Little Bird

I was curious about the tomato in this, but it's mostly chocolate, pink pepper and thyme to my nose. Kinda reminds me of the August 2010 Thirteen with pink pepper (which, unfortunately, smelled like scented markers and spicy bubblegum on me), but the chocolate feels darker and less artificial, and the thyme gives it a green, herbal edge. Warm, spicy, strange, herbal chocolate. I'm happy that I got to try this, but it's not something I'll need to track down more of.

I think that this is my favorite of the set of Tanuki scents (probably the only decant I'll keep from the bunch, though I'm going to set it aside for my husband and not myself). It pretty much smells exactly as described. The cypress sap has a pine/evergreen smell to me, with a bit of woodsmoke and hints of sweet anise and myrrh. There's a bit of clean, slightly sharp muskiness on me as it dries down as well. I don't find that this one has a lot of throw, but it's a light, cozy, foresty scent that I do like quite a bit on my hubby.

I like my rose blends to be sweeter and more on the airy, fresh, dewy smelling side of things. Even with the honey, I find that The Balcony isn't sweet enough for me, as the rose has a perfumey sharpness with a background that is mostly a smoky, gritty, earthy combo (vetiver + patchouli). It's a dry, perfumey, smoky sort of rose on my skin. Smells a bit like charred wood on me.

A couple that came to mind while reading your list of likes: *The Antikythera Mechanism (Steamworks) - "Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco." *Perversion (Ars Amatoria) - "Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka." *Rumpelstilzchen (Marchen) - "Firewood and ash with an oddly otherworldly blend of patchouli, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, tonka, vetiver, and myrrh."

This is mostly a sour jasmine, green juniper/cypress, and dusty, dry wood scent on my skin. Settles into a dry, sour sort of floral scent, too heavy on the jasmine and woods for me.

I expected this to be sweeter with the black currant and myrrh, but I can't really pick out either of those notes. Nightmare leans towards being slightly soapy and more sharply herbal on my skin, like a mix of perfumey floral and herbal lavender mixed into a bar soap. The drydown is a little softer and slightly powdery, and I think I can pick out a gentle, earthy note from the oakmoss. Not my favorite lavender scent.

Very sharp and unpleasant . Albopictus kinda smells like perfume alcohol and reminds me a bit of bugspray. I normally love tomato leaf and geranium, but there's something bitter and herby about this that doesn't smell like either of those notes to me. As it dries down, I get more of the thick, sweet, warm beeswax & honey notes, but it's still mostly a sharp alcohol smell. I'm not sure what in this is turning so sharp and funky on me, because I'm normally fond of almost all of the notes in this, but this one isn't a keeper for me.

Passion Butterfly mostly smells like a slightly bitter, citrussy, lightly herbal orange blossom on me (which I think is the petitgrain?). As it dries down, the amber gives it a baby powdery base, but it's mostly a citrus, blossoms, & herbal smell that really does remind me of butterflies. A creamy and delicate scent that doesn't have a lot of throw on me. I like this, though I prefer Tweedledee for a stronger, sweeter orange blossom scent.

I really only picked up a bottle of this one for the label. Iris, lemon, red currant, coriander and cilantro are all potential Notes of Disaster for me, so I didn't have much hope for this scent. But it's not so bad. It's mostly iris and lemon with a little bit of anise and white musk. The lemon part of this reminds me of Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, like it's somewhere between lemon ice and lemon flavored gummi bears. But the iris makes it more perfumey and sharp and less edible smelling. As it dries down, it's less sharp and turns slightly baby powdery, and I can smell a hint of the anise as well (but it's just a small amount of anise; I'm not sure I'd even notice it was here at all if I wasn't searching it out). After an hour, it's just a hint of something like faint lemon dish soap on my skin. I like my lemon scents to be sweeter and paired with vanilla, so this one doesn't work for me, but it isn't awful.

