🌊🌿 Introducing … To the Waters and the Wilds 🌿🌊

It is that time of year again! Our new Summer collection of escapes and wild wanderings — salt-kissed shores, twilight florals, hidden groves, and the call of untamed places beyond the edges of the ordinary. Going LIVE this Saturday, May 16!

Included in this collection:

✨ Amulet — A botanical amulet for enhancing powers of attraction – the salt musk of skin flushed by desire, sweet rice, honey-butterscotch amber, cream rose, peach blossom, freesia, and an infusion of Lucky Hand orchid root.

🌙 Fata Morgana — A curious enchantment of nicotania, moonflower, azahar, verbena, artemesia, fresh hay, oakmoss, ethereal aquatics and elusive flashes of green amber.

🖤 Midnight Poppy — A shadowed love-mystery of brooding opium poppies, dark velvet rosewood, poetry stained with blackberry wine, ghostly white santal, midnight-black ebony.

🕊️ Sylph — A diaphanous aria of sparkling elderflower cordial, mandarin, plum blossom, red currant, grapefruit, honeysuckle, white ginger, plumeria, and vanilla tea leaves.

🌊 The Sea Has Many Gods — A collection of ritual sea offerings infused with the echo of oceanic reply – sea sage, maile leaves, tuberose garlands, seaweed, spiral seashells, and grey ambergris.

🌲 To the Waters and the Wild — The saline kiss of an Atlantic selkie and mountain mist descending over rolling dells of fae botanicals - purple heather, bluebells, wild geraniums, bee balm, meadowsweet, bracken ferns, watery hazel, and gnarled Scots pine.

This is summer in all of its glory — wild-hearted, windswept, and impossible to fully tame.

I posted about this upcoming sale on Wednesday (saying "tomorrow" like a silly, because I'm a professor and it's the end of the semester and wow am I tired). Anyway, it's on now! Choose-your-own sample sets are 25% off for today only.

I've been compiling a wishlist for my next Deep Midnight order for a while now, and when I went to go investigate the website last night to make some decisions, I found to my surprise that several of the scents on my wishlist weren't actually listed. This struck me as odd, because they were all fairly recent releases, so I emailed John, who very kindly got back to me right away. In conclusion, the two "missing" collections - "Monsters IRL" and the Dark is Rising series (gosh I loved that book! must dig out the series to reread!) - are available for purchase in the sample sets, but they are currently not listed on the website - he took them down to redo the artwork. (I really applaud him for listening to concerns about AI.)

With his express permission, I am posting the listings for those two collections here. These are not currently found on the website, but they do exist and are valid choices for the choose-your-own sample sets. (How the sample sets work: they say "Please list your choices in the "notes to seller" section when checking out. You may choose any scent that is currently available in the shop." -- or from these two collections!) I myself am wildly tempted by Unicorn and Changeling and (the cardamom-lover in me is rejoicing) Fire on the Mountain.

Monsters IRL series

Kraken Main notes of: water, frankincense, patchouli, peppercorn

Roc Main notes of: musk, leaves, birch, cologne

Gryphon Main notes of: india musk, oakmoss, vetiver, tea

Dragon Main notes of: dragons blood, cashmere, wyrmwood, fall spices

Unicorn Main notes of: white amber, white pumpkin, lilac, arabian sandalwood

Changeling Main notes of: wool, pumpkin, incense

The Dark is Rising series

Silver Blossom: The Midsummer tree appears every 700 years and blooms a silver flower that gives someone the power to determine the fate of the Light and the Dark. It is the hope or doom of humanity. Inspired by the sign of wood. Main notes of: oud, teak, lotus, lavender, clove

Sleepers Song: The harp of gold was used to wake the sleepers. Even the Old Ones need inspiration. Inspired by the sign of bronze. Main notes of: myrrh, bergamot, gingerbread, violet

Sword of the Sunrise: Bran cut the flower from the Midsummer tree with the crystal sword, saving the world from eternal subjugation of the Dark. Glows blue for evil. Inspired by the sign of iron. Main notes of: frankincense, wormwood, cologne, basil, citrus

