VetchVesper

I wasn't a huge fan of this one. I was expecting a light and heady floral, but what I get is a big blast of mintiness. I guess that's the "frozen" part, but it really takes over on me. Reminds me of floral toothpaste. No thanks!

Weeeeeird.... O_O In the bottle it's oddly synthetic, soft, and really not something I want to put on. Upon deep sniffage, I think I'm getting... corn oil?

On my skin, the synthetic oddness starts to evaporate and is replaced by a soft, clean floral I can't quite identify. I'm guessing there's some light musk in this. The fragrance that's left is perfectly wearable, though not really me. The whole experience is pretty cool though, with the way the scent disperses really evoking images of those gossamer strands being stretched out. This is synesthesia at its finest.

Edit: Ya know what? I am getting some cucumber too, in the dry down. Just... weird....

Edit again: This actually ended up as a clean, creamy cucumber on me with whiffs of it remaining for 12 hours. I'm not a fan of cucumber/melon, but this is really lovely. Really glad I took a chance with the imp.

This is not at all what I expected from the above reviews, so either my nose is off, or the blend's pretty different this year.

Upon initial sniffage, syrupy almond and orange and some lemon verbena. Very hard candy. Someone said Hawian Punch earlier, and I get that, but I ain't gett'n no cherry.

On my skin the lemon verbena starts to take over and then *poofs* like it does on me. SB is still bright and sweet, but not as candyish, and a wierd sour/sweet note comes out. I'm not familiar with BPAL's blood note, but I'm guessing this is it. It's sort of off putting to me but not awful. After an hour or so, Stage Blood has almost a caramel smell and that's how it stays on me for hours. It's more foodie, less candy, and warm.

I never got the cherry or dragon's blood I was hope'n for, so booooo for that, but it's still not bad, and I shall keep the imp.

ETA:  Really loved how this ended up aging. Wish they'd do a re-release. Anyone looking to offload a bottle, hit me up.

BPAL keeps rewarding my gambling habit with full sized, untested LE's. This is fantastic. I have been wallowing in it for the past few days and enjoying myself thoroughly. If you aren’t familiar with mimosa, it’s a soft, creamy, candyish floral. In this, it blends with the jasmine to make a lovely, sweet, floral with a bit of edge to it.

On my skin, a definite smokiness blooms in the scent, I’m guessing from the musk. This dies back after a while, leaving me with well blended florals. The violet becomes more prominent, but it doesn’t go powdery on me (which it sometimes does) and in the last stages of dry down I get the vanilla bean, but it’s faint. It’s more like a lady wearing intoxicating perfume is sitting near you while eating a bowl of ice cream than a vanilla perfume.

This actually reminds me a bit of Mata Hari, not because the notes are the same, but because their throws are similar and both are dark takes on classic florals with unusual background notes. I like this much more though. My mom and best friend both huffed my arms for uncomfortably long periods while I was wearing this. My mom actually smelled BOTH arms, just in case they were different! My only caveat is that my skin seems to soak this up after a few hours, but on my clothes it lasts all day.

Overall, I would say this is a jasmine floral, but a dark, complex one with a sinister edge. An evil beauty in plum colored taffeta. Mmmmmmm… 5/5 stars!

I'm a gigantic fan of black licorice, so I was very eager to try this one.

In the bottle I get a cool, cologne smell with a slight tinge of anise in the background. Once I put Mary Shelley on, the anise really starts to come out with a powdery mintiness. It's soft, clean, and light and makes me think of mint Lifesavers candy. On the dry down, the mint/anise settles back and the cologne starts to peak out more. I think I get a little sandalwood and maybe some very faint tonka. I'm not getting any florals, and I'm not sure what BPAL's ozone and lightning notes smell like, but this doesn't feel aquatic to me at all, which is good. I'm not usually a fan of aquatics.

