Lucchesa

I bought this from a friend's sales page because it sounded like my kind of thing, and it is, exactly.  It's beautifully blended with no hard edges.  Herbal lavender and spicy carnation are among the least flowery florals; I think a guy could easily pull this off.  It's dark, sweet and smoky from the vetiver, tobacco and vanilla, really mellow and lovely, everything balanced.  I've been wearing it as a winter blend, but I think it could be lovely for hot summer nights as well.  It seems like this is a blend that depends highly on skin chemistry to work its magic, and I lucked out!

I’ve worn this twice now and keep neglecting to review it. I get mainly a slightly spicy golden amber, a favorite note of mine, with the warm fuzzy feeling of BPAL “fur.” I should death match it with the GC The Lion. The sweet resins are background players on my skin. The amber is quite long-lasting — very nice.

I love this and it's perfect with Earth bath oil, which I have a little bit left of.  Lots of sage and patchouli when wet, then there's the pitch and the green growing things.  The myrrh is a later arrival on me, and the late drydown is incensey, mossy woods.  I never get the grains but couldn't care less.  This is earthy, grounding, and just beautiful for lovers of dark forest scents. 

Thanks, @Em-! Our spring equinox swap is posted, awaiting moderator approval.  We’ll be opening March 21–plenty of room for a book/unloved scent swap aimed at April 23, @doublehelix and @torischroeder9 

@Amazonia PiYo sounds intense! The image of you and Neko dancing and punching too baby shark makes me laugh.

I haven’t had my shoulder looked at because it is improving, and I’ve hurt it this way before. Multiple times. But about a week ago I did 15 minutes of intermediate vinyasa and got clear signs I had overdone it, so I’m backing off. Plus I need to keep my mileage up for the Ireland challenge. Yesterday I did get out for nearly four miles, most of it dry. Today, it was closer to five, and it just rained the last ten minutes. I was testing It Was Just a Cat (thumbs up) and Rickety Staircase (thumbs down).

Rickety Staircase went on a little soapy, and it gave the sense not of old oak but of polished oak.  This is not the warm amber of It Was Just A Cat, which I was testing on the other wrist, but something much cooler, more standoffish.  Overall, I got polished wood and a bit of cool amber.  This was very quiet on me, and not terribly long-lasting. 

@Em- Would it be ok for us to reuse much of the copy from last year’s quick Leap Day swap? Something to sniff, something to read, etc.? Thank you!!

@doublehelix I'm sorry I didn't see your appeal earlier -- I would have been happy to!  @lorizav and I are whipping up a small swap akin to last year's Leap Day swap.  I don't know about the St. George tradition but I see it's April 23.  Would it be better to do one spring swap with books and other items and aim for that date, or do a small one now and a second one for the book exchange? (I always vote more swaps = more happy packages in the mail.)

@torischroeder9 I love the swap of unrequited love concept!!!

Welcome back, @Amazonia! I’m not familiar with PiYo. Pilates Yoga? And lucky you, Krampus is awesome!

Goddess flow sounds awesome, @katharina! A shoulder injury is still limiting my yoga, but I have been walking every day. Yesterday, 5 miles, to the tune of Revenant Rhythm. I got frimped a decant in a swap and wow, wow, wow. 
 

today’s WOSOTD is There Is No Bliss Like This but it’s raining so I haven’t braved the outdoors yet.

I didn’t get a decant of There Is No Bliss because of the ylang ylang but was happy to swap for one because it doesn’t show up as prominent in the reviews. This is indeed a happy, safe blend. My first BPAL love was Alice, and I’m still a sucker for a sweet carnation scent.

Carnation and clove, impossible to pry apart, are the main players on my skin, backed by a warm vanilla. I’m getting very little patchouli or cinnamon and no skin irritation from the latter. The ylang ylang is quiet or silent in this mix.  Beth was doing marvelous things with carnation last year — Pleasure Boat, Song of Hope — and this is similarly joyful for me.

A super generous forumite gifted a decant of this to me in a swap. Wow. It is everything it is made out to be. A big, sexy patchouli sweetened with vanilla and all tied together with an organic hemp bow. And it lasts for hours and hours. Perfection.

I’ve tested this twice now and still don’t feel like I have a handle on it. It morphs a great deal on me. At first it’s sharp, almost acrid. I think this must be the ginger and ti leaf responding badly to my skin. This phase is not particularly pleasant. Later it’sa creamy rice milk skin scent with only a hint of spiced tea. I never get anise (a shame, I love anise), and I didn’t manage to track the transition between the two  phases. It was one thing, then it was another.

Silk Phoenix kind of stops at “gleaming black leather” on me. It’s the Tandy leather store of yore. New leather, rawhide, suede, maybe a hint of gunmetal, but nothing of the souk or smoke. Almost a single note leather. I got frimped this by a generous forumite and am so glad I got to try it.

4 hours ago, AlpineRN said:

This is LOVELY on me- it smells fresh, clean, and a little like herbal tea. Unexpectedly, I got engaged while wearing it, so I had to, of course, go back and get a second bottle, because I expect i'll want to wear this at my wedding. WELL DONE LILITH!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Hi, lovelies!!! Good job, everyone, and welcome, @katharina!  And sorry for not checking in. The west coast of Ireland challenge my sister and I are doing started a week ago Monday. She’s kicking my ass! I need to average about 4 miles a day, and over the first nine days I’ve walked every day and am averaging 5!

