tziporra

I have very few sexy blends, probably because red and black musk are very very bad on me (no, seriously, people who don't believe in skin chemistry should come smell me wearing plastic doll heads sometime).

 

But Feed Me has no musk! Hurray. I lightly apply to my wrists - yesterday I tested on the back of my hand where scents seem to stay longer.

 

Wet this is just insane. Woody patch (never would have guessed "black" patchouli since I thought that was the dirty one, whatever), made sweet by vanilla amber and sexy with the honey.

 

Unfortunately it goes a teensy bit cloying on the dry down. I think amber sometimes gets too round and bloated on my skin, if that makes any sense. I got a similar feel from La Lugubre Gondola, Ah well, unlike LLG the patch does ground and balance this one - and I think it's good enough wet to muddle through.

 

Tzi

In the bottle and wet on my skin this is fresh cut almost bitter mint. Maybe the orange is taking any sweetness out of it? This is a very green mint.

 

I have to let it dry down quite awhile before I get anything besides mint. Finally I get some white musk. White musk, the edge of the mandarin, and mint.

 

The scent is too green for me. I like my orange a little cleaner smelling.

 

Tzi

Surprise hit of the Shungas for me.

 

From the moment I sniff the bottle and almost swoon with delight, I know this one is a definite buy now, buy often.

 

I think it is hitting a scent memory for me, because every time I sniff it I think, "this smells like....!" But I'm never able to quite put my finger on the scent.

 

On my skin this is the worlds sexiest juiciest floral. The honey is fruity and dirty at the same time. The amber reminds me of The Shadowy and the Sublime, but this is much hotter. It's like Sex and Candy (the song), really. Very sweet and floral, but just the raunchiest sweet floral ever.

 

Definite buy. Instant top ten.

 

Tzi

Sad, I really thought this one was going to be an instant bottle purchase, but there is just nothing about it that is memorable enough to require more.

 

It's a very pleasant, almost soothing musk. I get the orris, but no magnolia. Very calm and ladylike, would probably be great in an office. but I like my scents oversized, and this is not.

 

Tzi

I never never never never would have chosen to even bother to sniff this one.

 

Roses and I almost never get along, and cream turns to cloying awful on my skin.

 

Oh, but it is so pretty in the decant, all soft and rosy and very Raptures and Roses of Vice. Same roses, maybe? And since I can wear _that_ rose! I take the plunge.

 

And it is just gorgeous. Somehow the rose and cream behave themselves and smell like, well, themselves. I get a lovely waxy feeling that must be beeswax. I'm missing the tuberose, which is sad, but probably don't care.

 

I'm going to have a hard time maintaining that "I can't wear rose" if I keep getting hits like this one.

 

Tzi

I was super fortunate and got to choose my decants by sniffing empties from my wonderful decanter. This is not something I would ever have chosen based on notes.

 

In the bottle I'm really digging the matcha and sake notes blending, it is absolutely beautiful and very Asian, which I love about the Shungas. Beth always seems to be able to capture the essence of the artwork so beautifully.

 

Unfortunately, this turns into a jellied lemon mess on my skin. Like sugared cleaning products.

 

No Lovers for me.

 

Tzi

In the decant this is WHOA APPLE PEEL. Very fresh, bitter and realistic, not a sweet candy-ish apple at all. More of a Granny Smith to my nose. I was surprised, because I expected more woods and smoke.

 

On the skin it blasts off at first as a strong and powerful woody apple, which I love. Then it seems to disappear, which shocked me because these seem like the kind of notes that can go wrong, but not just vanish.

 

It bounces back some, but still reads as a subtle woody apple. I'm really surprised I'm not getting more smoke or dirt.

 

I'm going to have to retest before I make any bottle decisions. Right now it reads as too light for me, but maybe I've just tested too many scents today.

 

Tzi

 

ETA: retested on skin alone in the morning, and while this scent is just beautiful, it hardly shows up on my skin. Smells like apples in an oaken barrel, very far away.

My top picks switch around a bit depending on my mood, but these always get along with me:

 

1. Atlas ... Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus.

2. French Tobacco SN ... A very faint citrus-like twang and an almost animalic caramel richness.

3. Black Pearl ... Coconut, Florentine iris, hazelnut and opalescent white musk

4. Satan & Death with Sin Intervening ... Opoponax, benzoin, orange blossom, mahogany, karakarounde, white tea and vetiver.

