forspecial_plate

Right away I thought, 'frankincense and myrrh'. Smelled a lot like Midnight Mass. Then after a few minutes the subtleties started to come through....the sort of sharp floral note of rose geranium, something herbal which may be hyssop and/or angelica, and also ylang ylang, but just a little bit. Very nice scent that I'll enjoy wearing. I agree with yeahbutnot, this is reminiscent of Scales Of Deprivation, maybe because of the complexity, the herbs, and resins. Also reminds me a little bit of Thanatos with the rosey incense-y feel. Also...I'm really glad it's not powdery!!

Overall the Wanderlust series is very hit-and-miss with me, with more misses I'm afraid. Athens is not for me. I already knew I'm not crazy about the lab's wine notes, and here it just goes all wrong from the beginning. I can smell the honey and kind of a sickly, sour/sweet wine note that I don't like at all. The other notes aren't enough to redeem what's going wrong here. I do like myrrh and I'm finding I like more flowers than I thought I did, but neither are enough to survive the onslaught of the icky notes on my skin. The throw is more honey but up close it's not pretty.

First sniff: Ozone! Clear and cold, slightly minty, very bracing scent. This out-refreshes F5. I like all the notes here and I think they work together beautifully. Not getting a whole lot of frankincense and probably wouldn't have guessed it was in there had I not read the notes. It may come out more later, but so far it's been over an hour and the scent hasn't morphed much at all. Very chilly, almost like Snow-Flakes as it dries down. Another beautiful interperetation, and I guess I should just stop saying that in my Salon reviews because it's true for all of them so far. I could wear this...probably won't get a whole bottle of it but it's nice.

The Isle of the Dead, Arnold Böcklin. Cypress, labdanum, stargazer lily, juniper, yew, black rose, white sandalwood, benzoin and aquatic notes. Isle of the Dead has a dark green feel, woodsy and aquatic, slightly floral. Lately I have changed my mind about hating juniper, and that applies here as well.....it's here and it's working for me. This reminds me of a less-sharp Jolasveinar without the pastries, and also the sandalwood is reminiscent of Scales of Deprivation....2 of my favorite scents. But this is a little softer than either of those and like the other Salons I've tried, masterfully blended. Another wonderful interperetation of visual art. This works really well on me and might be a big bottle purchase in the future. PS....another comparison....Thanatos, big time. The rose, sandalwood, and benzoin are all reminiscent of that scent, but the juniper and woods add a delicious bite. Basically I could get a bottle of this and it would satisfy my love of all 3 of those other scents. edit: I've worn this a few times and unfortunately, it turns to heavy powder after a few minutes. However, Wolf Moon has some of the qualities that I like about IOTD, without the powder, so I'll just wear Wolf Moon instead.

Well, apparently my skin likes to BROADCAST CHAMPACA FLOWER. Two Monsters was the Salon scent I was MOST looking forward to....and don't get me wrong, I do love it! However as soon as it touches my skin, I get the exact same champaca flower that's in Dr. John Seward....with none of the tantalizing spicey grittiness (in Two Monsters) that I can smell in the vial. So really this ends up smelling very much like J. Seward on my skin....which would explain why I barely smelled any of the other notes in J. Seward either! So I have mixed feelings about Two Monsters. I'm holding onto it in hopes that aging or a scent locket will help bring out some of the other notes. But, to be honest, I do love that champaca note....even though it's bullying everything else into submission! *cries* I really want to smell more of every other note in this.

Silence is a beautiful scent that becomes more than the sum of its parts. What I'm smelling is predominantly floral, with complexity behind it, supporting the scent as a whole. I think I can smell the lotus root, maybe a little peach, tea, and maybe the blue musk. But really....everything combines wonderfully. Definitely gives the feel of the painting. This is a surprise winner that I wasn't expecting to like as much as I do. It's one of the Salon blends that is making me re-think the way I feel about floral scents.

This reminded me a lot of Hades at first, then later of Carceri D'Invenzione. I don't know if any of these have any notes in common. Three Brides is softer and prettier than either of those. I can't really pick out anything here on its own...just smells floral to me. Crazy because I'd love to smell some sandalwood, benzoin, or tonka but it's just not happenin'. Not a bad scent, just not my favorite of the Salons.

I think I like everything here except the chardonnay. In the early stages of Perversion the chardonnay threatens to ruin everything with a candy wine sweetness...but I am not great with the lab's wine notes in general. This time, it doesn't hang around for long...or at least, backs off enough to let me enjoy the other notes. Or maybe it just mingles with the tonka so that the sweetness becomes a bit spicy and much more pleasant. Meanwhile, in the back seat, the leather and tobacco are having a dirty romp. The rum is there too, and like some others I think of coconut when I smell this rum. There is the faintest hint of suntan lotion about it, but that dirty leather and tobacco keeps it from becoming a day at the beach. Overall the scent somehow works for me, but isn't something I love. It's interesting enough to hold on to the imp unless I get in a fickle mood and decide to swap it. For some reason I want to wear this to a New Year's Eve party.

