Dominique

I was just checking the threads to see if SW had started yet. I'm glad to see it will be happening again this year <3

 

I, too, am lurking around the board in hopes of joining the Switch Witch this year. I missed it last year, and was bummed.

It may just be my personal scent associations, but Croquet smells like a styling old ghost, who shows up for a haunting with a cane and a top hat.

Oh glob.

 

So last year I did the Winter Solstice Swap and I'm thinking of doing it again.

 

But I also love RPGs and was thinking of doing an RPG Character swap. Send in a Character Sheet type Questionnaire, get matched, and try to make a small 'Adventurer's Kit' for the character.

 

Oh glob.

 

Would anyone want to do this? I would put a price cap on both.

 

RPG SWAP!? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! 1000x YESSSSSSSSSS! *grabby hands*

 

Solstice swap also sounds good, I'm just an RPG fangirl

I'm not quite certain what to make it this. Sniffing the bottle, it's sweet, foody and a little hard to explain. I can see how it could be cheesecake, but I'm at a loss to pick out individual notes. On my skin, the apple comes out a little - it has similar apple cider notes to Fearful Pleasure, and this is a good thing. The longer it sits on my skin, the more apple there is to it, from the creamy roundness in the bottle. I approve.

In the bottle: Oh my God, it smells like Gluttony, in the best possible way. Sweet, melty foody goodness.

On the skin: There's more of a pumpkin note, buried in a pile of vanilla.

Overall: This reminds me of Pumpkin Patch V 2009, which works out well, as that's my favorite of the Pumpkin Patch series. It's sweet, it's pumpkin and it's very much an edible scent. If that's your bag, go for it.

I'm getting a little worried - I placed on order through CCNow on January 25th. I understand that it usually takes the Lab about a month to get around to orders, but it's been longer than that. Is anyone else still waiting for their Lupercalias, or should I email the Lab?

In the vial: Wine. Rich wine, with a trace of florals. It’s a strong scent.

Wet: On me, the florals come to the front. The deep, wine note is still there, but it’s not as blatant as it was in the vial.

Dry: After a while, the florals fade some, replaced by a slightly gentler wine note, and what might be the cassia and honey. I’m not getting any chocolate at all, but the scent is still lovely.

Verdict: Kali is wine, flowers and a faint whisper of cassia and honey. I *really* like it – it’s the perfect scent for late night dancing, or a red and black dress.

In the vial: I get the cinnamon, and the clove, a faint musk and a sharpness that’s much more peppery than gingery. Bengal has fangs, but it’s still a lovely smell.

Wet: It’s not quite so sharp, but it’s warm, in a way that makes me think of skin and sexy. The warm s spices are coming through clearly, though the ginger is clearly an undernote. It could simply by that my vial is older and the ginger has faded some.

Dry: It’s warmed and sweetened some – the musk and honey coming out to play with the clove and ginger. The pepper note isn’t the same as sniffing an actual pepper shaker, but it’s still sharp.

Verdict: I originally got Bengal, in hopes of getting chai scent. (I found the perfume I was after at Violette Market, Pumpkin Chai, but that’s beside the point.) It’s not the exact milky sweetness that I was after, but it’s still spicy and delightful.

Saw-Scaled Viper is nothing but cinnamon on me (which has it's own appeal), and the bottle of Siren I have smells musky for some strange reason.

Baobhan Sith and Kumiho are both sharp, fanged gingers. If the goal is a non-foody, non-sweet ginger, these are likely to be your best options.

I haven't gotten my hands on Mother Ginger, though I keep my eyes open on the various sites and forums, hoping.

Gingerbread Poppet 2010

In the bottle: Sweet, foody goodness. Other reviewers have mentioned Gluttony, and the comparison is valid. Gluttony had more of a caramel/chocolate/gooey note, but for sheer edible sweetness, the two are quite similar. If sweet foody is not your thing, run far, far away, but I'm a little excited. I like foody.

Wet: On my skin, the spice is much more prominent. It's not the same kind of ginger as say, Kumiho or Baobhan Sith - there's no sharp edges to Gingerbread Poppet, just warm spiciness.

Dry: It's been a few hours since I put it on, and I've washed my hands quite enthusiastically a few times. (I had to debone a chicken, and the greasy feeling drives me crazy.) So, after three hours and about four handwashings, I can still smell Gingerbread Poppet if I sniff carefully. At this point, it's a sweet, faintly spiced vanilla, of the foody persuasion. It has to have a truly impressive throw, to last this long, and I approve of the scent that remains.

Verdict: Again, if foody or sweet is not your thing, then Gingerbread Poppet is not for you, but I like both, and I'll be looking into getting another bottle in the Yules to come.

