Australian Copperhead: Snake Oil with acai berry, amber, cardamom, neroli, and smoked vanilla.
In the imp: A deliciously sweeter snake oil.
On me: The Snake Oil is very faint underneath the acai berry, neroli, and smoked vanilla. I didn't get much amber or cardamom out of this, mainly a lot of acai and neroli sweetness. But if I sniff deeply enough, I get the precious snake oil too. Sniffs at different distances also smelled different, so this one is very complex. And it has become my favorote snake. I definitely need a bottle.
Boomslang: Snake Oil with cocoa, teakwood, and rice milk.
In the imp: Strong snake oil presence and some cocoa. Teakwood and rice milk? They are hiding.
On me: HEAVEN! Slather PLEASE! Delicious snake oil with a lot of cocoa yumminess. I think I may sniff a teeny bit of teakwood, but I still don't know where the rice milk is.
This smells sooooo good! It's got more throw than Snake Oil, or any of the other snakes I've tried so far.
Boomslang is a dark oil, and when it was wet I could see it on my skin. I'm sure if I hadn't rubbed it in it would have stained my skin, so must be careful with that.
This is most definitely a bottle need.
Western Diamondback: Oil with leather, tonka bean, red sandalwood, and sage.
In the imp: Snake oil with sweetened leather, a bit of sandalwood and sage peeking out.
On me: I was afraid of the leather, as it usually goes wrong on me, but this one went right. I smelled the snake oil underneath, but got a nice blend of leather and sage in there too. No sign of the sandalwood, and maybe a peek at the tonka. This is a great blend.
This will be turning into a bottle!
Faith: Sugared Violets
In the imp: A very sweet sharp violet softened by delicious sugar
On me: True to the imp, smells much like it did in the imp. Soft and sweet, yet still sharp and deliciously violet. I definitely need to get Hope & Faith bottles!
Valentine of Rome: Ecclesiastical incense, Roman flora, and the fruits of martyrdom: cypress, olive blossom, frankincense, myrrh, and blood accord.
In the bottle: I got incense, but with something harsh in there. Maybe it was vetiver, even though it's not listed? Vetiver and I have a love/hate relationship, but it usually ends up being hate.
On me: The vetiver-ish note toned down some, but there was something ash-like that I really wasn't enjoying. There was incese too, but not enough to overpower the vetiver/ash thing going on.
Dionysia:Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany
In the imp: Plum and pomegranate yumminess.
On me: Heaven!!!! It's a beautiful plum scent, and the frankincense comes forth to make her a sweet plum incense blend. Wow. This is SO very me. It is beautiful, sweet, incensey, a tad bit earthy, and absolutely amazing.
I NEED a bottle.
King Cobra: Snake Oil with orris, frankincense, and copal.
In the imp: A very resiney Snake Oil
On me: Snake Oil with incese!!! A dryer incense, not like Temple Viper at all but still very good. After several hours it smells mostly just like snake oil, but that's what reapplying is for.
Verdict: Yum! I wouldn't mind swapping for a bottle of this too.
Philosopher in Meditation: Smoldering woodfire embers, Galen’s Kyphi, and Abramelin incense.
In the imp: Hot - fire hot and incense smoking. I'm not familiar with Galen's Kyphi so I'm not sure what I'm smelling.
On me: Incense!!! Deep, dark, delicous incense!! It is sweetened up by something that I can't quite figure out, and smells so very lovely.
If I smell like incense, I am happy, and this is no exception. It's a unique incense, different from the other incenses that I've tried.
Methinks a bottle is needed.
Bigger Critter: A deceptively sweet scent; just like the Critters themselves, the perfume is fluffy, poofy, soft, snuggly, and googly! Five vanillas with Moroccan jasmine, white gardenia, and pink grapefruit. The bottles that accompany the Critters have a grr-specially kyoot label, designed by Jennifer Williamson.
In the bottle: I want to eat this!!! It's vanilla grapefruity yuminess.
On me: It smells like VOMIT. I tried the teeniest swatch on me, and smelling it was making me nauseous. And no matter how hard I scrubbed I couldn't get the scent off. Very very gross.
Bilquis: Honey, myrrh, lily of the valley, rose otto, fig leaf, almond, ambrette, red apple, and warm musk.
In the imp: Sweet delicious honey and almond. Heaven!!!
