Em-

Well crap.

 

Mantis has been on my secondary wishlist for years, but I never really gave it any priority - I like all the notes, but none are my OMG FAVORITES, so I just kept passing it by.

 

Well, I just swapped for an imp of it and...damn, it is absolutely gorgeous - green and herbal and light and fresh...with an underlying burn of patchouli and musk to keep it from being completly etherial...I love it...and now it is lost to me...

Wow, this is like the original Milk Moon mixed with moss and maybe a touch of tobacco. It has all of the creamy wonderfulness, but with the chill jar of an English rain.

I get a definite chilly iron scent from this - kind of like Bed of Nails, but deeper and richer and colder. The nails are embedded in solid rich spicy wood- I get a hint of something almost cinnamony from this, which I can only guess is how my nose and brain are reconciling the gunpowder and smoke, but I can't be sure. I don't get an overwhelming hot smokyness from this, which is good - Brimstone and I are not friends...

 

I am looking forward to trying this blend on my husband, as I think it would make a wonderful blend for him as well.

Evidently War likes ginger. Or knives smell of ginger. Or something like that. Because, damn, if ginger and sweet patchouli are not pretty much all I smell in this blend.

 

There is some smouldering fire...black spicyness lurking in the background, and a sharp sweet tang of honeysuckle. But my beloved red musks are almost invisible on me...

 

This is a hot, spicy red blend - one of the more interesting I've smelled. But alas, for me the patchouli and spices are wrong, and my sinuses just cannot fight through the initial stages. War is hell. And Hell is for other people, I suppose.

Hot damn! This is exactly what I was hoping it would be - an aquatic I can wear!

 

Selkie is gorgeous - whispy, airy, but not necessarily light. She is a misty ocean breeze forshadowing a storm, sweetened by the fruity sweet grasses, a swirl of fresh honey, light wildflowers she whips up along the way. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

Mmmm...the red musk is strong in this, yes. Mmmm. I loves me some red musk, so this makes me verrrrry happy.

 

This is a lighter version than some, though, with a beautiful crystaline lunar brightness from the slightly spicy orange peel which blends just beautifully, the gorgeous savory summer herbs, a soft shimmer of amber and just enough floral sweetness to tie it all together in a beautiful bouquet.

 

This blend is an absolute perfect melding of just the right scorching summery notes and the hint and hope of autumn relief. It is richer, to my nose, than the first Red Moon, but again, I'm passionately in love with the musk, so take heed.

Azriaphale is...him. Sophisticated, light, bookish...

While musk and woods seem to pop up in the Asiatic blends a lot, this is not a white musk/bamboo sort of blend. No, these are cold notes. Wet notes. English notes. Or, maybe I'm wrong and they are Heaven's notes by way of England.

This is the sort of blend that I want to wear on a cloudy day to meld with the rain while I fix a cuppa. Or to wear for a haunt in a used book store. And that is exactly what Azriaphale would want, I should think.

Oh, Crowley, you demon, you...

This is an absolutely devilish blend - deep and rich and musky and smoldering with resinous patchouli - the firey kind, not the head shop version - leather seats, polished mahogany - Crowley wants nothing but the best.

But he has his lighter side - the touch of lemon hints at his playful side. The vanilla husk, his fondness for humanity. And always, his smooth, suave, lilac cologne.

Ohh, Crowley, he is a devil, but a delightful one for men and women of the Blood Moon, Mme. Moriarty persuasion as well. This is a blend for riding at night with the top down, listening to Queen.

This is an absolutely gorgeous blend - deep rich late summer herbs and greenery dominate on me, along with gorgeous earthy musks and just the lightest breath of the late summer florals to add a touch of feminine mystique to Allison's quiver. Because while as a witch she may have been ugly, she still was a captivating one, that Allison Gross - and her perfume is simply perfect.

Beth, darling, you have completely outdone yourself with this one.

A very beautiful feminine floral for someone who wants something just a little more exotic and...sad...than your typical scent of that category.

This blend is the absolute perfect complement to Hermia. Rich and creamy with a hint of resin, the lime and the herbs and the blackberry blend to add just a touch of mystery, a dollop of masculinity, a drop of virility...and the floral notes, on someone who can wear lilac and violet, would add just the perfect touch of the feminine. Unfortunately, I am not that person, and I weep.

Hermis is a truly beautiful blend - a light rich almost perfumey amber that sifts into light perfect powder tinged with pink pepper, and the beautiful tropical flowers, warmed with the honeysuckle. This is a gorgeous blend, although a little too feminine for my regular tastes, and I tend to amp amber beyond what I really care for - or maybe I'm just a wee bit too tall.

I am very surprised as I review the notes for this, as on me, it is very rich and sweet, not at all dank and cologney, as mosses sometimes turn on me. I thin I must be amping the musk and sweetening it with the sage and heather.

 

Either way, this is a gorgeous, almost golden scent on me, with just a hint of woodsyness around the edges - but on my skin, Robin is most definitely playing in the light. A real winner.

Odin would probably be a good starting point.

