Lycanthrope

Dude! Ligur is all sorts of scent memory awesome. I don't quite know if I could pull this off as a personal perfume (I'm sure coworkers would love it...). Wet, and from the bottle, it was pretty much one gigantic drop of vetiver, but once it hit the skin and was able to settle a bit, it brought to mind a ton of association memories. I'm thinking... wood chips scattered haphazardly in a makeshift trail through a bit of preserved Michigan, or jogging on a trail with my friend in North Carolina, or standing outside on vacation in Northern Michigan in the dead of winter, smelling the curls of woodsmoke wafting through the air. It's eerie how much this brings that to mind. Ligur smells of smoky mulch, potting material, gardening, hardware store gardening section, earth without being dirt, forest without being sweetly woodsy. Dark, charred, crackling campfire. And the ultimate clincher? With the drydown, this beings to have hints of the drydown of the first ever still unreleased blend I ever tried, Kweku Anansi, which immediately makes this ULTIMATE WIN. I really need to get my own full bottle. Or two. Srsly.

I was hoping for glittery resins as the above reviewers gave glowing reviews, but I'm mostly just getting lilac. A really strong lilac, too. I think around the edges I can detect a little something golden, sticky, but it's just a hint before I get the strong 'pull' of lilac, and the Cross turns into a bright, very sweet floral on me. Maybe I have to try this again... The color I get from this is stark white. Which is very odd.

Pwrhrrhrhhrhhr..r. Rose'd. Also... akin to above, after I dabbed a little on, I was like OH NO. But it is very beautiful, like Rose Cross (resinous rose) but it actually dries down to a less rambunctious rose on me. Seriously... Rosi-crucian... yeah. *smacks paw to head*

This is the CD scent I was looking most forwards to trying, and I got a bottle unsniffed. It's mostly because the idea of swampy bog violetz really clinched it for me. Also, I've always wanted to wear captured souls. Neat. From the vial, it's not that violetty nor is it green or herby, it's definitely fresh, watery. It's got a very similar feel to the Tiki Blend Moana, but where Moana evolves towards a mildly salty, white subtle floral, Faeu stays misty and wet. It kind of smells like guava juice. citrus pulp, it's not cooling like peppermint, and I think if there is mint in this it is spearmint or watermint, some kind of less 'fresh and bracing' mint and more 'herbal grassy mint.' In terms of 'swampiness,' it really is what you'd think swamp mist would be - that filmy, breathy, steaming mist that hovers over the ground. There's not any of the dirt note I feel is present in blends like Penny Dreadful, Deep in Earth, all that. It's a scent that is glowy, transparent, that hovers in the swamp, but not in the ground of a swamp. The strangest thing though is I get absolutely no sensation of violet at all off my skin. That's odd, because I love violets and make an effort to snorfle them in blends whenever possible, and Faue stays this citrussy, misty thing, and I can't for the life of me locate the florals. Whrrf? GC similarz to Faeu, try: Nyarlathotep, R'Lyeh, Olokun, The Deep Ones.

Parthenope... my decanter gave me her trading card - oh my, she's a naked green glowing girl. She escaped from Captain Kirk? P was on my 'secondary list' of CDs to try, along with Marge and Dai, because of several notes in the description that made me balk. This would be star jasmine, as jasmine is one of those notes that enjoys strangling the heck out of everything else and turning into single note lush, yet stark similarity on me. Yet, this is not at all what happens with Parthenope. In fact, it's very fitting to the astral or aquatic, floating green lady of the label. Oil itself is a rusty orange, in the vial I'd call it smelling of mostly the resinous, sappy bite of benzoin, and some night time, smooth, unassuming florals. No smack of jasmine yet. Wet, the jasmine is more apparent. The entire blend is musky powdery sweet, but so far the jasmine is not overtaking anything. I think the honeysuckle/jasmine combination lends the concoction a very sweet, feminine edge. There are no sharp corners on this scent. Underneath this luminous floral creeps the benzoin. The moss does not leap out and give her a gritty edge, it's just a little color (green!) dappled on her cheeks. Overall - this is a very potent oil, of the night floral category.

*quizzical* I got a decant of this. In the vial, it smells like Gummy Savers, as acai tends to do. I put it on, and it's very nice, light, fruity, a touch of floral but no overpowering jasmine. About twenty minutes later, it smells like Dorian on me. Like, exactly the same drydown. I think it's the musk and tea. Maybe a nip of acai still very, very faint in the background but hullo, sugared musky tea. Frrrrah?

