Lucchesa

Wet, Eyes Skyward is a lovely lemony frankincense on me. Mellow, sunshiny, and never veering close to lemon Pledge territory. As it dries down, the coconut and sandalwood emerge, and a hint of vanilla. A skin scent on me, and not a long-lasting one. I like it, but I may swap it to someone whose skin chemistry might allow it better throw and wear length.

Oops, realized I reviewed Sign of Sekkusu at the Post but not here. These are all favorite notes of mine, and I love it! I worried that it might smell a bit like I’d just come from clubbing and might not go down well at work, but it’s not too boozy, and the tobacco is smooth and urbane. It smells classy – warm and elegant but a little removed, like a woman who knows she’s way out of the league of anyone in the room but who is too kind to be snooty about it. It doesn’t have the ridiculous throw and wear length of some hair glosses I’ve tried, but I do continue to get whiffs of it for several hours.

I like Gothic Horror a LOT better than Psychological Horror! It's a lovely mysterious incense with lots of myrrh. I'm not getting much in the way of rose, which is fine. My initial impression was of a crumbling monastery, ancient penitential rites, a desperate heroine. No throw at all on me, but it lasts a long time. Lovely!

It doesn't happen often, but I developed a strong dislike for this from the get-go. It was strongly musky on my skin with a burnt or industrial undertone. And violets, I think, which are nearly always a disaster on me. It does improve somewhat as it dries down, but not enough to salvage it from the negative initial reaction. Swaps.

The Cross of Snow is lots of moss and cypress on me, and some sharp tobacco flower especially when wet. Then a cologne-style bergamot makes an appearance, though the clove never does on me. Definitely earthy and mossy and unisex, trending masculine. My skin eats this one up fairly quickly.

My Moon Rose imp looks like it's been around the block a few times. Wet, it's all rose, a soft realistic rose that does not go sour on me. Gradually gentle aquatic notes and what must be the moonflower emerge to create an almost silvery rose scent, lovely and evanescent. Not at all my style, though, so I will pass this one on to someone else who's curious to try it.

I just got this out of the mailbox and sprayed it on dry hair, though I'm sure it will treat my wet hair as excellently as all BPTP hair gloss does (I have coarse, dry, curly hair that seems to be exactly what hair gloss is made for; combed through damp hair as my only styling product, it produces soft non-frizzy and certainly non-greasy curls that last a couple of days). The Love Swing smells marvelous but not like what I expected. Like Little Bird, I would swear this was sassafras and even wondered if it were mislabeled. I too get the impression of rootbeer float. But I like it a lot! It's going to be perfect to wear with Sissy, Outlaw, etc. And it's lasted a good four hours already. It's not the cardamom-patchouli of my dreams, but it's delicious nonetheless. ETA: The Love Swing has terrific staying power -- I put it on yesterday around noon and am still getting faint wafts the following morning.

Blind testing Enyalios, I did pretty well. I thought pine, frank and opoponax because it had that cola kind of vibe. After checking the notes, I think it was olibanum plus cocoa that gave me that impression. I don't mean to imply that it's sweet; it isn't particularly sweet on my skin. It's sharp at first and very woodsy, but it softens considerably in drydown. The patch is not headshoppy at all but melds perfectly with the juniper and dry frankincense. Unisex, a confidence-building scent, with a little throw and average wear length. I like this a lot!

This is quite nice. I used it as a bedtime scent last night -- I knew I liked it from some brief, positive but non-specific notes from first testing -- and am testing again now. Tezcatlipoca is a dry scent. Dry patch, dry cacao, not at all foodie or sweet. I find it pleasantly grounding. A hint of leather and incense emerge as it dries down, and some dry flowers (not dried, just dry. I consider marigolds and chrysanthemums dry, as opposed to lush moist flowers like tuberose). Gender neutral, work appropriate and would make a good confidence scent.

