lady_pandora

Crib Girls starts out with a big blast of cleaning-products lemon, along with honey. I get more honey in the throw and more lemon close to the skin. The lemon isn't behaving, not yet. It takes about 25-30 minutes to calm down, at which point it becomes more of an edible lemon or scented-dolls lemon a bit like what I like in Seven Herbs Charm, still accompanied by honey. The morphing process is a gradual mellowing and blending and finally vanishing of the lemon, leaving behind spicy honey. I'm not in love with the very beginning of this, but it ends up something I really like! Possible bottle.

Mmmm, Sinus Amoris. This is a hard one to review because I don't always get the same result when I wear it. I don't know if it's hormonal or what. But either way, it starts out with the champaca over red sandalwood, and then it develops into either mostly vanilla or mostly oud. The vanilla note here is not polite foody vanilla like, say, Mini Magdalene--this is husky and syrupy and smoky and in-your-face, the vanilla that's in Black Cherry Love. The oud, which I'm finally able to identify because it's the thing that's in both this and Angel of Death that isn't sandalwood, apparently likes to smell like ambergris on me in both blends. And whether I'm having a Vanilla Day or an Oud Day, I can smell lovely incensey myrrh beneath it all. This is dead sexy and I need more of it. And it will console me for the rarity of Angel of Death because I actually like this even better.

Any possibility it's Devil's Claw instead? Huh! That does sound closer. It looks like it's discon, but maybe an imp was still lurking somewhere...When I get back home, I'll double check the label, but it could be a mislabeling anyway. ETA: It does say Dragon's. But you may still be right and it might be mislabeled Devil's. That sounds more like what I have.

Does anyone have a weird Dragon's Claw? I swear it's got about a gallon of vetiver in it, but that's not a listed note and nobody else mentions it in their review either. I'm wondering if it's a mislabeled something else.

There's no vetiver in this? I seriously get so much vetiver. So much. It starts out pretty much all vetiver, then for a moment I think I can smell a light floral peeping out, then back to vetiver, the vetiver starts to smell like either leather or petrochemicals (yes, I probably sound weird), then finally sandalwood comes out, and a while after that, the dragon's blood. At around the 1.5 hour mark is when it really comes together, vetiver and sandalwood and dragon's blood. It's quite nice at that point But it spends too long in the petrochemicals stage; I don't want to wait that out every time I want the final result, so this is a miss on me. But it sounds like it may be a weird batch variation, or maybe a mislabeled Dragon's Hide or something? ETA: New theory: I may have a mislabeled Devil's Claw. In any case, my review appears to not be representative, so take it with the requisite salt.

I can't really pick out plum here but mostly get what smells like grape--bright, purple, juicy grape. For the first few minutes it's grape bubble gum, then calms down into the juicy grapey scent. It's not the wine note of Lilith or Cairo; it's more a grape note, like the one in Purple Phoenix. There's something a little smoky that emerges as it dries down too. I feel like it needs one more thing--and I don't know what--to make it a huge favorite of mine, but it's pretty and fun and juicy, and will get its share of wear.

Fairy Thorn, Titania, Dormouse, La Belle Au Bois Dormant, The Unicorn (discon), and definitely give Snow White a whirl when Yule rolls back around or if you can get a decant.

Dammit, the last thing I needed was to fall in love with Angel of Death! But this is beautiful. My Plagues decanter was kind enough to include a sniffie of this, and with creative use of a toothpick, I was able to get enough for a skin test (and hopefully can eke one more wear out too). For the first hour or so, I get a beautiful golden incense scent in the throw, while the skin scent is wood and something chemical-y, like a furniture polish. But when it's fully dry and settled, all is amazing, all is perfect. It reminds me of what I think is the lab's ambergris note (though I can't say I'm vastly familiar with it) layered over rich wood. Gender neutral. Strange but compelling.

