strahlend

This smells really good. It seems like a very classic kind of scent. It's not as heady or powdery as I had expected, rather it's sweet and just a little tart and makes me think of elegant Noir movies.

 

Testing – I really, really like this. It's hard to describe. It seems both shadowy intense and lightly effortless. This almost smells like it has some musk, tobacco or a very light touch of warm brown leather in it. It could almost go into powdery territory, but I don't think it's going there. I'm testing Cobra Lily on my other arm right now for comparison and it's sharper and more pungent - Black Lily is smooth, creamy, musky.

 

Black Lily manages to feel both alluring and comfortable at the same time. I think this scent seems easily unisex, Black Lily isn't a typical flowery scent, it's like dusk in a bottle.

I am genuinely surprised to see people saying that this blend comes across as peppery. I've smelled peppery bpal blends and this isn't one of them. This reminds me much more of Smut. It's incensy and seems to have more than a little red musk in it. There's something about it that makes me think of musky corn. I totally believe that's something weird about me, but the association is so strong that I couldn't review it without saying so - I have that same issue with Smut. It seems a little salty too. It's not a scent I would normally think I would like, but I've felt compelled to dab a little on every day for about a week now. It's one of those scents that against all odds seems to call out to me loud and clear. I'm glad to have a bottle and will consider obtaining a back up for sure.

In the bottle my first impression is a resiny herbal scent with a dry wood that reminds me of cedar. There's also a soft, warm feeling that is probably the musk. There's a very slight floral fruity element too. All of these parts blend together really beautifully.

 

On my skin the orchid and pear really come out. There are some herbal undertones, but this is mainly a light and pleasantly sweet scent. It doesn't scream flowers or pear, the notes just mesh together and bring to mind a cool moonlight garden. I can't say that I ever detect patchouli as a presence, but maybe that's just me.

 

To my nose this smells very similar to the Black Moon '06 version.

I keep this spray in my car because it's so grounding and soothing. To me it smells like dark wood, a hint of cologne, the feeling of old leather and cigar smoke. It's fantastic and although the sprays last a long time I might need another bottle because this is one I don't ever want to be without.

I put this on and just a minute later my son walked by and said, "you smell like gum". I had to agree. I've heard people say that lotus smells like bubblegum before but when I've encountered it in blends before it didn't come across that way to me, maybe because of the other components it was paired with. This one though, the first half hour or so is all bubblegum. A while later I had forgotten I had it on but kept smelling something kind of sweet and spicy, like carnations, so it pretty quickly morphed toward the spice.
It seemed like a pleasant and happy sort of scent, but it didn't rock my socks.

In my decant it's pretty faint, I don't smell much at all.

Skin testing - it's a lightly musky, sort of creamy, gentle lemon scent. I can picture a lot of people really enjoying this blend, it has a classic feel to it.

Little Bird, you totally nailed it. I thought this reminded me of something but I couldn't put my finger on it. It does feel like it's in the same family with Antikythera Mechanism. It's slightly sweeter and not quite as woody. I agree with you completely. It's like a slightly foody version of AM. I don't get any sense of coffee out of my decant, nor does it seem vetivery in the least.

Sniffing the decant I get the feeling of orange blossom honey, a bit of vanilla and the tobacco leaf. Pretty spot on with the description. The brown sugar is not overwhelming as I feared it would be.

This is a nice honey scent. It's not cloyingly sweet. It smells naturally sweet and just a little floral. This would be a lovely scent for a young girl I think. Something about the honey and tobacco reminds me a bit of Door.

Sniffing from the decant - my first impression was musty orange peel, then pepper. Lots of pepper. Not what I was expecting at all.

 

Skin testing – first blast is rather pungent and unpleasant. Strong on the caraway, I'm guessing mandarin leaf is the green citrus I'm smelling, and peppercorn. Intense. This is some seriously strong stuff that is wafting up from my arm. Wow. I smell like a pomander rolled in pepper.

 

Later - this scent has mellowed out considerably. It hasn't changed since the wet stage but it has become much softer and cohesive. I mainly smell the citrus components, the pepper and the caraway. The other notes never show up. It has kind of an exotic, almost woody kind of feel to it. It's an unusual spicy scent and I ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

This smells very much like a clean floral blend that would scent laundry detergent or pretty shaped soaps for the guest bathroom. I was looking forward to the calla lily and amber, but don't detect either one of them here.

