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This has been in my settling box for a couple of months, because when it first arrived, that "frenzied, high-pitched" descriptor was a little too spot on. It was very screechy, soapy sugared florals at that time. Now that it's had time to calm down, I think it actually might be something I could wear. It starts out strong, soapy sugared violets and roses, then the salt comes forward ( which is also a little strong at first) and they end up blending together, bringing each scent profile to a much more mellow place. This settles into a phase of salty purple and pink sugared flowers-pretty true to description now and quite pleasant. Over time the salt fades, leaving a soft, sugared purple floral in it's wake with only occasional wafts of saltiness.💜 I would definitely categorize this as a Spring/Summer scent though, so back in the box it goes for now.
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August is my birthday month and I have been waiting for years for there to be an August Lunacy that really appealed to me, so I am super glad to have caught this one. This is the least edible cherry scent imaginable. Wet, it is a fresh juicy cherry soaking in an inkwell. I wasn't quite expecting so much ink from "inky black musk". Note: just re-read the description and that's not what it says, but that's what I get. As it dries I get great smoky wafts of cherry musk, and long after the cherry wears off there is a bittersweet tobacco-amber thing going on that is just. amazing. I would say delicious except it is the smell of something you do not want to put in your mouth. This is a cherry being used in a spell of questionable morality. I looooooove it.
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This starts out with a very soft, sweetened amber mixed with rain and moss. I can also detect what must be a beeswax note in this too, it blends seamlessly with the amber. This one doesn't really change on me over wear time. It stays close to the skin and is a calm, relaxing kind of scent. I can imagine wearing this on quiet, rainy days. This is also probably the first scent I've really enjoyed a rain note, it's not a note I normally gravitate towards but it is really lovely here.
- Yesterday
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BruisedViolet joined the community
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Creamy coffee latte recs but not too spicy and not too boozy and not too woody?
Maggi replied to Maggi's topic in Recommendations
Thanks! I think Zonked will fit the bill, I’ll be on the lookout for it. Miskatonic U is the one I was thinking of trying as well but I tend to amp woody notes too so I wasn’t sure if it’d work but I’ll get a sample of that too. Zorya U was also another I was debating, sounds like it’d be worth to test it out. And thank you for the rec for Jiaolong, hadn’t seen that one before. Bpal catalog is so vast, it really helps having these recs to narrow down the to-test list without completely blind buying 😊 -
shadowlover joined the community
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A blast of bitter green wild grasses sounds right. There's a raw, unauthored quality to this: as though a stray hiker found a little-touched, overgrown, and thoroughly overlooked area and opted to spend the day there, maybe sketching, even though it's not what would ever make a brochure or most people's ideas of idyllic nature. It simply is, as it grew, sculpted by the courses of wind and sun and the nourishment of sandy soils. In drydown, the bitterness and greenness subside, and whiffs of powdery orris emerge. I never notice other notes.
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Soothing, frothy waves wash up on my skin --- that's how this one smells on me. I'm seated on gray stones long washed smooth by the timeless flowing tides, and the water washes up and down against the rocks, against me, limning us both in salt and pearlescent froth and mineral seawater. In drydown, I find a lovely, breathy vanilla, which is where the pearlescent quality seems to arise from. There might be a whiff of white rose in it, also; at least, I'm not finding other rose. This pearly vanilla is beautiful, and luring me in like a Siren. (Also a Girl at the Beach...) The linen and general airiness of the scent leave it clean, and the balance of notes is thoughtful and delicate. The salt remains present throughout, though it never overwhelms --- partly because I'm attending more to this pearl note. Aquatics aren't a common purchase or reach for me, but this may be the prettiest one I've sampled in a while. I'm likely to bring in a bottle if I can afford it.
