LiberAmoris

I bought Take a Knee to support the cause, but am really enjoying the scent even though I'm not someone who loves apple pie. This is pure apple pie and a drop of grass, a simple combination that's really uplifting. We have so many great fall apple scents, and I love that this one feels more like it sits in springtime territory. It's bright and happy!

Chocolate Pumpkin Floss is a simple pleasure: pumpkin spices and a hint of pumpkin itself with milk chocolate. Similar to Pumpkin Brownies, if you subtracted the sour cream note and dialed the spice back just a bit. As with PB, surprisingly wearable and very yummy.

White Pumpkin Floss is my favorite of the two flosses I tried this year. This smells like spicy pumpkin, vanilla, marshmallow, and a wan bit of chocolate—it's scrumptious.

2017 version: I've never tried September Midnight before...it's a little bit like an autumnal Persephone! The combination of the amber chypre, myrrh, and black pomegranate is harmonious. If you love the black pomegranate note, you should definitely give this a go. Juicy pom on top, and underneath, hints of dry autumn days—turning trees and golden sun.

In a Whispering Gallery is such a pale, light scent. This is refined and genteel. Wet, the leather and iris are the strongest notes, but the sandalwood and tobacco flower float up as it dries. The bergamot is very subtle on me. A couple of hours after dabbing on, it's a very luminous sandalwood—smelling a bit like a fancy pair of white leather gloves or a fancy soap from Italy. Very courtly somehow, and super wearable. I bet this would layer beautifully with the Post's Skeleton White hair gloss.

2017 version: Hallow-e’en, 1914 is really evocative. Wet, the maple leaf and ivy notes are strongest on me, smelling reminiscent of the dead leaves note. The grave dirt note is also really prominent, and the combination is perfect for conjuring up late October. As it dries, the cypress and honeyed fig come to the fore. The honeyed fig is particularly welcome as it adds a touch of sweetness. The notes here work really well together to create a portrait of a time and place. For those who love the scent of leaves and dirt, and who want an intensely atmospheric scent that doesn't skew gourmand.

Haunted Seas is definitely a dark aquatic. This is the water under dark skies, more grey and black than blue. I get ozone and saltwater plunged into opoponax and labdanum. As it dries, the resins settle and the water rises, so this ends as a tempest-tossed sea recovering after a storm. For those who like their aquatics on the moody side.

I was so curious about Pumpkin Chypre—the description of a pumpkin-y auburn chypre was compelling. The chypre category in perfumery is one I like, although not at the beginning of my perfume explorations—it took me a while to appreciate it. This is definitely a twist on the category. I get dry pumpkin, a touch of dead leaves, oakmoss, perhaps a drop of bergamot and lavender, and a breath of golden amber? It starts off 'cologney', as chypres do, but it quickly warms up to something sweeter on my skin. My husband smelled it on me and requested his own bottle.

Cardamon Cream Pumpkin Cake is lighter and less foody than I was expecting, in a nice way. The cardamom and cream are the most prominent notes, and make this a lightly milky-sweet and brightly aromatic scent. The pumpkin cake actually trails for me, supporting with a little starchiness and a very wearable level of pumpkin. The cinnamon is definitely present at all stages, but it's not stronger than the cardamom note on me. This dries down to a cream-forward scent with nice hints of other notes.

I love Gingerbread Haunted House. It smells just like a gingerbread house to me: the icing is there, I smell a bit of red hots, gummies, licorice, and a bit of chocolate and pretzel. And of course, the awesome gingerbread note itself, which is the main player here. Making gingerbread houses at Christmastime was something my mom, my brother, and I would do each year...then we'd try (and fail) not to pick the candy off as the days went on. This is a great capture of that scent memory for me, and makes for a very fun perfume.

Cinnamon Chai Cupcake smells like a vanilla cupcake with caramel-chai buttercream frosting on top. I was expecting more chai or a black tea note that's more prominent, but the cupcake and vanilla notes pull more weight, at least on me. Sometimes vanilla doesn't engage well with my skin chemistry, and that might be happening here. Even so, I'll set this aside to see if a little aging is clarifying, because I really like the milky chai.

