Monday

When I first got this it was all opium poppy but now the vanilla is at the front.

On my skin wet: Fluffy vanilla with opium poppy and a little of the cognac lingering in the background.

On my skin dry: It's softer than I had imagined it to be probably due to that gorgeous vanilla note. The clove bud comes out when it's dry for a while, adding a nice warmth. This scent sticks close to the skin.

I'm intrigued.

On my skin wet: Smoky saffron reeeeally smoky saffron. I recently bought an upholstered chair from the thrift store which apparently belonged to a female smoker. When the sun shines on it it smells like old cigarette smoke and perfume, the wet stage of Qandisa reminds me of that. The honey is there making is sweet, the black musk is making sure the whole thing stays together.

Drying down: the smoke is receding a bit.

On my skin dry: Vanilla-ish black musk, saffron, smoke and deep dark honey. I just noticed that the lemon peel is nowhere to be found on my skin. Medium throw.

Qandisa is a close relative to Eldritch Dark they both have that dark, sweet, smoky feeling. I like it a lot!

On my skin wet: a strange mish-mash of notes, I get salt, caramel, tobacco and mint.

On my skin dry: the tobacco is taking over together with mint then it fades rapidly leaving a hint of white musk. I get no black musk out of this.

Oddly herbal start. Odd is actually exactly what this smells like on my skin...just odd.

Tropical pineapple and coconut. It reminds me a lot of Velvet Tiki. I don't get sweet pea (the lab's sweet pea note is unrecognizable as sweet pea to me), cherry blossoms or cream just a tropical scent.

It calms down a bit from being exotic flavored chewing gum to coconut and sun tan lotion when it dries down. Not at all what I was expecting. It's somewhere between Lady Death: Savage, Snow White and Velvet Tiki.

Like sticking your nose into a bag of marshmallows. That powdery, dry, sweet candy smell. Unfortunately there is a note in here that doesn't like me at all it overpowers the other notes smelling like burnt plastic. It dries down to a heavy white plastic floral.

GC Dee - His scent is soft English leather, rosewood (which is a tree ) and tonka with a hint of incense, parchment and soft woods.

GC Thieves Rosin. I know this probably doesn't have any leather in it but it smells leather-esque and dangerous.

GC Fighter - Leather, musk, blood, and steel.

GC Hunter - Leonine amber, tanned hides, clove, and clary sage.

GC Violens - Rugged and understated: five sandalwoods, dusty leather, and light musk.

If he/she's into it:

GC Volt - Leather with a shock of eucalyptus, green mint, elemi, ravintsara and lime.

GC Crowley - Infernal musk, red patchouli, lilac cologne, mahogany, lemon rind, oakmoss, leather, and vanilla husk.

LE Thunder and Blazes - Leather, crushed grass, mud, sangre de grado, and crushed lemon candy.

There are lots of leather LE's but some are hard to come by.

Some LE's immediately came to my mind firstly: The Grand Basin since it's light but lasts all day and then some also Berenice and maybe Lady Death: Savage. Bette Noir is a great light scent which lasts. I'm trying to think of some GC's. Croquet (-Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk.), Mouses Long and Sad Tale (-Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood.), Cordelia (-lilac, lemon, green tea, wisteria, osmanthus, white cedar, and Chinese musk.).

*edit* Oh and Ehecatl (-Hibiscus, matcha, white musk, and lime.) is a great airy spring scent which is about to be discontinued.

On my skin wet: This is way lighter than I had expected. Red musk and lemony amber, some metal in the back. I don't get a lot of the frankincense.

On my skin dry: Ah there is the frankincense, it turns up when it dries down. The blend sweetens a little when it's fully dry. Feminine and confident.

Very close to the airy red musk in the Visionary.

I just do not get what reducer caps are for. They make applying so much more difficult and a lot of oil soaks into the cap and is just gone. Whyyy.

I amp rose too, blends with rose at the front like Roses Pearls and Diamonds and Two Five and Seven are all screaming rose on my skin. I do well with blends that have the roses a bit more hidden like:

L'Ecole des Filles -orange blossom, ambergris, orris root, white rose, lemon balm, jonquil, carrot seed, and benzoin. About to be discontinued.

Desire (is great too especially aged) -bittersweet neroli, black patchouli and black musk, gilded by apple, bergamot, blood red rose, teak, and vanilla.

Whoso List to Hunt (snuggly rose) -Sensual brown musk, rich amber, English rose, oak bark, and moss. About to be discontinued.

