Wwindy

I can definitely see how people are getting Christmas-y vibes from this -- it's not triggering those particular associations for me, though. The greenery in this reminds me a lot of Faunalia: that deep wild musky feel, with the addition of a very rough, barky type of cinnamon. The orchid isn't very prominent, but does lend a certain sophistication. Overall this feels like a rich, warm, spicy green blend. (Editing to add that since 2010, the cinnamon in my bottle has mellowed considerably -- I wouldn't describe it as "rough" now! It's very warm and rich. Also, a warning: Since I wrote this review, I've encountered at least two bottles out in the wild that have Lab labels reading "Pais de la Canela" but actually contain Paris. If you think you have Pais de la Canela and it smells like sweet/spicy lavender, it's possible that you may have a mislabelled decant or bottle. You can't miss the cinnamon in real PdlC!)

Yikes. Musk, frankincense, and amber are all love notes for me, and yet this blend somehow isn't working at all. The metal here goes straight to aquatic + dusty/dry herbals on my skin. I'm not getting much by way of ambery depth at all, and little to no frankincense except for a bit of a sharp edge. The red musk does show up after a while, but feels very thin and light in this blend -- it's not rich and heady like it is in Mme. Moriarty and similar oils. Altogether, this particular combination of cologne-y aquatic, faint dry herbal notes, and pale red musk smells like -- ack, I hate to admit it, but -- it smells like an inexpensive drugstore body spray I used to wear in the summertime back when I was a teenager! My nose insists on processing this as "cheap perfume."

Something about this reminds me a lot of Clockwork Couture: Male -- I guess the leather note must be similar? It's a strong, sexy scent, but not as rich or complex on me right now as CC:M. Maybe once the imp has aged a bit...

I should start out by noting that I'm definitely not big on most florals. This is very wearable, though! The lilac note is absolutely true to life. I find that when I apply this scent to "cold" skin, the lilac is a little too dominant for my taste -- but when applied to "warm" skin (i.e., fresh out of a hot shower) the lilac seems to burn off just that little bit more, enough to bring out some of the other aspects. Real wisteria always smells a little grape-y to me, and I'm not getting that at all here. I'm also not picking up much or any ginger, unless my nose is mixing that sharpness with the tannic tea, which I do get. Overall, this is lilac with a bit of pleasantly sharp tea and a hint of lavender, warmed up by a really lovely, light, close-to-the-skin musk. The lavender is perfect -- not too marshmallow-y sweet, not too eucalyptus-y astringent, but right in the middle and much more realistic (at least to my nose) than the Lab's lavender sometimes is. Like I said, I'm not generally keen on florals -- but this is very, very pleasant, and a great warm-weather scent.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Egg Moon yet! Serious cinnamon going on there...

More batch variation here, I'm afraid... My bottle came straight from the Lab, but I'm not getting either Hawaiian florals or vanilla-sandalwood. Instead, this is all musky amber on my skin! It reminds me a little bit of the amber from The Sportive Sun and the musk from Ivanushka. I do like it, but I wish I knew whether this is what it's really supposed to smell like or not...

I don't have anything useful to say... but now I'm really, really hoping the bottle I ordered matches my decant, which is most definitely not orange vanilla sweetener.

Hoo boy. OK, I'll give this my best shot... In the vial, this smells super sharp, almost lip-curlingly astringent. My first skin swipe smells like... PICKLES! Wait, no, it's not exactly pickles; maybe capers? Something pickled. As it dries down, it starts getting a smoky note -- smoked pickles?!? After full drydown, the pickle aspect dies back a little and I start picking up more wood and tobacco notes, but the overall effect becomes very cologne-y. I'm getting something a little plastic, plus the smoked pickles, plus cologne... in short, NOT GOOD. Alas!

