Little Bird

I don't have great luck with the lunacy blends, but I always like the Harvest Moons (*love* 05 and 06) and love how different each year's version has been. Harvest Moon 2011 goes on smelling of fruits and spiced wine, mainly, and quickly dries down to smelling like roasted, sugared nuttiness with hints of autumn leaves, spices, and sweet berry. There's a nice, fresh, cool air feel as well. It smells nice and harvest-y with a good mix of autumn leaf, spices, sweetness, and fruit. I don't think it'll replace 05 and 06 as a favorite, but I'm glad I got a partial bottle of this.

I usually love patchouli, but this seems to have the same thin, sour smelling patchouli that's in #occupywallstreet. I don't care for it, as it smells soured on me, not rich and earthy. I didn't get any chocolate from the occupy scent, but this has a light whiff of chocolate as it dries down, and maybe a hint of warmth from the spices. I was hoping that this would get better and more complex with age, but my bottle is heavier on the patchouli and turning more sour. There are definitely patchouli scents that I like a lot more, and my go-to patchoulis lately are from Reminiscence Paris and Smell Bent. La Mano winds up smelling like a very cheap patchouli on me...

In the bottle, this is like creamy, slightly bubblegummy lotus and Juicy Fruit gum smell. I can pick out a bit of the pink pepper, which always smells odd to me (like Juicy Fruit gum, for some reason) and perfumey tuberose. On my skin, it's the same, but with a bit of baby powder from the amber. I thought that it would be okay for the first few minutes, and then it goes intensely sharp and perfumey-floral on me in the drydown. The tuberose amps up like mad and the whole thing starts to smell like chemical hair spray on me. Blech. Vanilla, patchouli, and clove are nowhere to be found

In the bottle, this smells like fizzy toilet cleanser :/ The mix of fizzy champagne and sharp, chemical-y citrus just smells awful to me. On my skin, it's much the same, but with honey that smells really off in this blend. It adds a sickly sweetness underneath the cleanser smell that makes me think of, well, pee... The Grendel blends all smell off to me

First on, the mix of lilac and resins here makes for a syrupy-sweet, dark, resinous smell that reminds me of opoponax. The black musk is both slightly smoky and slightly powdery on me, and forms the background to the super-sweet floral and incense. As it dries down, something in this turns slightly sour on me, and it's just too much. Too much powder, too much sweetness, too much sour smokiness... it's a very cloying scent on me, and one that I scrubbed off after about a half hour.

In the bottle this smells mostly of jasmine. It's like a vanilla-d, slightly smoky jasmine. Reminds me of Follow Me Boy a bit. On my skin, the jasmine amps up and turns slightly sour (which doesn't happen with Follow Me Boy) and the whole thing gets too perfumey and headache-inducing. The amber adds a touch of baby powder and there's a bit of resinous sweetness from the opoponax, but mostly a perfumey, slightly sour jasmine. I had high hopes for this, but the jasmine gives me a headache. I don't smell any leather, orange blossom, woods, or plum in this.

I love masculine scents, vanilla, and ambergris, so I had high hopes for this. And it doesn't live up to those hopes. Prince Lir is a pale, perfumey sort of scent on me. I can't smell much of anything in the bottle, and it's incredibly light on my skin as well. It's like a hint of perfumey, sharp musk and sour, green pine & sour citrus that's left over from a perfume applied several hours ago. Not much throw at all, and only lasts about an hour on my skin. I don't smell any vanilla or sweetness I'm majorly disappointed with this blend...

