zankoku_zen

Heady peach musk aglow with sugared amber.

Sweet and strangely sensual.

Furry white musk, hay absolute, vanilla husk, clove bud, carnation, jonquil, and myrrh.

Yuzu fruit, white cedar, bergamot, and shimmery yellow musk.

Red musk, pumpkin spice and a whiff of saffron. I think the pumpkin spices stand up to the red musk, so you get musky pumpkin spice. Yup.

Sugared patchouli and pumpkin spice.

Pumpkin spice and that sugared patchouli that everyone loves. It's definitely a more Weenie Silkybat. I get fall pumpkin spices (cinnamon, clove, allspice) and sugared patchouli. Spooky.

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Green tea, ambergris accord, white amber, pale moss, and neroli.

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And I must think, do all I can, that there was pleasure there: gilded golden roses, wildflower honey, lush magnolia, tuberose, peony, and clove.

Roasted chestnuts and ember-hot firewood.

The drunk in the graveyard raised his bottle to his lips. One of the gravestones flipped over, revealing a grasping corpse; a headstone turned around, flowers replaced by a grinning skull. A wraith appeared on the right of the church, while on the left of the church something with a half-glimpsed, pointed, unsettlingly birdlike face, a pale, Boschian nightmare, glided smoothly from a headstone into the shadows and was gone. Then the church door opened, a priest came out, and the ghosts, haunts, and corpses vanished, and only the priest and the drunk were left alone in the graveyard. The priest looked down at the drunk disdainfully, and backed through the open door, which closed behind him, leaving the drunk on his own. The clockwork story was deeply unsettling. Much more unsettling, thought Shadow, than clockwork has any right to be. “You know why I show that to you?” asked Czernobog. “No.” “That is the world as it is. That is the real world. It is there, in that box.” Red currant and labdanum with opoponax, vetiver, grave moss, white sandalwood, and khus. Red currant, grave moss, sandalwood and a touch of khus. This smells tart, mossy, and with enough other elements to make it swirl. There is something that codes as mint/mist to my nose as well. So misty red currants, moss and sandalwood. Atmospheric, moody, but a touch of the beyond. Gender neutral. Good throw and wear length.

On the darkest nights of winter, the swirling winds buffet battle cries and the moans of the long-dead on their blue-fingered eddies. Storm clouds rumble in the east, and a host of wailing spirits, wights, and ghouls gibber, drift, and creep through the land. Sleet and champaca, fir needle and opoponax, blue musk and cypress, balsam and snow. This one is slushy wet snow (I get the Ice Queen snow note), with whiffs of fir and blue musk. It reminds me a fair bit to Ice Queen, sans the berries and the blue musk always makes a strong appearance for me in a very distinctive manner. Good throw and wear length. Evocative of the deep cold quiet of a snow day in the middle of the night.

In case you’re wondering whether we’d actually have the balls to forge ahead with such an openly testy mascot, the answer is: not yet… but you stand warned. Ginjinha and dried red fruits, bitter almond, carnation, tonka bean, and red musk. Cherry liquer, tonka and almond, and touches of red musk. I get a ton of cherry and red fruits from this blend. It's somewhat sweet and boozey. It gets muskier on the drydown. So yes, red cherry musk.

California’s state gem! Precious and rare, formed under pressure in liminal spaces: a deep, clear musk as blue as the night sky cascading over the Pacific.

Smurf 2 Giveaway

Star anise, labdanum, and a whiff of resin. Honestly, this is smelling like a spicy root beer. The star anise definitely pulls it toward an Asian vibe. Also, I think I once had a marinade that involved star anise and sarsparilla, and this is what I am thinking of.

Smooth gardenia, touch of oakmoss which lends it an aquatic quality, and a whiff of tobacco to make it a little dirtier. This one has a sort of woodsy background. Gardenia for grown ups.

I get mainly vanilla, and then smooth sandalwood, with a whiff of sage. To me, this is a non-foodie vanilla, and I love the interplay of the vanilla and sandalwood. Keeper.

Mysore sandalwood, rose absolute, bourbon vanilla, and labdanum.

Lemon blossom, maple leaves, honey musk, and beeswax.

No scent description provided.

No additional scent description.

2020 version Wet skin, forest herbs, and whiff of smoke, and fir. This one is a muskier blend, salty skin, herby and foresty. This one smells more like you do after dancing along time. Except imagine dancing in the forest by a bonfire. This is the smell of your skin after you've been dancing in the moonlight for hours. Salty skin, musk, and green herbs. Medium throw and wear length.