Howdy fragrance friends!

Here comes my long awaited (at least by me - I’ve spent a lot of time with these samples, testing and comparing, and far too much time overthinking) reviews of a bajillion Olympic Orchids samples I placed during their July 20% anniversary sale.

I bought 3 samples off a user on this forum, 12 samples in two 6 x 3 sample kits, and a 5 ml of Tropic of Capricorn as that was not available in the sets. Add in a sample Dr. Covey included in my package and that’s...17 fragrances holy crap. Mama went overboard. But the 3 ml samples are very generous, and with the 20% off, I paid only $66.40 for my order, which was 14 different fragrances and 42 ml total. A steal for fragrances of this quality, although the style is undoubtedly...eccentric.

Tangentially related - my order was beautifully packaged. Look at this! Hand packaged with such care and aesthetic delicacy one can’t help but admire. I love supporting independent perfumers and small businesses!

Now onto the reviews! I would say these are in no particular order, but actually they are in order I sampled them, which is roughly the order that I was most excited about them (except for the 1st one, which was an unrelated thoughtful gift from a friend).

Olympic Orchids Golden Cattleya - This lovely fragrance far exceeded my expectations. I was afraid it was going to be far too sweet, given how much people emphasize the honey note. There is honey here, but it’s not too sweet at all. It is mildly sweet, but the sweetness feels to me like it’s coming from the orchids, and not the honey. Whereas, you do smell the honey character, the way honey tastes different from simple syrup, but without any of the sweetness. Does that make sense?

Maybe not, maybe I’m just crazy and it’s all in my head. But the flowers are heady and intoxicating, and there is a waxy, floral, rounded character imparted by the honey without excess sugar. I do get the cream soda note, which is so intriguing and delicious. A touch of amber in the base and a hint of musk. Fairly long lasting, especially for a natural floral - lasts well for 6-8 hours. Very warm and inviting, but somewhat one-dimensional. 7/10

Olympic Orchids Sonnet XVII - Oh wow this is interesting, but not at all what I expected. I braced myself for animalics and skankiness, which is what attracted me to it. Instead, incredibly floral but not at all sweet - paired with an herbaceous greenery that is not at all bright, this perfume is a study in contradictions. There is also a musky musty scent of not decay, but the accoutrements of death - somber, gloomy, reminiscent of a mausoleum.

The opening is comprised of an overload of oakmoss - damp, dark, and earthy. It brings none of the brightness that green notes often accompany. Wound into the oakmoss is a very strong, very natural, and heartbreakingly beautiful osmanthus that leans leathery versus fruity, laced with a soft orchid and softened with fragrant champaca. There is a medicinal incense-like note which I am guessing is the mastic resin. Interestingly, I’ve never smelled a strong mastic note on it’s own, or even as a major component of a fragrance, but it’s an ingredient I’m familiar with in a very expensive face mask that I absolutely adore and use only before special events. In its fragrance essence it seems even drier than olibanum and less warm, with a touch of camphor. I get a lovely whiff of the saltiness and muskiness of ambergris, but none of its unctuousness. Spikenard adds an infusion of herbaceous to the earthiness of oakmoss.

Over time, the composition seems to smooth out, loosing it’s sharp edges and pokey elbows. Something begins to sweeten under the heat of my skin, most likely the osmanthus blooming. After 2 hours it becomes more animalic, and after 4 it really settles into something I love. The drydown is interestingly more floral than the beginning - it’s as if the greens and the mossiness fades away while the flowers bloom. Very impressive longevity - 12-14 hours at least, with a few more as a skin scent.

I really like Sonnet XVII, but I’m disappointed it does not have the animalic character I was hoping for. If it started with the proportions/composition I sense after 3-4 hours, at the same strength it has at hour 1, I’d give it a 10/10. As it is, with the way it starts and the way the animalic character increases over time, I’d average it out to a 8.5/10, maaaaybe 9.

Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn - This one starts off with a blast of orange blossoms, true and overripe. After a few minutes, other florals start to take form out of the haze of floral cloud of orange blossoms - soft, leathery osmanthus and playful, sensuous jasmine. Together all three are incredibly heady. I’m not getting much fruit - at least fruit on it’s own, since osmanthus has a very apricot-y air to it. My 2nd wear was a little fruitier - I got a bit of mango, and more of the apricot-tinge of osmanthus.

A really a lovely fragrance, but I get none of the none of the “the dark fecundity of nature” or any touch of skanky animalics. It is overripe, humid, and damp, but mostly a natural floral that blooms in the heat of a rainforest. If you were misled by the name of Olympic Rainforest, this is the rainforest you were looking for. Fairly long lasting, about 10-12 hous. 7.5/10

Olympic Orchids Mardi Gras - A lovely, dirty orange blossom but a bit too sweet and vanilla’d.

