whisperstilled
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Posts posted by whisperstilled
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Testing the '09 version first.
In the bottle and fresh on the skin, this is ice cold incense with a distinct piney quality that I think is coming from the benzoin. It's almost 'furry' in the way the lab's fur note is, though I may simply associating their cold slushy note with the fur note often used in these scents.
As it dries, this is cold and powdery for my tastes, but still an interesting and well-blended scent. The incense makes this much more appealing than I find many of the lab's ice and snow scents. Absolutely Christmassy, but almost more like a Christmas potpourri to me partway through the drydown. It sweetens a little as it goes, though, becoming more subtle and more like a classic perfume. Quite soft once it dries. The 'menthol' comparison is apt.
I happen to have the 2012 version on my desk right now as well, and it's much more 'grape' in the bottle, distinctly wine and greens before testing. It's much softer on the skin than 2009, and is so different in effect that it's almost like a different scent altogether, without the cold/incense 'punch' of the older version.
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I think the gingerbread comparisons are coming from a combo of that distinctly 'peanut' brand of vetiver I smell under the seven herbs and spice the lab added on top.
The ginger is really nice, and it does have a strangely foody quality, but this is too much vetiver cookies for me. -
I love a good fougere. If you like Dorian, or Theodosius, this is part of that family tree. It's sharper and less sweet than both, really fresh and clean and light. Decidedly unisex, and very sexy when wet. There is a lightly soapy quality to the citrus/lilac/lavender combo, however, that is reminding me of nothing so much as...kitty litter? Weird.
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I can smell every note in this one, and it's a surprisingly nice combination. Spicy citrusy carnation, really - I barely get any amber at all, but it's there. Sharpens as it dries a little. Reminds me of a pomander, or a spiced orange.
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I somehow missed this one at release, but I've been wanting to try it ever since.
Wet: What it says on the tin, folks - musk, vanilla, and sandalwood. This is the same drop-dead gorgeous that's in Alan McMichael, but softened and sweetened here. Not too sweet, mind you.
Drying: If the throw was just a little stronger, I'd call it in favor of this insanely beautiful scent. The sandalwood sharpens a little as it dries, and the musk is never much more than a background note. Really lovely.
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Strong sasparilla sweetness at first, with a vanilla chaser. This is straight up rootbeer float, y'all. Overwhelmingly foody to my nose - not much leather at all, just a little in the background. If there was more leather this would be straight up perfect - as-is it leans to foody for me, as so many of the Lilith scents seem to do.
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Green sweetness with vanilla and myrrh. Heavenly. The green is distinctly reedy, like plants at a riverside, appropriately enough. There's something soft and wet about it which I just love. A strange and really pleasing scent. Low throw. A little too green for me, perhaps - I wish the myrrh came out more on the drydown.
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Strong ginger flower and very salty aquatics. I wouldn't know guava to my nose, and I only get a little tobacco in the background, but this is definitely an ocean with tropical fruits with bright sharp ginger. Sweet, but not too sweet.
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Soft, sweet coconut and a smooth musk. The coconut comes out more on the drydown, but the orris gives it a creamy quality. It's a little dusty and strange, but definitely one for the coconut lovers out there.
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Dark, dark vetiver with a hint of patchouli and tabacco. The black musk from 'Black Temple Burlesque Troupe.' Too patch for me, but beautifully blended.
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I recieved a small decant of the 2005 edition in a recent swap, and it's not what I expected at all. Aging has pretty much removed the forest fir from the equation. Instead, I get a smokey skin musk note with something like red fruit. Very interesting. I think I catch a whiff of the lab's dirt note too. It reminds me, oddly enough, of 'Through the Rabbit Hole.' I think I'll keep this one around for when I want to feel a bit witchy and strange - October will be perfect.
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My AG decant circle decanter was kind enough to include a tester of this scent!
Wet: Smooth patchouli, spice, and woods. Not too sweet, amber not too powdery. What I would imagine an Egyptian embalmer to smell like, certainly.
