starbrow

I keep wavering on this one. There is pseudo-jasmine here, and it's tripping me out. I have smelled lush, apricot-y osmanthus before, and violet, and this is so much more like jasmine than either of those two. And yet...beautiful. I want so much more plum. There is really no more than a very, very faint drop of plum. A Night is vaguely purple, but very strongly floral, and so so HUMID. That is the biggest thing. I can smell mold growing in the air with this scent. It is so unique to the south. And yet, this is a perfumey interpretation of such a mood, and not actual nights walking and smelling petrichor, that wet-green floral euphoria that happens once in a blue moon. Smelling A Night in the French Quarter before reading the description, I really was enjoying the purple-ness of it. Now that I know it's supposed to smell like petrichor, I am kind of disappointed. I kind of love it, I kind of want it to smell so much more authentic. What do, what do. This has been my dilemma for six months! I will have to test my bottle again, eventually... ETA: A year later, the florals have grown really big and heady and powdery for me. I will be letting this one go to a better home!

This is a really Cute with a capital C scent. It's snuggly honeyed apple tea, a little creamy, not too cedar-y. Cute but not wow? I don't know, I'm not mad at it at all but I am not in love. Caressing the Wild Rabbit is so much more Wow than #2 Pencil. I won't be hunting down more of this one, alas.

Something here is going very masculine cologne on me, strong and aggressive and pungent. I don't know if there is secret oakmoss or if the pink pepper + sandalwood is being really extra, but all of this is adding up to a fougere that is NOT doing it for me. Missing in action are the skin musk, the red musk, and most of the orange blossom (it's lurking there in the background, so overwhelmed by the pink pepper). That makes me really sad, I love all of those notes. I wanted this one to work, I really did, but aging did not improve any of the things I disliked, and did not bring out any of the notes that were MIA at the beginning. More musks, more orange blossom, less secret oakmoss or whatever is lurking here. Farewell, mystery, you have been solved, you suck!

Apple soap. I'm sad. The grass and white musk and florals here give lots of soap vibes to me, and I'm not into it. Dirt, what dirt? This is just not a grassy, dirty, natural blend, sadly. Nor is it fruity or sweet. I actually like apple when it smells like real apple or apple perfume, and the dandelion note is really cute. Overall, though, the better notes can't make up for the overall effect of this way too clean, chemical-y apple. Happy I didn't blind bottle!

The plastic sleeve that's left when all the chocolate chip cookies are done and only crumbs are left. Ick. I don't get grease/motor oil from this - and I love motor oil in perfumes! - just something unpleasantly chemical and pungent. Upon drydown, I get a little more sweetness, but it's still not a natural kind of chocolate chip cookie, it's very scratch n sniff or lip smackers kind of waxy artificial interpretation of cookie. I do not recommend this to lovers of either motor oil or cookies! YIKES!

This is so not for me! The lavender cream is thick and sour, curdling very quickly on my skin, and too sweet and heavy when combined with the dusty honey. I can smell the cute "puppy" note from Pugsley and Are You Digging on My Grave?, and I'm hungry for it in a blend that lets it be the star or *A* star. I feel like more puppy musk and less (or no) cream would make this more of a winner on my skin. Historically, the combination of white patchouli (a screechingly bright note) and honey is a punch to my sinuses, and while this is not that aggressive, it still is unpleasant to my sensibilities. It is totally my own aesthetic and not the blend's fault, but just important to note, in case you like or dislike this combo. In isolation, the notes in Boop are not dealbreakers, but collectively, it's all a giant nope. So so so glad I didn't blind-bottle this.

This continues to be gorgeous. Artist's Entrance carries me to art stores and museums: the smell of canvas leather and wood frames and turpentine paints and oils and clean spaces. I can feel creativity both finished and unfinished rolling off of this blend. It transports me to a place filled with paintings and beauty. The leather is unlike anything else I've ever smelled from the lab. It really is like stretched canvas, bouncing off of gleaming cut mirrors hung on the opposite wall. The amber reminds me a bit of the House of Mirrors atmo amber. So so beautiful. If you fear the strength of fir and cedar taking over, fear not: this wood has already been cut into frames, ready and waiting to frame the art that's been created for it. Knowing that there is rosin here, I can vaguely smell the dusty creaminess of it in the background. I think the burnished steel is twining with the gleaming amber to form the metallic shining note that says "mirror" to me. This is so atmospheric and at the same time swanky and expensive. Wholly unique, in that I've never smelled anything exactly like it from the lab. I love wearing this to teach my university music classes in, because it matches the space and mood perfectly and gives me a little boost throughout my day. I am so happy to have a bottle of Artist's Entrance!

