VetchVesper

Hmmm... intriguing. The melon's up front an center at first, but it softens considerably. I think it's the oakmoss lending the fragrance a creamy/powdery texture, and I get a wee hint of apple. It reminds me a bit of Titania and has a soft, luminous quality. Not something I'd wear much, but Interesting for sure, and always fun to try something with melon.

CHERRY. Frick'n strait up, red twizzler, cherry candy. Then it starts to go more generally fruity. I'm pretty sure I'm getting some jammy strawberry. There is something a little darker lurking in the background as this dries down. Maybe black musk? My brain might just be jumping to that though, because of the "velvet" descriptor. Definitely a fruity, red blend. Playful, but the background notes keep it from being childish.

Chilly mint-ozone and white musk. This is gender neutral and strikes me almost as an aromatherapy blend. It's head clearing, though not medicinal. The eucalyptus is present, but there's nothing screechy or in your face going on, and the whole thing has a hazy, airy feel that's very appropriate to its inspiration. There's peppermint, but it's not sweet like the candy, and it seems fairly different from the Lick-It's I've smelled (though I've only smelled a couple.) It reminds me more of Anesthesia without the lavender. After 10 mins or so, I start to get something sort of lemony and spicy, which I thought at first was the cologney dead leaves note, but now I'm recognizing as the absinthe. I like this. It seems like a great blend for destressing.

Musky, lemon-drop candy! It's nice. Bright and cheerful. Lemon grass tends to go sour and swampy on me, but so far, this is behaving itself. The bright lemon burns off, and I get sort of a musky, fresh herbal that makes me think of sunny kitchens, or the outdoors on a cold, clear day. It's hard to pin down specific notes because they're well blended. There's a bit of sweetness from the neroli, and a hint of lavender. Maybe some fuzziness from the white amber and pepper. I was expecting something sharper, but this is sort of light and airy. I'm only getting a teeny bit of cedar in the crook of my arm, where it's warm. I don't smell any on my wrist, and I'm not getting the slap of "green" I'd expect from dandelion sap. The fragrance stays close to my skin, but I've been wearing it over an hour and it's still hanging out. Over all, the ghosts of the year seem to be surprisingly pleasant fellows!

This one's ... interesting. Very atmospheric. Up front I get soft leather and a dust note. Maaaybe some beeswax? I'm smelling without looking at the notes, but the "dust and rags" smell from The Old Robber Woman is prominent here, without the sharp tang of metal or oil. Toy-Strewn Attic is sort of sawdusty vs. powdery. The "chalk dust" note, from The Writing on the Slate also comes to mind, After 10 mins or so, something sweet and oddly tangy emerges from the background and mixes with the leather, rags, and dust, along with something vaguely plasticy -- like a doll's head, but without a strong chemical component. Can't quite put my finger on what everything is. I wouldn't wear this as a perfume, but it does have my nose quite intrigued, and as a room spray (like the Deserted Theater Atmo) I think I might dig it. Like I said - interesting. Reads notes: Oh...I guess that sweet tang was the blood and metal. Smelling it again, I do smell a bit of rose in the beginning stage, but I didn't recognize it initially, and now I'm getting something sort of spicy? Maybe the dry leaves? This one's weird, y'all. Quite the experience. If you like soft leather, dust notes, or nostalgic atmospherics, it's worth checking out.

Wanda - (similar to whip, but a little more complex, with WINE) Along with Loviatar, she has become something of a 21st century Patron Goddess of all Dominatrixes. While Loviatar is the Goddess of Pain, Wanda govens Control. She is the breathtakingly beautiful sable-wrapped marble queen of Sacher-Masoch’s fantasies. Her scent is a deep red merlot with a faint hint of leather, sexual musk and body heat over crushed roses, violets and myrtle. The Obsidian Widow - (same vein as Wanda, so to speak , but more floral.) Pinot noir, dark myrrh, red sandalwood, black patchouli, night-blooming jasmine, and attar of rose Bright Red Dildo - (if you like sweeter, less floral scents. LE Luper, but probably not hard to find.) Red leather and honey. Non-Compliant - (I personally love this one, but it does have an odd, vomit note that comes out strong on some folks. You've been warned. 😜) Sugar and bile, leather and blood, honey and rum, shredded patchouli and vetiver, tobacco and lime. The Old Robber Woman - (LE Yule. Might be a tad hard to find, but great if you want to play up the mechanic aspect vs. the sex. Leans a little masculine. Gnome is good for this too, but is more friendly and leaning cute.) Dust, rags, leather, and shining steel. Fragrances that lean simple, and you might consider as a base to build on top of - Iago - very hard, black leather London - a good tea rose Hunter - clove and worn leather (It makes me think of clove cigarettes and a leather jacket. I use this one when I write for one of my characters. I mix it with Galvanic Goggles. ) Fighter and Rogue - (RPG scents are created to be simple and mixable with other RPG scents, so you can find fun flavor combos. I personally enjoy adding Evil to just about everything.)

