iiinterstate

Blue lilac, lily of the valley, golden musk, beeswax, white ginger, bergamot, green tea, and nectarine. Oh bergamot, how I love you. Marcilla is quite light and significantly less floral than I anticipated. I get bergamot and green tea straightaway, with a hint of ginger. The flowers are there as an interesting base. Usually I amp the heck out of florals, especially lily of the valley. I can't distinguish the lilac from the lily, and I don't get any beeswax, but I like this blend just the same. To me, Marcilla is a muskier, warmer version of Tweedledee, which I adore.

Body, remember not only how much you were loved, not only the beds on which you lay, but also those desires for you that glowed plainly in the eyes, and trembled in the voiceand some chance obstacle made futile. Now that all of them belong to the past, it almost seems as if you had yielded to those desireshow they glowed, remember, in the eyes gazing at you; how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body. - Constantine Cavafy translated by Rae Dalven Profoundly sensual. The echo of caresses: raw black coconut, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, champaca flower, and sugar cane. Profoundly sensual indeed. This is my favorite of the Lupers so far. Body, Remember starts out sweet and earthy, then suddenly it becomes heavy on the coconut, followed by a rush of champaca. After several minutes, everything settles into a perfect musky balance that stays close to my skin with no single dominating note. It's stunning.

Sexy and suckable: black cherry brandy. I was a little nervous after reading will-call reviews that this might go cough syrup on me. Not so! Suck It smells like exactly what it should, black cherry brandy. However, the booziness doesn't take over too much. Instead, it keeps things from smelling too much like candied fruit. I really love it!

In your smoke-addled confusion, the Midway seems strangely empty and devoid of life. The tents that line the path appear distorted, out of proportion, and cartoonish, their angles arching menacingly. For a moment, the only sound you hear is the soft squelch of your boots on the damp ground. As your eyes adjust, the tents right themselves, the sounds of the Midway swirl around you, and you feel the press of the crowd against your body. The Calliope's eerie drone lilts above the swelling chatter. Wine-colored storm clouds are gathering, and the scent of incense and ozone is thick in the wet air. Thunder-charged ozone, plum-colored incense smoke, opium tar, and wormwood. A first review? Me? No way. Someone else is probably going to post at the same exact time. In the bottle this smells exactly like rain to me, or the smell of the air outside right before a storm breaks, and the air is already heavy with it. On my skin the ozone isn't too strong, but its detectable. It goes very nicely with the incense smoke and what I think is the slightly sour opium. I don't know what wormwood smells like so I can't pick it out. Overall, I really like this. It is reminiscent of Midnight on the Midway, but heavier and darker (maybe that's the wormwood?) and the scent stays closer to my skin. Smokier too. The damp rain smell hangs on too. Its one of those notes that's pure genius on Beth's part. I can't quite describe it...wet but certainly not aquatic. I like this and I'm glad to have a bottle! I'd definitely recommend this blend if you liked Midnight on the Midway. (If the ozone in this blend is scaring you away, don't be worried. It doesn't overpower!) edit: Over time the incense and opium smoke really amp for me and that's what I get in terms of throw. I didn't care for the opium in Parliament of Monsters but combined here with the incense its very good in an unusual way. I can see this being a unisex blend as well.

Buttermilk pancakes with boysenberry syrup and goat butter! Pardon me if there's another topic already! I ordered this bottle against my better judgment. Foody is a risk, but for this blend, I had to take it. And as of now I am not sorry. In the bottle this is very very sweet, no surprise there. On my skin it smells like...well...buttery pancakes. But I'm not talking Bisquick. I mean real from-scratch pancakes like the ones my dad used to cook up on Saturday morning. And shockingly, it's not cloying in the least. I actually don't get much of the boysenberry syrup at all, which is the note I expected would dominate. Love it. Edit: about half an hour later, the boysenberry comes out to play. When I sniff my wrist up close it's definitely a key player in the blend, but in terms of throw, it's more like an afterthought. Husband also rates it 10 out of 10 for accuracy and deliciousness.

