SophieCedar

Diamond Star is the perfect oriental. Beautiful sweet woods, musky, spicy, incense smell with a touch of floral. This does NOT go baby powdery on me at all. Bottle worthy for sure.

I'd have to agree with LiberAmoris on the strawberry blush part. The strawberry is the only other note that stands right out. When applied wet, it smells like... a My Little Pony....Yup. Not kidding. I think its the "wild" part of the strawberry.. a whiff of greenery. Gets a little less green as it dries down. I love sandalwood however its not as prominent in this mix as I imagined. It is a base note/melder. Whatever moroccan means in the world of sandalwood, its frikkin awesome... sweet and a little musky. Reminiscent of Morocco's characteristics for sure. Very well blended. Light to medium throw. Smooth, creamy, sweet, musky, peachy... but not overwhelmingly so, in any direction. Very wearable.

How have I not reviewed this yet? On me, this is a beautiful perfect subtle clean-burning Japanese incense. Sweet, not overpowering. Nice warm resin base, wafts of cactus green and a touch of floral.

This is Butterflies Flowers and Jewels attending without the high-pitched notes. Honestly I love it. Completely not bothered by the licorice. If this was a blind bottle test I'm sure I wouldn't be able to easily identify the licorice. Its freesia up-front for me!

Aye chiwawa... this is warm. If you like LUSH's Glugg shower gel spice mix or the long-lost cassia incense from AIRS.. this is for you. Honestly I'm saving this one for when I'm cold and achy. It'll dry me right out then make me sleep like a baby.

I totally see what people are saying about fresh nag champa... then as this dries, I get a spicy oriental with a touch of motor oil. Dead sexy.

I would recommend Joyful Moon or Celeste. They're a little harder to find but great.

I would suggest Dragon's Milk, Osun, Bard, Thieves Rosin, Parliament of Monsters (my favorite incense blend!), Morgause(purple but pretty incense and velvetly/glittery to me), Chimera, Fae, Lyonesse, All in a Golden Afternoon, and No. 93 Engine. More atmospheric, but I would also suggest Forest Reverie: A sunlit ancient forest, dotted with wild roses, grape vine, and queenly lilies, clothed in swirls of opium smoke. Best of luck!

Oohhoho boy.. do I loves me some pink scents... Here's my list of the top pink scents, IMHO: Loli.Goth Vasilissa Lady in Speckled Pink Kimono Hime Gyaru Pink Phoenix Kitty Strawberry Moon 2012 Golletes <3 <3 Blooming Rose Love Lilith's Bubblegum & Roses

Wet: apple? and water. Definitely apple note on me dry: ambergris, dark water, salt. dark musk. Love it.

Golden amber, 7-year aged labdanum, and oudh. I agree with comparisons to The Lion. However this doesn't have the weird effect of said feline: overwhelming me. The oudh is what makes this so different. Slightly saffrony, rosey, dark, tart notes make the amber stand alert in Gondola. Reminds me of sticking my nose in a big assorted box of incense and essential oils imported from india. I love it. http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/wub2.gif

Wondering why no one has mentioned a similarity Sibyl or Kitty yet? I would even compare it the feel of Vasilissa. I get sweet, soft, creamsicle with a touch of ambergris. Elegy No. 1 S. 196 is lighter than Kitty or Sibyl but the overall qualities are there. The throw is pervading and elusive like Haunted and the overall feel is amazing, cloud-soft, sweet, musky, feminine, refined, balanced, and definitely not a "mall-perfume-stink". Great for day/night, good mood/bad mood, and all seasons. Its not very often I fall in love with a scent this heavily so quickly.

You know, I'm reviewing this phoenix last because Baruch's Phoenix is the most complex and morph-y. I needed some time to see the full spectrum. Starts off cedar strong. Like so much it masked all other notes. It bloomed to a thin fig and bitter almond, then turned the corner to resinville. Drydown smells like warm sweet candlewax due to the date and honey mixed with resin and cedar. Honestly? Perplexing and intriguing, I'd regret not buying a bottle.

Oooh boy... don't hit me but this smells a bit like Calvin Klein's Euphoria. Mind you that's one of the very few commercial perfumes I can stand... so win! Saffron and me don't always agree. It tends to turn to burning rubber on my skin if not blended with just the right notes. Anyways... Its the saffron that shines here. This really showcases what saffron can do and how much of a unique keystone it can be in a perfume. Sweet plum and pomegranate with warm gorgeous saffron and just the right blend of resins. Bottle for sure.

