Lycanthrope

Choice soul, in whom, as in a glass, we see, Mirrored in thy pure form and delicate, What beauties heaven and nature can create, The paragon of all their works to be! Fair soul, in whom love, pity, piety, Have found a home, as from thy outward state We clearly read, and are so rare and great That they adorn none other like to thee! Love takes me captive; beauty binds my soul; Pity and mercy with their gentle eyes Wake in my heart a hope that cannot cheat. What law, what destiny, what fell control, What cruelty, or late or soon, denies That death should spare perfection so complete? - Michelangelo Buonarroti An opulent, bittersweet Renaissance-inspired fragrance: Hungary water, parma violets, and roseated oil. Totally not what I was expecting! The overall effect is a very herbal, slightly floral (but mostly green, herby herbs) aroma. The violet is not strong at all, but does lend a subtle powderiness to the overall blend. Goes on sharp, with a strong almost oregano-like note, with lavender, reminds me of... herbes de Provence? Drydown is again herbal, without much in terms of flowers or petals. From wikipedia: "The oldest surviving recipes call for distilling fresh rosemary (and possibly thyme) with strong brandy, while later formulations contain lavender, mint, sage, marjoram, costus, orange blossom and lemon." Oh, no wonder! Tons of rosemary here. This reminds me of the now discontinued LUSH 13 Soap: Unlucky for Dirt.

Every instrument she touches, she adores. If she had the money and the space, her bedroom would look like a basement storeroom at the philharmonic. I played violin as a child, so when I saw her waving that bow for the first time, my heart grew ten sizes. Of course, she prefers the drums. Bow rosin and bubblegum. I was (am?) a violinist, so this spoke to me. I also love bubblegum scents, but have been hard pressed to find anything that surpasses Lilith's Bubblegum and Roses. Immediately wet, this is a very similar scent in terms of the type of bubble gum - very pink, very fruity, very chewy. I'm not getting much other than the sweet fruit and even the powdery covering of the bubble gum (think... Bubble Tape... original. I can even taste it!) I'm searching for the rosin, but not really finding it... I'm sure it's probably there. I can detect something kind of sweet, syrupy, a little amber-y, tickling around at the edges. It's remarkable how this reminds me of the smell of unchewed gum with the cornstarch powder sitting on top of it... surreal... Even after a good ten to fifteen minutes I'm not getting a big change from the super realistic bubblegum scent. I think the rosin, sweet as it may be, complements the scent so well it's pretty seamless. If you love Jailbait, Courtney, any of those types of scents, Pop!, Lil's BG and R... this is a very good cousin, pretty straightforward, but awesome.

Ever since the Tiki Lounge scents, there has always been a soft spot in my heart and hole in my wallet for tropical and coconut scents. I'm one of those guys who likes the idea of summer rather than actually sitting in it, so tropical florals mixed with pineapple, coconut, anything that elicits the concept of summer and the Tropics is a call to me. Cold sniff from the bottle, it's a mix of a warm coconut meat, not husky, and mostly awapuhi (ginger lily/maybe the red torch ginger?), with a smidge of Alba botanical's Gardenia shampoo (a staple of mine). It's a bit more foody at this point, like the coconut meat is strong and forward. It settles pretty quick though as the palm fronds come through as a slight grassiness, but also a bit of a... green plant-yness (yes I know, that's not a word), but this is reminding a lot of 'Under the Palms' from Yankee Candle, which featured a very fine coconut kissed with greenery, with a slight rubbery sappiness that elicited a realistic aroma. At this point most of the florals I am getting are subtle, but well blended. I get hints of watery freesia, the frangipani isn't too high pitched, and the usual flashy florals like gardenia and plumeria aren't dominating the scent. It really is, like the painting, a zoomed out scent of the landscape as opposed to focusing on the individual parts. I suppose still the torch ginger is more flower than spice, though overall this is a warm, well blended tropical floral green. Meaty foody coconut has definitely receded this far in on wear and it is quite nice and not overbearing. Thumbs up and definitely a try for anyone who likes a wearable tropical floral that is more on the subdued and conceptual side.

