stellans

Civet can be iffy, but in this blend it’s exactly the wild note needed to deepen the iris, sage, and orris of this Poe line perfume. At first sniff, one might be a bit put off by the civet (it can be a bit overwhelming) but it calms down somewhat and the loveliness of the iris and sage combination comes forward, along with the orris (which is a longtime Southern potpourri scent). I love this blend; it’s feminine but untamed -- the tigress rather than the cow.

My nose, untrained as it is, can discern no lemon in this blend at all. For me, this is a good thing, on the whole. The vetiver and patchouli are together a dark heavy base from which the musk and plum try vainly to escape. They do not succeed, managing only to lighten the darkness slightly, adding sweetness (the plum) and sex (the musk). Bottom line: I love this blend. I love its dark sinuous beauty. I love that it lasts practically forever, and I don’t have to bury my nose in my arm to smell it. I love that it smells just as good in my locket as on me.

As with The Masque, I have a bottle from both releases: the Demon in My View, and the Retail Exclusive for Dark Delicacies. They smell exactly the same in the bottle, just like the Masque, so I’m looking to have Lenore with me a good long time. Yay!

I have bottles of both releases of this blend: the original for the Into the Maelstrom line, and its resurrection for the Retail Exclusive Dark Delicacies line. There is little to no difference (at least to my nose) of the formulation of these blends, so age is the dividing line, in my opinion. The older blend is what I'm wearing today, and it is exquisitely beautiful on my skin.

 

Aged to perfection; that’s the bottom line. This blend’s lighter notes have given way to wonderfully lovely patchouli-amber-clove-sandalwood, with honey adding just a tinge of sweetness. I get practically no floral notes at all, and in my opinion that is not something to mourn. The incense-y goodness of this blend is just amazing, and it lasts on my skin for a good 3-4 hours, with plenty of throw. I’m hoping the Dark Delicacies release will age the same way, but since I probably won’t use that bottle until this one is done, I have a lot of goodness to look forward to in the future. Yum!

Ack! What once smelled sweet and luscious now smells sour and icky. Jasmine, you hateful wretch, you betray me once again. Sadly, I couldn’t bear wearing this blend... I hunted down a bottle when a decant seduced me into love. That love has now departed, along with my $ to the eBay seller. Woe.

This is one of the few blends which list honey as a note that made a fan of me...the honey in this blend underlines and supports the other notes rather than overwhelms them, and because I like most florals, that’s a good thing. I never thought about a dry lotus root as a note in a perfume...but it really does lend a lovely base for the ‘fae flowers’ which are also listed as notes. This is a somnolent, lazy sort of scent, perfect for a Sunday afternoon’s worth of reading on the couch or outside in a chaise. I don't know what this blend smelled like new, but age has not hurt it, at least not in my opinion. Enjoy it ...if you can find it.

yay! This blend's lemon is refreshing, not overwhelming -- by no means is this the lemon which doesn't work on me, the lemon that seems more Pledge than Sunkist. Also, I love the greens, the rosemary and the other herbs in this blend, which are very subtle and temper the lemon very well. This makes me think of that old cologne, 4711, but in a good way: this is just as bracing and refreshing as I remember 4711 smelling in my grandparents’ house, only this is a scent I wear. That sounds a little weird, I know. It's not that this smells like that older cologne, but the effect (on me) is the same, and I love it.

ETA: I also have the 2005 and 2007 bottles; I've linked the year to the review, and will review the 2005 eventually.

After applying and allowing the oil to sit on my wrist for a while, Ouija has a definite cologne smell to me. Very floral (and not entirely pleasantly floral at that). I do not smell any woody notes at all, which is a disappointment because I love the Lab’s wood notes (Twisted Oak Tree is one of my Top 10). I think it might be the lilac which is making this blend so much a drugstore cologne smell to me, because I don’t get any sense of rose at all, but since I don’t know what osmanthus smells like, I can’t say it isn’t part of the problem also. I’m hanging onto this imp for later trying, but it’s not what I want to smell like today.

wow that left one is pretty banged up

I am asking myself why oh why do I have a Strawberry Moon bottle with a 'simple' label???

it is just the name and nothing more

I want to see delicious strawberries when I apply the oil

sp, does anyone know if there were different 'beautiful' labels before?

and why did I get one of these??? (I got it from evil ebay BTW)

and if so, HOW do I get it?

Strawberry Moon was sold during the time when there were no 'art' labels. I had a plain label on my Strawberry Moon bottle too, so don't worry!