I really really wanted to like this one, as a lover of rose and incense, but it's going wonky on me! Not even consistently wonky, but phasing in and out of wonkiness. I get mostly rose amber, frankincense, wood, and something lemony (possibly also the frankincense?), and it switches back and forth between being lovely rosy incense and...bug repellent. It reminds me of Off! or something. And then it'll phase back to pretty again. And then bug repellent again. Gah. Maybe I'll try aging it a bit.

Tested this last night. My first sniff on skin, I thought "Yeah! I can wear this!" Obviously, that's hasty, so I stayed with it through the evening to see if it morphed, but it didn't really. Not necessarily a great love, but a scent that was instantly comfortable and comforting to me, and nostalgic for something I can't put my finger on. I never would have tried this based on the description, but I really like it. My home computer is down, so I was testing without recourse to the internet, and I would have told you Yorick smelled of a subdued rose, a light musk, and dirt. One out of three ain't bad? I guess my sniffer is off, but I like the scent.

Initial scent from this is primarily vetiver. Early on, I also thought there was patchouli in here, but patchouli is long-lasting on me and this note disappears, so I don't think it's patchouli. Something kind of herbal and headshoppy, anyway. There is also a golden, incensey, kind of sweet note that I think is frankincense but may also be amber. It's not a super perfumey/"nice" scent but I also don't seem to amp it much; it stays close to the skin and is subtle. I've used it twice. Once was in a combination with other oils (Jupiter and Steady Work) in a long-term working to save my job from possibly being cut by the state government. This is still up in the air and I won't know the results for some time, but I can report that the cuts are under heavy debate and opposition, and getting thoroughly dragged out over many months. Then i wore it for my annual review and got a great review!

Somebody compared The White Witch to it--it's an LE from last year, but I don't think it's rare. Might be worth a shot. I've never tried Crypt Queen, but I do love my Witch.

I purchased this from the BPAL Etsy site. So I tested a virgin, but aged, bottle. Symmakhia starts out wine/rose dominant and smells like Lilith's innocent little sister, but once it stabilizes at about the one-hour mark, the vanilla and I think the heliotrope team up to make a rather white-chocolatey note. I end up with white chocolate, a little wine, and a little rose. Very sweet and romantic! It teeters on the edge of being foodier than I like, but doesn't cross the line, and is really pretty. I don't get any pear; I'm not sure if my skin's eating it of if it's blending into the wine or if it's simply aged out. In any case, I'm glad I took a chance on this! I like it.

No description listed at the Twilight Alchemy Lab website This works. Oh, it works. Like, say, if you've sent a package and it seems to be lost in limbo somewhere and just.won't.get.there. Thank you so so much, Twilight Alchemy Lab. The scent is, I think, lemon and lavender and maybe a bit of cinnamon. ETA: I continue to be impressed with this oil. As befits Mercury Himself, it gives results super-fast. For example, last night, I was getting ready to do a communication spell to get someone to call me. I hadn't even started the spell yet--I had the oil on my fingers and was getting ready to anoint the candle when my phone went off. I then got a second call from a different person shortly thereafter--not the one I'd had in mind, but that call also met the parameters of the spell in a way. So I got an instant result and then a bonus result about 30 minutes later.

Probably Lily the Prostitute from the Pretty Deadly series! http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/pretty-deadly/lily-prostitute/

This starts out almost wholly gardenia, and then morphs into a mixture of gardenia and a faintish heliotrope, and then finally dries down to mostly heliotrope (which on me is almost foody). I do like heliotrope a lot, but it's not very strong here even when it's the last note left, and overall the whole thing just doesn't seem to hang together on me. I may give it another test sometime, but at first test it seems like some notes that are fine by themselves but aren't really melding.

Chuparosa is pretty faint on my skin, but I get rose and I think a bit of honeysuckle, though I don't know if I'd have correctly identified the honeysuckle if others hadn't mentioned it. Briefly, it has sort of an overripe quality to it, but settles down to a nice (and still faint) rose scent. It specifically smells a lot like a rose-scented glass-encased candle I have on my altar. There are some beautiful prayers and invocations online that can be used with Chuparosa oil. This is too faint on me for perfume purposes, but I plan to use it on candles and such.

