jessiesquash

Ooh this is very classy! It reminds me of my mom's Yves Saint Laurent (I can't remember the name) but with something dirtier, more playful. It's very incensy like Stardust but the tobacco leaf, clove and gun powder give it that gritty feel. It also reminds me a bit of Red Lantern but without the sweetness. This dame is feminine and gorgeous but she's got a tough side! Probably has a gun hidden in her garter too! I'll probably wear this when I want attention; one super flirty feminine dress, a pair of va-va-voom heels and Gun Moll.

I'm so surprised that I haven't reviewed Berenice before! This was one of my first bottles and it still remains a favorite although I rarely remember to wear it. It's almost in it's very nature as a scent to be forgotten among all the new shinier scents. It plays into it's funereal aspects. For me it's primarily a summer scent because it's light and floral. It's very perfumey in the sense that all the florals blend seamlessly and it's heady in the way of more conventional perfume but I think that's why I like it so much. As someone with one foot still planted on the commercial perfume side (I still can't give up my Ralph Lauren Romance) it gives me the best of both worlds but because it's BPAL I can feel smart and smug and a little bit nerdy all while smelling divine. I wore it today for the first time in awhile because it's super hot outside and a coworker mentioned that I smelled good, a bit powdery was her description. I like to think that's a bit of the dust blown off the winding cloth.

Oh this everything I hoped it would be!! Clove normally amps and destroys every other note within 2 miles of it when placed on my skin but it's behaving - just quietly backing up the carnation and making it spicier. The cedar takes center stage when I first put it on which reminds me of my mom's quilts that she keeps in a cedar chest. The carnation and the clove provide the spice and the rose and pomegranate give it just a hint of sweetness. It's just beautiful; very regal and warm. I'm hoping that with a little time on my skin (and maybe some ageing) the musk and resins will come out of hiding too but honestly I'd still be pleased if they didn't. I can't wait for the perfect occasion to wear this!

At first sniff Tiki Queen is definitely candy sweet, totally like Sweet Tarts in fact, but after it begins to warm up the tropical florals begin to show up. I'm definitely getting the neroli just giving the sweetness a bite. The vanilla is sweet and musky and gives the whole thing a rounder feel. Tiki Queen is tropical and summery and so fun. I'm absolutely thrilled with her! I'm wearing it at work and if I close my eyes I can briefly feel like I'm on vacation on some tropical island.

I haven't been in a Hindu temple in ages but I recommend checking out Anubis because it has a similar resiny flowery vibe that I think comes close. I also recommend Diwali because it has that temple incense blend mixed with sugary sweets smell. It reminds me so much of India. I bet though that just find something with Nag Champa and light florals will do the trick. Maybe even blending single notes would work......

At first Glowing Vulva reminded me strongly of HAEE's Voodoo Punani. It has that same creamy vanilla mixed with earthy woods. But this is mellower and it doesn't have the aged patchouli. Instead the amber and the teak create a smoky, incensy quality that envelops the cream accord and swirls seductively around me as I type. This blend is amazingly sexual and suggestive, evoking the art just a bit too much on a Wednesday morning as I sit in my cubicle at work. I think if any scent could make boys fall at your feet, this would be the one and that's before you told them the name! I want like 50 bottles of this so I can bathe in it.

In the bottle I can smell the rice wine which is fairly potent but not alcoholic like some of the lab's other scents that contain notes like champagne and wine. It's gentle but has an astringent quality that reminds me strongly of lavender but with a touch of salt and sweet. It's so reminiscent of lavender in fact that if I didn't know it wasn't listed I'd swear it was there. Maybe it's in the black tea? Is this Earl Grey tea? It also smells of just a hint of licorice which is odd since the note isn't listed but it's not strong and it might just be my imagination unless that's the Ho wood which is the only note I don't know. Actually that might just be the black tea which is giving this a rich herbal feel. On my skin the astringent quality disappears as it sweetens and mellows. Oddly I don't smell the cherry blossom at all which tends to dominate. The scent has a creaminess to that reminds me slightly of tea with milk but this tea has the added touch of the rice wine. I feel like I'm getting drunk at an elegant tea party and I love it! I'm interested to see how it develops throughout the day but so far this is beautiful! I might need a bottle, especially since it's rare for the Asian-inspired scents to work for me.

There is something really sweet but slightly spicy too. I'm definitely getting honeysuckle. It reminds me of something my mom had; a soap of some kind. On its just pure honeysuckle but its so pretty! I love that its sweet but not cloying and there is something spicy in there keeping it that way. Is that clover? I recognize it from Enraged Bunny Musk but this doesn't have the itchy burn from the cinnamon. I think there's a bit of lemon in there too or at least something that smells lemony on me. And yet its also a bit clean and soapy like it might have something else in there too. Overall it stays really true and is a great springy blend. I think this would be lovely to wear during the day in the spring. I may have to get a bottle! Oh and I tried this at home so I don't know if it worked in a practical sense.

