VetchVesper

... Her perfume is a crush of Irish herbs and flowers, Gaelic mists, and nighttime dew. I'm a bit surprised, b/c Leanan Sidhe IS a bit soapy on me, but I like it and think it's an aquatic I can actually wear. It comes across at first as very green and misty with some sort of white floral. Maybe lily or lily of the valley, though that usually goes waaaay soapier on me. I get the Irish Spring references, but there's enough difference that I don't feel like I'm wearing generic bar of soap. I feel like I'm wearing fancy fairy soap that's clean and full of little white flowers and aqua glitter while I bath in a forest pool. After a bit, this stops being soapy and I get almost a honeyed sweetness with the now creamy white floral. This is VERY pretty, and perfect for a hot summer day.

It's interesting so many people are getting floral from this, b/c on me it becomes a very clean, astringent, sort of woody herbal. It's really interesting, and it actually does remind me of the smell of an old house. Like... one with old hard wood floors and cabinetry that's not dirty, but definitely has a smell from all the age. There's a bit of floral in the opening, though I didn't guess it was violet till I looked at the notes. I also smell the oude, which might be what's reminding me of that old house smell. It's a little funky, but not going strait to "poo" as some oude does. Then a sort of astringent, green herbal thing starts creeping in, which I'm guessing is a mix of white tea and angel's trumpet and who knows what else. Then the balsam peeks and there's a camphorous quality to the whole thing. This phase is very woody before it slides to a sort of soapiness. Not floral soapiness, but again, clean and herbal. This smells to me like clean old house. It's very atmospheric and not at all what I expected, but I'm glad I got to try it out!

This makes me think of those orange gummy slices, the ones that are soft and sprinkled with sugar. The fig steps in shortly and adds a bit of maturity, rounding the fragrance nicely and taking it from candy to actual fruit. I will enjoy my imp this summer, but it's not complex enough to be a love. If you're a fan of sweet, bright, and fruity though, give this one a go.

This is primarily a carnation scent on me, but one made voluptuous and regal by the other underlying florals and resins. If Maiden is one of the three aspects, this is the Mother, rich, fully bodied, and a bit dark. It's beautiful, but really not me. This is one I can appreciate from a distance, but you like scents like Black Rose, Peacock Queen, and Maiden, check this one out.

I'm not getting a stitch of rose, as some reviews have mentioned. This is soapy/citrusy/clean white floral on me. I highly suspect lily of the valley and wonder about maybe a bit of water lily, though maybe that's just cause this smells aquatic to me. I'm also guessing lemon, or else a lemony white floral like magnolia. This wears down to a pleasant, clean skin scent on me. It's not exactly lust inducing, but I can see how on a hot day in the south, before bath and body works was a thing, and possibly even before deodorant was, this could smell downright fancy. If you are a fan of Sea of Glass, you might like this one.

Harlot is flirty smelling. The rose is the perumey variety, but it's not soapy, and the cinnamon keeps it from going into old lady territory. Rather, I'm reminded of some sort of sugary cinnamon rose confection. I'm not having any skin irritation, which can sometimes happen when cinnamon's involved, so that's a definite plus. On me, this is a simple, sweet, and upfront rose. Pretty.

This was a frimp for me, and I never would have picked this one up on my own b/c I'm generally not a melon fan, but I've been pleasantly surprised by both this one and Yemaya, which are my two favorite Orishas. Ogun smells of very ripe honeydew mixed with a sticky smelling tobacco. I think i get some honey but more as an added sweetness to the melon than a true honey smell. This is sort of a candy smell with a savory twist for me at first, kind of like melon lucas candy, but as it dries down, it becomes more of a fruity incense. It has a good wear length, and I'll be enjoying this one for the summer.

I've been testing this with other rose blends, and it's interesting how your nose starts to filter out different notes. Normally, when I smell this, I get a deep, wine colored, perfumey sort of rose, but right now, with my nose is noticing a lot more of a wine sort of smell, dark and fruity, along with something very woody, like teak or mahogany. I'm not sure what exactly, but I smell it in there. If you want a dark, seductive rose, give this one a try.

This is probably my favorite GC rose. It's a sweet, light rose, despite the multitude of different roses the blend boasts. It's a summer sort of rose with a fresh, minty sort of greenness to it. It's not perfumey or fussy like some "rose" products, and it seems ageless and timeless. I could see dabbing this on a rosy cheeked child or wearing it at 50 with a sun hat while you walk in the garden. In my brain, 2, 5, & 7 belongs in the same family as Hope, but is less sugary and more green. Well worth checking out for anyone looking for a good rose perfume.

