thekittenkat

In the bottle: Smells like an Andes mint. I was afraid of this. Wet: Still lots of chocolate mint, but the bright crispness of the lime is trying to break through. The dry-down: This is nothing like last year's Truffle with the key lime note. That was lovely, and was a staple of my spring and summer scents, since it was mostly the key lime note with a hint of chocolate. With this, if I sniff the air a foot away from my wrist, I get mostly chocolate with a hint of lime. Up close, it is a chocolate mint, emphasis on the mint. I'll keep the half-bottle from my decanter, though, and see what aging does.

In the bottle: Florals sprinkled with honey, thrown down across a bed of amber and sandalwood. Wet: A light sweet floral honey, backed by the Damask rose and the champaca flower. The dry-down: The date palm and vanilla bean have made their presence known. This is quite the morpher, but in a subtle fashion. It's very lovely at any stage, and a good spring-time scent for the evening. Could be a little rich for the hotter day-time. The honey makes it smexy.

In the bottle: Difficult to discern single notes, as though it seems that they are all present. Wet: There's a sharpness, probably from the freesia or the lavender or the cucumber. Otherwise, this is a pleasant combination of apple blossom, sugar, and white rose. The dry-down: This just ends up as a bit of a mess on my skin, a nice mess, mind you, but still a bit of a mess. The white rose does not dominate as expected, nor does the coconut. It could be a good spring-time scent, but not one that I will reach for a lot. I'm hoping some aging will help, as I usually love any BPAL scent with lots of white rose or coconut.

In the bottle: Very raw ginger, backed up strongly by the butterscotch and less strongly by the milk chocolate. Wet: This is eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head good! So far. All the notes are combining into a decadent loveliness. The dry-down: Still very much the raw ginger, with the butterscotch and milk chocolate swirling in and around and about the ginger. The ginger, since it is raw, and not the baked gingerbread note, seems to be behaving on my skin. Indeed, if this was a truffle, I could consume several. Worthy of a back-up bottle, mostly because I will have to slather this one, as it's fading away.

In the bottle: Lots of bright fruits. Wet: Picking up the fruits, but the brightness has faded, and the pine resin and hemp are present. The dry-down: The bamboo may also be subduing the fruits. The kumquat and tangerine are most obvious (and pleasingly so, since they are two of my fave fruits as well as fave scent notes). The florals seem to have combined into one big bouquet. There's still some bright crispness about this, from the citrus fruits, and will be another good spring-into-summer scent. And the label art is rather wonderful.

This is for the 2011 version. In the decant: All the incense notes are being sweetened by the olive blossom and the blood accord. Wet: Mostly olive blossom, and hints of the blood. The dry-down: Finally, the incense notes return, but they seemed subdued. The flora and the cypress are also rather faint. This is sweeter and less resinous and less of the incense notes than expected. The olive blossom and the blood accord acount for that.

In the decant: The florals are the most obvious notes. Wet: Still some lovely florals, but alas and alack the amber is already going to powder. The dry-down: The jasmine has come most strongly to the forefront, but the rose otto is providing a deep soft base. The brightness of the musk flashes through at times, but it's the amber going to powder that is making this less a lovely floral than I had hoped for. All I love all the floral notes, this would have been a perfect spring-into-summer scent for me. But there's always the scent locket! ETA: This is for the 2011 version.

Just thought that y'all would like to know thatI used the Dark Devil skin for a while, and didn't encounter any errors with it that I remember. I changed to the Arium skin for now, and I do hope that one can be kept, as it is so pretty and elegant.

In the bottle: Cookie goodness and chocolate. Wet: Still lots of shortbread, but the chocolate is coming forward. And the cranberries are coming into play. The dry-down: In the end, this is just heaven in a bath oil/scent. (I sometimes use the bath oils as though they were perfume oils.) A sweet shortbread cookie scent, packed with chocolate and cranberries. If there's any peppermint from the candy cane note, I'm not really detecting it per se, but perhaps it is acting as a balance note to keep the scent from being too overpoweringly rich, sweet, and foodie. If this came out as a perfume oil next Yule, I would purchase several bottles. It's just that good. I should mention that I take showers, so I don't use the bath oils in the bath, but as a "lotion" after a shower. The bath oil itself was a bit thin, but soaked into my skin (which is a bit on the dry side in the winter season) rather quickly. And then there was a lovely scent for hours afterward. This might be good to layer with some of the chocolate scents from the Lab.

