Lycanthrope

OGYGIA On to Pieria he stepped from the upper air, and swooped down upon the sea, and then sped over the wave like a bird, the cormorant, which in quest of fish over the dread gulfs of the unresting sea wets its thick plumage in the brine. In such wise did Hermes ride upon the multitudinous waves. But when he had reached the island which lay afar, then forth from the violet sea he came to land, and went his way until he came to a great cave, wherein dwelt the fair-tressed nymph; and he found her within. A great fire was burning on the hearth, and from afar over the isle there was a fragrance of cleft cedar and juniper, as they burned; but she within was singing with a sweet voice as she went to and fro before the loom, weaving with a golden shuttle. Round about the cave grew a luxuriant wood, alder and poplar and sweet-smelling cypress, wherein birds long of wing were wont to nest, owls and falcons and sea-crows with chattering tongues, who ply their business on the sea. And right there about the hollow cave ran trailing a garden vine, in pride of its prime, richly laden with clusters. And fountains four in a row were flowing with bright water hard by one another, turned one this way, one that. And round about soft meadows of violets and parsley were blooming. There even an immortal, who chanced to come, might gaze and marvel, and delight his soul; and there the messenger Argeiphontes stood and marvelled. Sea air, kelp, and climbing vines, flame-singed cedarwood and juniper branches, cypress boughs, alder wood, violets, selino, parsley, glistritha, and white sage. I was super looking forwards to this, as it's an aquatic, and Lycanthrope and aquatics are like THIS. *awkward gesture with paws* The only thing that gave me pause was all the fresh green notes, but there were violets, so I grabbed a bottle. In the bottle, it's definitely super salty, fresh air, a crisp biting aquatic. On the skin, there's an odd experience of the scent almost separating into two different entities. I can smell the airy salt, which is getting even more 'blue and bright' on my skin, a hybrid between Tempest (which was a fresher, deeper watery marine) and Lightning (which was to me more sharp, 'dryer sheet' ozonic). There's a hint of the violet but it's mostly adding a muddy cool floral note, and there's a TON of this background lemony, herby tone over the salty aquatic. It's almost a bit much, actually, the herbs give a frightening brightness to this blend that, combined with the already existing ozone, send it into hyperdrive. Underneath it there is definitely a floating woodsy scent (alder? violets?) It's quite intriguing, but I don't know if it's all me. Definitely sharper, brighter, less 'watery' than I thought.

Cooking herbs, pickles, and mouse fur. Well, here goes. From the bottle, this smells a lot like the top note of tea tree, rosemary, maybe a little bit like fragonia (a sweetish, flowery tea tree relative). It also smells like pickle juice. Wet, the pickle juice comes to the forefront, and the herbs swing together in a camphorous, leafy way to bring me thoughts of rosemary and sage sprigs. Then... oh, my god, it's mouse. Like, prickly, tiny, fuzzy gray fur. And pickles. And rosemary. It's drying down pretty rapidly into a not truly pleasant aroma, however if you like thyme and that type of forceful herbaceous aroma, this may be for you. It reminds me of the fuzziness of Coyote meets the pickleness of Ivanushka, and herbs. I don't think this is something I can wear, but wow, is it Mr. Bobo.

Crushed grass, dandelion sap, green oakmoss, lettuce leaf, and white pepper. Opening the bottle, greeted immediately with a splorty wet blade of grass, and definitely a little bit of that milkiness of dandelion sap. I love Beth's grassy scents, so I'm very excited that there's so much GREEN in the description. Applied to the skin, it's definitely like wow, like more mushed crushed grass leaves, and as it continues to dry down, it gets rounder. I really like the Blade of Grass Halloweenie that appears on occasion, but that is more of a 'cold wet grass,' whereas as this sits on the skin, I can get a tiny prickle of heat, the vegetable note is more than just 'park grass,' I think it gets a bit more fullness from the addition of the lettuce. I kind of smells like when you chew on an unseasoned leaf of lettuce. Wet, cool, crisp. With more time, this doesn't evaporate as fast as Blade of Grass does on me. That's a very brief-lived, environmental scent. Tennis Match seems to have a bit more staying power, and a bit more 'dirtiness' (oakmoss?) My verdict: slightly different, more wet/full-leafy Blade of Grass, without dried leaf note, and with a little spicy mossy base, but still reads forward as grassy.

