Lucchesa

Apparently I never reveiewed Ashlultum, even though it's on my list of things I'd love to have more of. I'm wearing her today because the lilacs are just starting to come into bloom. The lilac isn't strong in Ashlultum but does persist all the way through. The coconut and tonka are the main notes on me (but my skin always devours tea notes) with a little chewy warm tobacco. Not really getting the hyssop. Anyway, this is lovely and snuggly. The coconut and vanilla make it vaguely tropical, but the tobacco keeps it out of sunscreen territory. I don't enjoy wearing flowery scents, but here the lilac -- one of the few florals I really dig -- is the perfect light accent note. Just lovely.

My favorite gingerbread blends are the exact three @DiesMali just cited: Gingerbread, Black Clove and Vetiver; Gingerbread Tobacco; and Gingerbread Patch Leather and Dark Musk. This ranks right up there, I would say. Gingerbread with extra clove against a base of soft leather, threaded through with sticky tobacco. Spicy and sexy with good throw and wear length, though I did slather.

MB: Bloody Mary is a nice creamy cherry blend, but on my skin the other red fruits create a generic red candy effect, as I often get with berry notes. The wear length is somewhat less than I would desire, and the throw is very low. There are newer and less rare cherry scents that work better on me.

Mmm. Honeyed lavender and fruity red musk to start out, making this kind of like a lavender Smut. Has there ever been a lavender Smut? Lavender usually disappears on me, but this one lasts longer than most. Eventually I get the warm ambrette and maybe some cognac, though I never really smell the balsam or mate. A lovely spring red musk blend, though. I'm so glad I have this -- thanks to a generous circular swapper!

I was gifted this bottle by an extremely generous forumite, and I have worn it several times, with varying results. I hadn't ordered a bottle because although I love the salt note, I was afraid that the name might imply an unlisted aquatic note, and nearly everything aquatic goes to cleaning product on me. When I applied this straight from the mailbox because patience is not one of my more notable virtues, I got, basically, plum dryer sheets. The second time I wore it, I got plum when wet and that toothsome salt note I love, and it mellowed down into opium-plum-salt loveliness, dark and velvety, exactly what I was hoping for. The third time I wore it, it was more like dark opium plum with a bit of dryer sheets. And so on. I am pretty confident, though, that this is going to age magnificently, and that each time I wear it the aquatic tinge is going to fade farther into the background. If you are fan of scents purple, you need to give this a go.

I bought a bottle of Youth's Disengagement last fall and didn't even skin-test it -- I was too wrapped up in the dark autumnal scents. Well, the sun is shining in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm so happy with my purchase. YD does not smell like cake to me (Eat Me was a disaster on me). It smells like one of Beth's gorgeous creamy florals without the flowers, and as someone who loves that category but is not a big fan of floral, that is high praise. There's the pillowy sweetness of marshmallow root and vanilla cream with the delicacy of rainier cherries against a lovely pale incense-y sandalwood. I'm not actually getting the anise (which I had hoped for) or the ginger (which I had not). Currants? Maybe. Sweetness and light? Definitely.

HerbGirl said it first, but this is very much in the vein of #occupywallstreet. Another filthy frigging patchouli, in the best possible way. Big patch, globs of cocoa, drier and woodier than #occupy because of the cedar replacing the vanilla. Thus, an outdoor scent for the patch lover, with good throw initially, though it dials back in drydown. If patchouli is your jam, this is the jammiest thing the Lab has given us in a while. Rejoice!

I'm still trying to get a read on Good Ship Venus, having tested it more than once now. Wet it's almost camphorous, and I'm not sure where it's coming from -- there are big patchouli notes that are almost camphorous, but here I'm getting only the camphor, not the patch. I'm not getting the chewy salt note from Asleep in the Deep but more of a saltwater note. There is only the faintest whisper of spices on my skin. The patchouli never arrives, although the tonka shows up after an hour or so, but by that time the whole thing is awfully faint. I was expecting Good Ship Venus to be my favorite of the shanties, but it just isn't coming together for me.

This is the third time today I've reapplied Hanging Johnny, but I'm happy to do it. It's a lot of hemp, with cedar and a cedary sandalwood, and the overall effect is outdoorsy and light-hearted. I wish it lasted longer -- it would be easily bottle-worthy. A different kind of unisex evergreen scent, with a prominent hemp note -- if Rogue has too much rosin or Ask the Nearest Hippie too much pot and patchouli, Hanging Johnny is your man.

Wolf Moon 2021 is gorgeous! Lots of green grass on a structure of sandalwood and balsam with just a touch of sweetness from the beeswax. After a little while the warm furry muskiness and the ambrette nuttiness move in. I'm not getting much juniper, which is good because it's a troublesome note on me. Green scents hardly ever work on me, but this one is a keeper.

