Wwindy

That's very helpful! Thanks so much.

*listens to crickets* Was this a dumb question? Were all the Lupercalias from that year the same label?

I love the label art on this, but am less keen on the actual scent... The most straightforward description I can come up with: Muddy butter swirled with dark, sticky fruit. Unfortunately, the butter smells almost like it's gone off, adding an oddly sour, almost rancid overtone. If it's my chemistry doing this, my nose is involved as well -- I get the same weird combination just sniffing the bottle as well as on my skin. It's *possible* I should've just let the bottle sit longer after being in transit, so I'll try this again in another few days. I'm not real hopeful, though.

I'm another person who usually gets lilac out of dragon's blood, and that's the case here. The aquatic aspect is slightly salty -- definitely ocean, not lake or river! -- but my nose insists that the combination of the light floral and the blue watery notes equals fancy hotel soap. *sigh*

I just got my DD Dolce Stil Nuovo with "vintage 2007" label and now I'm curious -- does anyone have a picture of the original? I searched here and at Flickr, but couldn't find one...

Lemon drops all the way! Bright, sweet, candied lemon is pretty much all I'm getting. I have a vague sense that if I someday happened to have a very good skin chemistry day and this dried down exactly right, I might get a bit of the jasmine and possibly even the tea... but as it is it's all lemon drops.

Such a great blast of cool fresh mint and chocolate-y sweet goodness when this one first starts out! Like everyone says, it's very edible and very refreshing, although a little sweet for my usual taste. The mint note is fantastically vibrant when wet. As the blend dries down, the foody aspects shift towards vanilla and away from chocolate, and the mint fades a lot. I still like the throw, but -- ack! -- sniffing up close gives a strong plasticky scent. Not a winner for me.

An unusual, intriguing blend! When first applied, the pear note is amazingly juicy and appealing. As the blend dries down, it gets muskier and woodier, but stays fresh and relatively light given all the heavy-hitting notes here -- there's a faint hint of something cold and rocky (the pyrite, I guess?) perking everything up, and a little bit of warm greenery blending beautifully with the musk, amber, and patchouli. That patchouli is very light, in case it worries anyone -- it's not a O HAI HIPPIEZ HERE kind of note at all. As people have already said, this is lovely for summer! I just wish the pear stuck around longer.

Another BPAL lavender that just doesn't work on me, much to my dismay. This smells <i>amazing </i>in the imp, but turns on my skin into medicinal eucalyptus with a bright harsh edge. Might be good on fabric, though! ETA: Aha! I've discovered the secret! The trick is I dab this one on my husband: It smells wonderfully herbal and soothing on him, and it makes us both sleep better. Ta-da!

Echoing other reviewers here... This comes off as very much a green/aquatic men's cologne while wet. On my skin -- Irish Springs and nothing else.

I love the strong lavender note in the decant, but on my skin all I get is peach and verbena -- and even that doesn't last all that long. I wish I got the long-lasting lavender other reviewers are describing!

This just DOES NOT WORK on me, and I can't figure out why! The notes should all be good... but somehow all I get is a strange sharp smell, almost like nail polish remover. I'm blaming the sage. Might be a fluke, I guess, but I've gotten the same response from two different tests. I'm posting this so in case others should happen to have a similar reaction, they'll know they aren't the only ones!

Wow, a sweet floral I kind of like! This is definitely strong on the honey; at first it was giving me almost an orange blossom impression, but then my husband suggested clover and that struck a chord. I'm not picking up much ginger. Very tasty!

Ouch. The tobacco in this is much too strong on my skin -- I love everything else I'm smelling, but the pipe smoke part is just too overwhelming.

I should preface this by saying that my skin doesn't seem to tolerate anything high-concept, poetical, or abstract. If the scent is supposed to be evocative and scene-setting and providing an elaborate scent "journey"... my chemistry thumbs its nose at it. (so to speak) Anyway, all I get from Planting Moon is faint dirt with a hint of ozone. If you tried really really hard, you might be able to convince yourself that there was something slightly vegetal about the ozone-ish smell, but you'd have to put some serious effort in. I'm disappointed, but not blaming the blend. It's not the perfume's fault my skin is so literal-minded!

I know it may have come up once or twice already in these reviews... ... but whoooooo boy, is this a snootful of burnt grass and anise when it's wet! If you can get past the initial smoky black searfest, the spiced orange does come out to play a bit, but the vetiver and licorice are absolutely dominant here. I don't seem to get much amber at all. The occasional whiffs of spicy mulled orange punch that do manage to make it through are fantastic, though...

This starts out almost mouth-puckeringly tannic with a hint of greenery, but morphs -- the peony comes out more and more until that's mostly what I get on my skin. The tea shifts from strong green to lighter black with sugar, so the end result is a floral sweet tea. Nice and very likely a good, mild-mannered office scent for some people, but not really my thing.

PATCHOULI! Plus a bit of sage and smoke -- that's really all I get on my skin, and the sage and the smoke don't even stick around as long as the patchouli does. Fortunately, I am a total patchouli hoor. I would have said "prickly" about this scent rather than uncertain, but yeah... something along those lines. It's not soft or inviting or comforting, that's for sure.