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As you might expect, there's a lot going on for this July eve. This perfume is honestly such an odd olfactory circus swirl that it's tempting to sort of hold up my hands and walk away from review writing, but I'll try. I mentioned a circus. This one brings to my mind an imagined 19th-century one: cymbals crashing, horns blaring, garish masks and spinning tumblers and dancing monkeys and hawking announcers and trinket peddlers. I can pick out these notes from among the imaginary 5-cent booths: lemon, violet, herbs that may include oregano and mugwort, apples, and lilac and something inky and murky. Sometimes, there's a general impression of "candied," as though some of these thingies are sold at faire booths in that sugared state --- that's part of where this mind-picture arises from for me. Candied herbal red currants and apples are what seem to steal the show for me eventually... That's where this dries to. A kitchen-sink notes list (everything and the kitchen sink) can probably venture many directions for many people; this Hall of Mirrors awaits its next subject to reflect.
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Lavender Buttercream smells so much like TKO on my skin. Same deep purple, slightly herbal, loud, aromatherapy lavender coated in sweet, kinda powdery vanilla notes. I feel like it dries down to more of a sugared vanilla faster than TKO does, and this goes slightly more powdery on me, but they're still very similar on my skin.
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From Whose Eyes As They Glance Flowed Love
Little Bird replied to Seajewel's topic in Limited Editions
First on, this is a bright, fresh, dewy, sweet tea rose made even sweeter by the spun sugar, vanilla, and orris, which make this smell like fresh roses dipped in powdered sugar. As it dries down, the amber comes in smelling dry, dark gold and resinous, giving the whole thing a more sophisticated, perfumelike edge. The rose mostly fades away and just gives the amber and cotton candy a little bit of a pink, happy, fresh note. Settles into pink cotton candy infused with resinous, dark gold amber and a hint of rose and stays that way for hours. This is one of my favorite cotton candy fragrances and one of my favorite sugared amber scents. Definitely hoard worthy. -
Blacker than the Raven Wings of Midnight
Little Bird replied to Jennifurious's topic in Limited Editions
I was able to get a bottle of this beauty on the lab's etsy and it's absolutely amazing. My first thought when I put this on was that it's goth kid Dorian inside of an early 2000s Hot Topic (that hazy smoke and sweet incense scent that the store always had back then - I loved that smell - clinging to all of the black clothing), and it also reminds me strongly of Romanti.Goth perfume and the Raven Black hair gloss. The tea fougere and vanilla are giving me the Dorian vibes, but this is darker with the black tea, earthy patchouli, and dark incense. It's all black clothing, almost leather-like, with a subtle sweetness from the vanilla and the sweeter side of the incense notes (sandalwood incense, a hint of nag champa, and myrrh?), and that hazy Hot Topic smell that was almost smoky, almost foggy, very specific... I love this so much. -
Vanilla Cream, Pistachio, and Macadamia
MamaMoth replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
the pistachio pulls a bit cherryish to start, but that fades pretty quickly. then it's melted pistachio ice cream! creamy, sweet, and nutty. -
Charcoal, Champa Resin, and Tobacco Absolute
MamaMoth replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
i was very curious about what charcoal would bring to the table. to me, the note smells like soft, sweet ash. combined with the champa resin, this very much smells like the ashes leftover from many a burnt stick of nag champa. powdery, incensy, and sweet. oftentimes i say "incensy" to mean resinous, but this smells truly like incense. a little lick of smoke would complete the perfect picture. the tobacco is quite shy. i don't catch much until an hour or so in, when the champa starts to dial back and an earthy sweetness starts emanating from underneath. the opening stage is a fascinating atmospheric, but this is where i really started enjoying it. i could swear i catch phantom whiffs of sandalwood sometimes, too. - Last week
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Opens with a strong, medicinal cherry. As it dries, the darker notes come out. It definitely gives the effect of a cherry ripening. The amber isn't too smoky, it's just a wisp curling around the cherries and blackcurrant. I was wishing for more tobacco, but there's enough here to add some chewy sweetness. The black musk definitely keeps this from being too sweet. It adds a bitterness that offsets the sweetness of the other notes really well. It's complex and velvety. Very good for autumn!
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This Saturday morning at 9am Pacific, we'll be dropping another small batch of candles — small, as in under ten of EACH of the following fragrances. Truly first come, first served, at this link! Thank you for giving them good homes. BLOOD JASMINE EMBALMING FLUID GRAVEYARD DIRT POMEGRANATE PATCHOULI VETIVER SUGARED ABSINTHE
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This starts off as fruity woods on me, but over time, the fruit fades and it becomes more woody and masculine. I do think there is some rosewood at play here, and possibly some cedar.