Blind testing Heroine, my first thought on application was "apples and oranges." Gradually that became "musky apples and oranges with something else." Then I peeked at the notes and realized that what I was reading as bright, tart citrus was in fact rhubarb, which made a lot of sense. I never really got any leather from this, or any patchouli; essentially it was a sunshiny fruit and musk blend on me. Pretty, but I was hoping for something a little darker.

I understand the comparisons with Ebisu, but on my skin Alcie is quite a different animal. Ebisu on me is a skin scent, soft and sweet and sexy but understated. Alcie is bright and has more throw than I usually get. Bright sweet-tart nectarine, bright clean aquatic notes. I haven't quite mastered the subtleties of green musk but it is definitely louder on me than skin musk. Alcie is almost aggressively cheerful, like a camp counselor who is absolutely determined that everyone is going to have the time of their life. I'm very fond of Ebisu, but Alcie may be just too chipper for me. I'm not sure I could wear this unironically.

Andreiphontes is good but not great on my skin. It's an intriguing combination of warm, buttery tonka and dry sandalwood and just the barest hint of nutmeg -- this does not smell like a spice drawer or a pumpkin pie, it's very subtle. There's some sweetness from the benzoin and tonka. It's funny given that this is supposed to be the destroyer of men, but one of the words I would use to describe this is gentle. Unisex, no throw (normal on me). Nice, but there are other blends in this vein that work better on me.

I was enthusiastic about all of these notes except for jasmine, so of course Peitho is practically a single-note jasmine on me. It's a nice jasmine, not indolic, and with the vanilla in the background reminds me rather of La Prostitution et la Folie, which I tested a couple of days ago. Actually, it's a surprisingly beautiful jasmine; it's just not something I'm going to wear.

I was a little sloppy with the imp, so I got a bit more Dead Leaves, Bourbon etc. onto my wrist than I had planned, but I am digging it. Like LiberAmoris says, it's a dead leaves old fashioned -- my dad's drink, though I'm not finding it too masculine at all. The dead leaves note on my skin always morphs into a beautiful, sophisticated, old-fashioned (no pun intended) and to my mind quite feminine perfume note. I was afraid the bourbon would be overly boozy for work or school, but it's just right, and the cherry and orange peel subtly flavor the whole. A little black dress of a scent, I can see this transitioning effortlessly from a sophisticated work scent to dinner, drinks, dancing...

Trappings of the Tea House smells exactly how I imagined it would. No cinnamon, just quiet tea, sandalwood, a little vanilla. I seem to be anosmic to the pink pepper note, so I didn't expect much of that. Unfortunately, tea is one of those notes my greedy, greedy skin eats right up, so many Shungas do not last well on me, and this is no exception. It's lovely while it lasts, though!

Silk Road is one of those scents that smell like my BPAL decant boxes: a little bit of everything, and a lot of Beth. I somehow ended up being given two imps of this, one in good condition, one that's been around the block a few times and contains a deeper-colored oil; I'm testing the latter one. It lives up to its name beautifully: spicy and exotic, yet warm and comforting. You can imagine wearing this while traveling by camel caravan. Notes? Spices, incense, sandalwood; I'm not getting the strong blast of cinnamon some reviewers mention. This is a perfume that would be absolutely appropriate for a work situation; I get no throw at all. Yet after work, you could reapply, go out to dinner, and if the object of your desire got close enough, Silk Road would be quite seductive. I'm not going to cry because it's unobtainable; there are other "Arabian Nights" scents (Bast, Bengal) that push the same buttons for me. But it is a good reminder to buy backups of GC faves as they may not be around forever.

This is a really old imp of the Lovers from the original Tarot series, and it is a skin scent on me. I think there very well may be orange blossom in here, and maybe lotus with its bubblegummy twang. The only GC scent it really reminds me of is no help at all -- Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo. But that aggressively optimistic teenaged girl band sweetness of ACJM is just one thread of this scent. I'm delighted to have tried it and will be passing it along so someone else gets the privilege.

