CiaoBonefish

I agree about Candles Moon. It ended up being very milky berry-ish but with a kind of cologne-y feel! I swapped my bottle.

The Plane of Joy, eternal reward for a lifetime of valor and glory. A place of eternal youth and beauty, strength and honor, music and revelry. The warmth of amber, the puissance of white ginger and the clarity of verbena, with fresh green grass, lush sage and cleansing droplets of summer rain. Well. I am angry. ANGRY AT YOU MAG MELL. Let me tell you why. In the imp this is all glorious verbena, white ginger, lush grass, and rain. In other words, gloriously zingy. Once this dries on my skin the amber kicks in and turns things a touch powdery and I lose the zingy verbena ginger kick I was loving! Goes through an odd soapy phase (assuming that is the rain note because aquatics go soapy on me in general), and I can't really get the sage much in this one either. Ok… I'm not that mad at Mag Mell anymore. She is beautifully zingy with an amber smoothness and the rain and grasses for freshness and life; I just wish she stayed the zingy bright sunny smiley she was when wet on my skin and in the imp. May be this will eventually be bumped to a bottle, I want to get a bottle actually but am unsure how the amber will age. I guess we'll see. Otherwise lovely lovely lovely spring scent! Very lively but smooth! ETA 2015: I lied to all of you. I thought that this scent was only okay. I thought that this scent had deceived me, and I preferred it in its early stages to the dry down. I WAS SO WRONG. This is probably my favorite General Catalogue scent of all time. Mag Mell is old faithful. Mag Mell is the perfume I've used the most of after Samhain, and Mag Mell is the scent I will always come back to because of how much I love it. It's zingy and fresh and uplifting, but it is also soothing and warm and even a little sensual on the dry down. I love Mag Mell, and I thought I really needed to come back here and tell you guys that. We've been having a love affair for the past 4 years after all!

How odd. In the imp the honey and lotus are heavy and sweet and sticky. I really love it! Lotus and honey are two really lovely notes, when honey works that is. As it dries this stays pretty close to form, but the honey kind of takes over a bit and the lotus becomes less recognizable. Once dry the honey has stopped being really sticky sweet and instead becomes a touch powdery and the lotus appears more, helping the powderiness along. It is a bit too subdued for me when dry. I preferred this wet when the lotus and honey were robust and lovely, in that stage this scent was very reminiscent of the honey-heavy Door and Osun, but with lotus and honey opposed to chamomile and herbal honey. Unfortunately I will probably let this go and go with Lotus Moon or Black Lotus for my lotus kicks and Door and Osun for honey.

Soporose and lenitive: opium-laced golden lotus with rich amber, red sandalwood, pomegranate, frankincense, and rose otto. Goodness I adore this. On first whiff all I can smell is smoky opium, sweet lotus, and a bit of a deepness to it all. On my skin the scent goes very smoky and sweet, but soon mellows and I can pick out lotus and may be even a touch of rose (but really just lotus + floral type smell) over a grounded base of sandalwood, amber, and frankincense. It becomes almost spicy along with the smokiness which balances out the lotus wonderfully. As it dries the smokiness fades into the grounded frankincense like base and the florals meld together making the lotus less distinct. Doesn't have much throw and wears a short period of time, but I adore it. I have a deacon of the original and the 2010 version and though I like the original better, this one is lovely too. May have to track down a bottle!

Wow. In the imp it is very sweet and almost caramelized. I was afraid this would go all kinds of wrong on my skin but bit the bullet and put it on anyway. Coconut is usually a huge miss for me, but I've realized in heavy blends it is perfectly fine, just in the lighter ones does it get kinda moldy smelling. In Elegba it is juicy and sweet and round, the rum is very boozy (obviously) and together they make for an extremely buttery sticky sweet kind of explosion. Initially this is way too sweet and I hardly get any tobacco, but as it dries it smoothes out and becomes less sweet. Each note becomes more pronounced individually and an earthy smokiness emerges. The dry down is glorious as it has becomes a dry deep coconut with rum and smoky tobacco backing it all up. Lush, sweet, smoky, and really nice. Wet it is almost overpoweringly sweet, but the dry down I could get used to. Throw isn't amazing and it doesn't last super long, but I'll definitely hold on to the imp. May get bumped to bottle eventually though because I feel in the winter this will get a lot lot lot lot of wear! ETA: Nope. Tried it again today and the rum came out way more than before. I don't know what it is but now it is starting to smell a bit like Spooky and I really was NOT a fan of spooky. The rum and coconut combination is really just off putting like the one in Spooky. Coconut usually doesn't work on me, but I had hope for this one! I'll keep the imp because I'm hopeful but if that rum and coconut problem keeps going this will go to the swap pile!

