forspecial_plate

I am pretty much in agreement.....toasty nuts, and hazelnut is probably right, although I would add that I'm getting a bright, frosty mint note, icy and crystalline, at the very "top" of the scent. It's subtle but I would swear it's there. I agree with the powdered sugar part....I sort of get that feeling too, but not heavy sugar like Sugar Skull, not caramelized. This would be something like.....candied nuts dusted with sugar, cooling next to a slightly open window on a chilly day.

When I first put this on, it smelled like bright, candied cherry to me, with possibly some light, chilly fir, like the first reviewer said, although I could have been influenced by her review! : ) I wore it to the movies, and as it dried, it changed to a deeper wine-like scent that reminded me of Montresor. Then it eventually ended up smelling strongly of honey and musk. I don't really like honey in my perfume so this stood out strongly to me. I also kept thinking I smelled patchouli, just small hints of it, although it is possible that someone else near me was wearing patchouli (I was at a sold-out showing of Avatar). I'm not sure if I want to try this again, because of the honey impression, but if I do, I'll come back and confirm if I smelled patchouli again or not. So my guess for notes would be.....I guess some sort of cherry wine, maybe some bright and airy fir, with honey and musk, and possibly patchouli. Cherry mead around the Christmas tree?

They had me with "sooty licorice incense", and bay rum sealed the deal. I knew I wanted this or Playing With A Loaded Gun, so I left it up to the goblins. I think they made the right choice for me! Black licorice is a note that I always want to love, and should love, but it's very tricky in the actual wearing of it. Too many times it smells rubbery to me, but I think I have finally found the perfect black licorice blend! That is the main note that I smell in this scent, backed up by subtle hints of the other notes. There is a white fluffiness which I guess is coconut, and I can't distinctly pick up the bay rum but I think I can tell that it's there. I love many of the Lab's bay scents so it's a note that I am always attracted to. So, after dissecting and picking apart the scent, I've worn it a couple times to just appreciate it for what it is. My impressions are different from surlygirl's, because for me it's mostly about the black licorice. But it's not quite a candy scent. Sooty black licorice incense is a great description because that really is the impression that I get, with some white fluffiness. I agree that the coconut note is different from others that I've experienced, and I do think this will get even better as the notes have time to mingle. I'm hoping for the bay rum to come out a little stronger. Overall, this is a winner!

I think this is just too much clove for me....it's a note that doesn't always work for me, mostly when paired with patchouli, but in this case it's just too heavy. I like clove sometimes like in Plunder and Velvet Bandito. I love pine but this scent is pretty much all clove for me. It's not horrible......it doesn't do the sour thing that I got from Smiling Spider, but I blame the patchouli in that scent. Anyway....just not working for me.

I third or whatever Bow And Crown Of Conquest..... Try to find Kingsport for your sea fix. I haven't found a better ocean scent, and it was my first bpal purchase (on ebay).

This is total dood-fume on me! I like it. It's about as traditional as I want to get, as cologne-y scents go. It's the leather and metal that make it cologne-like, cold, and kind of hollow to me (very fitting of the character). I'll be honest, the first few times I wore this, I wasn't sure if I could really enjoy it. But tonight I happen to like it. I think the labdanum and myrrh are really saving it for me, even though they are really subtle. The resins smell almost like sweet smoke when played against the metallic notes. This stuff lasts and lasts. I put it on almost 8 hours ago and it's still going pretty strong, although by now the leather has faded back a lot. Overall, though, it's a very well-balanced scent. It's funny to me that most other reviews mention vetiver because I don't detect it at all. But, I am not opposed to vetiver, so it probably wouldn't stand out as much to me. But to me, this is all gleaming leather and metal, with little puffs of sweet smoke here and there. I was expecting sinister and dangerous, but the feeling I get is more stern and cruel. A subtle difference but there ya go.