Pumpkin Brownies was such a fun surprise. On me, it's like Bliss + spicy pumpkin pie with a dollop of sour cream. The combo is surprisingly toothsome, especially since foodie pumpkin isn't always my thing.

Another Cathedral fan here. Of the 'Pumpkin Spice Whatever' blends I've tried this year, this is the one with the most prominent pumpkin spice note. It's an interesting mix with Cathedral's ecclesiastical resins, and I may ultimately prefer my Cathedral without spices. But I'm going to set this aside for some agin because there's something really compelling about the dusty woodsy resiny notes in Cathedral mixing with the pumpkin pie spices. Reminds me a bit of some cinnamon-laced woods that were burned to add flavor to a cocktail I tried once.

Here's the thing: Snake Oil is just so delightful that it mixes well with others and pumpkin spice is no exception. This is a spicier Snake Oil on me that somehow manages to smell and feel 'lighter' than it does in its usual incarnation. I imagine this will do well with some aging, and I look forward to pulling out the bottle next fall for some more wear.

I love Perversion, and Pumpkin Spice Perversion is a nice twist on a BPAL classic. Wet, the pumpkin spice is evident, but this dries down to a slightly richer Perversion on me, a heady mix of rum and tobacco and leather and tonka with a bit of oaky chardonnay.

I wish I could buy a whole bottle of Silence. The gardenia fights the cedar a bit in the beginning when wet, but it calms down pretty quickly into gardenia and woods, with lavender filling in the cracks. It's an unexpected combo, but very relaxing. Somehow these notes conjure up a phantom note of white coconut, and I get drifts of that as the day goes on. The gardenia is GORGEOUS. Super calming, a perfect scent to release at this time of year when the holidays make life a bit stressful. I'm glad I have my imp of Silence to take things down a notch at the end of the day!

Dead Leaves, Bourbon, Black Cherry, and an Orange Twist = Dead Leaves Old Fashioned! This is a dead-on, dead leaves version of an Old Fashioned cocktail. Boozy scents aren't always my friends but the bourbon here is restrained. It has a caramel edge that's really nice. The black cherry and orange twist aren't too loud either, and the dead leaves note, which can run bitter on my skin, smells like a suggestion of dead leaves rather than a leaf pile that's buried the other notes. Well-balanced, just like a good cocktail. I'll really enjoy this one.

Krampus Lace is festive red musk goodness. This starts out honey-sweet red musk with tobacco and leather on me and dries down to red musk with vanilla cream. It reminds me of a 'Yule red' version of Creeper Dragon, as it has that same vibe with leather, red musk, honey, and cream merrily intersecting. I'm really glad a nabbed a bottle!

The sufganiyots are always a good Yule investment. Blackcurrant Sufganiyot pairs the yummy pastry note with blackcurrant filling, which to me smells like a mix of blackcurrant and other black berries. It's so mouth-wateringly delicious, and the pastry-fruit balance remains evenly split, through wet and drydown on me.

A very pretty iris—stately, slightly powdery, and dry. Definitely get both the rooty element of iris as well as the blossom. Nice on its own, but I'm sure it will also be great layered.

Me too! It's so relaxing and pretty...I love dotting some on a couple of hours before bed to help me start winding down for the evening.

Clown White would also have been great, I think! It smells like greasepaint, reminiscent of oil paint.

Cafe du Monde, all the way. I got Mornings in New Orleans in 2014 and wear it sometimes on Sunday mornings because it reminds me of when I lived in NOLA. Sniffing my wrists isn't as evocative as enjoying the sillage that floats up as chicory coffee with milk and a hint of beignet. The pastry note is less forward than the coffee, which is perfect for me. After a while, a slightly salty floral note emerges which always surprises me. I like it, it reminds me of the city as well—smells almost as if a few drops of New Orleans (the BPAL scent) was added.

how does it compare to the irresponsibly unwatered christmas tree? I've never smelled that one! Perhaps someone else can chime in with their thoughts.

I have to say I'd sort of planned to skip this one because of so many evergreen blends I love, but with this endorsement, I had to give it a try! Thanks for the bump! Oh good, I hope you love it!