splendidissima

I would never have picked this up based on the notes (pine? cedar? tomato leaf?) but I am so glad it turned up with my order. The Jersey Devil must love berries, because that's the dominant note here: juicy, tart-sweet cranberries and blackberries, bursting all over the place. There's a dark green note in the back that is somehow also juicy--the tomato leaf? (I have no idea what tomato leaf smells like on its own, but if that's it, sign me up for a veggie garden.) The woods are very distant on me after dry-down, and much more pine than cedar--I can see the hint of Christmas-ness, but very faint. It's like the anticipation of the holidays, rather than the holidays themselves. But still mostly berries. (Color-wise: dark berry wine with dark green touches.) Me: what do you think of this one? Fiance: *sniff* pause *sniff* ...I don't know. I'm confused.

Sweet cinnamon pumpkin! Like a concentrated version of the Bath & Body Works Cinnamon Pumpkin body spray (which I do like, but still, one can have too much). No blackberry at all, and maybe just a hint of extra sweetness from the candyfloss--but not blue at all, as it's defeated by the cinnamon. Sadness. While I certainly don't mind pumpkin, I was hoping that this would be more special. but it did just arrive, so I'll retest in a few days and see.

The Lab has been sending me rose frimps in my last few orders. Subliminal suggestion, perhaps? This is almost single-note, pure red rose on me, with just a little touch of green at the back after it dries. Throw is really strong, but that tends to happen to me with rose scents. I like it okay, and will probably wear it for, say, job interviews or teaching or department meetings or things of that nature, but probably don't need more than the imp--though I love the fairy tale.

Wet: wow, sweet. Someone said Pez, above--that's totally what it is. The sugar note reminds me of High-Strung Daisies as well, but this has a fruit backing instead of floral. Dry: ah, there's the tea and musk. Sweet pear, lime sugar, tea, and musk, in that order--just enough of the latter to cut the sweetness to bearable levels. Okay, I do like this. No carnation at all, which is good, because it does Bad Things on me. This is a light green, fluttery, early-summer kind of scent. Verdict: glad I found a bottle! it's absolutely worth it, after the initial blast of sweetness.

In order of strength: amber, pumpkin, ginger, brown sugar/caramel, mango. Not bad, and I do like pumpkin in general, but really similar to one of the other pumpkins I've tried...Pumpkin Queen? something else? It's nice, but not sure it's different enough from my other pumpkins to warrant a bottle.

Sweet, pink, juicy, girly, cheerfulness! Sweet pea plus many sugared fruits; kind of floral/fruity in the same way as Titania, but more...pink, and less ethereal. It's not something I would normally want a bottle of, but...maybe I do, since I don't have anything else like it at the moment, and it'll be a great spring/summer scent.

This is really interesting, and pretty true to the description. I do like coconut, but sometimes (Spooky, for example) it gets a little close to suntan lotion on me. Paper Kite, however, stays a nice mellow coconut cream, with a little spike from the black pepper (I like pepper notes, and they reciprocate) that keeps it from being TOO mellow. I am happy with my bottle. Fiance verdict: "Too foody. Meh." (but he's not a big coconut fan anyway...)

Wow, I haven't reviewed stuff for ages! We'll start here, because I like this one. On me, this is almost all sweet raspberry and apricot, which is great. The white chocolate (which does remind me of the one from Sugared Violets, which is always more milk than white on me) gives it a candy-sweetness, but a deeper kind of sweetness than the sugar notes. Hardly any alcohol in this truffle, which is okay with me!

Pineapple, custard, buttery toffee. Sweet & heavy. I like it okay, and will wear it on cold winter days when I want to feel warm and cozy and sweet, but probably don't need more than the imp, because it is such a foody, dense scent.

Rose-infused dark amber, with sweet orange, honey, cardamom, patchouli, apricot, pink pepper, and red sandalwood. This is probably one of the more unusual scents I've tried... Wet, it's a delicious orange-honey-slightly-rose scent, more fruity than floral. Dry, it becomes more balanced between fruit-floral-something unidentifiable...actually, there's something in here that reminds me of Schrodinger's Cat. Almost citrus-soapy, but not quite. Huh. No patchouli or sandalwood, really, unless that's contributing to the unidentifiable vaguely Irish Spring edge. Then, as someone upthread mentioned, it disappears almost entirely, to the point where I couldn't even find it on my arm. Then it comes back, phoenix-style, and is now a sweet, resiny, slightly powdery (darn amber), slightly spicy rose. Interesting. I'm not normally a huge rose fan, but this is pretty. Overall, while not my absolute favorite (I prefer more fruit than floral), this is interesting, surprisingly light, kind of a mature (not old-lady, just competent and professional) rose. I'll wear it for job interviews or academic conferences and such. Boyfriend verdict: "Meh. Too floral."

Spooky Resurrected, 2009: over an hour's time, this was the sequence: sunblock, sunblock, sunblock and mint, sunblock and more mint....delicious mint cookies! Like the candy cane cookies with peppermint extract that my family makes. I am not sure how I feel about this scent. It ends up in a lovely place, but it goes through some less-than-lovely ways of getting there...

This was lovely in the imp and on me for about 30 seconds, sweet and spicy, and then...baby powder. Pleasant, sweet baby powder, but still. Not for me.

Got to test sprocket21's decant at our holiday party, which was great, as I was wanting to try this one. I'm usually quite fond of fruit scents and sweet scents, so I figured I'd probably like it. I liked it for about two seconds, and then the booze ate the jelly and poured itself all over everything else on that wrist. Way deep down, I get wafts of a lovely red currant juicy fruit, but the port part was just too strong on me. Tragic.