Kudzu vine, raw honey, ginger cream, and gingergrass. At first, Entangled is all sharp kudzu with the occasional hint of sweetness that I assume is the honey. After a few minutes, the spicy ginger comes through and neutralizes the kudzu a bit. It dries down into a very fresh, cool scent, with very little of the initial greenness. I don't get much more of the honey, but think it's there as a subtle grounding note. At first I didn't care for it, but I can't seem to stop sniffing my wrist now. The longer I have Entangled on, the more I like it. I'd like to see how it smells on my boyfriend as well.

On me, The Vine smells like sweet ripe pears. YUM. The vanilla cream comes out as it dries and sweetens the pear note a bit further. I like the simplicity of this blend. It's not overly foody or fruity and it will be a fun scent for the warmer months.

Its been forever since I ordered from the Lab, and even longer since I ordered a Lunacy blend, but I'm very very glad I picked up Blackbear Moon. It starts off heavy on the hazelnut, but I detect the honey and black cherry as well. After about half an hour it's dried down into a warm, undeniably furry scent. Somehow, the hazelnut and honey dominate this without being too sweet. I get occasional wafts of the berries and cherry, but overall it's difficult to pick out the individual notes. I love this blend a lot, and it will likely find its way into my regular rotation. (If you're not a fan of hazelnut, you might want to skip this one.)

Not quite sure how I feel about Gnome yet. I love the fizzy ginger, but the metallic note is a little odd on me. I feel like it's more interesting than it is wearable. Perhaps I'll try layering it with something else.

Honestly, Yellow Snowballs reminds me a lot of Snow Angel, which was one of my very favorites! The primary difference (to my nose) is that the tea note in SA is replaced by mint in YS. I get sugared citrus fruit from both blends. Yum!

HELLO spice. Initially this is alllll cardamom on me. I'm surprised, because this smelled so boozy in the bottle. After about 15-20 minutes, the leather starts to come through and the bourbon sweetens things up. I don't get any patch at all. It's perfectly balanced and delicious! I imagine Spanked will become one of the blends I wear frequently, and I'm going to need another couple of bottles as I'm sure it will age fabulously. edit: I've decided the bourbon in this blend behaves much the same as it does in Hellhound On My Trail (on me). However, I like Spanked a bit better.

I never got a chance to try Glowing Vulva in its perfume oil form, which is a shame. I love the bath oil! I don't get any lotus at all, but cream, teak, and amber in abundance. It reminds me a bit of the Antikythera Mechanism (one of my absolute favorites) only very creamy and soft. I think I'll need at least one more bottle before this goes away.

I can see where some people might get cotton candy musk from this, but for me Celeste is much less foody. To me, this smells like Antique Lace with saffron instead of linen. To be honest, I don't love it. After about 20 minutes, it's a lot more of the vanilla musk that I was hoping for, but very very light. I like it, but I hope the vanilla strengthens with age. Edit: Okay, it's been an hour, and I am liking Celeste a lot more. The floral-ness has burned off, and it's way more musky and delicious. There is potential for gloriousness here.

This starts out as a whole lot of caramel which I am not excited about, but dries down into a nice spicy tobacco. There's something a little woody in there too. I like it. I think in a few months I'll like it a lot more.

I ordered this with mild reservation, because I believe peru balsam has gone weird on me in the past. Also, I tested straight out of the mailbox because I am impatient. In the bottle it smells like ginger and leather. On me it starts out much the same, then orange blossom amps up quite a bit. Very bright. As it dries down, I get a little more ginger, little bit of beeswax, but its still primarily orange blossom. I was honestly expecting a vanilla base to this, so here's hoping. After about 30 minutes: still primarily orange blossom and a hint of ginger. I'm not really impressed at this point, but I'm sure Burning Vulva will mellow a bit with age (hopefully into something more interesting!). There's a lot of great notes in here, so I'm going to hang on to it and see what happens in a month or so.

