dorothy humbird

The Black Swan smells a lot like cucumber to me just in the vial, and freshly applied to my wrist. I imagine this is the work of water lily + violet leaf + seaweed accord, but that is just a guess. This comes off on me as a very light scent for the first stages, and when it dries is is nicely clean-smelling, but with a sturdy foundation of Spanish moss to keep it from being high-pitched and headachy (as some clean smells tend to be for me). It's definitely aquatic... but since I have so little experience with this family of scents, tending to prefer oriental notes, I can't qualify it much further. There is a sweet, sort of candy-ish note that I suspect might be the lotus (possibly also the violet), based on others' description of a bubblegumish smell that lotus tends to contribute. It's really faint, though, and just adds an interesting facet to this blend's makeup - altogether I'd say this is really well-blended. The color-feel of this blend definitely reflects the painting for me: watery, saturated blue-green. I'm wearing it today while cleaning the kitchen to keep a harmonious theme going.

... Dry black teas, Earl Grey, and leather. Oh goodness, Severin may be the BPAL that drives me to get a scent locket. There's one on Etsy at the moment that I'm eyeing hesitantly (lots of spending lately, o!)... Anyway, I mention the above because although I frickin' love how Severin smells on me (and I'm sure if I smelled a guy wearing this my knees would buckle beneath me, and I would have a number of dirty thoughts dancing through my head instantly), it disappears so quickly from my skin that I am left woebegone and despondent. While it's on, at first there is a huge BURST of lemony bergamot from the Earl Grey. Below that, though, I can smell the slightly bitter darkness of the black tea (oh black tea, how I love thee!) with a smoother, steadier note below it - the leather. This is a clean, refreshing, yet slightly mysterious scent that has a perfect level of urbanity. I'm gonna need that scent locket.

Mmm, Thin Mints! When first applied, the throw I get off Lick It One More Time is so butter-vanilla-y smooth with that jolt of mint that all I can think of is delicious Girl Scout cookies. Of course, I don't actually smell the chocolate -- it's just the smell association. If I get my nose closer than a foot or so away from my wrist, though, the peppermint is overwhelming. Like someone up-thread said, this would be a great scent for a wake up! It fades on me in similarly short order, too. I'm hanging on to my half-decant but I don't think I'll need to get a bottle. For those times when I need a smooth pick-me-up, this'll be great.

So. F'ing. Good. This reminds me a good deal of Vixen, which shouldn't be surprising given the common orange blossom note. I'm pretty sure the two are often given as smell-alikes for Chanel No. 5, but I might be quoting the wrong perfume. At any rate, it's mysterious, slightly sweet, somewhat dark, and allll sexy. Definitely not a perfume that evokes bubbly, light-hearted young sorority girls, for example. I notice the narcissus note a lot more in the beginning, when Hunger is still wet on my skin. By the time it's all dried down, though, there is just a swirl of vanilla and something darker. It's a lot like how Snake Oil starts out on my skin, so I'm glad I have something to evoke that smell since SO just goes to powder before long. I think I may have found a new scent for my favorites collection.

This is like a juicier, more saturated, refined version of Pixie Stix. That sugar cane is DEFINITELY adding some sucrose to the experience of Peacocks. I love pear, but wasn't expecting to really dig this scent - I guess I tend to dismiss anything with numerous light floral notes. However, what I get from this is a burst of sweet fruit with a balancing undertone of the musk and ambergris, plus a little flourish of flowers. Actually, I think the freesia is what's giving a slight sparkle to the pear (and plum?) - that's almost citrusy. I always loved smelling freesia when I worked in a flower shop through high school, so this is a good note for me. I am definitely hanging on to this decant for the spring. Wish the lab had the artwork for this up on the site! ETA: Wearing this today again - in my scent locket after several hours I keep getting whiffs of the coconut. That note wasn't as obvious to me before, but I'm noticing now that it lends a nice fruity creaminess to the whole profile of this blend. So good!

Whoa. You see those creepy eyes staring out from the painting? That creep factor is kind of how I feel about this sinister scythe of vetiver lurking behind all the other notes in Lucifer. When first applied I wrote down some impressions: - dry - woods? - red-feeling (influenced by the oil's color no doubt) - spices? - leather-y. ish. - good for layering?? And I think most of this applies. Somehow I think the patchouli and amber are combining with the woods to give me the "leathery" impression I wrote about. But this is sweeter than my initial impressions. Smoky, and smooth (except for that velvet-swaddled bite of vetiver!), and yeah I would totally dig this on a guy. Not sure about on me... but as I said, might be great for layering!

