Lucchesa
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Everything posted by Lucchesa
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Gingerbread Snake was a frimp from a generous forumite and I love it. Wet, it's the strong gingerbread note from my beloved Gingerbread, Vetiver and Black Clove. Eventually the Snake Oil is recognizable. Throughout, the balance tilts more towards the gingerbread than the Snake Oil, although it has the terrific throw I get from SO and good wear length too. It's gingerbread with extra vanilla and sex appeal. Apparently I yearn to smell like sultry gingerbread.
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2018 version. My grandmother used to make sticky coconut-almond macaroons with almond extract and a slice of maraschino cherry on top. Wet, this is that. At first it's all sweet cherry amaretto (which would be a lovely thing). I know a lot of people think BPAL's almond note smells like cherry anyway, but here it really really does. Almond notes never stick around long on my skin, though the cherry keeps this one anchored a little longer than usual. The coconut is gentle, and I don't get any saffron for the first half hour or so, then it comes out and makes this blend less ridiculously foody. (I know, saffron is food, but it has an earthy, dusty feel, kind of grounding, not sweet.) Throw is low and wear length is maybe less than average, but that may improve with aging. I do love cherry and almond notes, and I quite like this!
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A great undersea metropolis located below Devil's Reef. A swirling, lightless, effervescent scent: the deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptus and foamy ambergris. I love bergamot and often ambergris, but aquatics are not my jam. This is all about the marine notes on me. OK, there's a lot of bergamot too, though (thankfully IMO) not much eucalyptus. So clean!!! Aggressively clean. Mr. Clean. This would be a very nice laundry detergent. I suspect the ambergris will eventually dominate the drydown if I let it go on that long, and there's a possibility that will be very beautiful, but I'm not sure I can get past the wet phase.
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2008, a decant from a lovely forumite. I was pretty sure Snow White would work well on me because I love Cotton Phoenix. I was right. There's something pillowy about Snow White. Sweet, soft, white, marshmallow-y. I don't get coconut but rather a delicate almond blossom and a snow effect which I think is a gentle ozone underlying everything. It's magical. It wears close to the skin (normal for my chemistry) but has good wear length.
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Miss Lupescu was not on my radar, maybe because of the animalic musk (I only recently discovered I quite like civet). But, Miss Lupescu! And I learned with Lupers that almond blossom is a wonderful note on me. Anyway, a superbly kind and generous forumite just gave me a partial of this, and I am in love. It opens with sweet almond, woods, and musk which is by no means scary. As it dries down, I get more and more amber and eventually the gentle spices. Don't avoid this if you're patch-averse because the patch is really a background note. Furry. On me, Miss Lupescu is sweet and sexy and warm and spicy. It makes me feel good. Throw is low, which is normal on me, but wear length is good.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Carnation is my favorite floral, and I love the Spanish Red Carnation SN, so this was a pretty easy bet. Dead Leaves and Red Carnations is a gorgeous entry in this year's amazing leaf pile, the earthy spicy carnation melding seamlessly with the earthy piquant dead leaves -- like kscha2017 above, I had never thought of them as similar, but they blend effortlessly. I could wear this cozy blend all fall and winter; it's totally work appropriate and I get minimal throw, which is normal for my skin. Wear length is a little less than average, but that may improve with aging.
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I retested Czernobog last night as I was pulling a neighboring imp out of my swap box and have developed much more tolerance for vetiver than when I first tried it. It is indeed dark and somewhat harsh at first. I too got the menthol note, probably mullein, which google informs me is used in cough serum. So dark musky cough syrup with harsh, smoky vetiver. One of the musks must be red or red-aligned because it and the vetiver just ganged up on me, as they have done in other blends. I wasn't really getting much myrrh; it was all red musky vetiver, with terrific throw, and I could still smell it on my wrist this morning. It's better than I remember, but I amp that musk-vetiver combination too much for my comfort.
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I was frimped Ice; it's pretty much a panoply of death notes, not something I would ever have chosen. That being said, it's not nearly as bad as expected. Apparently eucalyptus blossom is softer than just eucalyptus. The crystalline musk is not too screechy. The mint is contributing to an overall coolness without screaming peppermint. This is quite unisex, and I agree with the previous reviewer that it has a clean and sharp feel. Not something I would wear often, but I'm glad I had a chance to try it.
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There's something about A Certain Nameless Awe, not the notes but the general feeling, that reminds me of the GC Dance of Death. A dryness and paleness, an untouchable quality, elegiac. White sandalwood and ambergris are the main notes on my skin. I find it falls to the feminine side of the unisex spectrum. Throw is minimal (this is normal for me) and wear length is good so far. Hauntingly beautiful.
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I'm starting to think the hay note doesn't love me. Or maybe it was something in the wildflowers. Either way, Scarecrow Turned Philosopher was lovely in the decant, warm and golden with florals just floating lightly around the edges, but became too perfumey on my skin. Amber often spells old-fashioned, high-end perfume to me, but Scarecrow was higher pitched than the deeper gold ambers I groove on. This felt very feminine and pretty, which just isn't my thing most of the time. Wear length was average, and I didn't get much throw, which is normal for my skin.
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My first thought, when this hit my wrist, was that this was too much toffee and not enough bonfire. It wasn't until I checked the notes today that I realized there wasn't actually supposed to be smoke in here. I don't always love foodies, and this was too treacly for me at first. But it grew on me, and I imagined that a hint of smokiness eventually rode along with the boozy dark caramel. It had great wear length on me, and the late drydown is beautiful and mellow. The decant is a keeper, and if I foodies were more of what I wear, I would definitely buy a bottle.
