forspecial_plate

Starting out, this smells almost fruity on me. It reminds me of ginger blossom or vanilla flower....sweet and floral, and a touch fruity. At this stage it reminds me of Opuhi. Then later, as it dries, some drier notes come forward and it takes on more of a grass or hay aspect. It's a very golden scent, from start to finish. Starts out with a 'roundness', if you know what I mean. But as it dries it becomes just a little flat on my skin. I think I'd like more cinnamon, more amber incense. I think it's the vanilla that goes just a little flat on me. I don't hate it, but I admit I was a little disappointed. I wanted something sultry like Mum Moon, and to me this is more like Hay Moon.

So here I am, blogging about video games on a perfume discussion forum. Ten years ago I would have had no idea what that even meant. But I already have the last post in the video game discussion thread, and I don't want to double post. I'm still playing Dragon Quest VIII, but I got Final Fantasy IX this past weekend, and I may be switching over to that for a while. In DQVIII, I got all the way up to the big God Bird, but haven't been able to beat it. So I'm back-tracking, trying to alchemize better weapons, level up, and also buy better equipment. I will beat that damn bird! Switching over to FFIX was a little jarring. The graphics are so different, and the battle system is a little different since it's Active. I like being able to sit and think about my next move, and you can't really do that here. But I'm determined to find another RPG that I love, so on I go. The great news is, after my class tomorrow, I'll have no real obligations for the rest of the day, and all the next day. So I can play to my heart's content. : )

What, I've never reviewed Geek?? I loved this at first sniff, a couple years ago. It's kind of wild and....almost elegant, at the same time. Cinnamon bark is what stands out most, but even that is so well-blended it's more like a hint. Everything else is just seamless. As it dries, it actually gains strength, and lasts and lasts for hours. It's borderline too butch for me and not something I wear all the time. But when I'm in the mood, nothing else will do. I get a big golden/resiny backdrop to the spices, and hint of leather. It might be the dry grass combined with opoponax giving me the 'ambery' feeling. But there's no powder, like you might find in really resinous scents like Minotaur. It fits in with the mood of Doc Constantine, and Fascinum, a little bit. I may be going out on a limb with those comparisons but they seem to be in the same family. Doc C. is the most subdued, Fascinum is the most brash, and Geek falls somewhere between them.

I squeed my pants when I saw this: "For this series, we decided to try a different type of chaotic experimentation. Each CT:5 scent has a base of one of the following scents, in wildly varying proportions: Dorian O Penitence Snake Oil" ....I totally was not expecting a new round of Chaos Theory!! All my bottle purchasing plans just went out the window in favor of CT. I love it so much, because each one is on-of-a-kind. My tentative plans for purchasing this round: Snake Oil.....will 2 be enough? I dunno, I already bought the whole Snake Pit, how many Snake Oil variants can one person hoard?? I did trade away a few of my Snake Pit scents, though. I'll say 2 of these, for now. Dorian......at least 2, maybe 3......not because I'm crazy about the scent, really, but I think this one has the most exciting potential to be something great with other notes added (did that make sense? I know I'm rambling now). Penitence.....at least one, maybe 2.....Penitence itself goes just a bit powdery on me, but I like it enough that I want to try one or two variations, just for the hell of it! O.....no thank you! I am glad there is one that I can safely skip. I never have tried it, and honey usually is not my thing. So, screw it, I should just get 1 of each (of the first 3) now, then another one of each (maybe 2 more of Snake Oil) before they go away. Sounds like a plan! I'm already impatient!

I really like this. It smells kind of high-class and sophisticated to me. It's light and clean, like others have mentioned, and dry, dry, dry. I was expecting more sweetness or juiciness from the apricot, but not so. I am reminded of Ebisu and also Men Ringing Bells, the best parts of those scents, but the woods make this entirely its own scent. There is something sparkly, almost minty, which I guess comes from the sake? For some reason I was expecting something like Carceri D'Invenzione, but this is much drier. This seems so simple, but everything comes together, harmonious, and just works really well on me. Even though it's a light scent, there is a surprising amount of sillage. This is just great, a big surprise from the Lupercalia scents. I knew I might like it, but I wasn't really expecting to like it this much!

