Mountaingrrl00

Wet: Very true to the scent of a horse chestnut. I can smell the glossy wood of the husk as well as the nutty meat. The honey is like a flavor-enhancer, bringing the smell forward. Dry: More muted. Sweet, but in a softer way. A little greener and less nutty. After eight hours: It has faded completely from the back of my hand, but is still a soft honey on my wrists.

Thank goodness Baitu frimped me this, because I never would have thought to try it based on the scary description. (I'm sure I'm unusual here, but the birch scared me the most after my experience with it in Vinland.) I even hesitated to try it on, as the pine was so strong in the vial. But as soon as it goes on my skin, it smells lovely! The musky notes become soft and snuggly, the pine is recognizable but blends and mellows, and there's a nice herbal thing going on in the background. It stays pretty close to the skin and becomes faint pretty quickly, but the last faint phase lasts a long time. I'm very glad I came across this, and expect I'll be wearing it a lot this winter.

Is anyone else getting a nutty smell in the wet phase? I know cherries can sometimes read as almonds and vice-versa, but I'm not even getting almond at first -- it's like a rich mixture of hazelnuts and chestnuts, with a buttery sweetness. Then it dries down and I get the fruit, strawberries and cherries and yeah, graham cracker crust. Then it gets really soft, lightly sweet with a fruit undertone and a kind of powdery quality I associate with amber, though I never smelled amber. I really like this final powdery phase and wish it had more throw at this point. It's a really pretty gourmand scent for when I'm in that kind of mood. Makes me terribly hungry, though.

Halloween: Los Angeles deserves mention in this thread.

Gingerbread Poppet today to go with all the other foodie smells of the day.

2010 Version: It's a light, thin amber in the vial. It blooms quickly on my skin. The amber becomes richer and a bit sweeter, and there are also smoky and leathery notes as it dries down. I remember previous versions being more citrusy. This version is more resiny, spicier and sexier. It doesn't have a lot of throw, but lasts a long time and is wonderful for sniffing my wrists throughout the day.

ladyjc frimped me this, and her loss turned out to be my gain. This isn't a scent I'd wear every day, but as a special-occasion scent I think it's amazing. The opium tar is the strongest note, and the scent as a whole is very smoky and musky, with just very subtle floral and fruit things going on way in the background. It reminds me of the heady perfumes I associated with sophisticated older women when I was a kid. I'll be rationing my decant for the best winter parties, I think.

I'm sad this one didn't work for me. It smells surprisingly food-like to me -- like melted vanilla ice cream and waffle cones, or maybe malted milk balls without the chocolate coating. I love the honey in Mead Moon and I love the musks in Smut, so in theory I should love The Infernal Lover, but the creaminess seems to override everything else.

Evening Cicadas and Red Peppers from last year's Yule LEs is a nice one. "Frost-limned, ice-bejeweled branches, scattered blood-red maple leaves, a few camellia petals, red peppers, and nacreous, multi-colored musks that shimmer like gently-beating cicada wings." The ice reads as rain to my nose.

It's almost single-note honey on me, a sweet but sharp honey with just a hint of something dark and herbal underneath. It hardly morphs at all, and lasts a long time. This would be good for layering, I think.

This is so clean, fresh and elegant. It's like a scented tea -- I get the Earl Grey association too. There's a gentle green zing when it's wet. When it dries down I get a little bit more soft violet, but it's not at all sweet or cloying. The tea still predominates and blends with the violet for an overall refreshing effect. The throw is medium to low (seems to die down as it dries down) and the wear length is fairly short. I anticipate carrying this around for reapplication, especially in the summer.

I love the Lab's mead note in Mead Moon and Hellcat. Any recommendations for other mead scents to try?

There's also Bonfire Night and Mnemosyne: Los Angeles.

I love the smell. It's soft, light, powdery, very classy in a natural floral kind of way. The only note I can pick out is orris. I was huffing my wrist all day, but I haven't noticed any effects on others. Will try this again.

I find Sybaris good for this. The violet is cool and calming and the clove and sweetness are uplifting.

Dorian and Titania come to mind.

Instant nostalgia for me: This smells very much like my great-aunt's favorite cologne, 4711. My auntie was an androgynous lady, and this is definitely an androgynous scent. For me the orange blossom is the most identifiable note, with the rosemary freshening it and the rose muting the individual notes a bit. I'm looking forward to wearing this on hot days and reminiscing.

Copper Phoenix is my favorite use of the apricot note yet -- so beautifully blended.

There's rose in this? It's almost entirely copal on me, wonderfully resinous and metallic and a little stony. I thought I smelled something like cedar in the vial, but that wood note evaporates on my skin. The scent does sweeten up a bit later on, in a honey/animalic way. The myrrh never goes fizzy on me, and the rose (I do get it faintly on the drydown) never goes soapy.

I never would have thought to try this, as floral blends generally aren't my thing, but I sniffed it at a M&S and it smelled amazing. The white tea is really strong throughout, and everything else is beautifully blended for a rich, complex scent. There's something very comforting and dreamy about it. I like wearing this to bed.

This actually smells more like a fresh springtime rain than frost and ice. The watery note is almost cucumber-like. The floral note adds to that springy impression. The red pepper note is awesome - it's a dead-on fresh vegetable note, subtly blended. There's just a hint of decay, like wet leaves. I don't pick up on the musks at all -- will edit if they appear on another wearing. The drydown is a little spicier and leafier than in the imp and worn wet ... but the soft spring scent remains. Overall I think of this as an aquatic - that rare kind of aquatic I love and can wear headache-free.

Anyone know of a BPAL that smells like TAL Crucible of Courage?

This is a beautiful sandalwood scent. It reminds me a little of Morocco with its sandalwood, musk and dryness, but it's richer and not as sweet or spicy. I can smell the different sandalwoods, and that's a really interesting effect, with some of them seeming closer and some further away. It lasts a good long time. A subtly sexy skin scent. I think this would be great for layering.

I wouldn't have thought I'd like this from the description -- seemed too chilly with the mint, and ylang and I generally don't get along -- but I fell in love with it when I got a whiff at a Meet & Sniff. In the bottle, it's pure violet to me. On wet, it's mossy, musky violet. The other flowers blend in so well I can't pick them out. On dry-down, the sandalwood comes out, and everything else recedes except for a bit of the musk. It doesn't seem to have a lot of throw, and has medium wear.

This smells fantastic - leather, vetiver, musk and a bit of rose. It's helped me be confident and successful in positions of authority and negotiation.