On me: The almondy sweetness vanishes, and the rose otto comes to the forefront. At first it was a very perfumey blend, but now it is almost entirely rose. This would be wonderful for a rose fan, as it is a very complex and slightly sweet rose blend.... but I am not a fan so I'll have to pass on this one.
Temple Viper: Snake Oil with sugar cane, frankincense, champaca, opoponax, labdanum, and hyssop.
In the imp: Definitely getting a lot of Snake Oil from it, but it's sweeter and darker. I can't identify individual notes, but I can smell the sugar cake, frankincense, and champaca adding to the blend.
On me: This has to be the sexiest perfume I have ever worn!!! Sex in a bottle. It's Snake Oil, but different. Deeper, darker, definitely getting the sugarcane. The frankincense gives it a touch of incense without making it incensey. The champaca adds more spice to it. The opoponax makes this more vanilla-ey. So this is snake oil, only better and waaaaay sexier!
I think I need 2 bottles of this one!!!!
Two Monsters: Oakmoss, vetiver, black musk, champaca flower, leather, patchouli, ginger, Japanese pittosporum, ambergris and white pepper.
In the Imp: Upon first sniff I didn't think it would work. I got a lot of leather, which has a 50/50 chance of going wrong on my skin, and vetiver, whichusually goes wrong on me if it's GC but not with CD blends.
Wet: The wrong kind of leather and some rotted spinach smelling vetiver underneath. I didn't even wait for the drydown and tossed it into the swaps pile.
And then, 10 minutes later, this scent morphed into one of the most amazing scents I have ever tried. Talk about a morpher!!! It reminds me of Temple Viper, another favorite.
The leather blends beautifully with the resins and champaca to create an slightly leathery sweet incense scent that is absolutely amazing!! Must hoard. It has a very good throw and I get the feeling has a pretty long staying power too. Oh yes, I need a bottle.
Coral Snake: Snake Oil with blood orange, red apple, lemon peel, plumeria, and gardenia.
In the imp: Is there really snake oil in this? And where's the plumeria and gardenia? This smells very apple-y to me. Reminds me a bit of Bath and Body Works apple body splash.
On me: Wet was ALL apples. As it dried, the florals peeked out and it was a delicious blend of snake oil with fruits and florals. And then it dried down and the florals went away, leaving apple. After a bit, the plumeria decided to come out to keep the apple company. The snake oil is hanging out faintly underneath the apple and plumeria. This is definitely a complex scent.
Verdict: It smells good, I alternate between smelling BBW Plumeria and Apple body splashes, and sometimes get straight up snake oil. It smells good, but it's not really my kind of scent.
Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht: Amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak.
In the imp: Amber and caramel. I am such an amber whore.
On me: The amber and caramel blend beautifully with the honey, and I get a hint of cream. The teak adds a bit of kick to the blend.......no hint of apple anywhere (thankfully, as it's not a favorite).
This is definitely a "Mia" scent. Need!
Fae: A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss.
In the imp: sweet and peachy.
On me: The white musk and peach have blended beautifully on my skin!! In the background I smell a floral green, which I think is the heliotrope and oakmoss. It smells very meadowy and I can almost see the fairies.
On me, it reminds me of Ebisu Making Love as Two Octopuses Look on. This is a great thing because I opted not to buy it, and instead got Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. Now that there's a GC scent that smells like it, I'm going to be all over it!! And it's $15 vs $27.50 - pretty big difference.
Dragon Moon '08: Our Dragon Moon represents the forces of rebirth and the vigor that springtime brings: dragon's blood resin, galbanum, blue sage, lavender, peppermint, sweetgrass, frankincense, moonglow magnolia, bergamot, and green cedar.
In the bottle: A delicious herbal blend of mainly sage, sweetgrass, bergamont, and a bit of cedar. Where is the dragon's blood?
On me: This is deliciously sweet herbal. I'm getting a lot of sage, frankincense, and cedar. The other notes are there, but blended so well that I can't pick them out. I like this very much, and it is very different from all the other BPAL I have.
Blood Amber: Slivers of warm, pulsating blood forever crystallized in golden amber resin.
In the bottle: a very sweet amber. As an amber fan I'm in heaven.
On me: A very toned down version of what's in the imp. It doesn't smell much like amber, and really smells like a commercial perfume. It also doesn't have much throw. Nothing spectacular.
Sunrise With Sea-Monsters: Ocean mist, kelp, ambergris, amber, white pear, osmanthus, freesia, and seafoam accord.
