brilliantcat

In the bottle: Incense and opium.

Immediately after application: Incense with a smidge of dust.

Warming up: The dusty note is adding a bit of a sour smell. From a few inches away it smells wonderful, all incense and opium, but up close I get the sourness.

Fading: No more sourness, incensey with opium.

Faded: Average throw, average wear.

Overall: I missed the tobacco and the sour smell was a definite turn off :\

Rating: 2/5.

In the bottle: Very tart, the currant most likely.

Immediately after application: Fresh, almost sharp from the herbs. It deepens quickly into an dark, meaty fruit scent. Sweet and spicy.

Warming up: Sweetly spicy.

Fading: It turns into a plain sweet/fruity scent when fading.

Faded: Average throw, average wear.

Overall: Pretty, but probably not bottle-worthy.

Rating: 3/5.

In the bottle: Patchouli.

Immediately after application: Oakmoss, almost spicy, a dried scent I think is the mushroom caps, and patchouli. Oooh this is a neat blend!

Warming up: Spicy, sweet, and almost dusty. So far this is a winner!

Fading: More of the patch and oakmoss now, the sweetness from the fig has mostly dissipated. I still love it!

Faded: Average throw, average to long wear.

Overall: LOVE. Definitely not an everyday scent but it was beautifully complex and interesting.

Rating: 5/5.

In the decant, it's dusty pumpkin, which smells better than it sounds. On me there's a woodsy, herbal component mixing with the pumpkin and it's heavenly. I LOVE caramel scents in the bottle but they never work on me, so when I start getting hints of caramel that's not sickly sweet and nausea-inducing, I am quite happy. I get no leather. It's dusty, furry, and spicy. The pumpkin has faded so it's lost that slight hint of pumpkin pie that I always experience with pumpkin scents. It's definitely an autumn scent so I shall wear my decant happily once the weather turns.

This is utterly feminine and gorgeously sexy. Rich, sultry, humid orchid blooming in the jungle. As time goes by, the incense note subtly creeps in until it's all smoky, deep, mysterious and incredible. I wasn't expecting this one to work so well on me but I'm in love

It's quite sinus-clearing in the imp. It reminds me of walking in a pine forest, crushing the needles in your hand. Not pine-sol-y at all. Wait. Wait. Now it's going the way of pine-sol. Bleh.

Chocolatey sandalwood. That sounds like it wouldn't smell very good but it's divine! It's a dry, sort of spicy chocolate when wet. Spicy, incense-y, woodsy chocolate. This is definitely not foodie and I love it!

ETA: Hours later I noticed a delicious smell coming from the vicinity of my arm. As I've tested a number of scents today, I sniffed each spot to figure out which one was making me woozy with happy. Turns out it was Velvet! It's rich, spicy vanilla and bittersweet cocoa grounded with sandalwood. I NEED a bottle NOW

I definitely get a sense of red musk from this, though that's not one of the listed notes. It's fruity and light on the patchouli. As it warms, I get a dry-feeling fruity smell with hints of red musk. Possibly something I'd need a bigger bottle of.

Two of my favorite notes together... too good to be true, right? I get earthy, herbal patchouli over apricot. Maybe not too good to be true! The only issue I have with it is that it's quite faint on me. Otherwise, it's perfect.

Thank you to my fairy

In the decant, patch all over with a hint of what I think is the balsam. On me, it's the reverse, plus the sandalwood. A bit sharp to my nose, almost into wood shaving territory which rarely happens to me. OH UGH. It's turned into very strong industrial cleaner. Must wash off

In the decant, it's effervescent and fizzy ginger with a hit of cream that makes it quite rich. On me, it's fizzy ginger all the way. After a bit, it smooths out into creamy ginger. I like it, but it's not my favorite.

Thank you to my awesome fairy

In the tester, it's all cacao and patch in a lovely dance of sweet and earthy. On me, I get the sharply astringent balsam and barely, underneath that, the cacao and patchouli. It starts settling down fairly quickly and I get musky woods with a wisp of sweet sarsaparilla hiding in there. Hello, little morpher! Musky, woodsy, a smidge cologne-y... hey, where'd THAT come from? Sadly (or luckily, I dodged a bullet here), this one isn't for me.

