Wwindy

(Note: This review is for the 2014 version) While I'm not usually big on the "cold" scents, this one is very pleasant, and not scary at all! After it dries down I get a predominantly mint-grapefruit combo with a bit of frankincense and very faint hints of a light floral. Overall, it leaves a clean, slightly sweet, light green/white impression -- nice for when you want something cool and invigorating without being overpowering. The only problem is it's very fleeting -- I had to apply about double the amount of BPAL I usually put on in order to get any kind of lasting scent.

So much bay leaf! The other notes here seem nice enough, but that one element goes terribly sour and sharp on my skin, and overshadows everything else.

As mentioned above, this winds up surprisingly berry-ish -- I think it's the pear and lavender mixing together to read more like purple fruit. On my skin, it's almost all berries and upscale, "grown-up" patchouli. I'm not able to pick out any sandalwood or sage. Hmmm. I really wanted to like this one, and it's not *bad*, but... in the late 80s/early 90s, my little sister went through a phase where she wore a ton of very fruity Victoria's Secret and other (mall-based) perfumes, and this just reminds me so much of one of those that I'm probably not going to wear it much.

Apple blossom, white sandalwood, and oudh. Oh, this is nice! Many thanks to the kind fairy who picked a bottle up for me. In the bottle, the three notes are each very much in evidence. The apple blossom is light and clean, perched right on the line between fruity and floral; the sandalwood is dry and warm; and the oudh is working that whole dark and earthy thing with all its might. There's something about the mix that reminds me a bit of Chintamani-Dhupa. On my skin, the oudh calms down over time, but it's definitely hanging out providing some structure and richness underneath the other two elements. I'm not going to lie, I suspect those of you who find oudh Band-Aidish may well have that reaction to this blend while it's in the bottle or recently applied -- but give it a chance and see if you can deal with it after the drydown, which leaves me with a lovely balance of the apple-y white floral and warm sexy wood. It seems so appropriate that this is a NYC-themed blend -- it's elegant, unusual, and a little bit dirty all at once! I'm glad to have sprung for it blind, and expect to keep it in rotation.

I smell like a hippie dipped in dark chocolate!!! Seriously, it's like someone took a stick of very warm, rich, tobacco-shaded incense and dunked it in chocolate like a Pocky. Most of the other notes blend together pretty thoroughly on my skin, but I can pick out the saffron (one of my favorite Lab notes), cedar, and patchouli, with hints of champaca and honey smoothing everything out. I'm not getting any particularly noticeable lemon, vanilla, or cognac. I'm not normally keen on foodie or sweet scents, but took a chance on this based on all the incense-y elements, and as it turns out chocolate-dipped hippie is *scrumptious*. I love this 13!

I'm not getting any leather or chocolate at *all* out of this, and I wouldn't even say any identifiable honey. All I get, both in the 5ml and on my skin, is something that hovers between the osmanthus note from Eclat and slightly sweetened tea if I "squint" my nose at it right. I don't know if something went awry in the formulation or what, but there's no leather or chocolate to be found here, although the flowery tea note is reasonably pleasant. I'm a little disappointed... ETA: I have fallen victim to one of the classic blunders!!! Because I didn't see any sediment or dark residue in the 5ml, I didn't roll the bottle. Once I did a better job mixing the oil, ta-da! Suddenly, warm chocolate overtones, a more realistic tea impression, and a tiny bit of what reads mostly as wood rather than a specifically identifiable leather note. The overall scent is now *much* richer and well-rounded. So, revised opinion: This is cozy and jovial, very much a tea-and-music-after-festive-dinner kind of evocation. Nice! Low to medium throw, and relatively short wear length. Don't be like me -- roll your bottles.

Jasmine. Jasmine. One of the three notes in my unholy trinity of "do not wants" (the other two being vetiver and orange/citrus). And this is not stealthy jasmine or subtle jasmine here, oh no. This is big huge in-your-face indolic jasmine. And yet... and yet... I somehow don't hate it? Unlike everything else I've ever tried with jasmine, I didn't have immediate "get it off!" The first time I tested it, I kept thinking "Oh, if only the jasmine weren't here, I would love all the rest of this," but the blend has seriously grown on me. It's got that exotic overblown white floral thing all intertwined with super-delicious, super-sexy honeyed, spiced vanilla and wood, with little whiffs of earthiness from the hay and the ambrette. It's... ugh, I'm going to use a hideously cliched word here, but... it's hypnotic. I cannot stop huffing it. I find myself reaching for this even more often than some blends I count as lifetime favorites! THE SCENT IS A GLOWING WHITE SNAKE THAT I CANNOT STOP STARING AT. PLZ SEND HELP. *ahem* That is to say, I looooooove this. Mmmmm.