Weeeeeeed. And incense. I swear I get dragon's blood. The myrrh is rich, dark, and thick, and after the weed burns off, about half an hour in, I'm left with a sweet, sludgey incense vibe that I adore. To me, this is not nearly as hippie as SN Blacklight Reactive Poster (which I also have and adore) but has more of an old world vibe once it's dried down. Something about this incense works with crumbling gargoyles and vaulted cathedral ceilings, at least in my brain. Very happy to have found a bottle. I also have to say, I'm always amused by how some folks seem nose blind to the weed smell, and some just get whacked right in the face with it. The Stoned Griffin is a most mysterious creature!

Really lovely. I'm pretty sure I'm getting grey amber and/or ambergris, but that might just be because this reminds me so much The Gloomy Day. Canis Major is fuzzy and soft and warm, like a cozy, angora sweater. I'm also getting maybe a teensy hint of vanilla? After a few minutes, something bright and a bit citrusy comes up from underneath. My brain says bergamot, but it's not always trustworthy. The citrus begins to go bubble gummy, but always stays below the amber, just adding a little lift to the scent. Honestly -- I just watched ParaNorman this week and was revisiting my bottle of Bub, and the undercurrent I'm getting is sorta Bub-like. So, the odd, sweet, playfulness of Bub, underneath a big thick layer of amber angora sweater. There ya have it folks!

This comes across as oddly Christmassy? I think because I'm getting a lot of fig and cloves. It also smells very "red." I get almost a perfumey apple cider or Gluhwein vibe. There's a touch of something lightly woody at the beginning, which I don't really care for, but it goes away quickly. I can pick out the amber, but I don't really smell patchouli, unless it had something to do with the flash of woodiness I got at first sniff. This is actually reminding me a bit of Brisingamen. Perhaps Freya wearing Brisingamen, VERY drunk on Gluwein. Occasionally, I see scents described as "balsamic," and I get that here. It's kind of tangy, tart and very slightly sweet. (Lol. Just saw "tanginess" used as a descriptor above, so I guess I'm not the only one.) I think I'll leave this lady in her tent, but glad to have gotten to try this one.

Lol. A very healthy pumpkin pie! The cocoa crust sounds like a good idea though. I'll have to try that some time. I'm a fan of any excuse to add chocolate. I wore Indulgence today, b/c I needed some. Today was crisp and clear in Houston as well, and I did some drawing in the sunshine outside. I kept getting wafts of incense and thinking my neighbors were burning it (their a bit hippieish) then I realized it was me. I did 45 mins of yoga today, and it was nice to get in some good stretching and do some self checking. @Madame Mew Good on you for holding down the fort at work. Hope you get some quality R&R for it.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! I managed 30 mins of yoga today while wearing a Possets perfume, Mary Queen of Scotts. It's buttery shortbread and it's added a little bit of comfort to my day. Hope you are all doing well. 🦃 @Lucchesa How'd your pies come out? Should there be a BPAL's to bake to recommendation thread?

In the black furrow of a field I saw an old witch-hare this night; And she cocked her lissome ear, And she eyed the moon so bright, And she nibbled o’ the green; And I whispered ‘Whsst! witch-hare,’ Away like a ghostie o’er the field She fled, and left the moonlight there. A leaper between worlds, the tiny trickster; she soars through liminal spaces, dancing in the strange shadows of dawn and twilight. Warm fur and mandrake root, blue sage and tall grasses, honeysuckle-tinged moonlight, carrot seed, comfrey, and dandelion. My mother would say, "Quick, quick, like a bunny," and here I am to give the first review. This one is soft, and sweet, and green. The honeysuckle is what I notice first, and then the carrot, which i haven't ever experienced as a perfume note before, but it's nice. Fresh, and gently sweet like a cup of fancy carrot juice. I'm guessing dandelion adds to the general sweet, green feel. A teeeensy bit of herbal spice starts to peek out in the dry down, but mostly, I think the herbal notes balance Hare and keep it from being too floral. Honeysuckle can smell very wet and sappy to me, but this is dryer and creamier. A fresh, tempered floral that wears close to the skin. I could see a baby smelling like this, or a pretty, shy woman peeking over a book and drinking her tea, or a fluffy brown bunny nibbling clover. Lovely.