I'd definitely recommend checking out these: *The Antikythera Mechanism (Steamworks) - "Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco." *Bloodlust (Diabolus) - "Dragon's blood essence, heavy red musk, Indonesian patchouli and swarthy vetiver with a drop of cinnamon." *Cathedral (Sin & Salvation) - "Venerable and solemn: the scent of incense smoke wafting through an ancient church. A true ecclesiatical blend of pure resins." Lovely resins and woods mix. *Depraved (Ars Amatoria) - "Earthy black patchouli swelling with apricot." My favorite for showcasing the black patchouli note, which is very dark and earthy. *Ekhidna (Diabolus) - "All the corruptions of the earth: mandrake, dark myrrh, seaweed, swampy moss, black pepper, pimento, opoponax, tobacco absolute, and tarry clove." *Fenris Wolf (Diabolus) - "Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood." *Greed (Sin & Salvation) - "Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss." *El Dorado (Wanderlust) - "Copal resin incense blowing through halls of dazzling gold." I find this to be an absolutely amazing, dark mix of incense, earth, and spiciness. *Snake Oil (Ars Amatoria) - "A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla." *Umbra (Bewitching Brews) - "East African black patchouli, cedarwood, vetiver and a dribble of cinnamon." *Voodoo (Bewitching Brews) - "A deep, powerful, resonant blend of myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond and clove." And if you're interested in picking up some non-impable bottles or tracking down decants from the forum: *Hygeia (Limited Edition) - "Red musk and red amber, sweet incense, Mysore sandalwood, tobacco absolute, golden musk, orris root, frankincense, and helichrysum." *The Ifrit (Neil Gaiman - American Gods) - "Desert sand, red musk, blackened ginger, dragon's blood resin, black pepper, cinnamon, and tobacco." *Samhainophobia (Limited Edition) - "Menacing Haitian vetiver, patchouli, and clove with a shock of bourbon geranium, grim oakmoss, and dread-inspiring balsams pierce the innocuous scent of autumn leaves." *The Smiling Spider (The Salon) - "Bitter clove, black musk, mahogany wood, and patchouli." *Tombeur (VILF) - "Deadly and seductive: vanilla-infused sandalwood, blood musk, antique patchouli, vetiver, lavender, bitter almond, amber, and a trickle of Snake Oil." I didn't like this when I first got it, but let it sit for a month or two and it settles into a complex, dark, sexy scent with just the right amount of sweetness.

Chinese Prints - Spring - *Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree (The Salon): "Cherry blossom, blue lilac, lavender monofloral honey, white sandalwood, and Asian pear." Chinese Prints - Summer - *Sea of Glass (Sin & Salvation) or Banded Sea Snake when the Carnaval returns. Chinese Prints - Autumn - *Sunflower (The Salon) - "Sunflower bouquet, black amber, creeping black moss, wilted greenery, and scorched, dry stems." Or Al-Shairan (Excolo) - "His scent is fiery, bright and thick with sweet sinfulness: clove, peach and orange with cinnamon, patchouli and dark incense notes." Chinese Prints - Winter - *Cloister Graveyard in the Snow (The Salon) - "Three white musks, ozone, frankincense, mint." Gold Eagle - *El Dorado (Wanderlust) - "Copal resin incense blowing through halls of dazzling gold." Or Greed (Sin & Salvation) - "Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss." Blue Hummingbirds - *Good (RPG) - "Shimmering celestial musk with vanilla, white honey, acacia, and sugar cane." The Real Princess - *Aeval (Bewitching Brews) - "sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka."

Kostnice really smells like dill on me, but I think it's discontinued now...

I was hoping that this would be a bit more unique/exotic than it is to my nose. The list of notes sounds dreamy, but the notes mix together and just smell sort of vague and spicy-sweet to me. I can't really pick out the sandalwood, black pepper, coconut sugar, or licorice that I was most excited about. Exotic Bazaar smells like a spice scented autumn candle, with a bit of a warm, slightly powdery, resinous edge from the amber. My husband said that it smelled like 'apple cider candle.' It's nice enough, but probably not something I'll purchase a full size of.

Evil Temple is oddly spicy and manly at first, like a spicy men's cologne, and I think the wormwood and moss are giving off a bitter, sour quality that I'm not enjoying. I like the earthy, woody, resinous part of this, but there's a bitter sharpness to the blend that just doesn't work for me. ETA: I tried this again today (going through and selling a lot of my unloved room sprays) and this smells very different from when I first had it. I'm not sure if it ages well or if I just didn't shake the bottle up properly the first time I tried it, because it does seem to have a thicker, dark oil that has settled to the bottom of the spray. I'm not getting any of the sour moss or cologne from this anymore. Mostly this smells almost identical to bpal's Sloth to my nose - lots of thick, heavy, sweet myrrh and something like a spicy, dark, velvety vetiver. I'm kind've in love with it now...

I love the Tokyo Milk Dark line, and Bulletproof is one of my favorites . I think it smells sort of like spiced cola, woody incense smoke, coconut cream, and black licorice. I don't think that there's a bpal that's better than the real deal or super-close, but you might want to try these for a bit of a similar feel, if you haven't tried them already: *Schwarzer Mond (limited edition) - "The keeper of secrets: opoponax, Tunisian black amber, night musk, antique patchouli, zdravetz, terebinth, myrrh, and Pimenta racemosa." *The Antikythera Mechanism (Steamworks) - "Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco." *Goblin (Diabolus) - "Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin."

