deadlyves

Right off the bat I get a big goop of black musk backed by amber with a layer of spice on top. As it settles, it becomes less goopy, I think because the hay and catnip are coming out, soaking it up, and adding a layer that is reminiscent of dry fall grass. It doesn't dry out completely, though, and in fact maintains a bit of a duality to it between the rounder, sweeter notes and the dryer notes. The spices are gorgeous and the way it all plays together gives it a smoky feel. BPAL's cinnamon bark is always a winner for me. I can't pick out cedarwood in particular, but I bet that is also playing a role in creating this woodsmoke vibe. It is in the same family as other cat blends like Small Brown Cat and It Was Just a Cat, but it is darker- definitely a black cat here. I havent tried a lot of weenies from this year yet, but I think this will be my favorite. Its the kind of atmospheric fall scent that reminds me of a late October evening, always my favorite blends.

So so good. It starts out a bit grapey on me, which had me worrying, but that quickly fades into a darker, deeper wine. Theres a bit of spiced warmth and smoke that blends really well with what has come to be the expected "wool blanket" or sweater smell. A tiny bit laundry-ish (not a bad thing for me) but probably the least so out of all the similar blends Ive tried. I absolutely love this one and I cant stop sniffing it!

A crisp green apple, some floral, and a but of a sort of sweet grassy smell that I assume is the floral. At first, it reminded me a lot of Green, but then the elderflower and clover came out a bit more making it a warmer blend. Its a very pretty spring/summer choice!

A solid blend of all three notes. It's warm, spicy, and deep. I dont get any particular associations with this, just exactly what it says it is and I love it!

A dusty, dry, gently spiced rose blend. It has a strong throw for such a soft scent, i could smell it through my sweater and caught it on the air as I went about my day. I get an even distribution of rose and the other notes, clearly a rose scent but also clearly sandalwood and clove in particular. Hours later, when its more faded, it sweetens up just a bit. Very nice, delicate, and well suited for the concept of "budding realizations." I feel like this would be a great perfume for moments when mindfulness and purpose are the goal. Editing to add that a few weeks later that sweetness comes forth a bit earlier. Everything I said above is still true, but an additional layer of a creamy sweetness comes out. Probably the honey amber showing up a bit more, though not more prominent than the rest.

Like rose and jasmine marshmallows. Thick, sweet, not as red as I expected. It is indeed very floral. Not much else to say! A lovely sweet cream floral blend.

This is mostly hay, a gentle (not candy) peach, and a light musk on me. Theres a tiny touch of orris and a floral sweet that may be the carnation (not sure how rooibos smells) that unerlie the scent. Its very soft other than a bit of scratchy hay. I kept thinking I wanted a peaches and cream scent, but when I tried the dragon con peaches they were too sweet for frequent wear (dont get me wrong, theyre still great). This is like a non-gourmand interpretation of peaches and cream. Not a ton of throw or wear time on me, but its great for a day that just needs something gentle.

In the imp, its all super sugary buttercream. When it dries, its more smoky stick dipped in buttercream! Not much chai, but still warm and comforting. Some extra spice would have really set this over the top, but I still really like this and it hits the niche I was hoping for. I should also note that the smoke note often goes too strong on me, but this stays in check. Honey can also go bad on me pretty easily, but theres only a hint of honey here.

Lots of strawberry, cotton candy, and baked goods on first application. Strawberry and cotton candy fades and a bit of popcorn and bread comes out still backed by other baked goods. As you might expect, this morphs a lot. Theres persistently some baked goods but the florals and the strawberry which came back add to it. This is really fun! Its a lot more wearable than I expected, too. If the majority of the list sounds good to you, you'll probably like it.

A Place of Seeing is my favorite lilith this year so far. Gorgeous! In the imp, its all vanilla cream flowers, but the sandalwood comes out a lot once on. Its soft, sweet, woody, and full but not loud. The florals arent as individually recognizable on because it all blends so well, though it comes and goes as it morphs. (As for bergamot, I've never been good at picking it out and this is no exception.) Im not sure what else to say about this one other than I love it!

My Wise Beauty is exactly what it claims to be. I get more amber than sandalwood, but they're both clearly there. Warm, dry, dusty, comforting, and dark golden.

Mostly vanilla, sandalwood, and hazelnut. I think the sandalwood is what is bringing it back from being foody and giving it a perfumey/candle quality (not in a bad way, just a fragrance vs a treat). Not getting much coconut, but that could easily be mixed in with the vanilla. Theres a period where i can maybe pick out lavender, but not easily. This is a sweet, warm blend that is somehow fun and upbeat. The hazelnut/sandalwood combo reminds me of partridges in the snow.

I dont often blind bottle anymore, but I did order a bottle of this right off the bat and I do not regret it! My favorite weenie from this year so far, though I still have some testing to do. Winds of Autumn reminds me of a mix between Dead Leaves on Fire (the leaves and smoke), Apple Butter Rum (dark spiced apple), and Falling Leaves Moon (specifically the cinnamon and DL combo). Its warm, thick, spiced apple with smoke and sandalwood pulling it out of the gourmand. No burn from the cinnamon, though I never react too strongly to it. Smoke can often go to a weird maple place on me, but it's really nice in this blend. The DL are there in the background as a pairing, not sharp or cologney up front. This is warm and comforting and fall, very thick and rounded, mostly apple/smoke/cinnamon up front. I love it!

