tartchef

edenssixthday unexpectedly gifted me a very juicy quarter imp of Lamia in a recent swap, and I ADORE her for it!

 

Wet, Lamia is akin to Three Witches (the re-release), aged Bengal, aged Lion & perhaps Bezoar - cassia-scented honey, a lovely golden musk, and a delicious smattering of clove, cardamon, and perhaps a bit of dry Chinese ginger. There's something else dry & woody here, a drop of sandalwood or cedar, maybe, just enough to keep Lamia from shifting to a screaming foody scent on me

 

This gourmand stage doesn't last long, though - the sweetness fades very quickly, and I'm left with a very true clove note, underscored by that same woodiness (which is almost smelling like cedar incense now) and the barest whisper of the Lion's musk. I agree that there may be a bit of tobacco in here, but it's only emerging now that I've had Lamia on my skin for half an hour...

 

The final throes are mainly dry spice & woods & smoke, with almost an air of pickling spices, but up close the trace of honey & musk makes it very snorfleable Lamia (the forumite) has really nailed it, I think, with the clove & imported cigs & incense reference, but I'm getting a stray piece or two of baklava left out, rather than wine bottles

 

At first sniff, this was so similar to Three Witches 2.0 that I didn't foresee needing to hang on to my bit of Lamia, but the extended dry-down may well nudge this into Holy Grail territory... This is what I'd hoped Silk Road/Bengal/Morocco would be, but they were all too sweet & cloying. Lamia is quite edible at first, too, but it's that warm, smokey dry-down that has captured my attention...

 

Glorious I will covet my wee dribble, and pine for Lamia to be released someday

I really am not a huge fan of hot weather, and the high pressure systems that move through this part of the country tend to set off my migraines After Memorial Day, I wear light, green/fruit/tea scents almost exclusively... The Asian-influenced scents seem to work especially well. In rotation already this year:

 

Kumiho

Hungry Ghost Moon

Tanuki

Earth Rat

Daiyu

Pontia

Cheshire Cat

Lady Una

Green Party

Velvet Cthulhu

Manners Among Men & Women...

Tamamo-no-Mae

 

 

I've been digging in the garden nearly every morning for the past few weeks, and it's definitely been coloring my BPAL selections...

 

Her Voice - I wore this for three days straight after putting the columbines in... gorgeous spring petals, warmed up a bit by the beeswax

Caliban - mmm, ferny! It reminds me of my shade garden in the back...

The Norns' Farmhouse - a hard one for me to wear, but when it works, it's fantastic, bitter & green with dry herb stems & dust

Calliope - fresh juicy herbs, great when I'm harvesting & want to get in the kitchen & cook

 

By all rights, Blade of Grass & Host of the Air should be in here, too, but I find I'm not reaching for them as much... I suspect they might be more alluring in the early fall, when I'm craving a last bit of green...

 

I didn't wear it much last year, but I'm making a mental note to break out Death of Autumn when I'm raking leaves & mulching the beds this fall...

 

Alas, Beth's dirt notes don't work for me at all

OH... oh my. Yes. A tad masculine, perhaps, but so deliciously green & stemmy & bittersweet & cool, I can overlook that... Akin to Nostrum Remedium, but without the laundry-fresh element - Velvet Cthulhu is a bit sweeter & spicier (thank you, coriander & frankincense!), faintly medicinal, but with that cool, deep shadow from the teas & khus. Can't wait to try this in the hot weather...

 

ETA: Lovers of the forum-only F5 should give this a whirl - Velvet Cthulhu's dry-down is a bit deeper, but very similar...

In the vial? Black currant Lockets

 

On my skin? Like I spat out my Locket in the dirt, then tried to clean it off with a squirt of Dettol... I fear Beth's mushroom note is very closely related to her dirt notes, which go strangely clean & soapy on me.

 

Phoo.

Inez! Golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood. A few of us picked up on a similarity between her & Wezwanie/Hold, but Inez is much lighter on the hazelnutty stuff...

AHHHH FLEAS!!! What BPAL's work best for keeping fleas from biting?

 

Pain saved our household from what could have been a flea seige - we tracked some in from the cat-infested garage... I made a spray out of 2 mls Pain in about 4 ounces of boiled-&-cooled water, and misted down all our rugs, bedding, couches, etc. Then I took another ml-worth & rubbed it into some Borax, then sprinkled that over the worst of the rugs - let it sit for about 2 hours, the vacuumed it up.

