theshapeshifter

I had really dithered over ordering this one (the beer and tar gave me pause), but I'm so glad I did!

I've only had it on a short time, so I'll come back and edit if it changes wildly, but so far it's exactly what I'd hoped for. It's like someone poured a bit of thick, sticky treacle over a wood fire. I get just the slightest hint of the tar and booze, just enough to make it a bit darker. The overall impression is thick, dark and outdoorsy, but urban or near-urban outdoorsy, if that makes sense.

This is going to be a major love for me, but I think it's definitely a love-it-or-hate-it sort of scent, not for the faint of heart.

Initial application: Spicy! And... there's some element in here that reminds me of TAL Brass Balls - something a bit medicinal (maybe the ginger?).

Within 2 minutes: Ouch! I rarely have bad reactions to BPALs, but this one seems to hate me. Oddly, my skin was fine where I applied it, but after taking a few deep sniffs, the skin above my upper lip (which is sensitive at the best of times) started to BURN. I had to wash my wrists, scrub them with makeup remover, and hold a cold compress to my face for a couple of minutes before things settled down. So this is definitely going to swaps! Shame, because I quite liked the scent.

When first applied (and for about the first half-hour), even from a teeny swipe of the imp wand, this was "OMG HI I'M MUSK HI HELLO!", which is usually not my favourite sort of thing, but this is such a lovely sexy musk that I decided to wait it out and see where it went from there. In the drydown, the initial blast calmed down, and the spices and honey start to work their way in. I'm not really getting the caramel, but that's okay - caramel notes sometimes amp on me, so I'm glad it's playing nice.

Overall, this is a very heady scent, in a sexy-incense sort of way. Not for wearing to work, I don't think, but a definite winner for nighttime.

I wasn't sure what to expect of Isaac, but he was totally different than I would have guessed! From the description, I was thinking it would be far boozier, but on my skin it was a dry, dry scent. Warm and leathery with a hint of tobacco and cologne... and usually tobacco is hit-or-miss on me, but it works really well here.

Absolutely dead sexy - I could hardly tear my nose away from my wrist.

I'm 14 weeks pregnant, and I've shied away from BPAL since my test came back positive, just to be on the safe side. Today, I felt up to giving it a cautious try, so I dabbed a teeny bit of Beaver Moon on the sleeves of my hoodie... most of the day I was alright, but towards the end of the day it got a little overwhelming. I did get a scent locket as a Yule gift, so maybe I'll try that out next.

I'm opting to forgo it entirely during the first trimester - for after that, I've found several references on aromatherapy and essential oils in pregnancy that list ones to avoid, and basically any scent that either has those notes listed, or has no scent notes listed at all, will be staying out of the rotation for the duration. For others, I'll probably get a scent locket, just for caution's sake.

As someone else mentioned above, I found this surprisingly foody at first sniff - my initial thought was "it's a fruity Devil's Night!" (since Devil's Night smells mostly like naughty snickerdoodles on me). On skin the complexity comes out- there's still something reminding me a little of DN, probably the combination of the vanilla/tobacco/patchouli, but it's got a rich dark spicy fruitiness lurking underneath, rounding it out. Gorgeous, just gorgeous! I had initially thought I wanted Trick #1 more, but I obviously got exactly the right thing!

2006 version:

Now, I must say, I've tried Sugar Skull '04 and '05, and I'm not one of the ones who was let down by '05; it's a favourite.

However, with that said, I think '06 is even nicer - very similar to how I remember the '04 blend being. '05 was sharper and a little fruitier/boozier, but this is just pure, deep, caramelized sugar, mellow and gorgeous. I wonder if I should get a second bottle...

It's the same leather as Dead Man's Hand!

Erm, excuse me, let me try to be rational.

Quincey goes on in a blast of leather, with undertones of grass/green tea and pear - so basically, Dead Man's Hand + pear at first.

As it starts to dry down, I get the cedar and tobacco notes, and to be honest these went slightly funny on my skin for a little while - like a whiff of far-off air freshener - but as it dried down fully, it all mellowed out very nicely.

It's lovely - very masculine, yet not so much so that I can't wear it. If you like Dead Man's Hand, I highly recommend checking this one out!

Woe. Based on the ingredient list, I was sure I'd love this one, but...

Clearly, my skin decided to amp the verbena, because this became (and stayed, till I gave up and washed it off) cherry bug spray on me. Oh well, I've had such good luck with the other CD's so far, I suppose there had to be one that my skin would rebel against!

Doc Constantine initially seemed quite strong in the bottle, but once applied it became this lovely, subtle, close-to-the-skin cedar-smoke scent, with just a bit of leather. I've been looking for something like this for a long time!

GORGEOUS.

In the bottle, it seemed quite similar to Bliss, but as soon as I put it on, it turns deep and dark and creamy, absolutely decadent. It's got just the faintest fruity-floral tinge deep down, just like really high-quality dark chocolate.

Absolutely fantastic.

Mme. Moriarty stayed remarkably true for me from in-the-bottle all the way through drydown: primarily red musk and the same luscious vanilla as Snake Oil. The pomegranate and plum are hard to distinguish from one another, but they give the scent a beautiful 'roundness', without ever making it 'fruity'. The patchouli stays in the background, but I think it helps ground the whole thing, give it depth.

Clearly, this is destined to be one of the mega-hits of CD - I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist all day!

Earl Grey tea leaves, a white fougere, jasmine leaf, pearlescent white musk, and vanilla bean.

