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sprout

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Everything posted by sprout

  1. sprout

    Looking for a BPAL similar to Sugar Witch

    ?Mr. Nancy = lime and sugar cookies. Maybe layer for the wood note.
  2. sprout

    Loved To Death

    In vitro: Honey liqueur spiked with clove Wet on skin: More honey liqueur, with black vanilla (if you have Black Vanilla Cardamon BO, like that but with clove instead of cardamon), only a hint of cinnamon (no skin reaction, I think it is quite light cinnamon) and the spices are seamlessly blended, hard to pick apart Drying: Black vanilla, honey, clove receding, skin musk? this could be the honey, it becomes sort of animalic on my skin, like skin musk, fairly sweet at this point Drydown: mainly vanilla with a hint of beeswax, similar to O or La Petit Mort--minus the myrrh Late drydown: lasted 4-5 hours then smells mostly of honey, maybe a hint of vanilla Final thoughts: Really, really good. I did not get any of the burning quality other reviewers mentioned, it could be a skin chemistry thing I guess. My skin loves honey and that was the main thing I sniffed, it was almost a mead like honey, languid, heady, with a hint of clove and spice. Clove can amp to overwhelming proportions on me, but it was subdued here. I thought this could go into craft store candle territory but it never came close. I thought there could be some red musk in here in the early drydown but that could just be how my nose is interpreting the honey note here. This is gorgeous overall, a spicy and sweet vanilla honey that never becomes too foody, too spicy, or too powdery. The late, late drydown was not quite powdery and I imagine this will age superbly and increase in sillage (modest for me) as well as deepen the honey and wax notes. Vanilla plus spice lovers must try this. I am a bit of a clove nut myself and this did not disappoint.
  3. sprout

    Recs for lighter scents

    Lady of Shalott Amsterdam Fae Alice Pele Regan Ophelia Queen Gertrude Water of Notre Dame Katharina Lyonesse Last Unicorn Fairy Bites
  4. sprout

    Shill v1

    Shill v 1 proto In the bottle: movie theatre butter wet: buttery butter, maybe popcorn drying: caramel popcorn 30 minutes later: WTF--someone took my popcorn and left some violets in its place. drydown: violet hand lotion with a hint of vanilla final thoughts: wish I could keep the wet phase, loved it. i don't hate the floral hand lotion phase, I just want my damn popcorn back. maybe a scent locket? I will try that and report back if successful.
  5. sprout

    The Black Rider

    Source of test: frimp of indeterminate age In vitro: sweet, sweet myrrh (oppoponax) Wet: same Early dry: oppoponax which is very sweet and resinous and a hint of leather, the resin dominates Late dry: mainly myrrh still which is very sweet and resinous on me, a hint of leather and the amber adding a golden sweet and slighty woody aspect. tobacco note is MIA, probably I can't smell it because I amp oppoponax like its my job. Final thoughts: this is very nice on me, the leather is behaved and I wonder if aging will just increase it's glory. now, I am torn, as Streets of Detroit is my go to scent for sweet resinous myrrh. i am now trying an application of wet Black Rider on top of the few hours old spot to put the heart notes and the top notes together but it doesn't work to get more leather. I am surprised at the comments of man musk above from other reviewers, I get no musk here and I tend to amp it. Also, maybe because my skin loves leather, it is very light here, my skin absorbs it and broadcasts the myrrh so my scent is mostly sweet and actually quite feminine although I could see either sex wearing this. if some aging brings a little more leather to the forefront, I could see buying a bottle of this. I hoped for more leather, preferably the De Sade kind. The leather here is like a new jacket, no wet leather or chemical ickiness, it is quite natural and slightly smoky, but faint.
  6. Two more to recommend: Nocnitsa Talvikuu
  7. sprout

    Ethereal Scents?