Caligula mostly smells like sweet myrrh to me. Sweet, sort of golden-brown, and resinous. There's a tiny hint of something fresh & clean way down underneath the resins, like a hint of clean lemon and laundry. I like this, though it smells similar to a lot of resinous scents I already own.

This isn't as sweet as red musk usually is on my skin. It's like a sharper red musk with an incensey, woodsy edge. I get the dry spiciness that others have mentioned, but no coconut or sassafras. I keep thinking that I smell tuberose or iris or some other sharp, perfumey floral mixed in here. Overall, it smells sharp and disjointed to me.

I can see the bug spray comparison with this one. This goes on like a mix of sharp, sour lemon and orange, with a chemical-y edge and a hint of something bitter and green smelling to me. It fades really quickly on me, only sticking around for about a half hour.

This reminds me of opoponax (thick, cloying, syrupy-sweet, dark resins) with a little bit of dry, sharp spiciness and soapy ozone. It's sort of like men's aftershave and something sickly sweet... not so good on me.

DMOF is like powdery, girly sweetness (not sure it reminds me of Celeste, as Celeste is sweeter and easier to wear for me) with a sort of dark undertone (maybe oak, as oak is a note that goes sort of bitter and off on me). There's something going slightly soapy as this dries down, but it mostly fades into a baby powdery scent after an hour on my skin.

This goes on smelling like sharp citrus on me (sort of lemony), with a bit of a sharply floral-musky drydown. I was expecting it to be more of a creamy scent with all of the comparisons to Loosening of the Obi's rice wine, but this is rather sharp and bright smelling on me.

Smells like a companion to Elf, with the clean, misty pine and tart fruitiness, but Elf is softer, has sweeter touches, and doesn't turn as soapy as this atmo. Fae Forest is sweet, misty pine, a tart and body odor-ish pink grapefruit, and lots of laundry soapy powder.

You could try Hurricane. It isn't a match to Shadows of What May Be (I find it to be sweeter and lacking the grassy edge of Shadows of What May Be), but it is an earthy-aquatic. I can't think of much else in the GC with dominant earth and water notes...

Redoul Honey goes on smelling like sharp, bright greenery and sweet honey, and dries down to tons of sweet honey and a hint of tart fruitiness that doesn't smell particularly like blackberry on my skin. The honey part is really strong on me and seems to drown out the other aspects of the scent. It becomes a bit too sweet after a while.

This doesn't smell at all like how I was hoping it would. I'm really sad that, out of all of the lovely listed notes, all I can smell is rose and baby powder. I don't smell even a hint of resins, coconut, vanilla, or red sandalwood in this blend. Vanilla musk sometimes has a powdery edge to it, but this is like tons of powder and none of the vanilla-y goodness. Touched Twice isn't so bad on me for the first fifteen minutes (sort of a cool, pale pink smelling rose with hints of green stem and something spicy, and a touch of baby powder), but the drydown really amps up and just smells overwhelmingly baby powdery. Tons of powder and the rose note turns dry and sort of old fashioned, sharp, and lackluster on my skin. I'm really letdown by this one . I gave in to the hype of it only being available for a couple hours and ordered two bottles, but I probably won't use up even 1ml of this, unless it somehow ages into something less powdery...

If you feel like tracking down some limited edition scents from the forum swaps/sales, I'd definitely recommend these two for non-fruity gardenias: *The Harp of Cnoc Ichosgair: "Gilded amber, tiare, golden sandalwood, vanilla, cardamom, and tagetes." *Tissue: "Rice paper, white gardenia, and raw honey." In the GC, there's a lack of gardenia, but you might want to check out: *Eternal (Ars Moriendi): "Stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia." Lists rose, but a lot of people have better luck with the white rose note, and I don't find this to be overly rosey, but heavy on the creamy floral notes. Euphrosene (Excolo) is similar to me, but more rosey. *The Lady of Shalott (Ars Amatoria): "The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger." *Le Serpent Qui Danse (Ars Amatoria): "Violet entwined with vanilla and gardenia." Though this is mostly sweet violet and vanilla on me with a hint of creamy gardenia. And you might try these (that don't list gardenia, but smell like gardenia on me): *Sacred Whore of Babylon (Excolo): "An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch." Smells like honeyed almonds, spices, and gardenia on my skin. *Thy Godfather's Present (Marchen): "A bruised purple bundle of herbs with hyssop and life-everlasting." I hope that you can find something that your mum loves

I also got a small tester of this in one of my forum packages, though I don't remember seeing it on any prototype lists? It smells very similar to Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple on me, starting off with a crunchy, fresh smelling green apple and drying down to a green apple and warm vanilla candy sort of smell.