captainecchi

Mother Shub has been good to me, and this is the last of her Yule trio that I'm trying. I have high expectations. In the decant: I smell vanilla-y sugar cookies. On wet: The vanilla sugariness remains, and the spice notes come out to play. Cinnamon and ginger are definitely noticeable. Is there also... aniseed? There's a sharp note that suggests that to me - I guess it could also be the titular pepper. (Recipes I'm looking at include both pepper AND anise oil). Overall, still definitely smells like cookies. Drydown: Most of the notes remain intact after drying on my skin. The overall impression is still delicious, delicious cookies. Verdict: I'm quite fond of this one. It reminds me a little bit of Mr. Nancy, but less smoky. I may consider picking up a bottle.

As someone else on the thread pointed out, the Finnish-named ingredients in this translate to prune soup, rice pudding, and mead. Sounds yummy, which is why I decided to try it. In the imp: reminds me of Athens, or Cairo. Definitely getting a honey note, something like dried fruit or wine, and something spicy - cinnamon or nutmeg. On wet: A whole bunch of other notes leap out to distinguish this from the two scents I mentioned above. Wafting up from The Girls, there's a straight-up boozy note; sniffing my wrists, I get vanilla and church incense. The latter must be the "glowing hearth" portion of the scent. On drydown: As this dries, only incense and honey are left. Not unpleasant, but not terribly unique. So far, I like this one. Maybe not enough to track down a bottle, but enough to keep the decant.

This scent doesn't seem to vary much in the bottle vs. on my skin, so I'm not going to break it down by stages. This scent is hard for me to define - maybe it's just because I'm rubbish with florals. My husband got right to the point and said it smelled "like soap... not soapy, but like soap." I can see that. I guess I would call this a light, white floral, with low throw. Not unpleasant, however. The eucalyptus is noticeable, there could be a touch of yuzu, but the jasmine seems MIA. On my skin it warms up and takes on a certain brassiness. It seems well grounded, so that copaiba oleoresin is doing its job, though I'm not really sure what it smells like. I'm not sure I'd know freesia if I smelled it, either. "Silvery and strange" is a good way to describe this scent indeed. Overall, not unpleasant, but I'm not sure it's a keeper. But given that it's HPL-themed, it'll probably stick around.

I did a search on "amethyst," since Black Amethyst is one of my favorite B&BW scents. (No surprise, it has sandalwood and vetiver), and I was hoping for recs myself. Alas, no responses, so I took it upon myself to search the database based on this description, from the B&BW site: * Fragrance Top Notes: Bergamot Italian Oprur, Juicy Mandarin, Sparkling Tangerine, Zesty Orange, Waterfruits, Crisp Melon * Fragrance Mid Notes: Lily of the Valley, Magnolia Blossom, Sheer Gardenia, Tuberose, Freesia, Peony Petals, Camellia * Fragrance Base Notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Vanilla, Musk Given this, I came up with these suggestions: The Caterpillar: Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver. Zephyr: A gentle white scent, breezes laced with the scent of springtime blooms and citrus. Lemon, lemon verbena, neroli, white musk, white florals, white sandalwood, China musk, bergamot and a drop of vanilla. Faiza, the Black Mamba: A sensual blend of twisting, exotic, serpentine oils: black amber, caraway, oakmoss, green sandalwood, bergamot, jasmine sambac, gardenia, orange pulp, vanilla, blackberry, black musk, white honey, ti leaf, and ginger. Marguerite: Rose, rose geranium, myrrh, ylang ylang, French gardenia, tuberose, red sandalwood, and palmarosa. Judith Victorious: Chestnut blossom, lily of the valley, King mandarin, French magnolia, and golden musk. Marcilla: Blue lilac, lily of the valley, golden musk, beeswax, white ginger, bergamot, green tea, and nectarine. Pepper: Wild English roses, French gardenia, vanilla, honey, golden ginger, blood orange, pine resin, pink pepper, crushed berries, tuberose, bergamot, and geranium.

I recommend Hellcat (but I always recommend Hellcat): hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond. Plus, the name is right up your alley I never really got the coffee in Mata Hari - it was rose and a little tonka on me. Misk U is more boozy than coffee, but still excellent. I just sampled Mother Shub's Spiced Lait de Chevre, one of this year's Yules, and it also fits in this category.

