astarinel

This was my favorite of the NYCC exclusives, and the only one I ended up buying for myself. This had something to do with the fact that my name is Jenn, but only a little. Peony is one of my favorite florals, and I love peach notes, so this was one of the blends I knew I wanted to test. It's very pretty, light, and airy as it first goes on, with the peony and peach prominent. As it dries I get a bit more of the amber and woods underlying the sweetness and giving the scent a little more depth. It's extremely wearable and elegant, with light throw, and it's more bright and pretty on me than sexy, making it a perfect daytime and work scent.

I have bottles of Beaver Moon '05 and '07, and I love them, but I passed on both '10 and '11 because they weren't cheesecake-y enough for me, and the other notes ended up overpowering the blend. I was intending to pass on this one, too, but I saw it out at NYCC and decided to give it a test anyway, and I'm so glad I did. The balance between the notes is just perfect, it blooms on my skin into this amazing creamy apple cheesecake with a touch of spice. It's round and edible and really well-blended, and definitely foody and sweet without being candied or cloying. It reminds me strongly of Beaver Moon '07, with different fruits atop the cheesecake. One of my favorite lunacies in a while. Edited to add: I bought a bottle of this on an impulse at NYCC AFTER signing up for a decant with a circle, and when I got my decant, it smelled the same as my bottle while it was in the decant, but it dried more cinnamon and spice on my skin, so there may be some batch variation there.

For guy scents, my boyfriend loves the spicy leathery musky ones, but he also has a couple that are more on the clean bright citrussy end of the spectrum. I would second the rec for Phobos, and add recs for a couple of the Gaiman scents They have some of my favorite unisex and masculine blends! Pollution - A toxic chypre: radioactive green musk, davana, and oozing white amber. Spider - White ginger, artemesia, vetiver, nutmeg, King mandarin, bergamot, and lime. Tristran - redwood, tonka bean, white sandalwood, lemon peel, patchouli, rosewood, coriander, and crushed mint. For you: Katharina - white musk with a trickle of bright, sharp apricot and orange blossom. Tamora - Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean. Lady Una - Honey musk, green tea leaf, blackberry leaf, vanilla bean, and fae spices. Fae - white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss. My boyfriend and I sometimes intentionally wear scents that go together either thematically (Aziraphale on me + Crowley on him) or share notes (Coral Snake on me + Western Diamondback on him), but more often we just wear ones that both of us like. I have a few he's not overly fond of, so I tend to wear them to work or out with my friends instead. Good luck searching!

This definitely smells like laundry detergent to me. NICE laundry detergent. But still laundry detergent. A sweet, soapy floral, clean and fresh and just a little bit green. I think I just don't recognize the scent of linden blossom, because obviously that's probably the floral here, but it just reads as generically floral to my nose. Sorry flower-lovers, but I suck at identifying flower scents. Absolutely not my kind of thing, but if the description appealed to you you'll probably like this one.

This one is definitely a little odd. The banana note is most prominent, while the blend is wet. As it dries, the balance shifts and the honey note and white mint become more prominent, and it shifts from being a sort of tropical smoothie scent to something more like a vaguely fruity-floral honey. It's kind of a weird transition, but I end up liking the dry scent better than the wet scent -- it reminds me a little of Valse Finale et Apotheose, with the white mint + floral honey. I dislike bananas both in perfume and in juices (although I love eating them by themselves!), so I suspected this scent wasn't going to be for me. It was definitely an interesting scent experience to have, and I don't think I've ever really smelled anything like it.

This starts out lovely -- definitely creamsicle, as everyone has mentioned, a smooth vanilla citrus cream. Edging on foody, but not overwhelmingly sweet, the mix of citrus is mostly lemon-grapefruit at first. As it dries, some of the citrus starts to fade and it smells a little... odd. Not really bad, but as if one of the citrus notes doesn't love my skin chemistry and is trying to get noticed. It doesn't do this for long, but it's enough to put me off momentarily. When it's fully dry, the vanilla cream note remaining smells really soft and delicious, but this one was a quick fader on my skin, and the citrus that really defined the scent quickly disappears. A little disappointing on my skin, but it could be amazing with the right citrus-loving skin chemistry.

