astarinel

Wow, I'm really surprised to read all these reviews mentioning spice, and it makes me wonder if there's batch or separation issues, because I didn't really get any spice in my decant. This is primarily pumpkin in the imp, which can often spell fail, but it reminds me of the pumpkin in Monarch which miraculously worked for me, so on it goes! On my skin it changes pretty quickly and I start getting the blackberry and sugar, but it ends up being sort of this weird contrast between the candy-berry note and the buttery-pumpkin note. I still don't get much in the way of spices, however, this is pretty close to the description to me. I just don't like it as much as I expected to! I do like it better in the long drydown, where mostly the sugar-berry scent remains, but I can get my candyfloss fix elsewhere more efficiently.

Wet, pineapple. Yup, that sure is pineapple. For anyone hunting for pineapple-y scents, this is the one with the heaviest pineapple note I've tried. Also, for those of you that fear the booze notes, I'm looking for the rum and not really finding it. This smells just like some sort of delicious tropical juice to me, although I think I might prefer to drink it rather than wear it. The other fruits (orange and raspberry, which I can pick out if I huff hard) keep the pineapple from being overly sweet. As it dries, the pineapple fades a little and the rum starts to peek its head out a little bit, but it mostly stays true. The heavy pineapple makes me think of pina coladas and I start to almost smell a phantom coconut note in there.

Moreso than the other tiki bar blends that I tried, I found this one to be "busy." Wet, a big juicy mix of fruits with the apricot and citrus standing out next to the pineapple. I'm actually getting a noticeable spike of ginger, and it really stands out next to all these juicy fruits. This one was also sweeter to my nose than many of the other tiki bar blends, I suppose because I find the rum note a bit more cloying than the other alcohol notes, which tend to cut through the fruits. As it dries, it becomes mostly apricot with a kick of booze and ginger spice, and starts reminding me of the March Hare if he were really, really drunk.

Wet, the raspberry and cranberry were the most prominent notes, but they unfortunately faded sort of fast. The cranberry had me thinking "mmm, cosmo" at first, and reminded me of Velvet Pink Kitty and The Hamptons. Although I like the gin note, in general, it took over more in this blend than it usually does, and I spent most of the drydown hoping the raspberries would come back. For mint haters, I got absolutely no mint.

This smells like really good ginger ale in the bottle, the kind where you can actually taste the spice. Wet, it's definitely the fizzy note that I love that a lot of the champagne blends have in common, also in Geek.Goth. The ginger has a slight spicy bite to it, and the orange is light and bright and more orangina than orange juice. It stayed pretty true as it dried, with that fizzy real ginger hanging on. I find spice notes can fade on me, but not this one. If you like bubbly and fizzy blends and don't mind smelling like something drinkable, definitely try this one. It ended up being my favorite of the tiki bar ones that I tested.

Wet, very tart blueberries and gin. I have a tendency to amp lemongrass, and unfortunately my skin begins doing that as soon as I apply and as it dries the lemongrass sort of takes over. The blueberry note is very realistic, and overall this is a very bright and tart blend. I don't mind the gin note, as it tends to strike my nose as lighter somehow than a lot of the other alcohol notes. If your skin can handle lemongrass and you're looking for a blueberry-heavy blend, this might be it. I'm going to stick to my lemongrass-free Blue Phoenix though.

Wet, the boozy blackberries are definitely the most prominent thing in this blend, with a tiny bit of anise floating around the edges. As it dries, the sweet berries abate a little, the anise gets stronger, and it's a lot more about the alcohol than it was to start with. This is nice, but I preferred the wet scent with the heavy blackberries.

I'm going to preface my review by noting that this is one of the few scents I actually had to scrub off. Sometimes, vetiver adds a pleasant smokiness or bitter edge to a blend that might be too sweet or cloying otherwise. This is not one of those scents. Although it smelled okay in the vial, mostly apricots and currants, as soon as I put it on it became the all-vetiver-all-the-time show, with the vetiver amping to horrible bitter burning grass overwhelming levels. If I sniffed really hard, which I only did once, I got the other notes which were actually quite pleasant together, but the vetiver stomped all over them with big stompy vetiver boots. If your chemistry plays nice with vetiver, give this a try because I can tell the other notes are lovely. However, if you ever have vetiver issues, I personally would recommend you proceed with caution.

Candy like whoa. I agree with the comparison to Candy Phoenix, this is a very bright pink sugar blend. It's almost sparkly, and it reminds me a little of Treat #1's "crushed hard candies" -- it sort of has a crystalline edge to it. The color that strikes me here is a vivid purplish pink, tart candy. If you like candied scents, definitely give this one a try! Although Treat #1 is my go-to when I want to smell like hard candy, this is a nice scent in that family if that's what you're into.

