smallvoice

The Gaoler's Daughter smells quite a lot like Cupid Complaining to Venus did, as I recall.

Reviewed for the October testing fest! A different scent each day! This was day one, because I've been wearing it and I already love it.

This smells almost exactly how I wanted it to smell. It could have been a touch sweeter, and the lavender a touch less sharp, but this scent is amazing. The lavender does get softened by all the sweetness and powdery-ness, and it's actually friendly on me. Bonus: The husband complimented me on it. Hooray! I get the baby powder, and I totally get where it smells like babies (reminds me of my sister's kids), but it smells so gentle and lovely. This is not as descriptive as I'd like it to be, but I generally don't wear a lot of lavender (more lately- Villain and Wulric) and this is by far my favourite interpretation. Gladdener of All Hearts indeed! (Also, the milk does not go sour on me!!) I was also worried about the rose otto, but it didn't bother me.

ETA: The description and a note about rose otto.

I don't smell any patchouli in Snake Oil either - on me, whether it's fresh or aged, I get vanilla, spices and resins, all three of which become sweeter and deeper as it ages.

 

But anyway, the Snake Pit blends that kind of turn Snake Oil on its ear the most are Banded Sea Snake and Cottonmouth and if Beth told us there was patchouli in either one of those, I'd eat my proverbial hat.

 

I have never, ever, smelled Snake Oil that smells sweet to me. I had an imp that was aged probably less than a year, but over six months, and it was still just all patchouli all the time. Then again, that was quite early on. I didn't know a thing about fragrance. But it definately smells like patchouli on my skin, and in the imp as well. The first time somebody complained about SO being too sweet, I was gobsmacked.

 

So, all that being said, I've really enjoyed all but two of the Snake Pit blends I've tried. I hated Saw-Scaled Viper, and really strongly disliked Cottonmouth. I'll do a rundown.

 

Australian Copperhead: The acai goes soapy on me, but it was still a great blend.

Asp Viper: Yummy almondy goodness. (Husband actively hated it due to allergies)

Banded Sea Snake: Nice, aquatic, but it wasn't something that I reached for often.

Boomslang: Fantastic. If you like foody at all, you should try this. It is deliciously gourmand.

Coral Snake: Another one that you should try- the notes really take it away from Snake Oil, to my memory. It had a great apple note.

Cottonmouth: Ugh. Unpleasant. No idea what did it, either.

Death Adder: When this one ages a few months, it is amazing. It is fairly heavy, though.

Green Tree Viper: It always amuses me that people absently call this one "Green Tea Viper" heh. Minty! I think I need a bottle of this one, really.

Habu: On my most wanted to try list.

King Cobra: Haven't tried it yet.

Saw-Scaled Viper: Yuckyuckyuck! Not good on me.

Temple Viper: Haven't tried it yet.

Western Diamondback: Along with Death Adder and Boomslang, this one completes the triumvirate of my most loved Snake Pit blends. I love the leather in it, though. It is sexy and perfect.

 

So, yeah. That's not so helpful. A lot of people have said that my three favourites are the Snake Oiliest of them all, but since I don't like SO.... I disagree. I'd recommend that you try Coral and Green Tree Viper, of the bunch. Really, just test the ones that appeal.

I tried Bayou recently, and it reminded me quite a lot of Sturgeon Moon.

This is DCCXXV, or 725. I smell carnations in the bottle, and something familiar. Oh. Once I apply the oil, it turns into that coconut milk I found so disturbing in my previous CT. Yup, carnations and that horrifying milk note. And... body odor. Which means that ginger has arrived. There is something that I initially thought was beeswax but later wondered if it was olive oil. It's one of the two. What a strange combination. I want to say there's some pink pepper in here, but I don't know- it could be the carnation and ginger together. The body odor paired with that milk note is nauseating me, so I think I'll just let you know that the drydown doesn't relent. It stays the same on me, for the most part. Not that I've spent much time huffing a patch of skin that smells like it hasn't been washed in many years, I must admit. I do sniff it hopefully, now and then, to see if anything has changed. *sniffs* It hasn't. But it might have both beeswax and olive oil. Hopefully this'll find a happier home.

So, I have in my possession 724 and 725, aka: DCCXXIV and DCCXXV

 

I'm currently only reviewing 724. In the bottle, it smells like apples! Like bright red, juicy apples! And something a tinge soapy, which I'm guessing is rose. Hrm. Rose and I haven't been on the best of terms lately.

