torischroeder9

So, my favorite Christmas cookie is a version of what is known as "geese feet" (I do not know the Polish for it). It's an unsweetened pastry dough, folded (into a shape that resembles geese feet, hence the name) and dipped into spiced sugar. (Traditionally, it's just plain granulated sugar, but I like them better with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice mixed in.) When you eat one, you can taste the sugary spicy outside layer but also the deep, rich, buttery cookie layer.

The exact ingredients -- the spice mix and the particular fat -- of Deep Fried Gingerbread are different, but the effect is fairly similar. There's a sweet, spiced layer, and a layer that's not outright savory, but it's rich and it's cutting the sweetness of the sweet layer nonetheless. I also get a low throw that, combined with the not overpowering sweetness, makes this a very wearable blend.

In the decant: Chocolate. At first, it's all gooey like brownies right out of the oven, but then I get a little of the cacao dryness.

On my skin:

Wet, it's exactly the best (non-spiced) hot chocolate you ever had, rich and creamy. As it develops, maybe just a touch of caramel, but it's so little that I could be imagining it.

In the bottle: Sugar cookies and then weed. It's sweet and just a touch nostalgic and delightfully irreverent. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's weed first with sugar cookie coming back into play almost immediately. Given time to develop, my skin does eat the sugar cookie note a little, so it's Spliff... And, Oh, Yeah, Sugar Cookies on me right now. I am not complaining. 

That too was just a phase. Given time to develop, the two notes do find balance -- sweet, lightly vanilla baked good and weed. It kind of smells like being a teenager at big family Christmas and nabbing some sugar cookies to nibble on while you and your cousins disappear to share a joint in the backyard.

Definitely weedy enough that I won't wear it to school. But the two notes actually do complement each other beautifully, and it's a surprisingly harmonious fusion. 

In the bottle: Red pepper, sandalwood, and yes, something that is like a faint odor of Vicks Vaporub.

On my skin:

Wet, it's blood musk and camphor. As it dries, the camphor idea dies down, and I get more amber, rounded out by blood musk, dried out by sandalwood, and with a bit of red chile. It's more perfumey than gourmand and more traditionally masculine than I was expecting -- though the scent is both warm and refined. 

After a while, though, the blood musk and amber absolutely bloom on my skin, backed by the sandalwood and graced by the red pepper. (I am spice-philic, though, so what I perceive as a nice amount of red pepper might be a lot to others.) This is much more like the unisex, round amber and musk blends that I love so much. 

This is one that is much different in the bottle than it is on my skin. And, yes, the scent in the bottle is a little scary, but it smooths out very quickly into something... honestly, elegant and beautiful, with just a little bit of a kick. 

In the imp: The unsweetened cocoa and coffee of tiramisu. 

On my skin:

Wet, the throw is funnel cake, and the skin scent is unsweetened cocoa and then immediately brandy. Given more time to develop, I get cinnamon from the funnel cake mixing with the cocoa from the tiramisu. Both feel like cinnamon powder and cocoa powder. It's just un-dry enough that I don't want to sneeze. 

The longer I wear it, the more funnel cake I get, but both tiramisu and funnel cake come out beautifully here, so I'm not complaining. 

In the imp: I'm getting a definite fried sweet scent and also some cinnamon. 

On my skin:

At first, it's much the same as in the imp, with some of the coffee element creeping out after a few seconds. As it dries, something about this goes weird on me. I suspect it's some combination of cinnamon and coffee, but it's a weird kind of spicy scent. Not bad, necessarily, but something that is not readily identifiable as any of its component parts. 

I let this sit for a loooong time, but finally... is it the lemony scent I sometimes get from the Lab's gingerbread/gingersnap? Maybe? There's something bright in this that I cannot account for by the note list. 

I'm going to have to come back to this one, maybe let it settle a bit? Right now, this is just weird. 

In the decant: Baking spices first and then apples and then sugary icing. I don't get sweet potato or pie at this stage. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's sugary spiced baked apples, and the sweet potato pie scent starts to come out immediately upon application. Both the apples and the sweet potato pie, however, are short lived on me, and the drydown goes straight into apple pie spice. Fortunately for me, I love apple pie spice. 

