Rebel & Mercury Bohem Parfum Oil review

Rebel & Mercury is an independent botanical/natural perfume house by Nikki Sherritt, the nose behind the Gabriel's Aunt line of natural candles. I bought a couple of samples of perfume oils a while ago, and today I'm reviewing Bohem.

The listed notes are: Davana, Blood Orange, Tobacco, Cassie, Amber, Vetiver, Oakmoss.

Description: Rich, Sweet, Earthy and a bit dry. This has been my best selling perfume under the GA Essence line at gabrielsaunt.etsy.com. Unique and complex. Inspiration: Created over 2 years ago; this blend is the epitome of the boundless traveler. Free spirited, earthy, eclectic, lover of the earth and friend to everyone.

The cassie and davana smell of hay, honey and dried apricots to my nose - a subtle sweetness that morphs into a skin-but-better smell when applied to my wrist.  There's a little hit of citrus from the blood orange when I first apply, although it's a smooth and restrained citrus, rather than a nose-tingler. Amber and tobacco give a smooth vegetal heart (rather than a dried tobacco note) that morphs into the smoky, earthy base of vetiver and oakmoss.

Bohem is a well-balanced fragrance in which none of the individual notes dominate; it's an even blend of sweet, earthy and rich. Bohem smells like the end of summer turning into autumn for me; it's the smell of warm earth and growing things, cut hay and fruit piled up ready to be preserved. It's a fragrance that would smell as good on a man as it does on a woman, and it's lovely worn over skin washed or scrubbed with Paintbox Soapworks This Charming Man.

I can still smell the fragrance several hours later, although it stays close to the skin and doesn't have the sillage of perfume with chemical ingredients. My nose is happier with botanical fragrances, and I find many mainstream fragrances overpowering these days.

Samples are available for $10-$11 - only the oils can be shipped internationally. The samples are a good 1.5ml size, enough for many applications. There are a couple of other fragrances from the line I want to sample, but I think Bohem may turn out to be full bottle worthy for me.

Rebel & Mercury fragrances are available from the Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/rebelandmercury.