Soupy Twist

Whenever I’m sick, tired, or just run down, Lilith always tries to help out. She’s always helpful, but when someone is feeling poorly, she’s an absolute angel. This year, now that she’s a little bit older, she’s taken to cooking a bit here and there. Here, she’s stealing my Evil Dead shirt and making kitchari for me. I was feeling under the weather, and she wanted to take care of me. Oh my GOD, I love this kid. (She’s taken to wearing protective goggles that Brian gave her every time she cooks.) A bundle of Ayurvedic spices warmed in cream, with a little bit of dried fig and sweet dates. Cream in the bottle. Goes on with a clean but lightly spicy note — somehow it feels like antiseptic? But in a good way? I don't know what Beth intends "Ayurvedic" to mean; on me this is a bright, comforting, yet take-charge scent. This is the spice blend of the nurse who is going to make you feel better. I don't know how else to describe it. As it dries, it's very clean, like linen or "free and clear detergent." This continues back to the clean spices. It snuggles close to the skin without a lot of throw. I could see this working really well for people in the medical field. I would be bolstered if my medical practioners smelled like this.

something cold (as in undead) but sweet: I'm thinking Grief or Snow White.

Apple juice with a breath of perfumy sweetness. If I didn’t already have, like half a dozen bottles of a pure apple note, I’d get this. Delightful.

A fake, candied grapefruit in the bottle which never reaches my skin, but that's what my skin does with citrus. Goes on as sweet fizzzzzz!! Wet it's all sweet sliced apples, with perhaps a dash of vanilla rounding it out. The honey debuts here — it's the foodie honey, which is a little cloying on me, not the perfumy honey from Honeyed Apple. As it dries, there is absolutely a white floral note — I'm going to agree with the others upthread and say probably plumeria, maybe gardenia, but definitely not tuberose. This is prettier than I expected but I was hoping for honey, apples, and fizz, and none of them stuck around. Oh well. Still a nice floral.

In the bottle: A light clove, like I'm smelling the actual stem of a physical clove itself. Goes on as a hay or dry grass, which is where it stays. Pleasant, but unremarkable.

White florals (that gorgeous gardenia/tuberose combination from Swans on the River) in the bottle and on application. I am swooning in this. A green/planty note comes in as it dries, but it doesn't overwhelm, and finishes as the white floral with faint green notes. Similar to the wet stage of Swans, which, oh dear. Imma have to do a death match, because I might get a bottle of this and rehome Swans.

Sherlock Holmes (221B Baker Street): A high, clean pipe tobacco. I don't smoke and I rarely drink and two of my favorite scents are tobacco and gin. Twenty-One (Bewitching Brews): Gin and tonic and mint and FIZZ. Amazing. Dana O'Shee (Bewitching Brews): Sweet grains, which is surprisingly comforting. Sea of Glass (Sin & Salvation): the perfect hyacinth.

Musk in the bottle with a little stinky jasmine (is that the magnolia?). I had to slather twice to detect anything on my wrist. Neroli wet, which dries to a cloying honey rather than the lovely perfumy honey of Honeyed Apple.

Dammit, I really wanted to like this. The fresh juice of apples in the bottle and on application; I love the Lab's apple juice. It stays there a while through the drydown, but then it becomes a rounded mango, which is okay, until it turns into a sickly-sweet guava. Damn damn damn.

Shadow began to feel headachy. There was a pounding quality to the starlight, something that resonated with the pulse in his temples and his chest. At the bottom of the next hill he stumbled, opened his mouth to say something and, without warning, he vomited. Wednesday reached into an inside pocket, and produced a small hip flask. "Take a sip of this," he said. "Only a sip." The liquid was pungent, and it evaporated in his mouth like a good brandy, although it did not taste like alcohol. Wednesday took the flask away, and pocketed it. "It's not good for the audience to find themselves walking about backstage. That's why you're feeling sick. We need to hurry to get you out of here." Orange peel, rosemary oil, peppermint, and cloves. Lots of fresh lovely orange peel and clove in the bottle, with the wee burn of peppermint somewhere without any actual peppermint note, but it just turns into Tang. No rosemary at all. Very little throw. Okay, decades before the golf dude tried to claim he invented the idea of combining lemonade and iced tea, my mother used to combine drink mix powders and put them in pretty jars to give as Christmas gifts. So she'd add Tang (orange) or lemonade to iced tea mix and call it Spiced Tea. That's exactly what this smells like: My mother's Tang spiced tea. So thank you for that lovely scent memory, Beth. I miss my mother a great deal.