You could may be find Hanerot Halalu. It is my favorite beeswax blend. Really just lovely. Also if you like leather, Hand of Glory is the ultimate beeswax/leather blend!!!!

This is so odd. Celeste, Love's Philosophy, and my fresh imp of Morocco all smell extremely similar on me... Morocco is literally a less sweet and orchid-esque Celeste and a softer less sour Love's Philosophy.. This happen to anyone else? I'm completely baffled by it!

Interesting. It smells really well... lovely to my nose, but extremely unusual. I definitely get the damn soil after rain scent, but it is definitely fresher and lighter than the word "dirt" implies. I get a touch of wood and floral, but mainly damp fresh soil with wood. Oddly enough I totally get the beet note MtMoonKitty was talking about! I don't think I'm adverse to it though.. It is fresher and greener than Zombi but definitely has a decaying type feel to it. Extremely evocative hmmmm. Very unusual but surprisingly lovely. I didn't know if I would like dirt scents, but this one is really wonderful. I'm not sure if I need a bottle, but I will definitely hold on to the decant! Also stays pretty close to the skin in an almost sinister ethereal way, if you know what I mean? Really great!

Wow. In the decant this is very sweet with lots of cardamom and chemical leather (like the one in the Traveller, it was chemically to me anywho). I didn't think this was going to work because my kind of leather note is the kind in Hand of Glory or Liz. This isn't that kind of leather. On my skin WOAH. Very sweet. Almost sickly sweet cardamom, which is probably the bourbon making it so sweet. Reminds me of this cardamom tea my mom drinks along with a splash of leather. No patchouli. It's a bit cinnamony but no one can mistake that cardamom scent. As it dries it becomes a bit less sweet, more smoky and spicy ish. The leather is still there being it's chemically self.... Grr. Final verdict. Sweet, smoky, spicy cardamom drowning chemical leather. Not my cup of tea, but I can see how others would like this. May have to try it again, but I'm just not a fan of cardamom or this particular leather note so I'll probably have to let it go.

I didn't really have many must haves because Lupercalia isn't usually a hard hitter for me when it comes to updates! Metal Rabbit (though I'm not sure if it is in the same category) is lovely and I have a bottle of that. SMUT ALWAYS WINS FOR ME, I love love love it and even still have some from last year. Other favorites though perhaps not bottle purchases for me were... Womb Furie (this was just a little TOO sexy for me to justify a bottle purchase but WOW, just wow) Time Does Not Bring Relief (lovely, lovely, but has a very Bensiabel feel on me) Dark Chocolate, Fig, and Tamarind (Just glorious! Almost was a bottle purchase, but I never wear foody scents that often so I'm just keeping the decant)

Just tested a decant of Love's Philosophy I had lying around and you're right! Cream soda! I don't get any kind of sparkliness or fizziness from it though so that is a touch disappointing, but may be with a bit of layering... And now I'm on a hunt for Love's Philosophy...

This is lovely wet. I am getting beautiful juicy, sweet tangerine. A touch of currant which for some reason always appears a bit woodsy to my nose. The white musk is hidden, as is the tagetes. I don't really know what tagetes smell like so I went into this testing tagete-blind. Once this starts drying down the tangerine disappears... NOOOOO. Tangerine come BACK. PLEASE. I LOVE YOU SO. Drat. No more Tangerine. Something which I am assuming is the tagetes amps like woah. It smells like mehndi/henna. Very strongly of henna actually, and the dried henna that is left on your skin after some time. The tangerine is gone and I can't even smell the musk or currant anymore. It is just this weird henna blend... TANGERINE I MISS YOU. SKIN CHEMISTRY FAIL. GAAHHHH. Adding tagetes to a iffy death note may be list...

This is mainly toasted coconut on me and sandalwood with a touch of almond. I really am not fan of the Lab's coconut note and it turns into gross dishwater on my skin so this scent is a no on my skin. Very dry and just gross wet mop smell. Bleh. Me + coconut = NOPE.

I think I may have acquired an aged imp because this blend is very smooth and almost light on me. The musk, civet, and opium have just blended beautifully together. The opium isn't sharp or too smoky! The civet is extremely subtle. This is mainly just glorious egyptian musk on me. It is almost too faint on me. I'll have to get a fresh imp and test it then. It is nice, but I prefer other musky blends to this one. Imp will probably get rehomed as well!