2016 Pere Noel, and it is just lovely. Sweet orange and tangerine dry down into something soft, bright and happy. It is foodier than I'd imagined (I don't think of citrus scents as foodie, but maybe it's the hint of anise that suggests biscotti on my skin). It also has some throw, which is rare with my chemistry -- I wore it to a school meeting this morning, and I could smell it wafting up from my wrist on the table. Extremely cheerful, appropriate to any kind of daytime situation. Three hours later Pere Noel is much faded but still keeping its character.

Lavender always fades quickly on me, so while Light and Swift starts out with a lovely lemony lavender, within half an hour or so it is a bright citrus scent with just a hint of lavender (I have no idea what elemi smells like so I can't comment there). This is sunshiny and very enjoyable. It does NOT go into cleanser or Lemon Pledge territory. I wore it to a morning meeting about the college application process at my son's school, and it was perfectly appropriate in that setting. Three hours later, it is barely perceptible on my skin, which tends to gobble up citrusy notes. Great daytime scent!

This looks like a really aged imp; it came in a swap. Exactly one imp containing rhubarb -- this one -- has ever passed through my hands, so I was curious to try it. Wet I got mostly oak and chamomile. Eventually the fig leaf comes into play, not as fruity as the regular fig note, and what must be the rhubarb, kind of tangy, a little sweet. It's an interesting blend, wood-fruit-dusty chamomile, no throw on me and not particularly long-lasting. I don't see this getting much wear on its own but will try layering with the other RPG blends.

Black Temple Burlesque Troupe started off badly on me. There was something about the tobacco note that was going wrong, kind of the way that Snaky-Hair'd Moirai goes wrong on me. But within 15 minutes, it had smoothed itself out and was playing background to the cocoa and the black musk. This is one of those lovely, lemony black musks on me, so much so that Burlesque is close to what I was hoping Delight and Consternation would be, a musky dark chocolate-lemon scent. It also makes me think I should keep Snaky around to see if age tempers the tobacco issue. A temptress shimmying up and down a pole in a dimly lit club. Delicious!

Every once in a blue moon Jasmine works on me. I never know when, and it's one of those things where when it's good, it's really really good, and when it's bad it's horrid. I tried this because some of the reviews said it wasn't that jasmine-dominated, and I love the other notes, especially the star anise. Frankly, I'm not getting a lot of star anise here. But the jasmine is so beautiful. I don't know why it's behaving on my skin, and I'm not even particularly a fan of florals, but it's so nice to have a chance to experience, oh, THIS is what jasmine is supposed to smell like. I'm getting lots of throw (always true of problematic notes; they don't just go wrong, they go wrong loudly). Gorgeous, creamy, sensual jasmine. I won't wear this one much and I definitely don't need a whole bottle, but I'm delighted to be able to feel the jasmine love once in a while.

Regular Cathedral smells like cedar chips on me, but I thought Gingerbread Cathedral might be nice, and I was not wrong. I really enjoy the gingerbread note in general, and it's really nice with the cedar my skin turns Cathedral into. Very holiday in spirit. The gingerbread lasts only a couple hours on me, and then it's back to all cedar.

Dumb Cake 2014 was not what I was expecting, probably because I hadn't looked at the notes in a while and imagined it was purely foodie. In fact, when I applied it, I could smell the cake note, but within a few minutes the cologne was first and foremost, and I was getting really good throw, which is unusual for my skin. It definitely skews to the masculine side of unisex whereas Dorian, to me, sits right in the middle. I'm not getting much ash. I like this one but it was definitely a surprise.

An utterly feral, thoroughly rousing perfume. Red patchouli sweetened by orange blossom. This is an aged imp. I put on Ravenous and got nothing. Well, not quite nothing, but not much. So I figured it would go straight to swaps, and kind of forgot it was there. Within 15 minutes, it was the most beautiful orange blossom scent I've had the privilege of smelling, similar to the note in Hunger. It's now several hours later and still going strong. The patchouli is really just a grounding note here, on me; this is really all about the orange blossom. Sweet and lush, a little bit creamsicle. Lovely!