Wwindy

That's what I wore today too!

I wore The Russian Dance to go see the Nutcracker this past Friday, and have been wearing Nes Gadol Haya Sham ever since. (hmmm, we should maybe have a candle-related emoticon that isn't either the villagers or the furious enflamed face!)

Wet: Spice. Drying down on my skin: Spice. More spice. Great billowing wafts of pumpkin pie spice. If I put my nose right over one of the application spots, I can juuuuuust barely pull out a whiff of sweetness from the champaca and a hint of the hay note from Hay Moon. Otherwise I'd go so far as to say this is allspice allthetime! (hee, see what I did there?) ETA: Some of the Pumpkins have been problematic for me in the past because I don't do well with that particular buttery note a lot of them have; the good news is that if you have the same issue, there's nothing to worry about here -- no buttery note at all.

Yesterday I wore Samhain '12 plus a bit of Punkie Night -- nice combination! Today I dithered a little over Sonnet D'Automne, but wound up wearing All Souls '06.

Apologies in advance -- I know you were looking for GC suggestions, but if you're willing to hunt for some Falling Leaf Moon, I think that might be right up your alley!

I'm wearing Zmey Gorynych today... because tonight we're taking my little girl to go see the "How To Train Your Dragon" live spectacular! (I know, I know, not the *most* appropriate scent in the world, but at least it's dragon-themed! Dragon Moon just wasn't quite doing it for my nose this morning, alas.)

I don't know what owls smell like firsthand, but you could definitely try Fledgling Raptor Moon (Warm, soft tufts of down and gleaming tawny feathers: clove, toasted sandalwood, aged patchouli, bourbon vanilla, carnation, massoia bark, hinoki wood, and West Indian Bay). I think Raven Moon (shining, moonlit ebony musk with benzoin, myrrh, smoky vanilla, patchouli, nutmeg, and dried red chili) is maybe supposed to be more evocative of atmosphere than of actual birds, but that's another thematically appropriate one!

I can't tell you anything useful about the terminology, sorry! However, if you like Smiling Spider you might want to try Saqqara v2 -- it's not exactly the same feel as SS, but the clove note is *gorgeous*.

I haven't tried these two myself, but you could look at La Calavera Catrina (Autumn leaves, wild roses, bourbon vanilla, dry chamomile, and a bouquet of bright chrysanthemums and Mexican marigolds) from last year's Weenies, or Flor de Muerto from 2010 (The orange marigold, or zempasúchitl, has been one of Death's symbols since the pre-Columbian era. The yellow and orange petals are believed to represent the rays of the sun, bringing joy and light to the souls dwelling in the realm of the dead. These flowers surround Day of the Dead altars to guide the spirits to their offerings). Summer's Last Will & Testament (citrus-infused Baltic amber, red valerian, marigold, blood orange, and sunflower subdued by somber myrrh and dry geranium alongside the leaves of autumn and a breath of winter wind) and Flowering Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum, marigold, golden sandalwood, vanilla, cinnamon, and amber incense) are lovely, as is Chrysanthemum Moon -- although that last one's tough to find!

I originally tested a decant of Great Cry several years ago, and I think my nose just didn't know quite what to make of it then. This time around I'm working from a fresh Lab bottle, with a little more experience under my belt. On initial application: Musky dark woods accompanied by both a sharp herbal note and a hot dry "sandy" note. I had to apply very heavily for me to get the level of scent presence I like. Weirdly, while still wet this is reminding me of both the '12 Dragon Moon (must be the frankincense + herbal greenery combo -- although I see an earlier reviewer also got a strong impression of dragon's blood after first applying!) and some of the Egyptian/desert blends like Sunbird or Saqqara v2 at the same time. The myrrh is fairly strong on me, but amping myrrh is a known issue for me; on the other hand, while there's definitely musk I'm not really getting the "red" aspect of it much at all. After drydown, the amber develops more fully and this turns into much more of the spicy resinous blend I expected, with just a faint touch of sweetness. Every once in a while I get a tiny whiff of the sharp dark-green hyssop. It doesn't have much throw or lasting power; this is definitely a "slather it on and reapply later" blend. It's a pleasant woodsy-spicy mix, though -- evocative of the mood of the painting, although (somewhat to my relief) it doesn't seem particularly connected to the story behind the painting, unless that occasional zing of cypress/hyssop is for grief?

On my skin, this is almost entirely light, clove-y incense smoke with gentle floral overtones from the champaca. It reminds me a little of Zenobia -- I know they share the orris, but I don't know where I'm getting the clove from in this blend! It's a nice spicy presence, though, not too heavy. The patchouli and grapefruit (along with the davana and elemi) are *very* subtle here; I'm not really directly picking up either element after drydown -- the predominant impression is champaca and amber. Overall: a warm, gentle incense blend, a bit on the headshoppy side but still elegant.

If you can find it, Virginia (An exotic South Asian musk blended with white sandalwood, tobacco absolute, white sage, caramel, black orchid, tonka bean, frankincense, muguet, and juniper) had a very similar feel to Pteropus Leucopterus -- at least on my skin! The sandalwood is also fantastic in Calligraphy Practise (White sandalwood, beeswax, clary sage, olibanum, opoponax, violet leaf, and oudh). GC-wise, it sounds like Seraglio (Sweet almond and Mysor sandalwood enveloped by a heady veil of Bulgarian Rose, neroli, nutmeg, clove and orange peel) might be right up your mother's alley -- it does have the spices, but they're fairly mild, so it might be worth trying an imp. I also recommend Half-Elf (White sandalwood, beeswax, white tea leaf, oud, and a hint of sophisticated urban musk), with the caveat that for some people it doesn't work perfectly as a stand-alone.

