VetchVesper

As a black licorice FIEND, I've had my beady eyes on this one since it came out, and I finally indulged. And yes, it's VERY licorice, though, not my favorite version of the scent. With the grey amber and black pepper notes, I was expecting something with a gritty or powdery bite. Something a bit more sophisticated or avant-garde than the typical licorice offering. Surprisingly, this is just the opposite. This is a sweet, thin, shiny, (plasticy, one might say 🤔) and simple. This makes me think of rootbeer barrel hard candies.... if the were black licorice flavored. ( I would be all over these.) This is NOT a bad thing, but just not what I was hoping for. However, it's a fun scent and definitely fitting of the perfume's title, and if you want to smell like shiny licorice whips or hard candy, this will sure do it for you! It also strikes me as a fun note for blending. I could totally see mixing this with patchouli or vanilla or even a popcorn scent to great effect. I tried it last night with Snowy Circus Peanut to my delight and possible contraction of diabetes.

I used up the last dregs of a VERY aged imp, with oil the color of dark honey. Overall, this a regal and somber floral underpinned by musky, powdery wood. A tart, almost plummy iris is the only flower I can clearly discern. This smells old and dignified, like the Grande Dame in Aristocats, or maybe a spray of dark blooms on the dusty alter of a temple.

There's an immediate, cool, scintillating quality to this from the amber that is reminiscent of twinkling stars. It's very close, if not the same, as the lab's champagne note. It floats above the sweet, syrupiness of the opoponax, rich, but not heavy. Opoponax often smells treacley and dark to me, but this smells more like a golden myrrh. The two notes stay separate through the dry down, creating an interesting tension in the fragrance. I never get any p'oud or anything woody, though I do get a caramel/vanilla tone from the opoponax. Perhaps the frankincense is the bright lemony kind, and it's blending with the amber? Basically, this smells like an unusual blend of good myrrh and champagne to me. I'd prefer something darker and heavier for my night goddess, but for those who don't like heavy blends, this would probably be just rich enough to please and gentle enough not to scare them off. I'm dithering on whether or not to keep the imp, as it's very unique, but I don't LOVE it. If you like the champagne note though, this might be a sleeper hit.

In the bottle: yummy sour cherry with a tiny hint of the chili pepper and something vaguely animalic lurking in the back. Fresh on, it's delicious cherries and a dash of plum skin, but alas, it quickly becomes little else but harsh tobacco and sharp sandalwood. It smells strongly like cigarette ash to me with a hint of red sweetness. Normally, I like tobacco and sandalwood, but there's a variety of each that does not agree with me, and Goose Moon seems to have oodles of both of them. Apparently, I only like my moon geese when they are noisy, not when they're vampiric.

This doesn't make me think honey because, although it's sweet, it's not foody at all, nor do I recognize the wildflower honey note the lab sometimesuses. Befor I looked at the notes, I was thinking there was red musk sweetening the blend. Ylang ylang, itself, smells sweet, heady and syrupy to me, so perhaps that's masking the honey. The ylang ylang is obvious, but it's floralness is tempered by the labdanum, which I can faintly detect. During the dry down, there's a brief few minutes where I get an acrid, cigarette ash vibe, but it goes away, becoming a faint whiff of incense. Overall, this is a sweet, heady musk blend on me. I like it enough to keep my imp and keep an eye out for more.

In the GC, Robin Goodfellow and Yorick smell very natural and earthy and dusty green. You might also try Druid (which has a berryish sweetness to it) Ranger, and Orc (which is more foresty and leather, and I'll 2nd Bayou if you are okay with it being heavier on the floral and very wet/lush smelling. I personally love Solanine, the Flower Girl, which sprang right to mind from your description. It's very lush, green, peppery, and a bit floral, but it's so complex it's hard to identify anything specifically. Woman at the Edge of the Woods could also be a good one, (I'd describe it as a dryad's hug. It's smells more like the woods than GREEN, per se, but it's got a background berry/floral vibe that might be what you're looking for. Lastly, Silenti has somber, elegant vibes, like lilacs blooming in an old cemetery with moss and crumbling headstones. All of these are available year-round. Happy hunting! Urk! Adding one more. Alien/Siren is a little left of what you're asking for but might be worth a try if you're down for an aquatic. It's definitely sinister, damp and green in a non-planty way. It's unusual and really nice.

Lemony? Not what I was expecting. An acrid green note starts to emerge. I don't know if celluloid actually has a scent as I never was a photographer or what not, but this makes me think more of cleaning fluid than dark theaters or lightning storms. Citrusy, green, and chemical. The all-knowing Google tells me celluloid is produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, so perhaps the camphor is the green smell I'm picking up. Oh, yup! "CAMPHOROUS VAPORS." I'm sharp today. I'd be very curious to hear the scent impressions of this perfume from anyone who has worked with film or in a dark room. Not for me, but certainly unique. ... ETA: WAIT! I was given a decant and a 1/2 decant of this, and they smell almost entirely different. Batch variations, or perhaps one of the imps wasn't rolled/shaken before it was decanted? The 2nd imp is all musty velvet curtain and nicotania. It shares some notes from one of the old Weenie atmos that was inspired by an old theater. Can't remember the name, but I do remember the smell! This also smells a bit leathery? Wow, the nicotania is getting stronger. It's that old cigarette smell that lingers in the yellowed wallpaper of antique houses. If you've ever seen the movie Dark City, it would smell like this perfume. The lemony camphor is still present, but it's way in the back and barely recognizable. What a pronounced difference! Remember to shake those bottles! I like this a lot more with the darker notes and will enjoy the decant. Perhaps I shall mix the two.