OMG this is the unexpected win of the group. I thought for sure something in Tacitus' Phoenix was gonna go wrong on me..but I was wrong instead. Warm incense-y amber and clove with touches of orange peel. this is reminding me of LUSH's Icon for some reason. Yes, actually, its exactly that. Icon freaks rejoice!

Ok... so when I saw the description for Herodotus' Phoenix, I messaged a bpal friend saying "WIN FOR TEAM RESIN!" Not disappointed. This is a delicious combination for resin freaks like me. I dare say almost edible. Honestly its making my mouth water. Go figure. Anyways, warm middle depth myrrh mixed with an almost floral combination of frankincense and copal. If you like the incense notes of Dia de los Muertos, I would say try this.

This is a LOVELY scent, but something in here is going a little flat on my skin. I think the cassia bark and myrrh are doing a confuse-a-nose on me. Overall pretty and warms nicely in a honey/resin way. Reminds of a few shunga base notes.

Swwwwweeet mother of jeebus I need 100 bottles. Heady rich deep vanilla with a syrupy dessert wine/cordial top note from the bourbon vanilla and oudh melding. Warmth not to be paralleled from the type of amber chosen. It comes across like skin musk but sweeter and deeper. Made of pure win.

Ooh! Non-burny cinnamon! 1st YAY! Deep frankincense and its the predominant note. 2nd YAY! the cinnamon is dry and woody, not the overly sweet baking type. 3rd YAY! I'll be getting a bottle.

I do love this scent. Its a little too similar to Hope and Fear Set Free (which I've been ab.so.lute.ly hoarding) for me to decide if I need a bottle. I'm sure I'll cave at some point. The rose is very subtle. I can pick up on the amber and balsam too. I would recommend this to someone who maybe thought the frankincense in Hope and Fear was too strong. This is much smoother.

This is gonna be a little analytical but I'm sure you can deal with it... I preface this with the solid fact that I'm a former theater tech nerd. (set building and stage management as well as everything behind-the-scenes in between..) Grand Guignol Thanatos is from the patron's perspective. In the bottle and wet, I got all excited because it smelled like musty costumes, dank corners, cake makeup, and drafty dressingrooms. I absolutely swooned! Dry, its the faint wafting scent of the formerly mentioned notes perceived from audience seats, mixed with patrons' mindfully and dramatically chosen colognes and perfumes. As well as the *never warm* but atmospherically seductive intermission lobby. I do see a YSL Opium similarity with addition of the scent of soft velvet or velveteen seats (that stuff that holds a lot of dust and smells lovely) I love this in a completely different way than I had anticipated. Oh and ps/eta: The bottle art is AWESOME. Favorite bottle art ever. One huge reason I wouldn't consider swapping/selling this lovely scent. ETA March 2014: This smells much sweeter now that the seasons have changed a bit. Syrupy sweet Schwarzer Mond is what I've dubbed it, in my memory bank. Frikkin awesome. Hoard worthy.

Gun Moll is a signature scent for me as well. It goes on a bit powdery.. but seductive and dark, like opium. The drydown and lingering scent is Oh. My. for sure. Dry but sweet, red, resinous, dark florals and fruits. This is eyesrollingintobackofhead good. Love the way it lingers on my clothing! If you thought Red Lantern was a bit too sweet, give this a shot.

For anyone wondering how this aged... its GLORIOUS. If you love fig scents this is a must-have. The green edge and the nutmeg settled down. Its this warm, syrupy, chewy fig and myrrh scent with a touch of creamy spicy carnation. The green tea just keeps it from going flat and into straightup "brown" scent territory, I would say.

Sampaguita is so beautiful. Its very sweet and the best way I can describe it is: like jasmine, ylang ylang, green tea, and tiny bit of vanilla bean tea had a baby. Honestly it reminds me of Urban Outfitters circa early to mid-1990's, when they had all that incense, tapestries, and Suns Eye oils. Interesting thing is, it smells markedly different close up. Hypnotic and intriguing.

I was gonna recommed: Burning Vulva and The Soldier but someone else beat me to it.