Lucchesa

The Little Sparrow has a kind of yellowy-green vibe on me. For the first couple of hours, it's perfumey, treading very close to soapy, with an almost lemony brightness. I wouldn't say this is nutty on me; rather, I get something like the hay note with some light sandalwood. I'm not perceiving any amber at first, though amber does always feel perfumey on me (in a good way). But the late drydown is entirely a warm golden amber. A sunshiny scent, perfect for August but also nice to brighten a December day.

I rejected my first Bow and Crown imp as too cologney and swapped it away, but I was recently frimped another and as my tastes have changed, I had to retest it. Wet on me skin, I got lavender, carnation, vanilla and white musk. White musk is usually bad on me, unless it's Jareth, but it isn't too high pitched here. The sage and cedar emerge as the lavender recedes, which it always seems to do on my skin. The leather is faint on me but a warm background presence. I wear a lot of unisex scents now, and Bow and Crown will definitely be one of them. I think this is a good time of year for it, too (December). It's a little sweet, a little musky, a little outdoorsy, a little spicy, and the overall feeling is cozy and warm. It has some throw (rare with my chemistry) and pretty good wear length too.

The Temptation of St. Nick is a charmer. Warm spicy nutty cocoa powder goodness, with decent wear length. The comparison to Mexican hot chocolate is accurate, though it's not overly foodie on me. I wouldn't have been able to identify the pistachio if I hadn't known it was in there, but I do love toasted nuts in a scent. I may wear it with Dia de los Reyes one of these days to see how they compare, but I'm delighted to have bottles of both.

Svarta Fonix Bokaflod is breaking my heart. There are a few BPALs that don’t bother to show up on my skin — I’m thinking of Hellfire and Buggre All This Bible off the top of my head. This is one of them. I get a very faint vague sweet spice, almost imperceptible even a few minutes after application. So disappointed! ETA My book is All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris. Since I’ve never read any of the Sookie Stackhouse books or seen True Blood, it will introduce me to a whole new world. Thanks, Puddin’ and Goblins!

Haunted is one of my favorite GCs, so I was excited to try Inside the Golden Amber of Her Eyeballs. I got golden amber and dark fuzzy musk but also lots of citrusy ti leaf, giving this a brighter feel than Haunted. Myrrh feels kind of fuzzy to me, too, and while I couldn't pick it out, it may have been adding to the furry vibe. I was really enjoying Inside the Golden Amber, but it didn't last long on me, which I might have expected given my skin's tendency to gobble up tea blends.

Cabras is very perfumey on me, which I think is the sage, ivy and juniper combo. Lots of clean, green ivy. I've been having trouble lately with sage going soapy on my skin in some of the newer blends, and it happens a little bit here as well. I didn't get any pine, which is usually a much better evergreen note on me than juniper. Cabras is pretty, but it's not the pine-dominant outdoor scent I was looking for.

Good Morning, London was exactly what I expected on me: an initial blast of lovely herbal lavender which my skin quickly devoured, leaving an old-fashioned golden amber single note. The amber did go a bit powdery after a couple of hours, but I didn't mind as it was still really nice. It is in fact quite a gorgeous amber scent, but I have many ambers I love, and I think I will pass the decant on to someone whose skin will let them hang onto both the notes.

Original Christmas Pudding decant. This is quite a morpher on me. It starts off perfumey, not foodie at all, but settles into a boozy plum. There is a stage where I can smell the suet accord, which freaks me out a little, but ultimately just adds depth to the holiday spices. I don't get a lot of custard -- it's not eggy or dairy-like on me, more like a rich boozy fruitcake. It lasts a long time, with a sugar-and-spice late phase. I don't wear a lot of foodies but this was nicer than I expected.

2015 Rose Red. I don’t wear much rose but this is a genuine fresh-cut red rose experience, from back in the day when red roses actually smelled like something. At first it’s green cut stem and red petals. There is also a dewy aquatic aspect to this scent. It ends up pure red rose With medium staying power. I don’t get much throw but that’s normal for my skin. If you love rose, you need this.

A Gaulish giant, believed to be the Gaul’s parallel to the god Mercury. Wild sage and hyssop, marigold and frankincense, lemon verbena and tobacco. I hate to be first review and not a rave, but Erriapus is not working with my skin chemistry. You know those high-end, French-milled lemon verbena soaps? That's basically what I'm getting, with a bit of musty marigold. I wonder if my skin has started turning sage into soap -- I got soap from The Crescent Moon, too. That would be tragic. After about an hour I start to get a little tobacco and frank but it's too late to save this on me.

Ruhe means quiet in German, and Ruhende Ziege mit Kitzchen is quiet on me. All the notes are lovely, snuggly autumnal ones (except I'm not so familiar with the castoreum, but it seems to be right in line with the rest of them). I agree with doomsday_disco that there is a cola vibe to it -- I was testing Studie einer Ziege on the other wrist where I got the syrupy cola labdanum, and there seemed to be a family resemblance though the only shared note is the clove. The brown musk is lovely, though I'm not getting much leather; the oudh is nothing to be scared of. This sits right in the middle of unisex, neither male nor female. It wears very close to the skin on me, and the wear length is less than average, though that may improve with aging. It's nice but I have enough comfort scents that I don't need a full bottle.

Suffragium was straight-up coca cola on me, and sure enough Studie einer Ziege shares that syrupy cola-like labdanum note, but Studie works much better on my skin. The tobacco and woods take it out of pepsico territory, into something a little richer and smokier, and the clove adds just the right amount of spiciness for me. I don't get much throw (which is normal for me) but it lasts a good while. This is very cozy and comforting. I like it!

2016 Maison en Pain d'Epices is complicated gingerbread. Foodies aren't my everyday go-to, but I do love the gingerbread note; it was everything else here that worried me. But it's surprisingly good. Milk chocolate often doesn't work on me, so I suspect this is at least semi-sweet. Thankfully, I can't really make out the mint, or the nekkos wafers. I just get warm spicy chocolate gingerbread that lasts all day as a skin scent and isn't as ridiculously sugary as the description might imply.

The first review on page 2 likens The Smiling Spider to spicy soap, and that is exactly the experience I had with it on my skin. Dry clove, bitter not sweet, with black musk and polished mahogany, and I suspect it's the furniture polish that creates the soapy sensation, which dominated the throw. The patchouli is very subtle on me. This one was a miss with my skin chemistry.

Artisjok generously shared a frimp of Dark Chocolate, Black Tobacco and Vetiver with me, and I am in love. Dark chocolate, really dark, at least 70% cacao. The vetiver is harsh for about 30 seconds, then it settles into that dark smoky goodness that goes perfectly with the chewy tobacco. Although I rarely get much sillage with my skin chemistry, there is a smoky throw a few inches from the skin on me. There is nothing ethereal about this scent. It is all about hedonism, rich intense lust for life. It's not foodie, but you can taste it, almost touch it. The chocolate becomes less distinct after time and just melds into the dark deep sexiness of this scent. Superlative.