pkwench

I love this scent. Love, love, lovitylovelove. I missed out on all of the Monster Baits because of money (Tokyo Stomp, I'm still coming for you someday, baby), but have been slowly collecting the ones that most sound fun to me. I caught a whiff and a dab of VD at a miniBpal eat n'sniff and couldn't get it out of my head. I finally caved and swapped for it and I could not be happier to have done so.

The same wood is here in VD that's in Tombstone. But this is Tombstone's super awesome bitchready friend (and, mind you, I love Tombstone!). The patchouli and brownsugar just make this blend so dry, so spicy, so gloriously unusual and sexy sweet on me. It's like being tenderly hugged in a warm, cozy wooden box and talked dirty too (in a good way). I just cannot express the depth of love that I have for Ventriloquist Dummy. Suffice to say that it just makes me really damned happy. But, if you don't like woody or patchouli scents? Yeah, steer clear.

I'm in ur reviews, lovin' on the Habu.

I wish I could be serious about this, but? Habu gives me such joy-joy feelings that I'm rendered positively silly. I can see the comparisons to Holiday Moon, but it's nowhere near as sugary. It's instead almost pulpy bamboo wrapped up in a sexy layer of musk, snake oil, and happy GOD KNOWS what. It's well nigh fruity upon application, then a bit of Snake Oil powder, then? Just lovely. I'm going to buy a bottle. Oh, yes. Yes, I am.

Bottled sex, bottled joy, bottled bliss. Boomslang delivers if you want any of the above. It seems to be be a lot like Velvet meets Snake Oil, though much thicker and less woody. It may be one to slather though as it seems a bit light now. However, I did apply lightly.

If the rest of the Snake Pit is as fabulous as Boomslang, then it may be the most brilliant collection ever. I've already found myself wishing that they were catalog items. The Snake Oil collection or something. That'd be sweet.

Anyway - Boomslang is glorious. If you like Snake Oil and you like Velvet's cocoa notes, then you must have this.

Burial initially smells a lot like Undertow's tougher cousin. They share something huge in common with the juniper, but where my beloved Undertow is sweeter and minty-er, Buriel isn't even going to soften up for you. What's strange, though is that the patchouli and the juniper are so busy vying for smell time that I can't smell anything resembling loam. Until, that is, I back away from it and then give it a quick whiff and I can catch just a fleeting trace of good ol' dirt. Burial is a sharp scent, but not necessarily an unpleasant one at all, though it does have a passing pickle juice phase that's a bit unnerving!

Tanin'Iver

In the vial it smells a little similar to Red Phoenix. On my skin? It smells almost exactly like Red Phoenix, but it goes a little more to the peppery side than the Big Red side like Red Phoenix did. Which works for me as I love Red Phoenix. When that's gone and I miss it, I think I'll turn to Tanin'Iver.

Akuma in the vial starts out with this giant, rounded "O" of a note that obliterates anything else I might try to smell out of it.

On my skin, that note tames down and out comes the ... tang? Yes, there it is a murky, astringent Tang scent with that hint of something huge from the initial sniff. It's all together strange on my skin.

It morphs, eventually, to it's final stage of creamsicle meets tang over that lingering spike of neroli with a faint plastic wrap over the whole shebang. Akuma and I were not meant to be.

Shroud

In the vial, I'm not really sure what's going on with Shroud. It smells sort of murky, but bright at the same time. There's a note in there that's sharp and dangerous.

On, though, it lightens, softens, and brightens to smell very clean and very soft. It's a little perfumey, a little soapy, but not obnoxiously or commercially so. It smells like something you'd want your sheets to smell like as you take a nap.

A very long, eternal nap. LOL

Long ago, in the days of yore when the wench was a wee wenchlet in the making, I used to be a Girl Scout. (Mother was worried I was anti-social, I think.) The great thing about being a Girl Scout was camp. We'd go away for two weeks to this densely wooded hunk of land with a lake on one end and a road on the other. It was so isolated that it must have been creepy for the girls that didn't like outside. When we'd hike, we'd go far into the woods. The sun was a far away thing, barely peeping through the intertwining branches of trees. And, then, a meadow would open up, or a dried up riverbed would cut through the trees, or the woods would give way to the lake and suddenly, there was the sun and light again. Warm, yellow, and opening up into a bright shining space after the dense cloister of trees.

Et Lux Fuit reminds me of that feeling. I remember one time coming out of wood trail on hell's glue-nag into the sort of meadow that you'd see in a western, weeds up to my knees on the horse, buzzing dragonflies, flowers, green things and sun, sun, sun, and more sun. THis is that feeling. Smelling it feels just like that. The scent is bright light over greenery and flowers, with that vanilla musk undertone. I feel like the butterflies must be about to come fluttering by any minute.

In short? This is some seriously happy shit.

I don't know how I've managed to have Bed of Nails all this time and not say a thing about it. As I put it on today, I felt inspired to give it a word or two. Of course, it's a year old now, but it doesn't seem to have morphed much at all to my nose.