Door of the Birds: The way to the Lost Land, where Will and Bran recover Pendragon's sword and bring it back to wield against the Dark. Not an actual door, more like an invitation. Inspired by the sign of water. Main notes of: birch leaves, lily pad, tuberose, peppermint, chocolate, ozone, pine, vetiver

Fire on the Mountain: The dog who could see the wind, the boy who could control fire. Cafall makes the ultimate sacrifice so Will and Bran can find the harp of gold. Times like this are when we most need to remember the comfort and love of home. Inspired by the sign of fire. Main notes of: arabian sandalwood, pumpkin, cardamom, rose, cedar, cashmere

Kestrels Call: The clarity of kestrels. Is it weird they look like crows? Maybe it's the magic. Grounded, patient, waiting for the right moment, they don't engage if they can't win. Looked to for guidance in Celtic tradition. Inspired by the sign of stone. Main notes of: white amber, patchouli, cedar, oakmoss, petrichor

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Any of these calling to you? Are you picking up some Deep Midnight samples today? Let us know what you picked!

And if you have any past reviews of DM scents, can you link to them here to help us all make our wishlists?

EDITED TO ADD: I am a silly, exhausted end-of-semester professor who forgot what day it was. The sale is Friday, May 1! Not "tomorrow" relative to Wednesday, April 29. Sigh. I need a nap.

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Nui Cobalt has been rolling out a new release schedule this year. Next up, Bees! This year they're landing (see what I did there?) on this Friday, May 1, rather than late February as in past years. This actually makes total sense to me, because the majority of my favorite Bees are springtime scents for me.

Each year I literally count down the days to this release. This collection has so much delicacy, airiness, honey-sweetness, and, of course, its stunning florals (and some darker, more resinous scents too, for folks who love those). For anybody who is newish to indies, Nui Cobalt's Bees collection features honey in various different forms (whipped, spiced, floral blossom-tinged) and I can say from experience that even if honey notes from other houses don't work on you, it's very well worth giving these a try. Honey can be a difficult note in perfume, often smelling like cat pee (with which it shares several chemical compounds), but NCD's don't have that problem. They've said outright that they create "fantasy" honey accords that evoke the smell and idea of honey but without the urine-like elements. Personally their white whipped honey is my favorite! But all of their honey accords - and they have at least four or five different ones - are all really special.

We've been given two spoilers this year: >!Bee Still My Heart and Let It Bee!<. No notes have been released for them yet! We'll have to wait until the newsletter comes out this Thursday, telling us which past Bees are returning, which past Bees are being "Archived" (meaning: discontinued, but first they'll sell off all their remaining stock), and which new Bees are arriving. In the past, the Bees release was also sometimes accompanied by the Favorite Things collection and/or the Celtic Treasures collection, but with the streamlining of their release schedule, I suspect we might also see a streamlining of the releases themselves, so I'm not sure if we'll get anything else besides Bees. (Though I am really hoping last year's Birdsong, one of the Favorite Things, comes back - it was the quiet yet standout hit for me last year.)

This review post surveys all 32 of the Bees I've tried (I'm just including Bees in this post - you can check my past review posts for Favorite Things and Celtic Treasures if those do end up returning). Sadly, some of these perfumes have been discontinued (I live in hope that Honeymoon Suite especially may someday recur!) but I'll still include all the ones I've tried here, to make this a more helpfully comprehensive resource in case if you find any older Bees in the swaps and are curious to read some thoughts on them. I'd love to hear if any of these catch your eye - what are you most hoping will return this year?

Many of these were provided as press samples in exchange for honest reviews.

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Ancient Apiary [Deadfall draped in oakmoss, wild pink roses, honeycomb bursting from frail brood boxes and pouring gold from every cell] - When applied, something about the combination of "deadfall" and "brood boxes" with honey veritably screams "COLA!" (It actually made me mistakenly think there was frankincense in this blend, which there isn't, at least not among the listed notes.) Happily, as soon as it begins drying, the almost-incensey woody notes and the honey disentangle, bringing in a faint undertone of roses and the dusty, almost mossy green of the oakmoss. This perfume feels lush but also vintage, like a sepia-toned photograph.

