lexyOZ

This is my surprise favourite from all the American Gods I've tried. I was so ambivalent about it I left it till last to test and I've fallen in love with it hard. It's all musk, all the time, but it has such depth. You can really smelly the dark metallic musk fighting with the golden ambery musk. It's really wonderful, rich and sophisticated. I don't have any musk single note scents (well not single notes, but where musk is the star of the show) and I think this is it for me. Definite bottle upgrade.

One day I will find the cedar perfume that loves me as much as I love it, but SBC is not the one unfortunately. This is just straight, damp pencil shavings on me and doesn't dry down to anything different. For those that cedar behaves on, I'm sure it's lovely.

I wish I'd got more than a sample of this, it ticks all my boxes. Heady, gorgeous orange blossom that smells just like my flowering mock orange at the moment; a hint of a deep, but non-dirty oudh; and a peek of a gentle, resinous amber that's ever so slightly powdery, and that almost earthy touch of bitter fragrance from the saffron. It really is a radiant, golden scent that feels sophisticated and mature. I'm in love.

Extremely low throw to the point that I can't smell it a minute after I've applied it. Can't speak to notes or impressions since I can't smell it at all. Update: today it is a little more forward and it is indeed lovely. A spiced vanilla with an almost baby powder feel to it. Very comforting and soft. Throw is still very low however. Putting this one away to age.

Wet: A really clean smelling, gentle aquatic. Parchment, aloe and fresh, gentle breezes. If it does veer a teeny bit close to laundry powder, it would be the classiest, fancy laundry powder you've ever smelled. Dry: Really did not expect such a musky dry down. The African musk and sandalwood is super prominent. This is such a delightfully clever scent which to me, mimics the cycles of the Nile. We have the aquatic opening (the flood) and the bone dry, musky finish (when the waters recede and the desert takes over). Absolutely fitting for Mr Ibis. Not only is it clever, but so wearable. It's fresh, soft, gentle and welcoming, with an undertone of secret ritual spices. Really lovely.

I was a little apprehensive about this one, but I really love it. To me it smells like a more mellow version of Embalming Fluid. The bergamot is reading as EF's citrus note, but it's tempered with the green iris stems that TeaOtter mentioned above and the gentle vanilla-ish benzoin note. It's really quite lovely. If Embalming Fluid is a scent for hot summer days in shorts, this one is more for a mild spring day in a tea-length dress with a glass of prosseco. I've been layering Mr Ibis and Silver Dollar and the green citrus and soft aquatic play together superbly.

I adore all the notes in this but I the tuberose is doing that urinal cake thing it sometimes does. This goes on very sharp and almost chemical smelling on me. The ghost of those other lovely notes are struggling to make themselves known, but the tuberose is slamming everything else into submission. BPAL's indolic white flowers do not ever seem to work for me, to my eternal disappointment. Not for me.

This is probably one of my favourite vanilla perfumes, probably because the vanilla isn't the star of the show. Wet, it's a lovely creamy vanilla with that gorgeous ambergris tang that gives a fragrance depth. As it dries the tobacco flower emerge and I amp them to high heaven. I love tobacco so not a problem for me. Sounds kind of obvious but the tobacco flower does have that rich, dry tobacco scent, but with a more gentle, sweet floral vibe. I got a few hours wear time out of this and while it lasted it did this thing where I would suddenly get blasted with vanilla or tobacco flower and then it would vanish. Every single appearance it made was divine though. I actually find it quite sophisticated without being mature. It's like a business executives who occasionally still sings into her hairbrush. Beautiful and grown up, but who still knows how to have fun.

I tested this without looking at the notes so let's see how off-base I am! Wet: it's an earthy lemon scent. I'm getting little bit of that pencil shaving cedar scent. Dry: the lemon is hanging in there with that woody base and a slight musky scent. It puts me in mind of an old cedar chest that's been regularly rubbed down with lemon oil (not lemon pledge!) and maybe a whiff of patchouli or some other earthy herb. It's a nice grounding scent, not really haunting at all! Edit: after looking at the notes, lol, never would have guessed this is just musk. I would swear that's lemon in this.