There’s a candy-like note in this when first applied that is not appealing. I think it may be the honey wine; I’m not a fan of wine notes, and honey lately has not worked well for me either. I was truly hoping for more lilac than my nose detects in this blend, but all I got was Bit-O-Honey. Where’s the myrrh, the resins? For that matter, where's the lilac?

Roses, yes, but the spices do not appear; and the rose is a weak-smelling rose to me, with a slight oiliness in the scent, like it's a lotion or something. I like my roses a bit more ‘take charge’ and with a little attitude. This is a namby-pamby rose and since this is an Imp Trial, I deem this blend not bottle-worthy. 1 star, because it is a rose blend, after all.

Wow. Maybe it’s because I woke up with a pounding headache this morning, but this scent is not a happy experience for me today. Someone above me in this thread described this blend as '...doctor's office.' I cannot possibly improve on that in any way, because to my nose, that is exactly what this imp smells like: a doctor's office, with that thin overlay of floral air freshener trying to alleviate the recently used antiseptic cleaner. I’m going to hang on the the imp for another try when my brain isn’t feeling too small for my skull, but for today? It’s a wash.

S-o-o-o-o disappointed in my first wearing of this Lunacy. I loved Flower Moon 05, and after seeing the notes of this one, anticipated loving it as much. However, upon application last nght, all I could smell was dry, powdery pot pourri -- it was like trying to sleep on the couch in a respectable spinster’s parlor. I’m going to keep this in rotation for another try, but it’s not looking good...

this is the true picture of a rose: not the full, lush red rose of passion, but more the deep pink rose of a young woman on the brink of love. The green, the thorns, the petals: all are present in this blend, and very pleasantly so. This rose blend is lovely, I am enjoying it, and its throw is quite good, but the staying power is sadly lacking. Less than an hour after application it is gone, leaving only the smallest whisp of rose memory behind.

I think an imp will be enough, because I have such a LOT of rose blends which I also love and which have more staying power.

Upon first application, I wasn't sure I could keep wearing this blend; I am normally a total fan of the Lab's dirt notes, but this one had a sour smell to it which made me a bit queasy. However, I persevered and the drydown was much more pleasant: still a dirt note, but the sourness had blossomed (heh!) into a garden freshly turned, with a few blooming spring blossoms lending a bit of sweetness to the soil scent.

 

I wasn't quite brave enough to try it in my scent locket, as I believe it was my own skin chemistry which changed the initial sourness to sweet, but it did well enough just on my skin. I think the imp is going to be enough of this blend for me, though.

This blend is lighter on me than I was expecting, given the darkness of the notes identified by the Lab. Amber, at least most ambers, does not work well on me, but this seems to be an exception. It is a sweet scent, wafting to my nose from my scent locket, and there’s not much ‘dark’ to this blend. Surprising, considering its namesake is one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest and gloomiest of works.

 

I was also expecting to smell more incense to this, given two of the notes are incense in nature (sandalwood, frankincense), and also some citrus (the neroli). They are there only in the lightest sense, but are there. I like this sent, though I’m not sure I need more than my imp of it.

I really like the vague banana note I get when first sniffing/applying this blend; but... Yeah, there's a 'but' coming in this review. The downer (for me, anyway) is an unpleasant scorched something behind the banana, which comes out a few minutes after application. I am not familiar with much of what is listed as the notes in this blend, so I really don't know what makes it smell scorched on me, but it's too unpleasant to wear for the whole day. I washed it off, and wore something else instead. Sadly, I must mark this blend with an "X" for (Doesn't Work for Me), but I'm hanging on to the bit I have to retest again someday, just in case.

I wore this the same day I received a leaky package from an eBay seller, and the leaky package overpowered everything, including Florence! After I scrubbed everything the package had touched, burned a tart, and took a shower myself, I finally rid myself of the intruding scent, and could appreciate the goodness which is Florence.

 

Florence (the city) is a 'must-see' of mine, so I was happy to include this scent in my 'must-try' list from the Lab. A subsequent imp convinced me that this was a bottle-worthy scent, but before I ordered another bottle, 3 more imps found their way to me and made a nice roller-ball bottle instead!

 

I am a fan of the iris note, so that was what I really looked forward to when first trying Florence (the blend). However, all I get when sniffing is an excellent spicy amber -- no iris, and no berries either! Perhaps that is due to the imps' age, or maybe it's just my own skin chemistry at work, but it's not a problem because there are other good iris blends. Amber and I don't always get along, so a blend which features amber prominently and loves me is a definite keeper. It has moderate throw, and moderate stay because I have to lift my locket to my nose, and reapply to my skin fairly often to keep this blend smellable. Don't care, love it, 2 stars!