Titania (white grape, white peach, iced pear, musk rose, sweet pea, moonflower and snapdragon) and Endymion (sweet, wistful blend of d’Anjou pear, Lily of the Valley, bois du rose and white musk) are both GC and really nice sparkling, shimmery, crystalline type pear scents if you know what I mean. Titania is a bit peachy and fruity in general though so it really just depends on your skin chemistry how much pear you get, but Endymion is really, really lovely! It does have a bit of a rose-y white musk feel to it as well, but it complements the rose nicely. Just looked through my spreadsheet. Have not tried any of these but... You may also want to try Sunrise With Sea-Monsters (ocean mist, kelp, ambergris, amber, white pear, osmanthus, freesia, and seafoam accord) from the Salon. I have not tried it personally, but regardless of if the pear is dominant or not it is worth a shot. Symmakhia (vanilla, heliotrope, red sandalwood, pear, black lily, white wine grape, and white rose) could also be worth tracking down a decant of. May be even Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal (clotted vanilla cream, pink pepper, grapefruit, blood lily, red ginger, English pear, and lemon-squeezed candyfloss!)?

Ok anyone have any recommendations for ICE CREAM SODA type blends? I suppose I just want elements of sparkling fizziness, sweetness (think sugary and may be a little syrupy but not nauseating), creamy (doesn't have to be quite like ice cream but a nice heavy cream or milk would be lovely, like the milk in Alice even?), and may be even a bit ethereal? I know right? In my dreams, but may be something with at least a few of those characteristics? Help would be great!

Hand of Glory! The leather and beeswax is swoonworthy and smoky goodness. Hellfire is all smoky sweet pipe tobacco on me, just amazing.

I sprung for a bottle of this without even testing it... I know... iffy for a Salon blend because they're a bit more expensive than other GC scents! I knew I would love it though, and I was right This starts off wet as STRONG sugared sunflowers with a touch of black amber and "scorched" stems. Sunbaked is definitely a good word to describe it. The dark elements of the blend prevent the sunflower from getting too sweet and syrupy and sugary which I especially appreciate. Sweet scents can get nauseating on me. As this dries down the sweetness blends into the other notes and he amber steps forward. The overall effect is just beautiful. Sunflower, amber, sweetness, and the warm drying heat of the sun. A summer floral, but it isn't only a floral. It is evocative of a warm, dry, scorched even, plain filled with sunflowers at the peak of their bloom, with the sun glossing over everything gloriously spilling its golden glow! But it has a richness to it (thank you amber, moss, and stems!) that is slightly dark. This is Egon Schiele's Sunflower bottled to perfection. Love. Love. Love. Made it to my top 10!

On me this starts off as all red musk, black tea, a bunt of creaminess, and a bit of a kind of foody anise type scent which I'm assuming is the pie! Wow. Wet this is absolutely gorgeous! The red musk doesn't dominate and the black pepper is not present at all really apart from grounding the scent. I love that because I'm not a huge black pepper note fan. There is a touch of creaminess I'm guessing due to the vanilla cream which really helps keeping the black tea note from getting bitter and the musk from taking over. Wet the anise type note is very present. At the dry down it remains pretty much the same but the anise type note has blended into the other notes leaving a sweet and only ever so slight anise feel behind. The blend is more grounded and overall just lovely. Smells like red musk, tea, and a bit of amazing creamy and completely unassuming licorice type scent which reminds me ever so slightly of pie... But all in a very NON foody and NOT heavy and NOT super overpoweringly sweet way! I wish I got some leather from this. If I did it would have been dead sexy! But unfortunately I don't get any whatsoever, regardless It's still wonderful! Very evocative and definitely my favorite Yule of the update. After reading reviews I was wary of the anise note, but it works so well here that I'm craving more! ETA: 12 years later, and I still love this one! It's gotten richer and more gourmand which is the main difference from my original review. It's got this syrupy almost honeyed red musk and licorice pie vibe now and less tea. It CAN get a little cloying. I will only wear this in the fall and winter now, but man is it a stunner of a spicy gourmand.

I was really really excited for this one. I hoped it would be the best tea scent! It seems nice in the decant. A bit on the lemongrass side and the tea isn't quite as grounded as I like, but I hoped that would change on skin. On skin this is very... lemon-y.. but not in a good way. The lemongrass is really sharp and the black tea is off. It keeps reminding me of White Rabbit which makes me wonder if the tea notes are similar at all. The grains are also rather strange. Overall the individual notes are not behaving nicely on my skin. The lemongrass is too sharp, the grains are weirdly bitter, the ginger I can't really detect, and the tea note reminds me someone of White Rabbit which was terrible on my skin. Had to scrub this one off How upsetting. I had such high hopes! With select skin chemistries I can imagine though that this is probably wonderful. ETA: Come to think of this, it is probably the ginger + black tea combination that reminds me so much of White Rabbit... and completely turns me off unfortunately.