Urgh. Prodigal forumite here, crawling back. No work out today, but yesterday I did walk for half an hour, and Saturday, my husband and I explored a lovely park in the area. It had hills! When you live in Houston, that's pretty exciting. 😜 Anywho, walked an hour, dodging the occasional bicyclist, and that was fun. Can't remember what fume I was wearing, but I've been favoring more comfort blends lately. Sarah, from the Pretty Deadly series has been striking my fancy. It's like soft leather and the nicest baby powder ever. I will work out tomorrow if it kills me. Even if it kills me, I'll post from beyond the grave. Take care ladies, and thanks for keeping this going. You are bad-asses.

No worries! I'll just be happy to share it with someone. It's been lonely and languishing on my sales page for a while, and the VILF's don't get enough love

Ugh. Sorry I've been MIA. I HAVE actually been working out... mostly. Walks, gardening, more walks. Tuesday I walked in the park wearing Cassiopeia. The weather was beautiful, and the backwoods trails have grown up quite a bit sonce they're less frequented. There are these little lavender flowers everywhere, and I have no idea what they are. I'll try to post a pic I took tomorrow. Today I walked in my neighborhood wearing Laura Belle McDaniel, wanting to love it very badly, but never quite getting there. On Halloween I must have burned tons of calories shoveling all that candy into my mouth. You ladies rock for keeping this going, and rock even more for keeping up with your excercise! Thank you.

@Laughing Seagull Actually, good point. I'd be happy to frimp you a bit of Transeo with your decants. See how you like it.

@Laughing Seagull Seems like you're narrowing down what you like, and you've got some good choices for future orders! Sorry red musk is a no go and Tavern of Hell was disaster. I will say, Tavern of Hell was kinda the wild card I threw in there. I thought you might dig the lavender and orange blossom, and it's got kind of an unusual list of notes. If you don't mind holding on to things, you might test again in a year or so. It's got so much going on, I think it needs time to settle. With age, mine went from smelling like vomit, to a dark, verging on masculine gardenia. But then, maybe you don't like tobacco? Yay for Envy! It's one of my favorite lavenders too, but I think it's not perfumey enough for a lot of folks. Anywho, it struck me you might enjoy the champagne note, since you like citrus and the bite of ginger. Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat smells like sparkly lemon lime candy. Bon Vivant is a bit drier and less sweet. More bitey, but also fizzy. Seems like you definitely like tangerine, so check out Azathoth if you think you might like cedar. I think you might really like Juliet, based on you liking the Queen of Hearts, but Tamora was heavier on the heliotrope, at least, to my nose. You might also check out juniper, based on you loving Thanatopsis. I bet you would like Cooling Breeze from last years Lupers, and you might like Transeo. Oberon is a nice, spritely juniper with fruity overtones. Nice for Christmas. You might also like Jersey Devil. I actually don't have tons of luck with juniper, but I love me some fizzy gin! The note shows up every once in a while and might also be worth watching for. P.S. That Red Mandarin, French Lavender, and Juniper Menage a Trois might be right up your alley. PPS Actually, just noticed you were looking for a wine note, so I'm going to shamelessly flaunt my wares. I have a partial of Transeo, if you're interested. I've been trying to find it a loving home for a while. It was left overs from a decant circle I ran, and very much not my bag, but it might be yours. No worries if you aren't interested. 💗

On me this is good apple spice cake with the foodiness level turned down a notch. The spices smell a tad dusty and make me think of amber, which is probably why this is reminding me of a foodier Poison Apple. This is sort of a classy take on apple cinnamon, with warm, dry cardamom instead of cinnamon. I can see why folks looking for something super cakey would be disappointed here, but for a lovely warm apple-spice scent, this is quite nice. Also, a good foody scent for those who don't generally like foody scents. Alas, I'm just not much for smelling like apples. Off to swaps!