In the decant: Vanilla and cognac. 

On my skin:

Wet, the vanilla disappears, and it's balsam and tumbleweed. As it dries, the cognac comes back, and the vanilla may be present just enough to smooth out some of the other notes, but it's not distinguishable on its own. 

Given time to develop, though, the vanilla does come back enough to be detectable, and it rounds out the balsam and cognac and tumbleweeds. 

I like this, but it's very soft and skin close on me. I also like to be able to smell myself wearing perfume, and I can't with this one. 

In the decant: Cinnamon pumpkin coffee, a-okay with me. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's cinnamon pumpkin with a hint of tobacco. As it dries, the cinnamon fades back a bit (sadness!), and the coffee comes out a touch, so now it's mostly pumpkin coffee with hints of cinnamon and tobacco. The more time I give it, the more the coffee surfaces, so that it's becoming mainly coffee scent graced by the other notes. 

Hmmm. The wet phase and early drydown are fabulous, spicy, pumpkin goodness. That it fades down to a coffee scent is perfectly fine, but it's not the amazingness it opened with. 

In the decant: My first instinct is to say berries and opium, but I really think it's plum and opium I'm smelling. 

On my skin: 

Wet, opium is the strongest note, though plum is still present. As it dries, I don't get sour, but the opium becomes very dominant and almost smoky on me. At this stage, this is 100% a leading lady, top billing, femme fatale kind of perfume. It's beautiful, but it's also intense. The plum is there, adding a bit of roundness and juiciness to the opium, but it's definitely a background player right now. 

I think this perfectly encapsulates the idea of being both sweet and poisonous. It's stunning, both in the sense of being beautiful and in the sense of being extremely potent. I like this a lot but wonder if I will have limited occasion to wear it. I will want to wear it sometimes, though, just to be able to smell it on me. I think I will hang onto my decant and use it but will probably not try to acquire a bottle. 

In the decant: Narcissus with some deeper grounding notes that are indistinct at this point. Could be the patch or the clary sage or both. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's just So. Much. Narcissus. As it dries, the clary sage comes out, cutting some of the narcissus's headiness -- though given more time to develop on my skin, the narcissus dominates again. 

Given more time to develop, the black patchouli makes an appearance -- giving it a really nice earthy, grounding quality -- before disappearing again. 

From the way the notes still play for prominence on my skin well after application, I wonder if this is a scent that might still age into its final form. Or, at least, I am hopeful for that as this is glorious for the moments when everything lines up just right, but too much narcissus when it doesn't. 

In the decant: Tobacco over sandalwood. I'd read speculations that this scent would be wood-heavy, but it's the amount of tobacco I smell that has me nervous. 

On my skin:

Right away, it's all tobacco because of course, it's all tobacco. Fortunately, that phase doesn't last too long, and the sandalwood starts to come out, soft and velvety and just a little bit spicy. There's still plenty of tobacco, though. 

This is where it stays. Ultimately, I think I amp tobacco too much for this to be what I'm looking for in a perfume (even if I love sandalwood). 

In the imp: Sugared lemon with something woody after. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's all cedar. As it dries, the combination somehow converts to cedar and... mint?... on my skin. 

Eventually, the sugared lemon scent comes back as well (I'm guessing that's some combination of citrus, labdanum, and verbena), but now it's in addition to the cedar and mint. 

This is just not my idea of a good time. 

In the decant: Wet, nutrient-rich earth. I would have high hopes for seeds planted in earth that smelled like this. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's immediately grassy vetiver, which is at least the good kind on me. As it dries, the dirt comes back out, along with what I can only describe as a spicy root smell. It's a lot like transplanting a whole plant, carefully digging it out of the dirt and pulling it up, roots attached, earth clinging to them. 

I don't usually like dirt scents, but this is surprisingly nice. The throw is a little low on me, and it's not quite my perfume style, so I don't think I'll seek out a bottle -- but it's nice just the same. 

In the imp: I smell rose more than anything, with something to ground it that could be patch or sandalwood.

