absinthetics

Literally everything. Incredible and everything you thought it would be! Gorgeous pumpkiny goodness that is oh so spicy. More reminiscent than the Pumpkin Floss v5 proto than anything else. Stock up!

Crisp, effervescent champagne bubbles drifting over a cluster of white carnations. Oh so bubbly! So, so bubbly! I like carnations to add some heat and spicyness but for a long time this remains just super bubbly! Oddly, there's almost something smokey in this, like the bubbly champagne came from a sparkler. I could be making it up but that's what it reminds me of >.<;

Red mandarin, mimosa, pink grapefruit, copal, petitgrain, and black amber. The mandarin was the first thing I smelled in this. And it's true, there is a redness to it I can't really explain other than putting it exactly that way. There is some grapefruit, like from baoban sith. All of this is made just a touch darker by what I assume is the black amber. I'm not that familiar with petitgrain so I couldn't tell you if that was the note in there. I do see some mimosa to it. This is a fun, but grown up fun scent =)

THE SNOW MAIDEN The Snow Maiden is the daughter of Spring and Frost: as lovely as the first snowfall, and as striking as a sliver of icicle. Isolated because of her chilly otherworldly nature, and unable to know love, she longed for the companionship and warmth of mortals. One bright, white winter's day, the Snow Maiden came upon a gentle, handsome shepherd named Lel. She grows fond of him, and beseeches Mother Spring to grant her the ability to feel. Her mother is moved by her daughters plight, and blesses her, but the moment the Snow Maiden is struck by the depth of love she feels for Lel, her heart warms, and she melts. Ylang ylang, osmanthus, spring berries, and daffodil cloaked in hoarfrost. In the bottle: The daffodil and hoarfrost carry with it the chilly pine scent added to the somewhat acidic daffodil. The berries bubble up after the pine and remind one certainly of Ice Queen, it can't be helped. However, she's gentler. Wet: The Ylang ylang and osmanthus snake out of the bottle and mute the pine scent. I'm glad of this as I love the winter scents but really don't like pine nor mint. When this is wet it becomes a touch incensy. Drydown: The pine takes more of a back seat and lets the berries dance. I can barely tell her aparty from Ice Queen to be honest. But she's kinder, and as I am not so much of a pine fan I prefer this to the Ice Queen's harshness, but when she grows up she wont be Snow White.

There is almost a touch of cinnamon in this. Like the insides of a peach pie baking, without the smell of crust. It is very bright and refreshing.

Blood orange, night-blooming jasmine, vanilla bean, bog wood, Spanish moss, benzoin, and oudh. I am not a jasmine fan. And the second you open this bottle it goes "BOO! Jasmine! Wheee!" The orange is there in the background that makes me really want to skin test this, so I may later and add my comments. This is a deep, rich, green scent. I think the thing that makes it "rich" is the vanilla bean that does not come off as vanilla at all. I'm sure the wood and moss aspects make it darker.

JÓLASVEINAR The Jólasveinar are the seventy-some offspring of Grýla and Leppalúði, an ogre couple with a taste for chomping naughty children. This impish brood delights in causing discomfort, sowing confusion, and all-out raising hell during the Yule season. Their names are indicative of their malicious intentions -- Strap Loosener, Door Slammer, Window Peeper, Sausage Snatcher, Doorway Sniffer, Icebreaker -- and their creepy natures -- Lamp Shadow, Smoke Gulper, Crevice Imp. The devillish Jólasveinar finally cease their mischief and head for home at Þrettándinn. Their scent is a mishmash of snow, dirt, Icelandic moss, marsh felwort, and the smushed petals of buttercups and moorland spotted orchids, with the barest hint of the scent of pilfered Christmas pastries. In the bottle: Warm, round, Christmas goodness. It is a distinct mixture of the winder florals with the tasty baking in the background. My nose can't decide if this would be foody, or floral. I was expecting the pastries to be more in the background, but they really give a good fight. Wet on the skin: The foody is warm and almost crafty. Crafty as in craft-store edibles. It definitely smells like Christmas, it smells like your a room away from people eating and laughing. I don't know how she got this smell in a bottle. On drydown: Honestly, it moves between floral and foody still. I can barely determine between the two. This is a very complicated scent, I'll buy another bottle just because it's so mysterious.