Complete opposite of Caity's experience. Sweet hazelnut and lokum in the bottle and on application. Opens with some rose notes and almond extract, continues into rose candy with powdered sugar. I get some burnt tobacco as it dries, which is maybe supposed to be the wild fig? Finishes as the rose candy with powdered sugar. Dammit, I wanted the hazelnut. I don't like rose. The cause is so important, so I don't regret buying the blind bottle, but why, skin, why? Why you gotta do me like this?

Bamboo and green in the bottle and on application. I really like this! The green stem note is sweet and grassy. Not a lot of throw but very fresh and soothing. I agree with ZZ; this would be a fantastic shower gel or BATH OIL, HINT HINT

2018 release: Sheer vanilla in the bottle. Goes on wet as the vanilla from Antique Lace, which I LOVED wet, and turns a little powdery as it dries, but not in a bad way. I like this! It continues more into Antique Lace's musk, but not all the way. I think this is what Antique Lace was supposed to be but never materialized on my skin. No almond, no florals. Not a lot of throw either, alas; it's very close to my skin. But on my skin it's ooooowee baby!

Honeyed Apple is the most gorgeous perfumy honey I have ever smelled. The vanilla in Antique Lace is beautiful too, until the drydown when it turns to complete musk on me.

GC London (Wanderlust) is pure rose on me Grief (Märchen): gorgeous hyacinth Sea of Glass (Sin & Salvation): the most magnificent hyacinth ever. One of my all-time favorites. Lilium Inter Spinas (Ars Amatoria): Lily of the valley and sandalwood, with a little apple blossom LE Humanite (Luper 2017): floral, hyacinth, peach Vanilla Orchid Single Note Swans on the River (Luper 2018): spectacular white floral, gardenia, honeysuckle

Mango hard candy. Sweet and sharp, but doesn't last very long.

A pure spicy single-note ginger with a touch of fizz. A blessing for me because I don't care for a bunch of the other notes!

I can't actually smell anything in the bottle! I had to sniff the wand to get an impression. Tropical florals, which is how it goes on, but it's so so faint. There's some ginger, and it gets too sweet as it dries, but honestly it's gone so fast it's hard to tell. Kinda bummed because this sounded quite exciting on paper and in the reviews.

Wood in the bottle with tea trying to get out from under it. Goes on as wood with grapefruit trying to get out from under it, and by the time it dries, the tea and grapefruit have won. Both vanish on me shortly because that's what the Lab's tea and citrus do on my skin, but nice until then. I will say there is nothing which says "Manhattan" about this scent to me — the city is electricity and asphalt and ozone and fizz and energy. I like this scent, and I love the city, but these don't match up for me. Separately, I was worried about the amber and leather and wood, because I'd wanted this before I found out those notes were a problem for me, but fortunately this worked out. However, I have Kumiho and Baoban Sith for the tea and grapefruit notes, so I'm not sweating this one.

A really nice single-note fir. Sits right between the actual White Fir SN and Take the Moon. Not getting any of the other notes, but I have that lovely dandelion elsewhere, so I'm okay with this.

The gorgeous dandelion note plus a little grass. Divine. I adore this note.

another vote for Swans on the River and Against Idleness!

The fresh juice of apples in the bottle. Goes on as a perfumy apple which quickly becomes Salon Selectives. I like it, mind you. I do think it's hilarious how many of us are getting hair care and body products from this.

this is the first time I have had so many bottles that they won't all fit onto one rack, so I had to separate them into cold-weather and warm-weather scents. I brought out all my planty bottles (Sag 2006, Nothing Gold Can Stay) and florals (Sea of Glass, Humanite) because early spring is the only time I really wear them.

Results not guaranteed. Ginseng root, crushed ginger, damiana essence, cubeb berries, and horny goat weed accord. in the bottle: tart WTF is THAT green cut root. On application: Ginger? Ginseng root? Definitely a woody, freshly-cut root scent, sharp and somewhat unpleasant. The finish is much better, as something more citrussy, like ginger root — and it's clearly the fresh root, not powdered and not the spice. I feel like I'm slicing up ginger in my kitchen for a recipe. This dries as practically a ginger root single note. Beth is just amazing. Her skill repeatedly astonishes me. She does such an incredible job of creating these scents!