torischroeder9

In the decant: Yes, warm and fuzzy. Tonka bean, the sort of gauze that is orange blossom, nutty ambrette seed. I don't get sandalwood in the decant, but there could be other notes on top of it. On my skin: Wet, it's initially very much orange blossom, over some nondescript and subtle grounding notes. If I were just smelling it at this stage, I wouldn't be able to pick out any of the other notes distinctly. As it dries, the orange blossom crescendoes and then wanes, though it stays very prominent in the scent. It softens down to much orange blossom over tonka, with a detectable undercurrent of ambrette and sandalwood. It's definitely an interesting take on orange blossom for me, someone who loves orange blossom. It's a refreshing change from seeing it with florals and fruits, or even with the red/blood musk of Chordaea Tenidae (which ends up with a very sultry breath of orange blossom, if such a thing is possible). It's very cozy, and if such a thing as a fall or winter orange blossom scent were to exist, this would be it. I get a lot of throw from it, as I usually do from orange blossom. Wear length is at least average -- and is still going strong on me.

In the decant: Predominantly rockrose. On my skin: Rockrose is still at the forefront, though there's a powdery note that might be the white amber. As it dries, the powder comes to the forefront, so it's largely amber -- and maybe a bit of benzoin -- tinged with rockrose. There's something grounding this, which I suspect is the sandalwood, but it's a feeling rather than a true discernable note for me. This stays soft powder with just a hint of rose. Low throw.

In the decant: Mostly soft and powdery sugared vanilla silk. On my skin: Wet, it's totally different, oudh and tobacco on my skin. As it dries, though, a lot of the oudh funk disappears. It's still present as a grounding note, but it's not so pungent. The vanilla silk comes back, and the clove makes an appearance. So it's soft vanilla tobacco, with a touch of clove and a grounding note of oudh. Aaaaand then the clove and vanilla fade, and I'm left with tobacco and oudh. This combination isn't necessarily unpleasant, but it's a far cry from the lovely complexity that was the previous stage. (Also, I am not the biggest fan of tobacco, and I admit, this is probably influencing my perception here.) I'm always pleased to try the Laces, but somehow, they never quite end up working on me.

Decant received in a swap. I wasn't familiar with this scent before today. In the decant: Herbal and grassy, with just a hint of roundness. I think I can pick out the chamomile, and maybe the roundness is the elderberry (but I can't be sure). On my skin: Wet, it's very much the smell of being in thick woods, with trees, thorns, vines, and smaller plant life. It's not one type of plant or tree in particular, but it's very evocative of the overall smell I've gotten when hiking through still, quiet woods. As it dries, I can pick out the mandrake root and nettle, and I'm also getting something with a smoky quality though I can't truly identify it as vanilla. Once it settles, the patchouli comes out more as a central note, though it's a fairly well-behaved patchouli. I was going to write "tame" patchouli, but it's not that. It's still evocative of an outdoor woodsy setting, but it doesn't get the patchouli funk that can happen sometimes. And there is a "dusty" quality to this scent, though I cannot for the life of me begin to place what notes are creating it. This ends up being an exquisite patchouli-forward scent on me. I love patchouli, so I have a lot of patchouli blends -- but I don't have anything quite like this. It's almost like this patchouli is infused with other qualities, rather than other notes, that make it seem dry and dusty. I would absolutely be interested in acquiring a bottle of this if I come across one. As it is, the decant is going in my swap box -- because someone else should have the sheer delight that is testing this scent.

Definitely Sin, and though I've just recently discovered Shub, I'm amazed by its gingeryness and completely approve of it as a winter and Yule. Also, and I realize this probably says loads about what it's like in my brain, Miskatonic University. It's more winter than Yule-specific, but it definitely has a "curled up with a book and an adult coffee" vibe going on.

In the bottle: Smoky beeswax. I can't discern the vetiver at all at this stage. On my skin: Ooop, there's the vetiver! It comes rushing up at me, a cross between grass and soil and cheap new leather. It does soften on the initial drydown though it remains fairly prominent on my skin. The smoky beeswax does eventually make a stronger appearance, but it's not dominating the way it was in the bottle. I kind of want to let this one age more and see what happens.

