Invidiana

I can vouch for Sweet Life. It's a really heady, sensuous white floral that makes me think of Marie Antoinette in the tropics.

This one is a really dark carnation blend if you're looking for that: The Byronic Antihero: An aristocratic cologne of titanic passions, moody and brooding. This scent is dark with disillusionment and cynicism: a Victorian fougère and a dashing carnation boutonnière tainted by a cloud of khus, yew, and patchouli.

This has a delicious dark and syrupy, almost boozy cherry note. It's definitely a candied black cherry rather than the brighter red maraschino, or maybe there's some maraschino in there but it's predominantly a rich sticky black cherry. I get mostly the cherry on my skin though I can tell there is some dark chocolate under there deepening it. It makes me think of a mixture of cherry cordial and Godiva Liqueur. I was putting off getting a bottle of this forever but I'm glad I finally did.

Wow, this is definitely different from the Cleric proto I tried at NYCC, and for the better. That one was all lemon Pine-Sol; this one is a beautiful grapefruit-vanilla musk. It's the perfect juxtaposition of bright (but not bitter) grapefruit and soft vanilla musk that has something of a fluffy, marshmallowy quality to it as well. It's both comforitng and uplifting at once, and I really hope this is closer to what's released as opposed to the NYCC version!

This one is all sweet, sticky goodness. It's mostly rich fig with the brightness of tamarind at first, and as it dries down the dark chocolate becomes more prominent. The tamarind has a juiciness anda bit of a candylike quality to it, a little bit citrusy but not extremely so. The combo of these three is like a sweet syrupy mess you just can't get enough of. It makes me think I have to lick my fingers!

I have to admit this one smells really weird in the bottle, but don't let that put you off. It's a little discordant at first but dries down into a strangely addictive smoky chocolate scent with spice from the cassia that isn't too overpowering. There is a bit of saltiness from the bacon, of course, but this still remains a sweet and chocolatey enough scent without going into savory territory. It actually reminds me a lot of the Vosges bacon chocolate that I love so much, except with the addition of cassia.

I ordered a bottle of this one unsniffed because I really like the listed notes on their own though I have to admit I was a little nervous about how the mint would interact with the lime. It's delicious! I never expected them to play so well together, but it's a smooth mint-spiked dark chocolate with the refreshing zing of lime that blends right in. The further it dries down, the more the chocolate comes out, and the lime settles to just a hint but is still present.

This is delicious creamy milk chocolate and buttery, sweet butterscotch tempered with a hint of ginger. Thankfully the ginger isn't sharp or overwhelming, just a hint that compliments the chocolate and butterscotch notes perfectly. The pairing of chocolate and ginger here remind me a bit of Chocolate Espresso Gingerbread without the coffee, except that seemed to be a darker chocolate while this is true milk chocolate. Too bad I haven't yet encountered an edible one of these yet.

This is really yummy! Mango is one of those things I don't really like to eat that much but smells fabulous on me as a perfume. This is a nice sweet mango with just the right hint of tartness over a really creamy and slightly buttery white chocolate, which becomes more prominent as it dries down. It's going to be fabulous for summer.

Wow, this is a lovely smoky blend. No doubt that delicious smokiness is brought on by the toated sandalwood and nicotiana. I love me some teak, and I get lots of that really deep and warm teak as well. In the background there is a bit of sweetness brought on by the vanilla and also a hint of patchouli that complements the rest of the notes. As Ellebelle said, very adult and sophisticated as well as highly alluring. There is also something very musky about this, and I found out why: I wiki'd castoreum which turns out to be a sort of musk that beavers excrete when marking territory. Of course since this is vegan we can all rest assured no beavers were harmed in the making of this perfume.