Ivy Twining is much more fresh than I expected based on the dark adjectives in the description. Its hard for me to pick out the particular notes. It's very herbacious and green. The petals come across adding a floral note. No incense, a touch of sandalwood in drydown, ivy but without the berries, and no leaves as I know them. Im going to give this some extra time to settle and come back to it. I'm hoping it darkens up some, or that some of those other notes come out more. Ill update this when i test it again. Edit: OKAY so a few months later, I get some smoky incense that darkens it up some. Its still very ivy heavy, very green, but not as much of the "fresh" feeling that it had. Now it has more of the depth and mix of notes that I'd hoped for. I like this much better now than I did when I first got it!

Floral Sheet Ghost is all sharp pineapple in the imp. The rose and peony come out on the skin and soften it. This smells like someone cut up a pineapple near a bouquet of flowers, but even though the pineapple mess has since been cleaned up, you can still smell it. Florals with just a drop of pineapple juice. There's maybe a tiiiiny bit of carnation underneath it all lending a bit of warmth, but I wouldn't have picked it (or strawberry) out without reading the notes. The rose is fairly sweet comparing to other rose blends, though, so that might be the strawberry stained part. Overall, this is a soft, bright, and happy sugary floral. Editing to add that the carnation does come out some more as it sits.

This smells very different when I first put it on vs after it sits a bit. At first, it's very peach with some darker tone that I cant really identify. It starts off much more gourmand. Then that candy peach smell is still there but it's not syrupy or sticky, so the cream part must be coming through. This doesnt actually read as overly gourmand or foodie to me once it dries down. Perhaps it's just because I expected it to be a little over the top in that direction. The vanilla wafers are adding a foundation of warm, thick, only slightly vanilla toastiness.

Warm, clean sweater, a bit laundry detergenty like Cozy Sweater and an Apple Cider, with a gentle candy peach. Fun and comfy. Im not getting anything that is noticeably London Fog, but apple cider sweater took a while to deepen and bring out the cider so I wonder if this will be similar. Overall this blend is a happy and cozy blend that I find very pleasant. Didnt last very long, but was happy to reapply.

I adore this and need to get my hands on more. Its a big, rich, creamy smoothie with mango up front and what Ive recently learned to identify as blackcurrant. I dont get any of the cool sharpness of eucalyptus or mint, instead theres something that is really grounding this and giving it a darker tone in the background. Still, it really is a bright orange scent, tropical but not citrusy. On a hot day, it opens up and im able to pick out some honey and maybe some ginger? But overall this just blends so smoothly into one cohesive bundle of joy.

This is my first TAL. It starts off kind of sharp on me due to the lavender and salt coming through. That sharpness lasts a while and then it settles into soft sandalwood, frankincense, and palo santo, made more complex with the other additional notes (though the others dont come out in a way that I would be able to identify them). I find that, in terms of intent, it works much better for me in this settled state than it does when it is fresh and holding on to that sharpness. Since this is my first TAL, im still sorting out how exactly I want to use it, but overall I am happy to have a bottle of this.

Pretty much agree with what's been said. There's the nice woody oak with some metallic tang of iron and some lightly spiced sweetness from the brandy and rum. It blends really well and gives a masculine beach vibe.

This starts very strong on the sugar for me, but not lemony sugar which I'm grateful for. It's reminding me a lot of the sugar 13. The rum makes this a bit darker. I can't pick out the tea, it might be blending with the sugar. Overall this makes me think brown sugar with a hint of booziness that fades as it settles. After the booziness, it warms up a bit. This stays in the same sugary family as 13 for me and similar to that blend i think this would be fun to layer with, especially with what the rum is adding to it. ETA: there's a softer note that comes out after about an hour of wear that I'm attributing to the tea. This is just getting better as it goes.

Soft, creamy, almost dry but not powdery amber blended evenly with gently spicy cardamom. Exactly the warm spicy winter scent it claims to be. Neither note dominates for me, it just depends what I focus on. Usually cardamom gives me a baked goods vibe, this one happily did not.

I know for some this disappointed, but I really love it! I was hoping for something in the same family as NYC Snowball Fight and that's what I got. It does start strong on the piney sharp snow, but it didn't take long for that to settle for me and become sweeter, creamier, and vanilla-y. This isn't as sweet or vanilla forward as Snowball Fight, but I'm very happy with the balance in this blend. It's simple and soft, giving me a sense of pure joy and comfort. I also think it will be great for layering. I couldn't judge the wear time well, but it has lasted all day in my scent locket.

Disclaimer: I don't have Antikythera Mechanism on hand, so I can't test to compare. That being said, I remember Antikythera Mechanism reminding me a bit of Lyonesse. Different, but in a similar broad family to my nose. Lyonesse is more vanilla forward than AM though from what I remember. I get a sweet woodsy blend from Odin, too, but I don't know how old my imp is and how that's influencing the smell. If you want to look for some of the notes in AM specifically and haven't checked out the directory on the website yet, I suggest poking around. Great way to find perfumes that have specific notes that you're looking for! There's plenty of tobacco, woods, and vanilla throughout the catalogue.

In the bottle, I get gentle vanilla and a strong beeswax. On the skin, the cedar comes out much stronger than the other two notes, but those two do round it out so it's not a sharp cedar, but soft and sweet. The longer its on, the more the cedar fades and it returns to beeswax with soft vanilla. Good throw, medium wear time.