I was thinking this would be a foody blend, along the lines of Miskatonic U, but this is mostly spices on me. My first impression was coffee, but more like black coffee with sugar and no cream. Then the coffee evaporated, replaced by a beautiful and intense cardamom underscored by hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. As the blend wears on my skin, the notes become less distinct and I get more of a spice cabinet melange. I get very little coffee, which surprises me, but it lingers in the background adding some warmth. Finally, the cinnamon and clove amp, as they are prone to do on me, and upstage the subtleties of the fragrance. It's still pleasant, but that beautiful cardamom is but a fond memory. I'll enjoy the imp, but I don't need a bottle. If you are a fan of spice blends, you should definitely give this one a whirl. It's got a different feel from the other spice heavy fragrances I've tried.

Super PINK and tooth achingly sweet. This perfume should come piled high with fruit and a tiny umbrella. Positively drinkable. The lime cuts the sweetness with a tart edge, but goes a bit acrid on my skin when I sniff too close. It also only lasts a couple hours on me. Still, this is a fun scent with good silage and I will enjoy slathering it this summer.

This is my fresh out of the mailbox review, so take it with a grain of salt. I got a bit of the dreaded "manure" oudh when I opened this, but happily, it seems to have settled down quickly, so I'm going to guess it was our 90 degree weather causing the problem. I get a crimson musk vibe, some patch, and a tootsie roll sort of chocolate when I sniff this and first put it on. The notes seem evenly balanced, and I'm normally a fan of all 3, but this just doesn't seem to be coming together for me. As I wear it, what little sweetness Slay has is receding and I'm getting all woody patch and a tobacco that makes me think this drag queen is a heavy smoker. It's quite masculine on my skin, and while I actually like wearing some masculine blends, this one's not doing it for me. :/ It's more gritty, woody, and dark on me rather than the sexy pseudo gourmand I was hoping for. Maybe some aging will make this one more agreeable.

This reminds me of Burial, but it's smoother, and calmer. The patchouli almost smells nutty to me, and the pine, mixed with the lavender is cool and astringent. Pleasant and reminiscent of a forest.

I've found something with cedar that I can actually wear! This is surprisingly lovely. The cedar is smooth and soft, almost creamy. At first I get it pretty evenly with a very nice lavender and there's a very clean, natural vibe going on, but then gardenia pierces through with it's beautiful white floral creaminess, and it just takes Silence to a new level, and I love it. This reminds me of a cool, clear night with twinkling stars, the kind of night you'd spend out in woods camping. Really a lovely surprise since cedar is usually a death note and lavender is something I'm fairly ambivalent towards.

I'm not usually a fan of floral bouquet type perfumes. Even the ones that don't go soapy tend to remind me of nice room sprays or candles as opposed to something I want on my body. However, I am always curious about weird bpal notes, and Solanine has oodles of them. (Manchineel smoke? Really??) Hence, she has been loitering at the edges of my wishlist for a while. Boy am I glad we finally got acquainted! Solanine is green and succulent at first. I don't smell grass. This green's got more bite to it. I think I smell eucalyptus. There's also something very vegetal that I can't put my finger on. I don't think it's cucumber, but it's wet and juicy without being sweet. It's nose tickling and peppery. Tomato leaf perhaps? This does harken to other poisonous blends in Rappuccini's Garden, but I'm far more intrigued by Solanine. The florals quickly start to emerge, lush and sweet, and mingle with the vegetation. They blend magnificently, and I have difficulty recognizing any one blossom above another. This bouquet is unusual and seductive, innocently fresh yet beguilingly toxic. I found myself surreptitiously huffing the crook of my arm for hours at work. I have definitely been ensnared by this lovely perfume, and it's going at the top of my big bottle list.

Revising my earlier suggestion upon further reflection. Lady of Shallot is my favorite GC gardenia scent and reminds me of Swans on the River. Titania could also be up her ally, and has sweetpea. Victoria, from the Stardust collection is a beautiful, feminine, classic light rose. The Rose is a little more dewy and green. She might also like Vassalisa. Also, Solanine the Flower girl seems amusingly appropriate and I love it. It's kind of strange and green at first, but it becomes a beautiful, complex, peppery floral quickly. If she's ok with violet and lavender, Veil is also lovely and wedding appropriate.

Dude. Duuuuuuuude..... This smells like weeeeed. O_O Seriously. Like.... I think I'm getting some nag champa in the background, but mostly it's green, acrid Maryjane. I was wanting more head shop and less pothead. Hmmmmmm.....It's funny, but I can't see myself going anywhere smelling like cannabis is ideal. Hmmmmm..... I just got my imp in the mail. Perhaps it will mellow out a bit with time and I'll get more of the incense I was hoping for. Either way, it's a fun addition to my collection, and I'm glad I got a chance to smell it. ETA: I ended up hunting down a partial of this later, because I do LOVE incense, and the weed note does calm down in this after a while. It's still there, but it becomes more incense/headshop than full blown Grateful Dead Concert.

Something about the ginger on this reads as lemon to me. I get something that reminds me of those canned lemony, sweet teas mixed with clean laundry smell. It's discordant to my nose and doesn't seem to like my chemistry. It's a nice example of bpal's linen note though.

