forspecial_plate

Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan....."coriander, amber, oregano, bay leaf, myrtle, angelica root, sandalwood, patchouli, benzoin, vanilla", smells a lot like Mr. Jacquel...."Golden amber, hyssop, North African patchouli, and embalming spices". Mr. Jacquel has something like cassia or cinnamon, whereas Ambre Sultan does not, but other than that they are very much in the same scent family.

When I put this on I had it confused with Marley's Ghost, but it didn't take long to realize my mistake! This scent is odd and just doesn't sit well on me, it goes on smelling like grape scratch 'n sniff stickers, or maybe one of those smelly markers for kids. Later something turns very soapy, and I am blaming the balsam of peru but I could be wrong. The soapy note seems to spiral up and up until it's impossible to ignore and I had to actually wash this off, and even then that soapy note stuck around persistently. Not a pleasant experience and I will stick with The Shivering Boy for my frozen grape fix. : )

Well, this was a happy discovery for me. Warm, sweet and woody citrus/ambery scent, light in throw, some kind of vanilla sweetness going on, kind of a simple scent, excellent for work. And reasonably priced! Hallelujah! I bought a bottle and this could be my new signature work scent.

Acceptable powdery leather scent. BPAL has better. I'll keep the sample unless I think of someone who would like it who I can give it to.

I may have already reviewed this. Citrus, slightly minty, faint. It's nice but I like New York better, and I just got a bottle of that. So I'll use up my sample and be done with it.

Smells like something from the 80's. A little spicy, woody. Smells good, I can use up my sample and probably forget about it, unless it really grows on me. Not likely....I have a dozen or so other scents that are like this and better.

I wear both Cthulhu and The Deep Ones. I hope that Kingsport can be resurrected some day, not because I need more, but because it's beautiful and I want more people to be able to try it! It's my favorite aquatic and one of my favorite bpal scents ever.

Fruity wood, says the description, and that's what I smell. Interesting scent, reminds me of those fruity woody Serge Lutens scents. I like it but I don't think I'd wear it that often. I'll keep the sample unless I think of someone who would like it more.

Seriously, I have way too many samples of non-bpal perfumes and colognes, that I need to test and somehow keep track of what I've tried, what I liked, and what I haven't liked. I've been doing this to a certain extent here on my blog, and I'm going to continue to do it. So far not many of them have "wowed" me to wanting a whole big bottle. I might want to get more Chanel Pour Monsieur, or maybe Parfums de Nicolai's New York.

I finally got the last of my Yule scents yesterday from the Lab and so I can comment, with my own opinions. Which one embodies Christmas/Yule the most? Whoop, even though the honey turned on me in the end, it still has the most Christmas vibe. The Second Of The Three Spirits is also very Christmas-like. Best foody scent from this year's Yules? I haven't tried many foodie scents, I'd pick Haloa for my favorite. It's not straight-up foody, but it's very buttery/cakey with a twist. Best snowy/wintery scent? I like Woods In Winter, although the icy part isn't all that strong, it still fits this category. Best scent that you'll enjoy wearing in warmer weather? Maybe Altar To Cold, Rigid, Dreadful Death, although I never have a problem wearing any of my favorite Yule scents in warm weather. What's this year's sleeper scent? Maybe The Soldier? I think it appeals to the red musk/root beer crowd. And do you have an overall favorite yet? Again, The Soldier. I love it!

Oh cool! Is it a new bottle? I'm not sure! I thought someone here might know if it has always been like that. Probably has.

I love The Soldier! I was expecting something like Lawn Gnome but it's really not. Reading the notes, I'm really surprised there is no sassafras in there. I guess it's a trick of the black tea and leather? Or black pepper? Who knows. This smells herbal and sweet, and the red musk is there but it's kind of more airy than usual. I was concerned about the black pepper but I can barely pick it out. If you're in this for the leather you might be disappointed. I can barely tell it's there. Everything is just blended. This smells like some of my favorite GC scents. It smells like Blood Kiss, Kabuki, Fenris Wolf, and Laudanum are having a little party in my wrist.

