MamaMoth

very unique and compelling blend, one that i'm finding myself huffing almost addictively. you must like the smell of black licorice to appreciate this one, of course. it isn't shy. personally i don't eat the stuff, but apparently i really like to smell of it! i don't get taffy as a distinctive note, but the licorice blooms initially as almost candy-sweet. it's counterbalanced and given depth by gorgeously rich patchouli and oud, lightly woodsy and incensy, that develops more and finally takes the lead as it wears. it's just a touch smoky, perhaps. it never loses the sweetness, though it is less candy-like as time goes on. i love sweet patchoulis, and this is really mashing my buttons. the licorice gives it a wonderfully unique twist. it's complex and mysterious, but with plenty of whimsy too. i will be springing for a backup bottle. or two. probably two. 2/24/23 EDIT coming back a couple of months later to report that later in the day, this one now takes on an almost baked-goods quality. based on the notes i can't even explain it, like licorice patchouli cookies! sweet, warm, herbal, earthy... it is just epically good. i've gone through almost half a bottle already HOW EVEN?!

this is lovely, creamy and sweet. the perfumey version of earl grey tea, which i find to be a soft bergamot with a touch of an almost licorice-y tea note. i can't track any honey distinctly, just generalized sweetness. very soft in feel, but not light in throw. like being wreathed in a sweet, fluffy cloud of earl grey. i find it somewhat similar to the brown sugar/cream/earl grey trio, so i did a comparison. this one definitely comes off as creamier and sweeter, whereas the trio pops more of a brighter citrus tone. they're similar enough that i will probably skip a bottle of this one, but it's actually my favorite of the two.

starts off... weird. coffee and apple, of which i'm dubious. once applied, it blooms as sweet, rich, caramel coffee. the apple has disappeared to my nose, but something is keeping this light and fresh on the skin, and i feel certain that's the apple's doing. these heavy sweet elements could go stodgy on me, but they are kept in check here. the spices are very subtle, just in there bolstering the rich, roasty depth of the coffee. i bought a bottle of this blind because i love caramel apple and i've never found my perfect blend. this ain't it, but it may be one of my favorite coffee blends. absolutely delicious.

yoinks, this one comes on STRONG with the camphoric menthol opening. within 30 minutes, it's such a demure soft herbal-tinged leather with a touch of grassiness. within an hour, it's mostly gone. WHAT.

i smell a bit of apple to begin with, but before i can start to pin it down, it just kind of meshes with the pom and gives me generalized sweet red fruitiness. there's more spice going on to that pink pepper than i can put my finger on... it's dry, and it tickles the nose a bit up close, but there's no bite to it. this ends up perfumey-er than i expected, but not in a bad way. sweet red fruit, musty-dusty spice, and perfume. i'm afraid i'm not making this sound very appealing, but i'm enjoying it!

the horchata spices are most prominent on me, with a non-dairy creaminess that's not particularly rice-like (sad face) and a bit of dead leaves on the back end. it's like... one leaf, maybe two. (i'm lukewarm about dead leaves in general, so this is a nice level for me. if you're here for the leaves, you might be disappointed.) on the one hand, i was hoping for more sweet ricey HORCHATA. on the other, i'm not hating the spicy-creamy-vaguely-dead-leafy creature that this is. so fall. very autumn.

grenadine syrup. i will give this time to develop and try it again later. some earthy rich tobacco would be a wecome addition.

this seemed like such a kooky collection of notes that i snagged a decant of this out of sheer curiosity. i've also been wanting to try blue or green musk in a non-aquatic setting, and this seemed like an interesting candidate. it starts as an intensely sweet and tangy pineapple candy. then the green musk takes over, which smells cleanly musky and exactly what i was hoping for from that. it's supported by the subdued but still candy-like fruit, which keeps a bit of its tartness. i don't get pumpkin or grass specifically, but there's a warmth underneath that keeps things in check. as it dries down further, the candy sweetness and the musk actually back off, and i'm able to pick up more of the grass note, which reads as somewhat hay-like to me. still no pumpkin to speak of, but there's some rich fullness underneath it all and that's probably where it's coming from. this actually ends up as a nice balance of light musk, sweet tangy fruit, and autumnal hay warmth. i think it'll have some fans! ETA: i had to come back and add that late in the day, the haylike grass note really came to the fore. this became a slightly sweetened, slightly musky hay on me, and i liked this late-stage development a lot!

