Lucchesa

Hi, all!  My shoulder is not feeling better, but I have been trying to grab walks when it is not pouring down rain.  Today I wore Giant Vulva (I was doing a lecture on medieval marginalia and figured the artists would appreciate the sentiment even if they didn't recognize the culture) and walked to the pharmacy, then a little bit farther to try to get up to 10,000 steps but since I spent so much of the day at my desk, I'm still 1000 shy.  I may go for a half-mile walk to correct that. 

Creaking Floorboards doesn't exactly shine with my skin chemistry.  I was hoping for dark, spicy, smoky woods, which is what the imp smells like, and all I really get is dusty.  I would have loved to pick up an anise note or any of the listed clove, but my skin often obliterates the tea note, and the spices seem to have gone with it.  Sadly disappointing on me:  I wish it would smell on my arm like it does ITI. 

@Amazonia No spoilers needed. You rant all you want. No underwear — that’s just profoundly sad. Again, that child is so lucky to have you as a grandmother. 
 

Welcome back, @VetchVesper! I’m glad the weather is cooperating for you. Here not so much. It poured all day yesterday, just relentless. Today the Sun came out briefly so I headed out for a long walk, about five miles, wearing Creaking Floorboards, which is nothing special on me. It’s pouring again and supposed to continue tomorrow.

This is the least dead-leafy of the DLs I've tried this year.  It's very much about the gourmand elements, with the dead leaves relegated to the backdrop.  Warm, nutty marshmallow -- I'm not sure I would have specifically identified it as pistachio if I didn't know what I was supposed to be smelling.  This is a nice warm hug of sweet toasty marshmallow cream and pistachio on a crisp autumn day.  

This is my favorite Dead Leaves this year.  Wait, I forgot black licorice.  So tough.  But I still think this wins, and I am a total licorice slut.  It's heartbreakingly evocative, somehow the perfect scent for the year we have just been through, the moments of sweetness and connection among the tragedies.  The smoke note doesn't always work on me, but there is no harshness here at all, just autumn bonfire smoke and dead leaves.  Decent throw and wear length.  I definitely need a bottle.  

6 hours ago, DiZZysTARdust said:

Coming here because bpal has made me a red musk fiend, and i've recently discovered the joys of tobacco. And now i come here iso recs for red musk scents that are tobacco heavy. Help plz

I frimped away my imp of Le Lethe so also can't say how tobacco heavy it is.  But I'm quite fond of Great Sword of War -- mine is aged, and tobacoo and red musk balance each other nicely.  There's also Arachnina in the Carnaval Diabolique -- I haven't tried her because of the floral notes, but I think you're more tolerant of those than I am.  I'm sure there are more.  I'll pore through my notes when I have a chance.  

Today I wore Against Idleness and Mischief (GC Mad Tea Party honey & herb scent) and walked around Green Lake in the morning before the rain started.  About 3.5 miles.  Tonight I walked a few blocks just to get up to 10000 steps.  I did foul up my shoulder so I won't be doing any yoga challenges.  It's standing poses for me for the time being.  Happy New Year, witchy workout friends!!!

A generous forumite frimped me some of this in a swap, and it is glorious!  Light golden honey and poofy marshmallow, and it lasts and lasts.  Some bath oils give a blast of scent and then mellow away (Intensity); others give me daylong scent and I know immediately I was wearing them if the clothes have gone back into the drawers instead of the hamper (Hedonism).  Honey Marshmallow is definitely in the second camp.  Please, Lab, may we have more?

@Kelthara Yes, dance parties with your self definitely count as exercise!

@Amazonia I'm sorry Neko's parents aren't able to care for her right now.  She is so lucky she has you as backup.  And you're being super creative in the fitness with little ones department!

I just walked today.  Not particularly far.  It's nasty out, wind and rain.  I was testing DL, Tunisian Amber & Smoked Balsam and Sinister Groundskeeper.  Sorry to be so uninspiring!  The idea of a yoga challenge sounds great. 