I don't have a scent locket. I've thought about buying one, and I bought one for my sister, but I've never bought one for myself. I always think, "I have so many different scents that I can hardly decide what to wear on any given day. A scent locket is just going to make that decision more complex and difficult. It's like adding another layer to the whole business when what I really want to do is simplify". However, every once in a while I come across a scent that is really nice, but seems that it would be better suited for a scent locket. So now I'm going to start making note of that here. Tamamo-No-Mae is such a scent. It is very, very lovely, but somewhat fleeting. When I first put it on, it has these delicate, sparkly top notes, something almost minty, that could be from the tea or maybe ginger, or who knows what. Anyway, I love that part of the scent, but on my skin it lasts all of 5 minutes! It's still a great scent after that, just very subtle and kind of like skin-incense, the powder stuff (although I've never tried that). Kind of fruity and smokey-sweet at the same time. So, as a note to myself, or a reminder, when I do eventually get a scent locket, Tamamo-No-Mae would be a great scent for it. I think that sparkly note in the beginning might last longer, and the scent as a whole might be a little stronger in a locket. If I find more scents that seem tailor-made for a locket, I'll continue to make note of it here.

I really love this, and it totally doesn't match my personality (or gender, really...), but I just love the way it smells on my skin. The first day I tried it, it was less foody and almost hair product, like conditioner or something. But since then, it is always light, creamy plum blossom, pretty much as others have described. It's like some fabulous, creamy plum dessert. Just light and fruity and yum! I agree that it doesn't have a lot of throw. When it has dried on my skin, after a while, it deepens and becomes something like plum tea or maybe even plum wine (is there such a thing? there must be...). I also agree that there's something Underpants-y about this scent, although I couldn't describe exactly how. And if you like Tamamo-No-Mae, you may also like this, although they are different. But this is just great, my favorite so far of the whole Lupercalia update. Oh and I wanted to add, this reminds me very much of one of the 4 Fat Cats wax tarts, but I can't remember which one. Maybe White Plum Chutney? That would make sense. Or maybe Basmati Rice. Anyway, it brings back good memories and I think I may need more of this scent. Edit: I also want to add that this isn't totally foody. The sandalwood doesn't stand out a whole lot, but it must be supporting somewhat.

I wore Lovers In A Rice Field again today, and I like it more and more. The plum blossom was much more apparent, and overall it smells like some kind of fabulous plum/cream dessert, but still not totally foody. It's rather on the femme side for a bearded guy like me but that doesn't hasn't stopped me from wearing it, and in some situations it would be just great. Possible bottle? Or maybe just another decant would suffice. Still have to test my other decants which are still pending, and there may be another favorite among those.

As much as I can remember, Lupercalia is my least favorite of the yearly 'big updates' from Black Phoenix. Every year, I get excited about trying some new scents, but overall, they've had the lowest success rate for me. I like a couple of the Shunga scents from '08, like Ebisu Making Love, and Men Ringing Bells (actually bought a whole bottle of that one, even though I don't wear it much). They both remind me of some kind of fabulous, expensive hair care products. And I really like Chintimani-Dhupa, which I think was a Lupercalia scent. Today I got some of my decants from this year's update, and so far I've briefly tested Miller Vs. California, Lovers In A Rice Field, and Lovers With Rutting Cats. I think the Rice Field is the best out of those, but again, it smells like some kind of fancy shampoo or conditioner. Not so much foody as drinky to me, it starts out rather like shampoo or soap. Then it drifts into plum tea, then later into plum wine. This scent, in the early stages especially, is extremely reminiscent of one of the 4 Fat Cats wax tarts, but I can't remember which one. Basmati Rice, or maybe White Plum Chutney. This is nice because it reminds me of when I lived in northern Kentucky, three years ago, which although not the greatest time of my life, does have some pleasant memories. Lovers With Rutting Cats is probably my least favorite of the three. It reminds me of Love's Philosophy, but not as sweet or sugary. Or maybe Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener, without the sassafras. Basically I get a lot of vanilla that comes off a little plasticky, and as a whole, the scent just feels a little flat or one-dimensional to me. I might be spoiled because so many other bpal scents seem 'deep' to me, and this one just falls flat on my skin, unfortunately. Of course, this is from a first impression, and those sometimes change. Miller Vs. California is an interesting one. This scent actually smells more complex than the notes suggest. I first smelled a lot of sweetness, fruit, berries, and cream. The leather seems to be a supporting note only, nothing like the leather in Quincey Morris, or other leathery blends. As this one dries, it changes a lot. The papery note and the leather both come out stronger, and it also seems to get spicier, which I attribute to either the leather, fig, or possibly both (or maybe something else entirely!). At the beginning, this reminds me a lot of the newer Milk Moon, which I hated, but this is better....the cream isn't so sour or cloying. It's creamy, but the sweetness of the berries and fig balance it out a little more. I think the leather is actually helping to ground the scent a lot, even though I couldn't really smell it at first. Later, after drying, this scent smells entirely different.....it does remind me of some other GC scent, but I can't think of which one. Nephelim? Or the one I can never spell, Tzadikim Nasturtium or something. Anyway, I swear there is another scent that smells something like this, but I can't place which one it is. I like the early sweet and creamy stage more than the later, dry, papery/spicy stage of this one. So far I can't say that I'm likely to get much wear out of these, but I also have yet to try my other decants. I have Flowering Chrysanthemums and Phallus Head still to try, as well as decants from another circle still on the way. I'm really looking forward to Dia and Glukuprikos (sp?).

