Lunaratu

Gentle tea rose, lilac, Calla Lily, and Somalian Rose layered over golden Peruvian amber, Spanish moss, red sandalwood, rosewood, and myrrh, with the lightest touch of Mandarin. This is floral soap. Soap, that’s all…and I had hopes for this one. Rating: 2/5 Edited to add description

Strongly floral right off the bat. I can smell the myrtle and the jasmine over everything else but I’m going to let it settle down to dry and then see how it smells. Yet it never settles down—it’s strongly floral but the type of floral which is starting my allergies to act up. This isn’t all that good. aw, well, another for the swaps pile... Rating: 2.5/5

Very Earl Grey black tea with lemon—strongly so. With some ginger hints in there as well. And then on dry down it ends up smelling baby-diaperish mixed with that tea scent. I believe it’s the milk doing this to me. am i the only person this seems to not work on? so many people seem to have had good experiences with the White Rabbit and yet he just doesn't like me on drydown. and I had such high hopes for him.... Rating: 2/5 Throw: light

this is sweetly herbal on me but in an extremely resinous way. this is a muggy scent in a way, as weird as that might sound. however, that seems to evoke the lushness of the Nile delta very well, like a sunset over the Nile. As Nefertiti dries the iris comes out and increases the Nile delta imagery. This is the scent that if you close your eyes you can imagine sitting near the embankment of the Nile in Egypt. There is the lush scent of all the herbs, juicy flowers, and resinous/dry quality mixed together. It's sweet but a little overpowering for me. This would go very well on a woman who pared down to a simple elegance and chose to leave a trail of lush, exotic aroma as she walked. I would hope I'm simply elegant but I also like scents that stick much closer to me rather than leave a trail. Rating: 3/5

ok, this started off as a definite tangerine citrus scent (i guess it's the mikan or the satsuma tangerine coming through at this point). it has this kind of sweet but tart citrus quality to it. and then it gets really bitter for a few minutes there. very very citrus bitter--like the rind of a grapefruit. which is not exactly my thing but i'll hang in for a few more minutes because I would love to start smelling the cherry blossom here. it sweetens back up after a bit but it's still extremely citrus-heavy with only a tiny bit of the cherry blossom coming out. Aizen-myoo seems to be a scent for those citrus lovers out there. it's just a shame i'm not one of those--i was hoping for more of the cherry blossom in this. the waft is a pretty, fresh, and sweet scent but the direct sniff is what does not appeal to me so much. Rating: 3.5/5

ok, i do not pick up peach or spices like I was hoping--Has no Hanna is more like sweet musky generic floral on me. there's also something in this that is irritating my nose (it tickles way in the back) everytime i sniff it directly. not a good sign. Rating: 2/5

Wet: I can pick up a lot of the woods, or woods related notes, and the leather in this. dry down: initially this has some subtle sweetness and spice with the grounding of the woods. there is something very grounded and slightly autumn about this. it's warm but with woodsy spice. i really like this! it's comforting and I can see scenting my living room with this. it's that perfect scent reminding me of warm fall days, a breeze blowing through large trees with a crispness to the air and the sun beating down. i don't know if i smell the leather in this but i pick up the sense of it--but the type of leather that reminds me of worn books and pages which have soaked up the spicy scent of woods. It's wonderful. This is Tintagel but the Tintagel you read about in an old book growing up as you dream about the battles and the magic of Merlin. This is love, battles, and the continuance of life even in the face of death. i'm thinking about rubbing it into my wood furniture and seeing how gorgeous it makes the room smell... Rating: 4/5 Throw: Light--it's a skin scent that hovers very close.

putting this on i can pick up the delicate light florals immediately...and the herbs follow pretty closely in time. The Unicorn is very pretty. I was tentative about this scent because I wanted to like it sooo much. my favorite animal growing up was the unicorn and I still have a mural depicting one in my apartment. it's very strong up close but the scent projected as it wafts is very lovely. the herbs and sweet light florals make this innocent and sweet but fresh as well. it reminds me of this story I read involving a "Unicorn Pool" where it's a pool in the middle of the forest in a tiny clearing that has healing properties. it has that fresh clean quality of a pretty pool surrounded by the delicate herbs and florals that would surround such a pool. scents that are clean, sweet, herbal, and comforting. i could see this aging really pretty with those herbs coming out more as it does age. it is definitely a luminous, wispy, elusive, and free unicorn staring at you in a small clearing with a pool illuminated by moonlight. there is something very magical about this. Rating: 3.5/5 Throw: Low

wet: this is musky and astringent--ick! but from the other reviews i think i'll stay with it and see how it settles... it becomes very dry almond candy in a few minutes but it has an almost distinctive almond scent that verges on fake. not exactly for me. sad but true. Rating: 2/5 Throw: low

