fairestrocza

MIPCL is a lovely scent.

A friend of mine added a bottle of this to my order, and I asked to keep a decant for myself, not really expecting it to work on me. While I adore the scent of sticking my face into a bag of chai spices, most of the listed notes have ranged from meh to terrible on me in other bpal blends. And yet... the alchemy here is magic.

 

In the bottle, I get a mix of spices with a hint of sweetness from the mango. I can't really pick out the pumpkin distinctly, but that is fine because too much pumpkin tends to ruin a blend for me.

On the skin, this is a gently spiced autumn scent. The mango is distinct at first, and then bends into the overall scent. The spice notes are not individually recognizable, but blend together beautifully. I'm not a huge fan of the boxed chais that most coffee shops offer. Instead, I like to steam milk and steep a bag of actual chai tea, preferably with macroscopic spices that are actually recognizable. And that is exactly what I get from this scent - the aroma of a mug of real chai latte sitting in front of me.

 

My only complaint is the wear time. The throw is medium at first, but after an hour or two becomes skin-close. It is definitely a scent worthy of carrying around so I can reapply from time to time.

 

If you liked Pumpkin Latte, but it was just Too Much for you, this would be a good choice as a lighter alternative.

Sniffing the bottle, my first reaction is VIXEN! But here, the scent is more complex.

 

On the skin, patchouli is the dominant note, but where Vixen's sweetness comes from orange blossom, here I can detect a well blended influence of red musk and honey. There is a brightness in the background that probably comes from the hemlock and/or elemi, but neither of those notes is terribly distinct. (I happen to love hemlock, but for those who may be scared off by its mention, fear no pine here). The cedar incense is subtle and very lovely, and makes Third Charm slightly more masculine than the sultry blends that are sister scents (Vixen, Infernal Lover, Womb Furie, & Snake Oil). Third Charm is more of an Adore Me From Afar scent, rather than a Come Hither and Worship at my Feet scent, both in feel and in practice - I prefer the scent of the throw to the scent I get if I bury my face in my arms. After several hours, the top notes burn off, and I am left with a slightly soapy musk when I sniff up close, but rather than ruin the scent for me, this just encourages me to apply more.

 

Overall, I am very pleased with Third Charm. It is similar to some of my favorite blends, but has enough of its own personality to justify a space of its own (but probably not enough to warrant a back-up bottle).

My fresh-from-the-mailbox informal back-of-the-hand first impression:

Evening Stock strikes me as a fuzzy lavender (the color, not the herb) floral, slightly soapy. It smells like it is a component in several floral blends that I have thoroughly rejected, probably paired with jasmine and/or lilies. I'm pretty sure I've come across this in a Lupercalia blend at some point, and maybe as the scent that made me reject a few blends while I was searching for a good lavender scent.

 

My formal test:

Wet, this is headache inducing. This is a type of 'perfumy' strong floral that generally turns me off from floral blends. It shares something in common with lilies (not my favorite scent, in flower or oil form). As it dries, the slightly soapy aspect turns into a slightly musky aspect. After a few hours, the scent tames, and becomes a lovely, slightly sweet, slightly powdery, ever so slightly spicy scent. The problem is that by this point, it is so faint that I have to snort arm hairs to find it. I think I'll let this one sit around for a while and see how it develops with some age.

My husband says this scent reminds him of spring flowers and Easter dresses.

 

I looked around on google to see what Evening Stock is supposed to smell like, and I found: "vanilla," "lilies,""lilies without the fetid undercurrant," "mint and floral," "balmy scent of spiced rum and vanilla," "It’s vanilla, it’s spicy, it’s indescribable and wonderful," "The scent is often compared to cloves or vanilla," "carnations," "fantastic spicy fragrance," and "powerful lily-like perfume." I don't get the mint or clove at all, but I can see the lily comparison, and maybe the sweet aspect could be called vanilla-like, and maybe there is a similarity to the spiciness of carnations (but a very muted version). I'm sure some of the flower friendly skin types will love Evening Stock, but it was nothing special on my skin.

I am generally not a fan of flower notes. Devil's Trumpet will be added to the (very short) list of flowers that won't scare me off in the future.

 

My first impressions, straight from the mailbox (informal back-of-the-hand test):

Devil's Trumpet is a brighter floral, slightly sweet, and maybe orange (color) in feel. I am pretty sure this has been used to achieve some weather effects (wind/snow/stone) in other blends (Snowball Fracas has a similar element on me). There is something borderline dryer-sheet here, but sweeter and not as high-pitched. Hmm, I think I would consider this a 'fruity floral' if that makes sense... it reminds me of something in the feel of Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse or Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand. The longer I have this on, the more convinced I am that this is a component in some of the lab's winter blends.

