SophieCedar

Ok I don't know what this is supposed to accomplish..but this scent is my own personal form of olfactory crack. I just got this in the mail and tested, with fear that it wouldn't work well on my skin. Nonsense! This is great! Wet: 1st though: "Mmmm.. cherry tarts...wait..cherry tarts? Very funny, Beth..."(then laughed to myself) I literally got the smell of fresh cherry tarts with marzipan and vanilla bean liquor. If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, no wonder this would supposedly furnish pregnancy...he'd eat you alive. Drydown: this scent does a bizarre thing of simulating the complexity of a good deep musk, without any, and hitting that golden ratio of sweet, floral, and earthy. True, peru balsam, vanilla bean and benzoin are some of my favorites and are really prominent here.. But I'm not really zoning in on only the elements that bring me guaranteed joy in life. The rose water and lemon peel are perfect balancers and keep me going back to smell it deeply again. Reason is, I noticed I was able to equate how it plays out on my sense of smell as being similar to how someone would seductively describe a perfect glass of wine. That is all together too creepy of an association for me so, I'll stop now and run away, huffing my arm.

It's unusually warm today so I figured this would be a good day to try it. Strange how different this smells from a couple weeks ago, when 1st tested. The lily of the valley and sandalwood is actually much stronger now and it's overall drier. When I 1st tested in colder weather, I could smell more hibiscus and green fig. Very energizing and a great lily of the valley variation and hits me more as late spring-early summerish. This makes me wish it was May and I was out riding my bicycle only to stop for seashell collecting and crow mocking.

Ok the similarity to Red Lantern would not have been apparent, had I not checked new content this morning and realized I never reviewed RL..therefore tested it. Wet: very similar to Red Lantern as stated before. Just woodier, with patchouli and something that smells like clove on me. This could be the cinnamon leaf amping in combination with the caramel and patchouli. Nice earthy foodie scent. I'm a fan. Drydown: much of the currant burns off, but still there. Caramel, sandalwood, patchouli and cinnamon leaf remain. I missed the muguet both rounds (wet and dry) but oh well. This decant is of indeterminate age.

Wet: black myrrh and black musk with oppoponax and frankincense. Nice strong start but it's shifting quickly.. The crushed olive leaf is in the background. Drydown: the myrrh dries out and the musk disappears almost completely. Frankincense and olive leaf, spikenard, cypress, dried ginger and patchouli. I think this blend has lost strength, being 5 years old.

Did I seriously never review this? Glad it popped up from someone's 2011 review. Red lantern 08: I bought a partial bottle in the summertime. That was the WRONG season for me to be wearing Red Lantern. The caramel was so overpowering that I stashed the bottle away, pouting and disappointed.. But I reasoned that Beth releases blends at certain times of year with the idea of complimenting the seasonal atmosphere. I recently went back to Smut 10 too and realized it's much better in winter. Wet: OK this is great. The amber, coconut, caramel, tobacco, currant, and delphinium are forefront forming a silky, weightless cloud of pure indulgent awesomeness. It has a light touch but firm presence.. none of that raunchy overpowering heavy-handedness. Very seductive. The delphinium is a wonderful unexpected top note. I love the white opium too: Nice soporific background. The spices aren't too heavy and I can't really tell what's in the mix. Drydown: caramel, tobacco, and currant stick around. Delphinium is in the background still, but light. Much foodier and the opium has disappeared. I love it. Glad I have this partial. It's the perfect cold weather love affair.

Wet: this is good. The lighter greener brother of Unsavory Gravediggers. The hops amps 1st, followed by the booze and dandelion. Green boozy passed out in the grass fun. Drydown: the tobacco comes out more and the booze and hops deepen and the mix sweetens to a wonderfully intoxicating level. This actually sticks around for hours on my skin. Unexpected love fascination with this one.

