arsenicsauce

I can't decide if I don't like this scent or if I need it to live. It's definitely "masculine", but not in what I think of as a traditional men's cologne sort of way at all. When I first put it on there was a period of unpleasant sweetness mixed with the sour bleh of vetiver (I wonder if that's the khus, because I'm not sure what khus smells like, or if there is vetiver in the victorian cologne note); but then dry, it's a perfect balance of carnation and that vetiver smelling note, which are not things I'd expect to play well together. I didn't detect the other notes at first, but I think that may be patchouli bringing a soft earthy undertone. Actually I retract my original statement, I love it. I've always had a weird love-hate relationship with blends that have vetiver as a note or things that "smell like vetiver", i.e. almost all the lab's "smoke" notes, because they have an attractive sharpness I like and yet a repugnant sour undertone that smells like B.O. on me (and I amp it like crazy). This has the smoky sharpness that I love without the stale sweat I hate. So: Masculine, but the carnation and patchouli soften it into something that is wearable for either sex, in my opinion. Though more a scent I'd wear with combat boots and a bomber jacket than a sundress and heels.

wet- mmm, pure clove. Then... something kind of dusty? Almost pencil-shavings? Fortunately that only lasts for a second, and it resolves into a woody spice, like cinnamon bark sticks- in fact it smells just like spiced apple cider without the apple, a tiny bit sweet. It's gooood. I think the patchouli is to blame for the woody, earthen undertone that makes me think bark, and I'm not sure whether to hold the carnation or tea responsible for the sweet note, but it really works- clove is very sour on me usually, it needs something to balance it a little, but the musks in blends I've tried in the past made it too heavy. During drydown the other notes gradually fade, clove is the last to go. This is what I've been looking for in a spice scent, hands-down. It's a great autumn/winter, I'd say, especially for those who like their spices just a little foody but don't want to outright smell like cookies. Throw is low-medium, but it's not something I'd want to over-apply.

I've been wearing this for a while but I'm having trouble reviewing it, because it seems to be composed almost entirely of notes I hate and I don't know why I like it so much. It's very "dark" to me. The wine is very prominent when wet and continues being loud throughout, but it doesn't smell like the usual "wine" note to me (grape juice, DNW)- and I'm not sure if that's because it's a different note entirely or if the myrrh is making it darker and less foody. Rose and jasmine are there, but despite a soapy spike at the beginning they behave. Not sure, again, if that's because it's "attar of rose" instead of rose straight-up, or the black patchouli and myrrh and wine are conspiring to keep it earthy. Very very rich and with strong throw, this is one you apply in tiny amounts. I'd want to be wearing something slinky and dark with this, it's very feminine and decadent in a way that'd feel weird in the everyday. I might go for a partial of this but I can't imagine using up a whole bottle.

Wet this was a light musky aquatic, watery but sweet, that unfortunately reminds me more of room scents and soaps than perfume. I get that a lot with aquatics. On drydown, there's definitely that kind of wet, crisp smell, but something makes it go too sweet and musty, like overripe melon or sweet peppers- I suspect the musk, it's always a gamble for me. It just gets stronger the longer I wear it. Throw is medium, and it's pretty long lasting.

This smells on me exactly like Golden Priapus. Obviously they share a sticky sweet note I amp like crazy, and I suspect it's either juniper or this kind of pine. Not the sharp pine-sol scent I get from most evergreen blends, but a sweet, fake-holiday-wreath scent that Home Depot smells like from the end of October to January. I don't get anything sharp or cold from it, sadly, this is not for me.

On me it was dusty, more like velvet than bliss if you've tried them. I haven't tried straight snake oil so I can't speak to the rest.

