Lycanthrope

The spirit of the full moon is capricious, intense and passionate, yet still distant, aloof and cold. Luna herself governs glamours, bewitchments and dream-work, innocent wonder, transient pleasure and delight, the Moment, impulse, mystery and veils. The Blue Moon is one of her rarest manifestations, and this scent is formulated to encapsulate her most complex and profound nature: Mugwort and bay, for psychic sensitivity... Myrrh for protection and purity of spirit... Lotus root for true dreaming... Clary sage for euphoria... ... within a crystalline prism of white vegetal musk shimmering with damp violet leaf, tranquil styrax, green tea absolute, and palmarosa. Bottle sniff: Wet, definitely a tiny hint of the mugwort (frightening for me, since... mudbutt, on my skin chemistry). I smell more green, leafy things, and probably a little sharpness from the palmarosa. On skin: Oh, yeah, mugwort, but then it segues into the bay, and then the usual muddled dirtiness of mugwort lifts, and I'm getting more of the freshness of tea. The herbalness when wet is very much the clary sage. There's probably a hint of sweetness from the lotus but it is not bubblegum sweet. As it dries: I can feel and sense more of the myrrh that does ground a lot of the airy / ethereal notes. There's still a very nice but extremely herbal nature - definitely mystical, melded herbs. Over time, it stays predominantly a green-ish, leafy, herbal, bay/gritty mugwort blend on me with a nice ground of resin with the styrax and myrrh. It's much less smooth (at this point fresh from the Lab) than the other Blue Moon incarnations I've tried before, and definitely smells magical. It is not my favorite of the Blues, and for me does not smell Blue, but it is very nice and reminds me of a TAL type blend.

So, um, I don't know if I maybe I'm just weird, but it smells like cucumber and the airy/sappy 'green' part of a leaf, then on me it's slightly sweet, then ziploc bags / freshly crinkled saran wrap, then... fades... to something slightly powdery sweet, with a little sappiness still left behind. It really does smell like plastic, maybe a little of that note in Torn Candy Bag bath oil? It's a little, on me at least, stomach turning, but only because it's smells so genuinely like tiny wisps of stretchy plastic. My curiosity got the better of me on this one! I'll keep it though, because, HOARDING

An omnipresent feature of haunted antebellum mansions: drooping, moribund tendrils hanging solemnly from ancient oak and cypress branches. Mmm, I can definitely tell that this is blended into some of my favorites, like The Apothecary, Bayou, Jazz Funeral... But the single note definitely does not play well on my skin - it's sharp, earthy, but more of an airy, dry, clod-of-dirt type of smell, and then the single note spirals higher and higher, being a sharp, biting presence. Not grounded. Which is kind of like spanish moss! Drydown is slightly lemony, but only a touch. I've never smelled true spanish moss up close, but this evokes the dangly gray bits. I got two bottles, and may be able to dirty up some scents with it, but it's not purely pleasant, if that's what you are looking for.

A scent that glitters with the coldest white musk; hollow, sharp, and brittle. A challenge! I rise to the occasion to try to figure out this white musk scent! Wet, piney, slushy, Beth's snow note (Cloister Graveyard, etc). On, definitely a strong burst of juniper, which rapidly steps a bit aside as not to be overpowering, and then maybe a hint of ozone, and then, magic, it's a less intense Nuclear Winter, it's the snowdrift of Talvikuu without reading first-forward as a pine scent, it's the snow cresting the slopes of Snow Bunny, it's Skadi's breath of cold ice without the berries... Close to Ice Queen, in terms of how it glistens. On drydown, it adopts a very tiny smidge of that beautiful Dorian white musk sweetness, but by no means is this sugary-sweet. The wintertime needles and plant notes behave masterfully in this and unlike things like Winter-Time (too spearminty on me) this stays smooth, close to the skin but remarkably wearable, so very pretty. This is so much more than just a white musk single note (but it is also NOT a single note white musk), and it is perfect. DEAD. ON. Winter.

