Alia Kaitan

I will second the rec for Ceanothus Silkmoth. It is amazing soft woody scent with a gorgeous blood orange. Very much a 'rind' note, like what you are looking for, but with a lovely fullness to it. Not too sharp. The jasmine does not register as 'floral' to me in this. I get mainly the blood orange, oudh, bog wood and benzoin. Another ahhhmaaaayzing citrus LE is Velvet Tiger. Definitely worth the effort to find it, IMO, if you can do vetiver. (I vetiver, so this blend was a huge hit for me. It's the scent that showed me how awesome citrus could be; before this, I wouldn't touch anything w/citrus.)

rabbitwhisperer: It seems both Sunflower and Schlafende are in moderate to high demand among Salon-goers, so if they didn't work out, you would probably be able to re-home them pretty easily. </enabling >

I've managed to get my paws on some Bat (thank you, you know who you are!! <3) and oh. my. It is an absolutely perfect dusky musky night floral. A little 'damp' and cool to my nose, like a dew laden garden at night, a tad sweet - I can pick out wafts of honeysuckle from time to time. Not overwhelmingly floral, though. The musk and amber give it a soft, fuzzy grey feeling. Eeeeee. This one may be back up worthy, or several. It'll be getting a lot of love from me.

Hi Quanta! Er, are you me from when I was an almost-20? Do I learn how to time travel and now you are coming forward to tell me so??? AWESOME. Because it's a little unnerving how much we have in common, from being story-loving physics majors all the way down to loves of Tolkien and A:tLA. It's also interesting that we have pretty different taste in perfume, even with all the similarities! Still, here's a few you might like: Lights of Men's Lives. It has a golden feel like many of your favourites, and is beautifully atmospheric and warm. It, too, is lovely and literary in it's solitude. Get thee some Heavenly Love and Earthly Love, if you can. It is one of the most gorgeous incense blends I've ever had, vastly richer and deeper than Cathedral. Another amazing incense is Philosopher in Mediation, also from the Salons. Delphi. I'm not sure how you and wine notes get along, but on me, Delphi is a glorious honeyed outdoor incense-touched blend. Very evocative of walking up the road to an ancient greek temple, or to an Air Temple if your imagination works like mine. Good luck on your search!

Pteropus is amaaazeballs, and I'm just diving into really exploring resiny/woody blends, but of the ones I have tried Heavenly Love and Earthly Love comes a close second. I did not have much trouble finding it here on the forums, even though it is a retail exclusive. ETA: Oh, and, if she can do patchouli, White Peacock is awesome, as well. The patch in that is smooth and tame for me, and the red sandalwood is soooo beautiful on drydown.

We've all been assuming they are, I think, as no word has come otherwise from the Lab. But, take the assumption of a bunch of panicked fans with a few grains of salt. I know at least one person has asked the Lab directly, and I haven't seen that there has been a response yet. *continues panicking*

Oh noooes, I spoke too soon. I knew I should have just left it at my order for Philosopher and tried to forget about the rest... but I made the critical mistake of reading reviews! So now my must haves list has triplified. I'm officially on the Cloister Graveyard train. After picking through last year's Yules and failing to find a cold blend that was just right, I kind of gave up and forgot about it. Then, like magic, I remembered! Ahh, the magic of the reviews section. (I'm justifying buying these on the grounds that I DIDN'T buy any yule bottles last year... ) Also Death of the Grave Digger. Yay dirt and snow. Isle of the Dead. I normally steer clear of aquatics. Why? I have no idea. The few aquatics I've tried have been just fine, if not lovely, but not usually dark enough for my tastes. So, after talking myself out of this one, I read the reviews and realised there's nothing not to love here, and talked myself back into it. Satan and Death.. etc. Again, nothing not to love. Opoponax, benzoin and vetiver are my homeboys, yo. Orange blossom is welcome to play, too. The Three Brides and Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree I am less certain about, but definitely want to try, so while they will be the first to get cut if funds fall short, I am still going to hope for getting my paws on them. Three Brides I wonder if it will be a little too 'normal' perfume for my tastes? All the notes are love, though. Komachi is just outside of what I normally wear, but sounds intriguing and lovely. Three Gorgons and The Great He-Goat: Intense! Dark! I know I love that - more than half my collection is INTENSE DARK. Do I really need more? Er. Yes. Probably. Of course I do.

It's not GC, but Body, Remember might be just what you're looking for. Profoundly sensual. The echo of caresses: raw black coconut, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, champaca flower, and sugar cane. It's got that sweet/dark thing going on that you've mentioned you're looking for, and the ambergris and champaca give an incense vibe with a fabulous non-foody sugared coconut. It's from this year's Lupers, so probably not too hard to find.

For anyone still regretting not having grabbed Variety of Pleasing Amusements (or looking for something similar for whatever reason), I've found that Perversion gives a very similar scent and feel on the drydown. Must be the sweet + leather combo. On me, Perversion is a bit sweeter with the hint of coconut/vanilla, and also more feminine, while Variety is smokier, muskier and more 'raw', but the core of the scents is very very similar.