    Unfortunately all are discontinued or limited but here are my recs Spirits of the Dead The Unicorn Asphodel Enraged Bunny Musk
  8. sprout

    Mad Hatter

    In the imp: Pennyroyal predominant (if you have never sniffed pennyroyal before, it smells like mint!) Wet: Pennyroyal amps over a tea note like Dorian minus the vanilla, add lavender and the barest suggestion of lemon, very pennyroyal predominant through much of the wet phase, and it throws and lasts longer than mint notes do for me Early dry: Here goes the black musk! Interestingly, I get a hint of chocolate as well, the York peppermint patty candies come to mind; if only that stage would persist we'd have a favorite here but black musk takes it into "feral" terror-tory. So, perhaps eating a York patty and sipping some black lavender tea with a hint of lemon a few hours after a skunk has passed through. Sorry, black musk definitely has a funky, almost skunky quality, not so good on me. Late dry: Persistent pennyroyal, the citron faded, tea and lavender are gone, the black musk is domesticating itself slightly. This stuff (musk phase) lasts and lasts and lasts. Next day dry down: Muskiness of the black musk is absent and the spot smells slightly sweet and fresh like just shampoo'd hair. This stage is nice but has no sillage. Final thoughts: If the black musk could be swapped out for "skin musk" or the musk in Ivanushka or Buck Moon, or Monsterbait musks, this would be heaven in a bottle for me. I love the York peppermint patty and lavender/limoncello tea quality but the black musk is just a little too funky for my taste. Nevertheless, I found myself huffing rather compulsively, if only for the grasshopper smell--the (Keebler) minty chocolate cookies? My aversion to black musk could be a hormonal issue so I will skin test at different time to see if that changes. Not sure about it, I don't think I would need a bottle--however aging could tame the funkiness of the musk. This was test of a frimp received with bottle purchase from the forum, so no telling how old it is. I don't exactly hate black musk, and I rather like animalic odors, such as real skunk (and civet!) but I don't want to smell like "man funk" and I wonder if this has an unfortunate association with men's body sprays (shudders at the thought of smelling like Axe) and I am not sure if it will smell appealing to others. I will save the imp for sure to retest, and hope the black musk will mellow a bit. If the black musk (with aging or different skin chemistry due to hormonal changes) mellows a bit, I would invest in a bottle. I wish black musk worked for me, and I am not sure if it does or not. This could definitely be unisex, and if you are a female who doesn't find black musk scents too masculine, works either way. For men, I think this would be quite heavenly.
  9. Taking the opportunity to pimp Lenus Mars. The chamomile is gorgeous paired with a blue type musk. I almost hesitate to mention it because it is my sleeper love from the Luper update and I want to hoard him but you asked so I am telling. For chamomile and honey, check out the atmosphere spray, Burning the Blue Dark Around Their Moons, it is heaven in a bottle!
  10. This is a long shot but maybe Doom of Beauty? Nice and crisp, has rosemary. Not as floral as you would think for a luper. Its green, Old World, and refreshing but not sharp or heavy on ozone. And, I have never smelt it, but Phantom Time Hypothesis could fit the bill...
  11. sprout

    Sell me on patchouli?

    Have you tried Nosferatu? Patchouli is not a listed note but it has a Count Dracula vibe and smells ungghhhffff. Al-Sharain and Blood Countess are in the same vein. VILF evokes the vampire from the grave too. A sexy vampire from the grave. Also, I find the patchouli in At the Mid Hour of Night to be less headshop and more "pure." Maybe because its white patchouli? If you like leather, I'd suggest the White Rider. Final long shot suggestions are Malediction, Vixen, and Carnal. I find these blends to temper the patchouli so its less hippie and more vampiric. I like patchouli in most of it's incarnations, be i5 woody, dirty, or my favorite, floral! Don't get me wrong, sometimes I want to smell like a tree hugging hippie but I feel patchouli can smell good without that "vibe"
  12. sprout

    If your top 5 scents are... Then try these!

