SophieCedar

I was hopeful yet meh when I ordered a decant of this. This is amazing. Intoxicating and the throw lasts forever. Very distinctive and dark! Wet: it grabbed my attention immediately as the smell rushed toward my nostrils. I've only experienced throw like this maybe once before. The fougere and carnation is a perfect floral fit, for me. Sometimes girly flower blends are too much for my senses. The vetivert adds depth and a meaty blackened earthiness but the carnation prevents from making it easily identifiable. Not sure if it's yew berry or branch essence, but there's a purple berry tinge in the background. Drydown: it just lasts and lasts. exactly as described and incredibly bewitching.

Wet: minty and sugary with a faint watered-down whiskey. Not exactly Blanton's but not Jim Beam either... Apparently I like my mint juleps much stronger than Beth does... Drydown: faint whiff of whiskey and mint. Smells like the morning after. Oh well!

Whoew! Tobacco flower straight from the plant and white/golden honey. I was hoping for aged & dried tobacco but bees don't necessarily run around tobacconists shops puffing pipes and rolling cigarillos, do they... Similar to Door however more basic and stronger.

Wet: sweet violet and gardenia with a pouf of orris. Drydown: lilac violet gardenia, less orris, more ylang ylang. The sandalwood is lessened by strong florals but I can detect it somewhat. Further into drydown, lavender comes out and slaps the violet in the face for screaming for a decade. Nice and sweet, floaty, appropriate for the name, but not for me. Hanging onto it as my tastes change constantly!

Oooh wow. I thought I was ordering just another variation of lavender fougere... but no! This is sexy and amazing... Wet: lavender pouf with distinctive meatiness + strength of tonka and warm rounded amber. The lavender sharpness slides away quickly leaving a predominantly tonka smell. I'm in love. Drydown: still decent throw! The tonka is clinging on and becomes even more dominant. This and Perversion makes me realize why vanilla leaves me feeling empty... I could totally wear this every day for months and be happy.

Mmmm... waited a while before trying this one. It's delicious and decadent. Wet: I get more red wine rum and blood here. There's a vapor-like hint of dark ground cocoa too. Drydown: a bit more cocoa but not really in a sense that you would say "whoa there's cocoa in here!". Honestly smells like Blood with Vice on me! It fades a bit quickly. I like it very much.

Wet: lotus always amps on me. Smells like fruit punch soda! Drydown: I get the cherry everyone else mentioned but not in a bad way. The citrus is there but indeterminable in type. I wish the amber was a bit heavier so it would even the throw. Overall, sweet, cute, and nice.

Wet: Did my grandmother smoke opium? Seriously this smells like her house as I remember it! Maybe the opium tar smells a bit like the lacquered wood and wicker that filled her house. I think the rose was a perfume she was fond of. This is fascinating and comforting! Drydown: ok this is traveling it's way out of memory lane. Now that the notes have settled it smells more like opium tar and damask rose. I feel like I'm using Lush's Turkish Delight body polish and burning opium incense while in the shower. Very soothing to the system.

Dry sandalwood resins and spices. Makes me feel rather mysterious...! It also has a clean cedar edge to it. If I owned this when I was 18, when I had little concern about over-stinking my environment and more concern about manipulating my surroundings to something more dreamy, a bottle of this would have been GONE in about a week. ADDED Oct. 26: Wet: mmm. warm dry indian sandalwood and cedar. I feel like I'm sitting next to a warm fireplace with incense burning in the other room. Drydown: this one is pretty steady. same here.

Reading the description, I couldn't send payment fast enough for a bottle of this... Wet: whoa! holy throw! this is strong and incredibly sexy and feral. All notes in order. The red musk is strong but it's amping the honey too. Smells like heavy cream was poured over it too. Drydown: the red musk is in check and everything is awesome. I visited my hubby at work after testing, last nite. His reaction.... "Oooh! What are you wearing? *snnnniiifff* Mmmmmm! *sssssnnnniiiiffff* Grrrrr!" Needless to say, he loves it. Combined with Boo 2010 it's amazing.

OK getting a bottle of Boo this year helped figure out the notes in my CT Vanilla 137. It's basically Boo with strawberry/guava mix and a touch of resin. I'm quite relieved that this can be a back up for the eventual death of my favorite CT vanilla bottle! Creamy cotton candy and clean sweet cotton. I get a touch of sweet artificial strawberry from Boo where I get a stronger more natural strawberry/guava in my CT. Love it. Thank you, BPAL.

Wow! Totally sweet and slightly bizarre. Wet: strong cherry and booze with a touch of coconut syrup. Smells like many an evening when I was in my 20's .... Drydown: the cherry settles and it smells a bit like Gothabilly without the egyptian musk. The almond is sweet marzipan-like and the saffron gives an orange floral nectar glow to it. The cherry smells a tad cough syrupy to me however it that's only when I shove my wrist under my nose... Otherwise lovely and enticing!

