stellans

It's taken me all day to think about this review. I love rose blends, with very few exceptions, and I was looking forward to this one today. I was therefore a bit blind-sided when I applied a bit of Two, Five & Seven first thing this morning and caught a hint of something that hinted at...candy cigarettes? That is just SO wrong! Later, the rose scents came out a bit more aggressively, but with a slight juicy note underneath that was a little fruity rather than roses. This one is a puzzler, and I think I will have to retry it again someday for a more comprehensive review. For now, I'm leaving this as undecided.

LXXXVII = 87 I am a Snake Oil fan, so of course I wanted to try a bottle of this Chaos Theory; and I was well-rewarded for my leap of faith: this blend is amazing! Wet, I get leather, wood, and Snake Oil, which all stay just as wonderful as dry-down occurs. This is like Spanked married Snake Oil then had a wooden baby, which turned into my bottle of good smells. I can't wait to try this again in a year, because I bet it's going to age like whoa.

I loved this blend at first sniff when it first came out in 2007, but it just keeps getting better with age. I'm a big lover of resins, and this is a superior example of the darker resins skillfully blended with other notes to bring out the best in all components. I agree with other assessments of this blend as a 'deeper big brother to Schwarzer Mond,' and actually like this blend better! Unlike some other reviewers, I get no powdery notes at all, only deep and lasting sexy myrrh, musk and galbanum. Balsam sometimes adds almost a minty note in some blends to my nose, but thankfully not in this one. The May Suspiciendo Despicio release of Taurus had an abominable mint note, so I was happy that the Minotaur did not and wear it to commemorate the Sun's arrival in Taurus, which is my Rising Sign. Four stars!

I was a little leery of the cherry note in this blend, because I tend to amp cherry to an unbearable sweetness (think Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops). However, that doesn’t happen in this bottle, nope, not at all. When first applied, the cocoa note is uppermost, but this lasts only a surprisingly short time. And it’s the dry straight cocoa, no sugar or vanilla or cream adulterates this note. But soon, the warmth of the skin brings forth some amazingly good smells: musk, spice, wood, bamboo and more. These notes swirl together, making one feel lucky to have a nose able to partake of such rich goodness! This blend is probably my favorite of all the 13s to date, and I’m glad I have 2 bottles. Four stars!

At the end of my Poe week, I saved a old favorite for last: Premature Burial, the original release. This has aged wonderfully: in the bottle, one still gets the strong orchid with only a hint of the graveyard, and upon application, the orchid steps back to let the patchouli and dirt come forward. I really love this scent, because it smells to me more like what the floor of a deep dark forest smells like, when you dig it up a little. The deep, sweet loam, the slight wildflowers, the herbal resiny patchouli: it's all there, and it smells wonderful in my locket as well.

mine arrived in yesterday's mail as well, and I love the layered smell of them!

When first applied, there is none of the cedar pencil shavings, though a definite wood note pops out when wearing the original release of this blend; and if the bottle is lightly shaken before application, one gets a definite black pepper note, which adds commensurate darkness to this blend. However, as the oil blends with one's personal skin chemistry, lots and lots of resinous, incense-y goodness comes out to play, with the tiniest touch of sweetness to keep it from being too much like Midnight Mass or Cathedral. When I first sniffed this from a decant a couple of years or so ago, I knew it would be a keeper, so I bought a bottle. Age has shown me how right I was to buy this and keep it around because, age has enhanced the goodness of the incense notes, always welcome to my nose. Surprisingly for a resin-based blend, this has plenty of throw but not nearly the staying power I usually receive with resin blends. Still love it -- I just have to reapply more than normal. I wonder if my bottle of the re-release (Dark Delicacies Poe line) has aged as well?

I have a picture in my Flickr BPAL gallery. It's a little fuzzy -- my camera didn't want to focus on it. *grumble* Once again, I want to thank TwilightEyes for the wonderful resource she provides with her flickr gallery of BPAL pictures!

Sage with orris, Florentine iris and a drop of civet. Civet can be iffy, but in this blend it’s exactly the wild note needed to deepen the iris, sage, and orris of this Poe line perfume. At first sniff, one might be a bit put off by the civet (it can be a bit overwhelming) but it calms down somewhat and the loveliness of the iris and sage combination comes forward, along with the orris (which is a longtime Southern potpourri scent). I love this blend; it’s feminine but untamed -- the tigress rather than the cow.

