Little Bird

In the vial, this smells like powdery incense and sweet, juicy, dark fruits. On my skin at first, this is on the verge of being too powdery on me, but I like what's going on underneath the baby powder. It smells like baby powder, dry sandalwood and sticky, dark fruits with a hint of sensual orange blossom. Over time, it's more baby powder than anything else. I so love the fruit & orange blossom notes while they last, though. I'm surprised at how light this is on me. It doesn't have much throw and fades within an hour on my skin. I probably won't keep my decant. As much as I love the fruit and floral in this, it's just too powdery overall for me.

The Ugh massage oil makes more sense to me than the perfume oil. I wasn't sure about rubbing straight perfume oil into my sore muscles, and it seemed like I'd go through 5mls pretty quickly doing so. I still don't care for the smell of this at first, like lemon menthol cough drops. After this sits on my skin for a minute, though, it smells like a sweet orange oil, and it's actually very pleasant. I think there's a little bit of cooling sensation as well, though I wish that were stronger & longer lasting. The massage oils leave my skin feeling a bit sticky, so I tend to shower after using them. I think that my favorite is still TKO (and Mineral Ice, lol). TKO helps my sore muscles just as much, and I find the smell more soothing. Mineral Ice is just freezing, numbing goodness. ETA: I actually have had sore muscles and a bruise to test this out on the past couple days. Unfortunately, I haven't noticed this helping at all, and I was mistaken in thinking that this had a cooling sensation. I've been rubbing this all over my sore legs (and not even showering afterwards) and I don't notice a cooling sensation at all. My bruises haven't healed any faster than usual either, and this works just as good for soothing muscles as any plain massage does for me. I'd probably only recommend this if you like the medicinal, sweet orange scent that it has.

I can't wear the lab's honey, ylang yang, or almond notes, but I've realized that what I hate on my skin, I generally love as a room scent. And I do really like Lupanar. This doesn't have quite as much throw as the rest of my room sprays, though it does last quite a while (several days) if it's sprayed on linens/pillows. I can normally do one spritz of atmosphere spray in our guest bathroom and the scent spreads all throughout our house, and is crazy-strong in the room it was directly sprayed in. This one seems to stay in the room that it was sprayed in, and is a lot lighter. It starts off smelling like warm, toasted almonds and slightly earthy honey, and it dries down to mostly sweet honey with very slight hints of toasted warmth and something incensey. The honey is definitely the main player in Lupanar. This smells sweet, exotic, and very pretty. I think that it's a rather inviting home fragrance. And I love the gorgeous pattern of reds on the label. I'm really glad that I went ahead and bought a bottle.

In the bottle, this smells sickly sweet and powdery. It actually reminds me of tropical punch drink powder. Perhaps the nectarine is giving me that fruity impression. I was sure that I would hate this after smelling it in the bottle, but it's actually very pretty on my skin at first. All of the notes swirl together and give off an impression of a sweetly scented rose dusting powder. Honeyed rose scented powder. In the drydown, it's not quite as soft or good on me. The rose goes very sharp and perfumey, and the other notes go into hiding. In the end, Maud is too sharp of a rose for me. I have so many rose blends that I already love; this one just isn't a standout for me (especially since it starts to give me a headache after a while).

In the bottle, this smells like a dark, deep, rich, spicy, gorgeous incense. It makes me swoon. It has the same feel for me as blends like Schwarzer Mond. I amp rose, but this isn't strongly rose-like on me. I get a hint of deep red, sour, spicy rose, and the sour qualities of it somehow smell gorgeous mixed with the other notes. The rose gives the blend a nice 'lift,' if that makes sense. This is spicy, dark, serious, ultra sexy love. I get lots of the delicious, dry clove. It's so different from White Rose's innocent, bright sweetness. I usually amp up rose so that it drowns out all of the other notes in a blend, but White Rose doesn't smell rose-like to me at all, and the rose in Red actually stays in the background & gives the other notes a chance to shine. Layered together ~ I much prefer wearing Red Rose & White Rose on their own instead of layered together. Together, they seem to wash each other out. The sweetness of White Rose is more subdued, but the sexy spiciness of Red Rose disappears. On my skin, the Red Rose is much stronger than the White Rose blend as well. If I layer them together, I have to apply Red Rose with a light hand and slather on more of the White Rose. I can't seem to strike a good balance between the two with my skin chemistry. On their own, each of the rose blends is distinctive, strong, and beautiful (though White Rose can be a bit too sweet for me at times). Together, they morph into a faint, boring, light, sweet rose on me. Still, I adore them separately and I think that this is such a gorgeous set & a lovely idea to offer for Valentine's Day. I wish that I could afford to buy another set or two

