Casablanca

Sharp lemony lavender. Lots of lavender, sweet lemon, and ozone. And a little cool, electric-white *zap* that brings elemi and clean eucalyptus to mind. In the drydown, I get a little powdery white musk; otherwise, this stays pretty true to its early life on my skin. ETA: Having just tried Virgo Side-Eye, the two smell virtually identical to me. Either my nose is broken, or my LL decant is really a Side-Eye oopsy (it may have been bottled that way). This could be why I was getting lemon, elemi, and eucalyptus... Mm dunno.

Nummy, at first. But a fast morpher away from that, sadly... 1. At first, I get lots of chai buttercream and a little scorched stick. Lovely. No, toasted marshmallow stick (the "scorch" appeared before the floof). 2. The buttercream vanishes. Cerberus quickly turns spicier, with pepper making me want to sneeze. 3. The marshmallow, stick, and chai vanish, leaving just scorched pepper. o.O That was all just the wet phrase, yo. Unfortunately, this is just peppery scorch with a hint of wood after that. I'll see how it settles and ages.

A surprisingly potent, sweet lavender, mingling in the first phase with orange. It's a little sugared, somehow -- like sugar cookies, sans cookies. It's also a little powdery in a white musk way. This sweet, almost sugary lavender and orange combine to remind me of Pere Noel. Behind these is a smooth, warm ambrette, a more mature element. I get only hints of the wildflowers, though some of the sugary impression I'm getting might be arising from the honey. I don't really notice honey on its own much here. I'll enjoy this decant.

Freshly applied, this brings out juicy-sweet pomegranate first, then a lightly tart geranium, and finally peach. The peach is mild and friendly rather than raw or syrupy. In drydown, I start smelling a little something grainy, like frankincense or sandalwood, for some reason. The black musk wafts out, surprisingly gentle, adding a little mischief or a dark sass but not bringing the scent down upon it. The whole blend shifts toward earthiness, but it's an earthiness with some 'tude, presided over by red pom. I like this. It's a bit witchy and tricksy.

Oh my geez; at first this really smells like sugared orange slice candy. Basically exactly. On my skin, though, this quickly steps back into more of a peach impression paired with sweet orange skins. Yes, the skins... The sugared orange candy has morphed into orange skins that are sweet rather than bitter. From that point on, this blend is pleasant, but rather less wow.

Sugary baked peaches and vanilla cream, with whiffs of deep-fried pastry, scant coconut shreds, and golden-orange amber. As TIAPAMDEP dries, it starts to smell like... peach and cream churros? Or maybe peach and cream funnel cake? This is kind of a peach carnival.

Frankincense, dried red roses, and myrrh with soft orris, labdanum, and red clove. In the bottle, Crucifixion smells to me like frankincense, dried red roses, and a little myrrh sweetened with clove. On my skin, my first thought is that the red roses are too dried for me, which was my only concern about this one... but after a few moments on me, they become more like very mature roses, perhaps in their last night of full bloom before they start to wither. The frankincense is prominent up front, too. It's not as grainy as in some frank blends; it's more smooth. After a while I find the labdanum coming out, but it always seems like a note permanently in stealth mode to me. Around the same time, the clove grows on my skin, but it's still acting as a support note. This is a spicy floriental rather than a floral or resinous spice, if that makes sense. The throw on me is a lower than I expected; age might change this, but it's a close skin scent for now. I like this as it is, but I'm very eager to know what it'll be like in a few months or more. ETA: This is beautiful layered with Rose Cross for a fresher and deeper combined rose note.

The palest of green mosses, mist rose, white pear, white incense, white sandalwood, and a hint of vanilla. Pale, misty mosses indeed. I spilled a little Virgin and the Unicorn on my arm so it's stronger than it would normally be -- but wow. I'm sitting in a Virgin cloud. I feel a bit lost in its initial dense mist of tranquil, pale green moss and a muted pinkish-purple floral that seems to be the roses mingled with a more delicate flower I can't place. I also catch a fresh, glistening pear, not dominant, and more like a sheer overlay. As this dries, the faint pear recedes, and incense comes out strongly on my skin, emerging from the mist. I don't know what kind of incense it is, but it smells white, as listed, and powdery. The powdery quality doesn't bother me in this case, though. After a while, the white sandalwood comes out, its paleness closely pairing it to the incense. I never pick out vanilla. I find Virgin perfumey. Not alcohol-smelling, but perfumey. It's also summery, a blend filled with the muted colors of lazy dreams, the colors you might dream in if you fell asleep in a sunlit hammock, your eyelids awash in light.