 

The fleas were GONE.

When I first uncapped the imp, I swore there was a drop of civet in there Not sure what's giving me that faintly unwashed scent, but it's persistent. Wet, Windy Moon is really fresh & breezy, my husband's freshly- laundered undershirts drying on the line... The ozone/aquatic combo is akin to his deodorant, not quite my thing but not unpleasant...

 

Then it dries, and we veer into Ty-D-Bowl territory - "Ocean Breeze" scented toilet cleaner, with that undercurrent of... yeah. Anyone who has lived/worked with men who tend to camp out in the bathroom for 45 minutes at a stretch & then try to cover up the lingering evidence will know exactly what I mean.

 

Such a shame. This stage is thankfully fairly brief, but it puts Windy Moon firmly in the swaps pile. The extended dry down is a very faint, much more enjoyable freshly-washed-sheets & sandalwood incense scent, but I really can't get past the middle bit...

Never something I'd wear on my skin, but does what it says on the bottle In my oil burner, Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo is an explosion of bubble-gum-sweet lotus, with a bit of something almost strawberry-cotton-candy-esque. Maybe a trace of spice, too, but the overwhelming feel is PINK... Not the kind of thing I'd want to smell on a daily basis, but when I'm stuck in a dukkha rut (like today), it gives me a good kick in the pants & helps me let go of all the ruminative, negative thoughts cluttering up my mind. I have to use it sparingly, though, and follow it up with something a bit more grounding (one of the TAL Temples, usually, or Block Buster) - it is an undeniably giddy scent, not exactly conducive to a work day

This makes me laugh The opening volleys are a dead ringer for a series of scratch-&-sniff stickers I had when I was a kid... that cacophony of fruits & chocolate & that one odd one (gasoline? sneakers? cardboard?)... Luckily, the chaos dies down very quickly, revealing a really fascinating scent.

 

The spikenard is really what made me want to try this, and it doesn't disappoint - there's that lovely creamy, almost waxy floral, married beautifully with just a trace of very dry cinnamon bark (very bark-y, not red-hots/Cinnabon) & a bit of very realistic almond nutmeats (again, not cloying & foody). The fruit elements are the big surprise, though - tart & tannic & juicy & crisp, but with a slight honeyed richness around the edges... it shifts & morphs almost constantly, and I can't stop sniffing my wrist. At various moments, I smell grapefruit, tamarind, dragonfruit, Asian pear, lychees, green figs, heirloom apples.. If this is what Adam & Eve were faced with, I can't say I could blame them for giving in to temptation. I am dying to know what this miraculous fruit tastes like... Through it all, there's the botanic muskiness of the spikenard, like pollen dusted over warm skin.

 

In the end, The Tree is very similar to my beloved Tzadikim Nistarim, with a healthy swipe of Freak Show's funky juicy fruitiness. Really lovely, totally compelling, very distracting. It isn't an overtly sexy scent at all, but one of utterly undeniable temptation... Bravo, Beth!

Manners Among Men & Women... from this year's Shungas has turned into a sleeper hit for my husband... On him, the sake & woods cut right through the apricot, and the end result is this clean, warm, freshly-laundered-shirt scent - very low-key & natural, but totally office-appropriate

Wheeee! Bubbles! Akin to Visiting the Temple... in that gingery, effervescent way, but without the citrus twang. This is sec champagne, to my nose - balanced between the sweet & dry - and the cigars fresh, adding a bitter, leafy undercurrent. There's the barest wisp of smoke, dry & bracing.

 

Wow. I'm liking this far more than I thought I would... but it is so close to VtT... do I keep it?

2009:

 

Ah, such a shame... the amber/costus/benzoin combination is nudging this into the no-go territory for me. Just a hair too masculine... Sad, too, because the opening volleys of lemon, bergamot, verbena & rosemary are lovely - juicy & sharp & glittering green/gold...

LX (60)

 

That lovely crunchy honeycomb-&-musk of O, but with something... minty & aquatic, maybe? Wait... tea? O + green tea & a bit of mint? This is really interesting - the unctuous sweetness of O, but with a deep, cool, almost bitter undercurrent.