Rose is one of my archnemeses, always guaranteed to amp the heck out of itself and overpower any blend I wear that has it in it. The ironic thing is I love roses in vivo, but as a personal perfume I now know to avoid it. Of course, that didn't stop me from nabbing Marguerite, because, well, hope springs eternal? Wet, in the vial, Marge is a glowy green translucent color. I smell dewy roses. The rose note is similar to the wet/damp dew note that Rose Red presented to me, and I'd say it most links with the roses experienced in Libertine/Two, Five, and Seven. On my skin, there's a huge mishmash of Rose +. That is, to say, it is definitely rose, and the other florals and floral-like oils in this complement and push the rose forward. There's a distinct herbal bitterness, a tang, that I've come to associate with palmarosa, and over time, Marguerite calms down just a tad so that I can experience the scent as a rose scent with an undercurrent of waxy petals underneath (must be gardenia, tuberose). The overall effect is very complex, yet not. Hard to describe. Me? I currently smell like a rose, all the time, yet this is a very complicated, richly layered blend. I'm probably going to keep the decant for very specific times.

Dood! This is so awesome! This smells like a white carnation to me. Why white? I dunno - it's as sweet and sultry as a carnation traditionally is but it's smooth, not pink around the edges, there's some bite to it, and the best part is that once she's settled on your skin the black pepper keeps ruffling the edges to let you know this isn't your everyday carnation. It plays on me similarly to Maiden, but without the sharper, brighter tea astringency that blend has. Must hoard. Excuse me.

Just 'cause someone said Wolf. Aroooooooo!

Maiden is more tea-y than potion but I recall it has a similar 'bright carnationsy-rose' feel.

Check in a well lit mirror: Is the change in your skin purely dry skin (xerosis)? Is it just peeling, a little rough looking, but without redness? Or... is there a well-marked, associated area of redness, or 'stinging/smarting' at the site, followed by the flaking of skin? In the second case, that could be early irritant contact dermatitis / allergic contact dermatitis starting. Do a small patch test of the oil on different areas of your skin, in an inconspicuous place. If it starts looking like the other spots, you may be sensitive to an ingredient in the oils and I'd use caution when applying.

I received a generous sample of this with my latest eBay shenanigans. It smells very cedary, rich, earthy from the imp. Similar dark junipery-ness of blends like Nocnitsa, Omen, Black Forest. On, it has that same piney, sappy snap, but then here comes that sweet, sort of almost fetid (in the good way - like how tuberose and neroli smell almost rotten sweet... I'm not making sense...) civet note, and it rises up and bypasses the woods, and now it's all civet all the time on my skin. I have to be honest, this does not meld well with my skin chemistry, although I really love about a few minutes after application when I can still smell the dry woodsiness from the cedar and other woods. The drydown is gummy, sticky, resinous, civetty, and unlike in other civet blends like Morella, there is not a balance here for my chemistry, and it's too much. It's a dark, deep, sweet musk. I do extend a hearty 'thank you!' to my generous frimper for letting me have a go at a blend that was d/c'ed way before I got into this smelly situation, I'm glad though I don't have to seek out a hard to find bottle, however.

Does anyone ever play the 'can I guess what BPAL I randomly picked' game? I do it when I'm bored at night before bed, I have a box of GC 5 mLs and I will run my fingers over them, randomly pick up a bottle, not look at the top where I've labeled it and cover the label, dab some on, and then try to figure it out. I sometimes also do this with my decantz and imps. It's kinda cool, and helps me revisit old stashed favorites I may not have worn otherwise, and also gives me an out 'I'm going to bed!' in case I end up slathering on some boozy thing before work or the gym.

Oh no. I loved this wet and from my imp decant, it smelled dry, fiery, sweetly musky, with a tiny kick of spice (just enough it seemed to make me salivate). What is the drydown on me? Baby powder. I guess the scent's a little bit deceptive, akin to the character, but well... it's very sweetly powdery musk and not much else, which makes me sad. I was looking forwards to the aroma, because, well, Ifrit = gay cab driver = ftw. Well, I'll keep trying this. I want it to work, I really do.

Ketchup? Tomatoes? What? This is a cacophony of scents, herbal, woodsy, and there's that bite of smoke that is probably what is giving me this... very 'mesquite' feel to the scent. There appears to be a sweeter, resinous note that is emerging the more that I am wearing this, and that first barbeque impression that I got is giving way to a very complex, rich and evocative scent. It's dusty, it's very strongly herbal (chervil?) with a dry leafiness (nettle?), and a hint of sweetness, though the apple blossom does not come out too strongly. This is a rich, wood and spices aroma, just like you'd imagine that little thatched cottage to smell like, complete with hay, grass, stone, and that curlique of smoke emerging from the slightly off-kilter chimney. And agree with Tramp above. This evolves on skin beautifully. I keep sniffing at my fingers and getting wafts from my neck.

