Laughing Seagull

Nosferatu gave me the impression of being in a cave (with wine). Others have described it as "wet stone (... with wine)." I like it very much. The addition of the wine might ruin it for you if you're mostly going for rocks, though.

It's undoubtedly rosy, sort of punching me in the face with a blast of rose when I unscrew the cap. Do not let this daunt you. The rose calms down quickly but doesn't vanish entirely. After I put it on, the rose quiets down and is accompanied by a gentle cloud of sweetness. This is a fragrance that is unobtrusive and stays close to the skin. I tried putting this on one wrist and Precious Beauty on the other yesterday, and Precious Beauty completely overpowers it. Subtlety and intimacy are the name of the game here. Perhaps because it is orris "butter" and not regular orris, this doesn't go dusty on me in the way the orris in Blood Pearl (among others) does. Amber, another one that often goes dusty/powdery, is also behaving this time. They are noticeable, but not bothersome. The rose, likewise, is fresh. I've never actually had a rose go powdery on me that I can remember, but I've heard it can happen. Rose, vanilla, and skin musk are the stars of the show. As I've been testing it, the word "fluffy" keeps coming to mind. I suppose it's a cuddly scent that suits its name.

Received this as a frimp with my Roe v Wade bottles. This is gummy bears and red musk. Red musk is aggressive on my skin, and this is no different than my usual encounters with it. It's become a sea of red musk with a single gummy bear floating in it. Reminds me of the Smut-o-Ween scents from 2020, except the candy-to-musk ratio felt more balanced in Smut-o-Ween. ETA: Retrying this two years later, the gummy bears have become stronger. It's a positive change IMO.

I blind bottled this because it sounded nice and this review is based on trying it right outta the mailbox like a goblin. Snoof in the bottle: CAKE Immediately upon putting on skin: ALMOND CAKE! If I really huff it aggressively I can detect the oat in the back of my nose. After an hour: Still ALMOND CAKE. Oat stays in the back. Definitely sweetened with honey. The honey is thin and mild, like a drizzle of light clover honey whipped into fluffy cream icing. It's not thick "chewy" honey or dark buckwheat honey. The whole thing is very, very sweet like you would expect from something with notes that include honey, sugar, and cake. 3 hours later: Mostly same scent, starting to fade. A little more vanilla-y when I get right up on it. It's creamy and foody like vanilla bean frosting. Throw is on the larger side of medium for the first couple hours. Doesn't fill the room, but can be smelled clearly at an arm's length. I recommend only using a little dab of it or else it may become overwhelming. You may need to reapply if you want to smell it all day.

If this perfume was a color, it would be glowstick-juice green. These snakes are partying. I may even say that "squirming" or "slithering" describe it better than "swarming," as this relatively simple combination of scents is lively, bright, and energetic, practically glowing. All of the notes flawlessly blend into and enhance each other, making it utterly impossible to distinguish one from the other. If I blind tested it, I might be able to figure out that apples are involved, but it's generally a very singular experience with no morphing. It also lasts for much longer than I had expected. None of the scent notes ever seem to bail out, and while the throw isn't tremendous (I'd call it medium), I've been able to whiff this on myself for about 8 hours now. Overall: It's lively, fun, and fresh, just as I had hoped it would be. It'd make a stellar scent to wear while working out or any other high-energy activities.

Based on the glowing reviews I really thought I was going to love this because mineralic scents tend to do it for me and I was jonesing for something chalky and interesting, but it to me this smells like a bake sale being held in a chain smoker's garage. You can vaguely smell a cookie or cake through the plastic cling wrap but overall it's mostly tobacco and old cans of paint. It improves slightly over time but it's still mostly tobacco.

Giving Chaotic Good Bard a shot today based on a novel character (going for A-Tai from Tianbao Fuyao Lu vibes). The combination is a wonderful spiced honey scent dripping over a light metal. It's a fun and playful combination that makes me smile, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The honey isn't sharp or overbearing and the heliotrope is light enough that it doesn't go powdery. Pretty good throw and longevity, probably thanks to the musks in Chaotic. I like it!

Expectation: Mango sticky rice. Reality: Vaguely coconutty rice bordering on sunscreen. Someone who ate a mango a while ago has breathed in my general direction. The mango breath is fleeting, leaving me with sunscreen.

There aren't many scents that make me immediately go to the site and slam that mf "add to cart" button, but Bengal is one of them. I received it as a frimp with my last order and as soon as I put a dab of it on my skin I became completely enchanted by it. It's smooth, sweet, and VERY spicy. Cinnamon is the dominant note and it's a very true cinnamon BARK scent rather than a powder or candy. After some time, it further smooths out and reminds me of a mousse or other light, creamy dessert rather than the aggressive chai blast at the start. It's still spiced, but not as much. Just be careful if your skin is sensitive to spices.