Tobacco and Pine Needle starts out as sharp pine and a little sharp tobacco. Generally, pine sweetens and softens on my skin; that doesn't exactly happen here. It does transform into a cologne-y tobacco, as the previous reviewers also experienced, with a pine backdrop. I happen to enjoy the more masculine spectrum of scents, so this isn't a problem for me. It's not a sweet, chewy tobacco; it's a drier one. It doesn't last as long as I would like, but I am going to hang onto the decant because I suspect it will mature into something really worthwhile.

I get just a breath of cardamom and a lot of warm, long-lasting amber. I wish the cardamom were a little more prominent on me, but it is still a cozy skin scent that I can derive comfort from for hours.

Cucidati is a very wearable foodie. It started out marzipan with some bright citrus and spice, then over 20 minutes or so it gradually warmed into a sticky, boozy fig and date. I gave my decant to my sister who actually makes cucidati, but I will be on the lookout for another one as it's as mood-lifting as a tray of holiday cookies.

Gingerbread Witch could easily be a Weenie. Pumpkin and apple and mulling/gingerbread spices. I didn't get any rosemary, which bummed me out. Nice, but not remarkable on me.

Maybe This Is Your Wilderness? Honeyed patchouli with cypress, black pine, and tobacco absolute

I was gifted this by a super generous forum PIFer and accidentally misplaced it until yesterday. Cherry Cream Pie Chypre smells wonderful when first applied. Lots and lots of cherry, a little cream, hardly any crust. Just joyful cherry pie filling. I went for a long walk -- actually a series of three medium walks -- and completely forgot to check in on my wrist. Many hours after application, I raised wrist to nose. What is this? Oh, right! The crust notes had finally emerged. Still wonderful. Cherry pastry, a skin scent, but still going strong.

I'm a fan of Antikythera Mechanism, but the pumpkin spice version went strangely awry on me. Maybe the smoke note from Hearth (or, worse, Smokestack) was used to smoke the vanilla. The end result was a harshness I wasn't expecting from a panoply of reliable notes. Sad face.

Good suggestion! I love Illustrated Woman! (And Golden Priapus, but amber likes me.) But I hope the Lab is taking notice because a forest snake would be gorgeous!

Wet, this is all sweet spicy carnation. Love! An hour later, I'm still waiting for the patch and frank to join the party. Did I forget to send the invitations? I'm not upset to have a pink carnation single note, but I was really hoping for the whole menage. (I want some of puellacaerulea's hippie patchouli!)

This is really lovely!!! It starts out on me all palo santo, with that (to me, very welcome) tinge of licorice. Gradually the frankincense catches up to the palo santo and eventually overcomes it. My favorite stage is when the two notes are right in balance, about an hour in, but it is a calming and meditative scent all the way through, and if you like both of these notes, you can hardly go wrong here.

I usually avoid the champagne note, but the 15 minutes of fume was so positive on this scent that I had to get samples of all the GB monsters, and sure enough, this is really fun. It's sparkling and fizzy and struck me as very much like ginger beer. Effervescent, kind of nose-tickling. I'm not actually getting much lemon, but the overall effect is festive. Bright gingery champagne.

Ghost Milk is really, really quiet on me. I resisted the impulse to reapply it ten minutes after initial application because I'd put on a normal testing amount and should be consistent. It actually lasted about 12 hours or so -- a really long time for me -- though at a very low skin level; I needed to get my wrist right up to my nose to smell it. I do not get the slightly funky goat's milk note at all (which I enjoy in scents like Harlequin Milk) but rather a generic sweet vanilla creaminess with a whiff of marshmallow and white chocolate. A cozy soft vanilla scent, but it is too faint on my skin for me to need more.

I received a testable empty of this with a decant order, and I wouldn't ordinarily have tried it because of the violet. Violet never works on me. Except when it does. This is ridiculously beautiful. Plum and petrichor and wistful violet. I'm not making out the lavender, but there's something almost citrusy behind it, keeping the violet from going powdery and old lady on me -- the osmanthus? No appreciable frankincense either, but the whole ensemble is steeped in longing. A brilliant example of Beth's gift.

I got a testable empty of this in a decant order and am surprised by how much I am digging it. Foodies are my thing only occasionally, though I have found them comforting during the pandemic. I would never actually eat blue cotton candy, and I avoid fruit punch, but I've recently learned how well the salt note works on me, so popcorn and pretzels are fun to wear. This is sugary salty junk food, but the sugar bomb fades somewhat and the drydown is something like kettle corn. Charming!

I got an empty of this with a decant order -- ordinarily I wouldn't have tried it. So please bear in mind that I'm reviewing something that has a low possibility of working on me. Lots and lots of red musk, which drowns out the skin musk for me. And the peppercorn. The sandalwood blends with the red musk in an incensey way. The orange blossom gives it the feel of high-end soap, as it often does on me, so instead of a down and dirty red musk, this is a fresh and clean red musk, with decent throw and good staying power.