Invidiana

This is dangerously delicious. It certainly is a nice crusty toasted marshmallow with that droolworthy burnt-sugar crust which actually leans more towards caramelized sugar with a swirl of autumnal woodsmoke rather than a creme brulee sugar crust. Simple, but amazing. I LOVE this and am going to need multiple bottles.

Echoing the other, this i a "glittering scent that isn't effervesscent but still sparkles in its own unique way. It's very much fresh apple wet, but as it dries down the crystalline musks and vanilla emerge followed by the soft white florals. There is something quietly exotic about the floral elementhere, especially from the tiare. It actually isn't a floral-dominated cent on me but more of a vanillaed apple veiled in diaphanous muskis and backed by soft tropical petals, ethereal and beautiful.

Holy--this is vanillaed October. The slightly smoky dry leaves from October are here, but with the sweet creaminess of vanilla and white cocoa, with soft white musk and sweet amber in the background. I have been waiting for something that combines vanilla and dry leaves, and this is it! I'm going to need more.

This makes me think of the woody, earthy scents I pick up biking outdoors at this time of year. I live in a pretty heavily wooded area and the wood and leaf notes, along with a gentle hint of fir needle, really hit home. Obviouly patchouli doen't grow in New Jersey but it also adds to the earthy quality. The fir needle doesn't scream cologney pine, but adds to the ambience this creates like a dusting of pine needles on the forest floor. These elements are made even better with the sweet wildflower honey and toasty, nutty hazelnut that add some autumnal comfort. I don't really pick up anything boozy from the cognac but since it's green cognac it's probably tying in with the leaves somewhere. It's one of those lovely "fall in a bottle" scents that's anything but stereotypical.

The violet, moss and green notes in this are obvious right away, but a darker and smoky background reveals itself on the drydown. It isn't fuity per ses; I get more of the tobacco and oppoponax and sage, but I can pick up a slight sweetnes from the fruit. I'm taking the "specks of bone" note to have white sandalwood somewhere in there because I believe I'm picking some up. There is something reminscent of saltwater or salty tears here, but it isn't a cologney type of aquatic and stays subdued in the background. This is a mournful and etherweal scent that quietly speaks volumes.

Nightmare reminds me of the Smashing Pumpkins song Behold! The Nighmare! in that it has that same dreamy yet sinister quality. It' not exactly the eaiest thing to describe but it's almost like drifting off to sleep with the remnants of your consciousness picking up on fragments of ominous thoughts that will end up swirling together into fantastically frightening visions. There is that dreamlike airiness of linen and lavender coupled with the innocent sweetness of vanilla and honey, tainted by the deliciously dark stain of opium and the blackened fruit gums. I don't really get much jasmine, but it definitely isn't hte cat pee type or else it would have shown up.This is a truly otherworldly scent brimming with mystery and unlike anything else in my collection.

Wow. Thick, positively evil musks burst out right away, followed by earthy, woody clove and patchouli. Thankfully I don't amp the clove to the point of it turning out like a jar of cloves and nothing else. The myrrh and vanilla orchid gradually arise more and more on the drydown with a balance of both resinous and creamy types of sweetness. I might be getting the vanilla orchid fairly well because I do tend to amp vanilla. I don't get much king mandarin but there is a bit of a juicy element in there that isn't distinctly citrus but melds right into everything else. Gorgeous.

This is like the best buttery yellow cake ever with mounds and mounds of creamy vanilla frosting and a shower of sprinkles. There actually is something bit rainbow-ish about the sprinkle note, something like pink sugar that comes out on the drydown. What more can I say than I want to eat it?

This really is a feral brown musk reminiscent of that in Whoso List to Hunt; wild, untamed, with something of an incisive bite. The musk is the dominant player at first but settles down a bit on the drydown and allows some earthy woody patchouli and the sweeter elements to come through. It's that musk along iwth the patchouli and olibanum that really pull together the feral character of the incubus. Though the magnolia and ylang ylang actually aren't very obvious I can still sense them in the background, and as it keeps dryingdown the vanilla and honey sweeten it more and tame the wildness. I can definitely also get some of that lovely slightly smoky beeswax there as well. I am liking where this is going and want to let it age a bit because I have a feeling it's going to get richer and sweeter with time.

