patina

Halloween: San Francisco Falling Leaf Moon Nothing Gold Can Stay- for those pre leaf-fall days in September with bright blue skies The Hell-Gate of Ireland Carlin- a cool, dark green scent GC: Danse Macabre- More toasted hazelnut, please! It's smoky, but you don't get the feeling you just rolled in a bonfire. Les Infortunes de Vertu- not everyone will like this, but it does nice things on my skin when aged. Like Danse Macabre, this gives the sense of smoke without it being overwhelming. Rumplestiltzchen- This scent is for you if you do want to smell like you rolled in a bonfire.

I'd like to suggest Robin Goodfellow for the troll- Black musk, moss-covered wood, heather, and sage. I find it smells like a forest floor. Some people find the sage a little too guyish, but I haven't had that problem. Ranger and Troll might work, but they're not as murky. I tried Bayou, but it was mostly bright flowers and cedar on me. Black forest is good though it's all pine. Omen (patchouli, oakmoss, myrrh, juniper) is another dark forest floor blend, but the juniper is overwhelming and masculine on some people. From the LE's- which you might be able to find on the forum- I think Montauk project would fit, since it has lots of different dark woods and a bit of a spooky forest feel. For the Huldra, someone else suggested Kitsune-Tsuki or Vixen and those fit the theme, though they're not especially foresty. Fae is good too. I've tried The Forest Reverie and was amazed at how much it actually smelled like a sunlit forest, despite the grapes and opium.

The sage and heather make this smell a whole lot like Carlin, a halloweenie from 2009. While Carlin was green, this is dark and (softly) woody. At first when I tried this, I thought there was tonka here, because there's a sense of sweet powderyness. Not baby powder, but something sweet. Turns out it was the moss. Very pleasant in a dark forest floor way. I love it.

This smells a lot like Cathedral. Cathedral with some soft, purple florals. It's light and very beautiful, but the plum is just the tiniest bit sharp.

Oh my. Why have I waited so long to try this? Tobacco is usually an amping note of doom on me and honey is suspect, but everything in this blend keeps everything else in line and perfectly balanced. It's sweet and it reminds me of bare skin. The pine is very evident at first (not in a bad way), but it gradually takes more of a backseat to the honey. In effect, the scent goes from woodswoman to pin-up girl. The hue of this is fairly light, though it has good (not obnoxious) throw.

Fruity, traditionally perfumy, a little headshoppy. The berry element reminds me of Bordello, very slightly, though it's missing the vanilla and it has musk. I'm also reminded of The Night Raven, though I don't have an imp right now so I can't check that. Overall this is a very simple blend that smells very much like traditional perfume. Something, maybe the blackberries, becomes just a tiny bit too loud and sharp and the amber veers towards powdery old lady perfume. I think I'll keep this a while to see if it smooths out. (By the way, layering this with Opium Poppy makes most of the sharpness go away on me. Your taste may vary, of course )

Whoooaa, manly. I was really looking forward to this one because of the resins, but I was surprised at how spicy it was. Spicy and woody. The galangal root is really present and that may be what smells sulfurous. Not bad, especially not if you like mosses and (non-cooking) spice. But I'm thinking this is a scent for spraying in a study with leather chairs in the middle of winter. It's a good deal less awesome in my bedroom at the height of summer. Edit: Actually, as this disperses it gets lighter, sweeter and more appealing to me. I can imagine using this when I'm doing serious studying or trying to pretend I'm doing serious studying. There's a certain sense of power to it.

In the imp, this is so powdery, old-ladyish and perfumy that I don't want to apply it. However, my chemistry seems to do wonderful things to it, especially the opium. Tobacco has a huge throw on me and this is no exception. It mingles with the green tea and opium to create a yellowish, lingering haze that's just a bit stifling. It's like being in an evil conference room, (or maybe a smoky back room in a bar) next to a business woman with overpowering (but good-smelling) opium-plum perfume. I'd say it almost smells corporate, except it's too sexy for that. Sexy in a very deliberate, aggressive way. Whoever said the musk had an 80's vibe was right.

I found Silenti not "dark" exactly, but ghostly and haunted. Like an old, well cared for house by a graveyard. a bit creepy in a pleasant way. I think almost everyone else got "wilted flowers" though. Evil has sweet plum, of course, but there's also something like an unsavory cloud of yellowish tobacco smoke and haze that's starting to disturb me a bit. Like an evil conference room. German Expressionist Horror is like an old theater with dusty velvet curtains and a silent pine forest. It's dark in a non-evil way. Debauchery is the darkest (both in color and feeling) Ars Amorata scent I've tried. I don't get either dark or evil from Pain or Bluebeard, though. They mostly smell just like masculine colognes to me.

I don't care for Gnome on its own, but it's beautiful with resinous scents like Mage or Cleric. With Neutral, it even turns Good into something more than a sugary mess on me. Neutral Good Gnome Cleric is sweet, gingery rose and resin that fades quite a bit. Chaotic Neutral Gnome is fruity musk overkill with a tiny hint of ginger. Neutral Evil Gnome Rogue is very dark and the ginger meshes well with Evil's green tea and Neutral's fruit musk. Gorgeous! But Good Gnome (sweet gingerale!) or Chaotic Good Gnome are my favorites.

Wow. And I don't even like marmalade or springtime scents. This is just so cozy and realistic. I can practically smell twigs and dirt, but dirt-fearers don't fret, the dirt never overtakes the orange and sweet floral. I didn't even know daisies had a smell, let alone one so pleasant. I'm giving this one a 5/5.

