thekittenkat

In the decant: All the notes are present when sniffed. Wet: The rose, alas, amps immediately. The dry-down: The balsam, vanilla, and honey conspire to tame the rose. Yet another scent that hugs the skin. Some wild woods appear in the distance. One may assume that the nymphs and satyrs (knowing how satyrs behaves, I refuse to believe that there is only one nymph present) have fallen asleep amongst the roses hidden in the woods, after partaking of honey flavoured with vanilla. The balsam is of course what they anointed their bodies with.

In the decant: Frank, musk, amber. Wet: Hints of the patch and the hay now. The dry-down: This continues to be a combination of the five notes already mentioned. The lovely thing is that the amber is not turning to powder; perhaps this it is antiqued, although I am not at all sure what that means. The mint does not play a role that I can discern. The skin musk is perfect for this, as it is indeed a close-to-the-skin scent. If you like Hay Moon, this may be one to try.

In the decant: Musky patch. Wet: Musky patch, now flavoured with tonka, champaca, and gardenia, but only lightly so. The dry-down: This slowly becomes more sweet as time goes on, but not in a fruity or foodie way, so to speak. The chamomile and the massoia bark have also come into the mix, but they mostly serve as a basis for the other notes. This essentially remains a musky patch with some sweetness. I like it, but not sure that I like it enough to get a bottle.

In the decant: A heady bunch of scents! I'm getting whiffs of most everything. Wet: Amber, leather, beeswax, peru balsam & tonka, with faint hints of the spices. The dry-down: Everything that I sniffed once the perfume oil was on my skin has combined into that heady bunch of scents I mentioned earlier. Vanilla-infused amber is a great thing, as it seems to be keeping the amber from going too powdery on me. Also, the ginger, pepper, and myrrh add some spiciness that keeps this scent from being too sweet. I really like how this works on my skin, too, as it seems to be a skin scent, which makes sense.

This is for the 2011 version. In the decant: Caramel and tobacco and currant--yum! Wet: Much as in the decant, but with a hint of spice. The dry-down: The amber and the delphinium showed up, alas, but so did the lovely coconut. I think with aging this version will get better, though. It is what I would call sensual. I could imagine Lauren Bacall wearing this as one of her movie characters, flirtin' and fightin' with Bogie, somewhere in the South Seas in the middle of a mystery.

In the decant: Ginger with cream and honey. Wet: The ginger is amping! The dry-down: Still very gingery, and with just a hint of clove, but the cream and honey are starting to tame the ginger. I think that this is the raw ginger note, as found in Milk Chocolate, Raw Ginger and Butterscotch. Just a gorgeous scent, and no surprise that this is one of the hits of this year's Lupers. At least one bottle is in my future!

In the decant: Musk and sugar. Wet: Musks, some sugar, and perhaps some boozey notes. The dry-down: This doesn't really morph, but it's not for me. I keep trying it every year, and it's okay, but not a "wow-me" scent. I wish it was. This is for the 2011 version, btw.

In the decant: Bright, fruity red smells. Wet: Cherry, but not full-blown ripeness, held in check by red musk and and red rose. The dry-down: Just a lovely and light cherry scent. All the other notes have combined to provide a base for the cherry, is a fresh cherry and not a candied cherry. May have to get a bottle of this.

In the decant: Orange, orange, and more orange! Wet: Orange with mint. The dry-down: The currant, patch, and benzoin finally appear to tame and soften the blood orange. Blood oranges in RL are a fave, but whereas I used to be able to wear citrus scents, now it seems that they don't work on me as well as in the past. I took a chance on this because I thought that the other notes would serve to check the orange note in check. They do to some extent. It's still mostly orange and mint, and nothing more than this decant is needed.

In the decant: Anise and amber, oh dear. Wet: Yay, there's the coconut! And the lovely nut! The dry-down: A lovely hazelnut blend, with the coconut adding some sweetness, and the amber and anise keeping the nut note in check. This is not as intensely SN Hazelnut as Cristina; in fact, it's as though Cristina and Snow White had a love child in the springtime. Upgrading to a bottle!

In the decant: Woods, faint roses, and apples. Wet: Bit more roses, but still with woods and apples. The dry-down: The blending of the notes results in a lovely woody scent that is brightened by the apple note, but somewhat dimmed by the rosy note. I like this, but not sure that I need anymore than the decant.

In the decant: White musk, florals, frank. Wet: The lily is a stronger presence, now. The dry-down: And the notes have slowly combined into a somewhat bright and somewhat heady floral. It's nice, but nothing that I would reach for on a regular basis. I tested this mostly because I like most musks and love frankincense, but wasn't sure how the Nile lily would behave, as I usually have problems with lilies in general. I was pleasantly surprised by this lily. ETA: This is for the 2011 version.

In the decant: Sweet florals. Wet: The jasmine appears out of the mix, but all the other notes are there. The amber is going to powder already. The dry-down: I think the rose is keeping the jasmine in check. This is a lovely floral scent, which would be so much more awesome if it wasn't for the amber.

