Aldercy

I had hoped for oodles of molasses, but my wishes are not quite to be. Kill-Devil is boozy, swanky, let-the-good-times-roll syrup. With a kind of "barrel-aged" feel to it from the oak wood. And it's not perky, cloying sweet, it's kind of slow, goopy, suggestively sweet. It's like a really sleazy but good-looking man oozing over to you at the bar and trying to flirt. Not sure how I feel about it. Wearable and actually quite interesting, but not quite my thing.

Mm, I like this. Apricot seems like a pretty good fruit for my skin (and there aren't many) so I'll definitely have to hunt it down in more blends. It's golden, light... but slightly warm and almost raisin-y. Generic wood notes are usually bad for me, but this "blond wood" is a very smooth, silky wood with none of the acrid or masculine overtones I usually get. It's a very "clear" scent. Nothing really alcoholic or sake-ish to my nose. Overall, Manners Among Men and Women has that flowy, traditional Oriental perfume mood to it-- which is a quality I always enjoy. It has a short lifespan though.

Straight of the imp and wet Pomona is frankly pretty off-putting. It's really chemical-smelling, but also dull and kind of formless. I don't get anything resembling fruit. It takes about a half hour, but it does sweeten up into something more presentable on my skin. Now I'm getting watery apple and berries with a slight sugared floral edge, no nuts at all. It's definitely much better and more wearable, but most fruit scents just don't tend to do much for me lately. If it didn't have that long lead-in of ickiness, I'm sure I would wear the decant, but I don't know if I can deal with that every time I put it on....

Wet baby powder from start to finish for me. I have no idea where the soil or blood comes in, if at all, but is this what heliotrope smells like? I had no idea.

This smells like some kind of apple bake to me-- there's a distinct batter/desserty bread smell along with the caramel and warm, mooshy red apple. There's a slight buttery alcohol tinge slithering in as well, and the coconut is faint, but rather like the Sudanese black coconut in Red Lantern-- as opposed to fresh and tropical. I was concerned Creepy might be a toothache in a bottle, but it's not as crazy sweet as I feared. Though it is really too "thick" for everyday wear, personally. I'll play with the decant a bit more, but it's not a huge winner.

The almond is subdued, but it still might be managing to trigger a headache-- I just keep trying, because I love the smell of almond so much, but there's still apparently a 3 to 1 chance it will cause me pain. So, yeah, quite subdued almond, elusive sweetness that must be coming from the honey (though I don't sense honey directly), and the pumpkin note is very interesting. Very foody, but not heavy. It's kind of... fluffy. Pumpkin whipped cream, maybe. No distinct musk for me. Argh. I really like the creativity of this blend, but the right side of my head is definitely throbbing now.

Falling Leaf Moon is a spicy aquatic on me, with a certain insinuation of gentle rot. I get some oakmoss and slight resiny bits, but no patchouli whatsoever, which is good. The masculine ozone softens and dissipates the more it dries and the aquatic quality is more of an overall "wet" impression than soapy waters. It's a pretty realistic "woods after rain" scent, but actually so realistic that it doesn't make for a wonderful perfume on me. I'll use my decant, but I'm glad I didn't spring for a 5ml.

Thorn-spiked vines, blood, and tears. These are some angry, deadly vines. They're made up of raw, fuming vetiver and the slightest hint of old, beaten greenery. Plus strong twinges of sour, industrial iron and briny, poisonous salt. Scary! It's actually a pretty evocative scent just because it's so violent and toxic-- it's very complex-- but I really can't begin to wear it.

Dark, mashed golden red fruit with dandelion and a whole lot of crystalline honey. I want a wine that tastes like this smells. Unfortunately, my skin chemistry really tends to flatten fruit scents and strip out all the richness. Fairy Wine does not go plasticy or candy-like, as some fruits tend to, but it loses depth the more it dries on me. It's still very pleasant, but I'm saddened by the way this changes. ETA: The honey eventually starts to make up for the loss of complexity in the fruit, and turns the whole thing into a luscious honey and milky green dandelion scent. Wow.

zankoku_zen, I agree entirely about Carlin being a darker, bleaker version of Host of the Air. That's the first thing I thought of. It's a green heather smell, but a little grittier. I get the sage, ivy and heather for sure, and there's something kind of fuzzy and smoky in the background. The anise comes out a tiny, tiny bit as it dries, and it's a twisty, woodland smell, not glossy, bright black licorice like it sometimes is. Carlin is herbaceous, cool and witchy. I like it a lot, and if I didn't already have Host of the Air, I would certainly buy a 5ml.

