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Everything posted by ShadowEtienne
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I'd love to hear what you end up getting and what she ends up thinking of them! Also one last non-impable one that came to mind is Night-Scented Orchid (one of my very favorites, for charity, and one of the most lovely jasmines I've found).
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I took a minute to look up those scents, and based on "spicy floral" and the notes I saw there (white florals including jasmine and magnolia blossom, citrus and other fruity notes, light musks and ambers and woods, some fresh water/aquatic notes), I'm going to come up with a list of some scents in the Eternal Collection that could be a good starting place. These are great for an intro because you can cover more ground with imps. - Aizen-Myoo (Excoĺo): Yuzu, kaki, and mikan with cherry blossom and black tea. [My Notes: I'm personally fond of this one, citrus and light florals tempered by tea.] - Amsterdam (Wanderlust): Tulips, peony, fresh flowing water and crisp green grasses. [My Notes: lots of bright, fresh florals, might be a little too green.] - Ave Maria Gratia Plena (Ars Amatoria): Rosewood with Sicilian lemon peel, red Mysore sandalwood, pale musks, sweet mountain sage and a dusting of lily, night-blooming jasmine and orris. [My Notes: This seems quite in line with the note vibes of the second and third ones you listed her liking.] - Baobhan Sith (Diabolus): Grapefruit, white tea, apple blossom and ginger. [My Notes: A little lighter than Aizen-Myoo, but a hint more spice with the ginger.] - Brisingamen (Ars Amatoria): five ambers, soft myrtle, apple blossom and carnation. [My Notes: has some of those amber plus floral notes that might match based on current favorites.] - Daiyu (Carnaval Diabolique): Moroccan jasmine, chrysanthemum, tea leaf, white musk, and acai berry. [My Notes: this has some really good vibes/notes overlap from what I'm seeing.] - Endymion (Ars Amatoria): A sweet, wistful blend of d’Anjou pear, Lily of the Valley, bois du rose and white musk. [My Notes: this has a pear plus white florals thing going on.] - High Strung Daisies (Mad Tea Party): Daisy, pink carnation, pink pepper, and sugar. [My Notes: sweet spicy florals seems like it has potential.] - Juliet (Illyria): Sweet pea with stargazer lily, calla lily, heliotrope, honeysuckle, white musk and a touch of fresh pear. [My Notes: this is the the first thing that came to mind actually.] - Kitsune-Tsuki (Diabolus): Asian plum, orchid, daffodil, jasmine and white musk. [My Notes: Fruits plus white florals plus light musk.] - Kyoto (Wanderlust): A gentle, soothing blend of cherry blossom, white sandalwood and star anise. [My Notes: fits the bill pretty well, but you might want to double check how she feels about anise/licorice if you don't already know as I know it can be divisive.] - Morgause (Bewitching Brews): A bouquet of five night-blooming flowers deepened by dusky violet, purple fruits and the barest breath of medieval incenses. [My Notes: might be a little deeper/darker than her taste runs, but it's definitely spicy florals.] - Night-Gaunt (A Picnic in Arkham): yuzu, white grapefruit, and kumquat mixed with the snow-dusted flowers... [My Notes: another personal favorite that seems in line with things she would like, very much a white flowers and citrus scent.] - Prague (Wanderlust): Crocus with snowdrop and three lilies. [My Notes: another personal favorite, bright fruity white florals.] - Seraphim (Sin and Salvation): Calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense. [My Notes: possibly too resinous, but the white floral plus sandalwood elements seemed like it was worth mentioning.] - The Lady of Shalott (Ars Amatoria): The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger. [My Notes: this was another one that seemed to match the vibes of ones she liked well.] - Vasilissa (Märchen): Creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine. [My Notes: lots of overlap notes with things she liked.] I ended up just going alphabetically, but am happy to try to help narrow it down. More info that could be helpful: more examples of what she likes, and what she likes about them. I found that spicy florals wasn't hugely overlapping with the descriptions I could find of the perfumes that she likes, so I tried to cover both options. I also have not used all of the perfumes I listed (I am allergic to many things), so some of my guesses here are very second hand.
