tartchef

Thanks for those ideas! I've read the reviews of Kathmandu and Sri-Lanka. They both sound lovely, but I wonder if Sri-Lanka is too masculine? I'll have to read the reviews on Plunder, since I hadn't heard of it until now. Sri Lanka doesn't read as masculine at all on me - it's certainly not ladylike and it would probably smell great on a guy, but it doesn't come across as a manly scent, IMO...

Maybe some of the less sweet, but still spicy scents? I'm thinking specifically Plunder, Kathmandu, & Sri Lanka - all have sandalwood & various spices... Plunder is the most cinnamony-spice, to my nose; Kathmandu is glorious, but there's a slightly medicinal edge to it that some folks don't like; and Sri Lanka is one of my top3 GC scents - spicy & warm, but with this amazing windswept-sunny-mountainside feel

I normally don't like licorice, but wolfed down a bag of anise salt water taffy at the fair this summer so I felt I had to give Humbug a shot... Wet, there's a sickly sweet smack of Liquorice AllSorts - I can almost feel them in my mouth, with that matte surface & spongy, chewy texture Things shift quickly, though, and I'm left with something very similar to Love's Philosophy - thick, slightly tangy vanilla buttercream, with a brush of anise in place of LP's wintergreen. The bitterness of the anise is making Humbug much more bearable on my skin, but overall, it's just a strangely seasoned, unctuous vanilla... Feh.

If your mum is OK with patchouli, I highly recommend Anne Bonny - she is my go-to scent when I need to kick ass & take names. If she really wants to push the don't-fuck-with-me vibe, Hand of Glory is decidedly creepy. Not the scent of someone that you'd want to cross! Other thoughts: Nemesis ("Nemesis is the executrix of Olympian justice, and her primary duty is to punish hubris and mankind's offenses against the natural order with inflexible, remorseless and raging fury."), Oya, Bilquis, & War...

Using Van Van in an oil burner, strictly for intention, not scent... alternately comforting & energizing, if a bit heavy at times. I really should be concentrating on intent instead of trying to do some work while this wafts around my office, but it is doing the job nicely. I've been pulled up short by the unwelcome reappearance of some ridiculously unproductive energy, and need to deal with it firmly & confidently once & for all. It's not a violent dispersing, but more of a warm white pulse of energy flooding the dark corners & dispelling the garbage... Makes me hold my head up & face things a bit more squarely. In terms of scent, this would be an utter disaster if I let it touch my skin - lemongrass, a pale vetiver, and something sort of vanilla-talc-like... an earthy Dorian, almost (she says, as one of the few that can't wear Dorian)... Glad I was frimped Van Van - we'll see if I need more to keep the proverbial wolves at bay.

The scent of a moonlit night on the road, orchards in the distance, and swirling dust. Cool & fresh & green, absolutely a country road at twilight... The same grass note from Blade of..., saturated with a really clean, deep ozone - I can definitely see how this goes soapy on a lot of people. Drying down, there's a trace of crisp apple & dry dust, akin to the dust note in Visiting the Temple... Ultimately a lovely scent, but similar enough to Blade of Grass that I won't need more than my decant.

When the Yules first came out, Lines Written jumped out at me as a possible Lady-Una-in-winter scent... Wet, there's an odd mint/citrus note, like orange-mint toothpaste... drying a bit, it's clear that this is the balsam fir & blackberries - more of an evergreen & tannic berry scent now. The amber & skin musk glide over the top, like a warm breath on a bundle of fir branches & frosted berries. The rose is quiet & demure, perfuming things ever so lightly, but there's a faint soapy edge to it that is unfortunately really distracting. Any sweetness from the rose & berries fades quickly, allowing the drier wood notes to emerge. The final throes are largely sandalwood with a trace of resinous evergreen, the deep tannic twang of the blackberry and the palest musk. Very pretty... I'm reminded of Aragorn's musings on Eowyn, fair & cold... alas, not the Lady in Winter I was hoping for.

Chiroptera's hiding here, under Limited Editions/Oblation

Well. It seems obscure alpine orchid + snow = tartchef = curried celery I got the same turmeric-like reaction with Jolasveinar. Phoo.

