WORLD INFORMATIONS: Nui Cobalt Reviews (Witches' Utility Blends, plus some) - Higher Mind, Might of Minerva, Raw Power, Truth Serum, Robin's Egg, Danu, & Lampade Hi y’all! This is my first full review post, so it’s probably going to end up a little ramble-y, please bear with me. u/-ALady posted some Nui Cobalt reviews a little while ago that got me all excited for the decants I had just gotten – even though I only had one scent overlapping (Robin’s Egg) and we got to chatting and I promised I’d share my thoughts after they rested and I got to test them all. So, um, yep here we are. I especially wanted to try some of the Witches’ Utility Blends that just got released (looking for some new herby combos), so that’s the first part of these, plus some older scents I was interested in that Ashes Decants had available as well when I got the new decants. About me: I tend to prefer earthy/foresty/greens, fruits without too much sweetness, and spices and wood smoke. I prefer honey over sugar, and sandalwood over vanilla. Sometimes I amp cedar. I’d consider myself pretty new to wearing scents at all, so I’m still figuring out my skin chem, and my nose is not refined enough to pick out everything yet. So, ya know, yo mileage may vary. About my testing: these all rested about a week and I tested them two at a time (on separate arms) for an afternoon/evening. Enough chatter! Here are my thoughts! Witches’ Utility Blends 2019 Higher Mind (Smart is sexy. An assertive and herbaceous scent composed of green tea, sage, three sacred sandalwoods, rosemary, chilled citrus, and tonka. Wear this enchanted fragrance to hone perception, wit, and focus.) This goes on greeeeen – a bitter kind of green. Like you steeped your green tea a little too long and threw in some rosemary fresh from the garden. The citrus is just adding to the bitter profile here for me, though it is nice and bright. It does mellow some on the dry-down, so it’s less bitter, but it stays pretty green overall. I can’t pick out the sandalwood/tonka, but that is certainly what is working to mellow it out. The long wear is pretty stable, and it has a medium throw for me. It’s a decent green; overall a little too bitter for me to wear regularly. Might of Minerva (A force to be reckoned with, it invokes the Goddess's wisdom, willpower, and strategic acumen. Olive leaf, ambergris, oakwood, basil, rosemary, lime zest, bay laurel, chardonnay grapes and sweet figs. Wear to amplify your natural creativity, charisma, and commanding presence.) The notes of grapes and figs make this have a lightly sweet and fruity (but a dark fruit) profile on application, with lime and herbs/leaves giving some bright greenery. The herbs and leaves are well blended to me, but have none of the bitterness of Higher Mind, just nice green leafys. There is definitely some woodiness to the base of this that comes through a little more on the dry-down. The grapes and figs blend with the herbs even more on the dry-down and then it stays a slightly sweet herby woody scent that is very pleasing. It has a good throw at first, but gets light on the dry-down; however it does last all day. I put this on while working on an art project, and I definitely felt like it jived well with my creativity that day. Raw Power (An uplifting scent for energy and vitality. Bright ginger gilds sturdy cedarwood, copaiba balsam, mahogany, and lemongrass with rosemary, basil, cardamom, and fresh-cracked pink and white peppercorn. Wear to stave off weariness and fatigue. It can be especially helpful against daunting or intimidating tasks.) This is by far the strongest of the Utility blends that I tried. Opening notes are the peppercorns (and I can tell they aren’t black! good job nose!) The cedar comes in fast and strong along with the balsam/mahogany so we get a very spicy wood profile. For me, with my cedar-amping tendency the other woods kinda hide under the cedar, but I can tell they’re there somewhere. The ginger and cardamom are probably tinting the spiciness of this (it’s certainly not all peppercorn), but I can't pick them out exactly. I’m also not quite picking out the herbs, but they are probably hiding under the cedar, too, and adding to some of the cedar’s sharpness. (I suspect that the rosemary and cedar combo amp each other here, even though I can often appreciate each without the other.) Every time I take a deep breath of this, my nose feels like it’s been cleared out – that’s some raw power, for sure! The dry-down is a little less in-your-face, but stays this stays a strong and spicy cedar all day. I wish I liked this more, but that cedar is too much of whomp in the face. Truth Serum (Note: this one is actually in the “Witches’ Collection” section of the general catalogue, but clearly is of the same cloth as the new releases) (A potent blend to inspire openness and honesty in every conversation. Silver sage, lime zest, bergamot, Himalayan cedar, and