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I have a gift card and anxiety over what to get
ShadowEtienne replied to fallwcyc's topic in Recommendations
If you're interested in trying an aquatic, but have had some bad luck with aquatics, an you give a little more detail on which aquatics you've tried and the results? I adore aquatics, and would to help you find one that might be worth trying, but I don't want to recommend ones you already know don't work. -
The white tea, gentle and bright, and the ambergris, smoothly creamy and aquatic, in equal measure lead this scent on my skin. They are backed by an herbal citrus, wrapped in the lightest of resinous notes. I'd agree that this bears some similarity to Shanghai, but there's more herbal depth to it.
- 4 replies
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- October 2025
- October 2025 Lunacy
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On Self-Knowledge evokes stillness after upheaval, an almost eerily still ocean after a storm in a sheltered place. I would agree that the marine note is closely related to Y'ha-nthlei (which is among my favorite GC scents), but it's slightly stiller or glassier for me. The lotus petals are distinct for me as well, specifically reminiscent of in the evening as petals fall in the water from a flower that is fading. There's something melancholic to the note, but it's very much in my floral wheelhouse. This is a thoughtful, reflective floral-aquatic, befitting its name. I find it very soothing.
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This is a beautiful, full, almost nectar or fruitlike jasmine. It's very jasmine forward on me in a way I love, and is possibly my favorite jasmine dominant scent to date. The citrus isn't a note at the forefront, but it's making the jasmine brighter. It definitely has a nighttime's coolness to it, and I think that there maybe a touch of moonflower in this, adding to the feel wonderfully. I am seriously considering getting a second bottle. If you are a jasmine lover, and jasmine behaves on your skin, this will probably be a love. It's subtle and complex while still definitely being a jasmine scent. If jasmine misbehaves on you,this one might be dangerous.
- 6 replies
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- 2025
- 31 Oct 2025
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This centers as a gentle cold fresh water aquatic on me. The delicate florals of water lily and jasmine drift on the water, sometimes they are very bold, loud florals on me, but they are soft and gentle here. Wild plum brings fruit in the background, but it doesn't overwhelm any other notes. None of the other notes are identifiable on my skin, but they bring a bright greeness to set the scene of the cold river. I am glad the moss doesn't take over. Lovely scent overall, and I appreciate how soft and nuanced it is.
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Just considering GC scents for now, one that comes to mind is Bayou [Wanderlust]: A lazy, warm deep green scent with a thick aquatic undertone: Spanish moss, evergreen and cypress with watery blue-green notes and an eddy of hothouse flowers and swamp blooms. If you are able to find the sort of floral you want and the sort of green you want separately, you might also be able to achieve it with some layering.
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I've worn this a few times since I got it, and I've loved it every time. It's a bright light creamy green and floral scent, which is absolutely what I was hoping for. The green tea has a touch a of a zing to it that is almost floral that blends well into the peony. The peony is creamy with the milk element, and fresh and light as well. The cala lilies have a hint of fresh greeness to them that smells like the whole plant rather than just the flower. I'm not getting a ton of lilac, but there's just a hint of it in the background on my skin. It's harmonious with the lily and the peony but not quite keeping up with it. I am definitely going to be wearing this regularly when I want a clean bright scent.
- 11 replies
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- February 2025
- 2025
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It's a relatively recent LE, so not currently directly available, but possibly pretty findable on forum sales. If the other notes in The Hound and the Milk White Doe sound good to you, I did find the jasmine to blend really well into the creaminess of the coconut in it. The notes are: golden sandalwood and liquidambar, cardamom, coconut milk, jasmine sambac, white petal rosewater, and labdanum. To me, the jasmine is a pretty wonderful and important element to the scent, but it's certainly not a pure jasmine scent. I feel like I might have some other thoughts that aren't coming to mind right now. Jasmine is a note that I really like, so I might circle back with another few thoughts later though.