Very similar to Fearful Pleasure, but creamier, where FP is a little sharper and smokier. Lambs-Wool walks the edge of air-freshener/candle territory on me (that was the boyfriend's verdict, too) but I've realized that either it's just on the yummy side of that edge, or it's just so good that I don't care. I'm using this up faster than any other 'Weenie decant, and I think I'm just finding reasons to keep sniffing it ("does it really smell like air freshener?...no, I love it!...oh, wait, it does a little...no, I must have more!"). At this rate I'll have to give in and buy a bottle. Overall: sweet apples with a creamy edge, and a heck of a lot of spice--cinnamon and nutmeg at the front.

Well, this is just all kinds of awesome. I am so glad I have a bottle. In aforementioned bottle: green apples! caramel! a touch of sharpness from the coconut rum! this smells like Halloween to me: candy, bobbing for apples, fall sweetness and crunch. Wet: same as the bottle. Oh Creepy how I love you. Dry: more butterscotch coming out, less rum. Green apples drenched in warm butterscotch and caramel. (The caramel/butterscotch is definitely warm and melty here.) Not really getting the coconut rum anymore, so it feels a little less sharp and a little more cozy. Mmm. Throw: fairly strong, and it lasts for a long time--I kept catching random whiffs of it all day, and it made me smile.

In the bottle: holy sweet corn, Batman. Real corn, too. Like...like creamed corn with sugar. Wow. Wet: more sugar, less corn. Probably a good thing, because while the corn smell is certainly unique, I don't know that I'd want to walk around smelling like it. Dry: snickerdoodles? Yup. Another vote for the cookie camp. Maple syrup, cinnamon, sugar, and spice. (The boyfriend response: "maple sugar oatmeal cookies?!" followed by "...you shouldn't wear this, unless you're making cookies, because that's just mean.")

Initially, pumpkin with mango and brown sugar. Pretty, though I was hoping for a brighter scent. Dry, I can see why people are getting maple syrup/pancake associations. Usually fruit and pumpkin are good notes on me; perhaps it's some combination of the myrrh and coconut that's giving it the maple-y scent. The boyfriend verdict: "Maple and brown sugar....hey! you smell like Life cereal!" I'm not sure I personally mind the brown-sugar aspect, but now that I'm thinking that I smell like cereal, I may have to wear this when the boyfriend is not around, or try it in the oil burner to see if I can find more fruitiness.

Hmm...I have to agree with the person who mentioned the feel of Huesos de Santos--some combination of the cake + incense, perhaps. But no orange here, though perhaps some extra nuttiness. It's very foody and quite interesting, but I already have a bottle of Huesos, which I slightly prefer. Throw is strong at first, but fades fast on me.

First application: Light, sweet, vanilla cream. Two hours later: This has colonized everything else on that arm! (I was also testing one of the Pumpkins and Pomona today). My entire arm, however, now smells like sweet cream. If you like sweet, sugar-cream scents, you will love and adore this. I will probably use up this imp, but not sure if I want an entire bottle of sweet cream... Lots of throw and very long-lasting, too!

I tested this at a meet n' sniff without knowing the notes, and my first reaction was, "gingery pumpkin! delicious!" I would never in a million years have guessed that this was a woods-and-ivy pumpkin scent, and I'm glad I tried it without knowing, because that's not the kind of thing I'd normally pick up. On me, it's almost all that ginger-pumpkin scent, almost sparkly (yes, really! I don't know what my skin is doing here...). After about an hour, I do catch a hint of something cool and green in the background, which I'm guessing, now that I've figured out the notes, is the ivy. But it's still mostly a bright ginger-pumpkin on me, with the ivy keeping it just on the right side of candy-sweetness. Just amazing, and wonderfully evocative of Halloween fun--pumpkin-picking, autumn air, and scurrying past that creepy-looking and possibly haunted house at the end of the block...

On first application, floral-fruit, light and slightly sweet and pretty. After a while, though, the fruit fades out, and I'm left with a honey-musk scent, with just a touch of floral, probably rose, and if I sniff really hard, a whisper of peach. I want to like this, but I'm not sure I like the final stage as much as I hoped to.

Apple cider! With spices! Very similar to Punkie Night on me, actually, but with an added smoky-woodsy quality that makes me think of Halloween and fall nights. I don't really get the orange peel note from this (too bad; I like orange notes), but this is a great cider scent regardless. Throw is very strong, too; it overwhelmed the other scents I had been testing. Very nice!

Apples, cranberries, and bright spiced cider! Very warm and fairly tart. I really like this, but it's definitely a cold-weather scent, and it's very strong on me, so I have to apply sparingly. Very similar to Fearful Pleasure, minus a touch of smoke and plus the tartness of the cranberries.

Sharp, tart blueberries--the gin is definitely there, giving it a hint of juniper, but the whole thing is melding pretty well. Lots of throw. I wish there were a few more blueberries and a touch less gin--then I would absolutely love it. Makes a good summer scent, though--bright and fizzy. The boyfriend: "Smells like...potpourri. Or Christmas. And pine cones."

Overall, creamy pumpkin spice cake in a bottle. Oddly, this scent morphs a lot on me--maybe that's because it just arrived in the mail and needs time to settle down, but in one sniff the caramel will pop out and yell "Sugar!!" at me, in the next sniff the pumpkin will be stronger, and then it'll send me a waft of creaminess, just to make sure I haven't forgotten that there's cream in here. I don't especially mind smelling all the notes--my arm smells wonderfully foody and I want to bake something before I try to drink the bottle--but perhaps they'll blend better after it sits for a while. The one note I have not noticed (so far--it could be lying in wait for my next sniff) is the pomegranate, which makes me a little sad because I like pomegranate, but then again I'm not quite sure how it'll work in this creamy-spicy mix anyway. This is a very sweet, foody, and cozy scent, with a hint of autumn from the pumpkin spice--will be perfect when fall weather starts.