 

Oddly enough, on my skin, the rose takes a backseat to something that reminds me of the cream from Milk Moon '05, and possibly '07. It is sweeter than I remember '05 being, though. There is definitely rose in this. Rose, milk and apples. There's something deeper that's grounding this and making it something that is not the light, frou-frou scent you'd expect from hearing those three notes. Maybe another fruit? Fig or something. I absolutely cannot stand the milk/cream note. It's like what I remember from Obatala, so maybe it's coconut... weird. I think I'd recognize coconut. It could be coconut milk, but I don't know. As it dries, it becomes bearable. I thought there might be honey earlier, but I don't think so anymore. I think the fruit sweetens it up just a little and it would be way sweeter with honey in it. So it's kinda like Milk Moon with roses and apples in it.

I wore Torture Queen on my birthday. LOVE IT!

This really does smell like high-end hair products. It is creamy, slightly aquatic and utterly refreshing. It is also incredibly girly- "pink" indeed! It's really beautiful, and I can't think of a BPAL it reminds me of, but it does smell familiar; comforting, somehow. It's a light, vaguely sweet floral blend. Kinda what you see is what you get.

 

Once it hits my skin, there is a flood of soapiness. It's a sweet and almost minty soapiness. I'm not sold on it in the first few minutes, and the drydown still leaves me undecided. If I could get just a smidge more of that minty note, I would love this to bits. It's pretty, like I said, but may not be a scent that really suits me. Or one that will get a ton of wear, in other words. We'll see!

Marae was nothing but gardenia on me. None of the incense, nor the orchid, nor Monoi tiare... Just gardenia. Gardenia is pretty, but I don't love it that much. Also, this gardenia wanted to kill me. It started to strangle me, and there was this glint in its eye that chills me to this very day, and I knew it meant business. So I did what any reasonable person would do; I attacked back! Soap and water and lots of scrubbing managed to subdue the gardenia long enough that I could get away.

 

I knew I should've opted for Opuhi with that set. Opuhi just seems less likely to be a sociopath.

This is a lovely scent that I simply don't wear often enough, which is why my bottle is living in a happier home. Here's what it smells like to me: Jasmine tea. With honey in it. I am drinking such a brew right now, and it tastes like I am drinking Hony Mone as it smells on my skin. The honey gets a little cloying on my skin, which I think is my main problem with it, but it is otherwise beautiful. Like jasmine tea with honey.

I don't get the alcohol note in this very strongly, either. On me, it is a sweetened fruit scent. It's sort of like Tiki Queen, only way less complex and with no floral backdrop. It has that same fruity-candy scent to it, though, that I tend to really like. Ultimately, this isn't a scent that is for me, but only because it wasn't discovered before some of my other fruity loves. I can't imagine needing this with the others. It wears really nicely on the skin and has a fair bit of throw, even with my very light application. I'm so glad I got to try this- I'll probably give it more consideration in the future. For me, it is totally a spring/summer scent.

Rose.... why must you hate me so? What did I do to make you turn on me? Is it my tonsils? Were you that attached to them? Ahem. Anyway. So, here's what I get: Rose soap.

 

No lie. It might be a sweeter rose soap than Rose Red, but certainly not sweeter than Alice. I don't get the depth of the opium. I don't get sugar cubes. I don't get absinthe. Just rose soap. I wasn't ever a HUGE fan of rose, but I could wear it in some blends. Not anymore!

 

ETA: Maybe I don't get those things because I haven't bothered with letting it age! The mint is coming through like woah, and it's very unusual. What an intriguing blend!!

I love lilac. And I had been wishing for a lilac/coconut combo for a while, so when Ashlultum popped up, she was the first thing on my decant circle.

 

I was expecting it to be a little darker, being unfamiliar with Babylonian musk. The musk is present, and the lilac is also there, but there's something sharper than lilac (which usually reads as quite sweet, to me) and I'm wondering if that's the hyssop. I can smell the coconut now. Huh. This scent is confusing to me. I wish the vanilla tea would be stronger. I think I'm just wishing for something to sweeten this up a little bit. Instead, I smell the tobacco as a grounding note- this is not unexpected. I tend to amp tobacco like crazy, but it's being well behaved in this blend. The scent is fairly light, but it's certainly not invisible. The drydown is nice, it's just not quite what I was hoping for. I like the scent, but I don't love it like I expected to, and that's sad.

The nectarine is really strong just sniffing the scent, but as soon as I put it on it becomes soft florals and something that reminds me really strongly of To Helen. I had to check the notes, but I'm thinking it must be the beeswax. The beeswax stays the dominant note on my skin, but it's more like just plain wax. There's some sweetness from the rest of the blend, but it smells odd. After a while, it all mellows out and snuggles up to my skin, stubbornly refusing to leave. I can't smell this unless I press my nose to my skin where I applied it. A surprisingly lovely scent, though- this is not at all the overbearing floral I suspected it would be, and very well behaved. I like the waxy note, and I just wish it had more throw. I won't be needing any more, but I won't get rid of what I have.

