Bluestblood

This is gorgeous. It starts with a strong blast of the lab's snow note backed by the most gentle vanilla and sandalwood. It is almost exactly like Monastery in the Mountains.

This is ultimately a creamy, resinous golden amber with sharp cedar, some other wood note, incense ash, and hints of leather and paper. It has a rich, creamy, red quality that reminded me of red musk and cacao combined. I agree with my buddy above when she says it could easily fit in the Steamworks line. It is, however, unique compared to the line's other blends.

 

For me, the drydown was predominantly warm musk, creamy redness and incense ash. The incense ash was spot on.

This reminds me of a fruit flavored hookah tobacco being exhaled in a cold, well-ventilated room.

Lemon PEZ.

 

...which is not unpleasant =P

Oh, lords. This is naughty.

 

When it's wet, it reminds me of a boozy baked apple minus the apple.

 

Once it dries a bit, the two notes that most dominate are clove and birch. I know birch because it just might be my favorite thing in the world (I am 99% sure it is the wintergreen-like note I love in Hamadryad). Indeed, it is similar to the woodsy Hamadryad. I smell zero tobacco, and the leather plays all but a supporting role. The rum is there offering a sour, boozy quality that comes and goes. Sniffing this close to the skin is like sniffing a sweet clove and wintergreen liquor. It is a dark, sultry scent.

 

This blend pushes my limits because it almost reminds me of a food (orange spice?) at first, and I hate foody scents.

Wet it smells like pure basil and other herbs.

 

Dry it is still green herbs, a hint of cucumber (like the note in Whispers of Monstrous Things), green musk, hint of engine oil, metal and this air incense resin I used to have. It's pleasant, a bit perfumey, and grounding.

I can smell every single note listed in the description. The end result is a beautiful, golden-cedar scent. Cedar definitely dominates here and the amber and oudh add a golden glow that rounds it out and makes it more robust. The bay leaf offers a pale green somberness, and - at least to my nose - takes a bit of the spotlight off the amber/oudh and mutes them a little. The black pepper is an accent gives the whole thing a touch of prickly spice. It is really, really pretty.

This is truly magnificent. When it's wet, I smell it in layers and it truly does cycle (quickly) through different stages of Autumn. My nose catches (in order) green stems, dead leaves, tree sap, something sour and slightly sweet that reminds me of black currant or pomegranate. Once dry, it melds into a gorgeous leafy (dead and alive) scent with hints of the sweet/sour from the earlier stage.

It is an up close and personal scent with little throw. I love this.

Clover and sweet wildflowers with barely a hint of grass. I am not picking up on the iron or marble, but probably only because my nose does not have a template for them. There is absolutely more to this scent, I am just having trouble naming what it is. It definitely has a ghostly quality to it, as well as a sweet green herb vibe. As a rule of thumb, I hate florals. However, I adore the scent of clover and this does not disappoint. It reminds me of rural upstate NY in the spring or summer.

As I was reading Ina Garten Davita's review, I was thinking "how the heck is a scent 'chewy'?" I get it now. While there is nothing caramel-like about this scent, something about the richness of the tobacco evokes the feeling of biting into a rich coffee licorice caramel candy. There is something about this scent that reminds me of candy-coated black licorice.

 

The tobacco is very dark, rich, and a little sweet. As it dries, it mellows out and becomes a much more well-rounded scent. The opoponax and tobacco share the spotlight, and the other notes (especially the pepper) are detectable and refine the scent into something beautiful and quite evocative of Fall. It is similar to Achluophobia, but more of a dark brown (rather than pitch black) scent.

This is amazingly nostalgic for me. It reminds me of my backyard as a kid. This scent encapsulates the local flora, the sun baked towels we would lie on, and the wood of the old gazebo that came with the house (of which hundreds of butterflies fluttered around every summer). The tonka, orange peel, mate, and cedar stand out the most for me giving the blend a creamy citrus and wood vibe. It is both warm and refreshing.

Once this dries on my skin, it smells exactly like old piano.

 

I can see where people are getting the church comparison from. It kinda reminds me of The Coiled Serpent's more conservative cousin.

Gum Arabic is my go-to for grounded, rational thought. Unfortunately, Hunger Moon is the only scent I can think of that has it. I keep a stash around the house for burning.

 

Lotus, anise and celery are supposed to also be associated with clear thinking but I find all three distracting for different reasons

 

As far as GC scents go, I find The Coiled Serpent, Mad Hatter and Magus to be excellent thinking blends.