i was expecting perhaps some big scorchy, smoky, pitchy thing here. what i'm actually getting is... leather? not aggressively leathery, but soft. not shiny new chemical-laden leather, but not well-worn old leather either. the leather jacket you bought last year, maybe. you wore it a few times, last time being to a bonfire, then packed it away for the summer. when the temperature drops this year, you pull it out, catching faint whiffs of woodsmoke and the forest.

i'm not even sure how to describe this. it starts with an almost effervescent yew/cypress fizzing up over a lightly rooty, pitchy base... champagne and pine pitch, maybe? a kind of birch beer/cream soda, brewed with some evergreens in the concoction? maybe there's incense burning in the room where you drink it. maybe it's actually a potion. i forgot i was wearing it for a while, until i realized that i was catching whiffs of something quite different... now i find ethereal, creamy musk twining with tendrils of the lightest, airiest patchouli and evergreen incense you can imagine. the early stage was an interesting oddball, but this... this is addictive. this may be the first time i've actually clicked with ambergris.

oh hello, lovely... what a pleasant surprise this one is! i'm gonna be honest: i felt honor-bound to try this because of some favorite notes, but i was all but certain that ylang-ylang would probably stomp over everything else. i'm quite pleased to report that i was 100% wrong, and the ylang-ylang is completely absent for me. this one is for the candlewax lovers. it opens with oodles of glorious wax. creamy and smooth, sweet and slightly vanillic, a bit smoky. hot on its heels is the clove. idk leaf from bud, but this clove has a bit of a scratchy, dry, black-pepper tone. not the hot sharp bite of "bloody" clove, but neither the woodsy dry spice of clove husk. there is a whiff of something dry, green, and herbal that i designated as the moss, but it could be the leaf of the clove chiming in for all i know. i find clove a bit sharp at times, but i like this iteration very much, especially as it is being smoothed and sweetened by the candlewax. i get that parchment note, too. dusty, rough-made paper that also has a soothing effect on the spice. there's some tonka to it, maybe? i couldn't specifically track the black amber until several hours into wear, when the candlewax and clove start to break apart and the amber finds room to expand. this is also around the time when i got specific hits of mossy green. this is nicely evocative and witchy, in a scholarly kind of way. an R&D witch, testing ingredients and scribbling by candlelight

definitely a clean-laundered cotton thing going on here, not starchy-crisp but soft and sweet and vanillic. and i swear, there's aaalmost the teeniest tiniest hint of a mint undertone to it?? i feel like i catch the suggestion of it every so often, but when i try to chase it, it disappears so WHO KNOWS. the eyeliner note... there's a fruity sweetness here, i want to say it might be a berry but i can't really pin it down. unfortunately my chemistry tends to eventually pull white florals (which i don't really enjoy) out of many of the cottony type notes, and that happens with this one as well. drat. on the right person, i think this could be quite nice, sweet and snuggly-clean.

i may be way off base here, but this goes on smelling pretty oud-y to me. and not the good kind, i'm sorry to say. it has a bit of the catbox to it. i smell skin musk, which i generally like, but it can be a little overwhelming at times, and this is one of them. there's something floral... lotus i guess? i'm not familiar enough with the note to say for sure. and i smell a metal note, which i was afraid the "golden thread" would prove to be. on me, metal notes smell harsh and cologney. at this point, i have to tap out, because it's starting to give me a headache. this one isn't for me, i' m afraid.

so much blackberry love. 💜 with grapey wine and lots of musk. very nice! this one reminded me of blackberry moon (which i LOVE!) so i decided to do a side-by-side comparison. it's fascinating how the contrast of two similar scents can really highlight the differences. under simultaneous scrutiny, blackberry moon is infinitely lighter and cleaner, with prominent green-leafy notes. flayll is robust and perfumey, sloshing with winey grape notes and potent with musk. blackberry moon is demure, staying closer to the skin. while flayll projects a big, purple presence. i tend to amp musk, so over time the differences become more prominent as the musk takes the lead in flayll. SO! it turns out they're actually quite different, and my olfactory education continues. unfortunately, this also means that i think i might need them both.