Hrumph! Petitgrain and Neroli team up together to create a potent opening that turns... into a mildly spiced aquatic. Like a cup of spiced, hot ocean. I loved the initial floral blast but now the scent is clinging to my skin quite softly. Not very obtrusive. A soft oceanic.

Lunar Eclipse, stalking the wild BPAL. Brushing the fronds away from my face I'm intrigued by the slightly toasted fruit gums, sticky sweet but dark and delectable, emanating from the clearing ahead of me. I take in another sniff before meeting the beast itself, detecting the spikier, sharper scents on the wind of moss and vetiver adding a menacing chill to the stage. I push through some more brush to get closer to the wild bottle, which is pawing and stamping at the ground before us, its screwtop lid ajar and bouncing in fury. Time to wrassle! *WHAM* I hold the rare Eclipse beast to the ground and touch against its sleek cobalt blue skin, and a rush of notes flurries up about me, and I'm confused, and overwhelmed, and I have to try to sort out what I'm experiencing. There is a nose-cooling fluster of spice, sitting on a dry base of red moss, myrrh... the red musk can be seen as a menacing red glow in the beast's eyes, but the interesting thing is that the animal mostly smells like deep, squishy, evil currants, with enough spiky and ferocious orchid to add a keening wail and growl to the mix. The bottle is again looking menacing, and I think I've had enough of this adventure, running full clip back through the brush to escape the spiky, ferocious, smoky creature in hot pursuit.

Wha? Fishes smell like flowers. My mother is a Pisces, but she also does not like perfume, and the scent of roses really, really scares her. But I digress. Fish oil time. The oil on wet bottle sniff is very light, not terrifically potent, sort of an airy, crisp, almost acidic vinegary scent with a hint, and I do mean a hint, of light florals. These are flowers of the tulip, gladioli, wet, frilly bulby flowers that are charged with dew and breathy exudations rather than drippy nectars or auras of glowing pop, like that diva jasmine. The flowers don't stick around much though, they step back into this hard to describe melange of smoot, there's the light floral above the main central part of the aroma, I'm getting a deeper thrumming snap from something... else, that is creeping to the front, and the entire blend has that kind of sweetness I've come to associate with Beth's poppy. There is also that cool, quasi-iciness in the back of my nose that signals the presence of poppy, as in Sleepy Moon, that is here. What a bizarre fish. So, overall, the blend starts off in familiar floral territory, then those notes fizzle up and underneath it all there's one queen floral saying 'HAI I RULEZ and AI BE POPPY,' sitting on a tuft of dry grassy things that give the scent a touch more brightness. Actually, I'm still scratching my head over this one. Fishes confuse me.

And as I did not get L'Autunno, here is my last soap review, L'Inverno. The soap is wrapped in a very pretty label, with a sort of nunnish (is that an adjective?) gal. She is quite demure, not quite as orgiastatic as the Estate gal, wrapped in a nunshawl and acting all like LOLWUT, ITZ INVERNO, I'Z WAITIN FOR BPALZ. The soap itself is an off-white bar, slightly more ivory in color with a hint of tan instead of Primavera which actually had more light green. Cold, the soap smells quite creamy, and there is just the faintest hint of pine. I am surprised that this is not more foresty, and at first was a touch disappointed as Inverno was the soap I was most looking forwards to, being a winter/slushfiend. It reminds me a touch of bayberry candles, and I'd say this smells like Winter smells... inside. Does that make sense? It's the scent of general ambiance around winter, boughs of pine and burning candles, a bit of the extinguished smoke hanging around for good measure. But it doesn't smell like 'Christmastime' in that it's not hugely evergreen, or orange spicy, or turkey (which I suppose is good, who doesn't want a nun that smells like carved meat?). Wet, oh, there is the pine. Oh, there's the crisp additional touch of bough and it's WONDERFUL. The fruit probably does contribute to the overall scent but it's mostly ambiance for me, no juicy fruits or sharp neroli. It's very subtle. Oh, this is the holidays for me. Yes. Lathering is the same as the other soaps, maybe a little more? It's also remarkably soft, softer than the other two soaps. The scent is not whomping me on the nose, but it's there. It is also very transient and it's wisped off my skin afterwards. Want Inverno Oil Plz!