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This one... started off pretty wonky on me. It was somewhat medicinal with the mango and cranberry vying for center stage, backed by the syrupy pumpkin floss. In the end, it settles into a sour, fruity cotton candy, with the cranberry winning out, and the pumpkin candy floss being very lightly spiced. If you're looking for a fruity sour candy sort of scent that's more cranberry than mango, this might be up your alley. Alas, the early phase of this scent was pretty rough on me, and I'm not a fan of sour candy.
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The bubbling part of this scent is the Lab's champagne note. It's like a watery champagne on me, tinged with fruits -- I get pineapple the most at first, then cranberry, and finally, some mandarin. The coconut part of the coconut water is really tame, but it helps smooth over the bubbly champagne. I'm not able to pick out the carrot. The notes in this sounded so weird that I just had to try it, but it was an unexpected fruit-tinged champagne on me!
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Mostly grapefruit with a bit of tea, which makes somehow makes it smell like a very fancy grapefruit. The white grapefruit note to me is a bit less sweet/candied smelling than the pink grapefruit note, and between the two, I prefer the white grapefruit. I don't get any of the pith, so this is more idealized than fresh-peeled.
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As described, this is pretty much a lime and anise duet. Very refreshing, not too sweet.
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Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener
a_bear replied to flyingpizza's topic in Doc Constantine's Pharmacopoeia
I got this as a frimp, and if someone had asked me if I wanted to smell like rootbeer, I probably would've said "No," but I would have been wrong. Quite a good comfort scent. -
I was a bit hesitant about this one because my skin can do really terrible things with smoke notes, but this one plays nice. I don't really get much smoke and only a hint of incense. It reminds me a bit of Pinched w/ 4 Pumpkins, since they're both dark, smooth pumpkin scents (without any spice!). When first applied the apple stands out, but the notes are really well blended together and it's difficult for me to pick apart once it's dry.
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I can kinda see the comparison to Lush's Alkmaar and Rockstar (mostly Rockstar) in the bottle, but it loses the comparison once it's on my skin and the jasmine turns more sharp and perfumey/musky smelling and the strawberry candy comes in loud and strong. I can't smell any cream, coconut, currant or oud, just sharp jasmine perfume and tangy, sugary strawberry candy. It does smell creamier in the bottle than it is on my skin, so it might just be a skin chemistry thing or need some aging.
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Dark Eyed reminds me of Nasty Woman (warm patchouli and sticky gourmand) and the original Candy Butcher (silky chocolate with an almost floral cream to it), but with extra goodness added in and an overall warmer profile, so I prefer it to both of those blends. I was surprised to read the notes list for this and realize that there's no hazelnut or cinnamon, but I think that it's the brown sugar and spicy cardamom that are giving me those impressions. I usually don't care for brown sugar, but it enhances the other notes really well here and just adds to the overall toasty sweetness of the scent. I don't find this to be too dirty or patchouli-heavy, but my skin seems to be amping up the sweet and spicy notes, and I love patchouli anyhow. I get a really pretty, almost resinous smelling, warm patchouli here, along with lots of creamy milk chocolate, toasty brown sugar, a resinous and sophisticated benzoin and vanilla (Prada Candy vibes, but better and not powdery), and cinnamon-y smelling cardamom. I really love this gourmand fragrance and I know that it'll get a lot of wear from me, especially over the winter months.
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Lots of thick, sugary honey mixture poured over freshly baked bread with whiffs of warm, spicy smoke and a dry undertone that makes me think of flour, scratchy wool and dry hay. It has a very cozy, old timey feel to it, like walking into a house warmed by a fireplace and smelling freshly baked breads while people sit in scratchy dresses and do their knitting. I don't enjoy the realistic scent of honey, but this is like a thicker, sweeter version of honey that I'm really enjoying, and I like the spiciness here, which doesn't exactly smell like fennel/anise to me, but has a savory sweetness that makes me hungry... It's a cozy fall scent that's both familiar and unusual to me at the same time.
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