In the bottle: I said in my initial impressions elsewhere on the site that this reminds me of some really high-end hotel soap, and that is still true after a couple of days of settling. That's definitely the white lemon in part, but I'm not sure what other notes are contributing to it. On my skin: Wet, the resins do start to come out, and I can pick out the white lemon more distinctly. As it dries, I start to be able to pick up the grape and the white musk as well. It's not soapy anymore. And then I had a meeting and couldn't check regularly, and then somewhere this turned into a delightful scent somewhat reminiscent of Katharina. I mean, the grape and lemon give a different -- and less sweet -- fruit impression, and the resins ground it more, but it still captures the feeling of willfulness plus utterly lovely soul. I won't say this blend captures its namesake for me, but it is an exquisite scent, and I'm glad I have a bottle (especially in a desert state where white musk blends are seasonally appropriate about 99.99% of the year). Edit Nov 16 -- This goes past the soap stage very quickly now. It's a lot of white musk, a little chilly grape, just a touch of lemon, and just a dash of grounding resin. I put some on after showering today, and my partner said I smell nice.

In the bottle: Almost exclusively the same candy corn note as in last year's Candy Corn Snake Oil. On my skin: Muskier, boozier, candy corn. If you've ever wanted Smut to be a little less sexy -- or wanted candy corn to be sexier -- it's about halfway between. I love both ends of this spectrum, so the middle works out for me, too. As it dries, the darker Smut musks play up a little bit more, so it's now musk plus candy corn. Ultimately, it stays pretty consistent with what I expected from Candy Corn Smut, which is wickedly fun. My one complaint right now is that it fades fairly quickly on me (within a couple of hours), but aging may also improve that as the candy corn note in my Snake Oil version lasts longer... and my aged Smut lasts for daays.

In the bottle: Hrm. When I opened this on the day I got it, it was pumpkin spice plus weed in the bottle. Now, I just get a strong rush of pumpkin spice. On my skin: Wet -- oh, there's the weed! It's still pumpkin spice initially, but a rush of marijuana smoke comes out as it's drying on my skin. As it dries, the pumpkin spice and the smoke note waft fairly far from my skin, such that the effect is of someplace like a kitchen when a pumpkin spiced baked good is baking in the oven. I can detect the marijuana smell, but only if my nose is quite close to my skin. Given how much this changed from in the bottle 2 days ago to in the bottle today, I can't say for certain whether more resting or aging will change this one again. But right now, at least, this scent is, on me, a lot about the pumpkin spice and only a little about the weed. I think I could, for example, get away with wearing it to work -- though I don't think I'm going to try. It's super fun for home and social wear, though!

In the bottle: Sweet bourbon, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg, along with a bit of slightly bitter orange that I presume is the zest. On my skin: Wet, the spices remain at the forefront, though the booziness is detectable underneath. I also get a whiff of the buttery note I associate with Lab pumpkin. As it dries, it because a beautiful, dry spiced scent. It's very slightly sweet, but the bourbon is keeping this from being anything close to candy-like. I can smell the cinnamon and clove directly, but there is also a quality to the scent -- a sort of gentle, dry spice -- that I associate with cardamom. At this stage, I don't detect the orange zest as its own note, but there is a lightness to the scent that is perhaps citrus inspired. Overall, it's a very nicely balanced blend. While the spices are the most prominent on me, they're not overpowering. Similarly, I don't get too much booze, orange, or sugar, either. The throw is low on me, but that just gives me an excuse to slather. Edit Nov 10, 2020 -- Wore this again last night and this morning. I put some on last night. Then this morning, the scent lingered (fairly long wear length), so I put on some more. I'm definitely getting a fun "adult beverage" vibe as I wear it, though it's not super in-your-face. Neither is it the cozy cuddliness of a pumpkin spiced baked good.

This also, I haven't reviewed? This is not the first imp of Darkness I've ever tried. I have memories of me liking it. In the imp: Lots of narcissus, a little opium. It's more grounded than I expect those two notes to be, so I'm guessing that impression is the presence of the myrrh. On my skin: Wet, I can feel the opium and myrrh start to come out more almost immediately. The narcissus is still the first note I smell, but the other two are much more prominent now. As it dries, the narcissus and opium blend well together, grounded by softly powdery myrrh, which keeps the scent from being overpowering and headache-inducing. Ultimately, while this is absolutely beautiful, it's still a dense scent with a lot of sillage on me. I think an imp will be all I'll need because a little goes a long way.

Huh. I have never reviewed this. Here goes! In the imp: So much deep ginger. All of the analogies I want to make are both NSFW and not a way I want to think about baked goods. But, yes. Sexy ginger. On my skin: Wet, all I can say is, if I've ever had a gingerbread blend disappoint me, it was because it didn't smell like this. As it dries, there's the teensiest bit of incense smoke, but it's still mostly ginger. Once it settles in, the throw fades way back, but the scent is still mostly ginger and a tiny bit of incense smoke on me. You could probably convince me that I need to swap my favorite gingerbread scent and get a bottle of this instead. (That's not a solicitation, just a comment on how much I like the scent.)