 

More formal test:

After a night to settle down, and testing on pulse-points, etc, the fruity feel is more subtle (and mainly present during the wet phase). The almost-drier-sheet aspect is still there, but also more subtle. I went through my collection, and while I can't find anything that is a definite scent match, that "winter weather" impression I had last night is holding true. There is something here that is similar to Szepasszony, Hypothermia, Snow Flakes, and Snowball Fracas, in the sense that it starts out ...breezy?... and softens to a subtly sweet note. (Don't get me wrong - this *is* a floral scent, not an ice or snow scent, however, I wouldn't be surprised in the least to find out that Devil's Trumpet is part of the alchemy that creates that winter weather impression in some blends).

 

In another thread, Flyby stated "moonflower (aka datura, devil's trumpet, jimsonweed, among other names) is a very 'pale' smelling, sweetish, luminous floral. On me, at least, it doesn't do the soapy thing or the powdery thing like some other florals." I've added this because I think Flyby did a much better job of summarizing the scent in a few words, and between my rambling and Flyby's concision, maybe people will be able to conjure up an accurate impression of Devil's Trumpet

In the imp: Grandma's fancy bathroom soap. On the skin: more of the same. It is a nice soap, but soap nonetheless. I agree with the reviewer up thread - who knew Evil could smell so *clean*?!

This one starts with a natural pine scent, and rapidly becomes sweet (not foodie sweet or berry sweet... more woodsy sweet) with just a hint of pine in the background. There is just a touch of leather in the waft, but not up close.

Ranger would easily fit in with a Yule collection.

Very clean with a bit of a kick. Something in here reminds me of a scent I associate with swimming pools and beaches (but not the beach ball plastic, or any sort of sunblock... hmmm I can't quite place it... maybe pool clean feet on brand new flip flops? Or sitting on a pool float? For me it is an oddly comforting smell.)

Of all the RPG scents so far, this one really screams "slather me on a man!" So I did. This one really changes with skin chemistry. My two male volunteers ended up smelling like "before the battle, Fighter" and "after the battle, Fighter."

In the imp: too 'perfumy.' On the skin: spiced incense. It sweetens up a bit and gets more juicy as it dries. Interesting. Not a favorite, but not bad.

Sweet and grassy (in the sense of a meadow filled with flowers, not a front lawn sort of grassy). As it dries, I can pick out the frankincense. No leather or metallics to speak of (on my skin, this is a good thing). Wet, it reminds me of Szepasszony. I get juicy-stemmed spring florals. The more it dries, the more the frank comes out to play, and the less I like it. Overall, better than I expected, but probably not for me.

Unobtrusive. Slightly sweet, inoffensive leather (coming from a person who until this point was unable to find a leather blend that didn't turn my stomach). I wasn't terribly impressed at first, but this could grow on me.

Sweet and resinous, with Frankincense dominant. I am not a huge fan of the church resins, so this one isn't for me. Additionally, the imp broke in transit, and in the course of salvaging the oil, my kitchen ended up smelling like Cleric for a few days. Pungent.

The vetiver is less aggressive than I'm used to. Many vetiver blends get axed as soon as the cap is off the imp, but it is very subtle here.

I don't get any zucchini. I get violet musk and third-world-leather-goods (that cloying, semi-sweet, honey-bucket cured leather scent). Very appropriate to the theme, but probably not something I need to experience on a regular basis. The leather note reminds me of Jezirat al Tennyn.

Bubble gum and bitter herbs. Heady, hoppy, dense. A leather note similar to The Soldier.
Based on the notes, this should be a disaster on me... and it isn't awesome, but the disastrous metal/stone notes don't show up on me, and the hops and leather are better than expected. Interesting scent. No idea where the wet bubble gum scent came from.

Wet, this is high and a bit sharp. As it dries, the sandalwood comes out and grounds it a bit. Dusty, musky, ever so slightly sweet. I don't get any of the beeswax. These 'white' scents aren't really my style.

Wet, this is spiced baked goods and oatmeal. As it dries, I start picking up the TP's shortbread cookie note from a few years back. I'm quite pleased with this one.

If you like Halfling, try The Chicken-Legged Hut.

 

ETA: I ended up getting a bottle of Halfling. I made my husband smell it in the bottle without telling him what it was. His reaction was pretty funny. "What am I smelling? Is that Cream Soda? Wait, is it cookies? Or rootbeer? Wait wait wait, let me smell it again! Seriously, what is that? That smells good!" (He always does think with his stomach).

Very woodsy. Gorgeous while wet, but as it dries, something goes a little off (maybe the berries?) and gets too sweet. I love the concept, but I would pick Jabberwocky or Hemlock if I want something in this scent category.

