GypsyRoseRed

Lilith’s monstrous dragon steed: dragon’s blood resin, patchouli, pomegranate, myrrh, mimosa, cassia, blood musk and smoke. Finally - a smoky dragon scent, and one that I can actually wear! Until now, I haven't really been able to wear more than two of the other Ars Draconis blends. I'm not good at picking out individual notes, but the fruit and the smoke blend together so perfectly here. The smoke is subtle enough that I don't get any ash which has been a problem for me in smoky blends like Brimstone and Djinn.. They were just too harsh overall. This is softer, sweeter and really good. It doesn't have a lot of throw on me, but you can't win 'em all.

Autumn — overlooked my Knitting Dyes — said He — have I Could disparage a Flamingo Show Me them — said I Cochineal — I chose — for deeming It resemble Thee And the little Border — Dusker For resembling Me For my knitter posse! A warm scent, as delicate as lace and as soft as cashmere, and as cozy as wool, punctuated with red currant for the blazing red of cochineal and surrounded a border of soft grey ambergris and a swirl of autumn leaves. Interesting as hell, and beautiful when it dries down. When I first applied this, I mostly got the leaves. Like a pile of damp leaves, which isn't bad because I totally associate that smell with fall. But then as it dries, the fuzzy grey ambergris comes out to play and suddenly the scent becomes slightly resiny, soft, and cozy. Really gorgeous, and a surprise morpher.

TATTERED LACE An allegory of Victorian melancholy and madness: tea-stained bourbon vanilla, with white cognac, coconut bark, Oman frankincense, and woodmoss over opium tar-stained silk. I've just skin tested this, and it's really pretty - the only unfortunate thing is that apparently my dry skin drinks this stuff up quickly so it doesn't hang around. When it was wet, I smelled rich vanilla with a slightly bitter edge (cognac?) and something smoky, but it had a very similar feel to Black Lace. That comparison vanishes completely once it's on my skin. Dry, it softens up considerably until the vanilla becomes warmer and almost slightly sugary, and though I don't get coconut from this, it does have a certain sweetness that I can't pin down to a specific note. With that said, this rides the line between kinda foody and sophisticated!vanilla, and it's not quite like any of the other BPAL vanilla scents I've tried... I wish I could be more specific, but my skin sucks this up so fast!

I'm lucky enough to have Antique Lace imps from 2005, a bottle from 2007, and now this new batch to test side by side. While the newer version reads as slightly more vanilla in the initial sniff, that's probably because my comparisons are significantly aged, and I do remember getting brand new bottles that smelled just like this. With the older versions on one wrist and the new on the other, 30 minutes in, they're identical.

Sniffing this in the bottle, it's a jumble of sweet foodiness - cotton candy, cream, something slightly fruity and perhaps a touch of something chocolatey. But on my wrist, it morphs into a dark cotton candy with wafts of incense. I'm sure this is going to be a big hit in the Carnival if/when it's released!

BADGERS As a general fact, these girls are smart, good-looking, well educated and are near, and prepossessing in appearance. This is especially the case with those who are called "Badgers," but more widely known as panel thieves. These plunderers have had full swing, of late, and have robbed many an unsuspecting stranger of his all. Sweet patchouli, soft, honeyed leather, sassy sarsaparilla, honeysuckle, and French vanilla. Badgers really turned out to be much softer and sweeter on the whole than I was expecting! I can't detect leather, and it's one of my favorite notes (but I can always add a drop of Rogue if I want to...) which initially was disappointing, but once the scent dried down, I really like the soft warmth of the patchouli in this one, and although sarsaparilla can be over sweet in some blends, the notes all balance themselves out perfectly here. Even the honeysuckle is blended and harmonious with the vanilla until all I smell is a lovely, rich earthy sweetness. ETA: This is heaven. :joy: And about 40 minutes into wearing it, the leather note *did* make an appearance, though it's a soft glove leather note. So effing awesome.

Butterscotch candies flecked with dirt, encased in a shiny black shell of myrrh, patchouli, and anise seed. I was so, so excited when I saw the first prototypes for this scent, because this was always a memorable part of the book for me! I'm not a lover of anything that has caramel or butterscotch listed as a note because my body chemistry tends to amp those sweet notes until they're sickening, but that didn't happen here. Upon first application, yes, it was butterscotch.. But when it dried down, something very dark and explicitly non-gourmand starts to peek out more and more. How perfect is that? It's *exactly* what it ought to be, and ends up balancing darkness and sweetness in a pretty great way, IMHO.

