allinmyhead

LITTLE PYTHIA Ever since toddler’dom, Lilith has had a thing for tarot cards. What kid wouldn’t? They’re big, they’re colorful, and each of them has a story to tell. She has her own decks now (Rider Waite and Thoth), but she still steals mine all the time. This pic was accidental, and, to me, hilarious. She was playing with her Thoth deck when out of nowhere, she grabbed these cards and smooshed them on her cheeks. I’m not sure why she did it, but I’m hella glad I had a camera handy! Channeling Uncle Al, perhaps? An incense for a budding baby magus: vanilla frankincense and rose champaca with a little bit of red licorice. First? I'm first? In the bottle: Oh this is a happy smell. It's soft and sweet and comforting with a little bit of dryness. I'm not really picking out anything specific, but I like. Definitely not getting the licorice. Which is OKAY! Wet: Hm. I think that's the licorice. But it's not sickly sweet like I thought it was going to be. A little floral ... some of the dryness is coming through too. I'm guessing that dryness is the frankincense. Drydown: Well here's another change. Hellooo rose champaca! I didn't expect you to come out quite that strong. You can go away now. Dry: This is very interesting! I sniff my wrist and feel like I just walked into a little used bookstore! That scent of the books, the pages ... that soft, sweet, dry smell that only book paper has. But these books have been touched and loved and have all of the skin smells and the soft lotions and perfumes of a hundred hands have fragranced the pages beyond the simple lush book smell. I love it! I'm craving a bit more of the vanilla sweetness, but I hope that comes out with a bit of age.

I really shouldn't have tried this fresh out of the box. I'm so unsure about it now. In the bottle: Hellloooo PINE! Clove? This is SHARP. Wet: Painfully sharp. Pine-sol and clove. Vanilla? Where are you? Carnation? Hell, I'd even take leather at this point! Ew. Drydown: Pine-Sol. Even the hubs asked what I'd been cleaning. Meh. Dry: I think I'm out of the forest now. I smell that clove and the carnation has finally blossomed out of the needles on the ground. This one may be a keeper after some age, but I don't know. That pine is going to have to behave exceptionally well or Sylvia is going off to the pound

In the bottle: RUM! Butter Rum though. Not super sharp, but you know it's got a punch. Wet: Butter Rum! Less alcoholic bite and more butter. This is awesome! Like the best butter rum candy I could ever have! Seriously, there is a moment where I want to lick my arm This will be awesome on those days where I want to wear something super fun and yummy.

This starts off promising with the sweetness and candy edge, but it turns to all rose on me. Now, I do like roses, but these are sharp roses with loads of fresh green stems with them. Meh. I'll probably hang onto my bottle for a whole to see if it settles down. If not, I'm sure there will be someone to give it a home

This is different. Not really what I was expecting, but that's not really a bad thing. I was thinking Love's Philosophy would be this soft, sweet, floofy vanilla thing. Not so much. In the bottle I get vanilla. But there's something stinging in there. Is that the saffron? It's got bite, but isn't really sharp. Hm. Wet is ... odd. I dabbed this on in the car (obviously annoying the Mr. heh) and kept sniffing my wrists. AHA! Teaberry gum! With vanilla! What? There's no mint in this but I, like so many others, am getting a minty blast. It won't last though. The mint fades on drydown and ... there's that candle. Oof. Now, I love me a good vanilla candle, but I don't really want to wear one. It only lasts a moment though. Good. Dry is good. Real good. Sniffable and sniffable and sniffable good. Creamy vanilla with a smattering of spicy warmth to it. The saffron isn't in-your-face at all, but adds this bazaar market kind of quality to it. I may have to seek another bottle of this.

*sigh* I've had this bottle of Banshee Beat for ... three years now? A while at any rate. I mean, vanilla? patchouli? How could things get much better than that? I remember not being impressed when I bought it. Let's see how some time in the cigar box has changed her. Aged BB In the bottle: Woah! Dirty! Very earthy patchouli and a bit of sweetness and ... grass? That would have to be the hemp. Wet: There's the vanilla peeking through (ahhh) and the patchouli is there, but it seems to have dusted itself off coming out of the bottle. Nowhere near as dirty. Grass is gone. Drydown: Oh, here's where I get all sad panda. Pencil shavings!!! No!!!! Granted, they seem to be shavings from a very high-end pencil, but they are pencil shavings still. Boo. Dry: The pencil shavings seem to be going away now thankfully. Mmmm ... this is nice I don't get the intense sexyness that some describe. For me, Banshee Beat is a nice, soft, sweetly alluring all-purpose fragrance. I could (and am!) easily wear this to work. This is such a morpher! It ends up being this amazingly comforting, warm and sweet scent. This is the kind that makes me want to curl up by a fire in my favorite jeans and snuggly sweater and watch the snow fall outside. Very pretty.