Lucchesa

I'm a huge fan of Wrath, which I feel perfectly captures the feeling of righteous anger. Rage, on my skin at least, doesn't seem to match its name nearly as well. It's very fruity, a little floral. Dragon's blood always has the potential to turn cloying on my skin. I love the combination of citrus and rose geranium, but neither note is very distinct here. And it's very faint after 90 minutes. I'm very glad I got to try this one, but I don't think I will wear it.

An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch. Y'all are pretty convinced that there's gardenia in here. Gardenia is one white floral that is consistently good on me. This... isn't. So, if there is gardenia in here, there's also jasmine, or tuberose or ylang-ylang or some flower that reads as cloying on my skin. There may be some brown sugar or molasses and spices from a souk somewhere wafting in on the breeze. After an hour, this was finally a scent I was comfortable wearing, a kind of sweet vanilla floral with a touch of spice. I'm delighted I got to try it for the name alone, but I'm going to pass this along to someone whose skin chemistry will love it wet and dry.

I bought a partial of Palmyra in hopes that it would be a spicy leather incense scent and was disappointed. I couldn't make out any cinnamon at all, and the leather, frank and myrrh were all faint on me. I retested today before putting it on my swaplist and decided to think of it as an amber-sandalwood blend instead. I slathered, and I got good throw (for me at least) for a couple hours, and it lasted the rest of the day as a skin scent. Palmyra is much closer to Jacob's Ladder on me than to any of my leather blends -- kind of a masculine counterpart to Jacob's Ladder, which is quite feminine on my skin. By focusing on what I was getting (amber and sandalwood against a quiet background of resins, vanilla and leather) instead of what I wasn't getting (cinnamon), I appreciated the scent a lot more. In fact, I enjoyed the heck out of it today. It's off the chopping block.

I love Blood and Judgement. I'm not getting any of the sharpness some reviewers mention; I think it may simply have aged away. There is a lot of almond at first (which I love), but it is also the first note to fade away, leaving a snuggly blend of well-worn leathers, tonka and amber. I don't get any throw from this, though it lasts a while as a skin scent. Super comforting.

Have you tried RPG Neutral? You could layer it with a favorite honey scent.

In the imp, this was all about the jasmine. I gritted my teeth and applied it anyway and was pleasantly surprised because on my skin, New Orleans is really interesting. I get more of the honeysuckle keeping the jasmine in line, and I get a fair amount of spice reminiscent of the Lab's bay rum note. I don't actually make out any lemon, but it may also be reining in the jasmine. I quite like this one and will definitely keep the imp.

I rarely wear straight-up florals. Queen Gertrude is a straight-up floral dominated by violet, which may be lovely on you but is iffy at best on me. On my skin, it reads as "mature" floral. In other words, I'm 50 and don't feel old enough to rock Queen Gertrude. But if florals work for you, this might be an excellent "don't f*#k with me" scent for a workplace situation. Aloof and in charge.

I can't believe I've never reviewed Elf. It was my first RPG bottle purchase and is one of my very favorite impable GCs. Wet on my skin, Elf starts out with sharp evergreens -- I would guess juniper, maybe pine or fir, though they are not listed notes. Within 20 minutes, the evergreens soften (and aging should mellow them further -- I don't remember such sharpness in the imp of indeterminate age I had previous to buying the bottle last August). The golden musk and honeycomb emerge (think the gorgeous honey musk of the Bride) with some light, wild florals -- violet is problematic on me, and I'm not familiar with Parma violet specifically but I get no recognizable violet at all. The berry is a hint of tart fruit, and it all merges into this magical blend, like walking through dappled sunlight in a late spring woods, while knowing the secrets of all the plant life you pass and having the ability to take out a foe with a well-aimed arrow at 100 paces. Gorgeous. I wore Elf to a teen production of Into the Woods last night. I applied at 5 and it was still perceptible at 7:30 this morning.

I can't believe there are so few reviews for Bard. It's my second-favorite RPG scent (behind Elf), and I wear it without layering. Bard has some problem notes for me -- bay rum has burned my skin in the past, white musk can be screechy on me. But they all play together beautifully here. I think it's the white musk that lends a silvery tone to Bard, where I think of Elf as golden. Honey and musk are the principal notes on me, with the rum and its spices, the woods, and the metallic note all perceptible in the background as it dries down. I get the comparisons to Lights of Men's Lives, which is in my top 3 impable GCs, but on me it's different. Lights of Men's Lives is deeper, smokier. Bard is more extroverted -- I get more throw with Bard than I do with most BPAL, and thanks to the honey, it lasts a long time. Today I'm wearing Bard because I have to give a talk I haven't prepared as thoroughly as I would like, so I need the charisma boost. It's a scent that never fails to put a smile on my face.

