astarinel

A "warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot." Tomoe Gozen was a fierce, noble, and courageous samurai, first captain, as well as a renowned beauty. She was an excellent swordswoman, famed for her riding ability and her skill at archery. She fought for Minamoto no Yoshinaka at Battle of Awazu, and her forces were defeated. Legend says she was seen holding the severed head of one of her foes on the battlefield, and vanished, never to be seen again. Red currant and honey. In the bottle: Precisely what it says: red currant and honey. The tartness of the currant cuts through the honey, which is sweet but not as thick or sticky as it sometimes can be. Rubbed on skin: The currant softens up a bit and blends with the honey. It's much subtler once it hits my skin, and the currant is much quieter and less tart. This sinks in quite well and smells really delicious in a not-quite-edible way. I have the bath oil on one hand and the perfume on the other, and they really go together very well. The perfume has the addition of blackberries and pink pepper, and so stays a bit more juicy-tart with a touch of spice, while the bath oil is now an aura of subtle, honeyed currants. I really love how these two oils smell layered next to each other -- the currant and honey in the bath oil make those notes in the perfume stand out a little more.

When you need a change of pace from Strip Twister: lemon candies, orange suckers, and strawberry sugar. Super tart citrus candies. In the decant, the lemon has a little bit of a lemon-cleaner aspect that concerns me, but that fortunately disappears when I put it on my skin. This reminds me a lot of Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat, crossed with Bitches Love Unicorns. Immediately, it's sticky tart lemon candy with some other candy flavors. I'm not sure I'd say orange or strawberry, but it's definitely not just straight-up lemon. It has a very melting-hard-candies sort of feel, with the sharp tartness that lemon candies have despite being very sugary. It's a little too similar to Sticky Bat (which I have a bottle of) for me to want more of it, but it's more of a sharper, mixed-flavor candy scent. Sticky Bat has sort of a powdery-sugared aspect that this scent doesn't, although it does soften as it dries and the strawberry candy gets a little stronger. It has pretty good lasting power for a citrus scent and decent throw. In the long drydown, it's almost indistinguishable from Sticky Bat on my skin, as the other candy flavors stay mostly in the background.

I agree: waffles. On and wet, it's very much brown sugar + waffles + maple syrup. I love frosting scents, so I was hoping for some of that here, but this is mostly just breakfast. The sugar has that crunchy/crystalline aspect to it, and it smells delicious, but it's very straightforwardly breakfast. Pretty strong throw, good lasting power.

I like this wet, as there's a good balance between rose and cookie, but unfortunately as it dries my rose-amping skin turns it into all rose and it ends up smelling like most other rose scents do on me: like ROSE. I really wish the cookie scent hung around longer, as it started to remind me of Knave of Hearts (which I love!), but the fruits in Knave balance out the rose better on my skin.

On wet, there's a very nice balance of notes -- I sometimes find that strawberry notes can go candy-sweet (which I don't object to, as a rule), but the note is softer and a little less sugared here. This white musk is one of the ones I really like, round and almost creamy. The cherry blossoms are gentle, pink, and not overwhelmingly floral. Overall, this reminds me of a lotion or moisturizer scent in the best way. It's relatively simple, but it clings to the skin and the notes meld together perfectly. As someone who loves and wears a lot of super-sweet scents, this isn't one of those. It's still relatively sweet and pink, but it's definitely not foody or candy. It's a very pleasant, unobtrusive perfume, light and a bit airy. Good throw and staying power, gets a little softer and sweeter as it dries.

Fresh, crisp white tea in the decant and wet on skin. Soft floral vanilla and a bit of sweetness in the background. Very springy, slightly sharp. Gets a little softer as it dries. A pleasant skin scent, but I was expecting a little more depth and creaminess from the honeycomb and sandalwood.

Very perfume-y, especially wet, and definitely has that overtone of hairspray/chemicals at first that other people mentioned. As it dries that backs off, and it's a creamy musky floral. Definitely peach blossom, not peach -- this is not a fruity scent. I was hoping for more of the almond cream, and I tend to find that my skin amps almond, but it's not really showing up at all in this scent. Perhaps the "almond cream" makes it come across differently on my skin. I was also hoping this would be a bit sweeter, with almond cream and sweet musk, but I actually find it a mildly sweet, musky-creamy white floral. It's soft and very spring-like, but ultimately not for me.