At first I get lots of heady white florals with shadowy musk and a dark fruity shot of blackcurrant backed by sweet vanilla. The jasmine here is thankfully the non-cat-pee variety of jasmine. No blasting dry rose either, just the barest hint which adds a surprising sensuality to the blend. As it keeps drying down the musk and blackcurrant get stronger and I can also smell the dark resinous undercurrant of opium tar and oppoponax. The white flowers are still there, but they are soft and sheer like a bath of moonlight. Beautiful.

The Pumpkin Princess label is adorable....is that Lilith?

I'm surprised that I actually like this. I thought it would end up being some screeching floral to pierce my nostrils in all its wrath but it's actually pretty gentle. Greener in the beginning, it dries down to ethereal white florals with what I'm taking to be white musk. There is a powdery and soapy quality to it but in a pleasant way, like just having stepped out of the shower. There might be a bit of orris hiding in here as well and contributing to the downy feel. I won't be going rabid seeking more of this out but may spring for the released version.

Holy Old Spice on steroids. This is heavy, spicy and incredibly manly. There are lots of dark resins in here, but of the more masculine variety that tends to be more cologney than the thick and sweet type I tend to lean toward. Lots of spice is in here as well but not the baking type, more the I-am-man-and-I-will-smite-you type. CLOVE and lots of it. All these are backed up by masculine woods, some type of smoky sandalwood and possibly black cedar since I'm not getting the hamstercage cedar chips I got from Sacrifice. There could possibly be some chypre or something in the background adding to the cologney feel. It reminds me of my uncle. I'm glad to have tried this but could never pull it off.

This is a really odd and discordant scent on me. It's dominated by something heavily syrupy--almost cloying--with an undercurrent of lilac and jasmine and possibly carnation. There is what I'm taking to be a tiny bit of burnt sugar in there somewhere too. Something about this reminds me of the Lab's Dragon's Blood blend (as opposed to the actual daemonorops resin) which doesn't do too well on my skin to begin with. I was expecting to love this but the heavy candylike qualiy and the florals just keep clashing to no avail.

As I slowly catch up on a rather embarrassing amount of scents I've had for a while but never bothered to review, I came across this gem again. I like the smell of licorice markedly better than the taste, and this smells like the gooey insides of Good & Plentys with an added highlight of bittersweet earthy cacao. Not an herbal anise at all. Yum.

This is one of those scents that's just very strangely addictive for me. It could be that it has a good deal of the nostalgia factor of walking through Harmon as a kid and inhaling the scents of half a million hair products, but there's something more here. Wet it's very much like hair gloop but it dries down into something much softer and pleasantly powdery, odd but really intriguing in its oddness, very difficult to describe. It still retains that nostalgic whiff of Harmon all the way through but manages to be very wearable at the same time. A surprise winner!

Upon sniffing this wet I actually got more of a floral citrus than the in-your-face floral I was expecting. It starts off as more of a juicy citrus with a gentle floral background, and as it dries down the citrus calms and the soft creamy white lily emerges along with its green stems and leaves and a swirl of red musk. There is no questioning that this is exquisitely blended, and I do like the combination of lily and citrus, but unfortunately the light lily/green notes facing off against the red musk--which amps with time--on my skin end up somewhat discordant. For that reason it's not something I'm going to go rabidly hunting but I will try it again.

I used to drink sparkling apple cider on New Year's Eve as a teenager in lieu of real champagne and I have to say the scent is DEAD ON. I'm glad the apple note here is not too sweet but has a tart edge coupled with that glorious fizz that Beth does so well. This is not only yummy but also nostalgic for me.