I've been testing the Traveling Exhibition oils without having a good idea of their notes list -- especially made possible by the fact that I got a set of half-decants from Hayet on a whim *waves, blows kisses* -- and I'm really liking that experience. It allows me to feel the progression of the oil without the interference of expectations. So, Autumn: On my skin initially I remember thinking "Ooh, vanilla! I don't remember vanilla being on the notes list. Hmm!" Not a foody vanilla - just warm and smooth. It shortly dissipated and I was thinking for a little while that Autumn reminded me of Perversion -- tonka? (I know, I know, there's no tonka OR vanilla in Autumn.) A few minutes more and I began thinking "Hm, this is rather fruity. Fruity and... smooth. And good." I'm almost through my workday now, and it's faded to the point that I can't smell it much without sticking my nose into my wrists... but it's so good. I think initially what reminded me of Perversion must've been the dry leaves (=tobacco) and possibly the sandalwood. The smoothness of the vanilla/tonka might also be the sandalwood. The fruitiness of Autumn has to be due to the osmanthus - it's a very round peachy-apricot smell, not overwhelming and not sickly: just right. I wouldn't have realized that rose played a part in this blend without looking at the notes list eventually, but knowing it's there does explain a sort of floral underlay. This rose is very velvety, though, and hasn't taken over the whole blend at all on my skin. I wasn't expecting to be won over by Autumn, especially due to the "dry leaves" component but, oh, my. This is so lovely. And even more awesome: it is really evocative of the painting. Fuzzy osmanthus for the peach flowers, a solemn smoothness of melancholy sandalwood... the faint rose of the woman's cheeks. Lovely.

With the first few strokes of the decant wand on my skin, I didn't think Parsifal was going to win me over. "Oh, ho, hum, another clean floral," I thought. I could smell the ozone notes, sharp and incisive, and I wasn't expecting to like where it was going. But lo! This scent has gumption. There is a depth provided by some of the notes (perhaps rosemary?) that smooths the edges. I honestly didn't realize there was anything citrusy about this scent until I read Oly's review upthread, and then looked up the notes again to figure out what exactly "petitgrain" is. For anyone else who's confused/curious: This is both a testament to how well this scent is blended, and my poor nose's inferior sniffin' skills. It really isn't a HELLO I'M CITRUS sort of blend, because the intermingling of notes is so complete. I'll definitely keep Parsifal around for the upcoming spring months, or whenever I want to smell clean when I can't take a shower.

I think at this point I officially <3 incensy blends. This is a little dry, a little soft - for some reason it reminded me of I Died for Beauty, but much much more appealing for me. When I wore this last night I could smell the clove giving a sweet spicy tingle over the other notes, and the rose softening the powdered smoke of patchouli and sandalwood. A lovely scent, and I'll be holding on to my half-decant.

On my skin I initially could only detect "clean, floral" notes... I don't test a lot of floral-y scents so I am bad at discerning which is what. Within a few minutes I thought to myself, "Oh man, there's some lemon... or (lemon) verbena? Something lemony!" At this stage I think I was also smelling a bit of lychee. This lasted for about 15 minutes, maybe less. I liked that stage a lot, but at this point, a few hours into it, I'm smelling mostly crisp, clean floral... a little powdery-dry, but not raspy. I definitely see where others are calling it "soapy." It's a lovely, lovely smell but I am just not into smelling like this. Perhaps I can find a good home for it in the swaps. ETA: This has pretty strong lasting power, as I tried to wash it off my skin to test some other BPAL, but either the soap is too weak or Rozpustnica stays put-nica (ughghghg I had to.. had to!) Not a lot of throw, but I can definitely still smell it after scrubbin'.

I will echo everyone's above sentiments to say that this is gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. When I first applied this this morning I was overwhelmed with a sense of familiarity -- I knew I'd smelled something like this before, and I would have sworn to you it was BPAL. Then a few minutes later I decided that perhaps my mom had owned something like this at some point. Now, I can tell you that this is a blend of all good smells in this category that I've ever encountered. I can smell references to Anne Bonny, Al-Azif (as Lady Medb mentioned upthread - there is ALMOST the threat of that too-sweet note but I have avoided it here) and almost certainly something my mom wore when I was growing up. Something mysterious and womanly and heady and incredible. But Heavenly Love and Earthly Love is absolutely better than the best parts of all of those. I thought at first that there was something citrusy about this note profile, and I can still smell what makes me think that - just not sure what it is. Altogether I get a very warm, glowy, coppery-orange feeling from this blend: perfect, as others have said, for the winter months. I will seriously consider picking up a bottle of this, but as always I'll have to see how frequently I reach for it over a few months. Verdict:

WAAAH! You have a Mad-Eye Moody!! *luffs* I'm going as Miss Scarlet, with the rope, in the parlor-kitchen-library. I will smell of Vixen, I think.