I've discovered I rather like the mix of lavender with these darker, earthier notes, but the vetiver in this is just not quite behaving. It reminds me of chicory and retains a bitterness on my skin that, though in the background, keeps disrupting the warm, earthy lavender and creamy sweetness going on. Unfortunate, because without that, I think this would be a total winner. Other notes - I don't really pick up carnation. The tobacco is warm and dark vs. the sweet, chewy kind. Vanilla shows up to just add a hint of sweetness. I don't really notice the musk except at the beginning, when I got sort of a sweatiness to the blend I didn't care for. That went away after a few minutes though. There is a nice balance between the notes. Gender neutral, leaning a titch masculine b/c of the mean ol' vetiver. Sigh.... Guess, I'll be passing on my bottle.

I really love Goblin, and I would highly recommend if you like patchouli. I was also kind of amazed by my well aged decant of Elegba recently. Originally, it was a nice coconut rum mixed drink smell and I liked it, but I was happy with the imp. It's become much richer with aging, going from Malibu, to a rich, dark, almost buttery coconut rum. It's very sweet, but the tobacco gives it a nice chewiness, and it's gone on my big bottle list.. If you want a dark coconut that's less obviously foody and/or boozy, you might try Brown Jenkins. ETA - You might also like Red Lantern (caramelly coconut) and Death Adder. (I'm focusing more on your "rich" and "smoky" descriptors than your "amber" or "florals." You might also check out Lamia. It didn't work for me, but it's got your amber, your florals, and I wouldn't call it tropical.

Eusapia features lilac, white tea, and beeswax. It's a reoccuring Yule. The Gambols of Ghosts was a 2016 Halloweenie. (Rivulets of beeswax and amber flame illuminating a pale blue midnight, eddying with phantom violets, olive blossom, and moss) The florals aren't prominent in Gambols, but if you can't do lilac, skip Eusapia. I'll second V'al Hanissim.

Cheery, red, and sweet, with what smells like a little bit of evergreen bite in the background. (I guess that's how my nose is reading the mead fizz.) This smells Christmassy, but in an unexpected way. No cinnamon and not what I think of as foody, though there's a sense of stewed fruit. If you are looking for a cheery, non-traditional Christmas scent, give this a sniff!

Sticky grape juice! The plum and wine are very prominent in the bottle, but once it hits my skin, the oudh shows up. It's nice here, smoky, spicey, woody, and sans any barnyard. Overall, I get a deep red and purple incense vibe that reminds me of Purple Phoenix without the florals. P.S. As I'm writing this review, I'm at the park, and a honey bee just landed on me. So there you go: Cassiopeia -- bee approved.

Soooo much amber. Not a bad thing, especially if you like amber. Also, I'm getting black musk? Maybe it's just the dark, powdery feel. It reminds me a bit of a manly Haunted. Once Scholar's Tower hits my skin, I'm getting something that does distinctly remind me of gear lubricant and polish. This still smells high class though, and old world - like walking into a clockmaker's shop vs. a mechanic's shop. The woods (mostly mahogany) support the other notes and stay behind the amber on me, but the frankincense starts to come forward after a bit, so there's a very nice, fuzzy sort of resin thing going on. The sort of place this perfume makes me think of would probably have lots of books, but I don't smell books per se. This feels very steam punk. Scholar's Tower would be very nice on a gentleman, but I'm happy to dab some on too. Cozy and refined, a bit subdued, with a bit of an intriguing oddity from the whiffs of metal and machinery. If you love amber, and the other notes sound appealing, this is one to check out. ETA: Agreeing with Dancing Raven. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of sage in this, giving it that hint of bitter metal smell.

If you like foresty smells with your dirt, you might try Burial. I really love Deep in Earth which features rose geranium and isn't as perfumey as actual rose. Destroying Angel is another good one. You might actually try Orc - leather, musk, and zucchini, I believe, which is WAY more lovely than it sounds. Robin Goodfellow is sort of dusty and green. Just for a good, simple patch, I'd second The Coiled Serpent and you might also like Baba Yaga. Despite the listed "flowers," it's not a floral, and I find it very comforting. Lastly, you can't buy imps of it, but The Rat Speakers is a really beautiful dirt scent. ETA: Just wanted to mention Single Note: Mud Mingled Boot Slush, in case they bring it out again the Yules. (I keep hoping. ) It's mint and mud and ozone, and I kinda love it!