Lycanthrope

On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise.

 An electric blackberry violet tossed with seaspray. This is extremely juicy and fruity. A salty kind of lime-yellow citrus bright, bubbly blackberry, with a hint of that salt and sea note. I don't get very much violet It's very youthful, and very potent. Does read as neon, but definitely less floral than I thought it would be! Going to give it some wears. It's summery, brash, and quite loud.

The personification of nature itself: patchouli and clary sage with a host of dark mosses and lichens, wild grasses, warm acorns, dammar, burgundy pitch, pine needles, mandrake root, hay absolute, and sweet vetiver. From the bottle whiff, I get immediately a pine scent, with a swirl of very verdant, wet and sappy greenery. Not foreboding, but definitely a lot going on. The image I get is a glossy mix of obsidian and emerald. There's a bit of a 'Tramp' feel from this, for you LUSHies. Immediately on the skin it's patchouli and pine, both vying for attention. Around this vacillation between airy, clear and klaxon pine, patchouli grumbles and gives everything a loamy, soily feel. I'm now getting the hay, which is of a slightly damp persuasion. This is all forest, a coniferous one. Not too heavy on the soil and dirt notes, although there is the patchouli, but what makes it so foresty is the combination of all the subtle, woodsy/oak, gummy, rooty scents. The moss and lichen does add a bit of an ashy/rocky feel to it. As time passes, this actually gets a touch drier, more of a solid wood, with pine needles gracing it but not dominating. It settles on me into a very smooth, non-cacophonous 'forest.' Although this isn't a dead ringer for the sadly discontinued LUSH Tramp, it has the similar feel of moss, patchouli, and nymphlike greenery. I like it! I think one bottle is enough for me since this is very environmental. Lovers of Black Forest or similar aromas, please try this!

A verdant grove of evergreens, the promise of peace, quiet, and refuge within the heart of Nature’s embrace: clusters of clubmoss huddle silently under a gently shadowed canopy of silver fir, blue spruce, red cedar, cypress, and live oak. Another earthy offering from the Empress! From the bottle, this is more fir-heavy, but is a swirl of mostly coniferous, sappy evergreens, but backed up with a touch of oaky woods. The cedar and cypress are trying to peek through. Dabbed on the skin, whoa, whoa nelly, oh, man, I am Become Conifer! STAND ASIDE, YOU ANGIOSPERMS FOR WE ARE THE STUBBIER, SCRAGGLIER PIONEERS TO CONSERVE WATER WE DEVELOPED THICK NEEDLES (WHICH REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT SUN EXPOSURE) IN MOST FOREST ECOSYSTEMS WE PROMULGATE FIRST THEN YOU FROO FROO BROAD LEAFED WHIPPERSNAPPERS COME IN AND OVERSHADOW US KILLING OUR TINY IMMOBILE SAPLINGS ...BUT WE LIKE CLEARINGS AND GROW IN COPSES WHEN ONE OF YOU FALLS SO WATCH YOUR BACK! GYMNOSPERM PRIDE FIE, FIE YOU OAK BEWARE NEEDLES IN YOUR BA®K! In more fragrance related news from that odd divergence: This is a HUGE blast of needly green things. It's on me almost a bit much and reads almost as Single Note: Holiday Christmas Tree to me. It's very natural, just strong, and even for its strong opener, it actually fades pretty fast on me. This is common when I'm wearing any 'evergreen' note. With about half an hour, it's a whisper of mostly a bit of dry fir, and some cedar warmth, but beyond that, not too much else comes roaring to the surface. If you're a big fan of evergreens, don't pass this one up, it's an experience, true, but at least on me died down pretty quick.

THE NAMELESS CITY DRIVE-IN THEATRE Chrome bumpers gleaming in cold, exhaust-fume laden night air. Soggy foliage and crushed grass dotted with popcorn that has been crushed under rubber tires. Leather seats moist with skin musk and the sweat of groping hands fumbling under ceremonial robes. Bottle: Airy, grassy musk. On: Wet, this smells like a very crisp, blue/green musk, and the grass takes a backseat to a very potent scent remniscent of a 'hot dude' car freshener - a melange of manly, strong musks that is sweet, slightly spicy in a cold way. There's not too much linen, fabric, and this isn't too grassy nor leathery. It's a very smooth, somewhat overpowering (to me) bluish musk. Not at all what I expected.