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I have not smelled the initial scent, so I hope that someone who is familiar with it can come in and give you some specific recommendations, but since it looks like you've not explored BPAL much, I took a dive into the review thread (worth taking a look at for people's comparisons, several people even mention scents that they think have things in common): I'm taking a look through the General Catalog (GC) for scents that you would potentially be able to get as imps and see if you liked them. Hopefully someone more familiar with the scent can give you some specific bottle recommendations from Limited Edition scents that might be easier to find or from the bottle collections that you can't get as imps. The notes of Mictecacihuatl are: Copal, precious woods, South American spices, agave nectar, cigar tobacco, and roses. Some GC scents that might be worth checking out (to be clear, I don't think that these will be scent matches, but that they might be related scents that you might also enjoy based on the notes and reviews for Mictecacihuatl): Chimera [Bewitching Brews]: The fiery, volatile scent of cinnamon, thickened by myrrh, honeysuckle, and copal Tezcatlipoca [Excolo]: Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers (This is mostly in here because I saw it mentioned as an "if you like" in the reviews) Tlazolteotl [Excolo]: chapapote and black copal with cacao, black honey, maize, and cotton blossoms Xiuhtecuhtli [Excolo]: Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms El Dorado [Wanderlust]: Copal resin incense blowing through halls of dazzling gold (This is likely a simpler scent, but may have some overlap notes, and could end up working in layering to achieve a similar scent) Good luck on your quest! I hope that someone else is able to come through with some specific recommendations, but hopefully this gives you some direction to explore. If there are specific notes that stand out to you in Mictecacihuatl, it's definitely worth looking them up in the current BPAL catalogue and see if there's anything that they're currently making that has those notes to try out.
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Starting with General Catalogue (GC) scents that you can get imps of is a great place to start, and BPAL frimps can really find you things that you might not have thought to try! If you find yourself particularly liking a scent, it can be great to try out scents with overlapping notes, obviously the vibes are also a lot of fun to find similar things to, but sometimes you really like notes. It may be hard to pick out which specific notes you like at first, but you'll probably start noticing commonalities as you try more out. So looking at Uruk since you really like that one on you, the notes are: Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna. The things that I highlighted might be worth keeping an eye out for, especially scents that have more than one overlapping note. I'm seeing some warm/resin/spicy/incense notes, and some floral notes, and while it's not a lot - a hint of citrus as the main things going on here. (I'm allergic to this one, so I don't actually quite know what it smells like.) Looking through other GCs, here are some that stand out to me (collection in parentheses) as having some notes overlap: - Bastet (Excolo): Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus - Eclipse (Bewitching Brews): bitter almond, vanilla, frankincense and heliotrope, with a drop of cinnamon - Anteros (Excolo): throbbing red musk and shimmering chypre with saffron, sweet patchouli, Italian bergamot, red currant, and vanilla bean - Caterpillar (Mad Tea Party): Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver - Rapture (Ars Amatoria): Moroccan rose, Sumatran rose, mandarin, Egyptian myrrh, night-blooming jasmine, bergamot and neroli thrust into Arabian musk - Highwayman (Bewitching Brews): Vetiver with gardenia, blood red rose, night-blooming jasmine, a dash of cinnamon and a faint hint of leather - Azathoth (Picnic In Arkham): tangerine, saffron, vetiver, black amber and cedarwood [I see that you already spotted this one, and it seems like it could be a good match!] Looking at Rakshasa Party Magician for things that might have similar or complimentary vibes (also only focusing on GC scents so that you can get imps), the notes are: Shaggy spiced russet amber splattered by rice pudding, cocoa powder, and globs of cotton candy. So that's giving us foody-sweet plus spices and a bit of resin (warmth). Here are some things that might also be appealing: - Tezcatlipoca (Excolo): Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal’s flowers [This one strikes me as potentially being an overlap of note types between Rakshasa Party Magician and Uruk] - Velvet (Bewitching Brews): gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh - Miskatonic University (Picnic in Arkham): Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls Hope that some of that helps! Definitely keep track of the notes of ones that you enjoy and see if there are ones that keep coming up, that will tell you that they're notes to keep looking out for! When you're just getting started, I feel like the GC is a really great place to explore to get your bearings because there are chances to sample so many notes before committing to full bottles.
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Looking for a BPAL that Resembles a Favorite Perfume
ShadowEtienne replied to Ina Garten Davita's topic in Recommendations
Doing a little bit of research because I've not been around it since ballroom dance during university years ago, it looks like the scent is something vanilla-cream soda adjacent, possibly with a bit of coconut from the coconut oil that is part of the base. Some GC candidates that seem like they could match (going off notes and what people I know who like vanilla have said, I am not a great vanilla source because it's a note I'm extremely not fond of, but these might at least give you a place to look): - O (Ars Amatoria): Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla - Tombstone (Wanderlust): A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar - Golden Priapus (Ars Amatoria): vanilla and amber with juniper, rosewood and white pine Not a GC, but available right now that could be a match: - Ghost Faced Bat: Sugared coconut meat, vanilla pods, condensed milk, white honey, and benzoin Hopefully someone who is more of a vanilla aficionado can help you out further! -
Based on that profile, some General Catalog scents you may want to get imps (samples) of: - Rakshasa [Bewitching Brews]: Sandalwood with rose and patchouli. - Snooty Rose [Mad Tea Party]: Red rose, oud, plum, bergamot, and red sandalwood. - The Little Wooden Doll [Marchen]: rose-infused amber and soft golden sandalwood. None of these will be exact matches, but they may have similarities and match the vibes. They have the benefit of being regularly available and something that you could get in smaller quantities to see if you like them.