Although I liked this, it came across very, very faint on me and faded to nothing in short order, so I probably will not be trying to obtain more of it. Wet, it's a very soft, gentle candy scent, and it gives me a mental image of very pale green pear-flavored hard candies. The lime comes out more as it dries, which makes the blend a little more refreshing than overly sweet. "Pretty" is definitely an adjective I would use for this blend, very delicate and feminine. A spring/summer sort of scent, light and sweet and airy.

I expected to like this blend best of the moths, but something in it just isn't working for me. While wet, the vanilla is very rich and sugary, in almost a powdered-sugar sort of way. Unlike what many people reported, I get very little of the spice (good for me, cardamom can be a nemesis of mine) and leaving this a sugared musky vanilla. I do really, really like the musk note, I find the Egyptian musk very round and warm, but there's just something here that's off. It might be the vanilla -- there is one vanilla note that can go plasticky on me (the one found in Snowblind, Snow White, and Snow-Flakes, to my nose), and that could be the problem here. Either way, it is a nice scent that is failing to play nice with my chemistry. I was definitely surprised to get so little spice, this is a very creamy white scent to me.

I like this, but not as perfume. It reminds me a lot of potpourri, but also specifically of Frumious Bandersnatch -- I think it's the spicy plum aspect doing that. It smells good, and the cloves behave and blend well even though they can go out of control on me sometimes. The sassafras also lends a sort of pleasantly root beer tinge to the scent. Overall, I'm enjoying sniffing it, but I don't want to wear it especially.

I especially wanted to review this blend because I normally hate pumpkin notes, as my skin tends to amp them into a horrible out of control buttery mess. However. This one? Works. The pumpkin is very mellow and takes a backseat to the orange and spice, and the scent is overwhelmingly a very warm red-orange to my nose. Very appropriate for the butterfly! It smells edible without being overly heavy and foody, and definitely strikes me as more of a warm fall/winter scent than a summer one. As it dries the foody-ness fades a bit, and the amber comes out and makes this a lovely skin-hugging spicy scent, warmed by the pumpkin but tempered by the citrus. I almost didn't get a decant of this one, because of the pumpkin, but it ended up being my favorite of the metamorphosis collection and pretty much bottle-worthy.

I didn't see anyone mention this one, but I also find it so conceptually appropriate (in addition to smelling suitably orangey!) I have to toss it in: Hell's Belle: Sweet, smoky and sensually wicked. A thick, steamy scent, truly sinister in its voluptuous sexuality. The perfume of a demon's favored consort, or of the devil herself. Oleander with wet, sweet mandarin, lush magnolia, a rush of deep musk and a touch of spice. I get a lot of mandarin from this one, backed with musky spice and topped with southern florals. It's more sexy and less sweet than a lot of the citrus scents I've tried, so it might fit your bill.

My sister and I have pretty different skin chemistry. I love amber, and it's usually baby powder of doom on her, and she can work tobacco notes, which are usually stinky ashtray on me. We also have widely different preferences, on top of that. I would honestly probably go with Dorian, for a single bottle. Most people like it, it's pretty light and sweet and pleasant. If you're considering booze notes, I would recommend Swank: the scent of a crisp pomegranate martini. Mostly fruity, but with a crisp booze edge. I personally don't like a number of the GC foodies (and I loves me some foodies, for srs). Eat Me, Gluttony, Hellcat, and Bliss are all terrrrrible on my skin. If I were going to suggest one, I'd suggest Cockaigne instead which is a light buttery cakey scent. Other oils I recommend for wide appeal: 51 (this reminds me of Clinique's Happy, only awesomer), Dirty, Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, Fae, Bordello, Bon Vivant, and, if you feel like being a little quirky, No. 93 Engine. Good luck.

I love apple scents. I have bottles of Ladon, Fearful Pleasure (I, also, can't tell much of a difference between this and Lambs-wool -- FP is a touch smokier and spicier in the drydown, but they're very similar wet), Snow Glass Apples, and Coral Snake. I just want to put in a word for Coral Snake, because it's a fabulous apple blend that gets a little spice from the snake oil but is still very bright and crisp with the touch of blood orange. If you haven't delved into the snake pit for this one, you should.