There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons - That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes - Heavenly Hurt, it gives us - We can find no scar, But internal difference, Where the Meanings, are - None may teach it - Any - 'Tis the Seal Despair - An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air - When it comes, the Landscape listens - Shadows - hold their breath - When it goes, 'tis like the Distance On the look of Death - Thin, tinny ozone with frankincense, white sandalwood, white amber, hyssop, bitter violet leaf, and shadowy wisps of smoke. Was most looking forwards to this scent because of the amber and violet leaf... sounded like parts of my beloved Darkling Thrush. Wet in the bottle this has a slightly peppery warm kick to it, on my skin there's a shift immediately to a cooler pine-like aroma, not quite minty but there's definitely a green herb in this mix. I can start smelling the violet giving a little bit of a rough push to the green base, and underneath it all there's a creaminess. This does smell somewhat similar to The Darkling Thrush of past years except without as much frank mintiness - this is more of that deep violet-like floral, with a hint of peppery bite from the smoke at first, evolving into a dusky floral hanging out over a sandalwood amber that is more on the lighter side. It's nice. I'll keep my bottle but I don't know about hoarding... yet.

Aw man, ever since turning forty, my frequency of Menage a Troising has declined precipitously. That being said, every now and then, this old, grizzled, gray furred wolf stirs and gets intrigued by the skimpy underpinnings of a delectable and promising trio, so when he, bleary eyed and without a budget, stumbled upon this combo, he was 'huzzah!' and 'stir forth my loins,' as well as 'maybe I'll have ramen this week!' to get this into his paws. From the bottle sniff, it's an interesting, very pistachio-forward nut smell, with just a bit of that vanilla butteryness. I detect no macadamia... yet. This is that moment when you've opened that door and your Grindr trio for the night appears. Trepidation and definitely a lot of 'not what I was expecting' is the name of the game... as I slather a smear on my back of my hand, it mysteriously smells extremely strong of... butterscotch? But just for a moment, maybe that's pistachio as he ruffles vanilla's hair a bit. Macadamia is down the hall, complaining that there's too many stairs and 'is this guy worth it?' The butterscotch, odd sharpness, fades, and I think there's maybe the smell of a leaf or some kind of greenery. Maybe pistachio nutmeats. Nutmeats. Heh. Oh wait, macadamia stumbles into view. I don't usually encounter macadamia, it's just rare, or maybe I'm just not normally macadamia's type. At this point it's mostly pistachio and macadamia leaning forwards, the macadamia leaving a sort of... toastiness... aura around him as he sidles up close. For me, maybe too close? I am reminded of a very distant memory of that One Christmas Everyone Gave Us Mauna Loa Macadamia Clusters But We Were Too Kind to Not Eat Them For Weeks Afterwards, wherein my childhood was schmears of milk chocolate and pieces of macadamia lodged in my back molars, desperately trying to dislodge the creamy triangles, but instead only amplifying the nutmeats swirling in my mouth. ... nutmeats. ... heh. On me, fairly quickly, the two nuts become pretty indistinguishable and vanilla remembers he left ... something... in his car, and has to go. No! Don't go! You're the basic bro I wanted in the first place! Pistachio looks a bit irritated and resigns himself to just, I guess, putting his hand on my shoulder, while Macadamia leans his bony thigh a bit too sharply onto my crotch. Ow, bro! Bruh! My nutmeats! (heh) This has pretty low throw on me and very modest sillage, which I guess is good, since when I'm done, Mr. Nosy Rosey McPeekison has her apartment door cracked wondering what all the hubbub is, but by then, all the guys are gone. Certainly if you like the smell of nutmeats, fire up this baby, but it's nuttier and less creamy on me than I thought. And all I really wanted was vanilla playtime, hah hah. Oh, Grindr.

This is a bit of a marvel. It's been a while since I've reviewed a scent, but here goes: I was so very intrigued by the description for Crane Moon that I immediately bought two bottles, and I don't regret that I did. Wet, it has that same type of 'wing and feather' feel that is present in things like The Raven and in particular Crow Moon, but whereas the other two veer a bit more towards dark violet/floral and definitely the darker, shadowy side of things, Crane Moon starts off with that same sweet feathery medium/high tone. I can feel the slight dry, bitter cedar and cardamom floating above the sweet vanilla/sandalwood combination, which is what I think is the similar feather-scent in the other birdy scents. On my skin, the cedar and cardamom continue to dance a bit and give this potentially sweet scent some balanced depth without being overtly spicy. The orris root dusts things up a bit, kind of like how I'd imagine a cascade of white feathers would smell if they were falling around me. I can definitely see that if a crane was mostly white with a few accents of black on wing tips, that the dry woods, dry spice, dry root give it a shadowy side without going full raven (that's so?). I am not getting too much direct ambergris, but I think it's giving a smidgeon of aquatic feel, like the water the Crane is standing in. As I wear this, the cocoa emerges here and there as a dry tickle that again grounds the whole scent and balances it. There's plenty going on in this scent but overall it has a similar feel to other avian aromas but with a bit more dryness probably from the cedar and cardamom combo, kissed with a bit of dry cocoa powder (not chocolate!). Very wearable and I think a great evening scent.