Saltpeter, leather and wood come out swinging. Definitely unisex. This is one of those leather notes that's very evocative of the real thing for me, sharp without being sour and musky. I'm not getting any pepper or sandalwood, but I think I detect the influence of beeswax smoothing things out. Saltpeter dies down a little, and this smells like a piece of furniture to me. No, seriously. A polished wooden chair with leather upholstry and brass studs, that was owned by a smoker years back. It takes a long while for me to get anything "sweet" from it, but the beeswax does pick up a little when it dries and moves from "furniture polish" a bit towards "honey", and now I smell wisps of sandalwood on top of the oak. It settles in a nice balance, not too sweet, not too sharp- this is what I wanted the steamworks line to smell like. I like it, but I'm not sure I like it as a wearable perfume. I'll have to sit on this decant for a while and see how I feel about it.

wet- Woah, much sweeter than I expected! It does smell a lot like almond- is that the bay rum? As it dries, it does stay a bit sweet but creeping underneath comes a sour, dark growling myrrh. Uh oh. I think I recognize this myrrh from sloth, and it's seriously dark in a way I don't quite like, remeniscint of the smell of musty book pages. In fact it smells so like sloth that I wondered for a second if there was vetiver involved. I was hoping patchouli would soften it up as time wore on, but it just intensified the musty quality of the myrrh, and I get left with a sticky amber and almond over that dark sour myrrh. I'm glad I tried this because it's an interesting contrast, and I actually kind of enjoy sniffing it, but it's not really wearable for me, and if my amping experience with these notes is a good predictor, it probably will only get stronger with age.

Wet: there's a strange smokey aquatic note in this I recognize from October 2007, but mixed with a sappy sharpness that makes me think of either "grass" or "lab dandelion stem note". Hm, not sure if want. Dry: Ohhh, this goes straight to laundry detergent on me after about ten minutes and never recovers. Bummer.

Long version: When I was in high school, we had a decent sized pool that my school was very proud of and swimming classes were mandatory. But we weren't allowed to bring our own swimsuits- we had uniform suits that had to be rented and returned every day, horrible blocky one-pieces with absolutely no elastic that were impossible to squeeze into dry but inevitably ballooned when wet so they were nearly falling off as you swum. Every night a truck would come by to collect these wet suits and the matching tiny, tiny uniform towels, and they would arrive back in the morning, sterilized and smelling almost but not quite like burnt maple syrup. This is that exact smell. It's objectively kind of pleasant, but I will never, ever be able to wear it. Short version: Burnt molasses with some faint, dusty herbs that make me think of soap.

Fixed Fire: the essence of pride. Egyptian amber, walnut bark, chamomile, frankincense, and saffron. In the bottle: Woooah, I try not to take how oils smell in the bottle too seriously but this is a lot frutier than I expected with the listed notes. wet: This smells like a pack of smarties when it goes on. I think I recognize this as the same powdery candy amber combo that coyote turned to on me. I soon get the citrus that people are talking about (on me, distinctly lemon), but like I said, it's candied and powdered even as it starts to dry. What's causing that sweetness? Long-term it settles mostly into a pleasant golden sweet scent that reminds me somehow of both lemons and peach candy rings. Strange. I think the walnut bark is coming out and making it dry and dusty, I keep sneezing when I sniff too closely. Woods sometimes do that to me (Misk U, I'm looking at you). It's not bad, but nearly the opposite of what I was expecting.

Wet: Lovely and aquatic without being soapy, slightly sweet in a way I can't identify- this is very light and cheerful. Dry: Oh no, is that rose? It's some kind of soap floral and it completely dominates after about half an hour. Bummer.

Wet: Fancy soap. Next! Dry: Wait, actually... this dries down sort of pleasant. It takes around half an hour for the soapyness to dry down, but then it actually smells nice. It's hard for my brain to process this in any other way than "smells nice", I've literally never smelled a "nice" strong rose scent on me before (bar obsidian widow, but that one has so many earthy grounding notes that work on me that this doesn't- actualy there are strong similarities in the rose note now that I'm looking for it, so maybe one of these "roses" does work on me when the rest don't). Jasmine, which for the record I don't like either, makes the floral aspect less specifically rose even though I usually amp the hell out of rose. It doesn't smell like coffee at all, which I admit was the only reason I started to look for an imp of this, but I think I might be detecting the fig and vanilla warming it up a bit. It's a little sweet, though not in a foody way. It's overall not my style, I think, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how this turned out.