In the bottle, this is very light and very sweet. It makes me think of Dorian mixed with gummi bears. On my skin, it's much the same, but stronger & with much better throw. This is such a sweet scent on me that it could be cloying at times. I think that I'm getting all vanilla tea and none of the other notes. It makes me think of a much, much sweeter Dorian with a hint of gummi bears. It's such a gorgeous, innocent sort of fragrance. I may not be able to pull off its sweetness all the time, but I can still see myself wearing this a lot. I usually amp up rose so that it drowns out all of the other notes in a blend, but White Rose doesn't smell rose-like to me at all, and the rose in Red actually stays in the background & gives the other notes a chance to shine. Layered together ~ I much prefer wearing Red Rose & White Rose on their own instead of layered together. Together, they seem to wash each other out. The sweetness of White Rose is more subdued, but the sexy spiciness of Red Rose disappears. On my skin, the Red Rose is much stronger than the White Rose blend as well. If I layer them together, I have to apply Red Rose with a light hand and slather on more of the White Rose. I can't seem to strike a good balance between the two with my skin chemistry. On their own, each of the rose blends is distinctive, strong, and beautiful (though White Rose can be a bit too sweet for me at times). Together, they morph into a faint, boring, light, sweet rose on me. Still, I adore them separately and I think that this is such a gorgeous set & a lovely idea to offer for Valentine's Day. I wish that I could afford to buy another set or two

Giant Vulva smells like clean musk, honey, and dried flowers in the vial. It's not as sweet as I was expecting; it has more of a clean feel. On my skin, this launches into a crazy strong, perfumey musk. It's really sharp on me, and I smell something like sour lemon underneath the musk. The honey, sugar, beeswax, and vanilla seem to have abandoned me. I usually amp up honey, and it's nowhere to be found. After a half hour, this is still sharp, sort of like cheap hairspray. It's all bad musk and strange lemony something. The honey has creeped in a little, and the honey + lemon smells medicinal and makes me think of cough drops. This scent has amazing staying power & throw, but it's too sharp and musky for me.

This smells great in the bottle and in my bath water, but I'm not so sure about the scent that it leaves on my skin after the bath (or if I just rub it directly on to my skin). In the bottle, this is ultra sexy, exotic vanilla. In the bath, the red musk warms up the vanilla and the patchouli adds a gorgeous earthiness. It really is a sexy fragrance. On my skin, though, the fruits make this kind of sour and off smelling, and I get the weird tortilla chip note that others have mentioned. Then, after about ten minutes, it softens again and just leaves hints of red musk and patchouli. All in all, I like this once I get past the sour fruit stage.

I can't smell any orange blossom in Khrysee. This starts off as a powdery, creamy, sweet scent on me (at times, a bit too sweet). The amber smells like baby powder and a hint of sandalwood on me. It's as though someone covered the powdery amber in cream and a bit of sugar. Over time, this gets a bit less baby powdery and more sultry. It starts to smell smoky and kinda incensey on me for some reason. Sultry, thick, sweet vanilla, smoke, incense, and a touch of powder. All in all, I like this blend. At times I can see it being too sweet, too powdery, or too smoky, but I really like it for layering with other scents. I've layered it with Tweedledee to get some orange blossom & cut through the cloying/heavier aspects of Khrysee, and it's really lovely. I can imagine this being nice layered with lots of other blends.

Epistrophia really isn't as bad on me as I thought that it would be, and I tried it on fully expecting to hate it. The lab's iris note almost always kills blends for me by morphing them into a sharp mess, and I don't tend like ylang ylang or the lab's amber notes. But this is really pretty on me . It's like a soft, purple floral smell. Florals often smell dry or musky-sharp to me, but orchid tends to smell juicy and alive to me, if that makes any sense. The combination of the orchid & violet conjures up an image of fresh purple lilies with smooth, waxy petals. It's a soft, delicate scent on me (which is probably why it makes me think of lily). The frankincense & amber add a nice, resinous sweetness that isn't going powdery. This feels like a gorgeous night time floral. It just has a dark feel for me. My favorite floral for night is Evening Star, but Epistrophia is going to be a close second. I'm glad to have a bottle of this one.