Lait de chevre = goat's milk, as I think everyone else has figured out. Humorous because Shub-Niggurath is "The Black Goat of the Woods With a Thousand Young." All these HPL parodies smell delicious, so I can't complain too much. In the bottle: my husband and I both noted a similarity to Miskatonic University, which we purchased a backup bottle of at the same time. There's a certain candy fruitiness, too, that I notice. On wet: The candy fruitiness that I noted before promptly goes away. Nutmeg and boozy notes predominate - the boozy notes are reminiscent of the Irish coffee in Miskatonic University, or the buttered rum in Hellcat (other favorites of mine). I would believe if someone told me there's cinnamon in here - I think I can faintly sense its bite at the back of my throat, although thankfully it's not burning my skin. I guess it could be ginger, too, as that's a primary note in Shub-Niggurath. My husband amended his comment on the bottle, calling it "Misk U with spice" and biting my wrist. I guess that's a sign of approval! Drydown: I can definitely see how this would be called an egg nog scent, even though the milk note isn't strongly noticeable. Milk notes can go sour on me, so I'm glad for that. It does get a certain creamy sweetness in the drydown, however. Overall: this is a spicy gourmand scent, of the type I love - and more reminiscent of Yule than Mother Shub's Toothsome Banketstaaf, which I tried yesterday. I don't regret buying a bottle unsniffed, and I will definitely be hoarding this.

First, some definitions. Banketstaaf is a Dutch pastry, and spijs is the Dutch word for almond paste/marzipan. In the decant, and on wet, this is overwhelmingly cherry - like cherry pie filling, or a cherry Tootsie pop - good thing I like cherries! Of course the cherry flies away quickly, as fruits are wont to do on my skin. A similar note seems to take its place, and deepen the scent as it warms up, which I'm assuming is the almond - cherry and almond always smell a little similar to me. I feel as if there might be a little clove or cinnamon in here, too. Possibly vanilla. Not sure. I can't detect any apricot. A certain sugariness overlays it all in the drydown. Is this supposed to contain Shub-Niggurath, like the Snake Pit contains Snake Oil? Because that could certainly explain some of the notes I think I'm smelling. Overall, I feel like this is more of a summer scent than a wintry, Yuletide one, although in the dry-down it becomes less so. I will probably keep my decant, but I won't be tracking down a bottle.

I'm surprised I didn't add this before - one of the vewwy first imps I tried, back in 2007, was Highwayman. I remember being overwhelmed by O HAI VETIVER. I couldn't wear it, but as it turned out it was the scent that converted my husband to BPAL. So we ordered a bottle for him, and it showed up - smelling completely, totally of gardenias. No sign of vetiver. Very feminine. Anyone else have this happen?

I find mimosa, as a note, to add a certain root-beer-like fizziness to things. That's certainly true in Masabakes. ... of course, the Lab's mimosa supplier seems to have crapped out, but some of the blends are still easy to find.

Seconded.

Actually (not to be pedantic or anything), bergamot is both a citrus AND an herb. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergamot Bergamot orange, which goes in Earl Grey, is citrus. The Latin name is Citrus aurantium subsp. bergamia Bergamot is also an herb with the Latin name Monarda didyma. When I think herbal scents, I always think Wolfsbane, though it may be more musky than you want.

Same here - I just tried this one the other day and looooved the smell but it gave me the worst case of contact dermatitis I've ever had (even worse than Eclipse and The Phantom Calliope). I did apply it right after a shower, which seems like it makes a difference? according to this thread. I may try putting a little lotion on first before trying this again. I SO want this one to work.

I think I'm the only one who noticed this: the description mentions cassis. To me, cassis is the French word for "currant," and I assumed Beth was using it in the sense of creme de cassis, a well-known currant liquor that is used to make the popular cocktail kir royale. So yeah. I was expecting something VERY different. I'm pretty sure now that cassis is a typo--it should be cassia. I can tell, because there are red spots on my arm, which is a reaction I only have to cinnamon or cassia. But anyway... onto the review! I got a decant of this from a swapper on the forum. I agree with whoever compared this to Dr. Pepper--on wet, this is a very strong, cherry cola and spice smell. The reaction I had appeared very quickly, burning even my wrists, which is usually not a problem. I had to wash it off my wrists and inner elbows, but was able to leave it on my neck and cleavage without a problem. After a while it becomes hard to separate the cherry from the cinnamon... one leaves off where the other begins. Alas, the cardamom seems to be MIA in this one, or it's blendy supremely well with the cinnamon and cherries. That disappoints me, as I was most interested in the cardamom in this blend. This smell reminds me strongly of Eclipse, complete with the splotchy reaction. If I want to smell like Dr. Pepper, I think I'll pick a GC scent to do that. I don't think I'll be buying a bottle, alas.