When this first went on this smelled a lot of guava--but I love guava! I happen to drink those cans of guava juice when I can find them so this was a happy scent to me. I don't sense a weeping clown at the moment in this. xanthe is more like a bright summer day. and then it settles into something so brilliant and wonderful. the spice comes out and the sweetness of the guava and the sugar rounds out with the pepper to become sensual yet bright. there is also a hint of freshness that is coming out with the sugary-spice that uplifts this which I think is the orange peel. I love this and I will definitely be upgrading it to a bottle because it is fabulous on me! wow, i expected to like this but not love this the way I do. guess me and the vampiric clown really get along here Rating: 5/5 Throw: Light to low--it's a little more than a skin scent but it still also has a very close bubble of throw.

This started off smelling like the darkest most luscious raspberries (which I'm guessing is the huckleberry). it's a sweet scent but darkly, fruity sweet. then it gets just a tiny bit of tartness to it--but enough to make it smell a bit like eating the pink starburst (which I love!)....and then something a tiny bit herbal pops up. I'm getting very pretty wafts of it as I'm typing. something darkly fruity but not strictly so--makes me think definitely of the Jester character. the merry appearance but the deeper qualities to him. it gets a little perfumey after a bit--i think it's the neroli or some combination causing this. i definitely am glad to have tried but I don't think it's a bottle purchase. Rating: 3/5 Throw: Low but still present--it hovers in a small circle around you.

ok, when I first put on Alice I was scared by the extreme HERBAL nature of it that came roaring out--in fact, i crinkled my nose at it. However, when it dried down it became sweetly creamy, slightly spicy floral with that tiny bit of tea in the background. the dry-down is comforting and pretty....and then it goes slightly sour on me with that bit of the herbal in the background. it smells like soured milk now. dangit! it was pretty in the initial dry-down but once it really settled into my skin it stopped behaving. at least it's subtle however....and then it goes back to the initial dry-down stage...this one keeps throwing me for love it/hate it loops. i really dislike the scent when it's misbehaving and really like it when it does behave. i am so drawn on this... Rating: 3/5 Throw: Light.

This was my pleasant surprise at the recent MnS--I thought the black musk would roar through and destroy the Minotaur on me so i didn't even bother with a decant let alone a bottle. However, i took a chance and tried it at the MnS and was glad to have tried it. When it first dried down it became a light but deeply resinous blend with some spice almost like a light frankincense on me...and then on extreme dry down it became Nag Champa (but in a very good way) on me! completely not what I was expecting but pleased to have tried it nonetheless.

when I first applied this it was a sweet, dark sugary scent. like melted sugar candy of some sort. as it tried the spiciness of the carnation and the freshness of the orange in the orange flower. it's also rather creamy in sensation though I don't know if it's because the sugar is a creamy caramel type of sugar. zarita is darkly sweet, deep, with some light floral sweetness. she comes across as both sweet and darkly mysterious. i really do like her. she's intriguing but at the same time in a way that's the typical noir dangerous vixen. she's deadly but irresistable and sweet. wonderful. Rating: 4/5 Throw: light

I'm so sad because I thought I would really like this and then it went on all GINGER on me and kinda stayed that way. once it dried down I could pick up something sweet trying to poke its head out from under the ginger but the ginger is definitely just stomping away over everything going "look at me! me!" it's strong and not for me. Rating: 2/5

