sarada

Clio was one I had high hopes for with the patchouli, parchment and heavy woods -- these are all good things in my book. And Clio is a muse that I can kind of groove with, being a bookish type person.

 

I like this, but it's a lot lighter than I expected. Initially this reminds me very strongly of The Rat King! I haven't figured out how to descibe him yet in a review yet so I'll have to figure out a way to say it here...Clio is dominated at first by that thin orangey note, but beneath it the soft, pale woods and a very dry, dusty smell slowly grow in strength.

 

I didn't realize that a perfume could so accurately portray the idea of parchment or dusty paper, but here you have it. I guess it's a thin, pale, powdery wood, though lavender can certainly add an impression of a faint layer of dust, in a very small dose.

 

This is a little bit too light for me...I like to be able to smell things around me without having to sniff my wrist constantly. I think The Rat King is similar enough, without the strong orangey note in the beginning, that I will keep that as my soft wood and parchment blend but both of them are a very unique scent for the lab and unlike anything else that I've smelled before.

Let's see, I have Polyhmnia on my right wrist, and Clio on my left...

 

The lemon balm in Polyhymnia is rather overwhelming and unavoidable, to the exclusion of almost every other note. There's a Burt's Bees lemon balm creme, I forget what it's for but I used to open it up just to sniff it. A strong, medicinal, sinus-clearing scent.

 

Unfortunately it's not something I'd want to wear as a fragrance, though I love to sniff it to clear my head as a sort of aromatherapy. I don't get any red sandalwood, even when it dries down, except that I can still smell something mellow and pleasant once the lemon fades, which wouldn't be the case it it was straight lemon. I love rosemary, and that adds a slightly herbal touch but I don't really get anything else out of this blend.

 

It dries down to a faint memory of the lemon balm -- I'd swear I had actually applied this as a paste, it's so strong, but I never really get the woods or other notes. They must be there, warming the lemon and keeping it from being too faint and fleeting, but I'm afraid this is going to bring about the usual lemony complaints.

 

Polyhymnia is one of the muses that I most identify with so of course I will probably keep this and keep her in mind. Oh and it also reminds me of the blend Shadow, but without the strong woody/cedar stage that that dries into...a very pale wood maybe, that has recently been polished with lemon oil.

This is going to be an easy review -- it smells just like everyone said it would!

 

I mourned the loss of Skadi this year, but between this blend and Talvikuu I think I will have enough slushy/snowy cold scents with a hint of evergreen in them, to keep me going.

 

But this is different enough to warrant its own place in my collection. It's more of a sun-on-snow scent than a in-the-shade-of-snowy-trees scent. I was going to say "yellow snow" but that has an entirely different connotation, I'm afraid.

 

I'd agree with the slightly grapefruity scent to this, and it's rather less piney than Skadi (which was just barely piney to begin with, to my nose). More sweet than the other forest snow scents, but just as slushy, cold and lovely. These kinds of blends never last as long as I'd like or have a ton of throw on me (only musk, amber and patchouli really latch onto my skin longterm) but I love splashing them on over and over again.

 

Oh how I love the Yule blends!

Red Phoenix is just glorious.

 

First of all, almost every note in this is one of my favorites: red musk, patchouli, plum and tobacco would all be ingredients in my ultimate dream blend. The only iffy one is cassia, but since Blood Moon worked well on me despite my not normally liking cinnamony scents, this seemed worth the risk.

 

And while the cassia is strong initially, definitely warranting a Blood Moon comparison, it goes much more in the direction of Blood Countess for me, which is one of my all-time favorites. It's like...a slightly spicy Blood Countess, since the plum becomes very very deep, dark juicy purple on me, grounded by patchouli/tobacco and set into a sultry bed of red musk.

 

Red musk has the unique property of just making any blend that it's in, automatically good on me. It's a burning, smouldering passionate fire just beneath the surface. It's like the coal upon which all of the other ingredients burn.