Gacela.....almost works, clove is really iffy on me and it doesn't quite work for me here. It comes off a little dusty or something. Faunalia.....Eek....this reminds me of Golden Priapus, a lot, which I hated, except this isn't quite as bad as that was. Still, this isn't for me. Men Loved Darkness......Another miss.....a lot of times clove and patchouli combine and turn really sour on me, which is what happened here, just like in Smiling Spider. They amp each other up until it's all sour clove and patchouli. Season Of Ghosts.....Very odd for a citrus scent....actually I don't even get much citrus. I recognize the rose geranium from On Darkness, and overall this scent turns weird and soapy on me. Did not like at all! Joulumuori......Big winner for me! I love this scent, and I had a feeling I should have gone straight for a bottle. Well, I was right. For all the foody notes, this is a wearable scent that isn't as foody as I thought it would be. The wood smoke or hearth note is very, very much like Djinn, my favorite GC scent. But it has the fabulous cheery spices mixed in, and I just love this. Kind of reminds me of the best parts of Djinn and Jolasveinar, with none of the snow or pine notes from Jolasveinar. Just great. Pink Snowballs......Not a fan.....I understand the comparisons to Snow White, but Pink Snowballs is more perfumey, fluffy, almost powdery, and not cold at all. Very commercial smelling to me. It's not terrible, but not what I was hoping for. Snowball Fracas.....Familiar snow note, but I do smell the soil from Graveyard Dirt underneath it. After a while more moss comes out. It's a good scent because I like these things, but doesn't stand out enough for me to want more. The soil note can be a little yucky but mixed with the snow notes, it's not bad. First Soft Snowfall......At first reminds me of Death Of The Grave Digger, a lot. Then as it dries, it becomes more floral, and I find myself thinking of Archangel Winter. Again, not a bad scent, but not quite as good as Death Of The Grave Digger.

I am all moved in now at my new apartment. I like it a lot more than the old one! I'm still unpacking and arranging, which will probably take me a while, but I have 5 closets, which is wonderful. I'm looking forward to a couple of relaxing days just getting settled in.

Thanksgiving was also my birthday this year, and I wore Pumpkin King! The unsolicited comment from my mom was that she smelled patchouli. : /

I'm a little exhausted....weekends tend to wear me out (the ones when I work, that is), and I didn't get much sleep before work. My landlady showed the apartment to a couple with a little girl. Having strange people in the apt kind of wakes me up and so I couldn't get to sleep after they left, and also, I'm on at the very end of Under The Dome, and I just couldn't put it down to go to sleep. So I had about 4 hours of sleep before work, maybe 5 hrs tops. Anyway....this is okay because in the morning when I get home I will flop into bed and sleep to my heart's content! I am excited to be moving, but most of all, ready for it to be done (and I haven't even started). I can't wait to be in my cozy little new apartment! It is a funny apartment, probably the smallest one I've ever lived in, and kind of retro but not in a cool way...it has a tacky, 70's Brady Bunch kind of feel. The living room has fake brick on the walls (which I think is awesome).

I love Knecht Ruprecht! I love many of the Lab's pine/fir scents, and this is among the best of them. I never really pick up on the almond, but all the other notes play against each other very nicely. It's a crisp and robust pine scent, but the fruit makes it even more special and unique. Three years later I finally have a bottle on the way (not that it was all that hard to find, I just kept putting it off). Hooray!

I wore All Souls to work tonight.

Omen smells very much like Minotaur to me: Omen...."Deep, mysterious, and full of dark portents: oakmoss, juniper berry, myrrh and patchouli". Minotaur...."A deep, swarthy black musk dusted by a dark, resinous blend of sacred bisabol myrrh, atramentous benzoin, tsori, balsam, and galbanum". Omen is darker and huskier (probably more 'masculine', too), and Minotaur is more refined, sweeter, and slightly powdery. However, if you have been searching for a Minotaur substitute, you may find a resemblance like I did.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure about this at the beginning. It smells good but I wasn't sure it was really for me. It starts out with this bright, chilly blast of cold aquatic notes, very bracing, and kind of a traditional cologne smell. However, this only lasts about 10 or 15 minutes. After that, the aquatic fades back, and what's left is mostly frankincense. I guess I amp frankincense or something, because the same thing happens with Valentine Of Rome....straight up frankincense. If I use my imagination here, I can start to pick out the other notes, but no rose (which is okay with me). I do think I can pick out the woods and a touch of clove. Overall, I like this. It turns out to be mostly frankincense with just enough background notes to make it more interesting. So, I'm glad I held onto it! I'm wearing it at work right now, and it's a nice, subtle and somewhat smokey/woody scent.

