Lucchesa

Cock Stamen is a floral on me, not a gourmand, and I have to admit I was hoping for more of the latter and less of the former. I love Dragon's Milk but it's the only DBR-heavy scent that really works on me. So what I was hoping for was Dragon's Milk with cacao and blood orange (which would be lovely, oh Lab saints, if you're interceding for us mortals). Instead, I got lilies, orchids, and dragon's blood, lots and lots of dragon's blood. It had a little throw (which for me is a lot of throw) and lasted well through my yoga class, and after 90 minutes or so the blood orange and cocoa did peek out around the edges. So as with Alabaster Vulva, which I was testing on the other wrist, I really like the drydown, and the wear length is excellent for a Shunga, but the wet stage doesn't work on me so well.

Like dementia_divine, I had to try this because vulva, but I wasn't too optimistic. Orris is not a favorite note of mine, and wet, Alabaster Vulva was a lot of dusty orris, a little vanilla and white floral, no bergamot or amber. It made it through the yoga test just fine, in terms of wear length (throw, as is usual on my skin, is almost non-existent), and became more and more beautiful as time passed; now, four hours in, it's a faint, creamy, vanilla-amber floral, lovely. I'm delighted to have tried it, but will pass the decant on to someone who can appreciate it wet as well.

The Pleasure starts out with a blast of honeyed almond, love this note but it never lasts on me (see Six), though it doesn't completely disappear here. This settles down into a blend I knew I'd love. There was a point in the drydown, about a half hour in, when the teak went a little high-pitched and perfumey, but that didn't last long, and now, another hour in, it is a skin scent of amber, coconut and almond goodness. I wish it had a little more staying power, but age may improve that.

Six was lots and lots of lovely toasted almond at first, and I love almond, with rose next and leather the most retiring of the three notes. In short order the almond calms down as it always does, and the rose steps forward, a red rose that stayed round and true on my skin. I've had trouble recently with rose going sour, but not here. Lovely. But the leather decided to play hooky. I was testing Snake Skin on the opposite wrist, and it was like all the leather was over there. It's very possible that age will make the leather more prominent. I'm going to test this one more time shortly before Lupers come down to see if I get any more leather.

2018 Snake Skin, which I'll need to death match with my decant of Western Diamondback, my favorite Snake Pit so far, which was on my buy-next list. I think I may like Snake Skin better; it's drier and less sweet than WD when wet. But in both cases, I wish the leather lasted longer. When I smelled Snake Skin ITI, the leather was the main note, with some SO in the background. It's a really nice leather, too. Wet, the leather still predominated, but in drydown, although I could smell a lot of leather on my wrist, the throw was all Snake Oil. And gradually the leather receded until in about 3 hours it was really just SO. Both this and WD are great. Both will age spectacularly. I don't really need two leather/SO blends, do I? Do I?

I liked Lolita better than I expected to, based on the heavy floral of the notes and the fact that the mitigating ingredient was not actual citrus but verbena, which can take over on me. I did get a lot of lemony verbena, but it didn't go into cleanser territory, and it also didn't get to candy sweet. The orange blossom and honeysuckle reined themselves in. A summer garden party scent, when you want to be a little bit sexy and maybe to feel a little bit younger than your years (but this is in no way a teenybopper scent on me). Keeper.

This is one my husband picked out for me. I wasn't so sure, though it is working better on me than any chypre I've tried previously. Wet, it's citrus and a lot of lavender, which always starts out strong on me and fades quickly. True to form, the lavender recedes and it's citrus, bright and sour but in a good way, like a kumquat. I'm imagining clove bud is the flower that is formed before the hard woody spice thing comes into being, because all I'm getting is a hint of clove, very much in the background. Scraps of Poetry has a really distinct personality, and I can see using it as a pick-me-up kind of scent. I'm glad to have the decant but don't think I need a bottle.

Big dark indolic oudh versus carnation. Carnation loses, big time. I'm going to age my decant a bit to see if the carnation bucks up at all, but I'm not hopeful.

Bright, tart and fruity, and very "red." I was afraid pink musk was going to be red musk plus white musk, my two most problematic musks, but this blend wasn't particularly musk heavy on me at all. Also, I almost never smell the pepper note, though there is a zingy quality here. Cranberry is front and center but not as sweet as it often goes. A fun summer scent, with slightly shorter than average wear length on me.

The Red Egg is an odd duck. I wasn't sure what to expect from crimson eggshell musk, but I expected it to be a version of red musk -- hopefully one that doesn't take over on me completely. Instead, it was a very gentle, almost fruity musk, and I would have guessed there was dragon's blood in the mix somewhere. The myrrh and coffee were similarly gentle, though perceptible, but I didn't get any cassia at first. Low to no throw on me. In fact, I thought it was completely gone at one point, but it kept coming back, like oh, there's the coffee, or ok, still kind of musky and interesting, and only after a good two hours or more did I get any cassia at all. It very rarely happens to me that a note shows up so late. Anyway, I think I like it but don't need to hunt for a bottle.

Bright strong pine and cedar. I was curious about the tomato leaf but am not sure I could differentiate it over the evergreens and blackberry leaf. Not much sweetness, so when the cranberry emerges it’s tart and realistic, not Ocean Spray. I like this but have other foresty blends l prefer.