Aristaeus [Green grapes, benzoin, and bergamot converge with nectar gathered from linden blossom, cistus, and flowering thyme] - Sticky-sweet, thick and syrupy honey, along with a sharp, strong grape that has an acidity similar to grapefruit (that must be the additional bergamot amping that, now I think about it), and an amber base. Sniffing my wrist right up close, I can make out some faint florals to the honey, but I don't get them from farther away. These florals are slightly dusty and herbal, not bold white florals or even greenish aquatic florals. I'm not familiar with flowering thyme (is it different from the dried thyme herb I cook with?) but either I'm not getting any savory herb vibe here, or it's floral enough that it's mixing with the linden and cistus.

Bee Kind To Yourself [White copal, blooming peony, honeyed tea, pink amber, and sheer summer-weight cashmere] - First off, I absolutely have to give credit to our very own, amazing u/propheticperfumes, who suggested this scent to Nui Cobalt. It's a stunner both in its concept and execution (and it quickly became a crowd favorite here at IMAM). On application, it's a delicately floral-tinged honey; and definitely a liquid golden honey rather than the airier, whiter whipped honey of Queen Bee. I get a lot of honey and an overlay of pink peony at this stage. Once Bee Kind To Yourself reaches its full expression, it's gorgeous. As it dries, the copal smoke and musky woolly cashmere emerge to join the honey and peony, and if I look for it, I can even find a hint of tea. I had thought this would be a summer perfume for me (though the musk is a little too heavy for summer, when I prefer more freshness and lightness), but by happy chance, I happened to wear it for yoga one day - it was unexpectedly phenomenal as a yoga perfume.

Bee Not Afraid [Angelic incense, cirrus clouds, glowing beeswax candles, bedstraw, and honey gathered from an ancient cathedral hive] Oh gosh, I love Nui Cobalt's cathedral incense so much. If you've tried Gargoyle, The Mentor, or Sacred Space, you know what I mean - it's warm and fragrant and rich without being charred or smoky. Here it's paired with a glowing honey-beeswax, both notes complimenting and reinforcing one another, but (as is the case with all NCD honeys) not at all urinous. Nor is it super sweet, just unctuous honey and solemn, ritualistic beeswax. If you like the honey in Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy (see below), this honey strikes me as very similar. I'm always wary of straw/hay notes, but here the straw melds so beautifully into the honey-beeswax and lends a little extra warmth, much like the wheat does in Poesie Amaterasu [Golden sandalwood incense, rice milk, bright cardamom, amber, dry wheat, and sunflowers].

Bee You Tiful [Honey-roasted pistachio and chestnut, pink magnolia, and sweet apple blossom] - Honeyed-salty-toasty nuts harmonizing with the florals, particularly the apple blossom. Nui Cobalt has a gorgeous apple blossom note; see also my longstanding late-summer favorite, Pixie [An apple orchard in bloom, spring grasses alive with an unearthly glow, vanilla bean offertory cakes, and sparkling honey mead]. The honey, pistachio, and faint apple combine in Bee You Tiful to be reminiscent of some sort of delightful pastry - is a pistachio-apple galette a thing? And yet this isn't a realistic gourmand, especially with the wafting florals making it much more atmospheric. The overall impression is of a garden party. Many hours later, the top-note florals are gone, but the gentle nuts remain. If you like the pistachio in Akhal-Teke [Fine ecru suede, raw silk, pearl musk, white amber, precious Hawaiian sandalwood, and creamy pistachio], you should definitely try this one.

The Beekeeper's Funeral [This comforting blend opens with gentle Bulgarian lavender and petrichor, then blooms with Casablanca lily, honeysuckle, and wet grass, and settles at last into a pillow of fluffy whipped honey] - A very pretty, understated floral-aquatic. I get white florals (but not too bold), an herbal lavender, grass, and rain - this petrichor is more the smell of the watery rain itself rather than wet pavement. Oddly enough for this being a Bee, I actually don't get any honey, though there is a little bit of sweetness that reminds me of the white amber in Mirror [Pale amber and white tea are accented by dry coconut, angelica, and cooling rain], in part because of the shared rain note.

