Lucchesa

I knew I was going to love this because I had ordered an imp from a forumite once and he packaged them up and the next morning found that Tzadikim Nistarim had leaked all over everything else, so he didn't send it but the other imp labels smelled fantastic. But of course that didn't mean it would work on my skin. Happily, it does -- I tried it for the first time this morning.

 

I expected incense -- didn't check the notes beforehand. I could sense something almost citrusy, which I assume is the galangal, and something like a very green new olive oil. Still not sure what spikenard is or what it smells like, and the hyssop was never very strong. But the blend is beautiful. Although the citrusy character faded somewhat, this remained a brighter incense blend than most. Not a lot of throw but at least average wear length on me. This has vaulted into my list of absolute favorites. And I love the tale of the Just Ones, sort of like Jewish bodhisattvas, dedicated to helping humanity. Yes, it may be fun to wear Signior Dildo, but this is righteous, and beautiful.

Super lovely! In the imp almost all I got was incense, and wet you could kind of make out the rose and oak hiding in the background, but I was afraid it was going to be hijacked by myrrh, which happens to me sometimes. And there was definitely a myrrh phase, but it settled into a lovely incense, and over the next couple of hours, the rose bloomed and the oak emerged. Ultimately, about 3 hours in, the rose was dominating, with woods and incense in the wings. A beautiful scent evolution.

This is more like what I expected Aureus to smell like (which I'm testing on my other wrist). It reminds me of Bastet, that warm buttery amber and almond feel. So what some people have described as molasses or coconut I'm reading as amber and sweet almond. I like it -- it's very comforting. No throw but a skin scent for my own well being.

Aureus on me is not the golden amber blend I expected. It must have cedar in it, which tends to take over on me. So I basically get wood shavings. Just not a win with my skin chemistry.

 

Trying again over a year later, with  more knowledge.  I think what I'm getting is dry sandalwood, dry patchouli and maybe that dry frankincense that can mimic cedar, as in Cathedral.  I'm no longer as opposed to these notes as I was last year.  I'll wear Bastet or the Lion when I want that sweet amber vibe; this one is more aloof. less cuddly, but lovely in its own way. 

2015 version

These are some of my favorite notes, and I definitely want to burn away sorrow. Wet, despite all the warm citrus notes, this had a cool, astringent, almost minty feel, presumably from the lemongrass. The minty fresh sensation waned in drydown, and I got strong lemongrass and rose geranium and citrus. The notes never quite settled into the perfect citrus blend I am still searching for, and like almost all citrus BPAl it is not long-lasting on me, but I like it a lot and look forward to wearing it in the dead of winter, when I have a cold or am just depressed from not seeing the sun for so long. I think it will be more spectacular then.

 

ETA:  Wearing in December 2018, and although I applied right after a shower, it's still there after eight hours, which is really good wear length on me, so that may be improving with aging.  I really enjoy Season of Ghosts.  It is not a sweet citrus blend; in fact, it is primarily geranium on me, which is a leaf, not a flower (I'm sure rose geranium plants must bloom at some point, but I associate the smell with the foliage), and the dry herbal geranium blends beautifully with the lemongrass and frank.  Definitely a warming blend.  

I got a bottle of this recently at a great price from a generous forumite, and when Thursday was cool and drizzly, I decided to give it a go. It is beautiful, warm and comforting on me, with something of the plum of Bensiabel but better staying power on me. I usually can't do foodie scents because the pastry note is awful on me, but here it's rice pudding, so I guess gluten-free works for me on an olfactory level. Plummy, a little nutty, a little spicy, a little smoky. I just kept wanting to eat my wrists.

If you tried your Fire Cock in midwinter and weren't sure about it, I highly recommend getting it out now. On me it is such a summer scent. I too was surprised honeydew was not a listed note because that's what the ensemble smells like to me. Juicy, bright, with the citrus cutting the sweetness, the bamboo underlying everything -- this is a fantastic picnic scent. And while it has pretty good wear length on me, it doesn't have so much throw that I can't wear it to work.

Wet this is sweet and juicy and fruity on me. It doesn't scream booze at all, and though it's a Halloween release, it is a perfect summer scent for relaxing in a deck chair with a pitcher of sangria at hand. Unfortunately, like so many fruit scents, it has no wear length on me at all.

I didn't realize that this was discontinued when I put it on this morning. Fortunately, while it's nice on me, I haven't fallen madly in love with it. I think there must be a lot of myrrh in the incense, which can be an iffy note on me but pairs beautifully with the honey and wine and laurel. I will wear this when I teach ancient Greek art.