I'm not sure about this one; it morphs a lot on my skin. First on, this is like the best chocolate and orange truffle ever. It's like a rich cocoa powder truffle with a warm, sunny orange citrus. Decadent and sweet. But it has an undertone that reminds me of savory meat and pizza spice. Sort of herby-spicy. After only five minutes, I get no orange at all and only a hint of the cocoa. It goes through a phase where it's mostly a dark and smoky tobacco and the herby-spicy part reminds me of burning sage. About a half hour in, I can see aphrodite's comparison to Angel Innocent, as it kinda reminds me of Angel and Angel Innocent as well. Something about it smells a little like patchouli and a little like the powdery, nutty, warm sweetness of Angel Innocent. But it still has an undertone of pizza spice on me :/ All in all, Ruddy Daggerwing is like a mix of good + strange and disjointed on me. I love half of it, but it's like there's always something just slightly off putting about it. ETA: I gave this a full wear tonight and my husband absolutely hated it on me he said it smelled like 'burnt coffee - just all wrong.' I was surprised, because I didn't tell him that it had coffee as a listed note, and I can't really smell the coffee myself. But there you have it.

When I first read the list of notes for this one, it just sounded like a jumbled mess of everything to me. I can't pick out most of the listed notes, though. It's mostly a powdery, sour floral and incense smell on my skin. The floral part reminds me of jasmine more than lily or violet, and the copal and tobacco seem to be giving it a smoky incense undertone. As it dries down, something in this goes very baby powdery on me. It's like baby powder, sour jasmine and bergamot, and a whiff of incense smoke. Gives me a headache after a while

For some reason, White Peacock smells a lot like Cathedral on me, even though it doesn't seem to have any resin notes. It smells like sweet resins and glossy wood. I was intrigued by all of the comparisons to Banshee Beat, but I'm not getting a strong patchouli or really any vanilla from this one. It's mostly woods, and it quickly dries down to a light, sweet-ish wood smell that fades really quickly on me. Doesn't have much throw, and only lasts about an hour on me. I feel 'meh' about this one. It's not bad, but I have better, stronger, more complex woods blends...

Two-Barred Flasher smells pretty much exactly like I was hoping it would. It's a great mix of sweet notes and sharper, more perfumey notes that keep it from being too sweet on me. The orris root has that cool, powdery, sugar-dusted-floral sweetness, the lilac is a bit more sharp and perfumey than sweet (but still noticeably lilac), and the mix of blueberry and citrussy bergamot & tea smells like real berries on me rather than candy. It's sort of a dusky, sugared fruity-floral. Like a sexy date night floral with sweet berry and dark cotton candy, if that makes any sense. I have good luck with bpal's orris and lilac notes, and this works out beautifully for me. I feel like it's been a while since I really fell in love with a bpal scent, but this one is a love for me <3

Heavy, slightly powdery lavender with a darker, sweeter edge from the tobacco. I'm not getting the geranium, vetiver or lotus that I can pick out.

I like lilac scents, but I'm not getting much lilac from Strings. I thought that I picked up the wrong decant when I first put this on, because it was sharp and lemony, but I see that most of the other reviews have mentioned lemon as well. Lemon and herby sage with a floral edge that threatens to turn soapy on me, but just lends an overall clean feeling to the blend. Bright and clean, and a little too sharp for me.

This starts off and soapy on my skin, like a mix of sour, sharp pine and soapy floral. I was worried that it would stay sour and off smelling (like the 2008 version is on me), but the drydown after about 15 minutes is nicer and more like dry wood with dry, green herbs and herbal lavender. The dragon's blood, I think, is giving it a floral undertone. It's light and doesn't have much throw on me as it settles, but is probably a bit too herbal and soft for my tastes anyhow.