A whisper of names: Nandi, Dido, Clytemnestra, Hatshepsut, Merneith, Olga of Kiev, Boudicca, Urraca the Reckless, Makeda, Sasaban, Semiramis, Rabodoandrianampoinimerina, Theodora, Julia Agrippina, Wu Zeitan, Irene Sarantapechaina, Elizabeth. She is every queen that has ever walked on this Earth, and every queen that shall come. She rules the past, the present, and the future; she is the archetypical sovereign, the amalgamation of feminine power – dark and light – throughout all of mankind’s history. White gardenia and tuberose with ambergris accord, vegetal vanilla musk, bourbon vanilla, and amber incense. From the bottle whiff: High pitched, bright, clarion call creamy gardenia petals. A bit of sweetness, but without too much foodiness. Waxy, but waxy like buttercream frosting, not candles. Wet, the gardenia is joined by tuberose, and the two make for a distinctively LOUD opener. Heady, sensual, yes, but very tropical and extremely white floral! There's a more floral vanilla attempting to bring down the florals over the first 10-15 minutes, a little tickle of cream at the edges of the floral bouquet. I'm sniffing around, it's getting... somehow, smoother? The initial very potent tropical blast is starting to calm down into a very interesting combination of scents. I'm getting a little bit of a salty, smoky amber, but just a hint. Like an extinguished vanilla incense stick. I think I'm actually getting a kiss of white musk, but again not dominating. Over time, this has a bit of a 'gauzy' overtone with the florals amazingly draped over but not dominating the central notes of the blend, which strike me as being a very inoffensive, well-blended melange of subtle incense, a white or light amber, and a mysterious vanilla that grounds this, without making it dessert-y. Over time, the tuberose starts to be stronger than the gardenia, but that could just be my skin... as it does that to tuberose. Glittery diaphanous gauze over a polished ivory marble stone, strewn with ripped tuberose petals.

Rolling mounds of snow blanketing dwarf birch, willow shrub, black crowberry, and moss campion. This is a predominantly soft, slightly spearmint-y snow blend. A bit like the top note of Snow Bunny. There's a touch of slightly dry greenery - and maybe moss? It's definitely on the more environmental of snow notes. While pleasant, it has pretty low staying power - although this may just be my nose getting used to it really quick, and it being remarkably smoothly composed so that I'm not getting struck by any powerful recurrent scent theme. I like this a lot. It's not super 'minty' but has that sweet, slushy snow note with a kiss of powder, and then the outdoors.

The unknown factor, the outsider entering your town uninvited, unannounced, and unknown: a narcotic black chypre with crushed violets, indigo lilac, patchouli, oakmoss absolute, labdanum, and clove. Super intrigued! Wet, it smells very cold, almost like a splinter of blue-black dark. I bet there are some opium notes in this because I get that soporific swell in some of the poppy-containing blends. Labdanum is one of those notes I love, but also jumps out on me, and the poppy-black-musk opening becomes gummy with warmth on my skin and lets out a spicy-sweet cloud of labdanum, made gritty and husky with the patchouli. This is really, really heavy and basically is prowling off my skin. Interestingly, it isn't until at least 15 minutes later, that I can get a bit of the oakmoss/lilac/violets. These are not whomp you on the head florals or greens... a tangle or dark crown or wreath of gray-green foliage scattered with dark, subtle petals, but still a menacing arrangement, lurking in the shadows. I like this, but it is farrrrrr to dark for this bright violet-wearing metal-aquatic werewolf. Still, this is super dark, moody, sexy. Complicated and layered. Even with the florals, I think this is unisex and may even transform based on who's wearing it... again on me, a guy, it's an unconventional, dark musky in tone with bruised purple florals lurking but not showy in the background.

