thekittenkat

In the decant: Lots of bay and balsam. Wet: Bay, balsam, and brown musk. The dry-down: This scent stays true to itself and does not change much throughout. The balsam does slowly soften the bay and this allows all the notes to blend together. This is nice but too masculine for me. It might be lovely on the bf, so I will have him try it. What I did find interesting about this oil was that the amber did not go too powdery and the brown musk didn't become too sharp.

In the decant: Effervescent red musk and red pepper! Wet: Much the same! The dry-down: This scent really doesn't morph. There's a little hint of citrus scents, but that's the only additional set of notes that I can pick up. Red musk often amps on me, and Lord Teishin is a good example of this. I tried Lord Teishin, hoping for lots of lovely tangerine, since it's not a note that the Lab uses often, and I always have to try any scent with tangerine, but alas, Lord Teishin is not for me.

In the decant: Coconut and Asian pear. Wet: The pear calmed down. The dry-down: There's still coconut, but it's rather light and mild. The angelica and tiare are now present. And perhaps a hint of the peppery carnation. This is a real morpher. I think that I'll keep the decant and wear it in my scent locket when I want a nice light coconut scent. Otherwise, I'll wear Tiki Princess or Snow White. Might look for a partial, as it is a nice scent. ETA: After posting my other reviews, I see now that this is my favourite of the set, so I may have to actually order a bottle. It took a while, but the pear and coconut kept the other notes in check.

In the decant: Vanilla bean and vanilla orchid! Lovely. Wet: Mostly vanilla bean at this point. The dry-down: The vanilla orchid has made a comeback, and there's perhaps a hint of saffron. If I'm lucky the orris root will stay far away. This is not a foodie vanilla, but more of a floral vanilla. A little sweet, a little dry, certainly an elegant scent.

In the decant: Yup, there's that smokey musk and tobacco leaf. Yum. Wet: Smokey honey musk and lavender. The dry-down: The smokey honey musk is still present, and also the tobacco leaf. Alas, the orris root has come on strongly. There's also hints of hay, rose, and vanilla, but that dratted orris is just ruining this, and the amber is going all to powder, too. I wanted to adore this because of the smokey honey musk, a note that I love.

Note: I had to spend some time rubbing the decant back and forth in my palms, gently of course, because there was something all clumped up in there. Not really sure what that could be. In the decant: Mostly sandalwood and muguet. Wet: Same as when sniffed, but with hints of juniper and sage. The dry-down: I think that it's the musk in this that I don't like; although I should admit that I used to love muguet (lily of the valley), but instead of taking a few hours to become brown and sharp (a rather rank brown musk would be the best way I could describe it), it nowadays does that almost right away. At WC we tried the prototype, well by sniffing, and hardly anyone present that night could stand to test it. I don't think that this changed very much in the process. I'm going to have to wash this off. Pity, as I liked so many of the notes.

In the decant: Pom and ylang ylang, backed by the iris and lily, and deepened by the blackcurrant. Wet: Like what I sniffed in the decant, but a tad lighter in feeling. The dry-down: This really doesn't morph from beginning to end. I'm not really a fan of lily and iris. The red amber doesn't go all powdery, and the blackcurrant doesn't overwhelm, which I do appreciate. I like it just fine, but the decant will be enough for now. I was hoping that the pom and ylang ylang would be more obvious, as those are fave scent notes of mine.

In the decant: A very well-blended scent. Wet: The red carnation, heather, clove, and red plum are coming out to play. The dry-down: Pom with hints of patchouli and moss. And sprinkles of the carnation in its peppery form overall. I was a bit surprised by this, as I expected it to be stronger and richer on me; but instead it is somewhat light. Might trying combining this with a red musk and old leathr scent to see what happens.

In the GC imp: All those yummy fruit in sections and slightly squeezed for the pop of the scent and the drizzle of the juice. Wet: The mandarin orange is now the most predominant note. The dry-down: All the fruit sections have meddled into a glorious semi-tropical scent. The rum is so faint as to be almost not present. This is probably my second fave of the GC lounge. I plan to order a bottle.

In the GC imp: Rum and brandy splashed over the fruit sections. Wet: Fruity liquor--what more could you ask for? The dry-down: Rather much the same as when wet. I get subtle hints of all the fruit, with the rum, liquor, and brandy splashed over them and filling up the glass. There might be a hint of ginger. I'll have to test the LE (which I reviewed further up the thread) and this GC side-by-side at some point, but I think there's a bit of a difference, but not too much. Aging may have indeed made a difference.

In the GC imp: The almond syrup dominates the sweet fruit, as I was afraid of. Wet: And the almond syrup is amping, alas. The dry-down: The peach and pineapple arrived at the party a bit late. The bf found the fruit scents to be rather powerful. There's something a bit powdery, could be the almond. Jury is still out on this one. I'd really like a good mostly peach scent.

Note: I adore the Lab's blueberry note, but am not usually a fan of lemongrass as a perfume scent. In the GC imp: The fruits have gin drizzled all over them, with some lemongrass sneaking up on the glass. Wet: Lots of throw! Close up, there's gin. With my arm further away, mostly papaya and some blueberry. The dry-down: I'm getting some of that lovely blueberry note from Blue Phoenix, and the papaya has calmed down. The lemongrass doesn't ruin the scent, thank goodness, but adds a bit of freshness. What most obvious is the gin, but is mellowed by the fruity sweetness. I could see myself sitting at a pool-side bar at night, sipping on a Blue Fire cocktail and enjoying mellow conversation in the moonlight.