I love Cozy Sweater and an Apple Cider, especially as the apple cider note has come out more with age. Wearing it to bed has been a comforting transition to fall this year. If it came back in the Weenies, I'd probably be in line for a backup. So I had to blind-bottle Fuzzy Peach Sweater. A peach version of CSAC with tea? Please. I'm glad I went with this 'cause it's gorge. Freshly applied, I get lots of warm-laundry sweater sweetened with vanilla, peach, and a hint of bergamot. The black tea note appears, albeit soft and subdued, sometime in drydown. I also get a bit of perfumey musk, like a neutral skin musk. London Fog drink recipes sometimes include lavender, though it seems a newer ingredient and not traditional. Huffing this blend, I can see how there could be lavender in its mix. I get something contributing a slight floral vibe to the complexity of the whole, but it's not a note that stands out on its own.

Pretty-pretty springtime peach, sugar-syrupy rather than raw, poured over vanilla wafer cookies and sweet cream. The peach in this one is pretty and playful like youth, like a spring-print dress twirling in the sunshine. The vanilla cookie part smells specifically like vanilla wafers. (It took several days of rest for the vanilla cookie note to lean so wafer-specific, and also to blend well with the peach. ) This is a very sweet blend. It's certainly gourmand, but... I think on the Grand Scale of Foodiness, this is less foodie to me than something like Banana Bread or Oatmeal and Apple Spice Cookies. In case that helps anyone... Glad I took a chance with this beauty.

Acrid cucumber is my first thought; then this develops a chemical note that reminds more of glue and turpentine. This is definitely the smell of a product that bears a warning label to only open it in ventilated areas. It doesn't get better.

Oh, smoky smoked smokeness. Right out of the gate, 'Tis Strange offers great black billows of smoky incense that seems to clock in somewhere in the frankincense-champaca spectrum at first, but later reminds me more of sandalwood. With some warming on the skin, a black or blackened leather note wafts up. I can't tell if it's black leather or a blackness borrowed from the incense smoke, so let's call it smoke-blackened leather. The suit weathered battlefield conditions, and whosoever knows its original color isn't here to vouch for it. I don't really notice mossy stone, but there are plenty of shadows to go around in this blend. There's also a bit of something earthy and grounding, almost like patchouli. The effect of this blend reminds me of Midnight Bonfire, more than anything. ETA: And actually, similar to Midnight Bonfire, I keep smelling a sweet little floral note in this. I was ignoring it, but it really just wants to stand out, so I came back to mention it. It might be my skin.

Kneel Down offers huge puffs of powdery orris and violet on my skin, with a light, creamy magnolia background. This was a generous free bottle for me recently! Unfortunately, its notes are diametrically opposed to my vibe and tastes. I know someone who might enjoy the gift, though, so I get to pass the love.

Mm, delicious black plum. This plum is juicy, rich, and dark; an earthy brown fig rounds it out. A clean, astringent white tea drifts out soon after, still while the blend is wet on skin. And for a while, that's what the drider is: dark plum, earthy fig, clean white tea. In drydown, some soft spice -- mostly black pepper -- shows up in hints. And I smell a little something light and grainy, like white sandalwood. No such note is listed, but I keep noticing something like that, pale and meditative. I really like this one. It's in my cart.

"Serene as a twilit shadow" aptly describes this smoky lavender-plum incense. The lavender and plum stand out to me first. The lavender is airy and a bit sweet; it's also dark with the indigo note from some blends with "indigo musk" and similar designations... although I can't think of what those blends have been. The plum is mild and a bit surface-level, rather than the deeper, richer plums of some limited edition blends. Smoky incense is also prominent, though, especially beginning in drydown. I'm loving the smoke note of this one. A while after drydown, I seem to amp a ton of indigo musk from this, bringing it to a much more perfumey place. Too perfumey for me... but I did enjoy it before this point. For those who wear it better, this would be a good blend for evenings and rainy days. The blend as a whole is a bit simple, but it's in no way a bad thing. This drow is perfectly up to either layering or standalone wear.