The flow of inspiration and passion, intuition put into action. The stream flows from the heart of the Empress’ Forest into the verdant fields at her feet. Sakura blossoms, neroli, and peach blossom cascading into a pool of white frankincense and hiba cedarwood. This sounds like an amazing Shunga Salon-type blend. I had to try it for the sakura and hiba cedarwood alone! Sniff from bottle is ... confusing. It's very subtle, light, at first, but then I think it's trying to be topnote of neroli, a hint of frankincense resin, and then I get a background of warm peachy peach. A hint of honey sweet that then turns a little syrupy, I think of crystal clear simple syrup. No idea why. Wet, it's... cedar? But like hinoki type, clear, not too woodsy, oh, and there's the spicy cream of cherry blossom. There's a bit of a swell of orange-blossom candy neroli and peach roiling together in the first few minutes, and I'm reminded of fruit candies, like some kind of exotic floral candy (There's actually an old-school Japanese candy called 'Flower's Kiss,' which has inexplicably pictures of flowers all over the wrappers but is in actuality an apricot hard candy... I used to have these a lot as a kid, and couldn't place the flavor - what a naive non-BPAL person I was! Apricots!). This does remain fairly sweet, and light, on my hand. With a bit of time, I can start to get more of the slightly sharp cedarwood - japanese cedar? Or something... It's definitely taking this a bit away from pure candy and sweetness. It still remains pretty strong on the peach/peach blossom, with the sakura and cedarwood giving a distinctively Japanese-style Salon flair. I'm not getting frankincense as a dominant scent, but it must be doing something to unify everything and ground these lighter notes, like a background glow.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Olibanum, labdanum, spikenard, cade, cardamom pod, and olive blossom. Super light and airy wet from the bottle. On skin, it's a very wonderful topnote of frankincense (olibanum), with a bit of creaminess and thrummy warm gumminess of labdanum. The olive blossom reminds me of Succor (I love(d) that blend!). The spikenard/cade/cardamom add a little herbal spiciness to the resins and it ends up feeling very comforting, supportive... for me those resins send up meditation vibes. It's still very light, not too 'churchy,' though as it dries down sparkles of the frankincense resin predominate. Cardamom is nice but not too powerful, as it can be, just a kiss. Wonderful!

Calliope music played: a Strauss waltz, stirring and occasionally discordant. The wall as they entered was hung with antique carousel horses, hundreds of them, some in need of a lick of paint, others in need of a good dusting; above them hung dozens of winged angels constructed rather obviously from female store-window mannequins; some of them bared their sexless breasts; some had lost their wigs and stared baldly and blindly down from the darkness. And then there was the carousel. A sign proclaimed it was the largest in the world, said how much it weighed, how many thousand lightbulbs were to be found in the chandeliers that hung from it in Gothic profusion, and forbade anyone from climbing on it or from riding on the animals. And such animals! Shadow stared, impressed in spite of himself, at the hundreds of full-sized creatures who circled on the platform of the carousel. Real creatures, imaginary creatures, and transformations of the two: each creature was different. He saw mermaid and merman, centaur and unicorn, elephants (one huge, one tiny), bulldog, frog and phoenix, zebra, tiger, manticore and basilisk, swans pulling a carriage, a white ox, a fox, twin walruses, even a sea serpent, all of them brightly colored and more than real: each rode the platform as the waltz came to an end and a new waltz began. The carousel did not even slow down. "What's it for?" asked Shadow. "I mean, okay, world's biggest, hundreds of animals, thousands of lightbulbs, and it goes around all the time, and no one ever rides it." "It's not there to be ridden, not by people," said Wednesday. "It's there to be admired. It's there to be." A place of power and possibility, of gods diabolical and celestial: glowing amber and heady cinnamon, the green of growing things and the white of thunderclaps, sweet myrrh and sacred styrax, forest moss and blood-soaked battlefields, papyrus and clay, rose petals, wildflowers, abbatoirs, and honey. I was very excited about this, being kind of an ur-mythology, mixing all these different divine tropes together and into a jumble of tumultuous divinity, swirling and such. Here goes! This smells interesting in the bottle, like a tiny touch of green, sappiness, a little snow note. I get a hint of the clay-snow slush from Kumari Kandam, but then it veers off a bit. Wet, this is still pretty sweet, still green-ish, and musky. There's a bit of an ozone snap but it's not terribly strong. Reminds me a touch of Lightning. And then there's a subtle bump of aquatics, salt? Then honey - followed by a touch of a papery, dry note. All still over the rocky base. The amber starts to hum here, midway through, and what was once initially very elemental, swirling with leaf, thunder, water, elevates into a resinous honey with incense, and then reminds me of Anubis - golden, glowing, yellow thrum of incense. I'm primed to look for 'blood' as a note, which is usually grungy and kind of funky, but I don't get that at all. Near the end of the major drydown, I think I can get a touch of rose petals, but it's not terribly overpowering or strong. This started off whirling, rotating, turning, and ends up drying down into a supremely smooth amber incense, with moderate chewy sweetness from honey, and a little spice and earth.