Bees' Cotillion [Succulent pears simmering in spring honey with the gentlest breeze of lily carried in a homespun infusion of honeysuckle flowers] - This one makes me depressed because my skin chemistry is the actual worst and turns this beautiful notes list into straight-up craft store candle. I really can't wear NCD's pear, apricot notes, or honeysuckle notes. Other glowing reviews say this scent is just lovely, but on me it goes straight Yankee Candle.

The Bees' Carnival [Cotton candy spun from crystallized honey, fresh leaves of lemon verbena, blue raspberry drizzle, and a grounding smolder of sweet myrrh] - This one shouts COTTON CANDY and a lot of honey, with only mere hints of the lemon and blue raspberry. If you love the cotton candy of Nephophilia [A fluffy melange of pink cotton candy, ivory cashmere, silk tree blossoms, blush suede, and steamed vanilla] but wanted it to have even more cotton candy, The Bees' Carnival is for you! Other scents in this family are Scoundrel: Blue Cotton Candy [Our blue cotton candy accord is spun from silken tonka, Mexican vanilla bean, sparkling sugar, marshmallow fluff, preserved Damson plum, and barely a twinkle of unripe bergamot] (which isn't so much "blue raspberry"), and Land of Sweets [Sugared rose petals, blue cotton candy, miniature marshmallows, pistachio ice cream, and a drizzle of white chocolate] (which is mostly sugared rose on a bed of gourmand sweets). I always expect a more distinct blue raspberry note in The Bees' Carnival, but happily I do have Blue Moon [A diaphanous lunar musk entwines living honeysuckle and sugared blue raspberry] and Dewdrops on Spidersilk [Cerulean strands of cotton flower bejeweled with dewdrops, cold crystalline musk, tiny black vanilla beans, frozen blue raspberry, and gentle incense] to scratch that itch. The herbal quality of the lemon verbena and the slight earthiness of the myrrh come out in the drydown, keeping the really golden nature of this honey from becoming too cloying.

The Bees' High Tea OG [Delicate vanilla cakes with rose petal preserves, elderflower wine, and Earl Grey tea with a dainty drop of spring harvest honey] - This one is so much fun: a grapey rose jam and fizzy champagne, with a hint of vanilla coming out as it dries. Wearing it makes me feel like I'm attending an elegant summer brunch, or perhaps I'm a picnicker with Emma Woodhouse on Box Hill. It is lovely, feminine and playful. If you've tried Pixie, Bees' High Tea is quite similar with its vanilla cake and slightly fizzy aspect, but with honey instead of Pixie's yeasty mead, and with elderflower instead of apple blossom. The grapey elderberry also reminds me of Achievement Unlocked [A bold blend of Mahogany and Merlot with tart elderberry and a single long-stemmed rose].

The Bees' High Tea 2025 - Wearing this on one wrist and my several-years-aged OG on the other, they're near-identical! Mayyyybe the grapey elderflower seems stronger here than in the OG, but it's still that wonderful tea party-ish mix of elderflower, jammy rose, dainty white cake, and a spot of honeyed black tea. Often a Nui Cobalt reformulation can be just a little bit different than the original (sometimes to absolutely WONDERFUL effect, like in Snow Cat 2022), but here it's a pretty perfect match.

Bees Love Blue [Forget-me-not blossoms, imperial iris, blue lotus, delphinium, dwarf lilac, and hidcote lavender on a cloud of whipped white honey] - This one is delicately floral and very much light purplish-blue in its scent color. Of the many flowers present here, I particularly get the iris (less musky here than in several other iris-centered perfumes I've tried) and the delicate, feminine forget-me-not (reminiscent of Robin's Egg [Dainty forget-me-nots and lily of the valley, a dollop of whipped blueberry creme, and a cozy birch nest tucked into a flowering dogwood tree]). Bees Love Blue has astonishing longevity; this is one of the NCD perfumes that will last all day on me. I adore this one, though you do have to like florals to enjoy it, because it's gorgeous florals and light airy honey and nothing else. If you like Cyanophilia (Love of Blue) [Butterfly pea flower, periwinkle, tonka bean, vanilla orchid, and Himalayan poppy] or Twilight Spidersilk [Slender strands of cotton flower hung with trembling dewdrops, cobalt blue musk, vanilla orchid, imperial iris, white lilac, and a whisper of lavender] or Arcana Otherworld [An enchanted blend of gossamer iris, our hand-extracted Violet Intrigue lavender, Madagascan vanilla absolute, pure vanilla co2, Hidcote pink lavender, shimmering amber, fairy wings, and a cloud of iridescence], you'll love this one; it's a similar gentle blue floral.