This review is for the 2011 version. In the bottle: White rose and some resins, maybe a hint of frankincense? Wet: Much the same as when sniffed. The dry-down: Just like the 2008 version, this scent stays the same from bottle through drying. Very much a white rose grounded in resins. Still getting the hint of frankincense. This may be a little different from the 2008 version, but not by much.

In the bottle: Milk chocolate and gin. Wet: The gin comes on strong, but the milk chocolate is still in the running. The dry-down: This does smell like a chocolate martini, but I don't get the white chocolate note; instead, it's more like milk chocolate that is not very sweet. Gin is a "dry" liquor, so that's giving the dry sense that I'm experiencing here. I do like this, but not as much as I had hoped I would.

*makes note to test Dancing Koi first thing at WC*

In the bottle: Cherry and amaretto. Yum. Wet: Amaretto and cherry. What can I say? The dry-down: It's a cherry-flavoured amaretto drink, not even on the rocks, just straight, with only the smallest hints of saffron. Love it, but wouldn't wear it when I'm driving.

In the decant: All the notes are present, but faintly. Wet: Lemony gingerbread. The dry-down: Still somewhat lemony gingerbread, with faint hints of vanilla, sugar, marshmallow, and the spices. I wish that the Lab's gingerbread note worked on me. It's nice, and certainly better than any year of Gingerbread Poppet (which, sadly, gets a cold and stale feeling on my skin), but I don't think that I will need any more, alas.

Note: I amp coffee notes. In the decant: Sweet hazelnut coffee with leather and some spices. Wet: Tobacco (blond, perhaps) coming on more strongly with the leather. The dry-down: For a while there, this looked to be my Holy Grail coffee scent, i.e. one that would not amp to high heavens on me. Alas, it is not to be, seemingly. This is a strong cup of arabian coffee, with lots of sweetener (sugar, not honey), but the unknown spices, along with the hazelnut, make me wish that this was a *real* cup of coffee--I would drink that right up. At any rate, there's also hints of the lovely tobacco and the soft leather (this is not a sharp chemical leather, but the loved and worn-to-pieces vintage bomber jacket). Still curious about the spices, though.

In the bottle: Mostly pom and honey, and certainly orange blossom honey at that. Wet: Sweet yet sharp at the same time. The dry-down: This is a pomegranate scent, sweetened with lots of orange blossom honey, and with just a hint of chocolate as a base. The chocolate had settled to the bottom of the bottle, of course, so I spent not some inconsiderable time gently rolling the bottle between my palms to get it to mix back in. Even so, this is not a strong chocolate scent like most of the Lab's chocolate perfume oils. If anything, it reminds me in concept of last year's Dark Chocolate and Key Lime Truffle, which was mostly key lime on me, and just a touch of chocolate to make it sweet and not tart. If you like any of the Lab's pomegranate scents, this is worth looking into.

In the bottle: How can I describe this? It's like I'm getting all the notes. Wet: Pom, patch, certainly the dusty frank. Hints of raspberry and sandalwood, too. Some sweetness from the sugar and vanilla. The dry-down: Slowly, slowly, all the notes combine, including the red musk which tried to pull on the stompy boots, into this awesome scent. It's well-crafted, but is quite the morpher. It's certainly in the Black Lace and Antique Lace family; in fact, it's as though the two had been combined, with Antique serving to sweeten Black, and then lots of the red notes are splashed into the blend, giving it a very different styling. Sweet, fruity, musky, sexy, sensual Red Lace is a winner. I might wear it the entire Valentine's Day weekend.

