Laughing Seagull

This reminds me of a Hoya plant that I took care of in the college greenhouse when I was in school. It had great umbels of perfect star-shaped flowers that dripped copious amounts of nectar all over the floor at all times. This is to say that the gardenia and something green and succulent are strongly at the forefront on me for the first several minutes. It's humid and tropical-feeling. The vanilla is smooth, lightly sweet, and subtle, and I'm guessing is being enhanced by the amber and/or ambergris. Vanilla frequently turns into a strange, gritty, plastic-like scent on me, but this remains very smooth. I mostly "feel" it in the back of my nose as a calmer gardenia and something cool and ozone-like (probably the chrome) hangs in the foreground. I'm not super familiar with commercial perfumes but I can see how someone might get that impression, especially when comparing this to BPAL's heavier scents with incense and dark fruits and things. This is a light, white scent. Torture Queen was a blind bottle that I picked up because she suits my aesthetic - I have more piercings than brain cells. This is my first blind bottle purchase that has actually worked for me. It also came with a beautiful card that I want to display in some way or another.

Despite how simple the description is, this one's a real morpher. As a big fan of cold things I had pretty high expectations for something called "Cold Moon" and this oil really hit it out of the park. It begins with the tiniest hit of chocolate and a frigid blast of frozen conifers. When I say a frigid blast of frozen conifers, I'm talking "it's raining liquid nitrogen on a Christmas tree farm." This is the kind of cold that I was hoping for from the peppermint and pine duet. As time passes it gets more chocolaty. 8 hours later (it lasts quite a long time) I'm pretty much left with exclusively chocolate. Cold Moon is pleasing to me and I find it decidedly Christmasy somehow.

Definitely more pine than peppermint. I had expected (and kinda hoped) that this would be an aggressively camphorous, ultra icy scent but it really isn't. It's fresh, clean, and surprisingly subtle. It's not bad but I prefer Jersey Devil, which strikes me as colder somehow.

Y'ALL. I pulled the decant of this out of the bag it came in and sniffed the outside of the container and immediately had to put some on like an impatient gremlin. My god. Holy shit. This is SO GOOD. Front and center is the brilliant gingerbread note, which I hadn't tried before and need more of in my life immediately. Secondary to that is a chilly blast of sinus-clearing peppermint which hangs in the background for a surprisingly long time, mainly sticking close to the skin; I "feel" it in my nose more than I smell it, if that makes sense. The choco chips are subtle - like there are two to make the zombie's eyes or something, rather than the cookie having an excess of them. I feel like this scent could net me a ton of compliments. Gingerbread remains the star of the show, and what a star it is!! It truly is recognizable as GingerBREAD and not just baking spices. I'll be death (undeath?) matching this against GB Invisible Man to see which one I want to bottle. Additional notes from a few hours later: The gingerbread note lasts for a good long time, remaining long after every other note has checked out. It wafts pretty well. If I put my nose right on it, it smells a lot like Shub-Niggurath, but the waft is distinctly more cookie-like.

This was a generous frimp from VV. Transeo strikes me as a lighter, less rich counterpart to Blood Rose, which is not what I was expecting from it at all. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It pops off with a crackle of orange and something I can't put my finger on (might be the orange blossom), which immediately vanishes into the ether and is replaced by wine and roses. Unlike Blood Rose, this lacks the thick sweetness (and oil color) I would expect from something containing dragon's blood. When you think about it as "a vampire trying to blend into human society" it does kind of make sense for it to smell like "not quite blood rose" or "blood rose covered up with something else." That said, I already have and love Blood Rose - but I would recommend this to anyone who found Blood Rose too rich or sweet but otherwise enjoys it.

When the oil is fresh outta the vial, I definitely get something acrid that could be construed as volcanic. Within a few minutes, Isles of Demons then strikes me as about 60% black musk, 30% juicy tropical flowers, and 10% smoke. I've never met a black musk scent that I didn't like, and Isles of Demons isn't the scent that breaks that streak. That initial burble of magma or whatever isn't the most pleasant thing, but it only lasts for like two minutes. As usual, black musk has a lemony quality to it that I'm extremely fond of. The isles are light and breezy but still noticeable, which I like in a scent. I'll be deathmatching it with Pele and Machu Picchu in the near future since I'm on a tropical scent kick.