Very tart and fruity. I was hoping the musk and pepper would come into play more, but this ends up a very pink candy scent. I really like the fruit notes here, the currant and cranberry are lovely and bright, but I think it makes the scent a little high pitched or unbalanced for me, and it ends up lacking anything to temper, darken, or add complexity. My sister ended up running off with the imp -- she loves tart and fruity scents, so if that's your bag, this scent is definitely for you. However if you were hoping for something a different and unique you may be disappointed. It was nice, but not something I would seek out more of or even really want to wear again.

This is definitely one of my favorites ever. Since I just scored a backup on etsy, I feel like I can finally give my adoring, glowing review without fearing that it will make everyone else keep it from me. Although a lot of other reviews mention a sort of mountain of sweets and sugar scent, I don't find this one to be overwhelmingly sweet. On me, it smells slightly like soft vanilla buttercream, mixed with something ambery and perfumey that makes it much more wearable than a lot of my foody blends. Despite being soft and not having tons of throw, it lasts forever. It's a light and almost golden vanilla scent, not overwhelmingly or cloying, but creamy and soft. This would make an amazing day to day scent for someone like me who loves foody scents but worries about their work-appropriate-ness. I almost bought two backup bottles, it's that amazing on me, but I figured I should let someone else enjoy it.

I would not be entirely surprised if this were the case -- my boyfriend reads a lot of my fizzy blends as "fizzy mixed drink," and I think this may be because of the juniper/gin edge that some of them have. I love fizzy blends -- I have bottles of Bon Vivant, Polynesian Pop, Spinning Multicolored Metallic Pinwheel, and Harlequin, and I've been searching for a bottle of Peach Champagne.

Orange-y jasmine. This is a very pleasant jasmine note, sort of soft and powdery. It's a little sweet, with the orange, but not overpoweringly so. Definitely something soft and woody-resiny in the background, which becomes more prominent as it dries. I'm generally not into jasmine at all, so I'd be unlikely to wear this scent, but it's actually surprisingly pretty, feminine, and floral.

The lemon scent is definitely the strongest part of this blend wet. It reminds me of the sugared lemon in Sticky Bat, but with kind of a vaguely spicy tartness about it. There's something odd in the background that is keeping me from entirely liking this, maybe the coriander and cilantro? I do really love this lemon note -- a lot of lemony scents can go sharp/cleaner on me, and this is definitely more of a lemonade candy lemon. I'll stick with Sticky Bat for sugary lemony goodness, but this is probably my favorite of the metamorphosis scents this year.

Wow, this is really, really herbal and bitter on my skin. I was expecting more of the citrus and hoping for the sweet/juicy type, but all I get is apparently the petitgrain, all the time. Bitter, faintly citrussy, kind of woody as it dries.

I was expecting this to be spicier, I guess, but basically it becomes a more floral Dragon's Milk on my skin. I love Dragon's Milk, but I don't really love a big pile of gardenia on top of it. For those of you who were anxious about the spices, they are pretty non-existent on my skin.

Very peachy, but a bit of a tart fresh peach rather than a sticky overripe peach. As it dries, the florals come out more. It's very light for a peach scent, almost fizzy or citrussy, and it reminds me a little of Peach Moon. My favorite peach scent is going to stay Josie, but for people who prefer their fruits less juicy and more perfumey, this is a really pretty peachy fruity-floral.

This does remind me a little of Fee, which is one of my favorites, but much brighter and sweeter in tone. The melon note is similar, but Fee is a good bit more floral and complex, which sets it apart from this relatively straightforward scent. A very juicy melon and honey. I tend to like honey notes, but I can find them a little overwhelming in some blends (as I did in The Vine). Here, the honey is sweet but soft and blends really seamlessly with the melon and doesn't dominate. This was the keeper for me of the Tanukis I tried. It's a very spring-and-summer-y, happy sort of scent that I've really been enjoying. It's very fruity and sweet, but I think the green musk keeps it a little more perfumey and wearable.

Woo hoo I get to recommend one of my favorite GCs! Ladon: dragon’s blood resin, golden apple, apple blossom, white musk and hyacinth. If DBR works on your skin, this is a great appley blend with a strong hyacinth note. It has a ton of throw (on me, at least) and is one of the perfumes I get the most unsolicited compliments on.

I really love apple blossom, I've come to realize. It smells to me like light, fresh, airy apples, and it's the most prominent note in this blend for me which is definitely making me happy. The other notes, what I can smell of them, is a sweet fruitiness that I'm assuming is from the huckleberry wine, and a breath of soft herbs and florals. This actually reminds me a bit of Arcana's Avalon scent, but a bit less sweet and with a strong apple blossom rather than apple note. I really like smelling it but I'm honestly not sure I'd wear it much, as I have a few other blends already that fill a similar scent-niche for me. Pretty, airy, and somehow a little bit magical, I'd definitely be thrilled to use this in a room spray.