Very Snake Oil forward wet, and a fresh Snake Oil (which I like, but smells sharper and less sweet than the aged version). I think it's interesting that everyone seems to get the Snow White snow notes from this Frostbitten series, because I absolutely don't. Snow White is absolutely terrible on my skin (really, it smells like burning plastic), and I don't get any of that here. This is less aggressive than Snake Oil itself, and doesn't stain my super-pale skin as much as Snake Oil tends to do. It's Snake Oil padded with soft, fluffy, minty snow. I expected this to be more of a clash than Frostbitten Dorian, which I liked okay (although didn't find it very much like Dorian), but this actually works better on me. The snow note is very soft and a bit sweet, and it blends well with the vanilla tones of Snake Oil. Good throw (although not as much as Snake Oil, which I find to have Epic Throw) and lasting power. I expect this will age very well.

The snow note in this doesn't smell particularly like Snow White to me, which is good, because Snow White is terrible on me. This also doesn't smell particularly like Dorian to me. Maybe I just haven't smelled fresh Dorian in a while, but this mostly smells like vanilla musk with lavender and minty snow. I actually like this, but it doesn't smell anything like what I was envisioning. Definitely gets a bit sweeter as it dries, and wears fairly close to the skin. A cool, soft scent.

Bright, green, fresh. This is the orange blossom note I really like, and it's lovely here. This is definitely a floral, a bit sweet but also tart, and a spring scent for sure: I associate a fresh spring green sort of color with scents like this. Wet, it somehow strikes me as both a delicate scent, and a sharp scent. As it dries, the honey and tea come out and the scent softens a little. Fairly low throw, decent lasting power.

Strong honey note, and the honey is, as noted, this blend features the fresh/floral/wildflower honey rather than the darker/sweeter/muskier honey. Fortunately, the snow note is almost entirely eclipsed by the honey note, because, as people have mentioned, this is definitely the Snow White snow note, and Snow White is terrible burned plastic on my skin. I can smell the soft snow note underneath just dying to turn into a skin chemistry disaster, but it's mostly drowned out by this very fresh, bright honey note. If you like the bright floral honey notes and Snow White, definitely try this blend out. Good lasting power (I find honey notes tend to stick), good throw.

I've got Strawberry Sufganiyot and skipped Raspberry because it was too similar, and while I like this one, I don't need a full bottle for the same reason. It reminds me of both the other Sufganiyots and Blackberry Jam & Scones. On wet, the same fried dough/doughnut note the other Sufiganiyots have, with a sweet dark berry jam scent. I'm not as familiar with blackcurrant jam, and if someone told me this was blackberry or some mixed berry jam, I probably wouldn't argue. Very sweet and foody, but in a soft warm cozy way rather than a sugar overload. I find the dough note faded faster in this one than it did in the others, ending up just a wisp of pastry covered in mounds of dark jam. I prefer BBJ&S for the better balance of pastry to jam. Fairly strong throw, good lasting power (for the jam bits).

This does remind me a bit of The Antikythera Mechanism. Polished, dark woods with a touch of vanilla. I was hoping the vanilla tea would be a bit stronger, but on me the notes are definitely woods > tea > vanilla. It reads very unisex to me, a warm cozy skin scent. The woods are dark, finished woods as opposed to blonder and sharper woods, with the tea very definitely a black, strong, astringent kind of tea. The vanilla hovers around in the back, lending a little fuzziness and sweetness. As it dries, the woods smooth and fade a bit and the tea comes more to the front. Decent lasting power, but fairly low throw on me.