4. White Rider ... White leather and sandalwood.

 

 

We sound like we have similar tastes, so I'm going to list the others I love that you might enjoy without comment on how similar they are to what you already like (I'm leaving out obvious florals though):

Tombstone

Xiuhtecuhtli

Lady Death: Savage

 

My Current Top Five:

So Below

Hope and Fear Set Free

Olisbos 2013 (it's gone now, but it WAS in my top five before I ran out)

Badgers

Voyeuristic Monkey

 

Tzi

There appears to be different "amping" symptoms. I'm one of the strong sour ones rather than the potpourri ones.

 

I can wear Roses, Pearls and Diamonds - Raptures and Roses of Vice - The Shadowy and the Sublime - Kali.

 

Tzi

Wet and for the first twenty minutes this is a lovely bright orange blossom with a light throw and a fresh feel. I really like it in this stage.

 

Dry it is largely cleaning products

 

I would buy this for my daughter, despite the scent description it would really be perfect on her, except she already has more perfume than is proper for any ten year old.

 

Tzi

I tried this in honor of the upcoming DC. Not sure where the came from, probably a freebie. I just tried a drop due to this not appealing at all.

 

Very wet I got a lovely whiff of lilac and I thought maybe I misjudged. I love lilac and resins! However, this immediately settled down into all myrrh, all the time.

 

Myrrh and I only get along when it behaves, which it is not doing here. Sorry, L'Examen de Minuit, I shall let you pass into memory unmourned.

 

Tzi

I would like you very much to try xiuhtecuhtli because GORGEOUS orange and plumeria and swoon.

 

 

Tzi

I liked the following LEs that you might also enjoy:

 

Dark Chocolate with Merlot Infused Cherries and Star Anise

 

So Below

 

Nuages Gris

 

Go to Sleep, Darlings

(I just think everyone would like this, regardless of their note preferences).

 

Welcome back!

 

Tzi

I don't know how helpful I'm going to be here, but decanting is a pretty dicey proposition, and I don't envy those who do it. Several times I've picked up my favorite bottle of whatever, opened it, sniffed, and thought, hey, where is my scent?

 

Then I remember to mix and everything is mostly back the way it should be. But it still changes from day to day, even after mixing! I've gone through bottles where the scent significantly changed from the top to the bottom over a time period that can't really be blamed on aging.

 

And while I can't comment on Hesiods Phoenix specifically, I can confirm that the labs' Bourbon Vanilla note is super sharp and alcohol-like, at least to my nose. In the reviews of Hope and Fear Set Free there are a lot of complaints about the lack of vanilla, but all I get out of that blend is BOURBON VANILLA NOSE ASSAULT, which is not like regular vanilla at all, but as if vanilla has become thoroughly drunk on grain alcohol and then given a pole arm. I like it, but I like scents with extremely pointy parts. Oh, and if I roll my. Hope and Fear Set Free _extremely_ well the scent kind of opens up into sweetness at the top and changes pretty radically. Maybe the Bourbon Vanilla note is super duper hard to mix?

 

I don't have any explanation for Dee though. I think it's nice they sent you a second bottle though to try and make it right

 

Tzi

I want to second Ulalume if you can handle some florals in your swamp. On me it smells like rotting flowers in a bog. Luuurrrrve it!

 

It's GC, but being discontinued, so find an imp soon!

 

Tzi

I took a long time getting to this review because I was quite confused about why I do not want to wear this oil. I was so confused that I even ordered a bottle after trying the decant and not going crazy over it because resins (!) and I'm a resin lover, right?

 

Er, maybe.

 

After extensive thought on the matter, I've concluded that while I like resins as a base, I need, absolutely have to have, something shiny sitting on top of them. I love So Below because there is lovely amber and Copal, but sitting on top is COCONUT and CARDAMOM. I love Hope and Fear Set Free because frankincense, but sitting on top is VANILLA BOURBON. So. This has no top. It is warm and dark and mellow and everything everyone says it is, but it turns out I need a brightness in my scent that this doesn't, unfortunately, contain. It would probably be very good layered, but I have another too-flat amber scent I like better to layer, and this one is too much in demand to hoard when I am not crazy about it. In fact, I've already sold both the bottle and the decant. And I've learned something pretty valuable about my preferences in the process.

