KittyHawk

Oh, Othello. Even though you smothered your innocent wife, I love you.

 

Morocco was too sweet; Snake Oil was too spicy; I cannot abide patchouli. I thought I would never find my HG "sexy" scent, and then I tried The Moor. I am so in love with Othello I nearly placed a Lab order for it last night, even though I have a giant order coming my way already and two imps to tide me over.

 

As many other reviewers have noted, Othello does not strike me as a masculine scent. The rose is only detectable in the imp and wet; upon drydown, all the spices and the Arabian musk begin to bloom. It's an incredibly magnetic and alluring scent, and certainly evocative of Othello's birthplace, if not the man himself. After a few hours, the scent almost becomes powdery, but in a beguiling way. Othello is exotic, commanding, and unbelievably sexy.

 

ETA (later on in the day): I just ordered a 5 ML, and a backup of TKO to keep it company.

I generally cannot wear "green" scents, so I tend to avoid anything with grass as as note, but tempered with the berries and flowers here, the grass stays mellow and never gets sharp. All the notes make an appearance, but they blend into a soft, unique, and remarkable fragrance that is definitely reminiscent of spring; if I had more than an imp, I'd be wearing this exclusively in March and April. This is so lovely, and I will cherish the lone imp that I have.

I had to resist the urge to scrub this off when I first applied it; the Lab's cinnamon note has a tendency to drown out any other notes and leave me with a sharp, screeching heat that I don't find appealing. But I've come to the conclusion that initial heavy spices often morph into something soft, sexy, and wearable if I just give it a few minutes (Othello and Snake Oil are prime examples).

 

That said, I'm so glad I waited this out. After about an hour, the cinnamon burns off a bit, leaving a musky, almost doughy sweet cinnamon scent. This really does smell like cinnamon buns without icing. I really like this. I'll have to wear this a few more times to decide whether it's worthy of a bottle, but I'll certainly use up the imp.

Rosalind? My dear sweet beautiful Rosalind? Any ideas?

 

Bumping this because I need some Rosalind in my life too. Anyone know of any Rosalind dupes? I got a frimp in my last TP order (damn you, Puddin!) and promptly fell in love.

Thank you so much for sharing these with us! Your drawings and your blog are just adorable. Thanks for bringing some sunshine to an overcast day.

What in the world???

 

This smells like the early-mid nineties Coppertone Sport sunblock my grandparents used to slather on me as a kid when I'd fly down to Sarasota to visit them for Easter. It's a dead ringer for straight-up suntan lotion.

 

That said, I actually really like this. I don't understand why, but I do. When I bring my nose to my wrist, I can actually feel sunblock in the back of my throat. It's really uncanny. I was very close with my grandparents and I miss them a great deal, so this is very welcome nostalgia for me. After awhile, the sweet pea comes out and the sunblock fades away and is very reminiscent of Juliet. I'll probably upgrade to a bottle one of these days, purely for the wet phase.

Initially, this is very bubblegummy and ever so slightly spicy on my skin, so I'm thinking there must be some carnation in here somewhere. I get a little bit of jasmine, but no gardenia. It's nice, but I was hoping for something whiter.

If there ever was a truly "golden" scent, The Harp is it. The sandalwood is a bit sharp and spicy initially, but it dries to a gorgeous, soft, and deep woodsy vanilla. I don't get much of the floral, but that's okay; it's beautiful without them. This is everything I had hoped Lyonesse would be. I understand now why this is so popular.

My first first review, and for one of my favorite poets!! I hope I can do Yeats and the Lab some justice here.

In the bottle: The stephanotis is the most prominent note. It's reminiscent of the "white" Ars Moriendi blends like Eternal and The Ghost, and even Regan to a lesser extent, without the beautiful orchid vanille.

Wet: The other florals come out to play, especially the lily and the gardenia. The lily is making this a little sharp, but that eases after a few minutes. I can just barely detect the delphinium in the background, but it's enough to give the blend a bit of a blue tinge while still remaining a very white scent.

Dry: My skin really loves white florals, so this dries down to a soft, slightly dusty (probably the orris) white bouquet with a hint of sandalwood to keep it three-dimensional.