I don't know from iris, but aside from that and violet, every other note here sounded good to me. There was a little bit of what may have been mandarin at the beginning, but going on an hour now it has been mostly violet. I'm starting to get the barest hint of some of the other notes struggling to come forward but I have a feeling violet on my skin is just a disaster. I really wanted to smell Kashmir wood and vanilla musk!

I have to admit, I'm not crazy about Krampus. Right away I'm getting the musty rags scent...that's not figurative or abstract....that's really what I'm smelling. Musty, dusty, even slightly moldy rags. Thankfully this doesn't last long....that rag scent fades into the background and I think I recognize the red musk from Fenris Wolf, Scherezade, and maybe Blood Kiss. I can also smell the leather, but not in a big way. And yes, wooden switches too. I think the red musk is just a note that doesn't work for me. I didn't like it in those other blends and I don't much like it here. I couldn't say why, really...just not my thing I guess. And that musty/dusty note doesn't disappear completely. Not sure I can handle that. What I do like about Krampus is.....it's like a story in a bottle. It unfolds and evokes a definite mood, very much like Midway did for me....although this is a different mood entirely! Right now the first heavy snowfall of the season is falling outside, the wind is howling at my patio window, and I don't have to be anywhere for the next 15 hours or so. I'm in my long underwear with a blanket and Krampus has really set the mood for the day. I don't know if I'll keep my imp, just because I don't think I'd wear this with any regularity. I'm very glad I got to try it, though!

Better Botanicals lip balm has a great vetiver lip balm. It was the first time I smelled vetiver so that's what I always think of. Now their lip balms are too strong for me a lot of the time (the scent, that is)...can't have anything overpowering my Black Phoenix! I still like them sometimes, though. To my nose, Djinn has a strong presence of vetiver. And I'll agree with Azathoth.

I really wanted to love this, and I almost do. It's a very sweet, smokey, and sultry blend. Not sure what's giving me powder but something is on the border of too much powder for me. It might be ginger, or maybe the eastern flowers. I think I'm going to hold onto my imp and keep trying it...I might be in the right mood to wear it every once in a while. It's kind of a dusty sweet scent, but sexy and warm. Kind of appropriate for autumn.

Another great incense blend. From memory I'm thinking this smells very similar to Midnight Mass. Strong, resin and incense. This seems to have a touch more wood in it, but nothing like Cathedral which has a strong wood note. And Penitence does have a black-peppery kind of note, I noticed. So yeah, if you like frankincense and myrrh this would be right up your alley. And if you like Midnight Mass you would almost surely like this. On the other hand, I can't imagine needing both, since they smell so much alike. edit: Just out of curiosity, I tested this on one arm and Midnight Mass on the other, to compare. They are *slightly* different. Penitence has some kind of spicy, higher pitched note that I can't identify (maybe amber?). So yeah, there is actually a difference. I would call Midnight Mass a little 'darker', if I had to make a distinction.

This scent is warm, sweet and cheering to me. I honestly wasn't very hopeful because of the wine grapes...usually the bpal wine/grape note doesn't agree with my skin at all. The frankincense and myrrh drew me in, however. I like the combination here. Olympia301 remarked that this smells like raisins, and I agree....I really don't get a grape smell so much as a warm raisin-y smell. I agree that Haloa has parallels to Eat Me, and to a lesser extent All Souls. It's closer to Eat Me in my opinion, to me they're both more on the warm and sultry side. The resin mixes really well with the sweetness, and seems to add a little buttery golden feel to the scent. Not much more to add...I think I may be burning myself out on food scents, because even though I like this, I don't think I'll get a whole bottle of it. I just don't wear them out and about enough to justify a whole bottle. I'll probably keep my decant, though.

I'll add Sea of Glass....more wet than floral but there is some kind of water lily or flower in there....very clear, green, peaceful scent. It's kind of like a lighter, sweeter Bayou.