The song of a host of dread spirits wailing their grief to the moonlit heavens: grey, silken ambergris and cold davana cascading over a landscape of bog rosemary, marsh cinquefoil, sea holly, grey willow, bog asphodel, sundew, lowland meadow grass, and frost-limned peat. 2012 vintage! Let this one develop on your skin for a wee bit. My initial impression was not favorable, but I was rewarded with a little patience. I took a chance and grabbed more of this version, since the 2007 version was a beautifully salty, very green bladderwracky, misty blend. 2012 Singing Moon is definitely not similar although it does still retain a very misty, ethereal quality. I would say this is less smoky, less marine. If I would have to sum this up it would be 'misty rocks.' In the background there is something almost like lemon, maybe the sundew? It's a peep of reedy white citrus, otherwise all the other notes blend together into a cloudy, gray (in a good way) scent over very faint rocks (not quite an overt stone, like Black Opal or Kumari Kandam). There is not a dominant dirt note, nor do the herbs run away and make this super leafy or green. Ambergris does make its appearance, but on my skin it has always been a super awesome intestinal secretion (note) and it hasn't ever really amped on me. This has a very unobtrusive potency, so it seems ideal for a perfume for non-perfume wearers or work situation. I would say this veers slightly towards masculine only in that it has a gentle, smooth, simple cold musk-like quality. Over time, this turns a bit more floral, but never really super aquatic. It is definitely NOT minty, or BPAL Ice-slushy, which I kind of am a sad-panda about. It is similar to Leanan Sidhe but not as sweet, if I had to compare it to something from the GC. I'll play around with my one bottle, I do have the feeling in my situation I'd pass over this for a full-on aquatic or marine, just given my tastes.

I was hoping for the violet ice cream above, but I don't get too much of that, just very dusty orris (like Staged Moon landing?) The lily of the valley adds a distinctively pompous white floral, but it's a bit of a sour/sweet one (as lily of the valley is). The vanilla cream on me is not too foody, but this turns out to be more of a dry, powdery dusting powder on me instead of violet ice cream. Hope springs eternal and I'll wait for that someday, but this is still ok. I don't think I'm as head over heels as I hoped I'd be.

Choice soul, in whom, as in a glass, we see, Mirrored in thy pure form and delicate, What beauties heaven and nature can create, The paragon of all their works to be! Fair soul, in whom love, pity, piety, Have found a home, as from thy outward state We clearly read, and are so rare and great That they adorn none other like to thee! Love takes me captive; beauty binds my soul; Pity and mercy with their gentle eyes Wake in my heart a hope that cannot cheat. What law, what destiny, what fell control, What cruelty, or late or soon, denies That death should spare perfection so complete? - Michelangelo Buonarroti An opulent, bittersweet Renaissance-inspired fragrance: Hungary water, parma violets, and roseated oil. Totally not what I was expecting! The overall effect is a very herbal, slightly floral (but mostly green, herby herbs) aroma. The violet is not strong at all, but does lend a subtle powderiness to the overall blend. Goes on sharp, with a strong almost oregano-like note, with lavender, reminds me of... herbes de Provence? Drydown is again herbal, without much in terms of flowers or petals. From wikipedia: "The oldest surviving recipes call for distilling fresh rosemary (and possibly thyme) with strong brandy, while later formulations contain lavender, mint, sage, marjoram, costus, orange blossom and lemon." Oh, no wonder! Tons of rosemary here. This reminds me of the now discontinued LUSH 13 Soap: Unlucky for Dirt.

Divine ecstasy and divine madness. Ambivalence and absolute faith. Frankincense and lemon peel drifting on a cloud of lemongrass, white coconut, sandalwood, and vanilla absolute. In the bottle, this is surprisingly less citrus than I would have guessed from the notes. It's mostly a whiff of a lemon kiss gliding over the meat of a coconut. The lemon like notes then veer more towards lemongrass, but it's subtle and not super sharp, as that note can be. With a little more time and heat from my skin, the coconut becomes more apparent, deepening, and then kissed and brushed with dusty medium brown sandalwood (a sweet, not super sharp, but just thrummy enough woodsiness to ground the higher notes)... and there's a bit of gourmand from the vanilla. Certainly not truly foody, but having elements of both the resinous citrus and yet creamy spice variety. With even more time, the lemon notes deepen and I can swear that the spritz of a lemon rind is now more apparent. On me, the scent does become quite subtle, and mostly a tasty buttery lemon-coconut.