The personification of nature itself: patchouli and clary sage with a host of dark mosses and lichens, wild grasses, warm acorns, dammar, burgundy pitch, pine needles, mandrake root, hay absolute, and sweet vetiver. From the bottle whiff, I get immediately a pine scent, with a swirl of very verdant, wet and sappy greenery. Not foreboding, but definitely a lot going on. The image I get is a glossy mix of obsidian and emerald. There's a bit of a 'Tramp' feel from this, for you LUSHies. Immediately on the skin it's patchouli and pine, both vying for attention. Around this vacillation between airy, clear and klaxon pine, patchouli grumbles and gives everything a loamy, soily feel. I'm now getting the hay, which is of a slightly damp persuasion. This is all forest, a coniferous one. Not too heavy on the soil and dirt notes, although there is the patchouli, but what makes it so foresty is the combination of all the subtle, woodsy/oak, gummy, rooty scents. The moss and lichen does add a bit of an ashy/rocky feel to it. As time passes, this actually gets a touch drier, more of a solid wood, with pine needles gracing it but not dominating. It settles on me into a very smooth, non-cacophonous 'forest.' Although this isn't a dead ringer for the sadly discontinued LUSH Tramp, it has the similar feel of moss, patchouli, and nymphlike greenery. I like it! I think one bottle is enough for me since this is very environmental. Lovers of Black Forest or similar aromas, please try this!

The end is nigh: sweet pink musk, spun sugar, red currant, candied rose petals, and rose jelly. In the bottle, this is a strong, very candy-like rose, a bit of Hope, but there's definitely sooooo much sugar, even a bit of Sugar Skull sweetness? The jelly, spun sugar, sweet, candied, so much... makes this a very powerful sugary scent. The red currant does add a bit of sharp snappiness, but it's presenting floral forward (and that flower is... ja... no, ROSE). Initially on, I get much more of the red currant, but only for a moment, and then a hint of a kind of pastille candy, maybe a conversation heart, but then the conversation becomes a shouting, shouting match of ROSE, PETALS, ROSE, with maybe a bit of cotton candy and bubblegum peeking around, but always walloped by the rose! The color I get is definitely a pink. Pink, catastrophic, end-times pink, like, the world is engulfed in a deluge of petals, and there is no escape. With some time, it still remains rose-forward but is not a single like 'The Rose' or 'The First Rose,' there's enough extra sugary-ness and crystallized sugar around that it is a candy rose. Much more potent than Hope. Much, much more so.