The Sorrow of Love truly is aptly named. It's a chilly funereal bouquet spotted with tears.
If you like white florals, this is a must-try. For me, it's a keeper!

Reconditarmonia said it all--this blend is GORGEOUS.

 

The rose note here is definitely pink (perhaps with some help of the peony, but I can't really detect it), and the secondary notes keep it from getting too sharp. I detected a very slight green, stem-like note beneath the rose. Smelling this reminded me strongly of the geranium soap at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, which always smelled like pink roses to my nose. The rice flower keeps the rose smooth and lovely, while the lilac helps to reinforce the "hey, I'm in a garden" sensibility of this blend.

 

I don't generally buy back-ups because I have yet to go through an entire bottle, but I would be crushed if I ever ran out of this. I have quite a few rose scents that I wear regularly (Katrina van Tassel, Whip, Alice, and Rose Red), but Blooming Rose beats them all. Beth really outdid herself with this one.

This review is for the 2012 version!

 

In the bottle: Yep, that's Snake Oil, with a metric ton of honey along for the ride. It smells very thick and decadent. This is bound to be fantastic.

 

Wet: Yep, spicy Snake Oil smothered in honey. I can't specify the types of honey in here, but there is definitely more than one kind, and they're all creamy, warm, and delicious.

 

Dry: The honey really takes the bite out of the Snake Oil (which I cannot wear fresh) and the honeys become even more prominent after an hour or so. Sillage is great, and it lasts forever. I still smell traces of Womb Furie 18 hours after application.

 

If you love Snake Oil (and even if you don't!) and/or honey is an amenable note for you, this is a must-try. I LOVE this.

The Vine faded quickly on my skin as well, but it is lovely while it lasts! The pear is juicy and realistic, no plastic to be found here.

 

In the bottle: The pear is the strongest note here, while the cream and vanilla are barely detectable.

 

Wet: Just like biting into a juicy pear without the gritty texture. YUM.

 

Dry: Ah, there's the cream and the vanilla. This is so lovely, but it's gone within an hour. This could be due to the fact that my wrists have been resting on my laptop the entire time, so I'm happy to give this another chance in a different spot. Even if it does continue to fade quickly, it's worth slathering.

Guh. This is so lovely, but it starts with rough punch. In the imp, the ginger overpowers everything. I can detect nothing else. Once it hits my skin, though, it's a different story. The vanilla blooms and takes the bite out of the ginger, leaving behind a creamy, dry, extremely mellow ginger. It's not even remotely foodie on me, even though there is a hint of apricot in the background.

 

As it dries, the apricot becomes a little more prominent, but the beautiful vanilla-ginger blend is the star of the show. Jasmine seems to have forgotten her invite to the party, but it's perfect without her. Siren is an instant bottle for me.

Holy carp, Nothing but Death is so so so gorgeous. It doesn't help that the poem is too, but it's just really, really lovely. Violets and a little fruity, but still not overly sweet or sugary. *_*

 

In other news, has anyone (other than KittyHawk! I read your comment on it in another thread ) tried Araw ng mga Patay? ...Bueller?

 

My reputation precedes me! That reminds me, I should probably review it properly in the appropriate thread.

 

However, for those of you who have yet to try it, don't let my wonky nose deter you--all I got was toasted (almost burnt) yams. I hope others have better luck, but it is certainly not for me. I had such high hopes, too! No rice, no sweets, no flowers. Just... yams. And free radicals.

 

I'm hoping La Calavera Catrina is every bit as beautiful as I'm hoping it will be, but I don't want to order a bottle until I can test out my decant. Drat!

This is such a pretty blend!

 

For being so light, it has surprisingly good throw. The apple plays second fiddle to the musks (and even to the tiare), but it still manages to ground the scent a great deal; I think this would almost be too pretty without the apple. To my nose, it's in the same family as other fruity musks like Hungry Ghost Moon, Aglaea, and Katharina, but it has a charm all its own.

Sonnet D'Automne jumped into my Weenie cart at the very last minute; I was between this and La Calavera Catrina for my sixth and final bottle. Let me just say that I made the right choice.