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Looking for a BPAL that Resembles a Favorite Perfume
ShadowEtienne replied to Ina Garten Davita's topic in Recommendations
I am very much not familiar with this perfume, so my thoughts here are based on looking at the notes you so helpfully provided (thank you for that, I usually have to go looking for those to give helping people with these a shot). The very first thing that I want to point out is an LE scent that just dropped but seems to potentially fit the vibes: Equivalent No. 314 (An intangible vapor, an obfuscating mist: grey iris, ambergris, mallow blossom, white tea blossoms, and scorched milk.) It certainly won't smell the same, but it seems like something that might appeal based on the overlap. Another fairly recent release potentially worth looking into is Lorrainna (An early 19th-century Italian perfume dabbed on black satin and lace – magnolia blossoms, lilac, orris root, and ambergris accord) from the Skull Masquerade collection. Another fairly recent LE that might appeal is L'Homme Fut Solitaire Dans un Paysage de Nuit (Lilac-stained labdanum casting a long shadow across a flicker of frankincense smoke and ambergris accord.) A GC that shares some notes and might be worth checking out since you could start by getting an imp, but I suspect might have different vibes is Brusque Violet (Violet petal, violet leaf, osmanthus, orris, mint, and opoponax.) from the Mad Tea Party collection. It has enough overlapping notes, that I feel like I should also point out The Last Unicorn (Frosty lilac petals, iris pallida root, orris, violet leaf, white chocolate, coconut, wild lettuce, white sandalwood, white gardenia and oakmoss). This may run towards a sweeter or greener (depending on what you amp) scent type. I've focused here only on things that are currently available, and I don't know that there's anything among them that is a truly good match. You may end up needing to look into layering or searching for something that was a previous LE. Hopefully some of that is helpful! -
Looking for a BPAL that Resembles a Favorite Perfume
ShadowEtienne replied to Ina Garten Davita's topic in Recommendations
Did you see The White Chocolate Rider from this year's Lupers/Box of Chocolates? I feel like it might fall into this niche, though I can't speak for it personally. -
There's one other lilac I noticed in the new Lupers: Battledore and Shuttlecock Perfume Oil Calla lilies, green tea, peony milk, and blue lilac. This is likely going to be one of my blind bottles, granted for the other notes, but I'm hoping it's a lovely lilac as well.
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I blind bottled this rather nervously, every note but vetiver in this is usually either incredibly good on my skin (cardamom, ambergris, cedar, pepper) or pleasantly neutral for me (sandalwood, orris). Vetiver however often does not smell the greatest on me, or just takes over a scent in ways I'm not looking for. But I loved the art, and cardamom + ambergris was too tempting not to get it. I opened the bottle to something smoky and woodsy, and I was a little bit nervous, but I could smell a hint of creamy spice underneath, and I was also hopeful. If it went right on my skin, and the notes balanced out, it would be really pretty. I tested it a few times before leaving this review, but it has indeed gone right. Sweet cardamom spice, a very similar cardamom note to my adored Sugared Cardamom Tea Beard Oil, is the most forward note on my skin, closely backed by smooth, creamy and just hinting at something aquatic ambergris and orris. The two notes blend beautifully, and I might think that it was just an ambergris going in a specific direction if this hadn't been how the orris + ambergris combo had gone for me before. This is all backed up by a softly smoky, hinting at spice woodsy scent, which I must assume is the rest of the notes working in excellent concert. The vetiver has just mellowed into the cedar and sandalwood and black pepper combo, adding a little bit of smokiness to them. My best possible vetiver outcome. Overall, for me, this scent could be a cousin to my much beloved The Hound and the Milk White Doe. I don't like this one as much (that would be hard), but it falls into the same family of scents in a wintery sort of way. I'm definitely glad I took the chance on this bottle!