This scent reminds me of an almond cookie sitting in a spice cupboard. It's quite pleasant, but not quite what I was expecting. I think I had envisioned something kind of strongly spiced and maybe a bit musky, whereas this is a little more on the sweet and edible side of the spice spectrum.

In honor of the black moon today and the new vintage of SM that was recently announced I thought I'd bust out my bottle from '08 that I've been hoarding and give it a review.

In the bottle it seems kind of sharp and pungent. Sniffing a moment longer something warm and inviting comes forward and starts mingling with the pungent element and it seems completely different than my first impression.

Wet on my skin I get that bandaids thing that other people have mentioned - but just for like, 10 seconds.

During the first few minutes this is some strong stuff. Lots of patchouli, lots of slightly medicinal resins. The scent strength is intense and I feel like I could probably be smelled a block away. I have a problem with scents fading, so I'm digging that.

After about 15 minutes or so this blend has mellowed out and turned into something FANTASTIC. It has a warm, smooth, soft wood, patchouli base. There seems to be some spice to it, reminding me of warm and fragrant clove. It sparks my imagination to think of visiting an exotic spice market with wood and spice and resins all wafting around. I would think there's some bay rum in here, but it doesn't seem to be a listed note, so maybe it's just a similar feeling.

Overall this is a gorgeous scent and it's no wonder people covet it.

 

Edit to add:

I received my 2011 version today. It seems to me like the dry down result seems the same as the previous version, which is awesome. The start is a little different though, a bit more mild and not so intense. I'm going to chalk that up to aging. I'm glad to have this bottle as a backup for when my '08 bottle runs out.

This is one of those blends where I feel like I'm sniffing a different scent than all the other reviewers. On my skin this is simply amazing. The black musk is there, but not as strong or sharp as it sometimes is (Haunted, Black Temple Burlesque Troupe). What I get is a sense of a more mellow, warm dark musk and a feel of dry woods. It's like if a nice warm and musky gentleman handed you a bundle of fragrant dried twigs. It somehow manages to be intense but not overpowering. I'm head over heels in love with this scent right now and very happy to have my first backup on the way.

 

After some more testing I think that the dry woods I described is actually a blend of resins and just a faint touch of oakmoss.

I pass this one over way too often because in the bottle it seems very faint to me, but I realize that I just have a hard time smelling resin scents in their containers. I need to get this into rotation more often, it's fantastic.

This is much lighter than I thought it would be. It smells fresh, green, and spring-like. On my skin I get mainly an impression of soft sweet vanilla with a very light green coconut element. After a bit of dry down a little of the frankincense seems to come through. I'm not sure which note or combination of notes is giving me a floral impression, but since there aren't any florals listed maybe it's just me.

I've come to really love this scent, especially since The Macabray was discontinued. It's cool, minty, and clean without being soapy. I find it to be very soothing during the summer months when the heat tends to make me nauseous.

The pine and juniper remind me of Golden Priapus too, but where G.P. is layered over warm amber and vanilla sweetness - Ranger takes those notes and adds yet more woods and moss. This feels almost like it could be one of the Yule snow blends. I'm not picking up on the buckskin, hay or patchouli that might warm this blend up, to my nose it's more of a snowy forest scent. It's a very peaceful scent.

First sniff: all I can think of to say is... interesting. This smells like, a sort of fruity and pavement kind of leather. Vetiver's in the mix saying a big hello too.

 

Skin testing: it's making me think of asphalt and bananas. There's a burnt... something... element to this. Given a moment to soften up the whole thing has calmed down quite a bit and it's softly musky in an interesting and unusual sort of way. It reminds me of a toned (way) down Gore Shock. I still can't decide quite how I feel about it. Usually that means that I'll keep sniffing it and keep sniffing it until I end up loving it.

First sniff impressions: very plush smelling, lilies, opium, musk, reminds me of velvet and heady flowers and other decadent things.

 

Skin testing: the green tea is giving this plush scent a lift and suddenly I feel like I'm in an import store smelling a bunch of incense, wooden boxes, and tea all mixed together. Oh, wait a second. All of a sudden it's turning soapy. I think the green tea took over, I don't even know how that's possible. Now instead of plush and exotic I smell like a generic, floral, soapy, mess. This seems to be a skin chemistry issue since it smells so good in the bottle and for the first few moments, so I'm going to try it in a scent locket and see what happens.