2010.....the tobacco is a lot lighter than the older one I've tried. This smells like musk, herbs, and a little lemon. Actually it smells a lot like Carnaval Diabolique. I like the linen note, though. Edit: I have to say, after wearing this more and more in the last couple days, it has grown on me a lot and it is very, very good. I do wish it had just a little more leather and a little less lemon (not sure where the lemon is coming from but it's still there), and I would buy a full bottle. I am still considering it, but it smells so much like Carnaval Diabolique, there isn't really a need for me to have both.

Powdery summer floral. Washing off now.

Dee's label is different from the other GC's. I don't know if you can see in this pic (cell phone pic, sorry), but it looks more like the older GC labels, and there is a greyed out alchemical symbol in the background.

Well, indecisive as usual.... Wolf Moon '11....."Winter air, Terebinth pine, black spruce, long-dead maple leaves, juniper berry, dusty orris, deep amber, white sandalwood, brown musk, blue cedar, ambrette seed, benzoin, and tonka". I like Wolf Moon '04, and I love Wolf Moon '07, so I pretty much have to get this! It's possible I won't like it as much, or that the brown musk or something else will ruin it for me, but I just have to find out. Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse...."A voluptuous and brittle blend of lunar oils and white chypre shimmering with darkly glowing red musk, golden amber, black currant, patchouli, rose peppercorn, blackberry, ylang ylang, and daemonorops astride Yuletide’s holly berry, white pine, winter rose, and myrrh". Well, this is quite a mixture of notes, which sound kind of hit and miss for me, and I'm especially concerned about ylang ylang and winter rose. Really have to think about this one. I like the idea of white chypre. I just don't know! WILF....."Warm fur coupled with red and black musk, vanilla bean, patchouli, champaca flower, juniper berry, chocolate peppermint, frangipani, browned sandalwood, ferntop ash resin, and massoia bark". I typically don't like "fur" scents, or most things with chocolate, or "browned" anything, especially after the failure the was Howl In The Darkness when it touched my skin. But.....but.....it's forum-only! Inspired by Lycanthrope! Will I be able to resist? I don't know! So that's one pretty definite 'Yes', and two 'I don't know's. Looks like I have some thinking to do!

There are potential problem notes here but they work together like magic. Galbanum is green and rooty. On its own it is overpowering and not pleasant, but here it is tempered by the sweet fig. Fig also has an earthiness that compliments the galbanum. Fig can be too sweet and sometimes reminds me of bananas (thinking of Lucifer which was unfortunate), but here it is balanced by the resins. I like frankincense but it can sometimes be too heavy. It has a way of taking over the entire fragrance. In this scent I have a hard time even picking it out, but I know it's helping to hold together the other two notes. Overall impressions: I applied heavily and the galbanum did stand out, but like I said it struck a balance with the other two notes. Sometimes the most simple scents are the best ones. Oddly after a while this scent seemed to fade away to nothing but I think maybe my nose just got used to it. The Nutcracker is everything I was hoping for. There is a Christmas candle aspect....just a little bit.....but it's a quality I enjoy. This is a winner!

This was disappointing.....I really wanted to like it and it just doesn't work for me. The verbena seems to be the strongest note, or maybe the cistus is contributing to that herbal/citrus aspect. The mint is pretty strong and long-lasting, and I am getting the feel of the brown musk too. I already knew I don't really like brown musk or brown anything really, but I had to try this because the woods and herbs sounded nice (especially pine, a favorite note). But what happens is the scent smells like there are one or two notes too many, and it just never settles into something I like. It's not offensive, and really with all the verbena and stuff behind that, it reminds me of Nyarlathotep, which I like a lot more. I will keep wearing that and Wolf Moon '07 (I really wanted Howl In The Darkness to be like a deluxe Wolf Moon that I would fall in love with).

List of notes: "Bergamot, candied ginger, honey, patchouli, pepper, and dark cocoa" Well, this is quite a warm, cozy scent, very yummy, as could be expected just from reading the notes. But....it's not really a straight-up foody blend, and it's not quite as sweet as you might expect either. It's spicy but it's also very smooth and wearable, on the male side of unisex in my opinion, and just completely blended, with no notes standing out very much except maybe the ginger. I can't smell dark cocoa but I can tell it's there supporting. Overall I really like this and I'd love a larger bottle if it weren't so dang expensive. As it is, I'll keep wearing my little sample and maybe some day get a larger amount. Edit: I got busy here at work, so I didn't really finish what I was writing. This scent has a small component of the whole that adds some kind of strange salty or doughy part of the scent. It's just an interesting little twist that kind of reaches out from the scent from time to time.