I never would've tried this had I not received it as a frimp. I don't really consider myself a "dark scent" person, though I do like smoky wood smells from time to time. Incantation is well-balanced and surprisingly fresh. My first impression is wet grass/moss with a wisp of wood smoke in the background, and this doesn't change much as it sits on my skin. It gets a little more woody, but for the most part it's that fresh wet grass/moss and wood smoke. I can see how it may seem soapy to some people, but I don't immediately get "soap" out of it. I don't know if I'm ready to commit to a bottle of it yet, but I'll definitely be testing it more times.

I tested this right out of the mailbox after @ supreme_c0rt raved about it. In my opinion, this is the most wearable Luper I've tried this year (I still have a few more to try though) and deserves to be a sleeper hit. I wasn't sure about this one because I usually do fruity florals, woods are hit-or-miss, ambers are hit-or-miss, red musk is hit-or-miss, and pepper can turn into barbecue real quick, but I love leather so I decided to gamble on it. A gamble worth taking. My initial impression is "soft woods" with red musk. I specify "soft woods" because this is smooth and unobtrusive rather than a cedar bonk on the head. The drydown brings sweet and toasty aspects out. Genmaicha is a good comparison; I can imagine toasty rice pieces being involved in this. If I shove my nose right up into it, I get a VERY subtle leather and something reminds me of cola or root beer in the back of my nose. Like someone spilled cola on a suede jacket and wiped it off, but there's a little of the scent still hanging around After about an hour my impression is "like Tombstone, but nicer."

This one HATES my skin. It smells absolutely lovely in the bottle, but when I put it on it becomes an indolic disaster. It's not even recognizable as a floral scent anymore. What the hell? I thought this one would be a sure bet; I'm clearly not a good gambler.

This smells wonderful but I believe I may be allergic to it. Before I got all sneezy and congested, I was pleasantly surprised by how fresh this smells. I consider sandalwood and hemp to be very "dry," so I thought that this might end up being dusty smelling. I believe, though, that the hemp imparts it with a grassiness that strikes me as fresh. It may also impart it with allergens. The clove is extremely aggressive in this one. I'm not sure if this is what's causing my issue, since I've never had an issue with clove before but I've also never tried anything that was this loudly CLOVE. It makes my nose physically feel weird if I sniff it up close.

I'd describe this as fresh, juicy lily glittering with light honeyed dewdrops. The gardenia and lily intermingle so well that I can't really differentiate between the two in this fragrance. There's a sort of fae, aloof quality to this that makes me prefer it to the more approachable and cuddly Honey, Tuberose, and Vanilla Sugar. The honey in this is light and thin as opposed to the thick, "chewy" sort or the sharp kind that punches you in the face, hence my description of it as "dewdrops." As Moonbell above mentioned, it does have a buttery quality to it. Actually, this reminds me of a fancy afternoon tea/brunch thing that me and my sister went to once. As for the Vampire Mommy comparison, I can sort of see it but sort of not. I'd say it does capture the opulence of the Dimitrescu mansion and making people horny by stepping on them, and I could certainly see the association with a vamp in a big floppy sun hat (particularly with the afternoon tea memory). I wouldn't say that this covers the more unhinged side of her, though. This is Lady Dimitrescu in polite company. The buttery, honey dewdrops linger longer than the flowers. Very nice.

This was a lot foodier than I had expected. It's like a chewy, sticky, luxurious dessert that you can only eat a little bite of because it's so rich. It's what I had thought Dana O'Shee would smell like (Dana O'Shee turned into weak, wet cardboard on me). It's fairly strong but not overbearing. It makes me feel huggable and disarming. If I had kids, I'd probably want them to associate me with this scent. Though lovely, for me it falls into the "This smells nice, but I don't know if I want to smell like it" category. I don't want to be huggable and disarming. I prefer Honey, Black Lilies, and Gardenia because I have an affinity for more floral-leaning scents, but if you want to smell like some amazing baklava you might want to check this one out.

Based on Pomegranate Suf and Please Scream Inside Your Heart, dough scents seem to go directly to hell on my skin... But not this one. Maybe it's only fried dough that causes problems. Unsubtle Euphemism is exactly what I wanted it to be. On initial application, it smells exactly like the fresh, soft milk bread rolls that my sister makes for special occasions (How do they turn that into an oil!?) After it dries, it does exactly what I had hoped it would do: the anise very gently kicks in and reminds me of the pan de muerto that I used to have when I was a kid. The cardamom is detectible but inoffensive. I don't get a whole lot of almond. For something called "Unsubtle Euphemism," this is strangely sentimental and nostalgic to me and I'm extremely impressed by its realism. I have no idea if I actually want to smell like it, but it would 100% make a banger room or bedtime scent.

It's a smutty chocolate martini, and I'm licking the decorative drizzle of dark chocolate syrup off the inside of the glass because I'm classy like that. This is definitely the sweetest Smut I've tried (compared to regular smut and candy corn smut). It's playful, but not childish. The musks give it staying power and make it less powdery than Bliss sometimes gets. It is a delight. I don't regret blind bottling it.

