Lucchesa

Goliath Birdwing is quiet on me. I was afraid that lemongrass plus lemon balm would equal lemon Pledge, but the citrusy herbs stayed very mellow. Unfortunately, so did everything else. I guess this is one of those seamless blends where it's hard to identify the separate ingredients, but I would have enjoyed more pronounced sage and anise notes. It's pretty in the imp, but I felt like my skin was damping it down.

Another perfectly gorgeous scent from the Deliver series! I could almost cut and paste dementia_divine's review because Luke 10:25-37 behaved very similarly on my skin. The clove was the strongest note on me, followed by the amber; under them I could faintly make out some earthy saffron and sandalwood. And late drydown, a few hours in, is all sweet golden amber on me as well. This is a lovely, warm, comforting scent, and it will be beautiful in the fall and winter. It wears close to the skin (as most scents do on me) and lasts a long time.

Psalm 82:2-4 is the first of the Deliver scents I haven't absolutely loved. I was worried about the crystalline musk being close to white musk, which often doesn't work on me, and I was right to worry. The musk was just a bit too high-pitched on my skin, and I didn't get any vanilla for ages. It isn't bad or anything; it just didn't blow me away like some of the others in the series have. I wished it worked as well on me as it does on some of the other reviewers! ETA I noticed today that my imp is really stratified -- there's amber color at the bottom, clear on top (I actually thought I had just ordered a half imp and it was amber). So I rolled thoroughly, and this time I got the vanilla a lot earlier, and the whole effect was softer. I'm hanging on to this imp to see how it ages. It may end up blowing me away after all.

A second-hand imp of Ozymandias, of indeterminate age. Ozymandias is very faint on me. A little incensy, a little powdery, no throw nor a particularly long wear length, nothing that would raise it above beloved desert scents like The Lion or Bastet in my estimation or make me sad that it's discontinued.

Astringent lavender and black, black patchouli. I have an imp of East African black patch SN, and it's very recognizable here. So, unlike zanzoku_zen, I would NOT recommend this to anyone who's scared of patchouli, because at least with my skin chemistry, this leans pretty close to single note big bad patch. No lilac or star anise, only a hint of citrus ; some pine does peek out once the lavender starts to mellow a bit in drydown. And there's something about the lavender/patchouli mix that's not sitting well with me. I think this would be beautiful if my skin let it express more of the notes.

I love blackberries and keep trying to find the perfect BPAL blackberry scent, which has led me to a series of dreadful disappointments, as the blackberry note tends to go berry bubblegum on my skin. So I didn't have particularly high hopes for Exodus 22:21. But I love me some dark syrupy opoponax, and myrrh usually plays on my side as well. And this -- this is beautiful. There's the gorgeous rich blackberry and the resins and something almost lemony which I think is really tart redcurrant, balancing the sweetness of the berry, and I think the resins keep this blend from getting too sweet as well. Wet, I got unusually good throw for my skin. Drydown is more subdued, less fruity, rich and deep. This is not a playful, light summer blend on me. Phox calls it mature, and I would second that, but in the most positive way. I'm so glad I took a chance on a decant, and I may need more. In fact, I feel that way about all the Deliver scents I've tried so far. What a stunning collection.

I can't usually wear red musk, but I've had some success with blood musk. Blood musk is more apt to share the stage with other notes, which is especially crucial when there are only two notes. And the blood musk and ashes are in perfect balance here. Ezekiel 16:49 is a very somber scent, and utterly unisex; for the first couple of hours I get no sweetness at all, then it starts to soften a bit, but it is still dark. Gray ash, coppery blood -- this really isn't like any other scent I can think of, and it's beautiful. Not much throw on me (typical) but good wear length.

Dragon-Smooched Snake Oil is powerful stuff. Wet, I barely smell the Snake Oil at all. I get strong, cloying dragon's blood resin, patch and honey. But the SO starts to assert itself pretty quickly, and as it dries down the DBR backs off somewhat. Fresh SO is super sweet on me already, so this is almost overpoweringly sweet, with terrific throw. The extra patch gives it a more structured feeling. It is ridiculously sexy, and I don't even particularly like dragon's blood. D-SSO lasts longer than most of the SO blends do on me without simply turning into Snake Oil, though it's not still there the next morning the way plain SO might be. Of course this is likely to age magnificently. If I loved dragon's blood, this would be to die for. As it is, it's still pretty great.

Jester is berry, berry, berry! I was hoping for a little more of that incisive, bittersweet neroli to round things out, but it's sweet berry, more huckleberry than red currant, sweeter than I associate with either of those in real life. If you live for berry scents, this might be your holy grail; then again, it's awfully hard to find...

