Review - 5 Possets Fall Retour scents

ETA: Oof, of course I typoed the subject line; there's really 6. Thanks to the mods for fishing this post out of the filter for me!

Hi again! I was so intrigued by my first set of Possets samples I immediately scurried over to Ajevie to snag some of the then newly released Autumn scents.

I placed my order on 10/6/25, but didn't receive them until 11/13/25. This is my second encounter with both companies, and my initial orders from both arrived very quickly, so I'm not sure what could have been going on there; hopefully just Falloween enthusiasm.

These had been resting for nearly three weeks by the time I started testing one a day. (Had to finish the most recent Deconstructing Eden collection before Black Friday!) My selections are kind of random, but I'm very much still getting a feel for their work, and there's a lot of unusual stuff to be found.

Cabernet A wine-like Vanatu Sandalwood and a light-bodied patchouli put together really capture the scent of deep dark red wine!

I'm kinda worried about what they're drinking over at Chez Possets. This is very faintly scented and doesn't smell at all of wine to me. It's more like a stone water cistern in a clean but primitive basement that got pepper sprayed a few hours beforehand (so the parties might be fun!). Disappointing, as someone on IMAM's comments about how realistic it was are what caused me to pull the trigger on this order.

After half an hour, it's started to open up, and that is some peppery sandalwood! It's a pretty nice sandouli--this is one of my preferred types of patchouli, fruity and sweet but not overwhelmingly so--but that's all it is. Still getting wet stone undertones, but not a hint of wine.

Yeah, I do like this (still a bit faint, but it's improved), but it really is just Fancy Hippie. If you're looking for a grownup version of head shop perfume, this might be it.

Cleopatra Almond and Anatolian honey, cinnamon, orange flower and the rich earthiness of henna.

HONEY. It's very naturalistic, though stronger than I'd like it to be, and equally tinged with almond and a lightly indolic orange blossom, with the tiniest sprinkle of cinnamon giving it more warmth than spice. Unfortunately, the henna that inspired me to pick this one (I've never seen it in perfume before) is present only as a vaguely dirty undertone when I huff my arm; it smells a bit like the dry powder, but nothing at all like it does on your hair, which is what I was hoping for. Still pretty nice!

Half an hour in and both the orange blossom and the cinnamon have come forward; it's still pretty faint, but this might be Vietnamese. It seems to have eaten the henna. The almond is still present, but has mostly merged with the honey, giving it a vaguely alcoholic tinge. Smells a lot like the fake fruity red wine note found in the Halloween collections of many cheap home fragrance companies, but elevated; I hate that and am surprised how much I like this. Way wine-ier than Cabernet. XD

An hour later and the orange blossom has receded a bit, but the cinnamon has expanded; it's the regular kind, though a nice one. The henna is still there, but still just grungy background noise.

Two hours in and this has become a lovely melange, orange blossom with a complex sweet and just barely prickly background. I like this way better than the opening, and it's still going pretty strong.

This stuck around for most of the day!

Damned If You Don't Cannabis and sandalwood vie for your attention while a grey musk plays in the background and a good dose of galbanum gives a green and glorious glow to it all.

This may be the best cannabis note I've tried so far! It's not perfectly realistic, but it reminds me of the stuff we called "kind bud" back when we rode our dinosaurs to the dealer's apartment, some kind of indica that was often a little purple. Not great by today's standards but a big treat back then. The galbanum is a nice accompaniment; I figured the cannabis accord would lean on it heavily, but they're both very distinct, kind of like packing a fresh bowl while sitting near a wet lawn. I don't really get anything else yet, though I've previously had trouble recognizing Possets' musks as such (they're distinct and often quite nice, but to me not at all animalic or funky). Not sure I want to wear this, but it's a fun trip down memory lane for an old stoner.

Half an hour in, it's opened up, and I adore it. Now that I've recognized it, I realize the sandalwood was always there, it's just pretty quiet and mostly providing body. The grey musk is papery soft leather with that so far indefinable quality Possets musks have. The whole thing gives "got up at dawn to smoke weed in the backyard before Mom & Dad wake up and have now returned to your bedroom that smells of last night's brightly colored incense cone and have just taken your dew-damp leather jacket off". I would never wear this to work or around strangers whose opinions mattered to me, but if you were a bad kid in the 90s, this will almost certainly put a smile on your face. I might put this in the oil diffuser and play a Fear Factory album.

Only lasted about 3 hours; now it's fuzzy-greenish-earthy. I think it's mostly the musk.

Dracula Rising Dark, dark, dark. The scent of earth (from Transylvania), combined with the blackest fig, and black aged Patchouli. Then a layer of the most lovely black sandalwood.

This is way more sweet than I fig-ured it would be, but it's a good fig and a great patchouli, fruity and gassy. The earth note has the same fizzy, ozonic quality some of BPAL's can have, which is usually a turnoff for me--I do not want my dirt to be airy--but combines with the almost sickly sweetness to give the impression of having just stumbled across something that's been dead for a few days. I can't tell much about the sandalwood yet, but it's doing a great job standing in for a nighttime forest (though I suspect there's an undisclosed wood in here). This is more 'place a vampire would hang out' than 'vampire', but it's a great vibe. They don't smell all that much alike, but if you've ever wanted an outdoor version of BPAL's Nosferatu, this could do the trick.