A light honey blend, with a subtle hint of herbs behind it. Very pleasant, sweet, and golden smelling, maybe a hint medicinal, without being as foodie as many other honey blends. I like it and would love a bath oil that smells like this. It's very refreshing and smells like it could actually be one of those small-batch, wildflower honeys where you can smell the flowers the bees fed on. ETA: This was reminding me of something in the CG Apiary catalog, and yes, Elspethdixon got it! It is indeed reminding me of Chokecherry Honey. I like this blend better though, as I seem to remember Chokecherry going a bit bitter on me.

I'm going through and death-matching some of my jasmine perfumes, and that's what I mainly get from this, jasmine. This isn't the juicy, lascivious smelling jasmine that I adore; it's tempered by the lavander, and perhaps by the musk, into something drier, less sweet and less indolic. There's also a strange undertone, a faint whiff of salty plastic to my nose, which sounds gross, but it's not. What it does is bring to mind that distinctive chlorine smell one does indeed smell when poolside. I get no vanilla or tea. The sillage seems pretty low for a jasmine perfume. I'm getting lavender and periwinkle colored vibes. I'm not sure if I'll be keeping this one because I have so many, but it's very nice.

This smells like... banana. But what KIND of banana, you ask. In the bottle, I'd say it smells like a realistic, ripe banana, but once it's on my skin the green notes come out -- the coconut, a grassy vetiver, and perhaps the green fig -- and the banana unripens before my nose. It's still fairly realistic, but it has the freshness of a barely yellowed peel. After maybe ten minutes, the green fig becomes more present, balancing the banana for a more evenly fruity fragrance. This smells more fruity to me than foody, like a smoothie grounded by very subtle frankincense and tobacco. It's fun and unusual and quite worthy of a sniff to all those who enjoy fruity fragrances. If you like Shango, you'll surely find this less in-your-face and more realistic cocktail appealing. It's more wearable, very tropical, and sits close enough to the skin you won't feel like you're in danger of a monkey attack. This got death matched with Noisy Goose Moon for one of the few banana spots in my collection. It's nice, but I'm not bananas over it...😏 The foodier Goose won out, so this murdered banana is off to swaps!

Interesting to be sure. In the imp, I smell the narcissus, but the other notes tame its sweetness so much, this could easily be a men's cologne. It smells dark and woody and a bit dank. Vetiver is the only other recognizable note. Wet, something's going a bit sour on me and the whole thing is getting a creamy feel to it. It's a bit spicy from the pepper, but I'm still not discerning any tobacco, certainly not anything chewy and golden. This is still fairly masculine on me, though it could probably swing either way. The white tea is recognizable now, lending a spice and astringency over a well behaved, woody vetiver. This smells refined and old-fashioned, but that dank/swampy note is sticking around on me. Even without it, I do'nt think this is really something I'd wear.

Should it surprise me a leo refuses to behave itself for a cancer? Far from a roar, this feline presents itself as a surprisingly tame blend of amber and frankincense in the imp, with something earthy and flat underneath, perhaps the chamomile? Once applied, something smells vaguely musty and musky with the resins. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm not really loving it. In the dry down, the carnation presents itself, spicy and sweet, but it smells thin to my nose, like it just won't bloom fully. The dry, soft resins and touch of spice remind me of the Lion, but I prefer the CG fragrance over this. Alas, this kitty tempts me with delicious notes but just won't purr. If you're a Leo with a fondness for the Lion, Morocco, or frankincense, this might be worth seeking out.

Without checking the notes, I get a creamy, powdery, floral lemon verbena scent over a very light resin, frankincense, maybe? Aaaand apparently, I'm way off. Okay, I get the lavender, though, this doesn't have the usual herbal bite I would generally expect from that note, nor is this the juicier variety. All in all, this is pleasant, but pretty tame for something touting "demonic incense," dragon's blood, and surges of raw, wild magic. I guess the orange is where I got the lemony note from. I can definitely detect the amber as this dries down. Now that I know what to look for, I can smell a bit of orange in the imp, but none in my skin, and I get absolutely nil for cocoa, which is a note I enjoy. Just reading the notes, Sorcerer seems like it would be right up my alley, but the sum of its parts is something very different from what I expected. Again, it's nice enough, but just not what I'd expect from the depiction. It reminds me a little of Penis Bound with Gold Ribbon, but without any foody vibe. It's also reminding me of Bath & Bodywork's Vanilla Verbena or maybe a more resinous, powdery Cheshire Cat. I'd wear this to bed or to meditate. It feels calming.

An odd mélange of spices with a peppery note and a thread of bright, resinous dragon's blood winding its way through light incense. I believe the galangal is what's coming across as peppery; its smell is unique and somewhere between cinnamon and ginger to my nose. It's quite prominent at first, but eventually balances itself with the other notes, forming a bright, unisex incense that smells cool, airy, a vaguely sweet. I don't need a bottle of this, but as an incense lover, I'm appreciating its unusual scent profile and will enjoy keeping an imp around for role-playing purposes. It also smells fantastic blended with EVIL, which is no surprise since everything smells better with a drop of evil added. 😈 It's also pleasant blended with GOOD, where it adds depth and grounding to the thin sweetness of that fragrance.

I'm wearing the last dregs of this from a very aged imp, so I'm guessing the resins have mellowed quite a bit. The bergamot and neroli add a bit of an herbal-orange sparkle on top of a fuzzy black musk and smooth resinous base. It's all very well blended and feels like a skin scent more than a cologne. It's dignified but understated, gender neutral, and smells clean without being soapy. It reminds me a bit of Arcana in how neutral it is, almost more like a place than a person, but all the resins bring to mind Anne Bonney, sans the lustiness. It smells almost scholarly. If you like resins and want something understated and classy, this is worth a go.