Rose roots reaching deep into soil thick with memories of eons of the dead. Rich, rich, loamy in the bottle. Definitely can get a bit of drier rose in the background, but this is a gritty, husky rose. These are dried, crushed rose petals. I feel like I've sunk my face into a pot of soil. Over a few moments, what's a bit odd is that the scent starts migrating towards... spicy? While the rose doesn't amp, I'm getting an odd, but very fitting and pleasant swirling smoke. It's not vetiver, but, it's quite... oh! Yeah, that's a nice, beautiful smoky cedarwood. Not cedar or pencil shavings, but like the good essential oil of cedarwood. Deeply rich, very grounding, quite rooty. I have a bottle of Himalayan Cedarwood (Deodara) and this is immediately pushing buttons for it. I may be nose hallucinating, but it lends this blend a very true woodsy depth that is frankly amazing. Is there a bit of a white patchouli in here as well? The rose plays quietly in the background, and on me never really has a diva moment (this is a good thing). I would classify this as environmental, still wearable but probably special circumstance. Over time the loam and soil note fades and this is a rose-kissed light golden woods blend. Starts heavy, ends on a nice thrummy middle note.

"Hey," said Shadow. "Huginn or Muninn, or whoever you are." The bird turned, head tipped, suspiciously, on one side, and it stared at him with bright eyes. "Say 'Nevermore,'" said Shadow. "Fuck you," said the raven." Glossy black, rough, and gravelly: violet-gilded opoponax, black patchouli, myrrh, and oak leaf. Smokey in the bottle. Rocks. Gray gravel. On, wet, a weirdly sweet, dark, biting caramelly resin. The topnotes of the resin recede a bit and I'm getting a bit of the burnt/dried leaves note, but not much, and it's tempered by a dry woodsiness. There's a depth beneath this all with the patchouli and myrrh lending a soft, but solid base. I was hoping for a bit more front-forward violet, but I'm not getting that as much with the initial drydown. Over time, the resins/woods unify and turn more towards a very excellent, subdued but dark patchouli, with a touch of rockiness - not Black Opal rockiness, but... still a huskiness. There are whispers of violet petals but don't be afraid if you're not a floral person. This is just enough to lend a glint to the feathers. I will not F this blend! It's quite good!

The Red King and White Queen, sulfur and mercury, Rubedo and Albedo. The unification of opposites, putrefaction and individuation, the culmination of the Great Work. ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή: red and white musks alight with frankincense, white oudh, sweet labdanum, and saffron. The way up and the way down are one and the same. Wet, this is a spicy, warm frankincense with a bit of a gummy, resinous sweetness from the labdanum. It's definitely very magical smelling, like the curl of a smoldering frankincense tear. The saffron is providing a bit of a dry pepperiness in the background. I think the oudh and red musk are making this a bit more 'warm' in tone, but strangely it's not super 'oriental,' and in fact remains very crisp and clear. None of the resins are 'gummy' per se. The musks are smooth and straightforward, and I think the white musk makes this have a bit of a chillier, bright tone. It's very nice, very magical.

THE RAPTURES AND ROSES OF VICE Red roses, heady Moroccan musk, cinnamon, lobelia, coconut flesh, magnolia blossoms, and tobacco tar. Creamy, dewy, fleshy rose in the bottle, swirling rapidly towards a smooth, exuberant and beautiful musk - definitely has some hint of Morocco, the scent, however, there's a very deep, thrummy, almost resinous / churchlike element to this. I can lightly detect the tobacco in the background adding a hint of grit. The coconut and magnolia together add a butter-yellow creamy tone to the overall scent. The cinnamon and tobacco meld great with the rose... this is a beautiful, non-amping rose. It's breaking up my usual rose amp fail This reminds me a bit of White Rose (the BPTP) scent, but less rose and more spices and rose unguent. Yes. Like... a lot.

