splendidissima

Very pumpkin spice + musk - exactly what it says! I'm not always a huge fan of musk - depends on the type - but it's playing nicely here. I don't get pie crust at all; this is very much pumpkin pie filling, heavy on the spices, but that's nice for the current autumn time of year! I like this one more than Pecan Pie Oud, but not as much as Cherry Pie Chypre.

Oud is generally not a good thing on me, and it's not good here, either! I do get a sweet nutty scent wafting around that, which I like, but overall it's just not working well. I'll keep the imp, and see if it works in a diffuser!

Apparently I never reviewed this one! It's even nicer now, having aged a bit. It goes on heavy and strong - a blast of dark chocolate, a baked pastry, and heavy pumpkin pie spices, cinnamon and nutmeg - I like all those things, so that's good, though it is rather a lot at first! And then as it dries it just balances out perfectly: calming down a little, still gorgeously balanced with all of the above, but with an emerging note like a cream cheese - like a pumpkin-spiced cream cheese. It's just lovely.

I definitely get the clean sheets/fresh laundry note, but not in a bad way - it's a warm sort of clean, like I've got an armful of sheets fresh from the dryer. The peach is also very strong on me - and stronger after I left the bottle alone for a week or so and came back to it; this second test is much more peach-forward. I don't think I'm getting much tea, but it might be adding a citrus note?

I like it more on this second test than I did the first time around - not that I disliked it before, but I had wanted more peach, and that seems to be coming out more now, so hopefully it'll continue to do that! Right now it's very nice: cozy and domestic, like I've just been out picking peaches in the backyard (the house I grew up in had a peach tree) and ate a juicy one after coming in, and am now folding warm laundry!

A frottle from the Lab! ❤️

I get...clove and sandalwood and black pepper, mostly? I don't know what nagarmotha should smell like! I was nervous about the oudh, but it seems okay here, or just blanketed by the other notes! It's brown and spicy-soft to me, like a warm open blend of dried spices from a spice rack.

This is mostly almond pastry on me, not in a bad way! It's like a breakfast pastry, a danish, stuffed with some sweet almond paste and some sort of mixed fruit jam. The fruit definitely has some cherry, but there's something else too - I know it's apricot because of the notes, but I'm not sure I could've named it otherwise. The sweet almond + pastry is winning out over the fruit, though!

I like it, but of course I do like sweet fruit + foodie, usually! I wish the apricot were a bit stronger, but I would definitely eat this for breakfast!

This is really pretty, light and delicate, and exactly what it says it is - a sweet vanilla cream nestled into juicy pear. It feels like a springtime scent to me, pale green and creamy white, and soft. It absolutely vanished on my skin, though, within just a few minutes - I'm glad I got a bottle, because I don't have many pear scents, but I suspect I'm going to go through it fast!

I get...plum, and floral, and...spice? It is a very purple scent: rich and dark and autumnal. I do agree with marared that it dips into Autumn Craft Store, a bit, or maybe a small overstuffed local tea & spices shop. Good throw and staying power, so far!

Bright and fruity and bouncy! This is a very "orange" scent in my head, if I picture it: bright and sunny. I get fresh juicy peach, and sweet orange with a little bit of sharpness/tang, like you get in oranges sometimes. It's exactly what it says, and it's fun!

Awesome Husband said, "Fancy soap? Like, something from a spa?" and that made me very slightly sad, but oh well!

Ooh, this is nice! It goes on as a blast of sugared syrupy peaches - in a nice way, juicy and sweet - and then the marshmallow and vanilla bean start to come out, and it becomes a creamy, sweet, peach-laden dessert, like a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream (the good kind) over a heap of fresh peach slices. Mmm.

Awesome Husband: "...sugary...fruit...and something toasted?"

me: "...marshmallow?"

him: "YES."

Lemony and sweet - this is delightful! As it dries I get a hint of tea, also sweet and citrusy and floral. This is really lovely, and very much like something you'd get at a whimsical Mad Tea Party!

Awesome Husband: "...floral? green tea?" ...so clearly he's getting those notes more!

Herbs...lemon...rose? There's something in here reminding me of Parlement of Foules - some combination of herbs/resin + rose? I initially thought it was going to go the lemon-rose cleanser type of scent, but then...it didn't quite do that, maybe because of the herbs. (Maybe catnip?) Strong throw.

This is definitely interesting, and I'm glad I have an imp - we live with a big black cat (and I mean BIG - she can reach our kitchen counters, when she stands up!), so of course I needed this! I don't know if I need more, but it is *intriguing*, and I feel like that's a good descriptor for a Black Cat!