Wet: smells like cinnamon caramel vanilla butter baked goods. Very yummmy. Drydown: goes through a piercing ginger phase that frightens me for second, then subsides. Goes back to warm cinnamon spice baked goodness but with some sweet resins burning in the background. Smells like my house during winter weekends!

Wet: the cherry and orange blossom obscured the chocolate. I can't smell chocolate at all! Drydown: this is nice. exactly as described. strong dark chocolate with cherry center and orange blossom essence. Even smells somewhat musky giving it a sex appeal. This needs to exist in food form... for when I'm PMSing. It would totally calm me down.

Pure internal harmony and spiritual bliss: the perfected meditation blend. Completely baffled but I think I smell aloe sandalwood and vanilla. Very floaty and soothing! Slight baby powder smell up close but not bad at all. More sweet and sandalwood than anything.

Coffee jitters produced an imp accident with this one. Now my livingroom smells strongly of cinnamon and bitter almond and I'm left with a quarter of an imp . Smells nice but I'm not digging the cinnamon in this one. A bit too red and bitter. I'd rather stick with Chimera but I'll keep this one around...

I've tested many of these since the LE honey and Rappaccini's Apiary were introduced.. this is one of my favorites. Mental picture: Smells like a malevolent evil child dressed in a tea party dress and pinafore quietly playing in a witch's garden. Instinct tells you to turn around and walk away... the sweetest most innocent honey out of the bunch with a dark dark core.

I've smelled many versions of dragons blood over the years. Some are too musky, some are actually gritty to the touch, some are burnt to a crisp having used old dried out elements... not this one! This is dragon's blood from the prime of it's youth. Sweet, heady, dreamy, superbly fresh, and silky. Definite cherry note mixed with poppy fresh florals like orchid or plumeria or sweet pea and dragons blood resin. Lovely.

Wet: wrist away from nose, I smell dragon's blood. Upclose, salty aquatic tinged with lilac and dragon's blood. Drydown: smells mostly of salty lilac on me! Not that it's a bad thing..just that the aquatic note distorted the dragon's blood so it smells more lilac-y.

Wet: earthy pumpkin with fuzzy tomato and fir Dry: the pumpkin wears off a bit and tomato becomes stronger. I can smell a touch of rosemary too. Think this was giving the fuzzy vine tomato feeling when wet.

Perfect! This is amplified dark musky pumpkin with a ton of depth. The pumpkin is hugely sweet and dark wet. This is exactly what I wanted a pumpkin scent to smell like, but couldn't figure out what notes. Drydown is eye-rolling-back-in-head lovely. The clove comes out more but doesn't turn plasticky like some other combos. The myrrh tobacco and black musk are sweet and swirling. This is the perfect marriage. Looking for a bottle.

Wet: wet sweet pumpkin with a touch of benzoin and vanilla. there's a ghost of red ginger too! Drydown:more ginger and lemon peel comes out here. I can smell a bit of blood orange but since this is aged 2 years, the citruses may have decreased in potency... the pumpkin and vanilla/benzoin is still dominant. This is very very autumn-y. Delicious and comforting with a slight uplifting element from the citrus and ginger.

Whoooeeww. Glad this worked out in the end. Bought a bottle without testing a decant first... Wet: strong strong smoky black pine pitch and tobacco.. where's the vanilla? There's a touch of skin musk and mushy patchouli. I tried this last night and this morning to make sure I perceived it the same way both times. Yup. The wet phase is truly bizarre. Drydown: Everything sorts itself out here. Just needs time. The pine mellows and the patchouli brightens in the background. The skin musk becomes glowingly warm and the smoky vanilla develops a ton, too. I believe the smoke, added to the vanilla, the resins and the pine/patchouli just combat each other when wet. I can smell the golden honey too! The dominant notes in the dry phase are, in order: smoky vanilla, tobacco, golden honey, touch of resins, skin musk. The pine is so muted here that I can barely smell it. A bonus is that this has a lot of throw still, but in an order I love.

Wow. This is strong and very yummy. Wet: pumpkin and strong black coffee with a few spices. Vanilla and hazelnut are strong here too. It's like I'm swimming in a pumpkin espresso drink with tons of extra flavor shots. Totally woke me up! Drydown: pumpkin and heavy spiciness. which is strange because there aren't any dry spices in this. I think the coffee note is souring the chocolate, vanilla and hazelnut. Still, very relaxing. Reminds me of a caffeinated Gluttony.

Ok.. this is the PERFECT violet for me. I love ylang ylang. I love hyssop. I love grave loam. Frankincense and I are good long-time friends. Sweet. hypnotic. violet. Like trance inducing violet. I'm a confirmed violet loather and this has completely changed my mind about this stinky grief-ridden plant. It stays true from wet to drydown and the throw is long and strong.