emzebel

A fruity floral, very blossomy - the peach blossom is by far the strongest note in this for me. I get very little musk, and almost no rose or lily...alas, fruit blossom perfumes, while pretty, just don't really sing on my skin.

Purple. Purplepurplepurple.

Seriously. This is what purple *smells* like. Purple fruit, purple flowers, purple liquor...I don't know how she does it, Beth has done it again...

Another question regarding LEs, specifically those that appear every year. Are the yearlies like Samhain and Devil's Night the same formulas every year, or are they modified and changed to make each year's blend individual?

 

The blends are similar, but not identical from year to year- each year has a new formulation. You can see the differences by reading the different year's reviews in the "reviews" section of the forum.

 

Strictly speaking, I believe that blends such as Samhain and Devil's Night, or say, Jacob's Latter and Stardust from Yultides, are made from year to year from the same formulations - differences that we see are essentially batch differences that come from the fact that the Lab uses all natural oils and periodically may have to change suppliers. So the components may change slightly, but the formula (i.e., 1 part X to 2 parts Y doesn't change). That's why these blends are all listed in the same review threads in that part of the forum.

Sometimes blends that keep the same name are reformulated, in that the actual recipe for the blend changes, in which case the description will change, for example, Hearth 2004 vs. Hearth 2005 or the various Harvest Moons, or Beltanes, and new review sections will be set up.

Wow, this is really beautiful - a red sensuous scent, rich and juicy. This is a very visual scent to me - I get ripe juicy red fruit, with the juicy dripping over tonka maybe? There is a lush creamyness to this that is not quite vanilla or chocolate or almond on my skin, and probably the barest hint of Dragon's Blood.

Absolutely wonderful.

I had expceted to like Dracul, both as a me scent and as a scent for my husband - he found it to sweet and floral (he amped the orange blossom something fierce). As for me, although I like almost all of the individual notes in this blend, they do not come together into something that I love. Ah well.

This is a really beautiful, fresh white floral - very evocative of a clear puddle, tinged with grassy meadow flowers and a touch of light fruit. This is not something that I would wear regularly, but definitely a beauty.

First on, Mum Moon is exactly what I was hoping for - a deep rich floriental scent, with a heavy shot of spicy purple and red fruits. This is Mme. Moriarty with more juice, absoute sensuous and lusious.

Unfortunately, a few hours later and it is gone. Completely and utterly gone. Evidently this is going to have to be a roller bottle slathering scent for me, because I am not about to admit that it is absorbed into my skin on contact. It is so lovely...

So, how is it that I've not reviewed this one? Anyway, this is a very fresh, light green sort of scent, perfectly reminscent of new spring growth. Not an everyday scent, to be sure, but definitely something fun to have around.

This is based on 2004 and 2005. I've not tried the 2006 version.

Very floral incense. I like incense blends, but this has too much of a heavy floral note to make it friendly to my chemistry - I prefer a spicy or foody hint, which I can get with Midnight Mass and All Souls respectively.

Very very sweet - sweet booze, sweet berries, sweet cake, sweet icing. While I really wanted to love this, it is just too much sugar for me and makes my teeth itch.

Wow, I cannot believe I haven't reviewed this, as I try it again whenever I find anyone who has an imp of it... Decadence is one of my most coveted unreleased scents...it is the sweet candy scent to cherries and almonds and candied citrus - absolutely decadent and delightful. Please Beth, won't you release this someday?

Odd...evidently I never reviewed this last year, so let's do a side by side comparison of the 2005 and 2006 versions of Herr Dross...

Both are heavy on the pipe tobacco with the leather and woods more of a secondary note. But to my nose, at least, Herr has changed brands over the year. The 2005 version is smoky and dark and heavily masculine - the leather and woods are heavier and there is more of a smoke scent.

This year, Herr is smoking a cherry blend - it is yummy and sweet and quite delightful - a much warmer, kinder, festive blend.