As I put it on, it immediately reminds me of another scent, and it takes me a moment to put my finger on it. Whitechapel! The white musk + lilac + citrus is definitely what's doing this for me. It's very clean and bright and a little crisp. I would definitely say it strikes me as a unisex sort of scent, despite the lilac and florals. The citrus is definitely in the front, and it's a bit tart while wet, but as it dries the citrus fades and it gets softer and smoother. I'm pleasantly surprised by this -- the note list sounded absolutely not like my sort of thing, and this is a lot more wearable for me than I expected. I won't be hunting down any more than my decant, but I may actually pass it along to my boyfriend to try.

I was expecting this scent to be complex, but it sort of ends up jumbled. I guess it does have a lot of notes, reading the description. It's very tart and citrussy, and the primary note I can actually pick out is the lemon balm I think. I was hoping to smell more of a mix of the notes, including some of the darker ones, but this is sort of just a fresh citrussy fruity blend with not much of anything interesting or unique about it. Definitely gets a little bitter and soapy on me as it dries, and has very faint throw generally.

I don't get a ton of identifiable cranberry from this, which was sort of disappointing! Wet, the citrussy bergamot is backed with spicy carnations and some red musk, with a tart fruitiness sort of lurking about the edges. I'm kind of jealous of all the people who get lots of cranberry, because the most prominent note in this for me by far is the bergamot. It has a strong earl grey with carnations vibe, which isn't terrible, but isn't what I was hoping this scent to be at all.

Peony blossoms and vanilla orchid. Peony is definitely the star note here. Both wet and dry, it's a pretty pink sweet peony scent. There's something really fresh and clean about it, reminding me of Dirty. I was expecting something a little creamier, from the vanilla orchid, but I don't really smell anything other than the peony. It's very pretty and delicate, but I think a little too simple for me.

I really wanted to love this, and in the vial I do. There's this amazing rich honeyed vanilla scent both in the imp and wet that I really adore. Unfortunately, something about this blend doesn't agree with my skin chemistry and as it dries the vanilla fades away completely, leaving this woody resiny floral scent that bears no resemblance to where it started. I very rarely have scents go powdery on my skin, but this one manages it. It also has very little throw and lasting power for me, which I suppose is fortunate.

I was sort of hoping this would be similar to The Perilous Parlor, which I'm quite fond of, but I don't really find it to be so. Although I often love honey notes, I find the honey in this one super strong and combined with the sweet and juicy pear makes this blend very, very sweet. I'm usually a fan of sugary blends, but it's near to my "cloying" point. The honey overwhelms the pear to a degree, and I don't get much vanilla cream at all. For a blend that smells pretty strong when it goes on, I find that it doesn't have very much throw either and sticks pretty close to my skin. The pear note fades first, leaving the honey even more firmly in charge. I kind of expected to love this, as I like all of the component notes quite a lot, but somehow the combination just doesn't work for me.

While wet, the apricot is definitely the strongest note and very candied! It reminds me of peach hard candies at this point. As it goes on, it starts to get more floral and softly musky. I expected the jasmine to take over, as it can do, but the jasmine note is very soft, unobtrusive, and well-behaved in this blend. The tonka and patchouli don't really come out for me until the drydown, giving it a bit of depth. It's definitely pretty and interesting, and it always pleases me to find a blend that with jasmine where it doesn't take over, but I have other blends with these notes that I prefer. A soft spring scent, quite sweet, and brightly fruity-floral.

I got a decant of this because I love the poem (and EBB's work generally) so much, but I truly expected to hate this blend. Green and herbal is never my thing, and a lot of the herbal notes turn bitter and medicinal on my skin. However, I don't actually hate it, which is quite surprising to me! It starts out green and clearly herbal, but not sharp or bitter. The honey adds an undertone of sweetness, but even as a honey lover I don't necessarily pick out the note in this blend. As it dries it starts to smell floral and smoky, and warms up a bit. Normally smelling a new blend reminds me of ones I've already tried, but I'm not sure this one really reminds me of anything I've smelled before. It's quite unique and a little odd, but if smoky-sweet herbal-floral sounds up your alley, this is quite nice.