Lucchesa

I completely agree with z_z on this one. Smoky, somnolent, inky, autumnal. I don’t know about poppy leaves — I get the lab’s beautiful opium note, and this pairs gorgeously with Event Horizon. Elegant, mysterious, femme f$@king fatale.

Spring starts out as a whole faceful of spring flowers. It’s hard to pick out individual notes but it seems like there are bulb flowers like narcissi and jonquils, big pink smells like peony, big purple smells like lilac and wisteria — all the flowers, all at the same time. It takes about an hour on me for the incense notes to emerge. Not nag champa, which is awful on me. It’s almost an opium sort of incense, but it’s light enough that it doesn’t drown out the flowers. This scent is very not me, and very not September, and yet I really enjoyed testing it. It’s undeniably beautiful, and if you love florals and lightweight incense, you should have this one.

The clover note in this trio is beautiful and reminiscent of Passionate Shepherd, but in combination with the fern and wild lettuce it didn’t work on me. One or both is too high pitched here. I mostly got this out of curiosity about those two notes — I’ll avoid them in future.

I rarely wear florals, but for a couple weeks each year when the lilacs are blooming, I want to go around in a cloud of lilac. I’ve run out of Eusapia, and I’m hoarding my last quarter bottle of Cave of Treasures, so this is a very welcome addition to my Lilac stash. Lilac and more lilac. I’m sure the vanilla and amber are supporting this somehow, but the overall impression is exactly that cloud of lilac I’m after, with great throw. Pure springtime loveliness.

I didn’t even get a decant of this one because the pineapple just sounded weird. But last year in the crone swap I received a whole bottle and learned what I was missing. These notes harmonize surprisingly well with a lovely balance between juicy and bright and dry and earthy. It’s mostly dead leaves and the sweet, tart pineapple with patchouli grounding; the vetiver doesn’t get much play. And wear length was only 3-4 hours on my (dry middle aged) skin, so, reapply! It pairs beautifully with Autumn Leaves & Haitian Patchouli hair gloss.

Up front, Totality is a whole lot of fig. As it snuggles in on my skin, I start to get the notes I'm really here for -- the patch, the tobacco, the pitch, but they are all cozied up with the fig, and it's not nearly as gnarly a patch as I expected from "abyss of black patchouli." Gentle frank and amber are there but lightly, air notes balancing out the earth notes. This is exactly what I wanted -- the earthy sweetness of fig and tobacco, the grounding of patch, something dark and something golden. Perfect as the days get shorter. I can tell this one is going to be a favorite.

My Il Matto is not nearly as dangerous as starbrow's. (@starbrow, I think we are scent cousins -- I always find your reviews so informative & fun to read and often your reactions are similar to mine). In fact, my Il Matto is the ashtanga yoga teacher at the studio that shut down during the pandemic, half my age and adorably intense. My Il Matto swears by selenite to balance your chakras. He's been smudging his apartment with sage though he worries that it's appropriation. He smells like incense, sandalwood and palo santo and copal. He would never defile his body by smoking tobacco but he might purify himself with it (and worry that it was appropriation). The palo santo and copal are the strongest notes on me, so this has a new age shop feel to it. It's quite nice even if it has less soot and tobacco than I'd like.

Ice Age Baton smells exactly like white chocolate on me. Which is not like real chocolate at all. More like a weird simulacrum of chocolate, wrapped in plastic. The eventual drydown is quite pretty, vanilla and amber and pale tobacco, and it lasts a good long time.

Lilitu on me is dominated by sweet oud (nothing scary here) and lavender. Typically, the lavender starts out strong, and it even lasts somewhat longer than it tends to on my skin. This is very reminiscent of a beautiful dark lavender oud bath oil I used to have from the Christmas Carol release. Once the lavender fades about an hour in, I’m left with a perfumy oud. There’s a floral, presumably orchid, but I honestly can’t identify any of the other notes: no leather, no tobacco, no carnation, no tea. It’s one of the better ouds I’ve ever tried, but I do wish some of my favorite notes were able to be appreciated here.

Forever With Unopened Eye starts out with a sharp, somewhat high-pitched evergreen. I usually wear cypress well, so I'm wondering if the hemlock might be at fault. It passes through a stage where it's mostly soil, with evergreen note still quite apparent. Ultimately I do get some incense but no lavender, which I had stopped expecting, frankly, because lavender tends to start off strong on me and get devoured by my skin within 15 or 20 minutes. This just isn't working well with my skin chemistry.

Cerberus'ish is very foodie. I know, right? Lots and lots of buttercream and honey up front, with just a hint of chai spice. Once it dries down, I get roasted (but not scorched) marshmallow in addition to the buttercream, but I'm quite jealous of the people who got the smoke and the stick.

Little Atalanta is almost entirely dead leaves on me (which I love) which eventually mellow down enough to perceive a softer, sweeter leather note. I was afraid pleather would smell like plastic, but it does not.

Despite the bitter almond in the description, Eclipse is a very sweet almond scent which opens with the almond-cherry-marzipan confusion common to almond notes. Once it settles down it's sweet vanilla almond -- not as sweet as Hellcat -- which is very pleasant though unremarkable. There might be a trace of frankincense grounding things (this is a very old imp). I don't get any cinnamon, and while I know I killed a heliotrope once, I can't remember what it smelled like. I quite like Eclipse, but not passionately. Try if you love almond scents like Hecate.

The Lion is a lovely, warm amber on me, like a beam of autumn sunshine. I don't get any particular spices, just the way a good amber can harbor its own spiciness somehow. It's spicy amber, not amber plus cinnamon or clove or whatever. It's not a strong scent, and the wear length is only average on me, but it's something I often choose for unfamiliar work situations because it feels professional but not impersonal or generic. It projects the warm glowing confidence I want as my own.

There’s a lot of good stuff in Calico Jack, but there’s also a lot of aquatic, and that’s what’s makes this a pass for me. Lovely spicy musky woody salty leather and laundry detergent.