I think Suu said it best--a crumbly almond cake made with lots of butter, a bit reminiscent of Irish soda bread since it has that toasty, slightly vanillic scent, but richer. It's a dry cake in the sense of smelling like a dense cake without a lot of moisture but not dry in the sense of making you thirsty like, say, uberdry sandalwood. I don't sense any red currant here, just the crumbly buttery cake and sweet almond. It's different from the released but I find them both equally yummy.

This is very distinct red rose and carnation with a tinge of something lemony in the background, possibly lemon balm because I amp lemon verbena and lemongrass to hell and it isn't happening here. The rose and carnation notes are very true, full-bodied and realistic, almost like an actual bouquet of them. I'd say it's a bold velvety red rose like the one in Harlot along with pink carnation. Not really my thing personally, but if you're a rose and/or carnation fan who likes the dead-on scent of those flowers, it's defintiely worth checking out.

This was a hard one to pick out notes from, but I think I've pieced together something. I got the sense of red wintry berries, probably cranberry and possibly some redcurrant. There seems to be something "icy" about the red berry here, not exactly mint but just a cold feel. I get what must be a bit of almond too, and then something woody and smoky, like smoldering wood, in the background. Maybe this iteration of Dreadful Lies was supposed to be bloody frostbitten berries over charred wood? It actually smells a lot better than it sounds, kind of like evil cranberry pie filling.

I've always been enchanted by carnivals, and this took me right back to the local ones I'd go to every summer as a kid. There is a grassy note, but it's very fresh and breezy and pleasant, not in-your-face grass clippings. There is definitely cotton candy in here, or at least what I'm percieving to be cotton candy, and--I swear I'm not imagining this--something far in the background that reminds me of water balloons! The best I can describe it as is like a trace of that almost candyish doll plastic note from Pediophobia (which is not harsh at all) with a drop of something aquatic. There's also a trace of what I take to be other carnival sweets, though I can't exactly make out what. It isn't foody like Midway but it's so nostalgic for me, and I've completely fallen in love with it.

This is absolutely beautiful. I get a smooth creamy Madagascar vanilla, vanilla orchid (think Opuhi) and white musk, in that order. There may be some other light florals hiding in there as well. It's all vanilla wet, and as it dries down the white musk and floral aspects emerge. It makes me think of Tolkien's glittering white Elven city of Gondolin captured forever in a bottle.

Some rose scents can be too sharp on me, but this isn't one of them. It's like candied rose petals in smooth, creamy milk, and everything stays true as it dries down with nothing rancid going on like both Milk Moons. Very evocative of a lady of the era without actually smelling sharp like those vintage perfume bottles hanging around in my aunt's bathroom. If you like Thouros, you will love this one!

This is cake, pure unadulterated CAKE! It's the buttery goodness of yellow vanilla cake positively slathered with cavity-inducing creamy vanilla frosting, and only amps on the vanilla as it dries down. As opposed to the released which is distinctly red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting plus Snake Oil, Dorian and Doc Constantine, this is a true frosted vanilla cake. It's one of those which you need to keep reminding yourself is indeed not edible.

This is definitely in the O family of scents as others have noted and pretty much what I remember from NYCC. It's a soft sweet amber, slightly powdery but not at all in an off-putting way, possibly with skin musk and a vanilla element which I'm guessing is vanilla orchid because it's not a buttery or sugary vanilla but still distinctly vanillic. There may even be benzoin in this, and other light florals that I can't pick out. It's sweet, feminine and quite lovely.

There is a lot of deep smoky clove here, but unlike Voodoo Queen it doesn't turn into a mundane jar of cloves on me. That is probably because there is also a really thick and lovely amber to compete with that clove, and it seems to be very similar to the Egyptian Amber SN with that characteristic vanillic undertone that the single note has. I do agree with previous reviewers that there must be a rich balsam note in here as well. There is a touch of other spices besides clove, but thankfully they don't amp to the nth degree like some spice notes can at times, just stay subdued and give it an exotic touch. Even if it isn't exactly the same it's still very close. It's also got a warm golden feel to it, which fits right into the ancient site that was its inspiration. This is absolutely lovely and only going to keep improving as it ages.