I like boozy notes. I like tobacco notes. I like tonka. So why don't I love this? In the bottle: I wrinkled my nose at the bitterness of this scent. There's a tinge of sweetness, but it was just so, so acrid. That must be the hops--whoever described the scent as "dry, bitter leaf" is right on the money. On me (wet): It doesn't seem to change much. Here I smell the cherry tobacco coming to the fore a little bit more, but it's so, so faint. It's the twinge of sweetness behind the hops bite. On me (dry): the tonka makes an appearance, but stands at the back like a wallflower, making the room a little prettier, but still waiting to dance. Everything has gone to powder on my wrists (not an unusual occurrence), but the hops and tobacco are still dancing the night away on my neck. To me there are really only two notes here: bitter (the hops) and sweet (the cherry tobacco). There's a sort of an unwashed funkiness to it, to it, too, like coming home late after a party in a boozy, smoky room. Way to be evocative, I guess, but there doesn't seem to be much complexity here. I feel like too many of the scents are pointing in the same direction, if that makes. I wish the cherry tobacco sweetened it more or I wish there were a few spicy notes to give it depth. Will probably be trading it away.

Origin: I believe this one came to me from a "20 imps for $20" sale. I have to say, I didn't know what to expect from this one. Myrrh, honey, wine, florals? I'd had somewhat unpleasant experiences with wine scents turning to grape Skittles on me, and I've never been a fan of florals. On application: The wine stands at the forefront of this smell, with a kind of fruitiness. I'm hesitant, because fruit smells don't usually last on me, but I'll give it a try. There's a sweetness there too that I can't quite place. On drydown: The myrrh and the floral notes come out to play gently with each other. That sweetness? Oh, that's the honey! As it warms up on my skin it takes on a real life of its own; warm, and yes, voluptuous. By the end of the day: Honey honey and honey remains. But it's such a wonderful scent I don't mind. Now I want to try more stuff with honey in it! This one has staying power and medium throw, too. It's a keeper.

Hmmm.... I don't see a lot of distinction on this thread between an allergic reaction and (non-allergic) irritant contact dermatitis. I think it's highly likely that you can get irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) from known irritants in oils, such as ginger and cinnamon oil/bark. I had a bad reaction like this to Eclipse; I applied it to my wrists, elbow joints, neck, and cleavage, and it turned my neck and elbow joints BRIGHT RED and burned quite badly until I washed it off. HOWEVER. This is not, strictly speaking, an allergic reaction. An allergic reaction is systemic. It may manifest as hives--raised, itchy red welts on your skin--but that's a skin-level manifestation of a systemic process, i.e., your body producing more histamine because something has triggered it to do so. ICD is just your skin cells saying, ouch, I don't like this. It's a local reaction, and it's very similar to what happens when you eat a hot pepper. ICD is uncomfortable, but as soon as you wash the irritant off, it should go away. An allergic reaction, however, is something to worry about. Hives can develop into an anaphylactic reaction, which is very dangerous. As somebody mentioned up thread, if you know you have an allergy to a certain ingredient, your best bet is to email the lab and be sure none of the blends you're considering have that allergen. Here's a good link that distinguishes between ICD and hives/allergic contact dermatitis: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/contact_der.../article_em.htm (Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I just have had some bad experiences with hives vs. contact dermatitis, and I wanted to mention them. When in doubt, don't use something that irritates you).

This one was a real heartbreaker. When I first put it on, it smelled DELICIOUS--like a curry, or the inside of an Indian restaurant. I swear I caught hints of ajowan and cardamom, but that may just have been the cedarwood peeking through. Almost immediately the lemongrass note rose to the top and overpowered everything else, becoming soapy, as lemongrass often does on me. I now smell like lemon-scented dish soap. This one almost makes me consider a scent locket, but I'm likely not that ambitious. Off to the swaps.

Just had to second Mr. Nancy and add in a recommendation for Hellcat, which is buttered rum, but in the same kind of category, I think.