First sniff in the bottle: Ooooh, nice! OK, the foolishly fearless slatherer will now slather fearlessly! And foolishly! Five minutes later: Uh-oh. Wait a minute. Is that turning into... cigarette smoke?!? Six minutes later: Uh-oh. Isn't today Thursday? Baby gym class day? Twenty minutes later: I am now reeking up the 12 to 19-month gym class with wafts of strong coffee and cigarettes enlivened by an occasional hint of whiskey. I cannot even begin to imagine what the other mothers think I've been up to... at 10 a.m. *sigh* Two hours later: Hey, this is mellowing out nicely! Now we've got a little cream, a little wood... reminds me a tiny bit of Glowing Vulva plus coffee! *SIGH* So, um, VDPP? Is there a reason you couldn't have gone to this part right off the bat and spared me the BAD MOTHER TRAUMA HOUR?!? Yeah. Anyway. I think I need to test this again, preferably not on a day when I'll be at work. Or around my parents. Or, uh... anyone who might not already know whether I'm a chain-smoking alcoholic or not.

This is the best luck I've had with a "green" BPAL blend so far, so that's good... In the bottle, it just smells odd. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead -- I'm going for my normal slathering level! On my skin I get a lot of dusty gray-green shades right up front -- mostly the sage, cedar, and slightly smoky vetiver -- with flashes of brighter green, sharp, fresh sparkling notes. There's an odd elusive tang that I would swear is lime but might be a citrus-y overtone from the coriander... and something that reminds me of the horseradish bite that wasabi has on your tongue, without actually smelling overtly like the little green mound on the side of your sushi plate. The tea is an astringent, tannic presence in the background blending all the other notes together. Over time, the frankincense and myrrh start rounding out and mellowing the harsher notes, but the blend retains a very green, vegetative quality. This doesn't have much throw and doesn't last long at all on me -- not even on my shirt at the crooks of my arms, and usually at least the fabric holds onto something there. Not in this case. Still a very interesting scent, though! I think I said something similar in another review not long ago, but it's true here too -- I believe this one will make a nice spring/summer choice for those of us who can't wear the classic citrus-y clean "fresh" scents.

Some of the blends I've tried lately have really broken my head as far as notes I thought I liked/could wear vs. what I thought I hated/couldn't go near... but I'm now reassured (in an odd way) to find that grapefruit is still a giant NO WAY NO HOW on me. I knew Cheshire Cat was going to be iffy for me -- I love lavender and musk, but dislike chamomile, fruit and florals in general. As it turns out, I think the blend might have worked if not for the dreaded grapefruit, which smells a little like I spilled that bright pink imitation lemonade stuff down my arm. I can definitely see how it would be a nice springtime scent for some people, but on my skin it winds up as mostly bad fake grapefruit with powdery overtones and a faint whiff of blue-toned florals.

Not too sweet, creamy vanilla-y root beer with herbal overtones, yep. Reapplied in the late afternoon, the scent seemed a little more butch than it had in the morning. This might be nice as a seasonal transition scent for those of us who tend to like the heavier resinous blends but want something a little more effervescent (heh!) for spring -- it's got a very faint hint of something incense-y from the onycha.

The mint notes are surprisingly appealing for a minute or two, but vanish almost immediately on me. This winds up being an androgynous, mossy cologne with salty aquatic overtones. If I put my nose to my skin and sniff *really* hard, there's just a very faint trace of fresh green mint -- spearmint, I think -- but the moss and ambergris are pretty much all I'm getting out of this blend.

In a nutshell: Woody musky patchouli with overtones of smoke and spice. Very, very sexy. It's true that in the bottle, the teak smell is indeed penetrating. If you're not down with Beth's teak, this is definitely not the blend for you! On application, the clove is the next strongest immediate contender, along with an almost burnt note -- I don't know if that's the tobacco or if that's all I'm going to get out of the alleged caramel. I can't specifically identify anything sweet (or fruity, for that matter) here. As Melainis starts drying down and balancing out, it turns into a rich, dark, resinous swirl of gorgeousness. The initial blast of teak might be scary, but everything here melds beautifully after just a little while -- be brave and wait it out if you can. This is one of those fascinating, mysterious scents where you keep huffing yourself, trying to figure out what's going on. I think I can pick out whiffs of the star anise and the frankincense, but that's with the stated note list right in front of me... Ack! I don't know! What can I tell you -- this just smells really good and really sexy! (isn't that useful as a review? ) Despite being one intense scent, I don't think it has a huge amount of throw; it seems to be sticking pretty close to my skin. I can see that Melainis wouldn't be for right everybody... but I think I'm in love! If you favor dark, complex blends, you need to try this.

So pretty, and so hard to describe! This reminds me a tiny bit of Brides of Dracula, but Lovers in a Ricefield is a much warmer, sweeter scent. It does seem a little bit like a particularly yummy, creamy dessert -- possibly Indian? The floral and sandalwood overtones keep it from being too overtly candylike, though. It really doesn't read like plum specifically to me; I'm getting floral rather than fruity, with some nice vanilla in the mix. The nutmeg is stronger in the bottle than it is on my skin. On my fingertips I can definitely pick out an identifiable rice note, but that aspect is much better blended elsewhere -- it's just a bit player in the crooks of my elbows and on my neck. This may be a little too flowery to go into heavy rotation for me, but it's nice...