Lucchesa

Like yewberry, I’m here for the name. This is kind of an interesting scent: sake with oakmoss and sandalwood are the notes that show up on my skin. Unfortunately, it is very quiet on me, more like men gently brushing against bells than ringing them. And since the whole point was getting to respond, “Oh, Men Ringing Bells with Penises” when asked what scent I am wearing and nobody is ever going to be able to notice this one on my skin, I will be passing on my decant.

Golden sunlight and sweet fresh air brightening a Heavenly sky on Christmas Day: crisp winter air, shimmering amber, sweet honey, with a touch of pumpkin pie, pine cone, cranberry, and bayberry. I couldn't remember what was in this at all when I tried it this morning. It struck me as rather aromatherapeutic. It came on with a blast of what I took to be citrus but was probably cranberry, very invigorating, and then that morphed into a prominent evergreen blend, also kind of energizing. Ultimately the late drydown was a warm, sweet spice with just a touch of very soft pine. I'm really glad I got to try this one; I think it captures Scrooge's giddiness rather well.

2016 version of Le Pere Fouettard applied this morning without looking at the notes. I was pretty sure it had whip leather, coal dust and licorice, all of which were perceptible, but what I didn't understand was why I was getting the baked goods from hell note that occurs on my skin with Eat Me, Cockaigne, and a few other blends. Also, my skin was prickling a bit when I first applied, but since I was driving my husband to work I didn't have a chance to wash it off, and it did settle down eventually. Anyway, I finally got home and was able to check the notes and yep, gaufrettes. Damn. That baked goods note just hates my skin. Oh, well, I'm glad I got to try this one because it could have been marvelous!

Wow, I must really hate water lily, because sweet pea and carnation are two of my favorite florals and Desdemona didn't work on me at all. It's another reminder, I guess, that I just can't do pure florals and that I really need to stay away from anything that might be aquatic. This is not a spicy carnation on me, nor is it the luscious sweet pea of Mouse's Long and Sad; everything just gets drowned out, no pun intended, by the water lily.

Like d_d above, I was afraid of Black Annis. But as my tastes have darkened and I have grown to love vetiver a lot of the time, I decided I should really give this a try, since I do love the anise note. What was really scared of, though, was the civet. I tested this alongside Debauchery, my first two civet blends, and just as musk doesn't smell like rutting stags, civet does not bring anal glands to mind. It's dark and musky but the oakmoss is stronger here; there's not a lot of vetiver or anise, but they give this blend its character, a smoky licorice sweetness. I really enjoyed this a great deal more than I expected to and am considering a bottle; its only drawback is that it doesn't have a lot of staying power on my skin.

conflagrantThief's review is a very hard act to follow. Um, I like it too? Debauchery is one of the few available non-aquatic GC scents I hadn't tried. I'm a wuss. I was scared of the civet. And red musk has a habit of completely taking over on my skin, but that doesn't prevent me from trying red musk blends. It was the civet. It turns out civet is nothing to be afraid of. Heady, yes, and a little feral, but not nasty. And it kept the red musk in check. In fact, there was a very nice balance on my skin of three pretty sensual notes, the civet, musk and opium, and I got much better throw and wear length than I do with most blends. I don't know that I'll ever need to buy more than a decant at a time of this, but it's definitely a keeper.

Anise is one of my favorite notes, and while Anise Swallowtail Caterpillar isn't strongly anise-scented, the anise adds a lovely depth to this HG. I always worry with booze notes in HG since it tends to have much more throw than perfume does on me, but the bourbon here is quite understated (I don't smell like I just walked out of a speakeasy). The overall feel is a lightly spiced vanilla cream, totally work appropriate and terrific for autumn, and I get good throw and wear length.

My Infernal Lover is definitely the red musk variant. I'm sort of ambivalent about red musk, whose pronouns, in my head, are she/her. I like her, but she can be a bully, turning blends into single note red musk, drowning out all the other lovely notes. And her voice carries -- red musk is one of the few notes I get reliably great throw from. All this is just to say that if Infernal Lover had been one of this year's Weenies, I probably wouldn't have taken a chance on a decant. But I was lucky enough to be given some. I was really curious to see what red musk would do without a lot of other notes to dominate. What if she were the star and just had a little honey and cream as supporting players? It turns out that she relaxes, smooth and sweet and creamy. She's still sexy as hell, but she's not hitting you over the head with it, or grinding the other notes under her stiletto heels. If you get along with red musk, this is genius. I tested Infernal Lover along with Sanguinem Menstruum, another red musk/honey blend I am quite fond of. SM has a bit of almost metallic sharpness from the opium poppies, and while both blends had good throw and staying power, SM lasted longer on my skin.

Oh wow, Le Rideau Cramoisi really doesn't work on me. At first it was all champaca, which is a tricky note with my skin chemistry to the point where at times it leaves me feeling slightly ill. Other times (Body Remember, Thousands of Lights) it's just lovely. Sadly, this is more in the former category. Then suddenly it was all honey and opium. The final stage, after about 45 minutes, is honey, opium and champaca, and it's like I'm getting the worst elements of all three. VetchVesper is right: there's a metallic feel to this one, like a new aluminum water bottle. I can't really smell the clove in here at all, and the leather is very faint. Not for me.

Evidently I didn't read the reviews for this one, just the notes, so it doesn't smell at all like I thought/hoped it would. It smells like a pluot encased in a very light honey syrup. I'm getting no mugwort and maybe just a hint of sage, and it seems awfully feminine for a blend called The Sons of Buri, the Sons of Borr.