The Adoration Of The Mi-Go....."Luminous, otherworldly wet and piquant odors mingling with black incense, the pitch-stench of Yuggoth, and fungal lichens". Will watch reviews. 2/5 Mother Shub's Spiced Lait De Chevre....."Goat's milk egg nog with coffee liqueur and spices imported from the Crimson Desert!" I should be more interested, but this just isn't calling to me for some reason. 2/5 Mother Shub's Pfancy Pfeffernuesse......"Sugar-sprinkled pepper nuts with a bit of cinnamon, a bit of clove, a little cardamom, and a hint of nutmeg". LOL, it's all spice, all the time! I may end up trying this but I don't like pepper in my perfume. 2/5 Mother Shub's Toothsome Banketstaaf....."Tubular pastries oozing with spijs, glazed with apricot jam, and dotted with glace cherries". Um, what's spijs? I don't get very excited about most fruity scents, so I'll probably pass on this one. 2/5 Mason And Jenkin's Port Jelly....."Red and sticky!" Well, not so much for me. 1/5 Old Man Ackerman's Instructional Toys......I'll be watching reviews for this one. 2/5 The Smilin' Servitors' Hyperdimensional Holiday Hits....."A discordant scent, silvery and strange like a lunatic's tinsel garland: freesia, eucalyptus, and yuzu, with sicilian lemon, massoia, opoponax, night-blooming jasmine, white bergamot, and copaiba oleoresin". Will watch reviews. 2/5 Pet Magah Bird....."A prism of scent, an explosion of multi-colored feathers: blood orange, black plum, sugar cane, guava, frangipani, coconut, pimento berry, violet, caramel, and pear". A prism of scent sounds very pretty, but with all that fruit, I'm going to pass. 1/5 The Black Temple Burlesque Troupe......"Cacao, black musk, and tobacco absolute". Sounds kind of good except for cacao. Once again, I'll be watching reviews, but I bet this will be popular. 2/5 ....okay, I am at work and I should actually do some work. I'll finish the breakdown later!