Destroying Angel is quite nice on me. It does smell like houseplant dirt, the kind with the little green globules of fertilizer in it. But a potted plant in a library. There's the quiet paper note, and then something subtly floral as well. This is a calming, grounding scent which is understated enough to be worn in any social situation. I can see professional instances where it might be nice to be wearing some Destroying Angel which does not present as perfume at all...

I agree with Little Bird that All-Father smells like honey musk, which I adore, with a little woods. It's lighter and sweeter than I expected for the character, possibly even on the feminine side of gender neutral on me, and I wish I got more fennel because I think it would be an interesting note (no other scent that has passed through my hands has it). The first application faded really quickly, but I reapplied, and the second one lasted three or four hours. So, this is not quite what I expected, but I am enjoying it a lot.

Pleasures of the Imagination I is single note black leather on me. Not that that's a bad thing -- in fact, it's not a criticism at all, just a description. It's crazy strong, too, so you could add a tiny bit to any scent whose leather you felt needed a little bucking up. Only after a couple of hours do I begin to perceive any amber. I'm not sure I ever get the myrrh or if it's there underlying the leather the whole time. Definitely a keeper!

If you hate earth scents, you probably will not enjoy Badger. It's dirt and cedar, with a hint of sweetness playing off the sharpness of the cedar. So, it's the forest with all its secret energies, roots and branches, things growing and dying. I find it incredibly calming and grounding and was thinking, like an earlier reviewer, that it would make an excellent bedtime scent.

Just a tester of this one -- it was sour red musk at first, and I wasn't loving it, but then the sourness of the grape burnt off and it became quite a pleasant slightly boozy red musk, which then, unsurprisingly, turned into SN red musk on me, with, unsurprisingly, great throw and wear length. I really do like red musk; I just wish it were content to share the spotlight more often.

I was generously frimped this or would never have tried it -- mint is a big no for me, as is gin. This is all big mint with juniper and citrus -- I would have said lime, I can't specifically make out bergamot. I'm not getting any cardamom or vetiver, so if you're a mint lover who detests vetiver, I suspect you're safe here. I appreciate the artistry -- I can see how this might be a kind of kicky, cooling olfactory mint julep on a hot day -- but it is way too far out of my comfort zone.

I guess I never reviewed White Rabbit. Retesting today to refresh my memory, and because I wanted a tea scent. My skin usually drinks up tea immediately, but White Rabbit lasts longer than most. There is a bright sharpness to this scent from the ginger and pepper, and maybe from the linen, which does not go soapy on me. It's balanced by the milk and honey notes, but they don't subdue the ginger. Very nice!

So, I didn't realize there were two formulations of A Mirror of Spring Pleasures on Kites, and I thought I was getting the one that was hemp, white honey, amber, black currant, beeswax, and wild honeysuckle. So I was pretty confused when I tested it, especially since I looked at reviews and everyone mentioned how strong the hemp note was, and I wasn't getting anything hemp-like or grassy at all. Fortunately the Kites I swapped for was an imp in the original bottle, and the picture helped me figure it out. That wasn't black currant I was smelling; it was the combination of strawberry and blackberry. I would have easily believed there was honey in here; it's very sweet. Berry notes do that on my skin, but maybe because there is no honey or sugar note here, it keeps from getting cloying. Gardenia is usually good on me and champaca is usually awful, but there's just a hint of soft vanilla floral in the background. I can't honestly say I'm aware of any frankincense. There's a girlish quality to this -- not my usual thing at all, but I'm going to keep it and see if it gets some wear this summer.

Enraged Bunny Musk is adorable! It's soft and powdery, with the cotton blossom I enjoyed in Cotton Phoenix. I don't get that hot sexy drydown some of the reviewers seem to mention, and in fact it doesn't last long on me at all. But I'm delighted that I got a chance to try it.

I was frimped a little Honey Moon, and it's really lovely. I'm getting mostly honey with a hint of herbs and flowers. Jasmine can be a deal breaker on me, but it is nicely understated here and in combination with the honey feels more like honeysuckle. It's not a strong scent but like many BPAL honey blends lasts a long time on my skin.

So I usually have to check to understand what I’m smelling, but I tried this without looking at the notes. I got caramel and vanilla and I thought some amber. I did not get red wine. Once I checked the notes it was obvious that there was coconut in there and I could make out the peach but I still got no red wine. Since that was the only note I was worried about here, I’m loving The Initiation for its caramel vanilla coconut goodness. Not sure where the wine went, but I don’t miss it.

My initial testing notes for this read "high-pitched florals. And snow. What was I thinking?" And in fact the opening of The Garden in Winter is not me. Not me at all. Loud screechy flowers. And snow. But I didn't scrub it off, and an hour or so later I sniffed my left wrist and thought, "Wait, what was this one again?" Because all of a sudden it was seriously beautiful. The flowers had calmed down and melded, so that I couldn't pick any individual ones out, just bright sweet (poppy?) calming flowers and the lovely snow note from The Snow at Dawn, one of the few snow blends that work on me. Magic.

I know tea notes tend to disappear on me, but I was hoping to at least get a lot of musk in this blend, and maybe some of that agarwood attar. Instead, Satan just talked to Sin and Death about violets and lilies, which was not the conversation I was hoping to overhear.

I wanted to try this because I love the painting so much. The notes are mostly reliable on me, except that Moroccan seems to be one of the roses that goes sour when it hits my skin, overpowering all the other loveliness. ETA image: Jan Toorop, The Three Brides, 1893. Kroller Muller Museum