Bees on the Bayou [Vines heavy with honeysuckle entwined with Easter lily, linden blossom, and neroli over a sweet foundation of pipe tobacco, pralines, and creamed honey] - The pralines and tobacco together make me smell a sort of milk chocolate note, but that's secondary to the truly lovely white florals, the velvety kind rather than the brash in-your-face sort. NCD's honeysuckle often doesn't work for me, but here combined with the plush lily and slightly greenish, airy linden blossom the florals are altogether gorgeous. Husband agrees, saying that he truly enjoys smelling that waft of flower petals from my wrist, but on closer inspection he says he gets a sort of artificial blueberry note (??? yet again, what's up with his nose?). We both seem to agree, though, that this one is gorgeous florals accented by the gourmand notes.

Busy Bee [A blend of Oolong and Tibetan black tea with peach blossom honey, cardamom, and clove, sharpened with pink peppercorn and dry oakwood] - Tea, honey, and warm spices. Unlike the other Bees, many of which tend to be spring and summer perfumes for me, I wear this one exclusively in fall. It is such a fantastic autumn perfume for days when you don't want apple or pumpkin or overwhelming chai spices. Sadly discontinued! I made sure to get a backup before it disappeared. If you ever spot this in a destash, snap it up; it's wonderful. This is another one I really hope will come back someday.

Dancing Bee [Peach trees barely budding, dewy white violet, honeysuckle, angelica and orris roots, frankincense, allspice, and spring harvest honey] - Skin chem strikes again: I really can't wear NCD's honeysuckle; I just seem to amp honeysuckle to the exclusion of all other notes. At least here the frankincense is giving it a bit of a run for its money, so I do get a slightly cola-ish incense behind that candley honeysuckle. Where's my peach tree, violet, angelica, and orris root? Boo. If NCD's honeysuckle note works for you - and it seems like I'm quite unusual in it not working for me - do give Dancing Bee a try. I have seen reviews praising the delicacy of its floral notes and I'm just so jealous.

Emotional Support Bee [Ivory-blush rose petals, orange blossom honey, apple blossoms, melissa leaf, silken shea, sacred benzoin, and just a hint of calming clary sage] - This was one that I picked up on the strength of many IMAM rave reviews - I couldn't resist the chance to try it myself! I get primarily rose, honey, and clary sage, with orange blossom and shea butter there if I look for them. This is a very pretty and calming scent. It is recognizably similar to Somniphilia [Lamb's wool accord, orange blossom, barely-budding lavender, melissa, green fig, clary, cloud musk, and weightless vanilla marshmallow meringue] but without the sugary and airy vanilla that makes Somniphilia candy-like; the honey here in Emotional Support Bee is more a syrupy, golden richness rather than sweetness. When dry, it has a certain brown-sugary, Little Brown Rabbit-esque note, and Husband especially likes it at this stage.

Empress Bee [White iris and creamy gardenia entwined with honey-drenched almond] - If you love Queen Bee [Creamy white gardenia and fluffy whipped honey] (and I do!), this flanker is a no-brainer! It's that same almost fizzy honeyed gardenia of Queen Bee with some extra muskiness and powderiness from the almond and iris (I know it says "white iris" but to my nose it's definitely a purple iris). This is the same honeyed almond as in Silver Fox [White tea with honey and rice milk, almond macaron, soft grey cashmere and cool woodland musk], husky and creamy and altogether lovely (and not at all cherry-ish). And the addition of the almond and purple iris make make Empress Bee much more grown-up than the youthful Queen Bee (I could swear there's aldehydes in Queen Bee - maybe that's what makes its honey "whipped"?). Empress Bee is sophisticated and undeniably regal. If you like Arcana Unicorn Horn [French vanilla, Bourbon vanilla, golden iris, powdery orris, creamy musk, and sheer silk. A powdery vanilla flourmand], you'd love this.