Preconceptions: If I recall correctly, I bought this bottle off of a very nice lady at a Meet'n'Sniff. I'd tested a little of it, and loved the scent enough that I bought it on the spot.

In the bottle: I'm bad at picking out notes (as I say frequently in my reviews). That said, there is a vanilla note, and some spices. It's not a sweet scent, and not remotely foody. Smells good, though.

Wet: The vanilla note is still around, with a background of . . . something. Maybe the musk, maybe the tea and blackberry leaves. It is sexy. On me, Tamamo no Mae is sexy because it's subtle and restrained. Lady Una is sexy because it's bold and noticeable.

Dry: The vanilla is the top note, but not the dominant note. I'm not certain how to describe the scent, other than that it is a warm, spiced vanilla, though that doesn't do the scent justice.

Verdict: I'm still pleased I got this bottle - it sits well on me, and has good throw.

Preconceptions: I love the Shungas, and as such I tend to get my hands on as many of them as possible. I don't really go for florals, but there's a chance that the Gods might smell more like a musky, juicy peach than a flower garden, so I took a chance on this one.

In the bottle: To my slight disappointment, it's a floral, but at least it's not a boring one. It's possible that the currant and musk combine to make it a little more interesting than it otherwise would be.

Wet: It's a round floral, if that makes any sense. There's more to it than just flowers, even though I can't pick out individual notes.

Dry: The scent hasn't noticeably morphed - it's still a floral with an interesting undertone. The peach isn't noticeable, and the floral shows no sign of dissolving into powder (thankfully).

Verdict: It's not quite the dripping peach I'd been hoping for, but neither is it a bad scent. I don't think I'll wear it often, but neither will it get shoved into the box with all of the scents that I can't stand. If I liked florals more, this would likely be a favorite.

In the bottle: I'm not getting vanilla or sweetness, which is something of a bummer. There's faint floral, which I'm guessing is the acacia.

Wet on skin: The floral note is still dominant, but there's a weird plastic/artificial note in the background. Either my skin chemistry is weird, or the dry-down phase is odd.

Dry: Good, it seems, is a vaguely musky floral, devoid of the gooey vanilla sweetness I'd hoped for.

Verdict: I'm not entirely certain what to make of Good. I was hoping for a musky, sweet scent, and instead got a slightly cock-eyed floral. It might just be skin chemistry thing, but I doubt I'll be Good all that often.

In the bottle: Sweet something. I'm guessing it's the caramel, and I don't object. I like sweet scents. This bodes well.

Wet on skin: The sweetness is still there, but the top note is something else entirely. I'm terrible at picking out notes, so the best I can say is that it smells sharp - maybe the opium, maybe the tobacco.

Dry: Freshly dry, it smells similar to how it did wet. The overall scent is still a sharp sweetness. It's not really foody, just sweet.

Verdict: Considering my maniacal fondness for sweet scents, I'll be getting some use out of Red Lantern. It helps that it's less overtly foody than say, Sugar Cookie, so I'm less likely to try gnawing on my arm.

I took something of a chance on this bottle. I like vanilla, and tobacco is usually a good note for me, but patchouli invariably ends up smelling like powdered hippie on me, even when it's not a primary note. Still, I had the opportunity to buy it in a decant circle, and being a greedy little bugger, there was no way I'd pass up the opportunity.

In the bottle: I'm getting a vaguely fruity scent with a side order of something almost artificial. I'm not overly worried, as I've yet to find a scent that smells the same on me as it does in the bottle.

Wet: Still with the vaguely fruity. No musk and, thankfully, no crazy patchouli. No vanilla either. Of course, it's possible that I can't pick out notes to save my life, but Red Lace is lot less aggressive than I was expecting.

After a bit, the musk and patchouli begin to make an appearance as the fruity notes fade.

Dry: It's softened as it dried, so that it's not the kind of bop-you-in-the-nose patchouli that Vixen was. It's just this gentle incense and musk.

Verdict: It's less horrifying than it might have been, though it's less awesome than I hoped for. I hate to give it a 'meh', but on me, it's an unexceptional musky scent. That said, I'll still wear it regularly, if only because it'll get confused for Red Lantern. (I pick out my perfumes early in the morning, and I am exactly the kind of person to grab a bottle without really looking at the label.)

I had high hopes for this scent. I like sweet scents, and the honey and brown sugar boded well. My favorite scent, Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand, features tobacco leaf, though I haven't really worked with saffron or tonka.

In the bottle: I'm not certain what to make of the scent. It's not as sweet as I'd hoped, and I can't really pick out any individual scents. It's not sweet, not floral and not foody - beyond that, I can't really specify.

Wet: It almost smells musky. There's still no sweetness, and none of the spiciness I would expect from saffron. It's possible that I'm primarily smelling the tonka and tobacco leaf, though I couldn't say for certain.