Three Gorgons (I no longer think I want a whole bottle of this.....Satan And Death is a better citrus-y scent) Dia Flowering Chrysanthemums Lovers In A Ricefield Glukuprikos Silence Carnaval Diabolique Satan And Death With Sin Intervening Obatala

Yeah, the labels are the same - I'll have to check next time I'm at will call which one is out. I really do prefer the golden one more, it's a little softer and more Storyville like than the red variety. They really are different scents! From our handy-dandy Label Image Gallery....... The original label, from the Springtime In Arkham series Resurrected bottle .....I bought the 2nd bottle of those two as soon as the scent was resurrected (somewhere around Nov of '06), so it's possible the label has been changed again, since the other GC labels have been revamped. It's also worth noting that before it was brought to the GC, this was one of those super-coveted-by-many scents that was really hard to get a hold of! To me, the original and newer GC versions look and smell the same.

I'm kind of relieved......I think I'm all caught up on my ordering, at least until I get to try my Yule decants (then the madness starts all over again). I am resisting the urge to order a bottle of Meditation In Autumn. I wore it again today, and I realized it smells like November, only greener, with less snow. It does have a bit of icy bite, somehow. But the resemblance to November is close enough that I don't think I really need a whole bottle after all. If, however, someone were to offer a swap, I certainly would take it. I am excited to try the Yule blends, still have to track down a decant of Mole, but other than that, I'm all caught up on decants I want to try. I absolutely can't wait for my bottle of Fearful Pleasure to arrive, but it looks like I still have over a week, at least. Hurryhurryhurry!

Oh my gosh, I just now found this! I ended up liking Fearful Pleasure, but I think I might like To Autumn even more. : ) I like the spicy/mossy element, and it really comes out in To Autumn.

How strange, but interesting......at first I smell some fruits, kind of clean like the apricot in Ebisu. But the slightly buttery pumpkin is there too. After a while, I would swear that I smell nuts, maybe pecans. I don't think it's the coconut, but I'm really not sure....maybe just a combination of the pumpkin and myrrh, doing something strange? I don't know, but when I read this: ......that association got into my head, and I would have to agree! It's like a sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and pecan topping. Wow. I really don't smell coconut or myrrh, even when I try. So, bottom line, this is yummy and sweet, but not quite what the description says, to my nose. And jewelbug, I totally agree with your DH. : ) Sweet potato casserole with nuts. Maybe it's a guy thing.

No. 93 Engine is pretty interesting. It starts out very herbal with resins and a very appealing, light beeswax note. I was a little wary of any kind of honey note, but the beeswax is actually really nice. I can definitely smell the frankincense, too. Overall, this reminds me a lot of Minotaur, with maybe less resins and more herbs, but a very similar golden and glowing feeling. After a long while, this scent does veer towards something sweet and powdery that reminds me of honey, but isn't quite the same. It is really interesting and something that I would consider wearing again. I like it much more in the first 30 minutes or so, as opposed to the long dry-down, but it's definitely worth holding onto. If I end up giving it away, it's because it's a little too close to honey for my taste, and also I already have Minotaur which I think smells like this. Edit: I forgot to mention, when I first put this on and it's still wet, I get a little bit of 'fizzy cola' scent, kind of like Schwarzer Mond. I wonder if there is some oppoponax in this?

