patina

Lime shaving cream and... I want to like this but all I'm getting is a big whiff of powdery laundry detergent, as if I just stuck my nose in there and snorted it. Not for me.

Amazing. Soft white and lavender flowers (lilac? wisteria? kudzu?) soaked in cold water. They smell a little grape-like. The water is radiant, practically glowing with white light. Sadly the drydown is cloying white florals and dryer sheets. Not for me.

This is a scent I ignored after reading the notes. A few years later, I get it as a frimp and actually try it without remembering what the notes were. I couldn't tell there was leather there, I just got an old parchment scent with vetiver, tobacco, faint incense and crumbling herbs around the edges. I'd never liked most of the book scents I tried, but this one was different. The scent is manly to me, though the sort of man who wears lace collars, traffics with spirits and obsesses over old manuscripts. It seems more like Aziraphale than Aziraphale's actual scent did. On reading the notes, I can definitely tell that there's leather. My skin tends to eat leather so it makes sense that the Tonka and wood would nearly cover it up. This was perfect for the summer heat, maybe due to the rosewood/ incense/herbs/ what other reviewers call aftershave. The tobacco wasn't amping nightmarishly as it sometimes does in summer. My only complaint is that it sticks so close to the skin there's barely any throw.

I ignored this scent for a while because I thought it would be too simple and I wasn't that interested in foody scents. That was a mistake. The currants here are more perfumy than foody to me, but that's not a bad thing. The red ones are tart and almost spicy and the black ones balance that out. And the cake...it's the softest most delicate vanilla cake ever.

Mostly faint, not very sweet honey mead on me. I get something almost fruity as if there were apples or something citrusy in the mead, but it's not strong. Then the musk and wood come out. This scent reminds me of Shadow's unfavorable impression of mead, although I don't get pickle juice. Not bad, but not for me.

This didn't smell very promising in the vial. Not bad at all, but sort of a scent I'd smelled before, maybe Faustus. On it immediately smelled like frankincense, with patchouli and a floral, but it develops into a beautiful resin scent that never quite loses the violet, but isn't overwhelmed by violet. I predict this will be more gorgeous once the patchouli has had a chance to age. Strong throw, average wear length. Probably will be good for fall. Edit: It does in fact have a strong asphalt/ black rock smell.

In the bottle I get baby oil, pretty much straight up. Must be the vanilla, amber and honey. As I apply it I get a rush of spices but those almost disappear on me and instead the dry cacao comes out. Maybe a little caraway. Very homey. This reminds me of pale apricot colored silk sheets or (somehow) desert sand. A lot of people will find this very sexy.

Thank you Marilyn Eyre, those were wonderful and I'd thought of Villain for Nygma too. All of them fit well. I'd never thought of The Center for Harvey but it works. Another I think fits Poison Ivy is "Give Me Your Breath Sister" from the Lilith LEs. Honeyed carnivorous plants. Or Pisces 2016 for Fish. It's got red musk like the red lighting in her club and vanilla with salt air from the docks.

Clove and then cassia bringing a slight craft-store tinge to the whole thing. There's something that smells like tobacco ash at the beginning. This dries down softer than I'd expected it to: a faintly ashy clove. I love clove, but I think I prefer it with some kind of resin.

Mary Shelly is ozone with soft Victorian oriental perfume. Mostly ozone labdanum and pale faint white rose on me. Stormclouds on the Midway is smoky, sugary ozone with wormwood. Steel smells a lot like ozone to my nose and it doesn't go so "dryer sheet" as other ozone. Fighter is a bit like Macbeth and the Witches in that it has leather and steel (but also a little blood.)

Gotham TV show anyone? Fish, Penguin, or the Iceberg Lounge's atmosphere in particular. (I won't complain about more general recs for the main universe Batman rogue gallery either.)

This is a lot like Ketkrokur of the Yules but I like this better. The labdanum is strong, doing a scotch-tape/ bitter green thing at first. The musk is more candylike red than dry, coppery blood musk. There's a little darkness from the frankincense, maybe a smoked feel. I think the frankincense is what's keeping this from having a huge, huge throw. Instead the throw and strength are medium. On drydown I'm surrounded by the scent of pink marshmallow and resins. Nice. Reallynice.

