when layered together!