patina

I'm not a big fan of citrus though herbal citrus can be okay. I dislike most chypre scents I've tried. Patchouli is pretty good, but not always. It's surprising that this was such a winner on me. It does have a lot of lemon verbena and the "candied lemon" thing is accurate. It adds a lot of sparkle and zip. Normally I associate lemon with cleaning products. And...to be honest it's not completely unlike those. But there's enough of a difference here to matter to me. There's an almost "clean" patchouli. It seems bashful, but then patchouli doesn't amp on me. But the chypre is my favorite element. It doesn't smell of all moss all the time- rather it's the best combination of woods and ferns and maybe some dusty moss, it's not clear. But it smells like a lovely backdrop of soft, tiny delicate creeping plants. Mutable earth indeed. I think that there's an understanding of the sign better than that behind many other Virgo scents I've seen. I was afraid of straight up cleaning products. This lifts my mood and I feel more cheerful and alert while I'm wearing it. And yes, clean, but there's a grounding effect as well.

Black plum, black currant, opoponax, olibanum, sinuous labdanum, and opium tar. Perfumy dark fruit. To me this is Isidore's Phoenix: The Atmo. There's no violet but it's still a dead ringer.

Welp, that is some patchouli. Gnarly brown and wooden but somehow smooth as well. The oudh is breathtakingly dry, like dark dirt landscape that hasn't seen rain in fifteen years covered with cracks dry. I don't get much obsidian, but it's there somewhere, probably smoothing out the patchouli. Edit: The oude is very sophisticated here and I keep wanting to wear this.

Like the other people have said it's a not really foodie licorice. The tea gives it a floral note.

Funny, I must have been the only one that didn't get cinnamon caramel popcorn. Instead I got pumpkin eggnog. It's good, though. A bit heavy on the nutmeg.

Green musk recs? Smite thy Borders With Frogges almost works but is too soapy. Laughter of Loki and Zombie Green Hair Gloss are amazing, though.

I had hoped this scent wouldn't be all smoke all the time, but actually on the first sniff, I get leather. The leather from Leather Phoenix to be exact. The same kind of sophistication. It also smells glossy and green in a way that could be called aquatic but isn't soapy. I'm guessing it's the poppy doing this, along with the ivy. After a little wear I get some smoke but overall this is low key. A deep scent without much throw.

Lovely dark spicy gingerbread. the usual smokiness of vetiver isn't distracting here, I can hardly smell any smoke but there seem to be undertones of peanut butter. It's the weirdest thing. As if someone smeared gingerbread cake with peanut butter. I like this, but Gingerbread Zombi is my one true gingerbread love.

Okay, read the label. There's your review. Actually, I find the industrial scent somewhat tempered by the mineral char. It's darker than Smokestack but not as offputting to me. It alllmost goes petrochemical but stops short.

Amber! Sweet amber. It almost smells like pink ambergris. As it dries I can detect a smoky note underneath, which is actually a lot like pine pitch but I'm guessing it's actually the oak. Oakmoss normally overwhelms everything but here it's more a backdrop at least for now. Edit: After some aging, the oakmoss comes out more.

Yellow cake + that French Vanilla that threatens to go plastic + buttercream mints, like those candies they put out at weddings + cocoa, maybe? The mint prevents the whole thing from going plastic on me. This doesn't have a great deal of throw but it still smells great. I happened to be making mint brownies today and this is not nearly as heavy on the cocoa, far more vanilla buttercream. But still delicious.

Sniffed, it smells like hay. Slightly dirty to me, although, yes, there is no poop. On me, this is black tea and cassia. Maybe because hay smells like both those things to me. It's bizarre and a little like Plunder, but still hay-like.

I tested this one along with the '08 version. They have all the same notes, but, I wonder if they're formulated differently. They certainly smell different. 08's is almost overwhelming frankincense, with loads of oakmoss and styrax. The current atmo is a soft slightly smoky clove. It could just be aging, some of the early reviews for '08 Yet to Come called the scent "faint". Resins and oakmoss are known for getting stronger with age too.