I rather like Bat of Good Death, even though it is not nearly as heavy as I expected. Very light, almost no cedar. It smells like a lighter, herbal version of Goblin...coconut and wood with a hint of herbiness in the background. After aging, I think it lasts a bit longer than it did originally. This is a good scent for school or the workplace when I want to smell lovely but not intrude on anyone else's senses.

In the bottle: dusty fruit and cotton. On me: changes rapidly. First I get that grape-y scent other reviewers mentioned, but it fades quickly leaving mostly a creamy vanilla. I have a hard time picking out the individual notes. So far, it reminds me a LOT of L'Estate and not of Mme. Moriarty at all. After a few minutes: Things are pretty much the same, but now I'm getting a little tobacco smokiness and a hint of pom. It's just lovely. A few MORE minutes: Man, what a morpher. Red Lace seems to bloom in layers on my skin. Now there is a bit of sandalwood in the mix. Overall? Red Lace is gorgeous. I can't wait to see how it ages.

I wanted to like Black Opal, I really did. It sounded like it would be a gorgeous blend on me and for about a minute, it was. However, this dries down into powdery blah-ness. No vanilla or geological fantasticness, just vague sweetness that I don't care for. (Regardless, I keep my imp and try it every six months or so because I keep hoping.)

Edit: I haven't used this in awhile, and thought I'd try it out again before deciding whether I need to purchase the 2011 version. I say yes. This stuff ages like a dream. son of edit: I meant to edit my old review but I guess I made a second one instead? Sorry mods!

add these to next order: Antikythera Mechanism The Illustrated Woman TKO Dorian

I was so close to selling this off because it didn't work on me when it was fresh. When I tested it today, it started off predominately chocolate, which I don't really like. Too cloying. But within ten minutes it had become dark and smoky and sexy. Its the chocolate blend for people who don't like chocolate.

In the bottle: Very faint berries, something herbal, and milk. Wet on me: Milk and berries and with a hint of ozone. It sounds like an odd combination, but I like it a lot already. After a few minutes: I don't usually like milky blends for some reason. They never go sour, but I always feel like they might. I reaaallly like this though. I think the ozone keeps the other ingredients from being too cloying but without being all HEY I AM FULL OF OZONE. Later: Candles Moon fades pretty fast, but I think once I let it rest awhile it might stick around more. The drydown smells much warmer to me. I don't get much beeswax...or at least I don't get anything resembling honey that usually comes with the beeswax note. Primarily berries and warm spices in milk. Edit: An hour and a half has passed and I just got a big ol' waft of blackberry. Not so faint anymore! I really like this, glad I got a backup.

Okay. I tried Smut at a MnS awhile back and for some reason I just plain hated it. But for some reason I felt compelled to try it again, and snagged a bottle from 2008. In the bottle: Really boozy. On me: Still boozy, but not in a bad way. The musk that seemed out of control the first time I tried Smut is definitely tamer than I remember, or maybe two years of aging just does that. This is a super sexy, sugary, delicious skin scent, and if the 2010 version is the same, I'll need to stock up. I want to wear this a LOT. Edit: the longer I wear this the better it gets. LOVE. I'm gonna slather the hell out of this tomorrow.

This is good stuff. I get the same feeling from this as I do from Snake Charmer. Sexy, heavy musk with sweeter top notes. I get the honey most of all, and its HOT. I'm sort of at a loss with this description, because everything blends so well. I need a backup because I'll bet anything that aged Anactoria is simply orgasmic.

In the bottle: This smells a little masculine. I think its the sandalwood. On me: Happily, I get a lot more of the other notes upon application. Something about the nutmeg makes this more gender neutral. I can pick out the benzoin and tonka too, but this is waaaay lighter than I anticipated. After awhile: Still very faint. Weird, because usually I get a lot of wear out of these notes. I'll come back to it after it has had some time to settle. My overall impression is positive though. Just wimpy.