Straight out of the mail: I have never tried pfefferneusse, and in fact have not even looked it up on wikipedia yet, but when wet this is an absolute dead ringer for kolaches as made by my local bakery. It's got a very specific doughy richness about it that smells exactly like a pastry that's been made with sour cream as well as butter, and it really is doughy, I was hoping for more spice but this smells like actual hot pastries dusted in powdered sugar- not picking out much nut, but there may be a smidge of almond in here making it richer. As it dries long-term the sharper spices, cinnamon and foody clove, get louder. The kolachke base is still there, though. I would recommend this to people who liked Sugar Cookie, it has much of the same feel to it without smelling exactly the same. It reminds me a bit of a very domesticated saw-scaled viper as well. I'd place it a bit towards the sugar cookie side on a scale between the two.

Wet: Fresh cedar shavings that suddenly shift to... wintergreen gum? Where does that come from? Dry: the mintyness recedes, leaving slightly sweet, dusty cedar shavings. It's a very dry, homey scent, and not something I particularly want to smell like, but not offensive. I definitely see where the vick's vapor rub comparisons come from, there's a low-lying note in there that's dead on for it (maybe the remnants of that wintergreen mixed with the saffron?). Low throw, medium wear length.

This is strangely foody on me. Wet it smells like stale movie popcorn, and as it dries I get something kind of juicy, a berry or currant? On top of spicy ginger and a dirty patchouli note that I'm not fond of. I like patchouli but this one is more grubby pencil shavings than loam. Hopefully someone out there can use this better than me.

Wet: Familiar, somewhat masculine soap- but I like it. It's breezy and aquatic, not something I have much of in my collection. Dry: Unfortunately after two hours or so this turns pure berry on my skin. It's such a complete morph that I had to test it a second time the next day to make sure I hadn't confused it with something else, but no, there's an in-between stage where it smells like berries and aquatic soap and then it goes all to berry. And it's a sweet berry, too, total turnaround. I would classify this as masculine, maybe gender-neutral because of the second stage.

Trying an 08 bottle! Wet: fresh sliced button mushrooms. The exact smell. I'm not opposed to it, but I don't really like mushrooms so I'm hoping there's something else there. Dry:...No, it's still mushrooms. Much fainter, and I think I do get a whiff of soil, but mushroom seems to be its primary note on me. I love dirt scents, but unfortunately that's not what I'm amping.

I got a bit of this frimped in a swap, and I'm holding on to the rest of it for a friend but I had to try a little myself first. And wow, it smells delicious. Exactly like warm sugar-cookies with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top in the last 5 minutes like we do them at my house- the actual sugar cookie LE goes play-doh on me, but this doesn't. This is the first cinnamon I can remember that hasn't smelled like big red gum on me, it just smells like real cinnamon-sugar. I don't know if it's the influence of the vanilla or ginger or what, but I love it. Usually I don't wear things this foody because they just make me hungry all the time, but I'll make an exception for this. Maybe it's the hidden incense base, but this is more wearable than usual.

Wet: Clover and grass in your face! This is so like Passionate Shepherd that I ran to get some for my other wrist to smell side by side. Verdict: extremely similar at first, but The Host of the Air is slightly less pungent and green when wet. It has some of the same nose-tingling bite of snapped stems, also seen in One to Tie Two To Win, but less so. Is it the berry or wine rounding it out? I don't know juniper berries as a note (in fact I hate both berries and wine usually) so I'm not sure. It's actually a little less sweet than passionate shepherd too, a little more unisex, which given those notes surprised me. The sharp green grassy note is the first to fade back as it wears, it's still there but not taking over and having massive throw as it tends to on me. Clover continues to dominate, but everything else is well blended into a quieter floral underneath- I definitely get the heather there, and maybe the dandelion. It boarders on white-florals-soapy for a while but it never quite crosses over. This is a very green spring scent with floral undertones and of the three scents in its category that I've tried, I think I like it best when wet and early on but prefer Passionate Shepherd during the long-term drydown. They really are very similar, definitely the same family. Medium throw.

