Lucchesa

The Lab frimped me two of this one, so I had to try it, especially for the name. But like all aquatics, it smells like laundry detergent on my skin. Oh well, my hopes were never high.

A year ago I wouldn't have touched Clemence with a ten-foot wand cap. But now that I know not all patchouli smells like a Berkeley head shop, I'm willing to try a scent with patch listed as the first note, especially with beloved cardamom and carnation backing it up. And Clemence was worth the gamble. At first it was all patchouli and clove, but as it dried down it warmed into a snuggly spicy patchouli. I never get pepper (scent blind?) and didn't get any tea from this either, but I would have tried it even if those notes hadn't been listed. Carnation and clove are related notes to my nose, and the clove doesn't overwhelm. It's about as patchouli as I'm willing to go, but it really is a pleasure.

Warbler is a lovely floral tea blend on my skin, with a hint of plum. Cherry blossom can smell artificial on me, but that doesn't happen here. Green tea is always a little citrusy on me, and the tea, fruit and florals all work together to create a bright springtime feeling. Sadly, like so many shungas and tea blends in general, this one does not last long on me at all.

Wet, there's a blast of almond extract, which I love. Somewhere on the forums I read the scientific explanation for why the almond note is always so fugitive, and while I don't remember it (esters?), this is another example of a fleeting almond that entwines with and then bows out in favor of a gentle incense note, more fortune teller than fortune cookie. It is not at all foodie on me past the first ten minutes. I'm delighted I finally got the chance to try this, but I don't think I need more than the decant.

Strawberry candy. At first there's an appealing tart juiciness, but on my wrist it settles into a slightly artificial strawberry nougat note and is much too girlish for me.

I adore the name, but Velvet Dogs Playing Poker is one more disappointment in my search for a perfect pipe tobacco scent. I seem to be anosmic to the Lab's pipe tobacco note; I don't perceive it here at all, though there does seem to be perhaps a little cigarette smoke. The wood is the strongest note on me, then a little tonka, strong black coffee - not getting any booze or creaminess. Not particularly sweet on me. I don't think this decant is a keeper. Not a fave.

Rose and incense can be a lovely combination on me, but sometimes the rose goes sour (All Saints). Unfortunately, this is one of the latter cases. It is lighter and brighter than I expected of opium tar, and I think it would be lovely if the rose behaved, but the rose has a sour tinge that doesn't make me happy. I will pass this one on.

Also check out the current Yule Snow Queen update at Black Phoenix Trading Post: Caw Caw hair gloss and Language of Crows perfume.

Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar. 2015 version. So, I was frimped a tester of this, and I adored it and sought out a bottle on the forums. And it got lost in the mail. I was sad, but these things happen. I would have ordered a bottle when Yules came out, but there wasn't a 2017 version. Then, a miracle happened: the package reappeared, and it finally arrived today. Oh the rejoicing! After all that anticipation, I opened the bottle and sniffed and was frankly let down. It struck me as a slightly insipid milk chocolate. Then I applied it to the back of my wrist and almost immediately, it transformed into something rich and complex, an adult version of hot chocolate. It isn't ridiculously foodie on me; I get only a whisper of cinnamon, and the coffee is deep and nutty, and I have a well-loved brown leather satchel on the table next to my hot chocolate, and someone is smoking a pipe at the next table. This one is magic on me, and it lasts and lasts -- I can still smell it, many hours later.

She Crushes for Men Happy, Fruity Wine. The description led me to believe that this would be a much darker blend than it is (I looked up chthonic, it means related to the underworld...) This is sweet, bright and bouncy, almost juicyfruit at first. It smells more alcoholic in the imp than it does once it hits my skin; I could easily wear this to work. On drydown I start to perceive a bit of the incense, but the overall tone is still bright and fruity. I like it, but I was hoping for something a little more sultry.

Fighter on me is a combination of brand-new leather and the scent memory of my father cleaning and oiling his shotgun after duck or pheasant hunting. So I might be getting a little avian blood and feathers. It doesn't morph a lot on me. I love the Lab's well-worn leather smell, but this is not it; this Fighter is wearing brand-new leather and steel armor. I think part of what I'm reading as leather workshop is actually red musk. Interesting and extremely evocative, but also strong and I'm not sure how often I would like to smell like this. I'm keeping the imp because I am shooting for a full set of the RPGs, but I don't see myself needing a bottle.

I should preface this review by saying that I am Italian-American and cook with a great deal of olive oil. Perhaps that explains the feeling of rightness I get from Mithras. It doesn't even smell like perfume; it simply smells the way I think my skin should naturally smell. Milk and honey, olive oil and blood. It is just perfectly good and right and beautiful. I was intrigued by DiesMali's likening of Mithras to Alice, which was my very first BPAL love affair. If Alice is puppy love, Mithras is all grown up. The scent is unisex, beyond meaningless categories like male and female. It is a skin scent on me, and it is the scent of skin on me. I am almost tempted to give away all my BPAL, buy ten bottles of Mithras and wear nothing else. But if I were that kind of person, I would have just stuck with Alice and would never have discovered Mithras in the first place. I will wear this when I want to give the impression of utter naturalness.

This! What a beautiful description, LiberAmoris. I was afraid wintry musk might involve a soapy snow note, but the musk stays very much in the background for me. I don't get much frank, either. What I get is an elegant vanilla cream sandalwood with a little bit of earthiness from the herbs.

Apparently I must amp cubeb, because for the first hour or so, Liebeszauber smells exactly like Crib Girls on me. Not that I mind, I like Crib Girls, but I was hoping for some carnation, some clover, some bloody vanilla cream. I could differentiate the blood note wet, but it got swallowed up by the cubeb pretty quickly. The carnation emerges after about an hour, and then it's lemony cubeb and carnation honey. I don't think the clover or vanilla cream is ever going to make itself known. So, this is nice but not as complex as I was hoping for, as my skin chemistry just foregrounds the cubeb.