A freebie from the lovely doomsday_disco! I'm so intrigued - I like sweet/foodie, and this seems so different from the released version!

Immediately: pink bubblegum, not in a bad way - sugary, fruity, that stretchy candy-gum quality.

A few minutes in: a cake frosting note! Sweet, sweet pink frosting, still with the bubblegum over the top.

After an hour: it seems really balanced between the bubblegum and the frosting, still! It's very young and fun - I like it, though I wonder if it would've worked even better on teenage me! This would be a good late spring-summer scent: pink and bouncy!

Awesome Husband: ...Froot Loops..?

me: I get bubblegum, I think?

Husband: yes, that!

This one's fascinating! I love yams and sweet potatoes, and I've never heard of that in a perfume before, so I really wanted to try it! And it is indeed very yam-like!

It's not as sweet as I was expecting/hoping - it's foodie, but it's a dry sort of foodie; it's a dry cinnamon bark sprinkled over the yams. I think maybe the oakmoss is adding something herbal? I don't get as much of the bourbon vanilla as I was hoping. (Wonder how it'd layer with something like Gingerbread Mummy or Ghost Milk?)

I do like it, though I don't love it, and I'm glad I have some - it'll be a good fall scent, I think: swirls of cinnamon and amber and freshly harvested sweet potatoes waiting to be turned into a recipe. It seems to last for quite a while on me, too, though it sticks fairly close to the skin.

2020 Winter version!

I almost didn't get this, because I wasn't sure about the beer or the lavender - I don't do florals much! But my academic fields are medievalism and folklore, and I do like sweet and foodie scents, so I finally had to!

Everything seems so well blended: it's a sweet, rich, hearty cake, with hints of nuts and grains - baked grains, or oatmeal, like an oatmeal cake-style cookie. The lavender's sweet and fruity here, a sort of purple berry scent. It's a delicious cozy scent, and I think I'm starting to be won over to lavender!

It's definitely sweeter than With Consent - more sugar in the sugar/peppermint/vanilla combo! It's exactly what it says it is, and it's lovely. This version seems to stay very skin-close on me - I think some previous years have had bigger throw - but it's delicious.

I love pumpkin and I like a good cocktail, so I definitely wanted to try this! It goes on very boozey and bourbony, with cinnamon the next strongest, and then some glowing pumpkin with hints of orange. It's almost too much booze - I'd love to drink it, not sure I want it on my skin! But after a few minutes it settles down and becomes more blended. It's not as sweet as I was expecting - there's some sugar, like a brush at the rim of a glass, but the booze/cinnamon spice is louder. I like it, but I don't know if it'll be in heavy rotation - for one thing, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't wear it to teach! 😄

Sweet and light, sugary and fruity! I feel like this will be a good spring/summer scent - like I could sip a cocktail of this while sitting in the sunshine somewhere. After a while it gets a little bit of a powdery note, not in a bad way - like the crushed edges of Sweet-Tarts or something.  It's very light on me, but very pretty, so I'm glad I got to try it!

A brand new 2021 imp! I had an older one, from years ago, which I liked but didn't love, I think? I love berry scents, but musk can be tricky.

On wet: ooh, I like this! Berries, plus something dark green and sort of wild - it's not a tame forest. I like sage - my high school scent was BBW's lemongrass sage, in fact! - and I'm liking it here too.

After a couple of minutes: less berry-sweet (still present, but less strong!) and more....balanced between all the notes? Juicy blackberries and dark green leaves and sage, the herbal hint of dryness cutting the sweet.

Awesome Husband, being asked to sniff my wrist: "I can't smell anything. Oh, wait...like...soap? Nice soap? Fancy soap?"

...drat, now I can't shake the association! Argh.

Oh, this is so interesting! I kept going back and forth about getting it, but I thought I might regret it if I didn't, so...

It's very much like Loaf from the Liliths, but I think I like Unsubtle Euphemism better! It's the same savory toasty bread note, but sweeter and with a milky creamy layer. I don't really get spices, unless it's a bready sort of spice, like a rye or caraway. It's still very savory - but I think if I'd bought this first, I wouldn't've bought Loaf. I do absolutely want to eat my arm; it's savory-foodie, like I've been baking all day!

I'd never bought anything with lotus or lotus root before, but I like mallow and vanilla cream - jasmine doesn't work well on me, so I can't do Poinsettia Gown, so I was curious about this!

In the bottle and wet: creamy sweet flower petals? Not FLORAL-floral, but like...the scent of petals on the wind, by a sugary lake, or something like that.