Sinister Groundskeeper is a nice variation on the graveyard dirt theme, surprisingly light and feminine.  It started out as soil, grass and dandelions on me, and while I could eventually make out a blood note, I was hoping for more clove.  It was very faint after about three hours. 

DL, TA & SB started out as all dead leaves on me, with the balsam note the second to make itself felt.  I never got any appreciable smoke, though I might not have been paying attention in that phase -- this is a morpher. So, cool, cologney dead leaves and balsam for the first hour, and then the golden amber started to balance it out.  The late drydown on me was all rich, warm amber.  I'm a sucker for dry leaves and a sucker for warm amber, so this is very enjoyable.

Yesterday I tested Endless Corridors (LOVE!) and walked to the park to play ping pong for an hour with a friend.  Today I just got in a short walk before it rained and short yoga session before bed.  I wore Western Bonneted Bat this morning and tested Unsettling Portraits (interesting) this evening.  

I love this, and it has lasted all freaking day, with lots of throw at the beginning (something I rarely get with my skin chemistry).  Lots of beeswax, smokier than Lights of Men's Lives and less sweet.  I absolutely adore everything Beth does with candle scents, and this is a gorgeous addition to the ranks.  If you love beeswax but hate vetiver, you should at least get a decant and try it, because I'm not finding the vetiver at all objectionable. 

I have to admit that I was hoping that the grave soil and heavy leaves of the title would find their way into this scent despite not being listed in the components.  No such luck.  Instead, this strikes me as a lovely late summer scent.  Fresh-mown hay and grasses and herbs in flower -- more of a green scent than a gold or brown one, and with more of a floral component than I expected.  No throw (normal on me) and not much staying power, though that might improve with some aging. 

My experience with Pumpkin Gazpacho is unlike anyone else's here.  I was afraid the cream note might be troublesome, but it's fine.  In fact, on me, the cream never shows up.  It's the "roasted" note in the pumpkin that my skin amps to high heaven.  On me, Pumpkin Gazpacho smells like someone made gazpacho and stuck some pumpkin and sage in the oven to roast, and then wandered over to the neighbors' house for a drink, or two, and returned to find all their smoke detectors going off and the pumpkin still in the oven, a blackened mess.  For the first hour or so, all I get is charred pumpkin and sage.  After that, it simmers down so that I can smell the cool watery cucumber and tomato, and eventually it becomes a rather pleasant garden kind of scent, but that first hour with my skin chemistry is rough. 

Bookcase Passage hit my skin with a blast of Lemon Pledge, or rather the nicer, old-fashioned furniture polish made from natural ingredients Lemon Pledge is mimicking.  This mellowed into polished wood which mellowed into dusty leather and crumbly old paper and a bit of incensey sandalwood.  Startlingly, it lasts on me, as if the furniture polish note has pinned it to my wrist.  Book/library scents never last on me -- my skin chemistry does them in -- so this is a pleasant surprise, as I really want to smell like a library and am rarely allowed to.  This may be bottle worthy. 

Black Licorice Smut took about 20 minutes to settle in on my skin, but then it was exactly as advertised.  The black licorice note smells sweeter than in Dead Leaves and Black Licorice, but I think that's just because Smut is a sweeter backdrop than the leaves.  It's got good throw, something that's rare on me, and good staying power.  Sugary woozy red musk with black licorice --- if that sounds perfect to you, do not pass this up. 

This is one of the two Weenies I was most excited about, the other being Black Licorice Smut.  Licorice lovers had a lot to rejoice about in this update.  I am in love with both these notes, and DL & BL does not disappoint.  Wet, it was a sharp version of the dead leaves scent, and at first I could barely make out the licorice.  But within a few minutes the licorice was there, nice and full-bodied, against the cologne of the softening dead leaves. This is kind of an earthy licorice, not a super sweet black vine -- it doesn't feel like dead leaves and candy so much as dead leaves and a natural licorice spice. The two notes balance each other really well.  I will need more of this.