I tried Job 31:32 today along with Romans 13:8. They seem to be related scents to me, and they are both brimming over with win. Sorry, Soupy Twist, but I got the Caity Cat experience. The opening was all roasted hazelnuts, reminding me of the roasted nuts of Himalia, which I adore. I'm not sure I could pick out the almond because the hazelnuts were pretty insistent. But the chewy dark fig nosed its way in, and the Turkish delight with a tiny hint of rosewater. Romans is the rose version of this theme, and Job is the hazelnut version, and hazelnut lasts much longer on me than almond does. Sweet, rich, nutty, but not totally foodie if that makes any sense. I think this will be a wonderful autumn scent as well. I got good throw (which is rare for my skin chemistry) when wet and really good wear length; I did reapply once today, but that was 10 hours ago and I can still smell it. I am just blown away by how beautiful, generous and open-hearted the Deliver scents are.

I've had a run of bad luck with oudh lately, so I didn't order Romans 13:8 initially, but I was persuaded to get a decant. I'm so glad I did. This is absolutely beautiful. The oudh is just a deepening note here, not indolic in any way. It starts out with a sweet blast of almond, but that never lasts long on me. It settles into a gorgeous, almost heartbreakingly realistic rose, with a whisper of almond in the background and some chewy fig and on me just the faintest hint of cardamom. Rose does not always work on me, but it's stunning here. I got good throw from this when it was wet and excellent wear length as a skin scent thereafter; I reapplied once today but can still smell it ten hours after the second application. I had Job 31:32 on the other wrist and they seem to be related scents and are amazing alone or together. I am floored by how Beth has taken her outrage and righteous anger and transmuted them into these things of beauty.

If I were designing this scent, I would have gone all literal. Murky seawater, hemp rope, stone. But there are lots of excellent reasons that I am not heading up a perfumery, like, who would want to wear that? Beth goes instead for the sunny meadow we imagine Jesus sitting in as he suffers the little children to not get horrifically ripped away from their parents. I love the Lab's honey scents, but I tend to amp champaca and it can go strange on me. Here, though, it behaves beautifully. This is mainly a honey and champaca scent on me, with the warm sandalwood grounding it. I rarely get throw, but this is champaca, so it actually has pretty good sillage on me, though the wear length is just average. Energetically, this blend is the color of sunshine. Recommended for lovers of the Apiary, Against Idleness and Mischief, Venus Verticordia, honey-based Shungas and the like.

I love the painting (https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/caspar-david-friedrich-winter-landscape) and was excited to try the scent. It captures the image beautifully, I think. The piney snow note combines with ecclesiastical incense -- mostly frankincense on me -- and a drift of roses like the pink sky at the top of the canvas. Rose is not always reliable on me and goes a tad sour in combination with the incense, but it is a very pretty and evocative blend all the same.

The cigar smoke and bay rum sweetness of Frank Burns, here with oudh and vetiver, so stronger and darker on me. I'm not actually getting a lot of leather. The cigar smoke was a little too sharp on me while wet and the oudh was a little oudhy, but it dries down beautifully. Unisex trending masculine, and I actually get a little throw for a while, which is lovely. I have to say I tried this fresh and didn't review it though I kept the decant, so it must have struck me as having potential but needing a little aging. Six months later it's very nice, and I suspect that cigar smoke will only get smoother with time.

So I got ahold of 2 Black Helicopters scents recently, and neither one had been reviewed since 2010. Weird, right? Where have they been hiding? Being a west coaster, I am not familiar with many of the components of The Montauk Project. Wet, it's greenery with something that has a mint-like edge to it. Fortunately, the mintiness recedes quickly on me. In drydown, this is absolutely lovely. Something pleasantly floral comes out -- sunflower? creeper? This seems more of a deciduous than an evergreen forest to me; the pine and cypress are very much in the background. It's a soft and sweet forest floor bathed in dappled sunlight; on my skin, it leans towards the feminine end of unisex. I think Arkham is a good comparison if this one is too hard to track down.

The Marquis is my favorite Neverwhere character too, and I am in love with his scent as well. First I get a generous dose of bay rum and leather, gorgeous, male, a cozy bulwark against the world. I get some throw too, which is unusual with my chemistry. As it dries down I start to appreciate the wool, which was probably contributing to that snuggly feeling -- the leather and wool reminiscent of Adam -- and the woods. I'm not sure I ever really make out opium tar, but there is a subtle smokiness here as well as a definite sweetness, which I'd attribute to the rum. Add it all together and it's just magical. This works much better on me than the bay rum of Shadow from American Gods. Total win and going on the big bottle list.

