VetchVesper

This is so lovely, but I think it's changed a lot since I first bought it in 2015. It began as a sticky peach preserves smell, with equal parts white tea and champaca. The incensey notes added a subtle depth, but it was mostly about that delicious candied peach tea smell. Now that I'm revisiting the perfume, I find the sandalwood has really come into it's own. There's a rich, incensed spiciness to this that has really made it's presence known. The champaca seems a mite stronger as well, and the overall feel is now an incensed, spicy peach with hints of the tea. I love incense, so I love the change. As the fragrance fades, hours and hours and hours later, the peach reasserts itself as the dominant note, and I get the familiar fragrance I did in 2015 when this was new. The mingling of the two aromas - the peachy tea and the spicy incense really does work well with the fragrances theme. I shall continue to cherish my bottle.

Drat. I was hoping for all that anise loveliness. Unfortunately, although I can smell the anise, on me, this is much more of soft, sweet, vanilla floral. It has a pink, candy floss feel to it - like a gourmet cotton candy. While it's pleasant enough, and I'll bet a lot of sugared vanilla lovers would really love this, it's just not me. :/ P.S. If you dig Pere Noel, this one might be worth hunting down as a more floral version.

Minna, from C2E2, is lovely and leans masculine to my nose. That won't stop me from wearing it though! White patchouli, sage, and benzoin gleaming with tea leaf, green tobacco, cognac, polished rosewood, and bourbon vanilla. Yummy!

The opening of this reminds me a lot of 2016's Heel. It's all juicy honeysuckle and freshly cut greenery. After a bit of wear, the waxy, white florals bloom, and the fragrance becomes creamy. It's' a fresh aquatic floral that makes me think of Monet's water lily paintings and is perfect for spring and early summer. Or maybe all summer for you folks who's temperatures don't hang out in the upper 90's. ETA If you are a fan of Lady of Shallot, give this a sniff. It's fairly different, but has a similar vibe.

This makes me so sad. All I'm getting is a fistful of champaca to the nose with a hint of aquatic smelling oakmoss. No gardenia. No orchid. No waxy, lovely white florals. I get no hint of anything vanillic, nor of tobacco. Perhaps magnolia leaf is a green not and has nothing to do with the flower? I'm hoping that letting this sit a while will bring out the other notes, but if not, this is for sure a swapper. Poo muffins. :'( ETA: So this has smoothed out some in the week or so I've had it, and it's nice, but it's still very champaca dominant. I was hoping for more of those lovely florals, so off to the swapmobile.

First sniff - Gorgeous, sweet patchouli that makes me want to drool all over myself. A faint backing of herbal sage when I inhale deeply. On my skin, the patch immediately gets darker and woodier, so maybe that's the rosewood coming into play? This would be divine on a man. There's something coming across as faintly chemical to me though, like polish or something. It's not bad... just a bit odd. Hmmmmm.... Maybe something about the way the herbal notes play with the warmer notes? This also reminds me a touch of Hailstorm of Knitting Needles, which was nice, but seemed like it didn't quite work on me. Minna seems like one of those blends that needs some time to sit and come into it's own. (but who has patience for that?? ) So.... for now, my interest is perked, but the jury is still out on this one. I'll have to update in a week or two.

Ahhhh! Smelling this puts a smile on my face. I am usually not an apple enthusiast, but this just sounded really lovely and I wanted something different. In the bottle and when first applied, The Gold Room is buoyant, happy, scintillating, and young, but with a touch of sophistication. It evokes images in my mind of art deco ladies wearing gold sequins and could be worn with pride to any Gatsby extravaganza. The apple is prominent, sweet, tart and bright, reminding me a bit of Wood Phoenix, but the bubbly is right along side it adding a dry bite with the ginger and a lovely effervescence. The tobacco flower appears in the dry down and has a creamy texture, very different from the chewiness I usually get from "tobacco." It and the amber add maturity, depth and a hazy softness to the fragrance like a chiffon wrap. The end result of this is beautifully light and elegant. I'm very glad I gambled on it.

The first thing I smell in this is a sweet mix of lemon balm and neroli, but the lavender and rosemary clamber up my nostrils behind the intial sweetness. They smell sharp, herbal, and mentholic together, almost like eucalyptus. Once this goes on my skin, the frankincense starts to come out. It lends a grounding dustiness to the fragrance. As this wears, it becomes more and more of a frankincense scent on me, with a faint tinge of sharp green herbs in the back. I like this as a sleep blend, or maybe as something for a restful day lounging about the house. I could also see this being very nice on a man or as a home scent. I would be all about candles that smelled like this.