I also cannot believe I've not reviewed Satyr before. I definitely have opinions about Satyr based on memory. Let's see how accurate. In the imp: Delicious red musk. A touch of something woodsy, but it's only a touch, so I can't get closer. On my skin: Wet, it is also delicious red musk, now with a touch of something spicy. As it dries, still wonderful red musk, with now more than a touch of something that's spicy and woodsy. I can't strictly call it. If you told me there was a bit of black pepper in here, I wouldn't be surprised. With time, it fades to something warm and woodsy, threaded through with red musk. It's very nice, though probably a little more conventionally masculine than my personal red musk tastes bend.

Good times! More frimps that need reviewing! In the imp: Grapefruit and... other things that are light and sweet. They take the edge off the bitter aspect of the grapefruit note, but they're still quite compatible with the citrus aspect of it. On my skin: At first application, it's complete grapefruit, in a body acne body wash kind of way. As it dries, the white tea and ginger also come out, the tea more than the ginger. The tea actually stays on me longer than the grapefruit does. It's a really light, clean scent, though it's also fairly thin and close wearing on me.

Ooh, a Lab frimp of a scent I haven't yet reviewed! In the imp: Pine, black musk, juniper, and cypress. The plant notes are distinct but sort of held together by the musk, if that makes sense. On my skin: Wet, it's a lot of juniper, actually, followed by pine. The immediate scent is all sharp cut botanical. As it dries, the juniper fades back a lot, and the musk comes out, so it's mostly pine with musk, with a softer but still detectable undercurrent of juniper. Cypress might also be mingling into those notes. If there's ambergris, I can't detect it -- which is good as ambergris is usually strong and foul on me. Oop. About twenty minutes later, the ambergris finds me, oceanic, soapy whale poop. It doesn't make this scent fully unwearable on me, but it's not something I could find myself reaching for when there are... other scents in the world. Edit 9/28: About an hour after ambergris shows up (so just under 2 hours from initial application), both it and the plant notes die down, and I'm left with a lot of soft, powdery black musk with just a hint of juniper around the edges. This is actually a very nice place to end up. I'm not sure it's worth it to me to go through the initial stages of this every time, but for someone who liked the notes a lot, it's worth noting that the final iteration of this is soft and musky.

In the decant: Candy. Fruity, spicy candy. On my skin: Wet, this is delightfully gingery, like eating the good kind of crystallized ginger that's a lot ginger and just a bit of sugar. As it dries, I get a wee tiny bit of lemon and a wee tiny bit of pimento. This seems to be where it stays. It's absolutely delightful. The only sadness is that I never get the patchouli.

In the decant: Oudh, rose, and frankincense. There's also something cutting the rose that I can't quite identify although I'm guessing it's the chamomile. On my skin: Wet, it's very oudh-forward -- but truly sweet oudh rather than poo oudh. As it dries, the rose comes out, along with the powdery frankincense resin. They blend with the oudh so that none of them is dominant, but rather, the scent is a balance of all three. I'm still not getting any chamomile, but the notes that I am getting are lovely. After a while, the frankincense fades back a bit again, so this is predominantly sweet rose oudh. It smells sophisticated, classy, and expensive -- rich and strong without being overwhelming or cloying.

In the decant: Soft powdery orris root, with a touch of grounding sandalwood behind it. On my skin: Wet, the orris drifts back while a blend of florals that is definitely part champa and might be a bit of tolu balsam come forward. It's all over a bed that is soft and woodsy. Given some time to develop, some of the orris root comes back, though it remains more floral-forward than I was anticipating. The sandalwood exists as a bit of grounding, as may the hiba wood. They do work well to keep the floral from being overpowering, but they're not asserting much presence of their own. Eventually, the floral note dials way back again, and I'm left with another rendition of orris over sandalwood. This is some whisper soft and tender monk-on-skeleton lovemaking. It's actually quite a pretty and delicate fragrance on me, but not raunchy in the way I was hoping based on its inspiration.

In the decant: Carnation. Then incense. Then INCENSE. On my skin: Wet, it's for sure a lot of incense, but I can detect the carnation underneath. As it dries, more of the same.The incense stays at the forefront, but the carnation doesn't disappear. It's smoky and spicy and resinous and just a hint of carnation's silkiness. It holds pretty steady on me. I like this a lot. I have a lot of carnation and clove scents, but not any carnation incense scents. This could be a bottle for me.