Oh my!! If this is true then I NEED to add a bottle to my next order. Mmmm! So good! I guess it probably was a batch variation. Here's hoping that I get the bright orange batch.... *crosses fingers* I've been wearing Hermia a lot lately in both (new) bottle and (old) imp form, so I have some thoughts on this front! I ordered my imp in February '08 and noted when it arrived that the honeysuckle and passionflower were REALLY STRONG -- much too strong for my taste, especially that fruity-citrusy-floral thing passionflower does. I pulled the imp back out again a few months ago and found that the flowery bubble-gum notes had died back a lot, and there was (you guessed it!) a vaguely baked-goods sort of overtone. I think the pepper mellowed out and blended with the amber, with an added touch of honey sweetness coming from the honeysuckle. My bottle arrived last week straight from the Lab. It's very nearly a match to my aged imp -- the passionflower is hardly anywhere to be found, IMO. Now, the weird thing is that I don't think either my imp *or* my 5ml are bright orange... I'll have to go home and check!

This starts out smelling EXACTLY like sawdust on me. <img src="http://www.bpal.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="blink.gif" /> As it dries down, it starts turning into elegant, feminine, rose-infused sawdust... but it's still distinctively sawdust! While it's not something I'm looking to wear as my perfume, it is a surprisingly intriguing scent to sniff -- like walking into a woodshop after an attractive woman had been there not long before, watching an artisan at work. ETA: OK, now that my imp has had a few months to mellow out, the overwhelming sawdust aspect has died way back. The oil still starts out *very* lumber-aisle-at-Home-Depot while it's wet, but the other aspects have acquired much more presence. The amber is one of the more powdery BPAL ambers (I think similar to the Haunted amber, maybe); between that and the dry, clean sandalwood the overall impression is a little soapy.

Between this and The Hesperides, I think I can now safely say that oak bark is my BPAL kryptonite. I love the musk and amber here, and I don't mind the rose too much -- but whatever horrible moldy cheese thing it is that oak bark likes to do on my skin, it's doing it with gusto. So unfortunate...

My sister and I have wildly different tastes *and* skin chemistry, but we also have very different coloring and skin types.

Awwww, man. "Medicinal" does not begin to describe what I get out of this blend wet; I would say "turpentine" is really the only way to describe the first few whiffs. Patchouli *loves* me, but vetiver is my mortal enemy... and the hemp note here must be closely related, because it turns into a very similar sort of blackish stink on my skin. I think the patchouli and vanilla might be nice, but honestly I can't tell for sure because something in this blend is just overwhelmingly awful on me. So disappointing!

Rich and spicy! This reminds me a little bit of Raven Moon -- only with leather instead of the chili note. The metallic overtones here are fleeting and don't last long on my skin, but the spicy musk keeps going strong with support from the patchouli. There is something a little cologne-ish about the clean musk/leather combination at first; as the clove and sandalwood come out they temper that impression. I can see how this might read as masculine to some noses, but there's just a touch of sweetness and enough complexity that I think it's absolutely wearable by anyone!

This reminds me a little of a stripped-down, simplified Raven Moon -- a similar feel, but more direct and, er, manly. (surprise! ) Unfortunately, after a little while something here turns plasticky on my skin. I'm surprised, as I don't think I've ever had trouble with any of the listed notes before -- maybe it's the "black" aspect of the sandalwood?

I believe my decant is from the resurrected version. I can see how this would really work for some people! I mostly get a deep, rich, creamy vanilla with hints of musk and just a trace of incense -- but not hippie incense, more upscale formal stuff. The cotton note provides a light, warm aspect in the background, while the cognac note doesn't seem to come out much on my skin. I don't get much sweetness out of this -- it's not overtly sugary. Overall, it's a very grown-up, sophisticated, sexy, smoky perfume. The smokiness is both metaphorical and literal; unfortunately, on me this scent hovers right on the line between "what is that intriguing tobacco note" and "I was hanging out in a bar with smokers for way too long and now I smell kinda stale." Probably not my thing, but a very interesting blend -- I'm happy to have had the chance to try it!