Adding to the chorus of "this is awesome!" Because, well, it is. I, too, plunged for a bottle unsniffed. I love Snake Oil, I love the snake pit, I will try anything with honey as a listed note I love it so. It definitely has that slightly sharp edge that very fresh Snake Oil has, when immediately applied, but it's tempered by a sweet, luscious honey. As a warning for those that hate it, I do find the honey in this to be quite similar to the honey in O, to my nose. This is definitely not a foody honey blend, with the other notes, but still a thick and potentially sexy one. As it dries, the vanilla and spices warm up in the Snake Oil and start to blend with the honey in the most amazing way. I do find this blend to be heavier on the SO than some of the snake pits (such as Boomslang and Western Diamondback). There is definitely identifiable Snake Oil here! I couldn't contain myself and tested it pretty much as soon as it arrived, so I am very looking forward to seeing how this settles and ages. I like my SO and snake pits with some age on them, to mellow the SO out, so I can imagine this blend will only get better and better. I'm considering breaking my "no more backups!" rule.

Another one that struck me as a bit more masculine than feminine, so in the name of getting all the phoenixes tested at once, it went on my boyfriend rather than on me. Lavender. That sure is lavender, up front, and a more herbal lavender, reminding me more of Bat of Longevity than TKO. It smells kind of warm under the lavender, and only a touch metallic. It definitely reminds me of the sort of thing that would be a soothing aromatherapy blend, with the lavender and soft resins and sandalwood, and while I would definitely use a product like room scent or massage oil scented like this, I'm less enamored with it as a perfume.

This one is interesting, and it's another one I put on my boyfriend rather than slathering it on myself after getting a masculine vibe in the imp. On him, the cypress largely takes over (no bad thing really, he and I like cypress on him), and it's very dark and resinous behind the cypress. This one was less straightforwardly metallic than most of the other phoenixes, to my nose, and it definitely strikes me as a masculine, powerful scent. The tobacco gives it that sharp tinge that tobacco sometimes has in blends, the sharpness rather than the smokiness. Overall, this one was better on him than Iron Phoenix (which was, oddly, HEAVIER than Lead Phoenix to me), and it was very interesting but had a little too much going on to be a standout.

I didn't really have much in the way of expectations for this one -- the note list made me think sweetish floral, but this is actually really pretty and unique, and I am generally a floral-hater. The pear is very evident, which keeps it sweet and a little juicy, but the other floral notes blend together to make this soft haze behind the pear. The florals are a touch powdery in a way that reminds me of violets (as mentioned upthread), and relatively unobtrusive. It's gentle and feminine, and even someone like me who avoids floral scents as a general rule finds this reasonably wearable. It's nice.

I tried this one on my boyfriend, not me, as the imp scanned a little too dark and manly for my taste. It was kind of too dark and thick for his taste, as well -- a very dark metallic spiced with pepper and ginger. It's warm and heavy, almost bitter as it dries.

This reminds me slightly of Violet Ray, which must be the white mint which isn't precisely "minty," more light and herbal. Like Gold Phoenix, this is a very light, citrussy metallic scent. But where the ambers in Gold Phoenix gave it a perfumey edge, to my nose, this is more airy and almost a little cologney-masculine. It reminds me of the sort of scent used for fresh, unisex bath products, which isn't a bad thing per se, but isn't really what I was hoping for.

I amp verbena like nobody's business, so getting it pretty strongly here was not a surprise to me. I was hoping to get more amber, since I love amber, but it's pretty absent on my skin except as sort of a "perfumey" waft behind the citrus. Basically, on me, Gold Phoenix smells like citrus + perfume + metal. It is very bright, but I was hoping for a more deeper, richer gold rather than a sharp sunny one. Although this sounds sort of negative, it's actually reasonably pleasant, just not what I prefer and was hoping this scent would be.

Seconding Bow and Crown of Conquest. That is the leather + vanilla to me, I've tried Liz and found it all smoke on my skin! It was dreadfully disappointing. For leather notes by themselves, you might try the new Rider ones -- White Rider, Red Rider, and Black Rider, as they are all QUITE leathery, but of different sorts of leather, and using your favorite of those in layers if you are looking for more vanilla or other notes to go with it. I used to recommend De Sade to everyone who wanted to "leather up" any non-leathery or only lightly-leathery perfume with more leathery goodness, but since it's been discontinued it will probably prove quite difficult to find any of it. If you do, however, it's basically a leather single note. Your other request, however, makes me think of Mary Read: Salt air, ocean mist, aged patchouli, sarsaparilla, watered-down rum, leather-tinged musk, and a spray of gunpowder. It's definitely got ocean and leather, and you might find the rum and sarsaparilla doing sweeter things on your skin!

I didn't test this one, but my boyfriend did and not only asked for this one to go on his bottle list, but wanted me to publicly note that he finds it to be the same leather note as in the original Dead Man's Hand, for anyone craving that. He loves DMH (and poor, lamented De Sade) for layering, because it IS, as people have noted, a very straightforward leather scent, but he finds this to be more of a wearable blend on its own, as compared to DMH or De Sade.