Lucchesa

I'm glad I got to try Castitas, but it's really not for me. I used it as an after-shower moisturizer, and while I appreciate the gentle rice flower and vanilla, the cream becomes distractingly buttery on my skin. Without the cream this would be a win, but it's not a note I can wear. (If anyone cares, it's similar to the cream note in Young Pine Saplings and Phantom Cow.)

I missed Meditation Buddy when the Liliths dropped, probably because I was worried about the rose. I needn't have been. It's a really nice one (second time recently white rose has worked on me; I'll need to remember that). Testing blind, I got rosy sandalwood, that chewy salt note I love, and vanilla. The frankincense is a lighter variety than, say, Penitence or Ann Bonny. I wasn't able to make out much of the candle note, which is a shame because it's one of my favorites, or the Florida water. But there's enough going here to make it interesting. Airy from the frankincense, grounding from the salt, a really unique scent. I do wish my home smelled like this one.

Lilith Nightingale starts out lovely on me, sweet cream and dates. Then it goes sideways on me. I don't know what ayurvedic spices comprise, but something in there is wonky with my skin chemistry. Not enough to wash it off or anything, just not something I was interested in wearing again. Hours later, having forgotten all about it, it's back to lovely. Soft sweet cream with gentle fig and date. No throw (normal on me) but lasts really well.

Totentanz is terrific. Lots of red musk, but the blood variety, which is dry and coppery instead of fruity. Mainly red musk, in fact, which is par for the course with red musk on me. But the other notes are there, pepper and clove tickling the nose, leather and patch. (If I'm being honest, I couldn't make out the opoponax.) Dry, spicy, sexy red musk parading around in leather. It is NOT a sweet scent on me: totally unisex. It's strong, with more throw than I usually get, but it wasn't super long lasting on me. I'm so glad I got to try this!

I let this decant rest only a couple of hours from the mail, so perhaps I should retest, but either it hasn't aged well or my skin is damping down some of the notes that are prominent on other reviewers. On me, Tanuki No Senkimochi is a musky myrrh. Maybe the faintest whiff of anise. Maybe the faintest whiff of cypress. No smoky woods. I would worry that it was my nose except that the Totentanz on my other wrist is so distinct. It does last a long time as a skin scent, but I was hoping for a lot more anise and woods.

The iris ran away with The Grindhouse on me. At first there was a lovely sexy red musk, not too stompy, with hints of vanilla, clove, and interesting florals, but as it dried down, the iris note became more and more prominent until eventually I smelled like somebody's great aunt's keepsakes. Not exactly what I was going for.

Old Buddhist Monk does start out funky, and I'd forgotten there was champa when I bought the decant secondhand. Champa is never good on me, but it isn't actually a problem here. The funk goes away in just a couple of minutes of settling on my skin, and I get a soft, powdery orris and sandalwood. Maybe hiba wood too, not a note I'm super familiar with, but I don't think I smell any balsam. It ends up a skin scent, kind of dry and crumbly, with powdery woods and a hint of champa. I don't think I'll keep this one, but I'm happy to have tried it.

Darjeeling Tea, Cocoa Dust, & Incense ends up mostly incense on me. At the beginning I get a little tea and a little cocoa powder, but they quickly give way to the incense. They're never completely gone, but they are playing a very subtle backup, and the incense is the star here. And it contains some nag champa, which is the one variety of incense I avoid whenever possible. I would second starbrow's wish for incense to be more specifically labeled, as I would have steered clear with anything labeled champaca or nag champa.

I enjoy coconut scents, and Coconut, Smoked Vanilla & Fig is very pleasant. I get mostly coconut and a vanilla with no appreciable smokiness, and a little fig underlying it all. A nice balance of the notes, but it doesn't knock my socks off. No throw (which is normal for me) but this is still appreciable if I sniff my wrist the next morning.

I don't do white florals -- except gardenia. My parents had a gardenia bush right outside their front door. Gardenia, Tobacco Leaf & Oakmoss is almost a single-note gardenia on me, incredibly realistic. It's heady. It's gorgeous. It has monster throw (something I rarely get, but three hours after applying I was heading to chat with a friend on her front porch and hoped she wasn't scent sensitive). Great wear length, too. I love the tobacco note but it's very understated here, just the tiniest whiff, and the oakmoss is barely perceptible on me. This is a femme fatale with a gardenia corsage pinned to her slinky dress sashaying through a Bogart film. I just don't wear florals that often, but this blend really is magnificent, and if gardenia is in your wheelhouse, don't miss out.

Caramel, Smoked Chilis and Black Vanilla is really foodie. (Duh!) Wet it's a strong butterscotch smell on me, with just a bit of a smoked pepper vibe. The chilis never get much stronger on me; it's lots of sticky vanilla caramel all the way. Serious comfort food scent if you're a caramel lover. This has some throw -- more than I usually get with my skin chemistry -- and lasts a long time.