Sugared pineapple, maybe with papaya. This is not what I expected and at first I wondered if I'd gotten The Jeweled Spider by mistake instead. But no one else got the same scent I did.The "cold iron" note in Baba Yaga also does this to me and dragon's blood can be a bit fruity. I can see how someone would get a fir note from this too. I can pick out tobacco if I try. On the drydown the metal becomes more metal-like but still mostly fruity. I thought this would smell like SkekUng. But no. At least it's refreshing. After resting a day it seems less fruity, more mentholated tobacco, fir. It still resembles pineapple, but now that note could almost be a ginger. Still refreshing. This just might eventually age into actually smelling like cold metal and tobacco.

I'm weird because the salt here makes me immediately think "aquatics." This isn't an aquatic, but it smells clean to me. I could see that either getting unpleasantly soapy or helping to make the Snake Oil a lot less "dirty" for people who don't like musks. It's an oddly clean vanilla and salted caramel scent for when you want to wear snake oil but don't want to amp it so much. Pleasant but maybe don't wear around people with nut allergies?

Fruity? Mostly fruity with some rose and generic floral, something dark and leather and ink like underneath that. It has a medium throw. May just be an illusion, but sniffed close up it smells like a kaleidoscope, as soon as I identify one note it blends into another. On drydown, fruit and incense. But the effect's more like "FRUIT AND INCENSE!!! ...and also something that vaguely tickles my nose."

Blueberry tea or candy! Specifically the Celestial Seasonings blueberry tea that smells like there's some vanilla or chamomile added in. I was worried about the tartness because my skin can mess up tart scents and turn them into something unpleasant, but wow, this smells good! A little green from the tea. It's like lying under a bunch of green leaves smelling tea with honey while eating a blueberry candy.

Neither leather nor honey is overpowering. Certainly not to the extent that the leather in Pleasures of the Imagination: I was. The opium and champaca are the strongest notes on me. It's a very good champaca, but with the opium it smells a bit like hairspray. Not terrible though. I may keep the decant.

On the drydown the myrrh and amber are sweet and gorgeous. Unfortunately, the leather makes the scent softer than I'd like at the end. Before it really dries leather's the dominant note. It really smells like bandaids or something medicinal mixed with weirdly sugary resins. Unlike The Red Rider, the contrast between sweet resin and leather is a little jarring here. Not terrible, probably better after aging, but I'm not a big leather fan. Edit: After a few days, the leather and resins seem to marry better and the scent is a lot more pleasant, more of a slinky leather and silk scent.

This is spicy, but in an earthy way, not a hot spice at all. The oudh and saffron are strongest at first. Saffron to me smells pollen-y and yellow green. The oudh is earthy. It's almost a green scent initially. Then the red sandalwood comes out. It's kind of a powdery incense. I can't help but be reminded of soap when I smell sandalwood but not everyone does that. This smells exactly like my red sandalwood incense. I can't describe this to someone that doesn't know the notes. Earthy, dusty, powdery wood, pollen and soft spice? Faintly tangy?

Herbal lemon candy with some anise. It's strong at first, but dries down to a subtle scent. The clove isn't much of a standout. The patchouli will probably be stronger with aging.

Starts out heavy on the mugwort but almost instantly transforms into all floral all the time (plus a tiny bit of cucumber). The star jasmine smells like the confederate jasmine I have to remove from my yard. Heavy and pollen-y. The violet backs it up and does a little of the powdery thing violets do. Or is that the sandalwood? If the Star Jasmine was a person, it would be flouncing and vamping and waving its arms around. Definitely spring in a bottle. It has the same cheering effect on me that Virgo had, except that one was more grounded. I like it despite the over the top diva florals. The cool, tender elements (cucumber, violet) help balance that.

Another cute handwritten decant with little blades of grass drawn on it. Gorgeous honey and fresh hay, very good for spring. I would have thought there was a floral here but I guess not.

I find Nanshe good for really hot, uncomfortable nights. Oddly sugary scents keep me awake.

Lemon balm or lemongrass, some soft clove (or ginger?) and lavender in there. Really it smells like fruit loops, a bit. This is one of the best oils for sleeping in hot weather. I haven't noticed much effect on dreams but it's very comforting.

I have a super aged bottle. It starts out as wet violets and dank sandalwood. I can't really pick out the neroli. The musk combined with the violets smell like...hair...oil? I've never smelled hair oil in my life, but I imagine Victorian men would wear something like that. On drydown it goes a bit powdery. Not baby-powdery, but like a dry attic trunk filled with sandalwood. This might sound less than appealing, but for me it's a go-to comfort scent.