Iiiiiiinteresting. I expected this to be more cologney than it actually was; it's really more balsamic than cologney. What I'm taking to be the balsam resin in this really reminds me of U, but with an herbal background instead of the raw vanilla and leather in U. I'm glad I got to try it, but I have to say I prefer my U.

This is really fizzy wet; as it dries down the smoky-sweet cigar smoke note starts to come through the dry champagne. The cigar smoke in this one is like that in Havana, not overly manly or eau du fireplace. It's dead on and really evocative, but I'd personally rather have it as an atmo spray than a perfume.

If you're looking for Irish Spring, find thee a bottle of Eanach Dhuin! It was a dead ringer for Irish Spring on me. Eanach Dhuin: Unutterable grief expressed through the scent of balsam, frankincense, blackberry leaf, oud, white rose, driftwood, zdravetz, and bitter clove, beneath the cold waters of the River Corrib.

I was really hoping this would be like the Looking Glass bath oil and really let the vanilla musk (and in this case coconut) shine through in equal proportion with the rose. While they're definitely evident, along with soft florals and woods in the background, the rose turns out to be the star. It was really the gardenia and frangipani I wanted to be the prominent florals. The rose here is feminine and not sharp or dry, but I'd still been crossing my fingers for more creamy vanilla and coconut. I don't believe it's the same type of rose (damask rose) in Looking Glass that turns out so sexy on me either. Really pretty, but the rose is stronger than I'd hoped so I can justify keeping one bottle, but not two.

At last! A scent based on the Victorian notion of ennui as man's downfall! Ennui is French for boredom, which was thought to be a one-way street to damnation in those days. Before my fascination with 19th century writers obsessed with decadence--Baudelaire, Mallarme, Huysmans et al--bores everyone to death here, this smells fantastic. It's like furniture made from the most expensive of aged exotic woods, which seem to be mahogany and teak to my nose, and well-worn brown leather alongside the finest of dark chocolates and a goodly shot of booze which I'm taking to be cognac. It isn't a booziness that clubs you over the head but it's present. There may even be a trace of cigar smoke in here. It's dominated by the woods in the wet stage, but as it dries down the chocolate and booze emerge, make themselves and settle comfortably on the woody background which warms up as it keeps drying down. It has a certain sweetness to it probably contributed most by the cognac and chocolate. The chocolate here must be a dark chocolate note because I get that really rich smoky type of cacao that goes perfectly with the wood notes. This is not really a foody chocolate blend; exotic cacao is just one aspect that contributes to the whole idea of rich Victorians who are up to their eyeballs in luxuries succumbing to boredom and turning to illicit pleasures to get a rise out of themselves. In other words, I love it and can't wait to see its final iteration.

For this review, first I'm going to let Aragorn do the talking: So yeah, I think he said it. This is dead sexy. There is definite leather here, but it isn't that De Sade leather that screams MAN from 50 feet away. This is a smooth, supple, rich leather that is reminiscent of ranger gear a la Aragorn but also unisex and wearable. The leather is backed by deep resins that balance it out perfectly with a hint of sweetness, though do note that my skin tends to amp the sweet aspect of resins. There must be some black amber here; it's very well blended so I'm guessing there are many resins involved. There is also a backdrop wood which I'm taking to be black cedar because all other types of BPAL cedar amp to infinity on me. It can't posibly be the cedar in Sacrifice because that took over everything else. I think there is also a dark musk that adds to the sexy vibe anda bit of earth to add to the overall feel of a rugged ranger. There is also a smokiness about it that could be a smoke note or a quality of certain ingredients; either way, it finishes it off perfectly. It's actually what I was hoping Sacrifice to be. In a nutshell, it smells like Aragorn or what I'd smell like after a romp in the hay with Aragorn. Oh yes.

This one is very fizzy, citrusy and refreshing. Wet I get primarily orange ginger ale, and as it dries down the fizzy aspect still remains but with more white rum coming out. The white rum isn't really a very boozy note per se, just hinting at booze but not stealing the show from the other two notes. This is a great effervescent scent for those disgustingly hot summer days.