Oh my gods. Okay six months later, the things I felt about Apocalypse Box have only gotten STRONGER. This is Great Value laundry crystals, the kind that comes in a giant box with a scoop, plus a strong Kinkos/copy store vibe: a room full of copy paper, ink, warm machines running constantly. If you dig either of these smells, here's the blend for you. But it is so so so not for me.

Okay, this is reminding me of what I wanted There Arose Such a Clatter to be! It is wonderfully sweet and settled six months later, lots of sweetness cut by the spices of the gingerbread and bitterness of the coffee. I think gingerbread is what stands out to me, but it really is in a waffley kind of breadiness; fluffy and eggy and griddled. A bit of pumpkin puree is mixed into the batter but it's not very strong or prominent. Honestly, the gingerbread and pumpkin spices completely meld in my nose and are almost indistinguishable. The hot chocolate is creamy but a minor player here. Do not fear the chocolate spectre! I thought this was too sweet when it arrived, but after aging, I am enjoying this so much more, now that the spiciness keeps it in check. I want more of it. Dangit!

Cannibal Lady Macbeth brings me back to Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, another Lilith with patchouli and cherry; there is definitely cherry in the blood musk here! In the bottle and wet on the skin, the two scents are quite similar, with a patchouli that reminds me of the smell of bread rising combined with a very good neutral cherry top layer - not too almondy, not cough syrupy at all. Red musk is there too, but through a bloody layer that is really fun. The oud is kind, and the fig is not very prominent here. The real magic, though, happens hours into wearing this one. A mystical panoply of spices sparkles on my skin in a deliciously musky aura. When testing decants, it was one of those situations where later on in the day, my shoulder was smelling AMAZING and I just HAD to know which scent was there. Well, of course it was Cannibal Lady Macbeth! I have never smelled anything with that exact seductive blend of spices - saffron, cassia, nutmeg, pepper? and I'm sure a bunch of others that I am missing - and it is FANTASTIC. I adore this blend and especially because it is one that gets better and better the more it hangs out on my skin. It's rare for me that scents continue to develop MORE over the hours that I wear them; usually they disappear completely within an hour or two, or dry down to just the base note (patch, etc.). The spices must really be doing it for me, because I smell like a spicy goddess six hours after application. Yessssss.

This is what I thought Smoke and Lace would smell like. The smoke reminds me of the drydown of Amaxophobia, like something almost mechanical. There is very little sweetness here, and I'm okay with that! I don't pick up strong white musk (which tends to have that clean laundry vibe) or lavender, just something a little herbal and fuzzy. I also get vetiver, for some reason! Halloween/haunted house vibes! Lots of shadows, not too much light? I think I prefer Amaxophobia because it really LEANS INTO that haunted car ride vibe, but for something you could wear a Little Black Dress in and feel like a goth femme fatale, Shadows and Light really pings that mood. I was iffy on this when it first came out, but I think I would like more of this and hope to acquire more eventually.

Magic in a bottle. Hygge magic. A soft blend upon arrival, but give it a few days to settle and the magic emerges, shyly and then in full force. What is this sorcery, you say? Let me tell you. A top note of black tea is handed to you, a warm cup to cradle, warming you up from the day's chill and troubles and what may have ailed you. The spiced warmth of it seeps into your bones. Ahhh. A perfect accompaniment in the middle note of tonka, slowly emerging as the star once the tea is set to the side table. The grown-up vanilla, tonka bean is not foodie but brings with it all the comfort of something sugary and delicious. Without being as literal as a plate of cake, its sweetness feels wholesome. The natural sweetness of a skin musk. This is the note that wafts from my skin for hours and hours. The magic! Finally, the soft fuzzy blanket of baby vetiver tucks over your lap and wraps around you like a friend's hug. Yes, all the hugs please. I could cuddle under this blanket for hours. This is my absolutely favorite scent to put on as soon as I get home. The perfect accompaniment to a lit candle, a plush armchair, a dark stormy afternoon, and a good book. Backup bottled and MIGHT need another one.