Wow, this is another amazing Yuletide offering - there is nothing fresh and snowy about this Winter - this is dark and spicy and there is a hint of a smouldering fire. I can definitely smell the nutmeg and the woody notes and the mandarin is the perfect counterpoint to keep The Winter of Our Discontent from being so heavy and dark that it would be overwhelmingly masculine. I love this blend - it is one of the ones I was most looking forward to and it does not disappoint. I love you Beth!

Dusty, powdery florals - perfectly evocative of a preserved wedding bouquet. Not so much my thing, though.

I have tried the '04 and '05 versions of this and they are both wonderfully sweet plummy celebrations of yuletide joy. Not something I would wear much outside of the Holidays, but very bright encapsulations of holiday sweetness.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't reviewed this...

Hex is one of those scents that I can almost not describe, it is so amazingly wonderful on me. It is smoky, woody, sweet incense...the warm scent of a dark awakening. I have just an imp of it and it is something I'm almost afraid to wear, since I know I can never get more. But it is so wonderful, I want to slather the whole thing in a Hexennacht baccanal.

So, wow...I realized last year with Midnight Mass that I can actually wear incense scents. Not all of them mind you, but the sweeter, non-florally ones.

So I was sooooooo happy to see All Souls this year - because incense and soul cakes - how can you go wrong? This was easily the Weener blend that I was most excited about and it does not disappoint. On first whiff it is all church incense, then the dry currenty cakes come out - not rich creamy Monster Bait kind of cakes - these are offrenda. Someone above described the scent as "current scone" and that is very apt, imo.

I absolutely loved spelling this on my wrists all day long - it was a soft sweetness and very comforting and warm. Just delightful.

I finally really wore this on Thanksgiving and trying this without rereading the description, I throught to myself, pumpkin pie and cider. I also throught to myself -

But really, this is not a "foody" pumpkin scent - the Queen is sophistocated and spicy and that shot of what I guess is citrus, not cider, really lightens her up from the heavyness of some pumpkin blends which tend to go a little off on my skin.

I really love this for the autumn holidays. Thanks Beth!!!

I have only sniffed this so far, having purchased it to aid in work with exploration with the Loas, and not having really determined how to proceed in that vein. But overall I would say that this is a musky, fruity, spicy, floraly scent - as Reedsong says, basically packed with the scents of the offrenda and essense of the Loas.

Not necessarily the most lovely thing when it is all crammed together, but lovely when allowed to breathe.

Origin - TAL Circular Swap

Dragon's Blood. That is really all that I get from this, with maybe a little bit of floral in the background. But really, it is DB to my nose.

Origin - TAL Circular Swap

Sooo, evidently my nose is weird, because I get a very sweet, almost caramel scent from this. Frankly, this is an oil that I really like for the scent itself. I wish I had more of it to play with to see if it *worked*, but I will have to leave that to others.

Origin - TAL Circular Swap (I'm a little behind in my reviews )

This is a very sharp musky, dark blend, much as others have said. I can see how it could ver a very powerful blend for spell work, but it is certainly not something I would be inclined to use for personal annointment. I think it would be a good centering agent for object annointing, however, at least for me, although I have not used it in that manner.

I knew from sniffing the bottle that this was going to be a chill winter love for me, and I'm not disappointed - this is a scent for everyone who wanted to love Snow White and Skadi but for whom something was just a little...off - there is the chill wet snowy frosty mossy piney scent as the base with absolutely lovely frozen berries (isn't it amazing how frozen berries somehow smell different from fresh ones?) and just enough floral to make things interesting.

I love this. My only regret is that evidently I am going to have to slather like a madwoman, because here it is, not even noon, and she is gone - Gone!

This is a difficult question that really depends on your scent preferences, as most of these are really beautiful scents- not necessarily dark and evil, but more counterpoints to the Sepiroth scents.

So, what notes do you like? What sorts of scents and ideas appeal to you? What Sep's have you tried and liked or not liked?

Personally, I have a bottle of Thagirion, which is an herbal citrusy sort of scent which is remenicent of Ides of March to me. Samael is on my short list as well - a sort of honey musk with dark florals.

Oh wowwowowowowowow. Just wow.

The grapefruit and yuzu in this just sparkle. They are glittering, sparkling totally indescribable things. I really really love this, although I wish that it lasted a little longer...