    Thank you both for suggestions. Must try all those--getting through the general catalog is hard! you must try countess willie, the witch queen, and bordello If you like Fenris Wolf you should try Coyote (The warmth of doeskin, dry plains grasses and soft, dusty woods warmed by amber and a downy, gentle coat of deep musk).They share the warm wooden notes mixed with sweet undertones of amber and musk.
  13. sprout

    A Very Grievous Murraine

    Sorry, I'm getting a bandaid scent here. It's a nice red musk straight out of the gate but then I get bandaid musk! This could be an unholy alliance of the musk, saffron, myrrh, and my interesting chemistry. Unfortunately I cannot unsmell it. I get the leather, and it does smell like its still on the cow which is sweating in the sun. Then the myrrh sweetens things up and it isn't good with the Band-Aids and sweaty cow. I really had an urge to scrub this away! On late drydown this is sweet resinous myrrh. On the way there, I smelled brown and red musk and it melded nicely with the leather which softened and smelled like a calf or brown suede gloves for a brief time and less like a sweaty cow baking in the desert sun. That was nice, but it didn't last. This one really morphs. Another interesting olfactory experience is this plague and it evokes the concept of a diseased cow brilliantly, but a little too close for comfort! I'm interested to see how this ages as I believe the notes will blend together better as time goes by however the wet phase is a repellant to this nose and as to be expected the myrrh dominates the late drydown and lacks complexity due to my skin tendency to amp it. I'll age it and retest of course to see if it can shake the band aid smell, but for the nonce, I can't see wearing it for real. It smells too much like a diseased cow sweating in the sun, covered with Band-Aids and oozing. Brilliant in concept but scary in execution.
  14. sprout

    A Grievous Swarm

    Predominantly black pepper and smoky vetiver on the wet phase and initial drydown. The tobacco is present as a base, but to this nose the result is a smoldering cigarette. While interesting in concept, this isn't something I wish to smell on my body as fragrance. Interestingly, it does convey a sensation of buzzing in an olfactory sense; it's like television static-slithering, aggressive, malevolent and smoky. About 90 minutes into the experience, I get a waft of delectable black vanilla combined with toothy tobacco. This is exquisite and tempts me to buy at least a partial for aging purposes. In conclusion I cannot overcome my aversion to the smoking cigarettes association. Maybe because as a child I was exposed to second hand smoke and was averse! This is sad because as single notes this should work for me in theory but alas the cigarette is repelling. The tobacco vanilla phase is gorgeous but never merges with the slithery and smoky partnership of vetiver and pepper. If this ages to have the sweet vanilla tobacco scent ast the forefront I will hate myself for not having a bottle but that phase just doesn't last and isn't worth the angry, cacophonous buzz on the road to drydown. Agree with the reviewer who says this would be killer as an atmo spray!
  15. sprout

    About Midnight

    This really combines quite a few elements very well. Nonfoody vanilla, dry woody sandalwood, mellow green resinous balsam, with a hint of smoke and cedar. Frankincense is well balanced and slightly lemony but the other notes keep it in check. I can pick out all the elements but none clash or overpower. The vanilla is predominant but its a great blanket supporting and sweetening the whole. Of course I love this, its all resin, wood and vanilla and I'm all about that bass. In total its woody, sweet, vanilla sandalwood with a hint of green sap, smoke, and cedar chips. The drydown is mostly vanilla sandalwood. Yeah, I blind purchased a bottle but what I did not anticipate is needing a back up.
  16. sprout