Calliope music played: a Strauss waltz, stirring and occasionally discordant. The wall as they entered was hung with antique carousel horses, hundreds of them, some in need of a lick of paint, others in need of a good dusting; above them hung dozens of winged angels constructed rather obviously from female store-window mannequins; some of them bared their sexless breasts; some had lost their wigs and stared baldly and blindly down from the darkness. And then there was the carousel. A sign proclaimed it was the largest in the world, said how much it weighed, how many thousand lightbulbs were to be found in the chandeliers that hung from it in Gothic profusion, and forbade anyone from climbing on it or from riding on the animals. And such animals! Shadow stared, impressed in spite of himself, at the hundreds of full-sized creatures who circled on the platform of the carousel. Real creatures, imaginary creatures, and transformations of the two: each creature was different. He saw mermaid and merman, centaur and unicorn, elephants (one huge, one tiny), bulldog, frog and phoenix, zebra, tiger, manticore and basilisk, swans pulling a carriage, a white ox, a fox, twin walruses, even a sea serpent, all of them brightly colored and more than real: each rode the platform as the waltz came to an end and a new waltz began. The carousel did not even slow down. "What's it for?" asked Shadow. "I mean, okay, world's biggest, hundreds of animals, thousands of lightbulbs, and it goes around all the time, and no one ever rides it." "It's not there to be ridden, not by people," said Wednesday. "It's there to be admired. It's there to be." A place of power and possibility, of gods diabolical and celestial: glowing amber and heady cinnamon, the green of growing things and the white of thunderclaps, sweet myrrh and sacred styrax, forest moss and blood-soaked battlefields, papyrus and clay, rose petals, wildflowers, abbatoirs, and honey. I was very excited about this, being kind of an ur-mythology, mixing all these different divine tropes together and into a jumble of tumultuous divinity, swirling and such. Here goes! This smells interesting in the bottle, like a tiny touch of green, sappiness, a little snow note. I get a hint of the clay-snow slush from Kumari Kandam, but then it veers off a bit. Wet, this is still pretty sweet, still green-ish, and musky. There's a bit of an ozone snap but it's not terribly strong. Reminds me a touch of Lightning. And then there's a subtle bump of aquatics, salt? Then honey - followed by a touch of a papery, dry note. All still over the rocky base. The amber starts to hum here, midway through, and what was once initially very elemental, swirling with leaf, thunder, water, elevates into a resinous honey with incense, and then reminds me of Anubis - golden, glowing, yellow thrum of incense. I'm primed to look for 'blood' as a note, which is usually grungy and kind of funky, but I don't get that at all. Near the end of the major drydown, I think I can get a touch of rose petals, but it's not terribly overpowering or strong. This started off whirling, rotating, turning, and ends up drying down into a supremely smooth amber incense, with moderate chewy sweetness from honey, and a little spice and earth.

The membrane enclosing the heart: white sandalwood and rice milk shimmering with sheer vanilla, white amber resin, frankincense, and a drop of sweet clove. This smells very smooth in the bottle, sweet woods. On, this immediately brings to mind Liz but without the pepperyness or the smoldering smoke. I'm getting more of the vanilla and amber, and less of the milk and smoky frankincense. The clove, if present, truly is just a little drop since I'm not getting a very strong spicy vibe. This stays very close to the skin, and does have light throw, but it's silken smooth, and remains a non-foody vanilla floating over a dry, medium weight sandalwood. I'll have to give it more wear time.

The flow of inspiration and passion, intuition put into action. The stream flows from the heart of the Empress’ Forest into the verdant fields at her feet. Sakura blossoms, neroli, and peach blossom cascading into a pool of white frankincense and hiba cedarwood. This sounds like an amazing Shunga Salon-type blend. I had to try it for the sakura and hiba cedarwood alone! Sniff from bottle is ... confusing. It's very subtle, light, at first, but then I think it's trying to be topnote of neroli, a hint of frankincense resin, and then I get a background of warm peachy peach. A hint of honey sweet that then turns a little syrupy, I think of crystal clear simple syrup. No idea why. Wet, it's... cedar? But like hinoki type, clear, not too woodsy, oh, and there's the spicy cream of cherry blossom. There's a bit of a swell of orange-blossom candy neroli and peach roiling together in the first few minutes, and I'm reminded of fruit candies, like some kind of exotic floral candy (There's actually an old-school Japanese candy called 'Flower's Kiss,' which has inexplicably pictures of flowers all over the wrappers but is in actuality an apricot hard candy... I used to have these a lot as a kid, and couldn't place the flavor - what a naive non-BPAL person I was! Apricots!). This does remain fairly sweet, and light, on my hand. With a bit of time, I can start to get more of the slightly sharp cedarwood - japanese cedar? Or something... It's definitely taking this a bit away from pure candy and sweetness. It still remains pretty strong on the peach/peach blossom, with the sakura and cedarwood giving a distinctively Japanese-style Salon flair. I'm not getting frankincense as a dominant scent, but it must be doing something to unify everything and ground these lighter notes, like a background glow.