Frimp'd this from the Lab, and of course I had to test the funky looking green oil right away! Oh my gosh. How come this has never been on my radar? First on, there is something almost almondish, but that quickly gives way to deep, smooth, draw-you-in and steal-your-soul darkness. It's a earthiness and musk and woods with just the right hint of sweetness. Very black without being smothering. If anything, I do get a sense of space from this, even if I can't see a damn thing. I find the individual notes hard to pick out, and am very content to just bask in the overall effect. I can has bottle?

Great Cry in Egypt is the only Salon I own right now, and I looove it. Have been coveting Philosopher in Meditation for a while now, too, so I tagged that onto my Singing Moon order. There's a handful I'm considering grabbing by July 30, but my brain is divided: One half says BUY THEM NOW OR THEY WILL BE GONE FOREEVVVAAAR and the other half calmly assures 'There Will Always Be New Smells To Love... You've lived this long without them, I think you will survive.' Anyway. Internal dialogue aside, the ones I'm coveting the most are among the retail exclusives, so getting them will be dependent on some fortunate arrangements. The Black Swan - I normally don't seek out aquatics, but if there were ever an aquatic I would wear, I think this would be it. Deep and dark. Yes plz. Lucifer - I've coveted this for a while for the imagery, but even moreso in the last few months since I've discovered my love of patchouli AND vetiver. Unnngh, I want this so bad. Heavenly Love and Earthly Love - Every note in this is win for me. And I love love ambergris and benzoin. Bat - Apart from the SUPER CUTE bat, I love night time florals, and the addition of amber and musk? Omg. Want. I would also love to try Haloes, Lucretia and Satan and Death with Sin Intervening, but I'm not drawn to the notes enough to spring for whole bottles.

I'm a massage therapist, so I have a similar dilemma, as I do work with a lot of people with sensitivities. Gentle vanilla scents seem to be all around unoffensive to everyone, and I've even had some scent sensitive clients remark on how pleasant the smell was. Also beeswax and coconut scents are a big hit. I think one of the reasons is neither of these things registers as 'perfume' to most people. As far as GCs go, I usually wear The Lights of Men's Lives or Black Pearl. You might also look into Neutral from the RPG line, or maybe even the Honeys from Rappacini's Garden. I agree with other posters about trying to find something that stays close to the skin. ETA: Oh, I almost forgot - I recently tried Yemaya (from Excolo line) and she was a lovely fresh, light honeydew melon. Would also probably be good for working in.

I agree w/the above poster on Bow & Crown and Paladin. Also: They're not impable, though you should be able to track down decants on the forum here... but if you think a bit of incense might work well for you, I can recommend And There Was a Great Cry in Egypt and Philosopher in Meditation. They both have a kyphi note to them, kyphi being a traditional Egyptian incense that is a bit sweet/spicy, so might be exactly what you are looking for. I also love Cairo's kyphi, as far as impables go, though the aforementioned Salon blends I think have a little more depth to them (at least on my skin). Delphi is a lovely bay and honey wine on me, definitely a bit masculine but also with a kind of dry sweetness. Speaking of bay, Baron Samedi was another sweeter masculine blend that I've tried. In conclusion (tl;dr ) And There Was a Great Cry in Egypt Philosopher in Meditation Cairo Delphi Baron Samedi Good luck!! ETA: I know Great Cry doesn't technically have Kyphi listed as a note, but the combination of notes in there came across kyphi-esque to my nose.

... what the. So, who put Ivanushka in my Creat Cry in Egypt? O.o Not that I'm complaining, just not a similarity I was expecting, at all. Baffles me even more after reading the notes for this. Ah, okay, it only smells like Ivanushka on my arms. On my collar/chest this is entirely different. Welcome to fun with skin chemistry! I'll review the down-the-shirt Great Cry: The woods and spices are the strongest on wet; rich and complex layers of woodiness. What starts out a little sharp is quickly softened... while there's no overt honey, I'm pretty sure I can 'feel' it in there, blurring the edges of the woods and resins, smoothing everything together. Wow. Drying down, I get this sensuous ribbon of musk that manages to be both subtle and present. On the dry side, but not parched. I don't usually expect this masterfully layered subtle awesomeness from GC blends, but here it is! Not a whole lot of throw, but then, this is such a perfect elegant skin scent that I actually really like that it stays close. ...and yes, my arms still smell like Ivanushka. Go figure.

This is a perfect, raw silk scarf. She drapes lightly over your shoulders, keeping the sun off all the while fluttering pleasantly against your skin. A constant yet gentle, skin-tingling, sensuous pleasantry that makes me wonder... how did I ever enjoy summers without this? How could I have ever worn polyester when silk exists in the world? How can I get more of this in my life? When I'm not wearing perfume, I find that I'm missing my Ceanothus. I think that I catch wafts of her on the breeze, and I am immediately overcome with the urge to go slather her on. No other perfume has done this to me. Something has happened to my brain here. I might only be cured once I have a lifetime supply of this.