A gorgeous beauty. Nimue the Blood Queen is (soon to be was, alas!) one of the best plums readily available on the lab's site. The notes may look juicy and extra red-fruity, but in reality, the blend of them billows in waves both shadowy and sheerly beautiful. Rather than vibrant with the fresh fruits of summer, she is an old-fashioned beauty, a little smoky and dark-lipped, a dark-haired 1910s Edwardian siren in an opium den. The oud is softly creamy and delicately pretty, nothing to fear here. The tiniest drop of something like absinthe is surely adding to the turn-of-the-century vibe I'm getting from Nimue. Everybody knows I am a plum ho, and here, it is a dark and dreamy purple, enhanced by not overshadowed by black cherry holding hands with it. The longer it lingers on the skin, the more the blend turns expensive and classic in a century-old way. Almost as if there are aldehydes in those purple poisons? I adore the smoky vegetal musk, which is indeed the same as the one that appears in other blends like Snake Oil, In Night, Andradite, and Geburggschlucht. Somehow both primal and fancy. When considering whether to keep Lady Lucille Sharpe, I compared her with Nimue and found that in fact, Nimue was better, yes, better! I highly recommend that anyone who has FOMO about Lucille give Nimue a true. If you like this Blood Queen, you might indeed have liked the Sharpe lady....or you might have preferred to worship at this queen's altar.

This looked so interesting and the cause one I was happy to support, and somehow a blind bottle of this jumped into my cart. I do love a good chocolate, and I thought this one would be rich and resiny. Instead, it's as everyone described. Dirty! I very much don't like dirt + chocolate scents. Who wants to eat chocolate after it's been dropped in the dirt? Heed the name! This armadillo is super muddy! The chocolate aspect is a good middle-ground between sweet and bitter, but if you were hoping cacao wood would lend a woody note (as I was), it might be disappointing. I got more grass and dug-up loam (rich black soil) and something a little herby. I think the other problem for me is that the bourbon cream is of the dairy-cream variety, which tends to curdle on my skin. So a very earthy, squishy chocolate with a rich cream that goes sour as it dries down. This one is just a fail for me.

Like the sneakiest of snakes, Snek Smoot (as I lovingly dubbed it for Facebook censorship purposes) is a total slitherer. It arrives smelling all gloriously of aged Snake Oil and rich leather, with not a drop of smut in sight. A few days later, it was a lot smuttier. Now? It's turned into a root beer cola fest (thanks, labdanum/rooty patchouli?) with a side of leather, drying down over the hours into a vanillic Snake Oil with a bit more of Smut's smutty red musk. I have the feeling this one is going to continue morph both in the bottle and on the skin over time. I will keep checking in. I'm not in love with it at the moment but because I know it will undoubtedly change over time, I'm curious to stay along for the ride, so this bottle will be staying with me for a while. I don't hate it, but it's not yet the treat I want!

I'm in love. One sniff was all it took. Elephant is truly velvety and lush, a gorgeous interpretation of the equally gorgeous inspiration poem. It throbs with a luscious deep dark cherry swirled in copper and spices and red musk, the lifeblood of the blend, as petals of the most gothic blood-red rose you've ever smelled waft in incense-like plumes. Resinous undertones anchor the viscous top notes in layer upon layer of dark yet not oppressive woods. Rich and seductive, almost plummy, it's a blend that smells expensive and almost classic. Wonderfully complex. There's a dreaminess at play on the skin that keeps me coming back for more and more sniffs. It reminds me of opium smoke, and also, strangely, of smoked beer, which I love. That uniquely rounded quality of shadows over a certain flavor or scent - in this case, all the dark fruit musks and resins and spices. Btw...I believe this has SAFFRON in it! Fantastic! I am not a rose lover. I avoid almost always. This...this is the rose I dreamed could exist. A rose for me. She is goth af. She lets others have a word. She is plaiting a dark red loveknot into her long black hair. If this is one-month old Elephant, I can only envision what it will become with time. Could this baby be getting backed up? Sure could!

