suki

I seriously have NO idea how this scent escaped my attention for a solid six months! Luckily, the BPAL gods smiled upon me and I was still able to order a bottle, so here we go... In The Bottle: Orange blossom and vegetal musk are the strongest notes for sure. I *am* getting a tiny whiff of honey, but not the incense part. at least not yet. Wet On Skin: The honey is a big stronger now, and the musk has stepped back a bit, which I'm glad about- it's an odd smell, and while I don't dislike it, it WAS making me feel a little off-kilter about the scent. The amber and saffron are popping out a bit at this point, too. Dry Down: It's morphed a bit and now it's predominantly an orange blossom and honey incense- which is AMAZING. I am a bit sad that the Calabrian lemon didn't make so much as an appearance on my skin, especially after discovering Pere Nöel, but this is a really beautiful scent in its own right. I anticipate wearing this for warm evening strolls.

RUM-SOAKED FRENCH TONKA I love the hell out of tonka, but using the absolute in perfumery is not a particularly great idea: tonka beans possess a high concentration of coumarin, an anticoagulant that is toxic to both the liver and kidneys, and might be carcinogenic to boot. Not fun stuff! Our tonka accord is a sweet, warmly sensual fragrance redolent of a vaguely clove-touched deep, dark vanilla balsam that has been lightly sweetened with almond and rum. In The Bottle: Very, very light. A light, almost-vanilla resin. I'm surprised by how light this is in the bottle. I get no rum at this stage. Wet On Skin: This blooms nearly on contact into what I was hoping for: a beautiful, warm, inviting resin. Still no rum on me. Dry Down: This is just as gorgeous as I was praying for! Deep, resinous and sweet, without being at all foodie. In All: Medium throw, and, as is generally the Way of the Single Note, stays pretty true from start to finish. I amp Rum like crazy, but if any rum is showing up on me, it's only adding a backdrop to make this beautiful Tonka even more rounded and dead, dead sexy. Hoard! :wub:

In The Bottle: A bit of the red musk we Smut fans all know and adore, paired with the juicy red of poppy flowers. I think this might be love! Wet On Skin: I...I'm definitely feeling this. In addition to the above, there's now a sweet lilt of honey wafting through and an earthy edge of dragon's blood to ground it all and prevent it from becoming cloying. Dry Down: Take all the things I've already mentioned. Then let them bloom and warm and swirl around you like a thick red velvet cloak, enveloping you in earthy honey dust and musky, sexy power. In All: Thick oil- it goes farther than you think. The throw is heady, medium to high, so just a dab to start out before you know what it's capable of. This scent is sexy, womanly power. I suspect it will age magnificently. SO thankful for my W/C Faery for getting this for me!!!

In The Bottle: Thick, caramel-y tobacco. The tobacco note from such hits as Red Lantern, in fact. At this point, I get nothing else. Wet On Skin: Still, just mostly the caramel tobacco. Dry Down: Sadly, this is little more than tobacco single note on me. Opoponax makes the tiniest back-door entrance smelling like an afterthought of leather, but is gone again. Maybe it needs to age a bit? In All: High throw- go easy with application, folks! - and super rich and heady, to be sure. I'll test again in a few weeks to see if anything shifts, but if it stays just as tobacco, I'll likely swap, as I already have a store of the Tobacco SN to last me.

In The Bottle: Yep, that's champa incense, alright! Wet On Skin: Staying true at this point. Most single notes morph only slightly, if at all. I'm hoping this one stays as is, because it's totally on the mark right now. Dry Down: A close companion of nag champa incense. I suspect this will age beautifully and blend well with any incense-scent you might want to amp up a little bit. In All: Medium to High throw- go easy, a little goes a looooong way. Rich, heady champa incense. If you are a fan of incense or champa in particular, get a bottle- you won't be disappointed.

In The Bottle: "Boo!" 2009 vintage- is that you calling? Yes, that's what I thought of as soon as I opened the bottle- that's what gently smacked me in the face with its awesome marshmallowy goodness. Talk about an exciting opening! Wet On Skin: Wow. This. Is. So. Good. And yes, that Boo 2009 vibe is holding tight. Dry Down: This, I think, is the marshmallow single note of my dreams. Even Boo had it's fatal flaw, the linen note eventually replaced the marshmallow over the course of hours. But this? This holds true. It's strictly marshmallow- I don't get a Peep vibe per se, because that would mean an added layer of crunchy sugar. I amp sugar like crazy and that's not happening with this. In All: Straight up, no-holds-barred, marshmallow wonder.