first off, i have to say that the label is PURPLE with orange letters for all those waiting in suspence over that also, my bottle of 13 was also clear...i don't why someone got chocolate colored oil, hmm... ok, initially this smells almost minty/spicy with the chocolate giving it a DARK feel--not really all that foody at all. almost more resinous and sweet but with that lusciousness of heavily cacao chocolate. and it dries down into that same scent with a bit more of the cacao-dark chocolate rising from underneath the spices/herbs. it's spicy in an herby way and it is not technically foody either. but there is a very light sweetness to this 13's chocolate, but almost a more floral sweetness honestly. truthfully, i love it! it's exactly what i was hoping for when I read the notes. it's deep, rich, complex, and like the most expensive chocolate bar in the world that would probably be so complex tasting and full of interesting sensations for the tongue while in an old fashioned store with lovely sandalwood shelving and everything! the sandalwood is just grounding it subtly with some natural spice too that is fabulous. I bought this because at work I always end up smelling like coffee and I hate the smell of coffee--and I thought that the smell of spiced chocolate and herbs would be potent and wonderful enough to combat it! mmm, and I'm getting the most wonderful wafts of smell as I'm typing--both delicate, rich, dark, grounded, and sweet! This is fabulous! Rating: 4/5

oh wow, i was almost first! that would have been an odd experience--glad i'm not ok, i have to start this out by saying that usually rose amps like stale ROSE bath oil on my skin but that I have hope since there are various rose incarnations in bpal and that there are other scents which amp beautifully on my skin to counteract the ROSE show a bit (like the honey here in Lady Luck Blues) Wet: Pure rose, but an actually nice rose. This is a rose that is finally behaving itself on me…at least thusfar. Initial dry-down:…and then it turns into ALL ROSE. dang it! at least it’s an ok rose but it’s all rose all the time kind of idea and I wished for a little more complexity—I was hoping for a bit of smoky sweetness alongside the rose to temper it but no deal. dang—now I have to consider whether I want to swap it off or not…. However, it does turn subtle and has almost no throw so I’m hoping with some aging Lady Luck Blues will get more smoky and sweet and all the scents round out and play with each other better (since it does go back and forth between that pretty rounded scent and a tiny bit softened ROSE). Rating: 3/5

have you tried Tweedledee from the Mad Tea Party section? it definitely smells like green fruit candy, i think because of the kumquat and whatnot. at first it's a blast of sweet fruit but then it rounds out and sticks closer to the skin. hope that helps!

mandragora included this lovely imp in with my order of Pink Moon '07 from her--and wow did she guess right that it would be amazing on me! at first tweedledee was very juicy and sweet--but with the underlying freshness of the orange flower/white tea. and then he deepened and became slightly sexy. still warm, sweet, but with a little something extra thrown in which I believe is due to the white pepper. tweedledee is my first of the mtp that i've tried and I am not disappointed in any way (which is good since most of the scents i seem to want to try are part of the mtp). he is wonderful and i can just hear him and his brother reciting the walrus and the carpenter right now. this scent is also perfect at the moment because it's pouring outside and a little nippy--tweedledee is that perfect warm sweetness, with that hint of spice and clean, to banish all ennui that the rain might cause. i can't help but smile as I sniff tweedledee on my wrist and i'm very tempted to up him to a bottle already. Rating: 3.5/5 Throw: Low to good--tweedledee likes to stick close to me but as I move I can subtly smell him wafting up from my wrists like sexy yummy fruity goodness

Ok, this starts off with a confused attitude on me: it both smells like sweet cream and like a little bit of sour milk. This has me worried. However, once it mellows down and dries a bit it becomes so down to earth, with a sensual sweet warmth. Mmm—I definitely pick up on the fig, date, and the honey with a touch of the pomegranate and sweet cream thrown in there for good measure. However, my right wrist is still making this a tiny bit sour and a part of me wonders if it’s the pomegranate or the grapes—I haven’t tried a scent with these two elements before. However, my left wrist smells divine. If I smelled food that had this aroma I’d be gobbling it down in a second. What’s funny is that it feels slightly resinous since it’s so well blended into the skin with a amber-esque glow. I love the scent on my left wrist but my right wrist is giving me some worries since it still smells slightly sour. I’ll probably let it relax a couple of days and then try it again. And then it turns into a tropical frozen drink! Like a frozen fruit pìna colada with honey drizzled on top and slice of pineapple for garnish—one problem with this scenario: I hate coconut. Dang it! I don't know what to do. It's an ok scent, I don't hate it but I certainly don't love it (but I love the artwork on the bottle). and here I had such high hopes for it and now i'm waffling on how I feel about it. Rating: 2/5