A sister’s grief: carrot seed and blue musk, grey with labdanum, bitter frankincense, champaca blossom, and salt. I'm a sucker for aquatics. I, however, have had terrible fortune with Carrot Seed blends. I don't know what it is (possibly a run-in with the carrot seed CO2 extract when I was a younger wolf). This is immediately salty-aquatic like Pool of Tears aquatic, with a swiftly apparent sweetness. I think possibly that's the blue musk with the top notes of laudanum (cistus). There is frankincense here and it's probably adding to the first sparkle. It's combining well with the wry twist of salty aquatic and giving it a bit of a complementary high smoke, incense note. I'm probably getting champaca, as an equally higher toned white-yellow floral note, as parts of me are going Khajuraho? What? And that's likely the influence of that note. I love Khajuraho, for its sultry-sweet over the top exotic note. I'm not getting too much carrot seed directly, although I'm sure with all these high notes, it's layering and helping to ground something here. The labdanum / cistus is also providing some depth and grounding. This scent is a very nice aquatic, slightly different from aquatics I have. It reads more light and top-note-ish, and I think because of less purely rich grounding notes, it burns off on me pretty fast. But, it seems light, inoffensive, very beautiful. I think extremely wearable for work.

Well, this is definitely a bit of a detour from the usual 13s, which to me have generally read like a spicy melange of dark dusty cocoa, punctuated with like spicy bits and cinnamon, allspice, and the like. Like a swarthy cocoa and maybe some tobacco like tones. This is... well. On me, it's definitely honey forward but lapping at the back is a maple type of snap. I amp rose, so oddly, the rose comes up but not super strong (a surprise for me) but I can pull the petal out in the mid notes. I get a lot of the caramel like notes which are a bit of a crisp and burnt sugar. Swirling in and out is a rock crystal like note. I think I'm hallucinating? A bit further away from application and with my nose snorfling higher up, I swear I have a bit of that Pfefferneusse powdery sugar tone, but then the rose rises a bit and is now mixed with cocoa (but less than past 13s, I feel). It dries down on me to, oddly, a honey bear's head encrusted with white sugar. This is actually kind of what I wanted Sugar Skull to do on my skin!

I can't add much to the above. This is a strong, very flower forward lilac, with enough greenery to smell like the leaves and the twiggy twigs (yes that's an official biologist term dammit) so it has some true plantiness (also a term). If you were a bit concerned it would have a lot of the glassy and amber notes like House of Mirrors or the like, it does not. I really like it. I also own a metric boat-ton (not a real term) of lilac scented things so I'm good to not hoard. I do prefer my lilac shaken and stirred with other things, but if you like lilacs, this is a definite winner. Plantiness of the twiggy twigs.

A voice on the airwaves: electric, aldehydic cherry blossom. This is a very straightforward but potent cherry blossom scent. It is heavier on the woodsy, 'fleshier' blossom aspects of cherry blossom. It starts off quite wet-smelling and then develops the dry floral sweetness after a few moments. In terms of aldehydes and electricity, there is a flash of metallic that is somewhat similar to Kataniya. As time passes and this is allowed to dry down, I am getting much less of the cherry blossom and more of a cologney base - not quite natural, making this into a somewhat surreal sakura. It's similar to Voyeurs amongst the Cherry Blossoms but definitely veers towards artificial in only the best way possible - this is an ominous, quietly mechanical cherry blossom.

O to make the most jubilant poem! Even to set off these, and merge with these, the carols of Death. O full of music! full of manhood, womanhood, infancy! Full of common employments! full of grain and trees. O for the voices of animals! O for the swiftness and balance of fishes! O for the dropping of rain-drops in a poem! O for the sunshine, and motion of waves in a poem. O the joy of my spirit! it is uncaged! it darts like lightning! It is not enough to have this globe, or a certain time—I will have thousands of globes, and all time. Do I take this exact photo of you every year, Lilith? Always on a see-saw, always laughing with all your heart. You are the joy of my spirit, you are my most jubilant poem. Crooked hazelnut and tonka with a touch of cacao and black pine. Wet, this smells almost a little marzipan-y, but definitely nutty. Hazelnut, yes. Like when you're biting into a toasted one and that top crusty toasty aroma. On the skin, whoa, whoa, egads, that nuttiness gets a little cloying, but then it burns off that first topnote and settles towards a more gentle, warm hazelnut aroma. The tonka lends this a sweetness or sugariness which is excellent. Oh. Now the pine comes back a little bit... kind of like the sort in Golden Priapus, so this is not completely and utterly foody. Ah, there's the cocoa, thrumming in the background. This is pretty gourmand, except for the pine, which steers it away from being BPAL Nutella SN. (... yes please). I like this, it's primarily forward as a chocolate hazelnut, sparkling with sugar but a little botanically unique with the pine. Like, chocolate dipped hazelnut crusted pine trees. Over time, the pine fades, and you're left with a pretty tasty desserty fragrance. Mmm. Nutella.