I really wanted to love Kostnice because I've been to the Bone Church in Prague, and what an amazing inspiration for a scent. It doesn't start off well, though. Rose plus resin often sends the rose sour on my skin, and that's what happens here, even though it's rosewood and rose geranium. The lily is MIA at first. After a couple of hours it's really beautiful; the sourness is almost gone, and I'm able to make out the individual components: the frank, the rosewood, the more herbal rose geranium, and a breath of lilies. It's definitely a skin scent by this point. I will probably pass it on because I have so much BPAL and this takes a while to find its groove on my skin.

Daya is warm amber and sunshine, maybe some sandalwood incense. It's a beautiful brilliant clear sunny fall day as I test it, and it is perfect for this weather, as Herb Girl says. I wouldn't have been able to come up with plum, but seeing it mentioned by so many reviews, I can imagine that it's there, kind of melding with the incense. Truly lovely!

Yep, I tried this one for the name, which is awesome. You won't find either strawberry or mimosa on my list of favorite notes. While super sweet candied strawberry in the imp, Overprotective Possessed Talking Doll has a plasticky, almost sour note when it hits my skin. This tester will get frimped on to someone else.

I have not actually ever tried straight Snow White, so I can't comment on that front, but Frostbitten Dorian is super nice. It's quite similar to Dorian on me but chillier in tone with the snow note I recognize from Cotton Phoenix. Musky sugared snowy vanilla tea -- yum! No throw on me (which is normal) and only average wear length, but well worth reapplying!

I never reviewed Jareth? Shame on me! I love this stuff! I actually death-matched it with Frostbitten Dorian today, and it won hands down (though FBD is glorious, too - just sweeter and cooler and it wore out faster). It has lasted all day long, which is really rare on my skin, and though it's a skin scent now, it had a little throw at first. White musk doesn't usually work for me, but I think it gets down with the oude and anything soapy or screechy in the white musk is completely subdued. The leather turns the lilac fougere into something as sexy as a Bowie growl. It's soft, buttery leather, and the tonka makes it even warmer. Don't let the word lilac scare you away -- this is totally unisex. And while nearly all tea scents disappear on me, this ti leaf does not. Anyway, I adore this, and it always makes me feel sexy but also safe and warm.

Mokey was frimped to me and unlikely to work, though I do like lilac. It's much too floral for my tastes, though it is very pretty. And it has some throw, which is unusual for my skin. It's a higher pitched purple and white floral, with soft powdery notes from the violet and orris and something almost aggressively clean that's making me wonder if there's white musk or an aquatic note in here. Not my style but I'm very glad I got to try it!

Ooh, I love these library scents, and they never last on me as long as I would like. Old Moon has that dusty leather feel of Quintessence of Dust and Adam, both of which were longer lasting on me (though I want to retry and slather a bit more to see if it helps). It reminds me of one of those funky used bookstores of my childhood with the really old, slightly musty leather-bound books that had the coolest illustrations. A little corner of heaven, in other words.

I'm so glad TwilightEyes mentioned jasmine sambac, because I got a strong sweet jasmine note from The Wolf and the Rattlesnake and thought I was delusional when no one was mentioning it. I don't get woods from this, neither cedar nor patchouli. For the longest time it was all sweet jasmine, and I was fairly indifferent, and then suddenly the late drydown was substantially different, a sort of warm candycoated musk, with a kind of youthful vibe, but very nice. And it lasts forever on me, which is not typical. I ended up liking this much more than I expected.

I get mainly iris and white musk out of my now very well aged imp of Euterpe. Of all the notes here, those were the two I was least excited about. My skin also eats this up fairly rapidly, so I will be swapping Euterpe away.

My imp of Thanatos smells, and looks, exactly like Thanatopsis. I think I got a mislabeled imp. Sigh.

I was frimped a decant of Pumpkin V 2007, and it's delightful. It goes on in a blast of pumpkin, citrus and ginger, but the latter elements fade quickly on my skin, which tends to eat up even citrus that's not a decade old. What's left is a warm pumpkiny bourbon vanilla with hints of ginger, which I like because it's not all pumpkin spice in your face. It wears close to the skin on me, but it's delicious.

I have about half an imp of Velvet Tiger and will probably never see it again, but it's worth seeking out. Nine years of aging have mellowed any sharp edges. It's a gorgeous rich spiced citrus, perfect for fall/winter, against a backdrop of dark woods and warm amber. The vetiver is far more cuddly than scary, and the licorice just melds with the spices. I got terrific throw from this (which I usually do not), and it lasted a long time. I would absolutely love to have more of this.

Testing blind, I was able to identify exactly none of the notes in Witch-Cursed Castle. It's definitely green -- I get more weeds than oak. Woods and weeds are the strongest notes on me, and this is strong -- I get much more throw than I usually do here. The redwood and resins kind of blend together into a dark background, the green notes are in the foreground. I was testing Larentalia, a Roman funerary garden kind of scent, on the other wrist and there seemed to be a family resemblance. But this one worked better on me. It's very atmospheric and I rather enjoy it.

I can see that this would be a lovely, meditative herbal blend for many. It is almost that for me. But there's something in here that doesn't love my skin. I don't know if it's one of the listed notes -- I'm not at all familiar with crocus, gladiolus or amaranth -- or one of the herbs and flowers sacred to the silent one, but it's just a little off on me. Larentalia has good wear length and I really wish it worked on me.

The Virgin and the Unicorn reminds me of the discontinued GC The Unicorn. It's lovely, ethereal, pale, attenuated, like a Victorian heroine perishing of consumption. White rose, white sandalwood, pale incense; I can't honestly differentiate any pear. It's gorgeous, actually; it's just not my kind of scent.