The soft, powdery sweetness of the anise in this makes me think of Black Anise, but where as that has a murkier, muskier quality, this is light, soft, and feminine, I could see this being nice in the summer. Unfortunately, it only lasts a few hours on me. I think I'll stick to Black Anise. 3/5 Stars

Hi Ishtar. Thanks for the recs. :-)

I guess my wording was a bit weird. I meant I wanted LE recommendations since you have to buy the big bottle! I've smelled Anne Bonny, and it was nice but a bit too strait up patchouli for me. Kabuki is on my list & I'm not sure if I can find the older LE's, but I'll definitely look into them. La Befana sounds intriguing though! The Lab doesn't tell you those "holiday sweets" are licorice. Might have to scrounge for that one.

I haven't smelled Golden Priapus, but it sounds a bit like Prosperous Flowers of the Elegant Twelve Seasons (LE), part of Lupercalia 2015. There's a sweetness to it, but also a woody/ resinousness that some people describe as cedar but reminds me more of sandalwood - and of course, the yummy patchouli.

For your Snake Oil/ Arcana combo you might try Voodoo. (GC) The almond, myrrh, and vanilla give it a sweetness, but the background's very foresty.

Oh nose! I was really looking forward to this one. I was hoping for sort of a rose confection scent, like turkish delight with rose water or rose creams. But this one hates me.

In the bottle it's not bad and almost what I was hoping for. I get cream soda with a splash of cherry cola and a bit of powdery rose in the background.

On my skin the roses go yuck though. There's a sour smell to the note, like roses that are old and wilted and need to be chucked. It goes away after 1/2 an hour but just kind of ruined this one for me.

EDIT: So I was ABOUT to absolve VL of it's stinkiness, as aging seemed to have rid it of whatever troublesome note was causing the sourness on me during dry down. Recently, I've busted this out again and have had some really nice results. Unfortunately, when I put the scent on just now for my edit..... It's doing it again.

So I guess it's some sort of fluxuating skin chemistry thing? So weird. Anyways, here's the review of Venus Libitina when she decides to behave herself on me.

Wet - Still syrupy-sweet, cherry cream soda, with a teeny hint of rose if I huff mightily.

Dry Down - The rose starts to bloom from the scent. It smells very realistic to me. Very Damask rose. The sweet sugariness and the rose battle for dominion, and this, I think, is the best stage. The rose comes out on top, but with it's petals thoroughly splattered with candied sweetness. To me it's candied rose, not rose candy. It's got a pretty good throw.

Lingering Vestiges - After 4 hours or so, this becomes a soft, sweet, powdery rose that's faint and close to the skin. It no longer has the syrupy tastiness that I really love, but it's still pleasant. This stage lasts a few more hours, but I usually reapply, cause I needs me some sugar!

I really like this when it doesn't go sour, and my husband, who's usual response to scents is "It doesn't smell like poop," became suddenly very "interested" when I wore this. ARGH! Blast you, fickle Venus. Why can't you just settle down and behave. You'd think the embodiement of romantic love and sex would be dependable and predictable, right?

I love patchouli and was hoping for something light enough I could wear it in the spring. This did not disappoint! Light enough to be worn in the spring, but depthy enough for the cooler months.

Totally yummy in the bottle. Sweet, sexy patchouli with a hint of leather.

On my skin the blend becomes more spicey and less sweet, the patchouli blends and the wood notes come out. It's a wonderful, pipe tobacco/ incense smell. This would be great on either sex.

Oh my goodness. This looks like fun - so here goes my first post!

My Fav's: Kyoto, Tezcatlipoca, Kitsune-Tsuki, Scherezade, Caterpillar

I'm most interested in anything NOT in the general catalog, since I hate investing in a big bottle I might not like. Any recs?

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AND - I've found that - Snake Oil (vanilla), Tezcatlipoca (chocolate/leather) , Sin (chocolate, cinnamon), & Satyr (resins) are all warm, gender neutral, patchouli smells that remind me of eachother, so if any of those are in your top 5, you might give the others a try.

For Dana O' Shee you might try the more potent "Eat Me" which also has a sort of vanilla cakeiness that is very tastey.

And for Black Rider lovers - have any of you tried "Faustus?" It's got really different notes, but still has an Old-spice powderyness that IMO puts them in the same ball park. Faustus is slightly more floral, but still masquline.