I definitely tend to go lighter in the warm months, with Happy Baby In A Long Dress topping my list for sweltering east-coast heat. When the days are warm, but not scrape-me-off-the-pavement hot, I like sweet and fruity, like Strawberry Moon '09 / '12, Blackberry Jam and Scones or Coxcomb (which smells like blackberries on me); sweet and sexy like Ravenous or O; sweet and woodsy, like Tiki King! or Tombstone or an old-fashioned rich floral like Love Me. Summer also tends to be when I branch out from BPAL, actually, too, so the rest of the stuff I wear isn't from the Lab.

Time’s Infliction of Eternity: A sanguine blend of Dragon’s Blood sedum and black tea. I must confess that I have a predisposition to adoring this scent. BPAL's Dragon's Blood is my favorite of all Dragon's Bloods and how can I NOT like mixing that with Black Tea?! It's all speculation, but here's hoping... In The Bottle: That sweet, bloody, almost-lilac of pure Dragon's Blood and something sweet under it. I'd read somewhere that Red Musk was a note in this blend, though it's not listed in the official description. However, the sweetness matches the red musk note of Smut, so maaaay-beeeee Wet On Skin: The slightly lemon-y black tea note of Dorian is making itself known rather strongly! Dragon's Blood, at this point, is still on board, but has taken a surprising back seat to the tea note. Curiouser and curiouser, indeed! Dry Down: Balance achieved- the black tea has settled a bit leaving room for the DB to come back a bit more to the fore- not as strongly as it had been in the bottle, but certainly an equal presence to the tea, which is now more moderate. And yes, there is, almost as afterthought, a sexy edge of that red musk peeking through. Whether a hidden note or my imagination, who can say- but I sure do like it! In All: Many of my favorite Black Phoenix scents bare the mark of Beth's complex hand at work- oh, how that woman can take a million notes and create a fine thing from them!- but every now and then, there comes along a scent that is stripped down and yet still complex on it's own merit. Time's Infliction is certainly one of those scents. Medium throw (go easy with first application- save the slather for *after* sufficient testing!) it's accessible enough for occasional daytime usage and yet heady enough for an intimate evening out when flirtation is on the menu. And with the resin playing a prominent part, you can bet this is sure to become ever more compelling with age. Lovely love.

ALMA VENUS Mother Venus Amber-infused blood orange with Italian neroli, ambergris, orange flower absolute, French beeswax, tuberose, Himalayan cedar, and honey. In The Bottle: The blood orange, sweetly tart, comes out first, proving itself to be everything I hoped for. Hot on the tail of that comes equal measures of neroli and beeswax. *Fingers crossed* This might be perfection. Wet On Skin: The beeswax is coming to the fore and now the orange has mellowed considerably. I don't detect the neroli at this stage, but tuberose has entered the picture and it mixing well with the wax. Dry Down: The neroli has returned, and, with the beeswax, is the dominant note. The tuberose is following close behind and the blood orange is there but is now way in the background. In All: A lovely food-and-floral scent without actually being either. This scent reminds me of descriptions of old Italian perfumes, like from the Renaissance period. Low throw this scent stays close and soft to the skin, almost the way a musk would. It's like an update of a traditional floral water recipe. I'm rather picky about floral, but this one is gentle enough that I could see wearing this on a hot summer night and it being just lovely. ETA: I detect NO cedar, which is usually a death note for me. So if you're worried, don't be!

A disorienting eddy of French lavender, black tea, orange blossom, sharp green tea leaf, pink flowering thorn, and a blot of inky resins. Disclosure: Normally, I don't go for scents that have lavender in them, as I find the scent too medicinal for my tastes. But the other notes in this were all so compelling that I blind-bought a bottle. Let's see how that worked out, shall we? In The Bottle: Wow. This takes off, right out of the gate. The lavender is there, and yes, it's a strong French one to be sure. But the black tea, green tea and orange blossom are all in the mix, too, making it, at this stage, what I'd been optimistically anticipating: the smell of drinking tea in an English garden (emphasis on the 'tea' part!) Wet On Skin: I am generally not much for florals- they never seem heady enough for me, being a foodie-and-resins kinda girl. But this is just unfolding into something too beautiful to ignore. At this stage, it's *very* heavy on the tea notes with the lavender stepping a bit into the background and the orange blossom acting as a bit of a 'sweetener' for the tea- like orange blossom honey, without the honey Dry Down: Staying true to the end, drinking tea on a glorious spring day in a verdant garden. In All: Low to medium-low throw, this is mostly a top-note scent. Whilst I feel certain that I will wear this plenty come spring time, this scent also reminds me fondly of walking in the medicinal gardens of the Mutter Museum in the dead of winter. Make no mistake- this is a straight-up floral. But it's extremely complex and layered. I'd say it's a floral both for fans of the genre and also for this of us that usually don't care for them. SO glad I got a bottle of this!