I don't know how much help this will be on the bees and insects issue, but I *love* Litha '09 as a warm-weather blend. (the earlier Litha blend didn't work as well for me, but YMMV)

Wet, this comes on strong with the musk! It's an Ivanushka-like sort of musk, but a little more masculine than Ivanushka was for me. As it dries down, it picks up an almost incense-like aspect in combination with the heavy musk. The greenery isn't as prominent as I was expecting; what's here are hints of an ancient forest, cool and almost austere. I agree with a previous poster that there's a note lurking somewhere in this that reminds me a little of Dublin. Nice, but verges perilously close to "too butch" on me.

Oof. I get hints of almond, cherry, and cinnamon from this... but vetiver kills blends dead on my skin, and indeed its musty funk beats everything else here into the ground.

I agree on the green-gold aspect of this blend! I don't get any eucalyptus, though; that note tends to amp tremendously on me, so either there isn't any or else my decant missed out on that part. I *think* there might actually be a drop of frankincense here -- I tested the frankincense SN last night and this reminds me a little of that, with an added touch of lemon and cedar.

Yep, almost all lemony verbena here. I'm surprised -- the amber and frankincense don't seem to be showing up at all. I'm curious to see whether the deeper notes will come out more with aging.

Thai green curry. Seriously. I think I'm getting almost entirely ginger and lemongrass out of this, and it smells like Thai food. Fascinating -- and delicious! -- but probably not what I want for my personal scent. ETA: OK, because I embody the definition of insanity I've tried this a couple more times, and for some reason a little more complexity is showing up on my skin now. It still starts out like Thai green curry, but with little drops of rosewater -- and over time the frankincense comes forward. I'm still not getting much by way of orange out of this. I have to admit I kinda like the resinous, yet still bright and refreshing frankincense-ginger-lemongrass combo!

So, the thing to remember here is that pimento berry is just another name for allspice. Yes, technically a berry, but really... ALLSPICE! That means an extra-heavy dose of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper, or at least their scent-alikes. Indeed, on me this winds up as very spicy, slightly evergreen (from the cistus labdanum helped along by the moss and sage, I think) potpourri, with overtones of dried ginger. I can absolutely see the Christmas tree/potpourri comparisons. Fortunately, the patchouli and myrrh add a little bit of depth and... um... non-potpourri-ness. The "smoky vanilla" is faint now, but I can pick it up if I try -- I suspect that aspect will get stronger with age.

What a beautiful, exotic scent! Fresh on, I do get the warm oil/wax scent, but that doesn't last long on my skin, and it's not overtly burnt or smoky -- it's more of a notion of small flames in the background. What comes out after that is a slightly floral incense with a lovely rounded, rich, spicy quality; the "floral" aspect is hard to pin down, and may well be coming from the nag champa mentioned by other reviewers. I'm not identifying any specific fruit notes, which is fine by me! I do agree with bheansidhe about the "scraps of cassia bark," because my husband said "cinnamon candy" as soon as he sniffed this. A lovely, warm blend -- I agree that this is a keeper. ETA: I had a good slather of this yesterday, and after it had been on for a number of hours and was starting to fade, there was something about it that reminded me just a bit of Mme. Moriarty. So yes, maybe a touch of plum! ETA yet again because I have not swooned nearly enough over this blend: This is going to sound hokey, but this gorgeous scent makes me feel both loving and loved -- I feel like my best self when I have Daya on. I *adore* this scent.

When first applied, this comes up mostly as nuts with traces of warm, deep wood -- but after a few minutes of wear, my skin seems to amp something that smells like bad cheese! I've tried twice and can't keep this on more than about 15 minutes before I have to go scrub up; whatever that bad note is, it's *bad* on me. I get no musk, no florals, no nothing... just nuts and a faint rancid whiff. (For reference: The Hesperides did something vaguely similar with my chemistry.)