Wet: this is WHOA strong. 1st I smell the grapes, as I tend to amp them anyways, then some kinda evergreen and patchouli. Then there's wet rose mingling with the grapes and the evergreen confusing the hell out of me. This scent is turning me around and around...I'm still waking up with coffee by my side.. Drydown: I smell the opium and lilies however they're turning acrid. Probably because of the evergreen and grape, both of which are really iffy on me. I tried this once before, thinking maybe my experience was a fluke, but no. This is just too bizarre on my skin for my little brain to handle and amping like crazy. Coming back to this in summer/fall. ETA: ok wait.. It's burned off a little more. Now I smell opium smokey grapes with an evergreen background. Kinda nice now! I think the 1st test, I was so horrified that I just washed it off too soon.

Wet: what a great blend. The strongest are chamomile, rosewood, primrose with a slight arabian musk and bergamont. The red sandalwood and violet are noticable but take the background. This has a wonderful duality to it. Sensual, mind-stirring, soothing, and uplifting. Drydown: mostly rosewood, sandalwood, slight violet and musk. Chamomile has a tendency to go a little wine-like on me after a while. This combines well with the rosewood and arabian musk. my hubby loves dousing himself in chamomile oil, so he really liked this when I offered a sniff. Sure he'll be asking for some soon! (oh that sounded bad..)

Wet: leather slaps my face straight from the imp...wait.. no leather. I didn't know whale barf could be leathery. The spanish moss is amping on me as well. this is a very fragrant cologne. Not dark and brooding, just classic springy summery aftershave. I can detect orange blossom and the mints but bummed that I can't smell the jasmine. Confusing well-blended scent. Drydown: ambergris and orange blossom. The rest are in the background, mixing, melding, confusing. I feel like I'm back in Jr high raiding my dad's cologne stash. (Yes,that was a popular thing gals did when I was that age)

Wet: ooh I like this way more than I expected. The asian pear and quince are awesome additions and actually smooth out the ginger slightly. Drydown: smooth creamy fruity ginger candy. This is really uplifting and energizing. Debating the search for a bottle.

Wet: the cedar tries to do it's overpowering pouf, similarly to ouija. (which if I get too close, it smells like toothpaste..) This smells brilliantly sweet and incensey from afar...if I can just keep my arm away from my nose until it cools down. The saffron is wonderfully strong and sandalwood +lotus is sweet woody awesomeness. Drydown: a few failed attempts at not sniffing up close later...The cedar settled and this is a sweet, not overpowering incense. The lotus takes over with whatever spices are in the mix. Decent!

Wet: evergreen, pine-like, slight hint of a juniper berry. This phase smells like the non-poisonous type. From what I read about poison hemlock, it's a foul odor compared to parsnips or mice. Drydown: more plant-like, less evergreen. Ok now I'm confused. Is this the poison hemlock version? I smell parsnips and slight warm pine. Maybe I'm just impressionable. Not a bad scent, but not something I'll reach for often.

Wet: I love honeysuckle, but can't smell any here. This is frustrating. The bulgarian rose, night blooming jasmine, clove, and nectarine are turning this into a pouf of rancid fruit on a bed of roses. I'm upset (and whiny apparently). Drydown: oh whew. Much better! This dries out well. The cedarwood develops nicely and I can distinctively smell the honeysuckle now. The sweet clove and nectarine twine and make for a great spicy sweet background for the wood and florals. Rose is still there but not being obnoxious. This scent might be better in summer. Need to come back to it.

Wet: while the comparison to Dorian rings true, it shifts quickly to a spicier creamier version on me. Something like a earl grey honeycomb, heavy cream, and clove. I can smell the jasmine leave and white musk, probably adding to the creaminess and the association with Dorian. Glad I tried this again. 1st tested in the summertime and I barely smelled anything. Drydown: After a little while, the earl grey is more apparent. Still creamy and now fragrant vanilla bean is really dominant too. The white fougere and jasmine leaf swirl around in the background. ZOMG..this is amazing!

Wet: smokey and a blackened burgundy feel. Looking at the ingredients, I think the incense, amber, and oakmoss are amping. It's nice but not very strong. Drydown: the french virginal florals and leather win. Surprising to say the least! Color impression turns wavy white with purple, blue and amber shafts of light.