Cool, pure floral scent, creamy and mild, with maybe a little dark musk mixed in. It would be lovely for summer, except occasionally it turns into scented tissues. Darn.

It's ginger. The ginger in Eau de Ghoul, not sweet at all. It's very woody and sharp(possibly assisted by the black pepper.) (By the way, layering with Mage does wonders for this, turning it into soft, sweet ginger ale.) Still, I don't think it's bottle worthy for me.

It's not out yet, but I think you might want to look into Electricity is Life when it gets released with the Carnival. Otherwise, maybe Lurid or Lightning?

Thank you so much for posting those. By the way, has anyone seen the new TAL lables? They have a mercury symbol. I'd take a picture, but I don't have a camera right now.

seconded. Also, what about the RPG lables that aren't shown on the site? (ie the male halfling and so on.)

This is one that needs to settle in on my skin. At first it's a bit jarring and bitter, but the bitterness eventually goes away. Other reviewers have done an excellent job of describing this already, so I'll just say that this smells like Julia Stone, if Julia stone had leather instead of linen.

I can't pick out any particular reisens, but on my skin, this blooms into something incredible. It's very soft-edged and a little sweet. Not sugary though. Somehow I'm a little reminded of Event Horizon even though there isn't any opium or orchid here.

Yay! I got some imps. Here's a series of Evil themed tests ____________________________________________________________ Evil Cleric: I don't really care for this. The Cleric dominates and tends to bring out the soapiness in Evil. It's sweet and the the tobacco and frankenscence does well together, but I don't like it. The roses clash with the plum. Evil Cleric Orc: The leather smooths and improves the Evil Cleric. The zucchini and vetiver, however are just plain out of place until the scent settles down. Picture an orc in a slinky black dress, wearing eyeliner. She's got roses in her hair, she works with sweet inscence every day, but if you cross her she will smash you with her enormous fist. On the American grading scale, I give it a C. *********************** Evil Elf: Elf smells a little childish to me on its own, but add Evil and it smells like a Saturday morning cartoon villianess. Still childish, but sultury. For some reason I picture her with light purplish skin and white hair. B. Evil Elf Ranger: Even more fruity. Why so fruity? Well at least there's the buckskin showing up. I think Ranger deepens the scent a bit, but doesn't measurably improve it. Chaotic Evil Elf Ranger: Lollipops. Grape, cherry and pear flavored lollipops with musk. The beeswax must be bringing out the sweetness because this is much too much for me. ***************************** Elf Fighter: The berries clash with the steel and leather a bit, turning Fighter chemically in a major way. I'm afraid it probably wasn't meant to be. ***************** Evil Dwarf: Sweeter than Dwarf alone. I can't help but think of Evil as feminine. Now, I have an image of a dwarf in a slinky black dress and eyeliner, swigging beer and smoking in some dark workshop. Cheri Littlebottom, is that you? Lawful Evil Dwarf: Ahh, that's better. Not that it was bad before, but Lawful gives a certain backbone to the scent, pulls it together somehow. Lawful Evil Dwarf Rogue: Wood, leather, and chemical musk overkill. The reisen in Rogue is nice, but the hemp seems to turn into scented tissues. Not my thing. ************** NON-EVIL RELATED STUFF I LIKE: Sorry this post is so long! Orc Fighter- Light, leathery unisex cologne. This is so good on the inside of my wrists. Seriously, neither of them smell nearly so good alone. Sexy Orc (Snake Oil + Orc): Seriously, it's Snake Oil, rough leather and the cucumber turns to grass. How could it smell anything less than good? But Chaotic Sexy is even better. I don't have Neutral, but I think Chaotic must need some kind of light musk to keep it under control. Chaotic and Snake Oil is just amazing. Rogue or Mage does further nice things to this blend.

In Imp: Shoe-store leather with something metallic/sweet. Dragon's blood? Weird. On: A lot of the RPGs have turned out weirdly sweet on me and this is no exception. Can that be lemon verbena I smell on the leather? Something lemony that isn't lemons, anyway. It's like a very fancy, sophisticated shoe store with in-house perfume. If the sweet stuff is meant to be steel, it's polished, gleaming. (and I still say it smells of lemons.) I like this, but it's so weird. Edit: This has become my go-to scent for wanting to smell like an Amazon. The steel and hint of blood stops the leather from being overwhelming. Now that this has aged I no longer smell lemons. And...it's just good.

Berries! It does smell a lot like Bewitched, except the honeycomb makes it an almost dead-ringer for wildberry lipgloss. But then the beeswax starts heating up on my skin and various woods come out to play. Not wood, really. I can't pick out any particular scent. Except maybe juniper? It's more like a sense of leafiness. Childish, but pretty.

In imp: Whoa! Sharp camphor/ pine and maybe some musk. On: This does smell a bit like a dark workshop. It's got the dirty roots of Badger, the stone of Nightsbridge, and the metal from Phoenix Steamworks (if I remember the last correctly.) And camphor. Camphorcamphorcamphorcamphor. Eventually the camphor disappears and it turns into a nice rooty dark workshop.

Stickwitch: because I didn't see your post answered- since you seem to like moss and dry scents, how about Danse Macabre? It's got frankenscence, cypress and moss.

How has it taken me so long to find and review this? At first application, it was a lovely dark cola scent. I don't amp opium, so all the oils play nicely together. The orchid smells somewhat like vanilla. This turns into a light-intensity scent after a little wear. My only complaint is that it's a bit one-dimensional, flat. Hades is similar in feel, though that scent is more of a floral to me.

If you don't mind jasmine, New Orleans is lovely.