Lucchesa

The Earth Mother smells to me much more like the Sierra Nevada in summer than the mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest. It's a conifer forest all right, but a dry one -- dry grasses, dry lichens, dry twigs snapping underfoot, silvery sage instead of the verdant ferns I have come to be used to. It is incredibly evocative of time spent in the California mountains as a child. This is darker than Theoi Nomioi, drier than This Is Your Wilderness. In addition to pine pitch and patchouli, I get a lot of vetiver in The Earth Mother, so if you fear vetiver, you may want to steer clear. But if a summer forest approaching the timberline appeals to you, add this to your cart.

I was warned about potential skin reaction with this blend, so I applied very sparingly. I didn't get a rash, but I didn't get much scent either, so I slopped some more on my wrist. Wet, it's Ibarra chocolate and roasting peppers, with a little cinnamon. As it dries down the peppers and annatto seed take front place, so it's rather like the Mexican spice section in the grocery store. Or like mole -- I suspect that's the inspiration here. And I love to eat mole, but it's not so spectacular on my skin. There are many other chocolate blends that work better on me.

The Gift is lovely -- warm amber, cozy woods and pale honey. Frankincense always has a dry, woody feel to me, and I am not able to differentiate it here -- there is none of the sharpness it usually brings. It seems to just be adding to the woods. No throw (which is pretty normal on me) and somewhat shorter than average wear length on my skin, but again, it's lovely.

I got an imp of Arana in a swap, so it's aged roughly half a decade now, and it's gorgeous on me. I like Antikythera Mechanism, but it doesn't last long on my skin. Here I was worried about the agarwood (oud), but there's nothing indolic about it; instead, it seems to contribute warmth and excellent wear length. No soap on me, just warm woodsy vanilla that wraps around me like a soft cashmere shawl on a chilly day. Love.

My tester of Peacock Queen, with a beautiful handmade label, is dated 09. Rose is hit or miss on me, but this came in a swap and of course I had to try it. I do enjoy wearing The Rose GC from the Marchen collection occasionally, for an understated realistic rose scent. The Peacock Queen is a whole different order of rose. A woman's rose, not a girl's. A rose in a power suit, with a dungeon in her basement. A rose in stiletto heels. The Peacock Queen's affirmation: "I am a goddess. Bow down before me."

I received my imp of original Baghdad in a swap with dementia_divine, so I assume it is the very same imp reviewed just above. Yet on my skin Baghdad is not a musky rose but a desert amber, not as sweet as Bastet but in the same family. Amber, saffron, sandalwood, a waft of citrus, warm, dry, lovely (Bast, Bastet, Lion, etc. are faves of mine). The rose and musk were both supporting players on my skin, and I didn't specifically make out nutmeg at all. I definitely need to try the resuscitated Baghdad while it is still available!

I want achildoftime's Havana! Almost all I got from my imp of indeterminate age was date palm and snakeroot. Actually, I have no idea what snakeroot smells like and the name seems to attach to a number of botanicals, but I get from Havana something green like sap, with a dry earthy sweetness and the faintest whisper of the gentlest possible tobacco and leather. It is a quiet scent on me, with no throw (not that I get much throw under any circumstances). Pleasant but not what I was hoping for.

Search Engine isn't getting a lot of love here, is it? It's a really interesting scent, and if you are a grapefruit lover, it's definitely worth a try. Wet on me, it is invigorating grapefruit with something vaguely foody going on -- I feel vindicated when I see that roseus had a similar experience. I was definitely not expecting baked goods from the notes. That phase didn't last long on me, and instead I got a kind of gunmetal note and maybe a dry sandalwood for the bones? The overall feel in drydown is much less aggressive then wet. My skin always eats up citrus pretty quickly, so I get about 3 hours of wear length, which is pretty average for me. If you like to use grapefruit shower products to wake you up in the morning, Search Engine might be a good scent to add to your arsenal. I can see using it in TAL fashion when I want to be productive. And it smells nice on me, too.

The chocolate is not the top note for me in 13 April 2018 the way it is in most 13s. This is more of an herbal mulled wine blend on me, with maybe some soft sweet marshmallow coconut emerging in drydown. I don't get the crazy throw some other reviewers have mentioned, but that's my middle-aged skin for you. It's nice -- definitely comforting -- and I'm delighted that I got a chance to try it, but red wine is not a note I wear very often.

The Levee is dominated by a dark, smoky patchouli, though it doesn't scream vetiver to me, so if you can do smoke but not vetiver per se, this might still work for you. It takes a long time on me for the sweet notes to develop, and they're never in the forefront, so it's definitely a patchouli scent with brown sugar and honey as supporting players. This is super lovely - if you love Banshee Beat, Tricksy, #occupy or Nasty Woman, this is definitely one to try.

Calumet 412 smells like BPAL to me, which means that it is full of all the scents I love. Wet rich golden amber predominates on me, with vanilla and polished woods and rum. It's warm and sexy and comforting, really really nice. I don't get a lot of throw (I almost never do), but wear length is good. It stays pretty true to the initial impression, just getting softer and maybe a little sweeter. Beautiful!