Like hipslike__cinderella, I am now wondering if I have a thing for black musk. While Dracul smelled good on my ex's skin, I felt equally compelled to keep wearing it myself. It's a little more notably masculine than my other typical guy-scent indulgence (Mad Hatter), but they both have the darkness of musk lightened with flowers and citrus -- in Dracul's case both are found in the orange blossom. Also like Mad Hatter there is a spike of mint (thought not as dry and intense as the pennyroyal in MH). Altogether Dracul is a warm, husky, slightly sweet yet balanced and full scent for a guy... or the right lady. It didn't actually make me want to jump his bones, but then again he is my ex... perhaps on the right dude?

Pirate Moon has been surprising me by winning me over... it smells nothing like I was expecting, and yet I keep being drawn back to it. My experience with red musk (Mme. Moriarty, Scherezade, The Great Sword of War, Hollywood Babylon) led me to believe I was going to be getting something heady and intense, but Pirate Moon is much more subdued. When fresh on my skin it reminds me greatly of some body powder my mom had when I was young... there is in fact a powdery sort of note, I think from the sandalwood and grasses, but it is not overly powder-smelling. I can detect the sharp sweetness of the lime, and there is a smoothness of tobacco and leather that I appreciate, though it is much fainter in this incarnation than in Perversion or Red Lantern. Really, this all blends into an inseparable whole where notes are hard to identify individually; their shapes are barely distinct from the whole. Unfortunately, as many have said before, Pirate Moon is a fairly light and fleeting scent... I'm beginning to think that a scent locket is in order one of these days, because I'd like to keep this one around, after all.

I do think it's interesting that we have such varied descriptions in our reviews... if only we had a notes list, we could all prove how good we are at detecting musk! (Or tobacco, or oude, or champaca... etc.) Anyway, on me, La Belle Dame Sans Merci smells much like a particular line (Camille's?) of lotions and scented bodycare products, particularly their Rose scent. Having worked in a flower shop for four years, and having dethorned approximately thousands of roses during that time, I can say that there are definitely some varieties of roses that smell exactly like this. Particularly the candy-striped ones come to mind. Aside from "tea rose" and "green" I will say that this smells clean, heady, and fresh. It's sweet, and not at all dry to my nose, at least on my skin. I wasn't expecting to like this blend at all (got it as a frimp from the lab - thanks guys!) but I will be holding on to my imp for a while... this may make a delightful spring scent.

Two frimps from the lab... I was hoping I'd love Midnight Kiss so I could get plenty of use out of them! Alas.. In the imp, Midnight Kiss smells super fruity and I definitely smell a dark background of chocolate. As soon as it hits my skin I am surrounded by red fruit (odd, you'd think wine would smell sharper) and chocolate, with hardly any other notes popping out at all. The sandalwood may be adding a powdery feeling to the cocoa, but it isn't as soothing as Velvet's cocoa/sandalwood blend. This is sticky-sweet, like a flirty kiss from a wide-eyed bishoujo. Where I'd expect an incensy feel from the sandalwood and patchouli, there isn't much to speak of. I would also hope the red musk would keep everything a little more sexy and heady, but as it is this is just too sticky-sweet for my tastes. I may hang on to one of my frimps to see how it ages, but the other one will be finding a better home!

I decided to check out one of the pumpkin blends this year, since I've been very conservative in my LE purchases up until now. Tonka, carnation, and tobacco have all worked wonders on me in the past (Morocco, Alice, Red Lantern, Perversion) so I was hoping they would do nice things with pumpkin. In the bottle, Pumpkin II smells very pumpkin-spice, sort of buttery but not overwhelmingly so to my nose. First on, I get a LOT of pumpkin and spice, sweet and candle-esque. It's got a strange red fruit note of juiciness that seems odd to me. After a little settling down, the spice calms and it begins to smell oddly waxy, and still sweet. Vanilla, a little bit of spice, and I can barely tell that it was once very pumpkin-y. I think the champaca and carnation are adding a bit of a floral note but it is not FLORAL-smelling. It's a really lovely scent, but the waxiness I'm getting brings candles too much to mind. I think I will be on the look-out for a swap with this bottle; someone else should love it as it deserves!

I don't often reach for aquatic/floral scents, which is why I'm reviewing Ulalume after receiving it as a frimp from the lab, as opposed to having ordered it in a fit of excitement. I'm surprised at how pleasing this is, though. There is a cleanness to the scent that reminds me of fresh laundry, but it doesn't actually smell like dryer sheets or air freshener. It's grounded nicely by the "deep" cypress and oak, and I can catch the dried leaves note just barely. When I first applied there was also the slight astringent quality of mint tanging around the edges (like the sensation of cool after you've brushed your mouth) but it has faded after sitting on my skin for a bit. I notice similarities to both the Lady of Shallot (lilies, aquatic notes) and Dublin (maybe the "leaves" element?) but this is of course its own unique blend. I can see what others have said regarding swampiness without the smell of rot... it's damp, greenish, and natural. We'll just see how often I end up wearing it. ETA: After drying down on my skin Ulalume becomes very light, refreshing, and beautiful. The wetter stages seemed almost heavy to me -- somewhat cloying; but drydown has rendered an uplifting, bright aquatic floral that I think will be lovely when spring rolls around again. I may even reach for it while the fall warmth holds out...