A lovely, foodie, soft vanilla-pear scent. The pear here does not veer into the artificial, the way The Vine did on me. This is very quiet, with no throw at all, and like so many scents described as "ghostly," it fades quickly on my skin.

Ignore the name -- there is nothing floral about this scent. Leather, patchouli, vanilla. This is a total keeper for me. Soft brown leather, some woods, a little sweetness from the honey, a little dry earthiness from the saffron -- unisex leaning towards the masculine, sexy, warm, snuggly. This is predominantly a leather scent on me, but the supporting cast is marvelous, nothing overacts, it works beautifully on my skin.

Bumping this thread because it's missing about 6 years of BPAL. I checked it this morning in a panic when I realized how behind I was in getting ready for an important meeting at my son's school, and I wanted that extra dose of confidence -- not sexual but strong, competent, protective maternal advocate. I saw High John the Conqueror listed here several times and wore that, but it was the wrong choice for me. The meeting went very well -- the school bent on the "we can't offer those accommodations" email they had sent earlier -- but I was wearing an unfamiliar floral, when what I needed was something that felt like a second skin only better. In retrospect, I should have worn Bast or Mithras - I just didn't think of it, my head went totally blank when I had 2 minutes to choose a scent this morning. Both channeling ancient powers, both scents I feel 100% comfortable in. GCs, The Lion, Bastet, Van Van and Veritas would have done me proud. Black Rider, Black Tower. I thought of Bard or Paladin, too. I know I've written several reviews where I say a scent gives me confidence, but for some reason that's not the sort of thing I put in my scent notes. But when I'm in this situation in the future, I need to wear something I've worn often, that feels right to me. I've worn Wrath (which I love) for a work meeting where I felt I was in danger of getting fucked over, and it worked splendidly, but righteous anger wasn't the vibe I needed for the school. What are your strong, confident, competent scents?

High John the Conqueror was frequently mentioned on the Bravery, Courage, Confidence recommendations thread and something I liked enough to keep in my imp box, so I wore it to a meeting this morning with my son's school counselor, school resource coordinator and therapist to give me a little extra boost. The meeting went very well -- after getting an email saying, "We can't make these accommodations," it turns out the reality is more like "We can't write down that we're offering these accommodations, but we can help your son." So all to the good there. Scent-wise, High John is a light floral on me, a springtime scent - not something I would choose except for its voodoo properties. And after reading the thread more carefully, I think next time I will choose The Lion or Bast or Bastet or Van Van, something I am personally more familiar with and that is more in my scent family comfort zone.

I was surprised, after testing blind, that there was no bergamot or other citrus in Saint-Germain. It is very bright and a little sharp when wet, but it does not strike me as overly masculine. I wouldn't have thought to put these notes together, but they work really well on me. Carnation is always a favorite floral of mine, but it's subdued here by the amber and mosses; it's the lavender that really gets to shine, and it lasts longer on me than lavender usually does. I would wear this one when I want to feel elegant and above the fray.

All good stuff in here -- musky cinnamon and leather, cozy, sexy, yum. Then it disappeared. I put on some unscented lotion and tried again, and this time it stuck around a lot longer, but definitely as a skin scent. I like Count Dracula a lot and was delighted to get to test it, but I have other scents that check these boxes for me, so I will probably let this go to someone else who wants to try it.

I like Event Horizon much better than Darkness, which I tested yesterday. The opium is still strong, but the blend does not become as cloyingly floral as it does in Darkness. After playing a big role in the opening, the orchid is content to let the opium and resins take center stage. It's still sweet -- it's that lovely syrupy opoponax and vanilla-y benzoin -- and dark and heavy with good wear length, but it's not so oppressively floral on me. This one is a keeper.