This reminds me so much of a more masculine Kataniya the Clockwork Woman. The metal and leather (which is not the soft kind) stand out the most, but it is tempered by something distinctly cologne-y and almost floral. It has a hot electric quality to it that makes it devastatingly sexy. It has an average to long throw and is long lasting on skin.

I lean toward male/unisex scents. My go to leather scents are Red Rider, Cyborg and Fighter.

This is indeed creepy. I smells like a freshly painted white room in an old house. Oddly, it smells exactly like the description and dries into something similar to Whispers of Monstrous Things.

I am a major rose amper. Seance, Ouija and Othello are the only ones that tend to work on me.

Disclaimer: I love red musk.

 

This is gorgeous. It manages to be innocent, sinister and sultry at once.

 

When wet, it smells like a blast of sweet - almost honeyed - red musk with very little complexity...

 

...but holy mother of god, when it dries, something magical happens.... The red musk is still the top note, and there is something vaguely naturalistic about it like laying out in a field. There is also an undertone of something tannic like the dryness of black tea (just so I am not mistaken, it does not smell like tea, it just has a similar dry quality). The patchouli is detectable and adds a gentle gritty earthiness. It has an average throw, but when you sniff it close to the skin it has an almost sharp quality to it which is my only peeve; however, considering this beauty's namesake is a dude who shoots people in the name of love, I guess it should be sharp. I smell zero vanilla, and barely a hint of the bergamot and currant.

Blue, you hate apricot. What were you thinking?

 

About the apricot...it's unusual. It not the sweet, juicy flesh of the apricot. It is indeed the muted, firm peel (i.e. it's not all in your face like "HI! I'm an apricot!"). Apricot peel, vetiver and a little patchouli were showing up for me the most when it was wet.

 

It got really interesting on the drydown:

The wood notes showed up more and the vetiver mellowed a lot. The apricot added a subtle sweetness to an otherwise dry and very sophisticated wood base (with the ho wood being the most subtle). There is barely a hint of vanilla (which is awesome in my book - sorry vanilla fans).

 

I was deluding myself into thinking I might be able to tolerate the apricot because of all the adored wood notes. HOWEVER, I can absolutely appreciate this blend which is more than I can say of any other stone fruit blend. It is a complex creation. It's just not for me.

Before I start the review, I am going to begin with an anecdote. When I saw this scent go live, I got excited, had no idea why and bought two bottles thinking "well, if I don't like it, I can always decant it". This is not something I usually do and felt stupid after I placed the order.

So the bottles arrived today, and I stared them down for a few minutes before I put some on my wrist. Here comes my review.

Initial thoughts can be summarized in the following disjointed words and sentiments: "Wow", "bathtub full", *grunt*, and "MINE!"

Wet: Fougere, unisex, light green plants, floral I cannot identify that may be rose (if it is, it is unusual), a light/oily wood note similar to Thieves' Rosin - the combination does smell very light.
Dry: My skin amps the floral/green aspect quite a bit to the point where it gets really loud with my skin chemistry. Reedy IS an excellent way to describe it as there is something hollow and superficial about it.

Sadly, it does not work well with my skin chemistry but I can see this being amazing on someone else. There was this jerk guy I dated once who liked dressing up in white suits so he would stand out at parties. He was very charming at face value and had a smile that could bite someone's soul out draw just about anyone to him. This reminds me of him.

On me, this smells EXACTLY like one of those big, rainbow swirl lollipops!

I am not entirely sure, Sakura. I have never smelled The School-House. The note I am thinking of smells like wintergreen lifesavers.

Ivy, I did some research, and you are absolutely correct. The smell I was trying to figure out is sweet birch. Teaberry also smells similarly, but since I doubt the lab uses that, it must be birch. I wish there were more scents with that note. I would seriously buy a gallon!

Wet: Strong menthol and eucalyptus - similar to vaporub.

 

Dry: The eucalyptus mellows out and some very subtle apple peaks out. It reminds me of a metal bowl that has been rubbed in eucalyptus oil, wiped out and filled with big, red apples. There is definitely a metal quality to it that - while subtle - is a big part of the end result.

This is not my kind of scent, but I can appreciate it.

 

It smells like a texture...let me explain. You know the slimy, light green seaweed you get in a seaweed salad? It smells like that (without the seaweed). The actual smell is similar to Faeu Boulanger's mushroom-y light green note. It is almost melon-y, too. Like if a honeydew and a mushroom got drunk at a party, hooked up and had a lovechild. It is light, refreshing and curious.

 

I am not into it because it is not my style, but I can see someone who likes cucumber, melon, and/or mushroom scents liking this.