 

I wasn't at all sure about this at first, but now I'm thinking this is a keeper - worth saving to try in the hotter weather, for certain

 

ETA: Ehn. Something in this went Uber Musk very late in the day - akin to Jacob's Ladder, which I just cannot wear, as it reminds me too much of my dad

XXIX (29)

 

I love Penitence, but haven't worn it in years But frankincense is my most favorite note ever, and here it's intertwined with something really fresh... I'm half tempted to say something akin to Rose Red - that same super fresh & green rose - but RR is a disaster on my skin, and this CT is anything but! There's something in here that's reminding me of The East, that juicy red currant-honeyed herbs & wildflowers scent... Ultimately, a lovely scent, but so close to things I already love that I don't know that I'll keep this...

 

Previously reviewed by TwilightEyes.

Hrm. Ms Morpho's a strange one... Very tangy jasmine (the rosehip, no doubt) & a very petal-y delphinium... A bit sour, a bit bitter, very green & planty with a heady waft of jasmine. There are moments where I think "Ah! We might have something here..." but then we're back to the odd sour jasmine...

 

Phoo.

I have waited long & hard for my Pontia, and she does not disappoint... BIG lavender, straight out of the bottle, big lush purple buds & lots of silvery green stems & leaves... this is the hyper-realistic lavender of Safari, not the marshmallowy sweet TKO variety, and I LOVES it. Once the fanfare dies down, the bergamot comes into its own, golden & gorgeous, like lemon-infused honey smeared across my hands... the combination of the two is stunning, restorative & absolutely edible. Yes, it is fleeting, fading to a faint brush of herbal sweetness after barely two hours, but I can forgive that - Pontia is one I want to slather on again & again...

Woo! Yeah, that's... manly.

 

I was afraid that the white rose would be the bully, but it is almost undetectable... What I do get is a very interesting spicy aquatic, with a healthy dose of balsam. Alternately cool & wet & warm & woody & sweet... I'm having a very hard time wrapping my head around this one. I think in the end it will be too masculine for my tastes, but I'm going to let it sit for a week or two before I decide...

I'm one week away from our trip to England, and this is a perfect distraction from all I have to get done before then...

 

Greengreengreen, beautiful & fresh & a bit bittersweet... Imagine The Schoolhouse, minus the birch - lots of grass & clover leaf, and a healthy smack of dandelion greens. Allowed to dry for a bit, the wildflowers start peeking out through the greenery - lots of white clover blossoms, and a very petal-y bluebell. The juniper's chiming in, too, a nice astringent note in the background. If I really concentrate, I can get just a bit of peat & the glossy green-black leaves of the Ericas.

 

No wine (yay!), no cloudberries (alas), just a perfect, sunny, wind-swept day up on the moors, lolling about in the grass with a book...

 

If Blade of Grass, The Passionate Shepherd, Nowhere In Particular & The Schoolhouse were near-misses for you, definitely give Host of the Air a whirl...

Hrm. Yes, pear, evergreen, mulling spices, maybe a slosh of red wine... sadly, Ho Ho Ho goes horribly commercial-holiday-scented-candle-cinnamon-pinecone-wreath-pluuuuurb on me. It was nice enough in the vial, but a chemical disaster on my skin

I can totally see where zankoku_zen is getting lilacs - after the initial jasmine blast dies down, it combines with the resins for a deeply purple floral scent... the lime & berries add a zippy little bit of sweetness. Pleasant, but too flowery for me, in the end.

The lemon & clean dirt note I get from the patchouli clash terribly on my skin... The sandalwood doesn't do much to help the sharp edges, and I am compelled to wash this off... Shame, because I can tell there's a pepperiness lurking that would be right up my alley....

Pineypineypinepine, with a touch of something very sour Phoo.

Count me as another very sad this is so long gone... This is what I'd hoped Arcana would smell like, all herby & yum... It's actually fairly similar to Calliope - the sage & lemongrass/citron are the most prominent, with the lavender & bay emerging once things calm down a bit. Very naturalistic, the scent your hands would pick up after working with the dried herbs. Lovely!

Very, very pretty - what I'd hoped Lines Written... from this year's Yules would be - sweet berries, a brush of pine, a breath of warm amber, and well-behaved rose. Just lovely, uplifting & calming...