In the decant: Getting a lot of the anise. Bad sign. Wet: "And now, passing Star Anise on the inside, here comes Lemon Verbana. The rest of the field is trailing by 15 lengths or more." Looks like I bet on the wrong horse. The dry-down: After quite some time, over the course of hours, the anise and verbena settled down, and I got more of the lovely tea (one of my fave teas in real life), sweetened by the honeycomb, but not overly so. It does get a little perfumy as it wears on, though, so not bottle-worthy.

In the decant: Al the notes, except for the tagetes, are present. Wet: The bright and sunny tangerine is just singing! The dry-down: The currant, musk, and honey are now keeping the tangerine in check. But since tangerine is a note rarely used by the Lab, I may have to upgrade to a bottle, if the currant continues to play nice.

In the decant: A very dusty and musky green tea. Wet: The fig warms up the tea and brings it back to life. The dry-down: This gets a little sweeter as it goes along. The myrrh and the nutmeg add a touch of spice, but not too much. I like this, as a tea note is usually good, but don't know if I need more than my decant.

In the decant: Weird soft brightness. The pecan is certainly present. Wet: Now the bergamot and the clove are showing up. The pecan note is not the almost dried-out pecan, but more like if you snapped the pod off the tree, the green pod, and tried to open it to get at the nut inside. Part of my youth was spent living next to a pecan orchard, so I well know all the different scents of the pecan nut and its tree. The dry-down: Getting hints of the lavender and thyme, with the tonka not adding sweetness per se, but more of a rounding out. This is a strange morphing scent. I had to try it because of the pecan. It is interesting, but not really me, as I find that the notes clash somewhat throughout.

In the decant: Oh dear, it's that sharp chemical leather note. Wet: Much the same as in the decant. The dry-down: The leather note has been tamed a bit, but I'm not sure by what. It's mostly still stomping about in big stompy boots. Where's my frank, my sandalwood, and my cedar? I'm rather saddened by this.

In the decant: Something's a bit sour and off-putting. Probably the calla lily. Wet: Now it's morphed into something a bit sharpish. Maybe the iris. The dry-down: Now getting a bit of the honeysuckle, jasmine, and vanilla, but that's a bit long to wait for those notes. I was half-convinced this wouldn't work on me because of the lily and the iris, but wanted to test it anyhow because of the honeysuckle. It's not a bad floral scent in the end.

In the decant: All the notes. Wet: Suddenly there's a bitter sharpness, so I'm thinking the tomatoes. The dry-down: The other notes make a re-appearance, but I had been worried about the red musk, and I see I was wrong; I should have been concerned about the tomatoes instead. Would have been a lovely blend without the crushing of them. What little I have in the decant can go in the scent locket. Color me blue.

This is for the 2011 version. In the decant: Very earthy patch, indeed! Wet: Still the earthy patch, but now a bit more fresher, brighter, almost spring-like. The dry-down: I could have sworn that there was vetiver in this, but not so. I'm wondering now if that's the ambrette seed. The beeswax and honey aren't brightly present, but they are serving to add a sweetness to the patch, still it's mostly the earthy patch.

In the bottle: Lovely mix of all the notes, except perhaps not the almond or lemon peel. Wet: And here come the lemon peel! Ack! The dry-down: Ah, that's more like it. The lemon peel goes back into hiding, well, somewhat, as now it's just adding a bit of spark. This is almost as good as it was just sniffing of the bottle. The bitter almond doesn't seem to have made it to the party, just as well. And I adore all the other notes (except the lemon peel), so I was hoping for some honey sweetness, made lighter by the rose water, the sugar cane, the peru balsam, and the benzoin. And that's pretty much what I got. If you like the idea of a honey scent, but think that one may be too rich and too dark, try Kypris--the golden honey note is lovely and light.

In the bottle: A blood orange has been squeezed all over a freshly-picked red rose. Wet: The orange reigns in solitary splendour. But the red currant is peeking from behind the throne. The dry-down: The rose has made a come-back, but the amber is sneaking into the party, and is ruining the party. The myrrh and musk are only present as something adding a spicy richness, but faint, to the blend. Another one for aging, and meanwhile use in the scent locket.

In the bottle: Figgy goodness, a hint of the chocolate, and a bright fruit note from the tamarind. Wet: All three notes are present, but clashing a bit. The dry-down: Now, the notes have finally started to meld and blend a bit, but there's a perfumy quality to this that I'm not liking. It's still some figgy goodness, mostly. Suspect that aging will really improve this. I love chocolate and I love figs, so I'm hoping that it will just get better with time.

In the bottle: Smoky goodness, with a hint of chocolate. It reminds me of the old-fashioned smoke house, where the farmer would hang the ham, bacon, and other meats for smoking, or driving by a good ole BBQ joint while they're smoking the pork. Wet: Now it's like the bacon and the chocolate are fighting with each other. The dry-down: It turns into salty goodness, with some chocolate, and then it starts fading away. And now there's a hint of the cassia. It's a skin scent now. Might be good for the scent locket, as I like it best in the bottle.