Brand: Firebird
Scent Description: The scent of camping in late fall: wind rustling through dry leaves, pine needles crunching underfoot, smoky campfire sending sparks up into the chilly night air, wrapped in your warmest wool blanket, silently watching the stars.
Released: Fall 2019
Counting Stars reminds me of Snowdrift, minus the vanilla. I think they share some evergreen component. Counting Stars has more going on with the smoky campfire. Even though it’s not listed in CS I swear there’s peppermint in the mix. My skin is tingling, in a good way, the way it does from peppermint oil. The tingle is gone in 15 minutes and my skin never turns red. I get the fir needle, balsam and campfire but no prominent lavender. Maybe it’s blended too well to pick up on but I’m happy with they way CS smells on my skin. On a side note, I really enjoy Firebird’s evergreen, fir needle and balsam notes. I find them to be very true to life. Those are three notes that I prefer to smell more true to life than artificial. Sometimes it doesn’t matter but I’m picky on my coniferous scents and I recommend Firebird’s. For now, I may hold off on a FS bottle as I feel I can layer Snowdrift with something smoky in my perfume oil arsenal and get a similar result. Then again, I said I’d hold off on Cardamom & Burnt Sugar because I’m covered on cardamom scents but I caved and grabbed a FS and I’m not sorry! I get around 4 hours of wear before Counting Stars begins to fade and I reapply. My skin likes to gobble up scents but Brooke is generous and gives you 9ml’s of perfume oil so I’m good with having to reapply Firebird’s scents. Also, if you’re scared of smoke and or smelling like you’re being BBQ’d I recommend Counting Stars as I find the campfire to be quite muted. Then again, it may depend on skin chemistry. Smoke notes are usually some of the first to disappear on me as a perfume oil wears on my skin. I really enjoy Counting Stars.
The fir needle & balsam are the most prominent on me, with the lavender playing a supporting role and the smoke is mild-it doesn’t come across to me as a ‘smoky scent’ the way Woodsmoke & Vanilla does. Warm blankets is a great description because it is really just very snuggly. For reference I love Arcana Bonfires at Dusk and this one is a lighter, less smoky, and less aggressive variation on that theme. (Bonfires at Dusk notes for comparison: Woodsmoke, sweet beeswax, Oregon lavender, sandalwood, charred juniper, and the scent of swiftly appearing stars)