Tamamo-no-Mae is the most creamy almost edible Asian inspired blend I've ever smelled of Beth's. Which is not to say that it is foody - it is just evocative of things that are rich and delicious, without necessarily being highly caloric itself...if that makes any sense.

 

The skin musk, benzoin, tea, rice flower and ginger blend together for a smooth, clingy seductive base that reminds me just a wee bit of the cello-clear cake part of Japanese red bean cakes, steaming and hot from an Asian market. Except that the sandalwood, and sweet florals add a richness that pull this out of the realm of snack foods and into something more intreaguing entirely...this is the scent of Spirited Away, innocense bruised, not necessarily lost completely.

 

It is completely and utterly devestatingly gorgeous.

Oh...wow. This is just gorgeous.

Very light and ephemeral, I can sense hints of herbs, a wee touch of green tea and cucumber, light green woods...light light light fresh florals...this is just perfect. Mysterious, lush, delightful. I will be getting much much wear from this over the summer months.

This is a soft scent of dusky florals, with a sharp tinge of resin from the frankincense, and a sweet vanilla note from the benzoin. A nice complementary mix, very calming to erratic Gemini, yet evocative of our sometimes hidden, mysterious, playful nature.

I prefer the peppery happy tone of the original formulation of this astrological, however, this is a lovely interpretation as well and it feels very...homey to me, moreso than any of the others in this year's releases have. Which makes sense, I suppose, seeing as I am so firmly a Gemini.

A wet hoppy scent on me, mostly, warmed by the tonka and the cherry tobacco. I like this a lot - it is a very interesting, evocative scent, and the components are just perfect together.

Wow.

 

First off, you have to understand that while a love love love cherries as a fruit, and I love fruity perfume, something about the combination of cherry-scented-perfume just doesn't seem to work with my chemistry. And syrupy sweet creamy cheesecaky is not really my bag, either. Love it for bath and body products, not so much for my daily wear scent.

 

But I digress. Bloody Mary shoots all of the above all to hell.

 

It is gorgeous, sinister, rich, dark, and lush with ripe black cherries, which totally dominate the blend for me. I would have put money on them being liquor soaked, but regardless, they smell just delightful and true to life, with not a hint of plastic or anything off. These juicy treats are splashed with just enough sweet cream and sugar to take the edge off, but not enough to really alter the scent. I don't get cherry cheesecake, blessedly - the milkiness is not nearly dominant enough on me for that.

 

This is a wonderful surprise of a scent. What a treat.

Dry dry woods, dry dry dark patchouli. At first this is mostly cedar, sandalwood and dark patchouli, with a splash of fruity sweet and a hint of something more. As it warms on my skin, the sugary notes sort of breeze by - this is the perfect scent for people like me who *want* to like the other Monster Baits, but find them too cloying - there's a whiff of sugary caramelly puppetry here, but not enough to make me feel like I'm wearing a bakery.

 

Just delightful!

This smells to me a bit like those puffy spun sugary mint candies that you can get by the spoonful by the door at some Italian restaurants - you know, the classic type with the red and white checkered table cloths and candles with nets on them...

 

I originally didn't order this, because I figured, I have most of a bottle of Snowblind, plus both versions of Lick It/Again...why do I need another candy-mint scent, right? But, when the opportunity to swap for a bottle came up, I figured what the heck.

 

And you know - this might be my favorite of the bunch.

 

I love those little candies.

 

I need to compare this side by side with Snowblind, my off the top of my head, I'd say that this is a cooler scent. Not the "perfect" vanilla mint, but a more edible one, definitely. There is a more foody feel to this scent, a more candy-sweet aftertaste if you will.

Damn. Damndamndamn. Don't know if it's myrrh, am beginning to suspect it's benzoin, but something in this turns into deep, rich, smokey incencey...baby powder.

 

It should be so dark, and rich and velvety and gorgeous. But my chemistry does something stupid.

 

Damn.

 

Have I said that already?

Wow, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous blend - one of the first caramel blends I've been able to wear, perhaps because here the caramel doesn't dominate, but just adds a hint of sweetness to the rich shimmering darkness of the moss, herbs, tobacco, vetiver and lime.

 

I am finding it very hard to describe this, except that I love it. It is rich and earthy and sensual, with enough sweetness to keep it from becoming harsh.

Interestingly, I get less chocolate out of this version of 13 than I have out of any previous. There is a rich sweetness here, but mostly, it is the wonderful ethereal mysterious scent of an Indian sweet shop - the cloves and the cardamom and the herbs (I could have sworn I scented roiboos or green tee in here, but that must just have been the herbal bits) making for a wonderful cacophony of scent.

 

This is not a scent that clings to me, however...a friend of mine was in town when I got this bottle and this scent melds with her chemistry like it was made for her. So I think I shall be sending it to her as a gift. An evil, evil, enabling gift.

This is a very flowery blend on me, with a tinge of vanilla and tonka and a breath of honeyed rose...but mostly I get peony and iris from this, which make for a lovely rich round floral scent, but not one I can wear well, unfortunately.