bifemmefatale

In the bottle: buttery vanilla booze! On: the butter disappears almost immediately, and a scent emerges-not sure if it's the booze or the saffron, but it has the faintest cinnamony or gingery tinge-similar to storyville but more subtle. It's warm caramelized vanilla sugar-not caramel like Red lantern, but caramelized, slightly browned. Slowly the sandalwood emerges, giving this an almost powder scent, and on the drydown this is very similar to Antique Lace, but lighter, brighter, as if Antique Lace is a Fall vanilla and this is Spring, or as if Antique Lace is middle C on the piano and this is D. I like it quite a lot, but for those of you who missed out, Antique Lace is a very close substitute.

Patchouli and copal predominate--for those who don't know copal it's very similar to frankincense to me. I get a fleeting hint of heliotrope as just a whisper of something floral, on top of the smell of the richest moist black potting soil. It's really a wonderful dirt scent; freshly-rotilled spring garden with just a slight whiff of incense. Demeter Dirt fans, take note! It's really too bad my mate hates patchouli with a passion or I'd wear this one on my hippie days. This doesn't have a huge throw but lasts and lasts-3 hours later I can still smell it.

Wet, this smells like a minty cognac, with a faint hint of leather. It actually stings like alcohol when I put it on, although my skin doesn't get red or anything. Strange. As it dries, the incense note comes out, and then when completely dried the tobacco and ambergris combine to make a strangely chocolate-like scent. Really nice and definitely masculine. Wish my hubby wore colognes.

This is a "Christmasy" scent to me, red berries and spicey clove from the carnation, with the heliotrope giving it that bubblegummy softness. On the drydown, something becomes resinous and incensey-the interaction of carnation/musk/amber methinks--one of the dark musks tends to go resiny on me. Verdict: Nice, smells as advertised, but not for me. I don't really fancy smelling like a Christmas candle that often. For heliotrope blends, I prefer Haunted Place and Eclipse so far.

A wet green floral, with bits of lilac and violet peeking thru and maybe a lily or gardenia, but it all stays very green and has an herbal tinge. Also not me. Some people mention honeysuckle but I don't quite know if that's the note. Something slightly soapy and clean.

Sweet, almost cucumbery floral with a bit of sharpness and the Lab's tea note underneath. Definitely the white tea in Maiden is evident here. A lovely scent for Spring shading into summer. A dressy scent for a garden party with finger sandwiches and flowery hats. Not sure if I'll keep this since I already have spritzes of Muse and Siren, which are similar in feel to me.

Surprisingly light and herbal, very fresh. The wine just sweetens the herbs without becoming overpowering as it did in Athens. More like a white wine scent than a red. Quite pleasant. Not getting earth and fungus or corpse at all off this. I may just keep it.

I'm skeptical about this because I hate roses. Wet, it's very light and lemony-tea. On the dry-down the rose comes out, but it's a white citrusy rose. Not bad at all, fresh and light, but still not me. I get a slight whiff of something like mosquito spray off this too, and not a bit of clovey carnation. Oh wait, the carnation comes out later, about 20 minutes into it, sweetening up the citrusy scent.

I love Egyptian musk, but the civet and opium notes turn this into too much of a traditional department store perfume for me. It's very unisex, expensive-smelling....Ack! All of a sudden this went bad breath on me. I've heard a lot of people had this problem with the civet. Off to the swaps.

Orange peel, like bergamot or neroli maybe. A light rose, lilies? Not getting the violets others have mentioned. Fresh, calming, and smelling of a really good florist's. Ladylike, a lady of a certain age, a grande dame but not a granny.

In the bottle: roses, something fruity like cherry or peach, jasmine? On: yup, rosy fruity jasmine. Not me. Nice, but not me. Further research reveals the fruity note is dragon's blood resin. Off to the swaps. I hate roses.

I get the musk, vanilla, tobacco and cocoa everyone else has noticed, along with coffee and a healthy dose of cinnamon. Someone else swore they got a hint of patchouli on me as well--I'm not sure it's patchouli but I do get some sort of incensey note-maybe that's the tobacco still? I swear when I put this on it's all warm soft cinnamon. I'm surprised no one else is smelling it. OK, after comparison with my Gingerbread Poppet 05, it is ginger, not cinnamon, but much softer than in the Poppet.

Wow. Beth got this one dead-on. It's sexy as all hell and about as subtle as window-shopping in Amsterdam. It's all caramel coconut at first, like German chocolate cake frosting, rich as sin. Then a bit of the tobacco peeks out, only to be subdued by what I think is sandalwood, because sandalwood often goes soapy on me and this tries to do the same. However, the opium and musk soon emerge and beat it into submission, blending in a fabulous way with the caramel coconut. This has got a big big throw and lots of staying power. I will be hunting down a bottle of this.