Scent impressions:

I'm not all that great at telling certain kinds of florals apart from each other, but this is most certainly a lemony-floral blend. In the bottle it seems like a musky floral, maybe lavender or lily. On my skin a completely different aspect emerges and it smells like a heady mix of florals, like standing in a garden - and over the top of that is a tart but green sort of scent and it does remind me of when I've pinched lemongrass or lemon balm in my fingers, how it's kind of planty-green but also lemony. I'm usually pretty aware of rose in a blend, but I'm not noticing any in here. After a while the more mellow florals re-emerge and it really softens up when the lemon zing wears off.

I bought BTC for its utilitarian purpose and I will enjoy using it in that context, the scent is also pleasant.

I have a lot of love for this scent. It's reminiscent of a forest but there's no pine, which I'm happy about since pine usually doesn't work for me. It's a very dark black-green sort of scent. Black mosses and vetiver and ashes.... all coming through perfectly clear. I think of this as sort of a forest campfire sort of smell, I think of that as a very comfortable happy scent. There's nothing here that makes me think of death and decay, it's just a mossy, green, earthy, campfire wonderfulness. It's kind of what I hoped the Los Angeles Halloween oil would smell like. I know there is a portion of the bpal population looking for bonfire scents, if you're one of those people give this scent a try - it's very evocative.

This smells much like the Red Lantern oil I have from '08. In both cases my first impression is of an overwhelming sweetness, I wouldn't say caramel but it is sugary. It only takes a few moments though for the sweetness to calm down a bit and for the coconut and spices to come forward. The coconut isn't like tropical vacation coconut, it's a much darker incarnation that combines perfectly with the amber and sweetness to create a syrupy feeling. Despite that description I wouldn't say that it seems in any way foody. After a while it sort of turns into a lovely, hazey, incensy, sultry cloud of fragrance that's just fantastic. This is one of those smells where the whole is completely different than I would imagine from looking at it's components.

I haven't had the chance to smell the Glowing Vulva perfume but the notes sound so lovely that I really wanted to try the bath oil. Using this as a moisturizer on my skin, my first impression is of a creamy vanilla with a twist of sarsaparilla, much like the vanilla I smell in snake oil. And that's pretty much it. Sort of a creamy, rootbeer-ish vanilla. I expected a more complex scent, or at least to be able to smell the teak. I have to stop buying things unsniffed, it so seldom turns out well.

Skin testing. Musty, woody, blackish-greenish about covers it.

 

This most predominantly a green scent. Not a fresh green but a green that's closer to mulch.

It reminds me of a slightly medicinal dark moss but without the earthiness. I almost feel like there might be some wintergreen or spearmint in here.

After it dries down a bit the balance between woody and green shifts a bit toward the woody. With the unusual green element softening and developing with it, something really nice is happening. It's green without being soapy and woody without being heavy.

I like this quite well. It seems like it would work well for Spring or Fall.

The first scent that comes to my mind is Nosferatu. It has a cold, earthy, floral smell that I associate specifically with a florist's shop cooler.

Smells like strong red wine in the imp, but I've noticed that most wine sorts of boozy blends change dramatically on my skin.

Here goes!

On my skin it's like faded red wine that spilled on a wood table that had spices on it – and a vase of jasmine flowers. There's something distinctly spiced about this. Red sandalwood must be a lot heavier and WOODlike than the other sandalwoods I've smelled. I think I'm more familiar with lighter, more soapy incarnations of sandalwood - red sandalwood is so much nicer. It blends with the jasmine beautifully. I'm not getting the patchouli standing out, but I'm sure it's there and the attar of rose isn't knocking me over, but I think it's doing something with the jasmine, giving it a little bit more of an edge than jasmine usually has.

Into the dry down now and I'm getting the feeling that the rose is creeping up on me. It is. Oh man. This started off so wonderful. The other good stuff is still there, but the rose is kind of taking over.

Nope. The rose totally overwhelmed everything else this blend had going on.

This is a no for me, which is really a bummer because I was really loving the hell out of the sandalwood, patchouli, and jasmine. This was a good learning experience though, I'm off to search for more red sandalwood blends!