This is perhaps extremely off the wall, but when it's wet the scent of White Rider really, really reminds me of the smell of fresh water. It also reminds me of my aunt's house, with all her handmade quilts and cute little country-timey decorations. This is probably the least helpful review ever. White Rider confuses me, but I like it!

I blind bottled this because of the reviews saying it's the gingerbreadiest gingerbread monster, and I am not disappointed. I want to eat myself. It's like a sandwich made from two spiced molasses cookies and marshmallow creme.

No surprises here. It's lemongrass and coconut. Out of the gate the lemongrass is dominant, but it balances out with the coconut as it dries. The coconut note is similar to the scent of Ahava Dead Sea Essentials coconut moisturizer. This is good because I used to get tons of compliments about how nice I smelled when I used that moisturizer. It won't blow your mind with its originality (I hope you weren't expecting it to), but it's a nice, straightforward duet that I can't imagine offending anyone.

I blind bottled this one because I figured that since I love both gardenia and clove, nothing could possibly go wrong. I was correct. My initial test of this yielded exactly the results I expected. BPAL's gardenia always strikes me as a bit "green" and "nectar-like" and it is very forward initially, as gardenia usually is. It may strike some people as soapy. The clove takes a while to kick in, which I wholly expected since that's what it does in Twelve Tastes in the Classification of Passion (mandarin, carnation, and clove). As always, the clove is woodsy, spicy, and pleasant. At this point gardenia hangs in the background, adding a very subtle floral backdrop to the clove. The clove note is tenacious, and if you like clove you'll likely catch whiffs of it all day and wonder what smells nice (it's you!). Nectary gardenia will occasionally peek out to remind you that it's there. It may be more appropriate to call this "Gardenia, then clove" because it has two very distinct stages. I don't know if this will change as it ages. This duet is a good, simple fragrance to wear on its own. I imagine it might layer well with something fruity or cakey.

I ordered an imp of White Rider because of its simplicity and was hoping that this would be the case. I feared that Black Rider would end up being "syrupy." Everyone's unsexy suggestions have been noted. I personally find Ranger to be unsexy leather (falls into the "cozy" category imo).

So this is subjective and also kind of silly, but I'm curious. Forumites, what do you consider to be the most unsexy leather blends? I don't necessarily mean the coziest (though that can qualify). They can be unsettling or weird or cozy or nice or any other descriptor you can think of, just NOT sexy.

ESSENTIAL Cheshire Cat Bliss Twilight To a Wreath of Snow Jezebel Belle Epoque Xiuhtecuhtli Blood Pearl Blood Rose Thanatopsis Every gingerbread scent Torture Queen Pumpkin Queen Queen of Hearts TEMPTING Envy Cold Moon 2020 Lightning Ranger Don't Lick It Meigetsu Ya Nosferatu The Jersey Devil Carnal Candy Corn Smut Bleeding Walls Apple Spice Hard Candy Bon Vivant Hecate Bastet Vasilissa Chimera The Sea Foams Blood The Sea Foams Milk Dragon's Milk ACCEPTABLE Persephone Transeo Baobhan Sith The Icebergs Incubus Titania Kumiho Y’ha-nthlei Brisingamen Aglaea Haunted Wilde Soothing System Kumiho Pele Eat Me Smut Severin Tweedledee Kali TOLERABLE Shango Hell's Belle Gingerbread Invisible Man Winter Sunset Wheatstacks, Snow effect, Morning Fighter Sin Mad Hatter Peppermint and Pine Queen Block Buster Please Scream Inside Your Heart Kitsune-tsuki Perversion Coyote Tlazolteotl Verdandi Cozy Sweater and Apple Cider Dead Leaves, Marshmallow, Pistachio Cream Imp Great Sword of War Sed non Satiata WELL IT COULD BE WORSE Croquet Brimstone Antonio the Carny Talker Ouija Sjofn Night-Gaunt Maenad Juliet Fae Nyx Vice Hunger The Lights of Men's Lives Kabuki Anathema Obatala Dragon's Bone DISASTER Athens Darkness Pomegranate Sufganiyot Oberon Poisoned Apple Arcana Harlot Red Queen La Lethe Centzon Totochtin Namaste Candy Apple Smut High-Strung Daisies Zephyr Disembodied Malevolent Laughter Velvet Event Horizon The Forest Reverie Juke Joint Dana O'Shee Scherezade How Doth the Little Crocodile Plunder Jack Grave-Pig Apothecary Les Fleurs du Mal Arcana Psionicist ?????? I GOTTA RETRY THESE Snake Oil Tavern of Hell

I really wanted to like this, but the donut dough ends up smelling more like play doh once it touches my skin and the cranberry does an overwhelming hostile takeover. I don't have a good record with berries. It blows that something more or less universally loved doesn't work for me at all, but what can ya do? At least I didn't spring for a full bottle.