Hooooo! So on initial sniff, I got a swirling miasma of acrid, bitter, tart cow manure, (Thanks oudh ) and I thought to myself, well THIS was a mistake. BUT - It smooths out pretty quick on my skin, and I'm finding I really dig it. It's "lusty" smelling. The oudh fades to the background rapidly, just lending a grounding and animalic quality to the whole, which is what oudh does when it decides to behave itself for me. The mix of black currant and rose makes for a full, sweet, tart red rose that I find an interesting departure from the typical, dewy or perfumey red rose blend. I don't really get leather, though often I don't. I'm guessing it just adds to the warm, grounded vibe this has. The blood musk and red patch add a gritty, incense vibe, while also lending to the over all lived in feel of this blend. This has sex written all over it, and though I'm not sure I would wear it often enough to need a bottle, I will definitely be taking my imp out now and then. So in summary - Lusty, animalic, tart rose. Delicious, but not for the faint of heart. The White Witch's sluttier sister.

This is a lot sweeter than I was expecting. I get dragon's blood first, but it's backed by the tobacco, making it smell sort of sweeter and chewier than I'm used to. I get some frankincense too. As it wears, I get something slightly earthy and green/soapy smelling. Maybe the tomato leaf? I'm not very familiar with that note. I'm guessing red musk is lending a lot of the sweetness, but it's a back up player in this. I don't really make out leather. Fortuna Belli is very different, and as I said, NOT what I was expecting, which was an incensey/earthy/leather blend leaning towards masculine. I think this leans more feminine and has almost a chyprish vibe. It's NOT a chypre, but it's got sort of cool herbal sweetness that kind of seems vaguely related. Interesting, but not really my cup of tea.

Really nice. This is just the kind of fragrance I love, and I'm extremely tempted to grab a bottle of this even though I'm swimming in patchouli scents. To my nose, this is very much a patchouli blend. It's snuggly, soft, and a little bit earthy. Not funky though. It reminds me a bit of Goblin, but is less obtrusive. All the notes do make appearances, but they sort of swirl about in the patchouli, just poking their heads up long enough to remind me they're there. I LOVE licorice, but if you do not, I wouldn't let that stop you from checking this out. It's presence is very subtle. There is an oddly waxy phase to this about 30 minutes after I put it on, but it evens out fairly quickly, and by an hour, it's all yumminess again. Ergh.... I miiiiight have to grab this one.

So I finally broke down and bought a full bottle of this lovely. I am usually not too keen on lavender, but this is just a really lovely example of it. Very smooth and well blended, with equal parts lavender and amber to my nose, and maybe a bit of musk tying things together. Relaxing, but not sleepy time relaxing. Like... calm, composed, elegant, and a touch old fashioned. This is just really very classic smelling, and it does have an airy feel to it. I'm happy to have it as one of my few lavender blends.

Used up the last of my sample of this. I thought age might make me like it better, but nope. Ditto on the old lady vintage perfume thing, which surprises me since the listed notes should be right up my ally. This is VERY powdery to my nose, in the bottle and on the skin. The musk smells like black musk to me, though maybe there's some of the labs "dark" musk too, which seems to be it's own thing. It's in the same family as Haunted and The Velvets to my nose. Shadows and Reflexions doesn't change much on me in the dry down. One of the few CP scents I wasn't impressed by.

Sooooooo floral, like, soapy perfumey floral. I'm not getting much rose, lots of lilac and wisteria though. If you like potent, old fashioned florals, or wisteria in particular, this might be too your tastes. Too much for me though. :/

I don't know if this will help, since it's an older fragrance and no longer at the Etsy BPTP, where I snagged it, but These Were the Four Loves Faded has a very similar vibe to my nose as BinCW. Both are cool, damp florals with tuberose. I'm guessing "queen of the night" refers to jasmine, so they both have that note too. Also, you might check out Bayou from the GC. It's mossier, but it's definitely got a languid, damp floral thing going on, and I'm pretty sure it's got some jasmine in the mix.

This starts as a lovely, lush purple floral. The dusty violet and lilac combo plays nicely with the bright, tart lime in the opening. The plum is sweet and light. (Dirigible plums anyone?) As it wears on my skin, the lilac and violet jockey back and forth for lead position, while the plum grows darker and fuller in the background. With this being so purple, I guess it's not surprising it reminds me a bit of Purple Phoenix. Its gentler though. The dry down is soft, creamy, and floral, and seems more appropriate to spring than winter. Very pretty. P.S. Read Lycanthrope's review and gotta agree with her on the Morgause comparison too, cause along with P. Phoenix, it flitted through my mind while sniffing. I think Morgause's heavier and got some incense vibes goin on though, while See How they Flash is much more strait up floral.

Vanilla crepe de chine, ruby musk, golden amber, frankincense, honeyed saffron, smoked cardamom, sweet orange, star anise, and bronze fennel. This is SOOOOOO good. When I opened my package from the Trading Post, this heavenly scent wafted up to me and I knew I had done well. "Portrait of a Young Woman..." Is extremely well blended, and I really have a hard time seperating the notes. What I get most is a light sweet orange resting gently over a luxurious bed of rich amber and velvety red musk. There's a sort of smokiness to the scent that I find intriguing and something almost comes across to my nose as a dry cocoa note. Little wafts of vanilla trickle in at dry down, but over all this is just a beautiful, incensey, musky masterpiece. So glad I splurged on this one! ETA: I really just love this. One of my top 10, and strongly considering buying a second bottle, which I do next to never. Also, I work at a job where I do lots of physical labor w/my hair up, but this stuff lasts through all of it for days. When I let my hair down, it's just a blanket of heavenly descending.

