yamiko

This is not a nice smelling scent. It's a dark herbal and minty blend that just puts me on edge when I smell it.

Halloween: Montreal is the closest I'm going to get to a Halloween: Vermont for now, so I jumped on the chance to get it.

 

It's pretty much everything magical about a chilly Halloween night. I get mostly pumpkin on me, slightly sweet and slightly smoky. I do smell the chilly/winter note that others are noticing, too. It makes sense; I think it's snowed the majority of Halloweens I've lived through. As it dries, the wintery note fades and I get spicy pumpkin and dried leaves with a background of woodsmoke.

 

This scent is making me sooooo excited for Halloween!

In the bottle, it's a sweet, spicy, slightly fruity sassafras. On me, it's a spicy plum, without any sassafras. The drydown is mostly sweet clove. It's very nice for a cool, rainy day like today is.

I love rose.

 

This smells like the same rose that's in Persephone, only with milk instead of pomegranate. It's definitely milky instead of creamy and smells very nostalgic. It makes me smell like a pretty Victorian lady.

#130: Frankincense and a sharp citrus. Grapefruit? Dries down to mostly grapefruit, not a lot of frankincense.

 

#9: Buttery, foody goodness in the bottle. Has a brief, disgusting nail polish phase on me like frankincense is wont to do sometime, but then it goes away and dries down to a delicious spicy cake thing.

This is a super earthy scent that is very well blended. It's very dark in the bottle, but sweetens up a little on me. I think that's the myrrh. When it dries, the oakmoss comes out a bit more. It's smokey, earthy, mysterious, and dark. It reminds me a bit of how my hair and clothes smell after I spent time near a bonfire.

In bottle: I mostly get redbush tea and myrhh with a bit of lotus.

 

On me: Sweetened redbush tea. Overall, it's very well-blended, with no note really sticking out above the rest.

 

Overall: This is a very nicely blended scent. It's lightly sweet and delicate, but I think my skin kinda eats it a bit too much for me to wear.

In Bottle: Peach play-doh

 

On me: Soft, juicy peach with an underlying floral. The jasmine, I think. Every once in awhile I get a play-doh whiff, but not a lot.

 

Overall: This is nice and rather pretty, but it's a bit too faint for me. I think I'd like it more if it was less floral and more fruity.

In bottle: Rose, with a bit of vanilla in the background.

 

On me: A soft, pink rose, with some vanilla. If I think about it too much, I kind of get a bathroom smell from it. It reminds me a bit of Snow White. As it dries, the bathroom note goes away and I get more of the vanilla.

 

Overall: Such a pretty, feminine scent!

In bottle: Beeswax and frankincense.

 

On me: It starts out nothing but wine when it's very freshly applied, but that goes away quickly, and starts to smell how it did in the bottle. As it dries, the rose comes out more, and it ends up smelling like soft red rose and beeswax.

 

Overall: This is a very lovely scent. It usually flies under my radar, but every time I put it on, I am not disappointed. I need to remember to wear it more often. I really do love the Lab's beeswax note.

Something in Pomona is very off-putting when I smell it in the bottle. Now that I read other reviews, it does kind of smell like nail-polish remover. On me, it starts out very nutty, then dries down to a nice, tart apple. It makes me itch a bit where I test it (I have a mild nut allergy), but usually when I apply things to my perfume-wearing areas as opposed to my testing areas, I don't get itchy. The back of my hand might just be a bit sensitive.

 

I haven't tested this since I got it when it was released because of the smell in the bottle, but I enjoy it now that it's on me. Hopefully I can remember that enough to get past the bottle smell. If not, I'll have to rehome it.

In the bottle: Pumpkin, clove, and myrrh

 

On me: At first, it's pumpkin with clove, then it dries down to mostly clove. It's a little smokey, but not a whole lot.

 

Overall: Tasty! It's a buttery clove scent that makes me think of baked goods. The musk and tobacco lurk about and give it a nice background.

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's smelling band-aids! I definitely get a "sterile" smell from this scent. Once it dries more, I get a smokey, floral scent. I'm not sure if I can get past the band-aid smell on this one, though.

In bottle: fresh dandelion, cherry blossoms, and a hint of myrrh

On me: Starts out very much DANDELION. Once it starts drying, the myrrh comes out a lot. As it dries, everything blends together into a slightly spicy, flowery scent. Dandelion is still the prominent note, but I can definitely smell everything else as well.