My initial impression of this in the vial is all citrus but very sweet. I thought it was orange but the notes say grapefruit and now knowing that I am getting grapefruit but it's almost as if it is sprinkled with sugar. Maybe that's the sweetness of the plum? On my skin the citrus becomes a bit cloying, and almost plastic, for awhile but I can smell something really promising in it which I think might be the black amber. After just a few moments the plasticky smell fades and I get rich sweet grapefruit with something herbal behind it and just a touch of the amber. It's gorgeous! It reminds me a bit of House of Mirrors but with fruit, very clean and sweet. As it continues to deepen it splits into two distinct layers, if that makes any sense. There is a deeper layer that I'm sure is the amber and then a light candy sweet layer. This doesn't happen often on my skin which really likes to mash notes together immediately. I don't think I like this phase because something is growing sharp and kind of weird. Ugh my skin wrecked it completely. It's not really bad but that sharpness is hanging around and it's not pleasant. I tend to that a lot with floral/herbal blends so maybe it's the orris root or the bergamot. Either way, what a disappointment.

This is very sweet in the bottle but once on my skin, the clove and cardamom emerges along with a gentle waft of incense. Having stood in line at a traditional sweet shop in Chennai, I can honestly say this is so amazingly accurate. It captures the scent of burning incense and the underlying scent of baking sweets. Absolutely gorgeous! It's making me crave Jilabi and Gulab jamun like crazy. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I'm at a complete loss as to why I bought this but it's so beautiful that I'm glad I did! I'm not a foodie person but this isn't necessarily foodie. The pear is sweet but not overly so and the vanilla gives it a lovely creamy base. It's like sexy pear glaze with vanilla ice cream but you know, it's sexy. I don't know if this makes sense but it's also comforting. I can see wearing this on cold winter days. It would be perfect to wear during the holidays. I LOVE this and I'm so happy I bought it.

It's interesting to hear what others get with the Queen, mainly because the variations are really, errr...varied. In the bottle I smell cedar and something medicinal, cough syrupy. It reminds me a lot of my mother because she has a gorgeous cedar chest where she keeps heirlooms and the scent of it tends to linger around her bedroom and in her quilts. There is something very old and precious about this scent but not in the old lady sense. This old lady is timeless and ageless, the kind of old lady you want to be. On my skin, I don't get any of the fruit or flowers. In fact it's pretty much cough syrup and cedar on me until finally the cough syrup fades and I'm left with rich, gorgeous cedar and just a hint of greenery. The only downside to the Queen is that she is not very long lasting but I don't mind, she's gorgeous while she's there. I wore her to a concert and happily existed in a pretty haze of scent.

Hee wuv the piggy! Oooh not really what I was expecting but VERY pleasant nonetheless! The aloe isn't overpowering as it tends to do on me. The cedar is really working hard to ground this and keep this lil piggy firmly on the ground. It's aquatic and softly floral but it's not SCREAMING FLORAL/AQUATIC CRAZINESSOMG!!!!! It's very subtle and slightly sweet It does go through a headache inducing dry down period though where the aloe does amp a bit but it's over pretty quickly and then it becomes pretty and soft. It reminds me a tiny bit of Abhisarika in a weird way. I wonder if they share any notes. I think I like it but maybe I'll test it again after it's settled a bit. I don't know if I can stand that drydown every time I put it on.

Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder. Holy cow, I can't believe I'm the first to review this!! It makes me all tingly inside because pirates are so yay! Sniffing in the bottle I definitely get the ocean mist and salt air. Uh-oh, is what I'm thinking because I guess I amp the cologne aspect of aquatics and they just smell really generic like Cool Water for men. Not really what I want. And Mary Read does do this for a bit. Thank god for the other notes though because they do finally rear their piratey heads. The leather-tinged musk is definitely there and it's pretty sexy. RAWR! I was a little worried about the sarsparilla too because in Organ Grinder it was just downright odd on my skin. This though, is fantastic! It's rough and tumble but at the core, you sense the primal female is there. She'll kick your ass for staring at her breasts - grrrr - and then drink rum with the boys and win a spitting contest! I think I may have found a pirate blend that I REALLY love!! Mary Read is certainly floating my boat right now! Edited to actually make sense....I hope.

I tried this when I first got it and wasn't impressed. It smelled pretty generic. However, since I know that sometimes you need to let oils rest after traveling, I tried it again today. Holy moly, I'm glad I did! First on, it's late summer sun scorched grass beside a cool stream. It reminds me so much of Possets Cambienne, a concept I'm seriously in love with. But this is different. Where Cambienne is evocative in a practical way, Singing Moon evokes conceptually. I close my eyes and sniff and I'm transported to a cool summer evening beneath the full moon. Night blooming florals are brought on a slight breeze and I can hear the bubbly stream and the faint beat of bat wings. I'm so glad I tried this again! It was actually the bottle that did it. The artwork was so awesome, I was loathe to part with it. Now it has been added to my favorite Lunacies!