Thanks for all the recs guys! I did a lab order with some imps that particularly interested me: Rosalind and Mag Mel. Also went ahead and jumped for a bottle of The Sunflower and waiting for a swap message from someone for the other Salon scents! I feel like I have neglected the Salon for far too long and want to go ahead and jump on that! The Butterfly and The Lilac Wood also sound positively wonderful. High Strung Daisies was way too sweet on me unfortunately. My skin likes to amp the sweetness in scents (Like Faith and Hope were way too candied and custard like on me to the point of them being nauseating). Night-Gaunt, Hermia, and Pepper are definitely on my to try list now! Especially Pepper! 51 I am iffy about but I will try it eventually. As to The Phoenix in Spring I already have a ISO out for that one with no luck so far. I didn't get a chance to grab a bottle before it came down off the website so yea.. rather unfortunate.

This tends to be my favorite recommendation thread so I thought I would bump it with a specific recommendation! Again I'm looking for a beautiful meadow scent. Cool grasses warmed by sunshine and light warm sweet florals. The Passionate Shepherd to his Love is my absolute favorite meadow scent along with Fairy Market. The problem is, both are either LE or discontinued! I have bottles of each but would love to branch out BUT REALLY ONLY IN THE GC CATEGORY. I don't want to track down bottles of scents I may love. I'd rather get an imp from the lab and see what happens! So any suggestions for GC (preferably impable) meadow scents? Here is a rundown of meadow type scents I have tried. The Passionate Shepherd to his Love - absolute favorite, crisp grass warmed by sunlight and sweet florals (tea rose and carnation mainly) The Host of the Air - Lovely and crip, but not warm enough and fades quickly. That being said I DO love this blend. Fairy Market - Otherworldy ethereal market place with SUGARED INCENSE (one of the most wonderful notes of all time). The East - Very pretty and flowery and a touch of grass thrown in for good measure, but not quite as ethereal as Fairy Market. Enchanted Wood Florist - something in this (the sap I think) amped and urned very very very sweet on my skin. Like candied florals. Pretty but WAY too sweet for me. Little Bird - Nice but too sharp and clean. Caliban - green green grass and dew.

This was alllllll red musk on me! I mean it is softer but still it's just straight up red musk. Also smelled like a furrier less sweet Snake Oil on me. It's nice but not unique enough for me to keep. Outrageous throw and lasts forever! I wish I got some of the juniper but alas no. It would have given the scent so much depth!

For those of you who have tried The Phoenix in Spring how similar is it to The Host of the Air or The Passionate Shepherd to His Love or The Ghost (this smells surprisingly similar to The Passionate Shepherd to His Love on me which is odd but really just after the dry down)? I would love another fresh meadow floral, but a warm crisp meadow green floral type scent. Like a meadow bathed in sun and sweet fresh little flowers?

When I first heard about this blend I WAS SO EXCITED TO TRY IT! Hand of Glory? Come on what an interesting concept, and the notes sounded lovely too. In the decant this is sharp leather with beeswax. It's even a bit sour. Kind of off putting. After sniffing it in the decant I put it away to test for another time. A few months later (aka NOW) I pulled it out and it was very much the same scent I had smelled before, but it had grown a bit smoother and I was willing to test it now. Always test scents on skin! They change so much! On skin it started off as that sharp leather and slightly sour beeswax. After a while the beeswax gets creamy and sweeter losing its sourness. The leather is still a bit sharp but it has smoothed out somewhat and become a bit peppery. A bit of a confusing smell. Kind of like peppery beeswax? BUT WAIT it has not finished drying down! At the drydown it is just LOVELY. The peppery-ness I was smelling before is gone and I'm left with lovely worn leather no doubt deepened and smoothed by the other notes in the blend. The beeswax has become MUCH creamier, kind of like vanilla beeswax just as Tailoredshirt mentioned in her review! Glorious! I also wore this before I worked out and nearly swooned! Creamy beeswaxy vanilla with warm rounded out leather!!!! Reminds me of The Bow and Crown of Conquest plus sweet beeswax! (FYI The Bow and Crown of Conquest is all leather and vanilla on me, not much else) Delicious and I will definitely need a bottle! I'm sure this will only improve with age