Dry: In it's dry state, the sweetness being to emerge. It has a faint hint of chai - which is almost certainly the result of the honey and brown sugar. The overall scent is quite faint, at this point it's just sweetness with a complexity to it. I like it much more in its dry state than its wet.

Verdict: It's not as awesome as I'd hoped, but it's wearable once it's dry. It's a pleasant sweetness.

Wet, it was chocolate icing. I *adore* icing (to the point of cheerfully cleaning the icing off a slice of cake, but leaving the cake untouched), so I was more than a little pleased about this.

Dry and on my skin, there's an almost amber note, and the over all effect is of cocoa powder, rater than butter cream. It's still a pleasant scent, just not as decadent as I'd hoped for. Part of the change might be my skin chemistry, and I'll likely test it in a scent locket, to see if that improves the dry-down.

I'm going to a party in a couple of weeks. I'll be in this dress, and wearing these in my hair. My boyfriend will be in this (sorry about the watermark).

The desired effect is very much that of a . . . femme fatale. Any suggestions? The party will be at night, with a strong fetish/BDSM theme, if that helps at all.

Wet, it’s bright, fruity and perfumey, if that makes any sense. There’s a floral aura about it, but I can’t pick out any direct notes. It’s not quite as darkly-sexy as I typically like (Wanda, Lilith, Tamamo-no-Mae), but Titania is just a lot of fun. Light enough for a summer-day scent, without being overtly citrusy.

Gack! I don’t much like patchouli, so I didn’t have high hopes for Urd (it was a frimp), but on me it smells like cheap incense with a light spray of nail polish remover. There’s patchouli, with . . . something else, but seeing as I cannot stand Urd, I’ll be scrubbing it off before I have a chance to smell more.

Wet on skin – much like wet in bottle, which is to say, pepperpepperpepper. If I brave the pepper, I can smell a hint of the cinnamon and what might be the dragon’s blood, but the pepper rules supreme.

After ten minutes or so, the dragon’s blood has appeared, but the pepper isn’t going anywhere.

Further dry-down brings the dragon’s blood out more, but the pepper holds this scent in a death-grip.

I loved Gluttony dearly, and hoped that the next Deadly Sin I got would be similarly delightful, but all I can say in Wrath’s defense is that the oil itself is a beautiful red-pink. A pity I can’t stand the smell of it. I wanted a warm-cinnamon, but Wrath is anything but cuddly and the cinnamon appears to be hiding in fear or shame.

Woah. Patchouli, with a strong wood note. Imagine being smacked in the nose with a very large stick of incense and you’ll get the general idea. Some wiki-digging reveals that benzoin comes from trees, which would explain the woody note. There’s a vague warmth that might be the coconut, but it’s pretty thoroughly strangled by the patchouli. (First Vixen and now Goblin – I’m beginning to believe that my skin amps patchouli, or that I was born to be a hippy. I don’t much approve, either way.)

Patchouli isn’t my thing, the coconut never really appeared, and I have more woody-scents than I need, thanks to Samhain misbehaving. In short, Goblin bites, and not in a good way.

There's almond. It's . . . not trying to kill me and this is a very pleasant change from usual. I smell almond, though it's not the primary note. There's a kind of incense that's likely the myrrh. I'm not certain what the saffron would smell like, but the amber and musk give Bastet a nice roundness. I don't smell the lotus much, but it might come out to play later on, when it dries more.

Considering how badly almond usually sits on my skin, Bastet is well-behaved. It's not going to steal a place on my favorite's list, but I don't have the mad urge to run over to a sink and start scrubbing.

Lemme establish this. I am going to like Pancake Breakfast. Going to. I couldn’t like Blood Kiss, but I will like PB, damnit. In the bottle, it smells like . . . well, concentrated breakfast. Vanilla, butter, warm spices, sugar – it’s the square root of pancakes. On my skin, it gets this slightly wonky note. I’m not certain what it is, but I’m blaming the goats.

I’m –going- to like this, for no other reason than I like the name. Even if I have to cut it or layer it with Bah! or Pumpkin V ’09, I’m going to enjoy my breakfast, odd-smelling goat butter or no. Failing that, I'll put it in a clocket and call it good. Odd (and hopefully quick-fading) goat-wonkiness aside, breakfast is good.

I'm . . . . confused. I don't know what this scent it. It says Delight on the imp, with the description of "Frangipani, with rose, tuberose, and jasmine", but I don't know what to make of it. There's a floral note in there that's almost certainly the rose and jasmine and an unburned-incense-stick scent that might be the frangipani. The scent seems reasonably stable on my skin (or it might be that I can't decypher what I'm smelling, so noting a change is a little difficult.)

Not at all a bad scent, but not one I'm likely to wear.