patina

I get the leather first, it smells a bit like the leather and saffron in Leather Phoenix, then a curry note comes out. I can't smell the ozone, but it gives a cold feeling to the scent. Cold curry? I wouldn't go so far as to call this body odor, but it is like tumeric and leather covering the freshly sweaty skin of someone dancing outside during an electrical storm.

This smells like magic. This is a machine shop from an alternate reality where engines are made of burnished copper and run on beeswax and imagination. Alternately, it's a nice bright yellow/ lemony scent with soft musky sage. It reminds me of herbal cough drops I had once, but that's not a bad thing. The herbs are somewhat medicinal, the metal is a little musky in the way heated metal sometimes is. These elements are not overwhelming on me and add more than they detract. (The resemblance to the smell of hot metal is really striking.) This isn't very strong on me.

Days and Nights in Vaults and Charnal Houses. I put some on before I went to sleep and yes, there are flowers and it's a lovely springtime scent, but the sour nitre and under-earth smells didn't exactly help me sleep. As for darkness itself and not creepiness, Dance of Death or Sloth fits.

Oh, if you don't mind a little sugar with the rose and violet, how could I forget Faith and Hope?

I'm not sure if this smells much like Dorian, but it matches my memories of the scent. Sadly, Dorian turns to burning tires on me. This doesn't. There's plenty of soft vanilla (tonka absolute). It has a fresh/gleaming edge that suggests green tea or metal accord (not as sharp as it sounds.) That must be the ti leaf. Underneath that, there's a faint floral and even fainter leather. The leather note is neither sharp nor chemical, just a very soft brown leather. The vanilla and white musk are comforting and the fougere lends a bit of freshness, but this isn't something I have to have.

Ok. I have a confession. I love Sloth. Embarrassingly enough, it's one of the most "me" scents I've tried. It certainly helps that myrrh is my favorite resin. I've tried a myrrh single note (not the lab's), but it smelled cloyingly sweet and oddly like raisins. The vetiver's sharp/smoky/grassy/bonfire/dank basement qualities only serve to enhance the myrrh. It may start out old-spice manly and too sharp for me, but it soon becomes wearable. To me, this is a great comfort scent despite its intensity. It smells of relaxing, of burning incense in a room with curtains drawn on a sweltering day in summer. I can see how it might feel oppressive to some, but usually the effect is really quite cozy (and occasionally sexy in an earthy kind of way.) This is not one for daily wear, though. Note: Impolight's review is awesome.

Epitaph has lilies and roses "through a faint, ghostly mist." It doesn't smell aquatic to me though. or maybe I'm confusing that one with Eternal. That has stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia. Anyway, one of these impressed me with its delicacy. Les Fleurs du Mal is mostly roses with lilac and wisteria. I liked this one but some people found it to be faintly soapy. Nocturne is violet, lilac and tuberose Twilight is lavender, jasmine, and honeysuckle Oh! And if you don't mind a tiny bit of leaf in the smell, I find The Rose (from Marchen) innocent and gorgeous.

The blackcurrant is very evident. This is tart and somewhat powdery, close to a traditional perfume. It's in the Odd Portents and On Darkness family, though this seems more simple. I like those two better, so I will not be getting a bottle.

I did a search and didn't turn up this specific request, so can anybody tell me some good GCs or LEs with moonflower? I tried the Phantom Wooer and it's just awesome. The creamy white scent there is gorgeous. I've also tried Nuit, (which has been discontinued anyway) but for some reason (probably sandalwood or the white musk) it turned bad after a while. Midnight (also DC'ed) was just a sharp floral mix and I couldn't really pick out the moonflower. So, recs?

Onions? Really? I get cucumber body wash with aloe and maybe grass, just a big juicy mix of everything green. It's almost a floral on me.

Initially this is a strong, sweet rose hip scent with a faint bit of dryer sheet. The dryer sheet almost disappears and I'm left with the smell of an old trunk crammed full of rose hip jelly and dried rose hips. Also there's some stone. This is simple but very pleasant. The rose hips are the most predominant note. There's the tiniest similarity to the Halloweenie Salon La Mort. It must be the rose and myrrh. Note: I'm trying this on a sweltering day, so it's probably stronger right now than it would be in cooler weather.