Wow. I applied a tiny bit of this in the crook of my arm and then put a hoodie on and forgot about it. 10 minutes later the waft of fresh honeycomb is coming out of my sleeve and I'm utterly beguiled. I'm not getting any other notes but an extremely realistic and beautiful waxy honey. I definitely get the animalic musk mentioned earlier which I think gives it that kind of sharp sweetness that real honey has. I generally dislike foodie or sweet scents but this is so lovely. I can see myself using this as a layering note quite a lot, and think it would be beautiful with very smokey fragrances like Smokey Mountain Mallow from Solstice Scents.

I made the mistake of testing Zorya P and Mama Ji at the same time. The ethereal beauty of Zorya P just could not withstand the spicy floral brick-to-the-face of Mama Ji. I love it. Up close, I am getting TONS of pink rose, which for me is great, because IMO the more rose the better. But at a distance, the spices are dominant. They're so dominant I'm almost getting that tickle in my nose I get when I go into an Indian spice shop. I don't know if it's the flowers or the spices but there's a kind of undertone of funk like the flowers are just on the edge of being past their best. It's that hint of death in life that I suppose is very suitable for a Kali perfume. I can't pick out any specific spices or flowers other than rose, this thing is so well blended. I'd say I'd douse myself in it, but I think people in the next street can probably smell the teeny drop I applied to test, so go easy. Definitely not one for the office. I kind of want to take up salsa dancing or something similarly as sexy so I have somewhere to wear this.

I was frimped this one and probably never would have looked at it otherwise, but I really enjoy it. The patch is that good, funky variety that brings to mind sexy hippies and headshops, but given some lovely, spicy depth with the addition of the amber and tobacco. It has a lovely, dry, slightly vintage vibe to it; I totally get the "old sweater" feeling, but it's less of a specific scent and more a sense of what an upper-class woman flirting with the idea of being a hippie might have smelled like in the 70's. Earthy, but chic. I'd spring for a full bottle, but unfortunately longevity is pretty short, maybe a couple of hours.

I think my decant might be off because this smelled so acrid and harsh to me. I almost physically recoiled when I took the top off the decant. I'm pretty sure it's not the perfume itself, but a chemical change that's occurred. I chanced it on my skin and it just got worse. It almost burned my nose to breath it in; it has an extreme chemical vibe to it, like an industrial strength insect repellent. Super disappointed because I love every single note listed and would love to be able to smell what others are getting from this. I would not take this as any reflection of Tombeur since there is no way so many people would be raving about it if they were smelling the same thing as me, I think I just unfortunately got an iffy decant. Won't stop me trying to get hold of another decant and giving it a go

I bought a bottle of this unsniffed since I'd heard so many great things. I've got a 4 year old bottle of Womb Furie so I assumed I would really like Snake Oil. In the bottle it smelled a little bit acrid so I thought I'd just stash it away for a bit to age. 2 minutes later I'm slathering a bit on just in case it does something different on skin and wow, is this ever a treasure! Wet: very heavy on the patch, heavy and spicy. Dry: a gorgeous vanilla comes out and blends perfectly with the spices. My skin has a tendency to turn sweet notes dark and smoky so YMMV with the quality of vanilla you get from this. On me, it's very slightly sweet, quite soft and lush, but not foodie. It's almost a blackened vanilla. My nose isn't sophisticated enough to pick out individual spices other than the patch, but I think there might be clove and maybe nutmeg? Whatever it is, it's really well blended and fantastic. I know aging is supposed to make Snake Oil better, but I don't think I'll bother. Given how dark my skin turns it already, I'm not sure it'd be worth it and I quite like that sharp herbaceous quality at the start. I love that aging it is an option though for those with different tastes. This is a best seller for a reason. Edit: You know what? I have totally changed my mind. After 3 months of aging, this stuff is THE BOMB. Way better than fresh and I really liked it fresh. It is just so smooth, yet packs a punch. I love a lot of different indie perfumes, but I think this is probably the first one I've wanted to buy a backup of.

It's so fascinating how chemically identical scents are perceived as different things by different people on the basis of expectation, scent memories and how our skin reacts to it. Maybe if you find BPAL's vanilla doesn't work for you, perhaps you could nail down the specific elements of vanilla you love and seek them out in other notes?

These sound glorious! Thanks for the recommends, I will keep my eyes peeled for Utrennyaya, but the Vicomte has just moved to the top of my must-try list.