I sniffed all the Apples at NYCC and this was the only one that came home with me as a full bottle. Apple 6 is a bright scent, fluffy and round. The apricot and marshmallow make it a very sweet, poofy scent and significantly less apple-forward than some of the others. I actually wouldn't call this an apple scent primarily, as it's actually the vanilla-tinged marshmallow note that is strongest to my nose, especially while the scent is wet. The sugar cane adds a touch of woodiness, and the apple is fresh and crisp rather than baked/foodie. I tend to love BPAL's marshmallow and sweet scents, and this is no exception. The apple is a supporting player here, rather than the star. It's like sniffing beautiful, pastel, fruit-flavored marshmallows. Medium throw, good lasting power -- this stayed on my hands after 2 con hand washes and some disinfectant.

This is my favorite floral. Normally I am not a florals person, and some rose notes can be very soapy on me, but somehow everything in this one blends together like magic. Pepper is a honeyed, spicy-sweet floral scent. I'm not great at picking out most floral notes, but none of them stand out to me in this scent. The feel overall is kind of a pink-gold color to me, bright pinkish blooms drenched in honey and covered with ginger and pink pepper. Pepper is one of my go-to scents when I want to wear something that could be a little more traditional and perfume-y but still has a bit of sweetness and a quirky vibe to it. The spices keep it from being overly sweet or cloying, and the floral notes never go soapy or headachey. It reminds me of Pepper herself: sweet and a little reluctant to be girly, but fresh and outdoorsy with a bit of bite. This is my floral for a person who doesn't like florals.

Green apple, neroli, white musk, melon blossom, and champagne. I can't believe no one has reviewed this yet! This is the apple scent I was most excited for as I love all of the listed notes. In the imp and wet, strong champagne note with crisp tart green apples and neroli. Bright, sweet-tart, and fizzy! I don't smell white musk particularly strongly, but there's a bit of a round depth in the background that I'm guessing is the musk. This is primarily a lot of bright, sparkly topnotes, and it gives an overall impression of light gold colors and green apples, airy, bright and somehow a bit clean. I quite like this, and I would definitely use lotions or room sprays in this scent. As with other champagne scents, it just feels kind of bright and happy to me. Good throw, I don't have to press my nose to the test patch. My only complaint is that I wish the scent stayed around longer; I guess with this note list it was always doomed to be relatively fleeting. Neroli and champagne stick around most strongly in the drydown, with touches of white musk bringing out the more perfumey aspects of the scent.

Caramel and cookie first, then a tart green apple. I definitely get the brown sugar/crumble aspect to the scent; that's actually most the most prominent note in the imp and wet. As it settles, though, the apple starts to peek out a bit. On me, this is cookie > caramel > apple, which I wasn't really the balance I was hoping for. I'm a big fan of apple scents, but the lab's cookie notes tend to not work for me and either be too spiced or too buttery. This actually reminds me a bit of my bottle of Chaos Theory IV, which I've described as "apple blossom muffins." This however is primarily chewy, brown sugar cookies with a dollop of caramel and an apple hiding in the background. I definitely prefer Creepy for caramel apple scents, although that one didn't work on my skin either.

Very realistic, juicy, sweet red apple is the primary note. The honey is light and tends towards the floral-honey rather than musky-honey side of the honey spectrum. It's also a bit of a vanilla-beeswax honey, sweet but light rather than heavy. This is pretty, but definitely has the shampoo/perfume aspect other people have mentioned. Normally it's scents with apple blossom rather than apples that give me that sort of vibe, but I think the floral notes of the honey + apple combine to give a shampoo tone. A sweet, golden scent. I'm not sure I've smelled this precise apple note before; at least, it doesn't remind me of most of the apples I've tried.

Dark, juicy, smooshed black cherries in cream. I didn't like Suck It, which was straight cherry cough syrup on me, but this is a different cherry note -- more like the one in Ghoulish and MB: Bloody Mary. In fact, this reminds me a good bit of Bloody Mary with the strong sweet cherries and vanilla cream. The cream note becomes a little more prominent a bit as it dries, and a touch of "other dark fruit" comes out. I'm not sure I would have identified it blackberry without the note list, but it adds a little depth to what is otherwise a pretty straightforward cherries and cream scent. I normally just rely on Gothabilly for my cherry needs, but this is lovely and a bit more foody and simple. Definitely one of those scents where you can smell all the notes in the list; it's exactly what I expected. So, if the notes appealed to you and you're searching for more cherry scents in the vein of Ghoulish and Bloody Mary, Yipe may be what you're looking for. Strong throw, good lasting power.

