childoftime

Well, hello there Gardenia. Are you going to let all the other gorgeous scents in here come out to play?

...no. You're just going to amp. I smell like GARDENIA. It's a bit soapy, and I'm disappointed. I can get just a hint of beautiful things, but they're all swallowed up by the gardenia. Super sad.

This scent didn't really carry the earthy quality of Matcha I was kind of hoping for, that rich almost-bitterness just isn't there. What IS here, on the other hand, is LEMON!

I hoped figured it would burn off after a little while as it dried down, but it keeps that lemony-ness the whole way through. The chocolate does try to come back out a bit on the drydown, but the lemon is overwhelming the green tea. It's like a lemon truffle rather than a green tea truffle, but it's still delicious. I think I'll tuck it away and hope the lemon fades a bit with age and lets the green tea come out to play a bit more.

I was a bit wary, as the scent in the freshly-removed-from-bubble-wrap bottle was sharp, sharp, sharp, and too well-blended for me to really pick anything out. I suspected that the sharpness was coming from the thyme, juniper, and mint, and I was really worried about it being soapy (especially after MamaMoth's review), and decided to let it settle.

Well, five minutes later, I decided that to hell with settling, I was trying it. Before I could talk myself out of it (again) I was putting it on. And no conservative, wrists-only testing (which I usually do with scents I'm unsure of, as washing something you hate off of your neck is a huge hassle)--I put it on my neck and everything!

Right away, I got thyme, cranberry, and dry woods, with just a hint of fuzzy mint around the edges. The cranberry seemed frozen, with just a hint of ice about it, and as this blend starts to dry it turns to a beautiful cool red, cranberry-and-currant note over dry woods. I think that the coolness is probably the mint, but I can't specifically pick it out now that it's dry. This scent stays fresh and herbal the whole way through, and I don't get any plasticky or artificial smell from it at all. This is hauntingly beautiful, and I'm SO glad I have a whole bottle! I have a feeling this one is going to be very, very popular, especially as it ages.

This is cupcake musk! I love it! It's like Cake Smash with vanilla cake and chocolate ganache. It's such a sweet, delicious scent, I would so eat the chocolate, it really smells like a smashed cupcake over musk.

I don't know what went wrong here. I was all set to love it, as all the notes in it sound freakin' awesome, leather and vanilla in any form love me, so when I got a tester of this, I wasted no time trying it out.

Sadly, I don't know whether the balsams just hate me or what, but it just smells pungent and I get none of the delicious leather and vanilla that I know must be in there somewhere. I like grass, but that isn't at all what I get out of this. This one broke my heart.

I've yet to layer this with anything, but I had to review this scent, just because the scent is so strikingly pink hard candy (this is gonna be a short review. It smells like heart-shaped sweet tarts. Flat out, that simply, like you just ate them or rolled around in a pile of them. It's a great smell, but it's not very me. I love smelling it, though!

In the bottle, this is all sugared blackberry. Once it's on, though, it's definitely jam, and the warm scone comes out behind it. It seems crazy, but I swear I can smell the rough texture of the scone torn open and smeared with jam. The scent stayed very consistent all through drydown, and still has decent throw hours later, but not so other people would notice without getting very close. This is a home run, and I definitely need a bottle!

This is definitely a green scent, and the musk is just a bit powdery like old Smut or B.B3.

Once it started to dry, though, I think the powdery-ness isn't the musk, I'm pretty sure it's amber. Sadly, amber hates me, and has turned this into a powder scent. Not baby powder of doom, but not my idea of smelling fantastic, either. Glad I got a tester of this before I bought a whole bottle.

In the bottle, this one smells like straight-up snake oil with a tiny bit of extra sweetness.

As soon as it hit my skin, it started out smelling powdery, and I was terrified it was going to smell like baby powder on me, but much to my relief it settled down and became a warm, glowing honey scent with a snake oil base and just a hint of powdery dryness.

In the bottle, this is very much the scent of lime icees from King's Dominion, with a little bit of cocoa-y chocolate in the background.

When I put it on, the lime warmed up and dominated the chocolate for quite some time--this was basically a key lime SN for a while there. It was only when it dried down that the chocolate came back out to play. This is definitely key lime, not your usual, 'normal' lime. I like this one a lot, for all its simplicity. It will be absolutely gorgeous in the summer when I want something sweet but not syrupy, and not too foody. Refreshing.

I think the confusion about whether the strawberry is fresh or candied in this blend is actually coming from the sweet creaminess of the white chocolate, which is really well-blended here. In the bottle it smelled candyish, but once it's out of the bottle, the strawberry note is the smell of the bowl of freshly-cut strawberries that you sprinkled sugar on and left in the fridge for an hour before taking out and sniffing (right before you dump them on your shortcake and devour.

Wet, this was a little bit of strawberry, a bit more cream, and a ton of spicy white pepper. When it started to dry, the pepper backed off quite quickly, leaving a bit of a bite to mingle with the scent of fresh, sweet strawberry and sugary creamy fresh white chocolate. This is the best chocolate scent I've even worn. Just amazing.

Dry, this is fresh, cool fruit; sweet, creamy white chocolate; and warm, spicy pepper around the edges. I may need a backup bottle of this.

