zankoku_zen

Nutty baked goods. Hint of pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice... and something else that I can't put my finger on. Toothsome, tasty, pumpkin goods. I don't fancy smelling like baked goods, as I am liable to eat my own hand in a fit of hunger, but if you like to smell like baked goods, give this a whirl.

Evil sea salt cookies! There's a very heavy aquatic element to the sea salt cookies, and it smells sort of... well, evil. These are the cookies that Cthulu eats when he wants a midnight snack. So if you see the sign/meme/tshirt "Come to the dark side, we have cookies?" Well, they serve THESE cookies.

Cranberry, cider, and cinnamon. This one borders on a Christmas craft store to me, but its juicy sweet red fruit and spicy cider. Tasty!

Orchid soap. It's a lovely orchid and poppies, but it ends up straight up soapy on me. BOO.

Heather, peat, musky wood and herbs. This smells warm, outside-y and magickally herby. Typically red musk is a bully on me, but this one is quite soft and lovely.

Bacon, smoked meat, and soil. Gore Shock, is that you? This one again smells very strong of roasted meat and smoke. It isn't quite as nauseating as Gore Shock, and the soil does a good bit of dampening to the blend, but also adds a dark earthy layer to it. Admittedly, the scent equivalent of burning someone at the stake isn't going to smell good. Or pretty. Only for the strong of heart, and the truly adventurous should try this. If you have a horrible compulsion to TRY EVERYTHING, you'll get to this. If you don't, and perhaps aren't as stalwart or want something that smells good, I'd say take a pass on this.

White tea and ambergris. This one is a very strong white tea blend. Although, I think that in general I tend to amp up white tea, since the Unsteady Governess also had a particularly strong white tea note. Cool, aquatic, delicious.

Jasmine, powdery iris, and the hint of aquaticness. Sadly, the jasmine is NOT well behaved at all on me. So, pass.

Strong smoky autumn leaves. Sharp charred bitter overlay to the leaves, with a touch of amber and frankincense. This one veers into manly on me, and if you were looking for a manly smoky cologne, I'd give this a whirl.

Piney snow, hints of currant and cardamom. This one is dark fruity piney blend. At least it smells like winter in the outside. If by winter, I mean a pine tree who seems to be drinking copious amounts of black currant lassis. Do they even make black currant lassis? [What do I know. Not a pine tree.]

2013 version Roses and pineapple! This is a fun, flirty, tropical blend. Probably not what you were expecting me to say. But yeah, that's what I get. Pineapple and roses.

Wine, amber, woods, snow. This one is a warm, cozy blend with no single component being overwhelming, or taking over. This blend is like one giant happy gathering of friends - where there is warmth, good cheer, and fun. Overall very pretty, but it doesn't grab me like some of the other blends.

Starts off as super strong peppermint, and then dries to a creamy slightly minty marzipan, with just a hint of plastic. BPAL's cream note strikes again for me. *sigh*

Moss, strong celery seed and sweet frankincense. Holy crap, I really am amping up the celery seed on the drydown. So, very very green. Smells like a salad. And evil salad. You know, the type with tentacles. No mushrooms, but I'm sure if you look, you can find them.

Salty aquatic ozone, touch of incense, woody background. Okay, this definitely smells like an evil sea. There's something 'off' about it. It smells like an ocean with teeth. In other words, very similar to Kingsport and the other Picnic in Arkham blends. *runs away*

Spicy gingerbread musk, cumin, and hints of pine and clove. Okay, so to me.... Gingerbread Troll is on the other side of the manly Gingerbread cologne spectrum. If Gingerbread Villain is sophisticated sexiness, Gingerbread Troll to me smells like a dirty, patchouli wearing BRO. You know, the kind that think crushing a beer can with their forehead is somehow knee-weakening to the opposite sex. Yeah, not for me!

Blue musk, herbal mugwort, and in general, a touch of rose and snow. It's a quiet, contemplative blend. It has the same vibe as Silence, but not as rich, still. It's more gentle than Silence. It definitely evokes going out in the middle of the night, surrounded by snow, and looking into the clear sky with all the twinkling stars our there, your breath creating a bit of mist around you.

Hazelnut, honey, rose and sandalwood. This smells soft, woodsy, rosy and sweet. It's more comforting that foodie, the rose is not overwhelming, and it reminds me of a warm motherly hug. Not the type of blend I'm typically drawn to, and oddly enough it makes me think of it along the lines of the Conjure Bag.

Ginger, cookies, and tea. This one is a toothsome, foodie blend with a sprinkling of sugar. Tasty, but sadly too foodie for me. Lovers of all foodie/cookie blends should check this out though!

Minty sugary goodness devolves into.... minty pommy condensed milk with a hint of plastic. BPAL's cream note is typically a problem for me, and slightly less so in this one. The sugary condensed milk part I could handle, but its the plasticky overlay that remains a problem. Sad that this didn't work out better. Skin chemistry, you fail.

Myrrh and frankincense, sweet syrupy and with a hint of chamomile. This one is a fairly pleasant resinous blend.

Evil neroli and lemongrass. This lemon verbena seems like its been eating... well poison woods and herbs. This is the lemongrass that grows in a witches' garden. The kind of witch that eats children. Lemon verbena, aquatic oakmoss and dark, smoky vetiver.

Dark, salty, roses, hint of patchouli, sea and candles. Slight aquaticness. Definitely unisex. To me, this smells more like a cursed female pirate (perhaps a wraith?) docking her ship in the dead of night. Sort of picture the female version of Davos, the Onion Knight, from Game of Thrones, and that's the sort of vibe I get from this. So far, one of the more wearable Misk Yules I've tried.

Sour sandalwood, pine and herbs. This smells herbal, and oddly luminescent for a blend with some pretty heavy components. It manages to be luminescent and dark at the same time. This smells like an bioluminescent green orb floating in the middle of the night. And you know, from the prickle in the back of your neck, you don't want this sucker to notice you and float your way. So in other words, this smells like Cthulu jellyfish (the green glowing kind).

Gingerbread, red musk, and a hint of cedar. So really, this is a red musk version of Gingerbread Poppet. It's a slightly foodie red musk, and for all you ladies and lads that love a good red musk blend, give this a whirl. Sexy gingerbread.