This is exactly what I was hoping for! The brimstone isn't sour or sulfuric to me, but more like smoldering charcoal embers from labdanum-heavy incense. It's just smoky (no vetiver) and musky all over, this one. The black musk does not turn ironically pale or powdery in this particular oil. The clove is neither bitter nor sweet, but somewhere in the middle and very delicious. Quite aggressive, but ultimately gender-neutral in my book. My color impression of this is molten copper and matte black... the copper does not appear as a distinct metallic note, but the overall windy warmth of the whole thing does evoke copper-colored wings. The Hell-Gate is a bit like a hotter version of Valentine of Rome, which is probably my favorite incense blend. Really like this one, but I'm not sure if I need another smoke scent....

Mm, white cream, skin musk, thin drizzles of honey... with warm orange and rosy honeysuckle. I like rose paired with spice or resin and it usually doesn't do well with light notes, but this is an exception. I don't know if the fact that it's yellow rose makes a difference, but it's very humble, not the big, bully, slightly metallic rose that sometimes likes to attack me. Schlafende Baigneuse is so, so light though. I put on quite a lot, but it's still hard to pick up on. It has a traditional perfume feel to it, but it's very nice.

I had very fluctuating expectations for Lambs-Wool. First it looked like the scent to end all scents, but then I read lots of reviews and curbed my enthusiasm... then I forgot about it for a long time while waiting for decants, and now that I'm actually trying it I'm really interested again. This smells like a three-way love-fest between Fearful Pleasure, Gingerbread Poppet and Nonae Caprotina. I love all of those oils, so I am quite pleased. Lambs-Wool is a much softer and more feminine cider scent than FP, without the smoke and citrus notes. It has the unsweetened cream of NC swirled through the hot ale and ripe apple, but the other notes keep the milk from turning to that really strong, earthy milk note that could be off-putting to a lot of people. The ginger is fresh and snappy like actual ginger root or even a little like ginger ale, but in combination with the nutmeg it does give an impression of gingerbread. All together, it becomes warm, soft, creamy apple cider and ginger ale. Foody but not excessively sweet. It's a very nicely blended scent and under consideration for a bottle.

Aged imp with the old label. Rosy rose rose. Very true to fresh picked red roses, but a little much for me. The white musk is also very evident-- I usually like Chinese musk, but this seems a slightly different variety (than in Wood Phoenix and Earth Phoenix) and becomes a little powdery on my skin. Were I to sense more frankincense, this would be alright, as I love the rose/frankincense pairing, but as it is, Psyche is not my style. Very in-your-face flowers.

At first this smells like Smarties. So, pretty much, pressed disks of sugar with a little tang to them. As it dries, I'm getting the coconut note and some florals, but it's still very "powdered sugar." Some honeyed incense floats through the background every once in awhile and it's probably my favorite part of the scent. I do have some slight congestion, but I don't think it's enough that I'm completely missing the overall tone of this oil. I'll stick with Cake Smash!

Oh, elusive. Very elusive. Sarah is one of those scents that has no real-life comparison. It doesn't directly remind me of anything I've smelled before. It's shadowy in that it has rather dark aspects to it, but also bright, fluid highlights. Mist, yes, but it's not aquatic, more of an overall texture for the scent. Flesh, yes, and it's a bit like the cool, distant skin musk of Giant Vulva. Stone, yes, and it's a very slick, glassy stone. Incense... not so much, but I believe it's there; among all the intense, mirror-bright smoothness of this scent there is a little grit... something with a slight peppery, antiqued feeling. Fur... well, not the fur I recognize in Ivanushka, but maybe a very silken, silvery impression of fur that mixes in with the pale, musky flesh note. Black froth, no. Extremely interesting, and a possible 5ml purchase.

Black Hellebore smells like... *struggles*... like hotel. Do you know what I mean? Not bad, but like that pervasive hotel smell... kind of an astringent, dry, impersonal floral that just floats out of the hallway carpet, the sheets, the curtains. They must use the same cleaning supplies at every hotel in the country, because they all smell like that. I do detect peony and nonspecific herbs, but I can't get over the scent memory association!