My nose, untrained as it is, can discern no lemon in this blend at all. For me, this is a good thing, on the whole. The vetiver and patchouli are together a dark heavy base from which the musk and plum try vainly to escape. They do not succeed, managing only to lighten the darkness slightly, adding sweetness (the plum) and sex (the musk). Bottom line: I love this blend. I love its dark sinuous beauty. I love that it lasts practically forever, and I don’t have to bury my nose in my arm to smell it. I love that it smells just as good in my locket as on me. As with The Masque, I have a bottle from both releases: the Demon in My View, and the Retail Exclusive for Dark Delicacies. They smell exactly the same in the bottle, just like the Masque, so I’m looking to have Lenore with me a good long time. Yay!

I have bottles of both releases of this blend: the original for the Into the Maelstrom line, and its resurrection for the Retail Exclusive Dark Delicacies line. There is little to no difference (at least to my nose) of the formulation of these blends, so age is the dividing line, in my opinion. The older blend is what I'm wearing today, and it is exquisitely beautiful on my skin. Aged to perfection; that’s the bottom line. This blend’s lighter notes have given way to wonderfully lovely patchouli-amber-clove-sandalwood, with honey adding just a tinge of sweetness. I get practically no floral notes at all, and in my opinion that is not something to mourn. The incense-y goodness of this blend is just amazing, and it lasts on my skin for a good 3-4 hours, with plenty of throw. I’m hoping the Dark Delicacies release will age the same way, but since I probably won’t use that bottle until this one is done, I have a lot of goodness to look forward to in the future. Yum!

Ack! What once smelled sweet and luscious now smells sour and icky. Jasmine, you hateful wretch, you betray me once again. Sadly, I couldn’t bear wearing this blend... I hunted down a bottle when a decant seduced me into love. That love has now departed, along with my $ to the eBay seller. Woe.

This is one of the few blends which list honey as a note that made a fan of me...the honey in this blend underlines and supports the other notes rather than overwhelms them, and because I like most florals, that’s a good thing. I never thought about a dry lotus root as a note in a perfume...but it really does lend a lovely base for the ‘fae flowers’ which are also listed as notes. This is a somnolent, lazy sort of scent, perfect for a Sunday afternoon’s worth of reading on the couch or outside in a chaise. I don't know what this blend smelled like new, but age has not hurt it, at least not in my opinion. Enjoy it ...if you can find it.

yay! This blend's lemon is refreshing, not overwhelming -- by no means is this the lemon which doesn't work on me, the lemon that seems more Pledge than Sunkist. Also, I love the greens, the rosemary and the other herbs in this blend, which are very subtle and temper the lemon very well. This makes me think of that old cologne, 4711, but in a good way: this is just as bracing and refreshing as I remember 4711 smelling in my grandparents’ house, only this is a scent I wear. That sounds a little weird, I know. It's not that this smells like that older cologne, but the effect (on me) is the same, and I love it. ETA: I also have the 2005 and 2007 bottles; I've linked the year to the review, and will review the 2005 eventually.

After applying and allowing the oil to sit on my wrist for a while, Ouija has a definite cologne smell to me. Very floral (and not entirely pleasantly floral at that). I do not smell any woody notes at all, which is a disappointment because I love the Lab’s wood notes (Twisted Oak Tree is one of my Top 10). I think it might be the lilac which is making this blend so much a drugstore cologne smell to me, because I don’t get any sense of rose at all, but since I don’t know what osmanthus smells like, I can’t say it isn’t part of the problem also. I’m hanging onto this imp for later trying, but it’s not what I want to smell like today.

Strawberry Moon was sold during the time when there were no 'art' labels. I had a plain label on my Strawberry Moon bottle too, so don't worry!

There’s a candy-like note in this when first applied that is not appealing. I think it may be the honey wine; I’m not a fan of wine notes, and honey lately has not worked well for me either. I was truly hoping for more lilac than my nose detects in this blend, but all I got was Bit-O-Honey. Where’s the myrrh, the resins? For that matter, where's the lilac?

Roses, yes, but the spices do not appear; and the rose is a weak-smelling rose to me, with a slight oiliness in the scent, like it's a lotion or something. I like my roses a bit more ‘take charge’ and with a little attitude. This is a namby-pamby rose and since this is an Imp Trial, I deem this blend not bottle-worthy. 1 star, because it is a rose blend, after all.