I think that this is my least favorite Lace so far (eta: not true, Autumn Lace is now my least favorite, this series keeps getting worse) I slathered this on and it doesn't seem to have much throw on me. It starts off as a sharp, chemical-y, drugstore musk smell with hints of something minty and something like dead leaves or dry wood. As it dries down, it smells exactly like nailpolish remover, but with an undertone of sharp smoke and black licorice :/ I've had scents that started off smelling like nailpolish remover, but that went away in the drydown, but this actually turns into a nailpolish remover scent and sticks around for a good 3 hours (though it doesn't have a lot of throw on me, at least). I guess that it's realistic in that it actually smells like alcohol, but I don't find it wearable. I'll see how my bottle ages, but I'm not a fan of this one at the moment. I love black licorice, but the hard alcohol side makes me smell like I've dumped a bottle of nailpolish remover on myself, which is way too harsh and chemical-y for me. ETA: I'm getting rid of all of my Lace bottles, except for Black Lace. Absinthe & Lace is getting worse with age instead of better. It's very wormwood dominant (which smells so weird on me, like rotting wood and taco seasoning and just all around bad). Drydown smells like burnt rubber, nailpolish remover, and weird spice. Very gross on me...

At first, this 13 smells almost identical to The Last Unicorn. The chocolate has an earthy edge to it, and there are lots of perfumey florals and a hint of sharp greenery. It smells a bit sour on my skin. The drydown isn't as funky, but it's still a very sharp, perfumey white floral that reminds me of cheap drugstore perfumes. And the chocolate/sweetness just doesn't smell right to me. It's an odd scent that reminds me of eating a piece of chocolate with perfume on my hands, and getting that bad taste in my mouth. I normally love carnation, rose, tiare, heather, orchid, and peony, but this is like a white floral disaster on me

Lavanila's Vanilla Grapefruit has been one of my favorite scents lately, and I do enjoy lily scents, so I was excited to try this one. But this isn't really sweet enough on me (I don't get the vanilla at all) and turns a little too sharp and perfumey for my tastes. There's an edge of cool, clean creaminess from the rice wine, but mostly this is a sharp, tart grapefruit with perfumey floral. I prefer Cheshire Cat for a sweet bpal grapefruit. Starts off strong on my skin, but fades a lot after the half hour mark, and I can barely smell anything at all after an hour.

My skin chemistry seems full of fail lately. This smells like baby powder, black vetiver and a whiff of perfumey-floral soap on me (why? I have no clue). Dries down super powdery on my skin.

Tanuki No Kanban is a pretty, light, buttery, spicy-sweet sort of scent on me. It's a cozy fall scent to my nose. The almond isn't turning to overwhelming red cherry note on me, though there is a fruitiness here (not sure if it's the persimmon or almond that is giving me the fruity impression). Mostly this smells like brown sugar or maple syrup, cinnamon, and a woody, toasty warm nuttiness. It reminds me of a less complex, lighter version of Horse Chestnut Honey and Nut Crack Night. Dries down to a slightly powdery musk and sweet cinnamon that doesn't have much throw on me. I think I'll keep my decant for cooler weather, but I'm not sure if I'll ever reach for this over the Horse Chestnut Honey blend.

Breathless Horror smells like some sort of herbal, medicinal salve to me. The ice and mint give it a mentholic feel and the carrot and camphor have a bitter, herbal, slightly earthy quality. Not good on me.

Wake smells very medicinal on me. I think the mix of citrus and mint is reminding me of cough drops, with the tuberose giving it a sharper, perfumey edge. Something turns soapy on me in the drydown. The citrus and sharp, high pitched notes of this one give me a headache

Bpal's opium notes tend to be very sharp and harsh on me, but I thankfully don't get any opium from this. I can't really pick out most of the listed notes, actually, and this isn't as dark a scent as I was expecting. Dream is a very herbal smelling lavender, and goes a bit baby powdery and sweeter in the drydown. It's very light and only lasts about an hour on my skin. It's a scent that I might like in a bath product, but not so much as a perfume.

I prefer a sweet, juicy peach note in perfumes (more like a candy and canned peaches smell), and this is more of a fresh, watery peach skin and perfumey floral scent. It's a light, more commercial/department store smelling, perfumey fruity-floral. As it dries down, I think it's the mango that's giving this a hint of tart, sweet fruitiness on my skin. But it's mostly a watery, bland peach and perfumey white floral scent. I much prefer Tamora and Aglaea for peach, but those are sweeter peach scents. Tanuki No Orai reminds me more of Peach Moon and Belle Vinu.