Eldritch Dark -Black and red musks with honey, leather, and sugared black rose. LE

On my skin wet: Super sweet coconut and patchouli. Not digging the sugary-ness, it's like the blend isn't taking itself serious.

On my skin dry: Still the same only the patchouli has come to the foreground and makes it smell rather dry.

It's ok but the sweetness is a bit too much for me after a while.

The Unicorn was mainly linden on my skin. Unfortunately linden isn't a note that you see a lot in the GC. Boober has linden blossom listed as a note: A fretfully clean scent: freshly-washed laundry, linden blossom, soap suds, and a sprinkle of vanilla.

Similar scents to La Lugubre Gondola? I love the soft, well-worn dry woodsiness of Gondola.

The Lion - The dry, glorious warmth of the Savannah. A golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious.

I liked it at first it was fruity and snowy until the cooking fires went chemical.

On my skin wet: A very well-behaved nice red musk and a hint of peat. The two notes combine surprisingly well. Ice turns up next along with the heather. This is a true ice note, the labs snow note tends to turn into bathroom cleaner on my skin but this is icy ice.

On my skin dry: Icy air, heather and warmth from the hearth and red musk. Very evocative. The Visionary works well with my skin chemistry it has a lot of throw but doesn't overwhelm. Unique marriage between ice, heather and red musk blends, magical and airy.

Well color me impressed.

I cannot figure out for the life of me how to do a custom imp order on some new GCs - in fact everything is an 'imp pack' and I can't split a new GC into just a single 4.00 imp. Help!

New GC's? Do you mean the luper Excolos? I think they're meant to be LE but I'm not sure.

With the usual GC's you can click on select options and select 1/32oz Imp.

Greasy butterscotch and parchment. Ends up as burnt cookie and leather. Not for me.

Bottle procured from the Trunk Show overstock on Etsy.

On my skin wet: Fresh harsh tree sap and woods. There is some sweetness in the background which smells a bit like licorice. Unusual but not bad. So far it smells brown and strangely cute.

On my skin dry: The harshness has disappeared taking the licorice with it. It's now a fresh, sweet woodsy scent. I like it.

I compared this to India Ink which I found closest to it at first but India Ink is more industrial and inky, Leptodirus holds its own. Nice throw. Do try this if you like resins and woods.

Fresh from the lab imp.

On my skin wet: Holy cow rose! Lemony rose, very powerful and smelling a bit of hair removal cream. I'm not getting the leather.

On my skin dry: Rose on steroids. Not sure if I would call it pleasant. I think the chemical scent that makes this smell a bit like hair removal cream is actually the leather.

I'll let this imp age maybe I'll grow to like it someday.

On my skin wet: a hideous combination of sickly sweet greens and salt. It's triggering a headache.

On my skin dry: Rose has amped and a detergent-like aquatic has come forward. The sickly note in the background is probably the candle. Blend all those together, add salt and you get a blend that's definitely not for me.

Bah.

Crisp vetiver and bergamot with grassy hay in the background. It smells very layered. Classic, smoky and sharp and as mentioned by other reviewers Bram Stoker has a huge throw. Nice!

On my skin wet: Vicks vapo-rub and woods. What the menthol.

Drying down: The woods have melded with the coconut which is making the blend smell a bit foody. There is still a nostril-clearing note in here. I like it so far.

On my skin dry: An aquatic note has come forward the other notes are sinking into a swampy green smell. It's salty and sweet at the same time.

No clue where the menthol comes from. All in all an interesting scent but not something I need a bottle of right away.

This doesn't smell like the floral bombardment I thought it would be yay. In fact it instantly reminded me of Havisham. Only it's a warm, southern version of Havisham.

The orchids are perfectly balanced with the peonies, the poppy lends it a nice dark edge. For a scent with only three notes it smells very complex. It has a lot of throw when it's wet but on my skin it fades pretty quickly. Very wearable.

It is Snow White but Snow White light if that makes sense. I always get play doh from Snow White no matter how aged and this one is doing the exact same thing only it adds a bit of mint at the end. Not for me.

This starts out smelling like woodsy cucumber. Or old dank shed. Or indeed moldy old book with tentacles creeping from inside.

It gets better though. On my skin it turns into the best sweet, spicy sandalwood ever. (For the people who are familiar with it it smells a bit like Purol.) Very evocative and fitting.

This is totally unique and I like how it turns out. Don't let the cucumber at the start stop you from trying this one.