Next up in the soap reviews is... L'Estate. Has a golden orange, slightly marbled peach tan appearance. Solid color. Wrapped similarly to Primavera with a gloriously pretty 'summer girl' I suppose half-reclining, arching her back, surrounded by furls of orange, gold and a little royal blue material. She looks really happy. She probably got BPAL recently. Cold, the soap... really smells like soap. Has a soft, creamy tone to it, a glowing resin note. It is definitely spicy, but not spicy in the husky dry spices or spiked baked goods spicy, but it's sultry, glowing warm. It's hard to describe the scent in terms of any one note that comes out over another. I'd have to say this is mostly a light, sweet amber. Maybe the spice is the carnation, but I don't grab the floral note per se as an independent note. Wet, also great lather, also great meltingness, not huge lather. The spiciness is more apparent with use. I'd say the scent does not digress much and I would call it a spicy sweet skin scent. Glowing, but not WHAMfloral or WHAMber. It's pleasant, and does recall the glowiness of summer, my birthseason. The pretty girl on the soap wrapper is definitely apropos.

Seeing as it is May, I wanted to start with Primavera. Appearance - it's wrapped like Silk Road soaps, a fancy paper label with swirly petally things, sticker'd with black ribbon around it. It's fairly easy to open. The inside has writing about each run made in small batches, wrapped, and that imperfections and color variations are part and parcel of handmade soap. It also has the Phoenix with alchemical symbols in its pelt. The soap itself is an off-white, with gray green uniformly throughout. Scent: Waxy, petally. It smells like neroli and waxy petals, and a little honey sweet snap (also probably related to orange blossom. The soap itself is firm, a little squidgy to pressure. There's almost a note like fermented tea leaf at the very base of this - it's not all floral, there's stemminess too. Very bright. Using: The chunk I cut off lathers very well, also appears to be a soft textured soap that will probably melt a bit faster than commercial soaps, lather is light, not excessively luxurious but there. The scent expands a bit more when wet but is not super strong. It's definitely a blend of petal florals, with that leafy snap coming up while washing. Drydown on my skin is orange blossom, and with a touch more time the moss note that may be seen in blends like: Thanatos, The Apothecary, Tupapau.

This blend is soporific in a way different from the Somnius blends and also from the traditional 'haloo lavender' blends existing out there. Sleepy Moon 06 is very soft and gentle, and extremely characteristic. While I first got this a long time ago, and have now recently repulled it to see how well it works now that I'm low on Somnus, I'm quite pleasantly surprised. The initial scent to me while wet is sweetly twangy, and on my skin a green powdery bamboo of sorts. If there is lavender, it is the top breath of lavender without the dry, balsamic snap of the drydown of fierce oil. No, there's just that twist of green, squishy soft florals balancing on top of a calming, soothing herbal base. The florals, if present, are all drowse-inducing ones, maybe just enough ylang and poppy to pull one's eyes shut. Sweet. Back in the day I got two bottles, and as I'm gradually eatin' up one, the other will be very, very appreciated.

Cedary, dry, incensy... bookish incense, like the abramelin type in a few of Beth's other blends. Not terribly smokey but with plenty of bright resins. Underneath is a very clean, very unisex soft musk. The musk plays secondary to the paperbacks. This is terrifically sexy but also very understated.

Mr. Ibis is sweet and very unassuming on my skin. I was expecting sharper, dustier paper notes, but even those don't show up with my wearing of the oil. Breathing in the vapors off the bottle I get maybe a little bit of an astringent dryness, and then directly on my skin I do get a tiny snap of smell you get when you break an aloe leaf in twain. The oil then just goes sweeter on me, with a hint of vanilla, and rests there. I'm mostly surprised by how much of a non-scentity this oil is. Great for wearing around casually for work or at gatherings but doesn't strike me as potent or standing out from the crowd. Quiet. Reserved. Sweet. Functional.

Crowley - what every man hopes is inside, waiting to burst onto the scene as a smokin' hot, predatory fiend. Bottle: I smell the sweet musks over the top of the bottle, with maybe a tiny teaser of something like leather or smoke underneath. It smells promising... wet on the skin, this is blooming rapidly with sweet musks, and the thwap of black leather against a table (you'll lean up against there when I say you do.)... it's almost like Loviatar but sweeter, more of a darker musk, sugary musk, than in that blend. I think the spot that I dabbed Crowley onto my hand has now dominated the rest of my other hand, it's made it its sub! Like rawr! Spicy, but sweet musks accentuated with the kiss of leather, but just enough... sweetness from a hint, a dab of vanilla. Mostly this is an amazingly feral, animalistic, grab you and goooooo scent. Holy carp. Wear this if you're feeling frisky.