 

Regards,

 

Tzi

This smells like a very furry fir forest on me. Well, not fir specifically, I just couldn't resist the imagery of a furry fir. Or a whole forest of furry firs.

 

The musk is not quite enough on me to balance the heavy evergreenery, which is ever so slightly headed into Pine Sol territory. Shoot. I was hoping for more fur and less fir.

 

Tzi

I really can't imagine what I was thinking (except maybe, "books? Maybe this will be like Burning Book!). But instead it is foodie caramel and plasticky leather. Which I could have determined by reading the notes! I am not a foodie person, caramel is awful on me. Leathers are very hit-or-miss and this one is a miss. I really love the imagery and wish it was a win

I'm such a sucker for sweet sappy woods.

 

Interestingly, I didn't put this on my decant list because CURRANTS. Dark fruit and I have a rocky relationship. But I'm lucky to have got a sniff of someone else's bottle because we seem to have reached a truce: the currant just adds a hint of juiciness to the sweet rich wood.

 

This really reminds me of A World Where there are Octobers, but more complex and wintery. It's really the ideal midwinter scent for someone who doesn't want to do food or snow. This is quite syrupy and achingly sweet on me, but without the foodie associations that might make me cringe. In other words, delicious,

 

Definite bottle.

 

Tzi

I spontaneously picked up a decant of this even though the notes did not sound like my thing because it was sooooooooooo delicious in the bottle.

 

Did not disappoint.

 

The smell of the sweetest softest flannel blankets evah.

 

Not foody sweet, not perfumerie sweet either. Laundry sweet, but with zero soap. To me, Snow White smells FLORAL, while this does not. Just clean and cuddly. Which was not a thing I thought I wanted to smell like until I put this on.

 

Definite bottle purchase.

 

Tzi

I traded my first born (not really, NSA!) for a bottle of Badgers, unsniffed, which now seems like utter foolishness going over the scent notes, but seems to have worked out anyway.

 

I usually can't wear leather or vanilla or patchouli. So, erm, Tzi...... What were you thinking?

 

Well, apparently I was thinking it was going to smell just like a successful and irresistible gambler or con man. Soft, worn-in leather, heavy sarsaparilla with a touch of vanilla, a tiny bit of the cleanest deepest patchouli rounding it all out. Swoon. None of the notes go chemical or weird, and the patch doesn't take over.

 

It's ridiculously masculine on me, but I don't care. I desperately want to smell like this man.

 

Tzi

Despite that long and delicious looking note list, on my skin it is all about the plum.

This is a dark, plummy scent. With plums. And darkness. And a teensy whiff of Bourbon Geranium for good measure. It smells a little like Blot Upon the Earth, but without the Opium. I already have Blot. Ditto Blood Countess.

I like all of these notes immensely, and I like all of them on my skin, but I already own so many similar scents that I really don't need this one.

If you are short on dark plums, and you really like them, please try this!

Tzi

Sweet holy celery seed this is awesome!!!

I did not order a decant of this, the note list didn't grab my fancy, but I was lucky enough to sniff it out of a friends' collection and it is darned ridiculously amazing (she was kind enough to allow me to skin test it).

On me this is a strong resiny floral, which is strange because a quick search of the Internet for Imortelle says things like "burnt sugar" and "maple syrup" not "rose-like floral."

As an aside, I can't usually wear rose, it goes sour on my skin, but this scent smells on me like roses smell on the bush: deep, spicy, lush and fresh.

The Galbanum and Amber are the perfect base for the floral notes, and it dries down to a beautiful resiny perfection with a hint of mossiness to freshen up the whole brew. For me this is the Raptures and a Roses of the Miskatonic Philharmonic, if it makes any sense whatsoever to compare perfumes that share zero notes.

Try this if you love floral-resin scents. Seriously.

Instant bottle purchase.

Tzi

I sniffed this in the bottle and it smelled exactly like Hope and Fear set Free which I already have a bottle of (and love, but I don't need more). I did not skin test.

 

Tzi

So yeah, honeyed plasticky leather on me. The leather isn't truly awful, but neither is it really very good at all.

 

Pass.

 

Tzi