This is smooth, sweet beeswax candles with maybe the faintest tinge of smoke, like they've been lit and put out but the wicks are still ashy. A lot of blends with "smoke" or "fire" notes listed use vetiver, but I would swear there's absolutely none in here, if anyone was wondering. As it dries it gets a little sweeter and more honeyed. I do like this scent but I don't think I'd wear it very often, it's not my kind of sweet. If you're looking for beeswax, this is the most dead-on approximation I can imagine in a scent.

I'm really glad a very generous someone frimped me a decant of this before I reached the end of my patience and bought a bottle, because it's not at all what I was expecting. Wet it starts off with a spicy, peppery blast- I think for a moment I smell anise, but I'm not sure. And then come the floras. I like carnation, but there is definitely rose or one of its impersonators in here, making a lot of noise and trying to drag everything towards "spicy soap". Aaaand after about half an hour it wins. Too bad. Another hour later- faint, but still rosy. The spices are coming through more, but it's not exciting enough to make up for its beginning frankly. If I don't swap this away in a week I might give it another try, but given my typical amping of these kinds of florals I doubt it'll be fixed by a few days settling.

Oh my god, I love this scent. Love it. It's sharp green sap and a little smoky without being a vetiver explosion and somehow evocative of wet fall leaves without being musty. I am tracking down a bottle of this ASAP.

This was not what I'd expected at all. Wet it was strangely fruity, and I'm not sure what was causing that. I don't know hibiscus but I have a suspicion that might have been it. It dries down strangely sweet, and then pulls the best vanishing act I've ever seen within the hour- I seriously cannot even detect a trace of it with my nose right on my skin. It wasn't dark or spicy on me at all, so I think there's something in here I'm amping like crazy but I can't figure out what. In short, passing it on to someone with better chemistry. ETA: Aged 9 months: Before putting my bottles up for sale, I tried each of them one last time, and this one has changed a bit. Instead of the fruity, wet scent I remember, it starts as a dry, slightly spicy gorgeous frankincense that reminds me of the things I like about And There Was a Great Cry in Egypt, one of my all-time faves. But unfortunately when it dries, it does that same powdery grape candy morph. But wow, it's really nice before I start amping that one note, god knows what it is.

wet: I admit I was really really worried when people started reviewing this scent as "musky", because black musk is epic do not want on my skin, but this is different. Less sour, but similarly animalistic- I can see how they're related. Dried: Yeah, musk is still dominant. I get the feeling there are other things behind it making it far more wearable than any other dark musk I've tried, but it's blended so that I can't pick them out. I'm going to have to sit on this one for a few days to decide whether or not I want to keep the bottle- I like it, and it's very different from the other scents I have, but I'm not sure how often I'd wear it. It really does kind of make me think I'm smelling a bird, as weird as that sounds. I finally realized that the faint sweetness I was smelling is smoky vanilla, aptly named. It becomes more prominent and a little woodier after an hour or two. This is really a morpher on me. Now (about 3 hrs after application) it's down to delicious smoky vanilla with very faint undertones of gentle musk and nutmeg, still keeping up a medium throw. In fact it reminds me strongly of another scent I've had on the brain recently, Morocco. I need to test them side by side. This is not at all the drydown I expected, but it's really fantastic. I'm really interested to see how it ages- I was toying with the idea of putting it up for swap because it's in some demand, but as long as it stays like this after it settles, you'll pry Raven Moon from my cold dead fingers. NEXT DAY: It did not stay. Man I am not sure what happened or how it happened so fast, but I applied a little bit this afternoon and it went all wrong. Like, cloyingly sweet on application, unpleasantly musky on drydown.