Super desserty and syrupy-liquor sweet in the bottle. It definitely has a bit of a claw to it initially! On my skin, it goes towards smoky notes real fast, the toasted/caramel to the forefront, but in the scorched sugar way. There is cocoa and it's a bittersweet dark cocoa note. I do like the vetiver adding a sort of ... rooty dustiness to the whole feel, whereas the amber and musk give it a prowly tone. It's kind of like... a cocoa-dappled and incense bathed Bastet? It really smells like huffing a box of Hershey's Cocoa, with like, honeyed nuts or the idea of them in the background as it dries down which is pretty fascinating.

I feel like as one of the resident violet lovers, I have to review this! Just got it today. Wet it smells like one of my holy grails, Stealthily, Stealthily, and a few of the notes are similar (orris/iris, violet, lavender) with the addition of sandalwood and champaca. It smells very, very similar initially but on drying down, the champaca brightens it with a bit of an interesting bubbly tropical floral tone. If there is sandalwood it's quite subtle and a bit on the dry side. It smells a bit like the smoky, hazy purple entwined notes of Stealthily but with a nag champa incense stick lit in the distant corner of the room. I do like this, but I also have a lot of Stealthily, so I may just enjoy the single bottle (un-stealthily adds 17 to virtual cart)

Odd! I found this imp tucked in with my Irish Poets bottles. It has green lettering, and perfect for St. Patrick's Day, which is just around the corner. This is definitely an 'earthy' scent, possibly some sort of resin/galbanum, not dirty in a 'dirt' or 'patchouli' sense but with a certain lightness. It's fairly hard to pin down, and I always have trouble without a note list. There's definitely blades of grass or clover, it's peeking around the top of the scent, and then that sort of smooth snappy metal note (maybe representing the gold or cast iron pot?). Oh, dude, there's De Sade leather in this at the end. Mmm. Very intriguing. I'm going to wear this out tonight. Oh! I need to wear green!

Red musk and sweet golden amber with red agarwood, leather, labdanum, black tea, orris, and lavender. Wow! Well, this is definitely very, very leather-forward. It's the cool leather note, and when first spritzed, I swear it's almost a sprayable harness, hah hah! In all seriousness, there's a hint of the lavender present when you're smelling the top of the sprayer. When dispersed into the air, yes, leather is very apparent, but behind it is a very well blended warmth, although it's a bit of a stand-offish warmth, if that makes sense. The amber, musk and labdanum give a bit of support, but in no means do I get resinous from this at all. It's very sensuous, but also callous, in only the best way.

Sleek vetiver-limned musk with tobacco absolute, smoky vanilla, carnation, and lavender. I get a hint of the sweet vanilla-carnation-lavender right off the bat, which is my scent cue for scents like Hod, Bow and Crown of Conquest, and Dolce Stil Nuovo. But! Boy! The vetiver-limned aspect is definitely present since I get a husky vetiver chomp at the first bit, and it's not subtle at first! It's like two different personas trying to fight to the surface - the restrained prettiness of the vanilla-lavender, bridged with husky vetiver musk, combined with the carnation. Tobacco makes its appearance as a very rich, potent smoke, and it's a very good tobacco indeed. Polarizing for me since I can't tend to pull off tobacco due to skin chemistry. It's not a cigarette tobacco, but the tobacco leaf type of richness. The floral blend lends this a type of strong femininity (scent wise!) which really fits the character of the blend well. This is a feisty no-nonsense-but-still-rocking-the-perfumes type of scent. Drydown this is definitely not your sweet, sleep and relax type of vanilla-carnation-lavender blend, it retains its purposeful grittiness. As time passes, the vanilla-lavender rises to the surface and I get glimpses of TKO sweetness. ETA: It is interesting to see what skin chemistry does! I'm a single guy in my 30s, and to me, TKO has always read as vanilla-lavender forward. When I'm wearing Laura Belle McDaniel it does have a bit more husky tobacco. I thought maybe I was crazy because the reviews below mentioned that this did not have strong resemblance to TKO. So, I wore it a few times. Scents in the family of TKO, Hod, Dolce Stil Nuovo, all seem to light up the same notes for me - the whole creamy vanilla lavender + carnation spice that reads to me as 'lavender vanilla!' I still get that same feel, although it appears it's not everyone's experience.