Perfect red roses, warm amber sunlight, and the sweet honeyed carnation of friendship. Wow! I totally ordered this thinking it was a perfume, but it is totally not. However, still awesome. This is a very beautiful, intensely sweet and quite amber-y mid-range rose floral. Spicy carnation, kind of like a richer Maiden. This does veer towards stronger territory and is a touch powdery, but bizarrely when I spray it, I get LUSH Alkmaar as my recurrent 'I know this scent!' deja vu. On a piece of fabric, I can detect a rich, deep lush rose, balanced very well by a sunny amber. I don't get much orange or citrus so the 'sunlight' is maybe still just the amber, and in terms of sweetness it's likely that a well-blended honey note is what is sending this into sugary-sweet territory. The carnation is detectable on drydown as an exquisite spicy sweetness and depth, which tingles at the last whiffs of the spray. The pretty 'Spanish Red Carnation' vibe is present, in that the carnations I smell are the rich, very spicy type (not the slightly sharper 'pink carnation' that I recall from other carnationy things). It's very nice. Very sweet, floral, spicy tea rose without being "tea rose" SN, similar to Maiden, but with hints of things like Lugubre Gondola for the rich amber. Definitely something I would see myself using more in the summer or fall.

Whoa... So, when I first got my bottle of Candy Butcher, it was very thin, and had an alcohol-like smell to it. Also almost no staying power. I was curious if I had a true 'oil' (it evaporated off my skin like alcohol). This was the original release. What I did get was a buttery rich vanilla-cocoa, definitely like a candy bar, and I loved it, but thought I may have had a weird bottle. Then it got discontinued and all hope of getting original CB was lost. This release is definitely a darker chocolate, and then when it's on, for me it reads very husky, deep, earthy, downright evil. Not sure what makes it turn that way. Maybe the 'bittersweet' enabled some very creepy dark notes to creep in. It is very much like The Other Hot Chocolate (deep gritty, chocolate) but this one... I put it on today and I'm going to a LAN party later, and I'm thinking of scrubbing it off just because it has plenty of throw, and I smell so... ferocious. Purry, like, sex kitten ferocious. Whoops. It's nice. A little will go a long way. It's not a replacement for what I think the original CB was, at least for me, but it's its own scent.

This is just as I remembered it, even as a reformulation. It reads as a slightly lightning-kissed (without the sharpness of Lightning), atmospheric, sweet night floral (more... phlox and moonflower, not jasmine-heavy!) with a wisp of smoke. A smoky, hazy floral. When I first encountered Act I, I only bought one bottle, then I think the original was discontinued and I had been hoarding my lonely half bottle. I like this a lot, and those with the original will also find it extremely similar (at least on my skin!)

The scent of fallow fields, faraway conflagrations consuming dry, parched grasses, and crops failing under the relentless heat of a dying sun. Fleshy pumpkin again, orange meat and slightly spicy. A hint of the hay note, a little tiny bit of vetiver or smoke lingering in the background. Comparisons would be made to Scarecrow, which has a stronger cologne/topnote bite and definitely more hay. This is a pumpkin kissed a little bit by grasses and smoke. There's a huskiness to the blend, and while it is not SWEET, this is not a very dark blend. It is holiday appropriate. Not as atmospheric as I would have liked... That being said, this would be more a 'trick or treating' smell of lit jackolanterns in suburbia' type of scent!

Warm vanilla dripping with golden amber, glittering with a shard of silvered glass. So, right off the bat, for those of you jonesing for the House of Mirrors like Carnaval Noir original line (gah! How long have I been collecting!), this is not quite it in balance, although it definitely has similar elements of polished sweetness and a kiss of aquatic-floral-ozone. This is primarily vanilla-forward with a backdrop of amber, the good, sweet, rich, honeyed type. I get not as much smoke, so it's not reading so much incense as it is resin. I get a tiny touch of muguet like Sea of Glass (one of my favorites), but is indeed a sliver and not very strong overall. It is there, though, and there is the peep of glinty aquatic peering through that makes this not entirely a rich foody amber. I like this a lot, but I'm also partial to the ozonic, light florals like Sea of Glass. It's remarkable. I hiked back to the con and got three more.

Grey pumpkin husk and bruised violets blanketed by creeping white mycelium, black mosses, and toxic subterranean mushrooms. I love violets, but pumpkin goes horribly bad on my skin in most blends. Was most intrigued by this particular scent! Sprayed in the air and on a small corner of a blanket, this is definitely dominated initially by a squashy, yet warm pumpkin. It's not a cold one, I see the guts and stringy seeds. While violet is listed as a note, I'm not getting that the flower is a dominant player (wolf sad-face). There may be some slight coolness, but I still get a spicy, slightly fruity (blueberry? playing tricks on me with the violet?) pumpkin with a touch of creamy spice. I get a hint of the dry mosses (this is a little oakmoss tinge), but no particular strong mushroom scent. A slightly cool pumpkin scent. Not quite what I was expecting. I got too many of them, although I can anticipate using these as WONDERFUL Halloween party scenting. Wish there had been more of a pure violet but pumpkin trounced that idea flat! Puddin' put a note 'Violet Weenies!' in my order. See, if that actually happens, please go to your nearest ER to treat gangrenous priapism :|.