Hive in the Wild [Budding maple trees beside a swift stream, snowdrops nodding over vernal pools, and dewy dogwoods offer a trove of nectar to fill a fledgeling hive] - Why was I so excited to try this one, even though I'm not really one for woody perfumes? The snowdrops. All the cottagecore folks on Instagram always post photos of snowdrops starting in mid-February in celebration of the coming of spring. I was a little skittish because the notes description is mostly woods, but then it turns out to be mostly maple syrup, not maple trees, with a snowdrop that is more green and fresh than flowery.

Honey, I'm Home [Snowdrops and fresh nectar from their first petals unfurled, golden sunlight, yellow crocus, and warmed honeycomb] - It's the light-golden warmth of an early spring day. After an initial burst of warm but airy honey, the honey blends in with the flowers, which really are yellow in their scent color. There's nothing grassy about these florals but they remind me of chamomile nonetheless - chamomile and daisies perhaps, they're just so cheerful and happy. This is the springtime sibling to Yellow Leaves [Blooming moringa, olivewood, coriander, oakmoss, tangerine, and helichrysum], the most perfect autumnal floral. After its initial burst of honey, this scent dries down to cling quite closely to my skin, a private little bubble of buoyancy and optimism. If you like Fey Touched [Sunflower petals, honeyed almond, yuzu, sacred benzoin, and prismatic mist from woodland stream dappled in sunlight] from the Geeks & Gamers collection, you should definitely try this one; it shares the same warm, glowing, carefree vibe.

Honey Trap [Yellow snapdragon, white rose, early spring honey, candied lemon peel, clove bud, and Venus flytrap accord] - It smells so delicate in the vial, but on my skin Honey Trap packs a wallop! This honey is sweet and deep and strong, and the white and green florals are intense. I really only get the bouquet and the honey until the very deep drydown, when the honey and florals recede enough to make space for a hint of clove.

Honeymoon Suite [Santorini olivewood, Caribbean teak, St. Simons peach groves, and 1000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets with traces of tuberose, sea glass, and wild honey] - I love love love this one! It's been discontinued, just tragic. It goes on strong but immediately dries down to a soft and lovely perfume without much throw: a gentle peach paired with a light-colored and ever-so-slightly floral honey, with the teak, cotton, and aquatic "sea glass" notes combining to make this a "spa-like" scent--but an unusually delicate and pretty one. I've been rationing my two sample sizes ever since. This is a favorite summer perfume for me.

It's Hive Code [Spring harvest honey, a faithful accord of rare Ghost Orchid, neroli and bergamot hand lotion, and a dark base of melted fudge] - I got this sample because most of these notes sounded absolutely heavenly. Honey, orchid, neroli, and bergamot? Count me in - that sounds amazingly light and springy. I kept my fingers crossed that the fudge would be minimal. And...it's not. In the vial, this scent has a base of honey and chocolate fudge, with the light citrus and floral above, and on my skin, it continues to be a fight between the gorgeous, breezy springtime floral and the heavier, waxy (almost tootsie roll-ish) chocolate. And it's so strange, because up close, the chocolate is so much less obvious that it really almost is the scent I wanted it to be. Personally, I just really wish it didn't have the fudge - I think all of the other notes are just perfect! All in all, It's Hive Code is much more atmospheric than springtime. Like the the several NCD blends that pair caramel with wildly different notes (Mad Scientist, Glass Pumpkin, Venus Verticordia), this one is a thoroughly unexpected combination. My experience is also slightly hampered by the fact that I haven't seen the Netflix show (Wednesday) that it's an homage to.

