zankoku_zen

Butterscotch, spice, and a tinge of apple. It's very foodie fall. Good throw and wear length.

This is mainly Pumpkin Spice. If there is any rum in here, it codes more to an extra layer of sugar cane into the pumpkin spice mix, as opposed to some caramel boozeyness. Medium throw.

Chocolate cheesecake, caramel and a whiff of coffee. I smell chocolate, spices, and a whiff of graham crackers on a deeper inhale. This one is a well balanced foodie, with the spices and coffee keeping it from being all food in your face. I agree with it reminding me of El Dia de los Reyes, but with a definite cheesecake element. Good throw and wear length.

Deep sweet pomegranate. Pomegranate ends up very tart on my skin, and it's not typically a note I enjoy. This one is much more likeable. Good throw and wear length.

Resiny beeswax with touches of incense and fir. It smells polished, and wooden, and beeswax. It really did sort of feel like polished floors, and incense. Somber, and regal. Good throw and wear length.

Roses, honey and lily. This is a feminine, volouptous blend. Very flirty. Good throw.

Creamy coconut and vanilla. Not muy cup of tea, but it's light and bouncy.

Hay and patchouli, with a touch of tobacco. This one has a sweet vanilla overlay, and I get hay and a ton of patchouli. Oddly, it reminds me to Banshee Beat in vibe, if not in smell. Good throw and wear length.

Wild plum, fig, and blackcurrant pumpkin floss! Plum, pumpkin and a touch of fig. This one is an odd pumpkin to me. It's got a heady dark plum note, and then you get the buttery pumpkin underneath. Low throw and wear length.

No notes. This was available for purchase at NYCC 2017. The Star is probably one of the most disturbing blends that I have tried in recent years. It's a ghostly, cloying white floral that seems to creep and squeeze. I think it may have both tuberose and gardenia. In either case, the Star just gave me the feeling of "this is a sickly blend", like when you know something is unhealthy. Great throw and wear length. I imagine this is what carnivorous plants would like to smell like if they did not expend all their energy in trapping insects for food.

This one is oddly delicate floral blend. I think there's iris in this, as I get a bit of powderiness on the drydown. On wet, I smelled a lot more jasmine, and I have to wonder if there isn't actually some magnolia in this, as I get some creaminess in here. It's definitely feminine, pretty, and very wearable. Good throw and wearlength.

I smiled, — for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search — search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

 A jubilant and deranged lime absinthe. The lime is particularly prominent on wet, and it reminds me to the limes you find in margarita mixes, and then you get the same absinthe note that you get in Pumpkin Spice Absinthe. This is a very lime Absinthe, and I LOVE IT. For all of you that love absinthe-based blends, gives this a whirl. It's like absinthe decided to go to Mexico and adopted limes as a component. Medium throw and wear length.

Jasmine tea, amber, and musk. It smells of tea with swirls of delicate jasmine over a bed of amberry musk. Good throw and wear length. It's a very pretty blend, but not for me.

Dusty chocolate, coconut, cardamom and sugar cane. This one is sweet tropical coconutty chocolate. Medium throw and wear length.

Airy, wet petals, and it dries to a cool, light violet-regal floral. Very delicate, but powerful. Good throw and wear length. No powderiness that I can detect.

Amber, tar and woods. This smells like a oil soaked raisin on woods. Yup. I definitely smell raisins. But dipped in lamp oil. Medium throw and wear length.

Asphodel, amber, and smoke. This smells like a smoky asphodel. Medium throw and wear length.

Red wine, ash, and amber. This is a smoky red wine blend. Medium throw and wear length.

A ton of lemon verbena over dead leaves, and a whiff of cedar. Yup, loads of lemons. Medium throw and wear length.

Mainly dead leaves and smoky patchouli with a tinge of pineapple, which oddly enough makes it all have an almost black leather smell when combined together. Average throw and wear length.

I did not expect to love this as much as I did. It's this fizzy gin with bitter lemon. It's bright, citrusy and refreshing. mr. zee_zee said it smelled like ginger ale. I love it!

Slightly spicy with dead leaves, and a green aquatic overlay. Agreed that this is the same spicy-sweet peppercorn in Fake News. Much more wearable than anticipated. Medium throw and wear length.

I get a ton of white amber with mimosa, and hints of white leather and dead leaves. It ends up as a very autumnal fougere-type of blend. It's more of a classic cologne than I anticipated. Very gender neutral and clean. Good throw and wear length.

So first off the bat, I do enjoy me some clove in my blends. This one is a very cassia/cinnamon-esque heavy clove. I do get the clove, but its definitely has a high overtone of cassia/cinnamon on it. I really can't decide if its cassia or it's cinnamon. It adds a bit to the dusty impression of it. On wet, I had an almost vague impression of a leather undertone to it. It has dried down to a dusty slightly cassia clove. Compared to the Sweet Clove SN, its definitely that cassia/cinnamon aspect that is the main differentiation. Medium throw, low wear length.

2017 version Slush white snow, birch, and frigid air. Good bit of greenery underneath. It's vaguely Skadi-esque but gentler, slushier snow and no pine. Good throw and wear length.