A couple weeks old, Shadow Pictures is an odd duck. I get lots of the pickly/cucumber whiff that book notes can sometimes have, and some of the "footy" oud from Red Oud & Balsam. (Your mileage may definitely vary, as we probably all know that oud is completely subjective!) As it dries down, there's a pinch of black pepper spicing things up, and the hint of some pretty woodiness that gradually emerges, little by little. I love every single note listed, but this is somehow missing a lot of notes for me. I don't smell hay (one of my favorites!), I don't smell the lab's divine frankincense or silvery vetiver, and even the patchouli is kind of missing in action. All that's left is pickle paper, foot oud, and black pepper. Hmm. I feel like either my nose or this blend can use some settling! I think those who enjoy a prominent black pepper will enjoy this one. It's nicely backed by woods. Low throw, but I wasn't enjoying the whiffs I was getting for the first few hours, so I think it's got to go.

This is such a wild ride. In the bottle, it's a silky vanilla-esque neroli to my nose. When it hits fabric or hair, it turns so much more animalistic, like a vanilla with TEETH! The sweetness (must be the iced honey!) is cut with the herbaceous spice of the chamomile and saffron, delicious notes but I wouldn't have guessed them, noseblind. But daaaaamn it's good. Unf. Unf unf. But where the heck is the NEROLI coming from? The "white fire"? Maybe the woody styrax, the blue musk, and/or orange blossom honey? I could not tell you. I can tell you that the more Burning dies down, the more the sweetness evaporates and leaves the more feral, edgy notes lingering, and WOOF I'm not mad at it. It's like a hot fierce lady wearing charcoal silks, who gradually sheds them in the woods and turns into a werewolf and bites you, and you love every moment of it. I'm so impressed by the artistry of this atmo. It's not overly strong, so I would wear the heck out of this one on my person. I am tickled to death with my full bottle of it. I would wear this when I want to feel fiercely elegant, or elegantly fierce.

I believed ABBA and took a change on this dragon. She didn't disappoint! It's hard to imagine how all these notes come together just looking at them on paper. Yet there is a magic in the bottle, and even more once sprayed. Here, I can smell something akin to Eat Me's HG, that same red and black currant situation that is very friendly and wearable, sweet and a little tart, and the only drop of rose is like Turkish Delight, much softened and candied. The clove plays nice, it doesn't boss the rest of the notes around. Just a subtle backdrop of dark spice for the brighter notes of the berries to pop. Here, too, the strawberry plays nice with others. It reminds me a bit of the strawberry from Beating the Tatami, fresh and green and seedy, where you can smell a bit of the vine along with the fruit itself. The bergamot doesn't really stand out, but it must be balancing all of the other notes well, maybe helping keep the strawberry green and a little zingy. Overall, this smells like a delicious herbal tea to me, wonderful for spring. I love my bottle lots! I'm not one to love rose, but the crumbly candy of this rose is not to be feared. The rest of it is a sweet, cool currant tea that would go perfectly with the cakes of Eat Me. I think someone who enjoyed that one and would like something less explicitly gourmand for spring and summer would adore this.

This one is so hard to pin down. As a plum ho, I will say first and foremost that this didn't ping my plum button as I'd hoped. Every single note is one that I loved, yet when I blindly smelled this, both in bottle and on my skin, I got something in the realm of grapefruit and black currant for me. Off. I don't know if maybe the white tea/ginger/pink pepper are conspiring together to make kind of a grapefruity citrus zing, and the plum is reading more black currant? It's not sour in the sense of like a sour apple pucker. It's a red plum. Unripe. The opposite of sweet. But partner's blind impressions were sweet and floral. A bit soapy. Like WHAT? But also...I can kind of see it. Strangely. There is something sweet and perfumey-floral and clean (white tea?) and almost white musk + oakmoss hanging out in this one. Very, very weird. Okay, I get it. BATHHOUSE. It's gotta be this wild cacophony of scents in the middle of something really clean and effervescent. Maybe a bit Herbal Essences. Did I say it? I said it. Oops. I think I am in the minority here, but also I don't think aging is going to make this what I want it to be, so off to another home it shall go!