CLEAN. Bed of Nails is clean, clean, knock you on your ass clean. Its metallic crack is the same sort of thing that I get from Lightening (nowhere as sweet, of course) and Cthulhu. It's sharp, ozone-y, with a splintery, dry undertone.

When I first put it on, it has that clean, zing of a man's cologne, but then it mingles with my skin and I get ozone, metal, skin, and that dry scent. It's definitely not a girly scent, but it's a great choice for days when you want to smell clean. I also find that it gives me a little sauce for my mood. From my standpoint, it's gender neutral, but I can see how people would find it a more masculine scent according to their tastes.

Ah, lovely Eden, how I adore you. This may sound strange, but it "feels" like a daytime version of Velvet to me - probably the sandalwood, I'm thinking. It's very smooth on me - a lovely wafting of coconut over sandalwood that's sweetened up so nicely with what I guess is a combination of fig and honeyed almond milk. I too get a touch of that green note, but it's faint and just seems to add depth to the whole shebang. My first thought after having this one for a few minutes was "ADD TO THE BOTTLE LIST!"

Lucy's Kiss: ROSE! And, well, Rose. No spice for me, but that's not necessarily abbynormal since my skin amps rose.

Orange creamsaver! I don't get any pepper. Just orange and fruit and sweet. My skin seems to eat it up in short order, but it leaves me smelling citrus fresh and lightly sweet. Lovely! I'm betting it's going to have some serious POW! after it ages for a few months too. WUHA.

Sharp, wicked, smokey, and a little secretive. The first thing that I get is clove. Lots and lots of clove in a very smokey room. There's also distinct leather in this - which I find amazing since I never get any leather smell on me generally. The lime and lemon and something warm, almost vanilla-y come out right in time to sweeten up the smokey clove and leather smell that gets suddenly dark - I assume because of the musk and ambergis. It sort of reminds me of Hell's Kitchen from Candles by Cows, but much darker. It's a very pleasing scent on my skin, one that I find myself growing fonder of as the day goes on. It's that spiced smoke and murky thing that I find myself enjoying so much. It's so saucy.

It took me a while to post my short review because I was busy humping my arm. Midway? Ooey, gooey, sweet, SEX. There's lots o'sugar, a little coconut something happening, a touch of vanilla, and more humpable sugar and sweetness. It's NOT as sweet as Sugar Skull, but man oh man is it lovely. I've had numerous compliments on it today.

I'm frankly shocked that I haven't reviewed Embalming Fluid - oh, the things that slip your mind.

Embalming Fluid makes me very happy and calm. It's bright, but not overly sweet. It very much reminds me of a warm spring day spent out at the local botanical gardens - and I'm not sure why as it's not remotely floral. But, it very strongly evokes that memory. I can only conclude that I've worn it out there at some point. It's not a super!lemon scent on me, though it is indeed lemony (if you can see the difference LOL). Mostly, it's a sublime blend of the tea, white musk, aloe and then the lemon. It's very clean and lovely to the nth degree. I've had repeat impage of this over the last year of Bpaling, but it's only been recently that I ordered a bottle. When it came, I sat there for several moments sniffing it and just feeling very content and at peace. It's now become one of my must always have blends.

Oh, dear God - BEST JASMINE BLEND EVER! God, this is awesome. What's so lovely about it is that I get such an amazing and warm wafting of Jasmine and lily, but it doesn't come off at all as a standard floral perfume. It's SO rich and SO warm. Good god, this is a deep, sexual and just gorgeous scent. I can pick out every listed note as well-which is weird for me since I'm generally a bit of a fool about such things. I agree with the earlier sentiment - Peitho must be a staple. YUM.

This is lovely. Lovely, comforting, and ubersweet. It starts out with that hit of fresh, wet earth. DARK soil, nothing dry about it. Then comes the fruity scent to sweeten it up. The resins give the sweetness such depth and I smell like a bundle of pomegranates strewn all over a freshly turn patch of earth in front of a church spewing out resiny incense. Later, the vanilla creeps out to mellow it all down. Did I mention lovely? L-O-V-E-L-Y.

This is comforting and sweet and exactly like a box of Outdoor Fresh Bounce dryer sheets. Which is a lovely scent, really. But one I'm used to from the dryer. I'm sad that my skin didn't run with the honey note.

My skin hates fire of love. To be fair I'm menstrual and sweaty at the moment, but this turned to shit the moment it hit my skin, literally. In the imp it smelled so good-dark and woody and just yummy. But seconds after hitting my skin, it smells like I'd wiped the back of my wrist down someone's dirty butt crevice. And I still smell it. It hasn't changed. It's like being at work during a noxious poo. Dear skin, what have you done to me?

I wasn't sure about Milk Moon at first. There's a strange nuttiness at first when I put it on that's almost off-putting. But, it fades out into a soft, honey-sweet creamyness that's wholly comforting. It does remind me of suntan lotion in the same way that Rice Flower & Shea does. Tropical, somehow, but no coconut or pineapple or anything like that. In fact, if you put in that reedy, quasi-bamboo note that Rice Flower & Shea scents have, I think Milk Moon would be darn close in scent.