Brittle white musk, bruised violets, vanilla orchid, and green tea. I love this! I'm a violet wearing wolf, so this works out great on my skin. Definitely a sweet, sugary violet, probably because the vanilla orchid and white musk are coming together. The violet is pretty strong in this one, so if you dislike the note, you may not enjoy this as much as I do. The initial burst is vanilla orchid and tea, with the musk and violet lending a powdery but old-fashioned / classic feel to the scent. Over time, the violet starts to come out more, but you can still tell that it's got a sweet, light musk at the base. If you liked Regan (sadface) and you can tolerate a bit of sugared violet, try this. Also, if you like Faith, get this now!

There was one born, in times of old, with wondrous might endowed, of origin divine: nine Jötun maids gave birth, to the gracious god, at the world’s margin. Giâlp gave him birth, Greip gave him birth, Eistla gave him birth, and Angeia; Ulfrûn gave him birth, and Eyrgiafa, Imd and Atla, and Jârnsaxa. The boy was nourished with the strength of the earth, with the ice-cold sea, and with Sôn’s blood. “The One With the Iron Knife”, she is one of the nine sisters who gave birth to the god Heimdallr and, by some accounts, the mother of Magni. Her scent is that of ice floes and frozen mountainsides, white juniper crushed under the bare feet of a jötunn. I'm questing a lot in Stormheim in World of Warcraft... so this scent spoke to me as a Valarjar / Questing type of scent! Wet, this is a very cool, ozonic scent. Kind of murky deep cobalt blue, not very 'snow/slush' as I would expect initially. On me, I get an immediate lift of eucalyptus and spearmint together, all kind of sitting on a bunch of fir and dark spruce. I think there's a tiny touch of rock in this, because it's got a bit of grit. I can get the juniper as well, that's probably what I'm interpreting as a melange of coniferous scents. As it dries it definitely veers quickly into the conifer territory, mostly a mixed northern forest with a hint of cool from the breeze of mint and ice. It has very low throw on me, but I can get whiffs as I type. Get this if you love Beth's interpretation of forests, this is definitely a chilly, borean one.

White mint, coconut, Indonesian champaca flower, lime rind, white ginger, and green tea. This is a fairly interesting, tropical concoction. Fruity from the bottle, a swirl of the lime, coconut and tea. On the skin, the coconut blooms and becomes very apparent. It is backed up by the lime, and the mint adds a hint of sweetness. Both the awapuhi and champaca throw this quickly into summery, sticky, island-exotica territory. My skin does tend to amp coconut, but overall this turns out to be a very pretty, wearable perfume. At this time (Fall 2012) it's a bit escapist and tropical for Halloween. Over time, it's mostly a whisper of coconut. Very fleshy, meaty. Mmmm.

Honeysuckle, white tuberose, gardenia petals, and wet green leaves. Wet, this is both tuberose and honeysuckle swirling together in a higher pitched sworl, with a hint of wet greenery. On, whoa, whoa, HONEYSUCKLE'D. And a bit of leafy greens. And then it gets a little waxiness from the tuberose. In a way, it's like the high, clarion honeysuckle dips into the thrummy medium tones of tuberose. And then... back towards elevation with waxy gardenia. It's vacillating between a very interesting Southern floral with a hint of exotic Asiatic florals. As I keep smelling it, the floral trills between gold-yellow and wax-white. This is exquisitely tropical as it calms down, and on me at least it heads towards tuberose... but however still with glittering honeysuckle plorps on occasion. It calms into a slightly citric-high tropical floral that's like a fusion tuberose-honeysuckle. Not much residual grassiness or leafiness.