 

This is one of those things that I could just never get sick of smelling, once it dries down and the cassia is just a faint spice around the edges. A slightly tart, voluptuous dark plum dribbling with crimson juice, and a sweet, earthy bed of musky incense. I know that this would be too much for a lot of people but it's just right for me. I will probably try to stick to having just one bottle, but this goes in the Top Ten limited editions for me, for sure...probably Top Five.

Spirits of the Dead has my favorite bottle label of the series, first of all! And based on the tea and woods notes I thought this would probably be a favorite. And I do like it -- though not for the reasons I thought I would!

 

The lemony/citrus scent is the strongest in the bottle of course. I love The Unicorn so I know that linden must agree with me, but this smells far more citrusy to me than the Unicorn.

 

Really, what it does is remind me (of course) is Embalming Fluid (as has been said before), but with a pale green impression rather than a pale yellow one. This is probably useless information to anyone but me, but if linden is a lime-like scent then it does make sense. It's a slightly sweet, even slightly smooth lemony tea but with a hint of lime. I really don't get the parchment or wood notes at all. On the drydown I don't either, but since there is still a dry, faint whiff of the lemony-lime after it dries, that suggests that there's a woody base....since woods stick to my skin.

 

This is really not something that I would normally wear as a scent. As much as I love tea, tea scents like Dormouse and Shanghai have always been great in the bottle but vanish too quickly on my skin. But I'd really love to try some of this in an unscented shampoo or shower gel, I can see it being really stimulating, eye-opening and good for clearing the mind.

 

Please make me keep this, because I really want to have at least one citrusy tea fragrance (in addition to my beloved Cheshire Cat and Kumiho that is) in my collection, for aromatherapy even if I can't wear it as a perfume without having to refresh it every 10 minutes.

WOW!! I can't wait to try the imps I ordered of the Come and Sees in a couple of days, because I have to have those bottles! Or maybe I hope I don't like them, because that would mean another $50 I'd have to spend.

 

Thanks for the photos!!

2005

 

Previously reviewed the 2004, but I'm writing a new review for this year's. I'm so happy to finally have a bottle!! I never even used the imp I had last year more than a couple times because I didn't want to run out.

 

Having tried a lot more evergreen scents from the lab in the past year, there's really nothing else quite like Mistletoe. It's the most pure, clear, perfect, crisp snow evergreen. It's not like an antiseptic pine cleaner, it's just the most natural green thing you'll ever smell.

 

It's the exact smell of fresh evergreens that you have cut out in the snow and are forming into a wreath. This is a must-have if you like evergreen scents. I don't know if it's technically pine, or fir, or something else, but it's without compare. Now that I have a full bottle I can slather a bit and it does have a lot more throw and staying power than I had originally thought.

 

This was the perfect scent to wear on Christmas!

This is the scent I was most looking forward to trying from my Christmas wishlist scents!

 

I really like mint, but as a perfume it tends to "go all toothpaste" on me. This reminds me initially of the mintiest parts of Ice Queen (which at first I thought didn't smell minty at all but now it does.....aging, or just a changing perception?)

 

I was concerned this would be too much like Tulzscha, which was a bit more aquatic and spectral, but no, this is quite different while still being a mostly-mint scent.

 

It really ... radiates, for lack of a better word. The spearmint becomes stronger but remains cold and strong. This is a fantastically long-lasting, strong mint. And what on earth is it that gives scents like this that positively glacier-like edge? A frosted pane of glass, or a sheet of ice with greenery trapped beneath the surface. Cold, cold, cold.

 

Icy desolation, or maybe toothpaste -- but I like it either way!

This was the one scent in this collection that seemed to sound like the no-brainer, hands-down favorite for me based on the notes. Except for my dubious feelings about lemon peel and a couple of iffy experiences with saffron it definitely sounds like me.

 

I like it in the bottle -- I get a slightly herbal, light vetiver. I remember that lemon peel and saffron sometimes make otherwise good note combinations turn into cologne/aftershave when they hit my nose... But it's complex and appealing in the bottle...an enticing herb shop.