In the imp: Lots of delicious ocean mist, a bit of kelp, and the seafoam. Not detecting any freesia, pear, or amber in this.
On me: I definitely feel the humor in this, I can visualize funny looking sea-monsters splashing around. This is wonderfully blended, as I can't pick out any notes in particular. It definitely reminds me of the ocean.
Antonino, The Carny Talker: White musk, wild plum, vetiver, black coconut, verbena, fig, and lavender.
In the imp: I was expecting this to be dark, and was scared of the vetiver (usually my nemesis). Instead, I got this beautiful feminine scent of plum, verbena, and fig. Couldn't find the coconut, and thankfully not the vetiver.
On me: A beautiful blend of precious. The vetiver hid, and I'm ever sooooo thankful!! The musk helped the plum and fig bloom without being fruity. The verbena gave it a teeny bit of citrus so change things up, and the lavender really rounded this scent out beautifully. The coconut helped make this scent sweet, but I can't detect any coconut on me.
I think Antonino was really "Antonina" because this is a very feminine scent. I'm in love, and must get a bottle of this before CD comes down.
Mr. Nancy: Sugar cookies with bay rum, tobacco, and lime.
In the imp: Sweet cookie yumminess!!!
On me: Where did the cookie go? I smell like bread dough with a whole ton of cinnamon in it. No cinnamon in the notes, could it be the bay rum? Only bay rum usually doesn't smell like cinnamon to me though. Very strange. This will be a pass.
Bordello: A decadent, deep perfume, lusty and luxuriant. The scent evokes images of velvet-lined Old West cathouses, tightly laced corsets, rustling petticoats and coquettish snarls of pleasure. Bawdy plum with amaretto, burgundy wine and black currant.
In the bottle: A delicious fruity blend of plums and currants, plum dominating. I didn't get much amaretto except for a bit of sweet almond. And no wine either, but that's ok.
On me: The plum deepened and the currant came out more. I got more amaretto, not too much, and a hint of the burgundy. It smelled very sensual on me, and it is definitely a "Mia" scent.
Yvaine: The high, crystalline scent of a star-filled night with blue lavender and lush magnolia.
In the imp: Not sure about this, it doesn't smell very appealing and I get some sort of citrus?
On me: This totally blossoms, and the weirdness goes away. The lavender is sweetened up by something in there, and the magnolia peeks out but doesn't make the blend overly flora. It really does embody Yvaine, to my Stardust-loving-self.
This is very yummy and a bottle is needed.
Lucretia: Iris, black amber, sage, Kashmir wood, vanilla musk, mandarin and violet.
In the bottle: Yuck - pure iris! I almost didn't even test it, but thankfully I did.
On me: A sharp violet! The iris hides, thankfully. The violet blooms and definitely takes the forefront, its beauty is accentuated by the amber, sage, and vanilla musk. They blend beautifully to de-floralize the violet while still keeping a strong violet presence (confusing, but I don't know how else to describe it).
This is a gorgeous scent.
Chokmah: The Primordial Point of Creation, Mazloth, Being Out of Nothingness, the Origin of Thought and the source of the 32 Ways of Wisdom.
In the bottle: It smelled a bit medicinal, maybe like iodine?
On me: Firstly, it stained my skin just like iodine. And then it deifnitely smelled like iodine on me. After about an hour it softened up a bit to a kind of incensey iodine? Not good.
Lust! Oh yes. And I usually don’t like patchouli. Do I smell coconut in here? I believe I do.
Jailbait - I like it, but it smells like Materva (soda) with a little bubblegum! This might be a Cuban/South Florida thing.
Lilith - I can’t pick out anything but I LIKE!
Blood Countess - Fruity and Floral? But I likes!
Obatala - a coconut that works!!! Oh this is delicious!! It's everything I wanted the Tikis to be.
Dirty Viking (HAEE)- Mint or eucalyptus? This will be good for hangovers.
Voodoo Punani (HAEE) - holy crap! More, now, please.
Skuld - OMFG my nose had an orgasm! This is up there in all time favorites. I must have buckets of this, and I’m so happy this is GC!!!!!
Golden Priapus - Amber, juniper and vanilla all in one? And pine that doesn’t smell like cleaning fluid? yay! The pine reminds me of Christmas, this will be a great holidays scent.
13 - I want to eat myself!!