Honey!!! That's all I smell from Door at first, then honey and herbs. A faint tinge of tobacco from the nicotiana? Not sure what cistus smells like, but this is gorgeous, one of the Lab's beautiful meadow in springtime sort of blends. Golden sunshine in a vial. I won't need a bottle right away because I have a brand new bottle of Against Idleness and Mischief, which shares the honey and chamomile notes. I will death match them one of these days, but there's definitely a family resemblance.

I was really bummed out when Grand Guignol was discontinued, but now that I've tried Depraved, I think I like it even better. The patchouli cuts the sweetness of the apricot better than the brandy. It's earthier, dirtier, sexier. It's definitely apricot and definitely a pretty dark patchouli, but it's more than the sum of its parts. And it lasts really well. I love it!

I don't wear opium much because it tends to be heavy on me. Darkness is really heady opium and narcissus, melded as if into a single note. The myrrh is there but stays in the background, which is a shame IMO. I can appreciate the loveliness here, and it lasts a really long time, but for me it's a little too sweet, a little too floral, a little too sultry, a little too mature (at 50, I don't feel nearly old enough to carry off this scent).

I picked this up at a meet 'n' sniff over the weekend (thanks!!!) and put it on 2 hours ago - this (2018, I think!) is the first Womb Furie I've tried. At first it was all honey with a faint hint of SO. And I had a similar experience with Snake's Kiss and was wondering if my most recent bout of head cold had left me without the ability to smell Snake Oil, so I got it out and dabbed a tiny bit on my shoulder. Nope, I can still smell SO perfectly well, wafts of it drifting up around me. So, these blends must have a smaller proportion of SO in them, duh. The SO did start to emerge more strongly in about an hour, but this is definitely a gentler SO. This is one I could get away with at work; it's still sexy as all get out but a little more buttoned up and wears closer to the skin. If you hate SO I can't imagine this working for you; if you like SO but find it a bit much, this might be perfection. It's going on my bottle list.

Golden amber and bourbon vanilla with sweet oak, blue lotus, and tea blossom. I sniffed this at a meet 'n' sniff Sunday and the owner gave me the decant as she had a bottle (thank you!!!), so I'm skin testing it now. I honestly could not name a single note when this hit my skin. Soft creamy floral -- OK, I might have named vanilla, but I would have thought there was a cream note of some kind. I don't wear a lot of (any?) lotus, so it's not one I'm on intimate terms with. The amber and bourbon vanilla seem to just be melding things together -- no note stands out here, it's just this beautiful blend. It's got no throw whatsoever on me, but it has lasted for two hours now. Soft, sexy, a lovely addition to my springtime scents!

I was generously frimped an imp of 2006 Schwarzer Mond, and it is gorgeous. Rich, syrupy, dark. The only note I could make out on blind testing was opoponax, but I peeked while it was still wet and couldn't identify half those notes away. Yep, opoponax, with myrrh, black musk, and chewy patchouli. I'm wearing this on a sunny spring morning and it's more of a January or sexy evening scent, but the throw is so low on me I could wear it anytime I wanted to channel this rich powerful dark energy.

Galvanic Goggles is my favorite of the scents that start out cologney on me. I have learned to tolerate that initial discomfort of feeling as though I am wearing men's cologne and wait for the beautiful drydown. I get more tobacco and musk than metal at first and the metallic notes gradually emerge over time; I get very little throw, and the wear time is average. I have very positive emotional associations with metal lubricants as something my father used in his woodshop when I was growing up, so that adds to the pleasure of this scent for me. It's more masculine than I typically wear, but in certain moods it would be golden. I am a fan.

Machu Picchu is interesting. Some tropical florals, some amber, some undergrowth, some fruitiness, an aquatic undertone - like being in the tropical bird house at the zoo (since I've never been in a real rainforest). There's a lot going on here, and I appreciate the artistry, but tropical blooms and aquatics are just not categories I wear.

Retesting and reviewing some of the things in my swapbox. My old notes for this one only said "bad." Incantation is not "bad." It just isn't me. On my skin, there is no sweetness to this scent at all, and I prefer my darker notes to be tempered with some molasses or caramel or the like. This might be a good choice for someone trying to avoid sweet notes entirely. It's not the bbq vetiver of malediction; I think it may be the grassy vetiver some reviewers mention. It's a very dry sandalwood, a hint of lemon peel, some woods. Not bad at all, really, though on the masculine end of unisex. It is lighter than I would have expected from the notes, and only lasts a couple of hours on my skin.