On my skin:

Wet, it's all rose, as most rose scents are on me. As it dries, I can pick out the sandalwood and patch that are backing the rose. They give the floral note some heft. 

It's a nice rose, but so much that has rose is too rose on me, and this is no exception. 

In the decant:  Movie theater butter? No. Wax crayons. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's... um... a little like vomit. I actually gagged. 

This phenomenon does not disappear quickly. However, the scent does not have a whole lot of throw on me, so it's only an issue right now if I actually try to smell my skin. 

After an hour on my skin, this fades back, but it doesn't actually get any better. 

Clearly I am the outlier on this, but it is not working for me. Vehemently. 

In the decant: Bourbon vanilla, licorice root, and nutmeg, with what I expect is the coconut cream making it creamy (I do not get coconut). I do not really get a root beer vibe at this stage. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's bourbon vanilla and coconut cream, with licorice and nutmeg duking it out on the side. As it dries, I do get something like root beer on the throw, though it's a fancier root beer than, say, Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener. Up close, however, I can still pick out the coconut milk and licorice root separately. It's not un-sweet, but the wildflower honey note isn't prominent. 

As it settles in, it fades back to be an almost husky, lightly coconut smell on me. It's not unlike Paduan Killer Swarm, though Dooting Skull is much mellower. 

It's a nice scent, and I'm glad I got the chance to try it. 

I missed out on ordering this from the actual Lupers because I have a bottle of the 2020 version and somehow didn't register that the note list for this one was entirely unique.

In the decant:  Fuzzy amber and orange blossom. It reminds me of Khrysee. 

On my skin: 

Wet, yes, Khrysee with a little bit of citrus. As it dries, I lose all of the citrus and get a little of the saffron. Now it reminds me most of what I get of V'al Hanissim when I wake up with it the next day (the amber of that scent lasting longer on me than the beeswax). I think I get a bit of the orange blossom still too, making the scent airy. 

It doesn't get powdery on me (or if it will, not until several hours after application), and it's dry and yet warm. I'm actually going to go add this to my Wishlist.  

In the decant: Smoky plum. For when regular plum is just not enough sexy. 

On my skin:

Wet, the incense smoke note is fleeting, and I'm left initially with mostly juicy plum. As it dries, though, the incense smoke comes back out -- possibly aided by ginger and pepper -- to add a touch of dryness, smoke, and spice to the plum. 

Given time to develop, the plum seems to start to make a resurgence -- maybe helped by the sweetness of the labdanum? -- with the incense smoke trying to keep it in check. It plays like that for a while, with the incense eventually succeeding. It's still very plummy, but the incense smoke serves to keep it a little more sophisticated and a little less... Bordello (given that this is a Shunga, the comparison seems appropriate). 

If the incense won out either sooner or more decisively, I think this would be a slam dunk for me. As it is, though, it stays juicy-plum forward (more than my olfactory preferences can take) longer and stronger than would make me seek out a bottle. 

In the decant: Brightness and sparkles over patchouli. Without looking at the notes, I was originally going to guess the brightness came from some kind of citrus, but it seems to be the pink pepper pod and tobacco. 

On my skin:

Wet, I instantly recognize the tobacco as it roars over the patch and utterly crushes the pink pepper. As it dries, all that disappears, and it's just... patchouli. 

I'm not sure if it hasn't aged well, or what, but this is just patch on me. I like patch, but I'm not really getting other notes. 

In the decant: Cardamom and moist cake. (I cannot tell the difference between yellow cake and white cake, and so I will not try.)

On my skin:

Wet, there's something almost harsh and chemical about the scent; I get cardamom but no cake. Fortunately, that harsh phase is extremely short-lived. I get a cardamom cream frosting phase that also relatively quickly dials back to a slightly less sweet cardamom dusted cake. At this stage, I don't get the sense that the cupcakes themselves are overly frosted. Not too long after, however, the whole scent dials back to be really faint and close to my skin. Which is a shame, since it's pretty nice, but I think I'd want more throw before I sought out a bottle. 