 

On my skin it takes on a bit of a harsh, chemical smell though and dries to something rather grey and murky pretty quickly. It makes me think of the chemical smell that I get from Darkness and Hades, which makes absolutely no sense, but there you go. It puts me in the mind of hairspray even though it doesn't smell exactly like it.

 

I think that lemon peel must be one of those things that screws up a blend for me. I think I'm going to try it for a couple more days before making a decision about it -- this is the only one of the scents I've sniffed today that didn't win me over right away. Four of my top 10 or 12 all-time favorite notes are in this blend, but still, somehow it just doesn't come together on my skin.

 

After washing it off I get some of the gritty, ashy vetiver that I was hoping for but this still strikes me as kind of harsh and a little chemical. I'd like to like this but I have a feeling I'll be swapping it.

2005

 

Reviewed the 2004 before -- this is pretty much identical!

 

I'm just posting a new review because they're from different years and I again have to say that it's pretty much a succulent crisp green stem/lily pollen scent to me. I can catch a glimpse of what I take to be the plasticky note at first, but fortunately it doesn't develop like that on me, or maybe I've just decided to ignore that and concentrate on the part that I like!

 

I also wanted to mention that there is still nothing particularly creamy or coconutty about Snow White to me, personally. I feel very sick whenever I smell coconut, but I don't get that feeling from Snow White though there's certainly a...white sweetness about this. That doesn't mean I'm not insane, that's just the way my nose happens to interpret this scent. It's a succulent, crisp, refreshing white lily/green ivy, without smelling like a typical "floral." Really unique.

 

Anyway, if you're like me and avoided this scent like the plague because of the coconut/vanilla/creamy comparisons, then try it thinking about crushed lily stems and a light dusting of pollen and it might influence your experience! I agree with the reviews that mention ivy as well. Very very fresh, crisp, sweet white with a touch of greenery and a whisper of palest yellow. As it dries I do get some of the gentle, warm sweetness of what might be vanilla but this would definitely be in the column of vanilla that I can stand (we're up to...five possible vanillas that I can stand now!)

My high-tech decanting equipment for that experiment was.....a 4-inch segment of regular drinking straw.

I did an experiment and found that about 12 drops of oil will fill an imp to about the label, and most blends only require about one generous drop to give me a nice application. With lighter ones I apply like crazy though. I rarely even get halfway through an imp before I panic and buy a bottle, so I don't really know how long they would last me if I kept going.

 

That may be an experiment I need to force myself to do in the new year.

The Rat King is adorable!!! I hope I get him for Christmas!

I tried the Stations of the Sun a year ago, before I had developed a good BPAL sense and now I'm out to try them again. I remembered them as being somewhat golden and resinous, but in a dark, medicinal way.

 

That is still my impression of Ahathoor though I can say a little bit more about it now that I'm more familiar with the lab's various notes.

 

Resins, a hint of pepper, and a hot herbal undercurrent -- something vaguely menthol lurks in the background. This reminds me of one of the other ritual-type blends, either a Sephiroth or...actually it reminds me of Sol. It's not spicy, per se, but it has the pulsating inner heat of Sol. I've seen other people mention carnation...that would make sense, since that has a sort of spicy/heat quality without smell like a traditional spice.

 

This definitely has the feel of a ritual blend. I'm almost certain there's frankincense in there. Maybe there's pepper or carnation. Some sort of menthol scent in the distance. But after wearing it for awhile, the frankincense dominates and it's an absolutely marvellous resiny incense on me.

 

Okay, so now I have to try the other Stations again and figure out what I need more of! I've been missing out on a great resiny scent!

Rose is one of the only floral scents that I like, but even then I can't wear it in many blends. The lab's roses are particularly beautiful but almost always have me reaching for a bottle of Advil before long, as they go straight into my sinuses.

 

Moon Rose sounded like it could be the kind of mellow, ethereal rose that I could wear, and it does initially smell much more like a pure, crystalline white rose...it reminds me of the roses in Zombi actually, which were also culprits in the headache of doom.

 

As this wears on me it begins to take on more of a perfumer's rose characteristic...I feel like I recognize it from various floral blends that I had to pass on.