This one is like the afterparty scent of this year's champagnes. It's a slightly dry (but not overly so) champagne note with that realistic fizziness that Beth does so well, shrouded in opium smoke. As time wears on the opium smoke comes to the fore though the champagne never really disappears. Putting my synaesthesia into play here I'd say it's a dusky mauve color like I imagine the curtains of one of the Marquis de Sade's rooms where he actually did smoke opium, whip a couple bare bottoms and drink plenty of booze in the process. This is for a woman who knows what she wants and doesn't play around. Mysterious and sophisticated.

This was an unexpected winner for me. I feared it would end up uber-manly De Sade or Iago style with the leather, but it's very wearable and unisex rather than masculine. I've now come to the ocnclusion that my skin must play up any sweetness in the tobacco note because under the smooth leather I get something sensually smoky, musky (that would definitely be the "gritty musk" which thankfully isn't so gritty on me) and a bit sweet. There's no rust or machine oil to speak of at least on my skin. I may be conjuring things up here but I swear there's a tinge of something cherryish, almost like wearing a black leather jacket with cherry Chapstick. Whatever it is it's undeniably sexy and definitely something to wear when you're going out and want to feel like you're on the prowl.

I think I put off reviewing this one for so long because I wanted to be able to fully capture it in words, but words are exactly that so here goes. At first I get a bright citrusy note which must be mandarin orange backed by something vanillic to get a vaguely "creamsicle" effect like others have described. It may seem that's what it will stay as, but it begins to morph right away. The citrus gradually fades to the background allowing for a glorious creamy note--possibly rice milk as a previous reviewer mentioned, maybe a type of cream note that isn't buttery--to emerge. Whatever it is the creamy note has a light sweentes to it but isn't overly sweet. I'm wondering if the vanilla in this, because there must be at least one type of vanilla element, is a vanilla orchid similar to the one in Opuhi, which is almost foody but not quite, though not fully floral. As it dries down further I get a gentle sandalwood and musk. I'm thinking that the musk must be a skin musk though there may be white musk in there too, which may also contribute to the vanillic feel. The combination of all these elements is just gorgeous; sophisticated but not stuffy, sweet but not saccharine, soft but not faint, sensual but not smutty (though I do love my smutty scents too ). Even though it isn't a heavy scent it has great staying power, lasting about 8 hours on me. It really is a treasure worthy of saving to wear on all the right occasions.

Simple but wonderful; fizzy champagne and buttery vanilla cake with tons of sugary vanilla frosting. It might seem these two might not go together, but unlike White Chocolate Martini in which the gin and white chocolate notes seemed like two separate things constantly butting heads on my skin, this one is an equal balance of not-too-dry champagne and luscious cake. Seriously, I thought that the name implied it would be champagne and metallic cardboard like actual party hats so I was pleasantly surprised.

This is in the same vein as the released Boo, except a bit more buttery and with something citrusy; I'm guessing it's tangerine as opticnerd said, possibly even a bit of grapefruit? It's like the thickest, richest, fattiest vanilla frosting wtih a hint of citrus flavoring. I also feel it's more buttery and a bit less sugary than the released, and I don't really get a linen note like in the released either. Overall it's gloriously foody and addictive!

This is like the outdoorsy brother to Rivet Goth. When I first smelled it wet I feared it would turn into the same ubermasculine leather as De Sade (I think everyone knows about my "love affair" with De Sade by now hah) but it's totally wearable. It's like a soft, well-worth dark brown leather as opposed to the black leather of Rivet Goth, with a soft wood in the background and a similar hint of underlying sweetness. I'm thinking the sweetness in this may actually be due to some sort of sweet resin that blends seamlessly with the leather. Maybe there's even a bit of tonka in this? It's really sexy and also unisex. Like Ranger, this was a surprise leathery winner!