It is the lady of midnight and she has arrived! She of Two Faces, She Who Eats Filth, the Death Caused by Lust – Tlazolteotl – is the Aztec goddess of the regenerative function of the earth, human sexuality, and fertility. She represents the active female principle in the eternal cycle of life feeding death and death feeding life. Her arms, dressed in flayed skins, embrace mirrored principles of sin and purification: she inspires lust, depravity, overindulgence, vice, lechery, and licentiousness, and is also empowered to cleanse and forgive moral, spiritual, and fleshly sins. Her scent is a melding of her symbols and offerings: chapapote and black copal with cacao, black honey, maize, and cotton blossoms. Hooray! I hope this doesn't smell like teh pewp. Or, if it does, it will be my precious BPAL PEWP. Sweet. From the bottle, this smells like a little gritty, chewy, resinous chocolate. Wet, the initial cocoa rises to the surface, and reminds me just a touch of a less-lavender Wulric. It has hints of that delicious Boomslang-like cocoa absolute! It is marvelous in this initial wet stage. Over a little more time something slightly remniscent of corn flakes does arise, but only in the best way possible, giving the entire scent a touch more of a mild food-y vibe without veering into cake or cookie territory. I don't get much floral, but there is a gentle sweetness suffusing the scent, reminding me a touch of the Xmvlzencab soap, which was more sweet ginger honey floral to my nose. With more drydown, the copal is maybe a hint more noticeable, and I have no idea if what I am smelling is cotton blossom. Definitely no strong florals in this one. This reads and projects like an awesome, deep, dirty cocoa that I could swear has patchouli in it due to the wonderfully deep, chewy and rich chocolate, that dries down into a smoky, complicated slightly foody drydown. I think the pitch/chapapote is manifest as the slighty dirt-y but mostly sand-like essence that is granting the cocoa some wondrous complexity. I have my bottle, and I will HOAAAARD.

A vibrant green chypre with orange blossom, pine needles, and violet leaf. Oh, my. This is 'sweet green' wet to my nose, and goes on with a jade-green smoothness, like a bunch of mosses, kissed with orange blossom. It's even a little cooling on the skin. Then, sitting present on the skin, pine needles emerge! It's a touch of fir. Dangerously close to a Yule moment for a bit, but instead of going full christmas tree mode, the pine needles remain present, under the glowy haze of orange blossom. I don't get any violet petals (it's all just violet leaf, I take it), which keeps this more 'noonday mountain fir' as opposed to 'Santa's Here!' Pretty gender neutral although I take it the pine does make it a bit more masculine. Straddles the line as the chypre and pine move it more 'masculine' but the orange blossom still flirts about to blur the strength of the green.

Wisteria and white clove, green tea leaf, and frankincense. So... unexpected. Wet, I get a bit of the clove, but only like the top part of it - medicinal, sharp. I also get a smell that reminds me of the inside of a dried ume plum, and also maybe... camphor? What? As this sits on my skin and dries down... It's still very clovey... oh, wait, what? White Necco wafer? This smells like a clove cigarette. There's maybe some kind of more non-sweet, crumbly and sticky frankincense, a little sharp-sweet smoke. I don't get much of the classic 'green tea' note. I'm also struggling to find any lush wisteria. The color I see is... browns/ochre, gray-white or even bone-white wisteria, thin, sharp, not like purple unfurled blossoms. If there is a bit of that note, it's only a faint accent over the clovey-resin nature of this scent. I'm so very confused. But if you like clove...

Three Swords, Nicholas Roerich. A snow-touched olistolith, embedded with quartz, red clay, limestone, shale and granite, with a hint of wild rhododendron. Wet this smells like motor oil and gasoline. On, the sharp, bright oily notes turn into a very eerie blend of tossed, dry dirt, and a little dust. Very strong on the 'stone note' (the craggy, pumice-like, gritty note). It still smells like gasoline every now and then. I wonder if that's the rhododendron? There really isn't very much, if any at all, of the usual 'snow' or 'ice' notes in the foreground. This smells like hiking, but the part after you've fueled up a car and are covered in dust, and got a little of the gas on your fingertips while filling. Very evocative, but definitely not 'pretty' or a traditional perfume! Another that I'll keep the bottle and probably try it a few more times prior to seeing if I want any more. I don't think anything like this has been in the lineup before. Try this if you loved Moai, although they aren't quite the same.