In the imp: Some berries and fizzy ginger ale (a la Geek.goth). Tart and sparkling! Wet: The berries are brighter, and the fizzy ginger ale is calming down. The dry-down: After a time, this is quite simply a lovely berry-flavoured ginger ale, fruity and just a little tart with a little fizziness.

In the imp: Candy strawberry, with a hint of lemon candy and peppermint Wet: And the lemon zooms into the lead, with strawberry candy in second, and peppermint trailing the field. And yet, from far away, all I get is the candied strawberry. Strange, that. The dry-down: It's a dead heat at the finish line: strawberry candy, lemon drop and candy cane. Very candy-sweet, indeed. The candy cane note reminds me of Lick It. The strawberry candy note is similar to the one in White Chocolate, Strawberry, and White Pepper (from the '10 Lupers), and the lemon candy note is somewhat like the lemon sherberts (lemon drop candy from the UK) that Dumbledore likes to offer everyone, or I imagine. I didn't like this when I tested it at WC, but a little aging has helped a lot. Besides, I can't resist strawberry.

In the imp: Mint, ozone, snow, ice, ferns. Wet: Very minty! The dry-down: The mint notes fades and then blends into all the others. This is different to the other snow, ice, and ozone blends from the Lab and the Post in that it drys down into a light and gentle scent. There may be a touch of white sugar or vanilla, too, to give this a delicate sweetness, but so very light that you will hardly know that it is there. If this were to be made in 5 ml bottles, I would buy two, right away. It's my fave of all six of these imps.

Note: I have issues usually with coffee notes, as in I amp them something fierce. So when I tested this at WC and it was delightful, I was happy to order a Bag of Coal. In the imp: As it says on the label: chocolate, expresso, and gingerbread. Wet: Sadly, this is different to the proto that I tried at WC; it's just all expresso, all the time. The dry-down: Some of the chocolate and gingerbread make their way out, but it's mostly the expresso note. However, it smelt fab on the bf, who has less acidic skin than I do, so he's got a new smelly-goodness. I may steal a drop to put in my scent locket, though.

In the imp: Almond shortbread, with a hint of spice, perhaps clove. Wet: Very dry almond shortbread now. The dry-down: The clove is more obvious now, but not too much so. The somewhat sweet cookie part is rather dry. This doesn't really morph, from imp to dry-down.

In the imp: Sweet but somewhat minty shortbread cookies. Wet: The mint note has burst out of the gate, but the sweet shortbread is somewhat behind. The dry-down: The mint has backed off, and is now combining with the sweet shortbread cookie note. Simple but elegant and very yummy.

Note: I was very unsure if I should try this or not. I love tea scents of many kinds, though, so I had to chance a decant. In the decant: Tea scents, but something lurking in the depth, but not sure what. Wet: Tea is the most obvious, but the sharpness of the mandarin is making itself known. The dry-down: The black currant showed up and is making this feel kind of sticky, if that makes any sense. Not sticky in a physical sense, mind you. The violet note doesn't appear to be the typical one that is used by the Lab, which is nice, but it's the wormwood, combining with the currant, that has made this dark and not very sweet. Had there been some sort of resin or spice or incense, this could have been more compelling. As it is, the lovely tea notes have all but disappeared. Not bad, but nothing that I would reach for on any sort of a regular basis.

In the bottle: Leaves, very storng patch, certainly the ivy. Wet: More of the dry leaves--very crisp, almost cracking. The dry-down: The tonka is not a sweet note per se, but serves to give this a depth and a roundness. This is a scent that certainly evokes the season. I shall enjoy wearing it next autumn. I must admit that I was afreai of the coffee bean note, as I amp coffee notes usually, but this note is just part of how all the notes combine into the blend. There's the leaves, the patch, the coffee bean, the ivy, the teak, in a marvelous scent. This is my fave of this year's phoenix blends, but mind you, I am always most partial to the autumn scents. The label art is beautiful. The phoenix is golden in colouring with various shadings of orange for high-lights. The background is ivory, with a few falling leaves.