Okay I did a review but I deleted it because I can do better: This is spiced caramel popcorn with lots of cardamom. EDIT: Also this lasts forever by atmo spray standards. I love it.

Does Nanshe have clove in it? It smells a lot like Fruit Loops cereal on me. I forgot to mention Le Ronde du Sabbat, which is heavily frankincense and clove. Also it looks like Aquarius will have prominent clove this year!

At first it smells like straight up raspberry jam. It doesn't smell at all like plastic, faintly of wax maybe. Or maybe I'm conditioned because I had a raspberry lip gloss once. But this is gorgeous and edible. I don't get any dough but I do get sugar, specifically the flaky sugar glaze that goes on donuts. It's amazing how accurate that is. On drydown it seems to have medium to light throw on me. A "savory" note comes out, almost like some raspberry leaves mixed with the raspberry. Almost metallic somehow? I can see how if you squinted and had a certain skin chemistry it could smell like plastic. It could be that the vanilla's doing that but mostly it's just sweet pink sugary glaze. It becomes increasingly faint after six hours wear. Good, but I probably don't need a bottle.

Alfred Kubin Brown kelp and red algae streaked with black vetiver, driftwood, and sea moss. The vetiver isn't too strong here, it's really well blended actually. This makes me think of taking a warm shower with fancy expensive man soap after a day of exploring the cold gray outdoors or swimming in the ocean in winter. Salty, clean wood

Old Demons was a little too peppery for me. A little too sharp. But Blood was lovely if you like dragon's blood. The Hell Gate of Ireland was lovely with the black musk and labdanum though there was that sulfer note. The Imperfect Enjoyment smelled like darkness and clove cigarettes. The Smiling Spider was a woody mahogany/patch clove. In His Hands Thy Cruelties Thrive is a leather and bay clove. Gacela of the Dark Death was a bit too sharp and piney on me but I think it's currently a Yule. Pickled Imp is kind of snuggly and smells like oatmeal cookies on me. Go figure. As far as GCs go, aged Dracul is lovely after the pine settles down.

Initially the green note before drydown is a little unsettling. Not entirely pleasant in a way I can't describe (stifling old lady cologne, plasticky?), but after a short time it becomes lovely. You know that deep cola note in myrrh? This has something similar, but in a lighter, golden way. Less sweet but still fairly sweet. This scent does have a strong emotional effect on me, like a security blanket. I imagine this will improve with age too.

The one hair gloss that seems to last forever on me, this is dark musk and cocoa, mostly. Very edible smelling but a bit powdery with the oude.

I am very strongly reminded of September Midnight except without the chyphre. The mandrake and pennyroyal combine for a prominent herbal element. This is very fruity with a certain incense or craft store quality.

I could swear up and down I already reviewed this scent. Hopefully I didn't do it in the wrong place. Anyhow, this is like standing in a shower and having a bunch of cold wet violets dumped on your head. It's delicate and the eucalyptus is prominent at first but it steps back to allow more of the very faintly lemony ice musk to come thorough. The scent is fresh, slightly powdery, clean. Did I mention cold? If you wanted a snow or ice and violet scent this is a good one to try. It's similar to Ultraviolet, but less powerfully menthol, more pale and delicate.

I was worried that either the scent would be SN: Salt or the iron would make the scent too metallic, but this is a lovely room spray. Simple, but refreshing. If you're bothered by anything that smells the slightest bit soapy that might be a problem, but the ozone in this is only subtly detergent like. Inoffensive to my nose.

This reminds me of Autumn Grove, except it has oak instead of dirt, making it more airy than earthy. There's the usual lab's dead leaf note, which smells like a somewhat pungent dry cologne. Although I can't wear that scent well, I like it in an atmo. It's the dry essence of fall. Cozy. EDIT: It becomes less pungent quickly turning to toasted wood. Still cozy.

The beeswax is a lot more like honey than other beeswax scents in the Halloweenies this year. It is white without smelling like a white floral. On the drydown, I think the incense is a light Nag Champa? I may be wrong. It smells a little less white when dried. But still lovely.