Breezy and sweet, with a hint of lemon.
This shouldn't work on me, but it seems to be behaving. Not really my scent, but better than expected for the listed notes.

Simple and glorious. This is the blend that made me fall in love with amber.

The spiciness adds just the right depth. Warm and wonderful.

It always surprises me how much I like orris, but dislike straight up violet. Sybaris was all violet, with a slightly cloying, almost plastic scent behind it. Definitely not for me.

We took the whole posse to Fort Bridger this weekend for the annual Mountain Man Rendezvous. (Still jealous of all the people who got to see the labbies at D*Con this weekend, but at least I got to dress up).

My era-appropriate costume was rounded off by the liberal application of TOMBSTONE. I love that scent.

I wore Great Grey Witch when I went into labor for the birth of my daughter last week.

GGW is one of my go-to peaceful/calming scents, and the throw is subtle enough that I thought it would be a good choice even with the scent sensitivity that can accompany labor. It worked beautifully. I will always have a special place in my heart for GGW now.

Pear plus!

 

After reading reviews, I expected this to disappear on me, but I got a lovely wafting scent for hours after application. At 6 hours in, it is still present when I sniff up close, but the wafting aspect has died down.

 

I didn't re-read the notes before applying this morning, and I had a hard time figuring out what I was smelling along with the pear. It alternated between 'sweet pear' and 'slightly musky pear' with the pear scent itself staying true throughout. After reading the notes, I can identify the honey (which is behaving very well, and not going powdery at all), but I don't smell anything I can readily identify as vanilla cream.

Overall, this is a lovely blend, simple and calming, with low to medium throw.

In the Bottle: Sweet cranberry, a touch of bergamot, maybe a hint of peach and carnation. No musk, coconut or amber are apparent.

 

Wet on Skin: omgwtf?! blarg. choke.

 

While Drying: Thank the gods that initial wet stage only lasted for a few minutes. Now I'm getting mainly the beautiful cranberry note, though the husband thinks the bergamot dominates.

 

After a Little While: I adore the Lab's cranberry note, but too often it gets muddled by competing notes. Here, cranberry is the star of the show, gently supported by notes that temper the sweetness, and maybe warm the scent a bit. Beautiful.

 

Later: I think this may be the cranberry scent that I've been searching for. I am so glad I didn't let the coconut scare me off.

 

In the Hair: Not good. There is a note in here (I'm guessing coconut, or a combination of coconut and vegetal musk) that is apparently burning off on my skin but sticks around on my hair. It reminds me a bit of the When-Snow-White-Goes-Wrong plastic scent. This will definitely be a skin-only bottle for me - no hair application or scent lockets!

 

Throw: Medium

 

Overall Impression: Brilliant cranberry scent. Lighter than I expected. Mischievous Spirit will most likely make it into regular rotation for me. 4/5

 

ETA: I wore this to bed last night, and in the morning, I could detect a faint musky note, but it is fairly gentle. It is definitely not a typical red musk, and I wouldn't really describe it as vegetal either, just a nice gentle musk.

In the Bottle: Spicy, nutty, a bit of ammonia; The Boy says 'yummy baked something'

 

Wet on Skin: Warm chestnuts

 

While Drying: the throw is nice and cozy, slightly spicy and slightly buttery; the skin-close scent has a distinct air of cat box *sigh*

 

After a Little While: The throw is nice, mainly sweet/spicy chestnut; up close still has the funk, which seems to be a bad interaction between the pine and the bayberry, or maybe one of the other notes that I am not consciously picking up.

 

Later: The funky undertone has gone away… mostly. The spicy chestnut remains.

 

Final Thoughts: Myrica berries = Bayberry. I think Bayberry is an iffy note on me. My bff fell in love with the chestnut note in Harimise, and she is equally entranced by the chestnut note here.

 

The Second of the Three Spirits earns a 2.5/5 on my skin.

In the Bottle: sweet, chilly

 

Wet on Skin: fruity, sweet

 

While Drying: Cranberry and pine cone are prominent. Bayberry is present, but not overwhelming. The chilliness is more of a minty feel at the rear roof of my mouth, rather than an overt minty scent.

 

After a Little While: There is a musky lily scent in here somewhere that is throwing me off. The winter air seems to be menthol rather than mint or eucalyptus.

 

Later: Can't stand the up close scent, but the throw isn't terrible. I love the cranberry and pine cone, but whatever is turning lily-ish on me is ruining this.

 

Final Thoughts: I think I'd prefer this as a room scent rather than as a personal scent.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of bayberry. I'll be cautious with it in the future.

 

Whoop earns a 2.5/5 on my skin.