today's scent of the day (scent of the morning!) is London (English Black Rose, Earl Grey Tea Leaves, Bergamot Tea, Black Amber, Vanilla, Cinnamon and Davana), part of Nocturne Alchemy's Cities of the Dead collection which also includes other scents inspired by other notable cities such as Edinburgh, Salem, and Transylvania.
i bought this scent secondhand as a 5ml bottle. blind buys by themselves are usually a gamble, but this one had the added risk given the higher price point of Nocturne Alchemy compared to some of the other indie houses. thankfully, i lucked out and the chance i took on London paid off big-time.
in the bottle, i definitely get a fresh rose together with the earl grey and bergamot. the tea note, while mild, gives this scent a good amount of body and anchors it. there's also quite a bit of sweetness here, likely from the vanilla and davana. the cinnamon isn't as prominent as i had feared, and works well as a supporting contrast to give the scent some dimension. this reminds me more of sipping a good earl grey in a rose garden, rather than drinking rose-infused tea.
for me, this scent didn't morph significantly on my skin. over the course of its wear, i did notice that the rose faded a little more into the background and the scent gained a fresh perspective from the emergence of the black amber, but overall the slightly-sweet tea note remained consistent all the way through.
one thing i really like about London is the depth of its scent experience. there's the initial "direct sniff" in which all the notes appear at the same time, and then there's a beautiful slow unfolding of everything after you take your nose away and you have the opportunity to get more acquainted with everything. delicately, like in an elaborate choreographed routine, each note dances briefly to the front, performs a little solo, and then twirls in the background with the others as the next one takes its turn.
the scent had a decent throw; it was best appreciated within a foot's length but had occasional wafts detectable from over two feet. for the four hours or so that i wore this on my wrist, i was bathed in a beautiful aura of rose and tea.
London is quite an elegant scent, just like its city. the overall scent journey evokes imagery of the stereotypical proper upper-class English lady at a high tea.
7/10 my 5ml bottle is likely to last me quite often and it's probably not a scent that i would buy a replacement of, though i do enjoy wearing this and i've definitely put it on the list of classy scents to reach for whenever i have to attend any formal or fancy events, like important client lunches or a close friend's wedding.
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this review is of a perfume that i had purchased secondhand with my own money. i wasn't asked to review this scent as a condition of receipt and didn't receive any incentives for writing this. I'm not affiliated with Nocturne Alchemy and as always, all opinions remain my own.
London is, to my knowledge, not yet discontinued and prices the last time i checked were around US$11 for a 2ml bottle, US$22 for a 5ml bottle and US$44 for a 10ml bottle (before shipping). Nocturne Alchemy is currently temporarily closed while they move to the new studio, and will be opening today (July 18) at 8am PST.
all information correct at time of publishing.
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