Yussss. Cherry cordial and dragon's blood make for a juicy scent that oddly enough, totally does remind me of stage blood.

ROMANTI.GOTH Dark vintage musk enrobed in a velvet black swirl of plum, precious resins, opium tar, sweet incense, and Nepalese amber. Given that the notes in this are some of my favorites, I expected to fall in love with Romanti.Goth. In the bottle, it's resiny and mostly incense, opium tar and some resins. I was hoping it would warm up and blossom on my skin, with the plum coming out to play and give it a little more dimension but it really didn't. What I got was powdery incense. Very pretty and all, but not quite what I expected though I have a feeling my wonky body chemistry screwed me. I'm looking forward to seeing how this ages, though. ETA: 30 minutes after I posted this review, it changed again! It suddenly became richer and deeper, a little smokier and sweeter. WIN!

Cherry blossom, green tea, and sake. I predict that this will be a popular product! All three notes blend together to create a scent that manages to be fresh, crisp and natural - no dryer sheets here! The green tea and sake stop it from being 'just' a floral, while the cherry blossom provides balance and adds the right amount of sweetness. The overall effect is simple, clean and long-lasting. Pretty *and* practical.

To celebrate the CBLDF's event and celebrate our love of comics, we created an India Ink single note: a lot inky, a little papery, a little resinous, and strangely wearable. A rich, dark spill of wet ink on paper. Seriously. That's exactly what it smells like, and while I don't get any floral qualities from this in the least, I am picking up on something slightly peppery. It really just smells like ink!

Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10, Deadwood, Black Hills, Dakota Territory: sweaty leather, chewing tobacco, and Red Eye. At first sniff, this took me aback a little. It's not for the faint of heart, but it is very much evocative of an old Western saloon! The scent of worn leather and hard liquor (whiskey?) duke it out for supremacy, while the tobacco remains in the background. This would be great for my husband's office.. If I felt like being nice enough to get him a bottle.

Dry leaves, osmanthus, sandalwood, and rose absolute. I wondered how Autumn would compare to any of the other autumnal scents such as October and The Death of Autumn. It's slightly creamy and smooth with a suggestion of the crispness of fallen leaves and though I can't detect rose exactly, there's something ever so slightly perfumey in there that peeps through every now and again. Definitely different to the other fall scents, and while I can't exactly make up my mind whether I'd wear Autumn, it's definitely got possibilities. I'll probably retest it again in a few days, when I'm not so bowled over by some of the other Salons.

MISS IDA Miss Ida Thompson keeps a first class house at No. 126 E. Twelfth street. This elegant parlor house is furnished in the most elaborate and magnificent style. The landlady and lively young ladies are a very pleasant set, full of fun, love, and fond of amusement. The carpets, mirrors, furniture, and paintings are of the latest and most costly designs. This is a truly splendid establishment of the very first class. French vanilla, white gardenia, Moroccan jasmine, and lemon verbena. I was SO sure this would not work for me at all, thanks to the lemon verbena. I should just ignore lemon verbena when it's listed as a note, and you should, too - or at the very least, give it a chance, regardless. Unless I was REALLY looking for it, I would never guess that there was anything citrus in this at all. Soft vanilla smooths out the creamy white gardenia and jasmine, and the end result is a scent that definitely smells.. well, womanly. It's floral without being gaudy or powdery (though I do get a slightly soapy twist from it right before it vanishes), and it's not overly sweet. Again, I wish this would stick around longer but I'm thinking that's a problem with my body chemistry right now and not the scent. I'd love to retest it and see how it morphs and changes over a period of longer than 10 minutes.

EXOTIC BAZAAR Nepalese amber, white sandalwood, black peppercorn, ambrette seed, neroli, coconut sugar, cardamom pods, ginger, fennel, bitter almond, liquorice root, henna, copaiba balsam, and spikenard. Once sprayed, this is slightly sweet, *warm* resin and sandalwood and a tiny bit spicy/peppery in the very best way. All of the notes are so perfectly blended into a warm, golden scent that definitely evokes the 'exotic' quality beautifully.

An exercise in self-love: sugared jasmine with vanilla and black orchid. Gotta be careful with jasmine - if it's combined with the right notes, it can be gorgeous, but too much of it can give me a headache. This scent is definitely jasmine and sugared cream, smooth and sweet without being sickly at all. So pretty! You don't need to wear a perfume if you use this one in your bath, because the scent is definitely present without being overwhelming.