frimp from the lab! I don't know if anyone else got this but Thanatos smells almost exactly like Danse Macabre to me--in fact it's so close I can't really tell the difference at all. There's a slight trace of the rose to perhaps differentiate this but that's about it. Perhaps woods just amp on me because Danse Macabre and Thanatos have not one ingredient in common! or maybe the benzoin in this mixed with the sandalwood smells like the frankincense mixed with black cypress in Danse Macabre. I'm just extremely puzzled by the very close similarity, though I do think I like this scent a bit better because it has that slight floral trace breaking up the *wood* scent. still, a very nice scent with an incense and exotic woods quality (and some florals wafting in a bouquet somewhere in the distance), comforting and slightly religious smelling. So I'll definitely keep the frimp but I don't foresee a bottle in my future just yet. Rating: 3/5

Sensual ecstasy, the blinding red fire of the apex of sexual pleasure: Moroccan rose, Sumatran rose, mandarin, Egyptian myrrh, night-blooming jasmine, bergamot and neroli thrust into Arabian musk. All rose all the time. That's what this is on me. Rapture goes back and forth between a stale rose scent and a sharp rose scent--either one is not good. I can smell at times the Arabian Musk trying to poke its head through but the rose has it so thoroughly muffled that it's barely a blip here and there. I'm glad the lab included a frimp of this in with my latest order because I wanted to try it--sad that, yet again, the rose in this scent does not work on me, overpowering all the other lovely elements in Rapture. I think I'll continue my dedicated relationship with carnation--no, rose, I will not have an affair with you for you are just not doing it for me. also, within half an hour of putting this on it practically disappeared leaving just a slight sharp rose wake in its exit--though the peeping Arabian musk does pop up a bit more in the sharpness to create a little bit of spice, finally, in this almost gone stage. yep, rose and I are just not made for each other. sorry, rose. Rating: 2/5

I got the same thing as browneyes: no leather whatsoever in this scent, just an extremely perfumey rose. i should have known since rose likes to over-power anything else on my skin and become quickly faux rose smelling. whip isn't cloying but the rose scent just won't go away and I DO NOT like straight rose scents. :sigh: guess this means the two of us will not get along. that's why it's wonderful the lab includes frimps--it means you have more chances to learn what does and does not work with your chemistry. Rating: 1/5

I got this as a frimp from the lab quite awhile back and I thought I had reviewed it already but I realized as I was going through my new batch of frimps that I actually hadn't. Well I'm glad I took the time to try it again. I must have tried it at a wrong point before because it didn't leave much of an impression. However, this time I had to keep sniffing as it went through all of its stages. The Scales of Deprivation started out warm and slightly masculine with some spice. And then the frankincense came out to play with the sandalwood and i fell in love. This is amazing and smells exactly like church incense! It's the smell of beautiful sleek wood that has soaked in the scent of the incense after many years. It's wonderful and comforting. What's amazing to me is that I can't detect the lavender which usually roars on my skin to a horrible degree and the lemon note is probably what's adding that tiny sharpness to the frankincense. The Scales of Deprivation is smoky and smooth and slightly spicy all at the same time. I just can't get over how it smells exactly like old wooden catholic art--my godfather collects it and this smells exactly like his apartment. Maybe I should get a bottle of this for him--he'd go mad for it. Throw: light--it stays very close to the skin Rating: 3.5/5

yeah, frimp from the lab! first on this is so incredibly sharp and pungent on me that I'm left coughing. However I have hope since so many of these reviews sound pretty so i'm gonna keep my nose away from my wrist for a bit and check back after awhile. After a bit Nocturne has softened with the lilac really starting to come out and I love the smell of fresh lilacs! however, there is still something sharp (i'm guessing from the violet or the tuberose) that is messing this up even though it has softened down. It's reminding me of the Easter bouquets that the church would have where my mom, who's an opera singer, sang on the holidays. Nocturne is almost overwhelmingly floral so I guess this needs to be applied very sparingly on me because while I love to smell actual lilac blossoms I don't know if I like the smell of all these florals on me. Basically it smells like really harshly scented floral soap. I might try someone's suggestion and use this imp in my bath at some point soon--it might be really pretty there since scents usually disappear in my tub. maybe something that is a bit stronger on me will actually leave something of a scent this time. Throw: way too good--I can smell it constantly wafting around me. lightly but still wafting Review: 3/5 (for the something in this that hates me)