The entire Wunderkammer fits this bill, I think.

 

Medea is another GC blend that might be interesting. Bluebeard was odd, to me. Definitely seconding Saturnalia. Also, Mania.

Body odor and cigarette ash.

 

The pine sap and ginger have committed a hate crime against cinnamon, which started out smelling pretty. It was the only thing about this that smelled pretty. Note to self: Ginger doesn't work. Srsly. Stop trying to make it work.

 

Just a nightmare.

Jailbait is my first novelty type of scent. (Though for me, it's totally wearable.)

 

Smokestack immediately comes to mind, and that one certainly sounds darker.

 

Have you tried Death Cap? On me, it really does smell like mushrooms and dirt, with some sweetness in the drydown.

 

Penny Dreadful was pretty unique on me, but it's been a while since I tried it.

 

Scarecrow and Schrodinger's Cat both sound like scents that might fit your criteria. Djinn, too.

 

Hope that helps! I know I've forgotten a TON of such scents, but I'll be back to recommend more when I think of them.

 

Oh, the Blockhead and Shadwell, if you can find decants.

Woah, Scylla's review of the Torture Queen states that it is Snow-Flakes on her from application to drydown, and let me tell you... it smells like Snow-Flakes in the bottle, minus a very minute amount of the snowy-sweetness.

I've never smelled the B&BW scent, but there was a Peony Moon by BPAL in 2006 and you might be able to rustle up some of that. Otherwise... Amsterdam or The Dormouse might be good ones to check out, for things readily available from the catalog.

The Chapel = Djinn

 

Now if I could just find something that smells like The Lion....

 

I'm pretty sure The Lion smells like The Lion. It's a catalog blend in the Mad Tea Party section, not a limited edition. If you're just looking for similar scents, there's a whole thread in here about ambery blends. Hope that helps!

Whitechapel=Dorian=Severin= Vampire Tears=Baobhan Sith all smell the same to me with minimal difference

Wow, chemistry is funny - I haven't tried Severin, but the rest of those all smell completely different to me! (But I can see how they'd be similar if you amp the citrus, especially - I get very little citrus from Dorian and Baobhan Sith was very pink grapefruit, unlike the lime in Whitechapel or white grapefruit in Vampire Tears.)

 

I think of those, the closest would be Babhan Sith (which was a sharp, sharp floral on me, surprisingly) and Vampire Tears...

Dorian is super rich and sweet on me.

Whitechapel is clean and the best lime scent I've gotten my hands on.

Severin smells like nothing, to me. Seriously. It's like my nose blanks out or something.

Vampire Tears is milder than I remember Baobhan Sith being, and smoother.

Baobhan Sith has something in common with Aizen-myoo, as I recall.

 

It is amazing how our chemistries vary! I love hearing things like that.

I may be the only one who thinks they are similar, but Kill-Devil reminds me of Mitzvah quite a bit.

 

Hmm! On me, Kill-Devil is mostly Sugar Skull. I think it's got a boozier feel, though.

You should really consider trying Mag Mell if you haven't previously. It's worth a try. Let it drydown for at least 10 minutes.

Blood orange always reads as "gummi bears" to my nose. So when it first goes on and it's wet, it smells like peppery gummi bears. Then it gets on my skin, and the complexity begins. The frankincense must be what is smelling like pepper to me. I bet this is going to age gorgeously. It's smoky and sexy and extremely well balanced. I wish the candied orange would stick around longer, because it's completely gone on my skin right now. It's not exactly me, but it's a fantastic blend.

 

Edit 6/22: You know, the more I wear this, the more I like it. I might actually have to start thinking about adding it to my wishlist! There's something provocative about it... a glimpse of something naughty, so short you almost missed it... maybe you even imagined it. Plus, there's gummi bears.

I agree with so many others, in that this smells generic and empty. It is a perfect execution of the idea. I also must add that I do NOT get along with tuberose, so this was especially awful on me. I love the label. I love the humour that has been infused into this blend.

 

So, that's the short of it. I'll get into some more details: It's heavy florals on me, with an overwhelming feeling of a generic perfume in a drugstore. It's a little too high class for all that, though. There's a phase it goes through on me where the citrus makes it "sparkle," but that doesn't last long enough, and there's still the tuberose to contend with. I think the citrus actually turns on me and goes sharp after that. It's just not good on me. I'm glad to see it getting some love lately, though!