Crystalline azure musk, orange blossom, water lily, hinoki wood, Texas cedar, and night-blooming jasmine. Was super interested in this melange of scents all together. I have no idea what to expect. Wet and in bottle, it's a weird mix of orange blossom and... maybe the sweetness of blue musk? Applied to the skin, it's a very strong thrwoosh of something very similar to fabric softener? Maybe it's the orange blossom. As it has a bit more time to settle down on the skin... I'm getting the two florals mixing together - orange blossom and water lily. Definitely getting a very beachy aquatic floral vibe. The jasmine is adding a little bit of ferocity in the background, a bit of depth, however the floral stays a... um, Mediterranean floral? Crisp/clear, and high. The blue musk kind of evens everything out and it's a little sugary. Hinoki and cedar really aren't too apparent. There may be a little 'sandiness' or 'woodsiness' at the base, but it's definitely not cedar-shavings/pencil cedar. Very subtle. It keeps this from being purely a floral scent. I'd say this is one of the more surprisingly 'beachy' scents. Light, airy, and somehow a little 'salty' without having the salt note (which on me turns into tortillas). I like this one a lot!

Blue lilac, white sage, orris root, sweet pea, a smear of crushed blueberry, and tobacco leaf. Very lilac when wet. A beautiful, light and sweet lilac. There's a hint of fruitiness. This reminds me of Blue Flasher, with its slightly berry floral. The blueberry is not terribly potent, though. A hint of squishy blue juice! There's a streak of brown-gray smoke, the tobacco adding a little darkness and depth. I can also smell a bit of a powdery sparkle, clay-like, but lighter. Must be the sage and orris! I think there are kisses of sweet pea dancing about as well. This is very complicated. Lilac lovers should try this. And if you liked Blue Flasher, you should definitely give this bolster a whirl.

Satan Talks to Sin and Death, Gustave Doré. Siberian musk, Tibetan musk, calla lily, bruised violet petals, violet leaf, white tea, tiare, and agarwood attar. What a very odd scent. Wet this smells like a funkier Snake Charmer on the top note. On, definitely a citrus-y lemon like scent (that's the tea I bet). The violet is peeking around and trying to do a little smooth bruised thing like in Nothing But Death but never quite makes it. There is definitely a high pitched tone from both the tea and the lily that is granting this a sharp tone. I really do like the violet petals when I can smell them, but this is primarily a complicated, bleak and high pitched scent full of contrasts. The violet is like a wub-wub-wub sound thrumming around in the background. Don't think I'll need more than this one bottle but I'll be testing it a few more times. ETA: Several wears of this over the past week. The dominant notes remain tea and lily, it's a lush, fresh lily, and overall this is, to me, not a purely violet perfume. It's one of these polarizing perfumes where there's plenty of plush, deep, purple notes yet they are counteracted with the higher, slightly citrussy tea and heady lilies. Both musks probably are anchoring or balancing the two but themselves are not terribly evident. This does not smell like the siberian musk single note, nor does it smell a lot like the Snake Oil / Charmer family. It's mostly a complicated floral. I like it. Considering at least one backup.

Towing a scrotum boat. Honeydew, honey, and sparkling golden-green musk. Towin' da Scrotum Boat. This tanuki's scrota-quota is apparently a bunch of sweet, ripe honeydews rolling down the river for his big-balled compatriots. On the skin, fresh, wet, drippy melons, that dry down a bit and remain the cool sweet flesh of the flavor. Honey presents itself then as a waffle/foody topnote that almost brings to mind those Japanese melon-flavored flaky pastries. I'm sure there is an overaching, cool, airy green musk above the rest. It's very nice. TOW DEM SCROTUMZ (coming soon to A+E or TruTV)