This is the least sweet pumpkin scent I've ever smelled. Most pumpkin fragrances take the buttery spice of the pie version as a necessary inclusion, but Pumpkin III is just a fresh, entirely natural... squash sort of smell. Like cool pumpkin flesh (but not the mushy guts). It's very light and delicate, with an airy, outdoorsy mood. Definitely not rich or heavy. And not at all foody. I also smell a little rosemary and a slight, watery tomato note. Again, not like tomato sauce or anything, but just the faint scent of a recently rained-upon tomato plant. No pitch or pine for me. Not sure a bottle is necessary, but I really like it, and it's highly unique.

Lovecraft aquatics FTW, apparently. I've been unimpressed with almost every aquatic I've tried except this and Y'ha-nthlei (an all-time favorite, actually). I think I like this precisely because it's not the usual "clean" take on ocean scents. It's a foamy, dark green, slightly muddied sea smell, not sheer soapy waters. Briney with a definite citrus edge (kind of a pulpy white grapefruit, but there could be lime zest too). Slinky and amphibian. Not the kind of scent I'd slather on for a social event, but it's a very evocative novelty for me.

...Who says librarians can’t be sexy? A rakish blend of leather, anise, lavender, bergamot and amber with tonka, lemon peel and lusty patchouli. Why am I trying to test this when we've just turned on the heat for the first time this year? The weird sooty vent smell is interfering with my perfume, damn it! Casanova has a "classic" men's cologne feel. It's a very smooth, lavender-dusted suede. A tiny hint of bergamot, but all the other notes are completely non-existent for me. Slightly "cold" for a leather scent... not at all rustic. This is suave city leather. A scent for business men with dozens of slim electronic devices in every pocket of their tailored suits. I'd slather Casanova all over a boy, but I don't see myself wearing it much.

For being heavy on the mint, this is actually not gross on me. It's more like spearmint leaf than the usual powdery, rubbery toothpaste skin chemistry disaster. This and Envy are the only mint scents that have ever been okay. Reeaally shivery, cold scent in every way imaginable. If cyborg ice women wore perfume, they would wear Ultraviolet. Soaring, silvery metallic notes, the not-gross-spearmint, and lots of eucalyptus with only a slight floral influence from the violet. It's a pale, frost encrusted violet and it can't quite break through the other notes. I've been really wanting a scent with significant eucalyptus, so this one's a keeper. I can see how it could be interpreted as medicinal, but it's not bitter or astringent on me... it's extremely calming. I think I might keep an imp of this at work for stressful days....

I would actually quite like soap scented like Windward Passage, but as a perfume it's just, well... soap. A very soft, fluffed up ozone. Like a bank of clouds rolling in off the ocean. Think Bath & Body Works Sea Island Cotton. If you like extremely pure scents like that, this is a good one, but I personally find it a little too generic.

Way lighter than I expected, as everything I've so far tried in Rappaccini's Garden has been blackly herbal and rooty. Bohun Upas, however, is a pale fruit and musk scent on me. The fruit is a slightly floral grapefruit/yuzu with a bit of plum, the musk old-fashioned and... somehow both powdery and slightly foresty at the same time. I literally have no idea how others can be getting "masculine" or "spicy" or "smoky" from this. I either have a mislabeled imp (lab fresh frimp) or wildly divergent skin chemistry.

Oh GOD, how can this be so bad? It sounds so sweet and harmless... Candy Phoenix is a nightmare of artificial grape flavoring, really old, sun-baked gum, and sour powder. Not the slightest trace of apple or sugar. When I smelled it in the vial, it almost hurt, so I immediately recapped it. But the smell was burned into the lining of my sinuses or something, because I keep smelling it. It's been ten minutes since I tested it, and the memory of the scent is almost ruining my lunch. Eugh. I think I just have a serious problem with black currant. Sigh.

Hi, patchouli. Fancy seeing you here. Yep, Burial is pretty darn headshoppy on me. It's all patchouli with a little bit of harsh, herbal, medicinal pine/cedar. I like dirt scents, but I don't actually get any loam or earth at all in here. Good thing I tested this right before I planned to shower.