Lucchesa

I had unfortunately already ordered a decant of Humanite when I skin-tested Nocturne. I have very few scents with tuberose in them, but I'm coming to the conclusion that it's never going to work on my skin. A shame: Nocturne is beautiful in the imp.

In the imp, a darker scent than I expected from such a pale oil. Must be that caramelized vanilla getting down and dirty with the fruits and flowers. Intriguing, as I had hoped. But on my skin, as I ought to have known, TUBEROSE. Tuberose stomping all over everything else, getting its own way. Tuberose? We're finished. Done. I keep being tempted back by the company you keep, but never again.

Black Lily is strongly lily with the hint of something darker - maybe a dark musk, which doesn't usually go well on me, but lilies are one of the flowers that work best with my skin chemistry, and this is beautiful. Low to medium throw, but I bet I'd get more if I slathered (I usually don't get much throw at all from most scents). Very elegant and worldly, a night at the opera or whirlwind weekend in Paris kind of scent. It is fading faster than I hoped but is still definitely a keeper.

A shot of pure, self-indulgent euphoria! A scent that is very, very wicked in its own way: the serotonin-slathered scent of pure milk chocolate. Yep, milk chocolate. Cadbury's, past its sell-by date. I can understand why some people enjoy this, especially when their skin chemistry makes it seem creamy and not stale, but this is not for me. ETA scent description. I did it!

I love carnation -- my all time fave is Alice where I get lots of spicy carnation deliciousness. But Bathsheba's carnation is very understated for me, gradually emerging in drydown. It is a beautiful mix of all three notes, but it is too quiet to be spectacular. I think it would be a very nice skin scent in situations where it would give me confidence and pleasure to sniff it on my wrist and know it was there, but unlike for DiZZySTARdust it has no throw on me at all.

I knew this would be good, with the listed notes. The only one I worried about was myrrh, which can ruin things for me, but I was hoping that soft myrrh would stay in line, and it did. It's not transcendent, but it's very nice. Like Bassmastadroog, I wish it were stronger, but my skin eats up most scent, so I wish that a lot. But it's the kind of thing you could wear to a job interview where you wanted to feel warm and glowing and powerful without broadcasting to the whole room I'M WEARING PERFUME... ETA Put some Bastet on about 2.5 hours ago, super long wear time for my sponge-like skin, and it is still going strong. Love it!

Evening Cicadas and Red Peppers (Yule 2009 blend) reminds me quite a bit of Light Blue. Ebisu Making Love As Two Octopuses Look On (Lupercalia 2008) also has a similar feel for me. My sister loves D&G's Light Blue, and these suggestions are super hard to find. Is there anything in the GC that would be similar? From the website, top, heart and base notes: Invigorating Sicilian cedar melds with the crisp vibrancy of apple and the guileless charm of the bluebell, to evoke the essence of a South Italian summer The freshness of bamboo nestles amid a glorious feminine bouquet of decadent jasmine and delicate white rose. Redolent citron wood is entwined with voluptuous amber and a suggestive caress of musk.. Thanks!

Rose geranium definitely dominates in this blend on my skin; my aunt had a huge rose geranium plant and this reminds me of her house. But it is spicy enough that it doesn't scream feminine floral, and I'm finally getting a BPAL pepper scent that my skin doesn't just eliminate. The other notes support the rose geranium beautifully, though as usual my skin chemistry damps down the mandarin. Vanilla sometimes ruins things for me but if I sense it at all it is only as a shy supporting note. This is lovely and warm without a lot of throw on me, so I could easily wear it to work.

This is really quiet on me, not at all tumultuous or screeching. I don't get much citrus, or pepper for that matter, just a woodsy floral that would be perfect for wearing in places where I'm not really supposed to be wearing perfume. I'll keep it for just those occasions. Lovely if I sniff my wrist, but no throw whatsoever although I usually amp lily.

In the imp: evergreen boughs with maybe a little rosewood. On my skin it remains one of the best BPAL pine scents I have tried so far, clean but not cleanser. But this is a morpher on me. As it dries down, the amber and vanilla become much more prominent. It is gorgeous all the way through, though, and perfectly unisex - the description almost scared me away, but I'm so glad I tried it because it is bottle-worthy on me.

Super good advice, Rachelos! I love buying imps, either from the Lab or the forums, because I haven't invested a fortune so I'm not devastated if a scent doesn't go my way. And the people here are great. I bought some imps early on and the forumite asked what he could frimp me -- extra imps I might want to try, like the ones the Lab always includes in orders. And I said I was afraid of patchouli, and he sent me samples of some patchouli blends, one of which is now one of my absolute favorites. You never know what the combination of notes is going to do with your skin chemistry. It can be magic! I still buy the occasional bottle untested, especially if it's for a good cause -- I'll be ordering some Covfefe soon...