Like Bees to Honey [Four fabulous vanillas swirled with Tupelo honey, mangosteen, saffron, pink grapefruit, Egyptian musk, ivory amber, cardamom, Grains of Paradise, and Queen Elizabeth root] - This one features the sweetness of vanilla and honey, cut with a hint of bitter citrus peel and almost rose-like spices. From a distance, it's a complex brown sugar. It's definitely in the same family as my beloved Little Brown Rabbit [Nutmeg and tonka bean nuzzle up against fluffy marshmallow, cottonflower, pink pepper, and a trace of carrot seed], and while I wouldn't necessarily call Like Bees to Honey "snuggly," it is an extremely "warm" perfume.

Napping in a Flower [Tender ripe apricot, Bulgarian lavender, spiced summer honey, plum blossom, daylily, honeysuckle, and ylang] - First off, how cute is the name? Unfortunately, that apricot note just won't work on me, and on my skin this perfume smells like a fall candle and spiced nuts. Meanwhile, Husband smells florals when he sniffs my wrist, specifically lilac. Dry, the honey note becomes individually discernable, and it is rich and golden. I wanted this one to work on me so badly but even after a year of aging it wouldn't, so I destashed it.

None of Your Beeswax [Thorny brambles of blackberry, elderflower, violet, fennel seed, sacred benzoin, and unfiltered honey] - This one is bit fruity in a purplish sense, a bit woody, and a bit floral. It's well-blended and none of the individual elements stands out too much. It reminds me of Blue Jay [Sturdy blue spruce and young oak support the bold elegance of white peony, angelica, blackberry bramble, and rhubarb], another woody-fruity-floral perfume that also features blackberry bramble specifically, but perhaps in a more unassuming way - None of Your Beeswax is the shyer springtime cousin of the more summery Blue Jay.

Parisian Apiary [Cherry blossom, silver linden, white pear, and cafe au lait sweetened with French honey] - I was wary of the coffee note in this one and almost passed it up, but after having enjoyed the milky coffee note in a few Poesie scents, such as Thirteen Hours [Dried leaves, bare branches, hazelnut shortbread, coffee, cashmere vanilla, cinnamon bark] and Solar Witch [Coffee, crisp autumn air, apple cider donuts, sunflowers, warm sandalwood, a faint whisper of hearth fire], as much as I did, I was willing to give this a try, especially since all the other notes sounded so good, and I just love the inspiration of Parisian rooftop beehives! And wow, this is spectacular. Sure, I can describe each note in turn - the cherry blossom is cheerful and pink, almost peony but a little creamier; the honey is pitch-perfect for this scent, neither too light nor too cloying; the pear is a subtle glimmer of fruity sweetness; all over a warm milky coffee that functions more like a tonka-style base than an accent note - but really, this scent is so much more than the sum of its individual parts. There's a playfulness to its elegance, the coffee plus floral with just that hint of fruit and that honeyed sweetness. It's honestly one of the most evocative and lovely atmospherics I've encountered. I wear this constantly every spring - it's especially lovely as a springtime bedtime scent.

Protect Our Pollinators [Thorny brambles of red raspberry, a snap of rhubarb, dark honey spiced with clove bud and Indonesian mace, and delicate shade-grown violet] - In the vial, it smells of dark spiced honeyed raspberry, but on my skin the raspberry and rhubarb combine to smell more like a syrupy black cherry (happily, not a cough-syrupy cherry). Joining it are an intense clove that reads like a hit of patchouli, and a woodsy-sweetness like maple wood (Husband says this reminds him of the maple syrup vibe of Little Brown Rabbit, one of his favorites on me). Often when Nui Cobalt has "brambles" listed in the notes (like in Oath of Vengeance or Purple People Eater, and here in Protect Our Pollinators), it manifests as a dark berry musk similar to Alkemia Blackberry Noir.

Queen Bee [Creamy white gardenia and fluffy whipped honey] - This one is stunning in its simplicity: the gardenia is fragrant and almost spicy (and very different than many other gardenia notes I've tried, which have tended to be quite musky and occasionally indolic), and the honey is sharp and sweet. There's also a little bit of a spearmint undertone, which I still don't understand but which makes this really unique. Another one I wear constantly every spring. Personally I prefer this one over its flanker, Empress Bee.

