Gateau

Sage and sweet pea, combining into something creamy and soapy. It reminds me of baby lotion. Not something I want to wear, but it's pretty and makes me think of pampering my babies.

This one is intriguing me. It goes on as a bright red oil, very pretty! The immediate smell on me is fairly citrusy and aquatic in a detergent sort of way. But as it dries I get a bergamot-y incensey scent that starts to grow on me. Once it dries I am in beeswax-vanilla heaven, with occasional citrus whiffs. I think I'll wear my decant a few more times to decide for sure, but this is feeling bottle worthy.

I like the heliotrope and the background tang of wasabi, but this is mostly red musk on me, and red musk and I simply do not get along.

This started out with a sweet flowery Blue Morpho vibe, but then the powdery/bitter side of the black locust and magnolia came forward. It's nice, but not really for me.

2011 version. Sweet juicy sugary plums and sweet flowers. It's supremely sweet and pretty. I don't find it particularly wintery. reminds me of a deeper purple version of Sugar Plum Fairy.

And just as I think I've finally found a plum note that stays sweet and juicy on me, there it is, the Plastic Plum of Doom. I am sad, I wanted this to stay delicious. So I'm still looking for a purple fruit scent I can wear.

Pure laundry detergent from start to finish. It's a nice laundry detergent, like one I used to use in Paris, but it's still soap. Sadly for me, the aquatics and mints that make up snow scents just don't play right on me. I never got any skin or rose in this.

This one is basically Pussy plus orange on me. They share a honey note, and it's a sort of warmly dusty honey that puts me in mind of dust motes in a beam of sunlight. That dusty sense is amplified by the ambers (and by tobacco leaf in Pussy). Vanilla here, instead of tonka. The orange zest smells like when you squeeze a rind over a candle -- there is a fruity slightly burned bitterness that makes this more wintery to me.

Definitely considering a bottle.

This one was like a gingerbread-spiced version of Sprinklecake on me, with that same unpleasant sugary canned fruit smell. I don't know if that's the fruity candy in this or something in the Lab's frosting note, but it just didn't play nice on me. I'll stick with Gingerbread Poppet for my gingerbread perfume needs!

I found this very pretty, mostly a rose-gardenia floral with hints of the honey-vanilla sweetness and a fruitiness. But there wasn't much to distinguish it from Endymion or La Belle au Bois Dormant in the end, so while I'll probably use up my decant I don't see the need for a bottle.

In the bottle: green and nutty, I guess that's sap and acorns

Wet: The green sap and nutty acorn meat hover on top, while a rich wood scent emerges

Drydown: the wood is taking over, and the green and nutty scents are receding. I'm also getting a sense of dry leaves.

Dry: This has mellowed into a wonderfully warm and comforting woodsy scent. The leaves are a perfect representation of the last copper leaves clinging to the branches in November, dry, crackly, and aromatic. The lunar oils make the whole thing shimmer.

Bottom line: what a great exploration of a mighty oak tree in late fall. And the bottle art is just gorgeous.

My father smells wonderful in Calico Jack. Like a more sophisticated Old Spice.

My husband smells great in a proto bottle I have of Mr. Quibit. I hope the final version smells like it when he runs out!

Imp--ginger and green stems

Wet-ginger and green floral

Drydown--ginger soap

Dry--warm, soft sweet ginger. I've lost the green and the floral, but never got any milk or honey. It's a shame, because I want to smell what everyone else is smelling!

This was a frimp from the Lab. Based on the notes I wasn't even going to try it, way too dark for me, and with lots of death notes--vetiver, blackened sandalwood.... But before tossing into the swap pile I figured I'd at least sniff it. Whoa! Not dark at all, in fact very fresh and lemony, and it's a green sort of vetiver that reminds me of good french soap.

On my skin it starts lemony and then slowly blends down into something fresh and masculine. My husband, who rarely likes anything, perked up when I put it on, but thought it might be better on him.

I'm getting a lot of earthy patchouli here, similar to the one in Depraved, which is the only patch I've ever liked. Then there's aromatic wood--sandalwood? Cedar? In all, its deep, eartthy, woodsy, warm. I don't get light, per se, but I do get golden warmth. It's the kind of earthy dirt scent I like, there's no damp in it at all.

This is a light sweet floral that definitely reads PINK to me, as with so many other folks here. There is a touch of green and white in it, from the daisy and carnation, and I also get a bit of candy fruitiness. I don't pick up the pink peppercorn spiciness, which I generally love, just get the floral and the sweet fruit. It's very close to how Sugar Plum Fairy smells on me, so this is a good GC suggestion for those who love that one.

This is more of a young girl's scent than one I expect I'd wear much of. Luckily I have an 8 year old niece to gift.

This was a frimp from e Lab. It's a strong, sharp, herbal lavender, nearly one note on me into the dry down. Then a licorice note emerges and blends beautifully with the lavender. I thought this would be more of a wakeup blend than a sleep blend, given the sharpness and freshness (I tend to go to sleep to the sweet lavender creaminess of TKO) but damned if I didn't pass out on the sofa the night I tested this. If TKO is a sweet lavender tea with cream, this is the unsweetened herb tea version but they both work for me.