I just wanted to mention that wow! Has this aged awesomely. It is sweet and soft and pretty. Resinous and woody but with a soft sweet side. Lovely!

HUGE vetiver in your face when this comes out of the bottle. There's a sharpness to it like wine. And then it's smokey and patch. It's like an alcoholic vetiver first, though. There's a strong sort of BBQness that lies in the bacground. Burnt alcoholic vetiver. It is not patch-dirty but there is a 'great depths'ness of it. It's hard to explain. But for me, the vetiver is just way too much to really get into this scent. I have yet to try it on.

Ctfrancesca did an excellent review. The cream and even a little teak-yness of Glowing Vulva is in here. There's something woody but I imagine it is the leather note doing something a little non-leathery. You can smell the leather in the bottle, but on it fades into the background and gives that teak-quality. There's a little of that pencil-shaving smell. The leather stops this scent from being a fully foody scent. Really, it is hard to pull out a hazelnut quality to this. Overall, it is creamy teak with leather straps =D

I third or seventh or what have you. This is an amazing cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows. It is perfectly evil and tempting.. as it should be. This note does not change on me and it lasts a good while. This is somewhat like Sue's puppet show but even more realistic and with none of the other 'stuff' to make it non-foody.

This starts out a little 'dough'y but not as much as the original. Then a cinnamin burst comes through. I'm going to wear this today and update my review but I wanted to say that there was a cloying sort of dough/rice note in the original that I did not like at all. Really rubbed me the wrong way. I was hoping that this version had less of that, and it does! There is some baked goodness that I do like (I am quite the foodie) but there isn't the milk/porridge note that goes wonky for me. (Not just on my skin but out of the bottle.) I'll look up which of the last Lupers also had that note for me. More later!

WHOA Leather upon opening the bottle. Leather and dust. There is an industrial side to this SN like the others for CBLDF. The smoke starts poking through in the dry down, and it is REALLY there. Think BBQ without the sauce.

Very bright apple note. So far the throw has been intense and the lasting power is up there with some of the best. The "snow" note here is a little pinesoly. It is super wintery in that way. Think of some Nuclear winter, that kind of thing that was not present in the release version. Will add more as it dries down!

This really is exactly what it says. A brown, sugary gingery chai tea-ness but with a bit of kick. I do get a nice nag champa out of it but it settles down to more of what I expected. This is really beautiful!

Utterly amazing and slather/hoard worthy. Amazing. Love's Philosphy and Silver Haired bat meet some saffron and... something else. I thought this would be my second favorite out of this year's bats, but it is easily my most favorite. There's the sweet of Underpants but there is an herbal quality to this that makes this more wearable for the not-so-foody. Incredible!

Opium tar, frankincense, lemongrass, ambergris accord, Himalayan cedarwood, coffee absolute, coconut meat, clary sage, tobacco flower, vetiver, and white plum. In the bottle, you can pick up the incense and the sharpness of the vetiver and lemongrass. The wood is there in the background, along with the sage. However straight from the lab, there is no hint of coffee nor coconut right now. Oddly enough, this smells like an incense I used as a teen and takes me right back there.

French lavender, spike lavender, and French lavender absolute, Roman chamomile, wild-harvested frankincense, styrax, bourbon vanilla absolute, bourbon geranium, ethically harvested Australian sandalwood, oudh, mugwort, and opium tar. So, this one starts out with so much lavender. I really don't like lavender. It is strangely annoying to me, like jasmine. So, I am already a bit bias against this scent. However, the notes in the background are intriguing. You can smell the chamomile and frankincense. Those notes are very peaceful to me, and they don't calm the lavender, they kind of put a feeling of calm Behind the spike of lavender. Vanilla sweetens this calming heart of the scent. But this sweetness takes on a lot of the earthy tones of the sandalwood and oudh and opium. The sweetness is there, but it never bites you with sweet, because the rest of those relatively calm notes take that jab of sweet away. It comes close though, but never quite delivers. If the lavender wasn't quite as heady, and if I liked it, the rest of the blend would be wonderful. It does calm down after drydown.

