Lucchesa
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Everything posted by Lucchesa
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Mitral Valve starts out, as nearly every lavender scent does on me, with a strong blast of lavender -- here a honeyed lavender. As it dries down, the lavender recedes in place of juniper and cool musk. There's an herbal backdrop of hops, but I never really get much carnation. The lavender fades quickly, as it always does on me, leaving a honeyed herbal evergreen, soft and lovely. I'm going to try this decant as a sleep scent and see how it works.
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2014 Magnificent Autumn. This is green leaves with snapped stems and dry leaves crunching underfoot, with a little smokiness and very little sweetness on me. It's really beautiful but quite fleeting on my skin, and since it scratches the same itch that my bottle of October does for me, I'm going to let this decant go to someone else.
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2019 Dark Pumpkin Mead. This is yummy. Wet, it's buttery caramelized pumpkin with a hint of maple syrup. As it dries down I get a hint of the fizziness and fermentation of the mead, and the spices begin to emerge, but it's never an in-your-face pumpkin pie spice, it's quite mellow. I really like this -- it's warm and comforting -- but it's not a category I actually wear very often. If you love Dwarven Ale, you must try this.
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Wax Cylinders is lovely and belongs to the beeswax/candle genre I enjoy, with Lights of Men's Lives, Hanerot Halalu, etc. There's no smoke here, just subtly honeyed beeswax as the predominant note, with gentle leather and woods backing it up. Elegant and gender neutral, this is a beautiful addition to this category. Wear length is a little less than average but this one is worth reapplying.
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The dominant note for me in Southern Cloudywing is mate. This may be the first BPAL I've tried with this note, and it's quite realistic. As it dries down I get orange zest and tonka but I'm not getting much cardamom and my skin tends to devour the tea note. It really seems to be a mate blend. Interesting but not quite my thing.
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Wow, no one has reviewed this for a LONG time. I have a bottle of Melainis, bought second hand. It is very smooth, lovely dark resins and musks, a hint of fruit and caramel and clove, though I couldn't make out the anise which was specifically what drew me to this scent. Teak always goes in a caramel direction on me, so I expected that to meld with the caramel note, but everything has aged together into a whole that expresses dark, sweet longing rather than the individual notes. It wears close to the skin on me, no throw (not unusual for my chemistry).
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Assassin is pretty great on me. Sweet, sexy leather -- I would say that while still unisex, this is one of the more femme leather scents I have found in BPAL. The pitch is low-key when wet and stays very much in the background. Good wear length on me and a little throw, which is good on my skin. Really nice.
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Artificier (my imp has an extra i) definitely smells like it would be right at home in the Steamworks collection, somewhere between Galvanic Goggles and Robotic Scarab. It's bright, unisex, not specifically metallic on me. There is probably some ozone in here. I like it. No throw, which is typical for my skin, and wear length is only average or a little less on me.
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Chestnuts and Hearth Smoke was in my stocking this morning, and frankly I'm struggling to find the chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts is possibly my favorite smell in the whole world, but here I'm getting lots of that hearth smoke note, similar to the fire-red tobacco in Orion or the fireplace smoke in Hearth 2017, which is not the best smoke note on me. It softens nicely but wears very close to the skin. I was really hoping for a blast of roasting chestnuts. I will give this some time in hopes that the chestnut note will develop with a little aging.
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The Butterfly on me is a bright, sharp bergamot with amber and some chewy petitgrain. I'm not sure I'm finding the tonka at all. It's funny, my first BPAL love was Alice, with milk & honey, carnation, rose and bergamot, and it's looking like the only one of those notes I can reliably wear is carnation. The others are all iffy on me, and my taste has gotten darker and more unisex. Here the bergamot is just too bright and high-pitched for me. It's better after about an hour as it all settles down into a kind of citrusy warmth, and it's definitely an upbeat scent, but it isn't me.
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R'Lyeh came to me as a lab frimp and is one of the few available GCs I have not already tried because aquatics never work on me. I have to say it was surprising. It's much sweeter than your run of the mill aquatic and does not go into dryer sheet territory. If I hadn't read the notes (or what there are of them) before testing, I would have described this as more of a fruity-floral incense than a dark aquatic. Is there opium in this? It feels more like it belongs in the same category as Darkness or Event Horizon than Sea Foams Blood or Kumari Kundam. I rather like it, but given how many BPALs I love, I'm unlikely to reach for it often.
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Yew Trees is a skin chemistry fail on me. Berries rarely work for me, but I generally love pine notes. Somehow the combination brought out the worst in both on my skin. So I got something like sickly Pine-Sol. Swaps.