CTII: XXIX

Did I mention that all three of mine had a lemon thing going on and that I, as a lemon loving wench, was just stupidly happy about it? If not, say that whole thing back, repeat, and add a good Squee and a woohoo for good measure.

This is the ultra-lemony one of the bunch from first sniff. Oh, and, more importantly, it's not just lemon, it's sugary June Gloom lemon. Hate me, I would.

BEAUTIFUL. This blend exemplifies why I love lemon scents and why they're just not appreciated enough by the world at large. It starts out as a very bright, sugared, and aquatic lemon and there it stays for quite a while. Then a morphing twist of very, very light florals and the faintest twinge of something woody dances around with the lemons just like this: Then it does this really cool and strange thing where the lemon is bright, but not close to the skin. I can smell the lemon, but when I get right up on my skin I smell a very gentle, relaxed white musk and a fresh skin smell. The lemon is there-bangzing! is it there, but just not close to the skin. It's got just massive throw to it.

This blend is happiness in a bottle. It's sunshine, sprinklers, screaming kids, and warm summer breezes. It's just so perfect for summer!

Chaos Theory II: LVIII (58)

In the bottle: Benzoin! And I mean like tincture of benzoin like you’d find, well, like you’d find in my secret stash of helpful supplies at work. All of which means that it smells astringent and green. I’ve looked up benzoin to find that is states: true benzoin has a vanilla smell. This, then, is probably not that because it has that sharp, medicinal edge to it like what I equate hospital tincture of benzoin with. There’s some depth lurking beneath it though.

Wet on Skin: It immediately softens, but it’s morphing so quickly that I can’t keep up. Amber? There’s some soft floral action happening in there too. And something sweet is rising up through the depths. I don’t want to take my nose away for fear that I’ll miss something!

After a few: Is that lemon I detect starting to rise up? If so, I would be tickled beyond all known belief. Because the other two fractals definitely have lemon in them and I LOVE lemon. I would just be really giddy and spookily amazed to find that all three bottles had lemon in them. There’s definitely something lemonesque happening here. I’m going to put off getting into another bottle just so my nose doesn’t confuse blends.

Overall, that astringent, tincture of benzoin seems predominate, but it has a lot of friends playing around in this bottle. There’s definitely a lot of aquatics. That and the medicinal quality reminds of the spirit of SIA for some reason. I get a sense of a lot of varied herbal qualities and something that is lemony that will rise and fall as my skin plays with it. Perhaps more along the lines of lemongrass, though, or perhaps it’s just the dry herb action happening with it. It’s overall a dry sort of sent, but one that I find extremely soothing and so incredibly deep. Something resinous slides beneath the surface of this scent, teasing me with a half-imagined glimpse out of the corner of my eye. But, always it’s gone before I can pin it down exactly.

So? I adore this! It’s got such amazing depth to it despite its teasing dryness. It’s medicinal, it’s vaguely lemony (Remember, wench loves lemons!), and it’s quite dark in a slinky sort of way. It’s the scent of someone or something ageless, wise, and darkly beautiful.

Edited: Remind me next time to to test with liberal amounts. Because, happy and in love, I just slathered it on. And? Slightly different ballgame. All of the floral and lemony scents rush out. Everything else still holds true, but with liberal application, it's must sweeter. (I did give the bottle a good roll, yes.) However, it seems to follow form much the same as it did after the first application, but that initial schwing of scent was so different.

Crossroads:

When I first got a good whiff of Crossroads, I was reminded of a very, very DRY and dusty Crossroads. There's a poster to an old Ralph Macchio movie of the same name that depicts such a lonely intersection and that's just what it reminded me of.

So, you know, I kind of figured that I'd hate it.

About 20 minutes after it sat on my skin, up comes the scent of earth. It's dryer then the dirt smell from Zombi, but I think that works because when the incense and florals come out, it all blends so wonderfully.

Expected to hate it? Wound up loving it. I love when that happens.

Wrath - It smells so deep and rounded in the vial, but when I put on Wrath, it's like a bag of dollar red hots - plastic and all. I can't quite figure that plastic-y note out, really. It does, however, deepen as time goes on. The clove and pepper really does give it depth. However, it starts to fade right around then too. That 20 minute period where it's deep spice is wonderful, but it just doesn't last long enough. This is, I feel, 100% the fault of my stupid skin.

Sniff: Very soft and clean.

Wet: Still soft and clean with musk starting to come up. It's very lovely.

After 20/impressions: Strangely, this smells more like what I thought Dirty might have smelled like. It's very soft, very clean, and the amber is a bit powdery, but in a good way. The musk and grass create a definate sense of the prairie, I think. I'm completely beset with images of wind blowing through a sea of wild grass. It's LOVELY. I think it would make a wonderful blend for sleeping or relaxing.