LavenderCoffee

Freshly applied this hits the same buttons in my brain as Asleep in the Deep from the Fire Down Below collection, which also contains fruit/benzoin/labdanum. Elf Mutiny smells less ominous, and dare I say cuter, but I would not cross these raspberry cheeked seafarers! There's a pleasant touch of carnation spice and tobacco grit.

I had an unpleasant time testing this, ended up washing it off. It started out quite nice and I was enjoying the lilac, but then it went all sharp and headachey which I'm attributing to lilac/ambergris doing weird things on my skin. 

This is such a delicious golden honeycomb scent, whew. The lemon starts out quite tart and realistic, but it calms down nicely, and I can also smell the sugar distinctly. But the way this wears on me is exactly what I was hoping for - the lemon and sugar accentuate the honeycomb, which is the featured note. Sweet sunshine in a bottle.

Testing an imp of unknown age. I know it's not a fresh one anyway. 

It goes on cloyingly sweet vanilla honey cherry, and as it dries I also get the clove, wine, and other notes. The musk and/or poppy started to go powdery on me but the vetiver balanced it out nicely.

I find this a bit too sweet/heady to wear but I appreciate how the scent conveys the idea of a vampiric kiss.

Yum. Freshly applied this leads with strong pine and transitions into funky beeswax, and then sweet frankincense sweeps in. Dry, the pine is not as potent but still prominent. Sweet, funky, pine.

Ask me why Constellation (Egyptian Amber with Sugar spiked Clove) was a big nothingburger on me and this one is making me swoon - I don't know the answer! I think this might be more of what I was expecting from Constellation, because it certainly doesn't smell peppery. I love what Bluestblood said about the pepper adding definition to the scent, that makes a lot of sense somehow. On me the amber is the dominant note, and I agree with Little Bird that it has more of a perfume quality to it than a resin quality, but it doesn't read as overly perfumey to me either. I have to get in pretty close to single out the clove, like it's all snuggled under the warm amber blanket.

I did not think I was an amber person but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need a bottle of this. 

This goes on smelling a bit like chocolatey tobacco to me, thanks to smoky amber. Clove and pepper not present in the bottle pop right out on my skin, adding spice without being spicy. Dark and unsweet, softened by wafts of vanilla/amber.

Still reads cozy choco-tobacco-y to me when dry. Sensual, unisex. Lower moderate throw and decent staying power.

Purchased my bottle from the lab on Etsy, the silver marker on the black label is hard to make out: looks like CCCCIV, but that's not a thing? 

In the bottle and freshly applied, this smells weirdly clean! My first thought is that this is a cheeky mashup of O and Dirty - O on clean sheets! I fished out my decant of Dirty, which I think is pretty recent, and it seems like my theory is a possibility. Once it dries down the aged vanilla amber takes over, the cleanness settles into the background, and it's quite lovely. This scent stays close to the skin for me.

I don't tend to like overtly clean scents, but I do appreciate a clean component in the mix, like Cotton Phoenix, and this seems to be in a similar genre.

As advertised, this is a sweet sparkly celebration of a scent. For the curious: sweeter than Champagne and Absinthe and less absinthe. 

I always feel like a time traveler popping in to review something aged over 10 years. This one is AMAZING. If you have one of these hidden away in a drawer somewhere go sniff it!

Still very much a rich chocolate cherry in the bottle, but I didn't smell the bottle first - I just popped a drop of it onto my wrist, and when the scent hit my brain I could have SWORN it was a Snake Oil variant! Perhaps they have some exotic musks in common, and the sweetness of the chocolate cherry steps in where the vanilla would be. The aloeswood/oud brings a deliciously slinky darkness and depth. I don't usually go for a cherry, but this is my kind of cherry, and I'm tremendously pleased to have this. 

This is much nicer than the copy would lead you to believe. I mean I can't presume to know what you believe, so I suppose it is nicer than I thought it would be - quite comforting!

Bright lemon and herbal lavender are prominent on initial application, but dissipate quickly. Once dry, the lavender behaves more like lavender fougere and the frankincense warms around it, with some sage lingering over the top. It's gorgeous and softly sweet?! Gonna give this one a full SOTD treatment soon. 

Bright, clean, and dare I say chilly? This has an invitingly minty feel to it. Not overly anise-y to my nose, nor bittered by bergamot: nicely balanced and fresh. Low throw.

Oh Pink Mood! I love anise and I think you have to like it at least a bit to enjoy it here. I like this because it's such a delicate anise experience. Without refreshing my memory of the scent notes I get vanilla-anise-soft floral and it's just dreamy. I could not tell you which florals, just that they are demure and deferential to the vanilla-anise. It doesn't smell pink to me, but it feels pink, if that makes sense. 

Stays soft and close, lingers in a lovely way.

I am head over heels for this scent. I'm a fan of vetiver, patchouli, and oud to start with, so do with that info what you will. My TL;DR on this is that it's basically Tea, But As A Perfume. 

Sniffing the bottle, there's a punch of sweet almond with strong black tea and lemon.

On application, all the big scent notes pop out in unison: patchouli, tobacco, oud. They're tricky to pick out from each other, but somehow they all underscore the tea so that it isn't lost in the mix. I don't get anything indolic from this oud, but I can tell it's in there for sure. Similarly the patchouli doesn't belt out its patchouliness, but you know it's present. It's an incredibly rich, dark, chewy tea scent.