An amazing scent. I use this and India Ink to do most, if not all, of my art work. I had to have it. It smells like paper but there is a light floral aspect to it. I am going to layer them together and see what happens =) There is a bit of a chemical note to it that I can't quite put my finger on as well. It is a VERY unique scent.

I just sold my bottle of the Hag... and as I put it in the envelope I got to smell it and WOW!!! It smells amazing! the rum has really come out, it's this dirty, dusty, vetiver infused Red Lantern. I regret selling it already.... What a lovely aging process! This is why I find it so hard to part with things!

Sandalwood, to me, reminds me of pencil shavings. And since art is my hobby, I like that scent. I would honestly say that the white sandalwood here quietly tones down the rose. ...This scent reminds me of a lightly rosey version of Intrigue. I love Intrigue, I have a cobalt 10mL from '06 that sits in my GC box and this smells more like the newer imps that I get sometimes. After this dries though, it does become dusty. It's dusty in the way that Havisham was. I guess I would say this is Intrigue + Havisham. This is very proper and ladylike if you can envoke that idea. I love reading Victorian novels so I love that I have a bottle of this to dab on when reading.

GRR's review is perfect. I ignore lemon verbena scents for the most part. And jasmine to be honest. And it is amazing how both of those are just...Not here! I seriously have an issue with jasmine... This is a beautiful vanilla with gardenia scent. I am seriously amazed how the jasmine is really not there, it usually screams at my nose. (I can't drink jasmine tea without my tongue feeling weird and funny.... it's not an allergy it's just a very keen dislike.) As I wear this and type, the jasmine does begin to come in, but it is so smooth and creamy with that vanilla and gardenia. I really love this scent. I think that this scent is a true representation of Beth's sophisticated way of blending. It's amazing. I think foodie people who don't only like foodie scents (they are willing to go elsewhere) ...will think this is amazing. Hoard worthy, even. (The jasmine is indeed coming out more.... but the way it works with the vanilla... I love it.) Amazingly, I am off to see a Fiona Apple concert... and I have chosen Miss Ida to be my scent for the evening. If that doesn't say a lot, I don't know what does!

First you get the rose, it is not a heady rose, but a rather floppy, big petaled rose that isn't too in-your-face. Fig is the second note you get when it's wet, but the fig just grounds out the scent to an earthyness as it dries. For a little while it is a somewhat dusty-scent, very subtle. But as it gets drier, on my skin, the honey begins to chime in. It is that sweet honey from the single note. Right now, the rose is fighting the fig and I find it hard to smell them both at the same time, it's more like if you look for the rose, you smell rose, if you look for the fig, you smell fig. Very interesting!

I don't know if I can improve on GRR's description. The peach is very present. I picked up extra bottles of this specifically because of this peach note. It's a big candy-ish, but a very high-end peach candy that I can't put my finger on. The amber is there, warming it just a bit. I was hoping for more carnation but I am getting mostly freesia out of any of the floral notes. This is a sophisticated but sweet scent. I think this will be the second most wanted out of the NYCC scents. As it dries down, the woods do pop out.

Patchouli is the first thing that hits my nose, wet. And behind it slips honeysuckle and the vanilla. This is a different vanilla than a lot of the vanillas in foodie scents. As it dries, there is a sharp amp of sweet on my skin, perhaps the honey part of the leather. The leather is all but not there in the beginning but as it dries, it peeks out from behind. This is a warm, foodieish scent that has an incense quality due to the patchouli. I wouldn't call this a straight up foodie scent though. It's a little bit what I wanted Dolly Kei to be. More later on the dry down!