The number on my floral is 76. Wet: I've... smelled this before... it's very familiar. It doesn't smell like flowers. On skin: APPLE BLOSSOM, and a fresh, fleshy apple fruit. A little later: Oh, yeah, that's a bit of jasmine. Please don't amp! About twenty minutes: Oh, yeah... it's jasmine. Not a bad one, but I turn jasmine into single notes. It still has a hint of apple. So, like an exotic apple jasmine. Although the apple is really faint, I keep thinking of cutting open an apple and smelling the core, but sitting by a big jasmine bush. Very tropical. Sultry. What a random thing! I would usually never pick this type of scent.

Rain-lashed stone and fading summer flowers. This is pretty awesome. In summary, this smells like a damp, misty park in the morning, and sidewalk. Starts off strong on the stone note, which may be a bit off-putting, a very small hint of gravel and something akin to Maoi, that pumice note, but then gets a hint of brighter, stemmier/sappier florals. I think it may be a bit of dandelion and daisy. The overall effect is of a pleasant environmental aroma, without too much grit or dirt. Over time, the entire scent smoothens. Faint throw, but very unique. ETA: Several hours later, this is a sweet floral, akin to the drydown in Villainess's Jade, which is pretty awesome.

Limb-loosener. Ambergris, pale musk, peru balsam, golden amber, cedar, lavender, spikenard, narcissus, vanilla caramel, white sandalwood, and woodmoss. Bottle sniff. Sweet. Very faint. Seems kind of pale. It's funny 'cause the guy on the label has the 'i' going up a very particularly odd place! The label is also spelled 'Glukupikros.' Wet, this is still very light. Over time there is a tiny bit more of a sweet sharpness, definitely a pale musky sandalwood. There is not too much flagrant cedar, narcissus, or lavender... this is all very smoothly herbal with a touch of translucent musk. The vanilla caramel is perhaps what is giving this a little sugary sweetness, but by no means is it foody caramel. This scent is striking me as very androgynous, actually. Hrm. I'm puzzled by this scent, I thought it'd be more uniformly ferocious, given some of the notes in it - vanilla caramel, or lavender, for example, but again this is a very tight skin-scent which has hints of all of its ingredients, but doesn't really showcase any one of its components. If I'd have to sum it up, Glukuprikos is a slightly mossy dry herbal wood with light throw.

I used to have a Yankee Candle named 'Roses of Cliff Walk,' and that was very close to what I remember. It's very hard for any traditional rose scent to hit that because it's... um, a more grassy, slightly more upturned (? I can't describe it any other way) rose, lighter for sure, slightly spicy, but also the salt air made it smell a touch ozonic... But it never read to me as 'lush' or 'creamy.' So maybe trying to stay away from the pure Red Rose note Beth uses (that one is beautiful, but I always think of traditional roses when I smell them), and anything described as 'creamy.' Um... hrm... The sad thing is Yankee hasn't made that scent for a while, and I think my mother may have given away one of my old ones (the nightmare of a hoarder - let one thing go and then you crave it forever). I like Maiden, but that is a very carnation-y blend, however on me it's the lightest and least 'lush' rose possible. So, sorry I can't be more help. /rambling/ I wonder if you were to layer 'The Rose' with 'Cthulhu' or even 'A Fit of Artistic Enthusiasm' (more The Rose, less the following) if that would get the salty light rose going.

Doom unfettered, the ruin of hope: the tattered remains of Gelgja, smashed stone, feral grey musk, and blackened blood. This is a very strong, vetiveraceous rocky scent. The blood note is quite strong in this as a sour, metallic tinge over granite pebbles. There is a little musk but this isn't a sweet, singing one, but more of a thrummy, deeper one giving this a little bit more complexity than just ash and stone. It's extremely evocative and again, very granite-y rocky. Not like Black Opal rock shimmer, sadly, more like... um, gritty, husky pulverized rock. It's really not my style of scent, but if you go for the quirky and striking, this is definitely worth a try.