Overall: This totally surprised me! I'm not really a floral person, and some of them give me quite the headache. But I really like dandelion. It gives a nice, bright, slightly grassy feel to this scent. Like a bright spring day. It's very good for keeping the winter blues away.

In bottle: Champagne with a bit of oomph behind it. The opium kind of makes it darker, in a way.

 

On me: At first, the opium is like, "OH HEY, HERE I AM ALL UP IN YOUR NOSE." But then it calms down a little bit so you can smell the champagne again. It's fizzy, smokey, slightly metallic deliciousness.

 

Overall: I'm not a huge opium fan, but I do like this. The opium and the champagne complement each other nicely. It's a pretty decadent-smelling scent.

In Bottle: Green! That was my first thought upon smelling this. It smells very green. The champagne and the absinthe are blended together very nicely. Not just BUBBLE or ANISE when I sniff.

 

On me: It's a very light scent, and it doesn't really morph at all on me, though I think I detect a bit of the herbal side of the absinthe as it dries. It seems to fade pretty quickly, though. Maybe it's more a scent locket kind of smell then a skin kind of smell.

 

Overall: I was a bit worried that I might not like this scent. Absinthe appeals to my frilly goth side, but I'm not actually a huge fan of anise. However, I'm really pleased with it overall. It's nice that it's a bit herby to mellow out the anise.

In bottle: Champagne and vanilla cake! It's the same kind of cake-y goodness that's in Beaver Moon 2005, IMO.

 

On me: It's more champagne than cake, but as it dries, the cake comes out more.

 

Verdict: This is amazing.

Greed kinda smells like money to me (coins and paper money mixed together, specifically), which makes sense. When I pick apart the notes, I mostly get patchouli and oakmoss. I wouldn't wear this very often, as it seems a bit too masculine for my tastes. But I think it would smell good on my perfume-loving man of choice. I might get a bottle and see how it ages.

In the bottle, Eros is mostly honey wine with a bit of myrrh. On me, it's sweet honey wine with a little bit of resins and tea. It goes a little powdery on me, but not too much. It's a nice, well-blended scent overall. I think it'd smell really nice on the right guy, too.

I cannot attest to this oil's effectiveness (yet), but it definitely smells of rose. Rose and something a bit dark and vaguely sinister underneath it. It appeals to me, as an über-Scorpio.

Dixie Love Perfume is pretty intense. I'm not a ritual kind of girl, so I wear my TAL oils layered with regular BPAL as a sort of intent focusing thing. Both times that I've worn Dixie Love Perfume out and about, I've had people tell me that I "smell really good" in a slightly lustful tone of voice. And that's just when I wear a dab behind each ear. I'm a little scared of what will happen if I apply it normally!

At first sniff, this was nothing but delicious wine. On second sniff, I could smell some of the marzipan in the background. On me, it started off much like it was in the bottle, then the marzipan took over. As it continues to dry, it blends together into a delicious goblet of mulled wine and a plate of delicious marzipan. Very nice!

 

My only issue is that the oil makes me itch a little where I tested it, probably because I have a mild nut allergy (especially almonds). I tested it on the back of my hand, so I'll have to see if my usual wearing spots have the same reaction.

 

ETA: I didn't itch when I wore it normally, so it's all good.

This is a scent that has a ton of notes that I'm not familiar with, but they all kind of merge into a slightly sweet, slightly spicy, herbal, fruity, aquatic scent. It's very fresh and green to me. After seeing a lot of people say "apple", I kind of agree that it's pretty apple-y. This scent actually took me by surprise. It's got a lot of notes that don't really jump out to as likes or loves, but they all blend together very nicely.

At first it was like this:

 

 

And then it was like this:

 

 

(Specifically, the rainbow Nerds.)

 

And you know what? I love it. I LOVE smelling like a box of Nerds.

Debauchery is a pretty intense scent, definitely not for the faint of heart. It's dark, deep, and sensual. It's very musky, with the opium giving it a sharp edge. Civet doesn't seem to go bad on me, at least with this blend. I guess that's something to be happy about!

 

ETA: Ack, I don't know how I feel about this now. One minute I like this, the next I hate it, and then the next I'm like, "Well, it's actually not that bad..."

 

ETA2: OKAY. I LIKE THIS. Apparently it likes to play mindgames with me during the drydown, but now that it's dry, I do actually like it!