Fancyfetus

I never thought I'd be one for a bedtime oil, but I keep reaching for this before going to sleep. The lavender comes on strong from the bottle, but on the skin this quickly settles down. It's a fresh, herbaceous lavender, like you've grabbed a fistful off a living plant and tore it free, crushing some of it in the process. The milk settles this into a positively dreamy scent that is luxuriously comforting. I think the bone dust keeps this from getting too creamy. I don't get the loam at all. I suspect that it's just tough to pick out on its own, but I would notice its absence. My husband fell in love with this scent immediately and tried it on straight from the mail. This may be backup worthy.

I picked up Krampus right when the Yules dropped and fell immediately in love. Fragrant wood, leather, and musk. There is undeniably a dusty component to this as well, lingering just around the edges. It's an incredibly sexy scent, dark without being heavy. If you hugged someone wearing this, you'd want to breathe them in deeply. It's sensual and sophisticated with just a little bit of strut. One day, my husband chose to put this on and it was heavenly on him as well. It hadn't for some reason occurred to me that this could be a masculine scent. When my husband pointed out that it was "named after a guy", I helpfully corrected that Krampus is a creature - and I'm certainly one of those! Very wearable and sexy on every gender and any creature of the mischievous sort. A scent that makes you want to sip an old fashioned and crack a whip. I might buy a backup before our Yules disappear.

In the bottle and wet on skin, this is LEATHER. I specifically associate it with leather shops in Mexico, because the smell of tanned leather is so overwhelming as you step inside. I love this scent. In the drydown, you get the balsam and moss creeping in, but leather stays dominant here. It's like you've opened up a box stuffed with new leather goods on a bed of moss. Just the lightest softening of the leather note around the edges. This is the perfume I would slather on on days that I want to smell like I drive a motorcycle and I'll kick your ass. It's leather fingerless gloves and a chip on my shoulder. It's a toothpick in my mouth and a skull tattoo on my forearm. Rowdy and young and full of bluster. Next comes heartbreak. After the balsam and moss make their appearance, The Red Rider completely dies on me. It disappears with no trace of having ever been there. Last night, I was overcome by the urge to try it on a friend. Applied on them, The Red Rider has a different attitude, though I don't detect any change in the scent itself. On my friend, this perfume smells trustworthy, not rowdy. Like the youth you've hired on to care for your horses, or the park ranger who leads you back to the trail head when you get lost in the forest. This rider is wholesome, clean cut, and earnest. My friend also reported that Red Rider lasted on them until the next morning. It's with a heavy heart that I'll be passing my imp onto them.

I've been so excited to try this! My bottle only arrived yesterday, so I may revise this after it's settled. Chrome Peaches? Chrome. Peaches. I love that there's no further description given. I needed to know the glory of the chromed peach! Wet on skin, this is sort of a generic peach scent, with another element that smells "perfumy" but not recognizable. It's very pleasant, but not quite what I was hoping for. But as it dries, the peach grows juicier and the chrome becomes more prominent. Like a tiny Terminator hatched from a chrome pit within the peach, and is beginning to fight its way out through the juicy flesh. There's something very sexy about this. The warm ripe peach combines with the zing of metal in a way that makes me think of flesh pressed up against glass, or a wet tongue caressing a stainless steel sink fixture. Every whiff is peach-chrome-peach juice, in that order. It makes me feel a little crazed and ravenous for another sniff. I immediately started looking for a backup bottle upon this first application. A real favorite. 9/10

A pink toned rice powder bath, with fresh jasmine flowers floating placidly on top. The almond is very present as well - maybe an expensive almond extract soap. I think the bath is cold, but it feels soothing instead of uncomfortable. The coconut doesn't reach me immediately, but as this wears it mingles with the warmth of my skin and brings that chilled bath up to temperature. Something about the coconut makes the scent incredibly addictive. Just the perfect amount of fatty, unsweetened coconut flesh to balance out the sweetness of the almond and jasmine, along with the powder puff of rice. This wears for 4-5 hours, and keeps getting better for the first few of those. Truly a favorite.

I received an imp's ear of this and was curious to try a peach scent. It smells like peach marmalade with a hint of mead. I'm not typically into fruity scents, but when I first put this on, I was in love! Alas, this oil has ZERO staying power for me. My skin must have just gobbled up those peaches because it was almost totally gone less than an hour later. I may try again after a little time has passed. If not, I'll probably work it into an unscented hair oil in the hopes that I can get some longevity out of it that way.

To my nose, this is pure jammy wine, clove, and myrrh, but occasionally I'll get a lovely whiff of violet leaf. It's very fruity without being gourmand or feeling juvenile. It puts me in mind of sitting on a patio in late afternoon, while someone is crushing grapes nearby. Warm and sweet, but sultry and unmistakably adult, with the spices the syrah falls somewhere between good sangria and homemade mulled wine. There's something in the attitude of this that reminds me of The Peacock Queen, although they smell nothing alike. Like two sisters who only resemble each other in haughtiness. But where Peacock Queen flaunts rigid perfectionism, Shrine Where Sin is a Prayer delights in self indulgence and excess; too much sweet wine and laughter too late into the night. This lasts for 4-5 hours on me, though I tend to want to reapply just as it starts to fade. I would love a hair gloss in this scent. It might even be worthy of a backup bottle. 9/10

I am fully obsessed with this scent. It's all sweet loveliness and relaxation. The rice powder and cherrywood come through strongly. There's an almost mouthwatering quality to this scent, probably from the rose wine and tea. But this reminds me mostly of luxurious, perfumed powders. The florals in this are perfectly balanced, and I think the scarlet musk must be what keeps it all from becoming cloying. I want to bathe in this smell, to splash about in it, to coquettishly prance around with a sparkly dust cloud of it hovering about my person at all times. It smells expensive and imported, but wholly approachable. I've been spraying it everywhere and I don't plan on stopping. 9.5/10

This one is a wild ride. In the bottle: it's strongly reminiscent of something I can't quite place. To me, it reads medicinal, but a friend thought cleaning agent. Chemical and sharp in an herby sort of way is the best description I can manage. Wet: fascinatingly complex. One of those oils you have to keep bringing to your nose in an attempt to work out just what it is you're smelling. Edit: I finally worked out that it's the leather plus lemon peel that's doing this. It's the same leather used in The Black Rider - sharp, bold, black leather. There's something almost acrid about it. It's a sucker-punch to the nose but I'm not sure I dislike it. Dry down: beginning to soften as the leather warms and the florals finally make an appearance, mingling their sweetness with the hay. The scent is much more rounded out now, warm and bright, with a bit of a fresh edge. Like hay and lemon peels are just stuffed into the pockets. After drying: the chemical smell is totally gone, and all that's left is loveliness. Up front I get sweet hay and magnolia, then pepper and lemon. The leather and saffron bind this all together, adding a depth that makes me want to keep bringing my wrist to my nose. The tobacco flower trails sweetly behind. Over time this gets softer and warmer, becoming the gentlest kiss of hay, flowers, and leather. Final thoughts: Sophisticated, lovely, and unexpected. This is among the most unique perfumes I've worn. From the notes, I didn't expect so much complexity or shift over time. The scent in the bottle doesn't seem even like a distant cousin of the perfume when applied on my skin. To me, this one is pretty genderblind. Overall, this was nothing like what I expected and was totally confounding on my first application. Since then, I just keep reaching for it. I'm totally fascinated by the scent and tend to slather it on. Maybe I'm masochistically obsessed with the shift from acrid chemical tincture to hay field heaven wrapped in a comfortable leather jacket. A real winner for me. 8/10