Violet petals shimmering with lilac, wild plum, midnight blue musk, and lime rind. Violets are always my jam. So this definitely found its way into my cart. Wet, it smells definitely a little high pitched from the lilac and plum, reminds me a bit of purple wine, for some reason. On the skin, wet, oh, it's a cacophony of smells! I get the sharp citrus snap and bite of lime pretty strong, and then it goes a bit more fruity because of the plum. Over all this is the pale gray-purple of lilac. Blue musk is always hard for me to pin down, but it's binding these high pitched notes down, only a bit. It's still very sharp while newly applied. As it mellows, what is interesting is the oil/citrus/lime bite remains, even if it's not as uniformly LIME as previously. It adds a chewy bitterness to the blend, always a bit of an edge. Over time there's a thrum of violet. Not candy like, but more like melding with the blue musk to create a smooth shadow flower underneath the fangy lime. This reminds me of a much less candy-like Purple Phoenix in some ways, but definitely not grapey or winey. It's got that same dusky purple fruits/floral as Morgause but sharply present, and definitely lime forward. Cold, iridescent white-green-gray-purple with shadows of blue-violet. I think I may have stocked up real fast on this. It's a very bright lilac-violet-lime, once settled.

Mod Note: This topic name will remain 'San Cristóbal de la Habana', despite the post-release provisional name change on BPAL.com to 'A Perfume That Tells a Story About My Daughter But Had a Name That Made Our Payment Processors All Feisty and Stuff So Now We Have To Change It and This is the New Name Yay'. Cubas white ginger blossoms, guava pulp, and mango with a touch of white tobacco and sea salt. Wet, this is warm, white, sweet ginger lilies. I have some 10% diluted white ginger lily essential oil, and that is a glorious top note. I have come to realize that the current sea salt version that is being used in some of the more recent aquatic/oceanic scents, reads to me as 'warm tortilla chips and salt,' which may just be the unfortunate behavior of my skin. After the oil is on my skin the ginger lily note recedes and gives way to the more interesting warm saltiness. This is significantly less fruity than I expected it to be, as I'm looking for the mango and the guava, and mostly getting a gentle, spicy tropical 'pulpy' note, without the abject ferociousness of artificial mango/guava 'fragrance,' This is good, but I'm surprised that what I thought would be a fruit-heavy scent is more a close to the skin, spicy, warm tropical 'haze' or 'aura.' The white tobacco is not terribly potent but I've only had experience with the darker tobaccos, I'm terrible at identifying the white version (was it in... some Moth?). All in all, definitely not fruity. A warm scent, close to the skin. Somewhat salty, tropical, with the sea salt note that sometimes does a little tortilla moment, but in the end lends a salt-kissed skin type of scent. Fruits in the background, present to give a bit more tropical feel. This is walking down a boulevard with all the commingled scents of a city, the ocean, the markets, all around.

Wisteria and white sandalwood with lilac, white tea, champaca, black pepper, benzoin, and white clove. I was most excited about this scent as I love wisteria, and lilac is also one of my favorite notes. I am a bit wary of benzoin, since it tends to turn into a sappy sour vanilla on my skin in general. But here goes! Bottle: Whiff of wisteria, more than lilac, but certainly that type of airy glow that hovers around both spring flowers. Wet: Whoa! That's definitely a strong wisteria, and you can detect the more sharp lilac underneath. I definitely am getting a stronger pepper vibe, too. It's not a sharp high pitched warmth but it's like crushed peppercorns between the fingers. Over time, the pepper stays pretty consistent. The sharper petals stay very light, airy, purple, light purple. It's spicy, warm. Yet also blushing light violet? It's a very interesting scent at this stage. Over time, as it dries, it's staying a kind of overall neutrally warm scent, with the pepper staying stable, I think that I get a whiff of crushed incense, that's probably the champaca. The floral component of the champaca seems to be melding with the other two florals. It's veering towards wisteria as the dominant floral, as I'm getting a bit more sweetness and powdery purple. I'm not getting a straightforward 'clove,' and the benzoin is slightly souring the blend (not in a bad way, just adding a hint of chewy resin)... As it dries, my overall impression is: fascinating spicy, neutral to warm purple floral, with gray incense smoke trailing upwards. Deep huffs bring forwards wisteria blossoms and occasional airier kisses of lilac. Hmmm. Intriguing!