mostly a mulled wine type thing in the bottle and freshly applied, but that musk really bobs to the surface on skin. it's reading as a fruitier red musk to me. the chestnut presents itself, too, as a smooth rich nutty (almost woodsy) undercurrent. this is spicy, but in that deeply simmered-down mulled way with no sharpness. very winey to start with, but that lightens up considerably on me. rich, fruity, boozy, and musky. not as heavy as it sounds, though. settles in as a musky, lightly mulled wine with a whisp of chestnut. very yule-like. i really like it, and it's a perfect scent interpretation of lilith's beautiful new hair color!

i was not so sure about this one at first. goes on heavy and oily, dark and murky and sinister. obscure reference ahoy: for me it's conjuring up the character armus, from the star trek episode skin of evil. (he's basically a sentient tar monster who kills one of my favorite characters. 🥺) it feels opressive. i put it away for a while, and decided to revisit today. i feel... more favorable, but the association is still there so idk. this go-round, it dries down to something i'm more inclined toward. sweet, musky, resinous. still murky. just a hint of that citrusy black musk thing happening. i think i might wear it when i want to feel like a badass, dangerous bitch. which i do occasionally. it's still slightly unsettling, but sometimes i want to project that. like a burbling oily chuckle coming out of a dark corner when you thought you were alone.

hoooo boy, that is some STRONK patchouli starting out. black patch that has that camphorous quality. i'm not opposed. softens up as it settles in. woodsy patch and dry cacao. there's a bit of earthy sweetness, from the tobacco i think. i was a little wary of this one. the notes are all ones that i love and/or enjoy, but they also brought to mind #ows which was just tooooo aggressive for me. but this one is softer and almost cuddly. i like it a lot!

leather and i have a rocky scent relationship. this one starts with that watery, slightly chemical leather smell that i just can't handle. surprisingly though, it does soften up into worn, battered, black leather that's not half bad. masc-leaning, but not cologney. there's a little dry soil, and something earthy and almost musky. it's a little smokey, like a leather jacket that's been worn during some nefarious digging-and-burning. OH WAIT. this is dean winchester's leather jacket. BOOM. after the leather settles in, i quite enjoyed it for a while. but my skin eventually turns it into baby powder and soft leather. not sure what's up with that. with the right skin chemistry, this could be dead sexy.

salty ocean-water over clean white gauzy cotton. nothing remotely buttery or bready to be found for me. total beachy vacay vibe, clean and breezy.

spicy-leaning cardamom over slightly smokey, slightly vanilla'd cedar. melds together nicely as it wears, into a gently spiced, creamy-soft woodsy scent. very comfy.

oh, what a masterpiece! 💜 let me start by saying that dead leaves notes almost never work for me, as i mostly find them too cologney, aquatic, and/or bitter for my liking. lavender is hit or miss for me as well. but i find it nigh impossible to resist a snake oil blend, and the dorian and amber were very alluring as well. so i took a huge risk blind bottling this, but i was struck with such dreadful fomo watching that stock number dwindle. and i am SO, SO glad i was. i wish i'd been brave enough to buy several in fact, but i'll be crossing my fingers for an eventual restock. (especially since my sister fell in love with it as well. and i'd love to gift her a bottle, since she doesn't take to many of my perfumes.) the dead leaves hit hard straight out of the bottle, but on the skin they almost instantly fall back. now leading the charge is sweet, rich, vanillic snake oil, wreathed in amber perfume. dorian is quiet, but its sweeter aspects are there in support. in counterpoint to all this rich sweetness is the crackling whisper of leaves, whose dry, autumn-invoking, sharp bitterness cuts the rich sweetness. ugh, i FINALLY see the dead leaves appeal! the balance of sweet and sharp is devastatingly perfect, and it's absolutely what makes this one so special. as it wears on, the amber rises up a bit more, giving this an addictive perfumey quality. the dorian also gains some presence. i keep thinking that it has reached it's peak, but it just keeps getting better! many of the liliths this year struck me as very halloweenie-like, and none moreso than this one. i wore it a lot before halloween, and i'll be wearing it plenty after too. i'd go so far as to say it's weenie-er than most of the weenies i've tried! in short, it's basically perfection. if you like fall scents and snake oil blends, don't hesitate on this one if we get another crack at it. even if dead leaves usually give you pause, this one is still worth a try!