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Pipe tobacco is a scent my skin chemistry tends to devour (Hellfire -- I get nothing). I keep trying, hoping for that pipe tobacco holy grail. Frequently the same disappearing act happens with tea. Sadly, Mr. Young on my skin is clean, almost soapy, with a discreet aftershave. If you like Dirty and other scents that are advertised as clean, this ought to fit the bill nicely, and it's definitely work appropriate. I just wanted some tea and some pipe tobacco to go with it and they don't show up on my skin. But I'm so pleased I got to try this thanks to the PIF of a generous forumite!!!
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Yes. As advertised, Birthday Surprise is pure deep dark gooey chocolate. It's not terribly complex, but it's not trying to be. If chocolate scents work on you, this one is terrific. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Decent wear length, not much throw (which is normal on me).
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In the Forest is predominantly a leather scent on me. I love it. There's a grounding of deep woody notes, the pitch and patchouli. I don't really get copal or oakmoss, maybe just a hint of sage and saffron, and the clove on me is only really perceptible in the wet stage. But it's really all about the leather, and it is not a Red Rider leather on me but a more worn, softened leather. On the masculine side of gender neutral. Rugged, sexy, comforting. It lasts all day, too. I'm so glad a super generous PIFer sent me the decant. Now where do I find more?
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On me, Yule Buddies is that gingerbread man wearing a leather jacket but also smoking a pipe stuffed with cherry tobacco. It has decent wear length on me. Cozy, sexy, total win. I love this!!!
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Table Turning is not my usual jam but was passed on to me (thank you, dear!!!). The ectoplasm reads as lime on my skin. White musk is always iffy on me and is a little screechy here, and instead of teak, this smells more like rosewood to me. (Sharper -- teak can turn quite sweet with my chemistry.) So all in all a sharp, clean, bright, citrusy blend, perfectly pleasant, just not what I normally wear.
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Low-Key Lyesmith was given to me recently in a spectacularly generous PIF. It's something I was curious about but would never have gambled on more than a decant for. In the bottle, this is not promising. It smells industrial, like a furnace where used whisky barrels are being burned. But within a very few minutes, the spices shake off the initial harshness, which disappears, and they continue to bloom and soften over the course of the wear length. I get mostly smoky clove against a ground of cassia. It's rare for a BPAL to transform from something frankly unpleasant to something I truly enjoy wearing, but that is the case here. The longevity isn't exceptional, but I'm happy to reapply when the end result is this good. TL/DR: Dark clove with an edge.
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White musk and ambergris can be iffy on me, honeysuckle, almond milk and coconut are all wins. So I didn't try Materialisation last year, but it was on my list of scents to watch reviews from, and I recently had the good fortune to receive it in a PIF. It's really lovely. Creamy coconutty almond milk with the sweetness of honeysuckle but more of a foodie than a floral vibe. The musk and ambergris are gentle and don't take this in an aquatic direction on me. Unfortunately, like many scents with ghostly titles or descriptions, it doesn't have a lot of throw or longevity on me, but it's beautiful while it lasts.
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I tried Blood Squib Snake Oil before Blood Squib, which was PIF'd me by a wonderful forumite, and I think the SO version works better on me. Wet, Blood Squib is a blast of maraschino cherry with that familiar cherry-almond smell. It does turn to artificial cherry flavor, though, and on me it faded fairly quickly. I'm glad I got to try it, and cherry lovers should take note to see if it works better on them.
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Goat’s milk and honey are what I get most of in Harlequin Milk, which was PIFed from a supremely generous fortune.. There is some bright red currant peeking through, especially when wet, but not a lot of orange peel on me. The pale musk is more evident an hour or so in. This is lovely and cheery and lasted all day on me.
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I was worried about the brown oudh in Death's Head Moth, since I've been so burned by black oudh. I wasn't worried that the clove husk would commandeer the entire scent experience, but that's pretty close to what happened. The oudh is quiet, not at all indolic; the vetiver and ash are also very subdued. It is a kind of cuddly comfort scent, without much throw (which is normal for me), but I wish the warm, dusty clove husk would let some of the other notes have more play on my skin.
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Wet: Maraschino cherries. I love maraschino cherries, but I'm not sure I wanted that as a single note. It takes a while, but ultimately I get some Snake Oil poking its usually not very shy head out. The later drydown is a delicious mix of cherry and SO, but it wears close to the skin, whereas I'm used to SO having more sillage. If you love cherry and Snake Oil, it's hard to go wrong here.
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Someone upthread describes this as non-foody caramel corn, and that is right on the money for me. Wet, it's all buttered popcorn with a hint of caramel, but once it's dry I can just make out the Snake Oil with its vanilla goodness under the kettle corn. This wears really close to the skin for me. I think I'll keep my decant -- it is definitely a mood-lifting scent -- but I don't need a whole bottle.
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This decant has had 9 months to age and is still oudh oudh oudh on me. Like theseagrows I cannot wear black oudh and was hoping burgundy oudh would be less nasty on me. Beth, please give us crushed velvet musk in something oudhless because it sounds divine. First Morning in Paris I had to scrub off.