The black sandalwood has opened up and it may in fact be that woody; this is really complex, shifting between different aspects, and I love it. It's unexpectedly warm, and now that the fig has faded a bit, it basically functions as a plot twist. You're in the woods alone at night, walking away from the gross rotting corpse you can still detect on the breeze, when suddenly you smell men's cologne right behind you. Yikes!

Three hours in, and the earth has mostly disappeared to reveal unvarnished sweet patchouli--this was actually doing a lot of the work I ascribed to the fig; it's a little much when front and center (kind of like the wine in Nosferatu!)--and a busy sandalwood with something dark lurking in its depths. I'm really impressed with the sandalwood and hope there's more in their catalog.

The Female Souls of the Night This is all soft edged, animalic muskiness, civety veils, floral hallucinations of jasmine, and wet longing night.

This is the first Possets musk that's actually smelled musky to me; the jasmine is also wildly indolic. We're starting out with full on herbivore poop vibes (much less unpleasant than it sounds; think more like a well kept horse barn). The jasmine feels a little too sugary to go with the rest of it, but it's a neat idea; I hope it smooths out as I wear it. Right now this makes me think of the zebra enclosure at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago (they at least used to have lots of it styled with exotic flowers).

Half an hour in and yeah, while it still feels kinda 'pink' somehow, the jasmine has calmed down and spread out to envelop the skunkier notes with a thick haze of narcotic floral (no hallucinations here!), though the animalics and índole are still completely evident. I'd save this for horny date nights, but it's quite nice for its category (there are many who will be completely horrified by how stank this is).

An hour in, and the notes have merged beautifully in a way that really does read as 'wet longing night' with occasional wafts of something truly ferocious. It also feels like it's going to hang around for a while. If you enjoy night-blooming raunch, I think you'll love this one. If you're simply curious about why fragrances like this can be so divisive, I think this would be a great way to learn; it's a pretty straightforward scent that shows off its components beautifully (though approach with the knowledge that you may not think so!).

Five hours in, this has faded to a noticeable level; most of the animal funk is gone, but it's still recognizable. Something's gone a touch powdery, but I can't tell what.

Strigoi A light dusting of cedar powder and an underlayer of sweet myrrh, white pepper, Italian lemon zest, and myrtle. Hawthorn takes off the edge of uneasy unbridled manliness and has the whole settle into a comforting yet masterful mix. An edge of soft brown leather completes the composition.

I'm guessing that's lemon myrtle; this is way more citrus than I expected. 'Uneasy' is a great descriptor for this one; it opens with a big slash of sharp, dimensional lemon that hits like a frustrated wail, and the crackles from the pepper make it feel like the kind of intense snarl that makes your throat hurt. There's a rounded herbal sweetness hiding under it, though it doesn't ping me as myrrh, but there's something off kilter about it, as if it's just barely managing to keep its balance. The pepper is already starting to come forward, turning the scratchiness way up and giving the impression of someone losing their temper. This js a hell of a mood piece!

And here comes the hawthorn (same one as Wings of an Angel), which may be my new favorite note; it has this misty, ethereal elegance I've never encountered elsewhere, and I'd love to find a good orange blossom or amber pairing. Now it feels like a spectral presence with bad intentions; mostly just eerie vibes with occasional pops of hostility from the pepper. The lemon is still unnervingly evident--it almost feels like I can taste it--but everything else is blurred in fog.

An hour in and I'm impressed with the longevity of the lemon, but it's getting to be a lot. Fortunately it's starting to fade out, creating a disturbing broken mirror version of the effect in WoaA. There's a tangle of sharp spices and dark incense beneath, but it's mostly an ominous backdrop. Truly impressed with the longevity here; it's taken 8 hours for this to settle into a pleasant lemony myrrh. I wouldn't be surprised if it hangs around overnight.

It did! Only faintly, and the shower dealt with it, but nearly 24 hours of identifiable lemon is crazy.

So once again, Possets has left me impressed, with a far better hit rate than my first try. (Cabernet was disappointing, but it is a nice fragrance, just not reminiscent of wine at all for me.) I'd say the standout for me was Dracula Rising, but Cleopatra was very likeable for such a sweet scent, Damned If You Don't is adorable, I can't remember the last time I encountered someone going so bare knuckles with índole as in The Female Souls of the Night, and Strigoi is a really well developed mood piece that allowed me to visit with my new bestie, hawthorn.

I'm not sure if any of them are must haves (though I'm going to have to contemplate Dracula Rising; it really does feel like Nosferatu's cousin), but I've already grabbed another sample pack from the Black Friday sale. (Tragically, Wings of an Angel was no longer listed on the site, as well as several other IMAM recommendations from my last post that seemed GC. I pray it comes back!)

Next up is my first dance with Olympic Orchids.

Thanks for reading; I hope it helps!