In the bottle, this smells like men's cologne with a cloying, warm, powdery amber note and cool, clean lavender. The more that I smell it, the more that it seems unbearably dry and powdery. On me, it's dry, powdery something and a sharp, perfumey musk with an overall feel of men's colonge. As it dries down, this has a slightly better stage. The powdery aspect calms down and fades & this loses a lot of its initial sharpness. It's hard for me to think of any real way to describe this, though. It smells like men's cologne, musky and cool. I can't pick out any of the listed notes except for a musk and perhaps a clean, sweet, slightly herbal lavender. Clean, masculine musk. After a half hour, it morphs back into smelling like baby powder, with a sudden added note of burnt rubber. This one isn't working for me.

In the bottle, this smells like my perfume hell. It's loads of sharp, perfumey floral and musky ambergris. I can smell the sweet tea rose in there as well. I like tea rose, but not when it's paired with sharp florals and musk. It's just way too much for me. On me, the plumeria goes soapy and the rose amps up into a perfumey, musky mess. It's like rose soap paired with a sharp, musky perfume. I can't wear this one. It's too sharp, too floral, too soapy, and too musky. It's one of those blends that winds up feeling very suffocating & heavy to me.

Dia reminds me of Ebisu, especially at first (perhaps because of the clean musk and oakmoss that they both share). It's a clean, fuzzy, lightly green sort of smell. In the drydown, this takes on a very pretty, tropical feel. It makes me smell like I'm fresh from the shower with skin that still smells slightly soapy & warm, and I've spritzed on a bit of musky coconut perfume. The coconut isn't the sort that reminds me of suntan lotion at all. It's very nice. Dia is a surprise favorite for me from the Odes series . It's a clean, subtle, tropical scent that I think I'll be wearing a lot this summer.

In the bottle, this smells like fruit, honey, musk, and baby powder. On my skin, it's pretty much all powder. Even my boy smelled it and said that it just smelled like baby powder to him, and he's not a fan. After a few hours, the honey comes back, but it's a light, creamy honey underneath the powder. It reminds me of some sort of Burt's Bees honey lotion that I had once, but covered in baby powder. Man With Phallus Head isn't going to be a keeper for me. My boy and I aren't fans of baby powdery scents.

Melainis starts off amazing on me and gets slowly less and less awesome over the course of an hour. It starts off smelling like what I had wished Formula 54 would smell like. It makes me think of dark, crowded clubs, excess, and sex. The tobacco is dark and sensual, and I normally hate tobacco scents. The clove is a hint of spiciness. There's an overall feel of sticky cola that makes me think of spilled rum and coke. I catch a bit of anise in there as well, fading in and out. Even the black musk is playing nice and smells cool and sexy. It's dark, mysterious and stunning. As it dries down, it starts to smell like a good dark amber scent with dry woods and a bit of resinous sweetness. It loses its complexity but still isn't bad on me. After a half hour, though, this is like dry hay, and it's not good at all anymore. It's just dry, simple, and bland. I love Melainis so much at the start and then it morphs into something completely lackluster. I'll have to try this one in a scent locket or something.

In the bottle and on my skin, this isn't very good. I once cleaned wet, moldy curtains out of an apartment, an apartment that had just had a fire. The smell of this is like a memory of that burnt wood and moldy curtains. In the drydown, this starts to smell ozone-y fresh and soapy clean, like someone covered the moldy curtains in laundry soap. I expected a dark, woodsy, resinous scent from this, and it's really soapy-clean, fresh, and tangy smelling on me, with just a bit of smoke and mold. I don't care for this one.

I instantly loved Symmakhia in the bottle. It reminds me of Monster Bait: Underpants in the bottle, which I guess is the creamy, sweet vanilla-sandalwood combo. On my skin, it goes slightly powdery at first and the fruit and floral notes start to peek in around the edges. After a few minutes, this starts to morph into a warm, sweet vanilla, baby powder, and a dark, soured, almost resinous rose that makes me think of Pulcinella & Teresina. It's very exotic, and darker smelling on me than I thought that it would be. I was afraid of the grape note, but I don't smell any grape and wouldn't say that this is fruity at all in the drydown. I amp rose, and after fifteen minutes, this is almost all rose. It's interesting how it goes from smelling sweet, light, and powdery to such a rich, dark rose fragrance. I have a partial bottle of this and that will be enough for me. I actually wish that I didn't amp rose so much, so that the other notes had more of a chance here. It's a gorgeous rose, but I have so many rose scents in my collection already. Actually, the drydown of this smells very similar to Arcana's single note "Black Rose," but I actually prefer the Black Rose single note over Symmakhia.