 

But since this is almost like a single luminous white rose, rather than a bouquet of random flowers, it almost works for me. I might keep it in my "sniff when I want to smell roses" pile even though my skin turns it to a rather generic floral perfume.

I first tried Thanatopsis about a year ago during my search for all things piney. I tried it and passed on it because it was too musky, but I recently tried it again, now with a full year of constant sniffing under my belt!

 

The musk is the only variable in this blend that I sometimes have trouble with. When I first sniffed it, the musk was kind of overwhelming and a little too sharp. A little too...civety? Ahh, but that pine and juniper underneath is gorgeous, it's like Black Forest but much deeper and without that golden shimmer of amber.

 

When I actually put it on, my first experience was that the musk was coming across a little like mothballs and I didn't think we were going to get along. But two weeks later, I tried it again and WOW, it worked marvellously. I rarely have chemistry changes through the month, so maybe this is just a very temperamental musk?

 

At any rate, I was wearing this yesterday and the musk just absolutely LOVED me. It came alive, and swept the pine and juniper around me in a dark green cloud. It feels....wolf-like, dark green and feral. The bright green pine stull comes through though, just as clear and brilliant as it does in Black Forest. The musk also helped it to last all day. Musk is becoming my friend.

 

I suggest skin-testing this rather than just sniffing before forming an opinion, as this is one changeable musk (to me, at least). Unfortunately I was in a fairly crappy mood yesterday and bad luck seemed to be following me around. I hope that I have a better day the next time I wear it, as I think I need a bottle! Black Forest for the day, and Thanatopsis for the night!

Swapped for this one -- I've been reading about it for ages!

 

I know right away that I'm going to like it -- I like fresh, green, grassy scents even though there's little point in my wearing them since my skin eats them. Still, I like to try them out.

 

There's a sharp bust of citrus peel in the beginning. I'm tending toward thinking it could be something like yuzu or grapefruit as it reminds me a little of Aizen-Myoo in the imp, combined with...juniper? I'm going to resist the temptation to call it pine, as I've smelled the lab's juniper berry single note and that is more what this reminds me of....but there could be some other evergreen note in there as well.

 

And then there's a delightful green grassy warm note, like the grasses in Coyote. Gorgeous stuff. I would buy a bottle if it was available because I think this would be an almost perfect spring scent. Stuff like this vanishes on me very quickly but I'd like to sniff it and maybe mix some into an unscented shampoo or bath splash.

 

If you amp up citrus or don't like citrus scents the early stages might be a bit much for you...but it's a great fresh/green/herbal scent and it combines my favorite aspects of a lot of other scents, very nicely!

This is my first DiMV scent to try, though hopefully I will be getting some more very soon -- I had no idea what to expect based on the notes for this. Fruit and rose scents mainly only work on me if they are combined with amber, so this does sound promising. Red musk is one of my top five notes of all BPAL. Heliotrope is one of the only florals that I like consistently. And gardenia is one of those things that usually ruins a blend but sometimes, for no reason, it absolutely works!

As it turns out, everything is working together in this blend, just as I had hoped! It's like a cross between Florence and Queen of Spades. It has the fruity amber of Florence, but a much deeper, stronger incensey kick to it like Queen of Spades does. Oh, or it's like Kunstkammer the way I had hoped it would turn out on me...thick, deep, dark fruit (the orange is strong at first but fades quickly and feels almost berry-like) and resiny amber.

Every note in this seems to be coupled with another scent that is its perfect match. Golden, orange light trickling in and falling on dusty antique surfaces. A strange scent for a Haunted Palace, but it smells regal, antiquated and lush, like tattered red velvet curtains and tarnished gold candelabras.

I love scents that take notes that I normally don't like (gardenia, vanilla) but somehow combine them in a way that makes a completely unique new scent that works on every level. I really hope I get a bottle of this for Christmas! If I don't, I'll order one!

If I had Peace I would wear that too.

 

Strawberry Moon does make sense, for Strawberry Fields. I don't have that either! Pink Moon maybe, though that's more of a Nick Drake scent...