Fruit and jasmine! The fruit dies back pretty quickly, leaving mostly the jasmine with a bit of citrus and sandalwood to make it go soapy. Overpoweringly sweet florals. Not liking this much. Fooey.

The lab's honey note hates me. Combined with the red wine and florals, this is some noxious cough syrup mixed with an old lady's sickroom. A shame because I know a lot of people rave about their honey scents, but not a single one has worked on me yet save Dana O'Shee, and there the honey is quite faint. It mellows after a while, but winey honey is just not what I want to smell like. It seems to have drowned out my beloved myrrh too.

Straight off, all you get is bitter almond, really strong, almost as strong as in Eclipse. Then the clove and bay rum come out as the almond dies quickly back. I'm not really getting the sassafras. I swear there's a light musk in here somewhere though--maybe it's the butter note? I think maybe my nose is overwhelmed by reviewing other scents still. I'll give this another try at another time. My gut reaction is that these are a lot of the notes I like, but they're not quite gelling in this one. Second try: Fresh sharp almonds, bay and clove in the bottle, the clove warming up and the almonds dissipating almost immediately on contact with skin. Clove grabs my skin hard. I can just smell the buttered rum in the background, but it's been well-clobbered by cloves. I could easily see this going masculine. Eh. I like the bay rum in Jazz Funeral more, where the cloves are softened by florals eventually, and for rum I'll stick with Grog. After about 10-20 minutes this goes Desenex, which is reminiscent of my dad but not something I want to wear.

I get the decay all right. Straight out of the bottle this smells musty, like a damp basement. I'm thinking that's the lemon interacting with the honeysuckle. On, it mellows quite a bit and the jasmine comes out, then the honeysuckle, but I have other jasmine scents I like better, (Salome!) so this one goes.

Laundry detergent. That is all I get out of this. Tide. Soapy clean laundromat. The carnation is nowhere to be found, for me. This might be a good linen spritz, but there is no way I'm wearing it. Glad it was a frimp.

I looove amber. And this is the best amber I've smelled from the Lab yet. Not powdery but the good stuff. Really good amber is sometimes sold in metaphysical shops as storax or styrax, and this is what the amber in The Lion smells like. True, sweet and incensey. The Lion also has a distinct cinnamon note, and the combination is fabulous. I think naamah_darling is right, and there's a light musk lingering in the background, just peeking out on the dry-down. There's something else in the midrange, something nutty like a grain field curing in the sun, but I can't quite pick it out. I adore this scent. I will be getting more of this.

The lime is most obvious straight off, but the florals soften it into something else. Sharp-sweet, with a tang. The lime fades, giving rise to the 3 florals, which I knew from past experience all love my chemistry without becoming cloying or old-ladyish. White flowers, lunar and water flowers, all work well on me, unlike roses and other more assertive ones. The combination resembles Avon's Hawaiian White Ginger quite a bit, but better. This one's a keeper.

Just exactly as advertised-all the smells of warm gingerbread cookies. Brown sugar, vanilla, molasses, butter, ginger, cloves, cinnamon. Delightfully edible with a good throw. A wonderful thing to wear in winter.

I'm in love. *Finally* a BPAL almond scent that stays on my skin! Very strong, sharp bitter almond throw straight out of the bottle, dying back as the vanilla and cinnamon rise a bit, but never become dominant, the heliotrope lending its exotic, almost bubblegummy sweetness to the almond in a really interesting way. Not for everyone, but I really like this.

Oh Jack, how I wanted to love you! Your buttery goodness fills my imp box, but alas, when I put you on, something very bad happens about 20-30 minutes later. I think it's the peach. Whatever it is, it turns to plastic and nasty chemicals on my skin. However, it loved my daughter.

Sweet almonds and milk on the skin, fading away to a soft milk and clean skin scent, like a freshly bathed baby sleeping. Faint, with little throw, but lovely, soft and comforting.

This is Dorian's lighter little brother. Initially, it smells almost the same, although not quite as sugary-sweet as Dorian. On, the sweetness fades back a little and mingles delightfully with the clean linen scent, which gives an almost floral balance to the foodiness of the tea/honey/vanilla. I'm loving this one. It doesn't have a lot of throw, though. I may have to invest in an atomizer for it if I make a big bottle purchase, which seems likely. A pity the ginger and pepper aren't making themselves more evident on me. I had hoped for something chai-like. I've heard Baghdad smells like chai. I'll have to try that next order.