This is so good. So, *SO* good. I want to smell like this always and forever! It's a surprisingly gentle scent given the note list -- it just makes a beautiful soft halo of sexy, spicy sandalwood with a touch of sweetness. My one issue is that I wish this came as a perfume oil, as I'm mostly using it on my skin and the scent doesn't last as long as I'd like that way. It holds longer in my hair, but as with all the HGs, I find that applying any more than the tiniest amount on my very fine, wispy hair makes it look oily. Woe! My one consolation is that I enjoy using this as a body spray so much, it's not exactly a hardship to have to re-spray every once in a while.

Not at all what I was expecting based on the flavor text! I don't really pick up anything glittery or flickering out of this. Instead, after a slightly daunting initial sharpness from the borderline harsh green galbanum (don't worry, that note does die down and blend in), it dries down to a smoky, sophisticated, dark green amber. I agree with previous reviewers that this is a big, perfumey chypre -- maybe with more of a hazily elegant glow than a bright flame.

Ah, this is a weird one. Fresh on out of the decant, I get this fascinatingly wild, almost nutty outdoorsy scent -- like somebody plunked a Starbucks down in the middle of a forest clearing. Feral but slightly foody at the same time! After a couple of minutes of drydown I start picking up on the leather and champaca... ah yes, there are definitely awesome hippies in leather vests hanging out at this woodland Starbucks. Aaaaaannnnd... then everything disappears but the cinnamon. I'm left with nothing but dry, spicy cinnamon. It's a shame, because for about five minutes this was a crazy intriguing blend.

I had a problem with Okayaki too -- my decant was all cool and elegant and greyish-green with a bit of creaminess, the overall scent registering like a very soothing upscale spa aroma, and then the bottle I wound up with smelled like powdery orange Pez. Ugh!

This reminds me of a lighter, spring-ier Midnight Mass! It's got that same woody incense plus strong evergreen feel, only brighter and fresher. The other thing it reminds me of is a layering combination I particularly like, Cathedral plus Lights of Men's Lives. The frankincense is very clear and bright-toned, with a slightly citrus-y edge; the myrrh and beeswax round it out and sweeten it nicely. The wood notes were *very* strong on initial application, but have quieted down after a couple of hours, and are now well balanced with the frankincense and a bit of green sharpness from the bamboo. It's nice to have such a lovely springtime option in my woodsy/incense-y repertoire!

Gah! SO GOOD. This is the sexy, earthy hippie scent of my dreams. I don't even know if I can say anything articulate about it, because it's like it just reaches into my brain and pokes the MUST SMELL EXACTLY THIS ALL THE TIME button. I am (sort of not really) ashamed to admit I've been dousing myself with this even though it's atmo spray and the skin on my neck reeeaallly isn't entirely thrilled about that -- the scent is just that fantastic. LiberAmoris's description of the color range seems exactly right to me, with the caveat that the scent itself isn't metallic at all; I get a very warm, smooth patchouli (not gritty or menthol-y at all) rounded out with incredibly rich wood tones and a tiny bit of lift from the green notes. So, yeah, basically I need a vat of this to swim in.

Seriously, I'm going to a Doctor Who burlesque show tonight, and I can't think what BPAL to wear! Hit me with your best (and funniest!) ideas...

So, we didn't actually make it to the September show (I thought we had tickets, but the show had already sold out)... we did, however, make it to last night's repeat performance! I wore Casanova, because that was just too amusing a connection to pass up. Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone. The show was lots of fun! http://ocelotonaleash.com/Stars%20&%20Garters.htm

Be warned: You may need to disregard the previous reviews for this scent! The gingery scent described above is the 'old," light-colored version of Gnome. The Lab says that Gnome is actually supposed to be a dark-colored oil, and that's what they're shipping now; it's a *completely* different scent from the previous version. If you'd like to see a visual comparison, here's an image: This new dark-colored Gnome is very heavy on the "gear lubricant," which is an oily, deep-toned note, followed by some very woody balsam and a bit of peppery smoke. There is virtually no discernable ginger and definitely no fizz at all, at least in my imp.