rosemary leaves glimmer with sunlit spring water among verdant summer mosses. Wear this fresh, uplifting perfume to facilitate clear communication.) Okay, so that cedar/rosemary combo I said was so strong to me in Raw Power? Uhhh, it’s here, but at about 20% power. So that’s weird. I’m getting the sage with the cedar/rosemary combo, and maybe a little lime brightness. There is some wetness of the spring water and mosses at first, too, but that vanishes pretty fast. Overall this whole thing fades pretty quickly to a very light woody herbal scent – it’s pleasant and lasts a little while (maybe 2-3 hours at most?), but stays very light, basically becoming a "clean" ghost on my arm that I really gotta stick my nose into to catch. It’s possible that the water notes are what’s making this vanish for me – I think some (though certainly not all) aquatics just can’t be picked up by my nose or just get eaten by my skin. Collection thoughts: Might of Minerva was my fave of these, pretty clearly, and I might upsize it after comparing again with a few other herbys in my collection, but I can see using up the others in ritual work that relates to their utility rather than wearing them out and about for a day. I do feel that these all match with their purposes – this is definitely a series meant to be put to use! Others! Robin’s Egg (A gently protective blend to support you through life's transitions. Dainty forget-me-nots and lily of the valley, a dollop of whipped blueberry crème, and a cozy birch nest tucked into a flowering dogwood tree.) The lily of the valley and blueberry crème are the openers on this one! It’s sweet, but not overly so, and the blueberry is honestly pretty true to a real blueberry. Slowly the blueberry fades out, and the flowers kinda blend into the crème, so we end up with a creamy white scent for a while (to me this really mostly feels like a vanilla). But then the light dry woodsy notes come in and give me a final form of a soft, creamy light wood. I was testing this one on a work day, so the blueberry floral phase was probably an hour or so, the vanilla phase was… a while? and then the final form lasted more or less til the end of the work day, so say 3 hours each maybe for vanilla and final creamy woods form? Overall, this is a very pleasant, comforting scent that wears fairly close, but I’m not 100% sold on the middle vanilla part. This scent was recommended to me for the blueberry, and I do really like that part of the wear, as well as the final creamy woods! I understand that their scent Grey Cat has a similar blueberry note, but is more smoky on the vanilla and has lavender and tea instead of white florals and wood. So I think I’d probably like that one a little more (I like teas!) I’ll have to keep an eye on the swaps. Danu (Note: this one is not currently available.) (A luminous moon-white floral meets an iridescent aquatic. Three tender lotuses, Tahitian monoi, slender bamboo stalks, tuberose, and a soothing cup of tea.) Yeppp, this is a white aquatic. Almost all the rest of the Nui Cobalts have had at least a little morphing throughout their wear, but this one and the next one were incredibly stable from bottle to skin to dry-down. I’m mostly getting the tuberose from this one, combining with the lotuses and Tahitian monoi to give an overall watery white floral coconut-y vibe. (I had to look up monoi – it’s basically a variety of gardenia with coconut oil.) The bamboo is lending a tiiiny bit of green, and I guess tea is base note, but it's pretty hidden under there because I couldn’t tell you if it’s black tea or green tea (I’m guessing green ‘cause I feel black would be noticeable). I suppose the tea is adding to the aquatic vibe? This is refreshing, but not really something I see myself wearing. Lampade (The lantern-bearing attendants of the goddess, Hecate. Blackest patchouli, smoldering myrrh, unripened fig, libations of honey consumed in fire and smoke.) So I got this one because another reviewer (I can’t remember who now, sorry!) said it smelled exactly like walking into a pagan shop. And yeah, wow, it is totally like walking into a room that's had some variety of incenses burning or waxes melting. This is strong and stable. I don’t really know what myrrh smells like (google says: resin-based woody pungent aromatic), but I think that's a lot of this. And definitely the patchouli, but it's not super dank, more on the sweet, dark earthy side. It does have some actual sweetness from the honey and fig, too, but incense is the overall vibe. The smokiness is clearly burned incense rather than any wood smoke. This lasts forever and stays strong, and I appreciate the vibe here, but I’d rather keep it to the shops than my skin (which I suspected going in, but how could I resist a little sniff of magic!). I’ll probably keep this little sample to sniff now and again when I haven’t been down to my local pagan bookshop in a while.