At first this was too odd, and it has taken quite a while for me to dig it out and try it again. Imagine that Samhainophobia has a young niece or nephew (could be either gender, really). Cute as a button, but also cheeky as hell. That is To Autumn, to me. The subtlety of the moss, bark, mist, and leaves....all swurrled together....really make this scent for me. It's a great example of how Beth refines her skill more and more, with each new season. <3 I love her use of these odd, almost abstract notes like mist, stone, and dust to create a mood or feeling.

Dark and fruity, purple, incense. Reminds me of a few other bpal oils, all variations of a theme. After a long while, this takes on a gilded quality, or something like gold filigree. All the while, there is a slightly powdery element, but not so much that it repels me. I admire the artistry of this, but for me personally it verges on womanly (which I am not). Also, I have other fruity and/or incense scents that I prefer.

In order, roughly...... Three Gorgons Dia Flowering Chrysanthemums Lovers In A Ricefield Glukuprikos Silence (pending) Carnaval Diabolique Satan And Death With Sin Intervening Obatala

Bad Luck Woman Blues....."Keep that bad luck woman away with a blend of Spanish moss, black pepper, mullein, sweet sage, vandal root, cypress, cigar tobacco, and a puff of goofer dust cloaked by a swarthy cologne of vetiver, lime, dark musk, caramel accord, and lilac". I might totally revise my review of this one. It's almost 2 years later now, and the moss really POPS out. It's a lot of moss and caramel, with herbs and a little lime. This scent has aged incredibly well, it's one of my favorite scents in my whole collection. Even though it's limited, I do see it in sales from time to time.

Speaking of limited editions, another one worth mentioning is Chintamani-Dhupa: "Pound well together sandal-wood, Kunku, costus, Krishnaguru, Suvasika-puspha, white vala and the bark of the Deodaru pine; and, after reducing them to fine powder, mix it with honey and thoroughly dry. It is now known as Chintamani-Dhupa, the "thought-mastering incense". It's from a couple years ago, and based on reviews it didn't seem to be hugely popular, but I really love it. It may be more of an incense scent, but the woods are very much present when I wear it......sandalwood comes out much more than pine bark, to my nose. And it's one of my favorite sandalwood scents. Also, I usually don't like honey, but somehow it doesn't bother me in this one. Worth a try if you don't object to a more exotic scent, reminiscent of Indian incense (and if you can find it..... ).

I am a dork. I typed out Perilous Parlour in my post up above, but I really meant Forbidding Foyer. I am so glad, FsP that you brought me to my senses. *runs off to fix mistake* It crossed my mind that you might have meant F.F. instead of P.P..... Then I was trying to remember if P.P. had wood in it.....? Anyway, glad to be of use! : )

The Forbidding Foyer is old, polished wood, right down to a whiff of ancient furniture polish. Sounds totally odd for a perfume but it really grew on me. It's great for feeling cozy on a rainy, blustery day.

When I first tried this, it was so odd that I put it away and sort of forgot about it for a few months. I recently tried it again and realized that I really like it. I get absolutely no leather, whatsoever, which is why I was so puzzled when I first put it on. What I mostly smell is vetiver, dry and herbal, a little on the green side. It reminds me a lot of Devil's Claw. Then much later, it smells like sandalwood. I know, totally weird and not matching the description (or other reviews for that matter), but that's what my nose is telling me. And as it turns out, it's a scent I really like, so it was a happy surprise.

Deep, fruity, and sweet, not one of the fruits stands out to me individually in this scent. I had no expectations either way, so I was happy that this smells so good. For comparisons, it reminds me a little of Bloody Mary, and also one of the Possets kitties, but I can't remember which one (Maude, w/out the greenery?). I shall enjoy this scent again, and I'm glad it came along with my set of decants.

High drama in the ED tonight, but nothing new. We get homeless and/or destitute people who come in with a minor complaint, then after they are discharged they want to stay here in the waiting room for the rest of the night. It's cold outside and they either don't have anywhere to go, or don't have a way to get there. We do have cab vouchers for people, but the charge nurse is usually particular about giving them. I understand their point of view, because once you start giving them out, people want them all the time, every time they come here. So sometimes, people are told no, you cannot have a cab voucher. But then they want to stay in our waiting area, which they can't do. So security gets involved, and they will give a cab voucher to anyone, going anywhere. Another issue is they are only supposed to go to the address listed in their account (their home address). And some of them don't have a home address. So it becomes like a big puzzle. And I am kind of stuck in the middle of it, getting complained at by all sides. I am okay with whatever they decide, but it's not really up to me, so I just sit here looking kind of dumb.