- 4 replies
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- November 2024
- Paintings of the Month
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In the General Catalogue (so you can get imps and see if you like them first), there are some really lovely lilac scents! It sort of depends on what other notes you might like with them. The one that immediately came to mind with this description was Les Fleurs du Mal (The scents of the blossoms of darkness, condensed into one perfume. Features a rose base, softened with lilac and wisteria). The three florals in it are really well balanced. You also might want to check out some of the scents in The Last Unicorn collection (Lady Amalthea, The Last Unicorn, The Lilac Wood), which are ongoing collections but not available as imps.
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There's a place near where I live that has a rocky waterfront beach park. A ways along the beach from the entrance, there's a place where a little stream tumbles down the rocks from the greenery covered headlands above, and has a short stretch across the sand to the Sound. The beach smells of sand and salt fresh air and the briny green of freshly washed up kelp, but that particular spot where there is always good driftwood to sit on, also smells of fresh water infused with the green of having recently been among plants. This hair gloss smells like that spot in the cooler months. It's a lovely, fresh aquatic with elements of both fresh and salt water, as well as sand and greenery. It works really well in harmony with other aquatics as well as with citrus notes.
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- Lunacy 2024
- August 2024 Lunacy
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The lemon blossom is a smooth, creamy, citrusy white floral. It's lovely and bright without seeming to be harsh or acidic. There's a little zing to the scent that does make me think of lemon zest as well though, but having been around blooming lemon trees, they can kind of smell like that, especially if some of the blossoms have been freshly crushed. This is a beautiful, fresh scent for a HG, and I can use a lot of it when my hair is being difficult without the scent becoming overwhelming. It's become one of my most reached for HGs.
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Harvest Moon: Blood Orange and Champagne
ShadowEtienne replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
The blood orange is bright and fresh, almost the scent of a blood orange being peeled or sliced. There's a lot of the oils of the zest, a little bit of sweet, tart juice, and a bit of pith balancing out the sweetness. The champagne note brings something bright and sparkling and floaty to this scent. While there's a little bit of sweetness, it balances more towards the sour and tart, for which I am pleased. It's a very fresh scent that I'm enjoying quite a bit. It's definitely in a family with Champagne and Delirium.- 3 replies
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- September 2024 Lunacy
- 2024
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I picked up In Templum Dei because I was chasing some of the notes from The Hound and the Milk White Doe, most specifically Liquidambar which doesn't appear in many of BPAL's scents and I love. The overlapping notes are labdanum, sandalwood, and liquidambar, and like in my beloved The Hound and the Milk White Doe, the liquidambar takes the lead with a lovely spiced wood resinous element that the other two notes really support. The frankincense is very harmonious with it, also resinous with a hint of spice. This scent by itself is a little bit flat on me, but I think that it's going to make for a really nice layering base. Going to try to find some creamy florals to add more dimension to it and bring it more in line with what I love best about The Hound and the Milk White Doe in things that are more readily available to me.
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This really beautifully captures hot spiced cider on me, but I wouldn't necessarily guess the alcohol elements if they weren't in the notes list. It's honestly more in line with the the hot spiced non-alcoholic cider that I get in the Pike Place Market in colder months. There's something very bright and fresh to the apple beside the warming spices. The ginger is definitely prominent here, but it's the earthier ginger of older ginger roots, and it blends really well with the more subtle cinnamon, clove, and allspice (the cinnamon and clove really do behave on my skin, and they can definitely be loud notes sometimes). The orange slices are a barely there hint of zest, but they're a really lovely element that rounds out the scent. The sweet woodiness of the oud (with just a hint of pleasant sourness) really ties everything together. Overall, apple and ginger are definitely the stars of this, which is exactly what I would have hoped for. I'm really glad I was able to get myself a bottle.
- 4 replies
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- 2024
- New York Comic Con
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Clove discussion! including bitter clove and clove cigarettes
ShadowEtienne replied to amaltheagray's topic in Recommendations
In GC, two scents that I like that have clove (and I find it noticeable) are Wrath (dragon’s blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon) and Arachne of Lydia (dusty clove and blackcurrant). Clove is in general a note that I don't actively seek out, but I quite like in the right blends. Unlike others above, I don't find Arachne of Lydia to be a single note clove, but the clove is a lovely element of the scent. It's balanced out by a rich dark sweetness that is completely not a cloying sweetness from the black currant for me. Arachne of Lydia has a more dusty/drying clove note for me, in a quite lovely way. Wrath is a much brighter/sweeter clove (my general assessment of this one was a lovely bright spiced simple syrup full of warming spices, but again, somehow not cloying).