Wow. Maybe it’s because I woke up with a pounding headache this morning, but this scent is not a happy experience for me today. Someone above me in this thread described this blend as '...doctor's office.' I cannot possibly improve on that in any way, because to my nose, that is exactly what this imp smells like: a doctor's office, with that thin overlay of floral air freshener trying to alleviate the recently used antiseptic cleaner. I’m going to hang on the the imp for another try when my brain isn’t feeling too small for my skull, but for today? It’s a wash.

S-o-o-o-o disappointed in my first wearing of this Lunacy. I loved Flower Moon 05, and after seeing the notes of this one, anticipated loving it as much. However, upon application last nght, all I could smell was dry, powdery pot pourri -- it was like trying to sleep on the couch in a respectable spinster’s parlor. I’m going to keep this in rotation for another try, but it’s not looking good...

The promise of a rose: red rose petals, fresh sap, and the sharp green scent of stem and leaf. this is the true picture of a rose: not the full, lush red rose of passion, but more the deep pink rose of a young woman on the brink of love. The green, the thorns, the petals: all are present in this blend, and very pleasantly so. This rose blend is lovely, I am enjoying it, and its throw is quite good, but the staying power is sadly lacking. Less than an hour after application it is gone, leaving only the smallest whisp of rose memory behind. I think an imp will be enough, because I have such a LOT of rose blends which I also love and which have more staying power.

Upon first application, I wasn't sure I could keep wearing this blend; I am normally a total fan of the Lab's dirt notes, but this one had a sour smell to it which made me a bit queasy. However, I persevered and the drydown was much more pleasant: still a dirt note, but the sourness had blossomed (heh!) into a garden freshly turned, with a few blooming spring blossoms lending a bit of sweetness to the soil scent. I wasn't quite brave enough to try it in my scent locket, as I believe it was my own skin chemistry which changed the initial sourness to sweet, but it did well enough just on my skin. I think the imp is going to be enough of this blend for me, though.

This blend is lighter on me than I was expecting, given the darkness of the notes identified by the Lab. Amber, at least most ambers, does not work well on me, but this seems to be an exception. It is a sweet scent, wafting to my nose from my scent locket, and there’s not much ‘dark’ to this blend. Surprising, considering its namesake is one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest and gloomiest of works. I was also expecting to smell more incense to this, given two of the notes are incense in nature (sandalwood, frankincense), and also some citrus (the neroli). They are there only in the lightest sense, but are there. I like this sent, though I’m not sure I need more than my imp of it.

A tropical, humid, lush scent, with a faint echo of Pacific breezes, jungle blossoms, and deep wet woods. Sampaguita blossoms, banana leaf, palm, and narra. I really like the vague banana note I get when first sniffing/applying this blend; but... Yeah, there's a 'but' coming in this review. The downer (for me, anyway) is an unpleasant scorched something behind the banana, which comes out a few minutes after application. I am not familiar with much of what is listed as the notes in this blend, so I really don't know what makes it smell scorched on me, but it's too unpleasant to wear for the whole day. I washed it off, and wore something else instead. Sadly, I must mark this blend with an "X" for (Doesn't Work for Me), but I'm hanging on to the bit I have to retest again someday, just in case.

I wore this the same day I received a leaky package from an eBay seller, and the leaky package overpowered everything, including Florence! After I scrubbed everything the package had touched, burned a tart, and took a shower myself, I finally rid myself of the intruding scent, and could appreciate the goodness which is Florence. Florence (the city) is a 'must-see' of mine, so I was happy to include this scent in my 'must-try' list from the Lab. A subsequent imp convinced me that this was a bottle-worthy scent, but before I ordered another bottle, 3 more imps found their way to me and made a nice roller-ball bottle instead! I am a fan of the iris note, so that was what I really looked forward to when first trying Florence (the blend). However, all I get when sniffing is an excellent spicy amber -- no iris, and no berries either! Perhaps that is due to the imps' age, or maybe it's just my own skin chemistry at work, but it's not a problem because there are other good iris blends. Amber and I don't always get along, so a blend which features amber prominently and loves me is a definite keeper. It has moderate throw, and moderate stay because I have to lift my locket to my nose, and reapply to my skin fairly often to keep this blend smellable. Don't care, love it, 2 stars!