In the decant: Salty aquatic first, followed by sweet orange blossom. I like woods but not so much aquatics, so the first sniff was enough to make me wary. But it got  better. 

On my skin:

Wet, it's immediately super salty aquatic again. As it dries, the orange blossom amps the aquatic, so it's basically now really strong Irish Spring. (I will here also admit that I've never associated driftwood with saltwater specifically, so the degree of salt over wood in this blend is surprising me.) Gradually, the orange blossom does make its individual presence known, as its own note rather than just an amping vehicle for the driftwood (of which I still get precious little wood). 

Ope, but no. Orange blossom, a note I typically amp, is overtaken by salt air. 

Eventually, the salt does seem to fade back for good, still present but allowing the orange blossom and finally wood to come through. However, this is more than two hours after application, and I don't know if I can take that much aquatic every time I wear it. 

I've also never tried Storyville, but I love just about anything with red musk or pumpkin spice, so both at once is good in my book. 

In the bottle: Buttery pumpkin and the whuff I love from red musk. In the Weenies discussion thread, my initial straight-from-the-mail sniff test compared it to Pumpkin Smut, but I'd no longer make that comparison. It's more pumpkin now, less smut. But still red musk. 

On my skin:

Wet, I get that same Pumpkin Smut initial impression. It's sweet and musky and pumpkiny and dirty, and I love it. No discernable pumpkin spice at this moment, but who the heck cares As it dries, I get a little of the pumpkin spice, and there is something sweetening the red musk. You could convince me it's one of the same notes that sweetens Third Charm. It's playing nice on me, which tilts the balance away from jasmine (as others have suggested), but it's still well within the realm of possibility. 

Given more time to develop, the top "sweetening" note does get lighter in character than anything I get from Third Charm, bringing jasmine back into the picture. I also get something almost ambery in the skin scent. Nope, wait -- several minutes later, and that "ambery" scent has turned into direct pumpkin spice. There's still something light and floral sweet perfumey, though. Not so forward on the pumpkin itself or even the red musk at this stage, but pretty is pretty  

I... did not expect to be first reviewing this. 

In the bottle: No small amount of lavender bud but with plenty that's grounding even for that -- my guess is the sandalwood and oakmoss. No discernible cannabis of any kind at this stage. 

On my skin:

Wet, there's something about it that goes almost soapy, but then the cannabis emerges. I get weed and sweet smoke, but not necessarily weedsmoke. And there's still oakmoss and lavender, and I think I can make out the brightness of champaca. 

As it dries, however, the weedsmoke comes out in a lovely way (I almost said "loveily," which is not a word but should be). And it is "weedsmoke-infused white sandalwood" just exactly -- grounded but with a smoky sweetness that is detectable as cannabis without being stanky or skunky. I would bet the oakmoss is adding a bit of airiness here. Every once in a while I get flits of champaca and lavender, but neither of them is a very strong presence. I don't get much tonka, but that's also my skin chemistry. 

With more time to develop, the champaca does come out a bit more, but it's still mostly weedsmoke and sandalwood. The combination of sandalwood and champaca make it vaguely remind me of Matthew 18:6, though obviously, this is plus smokiness and minus honey. What cannabis there is here is not the heavy, sticky smell I get with Pumpkin Doob, either; this is much lighter and floatier, without necessarily being a light, floral-type scent. 

This is... surprisingly elegant and refined. It's still got a woodsy, weedy, smoky element to it that I was expecting (and that I like), but I also think I would almost be able to pull it off as a work scent, though I'm not going to try. It's different from what I was expecting, but no complaints from me. 

In the decant: Mostly white musk and lavender absolute, but they're definitely playing with some other notes. Those notes are just indeterminate at this stage. 

On my skin:

Wet, the lavender absolute shows up first, followed by white musk. And now the mugwort is detectable as well. As it dries, I get a bit of clove in the lavender, and then the dragon's blood comes out to play. It is subdued but present, and I would say it is taming the musk on me. 

This is probably the most lavender-forward of the Liliths I tried this year. Unfortunately, it was the clotted clove that spoke to (non-Virgo) me, and I miss not getting much of that.