Zii

I gagged so hard opening the imp I could not put this on my skin for a test. Rancid carroway and headaches-ville jasmine just punched me in the face.

Wet: Rancid berries. Skadi did exactly the same thing on me and all this is is gross berry and faint aquatics. This smelled so good in the imp and I want to wash it off. Bah. Drying: This is getting better and better... It's still pretty gorss, but the berry is turning cold in a really interesting way. I'm not convinced I can get through this gag inducing berry though.

ITI: My mouth literally watered. It's very much patchouli and peru balsam right now, but there is something exciting lurking around the edges of this just waiting to make itself known. Wet: Earl Grey tea and patchouli. I think the patch is amping a bit of the lemony aspects of the bergamot, but the tea is really grounding and rich. There is just a hint of the creamy vanilla, but it's not doing the plastiky grossness vanilla sometimes does, nor is it sweet. It really is like high quality baking vanilla, sharp and dark. Drying: This is starting to get a wee bit lemon verbena like. It's a very green bright lemony feel when combined with the patchouli. The tea note is now far in the back, just lending a tannic edge to the richness hanging out with the citrusy brightness. Dry: The Earl Grey is back! It's still very brightly lemony, especially the throw, but that rich warm tea is really coming back again as this dries out on my skin. The only hint of the vanilla is that slight creamy note hovering around in the back, but it really smells more like tea with cream than any distinct vanilla. The balsam is adding a flash of greenness to the overall feeling, which is lovely. I find that what I smell varies a bit from sniff to sniff. Sometimes it's very strongly tea, other times lemony patchouli. In all it's forms, utterly glorious, and I am thrilled to have another imp coming my way.

Wet: Got a testable sniffie of this in a swap box. Hello cream cheese frosting! This is just gross and overly foody and I am so not interested in ever smelling like this. It's just vanilla and foodiness and while perfect for a first birthday scent for a little girl, not my style at all. Dry: More of the same. I get more of the tea from Dorian and the spices that must be from snake oil, but they don't keep this from being syrupy vanilla overkill.

Wet: I got just the smallest testable bit of this in a swap box, and it's thick as syrup and really in your face. It's spicy, bracing and gloriously dirty, as well as surprisingly calming. I have never used patchouli in aromatherapy and this may have to change, seeing as how relaxing this blend is. Drying: Dusty, warm and surprisingly dry. This is not fresh turned dirty patchouli, but rather the smell of warm desert loam. Dry: Ooh, I hate having just the smallest bit of this because it is stunning. Fortunately, the tiny drop I used for testing is throwing like whoa, the way patch does with me.

Wet: Bergamot and honey. Very masculine and citrusy. The incense is making this almost washer soap like and the honey is doing it's powdery sneezy thing. Drying: It's getting more and more powdery and sweet, and less and less what I wanted. Something green is hanging around that's keeping this nice and wearable though. Hopefully that will amp up. Dry: Curse you honey... CURSE YOU! Your powdery sweetness has taken over everything and now I smell like an incense drenched honey comb. All of the smokey tobacco/bergamot stuff I liked in the wet stage is just gone.... Edit The honey has backed down a little while I've been wearing it, and it's not a bad smell, persay, but I have other warm resinous scents that are richer and I like better. I'll probably hold onto this a little longer for some aging to see if the deeper notes come forward at all.

Wet: Opium smoke and wood. There is something a little sweet that reminds me of grape, but the floral is not there at all, which is not a bad thing. Drying: This is starting to get much more distinctly piney and I am really love it. The grape is less candy like and more fruity but it's just adding a lush sweetness to the background and not overwhelming the scent. Dry: Now it feels much more like floral, but it's a very wearable floral. It really does feel like walking through a forest filled with flowers. The pine and sap really dominate, and I really love how snuggly and comforting this feels. Like the evergreen forests in Maine during the summer. Just lovely.

If you like leather, I can warmly recommend trying the Steamworks scent Tarasque. It's a soft, spicy leather Oh, and I forgot to add, Picture Books in Winter has a little bit of the same feel as The Soldier, in that it is a bit of leather + a warm overtone of caramel. PBIW was way too foody on me. I super want to hunt down Tarasque, but apparently it's an event only GC? Yes, it's sold at cons and so on. I signed up for an event group order/fairy to buy my bottle, so that might be a possibility to consider, if you're unable to go by yourself? I'm going to NYCC this year, so I'll be able to pick it up there! Pumped that BPAL is going this year!