Narcisse Noir sounds like Hunger. You'd want it aged to get the smoky incense effect. Thank-you! I'll be keeping an eye out for that then- hum! If anyone else has any ideas too, I'd be happy to hear them! Hunger was my first thought too!

Fae starts out smelling like anise, for some reason, and like a fruit I can't identify at this stage. Eventually I pick up a little citrus, probably the bergamot, alongside the anise. I think the anise note might actually be the oakmoss, because as it fades, I start smelling greenery. Peach comes in a little after that, and for a while there's this weird thing where something smells a little burnt or toasted. This may also be a morph of the oakmoss, since by the time I smell the burnt note, the greenery is gone. Peach outlasts all the other notes (I still smelled it the next morning) and it's a really nice peach note. But the other notes (or maybe just the oakmoss) go kind of weird on me, and so I think I'll stick with Mare Nectaris for my peach needs, much as I love the fae.

I think I expected Blood Kiss to either be dragon's blood or to be like Midnight Kiss, which did weird things on my body chemistry. It's neither. What it is is an awesome scent that makes me wish I still went clubbing ever. This is gloriously decadent and goth. Initially, I get mostly vetiver with a little bit of red fruit around the edges that i can't really identify at that stage. Eventually I'm able to pick out BPAL's red wine note as it becomes more prominent, and another red fruit that I think must be the cherry. It stays mostly smoky vetiver/cherry/wine for a few hours and then shifts to smoky vanilla/honey/red incense (reminds me of something in Midnight Mass). It's one of those that tells a whole story in my head--it's sultry for when you're out dancing, and then morphs into a soothing scent for when you get home and crash! Anyway, it's gorgeous, and I'm so glad I started giving vetiver blends a chance. They don't all work, but when they do, mmm. This may be a bottle, and if it's not, then it's only because I rarely go clubbing anymore. This might be a little much for tamer settings.

This is one of those old-school BPAL florals that does just what it says on the tin. I get rose first, then lavender, then it settles down to mostly what I think is wisteria, and it's really lush and pretty, kind of orchidy maybe? The white musk makes it a little soapy. I don't get any of the white sandalwood, which is fine by me. It suits the concept well, and I'll probably keep it because of the poem, plus I need a few melancholy scents (I'm still bummed I gave away Penthus).

This starts out incensey red musk with one of the notes registering as a red fruit initially (not sure if this is a quirk of the red musk, or maybe of myrrh, which is sometimes raisiny on me in the early stages). Then I get a subtle little kick of smoky leather; the fruitiness fades, and it's incensey musk with a bit of leather and it's glorious. Sexy as hell. Unfortunately, it turns into almost a Red Musk SN, with only hints of the incense and no more leather. I've been amping the hell out of red musk for a few years, and with the exception of a few miracle blends, it's getting to be like the jasmine phenomenon: it's a note I like, but that I amp enough to drown out the differences between blends. I'm keeping my decant, because I love the early stages and don't mind the red musk drydown, but I think I'm going to scale back on buying red musk blends until I make more of a dent in what I have.

Mother Shub's Stygian Nougat! (I actually use Midnight Mass a lot for this too, but that's more idiosyncratic and less "traditional sleep ingredients.")

Burial, Yggdrasil

Maybe Nyx? Similar notes... . Perhaps Depraved or Ravenous? They smell similar. You may have to layer to get the clove... Ravenous is orange blossom and patchouli. I find the strong patchouli in ddepraved muddies the apricot. I like the brightness of March hare's apricot, unfortuneateely. They were kind suggestions. I think some people compared Aristocratic Couple to March Hare (personally, have never smelled either). It's LE and not up anymore, but recent enough i bet a lot of people have it.