 

This blend is so lovely that any write-up I try to give will fail to give it the justice it deserves. I was knocked on my ass when I sniffed this on my skin; it reminds me of walking to class in late October at the University of Michigan. There's a slight whiff of vanilla, a dry crunch of leaves, and a beautiful warm base of amber to round things out. I feel so silly saying this, but it nearly brought a tear to my eye to smell this. I'm so glad I bought a bottle; there will be many back-ups.

I was really hoping for an apple-heavy cider scent like what I used to drink when I was a kid, but there was too much going on in this blend for me to enjoy it properly. I got a lot of the citrus, a little bit of apple, and a metric ton of cinnamon.

 

I don't quite understand why, as cranberry isn't a note in Autumn Cider, but to my nose, both in the bottle and on my skin it was a dead-ringer for Punkie Night. While I enjoy that particular scent, it's not one I like enough to keep multiple bottles of. I just barely prefer PN, so this one is off to a new home. The label art is adorable, though, and my favorite of the 2011 Weenie labels I've seen so far.

I still have a metric ton of decants coming my way, so I may have to add to this later, but Sonnet d'Automne and Glittering Apple of the Stars are big winners for me and will be multiple bottle purchases.

I received this as a frimp from the Lab (thanks, Labbies!) and I'm very happy with it.

 

In the imp, the cherry and amber are the most prominent notes. I think I detect a little of the heliotrope too.

 

Wet, I get a big, juicy black cherry swathed in red musk. YUM!

 

Dry, this gets more musky, and the amber starts to disappear, but the cherry and red musk remain the main players. It is a really well-blended scent and it lasts a really long time on me. Hollywood Babylon is going straight to the top of my bottle list!

My notes for my test of Katharina are very concise: "Yay!"

 

This scent makes me so happy, and there's something about BPAL's white musk note that seems to last for-frakking-ever on my skin. I applied this at 5 AM before I went to bed, and I could still smell it around 11 PM. My skin usually eats scent like there's no tomorrow, but Katharina sticks with me, and I'm oh-so-very happy to have her!

 

I get nearly equal amounts of apricot and orange blossom, but as it mellows, the apricot becomes the dominant note, with white musk closely behind. This reminds me of Fae without the oakmoss and would complement her perfectly. This will be upgraded to bottle status in my next Lab order because I can't live without it.

This smells really lovely in the imp--bright juicy pears, sweet plumeria, and fizzy champagne. Alas, my skin hates BPAL's champagne note and it turned to plastic as soon as I applied it. I was half-expecting this to happen, so I'm not too broken up about it, but it would have been so nice otherwise.

Blood Countess reminds me a great deal of Brides of Dracula, but I detect some mulberry here that isn't in BoD. I like it; it's a great cold weather scent. The berries are really lovely and sophisticated, while the opium keeps it dark and brooding. This won't go to the top of my bottle list, but I'll definitely get around to one sometime in the future.

Add me to those who got a chocolate note. It also smelled fairly similar to Eat Me on my skin, which I also got a bit of chocolate from.

 

I was really hoping for vanilla cake goodness, but I mostly got lots of caramelized sugar with a whiff of chocolate. I'm going to hold onto my bottle for awhile in the hope that it ages well, but Sprinklecake does not work on me new.

 

Edit: I've tried this again--several times, in fact--and the boozy note has mellowed a great deal. Sprinklecake reminds me of my Strawberry Shortcake doll, which smelled like sweet vanilla plastic. Surprisingly, I enjoy it a great deal. Keeping the bottle; may order a back-up!

I had high hopes for this one, despite the star anise. Well, all I got in the imp, wet, and on drydown was cherry cough syrup and Jagermeister. Off to the swaps with you, Kabuki!

I have had that dill-pickle scent pop up, and it was not a nice experience! I think it happens to me when scents go sour on my skin that are not meant to go sour!

 

I have yet to experience that; I hope I never do!

 

Garden Path With Chickens, from the salon is probably your best bet. Notes are:

 

Damp grass, ivy leaves, morning glory, daisy, rose geranium, heliotrope, white gardenia, climbing roses, peppery nasturtium, phlox, begonia, verbena and sun-warmed herbs.

 

The only scent that ever gone dill pickle on me is Pulcinella and Terasina.

 

Oooh, thanks, paperrose! That sounds really pretty, even if I don't end up getting dill out of it. <3