O was in my very first order from the Lab, and I wasn't impressed at the time. The vanilla hit my skin and took over in a very weird way, or maybe it was the vanilla and honey combination, but it just wasn't good on me. So, this morning I saw a necklace of mine hanging in the corner of my office. It's a Japanese necklace with a compartment inside, I haven't worn it for at least a couple years, and looking at it, I thought, "That would be perfect to hold a couple of imps." I opened it up and damn, that's where Fae and Uruk and my original O had gone! O is now a dragon's blood red; I don't remember it being this color originally. And it is freaking gorgeous! The three notes blend together seamlessly, and there's a tiny bit of spiciness, maybe from the amber? It is sexy as hell. Age this one, folks! Age it! It's fantastic.

On first sniff, I didn't read Tisiphone as a floral at all. On my skin the floral notes just begin to creep out, but are still overwhelmed. Black patchouli can be an enemy of mine, and it does me no favors here. Neroli is usually good on me, and I wish there were more here, but the black patch beats it into submission. This is just not distinctive or long wearing on me, either. Swaps.

Siren on me is predominantly a young white ginger - the kind with the smooth skin in the grocery store, not the gnarled kind - with a little jasmine. I can just get apricot, but the vanilla barely makes itself known. I want to drink this as a tea, but I'm not sure I want to smell like this.

Sheol is another of Beth's gorgeous lily blends that work so well on my skin. It is a beautiful bright floral on first application, and as it dries the resins darken the scent, making it richer and deeper. A sophisticated floral -- it never gets muddled as it seems to on other users. And I love the idea of the scent, the reminder that all we have is the brightness of this world which is fleeting.

This was a BPTP frimp that I knew wouldn't work for me when I first sniffed it in the imp. I finally tested it today, and I was right, it doesn't work on my skin. It has gives the weird sensation of being both sharp and cloyingly sweet. And it's giving me the hint of some buried scent memory that is not a pleasant one. My elf is just going to have to find some other occupation besides picking pockets.

This is a powerful leather scent, and it makes me, as a vegetarian, a little uneasy (I know no cows were killed in the production of this perfume, but it's not really what I want to smell like. It's that realistic.) I'm not sure what red moss smells like, but it has a musky edge to me. Pretty good throw, which is characteristic of scents I'm ambivalent about. I'm swapping this with someone I hope will appreciate it more.

A shadowy, unapproachable forest of maple, birch, dogwood, cypress and pine softened by a garland of New England wildflowers: bergamot, columbine, rue anemone, blue violet, creeping phlox, bloodroot, toadflax, and pixie moss. This is sweeter than I expected and sunnier. I didn't get any evergreen notes, which can sometimes take over completely on my skin. Just a nice balance of greenery and floral scents, a little bergamot, some violets peeking out. Quite lovely!

AE is deep and dark and orangy when wet -- I smelled a lot of bergamot, which is a favorite note of mine. But on drydown something cologne-y takes over. I'm guessing this is the benzoin because I had a similar experience with Nun and the Courtly Lady, and bergamot and benzoin are the shared notes. It becomes quite lovely when thoroughly dry but very faint on me, despite my having reapplied it. And since I don't like the drydown phase, I'll probably swap this one.

I'm so glad this happened to someone else in the first few reviews or I would think I was nuts -- on my skin, this turns into cedar chips. In the imp I can smell the orange and the patch, but despite the fact that there are no cedar or other conifer notes listed, my chemistry makes cedar out of the various ingredients. As it also does with Cathedral -- I just assumed the ancient church was built with cedar beams or something. I have cedar scents I like more. Swaps.

On me, this is a pretty aquatic floral, mostly hyacinth. I was hoping for a stronger fir note, but I guess the forest is a little ways off of the seashore. No throw at all. Very nice but not something that I imagine reaching for often.

I have the "old" gnome, very pale in color. It smells as if someone mixed ginger ale and root beer on my arm (but without the stickiness, fortunately). I don't get any pepper, gear oil or smoke. Very odd and not particularly what I want to smell like, though from other reviews it looks like people are enjoying this quite a bit. I will keep the imp, as with all my RPG scents, but won't be seeking out more.

This has really good wear length and throw for me, which is unusual. Sadly, I'm ambivalent about it. My husband called it "interesting." The description calls it conflicted, which I found dead on. I felt like the three notes never reached a detente and decided to work it out. They just kept duking it out, vying for dominance. I'll need to test this one again -- if it does stick around, it will definitely be a bright summer scent.

Arcana is unusual and lovely. Wet it was sharp and dry - lemon verbena and lavender and rosemary? I'm still not certain I can identify frankincense. Neroli is usually good on me, and it showed up in drydown. This feels very Renaissance to me and kept my interest over all of its stages.

Another gorgeous lily blend! My skin amps lilies and soaks up most everything else, so I am Learning to Love Lilies. On me, this is lots and lots of lily of the valley. Not sure what Syrian hibiscus smells like but I really don't catch the apple blossoms or much sandalwood. There's a kind of acid green note I'm attributing to unripe fig which keeps the lilies from being overbearing. Still, even on drydown this is mainly lily of the valley on me. Less fruity than Queen of Hearts, less grassy than The Reaper and the Flowers.