ETA: Upon retesting, that horrid cologne vibe from when it was fresh has disappeared. It's sweet, musky, a bit woodsy and quite yummy. I think I need to find more.

Thank you SO much to my wonderful fairy who sent me testers of all the Bat's Day scent

It smells DELICIOUS in the tester, must be the benzoin. Once applied, it's slightly foody vanilla sugar with a tiny kick of pepper. This is amazing! After a bit, I start to get the woodiness of the cedar. I love this!

Cinnamon and peppery, desert-dry and not foody on me. It stays the same as it warms, with perhaps a touch of musk adding to the general loveliness.

In the vial, it's screamingly ivy and rosehips. On me, it's screamingly rosehips. Sigh. I'll give it a chance to develop that stony note, I was hoping for a more herbaceous Dungeon Crawl, picturing stone arches overhung with ivy and moss... We shall see. It goes a bit dusty and I get more oakmoss and ivy and I can just barely make out the stone. Sadly, not for me.

Lilac, slightly cologne-y but not overwhelmingly so. I love the smell of lilacs. My great-grandmother had a huge lilac bush in her yard that my mother took a cutting from to grow in our yard when I was little. Lilac always evokes happy memories to me. As it warms it becomes leather, well-worn leather that has molded to the wearer's body, with vanillic overtones from the tonka. It's utterly gorgeous, just like Jareth. I, like many of my generation, had a huge crush on him I absolutely love this to death and I need vats of it! It's got a slightly smoky sense to it, perhaps the ti leaf and musk. Perfectly blended and amazing.

In imp, minty and herbally and lavender-y! I definitely like this at first sniff. Hopefully it behaves on me. Wet, lavender and herbs with some sweetness underlying. The first impression is definitely lavender and herbs. I'm getting little to no mint And it quickly muddies into indistinguishable floral/herb/powder. I blame the chamomile. I know my skin chemistry doesn't always like it but I had hoped the other notes would keep it in control. No such luck.

Sweet and spicy and warm. Quite yummy! Definitely an autumn scent. After it's been on for a bit, I get some fizziness and some darker tones that make me think more of ginger beer than cider. Not necessarily a bad thing! I think I'll stick with Lambs-Wool for my cider needs but glad this is GC in case I need something cider-based.

Herbally resinous. I don't get much of the patchouli and it's very lightly floral. I'd call it luminous. That's exactly how it smells. It feels as if my arm should be glowing softly. I almost get a touch of salty aquatic, but not soapy or cologne-y at all. Complex, well-blended, and smooth. It's soft and pretty and a smidge powdery.

I definitely agree that it bears strong resemblance to Eternity for men. Very masculine and cologne-y. No leather or rum to my nose, it must be the metal and khus giving this impression. Finally getting a bit of leather and it reminds me very slightly of Rivet.Goth, albeit much more like traditional cologne and only if I press my nose to my hand. Not fond of the cologne aspect at all. And it ends up smelling like CK One, which reminds me of a not-so-happy time when I was in high school. Definitely not for me.

Sweet coconut, anise, and maybe a hint of the amber. It's very bright and warm. It goes funky for a short while, I think because I have issues with some ambers, but smooths out into beautiful coconut with a hint of hazelnut.

Woodsy and deliciously red musk-y. Anything red musk seems to LOVE my skin and I love it right back. I can see where it would seem to be a masculine scent, but it's anything but on me. It's drop dead sexy. Though I still want to try it on my husband...

Strongly cedar and leather in the imp, but on my skin it's herbally lavender leather. As it warms, the vanilla blooms and it becomes a gorgeous, slightly spicy (from the carnation I'm guessing as it usually goes that way on me) vanilla leather. I absolutely adore it and need many, many bottles

It smells heavenly in the imp and to my great delight, also smells heavenly on me. Dark and incensey with the barest touch of ti leaf and a slap of leather to round it out. OM NOM NOM.

In the imp: apples still on the tree! It reminds me of going apple-picking as a kid. I'm sure the tomato leaf is adding that wonderful green, growing sense to the blend. On me, holy cow it stays the same! It's not overwhelmingly apple. It's quite well-blended and I can't pick individual notes out. It smells like lovely green growing things, perfect for spring. Not a full bottle need for me, but pretty nonetheless.