Today I did a 5.3 mile walk and WOSOTD was Zorya Uttrenyaya. (I’m also doing the different BPAL every day in January thing and going in alphabetical order.) It’s a coffee scent, so I thought it might give me a needed kick, but it was more like a big warm hug, and I can still smell it. Nearly out of my decant and need more!

@Amazonia I am SO SORRY to hear about your aunt's partner.  You have every right to be filled with the blackest rage.  We should not be here, as a country.  

Good luck with Neko!  I hope you've managed to craft a more workable situation with her mother.  And congratulations on all the hard workouts and the visible results.  

@Kelthara Good job on sticking with the yoga challenge!  I can't wait to do yoga again, but this is the point where I always go back too soon and reinjure myself.  Belly dancing sounds like fun -- let us know if you find something worthwhile.  

@Madame Mew I hope you're getting the same sunshine we are!

I talked with Vetch_Vesper last week -- she's fine, just has a lot of stressful life stuff on her plate right now and hasn't been on the forums much.  I keep walking.  40 minutes today because I had a commitment I had to get ready for.  I forgot to wear perfume, but now I'm wearing Quintessence of Dust and I plan to get in a few more mini-walks as breaks in my work this afternoon.  

I was the fortunate recipient of this scent in JazzieCazzie's Boobiepalooza box, and I'm shocked by how little love The Pope is getting here because it really is beautiful.  It seems like it's in an obscure corner of the website and most people don't know about it.  And it's a tad more expensive, but that just reminds me of the Loreal commercials of my youth -- sure, it costs a little more, but you're worth it. 

The Pope is much lighter than you might expect from notes like frank, cedar, and clove-smoke; in fact, if you're looking for something like Thorns Clove Cigarette, you're likely to be disappointed.  I'm not familiar with the rose maroc note, but I assume it's rose (which might be keeping the rose-averse at bay), and I get absolutely no rose from this scent.  Instead, I get cedar and gently smoky clove and a benzoin so playful I was initally thinking it was labdanum.  

The Pope shares some notes with The Cat (benzoin, cedar, honey and dark musk), and if you love The Cat, you should definitely try The Pope. On my The Cat is darker and denser, while The Pope is more ethereal.  It's ultimately more warm, spicy and sexy than ecclesiastical.  I need to wear it more often instead of saving it as a special occasion blend.  

Hi, all! I’ve been walking faithfully when it’s not pouring. Today I wore The Pope, which had hardly any reviews but is really great, and did a four-mile walk. My shoulder is still not happy...

@twilighteyes This is completely awesome! Thanks!

Apparently I never reviewed Jack.  It's sweeter and peachier than I remember.  Pumpkin and canned peaches dripping with syrup and gently spiced.  I only wear it around Halloween and Thanksgiving, and over the past few years my tastes have gotten darker, but it is still a very enjoyable scent.  

Ooh, Pumpkin Pie Musk is delicious!  On me it smells like pumpkin pie filling with lots of warm spice -- cinnamon, nutmeg, dried ginger.  I don't get crust (which is good, my skin is not always on board with baked goods scents), and the musk is subtle.  A very fun autumnal foodie.  I received the decant from a generous PIFer, I'm so glad to have gotten to try this, and I'm sending it off to someone else I think would enjoy it.  

On 1/7/2021 at 11:00 PM, Madame Mew said:

WOSOTD: TAL Honey Rose v45. I love this one! It lasted for so long. It’s comforting, slightly sweet, perfect rose. I did some yoga with Adrien on YouTube. I needed to take a step back and really stretch and do some good old fashion yoga. The slow burn is real. It was day one of her 30 day thing. A few days late but I’m here for it.

I never had the chance to try any of the v45 TALs -- they sounded wonderful.  I wonderful if they'll go away now that #45 is.  The announcement from the Lab only mentioned the Trump-adjacent BPALs.  Is Adrien's day one video heavy on the downward dogs and vinyasas? If not, I might be able to handle it.

Yesterday I wore Half-Elf, which I had forgotten how much I like, and walked around Green Lake (3.5 miles).  Today I'm wearing Impressions of the Floating World, one of my favorites, walked to a nearby park a mile from my house, and played pingpong with my friend Judy for about 40 minutes, all she was up to today.  We actually had a little sunshine.  It's not supposed to rain tomorrow either.  We'll see. 

My sister and I have signed up for this virtual challenge starting January 18:  https://runwestireland.com/

502 miles, four and a half months, which means I'll have to average about four miles a day.  More if I miss days -- maybe I'll do longer jaunts on weekends.  I've never been to Ireland, though we have family roots there.  It looks so beautiful!

The Wild Audacity is exactly as advertised, a bright and cheery lime absinthe.  I love anise and dislike mint in my perfumes, and I get lime first and anise second and no appreciable mint.  Delightful but not as long-lasting as I would have hoped. 

Giant Vulva is not amazing on me, which is good since it's so hard to find.  It's nice -- beeswax always is, and I do like skin musk, and this isn't one of the honeys that goes wrong on me -- but it's not orgasmic, and it's not particularly long-lasting on my skin. 

Apparently I never reviewed Half-Elf.  And frankly, I've almost never worn it since first testing it, and I have no idea why not.  It's excellent.  If there's oudh, it's exceptionally well-behaved.  I get sandalwood polished with beeswax and a gentle musk, but it's one of those scents where it's hard to identify the notes because they meld together so well -- I would never have guessed oudh and thought there might be some benzoin.  It has that polished feel.  Classy.  Totally unisex, which is my jive.  Good throw at first, medium wear length, highly satisfactory.