In my opinion, the pumpkin scents actually smell more like pumpkin pie spice, which is clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc....than actual pumpkin. Jack smells very buttery at first, but the butter fades and it's sweet and spicy after that...and unfortunately, turns a little dusty on my skin. But it's a general catalogue scent and therefore available to buy a sample vial of it, which might work out well for you. If you're feeling braver, I recommend Pumpkin Queen, which is a limited edition available only for the rest of this month (3 more days?). It's similar to Jack with the addition of some scrumptious notes like Egyptian amber, ginger, and I forget what else. It was a bit sweet for me but worked better than Jack did. I bought it for my mom for Christmas and I really hope she likes it! There is also the whole Pumpkin Patch available as a set, also LE, if you REALLY want to dive right in. I haven't tried any of them, but they don't seem difficult to find in the swap/sales forum. You can read reviews of all of them and see if any sound interesting to you. Anyway, hope that helps some!

Burial smells very moist and earthy to me. That's the only one I can think of. Demeter has some dirt smells....well, one is actually called Dirt. See also Earthworm and Wet Garden (if you want to stretch and try something non-bpal, that is...).

Musky, herbal and bitter, kind of gritty...reminds me of the red musk in Kabuki, Fenris Wolf, and even Mme. Moriarty, a little bit. Not sure I can smell any myrrh but sometimes that plays hide-and-go-seek on my skin. Earthy, dark blend that I can see being in the mood for every now and then. Edit: I tucked this away and tried it again, about 8 months later. That much aging has made a big difference in this scent. It smoothed out a lot, and the 'grittiness' that I detected earlier is now gone. Now it's very musky and smooth, a little tart, still very long lasting and strong. Still a dark scent but now there's something almost fruity about it. I like it a lot more now!

Caliban is ocean with a crushed-stems green scent, and the barest hint of wine. No smoke though, and no fruits/apples. Maybe Samhain layered with Caliban? Can't imagine what that would smell like, though... edit: I think that Kingsport has more of a misty, rustic feel...it's another ocean blend, however without the other notes you're looking for. It's also rather hard to get a hold of.

Hmmm... *scratches head* ....skin chemistry can be a crazy thing. When I put on Sol Invictus, it is very soft and faint. I can smell a golden and sunny citrus, a nice smell, but so subtle....I was thinking, maybe this would bloom on my skin and gain power, kind of like Aureus does on me. No such luck!! After a few minutes, I almost can't find where I applied it! It turned a little powdery, then disappeared almost completely. I will try again, if there are any changes I will amend my review. For now I'll just say it reminded me of Jacob's Ladder only much softer.

I'm getting chilly aquatic, too....Black Ice reminds me of a lighter, colder relative of Kingsport. And just like Kingsport, the cologne-y aquatic note disappears really fast! That's where the 2 scents diverge. What's left is barely any throw, and up close there's a little bit of dusty herbal bitterness...not a bad smell, just not very strong on me. It's my skin's usual disappearing act with aquatics....they go *poof* and they're mostly gone! This was totally different from what I was expecting. More smooth and 'accessible' if anyone knows what I mean by that. It's a great scent, just doesn't work out for me.

Complete revision of my review, because I was annoyed by my old review...... This starts out herbal/sharp, not what I was expecting, with the woods backing it up. Later it dries to a fruity sweetness, but still herbal, almost medicinal, almost cold. This seems to be a distant relative of Samhainophobia. There is an incense-like vibe that comes out more strongly as the scent warms on the skin. The first few times I tried this, I wasn't crazy about it. I think it's a common thing for me: I tried so hard to dissect it and pick out notes, that I didn't let myself just enjoy the scent as a whole. When I finally gave up dissecting it, I found that I actually enjoyed it! I knew by reading the notes that it was worth another try, and I was right.

Starts out very golden and somewhat powdery, and I can't pick out any single notes at all. I'm not crazy about amber but tried Jacob's Ladder in the spirit of 'maybe this will be an exception'. After about an hour the amber does come out stronger, and reminds me a lot of The Lion....reminding me that I didn't like The Lion. For me, amber is a little powdery and has a weird hint of halitosis, and that shows up here. It's only there when I sniff up close, though. Anyway...hours later, Jacob's Ladder fades back closer to how it started....but this time without so much powder. At this point it's something that I could wear, but I'm not excited about waiting through the other stages to get here.

Cotton candy is the strongest impression, then coconut for some reason, very sugary and sweet....with something not as sweet lurking underneath. But there's more than sweetness in Midway....and I really can't explain it any more than that. It's an interesting scent that almost tells a story, and I may wear it again just for the experience. I don't think I would wear it on a regular basis, though. I do like Midnight on the Midway a lot better.

Has no-one mentioned Snake Oil? I remember Scherezade reminding me of Snake Oil, Blood Kiss, and Kabuki. Also reminded me of incense, but that opens up a whole can of worms. Are you open to foody scents at all? All Souls might be worth a try. It reminds me of a spicy floral incense with....cake. It works a lot better than it sounds. It seems to me to be more incense/smokey than foody, though. Seems like there are many many options for you....have fun in your search!