This one is described as being “rainbow-hued”, but if I were to describe it, it’s more white and gold - lame and gilded masks. The orange blossom is incredibly realistic and very obviously natural, fluffy and creamy, but dirty in the way only nature can be. Unfortunately, for me the vanilla and benzoin overwhelm the civet and musk, although I do appreciate the resinous quality the benzoin adds to the vanilla.

This is yet another one where I was disappointed by the lack of the animalics I was expecting. Gives me a very similar feel to Golden Cattleya- I might have to wear those side by side to compare one day. While they are equally sweet I feel in terms of degree, the sweetness in Golden Cattleya seems to come from the flowers, while the sweetness in Mardi Gras seems to come from the vanilla, and that makes all the difference to me for the worse. Of course, it could also be just a matter of expectations - I expected to find Golden Cattleya overly sweet and was pleasantly disappointed. Whereas, I had high hopes for Mardi Gras to be a riot of musky, skanky, animalic flowers, and was let down by it’s simple sweetness. Fairly long lasting, but not the longest of Ellen’s creations - 6-8 hours. 6.5/10

Olympic Orchids Cryptical Envelopment - Ah yes, this is the musky, animalic Olympic Orchids that I’ve been looking for. I may be sounding like a broken record, but in a lot of Olympic Orchids fragrances I was enticed by animalic, musky descriptions, only to receive less dirty animalics and more dirty, earthy, mushroomy-green funk. Which I’m not necessarily mad about - some of them smell very lovely in their own right. But Cryptical Envelopment was what I was hoping Mardi Gras, Sonnet XVII...and Tropic of Capricorn for that matter, would be.

It begins as a green rose scent with a hefty dose of unsmoked tobacco, civet and musk. Champaca gives the rose a bit of headiness, while tolu balsam civilizes the civet...very slightly. Davena and patchouli keep things forestry and mossy. In addition to being more animalic than those others, it is also more floral and less green than Sonnet XVII, but significantly less sweet than Mardi Gras.

This one actually gets less floral over time, and more green. If I didn’t take meticulous notes, I would have thought the drydown for this one was the drydown for Sonnet XVII, and vice versa, when I wore them side by side. Very long lasting - 12 hours or so, with a few more as a skin scent.

I think this is my hands down favorite Olympic Orchids fragrance, and it’s a shame that I haven’t seen anyone talk about this one. 11/10!

Olympic Orchids Dev 1 - A sweet and smooth resinous fragrance. Labdanum and frankincense smoothed out and given a boozy sweetness with beeswax and vanilla. There’s a lightly mentholated note, probably from the lemongrass, although I don’t get any lemoniness from it. I don’t get any animalic notes at least at the beginning - none of the advertised civet, hyrax, or ambergris. Someone on her website suggested that it had a “bubblegum” note, and I totally get that.

Update - After the first 10 minutes, bubblegum accord becomes stronger and stronger, until I can’t stand it. I can’t even describe what type/flavor of bubblegum it is except “pink”. Ugh. It’s very offputting to me. It fades a bit after 2 hour to the point where the fragrance is now as a whole “somewhat pleasant”, but that is unfortunately too long for me to put up with. Hard pass. 2/10

Olympic Orchids Dev 2 - Wow, this one is stunning. Spicy, ambery, and animalic. Reminds me of Papillon Anubis - so much so I may have to test those side by side. Or possibly somewhere between Anubis and Francesca Bianchi’s The Black Knight, although slightly less finished than either. A hint of leather, a touch of rose. But mostly spicy incensey smokey resinous amber, with a side of animalics. Cinnamon, clove, and cardamom whirl in the air. It also has immortelle listed, which Anubis does also - a dry, hay-like immortelle.

After about 15-30 minutes, it’s almost as if the incense has been lit, and it becomes very smokey - too smokey in fact. It becomes a bit unbalanced. After 2-2.5 hours, the smoke smooths out and it becomes lovely again. Very long lasting - about 12 hours.

After the smoke calms down, I’d give it a 8.5/10. However, having to put up with that 2 hours of excessive smoke results in an average rating over the life of the fragrance on skin of 7/10

Olympic Orchids Dev 3 - Another spicy resinous amber with an overdose of labdanum. 100% natural. Less smokey than Dev 2, but somehow darker at the same time. Many of the notes are similar to Dev 2, but i think it’s the addition of myrrh and black truffle (the fungus), a larger dose of spices, and the removal of the rose that deepens it.

I really like the darker additions, and of course the elimination of the smoke overdose, but I’d enjoy it more if they had kept the light amount of rose. There is still a slight floral character from the cistus oil, but a little more wouldn’t hurt. It’s also a little less woody than Dev 2 - I’m not really getting any of the sandalwood, at least not yet, and it’s missing the oud and tolu balsam of 2. There are also no animalics here. Also quite long lasting - about 12 hours. 7/10

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Part 2 to follow shortly. Would love to hear people's opinions on these fragrances - in agreement or dissent! Particularly opinions on Cryptical Envelopment if anyone has tried it - this is a fragrance that really needs a larger cheering squad IMO!