    Blood Throughout All the Land

    No dust detected, this was mainly wood and resin for me. I've no frame of reference for what olive wood smells like, but the wood note here is aces. I would have predicted that the blood accord in this would have been amped by my unique and frustrating at times chemistry but it's very subtle. There's a hint of leather, I'm guessing a resin. It isn't overwhelming dragon blood like I thought. Also, this is not dusty, dry or musty either. Acacia evidently per fragrantia database is mimosa. I think I can distinguish that, but more so it lightens and mellows the juniper, which I love even if it can be sharp and spikey. Here, it's very sweet and evergreen. All in all I am pleasantly surprised to like this decant. I'll retest to be certain but this could become a bottle purchase. I love juniper and it's the star here with a lovely wood support of I'm guessing olive wood, and the acacia floral, with a hint of DBR and whatever is the clay notes. It's a mellow, sweet, woody resin with hints of blood, leather, stone, and ghostly floral. I love the complexity here. Little throw but it lasts and doesn't morph very much after the early drydown.
  17. sprout

    They Shall Eate the Residue of that which is Escaped

    Not sure if its the green sandalwood or the balsam that it steering this into slightly too green and loud on me. I love sandalwood however I think my skin chemistry sometimes doesn't do it justice. Initially this is a soft mint and vanilla. To my displeasure, the drydown gets progressively stronger and greener. It becomes a sharp and nose prickling note that evokes men's cologne. Ultimately this is too masculine for me to wear, and I usually love leather, wood, metal, citrus or fougere. Matcha was absent for me. I've retested three times, hoping for different results. I'm disappointed because I anticipated a more foody, perhaps lacey scent with the sandalwood and vanilla combo. Never judge a blend by it's notes is my take home lesson here. I'm hoping aging well mellow it out, but my expectations are pessimistic.
  18. sprout

    Upon Man and Upon Beast

    No cherry here. I'm compelled to add that I had just a drop in my sniffie to skin test. I wish I had a full decant because this was surprisingly good. I may need to hunt down a bottle. Initially it was high pitched like department store, alcohol based perfume then it became a lovely, sweet resin that was cuddly and soft. The cherry note came off as moisture but not syrup or juice, just mildly sweet and wet. I suspect the labdanum gave it the high note at first. I cannot pick out patchouli or sandalwood as they blend to make a resin that is greater than the sum of the two. The drydown is almost musky. The patch is more woody than dirty or floral, which can be any of those three on me. I would describe the whole as a nonfoody but sweet and slightly woody resin. It hugs pretty close to the skin and lasted about six hours, which is impressive since I only had a drop to test!
  19. sprout

    If your top 5 scents are... Then try these!

    I'll fish for suggestions too. My top scents: Half Elf v 5 Bakeneko Fenris Wolf Tamamo no mae OLLA Ava Notes I like include most florals except rose, most woods, red or blue musks, tea, stone fruit like apricot or cherry, vanilla, honey, resins and patchouli Notes that ruin the blend are rose! although I keep trying, melon, cucumber, white musk, ozone, cumin, allspice (but I usually like cardamom and cinnamon), galbanum (unfortunately)
  20. sprout

    If your top 5 scents are... Then try these!

    Tombstone: Golden Priapus, Deathcap, Antikythera mechanism, Aureus, the Lion, Bastet, Lear, Scales of DeprivationHermia: Some Strangeness in the Proportion (has sandalwood though) (sorry no GC recs that aren't floral), long shot suggestion= Jailbait, Black Pearl Dana O'Shee: Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, O, Cockaigne, Lyonesse, La Petit Mort, Sed Non Satiata
  21. Perhaps Persephone? Mostly rose with a little pom. Seems cool and pink to me. Not soapy or sharp. Chuparosa seems like a sweet pink rose to me too. Other roses to try, it seems you are looking for soft, pink and cool, Dawn Maiden, Seraphim, La Belle au Bois Dormant, The Reeper and the Flowers, Victoria.
  22. sprout

    Tobacco scents

    Perversion is my favorite on your list. I'd recommend Hellfire though if the tobacco note is what you're after. If you are willing to hunt some limited edition bottles down, try Bachelor's Dog and Hearth, I've seen both for sale here on the forum in the Sales sections.
  23. sprout

    Osmanthus

    I tried Fairy Bites and the osmanthus is quite prominent. Or, my skin amps it. Not as foody as I expected.
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