If you like leather, I can warmly recommend trying the Steamworks scent Tarasque. It's a soft, spicy leather Oh, and I forgot to add, Picture Books in Winter has a little bit of the same feel as The Soldier, in that it is a bit of leather + a warm overtone of caramel. PBIW was way too foody on me. I super want to hunt down Tarasque, but apparently it's an event only GC?

Right now my favs are: The Solider Herr Drosylmeyer Totentanz Black Rider Lampedes (One of these things is not like the others. )

Haute Macabre jumps to mind, though it's not a terribly hard to find LE. (In fact someone is selling a decant here if you want to try it.) As for gourmand, the Malignant Dreams of Cthulhu in Love is a really interesting aquatic chocolate. If you like leathers, try to hunt down some of Tontentanz and The Soldier. They are just really evocative, dark, warm scents and are two of my favorites.

Wet: Resin and patchouli. Naggingly like something I've tried before. Something sweet is also hanging around here as well. There could also be vetiver? It's very masculine, though still warm and inviting. Drying: This is getting sweeter and sweeter, and very smokey. This would be right at home with the steamworks scents, and in fact seems like a cousin to Smokestack. Dry: Eh. I feel like I have thins very similar to this that I like more. This is very sweet and a little green and just not anything special. Seeing as I have to downsize, I don't think it's sticking around.

Wet: Musk, patchouli and incense, in that order with something a little sweet and chocolatey hanging around way in the back. Drying: The chocolate is very much coming out now, but not in a foody way at all, which I really love. The musk is not bloody, persay, especially not when compared to some of the other things I've tried with blood musk, but it's very red and very prominent. Dry: NOW it's starting to be a bit bloody, but not at all in an in your face way. The chocolate is almost gone, leaving this one a musk and patchouli blend on me. I think the tobacco is really making itself known now as it emerges from the musk note and it really draws this away from a feminine scent. I must confess to missing the more chocolate wet stage, but I think this could hang around. Right now it's really reminding me of a darker Herr Drossylmeyer so while I like it I may not need to keep it.

Wet: There has to be orange in this. Mimosa maybe? Like, it actually smells like a mimosa cocktail and rosy floral. And it is stunning. Like, this is a rose floral that an avowed hater of floral is really loving. Drying: Rose and orange deepened by a little musk and patchouli. Sophisticated and astoundingly wonderful. Dry: I have found it. I have found the rose perfume that has always eluded me. It's grounded and complex and just really wonderful. I'll be grabbing this one when I go some place classy.

Wet: Cherry jolly ranchers? With patchouli? I have no idea... I suppose it must be the red currant sweetened by the molasses. Drying: It's much more clearly molasses now, but I really don't like this one at all. Something is just off about it.

Wet: This is very much related to some of my favorite really feminine scents. This is a lday who spends a lot of time in leather and I love it. Honestly, the fact that there is neither a tobacco or a leather note in this stuns me, because I'm getting musk, tobacco and leather with a hint of something sweet. Drying: Okay that tobacco note has resolved itself into patchouli leaf now and the sweetness as clarified into a really sultry vanilla that is doing none of the usual candy or plastic thing vanilla sometimes does on my skin. Dry: This has to be the plum doing this strange thing on my skin. It wants to be fruity, but reminds me a lot of my grandfather's reconstituted prunes... It's still strongly vanilla and patchouli though, which takes the worst of the edge off the plum strangeness. It's really dusty and seductive and almost wine like in it's general feel dry. It quickly leaves the funky prune stage, though I like the wetter stages better.

Wet: A reviewer said lavender lemonade and that is so spot on for me. The lavender amps a little soapy on me however, which isn't great. Drying: There's the lemon. This scent is just kinda gross now, amping the sharp aspects of both lavender and lemon in a not nice way. It's not bad, persay, but I would never want to smell like this. Wet: A reviewer said lavender lemonade and that is so spot on for me. The lavender amps a little soapy on me however, which isn't great. Drying: There's the lemon. This scent is just kinda gross now, amping the sharp aspects of both lavender and lemon in a not nice way. It's not bad, persay, but I would never want to smell like this.