Pepper is just as lovely and fun as I hoped it would be. I don't do straight florals, and I was worried about the tuberose, but it's a small enough percentage of this scent that it's not causing me grief. This is not a pure floral. It's a spicy, green, citrusy, lightly honeyed floral, with enough different flowers that it's hard to pick out rose or gardenia or, fortunately, tuberose. It feels like wildflowers in a meadow on a bright sunny day, but with that little punch of pepper and ginger -- the prickly feeling of lying in the grass, maybe. I don't really get any pine resin. I get a little throw when wet and about average wear length for my skin. So delighted I got to try this!

All in the Golden Afternoon started out really light on me, and more floral than fruity. I still can't tell you which flowers they were. I didn't peek at the notes when testing, and I pretty much failed to identify anything except amber and maybe general citrus. I kind of expected this blend to disappear right away, like Cheshire Cat and many another citrus do on me, but it lasted and lasted. Bright, cheerful, yes, fizzy, and I would have guessed there was a light musk in here as well. Very nice!

Ahathoor is really nice on me. At first it was light, kind of warm and dry, maybe some amber. Then it morphed into something deeper which I'm pretty sure included frankincense. Definitely unisex. I'm not crying that it's gone, but I am really glad I got to try it.

The Book from ParaNorman has been mentioned, but there's also The Book, a Fleurette's Purple Snails 2016 Luper. Brown leather, tonka, vanilla bourbon tar, and a thin whiff of rose And did Scholar's Tower get a mention? Gleaming amber spheres, polished cedar and mahogany, sweet parchment, inks of frankincense ash, and soft plumes of incense I love this category of scents, but they nearly all get swallowed up immediately on my skin; Buggre All This Bible barely bothered to put in an appearance. I wanted to love it so much!

I am a total sucker for any medieval or Renaissance scents, despite the fact that they don't always work on me (I wanted to like Bess so much that I ignored the fact that my skin was turning it into Dimetapp). I love the inspiration for Phantom Time Hypothesis, and luckily it is beautiful on me. Rosewater, ambergris, a hint of citrus, a breath of musk -- oh, so lovely, so cooling for the hot spell we're having right now. Rose doesn't always work on me, but this feels more like rosewater, which is better on me. I see that damask rose is also the rose in Maiden, which is a favorite. I wonder which rose is in Alice? There are no sharp edges to this scent (the benefits of eight years of aging, perhaps); I get nothing medicinal from it. If you have an unloved bottle at the back of your BPAL drawer, you might want to pull it out and see how it's aged for you. I find it very feminine, light but not vanishing (it held up very well during yoga today), evocative of another time yet utterly contemporary. I'm so delighted to have gotten to try this one!

In His Hands was a frimp, and I wouldn't necessarily have chosen it; while I'm learning to love vetiver, I still shy away from it as the first ingredient. The imp had dark brown globules, like a cacao blend, which stained my wrist; in fact, the brown spots were still visible after a shower, so take care in applying. When I put it on, I couldn't really smell much -- strange for such powerful ingredients -- so I applied a little more. But In His Hands is one of those BPALs that take their own sweet time becoming what they're going to be. I kind of forgot it was there, and half an hour or so later was greeted by this dark, sultry, syrupy, smoky scent that was to die for. The clove emerged even later, and I never really picked out the leather, but it is gloriously sexy. Gender neutral trending masculine, awesome of course for those of us without a Y chromosome who like such scents. And despite the slow start, it smolders for a long time and was still lingering on my wrist this morning after yesterday evening's application. This is the best kind of frimp experience -- out of my comfort zone, into sheer enjoyment.

Ugh, I'm really regretting putting this one on my skin. Orc on me is like fresh, sweet cucumber and zucchini salad over a base of charred noodles. The leather is coming out a bit as it dries down, but I have a hard time imagining it will salvage this into anything wearable for me. Frankly, my hopes were not high, though from a curiosity standpoint I'm quite glad to have gotten to try this one (frimp from a kind forumite!). ETA OK, within an hour Orc had mellowed to a very pleasant kind of smoky green leather. The harsh, acrid quality of the vetiver was gone as was any identifiable zucchini smell. In this phase, which lasts a good long time, it reminds me of something like Lindworm. So if you can muscle through the opening, the dry phase is quite lovely.

Disrespect for Established Authority is actually pretty straitlaced on me. Light leather, pale tobacco, a little smoky, a little sweet, though I'm not really getting a lot of vanilla. It wears very close to the skin -- and is very pleasant, don't get me wrong -- but it doesn't last long on me at all.

Next May I will be doing a lecture as Romaine Brooks, a cross-dressing lesbian artist of the 1920s who painted portraits which are restricted almost entirely to shades of gray. This may be her scent. White lavender. Gray patchouli and ambrette seed. Black vetiver. Elegant, unisex, utterly refined. Aloof, classical, secure in its own superiority. The rum and tobacco suggest the smoky, idea-filled salons of Left Bank intellectuals; the lavender and vetiver combined suggest femininity without sweetness. So glad to have gotten to try this one!