LILITH'S FEEL BETTER FLOWERS I've been trying to teach Lilith a little bit about herbalism, aromatherapy, and plant lore. We talk about all the plants that are growing in the yard, we talk about all the tinctures, simples, and other concoctions that mom makes, and we play a board game that's all about wildharvesting herbs. Lilith and I were talking about oils one day at work, and she told me that she wanted to make a perfume with all the "feel better flowers". I told her that I'd put in every flower whose purpose she could remember… … so here's what she made: + carnations (to make people happy) + lavender (for sleeping and keeping away bedroom monsters) + honey (it's for smiles and good throats) + ginger (for tummies) + aloe (for too much sun) + blessed thistles (for buronic (sic) plague) + chamomile (for happy families) + chocolate peppermint (because mom grows it just for me) Please remember! – this is a perfume, not a medicine! Please don't drink, rub on wounds, use as a suppository, or anything else nutty. Lavender is the dominant note when wet. I can detect a hint of chamomile as an earthy deeper mustier floral note, ginger and honey are now sweeping to the front. I'm getting a tiny bit of peppermint. A bit more herbal than most blends but still a beautiful sweet spicy lavender scent. As it dries it would do well for people who like smooth, sweet honeys. It has turned into something like the trading post's Xvclemab (sp?!?!) soap. Very nice. Debating a bottle.

Crushed grass, dandelion sap, green oakmoss, lettuce leaf, and white pepper. Opening the bottle, greeted immediately with a splorty wet blade of grass, and definitely a little bit of that milkiness of dandelion sap. I love Beth's grassy scents, so I'm very excited that there's so much GREEN in the description. Applied to the skin, it's definitely like wow, like more mushed crushed grass leaves, and as it continues to dry down, it gets rounder. I really like the Blade of Grass Halloweenie that appears on occasion, but that is more of a 'cold wet grass,' whereas as this sits on the skin, I can get a tiny prickle of heat, the vegetable note is more than just 'park grass,' I think it gets a bit more fullness from the addition of the lettuce. I kind of smells like when you chew on an unseasoned leaf of lettuce. Wet, cool, crisp. With more time, this doesn't evaporate as fast as Blade of Grass does on me. That's a very brief-lived, environmental scent. Tennis Match seems to have a bit more staying power, and a bit more 'dirtiness' (oakmoss?) My verdict: slightly different, more wet/full-leafy Blade of Grass, without dried leaf note, and with a little spicy mossy base, but still reads forward as grassy.

A symphony of deviance, darkly beguiling: blood musk, red sandalwood, aged North African sweet patchouli, urfa pepper, yenibahar, and Turkish carnations. I guess the closest comparison to this is The Woman in Black. Sprayed, it's definitely very red-musky off the initial blast, and then it definitely gets a bit more floral and is lighter in spirit than The Woman in Black. The spices are a bit lighter, and the patchouli is not 'dirty,' it adds a nice leafy depth to the red musk. The carnations are definitely a tickling high, fainter presence so they're not front and center. All in all it's quite a nice, spicy oriental floral, with emphasis on the sweetness as opposed to the spiciness. It's like... uh, I guess part of the spicy part of Morocco but definitely more forward on the patchouli, so it's not quite as smooth as Morocco. I hope that makes sense.

Champagne-splashed amber with vanilla, ambergris accord, Damascus rose, white patchouli, and leather. Immediately, a flush of bright champagne note, a bubbly sharp and dry grape-y scent, very alcoholic. Similar to fresh Bon Vivant. The note does die down a bit after application and some time for the scent to settle on the skin, but the predominant crisp 'yellow gold' of the champagne lingers. As that top note dissipates, there is a slightly deeper yet still not very heavy base of a cool leather (not terribly brawny), and the patchouli and amber are not very strong. This reads as a fruity, fresh, slightly bright leather scent (think White Rider). Though rose is in the note list, I don't actually get much at all! Since I am a rose amper, this may be circumstance versus a very small amount of rose actually in the blend. Deep inhale, I do get some of the lighter patchouli, yet still tons of the champagne fruit note. While fresh and forward, this is not the kind of scent I tend to gravitate towards, since piercing fruits give this wolf a bit of a headache, but if you love teh bubbly notes, this is a good one.