this is nice! smooth, earthy/woodsy and velvety with a touch of freshness from the bergamot... i'm really enjoying this yellow variety and hope to see more of it. it's instantly recognizable as bergamot, but it's different... gentler, warmer, and smoother. it works with the earthy vanillic rasp of tonka really well, and it's positively dreamy when the allspice kicks in. my main concern going in was with the almond, but i get nothing i'd categorize as either bitter or the cherry-almond note that i'm not always a fan of. everything is very well blended, so a lot of note unraveling is beyond me with this one. a little woodsy, a little earthy and vanillic, warm friendly bergamot front and center, and a pinch of allspice creeping up as it wears. it's warm but not cozy, sophisticated without being haughty, complex but not complicated. i put this aside during my halloweenie frenzy because it doesn't read as spooky-seasonal to me at all, but i will probably dip into it quite a bit before i get into the mood for yules. it seems like something that would fit into the autumn months very well, but without any of the standard fall-ish notes. i wouldn't be surprised if i decided to wear this one for thanksgiving with the fam.

in the bottle this smells wonderfully dark and plummy, and i am HERE for it. but when it hits the skin, that plum gets SERIOUSLY sour for a hot minute. it makes my cheeks want to pucker! then the opium surges forward, taking this to a dark, lush, perfumey-floral place for a while. meanwhile the plum sweetens and mellows, but i'd still characterize it as a more cleanly tart unripe plum, rather than juicy, sweet, ripe one. eventually the opium recedes enough to let the other elements come forward, but at that point they are so entangled that i can't pick them apart. it's not a dark blend per se, but the base is shadowed and velvety, with just a little whisp of incense smoke to it. now subdued, opium and sour plum still hover in the upper spectrum. unexpectedly, there's an overlying cleanness to this blend. oudh, tobacco, amber, myrrh... these are some big-presence notes, so i'm surprised that none of them are vying harder for my attention. after 4 hours, it has mostly vanished into the aether, which is another surprise coming from that note list. as of now, i'm pleased with it, but not IN LOVE like i expected to be. many of these notes age notoriously well though, so this may be a completely different beast with a little maturation. it has a lot of potential, so let's find out!

for endless corridors, have you tried lights of men's lives? it has the smoky candle thing going on.

dirt! the earth note hits first: dry and crumbly, sweetish. i'm getting zombi feels, with the rose swapped out for sweet myrrh. but my memory may be off, as it's been a long time since i tried zombi, and i cannot find hide nor hair of my imp. the myrrh gets a little aggressive in the first bit. maybe because my memory called up the zombi association, i'm getting an almost rosy tinge to it. but then this dries down as an earthy sweet-incense smell and i like it much more. sweet powdery myrrh and dry earth are most prominent to my nose in the early drydown, with that lovely rooty patchouli gaining more traction as it wears on. it gets sweeter, too, which i love. oh, this ends up somewhere rather lovely. soft, sweet, earthy, myrrh-patchouli-woods incense. i think i can find a touch of balsam if i look for it. i say soft because there's no sharp edges at all, not in reference to throw. it actually has a good strong presence, and i feel like i'm radiating an aura of incense. (no smoke, just the actual incense.) i never clocked the sandalwood or hinoki specifically, but there's a lot of magic happening on the back end that speaks of incense and woods, i simply can't pick it apart. edit 3/2/23: the patchouli has really bloomed in this one already! it still starts off as mostly myrrh and dry crumbly earth, but it settles down into this really lovely, softly dry, earthy patchouli incense. there are traces of myrrh that serve to sweeten it up *just enough*. gosh, i'm kind of taken aback by how much i'm liking this now. 💜