Delicious lemon Bundt cake and... Something else. I'm having trouble figuring out what the Something Else is. Patchouli? Vanilla going weird? It reminds me of a component that I didn't like in Snake Oil, so I figure it must be one of those two things. It's SO close to being highly enjoyable, but that "Something Else" is really bugging me.

Pretty, drowsy flowers. I agree with the above observation that it seems to include wet cut stems. Twilight isn't groundbreaking or complex; it's just a pretty, harmonic, dewy floral. The honeysuckle lightly sweetens it up post-drydown. I personally prefer Twilight over some of the other nighttime floral type scents such as Nyx, Darkness, and Fleurs du Mal. I'd put it on par with Queen of Hearts, which I also enjoy.

As I constantly say, I enjoy scents that seem drinkable and refreshing, so a mint julep in a vial seemed right up my alley. Unfortunately, this is not drink-like. It begins as something like vetiver, which dissolves into a cup of moderately sweetly scented dust. It lingers for a long time, but do I really want it to?

I really wanted to love this, but Dead Leaves and I don't get along. Were it not for the cologne-y unpleasantness of the DL note, I'd dive into a swimming pool full of this stuff any day. I recognize the pistachio note from How Doth the Little Crocodile, and the marshmallow registers in my brain as "whipped cream." The overall impression is "yummy pistachio pudding plus that cologne your dad used to slather himself in." It's fine, but the Dead Leaves part keeps me from going "omg it's amazing!!!!"

Take Bon Vivant, swap out the strawberry for apple jolly rancher, crank the volume up to max, and that's pretty much what you've got going on here. This scent is AGGRESSIVE. A little touch of it on my wrist apple-sploded my entire living room. It may be a little too much.

This is one of my favorites of the 2020 Weenies so far. I love cherries. I am an absolute cherry fiend. Every time cherries are in season I buy tons of them, and every time they're out of season I eat frozen ones. This scent is primarily CHERRIES. Delicious, juicy, sweet, dark cherries with a little bit of almond. YUM. There's something fuzzy in the background after it dries that I can't put my finger on (I suppose this is the "wallpaper"). The only thing I could possibly complain about is that I wish it had a bigger throw.

I expected this to be a hearty, screaming laugh with bright and chilly notes, but what I got was more like coughing up dust. The wine grape is freeze dried. The lemon is white because it has dried up and bleached in the sun. It is so dry. Someone pls leave a glass of water out for this malevolent spirit.

This one rubbed me the wrong way, which is not something you want in your smut. To me it turned out to be less "candy apple smut" and more "burnt brown sugar and butter smut." I have no idea why this happened. It was not the kind of Halloween scare I wanted. I'll let it sit around in my drawer and see if it improves over time.

I daresay I like candy corn smut more than regular smut. Like others, my first impression is mocha + smut, but it does eventually evolve into a marshmallowy vanilla + smut. I don't know if I'd associate it with candy corn without being told that it's candy corn, but the important thing is that it's pleasant, surprisingly subtle, and because it's a smut I'm sure the scent will linger forever because that's what smut does.

Baobhan Sith is like the livelier relative of Kumiho. Unfortunately, like Kumiho, it doesn't stick around for very long. It's nice while it lasts with a pleasant grapefruit-apple burst at the beginning. White tea tends to go somewhat soapy on me, and it predictably did so here, but it's not the worst thing in the world. The ginger is a fresh, non-foody variety which I am fond of. It lingers ultra close to the skin for several minutes before it too vanishes. I'll certainly use up the imp, but I don't like white tea enough to want to reapply this every hour and a half or so on a regular basis.