Carnal surprised me with it's deliciousness. So simple--mandarin and fig, but so yummy on my skin. It starts out like orange candy, and mellows out into a softly spicy, fruity, but not sugary warm mandarin orange. my only gripe is that it doesn't last long on my skin. It makes a nice complement to fig-white sandalwood hair gloss.

Got a fresh imp from the Lab, and though I'm not a big resin fan, I really do get what all the love is about.

This is like a resin greatest hits medley on me, starting with patchouli and working through incense to dragons blood. In this phase i dont find it that pleasing. Eventually, the vanilla comes out, and the resins calm down and the whole thing melds into a vanillaed smokiness that is really nice on my skin. I am guessing that what I'm looking for is aging, so I think I'll buy a bottle now to put away.

Bottle--I smell the lavender and I smell a slightly tangy cake, but not the full-on cheesecake I've smelled in other cheesecake blends. This is good.

Wet--the lavender is there and the cheesecake is there, and they're sort of colliding into each other and neither one is showing itself entirely. Whiffs of my favorite honey-lavender ice cream peek through.

Dry--Mmmmmm, the lavender has gotten on top, and it's a beautiful herby lavender, the kind that makes me think of Provence. The cheesecake is there below it, sweet and warm and not very tangy. I can't pick out honey specifically, but I think it's providing a warm dusky note. If this were a dessert it would be very sophisticated and I'd gobble it up.

Bottom line--I took a chance on this because I love lavender confections, even though I usually find cheesecake scents to be something I don't really want to wear, and I've had trouble with the Lab's lavender. But this really works for me. Only downside is it's a close to skin scent that fades relatively quickly on me.

In the decant -- pumpkin, something cakelike, sugar hit

Wet -- vanilla pumpkin, sweet and flowery

Dry -- This is pretty. I can pick up the vanilla, florals, and bit of pumpkin. But all the sweet stuff converging makes this feel a little young and girly for me -- truly princessy!

Bottom line -- a pretty, sweet blend, but not something I'll reach for. So I found a good new home for my decant.

When I first read about this one, while loving the overall spirit of it, I assumed it wouldn't work on me. I love foodie smells, but find they often go plastic on my skin, don't love incense or tobacco smoke, find wine turns sour on me, and am a little scared by the intensity of Snake Oil. The more I thought about it, though, the more it intrigued, and I ended up ordering a bottle unsniffed. Then a partial decant arrived with my Weenie decants and I WAS HOOKED.

I get a boozy, smoky tobacco (not the smoke, the delicious rich leaf) at first, then a winey grapiness that's neither too sweet nor too sour. The cake and frosting swirl in, as do the incense, Snake Oil, and Dorian components. "Swirling" is the best word I can come with for it -- there truly is a sense of many things happening all at once, as if you're going through a room with a big party in it and encountering different smells along the way. It ends up with remnants of red velvet cake -- that perfect blend of vanilla and cocoa -- and the wonderful dregs of the party.

It's sexy, it's delicious, it's rich, smoky, and heady, but all without being overpowering. I ordered more, I want to have this around for a long, long time.

Happy anniversary!

In the bottle--bright, slightly artificial, white cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles, the kind you bring to school parties made from a cake mix.

Wet--that white cupcake scent jumps out at first, but very quickly develops the fruit cocktail/dirty hair smell others have mentioned.

Drydown--there's something fruity and a little musky here that turns into the impression of scented Play-Doh on me.

Dry--the vanilla cake smell comes back, but now the scent has faded so it's much more of a close to the skin scent. However, occasionally I get wafts of a lovely cupcake smell, though I'm not sure if it's coming from my skin or where the perfume touched my clothing.

Bottom line -- so far this isn't doing for me what I'd hoped it would from the description, but there's something keeping me from giving up on it right now. I've tested a few times, and each time I've liked it a little more. I'm thinking it's worth aging this to see if some of that fruity note burns off and the vanilla comes forward.

I got this mostly for the good cause, but had some small scintilla of hope it might work on me, if the cocoa, tobacco and vanilla could poke through AND it was the right kind of patchouli filth, meaning the kind that smells like fresh dirt. Sadly for me it was ALL the acrid rotting cedar log kind of patchouli, and the merest drop of it on my skin from inside the lid overtook my senses for hours and hours. I never got a note of anything else.

It's possible that after a long aging period I might get something I could wear, but instead I found it a good new home. Maybe someday an aged decant will find its way back to me and I can try again.

In decant -- sharp earthiness and heady magnolia

Wet -- really sharp musk and earthy patchouli, coupled with a lot of magnolia, all hitting me in a bitter way

Dry -- Couldn't get to a stage where vanilla or honey or wax could come out to play. The musk and patchouli, with bitter flower, was so overwhelming that nothing else could get through. It may have worn down in a pleasing way, but I had to wash it off.

In the decant -- vanilla sugary cakey confection

Wet -- cinnamon perfume over marshmallow.

Dry -- I can make out a touch of the marshmallow, but the rest of it is an incensy cinnamon smell that I recognize from other "fire" scents like Djinn and Fire Eater. I was hoping for more of that burnt caramelized char you get toasting marshmallows over a fire.

Sigh, I was really hoping this would be good on me.