First-blush impression of the Therapist on my skin: Red champaca! This is a very incensey blend for the therapist, with a healthy dash of brimstone for the tiefling. Think incense on steroids: The white and red sandalwoods blend right into the champaca and frankincense, with champaca singing the loudest, but the harmony notes are also fully present in support. Brimstone smolders nearby, smelling very like the glowing contents of a brazier. Tielfling Therapist is a bit of an incense OD for me, but this could be a strong staple for incense lovers. I love the mental image of the brick-red tiefling offering support in a safe, meditative space. It's a character inspiration, really.

Warm spices, black coffee, and black coffee grounds with hints of earth. Sparse cream, but what I find of it reminds me of the cream from the little plastic cups at diners. Dry and unsweetened. On me, the spices are up front at first, but soon take a back seat to the black coffee. And mounds and mounds of coffee grounds -- this is a busy diner morning. This is a blend for a bleary-eyed winter holiday morning at a local diner.

Peach and... stuff. I don't like to genderize fragrance, but the non-peach part of this blend is a little woody and rustic on me when this blend is freshly applied. Not quite savory, but almost... It actually also smells a bit chemical. In drydown, this is still mostly peach for me, but I can catch whiffs of oakmoss and sage. After this has dried, it's peach and a background that's a tiny bit chemical. This one might need more rest.

Peach Brandy SO smelled lovely in the bottle when it first arrived and it still smells pretty good... in the bottle. When I wear it, I get only a little peach from it. The fruit is borderline boozy, but isn't offering a lot. And no SO even after drydown. I think maybe my skin is just kind of becoming one with this one and not leaving much for me to smell.

I love this one's name, and also its blending. Soft, comforting white tea, chamomile, and other cozy herbs melt into ample fluffs of fuzzy amber fur. The notes all go beautifully together. The tea and ambery fur are most prominent. The tea is light, airy, and only a little astringent; the fur reminds me more of a comfy, silky stuffed animal than a literal woods mammal. The herbs infuse the blend evenly, and I love them. I'm not a fur perfume person, but the amber, tea, and herbs are so nice together, I'm still tempted to bottle this one.

Optician opens as so spring-like and refreshing. Sweet, almost candied strawberries under a sheer, gossamer drape that reminds me -- if anything -- like the gossamer vanilla of Zorya Polunochnaya. There's a little whiff of the refreshing eucalyptus at first that returns periodically. The pink bergamot is also light and shows up on my skin after a while. By that point, this has gone a touch powdery, kind of white musk-powdery. I love everything about this except that bit o' dust, and also that it's kind of short-lived. The gossamer vanilla strawberries are really a treat.

I remembered that pomelo was citrus but not what type. On smelling this one, it was clearly grapefruity, but a little different. Perhaps a little more tang, a little more cheek. Like pomelo is a cheeky grapefruit. 🙂 In this fragrance, it actually smells both like pink and white grapefruit to me. The tang of white, but the pinker sweetness of pink grapefruit juice. I like the pomelo. I'm not a white musk person, though, and it adds its usual powdery perfumey dust over the tasty fruit here.

Lots of pine for this park ranger, backed by plenty of dried leaves, lichens, mosses, and sunny woodsiness. The sunny woodsiness of the blend reminds me most of Theoi Nomioi. If I run out of other pine blends, I could definitely see this as a lovely and affordable alternative.

First impression: Sweet flowery orris and a grounding frankincense. This is very soft, almost not there. As this warms on the skin, a little cedar and herbs come out. The blend becomes soft cedar and a little mossy bay and dusting of other herbs overlying a frankincense base.

This is lovely: a warm, tropical mango suffusing green tea. And maybe a little whiff of musk binding things. The mango is a bold, fruity, almost pulpy swirl of red and orange-gold. It's certainly not shy in this blend -- and it tilts the perfume toward full tropical isle. The vague sense of perfumey musk is putting me off a bit, but otherwise, I love this one and its unabashed fruity summer vibes.