Dry: I'm not much of a patchouli fan, and I'm definitely getting a whiff of 'peanut' vetiver in here somewhere, but this is still a very nice scent. Mature and grownup, as so many of the AG scents are, and really nicely blended.
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Wet: Somehow not what I expected, this smells like an expensive whiskey cocktail from a dark bar with worn wooden seats. Herbal, bright ozone cologne, whiskey, and wood.
Dry: As it dries, the wood and cologne definitely dominate, so if you're scared of the whiskey note in this one, don't be. Certainly masculine in the perfume sense, and highly sophisticated. I can indeed imagine one of mythology's great con men wearing this scent. Deceptively smooth, bright and fresh. Low throw.
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If you had told me Shadow would be a soft, very low throw scent, I wouldn't have believed you. Nevertheless, here we are! I was expecting something more in line with Alan McMichael, but what I got was a smokey, light bay rum scent with just a touch of amber. Absolutely sexy guy cologne all the way, and just a little sweet. I just wish it was stronger!
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Wet: Strong jasmine and honeysuckle. The milk is definitely there, adding an odd creaminess, and that is definitely the skin musk note I know and love from so many of the lab's sexy luper scents.
Dry: An exceedingly feminine floral, with the jasmine lending a sharpness to the honeysuckle. Perhaps not for me, but very well-blended.
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Shampoo says it, this smells a bit like some of the conventional perfumes my friends wear. It's nice and clean, very elegant, a touch aquatic/metallic, but otherwise just not particularly distinctive. Much, much softer than I would have anticipated, with very low throw.
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"I think," he pronounced, gloomily, "that our kind, we like the cigarettes so much because they remind us of the offerings that once they burned for us, the smoke rising up as they sought our approval or our favor."
Cigarette smoke overlapping with the resonance of long-forgotten incenses.
American Gods has been more hits than misses for me, so high hopes for this one.
Wet: Wow. Yikes. Sharp, medicinal cigarette smoke, kind of like a clove cigarette. Smells like literal medicine from a medicine cabinet. Like Victorian medicine. Like camphor.
Dry: Okay, sweetening up and becoming less terrifying as it dries and the resins start to come up. This is dry, burning stick incense over a softer resin like myrrh or frankincense. I'm tempted to say it reminds me of nag champa, though it's been so long since I smelled the real thing that I will defer to others with better incense experience to pinpoint the actual base. It's still too harsh and sour for my taste, but smokey incense fans will love this one. I feel like this would layer well, but that sharp cigarette smoke base is just a no go for me without something to soften it. -
"You got to understand the god thing. It's not magic. It's about being you, but the you that people believe in. It's about being the concentrated, magnified, essence of you. It's about becoming thunder, or the power of a running horse, or wisdom. You take all the belief and become bigger, cooler, more than human. You crystallize."
This is the scent of the absolute: this is the perfected manifestation of the absolute essence of not who you are, but what you represent to others. This is You as Symbol, your spirit separated and combined, distilled and condensed into one archetype.
Skin musk and 20-year aged frankincense, a sprig of asphodel, a splash of soma, a lightning-streak of sharp ozone, and a stream of ambrosia.
My first ever first review!
Wet: Green, bright, and musky. Ooh, this is some good stuff. There's a sharpness here I just love, and the frankincense adds a spicy resin background. The ozone is definitely there, but in a way I love, and oh my god, this is the closest scent I've come across to my much-beloved by very HTF bb Sarah from the old Literary Vampire collection. It has the same musk-ozone combination, plus a boost of greens.
Dry: 'Ambrosia,' whatever it is, might be faintly alcoholic - there's a little bit of that in the background of the scent. Really, though, this is ozone/musk/green with a thread of frankincense.
Resin after a rain, we'll call it. I love this one. I need a bottle post haste. Clean, sweet, perfect for summertime. -
Wet: Dark musk, almost spicy labdanum, and smoke. This is actually surprisingly sweet - I was expecting something more bitter. And holy crap, what throw! I just put it on my arm and I can smell it while I type.