 

It actually smells quite a bit like Blood on me, so if you love this and can't get more easily, I suggest trying Blood, even though they don't share listed notes.

Vicomte de Valmont smells way too much like a cologne my dad used to wear in the 70s. Lime Brut or something like that - I can almost picture the bottle. And then to add insult to injury, it doesn't last on me at all. Not for me.

I was frimped Versailles by a generous forumite, and it hits a lot of my high notes: citrus, rose, golden amber. The jasmine stays respectfully in the background. This is exactly as gorgeous as I would have expected. And of course, it's discontinued. Sigh.

I would never have chosen Nevertheless were it not for the conjoined Elizabeth Warren and Joan of Arc connotations. Oudh is the poopy one, right? And wet, I got that slight whiff. I decided I didn't like it nearly as much as I like the senator. But as it dried down, the oudh settled in to a warm note that, with the frankincense, did battle with the cool notes of steel and iris, and it was beautiful. I kept smelling my wrist in surprise. It's a strong, grown-up perfume. I can wear this.

 

I was delighted to get a decant of this while it's still available from the Lab. It's definitely going on my bottle long list.

Another lovely scent that my stupid middle-aged skin just sucked into oblivion. And I was so looking forward to the hazelnut!

I love Manhattan wet -- classy and citrusy, the pink grapefruit note bright and clear instead of going all cleanser on me. The notes blend beautifully, no weirdness from the mint. And then... it's gone. My skin just eats it up. I will try slathering and hope it helps it last a bit longer.

I'm a big fan of both neroli and of the Lab's gorgeous snow scent, so I took a chance on The Snow at Dawn. And of course I'm not going to wait until winter to try it. It almost never snows in Seattle anyway. So here I am in July wearing Snow at Dawn. I applied it about 4 1/2 hours ago and it is now starting to fade, which on my skin is phenomenal wear length. Pretty good throw, too, which is unusual for any scent I like. And I like. I like a lot. On me it is mostly snow and neroli, the one cool and crisp, the other warm, a little bitter. You wouldn't think this would work, but it's kind of magical. The orange blossom and gardenia are definitely in the background. After about 90 minutes the sweetness of orange blossom became more apparent -- still morphing at a point when most blends are disappearing on me. And every time I caught a whiff of it, I felt happy. Hopeful even. And since I'm loving this in July, it's clearly going to work for me year round.

Snake oil has lasted

Nearly twenty-four hours now

(No, I've not showered.)

 

Ghostly vanilla

All that's left of the famous

Indonesian oils.

I was frimped a sniffie of this with a single delicious test inside. This is not my usual kind of scent, but I'm so delighted I got a chance to try it. It smells exactly the way you'd imagine from the description. Like marshmallow creme and strawberry jam. It's sweet and fluffy and I feel like I should be wearing a pink dress with a million ruffles, and maybe some black high-tops with fluorescent green laces.

I guess I never reviewed Defututa. After it had passed into my culled imps, I got it out this afternoon when I was trying to figure out if it was champaca that was ruining a couple of other blends for me. And yes, it was the champaca. I don't get any cinnamon at all here, just jasmine and honey vanilla at first. (I can't claim to know what olive blossom smells like.) And it is very nice for about 45 minutes until the champaca takes over and tries to drag the whole ensemble into motel soap territory. It's not terrible, but I think I would be willing to swap it after all.

I have no problem with rose, but apparently I have a problem with champaca. This was frankly more strongly floral than I expected a cleric to smell; I wanted to get more of the incense. I didn't love this the first time I tried it, and I got it out again today when Paramatman was going weird on me to see if it was the champaca I was objecting to. Yep. Champaca takes over on my skin, and it smells like cheap soap that's trying to imitate expensive soap. Cleric is a more complicated blend than Paramatman and there are a number of other notes that kept the champaca from being quite so annoyingly dominant, but it still ruins the scent for me. I will keep my imp, as I keep nearly all my RPGs, in case my goth younger son should ever want them, but I will never reach for this one.

So, I wasn't really sure what champaca smelled like. Now I know. This was beautiful in the imp and wet, but quickly a note took over that reminds me of the hard miniature bars of soap in a cheap motel. Evidently that's champaca. I put Cleric on my other wrist to test, and after about half an hour that note begins to dominate Cleric too, which may be why I didn't love it. About an hour after application if I sniffed my wrist, I could make out the orange blossom and sandalwood peeking their heads around the corner to see if it was safe to come out yet, but no, champaca continues to bully them into submission. I learned last night that this has been quietly discontinued, but for me it is no big loss. I will add champaca to my notes of no, thank you.

 

Edited to remove an extra a from champaca.

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.

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.