Feels more like apple blossom than apples. The apple note has a dryness to it. The herbs also strike me as dried herbs. Really quite dry overall, like a powdered cider mix. As others have mentioned, I could swear that there was a shampoo or something that smelled just like this but I don't remember what it was called. Shampoo or no, the scent is warm and inviting, and I would go as far as to say it might make a better room scent than a perfume. I'm a person who prefers to wear "juicier" scents though, so YMMV.

Initially, as it was wet on my skin, this was a straightforward aquatic, fresh with a touch of sweetness. It becomes more pleasing once it dries, with a musky something-or-other taking over. I assume that this is the ambergris, but I'm not certain. Y'ha-nthlei doesn't knock my socks off, but it's nice and it lasts for quite a long time.

This one's kinda sexy. It reminds me very much of Demeter's "Riding Crop" fragrance, which I used to wear fairly often. It's sexy AND nostalgic! There's something else here that I thought was vetiver, but maybe that's just something that the metallic note does. All that said, I don't know how often I'll actually wear this one because my tastes have changed. I may try Wanda for something possibly similar but "girlier."

You may enjoy The Jersey Devil, which is a refreshing pine and berry scent. Description is "Pitch pine with blackberry leaf, cranberry, cedar wood and tomato leaf." Personally for me it becomes sickeningly sweet if I put it on my skin, but if I put it on fabric (smear it on my bra, put a little bit on a plush animal, use it in a scent locket, etc) it remains a beautiful cranberry-and-pine scent. ETA: You also may be interested in checking out the forest scents thread, though not all of the suggestions are evergreen types.

Take Persephone and make it a zillion times better and you get Blood Rose. This is one of those rare oils where I enjoy every stage of it, nothing funky happens, and it never becomes overwhelming. The rose and wine lightly sweetened by dragon's blood are perfectly balanced, making it neither too rosy nor too fruity. It never goes powdery or soapy as roses and dragon's blood sometimes do. I cannot praise this one enough. In my opinion, this is an ideal everyday scent as long as you don't live/work with anyone who's sensitive to it.

It's that time. I'm 40-some scents in and I am not sure how to tell what I like or how to figure out how to figure out what I like... haha. I have sorted the scents that I've tried into several categories to try and puzzle it out. Any tips/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer suggestions that aren't difficult to acquire. I'm cool with suggestions of things like Carnaval scents even though they are unimpable. As well as suggestions of things that I might like, I am also open to suggestions of "try this to determine whether you like (a key note that is in many things)." I know patchouli is one that I will need to figure out. Here are lists. I would wear this any/every day: The paragons of scent. These perfumes are ones that never get overpowering, too sweet, get a strange funk to them, etc. At worst, some fade a little faster than I'd like. Cheshire Cat Hell's Belle Bastet Blood Pearl (I think this is discontinued?) Queen of Hearts Vasilissa Chimera Bliss Lightning The Sea Foams Milk "Similar but inferior": Scents with a similar alternative that I think is better. Drink Me < Perversion Obatala < Sea Foams Milk Kali < Bastet Black Lotus < Bastet Titania < Kitsune-tsuki Dragon's Bone < Blood Pearl Eat Me < Chimera Velvet: so inferior to Bliss that it feels unfair to even compare them Special occasions only/minor problems: These are nice to wear sometimes, but not every day. Some of these are too strong/sweet to wear for a long time, or have one stage in which they get a strange/unpleasant funk. Persephone (burnt hair smell when wet on skin; nice otherwise) Titania (too sweet) Kitsune-tsuki (less sweet than Titania but still too sweet to tolerate all day) Croquet (fades too quickly) Soothing System (could use a floral or something to cut through the wine) Perversion (too sweet) Kumiho (fades quickly, would like more ginger) Eat Me (borderline too sweet, I have to be in the right mood) Severin (fades too quickly, discontinued) Nocnitsa (moss brings it down a bit, discontinued) Tweedledee (fades too quickly) Not bad but not great either: meh Brimstone (I would not wear this on its own but it's not unpleasant) Kali (Like black lotus and Bastet, but not as good) Major problems: I cannot with these Dragon's Milk (TOO SWEET) Dragon's Bone (morphs into something sharp and unpleasant) How Doth the Little Crocodile (oakmoss ruins everything) Maenad (TOO SWEET, might try layering with brimstone?) Plunder (just generally extremely unpleasant) Jack (generally unpleasant) Grave-Pig (moss nightmare, too masculine) Apothecary (moss nightmare, too masculine) Velvet (chocolate pencil shavings) Zephyr (vanilla pencil shavings) Dana O'Shee (baby oil and cardboard) Les Fleurs du Mal (makes my allergies go nuts) Nyx (Too Much Jasmine) Arcana (I don't like rosemary that much) Kabuki (strikes me as masculine, reminds me of a bad date I went on) Psionicist (100% men's shaving cream) Obatala (too sweet) Sjöfn (reminds me of a bathroom spray my dad used to use) Based on the above information, I believe that my NOPE notes thus far are oakmoss, honey, frankincense, sandalwood, and anise. My YEAH notes are, uh... musks and amber maybe? I like lotus but I think I have enough lotus scents.