Gnome update... It's true, the "official" Gnome is nothing at all like the first round of Gnome. Here's a side-by-side photo with an old imp and a recent imp so you can see the dramatic color difference: As mentioned above, the old, light-colored Gnome has lots of fizzy ginger. The dark-colored Gnome is a much deeper-feeling, brown-toned scent; the dark oily "gear lubricant" is most prominent in the imp, followed by a woody note and a hint of smoke. There is no detectable ginger in the dark-colored version. I don't care for this version at all, and am sad to have lost the Gnome I loved...

I don't have much different to add here -- I get the same sharp oaky scent when freshly applied, with a hint of greenery and a fairly masculine vibe, which turns on drydown into a very pleasant, gender-neutral combination of wood plus non-sweet vanilla, with light nut overtones. I really just wanted to note that if your skin is like mine and haaaaaaates some of the Lab's usual bark notes (things that tragically went to pickled feet on me: Whoso List to Hunt, The Wrestler Onogawa Kisaburo Blowing Smoke at a One-Eyed Monster, Kathmandu, The Hesperides, etc. etc. etc.), you may not have a problem here. I'm not having any oak bark issue at all, whee!

Samhain '12 plus a little Punkie Night!

Thanks for that. I too received a frimp of Gnome and it looked and smelled just as you described. I was thinking of ordering one but now I think I'll skip that one. Huh, yeah, the lab told me all they checked their imps and Gnome is a dark oil. I didn't really know what to say to that, looking at the bottle I have next to the imp. I don't know how anyone can smell that oil and think it smells like fizzy ginger. Maybe they bottled up a bunch of the wrong oil? Far be it from me to tell them that they're wrong about their own product, but...yeah, that's not fizzy ginger! Thanks for the validation, I was starting to feel a bit crazy! FWIW, I have an imp of Gnome from, eh, about three/four months ago or so. Mine is a lighter oil and it's definitely fizzy, bubbly, carbonated ginger - makes me think of ginger ale. Velly intellesting . . . Anybody have any updates on Gnome? I love my light-colored, fizzy ginger imp and am sad to be almost out of it -- I'm afraid to order a 5ml if the Lab thinks it's supposed to be something completely different, though!

SCAdians: This smells exactly like Your Inner Vagabond, at Pennsic. No, really! Coffee, overlaid with a little spice and a little sweetness, plus a hit of rosewater. It's *very* evocative.

Half-Elf + Bard = (in the best way!) This is a *fantastic* combination! The sweetness of Bard softens and mellows the slight harshness of the sandalwood that I sometimes get from Half-Elf. I wind up with this amazing cloud of honey-tinged, slightly musky, slightly spicy, woody beeswax with the underlying richness of the oudh plus the brighter top notes of the tea and the... uh... I guess the strings and the brass? Really, really nice.

I'm wearing Economic Recovery today, because we *finally* closed on our refi this morning after months and months of bank nightmares. Hallelujah!!! ...and oh please let this be the start of a better cash flow!

Clear, crisp sandalwood plus overtones of light green, with a touch of musk rounding it out. This is a really nice blend for days when I want something woody/resinous but not too heavy or hippie-ish -- it's rich yet airy at the same time.

Guh! This is one of those blends that I *adore* but can't say much coherent about... Normally I'm not great with fruity notes, but in this blend the lovely rich patchouli and amber make a perfect base for just the right level of sweet-sour tang from the tamarind plus a bit of clean, slightly greenish fig (from sniffing I would've said it was a fig leaf note rather than the fruit, but that might be my chemistry amping the planty aspect of the patchouli). The fruit is a bit tropical-feeling when wet, but that aspect goes away on drydown. There's something incredibly warm and resonant going on here -- much like oudh on my skin. On me this gets a tiny bit powdery but actually isn't overly sweet; the tonka and patch round it out nicely, bringing everything into balance. This is a fruit-and-patchouli scent that works on me -- a non-fruit person -- in sort of the same way that Marotte does; the warm richness keeps the fruit from being too foody or candy-like. I just really, really like this. Also, I find the concept deeply appealing; the original Hebrew phrase is sometimes translated "the universe is built on kindness." Much like Daya, Forever Is Mercy Built feels... well, it just feels warm and kind and loving to me, on top of being a gorgeous resinous scent. Yum!