Gacela Of The Dark Death....."Terebinth pine, pitch, and clove". After reading the poem, I'm wondering if there will be a sneaky note of apple that wasn't listed? Anyway, clove is the only thing I'm not really sure of here. Sometimes it smells sour to me. Probable decant. 3/5 Hypothermia....."Bone-chilling, heart-stopping cold". Hmm, could this be like Archangel Winter, or something totally different? I do like the cold scents. Probable decant. 3/5 In Winter In My Room....."Pink, lank, and warm: grapefruit, yuzu, tuberose, peony, violet leaf, pikaki, Indian frankincense, and tonka". I don't really get the poem, and the notes aren't really calling to me either. Possible sniff somewhere down the road....unless the reviews catch my eye. 2/5 Joulumuori....."Old Lady Christmas, the sweet, smiling wife of Finland's Joulupukki. Her scent invokes the comforts of Christmastime and the warmth of love and cheerful companionship: a glowing hearth, luumukiisseli, riisipuuro, and sima". So apparently this has prunes soaked in sugar, rice pudding, and a certain mead made with lemons and raisins (in addition to the glowing hearth). Could be a nice warm and cozy scent. Possible decant. 2/5 Lick It Til It's Sticky.....another one I can safely pass on. : ) 1/5 Midnight Mass 2009.....I don't need a bottle, but a decant might be nice. I already have 2 or 3 decants from the past Yules, and I don't really wear this scent, but I always feel drawn to it. Go figure. 2/5 Nes Gadol Haya Sham....one scent in four parts?? I'm so confused! The notes all sound nice enough, but if they're all together in one scent, it will be complex indeed. I'll be watching with interest for reviews and clarification. 2/5 Now Winter Nights Enlarge....."Shorten those tedious nights with a surge of body heat: vanilla-infused red musk, champaca, petitgrain, ylang ylang, patchouli, nutmeg, honey, galbanum, and traces of caramel". This just isn't calling to me all that much.....and there's the dreaded honey, too. I'll be watching reviews. 2/5 On Darkness 2009...."An embrace: black poppy, lavender, thick black incense, black amber, rose geranium, Brazilian rosewood, and benzoin". At first I liked my decant from last year, but after a while I decided it was a little too rich. I might still want some more of this, but I'm just not sure. 2/5 The Peacock Queen.....thanks but not for me. I still have an older decant that I never wear. 1/5 Pink Snowballs...."A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging!" Hee hee, I kind of want a decant just because it would be funny for a guy to wear this. What's that perfume you're wearing? Oh, this is Pink Snowballs. So butch!! It does actually sound pretty. 2/5 The Season Of Ghosts....."A scent created to burn away sorrow: bergamot, frankincense, rose geranium, ginger, lemongrass, and blood orange". Lots of citrus, but where's the fire? This could be something nice. 2/5 The Shivering Boy 2009......I probably don't need more of this one. Probably. 2/5 Sleipnir...."Confections spun of hazelnuts, honey, elderberries, and bilberries with a dusting of hay and a bit of carrot". Well......not so much. I just don't like honey (in perfume, that is). 1/5 Snow-Flakes 2009......"The radiance and desolation of winter". I used to have a decant of the older one, and I gave it to my sister. I can barely remember what it smelled like. I might end up wanting a decant this year. 3/5 The Snow Maiden......?? I have a blank spot in my memory for this scent. Are their older versions? No notes? I'll have to look up reviews, but I have a feeling I can pass. 2/5 Snow White 2009.....I'm happy with my decant from '07. 1/5 Snowball Fracas....."Muddy dirt and frost-covered moss from the trenches rubbed into winter clothes and snow impact overspray". Not sure, possible decant. 3/5 Sol Invictus 2009.....never had much of a hankering for this one. I think I actually tried it one time, and it turned to powder. 1/5 When The Winter Chrysanthemums Go....."A gentle flurry of snow dusting the season's last chrysanthemums, illuminated by pale rays of winter's amber-tinted sunlight". Yes, please......possible bottle. 4/5 Yule Cat....."Malevolent musk, a drop of infernal civet, vetiver, club moss, birch, goosefoot, and rowan". No civet for me, thank you! 1/5 ......to be continued.

Rated on a scale of 1-5, as being relevant to my interest. But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light...."The world will love its darkness: cistus labdanum, ginger, East Indian patchouli, pimento berry, oakmoss, saffron, smoky vanilla, sage, myrrh, and bitter blove". Sounds like Schwarzer Mond. With both patchouli and clove, this could turn out to be sour. Or it could be great. Decant. 3/5 Ded Moroz....."Light, darkness, kindness, and malice: golden amber, white amber, redwood, teak, bois du rose, sage, tree moss, and snow". I've sniffed the prototype....it was pretty nice. From the notes, it looks like it could be a touch powdery. I'm interested, though. Decant, or bottle? 3/5 Diable En Boite...."There are few things more disturbing than a Jack in the Box. A strangely sinister, unnerving holiday scent: redwood, bitter clove, tonka, hemp accord, and tobacco with peach blossom, black currant, and red musk". I can't really imagine what this will smell like. Possible decant? 2/5 El Dia De Los Reyes.....didn't like it last time, I can safely skip this one. 1/5 Evening Cicadas And Red Peppers...."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". This sounds freakin' awesome. I suppose something could go wrong in those notes, but I am feeling a bottle purchase on this one. Possibly. 4/5 Faunalia...."The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock". The forest part catches my interest. What in holy heck is opobalsamum? Is that a typo? I'd like a decant of this one, I think. 3/5 The First Soft Snow....."Heavy drifts of snow blanketing winter's narcissus". I don't know what narcissus smells like! I'll have to do a little research. Possible decant. 3/5 The Fruit Of Paradise 2009.....still have my decant from '07 I think, and never wear it.....another one I can skip. 1/5 .......to be continued.