 

I never make it through this day without crying, ever. It always gets me on the drive home when I flip around and they're playing him on the radio. And the anniversary of George's death a week ago. I'm a wreck for this whole week.

I swapped for a 10 ml of this, unsniffed -- I am not typically into scents like this but I've had a couple of strangely wonderful experiences with musk/vanilla combinations (Dorian and Black Opal spring to mind) and I figure I might have a little niche of interest here.

 

It's not like either of them to me, but it has a similar soft white glow about it and manages to be sweet without being cloying or dessert-like. It doesn't sparkle with Black Opal's coldness, and it doesn't draw me in hypnotically like Dorian but it manages to be refreshing, cold, warm, and comforting at the same time.

 

Antique Lace is also a little more perfumey than I typically wear, but wait, the pale musk is warming the cold white vanilla...there's something else here, something that comes across at first as something like hairspray. I wonder if there is narcissus in it. I have a terrible relationship with that note, as it only smells like hairspray to me. If this has that dreaded flower in it though it vanquishes its chemical spray fairly quickly...and I think ultimately it just helps give it more throw and life.

 

I don't think I would have noticed this scent or wanted to try it if there hadn't been such a fuss over it when it was discontinued, but I think I will keep it around because it seems like something I could wear all year, day or night, for anything from a wedding to a funeral, to work or to a show, just a good all-around scent that will be there, quietly comforting you.

 

I will probably be sharing some of this and keeping most of it -- between this and the other vanilla/musks that have won me over, I think I'm covered!

I keep getting frimps of Tamora -- I will definitely try to keep one for next spring/summer. It smells almost exactly like Fae, to me -- I used to have a bottle of that, but I never wore it.

 

Basically, it smells like peach. The lab's peach, which is very nice, and like Fae this is held in place by amber, which is a perfect match with peach. It makes the soft, golden fruity scent long-lasting, and gives it some extra throw and sweetness. Really nice stuff. Completely inappropriate for this time of year but this was the only imp I had with me at work when my Talvikuu started to wear off...and I must smell something!!

 

I like every ingredient in this blend to some degree, and even vanilla (an 'iffy' ingredient for me) lends its sweetness without being overpowering. I love heliotrope, for the special bright fruity sweetness that it brings to a blend...it's one of the only florals that I like consistently.

 

If you liked Fae, you should like this, but they're so similar I think most people could take "either-or". Fae did seem a wee bit licoricey to me, and Tamora is a lot sweeter, so there's the difference. I think this would be perfect for spring or early summer when you need a fruity, sunshiney blend.

 

I would really love a shampoo or lotion out of this too, since I rarely wear scents like this on their own but it would be very refreshing in the bath. As far as peaches go I'd tend more towards using Imp, which is a darker, earthier version, with patchouli.

I waited a really long time to order Devil's Night because there was nothing else that I wanted from the Samhain scents (except to restock my supply of Samhain itself) and I was a little nervous about the booze and sugar.

 

However, the promise of autumn nights with fires in the distance was enough to make me not want to pass this up.

 

In the bottle, I already know that things are going to go just delightfully with Devil's Night. It smells very much like Samhain, but instead of a fruity apple smell underneath the top layer of swirling sweet smoke there's a bit of a gingery spice scent not unlike Shub-Niggurath. I passed on Shub because it smelled too much like cookies (I'm not a fan of smelling like cookies) but this has just a touch of that, so it's not too strong.

 

Since my particular super power seems to be to make any kind of smoke or wood scent really strong and long-lasting, this and Samhain both do very nice things for me. I get a strong, sweet wood smoke out of both of them...this doesn't have the piney/fir edge that I love in Samhain, but it also doesn't have the too-fruity undertone that overpowers me.

 

With Samhain I only need one drop to last an entire day. But with Devil's Night I put a ton on behind my ears, in my hair and a dab on my wrists and it simmered down quickly. I can smell it in my hair but it's not too strong.

 

Sorry to keep making comparisons, but that's what I do -- with Samhain I only wear it in October or on days when the weather reminds me of a crisp early autumn day. But Devil's Night feels like I could wear it throughout the winter without smelling too autumnal.