After about twenty minutes: oh, that's pretty! sweet vanilla cream with floral confectionery fluff - like some sort of sugared or candied petals atop the cream. The petals do read as 'blue or green' to my nose - that is, it's not a pink or red or warm hue at all. I like it, though I'm not *in love* with it, but it's a delicate creamy-floral-sweet spring/summer scent, I think. Low throw, but so far it's lasted several hours!

Awesome Husband: "it's very...clean?" He has no idea of the artwork... 😄

This was also surprisingly harsh on me! I'd blind bottled it thinking I'd love it - I like honey and orange, and I like the scent of orange blossoms in the grove near where I teach.

It was pretty but not as sweet as I expected in the bottle. But then....something just went...weirdly wrong on my skin. Something bitter, astringent, and...almost...cleaning product? I tested it three different times, hoping it'd get better, and I kept thinking, "almost...maybe...maybe THIS time..." But I just couldn't convince myself to like it.

Ironically, I ended up liking the Honey & Bordeaux - which I'd thought I might give to my mom! - way better! So I actually kept that one and let her try on this one, and on her it was a light orange-y honey, soft but pretty. So I gave her this bottle instead!

A new frimp from the lab!

Oh, this is interesting - I don't usually gravitate toward aquatics, but I love the ocean, so let's try!

It's a light, bright, sea-salt...citrus? I don't really get florals, but then again I don't tend to do florals much, so maybe that's just reading as 'light and white' to my nose. Someone up-thread mentioned a candle that claims to be a beachy scent, and I think that sounds right. It's not sweet; it's got that salt-spray edge; but it's lightweight and sort of glittery, like light on water, and it's refreshing.

I don't need a bottle, but the imp will be a good summer scent for hot weather, I think!

A frimp from the Lab! Not one I'd've necessarily picked for myself, but I'm not opposed - some of the Lab's roses work well on me, especially if they're sweeter/sugared types, but sometimes they turn soapy! Let's see...

Both in the imp and on me, I get strong full-blown rose alongside a resin-y, incense-y warmth - something's reminding me a lot of Parlement of Foules, in fact, which I do have two bottles (different years, both partials) of! Good strong throw.

I think I like PoF slightly better, though I'm not sure why - different roses? - but this is pretty. I'll wear and use the imp, especially when I'm teaching medieval literature courses, but I probably won't need a bottle.

Oh, gosh, am I the first? All right, let's try to do it justice!

I love the novel - I have a signed edition, and I have four of the original BPAL Last Unicorn scents (Molly Grue, The Butterfly, The Amorous Tree, and Arachne), but sadly never got my hands on the original Unicorn, so I can't quite compare, but the listed notes seem to be the same except for the addition of white gardenia. I don't tend to do pure florals much, but I do like fruity florals or scents like White Chocolate and Sugared Violets, so I'm hoping this will go well!

In the bottle: a sweet...watery...floral + leafy scent? Having a hard time picking out individual notes, but that's the overall impression.

Wet: it's delicate and pretty! It's a lot like the bottle, but I think I can pick out some more specifics - lilac, and gardenia, and some sort of "general light floral", plus something green and misty and maaaaybe a little minty in a chilly herbal way, not peppermint but mint leaves (maybe the "frosty" note?). I don't get white chocolate as much as a sense of something sweet lying over everything and, well, sweetening it up a bit.

Dry: it's getting a bit sweeter now! It's very soft, ethereal and diaphanous - very low throw, but it's nice on my skin. Something, oddly, is making me think of Titania, which I also like, so that's not a bad thing! I think it's settled into a cloud of soft, light, pale florals (I think they've blended together now), with a good amount of sweetness, and something green and shimmery and misty and interesting in the background, like fog in the lilac woods. I don't really get coconut, unless that's swirled into the sweet white chocolate, and I think the lettuce and oakmoss are contributing to the "green and watery" background note, but they're not as upfront as the light floating sugared florals. I do absolutely get the sense of magic in a misty forest - it's so evocative, and the background notes make it interesting and complex, like the Unicorn herself.

About half an hour later, I'm having a really hard time finding it on my wrist, to be honest! I have to shove my nose against my arm and sniff, and then I go, "oh, okay, still there," but it's very faint. Still pretty, but I think I'll have to slather this to make it last at all, which makes me a bit sad. But at least it should be easier to get more of now?

I like it a lot and I'm glad I've got a bottle, but I'm afraid I'm going to go through it fast!

Awesome Husband's thoughts: "...sweet...plants? I liked that other one you got better." (The "other one" might mean Rice Milk & Mango, or Peach Vulva, or Burnt Sugar & Blackberry - all came in the same order! Unsure which one he meant... 😄)