Showy, invasive, and highly poisonous, the Devil’s Trumpet possesses a strange beauty that is both seductive and quietly menacing. Their fruit is spiked, their seeds are black, their stems are bruise-purple, and their leaves are toothy and uneven. The Devil’s Trumpet’s grand, glorious blossoms open wide at night, releasing an enchanting and delicately intoxicating perfume. Very, very weird. In the bottle it smells like a bunch of greenery and a soft, white floral. On my skin, I don't know what the f*ck. It's like one of those quiet unassuming withery-looking ghosts that you see from a distance, all innocent and quiet looking, but you get too near and then tendrils spring out, latch onto your skin and as you watch in horror, something completely unexpected, and shocking, emerges. On my skin, this turns into perhaps the lushest, bizarre tropical-bloom on my skin. No green detected on my skin. The undercurrent is a constant thrum of white-like honey, drippy with pollen, I think of gold, yellow, ivory, when I smell this. It has a really intriguing soap-y topnote, which curls 'up' (ugh, I can't even describe this right). I don't know. This is a single note: experience. What the f*ck in the most wonderful way possible.

Snow drifting on black pine, blood red apple, rosewood, osmanthus, and lemon peel. Wet, this is pine, and a hint of the slushy delicious wintry notes of Beth's Yules. The comparison for sure would be to Snow, Glass, Apples, which this does have some relation to, but the pine is definitely present in this scent. It doesn't make it masculine, but it does take the scent from a purely poisonous, translucent apple (SGA) to a more grounded, earthy kind of scent. On me, the snow/slush note goes more into the 'sweet snow' note, similar to the room spray Christmas Present, so not the spearminty/eucalyptus snow present in things like Nuclear Winter/Country of Eternal Light. This is a cold scent but illuminated by an unearthly warmth, even if the lady's skin is pale white you know beneath it there's blood, pulsing, purring. The apple note is also not a green/winesap type of scent, but rather the fleshy, slightly mealy (in a good way) red delicious, one that gives way under the teeth a bit too well and lets your incisors rend through its flesh. I don't get a huge amount of lemon peel, or the rose part of rosewood. I think the osmanthus and rosewood are lending a bit of complexity to the scent but not overpowering in any way. This reads most forward as a top note pine/forest that segues into a snow-kissed apple resting on an ornate perfume box carved of rich, brown wood, sparkling with devilish, cold intent.

In the distance, you hear the discordant tolling of churchbells, uneven and strangely triumphant. As you turn towards the beckoning clang, you feel something brush across your neck: a gentle caress before a hundred pricking trichomes tear at your skin. There is a sudden whipping sensation and a clench of movement, and your throat is clamped in a rigid green noose. A raspy voice whispers, “Pardon,” and the grip on you loosens. A woman stands behind you. She holds a basket overflowing with creeping vines and flowers: razor-thorned roses, vibrant bursts of oleander, drooping cascades of wisteria, sprays of white hemlock and lily of the valley, bruise-blue pillows of aconite, purple-veined henbane, and the snapping jaws of monstrously large flytraps, glistening wet with mucilage. Her clothes smell faintly of manchineel smoke, and her fingertips are stained green. She smiles and shudders as the green tendrils that surround her writhe and contract. She plucks a red-spotted mushroom from her basket and places it gently in your palm before turning away. I always love a challenge, and I'm generally terrible at picking apart any kind of 'garden,' melange of green, planty things. So here goes. Solanine as the oil itself is a faint, quiet and unassuming light green. On the skin and wet, it's immediately a blade of snapped, crushed grass, and I get a tiny bit of wet, crunchy lettuce-like notes. This must be the sappy mucilage. It remains in this very heady grass headspace for a good 3-5 minutes. It's like someone cut the grass, and you laid down upon it and are getting whiffs of the fallen blades. I also do detect a tiny hint of charcoal/woodsmoke, lingering about in the background. It's akin to the Steamworks Smokestack, but only a tiny hint. As the scent starts to calm down, the initial grass and green tropical rubbery leaves recedes. So far nothing with the fungus or mushroom family, as that's usually a dealbreaker for me, although the rubberiness could be built into the smoke. Now there's a veritable cacophany of 'PETAL' but which PETAL? I don't know? Perhaps, Everything Twists and Agony Lies. I am trying to get the wisteria, roses, but the classic florals are not leaping to the forefront for me. I am getting a very 'Funereal' bouquet vibe, although this isn't like funeral parlor lilies and baby's breath. It's a twisted bridal bouquet cinched with drippy poisonous vines from tropical plants. With a bit more time, I'm getting something like Le Fleurs de Mal, a combo rose/wisteria coolness, but still supported by and primarily a sappy green thing. The color I'm getting, for some weird reason, is a faded yellow cream streaked with blops of green. Low overall lasting power on me, but I'm also in arid Colorado, so your mileage may vary. This would be great for any Rapaccini's Garden fans. If you're a plant person, do try this.