YESsss!I remembered, as I applied this, I've been searching for an elusive white horse.. a natural cucumber scent.. ever since Aubrey Organics discontinued their Cucumber & Mandarin facial cleanser 12 years ago. It was NOT the cleanser for my skin type. In fact, it made me break out. Regardless, I adored it so much that I slathered scrubbed and repeated until all was gone. Reason? The lovely cucumber scent. Squirting Cucumber has an identical cucumber note (without the nasty side-effects). In fact, I like it even better. It's fresh, green, grassy, soothing, cooling, wet cucumber from imp to drydown. Cucumber is my reset button. *sigh* Off to buy a bottle!

Wet: In imp and 1st applied, this smelled like prepubescent cologne of the most-obnoxious-bad-teenage-totally-wrong-half-naked-ads-on-mall-store-exterior kind. I was super disappointed because the mix sounded so great on digital paper. Drydown: different story. It's sweet narcotic poppy and dark patchouli with lingering white musk. I like this now.. but my nose is shell-shocked. The wet phase was so strong and overpowering I'm having trouble detecting & appreciating the dry phase.

Wet: lime based men's cologne with a nice floral backing. I can see the froot loops relation if I smell lightly. The white musk helps smooth out the edges so it's not sharp as hell. Drydown: the lilac and citron are more pronounced and the blend is dryer (nicer). I can picture a lunatic much more clearly here. It's slightly like a de-concocted white version of azathoth. Sweet. I'm wearing both, one on each wrist today. When I'm bored, in my multiple meetings, I can imagine them duking it out.

Wet: warm dry brown. Frankincense and white sage, a little of the lavender fougere. However...where's the lemon peel? I think it's just amping these 3. Drydown: lavender fougere wins. It changes dramatically in drydown. Now I can smell the sandalwood, a peek of the vetivert, and even the labdanum. It's actually quite comforting..in that meditational solitude way.

Wet: grape lollipops stuck in a bed of lilies covered in dew. Drydown: green lily, pear, with purple grape lollipops. Interesting but not something I'll reach for.

When I received this decant in the mail, it was frozen solid! The cap had actually bulged off of it from the ice expansion! Makes me wonder what combo is in this besides for oil. Wet: fancy root beer... smells like Fentimans dandilion & burdock soda (yum). Sassafras is strongest followed by champaca and black tea. Can't really pick out the tonka over the sassafras. Drydown: I can smell the tonka now. It's mostly tonka and sassafras with black tea.

Wet: whoa! I'm awake! I'm awake. pine, bay, rosemary.. all there. Color impression cerulean blue, gray, with shots of light green. Amping the pine and bay. Drydown: still mostly pine. Small amounts of bay and lemon. The rosemary is getting clouded by the pine. I can see this being a perfect scent for some, but this is a bit much on me.

Wet: tea rose, white geranium, and calla lily with a slight violet. Color impression light lilac and flashes of pink and light blue with misty white. Very fragrant, strong. Drydown: same. I was hoping for more muguet and chamomile but they're up against some serious competition. It is a very pretty scent, not quite as sad as I was expecting. On the right skin, I could see this being perfection. However my skin isn't the right mate. Keeping to try again in spring/summertime.

Wet: sweet syrupy dark wildflower honey.. honey that's dark amber brown when you peer through the bottle. The gunpowder is sweet and metallic with hints of dirt. Drydown: Something about this is reminding me of a combination of lush products..the honey note is very similar to what I smell in flying fox and flying saucers. Something smells of sandalwood or a similar dark wood. I think that's reminding me of coalface or dark angels. Not bad because all those are my favorite products! I'm really liking this one.. much more than I thought I would.

Wet: all ingredients are present. The rose turns it a little powdery right off. I thought it was a honey note and a floral at 1st. I've never experienced neroli as a 1st note. Here, it's grabbed up and muzzled by the black musk, rose, apple, and vanilla. The patchouli is in there but distorted. Drydown: sweet powdery vanilla and black musk with a touch of teak and apple. Smells like loves baby soft..? Uhmm.