Television static made manifest, with a glimpse of perversions hidden beneath: benzoin, black pepper, white sandalwood, olibanum, ambergris accord, galbanum, and O3. So, definitely not what I was expecting, this starts off very sappy and green, the galbanum coming the the forefront. There is not a very strong push towards 'aquatic/ozonic/O3' and definitely no mint or slush notes (I think the snow refers more to television static more than any kind of atmospheric suggestion, my bad). The scent also has a strong resinous feel to it, and it becomes a very spiky, spicy resinous and deep scent on my skin. It has a strong kiss of woodsiness. I kind of think of a classic 50s TV made of walnut or some type of polished wood with the fuzzy sound of static in the background. Starts off really strong but then becomes a mild inobtrusive background scent. Just like channel static!

An organonitrogen haze of iris, orange blossom, and neroli obfuscating seas of ethane and mountains of ice, buffeted by gusts of methane and smoky rain. Yes. YES. This is amazing, and definitely NOT methanous! Wet, it smells like a sparkling, crystalline translucent yellow-orange, really bright orange blossom, definitely hazy, gauzy. On the skin, it's a real mix of ice, clouds, marine, lightning... like all of Beth's fun storms swirled together over a crystalline ocean and is whipping it into a frothy frenzy. There's definitely an ice note in here, I think the one from like Monastery in the Mountains - definitely a high clarity, non-slushy ice note, mixed together with a bit of Lightning's bright ozone. There's also a little bit of orange rind jumping in and out here, adding a bit of weirdly citrus warmth (spark?) to the melange of atmospherics. I don't get much iris, but if there is some powderiness holding everything together it is thrumming in the background. Over all this, I can definitely pull out that clarion call of neroli - the smooth glow of that note ascends and orbits all the rest of the scent. It truly is a core of ice, rain, wind, ocean, resonating with a bright, high-pitched sweet citrus-floral haze. I got two on impulse, will love them to death!

Cool, dark water steeped with mugwort, mayweed, and thyme. Me and mugwort have an understanding. I put it on my skin and it smells like muddy butt, so take that with a grain of salt. That said, here goes. Testing in decant mode. Bottle? Pipette? Muddy butt! Holy carp! Butt and herbs, actually, mostly the thyme giving it a little rubbery-herby leaf smell. Kind of like oregano water, or oregano oil, even though I don't think this has that in it. Not sure what mayweed is. On my skin, the butt rises and I have a little of that smokey, slightly off scent that mugwort transforms on me into, but this burns off real quick, thank goodness. It's transitioning rapidly into very clean, clear aquatic, sort of along the lines of Windward Passage rather than oceanic. I'm reminded of Vial of Holy Water, which is on me basil water, except this is much less sweet. In all honesty, I can't find the mugwort after it is on me for a while and this is a pure, sparkling water type scent, more reedy and salty. I think maybe like, Hatmethit? Sorry about the stanky butt. I can't extract my mugwort skin chemistry from my review! All in all it dries down and behaves better, so give this a spin if you like fresh water or herbal scents.

This is like a less piney version of Snow Bunny with a decidedly asian floral bent. That being said I agree with the above, the wisteria is subtle. I would say, most of the wisteria this 2018 Lupercalia season has been very subtle! I do like the piney snow note, and this is kissed with a little plum-fruit / blossom and is snow fused with the cherry blossom note. Over a bit of time, the cherry blossom 'fleshiness' becomes a bit more apparent. I think there's a tiny bit of the sour-ish wisteria peeking around but it's quiet and mostly covered up by the snow accord. Gonna have to give this one a few wears.

I am reminded of how the air around a Strawberry Pocky frosted stick smells. Or that kiss of vanilla-cream-strawberry flavor that you smell/taste when you're chomping on them. Oh bother. Now I'm hungry. This is really good. Subdued, like strawberry puree folded into buttery frosting.

This is a whole bunch of bright, smooth and sweet white/golden waxy flowers planted in a bower made of carved, blonde-colored woods. It is extremely elegant and smooth. The florals blend together wonderfully without becoming too 'old-fashioned' or excessively lush. It's restrained, complicated, and very, very coherent. It just smells ... grand, and good.