Another round of imps, another round of lists. Cheshire Cat remains on top. Great: Blood Rose Good: Bon Vivant, Brisingamen Meh: Aelopile, Juliet, Paris, Fighter, Carnal, Tlazolteotl, Event Horizon ????: Centzon Totochtin, The Jersey Devil Disaster: Oberon, Darkness, The Forest Reverie Blood Rose is the winner of this round for being like an improved version of Persephone. I have absolutely no complaints about this one. I like it in all phases, nothing funky happens, it's well balanced. Brisingamen and Bon Vivant are both lovely scents, but I would not want to wear them every day which is my criteria for the "great" category. The wet phase of Brisingamen doesn't really do it for me but the dry phase is very enjoyable. Aelopile, Le Lethe, and Event Horizon helped me figure out that I hate labdanum. Paris is practically SN lotus. Carnal's fine but I prefer Belle Epoque. Tlazolteotl is interesting and worth trying, but it's not something I can see myself wearing often. Fighter reminds me of the Demeter "Riding Crop" scent that I wore like 10 years ago. It's not really my style anymore, but I probably will use the imp. Juliet is far too meek and has something candy-like (I think the sweet pea but I'm not 100% sure) that I dislike. Centzon and Jersey Devil are going to need re-tests. Jersey Devil smelled SO GOOD while it was wet that I was ready to spring for a bottle immediately, but the drydown was horrible. It became uncomfortably, cloyingly sweet. I will try it again on a piece of fabric. Centzon was... There was a foreground of a really great choco-wine scent, but there was something that reminded me of vomit in the background? Oberon smelled exactly like Dove Nutrium Moisture Body Wash for several hours. Darkness was dominated by sneezy narcissus and by the time anything else emerged I was tired of it. The Forest Reverie somehow smelled like pee for several minutes before transitioning to an okay-but-not-great woodsy scent. New discoveries: I hate labdanum. Its only redeeming quality is that it seems to "burn off" relatively quickly. Narcissus needs to stop. Pine = good. And from here... Might give something else pine-y a shot in addition to all the other stuff I intend to try but haven't gotten around to yet. I also want to try Mad Hatter because someone said it smells like butter mints.

This one really should've been a no-brainer for me from the get-go. I like lavender. I like lotus. I like spices (sometimes). And, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, I like Paris. It's exactly what you'd expect: herbal lavender, bubblegummy lotus, and I think primarily cardamom. That said, I do prefer Black Lotus and Bastet as lotus scents because I feel like they're more balanced. Lavender never really stood a chance in this blend. It lasts a very long time on my skin, as all lotus scents do.

My experience was similar to the previous reviewer's. I was ready to spring for a bottle as soon as I put this on, and then the berries attacked. It started as fresh pine and tart cranberry, which was really, really good. I was like, "Wow, I think I like this even better than Nocnitsa!" Then it dried and turned into overwhelming blackberry candy, similar to the thing Maenad did to me (except Maenad was strawberry candy). Cry. I'll have to see if a locket can save this one.