I am a true Love's Philosophy disciple. I got it when it came out the first time and it was the first scent that I hoarded multiple bottles of. I've wondered for years when it might return, so I'm excited to see how this new 2016 batch compares to the original. In The Bottle: Spicy-sweet vanilla. Just as I like it! Wet On Skin: A bit of that 'wintergreen' effect that it sometimes does during this stage, but I'm not concerned, because.... Dry Down: ...Then it disappears and the saffron spice comes out and this becomes a vanilla chai without the cardamom. In All: It's been too long to recall full what the original LP smelled like fresh. But if that version is the same, then I can tell y'all that this will only get better, richer and more wonderful with age.

This is for the 2016 version. In the Bottle: A really lovely rose concrete. Wet On Skin: Wow. this reminds me so intensely of this rose perfume my grandmother wore when I was a little girl- but it's NOT an "old lady" rose *at all*. It's fresh, and sweet and just the rosiest rose imaginable. Dry Down: This is basically a True Rose Single Note. I could see using this to amp up other rose blends, as well as wearing it when I just really crave pure, perfect rose. There is no morph, no change. It remains true from bottle to dry down. In All: a worthwhile addition to any collection, but certainly if you want a straight-up beautiful rose, this is a keeper for sure.

This didn't jump out at me when I placed my initial Yule order, but so many people were raving about it, that I decided to take a chance on a bottle. Lessee what I have here! In the Bottle: Wow. That's...not what I expected. It smells like orange cake with a thin sugar glaze frosting. Holy moly! Wet On Skin: More of the same, with a little of the lavender poking out. This is a sugary lavender, like a mild version of the note in TKO- which I *adore*. I don't like most florals, but give me sugared flowers and I'm so there. Dry Down: The lavender becomes a bit more prominent and the orange has retreated, but I don't mind at all. I've often lamented that I can't wear TKO as a perfume because it does as claimed and knocks me right out. Well now I have a sweet, gentle sugary lavender scent to wear just for fun and I'm totally delighted with it.

Thanks to my pick up fairy!!! In The Bottle: I also get that "green" astringent smell. But it's not sharp or unpleasant or medicinal. I think it's the sage note, most strong in the bottle. Wet On Skin: The black copal is getting in on the act now, lending a nice resinous weight and balancing the sage. It's very "clean" smelling without being soapy. Dry Down: A very gender-neutral scent, this makes me think of being out in Montana, an arid area that isn't quite desert, isn't quite mountain. It's sweet without being cloying, clean without being soapy. A little resinous without being heavy. It's a hard one to pin down, other than saying I can see cowboys, and people who love cowboys, really enjoying this scent

In The Bottle: Warm, creamy goats milk with a dollop of honey. Wet On Skin: Still predominantly goats milk and honey but something creeping the teeniest, tiniest bit into the background. I think it must be the rose but really, it's so so slight it's like an afterthought. Or a memory of an afterthought. Dry Down: Stays pretty true, mostly this scent is pure honey with a lovely splash of goats milk. In All: Low throw. As described a warm, comforting scent. I got two blind bottles because I suspected that this is exactly as it would be, and I'm really glad this is how it turned out. Really wonderful- I expect to wear this a LOT during cozy sweater season, especially!

A gentle musk suffused with red roses, neroli, Moroccan jasmine, tuberose, white tobacco, and bourbon vanilla. In the Bottle: I get soft, sweet rose, some of the tuberose and a bit of the bourbon vanilla. In the bottle like this, it smells like a cousin of my favorite atmosphere spray, Cathouse. I really hope that vibe persists! Wet On Skin: I'm not getting any of the jasmine, neroli or tobacco. However, the musk is starting to come through some and make this sweet floral even sweeter. Dry Down: Wow. This has gotten really interesting. There is somehow the same kind of candy-like sweetness that I get from Midwinter's Eve or Sugar Plum Fairy. I think it's the combination of the tuberose and the vanilla. I'm not much for florals, generally, I'm really picky about them- but this is really quite nice. In All: Medium throw, and rather aggressive for a floral, but the vanilla really pulls it together. If you are a fan of Cathouse Atmo Spray and you've been pining for a perfume to match, I would strongly recommend giving this a try.

