To Dream Sonoma Scent Studio for women and men

I'm a novice, so excuse my lack of vocabulary here... for instance, I don't know what "heliotrope" smells like.

However, I highly recommend To Dream. For me, it's a mind-blowing scent. I love incense, spice, violets and roses. I wouldn't have thought to look for a scent that combined them. I love the opening blast of hot, dry incense. It's a different kind of sensory experience that just smell - it's temperature and texture... then I smell honey. It dries down to honey and some sweet delicate flowers.

Although this is listed as for women and men, I cannot imagine a man wearing it. It is a very gentle, almost "invisible" perfume and to my nose it smells like nothing more than pure sweet almond oil. It is perfectly acceptable, but not as exciting as some of Laurie Erickson's other perfumes.

The first things I smell are lemony frankincense, cedar, and a strong violet note. The woody-resinous component of the scent is complex, since it includes a touch of sandalwood and a unique note that I can’t identify. I can only conclude that it’s the oak that’s mentioned on the SSS website. Whatever it is, it blends perfectly with the violet, creating more than the sum of the parts.

Within an hour, however, all of the woody notes that I liked so much have been hijacked by the gigantic violet, which persists for the remainder of the time. Sillage is moderate, and the violet scent lasts over 8 hours on skin. I find a lot of violet/ionone scents off-putting, but To Dream is one that I could probably wear, albeit with less enthusiasm than the purely woody-resinous SSS creations, which are some of my all-time favorites.

Powdery violet with woody orientals. Nice but not for me.
Edit: missk's review is spot on in every way. But still, this scent is too dry/masculine/woody powdery for me.

To Dream, what on earth can I say? Your complexity and unconventional nature has me both perplexed and captivated. There is so much dynamic and character to be found in this composition.

I expected a pretty violet fragrance, done to perfection, with subtle woody undertones and soapy, crisp powderiness. But this fragrance is not so straight-forward.

To Dream opens with a fizzy champagne accord, with a touch of fruity pear juice, not unlike Guerlain's Champs Elysees. On paper this opening is most prominent, however on my skin the scent gets straight-down to business, with unsweetened violet and woods.

The woods are quite resinous and bold at first, a tad medicinal, however the violet, rose and heliotrope smooth the scent into something deliciously dusty and sensual. The vanilla note is only slight, as the cedar, oak and suede notes tend to overpower.

It's a delightful fragrance, despite being quite reserved. The opening may be strong, but the drydown has a rather intimate projection. It could have lasted a little longer on my skin, but luckily that was my only objection to this fragrance.

Ambery and musky incense rounds off this fragrance in a polite yet attractive manner. There's a hint of oily buttery-ness throughout that also creates an interesting texture. Vetiver finishes To Dream with a dry and grassy feel which I think captured this unisex fragrance well. I highly recommend.

I'm coming to this after just reviewing Fleur Oriental by Miller Harris, which also has a strong heliotrope presence. In both the almond aspect is dominant. In 'to dream', you will detect this throughout.

This is a light, floral scent that lasts in the 3-4 hour range. It is soft and romantic, floating just above nostalgia. Certainly more of a gourmand, but not so much that it gets stinky, which I thank the reserved, woody base for.

IMO this is one of her more 'commercially accessible' offerings, I can see it appealing to a wide audience.