Dry: Casablanca's comparison to Faunalia is very apt, that's by far the scent this reminds me of the most. It does sour a bit on the drydown and sharpen up in a way that cancels out much of what I love about the wet stage, but this is still a strong, powerful, uniquely shaggy scent. It's so weird - I feel like this scent should have patch in it, even though it doesn't, perhaps it's the woodsmoke and labdanum sweetness. Despite comparisons to other scents, this is definitely a rare breed of BPAL, and pretty unique. Really interesting.
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I love the concept of Media as a character, but I'm not sure what I'm hoping for out of this one, since the note description could go almost anywhere. Let's give it a whirl!
Wet: Floral, sweet, and definitely sophisticated. Is that mint in the background? Bright and floral, almost like a commercial perfume, but there's a juiciness which rounds it out and adds a certain voluptuous something.
Dry: I'm trying to nail down the floral element here and I just can't, I'm not well-educated enough on floral notes, but honeysuckle, previously mentioned, seems like a good bet from what i can remember. There's something green here as well, and musky. It's definitely feminine and floral, and extremely well-blended. I'm getting maybe a touch of ozone in the background (which I think is what I mistook for mint) which must be the 'cathodes' et al, but this is first and foremost a well-rounded feminine perfume, sweet enough to verge on girlish, complex enough to stay just this side of adult.
I don't know if it's really my cup of tea, but it's growing on me the longer I have it on the skin! For the sweet floral lovers out there, very spring-like.
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Imp: I smell orris. If I hadn't just smelled it in another scent I'm testing today, I wouldn't be able to identify it, but it's sharp and prominent, with the patch and musk right behind. The myrrh is just an incense wisp.
Wet: Myrrh and black musk. This is surprisingly nice. The patch is pretty up there, making this a little too dirty headshop for me, but this is much better than I was expecting.
Dry: Oh nooooo we're taking a hard right into powder town. That's a shame! This one had a lot of potential.
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WOW sharp in the imp. Oakmoss, patchouli, and maybe the juniper? I could swear I smell vetiver in this, but I think it's the myrrh and juniper together.
Wet: Okay, a little more pleasant on the skin. A lot, actually. The juniper gives it a fresh, foresty vibe. I don't get too much patch, although its sweetness is definitely there. The myrrh and juniper together are actually very nice - just wish the patch wasn't there. Oakmoss is still distinctive.
Dry: It's a forest! Green and a little sweeter as it dries. I can't say I'd buy a bottle, but I'll hang onto this to pass onto some of the gentlemen I know.
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Venice
in Wanderlust
Reading about the Medici has put me in a bit of a rennaissance mood, so let's give this one a try.
In Imp: Jasmine, lemon, something floral that must be the wisteria, and definitely bright red currant.
Wet: The rose is coming out pretty strong on my skin. There's violet, too, which I'm not much of a fan of.
Dry: I get the floral components pretty distinctly. Jasmine is not front and center in this one. There's a real red fruits and floral thing happening here - unfortunately, violet is center stage. Something is also making my skin tingle. I get really no sandalwood at all. Into the swaps!
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Two of my death notes together! Smells like raw rotting peanuts in the vial. Hard pass.
Pale Student of Unhallowed Arts
in Yules
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I actually got my hands on a prototype bottle of this one, so I have no idea how it may vary from the production edition. The notes appear to be identical, however.
Ozone and a green almost-fougere. Balsam, possibly, lavender I'm pretty confident. There might be citrus in here, but it's bright as opposed to sweet - lemon, or perhaps bergamot. A surprisingly subtle cologne with ozone and vetiver, extremely pretty. I'll need to wear it a few times to see how the throw fares over time, as right now it's very low. I don't get the 'fizziness' other reviewers mention, perhaps from aging, or maybe this proto is missing whatever note gives it that quality. Even though I'm not usually a vetiver fan, this is extremely wearable to me.