I thought for the longest time this had black currant in it. Oops! It's really then the oakmoss that is behaving badly on me! It combines with the red currant for that kind of tart mustiness that black currant always gives me. But a year of aging has really mellowed everything out. I still don't get much plum from it because of the darn oakmoss (which is a stompy note with my nose and tends to overwhelm every other note), and the blackberry is rendered more perfumey than juicy because of it too, but the currant is certainly present and accounted for. When I first got this one, I also got some potpourri vibes, but a year has really turned it into a beautiful perfume for the right wearer. This is not cologney at all, thank heavens. More plum would have made this a keeper for me, in spite of the devastation of oakmoss in my nostrils!

I am a big fan of the sparkling amber from Sweet Amber and Cherry Liqueur Hair Gloss and Alleviate the Frenzy, even though it amps to high heaven on me, but I was hoping that that would mean Teppo would go all sweet amber on me and not lemon bomb. Alas! I could pick up no amber, just the bitter pith of a lemon peel, from start to finish. I couldn't even pick up the juicy orange of mandarin, which is usually a pretty loud note. Something wrong with my sniffer? I don't know! I didn't enjoy the bitter zest kind of effect I got, so this one sailed away to a new home, but I think I would have always wondered about that sweet amber if I hadn't tried it. So now I know!

A garden that could make me love florals. The jasmine is (thankfully) swallowed up by all the apple and some lovely thyme and fuzzy citrus. I no longer wonder that I hung onto this bottle for three years, because it's a wonderfully fruity blend with some muskiness and a bit of night-blooming indoles. I'm not mad at it. I really do love this for spring, the apple and thyme combination is especially lovely.

I ended up with this one by mistake, as The Book (Paranorman) is one of my favorite book scents and I was aiming for a bottle of it. Oops! Well, Fleurette's Purple Snails' The Book is much different! I will say this is a very different one and hard to describe. The notes are muddled for me. It smells like a musty attic to me, like stuffy and dusty and a little sweet but hasn't been aired out in 20 years so some things are definitely rife with must. Nothing is sharp, everything is very rounded and dust-covered. The leather is dusty, the roses are faded and dusty, the tar is dusty. (What the heck is vanilla bourbon tar? It's a little boozy, a little resinous, but muted as heck.) Now that I have a trio with tonka in it (Tonka Bean, Black Tea, and Vetiver), I'm able to identify the tonka as a note in The Book too. It is a warm, comforting, gentle blanket of a scent, less foodie than vanilla, also just a little woodier perhaps? I enjoy finding it here. But this blend is definitely not as sweet or as overtly bookish as I was expecting it to be. And also I'm trying to think of a time where I would reach for The Book instead of the Tonka Trio. Can't think of it. I just want to wear that trio all the time when I'm home and reading! I am unsure if The Book is here to stay. I might let my bottle go to another home where it will get more use and more love.

2010: Truly, eleven years later, this baby is ALL wine. That's no dribble, that's a whole bottle. I am not sure it's behaving nicely on my skin anymore. The wine goes sour, almost like vinegar - and I see I'm not the only one who has this experience. It does die down, but it leaves a grapey note behind that swallows up the beautiful beeswax and frankincense that I was hoping to smell peeking out after the wine calmed down. Spoiler: the wine doesn't calm down on me! I wouldn't have guessed there was rose in here, but I can see it lending a little aromatic spicy quality to the wine. Where does the grape end and the rose begin? Hard to tell. Strangely, upon drydown the waft IS rosy, a deep dark red rose, but only when one is smelling it from a foot or two away; up close, the wine note is still strong and dominant and not very pleasant on my skin, but I'm strangely enjoying the rosy waft! I am not sure about this bottle. It's so very odd on me, and I'd definitely like to see the beeswax and frank make more of an appearance, but the rose halo is really cool, and I don't even like rose much? Will continue to experiment.