Honeysuckle softened by pale white florals which become creamier in dry down. The mint hangs out in the backround with the thyme adding a hint of coolness. This is a sweet, pale, and lush floral that makes me think of cool summer nights when the air is thick with moisture and the smell of flowers.

I get the thick sweetness of labdanum (which I mistook for ambergris) with a dusty, soft frankincense and a dry herbal greeness from the sage. The lavander probably adds to that last aspect, but i don't register it specifically as lavender. A thin thread of citrus floats above the whole thing adding some complexity and lifting the fragrance. Overall, this is a dusty herbal/wood blend that's well blended and would smell divine on a guy but would work for a lady too. I've really been impressed by the 4 horsemen blends. ETA - Erps! Wrote a 2nd review, not realizing I'd already posted one. Here it is, almost a year later. I guess the citrus lightened up with aging, which makes sense. I'm getting a lot of labdanum's golden sweetness, along with frankincense. This is very resinous, despite the lavender and lemon notes that don't really show up on me. I do get a hint of the sage, but wouldn't guess it was in here without the listed notes. This smells more dusty than powdery if that makes sense, and I could well see it being some sort of church incense. It smells gender neutral to me, and is a lot gentler than I would have expected. After it's been on a while, the sage and lavender come out a tad more as a dry herbal note in the background. This smells calming to me, and I rather like it. Oddly, I could see Aziraphale smelling like this... if he didn't already have his own lovely scent, so not an evil smelling blend to my nose!

When I first put this on I get an odd melange of notes - something that smells like agarwood, I'm guessing the jacarandá-da-bahia, and a dark jasmine. It's discordant, but still sort of intriguing. Musky wood against floral. Then Avenger changes dramatically, becoming an almost sugary fruity floral on my skin. Tuberose and pikaki mixed with a boozy sweetness. If I smell the scent directly, I can still smell a bit of the musky wood, but mostly it's tropical floral. I really like this, and it's very different from the other lab florals I've smelled. It makes me think of a decadent pineapple drink. I wonder how it compares to the labs tiki scents, which I never got to sample.

When I first dab Emerald Lace on, I get that wet, green honeysuckle note the lab uses mixed with a backing of sugary cream. Then it morphs, and I'm pretty sure I'm smelling the poppy from Slippery Poppy Tincture. It's light, bright and fruity floral, but the darker notes are emerging too from underneath. I'm starting to get whiffs of tobacco when I smell my arm, along with something a bit bitter and herbal, which could be the rue, or maybe something about the way the notes are blending. I think this is the point where I could see it sort of slipping into soap territory because its sort of nose tingly and discordant, but it never does on my skin. The fig makes a cameo with a sweet, but more rounded fruitiness, and finally, this dries down to a medium weight, fruit scented tobacco with a hint of sweet creaminess. There's still a bit of greeness when I put my nose on my arm, but it's a dark green, not the scintillating emerald at the beginning. I was hesitant to buy this blend because I worried about green musk b/c I amp it to high heaven, but I'm not getting any here. I really love this and am overjoyed to have swapped for a bottle. I'm definitely starting to get what all the "Lace" fuss is a bout.

Hmmm... this one really matches the passage it was taken from to my nose, and I, like Wednesday and Shadow, don't like it very much. There's a bitter, medicinal herbalness that hits my nose and mixes with a thin honey smell. It does smell vaguely alcoholic, and reminds me, in this stage, of those honey powder drinks that you take when you have a sore throat. Then something deveolops briefly in the background that smells like cat pee or yes, possibly pickles. It fades within a few minutes, and then this starts to get fruity. But it's still got that thin, sweet honey thing going on, so the fruit smells overly ripe, like fruit mush. Also, this one reaally likes me and WILL NOT WASH OFF. Anywho, as evocative as it is of the quote - no thanks. . I will add a disclaimer though - often the lighter smelling honeys don't work well on me, like the honey in Door and the Rappiccini Apiary scents. If you have good luck with those, this might be right up your ally.

Ah. Lovely. The violet is what hits me first, but it's backed by a dry, herbal, almost evergreen scent that I think comes from the combo of lavender and sandalwood. Then the gardenia comes forward with a creamy whiteness. The ylang ylang I just smell as an added sweetness to the whole, and the orris leaves a softly powdery finish. The whole thing smells very purple to me, and I would certainly recommend floral lovers give Veil a try. It might be a nice GC stand in if you loved CP's Lullaby as well.

Woah. This is so thick, I feel like I'm smearing on some chocolate pudding! I definately get the chocolate, red musk, and pomegranate up front. It's kind of a sweltering, spicy, earthy smell. It strikes me as lusty and sensual. A hot and horny barbarian queen could totally wear this. The anise is in the background adding more of a menthol vibe than a licorice one. As this dries down, I get the thyme, and once it shows up, it's a very true and present note that I can't help but notice. I have thyme in my garden. This is an interesting melange of notes, and I'm glad I got introduced to it. I also think this might be fun to smell on a man. Quite complex and unusual.