This starts off nicely resinous and mysterious smelling on me, but my skin chemistry amps rose like mad, so the resins disappear within five to ten minutes. After the death of the resins, Eustephanos dries down to a dry, slightly sour, classic rose perfume smell on me. The amber adds a touch of baby powder and the pomegranate adds a hint of bitter, tart fruitiness. I like my roses to be light, sugared, and fresh smelling. This is a little too dry, perfumey, and tart for my tastes. It's a heavy, stuffy sort of scent on me, and probably not one I'll be keeping.

Tuberose + ambergris turn this into a sharp, musky, perfumey hell on my skin. I can smell citrus in the drydown, but the bitter citrus notes do nothing to smooth out the sharp floral and musk for me. Something in this starts to smell like soapy dryer sheets after a while. This fades fast on me, but I don’t like it at all while it sticks around.

The champagne completely took over in Champagne & Cigars and Champagne, Chocolate and Cheap Sex, but the rose in this blend manages to finally subdue the champagne. Of course, I amp rose like mad. This is probably my favorite of the champagne scents, even though this one isn't very 'me' either. I tend to favor girly, soft, sugary roses, and this is more of an aggressive, perfumey, grown up rose. I do really like the feel of this one, though. It smells expensive and elegant - a little black dress sort of scent. It’s sharp and sure of itself. The rose is a little sour on me and threatens to go soapy at first, though it never quite makes it (thankfully). The champagne adds a nice little sparkle underneath the rose for the first fifteen minutes or so, before it just starts to smell clean on my skin. I wind up with clean, bright champagne and a perfumey rose. It disappears after 3 hours or so. I have a lot of rose blends, and this one is a bit too sharp for my tastes. I don't need to try to find a bottle of this, but I'll probably hold on to my decant. I like to smell it, because it conjures up images of fancy parties and sleek dresses... I'm just not sure that I like it on me.

Eau de Ghoul is strange on me. I wonder if this has some sort of bitter grapefruit to it. It has an odd, sweaty, BO smell that I sometimes get from grapefruit oils. It starts off very citrussy and funky smelling. In the drydown, the earthier notes start creeping in. I can smell smoky leather, soil, and a metallic weirdness that's probably the blood. I can smell more and more of the cinnamon and spice when this dries down, and it starts to burn my skin wherever I apply it. I guess this is a spicy-earthy-citrus on me, but mostly it smells very bitter & dirty on my skin.

Gah. This is gross gross GROSS to me . It's powdery like baby powder, but not as clean and soft smelling as baby powder. It's like baby powder that has been absorbed into really greasy, sweaty hair, with a tiny hint of sour, urine-like lemon cleanser. Absolutely awful...

When first applied, this is almost all champagne with a bit of gritty, smoky tobacco cutting through the sweetness. After a half hour, I can't pick out the tobacco at all and this is fading fast. This blend smells sweeter on me than the Roses or Cheap Sex, which surprises me. It’s like a dry candy smell combined with a bit of sharp cleaning fluid and the sour quality of the champagne (makes me think of poisoned candy). All in all, the Champagne scents seem like blends that I wouldn’t wear very often. The champagne note is a bit too sour/off for me.

I don't get any greenery or sharpness from The Rose. Oddly, when I first apply this, all I can smell is apple. It smells like biting into a perfect, crisp, cool, bright red apple. Given a few minutes to settle, The Rose smells like the softest, pale pink rose mixed with crisp, sweet, red apple on me. After fifteen minutes or so, it takes on an added cool, clean quality that reminds me of Sleepy Moon's lavender. This isn't green or overly rose smelling on my skin, and I normally amp up rose. I really love this blend and how it plays out on my skin. Whatever is in this is really working with my skin chemistry. I definitely want a full bottle at some point. -- My review after buying a bottle in early 2012: This smells nothing like the original sample that I have (that I got directly from the lab, and the bottle is also purchased directly from the lab). It looks like I've been screwed over with another 'variation' . My bottle of The Rose smells like perfumey, sour rose (it does remind me of Rose Red, which never works on me) that is dusty and bone-dry. It actually smells dirty and sour on my skin. Not happy at all with this one...

I usually enjoy peach, red sandalwood, and vanilla scents, but all three of those notes seem to die a horrible death on my skin. Belle Vinu is all sharp, perfumey, strong white floral on me (the osmanthus?). I can smell hints of vanilla and rosewood underneath the perfumey floral, and they're gorgeous, but I can't stand the overall sharpness. I don't get any peach or fruitiness from this. After a half hour, I had to scrub this one off. It's such a strong, aggressive floral on me