I didn't think I'd like this one so much. Ginger can sometimes smell like a cleaning agent on me, but this smells more like dried ginger. Dried ginger, something earthy (tumeric?), and some other spices I can't pick out. Anyhow, the cider note is wonderful and I want to eat my arm right now. Very autumn scent, now that I think about it, it reminds me of Blue Pumpkin Floss, but that was more cinnimony, and it turned into a candle like scent.

Resinous. Not church resins or hippie shop resins, but it smell like tree resin. I can tell there's some dragon's blood, pine and cedar here as well as something herbal. It smells very much like a damp forest, full of scorched patches. Actually, now that I think about it, it smells perfectly like a place where a dragon would live. Note: after a while the patchouli comes out. It smells a bit like baby powder, but aging should fix that.

This is just the faintest bit like Black Annis, except there's no civet. Just pine forest, faint woodsmoke, and musky anise. "Pine forest" might be a little misleading since it's light and airy rather than overwhelming pine. This is very pleasant.

A useful aid in study and ritual. Dot this oil onto your palms and then rub them together vigorously. Then inhale the scent to intensify your mental focus and clear your mind of errant thoughts. This blend will sometimes provoke sudden insight into problems, and consequentially can be used for inspiration. This is has a lemony smell and an immediate wakening/clearing effect. Then it wears off after a few minutes.

I've found this a little bit useful for getting ideas flowing when I'm already working on something. Too bad the smell (to me it's lavender and lime-eucalyptus shaving cream) is somewhat distracting.

Not quite carbonated, but I find The Silver Phoenix pretty. It *almost* has a carbonated smell to me.

Leipreachaun? It smells like gorgeous dark green clover with dirt, maybe? Possibly also clover flowers. I also get pipe tobacco (I don't even mind it amping) with some sweet resin. Also I think there might be either resin or leather. It's sweet, green, fresh, earthy and rugged. Perfect for early spring. I've tried Host of the Air for peat and clover, but sadly that turns a little soapy on me because of the lilies. Maybe I should beg the lab to release it again?

Mokiefraggle: Ok, the house cat thing for some reason made me think of The Illustrated Woman. Who knows? The girlish tomboy reminds me of Liz. Also try Hermia, if you like sweet pink things. It fits the theme if nothing else. Also, maybe The Black Cat? A lot of people don't like it because of the rose(?), catnip, and (I think) black musk, but it does fit the theme of someone mischievous and cat-like with a temper. Bastet could fit as well.

This is a floral scent that immediately reminds me of The Host of the Air, (the same greenness but no lily). There's a pinkness to this scent and I can recognize the apple blossom from Pomona and Adoration of the Mi-Go. There is a bit of fruitiness to the scent as well- the comparison to Golden Apple of the Sun is accurate. A dark, scratchy green, a pink floral, moss and some fruit resembling apples. It fades but it doesn't vanish. Not my favorite ever but certainly nice for spring. I'm undecided. Similar Scents: Adoration of the Mi-Go, The Host of the Air, Golden Apple of the Sun, Leanan Sidhe, Phantom Queen (to the best of my memory), Hermia

I'm not an O lover, but I really like A Wonderful Light from the Yules and many people compare that to O.

I get pumpkin spice with creamy coconut and some fennel. I've made some fennel seed/ spice oatmeal cookies that smelled a lot like this. It smells good, except I've never liked pumpkin spice very much and this has a weird toasted note that I really don't care for. This has an amazing throw.

I wouldn't exactly call this scent bubbly. This is dark and it smells brooding (ok, maybe a little like ginger-ale too, but this is not a bright and happy ginger scent compared to Gnome.) It smells a lot like Iron Phoenix to my nose, except here I can pick individual notes out with more ease. There's red ginger, crushed peppercorns, huge chunks of myrrh resin, something a little citrusy (neroli?), and some tobacco darkening it up. This is very promising for people who like spice.

I don't get detergent at all. There's a lot of floral initially, but it never gets too sharp or overwhelming. It's almost candy-like. The plum is juicy and gorgeous. There's also a hint of powder from the spanish moss and a hint of spice from the vetiver. It's dark but not in a heavy or opaque sense. Gorgeous. My skin does eat it a bit. The scent hangs around for a long time, but only in a flat, extremely close to the skin way. Then again, it sometimes reappears when I get warmer.

For me, the berry and ozone in Autumn and Winter overwhelmed the leaf note. The winter wind smelled a lot like an aquatic, turning the scent into a wet leaf smell. I can't say whether it would turn to screeching cologne on you, but on me the faint sweetness of the berries kept it from turning exactly to an aquatic cologne though it was heading in that direction.