Ooh, I like this. It took me a little while to warm up to it -- my test swab had a rather alarming Calamine-ish overtone to it, but that went away pretty quickly. After drydown, the sage-sandalwood-muguet combination ends up reminding me of Virginia (in a very good way), with the addition of a quite reasonably moderate patchouli. By "moderate" I mean it isn't as dirty as Occupy Wall Street (dear Lord, that one was a dirty patchouli), but it isn't completely tame either; it's still got a little bit of a rooty bite to it. So, overall, a warm fuzzy resinous scent (I keep thinking there must be oudh here -- maybe that's the Balm of Gilead?), lifted and lightened by a gentle lily of the valley note and a clean, fresh sandalwood note. I think the trick here is whether sage plays nicely on your skin or not; if so, this is a very wearable blend.

I don't see All Souls mentioned here yet, but it's incense and cake: "An incense blend that invokes the higher qualities of mercy and compassion, mingled with the soft, sugared currant scent of offertory soul cakes." It came out in '06, '07, and '10, and the two earlier years are both available on Etsy!

I'm not an RN and this isn't a GC recommendation (sorry!), but you might want to try Wake (one of the recent Land of Dreams LEs): Pink grapefruit, peppermint, orange blossom, bitter orange, juniper berry, cumin, tuberose, and lemon balm. Everyone who smelled it on me said the *exact* same thing: "That's really pleasant." Might be exactly what you want by way of something mild and inoffensive!

I think maybe I'm crazy -- or my nose is? This goes on as a mix of gentle and prickly notes; after it starts to dry down, there's one element that I really, really like, but can't quite pinpoint! The beeswax, maybe? It does seem familiar... Having said that, the overall impression I get from the waft (rather than from having my nose pressed up against it) is... bug spray. Seriously. Er... well-played, Beth?

Does anyone remember the thread that wound up creating the fabulous chart of popular blends and the *other* blends that people who like those blends also tend to enjoy? I can't find a link -- does anyone know where it is?

That was it! Thanks so much, mimers99 and kaitan!

This is a very different kind of scent for me -- I normally don't do citrus or mint, but I also don't get to do sleep as much as I'd like, so this sounded appealing! The peppermint note here reminds me very much of Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap; that's the strongest element on initial application, with the grapefruit coming out not long after. I can't seem to pick up anything by way of pine-y or spice notes from the juniper and cumin, likewise no lemon balm at all (although lemon balm is not typically good on me anyway, so that's something of a relief). After full drydown, the sharpness of the mint mellows out; I'm still mostly getting mint and grapefruit as the primary elements, with subtle orange-y overtones and faint hints of the delicate, pleasant tuberose note. At this point, now that I've been wearing this for most of the day, pretty much all that's left is light tuberose. But yes, the good part is that when you put it on, it does what the label says.

No, someone actually compiled poll data so you could cross-reference on an actual chart -- in other words, if you like Cathedral, you could look on the chart and see that people with the same favorite also tended to like Coyote but hate Titania, for instance (random names there, I don't actually remember any of the correlations off the top of my head!). It was limited to standard catalogue scents only.

This is absolutely lovely -- somehow it manages to be rich and luscious without being overly sweet, foody, or heavy at all. Mostly I get a warm, almost chewy (but like I said, not sweet!) fig and amber combination, with a touch of bright sharp citrus and light woody undertones plus hints of spice and musk. Normally I amp myrrh like crazy, but this "dark myrrh" note must be different, since I'm really not noticing it all that much. I acquired this bottle quite a while back and remember thinking the scent was faint and didn't last long -- it's gotten better on that front with some aging, but still needs to be reapplied moderately regularly. Definitely worth it, however! I get lots of compliments on this one.

This is a little bit of a long shot depending on how much your skin sweetens things up, but maybe Minamoto No Yorimitsu Cuts at the Earth Spider (Toasted sandalwood, tobacco flower, teakwood, castoreum accord, bourbon vanilla, and patchouli)?

Congratulations, zmulls! How did it go? I always used to wear Romanti.Goth for band performances (we're going for a pagan-ish goth-y neo-medieval thing, and I thought RG was both appropriate and amusing), but lately my daughter's been objecting to that one. The last time we played and I wore scent, I chose Piper at the Gates of Dawn (on which "appropriate and amusing" front our bagpiper agreed with me!). We did play last weekend, but I was just coming down with plague and couldn't cope with any perfume, unfortunately! I think next time we perform, I might try Harmonices Mundi...

Lots and lots of strong, crisp, herbal lavender while wet. As it dries down, the clean haze of the opium and musk start to come out, softening the edges of the lavender; the oudh adds an utterly gorgeous exotic, mysterious resiny note (I'm on such an oudh kick these days -- the note really works on my skin, and I'm so glad Beth's been using it so much lately!). I don't know what the shamama attar is supposed to smell like, so I don't know if I'm picking up on it or not, but I'm definitely not getting much by way of the rose. Overall this winds up as a calming, peaceful lavender incense, not too sweet. Very nice!

Liaison (Moroccan black musk, white tea leaf, Indonesian black sandalwood, frankincense, honeycomb, jonquil, and clove) just came down (it was one of the Lupercalias), but that's definitely one that went instantaneously to powder on my skin -- and I notice several other reviewers said the same thing. A few others I took notes on when I tested them: Brisingamen -- "very powdery amber" Tamora -- "powdery and sweet" The Little Wooden Doll -- "rose-infused sawdust plus powdery amber" Also, Delousing Powder!