Mmm, super brownies, with extra vanilla. There's even the vague impression of the dry, shiny top crust. The same chocolate note from El Dia de Reyes, not the cocoa absolute, but a clear chocolate scent. Left to dry a bit, the amber peeks out & powders & perfumes things up, gently nudging things out of the realm of hard-core foody. This is much better than I remember it from a quick sniff at Shelldoo's - less cloying & heavy, more bittersweet. Still, I like to eat brownies, not wear them

I recieved this imp from a wonderful & unbelievably generous forumite My mother has grown bleeding hearts in every single garden we've ever had, and now I have one in my garden, so it's a sentimental flower for me... In the vial & wet, Bleeding Heart's a very classic white floral - not too sharp, with a fresh wash of green stems underneath. It's worth noting that I normally can't wear anything remotely close to "classic white floral", so Beth's clearly using something different to get this effect... paperwhites, maybe, and freesia, very pure & clean. I totally understand the Ivory reference that Wren's relative noticed - there's that faintly-detergent-like note lurking around the edges. But there's something else in here... I almost want to say honey, the same clear white honey from the Oblation... sweet, but not foody or cloying, like honeysuckle nectar or hummingbird food Drying down, this sweetness really comes to the fore, and the white petal note just flutters around the edges. All the initial sharp greeness is totally gone, leaving an absolutely gorgeous scent, close to the skin but occasionally wafting across the room. This is Grace Kelley, on the morning of her wedding to the Prince of Monaco. She's in her slip, taking a private moment to sip some tea & enjoy the morning sun filtering through the open window. She pauses to caress a vase of white flowers on her vanity, the spring air gently shifting her hair... WOW, and wow again. I feel so fortunate to have been able to try this. It will be passed along in the same spirit in which it was given, and I will quietly pine for the day that Bleeding Heart blooms for the masses

Absolutely try TKO - I have a room spray I made of it that is my secret weapon at bedtime. C (who is 2 1/2) has a fleece blanket that he wraps up in post-bath, and I've started misting it with TKO every few days. It smells fantastic - warm & cuddly & irresistable - and he's taken to curling up with it at naptime, too. (Don't worry, EM, this stage will pass - we had the same thing when C learned how to stand up... we took to rocking & dancing with him, rather than nursing right away, and that really cut down on the number of wake-ups... /mama-centric hijack )

Woo! Yeah, that's green! The rind of an underripe honeydew, English cucumbers & fresh-mown grass... a dot of clover, maybe? Quite lovely - a kitchen hand soap in this scent would be absolutely divine... it rather reminds me of a Williams-Sonoma set I had years ago.

My nose is still not quite recovered from the flu, but I can't wait any longer - I had to try this! Oooooh yeah. Olive blossom (a milky, almost peach-like floral), silky frankincense, a wee twang of bergamot and a fantastically hot ginger note - yummeh! The ginger sadly fades very quickly, and the sage emerges, adding an earthy greenness. The fig lurks, adding a honeyed sweetness, and if I really concentrate, I can get a bit of the benzoin. Glorious Similar in a way to my beloved Tzadikim Nistarim, and perhaps a more bookish Tamamo-no-mae. I can't wait to see how this ages Eta: Oh NYOM. Now that my nose is bringing its A game, Tabella deserved another test-drive, and hooo baby. Lots more benzoin this time, high & crunchy with a kick of heat from the ginger & a silky haze of frankincense. More bergamot, too, and I'm getting a bit of angelica now, strange & sweet & green Less similar to Tzadikim & Tamamo this round - less of the milky florals & more of the funky resins & herbs. Tabella was a keeper, anyway, but now it'll be on my heavy rotation list - delicious!

Dog Days is an odd one... fresh & breezy & decaying at the same time. There's a trace of the green grass note from Blade of Grass, and a sweet, watery floral - literally, wet petals. Pink, yellow & white, scattered over a dank, algae-covered pool, the grass growing long & lush at its banks. Humid & dank, indolent & dreamy - but not scorching, that's for sure

Just a mini-review, based on a quick skin-test at shelldoo's today: Oh yeah, that's charcoal Pure black, gritty charcoal - almost a dead ringer for LUSH's Coalface soap. It's strangely fresh, for all the soot, and as it dries down, I'm getting traces of the pepper & sweeter spices. A total novelty scent, but I might track down an imp just for a laugh I'm interested, too, in how this will age - will the charcoal & ash settle & let the rest of the notes emerge?