So very pretty. <3 Splurged and bought this off Etsy. I get a loooot of honeysuckle at first, which is fine by me. The tuberose and jasmine come in to play support roles for me, and come across as soft and gentle white floral. I don't get much mint, coconut, and the amber I only detect as a soft, warm fuzziness. On dry down, this becomes much more mossy and the jasmine becomes more present. It then reminds me of New Orleans, Bayou, and Jazz Funeral, that sort of mossy, languid, fresh water aquatic that mingles with the sweet florals. Lovely, drooping wet white flowers, moss, and honeysuckle.

Ooooo.... I like. This is really different from what I was expecting, but I'm really liking it. It smells very salty in the bottle, vaguely nutty, and I get a hint of red musk in the background. I get why peanut butter has come up, but it smells different to me. On my skin this is a very whimsical, swirly scent. It must be the chypre that comes across almost as soapy, and that with the saltiness almost gives the fragrance an aquatic vibe, except that I dislike aquatics, and I like this very much. There's definitely some sweetness coming from the musk and the vanilla, and I detect the patchouli, but only as a very mellow, earthy base. Oudh can be iffy on me, but it's working here. I don't really get much leather. This has a nice silage on me, and I get little trickles of scent drifting up now an then, but they don't always smell the same. As I said, swirly. Over all it's a complex, unusual blend with a warm, incense sweetness underneath a salty chypre. Lovely, and reminiscent to me of fall.

Hi Francesca, concerning your imps leaking onto your fingers, I rarely have this problem, but my friend gets it on her fingers like %95 of the time. The two differences I've noticed between the ways we open our imps are that she is WAY more careful about it, ironically, and that she tends to hold her fingers further down the top of the imp so that they are touching the line between the glass and the plastic. My hypothesis is that her skin touching the seal is sort of drawing the oil up when she wiggles the top out. So maybe throw caution to the wind, and hold the top of the imp higher up? I also wiggle my tops out vs. pulling them. Maybe we'll have to run scientific experiments since this is now officially a forum question. As for mixing Shanghai and AM - You do you, boo boo.

Amber Dawn, do you want LE's? Or would you rather have GC's so you could get the sample sizes? I love orris/iris, and the CG's that have worked for me are Brusque Violet, Dragon's Bone, Dance of Death, Black Pearl, Blood Pearl, The Caterpillar, and Nefertiti. Often things with "bone" or "pearl" in them seem to have orris. LE's I enjoy that seem strong on orris are Stealthily Stealthily, King Cobra, Flourette's Purple Snails, and Mythological Scene, with a Warrior Addressing a Lady Outside a Classical Mansion, Two Maidens Riding Unicorns Behind. Orris often seems drier smelling to me than Iris.

A complex and regal floral with warm musk/resin undertones. This is quite seductive, but then that is the point! I'm willing to bet money there's lily in here. Maybe some rose, but I could just be adding that cause roses are regal. I can smell the amber and lovely musk, and I get violet, but wouldn't recognize it if it wasn't a listed note. This is reminding me of an older perfume, but I can't think of what. Red Door maybe? I could see it as a department store fragrance, but in a good way. It gets a little more woody and gender neutral with wear. Quite beautiful and classic.

Ok. I love this. Looots of dark, smoky vetiver here. Beware if vetiver is not yor thing. It sort of reminds me of The Chapel at first. Then the black musk comes into play, adding it's dark powderiness to a thick, sweet honey. After hours of wear, I'm still getting soft whiffs of smoky black musk and sweet charred incense. Kind of like if you mixed Haunted with The Chapel and poured in a bucket of the darkest honey. Dark, sinister, and gorgeously sexy. Bottle please!

I love Bath & BodyWorks Sandalwood Rose scent, so even though I'm not a huge rose fan, my interest always perks when I see that combo, but Joy & Fear is almost entirely sandalwood on me, and even that is very light. The rose comes through a tad, but it's almost like a sandalwood box full of old rose petals. It's dusty smelling and reminds me of something I'd smell in an Indian shop. It's pleasant, but I prefer Rakshasa for this kind of vibe. If you are a big fan of red sandalwood, this might be right up your ally, but for me, it's a swapper.

Mmmm.... powdery sweet lime candy, like green skittles. That's what I get first. Reminds me of Bitches Love Unicorns. <3. Then its initial citric acid blast recedes and I get more sugary fruit that seems a bit more magenta. The plum reminds me of Bordello in that it smells syrupy, but I like it here better. I don't get any absinthe.. This is a fun, tangy-tart candy smell on me. It doesn't last very long though. :/ ETA: Actually, it DOES have a good wear length. It's just not real strong. The perfume I was wearing overpowered it, but this morning, I'm still getting whiffs.