She Stopped to Pet a Bumblebee [Cocoa butter and shea, cotton flower, silk tree, apple blossom, wildflower honey, bee balm, and heliotrope] - Another adorable name! When I first apply it, I get quasi-Yankee candle vibes like Napping in a Flower and Bees' Cotillion, which is odd because it doesn't share any notes with them. As it dries though, any candle association goes away and it becomes the most lovely, intimate, and expensive lotion, soft and skin-musky. This is definitely a "my skin but better" perfume.

The Thriae [Creamed honey, Shea butter, oats, sacred benzoin, and clean skin musk] - Gently honeyed oats and cream, specifically oats rather than cooked oatmeal, with an undertone of powdery shea and orris. This is so soft and gentle and cuddly, very much in the same vein as She Stopped to Pet a Bumblebee [Cocoa butter and shea, cotton flower, silk tree, apple blossom, wildflower honey, bee balm, and heliotrope]. It does dry down even softer than it starts, one of my most skin-hugging, low-sillage scents.

Wasp [Fresh linen, crisp chardonnay, and a rain-quenched herb garden edged with impeccable boxwood topiaries] - Another stunner, evoking the feeling of a summer garden without any earthy or vegetal notes (which I personally really appreciate, since soil notes are not my thing). The chardonnay is most prominent, and it's more elderflower than aldehyde, with a crisp, clean linen note blowing behind it, and herbs that are more mossy than sharp. Funny how this Bee doesn't contain any honey! But it doesn't need it; it's perfect just as it is. Another one that has been tragically discontinued.

Witches' Apiary [Peru balsam, almond shells, mahogany, olive wood, and dark, viscous honey conjured from the blossoms of blackberry brambles] - This one is woody and resinous, with a strong and unexpected predominance of coconut husk (not in the notes, but that's definitely what it smells like on me). I only get the woody, dry husk part, though Husband smells coconut flesh as well. This scent reminds me of Aphrodite Chrysea [Sacred benzoin, amber and copal resins, Moroccan cashmere, pink sandalwood, osmanthus, guava, and coconut milk chai] and it would be a great summertime scent for folks who like dry woodsy scents. (This does not describe me or my perfume tastes. So I destashed it.)

Wretched Hive of Scum & Villainy [Portrait of an extraterrestrial desert and its elusive denizens: dry white sandalwood, Tunisian tea, cracked coriander, cassia bark, amber resin, raw cotton, and combs full of precious honey that few will ever taste] - Friends, Nui Cobalt has done it again: another spectacular black tea scent! This one is black tea spiced with coriander and cinnamon, gently sweetened with honey, and with some very subtle nuances of cotton flower and sandalwood (making it a much more rainy-day-cozy scent than the perfume's name might suggest). This tea note is more incensey than Blarney: Irish Breakfast Tea [The warm, tannic comfort of a proper Cuppa sweetened with a touch of raw honey and smoothed with fresh cream], more like the black tea in Unbought & Unbossed: A Tribute to Shirley Chisholm [The fragrance inspired by her is a strong and sophisticated spiced tea with raw honey and Barbados sugar sipped among the sunlit roses of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden] and Cloak of Evergreens [Snow-covered spruce, iced cedar tips, golden pine sap, icicle musk, and the fading memory of tea by the fireside]. I'm a big fan.

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Personally...

My personal holy grails from among the Bees are Parisian Apiary and Queen Bee for spring, The Bees' High Tea for spring into summer, Honeymoon Suite for summer, and Busy Bee for early fall.

Bee Kind To Yourself is one of NCD's truly iconic scents, and not to be missed - especially because it was inspired by a member of this community! Bee Not Afraid is another crowd favorite.

Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy stands alongside Cheat Code and Blarney: Irish Breakfast Tea as one of my favorite all-purpose NCD tea scents.

Empress Bee and Bees Love Blue if you're looking for some delicate, honey-tinged florals.

And if you're looking for gentle my-skin-but-better scents, try Emotional Support Bee or She Stopped to Pet a Bumblebee or The Thriae.

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What have you tried? What are you hoping might come back? Any hopes or guesses for this year's new Bees?