Just a mini-review, based on a quick skin-test at shelldoo's today: Wet, this is grapefruit soda, of all things - white grapefruit juice cut with ice-cold seltzer. Once dry, it shifts quickly from grapefruit to a really gorgeous rain note - cold & high & wet, tangy-sweet with a trace of opium smoke. This was a big surprise, incredibly fresh without that "clean" masculine edge that I get from a lot of Beth's aquatics & ozones. Really evocative, and quite possibly worth tracking down a partial.... ETA: Make that a full bottle Visiting the Temple... has quietly worked its way into my regular rotation, filling a void I didn't even know was there. My bottle has less Fresca & more dry ginger & grapefruit sparkler when wet, and the drydown reveals the big warm raindrops that later reviewers are noting. The opium is joined by a lovely dry sandalwood, very warm & round, not the needly-sharp white variety. Beautiful, and a complete & total keeper - this will be fantastic year-round

Just a mini-review, based on a quick skin-test at shelldoo's today: Wet & for the first hour or so of dry-down, the Magi is pure cola on my skin Sweet, fizzy, that strange lime/sassafrass combination that makes cola so unique... I was overjoyed by the notes in this, so to get nothing but RC is heartbreaking. After two hours or so, the tiny dab I'd applied had faded to a more palatable frankincense & vanilla scent - a definite improvement, but not worth the wait, I don't think. So sad. I'll be stalking the reviews as the Magi ages, though, in hopes that the whole cola thing is temporary... ETA: Decant in hand, doing a retest... not quite so sweet this time, more of a dry, home-made cola than cloying commercially-made stuff. A trace of something a bit more fresh is lurking in there, too, - I think it's the coriander & ambergris, sort of a clean, perfumed scent... OK, we can work with this. Still not the thundering choir of the heavens that I was hoping for, but charming in its own fizzy way

Akin to a softer Hex 2008, on my skin... and definitely with Beth's lovely slushy snow note. Quiet, gentle pine & bitter green herbs, with a sweet cool dusting of snow. If there's musk in here, it's very pale, not black or red, certainly... Very pretty & sweet, Frau Holle's ulitmately a close, piney sister to the Darkling Thrush, Crow Moon & November - since I own all three, I'll be passing my decant of Frau Holle on to someone else, but I'm glad to have tried it ETA: Know what? I lie. I've been wearing Frau Holle on & off since my first review, and it is now second only to the Darkling Thrush in my favorite slushy winter scents. I've ended up passing along my bottles of November & Hex - the pine in Frau is infinitely more wearable than in Hex, and November is really harsh & sharp in comparison to Frau. I am on the hunt for a bottle of Frau Holle now, and have scented my gloves with it - it took a few weeks, but this is love!

Incredibly well-blended... intellectually, I know it's mostly pine & blood orange I'm smelling, but there are none of the sharp edges or sinus-searing fumes one might expect from that combination. The deep green & red-orange are blended by a warm wash of brown - sarada's nailed it, comparing The Piper... to a painting. The brown is dry & sedge-like, dead reeds & grasses, home to little dust-colored birds & mice. Bittersweet, vegetal, very still... despite the inspiration, this is the scent of twilight to me, the autumn sun setting low & red behind a copse of pines, casting a ruddy glow over a damp, fallow field. Amazing. I don't need a bottle, but I will cherish my decant

Hrm... cinnamon-spicy, yes, but I'd bet there's a drop of dragon's blood in here, too - I'm getting a faint clean soapiness under the spice. Just enough to give me a headache. No so much with the sexy. That said... I can see how a discrete drop in my hair might get Tartman's attention.

Hey, that's galangal and then some! Eep. Mustard seeds & mushrooms, and a needly shard of cedar - a thoroughly weird & unsettling scent on me. This isn't a fuzzly wombly badger - this is sharp teeth & razor claws, dank earth & hard roots...

Embrace your villainy: balsam, myrrh, mandarin orange, bitter clove, artemesia, rosewood, nutmeg, dark musk, smoke and cypress. Freakishly faint... no really. Where is it? I can catch a very faint whiff of cypress, deep & almost oily, and a vague wash of soapy rosewood, myrrh & clove. I got a decant of this on a whim, and am glad it wasn't on my must-try list - I'd have been really disappointed. I'll hang onto this for a bit & see if a week or two of aging does anything to improve things...

Wow, yeah - I get the sweet orange note that GhillieDhu mentions, along with a lovely clear wax & honey scent... I normally don't do citrus, but this is beautiful, fruity but not at all cloying, akin to the orange from Xiuhtecuhtli. Hanerot Halalu has a very distinct color in my mind - beeswax yellow, but with a faint blush of coral... I have candles that color, and I wish they smelled this good... sweet & smooth, but with a grounding warmth, incredibly calming & inviting. My only wistful sigh is that I was hoping for a bit more smoke... which I suspect might emerge once the oil's had a chance to settle & age a week or two... I just might have to track down a bottle of this at some point

Well, I'm glad I didn't spring for a bottle unsniffed before Mantis was DCd.... on my skin, it's bubble liquid, with a trace of cloyingly sweet neroli & amber. Feh.