Oh my! *fans self*

In the bottle: Fresh and masculine and lovely. (Actually, my first reaction was that this was a scent I could envision my favourite sexy celebrity/imaginary boyfriend wearing. Hee. )

Wet on skin: Lemony-citrusy-musk at first, quite sharp and fresh.

Drydown: OHMAHGAWD. FINALLY A TEA SCENT THAT WORKS ON ME. It's primarily Earl Grey and luscious vanilla on me, with the musk and fougere just giving it that sexy, slightly masculine edge.

It's amazing that a scent could be this light and clean, and this sexy at one time!

My second CTIII bottle... if I remember correctly, number DCCLIII (753).

In the bottle, I just kept sniffing it, thinking "I know this scent somehow!" After applying it, I realized what it reminds me of: Poison! It's not a dead ringer (it's more subtle, less in-your-face), but it really takes me back to my 18-year-old days, when that was my favourite scent.

Partly for nostalgia value, and partly because I still do love me a heady mysterious scent once in a while, this is definitely a keeper.

I wish I could sort out what the actual notes are, though.

Just wanted to point out that even deodorant is getting confiscated, so I'm guessing that BPAL-infused shea butter is probably out of the question for carry-on right now too.

Oh, I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, my skin decided to amp the hell out of the citrus and mahogany, so alas, it turned into something more like "furniture polish with wood intervening". Which surprised me, because I'm not one of those people who usually gets the 'lemon-Pledge' thing from citrus. *scratches head*

Someone upthread described this as chaotic, and I'd have to agree. It's all notes I like - the red wine, honey and balsam are most prominent on me - but my skin chemistry never seemed to allow them to settle down and play nice with each other. Off to a happier home it goes!

This scent definitely evoked Egypt - all yellow, dry and sun-heated. Unfortunately, like all the Egypt-themed blends I've tried so far, this was just too dry for my tastes. A lovely scent, though - those who like dry-warm-spicy will be really happy with this.

Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

In the imp, I thought it might be a trifle too musky, but on skin, it just blossoms into something amazing. It's hard for me to pick out notes since it's so well-blended, but the overall impression is SEXY MAN. Leather, incense and musk, yet not at all a "cologne" sort of scent, more like the general smell of wrapping your arms around a rock'n'roll bad boy sort of guy.

This would smell outstanding on a guy, and yet it's not SO masculine that I feel weird wearing it. This is definitely going to require a bottle, stat.

Wow, I've never been this early on a Lunacy review thread before!

Harvest Moon is very complex... I've been sniffing myself obsessively and trying to pick out notes. Wet, I got apple and pomegranate, the 'tangy' green note that's been in a lot of the Asian moons, plus a chrysanthemum/golden dry grain sort of note that's reminiscent of Samhain.

Now that it's drying down, the autumn flowers/dusty sun-warmed grain seems to be taking precedence, with an undertone of sweetness from the fruits. It's a bit... dare I say... reminiscent of Lughnasadh (except without the strong cherry note that Lughnasadh has on my skin). This is a fabulous scent, really embodying that slide from late summer into earliest fall.

Edited to add: I'm wearing it again today, and finding that in the extreme drydown (about 4 hours on skin) there's a creamy sweetness coming out, somewhat reminiscent of the white chocolate note in 13... must be the cane sugar and rice milk.

Bordello is like a dense, liqueur-soaked almond-plum cake to me.

Um, other than the ones already mentioned, there are a couple more LE's that you might want to keep your eye out for in swaps:

Sugar Skull - depending on the person, this is caramelized sugar, maple syrup, or sugary booze. On my skin, it's mostly the first one.

Midwinter's Eve - this was like red hard candies on me.

This one was a surprise... it was a frimp, and I couldn't remember the description of the notes until I looked it up. This is a much warmer scent on me than I would've expected... sun-baked sandalwood with a bit of something fresh, and just a bit of peppery spice. A pleasant surprise!

However, my skin seems to eat it - two hours later and it's barely detectable. So I think I'll use up the imp, but probably not a bottle.

Hmmm. Hungry Ghost starts out lovely on me, a mix of that tart greenness that seems to be in a lot of the Asian moons, plus a kick of grapefruit and ginger.

The jury's still out on the drydown, though - there's a nice hint of vanilla there, but it mostly seems to be veering in a slightly soapy-rice direction on my skin chemistry. I'll need to try it again on a day when I'm not sweating buckets, I think.

Chaos Theory III: CLVII (157)

Oh wow, this one's a morpher! It's only been on for about half an hour, so if it changes further, I'll ETA this review.

In the bottle: Red wine and cocoa! Two notes I love, so that's promising. After a couple more sniffs I maybe get a hint of rum. It's quite boozy in the bottle, in any case.

Initial application: The cocoa is first to come to the front, quickly followed by something fruity, a fruity chocolate... chocolate-raspberry, I think. The fruit is quite sharp and tart, like a wild raspberry.

Early drydown: The cocoa flits in and out, sometimes more evident, sometimes more in the background, and the raspberry keeps going strong. There's maybe a hint of something fruity-floral (orange blossom, possibly?) and for a second I got just the tiniest hint of mint.

After half an hour: The red-wine note is starting to come back into play, so now it's a tart raspberry-winey-slightly plummy scent with a dark cocoa base.

To sum up: To put it in conveniently comparable terms, I'm debating whether I should call this "what I hoped Vice would be", or "Bordello with chocolate instead of nuts", but I think in a nutshell, this is 13's darker, naughtier older sister. THEY WILL HAVE TO PRY THIS OUT OF MY COLD, DEAD HANDS. I LOVE EET.