A very wonderful and anything but foolish blend. The huckleberry note is prominent at first sniff, but then the greenery takes over and you can smell Spring’s approach. The rose (which is a note I’m quite fond of) never shows up, but white rose isn’t a very strong rose, so I’m really not surprised, given the strength of the other notes. I’m glad I have a bottle of this, and can herald the April Fool with it.

 

Fresh greenish scent, with a trace of florals. Very, very nice!

Sooooooo sad: the mint in this prevented me from even putting any on; when I carefully opened the decant (so kindly sent me by a fellow forumite as a frimp), the mint blasted forth like an armed missile and attacked my nose. This decant has been passed along to someone who might appreciate it more than I.

Again proving my fondness for this line isn’t misplaced, Sybaris is a truly remarkable blend of incense and violets, debauchery and innocent fun. When first sniffed out of the bottle or when first applied, the bright violet note is what one is immediately aware of, but then underneath, the tonka and other spices bloom slowly but recognizably. As the oil warms upon my skin, the violet is much more a peer than a leader of the variety of scents, and plays very well together with the other spices. This blend has tremendous throw (on me), and lasts a good long while. I put this on first thing this morning (around 6:30 am), and it still has as much throw 2 hours later. The last time I wore this, I didn’t have to renew it at all. Now that’s getting one’s money’s worth!

OK, let's just get this out of the way first: I love this blend! Really, really love it. It is better aged than new, so if you've only tried a brand new Lab-fresh imp, let it age then give it a shot. I recommend at least 6 months' aging, more if you can stand it, and then try again.

 

The lemon note is uppermost when first applied, but as the oil warms on my skin and slowly begins its drydown, the sandalwood really comes into its own. It smells like my favorite sandalwood incense I bought when in Jakarta in the 90s, and that’s a scent I love.

 

After drydown, all the other notes (even the lemon!) are subordinate to the sandalwood, but the lemon lends a brightness and the florals lend a sweetness, but none of the fruit notes seem to come to the party at all. That’s ok; though; I love this blend for the sandalwood and that is reason I bought a bottle of this blend. Oh, and the jasmine, which sometimes hates me? Isn’t there at all, yay!

I went out in my yard this morning, cool though it was (36 degrees), and saw crocus blooming in my large flower bed. I thought how lucky I was to have Prague in my bottle box to wear in celebration! This is such a nice spring scent--fresh and floral, with a hint of green-- and I think I’ll break it out to wear more often, now that Spring has actually sprung...

 

The lily notes don’t overpower here, as they sometimes do with my skin chemistry, and I’m not really sure what snowdrops smell like, having never had any in my garden, but this blend is delightful to my nose. Highly recommended: 3 stars!

Marianne is even better than it was last summer! I love the patchouli in this, even though it’s a bit muted by the other notes. And it has aged amazingly well, for such a relatively short period since purchase (8/08). This is one of the few blends which contain red musk which works on me, and it’s the 1st ingredient, yet! I think the other notes (mimosa, bergamot, black currant, etc.) help keep both the red musk and the patchouli in check, so that neither strong ingredient overwhelms the others. In any case, this is a sexy strong woman of a scent, a real show-stopper...

 

The reason I wore Marianne today instead of the scent I had planned was I sold my back-up bottle, and the buyer rhapsodized over it so much I broke out the bottle I kept and 'discovered' Marianne all over again. Not that I'm sorry I sold the back-up; I have enough to last me a while, even though it's just one bottle of this scent now.

ok, I got my Mar 13 09 bottle today, and whoa! Am I the only one who thinks the label is blood red with navy script? I wish my camera were working so I could show you! My phone camera, while adequate normally, is useless for color commenatary.

 

This scent is rightfully named for a queen, and especially one of Shakespeare's tragic queens at that. The violet note in this blend is not the sweet sugarine violet of the Carnaval Diabolique Twins, nor the somnolent violet of Nocturne. This is the feminine violet of a powerful female. It's fantastic, and I'm finding the other notes listed for this blend are all subordinate to this power feminine violet...

 

I want to wear my <a href="http://stores.channeladvisor.com/Holyclothing/Items/h332700?sck=10557884&caSKU=h332700&caTitle=Alyssa%20Gothic%20Bell%20Sleeve%20Empire%20Butterfly%20Dress%203X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">long purple Holy Clothing dress</a>, and my black boots so I can take long, powerful strides. I want to wear my large-brimmed purple hat, and my dark sunglasses. I want to stare down a rude sales associate, and laugh as I saunter away. Rawr.