A luxurious, glamorous bordello and gaming house famous for its high-class ladies, high-stakes gambling, extraordinary service, and powerful clientele. Gleaming leather entwined with honeysuckle, ivory musk, and white gardenia. Whoa, so weird. This is sprayed onto a microfiber cloth as a 'linen spray' so I don't mix it up with the other scents. Definitely a dry leather, like... um, Dee leather, or White Rider leather. The florals are definitely present and quite skatole-heavy. Maybe the gardenia? There's also that sharp peppery-leafy sweetness of honeysuckle petals and the grassiness. Then, perhaps the musk (white, I think?) is adding another tone of sweetness. The effect combines at first into a very... um, kind of fecal/skatole burst off the bat, mixed with leather this is very scary. I also for some reason huffing the cloth get 'squash and garden leaves' but I have no idea why. Initial burst is off-putting. However given a few minutes to calm down, this is a leather-planty, yellow-gold light floral, slightly herbaceous blend. I can definitely get the honeysuckle and gardenia after it's calmed down from the leather blast. I like both, so this is improving on pleasantness as it has a moment to settle. Very... interesting... I don't dislike it, but that first blast is something to get over, lol!

I just got this! After a really rainy Denver week, this is helpful to smell a slightly dry, reddish wood (like Fenris Wolf, but more flowers... a bit softer around the edges). That's wafting from the bottle. On the skin, it has a very similar reddish sandalwood vibe, but then the myrrh starts to turn it more... 'voluptuous' for a better word, and then the scent goes definitely towards a sweet, deep, vanilla-like (but not cloying!) sweetness. It starts moving more towards a very intriguing, non-sugary and definitely non-foody vanilla. A gourmand, supported by the woods to make for a very wonderful, less masculine but still UBER CUDDLY Fenris Wolf. On me, Snake Oil has a bit too much exotic flair - this is still heady and commanding, with that red-musk feel, but I don't get actual red musk. So... um, it's hard to put this completely into words... It has similar traits towards Monster Bait: Underpants (vanilla sandalwood?), because lurking under the very slight, but burnished woods, the fundamental song is a harmonious woods-vanilla richness. As it dries down, the richness improves, and it doesn't morph quite as much as Fenris Wolf or Jupiter (BPAL) moved on me - those were strong dry red woods that dried down drier. This is like a heavy bass note or chant slowly reverberating down to your nasal core and harmonizing, spreading, enveloping, singuralizing and becoming a full, rounded EXPERIENCE, a scent that hits all the chords so right you can't tell one note from another, until it's just MMMMMMMMM. As it dries down, the Oude woods enrich, and, wow, like seriously, I can't believe how good this is. It melds with my (male) skin chemistry SO GOOD. I smell like... SO GOOD. I would be in trouble if like, for example, Chris Evans sauntered into my house and was like, HEY BABE. I SMELL LIKE SINUS AMORIS, LIKE SRSLY. I would also accept Jeremy Renner, although I'd expect him to smell more ... woodsy. Of course if they both were wearing Sinus Amoris, like, they could totally fight, shirtless, over me, and I would be like MOAR SINUS AMORIS, throwing it onto their unnaturally buff bodies, and wondering if I would go more for classic scruffy or the hot dad Renner effect. And they would smell awesome, and it would totally be the WORST MOVIE PLOT EVER. So, um, this time, hoarding instincts, you win. I already checked the website for the slim chance that this was still up (no such luck). I would have bought many more Evans.

Snow-blanketed granite enveloped by a sea of spruce and pine. If you love atmospheric, pine forest scents, this is an absolute stunner. It starts off with loads of spruce, with a hint of coolness from the snow. The spruce is magnificent, just like a fresh cut tree hauled into the room. The stone note is not terribly strong, but there is a touch of Beth's sweet snow note that is peeking through marvelously. I spray just a touch of this and instantly, I have the holidays surrounding me. A perfect christmas tree scent, wild, true, and marvelous. It does start out a bit auto-freshener with the spruce but give it some time to develop and bloom. It's a perfect, quiet, Grimm's fairy tale snow forest!