Cedarwood and smoked vanilla is lovely restrained cedar, almost like a polished cedar, with a sheer vanilla, not particularly smoky on me. Unfortunately my skin ate this one up -- no throw and only a couple hours of wear.

La Death should have been a slam dunk on me, and in fact the later drydown is super gorgeous, but this hits my skin and turns weirdly sour. I'm not sure what the culprit is -- maybe whatever makes the cashmere inky gray? At any rate, some thing or combination here is not meshing well with my skin. I'm not really able to pick out the leather, the tobacco is sharp instead of smooth, it just doesn't go right on me. And then a couple hours later it all came together in a lovely, soft, dark unisex way. If the drydown could be reached earlier on my skin, I'd be all in.

It was interesting to read all the other reviews and not find a match with my experience until the last. On me, too, the bitterness was uppermost. I thought it paired beautifully with the poem, but for the first hour or so it was sharp and unappealing on my skin. The later drydown is actually really beautiful -- the bitterness mellows out and becomes interesting against the beeswax and frank and the slightly smoky florals. But the opening isn't worth it for me.

Enkindled Spring is really pretty. I didn't get as much peony as I had hoped for, but it's lots of spring flowers in pinks and yellows with some fresh green leaves. The florals outlast the greenery. It reminds me of 1950s era spring finery -- easter bonnets, white gloves, fitted bodices. It's not my usual thing but was fun to try, and I think floral lovers would really enjoy this.

Aquatics tend to go straight up laundry detergent on my skin, but about a year ago someone frimped me a tester of Aegir (lavender, salt water, guiac wood, and cedar) and it was magnificent on me, and since then I've been realizing how much I love the salt note, so I was hoping this would be similar to Aegir. Nope. I got only a little salt at the beginning, and a whole lot of upscale lavender laundry detergent. Sigh.

I just received a 51 as a frimp I can send you, and I’m sure I have an extra imp of Tzadikim Nistarim as well as Bastet and Blood Kiss (they didn’t make the short list, but they’re faves of mine). It looks like I have a duplicate of Aperotos Eros, too. And of The Carousel! If you PM me your address, I’ll get them off to you. That will pare down your list a little. And try the For Sale thread — it’s a great place to find $1 imps while you’re still figuring out what works on you and what doesn’t.

Crucifixion is one of those blends where if I have the description in front of me, I can make out every last note. Wet, it was myrrh and frankincense and rose, and I worried because resins/rose combos usually turn the rose sour on my skin. Here that happened only briefly. I could smell the soft orris, and the cola-like labdanum, and a tiny bit of clove, though it didn't last long on me. The rose faded as well after an hour or two, at which point the myrrh and labdanum become the dominant notes. I'm not sure I have any other scents where they are combined -- there's the soft, murky myrrh, its powdery qualities enhanced by the orris, and the golden labdanum, and they work much better than I would have expected. It's a skin scent, no throw, which is basically normal on my skin, but it lasts quite a long time.

Wet, Orpheus Charming Animals is a lot of woody myrrh with some non-traditional florals, but as it dries down the cognac note becomes more and more prominent. It really does give the feeling of green cognac, which is a cooler variant of the usual warm brown liquor. Olive blossom can go soapy on me but does no such thing here. This actually works better on me than I had expected -- it doesn't read as floral after the first few minutes but as a smooth, mellow, perfectly unisex cologne. No throw (normal for my skin) and average wear length. ETA the painting was restored recently:

On me, used as an after-shower moisturizer, Ira is all about the vetiver. The blood orange is juicy, the patch is dry and a little gnarly, and the vetiver is dark and smoky and lasts for hours and hours. This is my fresh sample; I also recently purchased some aged Ira and will update when I've tried it. This is going to pair beautifully with Determination TAL for those days when I really need to get shit done.

Thirding Tzadikim Nistarim! It’s one of my favorites!