Yes, wow, this is rose. A bit of a lemony, bright rose. I definitely see the Rose Jam LUSH comparisons. The vanilla is present as a touch of foody sweetness at the base of the scent but I am getting very little in the way of cotton candy. A bit sad.

This is mostly dark, dark oudh on me. Chew with your teeth and fangs smoky oudh. Perhaps a bit of the carnation petal in the background, but it's also a deep russet red, and not particularly flashy. The wood is the star here.

Yes, I can immediately smell everything on the skin when wet - orange, amber, cocoa powder, and honey, but a thin, sweet, idea of honey, not too gloopy. It starts off very chewy, almost toffee-rich and very gourmand. As it sits on my skin, battling it out, it seems to lighten, and veers on me towards sweet orange honey cocoa. The lilies and orchids are in the background, but I mostly get a yellow day-lily kind of floral sitting lightly upon a slightly dry, almost 'reedy' orange that's been rolled in dry cocoa and honey powder. Very much like what I'd imaging the pollen from cock stamens to smell like. Oh my. I'll have to give this one a few more wears, it's a bit of a chameleon. It kind of reminds me of 'Love-Lies-Bleeding,' one of my favorite chocolate-y-velvet-florals, although where that one gave me the color brownish-burgundy, this is a bit of a yellow-orange gilded with brown and gold accents.

Dark chocolate and clove bud with smoked amber, bourbon vanilla tar, and black and pink peppers. Whoa. This is a little weird from the bottle, definitely spicy, and peppery. I definitely get a potent black pepper vibe, like black pepper essential oil. The chocolate is a dusky, dusty dark cocoa thing, definitely not sugary sweet! On my skin the pepper and cloves bloom immediately into a cloud of potent heat, with the cocoa riding along. After a few minutes, the immediate spiciness recedes, leaving a very sexy gourmand, cocoa-kissed incensy resin. I'm still getting a good deal of clove, kissed with depth with the amber and vanilla, which are not front and center. The cocoa always remains a slight foody twang on an otherwise beautifully sensual spice blend. Over a bit more time, this actually is veering towards Gelt (but like, sexier?) Grandma's handing out fake coin candies but watch out! She's dangerous (and in lingerie). I like this! I'll have to give it a few wears, but I do have my single bottle now lol. #blindbottlelifeyolo

Thanks to the much-needed winter rains this year, my little river nymph was finally able to see the creeks in Eaton Canyon as something other than dry, fawn-beige, tumbleweed-strewn strips of sandwash. In the past, shes always been ambivalent about hiking, but something about the rushing streams and sparkling waters enchanted her, and she fell in love. Honeysuckle and honey, water lilies and white sage. Wet, in bottle: A swirly melange of slightly brackish leafy notes. I get a strong, reedy dry grassiness. Shortly after application: A little bit of mud? Or is that my bias due to the copy? I'm getting more of that sappy green, perhaps the honeysuckle and white sage together. I'm also getting a distinctly fleshy lily note, but unlike others I've experienced before, there's an interesting... cold waxiness to it? On for a bit: Oh, there's a kiss of honey. I guess that sort of chewy sweetness is what I was detecting changing my usual experience of lily, which is strong, brash, and not at all demure. I think the leafiness is transitioning more and more to sage, as opposed to pure grass. I'm enjoying it. As time passes, this stays more of a grassy herbal floral, with a little incensy/southwestern smokiness or haziness (more haze!) from the sage. There is an undercurrent of warm honey lurking in the background, and I can detect the honeysuckle as soaring backdrop to the herbal. I think the lilies are rounding out the purely sweet honeysuckle and giving a bit of round waxiness and 'substance' to the scent. This is certainly, to me at least, not an aquatic. I can see it as a warm afternoon spent in a sun-dappled park where daylilies and honeysuckle grow by the side of a stream, with wild sage adding a haze to the air while little bumblebees doddle around, attacking flowers. Not sure what I have in my collection that resembles this... it's very unique!