I love beeswax too, but something in an older Day of Skulls decant was horrible on me. I kept looking at the notes and thinking, why isn't this working? I ultimately blamed kantuta blossoms...

I'm not sure about linden, but everything else is a note of bliss on me, and A Wonderful Light does not disappoint. At first it is all amber, that beautiful warm glowing amber that has a bit of an edge to it -- I'd guess at least one of the three is the same amber as in Bast. After about 30 minutes of the amber show, the other notes start to emerge, the honey soaked orange peel, the bourbon vanilla, and then it is sublime. And it lasts -- I applied nearly six hours ago, and there is still a ghost of a scent with its character intact, which is really long wear length for me. I'm really torn -- I have other radiant amber blends I love, but I may need to go in search of a bottle of this one.

2013 version. La Befana is lighter and brighter than I'd expected. I am getting very little soot or charcoal or evergreen, unless the cypress is contributing an almost citrusy vibe, but lots of violet candy, which seems to work better on my skin than plain old violet. I can see this as a spring or summer scent. It's very pretty but a skin scent on me, gone after 4 hours.

Last night’s lavender drops and a whiff of Pickle’s vanilla coconut pupper shampoo. Beautiful bright lavender at first. I was afraid from the scent description that it would be faint, but I was pleasantly surprised by its strength. Gradually, as it dried down, the soft coconut emerged, and the combination, which I wasn't quite sure about, is just lovely. Unfortunately, the lavender didn't last as long as I would have liked, and within an hour or so it was nearly all coconut, with an accompanying sweetness. I am thinking of buying a bottle for my teenager, who adores lavender, and I need to have them try wearing it (on sniffing there was STRONG approval) to make sure the lavender lasts a little longer on their skin. ETA This is aging beautifully and its staying power and throw have indeed improved. Gorgeous!

2017 Aeronwen morphs so much in the first ten minutes alone it makes me a little dizzy. In the imp I smelled mostly fig and a tiny bit of orange, like a dried fig dessert filling with a little orange peel in the mix. Did I say I love fig? When it hit my skin, it was all myrrh. Then moments later, all black musk. Then fig again. Ooh, there's the redwood. Myrrh. Musk. Fig. My skin tends to soak up citrus scents, so the orange went offstage. The three main players for me were fig, sweet myrrh and dark musk, and while at first each of them wanted to give soliloquies, they eventually ended up forming an ensemble. I found all the morphing fascinating and kept sniffing my wrist to see where it was at now, and none of the stages was unpleasant or uninteresting, and most of them quite beautiful. Now I want to try it again to see if I can make out any of the nutmeg or tarragon, but I can't figure out where I put my imp! Damn.

VPD was the one Lilith I coveted most. I am having a run of good luck with oudh, and amber, vanilla and orange blossom are all right in my wheelhouse. Sadly, the moment it hits my skin, it goes awry, into high-end liquid hand soap territory. I'm getting very little oudh, mostly artificial orange blossom, amber and vanilla. I'm going to wait it out and see but something about this combination is not working with my chemistry. So sad!

Shaggy fur, snow-flecked and rose-touched. Bear Prince is a much gentler scent than I expected. I haven’t tried Rose Red or Snow White (I know, I know) but my initial impression was similar to the Marchen scent The Rose, which is a realistic, non-heady rose on me. I didn’t get a lot of snow, but as it developed the rose mingled with a soft warm musk. Very pleasant but my skin ate it up fairly quickly.

I just want to continue the Danse de la Mort lovefest. These notes were not a slam dunk for me ; tobacco leaf can be unpleasantly sharp and opium tar can take over. But here they work together like a dream, with pale sandalwood and golden amber and yum! Unisex in the best possible way. Five hours in it’s a gentle skin scent but if I were home I’d have reapplied at least once. So good!

Lunasariel, if you lean toward the leather end of scents, I find the book-themed scents to be very quiet on me. That may be a skin chemistry thing -- a lot of reviews for Philologus say it's like men's cologne, but on me it's very gentle leather and parchment and candlewax. Buggre Alle This Bible barely showed up on me at all. I've also tried The Book (Fleurette's Purple Snails, not Paranorman, but I suspect they're similar) and Scholar's Tower as well, and both are quiet and cozy. Dee in the regular GC. But maybe some of it is my middle-aged skin sucking up scents; I rarely get any throw. Still, I think as long as you don't slather and stick to soft worn leather scents, not brand new black leather jacket, you'll be fine. Have you tried White Rider? I also second the recommendation of coconut scents like Blood Pearl and Black Pearl that can pass as sunscreen. Very quiet on me. I'm not supposed to wear scent to my yoga studio but I do it all the time with my gentler scents and no one has ever noticed.

Yup, that's frankincense and myrrh all right. Which is not what I want to smell like every day, but in certain (penitential?) moods, on a dark rainy day, it's heaven. This is more frank than myrrh on me, at least at first, in its dryer incarnation. And I get about a foot of throw, which is unusual for me. After about an hour it has settled into something really beautiful, softer and warmer and sweeter, with the two incenses blended into a single cloud of lovely. I tested this about an hour before going to bed, so I'm not sure how long it lasts, but given how full-voiced it was an hour in, I suspect it has good wear length.

Morgause is strong, and when it hits my skin it is simultaneously sour and sickly sweet. I don't think violet and night-blooming jasmine is a good combination on me. As it dries down it loses the sour patch kids vibe and I get hints of the incense (or is it the Penitence on my other wrist?). Deep, dark, heady floral that would be absolutely gorgeous on someone else.