@ladyphlogiston So, I went through my spreadsheet looking for currently available GCs with a lot going on. I avoided the foodies, heavy forest scents and florals -- I just don't wear florals and can't really weigh in on them. And the list tends towards the unisex because that's the way I roll. Also, some of my favorites are things like Haunted (amber and black musk) and Sloth (vetiver and myrrh) that are amazingly complex feeling for having only a couple of listed components. But here are some ideas! First I would think about the other Aztec-themed scents, as I've always considered them related: Centzon Tetochtin: Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood Tenochtitlan: Amber, hyssop, coriander, epazote, Mexican sage, prickly pear and Mexican tulip poppy Tezcatlipoca: Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal's flowers Xiuhtecuhtli: Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms Aperotos Eros: benzoin, Indian musk, massoia bark, myrrh, ambrette seed, galbanum, bergamot, and fir. Baba Yaga: Spell-soaked herbs and flowers, cold iron, broom twigs, bundles of moss and patchouli root, and moth dust Bastet (cardamom! So good! As is the related Bast from American Gods, which is a little less sweet): Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus Blood Kiss -- a little foodie with the cherry and vanilla but it's complex and sexy: vanilla and honey with clove, red cherries, vetiver, soporific poppy, blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk Calico Jack if you're not averse to aquatics: Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, plundered spices over worn leathers, rough musk, and salty wooden floorboards Cleric (I can't wear this because of the champaca): Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute Croquet if you like citrus: Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk --also, How Doth the Little Crocodile, Schrodinger's Cat Druid: Woolen robe, ancient trees, fertile soil, wild herbs, spring grasses, and burgundy pitch incense Elf (this I adore, despite the violet): Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry Evil (really good aged): opium tar, tobacco absolute, green tea, black plum, kush, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, and costus root Kali (my notes for this say only, "Too much going on."): sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey Kubla Khan (champaca AND jasmine, not for me): Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine Le Lethe if red musk isn't a problem for you: Red musk and sweat-damp golden skin musk with labdanum, golden amber, nutmeg, tobacco absolute, black orchid, and hemlock accord Lyonesse: Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss. Mage : gurjum balsam, Sumatran dragon's blood resin, olibanum, galangal, oleo gum resin, and frankincense Morocco, a perennial favorite that has never worked on me: exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia Nephilim (on me the cypress took over but there are a lot of great notes here including cardamom): Holy frankincense and hyssop in union with earthy fig, defiled by black patchouli and vetiver, with a chaotic infusion of lavender, cardamom, tamarind, rosemary, oakmoss and cypress No. 93 Engine: Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage Oblivion (my best friend's favorite, she's on her third bottle): Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron Old Demons of the First Class: Siberian musk, black clove, opoponax, tonka, black pepper, and neroli Ozymandias (looks like this is discontinued, though): Dry desert air, dry and hot, passing over crumbling stone megaliths and plundered golden monuments, bearing a hint of the incense of lost Gods Plunder (spices!): tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg Seraglio: Sweet almond, Mysor sandalwood, Bulgarian Rose, neroli, nutmeg, clove and orange peel Sybaris if you can do violet (I can't): Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean The Black Tower: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine The Bow and Crown of Conquest: sage, carnation and cedar with lavender, vanilla, white musk and leather The Caterpillar: Heavy incense notes, carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver The Great Sword of War: Mandarin, tonka, saffron, black tea, cocoa, tobacco leaf, sanguine red musk and five classical herbs of conflict The Scales of Deprivation: lemon peel, white sage, frankincense, lavender fougere, sandalwood, vetiver and labdanum Uruk: Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna I know it's super long but it's easier than working your way through the website -- hope this helps! ETA VetchVesper and I were answering at the same time! And our lists overlap a fair bit!

Only one review? The Horned God is good stuff if you like cedar. It's strong cedar, like pushing your face into a cedar tree that someone has recently harvested bark from. There's other stuff growing in the grove around you -- nettles, which you don't want to push your face into, other green and woody things. I don't get lemon or florals, and the frankincense is the one in Cathedral that smells like cedar on me anyway. The Horned God sticks around a good long time. I will be putting this decant with my TALs but once in a rare while I may want to smell this gloriously of cedar.

Her Strong Enchantments Failing does smell like a fey scent. (Perfect for reading War of the Oaks with the BPAL bookclub!) Wet, it's purple fruit and smoky incense. I am perpetually in search of a blackberry that doesn't go all berry candy on my skin, and unfortunately this isn't quite it, because it goes through a phase which is pure berry Bubbalicious. But the drydown is worth it. The sweetness recedes and the blackberry gets entangled in the incense -- it's not a vetiver smoke or anything acrid. It's a pale, dry incense, not a nag champa. The effect is dark and light at the same time, earthy and ethereal. I'm going to try this in my scent locket to see if I can avoid the berry bubblegum phase.

I generally can't do aquatics, but I have realized over the past few months how much I love the sea salt note, and that's the note that's uppermost when Two Westerners hits my skin. And it's glorious -- salt and wood and beeswax, vanilla and old books. I'm getting no red musk out of this, a note that usually dominates on me. Unisex and not too sweet. This was almost an instant bottle, except that it faded away in about two hours. I'm hanging onto my decant in case age improves the wear length -- I like it so much I almost don't care. I love zanzoku_zen's description as Lights of Men's Lives (probably my favorite GC) taking up a pirate's life.