I was a little bit worried about this as I thought I'd ordered Dragon's Milk, but oops, I got mixed up and got Dragon's Blood instead! I shouldn't have worried because it is lovely. Wet: I'm getting a gorgeous creamy, almost fruity floral. It's gardenia-like (which I love) with a wee bit of a musty resin underneath. This was totally unexpected. I thought it would be a lot more resin-y and sharp. Dry: it remains a sweet floral with a wee bit of a powdery resin underneath. I really like this and I can see how another reviewer would call it comforting and earthy. It's much prettier than I expected and not at all fierce or dragony. This is the kind of scent I'd wear if I had to sit in a cubicle under fluoro lights so I could huff it and pretend I was in a glorious garden full of honeysuckle and fresh turned earth.

You have so kindly recommended things to me, so now's my chance to repay the favour! I find Morocco to be an absolutely spot on smell-alike to Possets Arcturus which is listed as Madagascan, Tahitian and Mexican vanilla. I know there is (maybe?) zero vanilla in Morocco, but my nose never lies and it is telling me it is the exact same lush, smooth, creamy non-foody, somehow perfumey vanilla as Arcturus. It might just be my weirdo skin, but you never know!

I actually have a sample of Lyonesse on its way to me right now, so that makes me very happy to hear!

Thank you Lizziesluck for the heads up on that partial for sale, and sqwook for your recommendations! I have been looking for an excuse to try more CD scents so if the Mme and Torture Queen are even a little bit similar, that's good enough for me.

This might be a long shot but does anyone know of a GC dupe for The Shadowy and the Sublime? It was a 2010 Gothic Fiction Halloweenie and I'm not sure it was hugely popular because I don't see it mentioned much. The notes are Moroccan amber, wisteria, ambergris accord, white rose, magnolia, white mint, angelica, bergamot, and myrrh. My imp is all amber and ambergris with an initial whiff of creamy florals that mellows into a slightly sweet wood and resin blend with a wee bit of mint freshening things up. The only other thing I can liken it to is Possets Dangerous oil, but TSATS is much more powdery, floral, spicy and overall complex than that. I will probably cry when my imp is gone.

Not sure how old my imp is as it came from a forumite. I really like this and I agree with the reviewer above who said it represents a lesser aspect of death. It's solemn, but not morbid. Weighty without being heavy. The woods and resins are prominent, but the rose is equal in strength on me so it's quite a lovely balanced scent. The rose is very old fashioned and dry, like a bunch of roses left on a grave that have dried to paper in the sun. The incense is spicy yet mellow and kind of just pulls everything together. It's not one I would have picked from the notes, but I'm glad I tried it. It's quite lovely.

2013 version: This one is a scent locket perfume for me. In the imp and wet on my skin this smells like gorgeous creamy soft peaches and coconut with a tiny hint of ozone. I get no florals at all, just lovely ripe sweet fruit. As it dries the ozone just amps and amps until I smell like burning electrical wiring which is just my skin chemistry unfortunately. I really wish I could pull this off on my skin because it's such a beautifully soft yet fresh scent, but it remains absolutely wonderful in my scent locket so swings and roundabouts! Edit: ok, I have to completely eat my words about this one. Somehow, it is now working gloriously on my skin and I am IN LOVE. I haven't seen anyone else mention peaches, but this is such a strong, juicy fresh peach scent to me. Not like a foodie, pie peach, but like a refreshing cocktail made with fresh peach pulp, coconut juice and a really strong vodka. Even though this is ostensibly a winter scent, it is working so well as humid, summer perfume. This is on par with Snake Oil for me in terms of silage and longevity.

I am not really a foodie fan at all, but there's something about this that is just so lush and wonderful. Wet, it's pretty much straight milk chocolate on me with an undertone of something odd that I'd expect from the CD. It really comes alive on the drydown though. I get an earthy, musky scent backing up a dry cocoa that is just lovely. It's sweet, but it's not cloying. I was really surprised that a two note scent managed to have such depth. I can see this appealing to foodie and non-foodie fans alike.

This one of the most utterly perfect gardenia perfumes I've ever encountered. It's just huge bunches of luscious white flowers and the most gentle of aquatic notes floating in the background. Ginger starts to come out with the dry down and give the flowers a little pizzazz. The flowers eventually fade leaving just a lingering floral over a gorgeous musk and ginger. Totally bottleworthy.