When I wore Siren the first time I kept thinking patchouli was one of the main notes. Imagine my surprise when I find the notes list implies more of a white floral than anything headshop-y! I can only imagine that this is the nefarious work of jasmine on my skin... and perhaps now I have more of an understanding of Mata Hari smelling like it did on me. It's something weirdly musty and putty-esque, but with hints of anise? (Actually blends with patchouli smell nothing like that on my skin and I tend to like them, but it's all I had to point to.) I dunno! But it is not my cuppa at ALL. I was hoping for light, slightly airy, and inviting. Alas, it is not so on my skin.

There is no way I would ever describe this scent as unsettling. It's warm and golden and kinda sticky-sweet; it reminds me of the underlayment of both MB: Underbed and Haloa, somehow - though each of those has their own accent notes. Al-Azif is purer on its own; more interested in merely adding a golden glow to your skin scent than making you smell like a bakery (MB:Ub). It's decidedly wonderful, especially since the others it reminds me of are LEs!

MB: Underbed smells rich and decadent in the bottle, with the heavy spice of cassia adding mystery. There is something almost alcholic about the intensity of the smell -- not in the perfumer's alcohol way, thin and dry and uninteresting -- but like Kahlua or Bailey's Irish Cream... a liqueur thick with intoxicating power. Nevertheless I don't feel like I'm being bowled over when I wear MB: Underbed; I feel wrapped in a cloud of heavenly sweetness. I don't even notice the cocoa or the coconut as distinct notes, though they contribute their dark or sweet notes respectively. On me it all blends to a sumptuous layercake o' goodness, soaked in a slightly caramel-y elixir. Deeelicious.

In principle I like everything Les Bijoux is about... a fruity bouquet of blooms, lush and full and heady... and I'm learning to take frankincense and myrrh as heralds of good fortune. On my skin, though, I keep getting the sense that I'm wearing Smarties as a perfume. I can smell the sticky-sweet of the peach (it reminds me of Welch's white grape and peach concentrate, though) and the apple, with the floral note more roseate than orange-blossom-y... but there is something powdery, with a sharp tang. Usually honey doesn't do this on my skin, and I finally realized that there's something about this blend that has the exact same hookah-smoke-smell of Knave of Hearts on me: the rose. For whatever reason, Les Bijoux and Knave of Hearts both take me back to smoking rose-flavored tobacco in a hookah bar. Even without the rose note catching in the back of my throat, there's something overblown and sticky about Les Bijoux that makes me avoid the imp in my daily hunt for a scent. I thought I'd give you time to grow on me, but looks like we'll have to part ways, LB.

On my skin I get the sweet sticky amber resin smeared with mandarin and blackcurrant... the dragon's blood adds a spicy-floral kick, and there's more floral to be had from the rose geranium and melati. Altogether this is a fruity-floral blend with a perfumy heady quality. Something about it reminds me of my grandmother's Dior Poison. It's an interesting and even beautiful scent, but definitely not my style.

Since I'm wearing it today, it's a good day to catch up on my review, eh? Velvet goes on smooth (like you'd expect). It's more notably 'wood' to my nose when wet, but as it dries that fuzzes into soft, warm chcolate-hazed vanilla. A little sweet, a little soft, a little bit of an edge - and I think the myrrh lends some extra sensuality. This is quite my cup of tea cocoa.

I was perplexed when I first smelled this imp from my recent order -- it was a frimp, as I'd never plan to pick it out for myself. I expected leather, but smelling the imp reminds me of fresh-cut grasses and, as someone upthread mentioned, clover. It's really pretty - and I never thought I'd like something described as smelling "grassy." When I put it on I can definitely smell the aquatic sea spray notes coming out. There is a saltiness if I huff close to my skin, but it doesn't project enough for me to get wafts of it off of myself. Around the level of the "salty" there's also the "woodsy." But the throw is all light, sweet sea-breeze-and-clover-grass. I'm curious as to how this would smell on a boy... it doesn't strike me as particularly masculine. I like Jolly Roger much more than I expected to, and I'll definitely hang on to the imp for the sake of diversifying my mostly sexy-heady-spicy BPAL cache. Everyone needs a little pirate in their life.