Hello, dear witchy ones! Today I tested Dead Leaves, Bourbon and Bitter Almond and walked around Green Lake. I also, earlier, walked to a friend’s house for egg nog. I ate too much junk today and am headachy. 

I quite enjoyed Songs of Autumn III, but I quite enjoy Quintessence of Dust, and I found the dust note similar.  Songs III has a lot of dry notes:  dust, sage, tumbleweed, ash.  Then there's the sticky cactus nectar tying them all together.  Despite the cinders, it's not particularly smoky on me.  Dusty high desert and agave.  I had to get up close to smell it (normal with my skin chemistry), but it's comforting and grounding. 

I don't know what it is about BPAL's library scents, but my skin chemistry obliterates them.  I did try Lurid Library recently and got soft incense rather than old books, and while it lasted a long time, it was very quiet on me.  The Lurid Library's Pumpkin Patch smells similar to me.  There is no pumpkin spice here, not that I expected it in a pumpkin patch; there may be some faint squash vines and soil, but I'm not finding any appreciable pumpkin.  And after an hour or so, there was very little scent left. 

@VetchVesper I don’t know anything about pruning! I just know I have a wisteria that has gotten way out of control, is snaking  up my cypresses, in and out of my fence, and around the top of the chimney, and while I did actually spend an hour today hacking away at it, I realize I need a professional to get up on the roof and do it properly. My step counter has gone off the rails again because it’s giving me 16,000 steps, and while I did walk about 4.5 miles today, first to one store then to another, plus the pruning, there’s no way I got that many steps in, and the last thousand or so came while watching Die Hard. Anyway, Sinister  Groundskeeper sounds like a perfect fit.

@Amazonia I too got my Weenies yesterday, but I only tested one: Dead Leaves and Black Licorice. It’s practically perfect except that it has no throw on me.

@Kelthara Rest days are part of the process. I hope you had a rejuvenating one. 
 

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it!!!

@VetchVesper Two hours of raking is exactly the workout I need to do!  And pruning, I need to do a lot of pruning.  

@Kelthara Life the Sculptor sounds perfect for yoga.  I just walked today, to the independent bookstore to get some last-minute presents.  I wore a couple of decants I found that I'd gotten in a swap and forgotten to test.  Weenies of last year.  And then after dinner I walked a few blocks to get up to 10,000 steps.  Love to everyone -- working out is always good for me for dealing with holiday stress.

Sweet lush vanilla, almost like the vanilla orchid note is in there as well.  The bergamot is just a hint, and the sandalwood only a little more prominent.  Really, this is the vanilla show, an almost floral vanilla.  It's kind of uplifting, as if it were a happy-making TAL, but it's not the kind of thing I wear.  It does have unusually good throw on me, though!

Today I am indeed sore, with something close to pain in my right shoulder, which I need to be watchful of (it's a weak point of mine, frequently reinjured).  This morning was gorgeously sunny after the godawful slush of yesterday, and Abby and I took a brief walk, about 20 minutes, at one of Seattle's most beautiful parks after visiting a friend of mine who lives nearby.  I wasn't wearing any perfume because I wasn't sure if my friend had scent sensitivities or not.  But this afternoon I walked to the nearby grocery store for lentils, and by that time I was wearing Kabuki, which I just got in the Solstice Swap!  I'm so happy with it.  I'm still not quite at 10,000 steps -- perhaps I can walk around the block before I go to bed.  My friend mentioned seeing a  particular tree in Seward Park every day for 30 years, and that made me think.  What if I started every day with a walk around Green Lake?  Just make it the first thing I do every morning, rain or shine.  It would be an interesting experiment for January.

Go, @Amazonia!  Anti-masker dodging is a sport, right?