When dry, almond is no longer clearly discernable on my skin but its sweetness remains to balance the bitter lemon. Vetiver is more apparent on my exposed skin, but when I wear this scent under my shirt it stays huddled in with the other notes. Overall it still smells like Tea Perfume and it's so gorgeous. I can't get over how these bolder scent notes bolster the tea so well, it's alchemy for sure!

Note to fellow slatherers: I always put too much of this on because I love how it smells, and you really don't need much of it because it lasts and lasts. 

Wow, the olive blossom and amber combo really sings out on me at first. Freshly applied, it goes olive oil, beeswax, OLIVE BLOSSOM AND AMBER!!!1! And they're not wrong to be so excited because they are lovely together: very fresh and clean without any citrus, fabric, or soap vibes.

As it dries there is definitely a shift in the scent profile. Olive blossom amber settles down into the beeswax, and the fried sufganiyot begins to waft out around the periphery along with some pomegranate and fig. I usually amp fig, but it takes its time gaining strength here.

The composition is cozy and comforting while retaining a gentle perfume quality. It's lovely and quite impressive, and would be a slam dunk for me without the pom, which creates a grainy/dirty effect more often than not and I don't know why my skin does that! Boo hiss. 

This is quite yummy. I was not prepared for the gorgeous creamy pistachio of this when it is freshly applied. I do get the cherry a bit more as it dries, and more of a salted nut component. The vanilla part of the chocolate is really coming through for me - most good chocolate desserts have vanilla - but I'm not picking up on chocolate otherwise.

I am a fan of a good whiskey note so I was hoping this would be booze forward based on "soaking in 90 proof." It does smell like booze, but it's not a big booming boozy scent (alas). I do get a bit of cherry as well, but it's not really coming across as foodie in my opinion. If you think you would be into a politely boozy holiday scent, this might be a good one to try!

Just received this Monday, it's now Thursday. Fresh out of the mail and directly applied, it actually smelled eyeballs-rolling-back great for a few moments. Then it went weird.

Applying again today, it remains quite weird. To quote someone else's experience of A Sorceress: "Never have I been so wrong about how something would smell on me." It's all mealy red apple sadness with a trace of plastic. Damn my skin chemistry! 

I may stow Bob the Snek for awhile or just let it bring joy to someone else.

Holy wow this is good! Sharp and sour when wet but bless me, when it is dry! Reminds me of a beverage from the local brewery called Dead Druid King based on a recipe reportedly found in a crypt that called for oak leaves in the beer. It's intimidating at first as well.

The dry scent is gorgeously sweet and earthy. Time has been good to this bottle.

My experience of this blend is a delightful triptych of the notes in the order they are listed - on wet, I get a nice big fir needle embrace. As the fir needle settles down, peony blooms and announces itself - I'm a big scent note too! Drying down, the musk becomes apparent and wraps its arms around the peony and fir notes. I was not sure what to expect from this, but it's very straightforward and cozy. Indigo musk with fir has a great blue-evergreen vibe. The musk with peony feels sensual, and reminds me of Black Goat/Pink Flower even though that one didn't have musk listed, it had a very nice musky vibe, and this is that same peony note. 

Anywho if you are a fan of these notes, I would give this one a shot. I think it could work for anyone (at least to me it doesn't read as overtly masc or femme). Lower/moderate throw. 

I could not resist candlewax and cloves, and that's mainly what I'm getting from this scent. I don't mind a bossy clove, but this is not bossy, it's beautifully blended with pepper and cardamom. Plus I think the beeswax and black amber are doing some nice things together. Very wearable!

This one is tremendously lovely. I'm matching it against Witchecraft because I'm trying to tell myself I shouldn't FS both, but is that really true?

Immediately I get the same broomcorn note as Vigil for the Harvest Suitors from the Darla Teagarden line sitting on top and sweetening things up ever so gently. The pine wood is identifiable to me, as are the frankincense, oakmoss, and ambrette, but this is indeed a very well blended scent. There's not a ton of throw, but it's just so gorgeous. I would apply liberally and enjoy smelling like a cozy / slightly arcane kitchen. 

Got this as a frottle from the lab that says "Yuki-Onna Vintage" on the label, and it's a standard amber vial - not sure what that means with regard to the original formula vs the "resurrected" one. It's an absolutely lovely fresh jasmine blend, bright with bergamot and lemon verbena. Not a trace of anything indolic, it's like having tea in a sunny garden full of jasmine. In fact it reminds me a bit of the Jasmine Tea/Lemon Peel/Honeycomb trio from this year, although this one is sharper with fresh florals and the trio is a quieter tea blend.  

I find this blend to be quite subtle and instantly wearable. The dead leaves are recognizable on application but not screechy or sharp. The vanilla helps bring the leaves and praline together, and the praline is fairly unassuming. I get the "warm, caramel-y nutty" impression mentioned above tossed together with the leaves: whiff of this, whiff of that. Nicely done!

I FOMOed myself into getting this because I love sweet patchouli. I initially passed because I don't enjoy honeysuckle. So after a good long rest, of course I get a whisper of yummy patch, and then vanilla honeysuckle is doing a big old "nyah nyah" right in my face. Maybe I will put this in a drawer and forget about it and it will turn into something more pleasing, or maybe I will rehome it.