In the imp: All the fruits have been sliced or cut up and placed in a glass of gin'n'tonic. Wet: Mostly guava now in that drink. The dry-down: Something powdery now, perhaps the tonic? It's like the way amber goes to powder on me quite often. Disappointed by the lack of tangerine or passion fruit once I put this on my skin. What's left in the imp will be a locket scent for the future. ETA: this was a Lab imp from the GC.

In the imp: Getting a hint of all the notes--certainly boozey. Wet: Lots of mint, but with a sweet kick from the raspberry and the mango. The dry-down: As this dries, the raspberry liquor becomes more obvious. The mint is still there, but mostly lurking underneath to keep this from being too fruity and too sweet. The cranberry should be tart and doing the same thing, but I think it's been somewhat smothered by the mango. Not a whole lot of gin/juniper is ever present. As a cocktail, this would make my mouth pucker up a bit. And not so boozey now.

In the decant: Mint, lemon, and absinthe. Wet: Lots of lemon! The dry-down: The bourbon vanilla and white chocolate come out to play, but there's still a lot of mint, lemon, and that hint of absinthe. I like this mostly because of the lovely white chocolate and bourbon vanilla notes, but not sure that I really need more than my decant.

In the decant: It's that sharp chemical leather note, which I don't like, but I will press on. Wet: Less leather, and more of the lemon candy, backed with a little mud. The dry-down: In the end, this is mostly that sharp chemical leather note, with a hit of mud and grass.

In the decant: The blueberry marshmallow cream is the more obvious note, but the lemon meringue and pie crust come through as well. This smells wonderful at the moment. Wet: The lemon meringue is busting out all over; I was afraid of this. The dry-down: Ah, the blueberry marshmallow cream came back. But the lemon is keeping this from being as sweet as it was in the decant. Also, there's just a hint of the hemlock lurking in the background. The blueberry marshmallow is a bit like someone mixed Blue Phoenix and Marshmallow Poof together, so I might try that idea so as to escape the lemon note. If you like both the fruit notes, and both the sweet notes, this is one not to be missed.

*makes a list*

There's two Cold Moons, also. The original is from 2004, and the other is from 2010. From what I remember, the notes are the same, but they were slightly different to my nose. Of course, this may have had to do with aging of the 2004 version.

This is a Yule LE, but most past versions of Rose Red turn into the florist's shop scent on me. 2010 actually was a light rose scent on my acidic skin, but certainly 2008 was the green stems in cold water scent on me. I can't remember about previous years exactly, but I'm rather sure that they did the same thing, esp. 2005. Best bet would be to see if you can track down some decants of previous years and see what you think. Good luck! Here's the review thread for Rose Red: http://www.bpal.org/topic/54-rose-red/

The room spray is somewhat different to the perfume oil. Lovely as the perfume is, I'm glad that the spray is a little different, at least to my nose. What I get is the tobacco and the coconut in a rich combination of pipe tobacco and dried coconut husks. All this is tinted with the caramel and currant to give the scent a bit of sweetness, and the spices only deepen the richness. For me, this will be a lovely spray in the autumn; it just has that depth and richness that I associate with autumn scents.

In the imp: A manly scent, with all the notes swirling about. Wet: Lemon peel, lavender, and bergamot are front and center. The dry-down: Now the soft leather scent has appeared; it's the old, smooth leather note that I adore. The tonka is making itself present as a rather subtle sweet note that is helping to round out the scent. The patch is not overwhelming at all, just expressing itself as manly spices. The amber is giving off a bit of that powdery thing that it often does on my acidic skin. If the anise is present, I'm not really detecting it. The florals did calm down, and the brightness of the lemon peel zest was also subdued. I can see this as a springtime scent for males or females. If Casanova smelled like this, it's no wonderful that he had very little trouble with the art of seduction. (Also, looking like David Tennant in the BBC production from a few years back wouldn't hurt, either. )

In the bottle: Carnation (a bit peppery), some phlox, the tuberose (a bit like gardenia). Wet: The carnation calms down and the phlox amps a bit. The skin musk is keeping the others grounded. The dry-down: After a while, the florals all combine into a bouquet of gentle loveliness, but with the creamy base of the skin musk keeping the flowers from becoming too sharp, too high, too bright, and piercing. I can see this becoming a sleep scent, but also I'll be reaching for it this spring when I want to wear scent, but not the rich foodie or fruity scents that I often prefer.

In the decant: Boozy vanilla bourbon. A bit sharp and bright. Wet: Not much different on the skin than from sniffing the imp. Maybe some spices deep in the blend. The dry-down: An hour late, it's calming down, but slowly. Three hours or so later, this has changed into an elegant vanilla musk, but not foodie at all. There's also hints of some resins, a bit of powdery amber, and those spices, and perhaps some sandalwood. I'm not getting any ginger, and if there is cocoa, it's the baking cocoa powder, very dry. Not at all sugary sweet. I like the long-term dry down phase, but it does take a while to get to this point, alas. Would I bid for a bottle on ebay? That's a very good question, but probably not. A full decant might be nice, though. ETA: I have sadly forgotten the name of the wonderful person who sent me a tester, but I do want to thank them muchly for allowing the chance to test this.

In the decant: Peach blossom and red currant. Wet: There's the peach, but also something slightly sour and bitter, probably the rose geranium. The dry-down: And now a whiff of gardenia. I do like the peach notes present in this blend. I liked the idea of all the notes except the geranium, and the later has indeed ruined this scent for me. It would have been superb without it.