I've had this little decant in my "to be swapped eventually" pile for months, and just decided on a whim to try it again. I can't remember what I didn't like about it, but now I really like it. It's odd because I think of orange and tangerine as top notes, and vetiver as more of a heart or base note. But in Velvet Tiger, those roles are flip-flopped. When first applied, I smell this herbal, slightly ashy vetiver, with almost zero orange. But as the scent dries, this warm, glowing, spicy citrus comes out and it strikes me as wonderful and delicious, round, but still kept dry with the spice. Later I can smell black licorice, too, but not very strongly. The throw seems to be about medium. I do like vetiver, and the vetiver in Velvet Tiger reminds me of that in Baron Samedi (one of my favorite GC scents). So it's no surprise to me that this is kind of a love-it-or-hate it scent, based on a few other reviews that I read. I'm really glad I gave it another chance and I might even hunt down a partial bottle. It's in the same family as Baron Samedi and Mad Meg, so I may not need more than the decant that I have, but I do enjoy it.

Spices and woods always get my attention, and this is one of my favorite spice scents from the lab. My imp is 2 or 3 years old and for me, everything is balanced just perfectly. I think it was a little more sharp when it was new. Clove and cassia can both be tricky but they are very well behaved here. I do think of this as a simple scent, just spices and little else, but that's all it needs to be for me to love it. I don't pick up much tea or sandalwood, so I think of them as supporting notes. I know I can always wear this when I can't decide what to wear. I love this scent and I have a bottle coming from the lab. : )

Champaca, black tea, tonka bean, and sassafras. I was hoping this would not be sassafras single note, even though I like that note, I wanted to smell all of these things in the scent. When I first tried this, it was indeed a very light and sweetish sassafras single note, with a little bit of smokey tea in the background. It seemed to disappear almost completely on my skin. I put it away for a while (a few weeks). I tried it again tonight, and applied a lot, probably too much. It's stronger now, and it's still sassafras, with tea and tonka, and I think the champaca is adding to the sweetness of the scent, but I can't really pick it out as a note. Overall this is really great, one of my favorite scents from Halloween or maybe the whole year. The sassafras is the same as in Laudanum, but this is sweeter and there is a kind of buttery, almost coconutty quality. I still think the tea adds a little smokey quality. Love it!

Plunder this morning, and I haven't decided yet for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm thinking about Minotaur, or Pinched W/Four Aces. Can't decide!

I love this, a very well balanced fir and vanilla, just like the description says. I was right to go straight for a full bottle. Love it! Sometimes vanilla turns on me, and I can smell that slightly dusty plasticky quality threatening to come out in this scent, but it’s held in check by the wonderful pine and fir. There is a minty, slightly menthol quality going on here, and sometimes it reminds me a bit of some kind of therapeutic muscle ointment (in a good way). It’s a very light scent on me so I’ll be applying a little more heavily than I normally do. I’d be perfectly happy to walk around all day smelling like a Christmas tree, but that’s not what this smells like to me. The fir is actually subtle compared to something like Stranger In Camp. The vanilla reminds me a little bit of coconut, and more than once I’ve thought of suntan lotion, especially after the drying down of the scent. Overall, this is a winner!

I just have to narrow these down a little. Of course this will probably change when I get my decants. But for now, here's what I'm speculating...... The Nutcracker Midnight Mass The Phoenix In Autumn The Arabian Dance The Russian Dance BPTP Frankincense & Myrrh bath oil Victorian Virgin With Cherubs bath oil Vespers atmo spray For gifts: Peacock Queen soap Snow White soap So, all in all, not too bad or scary. 5 bottles, 2 bath oils, 1 atmo spray, and maybe 2 soaps. Of course, I may be adding more to that list after trying decants and reading reviews. We shall see.