Precious, softly glowing metals and ancient stone--this is the scent of the British Museum. I wouldn't even know where to start to tally all the hours I spent there (during the rainiest spring London has seen for 200 years, lucky me!). It reminds me especially of the Roman Britain room, with the great big marble slabs of Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus' tomb in front of me, and the gleaming gold from the Mildenhall treasure behind me.

This is a sweet, dry sort of smell, not powdery at all (it seems that anything that can go to powder, like amber, turns straight into baby powder on me) to my very great relief. It seems cool and warm at the same time, if that makes any sense at all. This perfume is a lot closer to what I'd hoped to get a from U. I may need a bottle just so I can always go back to my favourite museum.

Dragon's Milk: Warm, comforting and inviting.

GLowing Vulva: But what if she liked your scent and asked you what it was called?!? O_O

The Raven: This one is beautiful, soft and sophisticated.

Any time someone asks me what I'm wearing and I have Glowing Vulva on, I tell them it's called Ryogoku Bridge. I'm not lying, just choosing to use the second half of the name instead of the first!

In the imp, this was allllll almond, with maybe a hint of herbs. Once on my skin, I got the same almond-y smell, and as it dries I'm starting to get the deep, peppery smell of dried roses. Normally I can't wear any kind of rose, but this is really nice. My wife is a total rose queen, and likes to hoard anything rose-scented, but she may not even recognize this one as rose. It smells like smashed rose petals, oregano (maybe sage?), and other herbs I can't pick out. It reminds me of the bedroom I used to sleep in when we stayed at my grandma's house as a kid. Not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but my memory is insistent, so I included it here.

It's definitely a strong amber, and while this isn't as bad as, say, Baghdad on me, the amber in this blend was powdery. Not overpoweringly baby powder, but definitely a light, powdery scent. It's very golden and a bit spicy, but the powdery amber is definitely the throw.

I've scanned over the whole thread looking for another recommendation. I love B&BW's Vanilla Bean Noel. Way back in the thread, someone suggested Mouse's Sad and Long Tail, which I have and love. But I don't think it's that close. Mouse's notes are: Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood. VBN has vanilla bean, warm caramel, and cream.

 

Is there anything else in the GC or any other category, including DCs, LEs, protos, etc. that has just those three notes? Or any layering ideas? Thanks in advance!

You may have tried this ages ago and it didn't work, but have you tried Detestable Putrescence? Seems like that one might be a little closer since it's vanilla and cream, sweet and sticky-like.

Oh yes, the amber is definitely there. I had to try this after discovering that I can wear some amber blends, but this one went straight to baby powder in record time. It completely overpowered any subtlety or complexity this blend may have had.

If you usually have problems with amber, stay well back from this blend.

If you missed out on Left His Nurse While In A Crowd, get ahold of some Malignant Dreams of Cthulhu In Love. They're really similar, you're just swapping tentacles for tea.

I got to try this thanks to an incredibly generous forumite, and I am SO grateful! I read the notes when I put it on and I'd somehow not noticed the amber listed in the description, so I was worried, and expected it to not work on me, since amber hates me and always turns into baby powder on me. Always...except this time, somehow. WTH? I'm thrilled! Not only is it not baby powder, but sweet zombie Jesus this is BEAUTIFUL.

It started out all cream and lotus, but then the teak and amber came out when it warmed on my skin, and it almost seems like there's tonka somewhere in here despite its total absence from the description. The amber and teak keep the cream/lotus combo from being too sweet or sharp, and everything blends into this delicious, warm, creamy wood with a delicate whiff of lotus, even ten hours after I put it on. I NEED more of this.

I'll have to try this one again, because on me this was sort of earthy floral rather than rooty or herb-y. It is definitely different than anything else, but smelled interesting and alive. Like a garden full of the green smell of growing vegetables and the perfume of blooming white flowers.

Salted chocolate in the bottle. On my skin it's chocolate, salt water, and a hint of incense. It reminds me of Left His Nurse While in a Crowd only saltier. I love it!

So I tried out The Chapel, and wow--it is almost a dead ringer for to Chilling Cellar. On me, it's basically the same scent with a little more wine. I'm loving it!

On me, this is chocolate buttercream musk with a tiny hint of berry. I will elaborate further when I put more on after Doctor Who.

In bottle: Redcurrant, red fruit, red wine, (bit of a theme going on ) and a hint of something a little darker--maybe plum?

Wet: Oh my goodness--this is SO good. It's redcurrant juice in plum wine. With just a hint of other berries. This is fantastic! It's not sticky-sweet and has a pectin smell like red swedish fish, but I don't think of this as a foody scent. I think I'm going to slather this one for the holiday gift exchange party tonight!

Dry: Booze? What booze? This is the perfect "red" scent on me. With a little bit of throw, which I usually don't get from the sweeter scents. Hurrah! I'm looking forward to providing a loving home for the unwanted bottles of this one!

In the bottle, this is vanilla sugar.

Once I put it on, though, it smells EXACTLY like a marshmallow. Like I'm holding a big fat marshmallow up to my nose. Sweet, sugary, light, and I swear I can even smell the powdered sugar dust on the outside. This is utterly amazing. It stays the same on me from wet to dry, too.

Honest-to-God marshmallow. I just can't get over it. I need more!