Wet: Vanilla tends to go foody on me, but oh boy is this not the case here, to my joy. there is something tremendously green about this, and while this is frankincense heavy, there is some lifting sweetness in this that is really something. Drying: The frankincense is really amping now, though it's much more like smelling the resin than actually burning it. It is dusty and sophisticated and very evocative. Dry: It is very close to the skin now, and almost smells more like frankincense with honey rather than vanilla. It is really amazing, but I'm not sure how much I'll want to reach for it. Thrilled to have an imp though.

Wet: In your face vetiver and incense deepened with just a hint of musky dry stone. Sinister and seductive and totally my style. Drying: The stone is coming out now with a kick of something mossy not unlike graveyard dirt and something dry and a little sweet. It's also getting a bit peppery. Dry: Wow, this one packs quite a punch. I utterly adore the dark, sinister vibe of it. It's a scent that has power and mystery behind it, like a ruined monastery where some heady black magics went down. It's very true to the wet stage, though slightly sweeter overall. Not sure this will be a regular use scent, but I sure love it.

Wet: 5 vanillas is right! Jasmine is quickly doing it's stinky thing and is swamping the more delicate grapefruit. And of course, the jasmine is going right to my head as usual. Off it goes.

I think Dorian speaks to both your book and tea loving nature. While not a booky smell, the scent is very influenced by the book, and is a classy and sophisticated scent. Not too in your face, but For perfumes that actually smell like books, Buggre Alle This Bible and Miskatonic University leap to mind. Buggre All smells more like an actual tome, whereas Misk U smells more like a library with it's coffee and wood notes. I'd also look in the Wanderlust section for great scents inspired by cites. I am partial to Glasgow and Windward Passage, but London seems especially fitting with your upcoming trip.

So I retested the snifflie of Loviatar that I have (yes, I cling to the empty imp for occasional olfactory pleasure) against Totentanz, my current favorite leather, and I really think that it wins out, as nostalgic as I am about Loviatar, which was my first BPAL. And on a non-BPAL leather note, I found a super well priced bottle of Haunt Winchester, which everyone has been reccing all over the place to me but I've never been able to find. Here's hoping it's as glorious as promised.

So I retested the snifflie of Loviatar that I have (yes, I cling to the empty imp for occasional olfactory pleasure) against Totentanz, my current favorite leather, and I really think that it wins out, as nostalgic as I am about Loviatar, which was my first BPAL. And on a non-BPAL leather note, I found a super well priced bottle of Haunt Winchester, which everyone has been reccing all over the place to me but I've never been able to find. Here's hoping it's as glorious as promised.

ITB: Hello vetiver my old friend. Wet: This is ambergris, it has to be. It's so lingering and eerie and not at all as heavy as the bottle whiff would suggest. Creepy and light and slithery. Drying: It's drying pretty quick and staying rather close to my skin, but this is a very aquatic incense. If there's vetiver in this like I originally thought, it is very quiet, though it could be part of that rich smokey vibe. Dry: If this stuck around, this would be challenging Laughter of Loki for my favorite Ragnarok scent. The throw is non-existant by this point, though my nose is a little stuffy from allergies, but when I get up and personal with this, I can't stop huffing myself. The darker notes keep the aquatic from going lemony, but there is a distinct rotting seaweed/dark ocean saltiness to this that plants it firmly in the marine aquatics. It's dark and slithering, but the incense notes keep it surprisingly sweet and not at all oppressive. Slithery really is the right feeling for this.

ITB: Spicy and warm. Wet: Clove and red musk. A bit dusty and not super strong. It's getting a little greener and a little sweeter. Drying: I'm very much getting the the amber and copal now. This is really spicy and warm, and surprisingly light. Dry: This really doesn't have much throw, but it's really snuggly and warm, which I really like. It's pretty much red musk and what must be the sweetness from the belladonna flower with a kick from the spices in the background. It is very similar to Sword of Surtur, but is much milder. I'll have to test these next to each other to see if I'm going to keep both of them.