A grand, over-the-top tuberose gardenia.

In bottle: this isn't as over the top as I was expecting; to me this feels a lot more stately, full of old-fashioned grandeur. I'm not sure which floral note is strongest, but my initial impression was gardenia.

Wet on skin: a lot more floral once on my skin--yes, I can see where "over the top" is coming from. There's also a slight powderiness to round things out, which is in keeping with the old-fashioned feel of this perfume. I've seen reviews that call for smoke, but this is really more like powder than smoke for me.

Dry: once dry, in addition to that stately, old-fashioned, expensive powder, there's an additional soapy tinge to this, although it may just be scent association for a lot of floral notes. It's generally the same as the wet phase, if a little softer, a little soapier.

Verdict: nope, this isn't for me. It's an interesting scent and thankfully it isn't beating those notes incessantly into my nostrils, but I wouldn't wear something this floral.

Five honeys with vanilla orchid, gardenia, dragon's blood resin, gingergrass, and turmeric.

In decant: I'm not really sure what I expected from this, but this is full-on dragon's blood resin for me, with some honey.

Wet on skin: that's dragon's blood resin, maybe a hint of gardenia and vanilla orchid mixed all in with the honey. I expected this to be a bit sweeter and a bit more floral, but I'm getting mostly dragon's blood resin here. It's like something I'd expect from the Ars Draconis line.

Dry: not a morpher--stays true to the wet stage, although it gets smokier and smokier the longer is stays on my skin. I think the turmeric is also coming out--this is like three hours on. Spicy, smoky DBR.

Verdict: I did wish this was a bit more floral! DBR hasn't been a win for me for a while though.

A shroud of gardenia, narcissus, and sandalwood with ambrette seed, white cognac, muguet, davana, and white musk.

In tester: green. The sandalwood and gardenia notes are most recognizable.

Wet on skin: hmmm. I'm not sure what this note that I am smelling is--maybe the white cognac, as it has a slightly liquor-y sort of feel. Gardenia, and slightly green, rich. This is quite pretty! Somewhat unexpected, to be honest. Good, strong throw. I think I will have to retest if the drydown is good--I have a feeling that this will be one of those blends where a little will go a long way, on me, and will just grow stronger as it ages.

Dry: the white musk has gone faintly grandmothery. Aside from that, I get gardenia, that note that I assumed was white cognac, and a hint of sandalwood. It's a pretty, floral blend, well blended.

Verdict: probably a pass, but as I did get a bottle unsniffed anyway, I'll age my bottle to see how it develops later on.

Stand and deliver! Vetiver with gardenia, blood red rose, night-blooming jasmine, a dash of cinnamon and a faint hint of leather.

In imp: this is a definite floral scent. Hello, rose, and hello, gardenia. And yes, you too, jasmine. It's a sweet-spicy floral. No leather.

Wet on skin: wow, totally heady. I expected that from what I got on the imp, but yeah, definitely in-your-face floral, strong and powerful and assertive (well, it's the Highwayman, what do you expect?!). The jasmine is a bit more prominent, slightly edged out over the rose and gardenia I was getting in the imp. Not so much leather either, and the spicy cinnamon is also a lot more subdued. Not a fan of this floral combo, it's...so...disorienting. But oh wait. No rosy powder yet. Ooooh.

Dry: gardenia and jasmine, and amazingly, no powder. Or it's there somewhere, because the rose has gone, but the rest of the notes are holding their own instead of hiding, terror-stricken, behind the powder that rose has put up. Interesting! The cinnamon is all gone, and I can't get any leather either, so this is pretty much just plain heady floral.

Verdict: I'm pleasantly surprised that the other notes didn't get utterly destroyed with the rose in there. But aside from it being way too heady and way too floral for me, honestly, I would have liked to actually see the Highwayman, y'know? I'm not sure where the poem came from, as it certainly isn't in Alfred Noyes' poem, but it's beautiful and seems to fit.

The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger.

In imp: a pink tangy, aquatic floral--pretty much what I expected, which is nice. I'm not sure which floral scent is topmost, I have "rose? :s" in my notes, but what I was smelling might be gardenia (as I also wrote down). "Icy scent" seems spot on as at the end of the whiff, but it's not minty, just...brightly aquatic?

Wet on skin: that same topmost bright floral note I found in the imp is here (more sure that it's gardenia). It's coming on a bit strong, a bit sharp. It's very pink, sweet and aquatic.

Dry: strong, pink floral that is a bit more indistinguishable than the imp/wet scents. It's almost heady, just a bit more and I'd probably get a headache. Tangy and aquatic, like if you're near the mouth of a river, almost near the beach (but not as "beachy" as actually being there). It feels quite true to the poem in that regard. Later, it's softened considerably, retaining it's sweetness but it's definitely a lot quieter now, not as strongly aquatic--definitely smoother.

Verdict: I'm pretty pleased to enjoy this scent a lot. I love the poem and I'm happy the scent works for me! It's such a beautiful scent, and very evocative of the poem. A definite keeper.

A quiet scent, soft, calm and enigmatic. A perfume of mystery, of whispers, and of secrets behind secrets. White sandalwood, lilac, gardenia, violet, orris, lavender and ylang ylang.

In imp: sharp and green, slightly floral but no one note jumped out at me. It definitely smelled like the garden it says it is—a clean, sweet garden, with a good dash of green in it. Slightly generic, but somehow still rather interesting.

Wet on skin: the first note was definitely green, sharp and alert and a good upper for a sleepy morning. The flowers come after, and while I’m not sure I can really tell which scent goes with which flower yet, the topmost scent for me seems to be ylang ylang (it’s doubly underlined in my notes). The sharpness recedes quickly, becoming softer and creamier.

Dry: still quite faithful to the wet on skin experience, but without the sharpness—a mellowed out garden, with different competing sweet scents but ylang ylang usually at the top or near enough. It’s truly enigmatic—it’s such a beautiful mix of scents that I can’t stop sniffing to try and find out which is which, or to get more of something, only to find another that’s just as pretty. It’s soft and sweet and young, but not in a child or adolescent way, more like in an ageless, happy way. Much later, it’s turned just a wee bit soapy, but that may be because it’s become a very clean, very refreshing scent.

Verdict: very promising at the start, but I gave it another shot for a full day, and I had to wash it off even before I left the house. The oiliness struck me quite heavily the second time around, and wouldn't budge after. :(