Black tobacco and oudh with 5-year aged patchouli, bitter clove, warm leather, peru balsam, and rum accord. As soon as I saw the description for this and clove mentioned as a note, I was hoping for something similar to Thriambus. This is in a similar family, and yet totally different - and surprisingly, I'd pick this one over Thriambus every time. Rich, deep clove with dark patchouli, and warm soft leather. I was afraid it would be overly boozy because of the rum accord, but the overall effect is masculine, deep, and sexy.

MISS JENNY Miss Jennie Creagh, a dashing brunette, has splendidly furnished her palace at 17 Amity street, from top to bottom, sparing neither expence nor labor to render it a palace of beauty forever, with it's French mirrors, English and Brussels carpets, rosewood furniture, superb bedding and everything in character. This emporium of love and beauty is one of the finest in the city. Pink peony, white carnation, freesia, white peach, amber, and pale woods. Of all of the NYCC exclusives, this was the one that sounded the prettiest/sweetest to me, but it just goes to remind me ONCE AGAIN that even though notes are mentioned, we have no idea in what proportion. I was expecting to be able to detect more of the floral notes here since I adore carnation and freesia. What I get from this once it's dried down is mostly amber, pale woods and white peach - very beautiful! It's *elegant*, and though it does go through a powdery stage it ultimately ends up with the sweet peach and pale woods being most prominent for me with a delicate carnation peppery kick, which I really enjoy. It wears close to the body but I love it.

LOLI.GOTH An effervescent combination of pink musk, white peach, wild strawberry, pale woods, iris, and raspberry leaf. Loli.Goth is very pink and sweet without straying into candy or sickly territory. The strawberry, white peach and pink musk are the strongest notes here, but I think the 'pale woods' listed are what is holding this back from going supersweet. There's still a light quality that I never get from strawberry blends generally, but it still has that juiciness that I love. Lovely! ETA: Something about the 'pale woods' and musk is reminding me distinctly of Jingo Kogo. LOVE.

WEEPING BRANCHES MOON The moon glimmers like bright snow, and plum blossoms appear like reflected stars Ah! The golden mirror of the moon passes overhead as fragrance from the jade chamber fills the garden Graceful, arching branches, heavy with plum and apricot blossoms, sweet ichigo, and a bouquet of peony, anemone, honeysuckle, spider lily, and hydrangea against a backdrop of luminescent, gently glowing lunar oils. This is by no means a thorough review, since my skin testing was limited to a tiny dab on the outer edge of my wrist, but hey, I'll give it a shot. Weeping Branches Moon seemed to be perfectly balanced to me - slightly fruity as well as a delicate 'pink' floral, so it's neither omgfloral nor juicy and fruity (like, say, Budding Moon was). Overall it was really pretty, feminine, and elegant, in the way that Beth's Asian-inspired Lunacy blends always are.

Vanilla orchid, vanilla absolute, and black tea leaf. When I read the description of this one, I thought for sure it was going to be a multiple bottle purchase. The scent sounds gorgeous, and I'm sure it is, but it's so light that I feel like I really have to work to smell pretty much anything at all. I'll use the single bottle I have and get more Castitas instead.

Blue musk with white chrysanthemum, cascading wisteria, benzoin, vanilla orchid, ume blossom, and black plum. This smells like a sweeter, brighter sister to Blue Moon 2004. The blue musk, and the slightly crystalline quality of that fragrance, without being aquatic, or bright floral.

I'm not a huge fan of florals as a general rule, but The Flower Girl is darkly lovely, and something I could see myself wearing to an event or if I wanted to be perceived as sophisticated. There are armfuls of blooms, all vibrant and dominant (I could have sworn I smelled irises and roses in there) and dark, lush greenery.. and in the background, something insidious that stops it from being merely 'pretty' and gives it a 'perfume' blackened edge. This is not your typical floral! It's very grownup and distinctive with plenty of throw that lasts for hours.

So freaking lovely. I've told Beth that I think the Lilith scents are amongst her best work, and that's definitely the case yet again. This is definitely a mermaid, with the salt water, the faint scent of kelp, but it really just smells pretty, and sweet. Something faintly floral or sweet is there that takes this away from being your usual aquatic. Even if you don't love aquatic scents, try this one. <3

This is a bonfire with flaming tree branches and logs, releasing the scent of burning bark and leaves into the air along with the leaping, crackling flames.