So, after all that fuss, it turns out I was right after all.....my current lease is from December to December. With a little more planning and communication, I could have avoided that whole awkward situation. The good news is that I'm moving next month. My new apartment is almost exactly halfway between work and school (a mile and a half to either one). In a pinch if my car broke down, I could walk to either work or school. It also has: off street parking, secure entry/building, laundry in the basement, and paid heat and water. I am really excited. Now for the big pain in the ass of moving again. Once again, I should just throw a lot of stuff away, useless junk that I tend to hold onto. Time to look for boxes!

I talked to my landlady and she might let me out of my lease even though I'm technically already into my next year. Not only that but I might have to be out by the end of October.....which is faster than I was planning on. I need to get all this resolved soon, because it's making my anxiety worse than ever. I need to know where I'm going to live! She's going to look over the lease and call me back (I guess tomorrow....I thought she would call me back tonight but she never did).

.....and the bottle is at home. I'll edit later with the Roman numeral. Herbs? Licorice, black leather? Eucalyptus? This is scent is weird. Very weird. It starts out herbal and..........jeez, I can't even think of a word. It reminds me of chemicals, magic markers, or maybe hairspray, with eucalyptus. After it dries for a while, I would still call it herbal, but the nearly menthol quality fades. It changes to something like black jelly beans with no sugar, more synthetic, not like anise the herb. I also smell asphalt, and something that reminds me of sleet. The slightly sour hairspray note can still be detected. This reminds me strongly of a conceptual scent, an H.R. Giger painting, maybe? Grey pipes hissing with mist......cold, not hot. The colors would be all grays and blacks. There is not a drop or ounce of color in this scent. It could be called Black Ice if there weren't already a Black Ice. This one has no flowers or sweetness whatsoever (unlike the existing Black Ice scent). I'll be honest, at first I hated it, but I have to admit that it's strangely compelling.

This is for my future swap post. I'll have some Possets bottles up for grabs, and here are some that I would swap for: Adamus The Awakening Conscience Cootie Dark Lady Margot Queen Of The Night Risk Sex With The Spirits Tulipomania Warmth

I am an idiot. My lease is over at the end of this month (October, not November). It's too late for me to move out. And the landlady already told me she won't go month-to-month. The reason I got confused, is because the last time I moved, I got sick in the middle of the process. I spent 2 or 3 weeks recovering, and had to stop the whole moving process, which means I stayed over a couple weeks at my old apartment. I actually should have paid them another month's rent, but they let it slide. Anyway, looks like I'm staying put for another year after all.

Lots on my mind, and lots to do in the next week or so....and beyond. I've pretty much decided to move when my lease is out which is at the end of November, which means I'm looking at an apartment tomorrow, so I can get things moving ASAP. The apartment sounds really great, and it's in an area that I like, so I'm really excited and I hope that I like it. It has many more pros than the place where I live now, and honestly, I can hardly wait to move out of there. Cat friendly, laundry in basement, off-street parking, secure building, paid heat and water, nicer neighborhood.....and the landlady seems okay to me, just from the phone conversations we've had. Also it's only a couple of blocks away from the Cincinnati Zoo, which I think is really great (the Zoo is in kind of a bad area but that's not the part where I'm looking.....I'm a little further south of that which is more of a college- and medical-student area). Other than that, I have a whole bunch of smaller stuff that I need to get done, including cleaning up my current apt so I can be sure to get my deposit back. I will feel a little bad telling my current landlady that I'm not staying, but......well, I can't think of a but. I just never felt at home there, can't stand the neighbors, can't get comfortable in the space....what more really needs to be said? It's a nice apartment but I just for whatever reason couldn't get myself adjusted there. And I'm definitely not staying for another year, and she won't go month-to-month, so there ya go.

Bumping this: .....Because I have a few of those older ones, and I was wondering just how old they really were. Good to know!

From the male point of view, There's A Certain Slant Of Light gives me that vibe: "Thin, tinny ozone with frankincense, white sandalwood, white amber, hyssop, bitter violet leaf, and shadowy wisps of smoke".