Strawberry candy and cream, with extra sugar crystals on top. I like this, but it reminds me a lot of last year's Battle Fairy in Training only a little more straightforward. They share a spun sugar note, but I find the strawberry note in this one a bit different, less round and fruity and more creamy candy. Very bright and airy, fairly low throw and staying power.

In the imp I was concerned because it was myrrh + lavender with no other notes to be found, but on the skin the strawberries bloom and it takes on some sweetness. Wet, this is mostly herbal, clean lavender + strawberries on top with a dark incensey bottom. The strawberry adds a juicy, fruity aspect, and I'm not sure I'd say "strawberries!" if I didn't know that was the note. It definitely has that sort of "mixed good smells" feeling of opening my perfume box or walking into a bath and body shop. As it dries, the strawberry note fades into something like a pink creamy sugar over the incense. Sometimes myrrh notes go a bit powdery on me, but this stays nice and round with the help of the dragon's blood, which is usually a note my skin loves. Generally well-balanced but more than the sum of the notes.

Gorgeous cake note, reminds me of the red velvet in Monster Bait: Closet which is one of my favorite cake notes! Vanilla buttercream icing, though, instead of the berry buttercream in that scent. The cardamom is spicy and warm without adding a too-heavy spice note. Intensely delicious; I would eat so many cupcakes that tasted like this smells. One of the best straightforward foodie scents I've tried from the lab in a while. Fairly strong throw, good lasting power.

Skin musk, dry vanilla, a little sandalwood. I definitely find the musk more prominent than anything else, and it's a light clean musk. Definitely not a sweet scent, and I agree with the comparison to Edith Cushing but prefer that one with its richer, sweeter vanilla. A cool, dry unisex scent. I don't think this balance of these notes works for me; I greatly prefer last year's Some Strangeness in the Proportion as a vanilla sandalwood scent.

Buttery, biscuit-y cookies both in the vial and wet. I find the cookie note more buttery than sweet, like a shortbread. There's definitely a citrussy note which I'm assuming is the bergamot, but I really wish there were more tea to this scent. The "lots and lots of cookies" are largely drowning the tea while the scent is wet, although as it dries the tea note comes out a bit and the scent comes more into balance. I'm not a huge fan of the cookie note in the wet scent, and the throw is low on me although the wear length was okay. I'll stick to Dorian for tea scents, I think.

OVID’S PHOENIX There is one bird which reproduces and renews itself: the Assyrians gave this bird his name—the Phoenix. He does not live either on grain or herbs, but only on small drops of frankincense and juices of amomum. When this bird completes a full five centuries of life straightway with talons and with shining beak he builds a nest among palm branches, where they join to form the palm tree's waving top. As soon as he has strewn in this new nest the cassia bark and ears of sweet spikenard, and some bruised cinnamon with yellow myrrh, he lies down on it and refuses life among those dreamful odors.—And they say that from the body of the dying bird is reproduced a little Phoenix which is destined to live just as many years. When time has given to him sufficient strength and he is able to sustain the weight, he lifts the nest up from the lofty tree and dutifully carries from that place his cradle and the parent's sepulchre. As soon as he has reached through yielding air the city of Hyperion, he will lay the burden just before the sacred doors within the temple of Hyperion. - Ovid, Metamorphoses Fitful dreams of the cradle and sepulchre: honey, cassia bark, sweet spikenard, cinnamon, and yellow myrrh. Make sure you roll/mix this one. When I first tried it out of the decant, I was surprised to smell pretty much only floral/herbal honey, but when I mixed the decant around a bit more the spices made a bit of an appearance. This is still primarily a green honey perfume with a myrrh base. The spices sort of lurk in the background, which surprises me because I tend to amp cinnamon. Despite the note list, I would definitely not think of this as a spicy scent, and if I didn't know cinnamon was here, I probably wouldn't be able to detect it. It's nice, but the way the honey dominates the blend on me just makes me think of other honey blends that I like better, given the myrrh going a little powdery.