I picked this up because the description made me think it *might* smell a bit like Antique Lace and, sniffing directly from the bottle- it does. Like Antique Lace and light champagne. The champagne note becomes *slightly* more obvious once it's on the skin, but it's really well balanced- my skin usually amps the champagne note like crazy, but in this blend, it's actually staying put. By dry-down the champagne fades into the background so that it's just a wisp of itself. At this stage, the opium makes more of an appearance, but again, VERY well balanced. It's lost some of it's "Antique Lace-ness" BUT it's really a very sweet, spicy, sexy scent. This is one of my favorite Lace scents so far and, depending on how it settles over the next few weeks, a backup bottle might be called for!

I got gifted a bottle of this from Puddin and I couldn't be more pleased! Fortunately, I'm not getting of the herby aspect in my bottle- this is the sweet fruity mix from Cheshire Moon- something akin with Fruit Loops but more delicious. I put it to work immediately in the bathroom where the cats had left me some terrible surprise. The scent not only works on baby dragon poop but on full-grown cat poop, too! Woo hoo! Seriously, I can see getting a lot of use out of this lovely room spray. I anticipate using it all winter long!

In The Bottle: TONS of beeswax and some fresh strawberry. Wet On Skin: The beeswax note in this is SERIOUS. If you are a fan of the beeswax note from the Lab, this is surely a scent for you. The strawberry seems to me to be the same as the one from Strawberry Moon 2009- very real and fresh and ever so slightly tart or 'green'. Dry Down: I get none of the "candy" aspect, which is fine, as I usually amp sugar notes. But the strawberry and beeswax have more or less come to an accord. I can't say they ever morph or really mingle- I keep just getting this "wax-then-strawberry-then-wax-then-strawberry" vibe, where they keep each just wafting at me, separate but equal. It's possible with aging that they'll meld some more, though I like both of these notes so for me, it's fine as is. In All: Heavy throw- a little goes a long way, so use sparingly until you see how it reacts with your skin. A nice addition to any lover of strawberry or beeswax notes.

If you took Antique Lace and combined it with delicious fluffy, vanilla-laden marshmallows, you would get this scent. Seriously. This is incredible. There's nothing more to say. I will be getting back up bottles.

In The Bottle: Yummy, creamy sheep's milk! Wet On Skin: Still mostly milk, but a tiny trace of the cinnamon makes an appearance. Dry Down: THERE'S the coconut! Totally worth the wait! Sometimes coconut will dominate a blend, but not here- the coconut and milk blend seamlessly into one sweet, creamy treat. The cinnamon has all but disappeared, and if it lends anything at this point, it's as a background afterthought, something more to add complexity, but pretty much unidentifiable otherwise. In All: Low throw- I had to put on quite a bit- and a nice, "close-to-the-skin" kind of scent. I see this more as a day time kind of fragrance, and definitely could be worn multiple days in a row, as it's pretty understated. Lovely!

This scent is something I got as a Yule gift for my DH. Interestingly, it's compiled of notes that are DEATH on me- but that I tend to like on him. So I won't apply this to my skin, but will give a preliminary, based on what it smells like just in the bottle. And in the bottle, I can tell this is *very* promising. Usually the leather note immediately dominates, especially wet. But in here, the salt is strongest, with the birch a close tis with the leather. The scent is balanced and yes, kind of masculine. Not that I believe this scent can't be or isn't multi-gender, because I think it is. It *is* strong. I could see someone wearing this on a hike, for instance, when there'd be physical exertion involved. I could see it smelling really good mixed with the sweat of a hard workout. So while it's not my personal cup of tea, I very much look forward to smelling it on my beloved.

Of all the pies, this was the one I was most anxious to try. I'm no fan generally of lime perfumes any more than I like lime-flavored candies. But this, this is special. This is, in fact, JUST like *real* Key Lime Pie. The sweet lime is real, the crust is buttery and flaky and it's just wonderful. The whole Pie series has proven itself really fantastic and Key Lime wraps up the testing for me on a wonderful note!

This is...wow. Usually I'm not much for peach. It always comes off somewhat cloying on me. But this peach is fresh and juicy and so...REAL. I can picture being in a room with this big juicy peach. It's actually making my mouth water! Once it starts to really settle into the skin, the crust starts to emerge, and it's really good. A beautiful summer scent, as many of the Pie scents are proving to be. I'm excited to wear it even through the winter, though, to help keep the dark days at bay.

In The Bottle: Sweet blueberry syrup. Wet On Skin: How odd! The blueberry is so rich that it almost starts to smell like black licorice. Dry Down: Ah- THERE it is! The blueberry has dried down to pie filling for sure! This isn't fresh, like Crawdad Dream. This is definitely canned pie filling, plus a little flaky crust tossed in for good measure. I don't really get the cream note, which is a bit sad, but this scent is almost like a companion to Crumpet Rebellion, in the combination of bakery scent and fruit. Just lovely!