I received this one as a frimp from the Lab. In the imp: Fruity! I'm always taunted by smells that are familiar but that I can't place, and this was the same. I can see where some people would get cherry lollipops from this. Wet: I applied it and had my husband sniff while it was still fresh. "It reminds me of spritz cookies... almond, or anisette, or something." Yes! Almond! That was it. (Why do almond and cherry smell so similar?) This one didn't have a lot of throw at first, and I had to put my nose right to my wrist to smell it. I didn't have a lot of hope that it would last. Five minutes later: why are my elbows burning? And my neck? I go to the mirror to look, and there are red blotches all over my upper neck, and big red blotches on the inside of my elbows. Yeouch. I immediately go to look up the ingredients and find there's cinnamon in there, which I know can be an irritant--though I've never had a reaction before! I wash it off my neck and elbows, but leave it on my wrists and cleavage, where it doesn't seem to be causing a reaction and actually smells quite pleasant now, foody and warm. 30 minutes in: Now all the other smells are coming out. They seem to overlap rather then blend; I get a wave of frankincense, then vanilla, then cinnamon. As usual I can feel the bite of the cinnamon more than smell it. Two hours later this seems, alas, to be fading away to nothingness, but I still get whiffs from time to time. It's a complex smell, but it has to be applied so sparingly because of the BURN, alas. I won't be buying a bottle of this, but I'll use up the rest of the imp--carefully!

I sampled this one twice, and had two very different experiences. The first time, my first impression was the citrus note that others have mentioned, noted in the imp and wet on my skin. It was sort of a lemony cookie smell, more than an acid fresh lemon note, though--it might have been the carnation, I suppose, though it didn't smell like any carnation I've ever sniffed. On drydown the moss predominated, turning it into a "generic men's cologne" smell. That did not last long, though--this one did not have a lot of throw, and it seemed to be gone within a few hours. I dabbed a little bit more on my wrist to try it again, and no citrus this time--it was sharply pungent wet, but hard to identify any individual notes. Again on drydown the moss came out. This one lasted a little longer, but still within a few hours faded down to what seemed like a hint of vanilla. Overall, this one didn't leave a strong impression on me. It was faint and indistinct, and didn't seem to embody the concept well. Another one for the swaps.

This smell was not as complex or as long-lasting as I had hoped it would be. It was pretty much... grapefruit. Or, I suppose, kumquat--it was definitely citrus, and I'm not sure I'd know the smell of a kumquat if it bit me. One hour later: much fainter, and yep, still grapefruit. Two hours later: gone gone gone

In the imp, I noticed a whiff of something sweet and fruity, but hard to place. Definitely not the grapefruit everyone else is getting; I wore Night-gaunt the other day and compared to the screaming grapefruit in that, there is nothing here. It's hard for me to describe this smell. Definitely aquatic--clean, only a touch soapy. The fruitiness I smelled in the imp, once applied, becomes a sort of effervescence that reminds me of cola or tonic water--I'm told opoponax can do that, but no one else has mentioned that as a note. About a half hour later, this smell "dirties up" as a dry, dusty note came out, like some sort of resin. There's a depth now that may come from musk. It's a complex smell, definitely evocative of R'lyeh for me--I think of bubbles rising off a dark, underwater temple. 4 out of 5 for me--I think I need to sample it some more.

This reminds me so much of The Music of Erich Zahn that I swear I've gotten two imps of the same thing. Then again: tamarind is a citrus, and both oils have vetiver; and I can see where cedar could stand in as an ajowan replacement. My husband disagrees with my verdict, too, so I may just be mis-remembering. I need to try the two side by side. In the meantime, mmm, the pungent spiciness of it is perfect for a cold winter's day.

Not a fan. I think there must be something I really don't like about the combination of leather and musk, because I get the same thing from this that I get from Loviatar--this unrelentingly heavy, cheap perfume-y smell, like I stuck my face into the bosom of an unwashed blonde biker chick. So--leather, musk? Check. Incense? It's there, too, giving this a bit more complexity than Loviatar. Pimento and chamomile are MIA. Pepper--just a tinge; I can more feel its effect on the back of my throat than smell it. Six hours in, I get an almost tonka-ish note, too, though that's not listed as one of the notes. Off to the swaps this one goes.... well, maybe I'll let my husband try it and see if it works better on him. ETA: Well, I promised this for a swap right after my husband had a chance to try it. Turns out it's delicious on him >.< Gah! Now I'll need to get him a bottle...

I would definitely categorize Hellcat under gourmand - it's somewhat similar to Gluttony, in that way.