I'm a sucker for anything with the word "Renaissance" in the description, even though violets almost never work on me. Plus a Michelangelo poem? How could I not?! My imp doesn't specify the year which makes me suspect it was the first iteration. Doom of Beauty goes on strong, with an almost astringent herbal quality that somehow reminds me of the Fernet Branca my grandmother used to give us kids to settle our stomachs. (I know, Fernet Branca became hip somewhere along the line, but in our family it was used as Pepto Bismol. Hey, rosemary IS for remembrance.) Any wimpy little violets that may be present have gotten totally swamped by the Renaissance knot garden of useful herbs. As it settles down, I get astringent rosemary, a little rosewater, a little citrus peel, and it just keeps getting softer and prettier with time. It is very unusual -- it doesn't make me think of any other BPAL. I am thrilled I found this on a swap partner's list when it wasn't on my radar at all. SUCH a keeper for me!

Eve is pretty. Apple, well-behaved rose, and light honey. The ylang ylang, which I worried about, is not particularly strong on me. It is a very pleasant fruity floral, but not so compelling that I'm heartbroken that it's discontinued.

Our Nightmarebane. Named after the Baku, benevolent Japanese spirits that eat nightmares. In Japanese tradition, nightmares are gifts from malevolent spirits; when you wake up from one, you may call, "Baku, please eat my dreams!", and if you are virtuous and merciful in spirit, the Baku will devour the evil, transforming it into a blessing of good fortune. I didn't try Baku for its nightmare-devouring properties; I wore it in daytime. Baku on me goes on with a strong, sinus-clearing blast of medicinal lavender. That initial burst of lavender never lasts long on me, and within 20 minutes it had faded and the anise note was overtaking it. Within another 20 minutes or so, my skin had eaten Baku almost completely. I guess a strong opening would be good for inducing sleep, and if it worked, I wouldn't need it to last very long...

Foodie overload! Gluttony is everything it says it is. On me it's most like a chocolate covered hazelnut praline, but the chocolate is no darker than semisweet. With all this other sugar, a darker chocolate would have been nice to cut the sweetness. I guess the hops does that a bit, but there's an awful lot of sweetness to counteract. I always love the hazelnut note. If you are a gourmand lover, definitely give this one a try.

Ether is clean and fresh, a little lemony, a little floral, a little aquatic though not too soapy. It's not my thing but I can see it being a lovely summer scent on the right person.

Molly Grue is gentle and lovely -- I really enjoy all these notes. I expected the opening to be all hazelnut, but it is never strong and blends quietly with the fig and bitter sesame. The spices are also very quiet, and the rice flower, and that is why I'm not keeping this decant -- this scent is just too soft and gentle on me, and my skin eats it up much too quickly.

Tanuki No Doke Daruma was a frimp from a generous forumite, but I'll try anything no matter how unpromising the notes. Plus I love the tanuki stories. As expected, this is not for me. The apple and currant combine into something way too fruity for my taste, the apple blossom and champaca making it too floral as well. I would like to smell the tomato leaf note, but I couldn't individuate it here, and the grasses don't really come out either. No clue what goma is. Too fruity and too flowery on my skin.

The Lemniscate is primarily frankincense and cedar on me. If those two notes work for you, this is stunning. I've been testing some fruity scents which really aren't my thing, and in contrast Lemniscate is bracing, clean, unisex. The cedar and frank combine into a single dry, woody thing -- I can't pull them apart. There's a kick of black pepper, a ghost of warm tobacco, maybe the tiniest bit of sweetness in drydown from the cognac. I absolutely love this one.

Slivers of warm, pulsating DRAGON'S blood forever crystallized in golden amber resin. I should have read the reviews, or this should be Dragon's Amber. Dragon's blood very rarely works on me, and this is not one of those occasions. It's only a little amber and a lot of the sickly sweet fruity-floral DB turns into on me skin. I was hoping for something more like blood musk and amber. Oh well, I'll pass this one on.

I wonder if it's the blood musk that is giving you that effect. (I've never really been in a tattoo parlor... I know, I know.) Blood musk tends to work better on me than red musk pure and simple. Have you tried Ezekiel 16:19 from the new Deliver Them scents? Blood musk and ashes. It's really unique, different from any other BPAL I have, and definitely no beeswax sweetening things up. Plus it's a great cause.

I love trying 13s, though I can have a hard time differentiating components among all those notes. This one is gorgeous. I get primarily dark chocolate with boozy vanilla cream, sweet and comforting but not cloying; I think the bitter coffee and smoky notes help keep the balance. If you are an almond hater, I get very little almond here. The carnation takes a while to show up, and the cardamom is very understated. After an hour, 13 July 2018 is pretty faint on me; I have to get my nose close to my wrist to smell it. But it lasts at this level for the next several hours, not disappearing entirely. Aging may improve the wear length, but the composition is a winner.

This 13 is lovely rich chocolate spice in the bottle but kind of odd on my skin. I don't know some of these notes -- ladybug beans, cascara sagrada, master root -- and the effect on me is less chocolate in my spice cabinet (though I do smell the cumin and allspice) than cocoa powder in an herbalist's storeroom, with bundles of dried herbs hanging every which where. A kind of dry, dark, earthy, herbal blend, not particularly sweet -- not unpleasant at all, but just not me.

Maybe my nose is busted, but I don't get pomegranate from Crypt King. Maybe a hint of fruity sweetness, but not identifiable pom. Wet the one note that stands out is the almost foody ginger. I do get oak moss and lilac as it dries, and very little patchouli. I'm going to pass my tester on so someone else can try it. It's too confusing to me. It's very nice but I like to have a better idea of what I'm smelling.

I was frimped a tester of this that doesn't specify the year. Rose can be iffy on me, but Pink Snowballs is really pretty. I'm only familiar with the Snow White note through Cotton Phoenix and Frostbittens, but my skin seems to love it. The rose is pink and sugary on me. Sweet and lighthearted but with nice wear length for a delicate scent.