The solemn twilight of the year. Ruptured in transit - 3/4 bottle left but I could smell it all over the USPS package! Intially has a blast of leaves, like Autumn Grove, the 'fallen leaf' note. I can also detect the slightly sour, bitter moss note. Underneath this all is actually a deep, romantic cedar scent (Himalyan?) that represents the thick, gnarled roots. The cedarwood is so relaxing that even after the top notes have burned out I keep sniffing the blanket corner that I sprayed this on for a sweet, deep, woodsy, environmental note. Similar vibe to Grove, but less super-leafy. Very nice. Please don't waffle on this if you like dry, realistic forest floor notes, given the cryptic description!

KRAMPUSUMZÜGE Dirt-spattered rags, rusted chains, and dry switches against a backdrop of black fir and snow. Straight up from the bottle, this smells sweet, piney, and just a hint of that first bit of leather - the airy topnote, without the thrum of the deeper, animalistic hide notes. The 'dirt, rags, and metal' are subtle, so this isn't spiked with vetiver or loaded up with dirt like Graveyard Dirt's note. Spritzed, this is a very cool, only slightly menacing pine scent, and dries towards being more of single, sweet spruce/pine aroma with a detectable but not overpowering burst of leather. The leather deepens as it dries in the air. What I'm left with is a very nice, Yuletide scent, that is mostly a cool, crisp pine with a whisper of playful menace.

Sapphire-blue musk alight with a white fire of chamomile, styrax, iced honey, saffron, and castoreum accord. Starts off smelling a little bit of a sweet, sugary musk, with a small hint of something almost a bit caramelized. This turns out to be somewhat darker around the edges as the castoreum accord brings in a little grittiness. It's overall a sweet, slightly honey scent (!) with only a touch of shadow from the castoreum.

HUNTERS IN THE SNOW The scent of a calm, grey winter’s day: bare trees and cooking fires, thick blankets of snow, and icy, frozen rivers. Wet: Smells masculine to me, an assortment of woods (I'm not very good at picking these out). The snow hits when wet, but is minor and overpowered by the woods. Dry: Didn't try - woods don't work for me, so no dry test was done. This was off to the swabs/sales for me. Courtesy of the wonderful mellifluous. Sweet snow topnote is present. There must be a little bit of grey musk in this as the air smells slightly resinous and chilly. Just a hint of a smoke from the fires but no spicey warmth from that directly. The trees may be a hint of birch or a subtle woodsey note. The rest of the scent is very ozonic and marine in that it is a mix of powdery snow notes, ice, and the icy rivers. It's pretty amazing, I have to say. Smells like outside and camping.

White rose, lavender, kush accord, oudh, opium poppy, white musk, and shamama attar. This is mostly a pure herbal lavender when wet, but the drydown is a sweet, creamy woodsy note. It's the khus, I believe, that lends it an overall incensy vibe. The rose is not overbearing, and the drydown is a hint of the balsamic lavender over this very calming wood note. I hope that the LEs that are opening up the new Somniums will remain, because I can see this being quite a nice sleep blend for me.

Rub onto your palms and dab onto the base of your throat to sweeten your words, increase persuasiveness and command of language, and to infuse your voice and manner with grace, charisma, and power. Eloquentia IV is a slightly lemon-y scented oil with a leafy green overtone. It does remind me of a slightly less sweet Chakra (throat) scent in that it has a slightly mentholic rubber-airy scent. The definite tone is pleasant but not really perfumy, color is gold yellow to my very mild color association. I am not a very persuasive person to begin with. I wore this twice and I at least feel less 'blocked and shy,' but I'm not absolutely certain it caused any particular change in the usual way I come across. I am by nature pretty easygoing and people do listen to me, so... maybe this is just an augmentation of the norm.

The blood of the gods cascading onto earth and into sea: salt and sinew, venom and flame, and bone shards scattered across the gore-soaked soil of Óskópnir. Yup, whoa, yikes. This thing scares me. It's definitely got a strong blood note, as well as that strange combination of dry, salt, white, and crusty that happens when Beth does bone, which is so scary. This does not smell like Gore-Shock, so no meat, no ham, but it has a very strong presence that screams "Battlefield." There's grit, and a touch of rich loam, so I'm getting a bit of that Graveyard Dirt base, and, dry, dry salt, smoke, white white bone, desolation, death. The color I see is white speckled with little silver flecks. I have no idea why. Yet through this all, it's immensely wearable. The throw is more manageable as an ashy, high pitched vetiver, so I could actually probably get away with smelling like this. Yiiiiiikes. /runs