 

"Booze" and sugar are almost guaranteed to make me sick -- with the rare exceptions where they are absolutely incredible for no discernable reason. This is one of the ones that works.

What can I say? Let's just rename this: Sarada's Dream Blend. Though I suspect Penance will like it too! I can't even figure out how to be eloquent about this, it's just the epitome of the resinous church incense scent.

 

Other than frankincense and myrrh I don't know what is in this, but it's got the glorious radiant beauty of Cathedral and Penitence, and then some. There's something that kicks it up just a little bit stronger, a little more powerful, a little sweeter. But not as sweet as Al Azif, not by a longshot.

 

This could be an every day scent for me but I'm trying to limit myself to one bottle since I have sooo many resin scents, and I like to try to rotate them now and then. But I might have to get a second, just because this is the PERFECT church incense/resin smell.

 

Not too smoky, not too sweet, and I have a feeling like with all of the Yule scents, when you step outside into the chill winter night with this on, your skin will warm this wonderful fragrance and the wind will lift it up in a cloud around you.

 

I don't even go to church but if it smells this good I might have to become a nun.

I'm trying to pace myself with these reviews but I just can't help myself...I need to share!

 

Herr Drosselmeyer reminds me a bit of Hellfire, which isn't too surprising considering the notes -- pipe tobacco and leather in both of them, though the Herr has added notes of woods and linen. In the bottle this is overwhelmingly sweet tobacco. It's the "dad's pipe" smell that I sometimes love, sometimes makes me queasy. It made me queasy in Hellfire after awhile. And it makes me queasy when people are actually smoking it.

 

But this manages to just be a tiny shade on the side of what I can wear and enjoy, as long as I use a small quantity. There is a certain nutty sweetness that also recalls some of dad's old tobacco mixes. It might actually be the "sweet leather" that is making this so very sweet, but it comes across as much more of a sugary smell. I don't smell the woods or linen, even on drydown, but I imagine that the presence of woods is what helps to turn this into something that reacts well on me over time, mellowing it and keeping the sweetness at bay.

 

I asked my mom to sniff it when I had it in my hair and she thought it smelled a bit like coffee. That's not how it came across to me (coffee makes me sick) but I can see, if it was a very dark, rich, sweet blend, that would be possible.

 

All in all, this is like a version of Hellfire that I can wear, though I'm very nervous to try more than a drop at a time given how pipe tobacco can give me a headache and make me feel a little nauseous when it's too intense. Just a little bit is just perfect though. And oh so masculine and mage-like.

 

ETA: Turned out to ultimately give me a headache after all. I really loved having it in my wooden perfume box because it added a wonderful note to the overall scent that wafted when I opened the box up, but if I wear it....it's just too much of a sweet cherry tobacco smell after all. The unopened bottle, or a drop from across the room, are the most I can take.

I've been wanting to review this all day but I had to wait until I could test it at a time when it was the only scent on my skin, since it is rather complex and delicate.

 

Talvikuu balances almost perfectly inbetween Skadi (or its cousin Dublin) and Ice Queen, if you are familiar with those scents from last year. In the bottle it reminds me a little more of Ice Queen, and on my skin it becomes much more like Skadi.

 

It has the crisp fir/birch and crush of slushy green notes that I think I recognize from Skadi and Dublin -- paired with the sheet of pale, musky ice of Ice Queen. I think there is a faint breah of mint, but it fades in and out of focus. It's rather like looking at a reflection in a frozen pond...beautiful, scintillating but always shifting.

 

As it dries it becomes more like Skadi, poised rather delicately on the icy border between those scents before it starts to shift more toward a snowy pine. I think it really has aspects of my favorite parts of both of those scents, very sparkling, cool and refreshing.

 

If you haven't tried the scents I've referenced, think: a frozen, slushy snow on birch and evergreen with a faint breath of mint and the clean, smooth surface of a frozen pond. This would be a great scent to wear to see the Chronicles of Narnia...it makes me think of the White Witch, regal and distant riding in white furs through a snowy wooded landscape.