In the decant: Ginger, cardamom, patchouli, and sweetness. On my skin: Wet, it's a swirl of ginger, honey musk, fresh patchouli, and mushroom. It's making me a little cautious to sniff as it's hard to be ready for sweet and spicy but instead to get earthy and just a little rank. As it dries, it gives off fumes that are almost minty or eucalyptus-like in essence. The skin scent is hardcore mushroom, with just a little ginger spice. Developed, it seems to be sweet ginger cardamom spiced mushroom dirt. Which is every bit as busy as it sounds but nowhere near as terrible. It's a swirling cacophony and a great embodiment of the artwork. I don't think it quite comes together enough to be a scent in my wheelhouse, though.

In the decant: Fig and olive blossom. On my skin: At first, it's olive blossom on the breeze (our neighbors have an olive tree in their backyard, and it literally smells like whiffs of those flowers blowing gently into our yard), with a fig wood undercurrent. The fig wood is pretty subdued right now. It takes a while to develop, but eventually the amber comes out, providing a soft, resiny grounding for the olive blossom. By this point, however, the fig wood has disappeared entirely on me. Eventually, the fig does come back, providing a beautiful rounding to the olive blossom. It takes a little bit to come together on my skin, but once it does, this is lovely. It's close-wearing scent on me, but one with depth and power. A sexier and non-traditional perfume but not so much so that I couldn't wear it to work (one day, when I can work out of my house again). I was a little uncertain about this one -- hence the decant -- but it's definitely in bottle contention.

In the decant: Peaches and sweetness. Likely the honey in addition to the peach cream note. Evocative of canned peaches in heavy syrup. On my skin: Wet, the peach recedes. I get the honey and the tang of the sandalwood -- not a sharp note overall, but it plays that role in with the peach cream and honey. As it dries, the peach cream reemerges, though the honey and sandalwood both now remain detectable. The sandalwood here is behaving a lot like the sandalwood in Matthew 18:6 does for me, providing grounding and just a touch of grit. It settles down to a rich, honeyed peach with a tiny bit of sandalwood bite. Very pretty. Close-wearing, but at least the peach doesn't disappear on me.

In the decant: White musk, florals, and a hint of vanilla. The flowers are pleasant and not overpowering so while I can't detect that they're specifically carnation and jonquil, the note I get is very much in agreement with those two flowers. On my skin: Wet, it's mainly white musk and jonquil. I'd call it more floral than furry, but it's got a lovely subdued quality. As it dries, the musk fades back a bit, and the carnation becomes a discernible floral note, smoothed by vanilla and maybe spiced the tiniest bit by clove. Once it has time to develop, it morphs into a delightfully soft carnation and clove blend. It's fuzzy in the same spirit that Fledgling Raptor Moon is fuzzy, though in scent, Wan Wan is currently the more delicate for absence of a more prominent grounding note (compared to FRM's sandalwood). The scent is sweetish, but I never do get any hay absolute outright. And I can't detect the myrrh at all. Still, it's adorable, and I like it a lot. The throw on my elbow is a little shorter than average, but I might try wearing it for a whole day and see what happens.

In the decant: Very clean tobacco leaf -- so clean it's almost tea -- and opoponax and leather. On my skin: Wet -- such tobacco! My skin tends to amp tobacco anyway, but this is beautiful and not nauseating. As it dries, it softens a bit, and the leather and opoponax peek out -- though the scent is still tobacco-dominant. Yep. A tobacco scent that is very clean, very expensive, and slightly subdued on me. (To be fair, tobacco on me is generally more like, "I WILL ACCOST YOUR SENSES AND RIP OUT YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH YOUR NOSE HOLES!" so it makes sense that I'm still getting mostly tobacco from this.) Tobacco hits the stereotypically masculine button for me, but it's very easy for me to read this particular scent as unisex. Medium throw. Will update with wear length estimate. Edit: After a few hours, this does settle down so that the cashmere becomes evident, but it's still expensive tobacco leaf in an expensive cashmere sweater. I can detect both notes, but the tobacco is the more assertive. Also, while it stays tobacco-dominant to the end, its wear length is pretty average on me.

In the imp: Merlot, leather, and floral. On my skin: Wet, it's completely rich, fruit-forward merlot. It's so fruit-forward, in fact, that I had to double check the note list to make sure there wasn't an outright fruit note in it. As it dries, the merlot dials way back, and the leather comes forward. I can't tell you there's no musk in the leather, just like I can't swear there's no floral in the wine's sweetness. But none of those notes are super clear at the moment. Given even more time to develop, I can pick out violet and myrtle from the floral notes -- but I really have to sniff for them. Overall, it's a very sophisticated scent. There's a lot of complexity, but it doesn't feel too busy. That said, it also feels colder and more aloof than scents I usually like.