Lucchesa

Foodie overload! Gluttony is everything it says it is. On me it's most like a chocolate covered hazelnut praline, but the chocolate is no darker than semisweet. With all this other sugar, a darker chocolate would have been nice to cut the sweetness. I guess the hops does that a bit, but there's an awful lot of sweetness to counteract. I always love the hazelnut note. If you are a gourmand lover, definitely give this one a try.

Ether is clean and fresh, a little lemony, a little floral, a little aquatic though not too soapy. It's not my thing but I can see it being a lovely summer scent on the right person.

Molly Grue is gentle and lovely -- I really enjoy all these notes. I expected the opening to be all hazelnut, but it is never strong and blends quietly with the fig and bitter sesame. The spices are also very quiet, and the rice flower, and that is why I'm not keeping this decant -- this scent is just too soft and gentle on me, and my skin eats it up much too quickly.

Tanuki No Doke Daruma was a frimp from a generous forumite, but I'll try anything no matter how unpromising the notes. Plus I love the tanuki stories. As expected, this is not for me. The apple and currant combine into something way too fruity for my taste, the apple blossom and champaca making it too floral as well. I would like to smell the tomato leaf note, but I couldn't individuate it here, and the grasses don't really come out either. No clue what goma is. Too fruity and too flowery on my skin.

The Lemniscate is primarily frankincense and cedar on me. If those two notes work for you, this is stunning. I've been testing some fruity scents which really aren't my thing, and in contrast Lemniscate is bracing, clean, unisex. The cedar and frank combine into a single dry, woody thing -- I can't pull them apart. There's a kick of black pepper, a ghost of warm tobacco, maybe the tiniest bit of sweetness in drydown from the cognac. I absolutely love this one.

Slivers of warm, pulsating DRAGON'S blood forever crystallized in golden amber resin. I should have read the reviews, or this should be Dragon's Amber. Dragon's blood very rarely works on me, and this is not one of those occasions. It's only a little amber and a lot of the sickly sweet fruity-floral DB turns into on me skin. I was hoping for something more like blood musk and amber. Oh well, I'll pass this one on.

I wonder if it's the blood musk that is giving you that effect. (I've never really been in a tattoo parlor... I know, I know.) Blood musk tends to work better on me than red musk pure and simple. Have you tried Ezekiel 16:19 from the new Deliver Them scents? Blood musk and ashes. It's really unique, different from any other BPAL I have, and definitely no beeswax sweetening things up. Plus it's a great cause.

I love trying 13s, though I can have a hard time differentiating components among all those notes. This one is gorgeous. I get primarily dark chocolate with boozy vanilla cream, sweet and comforting but not cloying; I think the bitter coffee and smoky notes help keep the balance. If you are an almond hater, I get very little almond here. The carnation takes a while to show up, and the cardamom is very understated. After an hour, 13 July 2018 is pretty faint on me; I have to get my nose close to my wrist to smell it. But it lasts at this level for the next several hours, not disappearing entirely. Aging may improve the wear length, but the composition is a winner.

This 13 is lovely rich chocolate spice in the bottle but kind of odd on my skin. I don't know some of these notes -- ladybug beans, cascara sagrada, master root -- and the effect on me is less chocolate in my spice cabinet (though I do smell the cumin and allspice) than cocoa powder in an herbalist's storeroom, with bundles of dried herbs hanging every which where. A kind of dry, dark, earthy, herbal blend, not particularly sweet -- not unpleasant at all, but just not me.

Maybe my nose is busted, but I don't get pomegranate from Crypt King. Maybe a hint of fruity sweetness, but not identifiable pom. Wet the one note that stands out is the almost foody ginger. I do get oak moss and lilac as it dries, and very little patchouli. I'm going to pass my tester on so someone else can try it. It's too confusing to me. It's very nice but I like to have a better idea of what I'm smelling.

I was frimped a tester of this that doesn't specify the year. Rose can be iffy on me, but Pink Snowballs is really pretty. I'm only familiar with the Snow White note through Cotton Phoenix and Frostbittens, but my skin seems to love it. The rose is pink and sugary on me. Sweet and lighthearted but with nice wear length for a delicate scent.

Daemonorops, vanilla, Indian sandalwood, Mexican copal, hyssop, muguet, sweet pea, amber, hazelwood, galbanum, hiba wood, and orchid. Sniffing Great Red Dragon without peeking at the notes, I could definitely tell there was dragon's blood present, though not so much dragon's blood as to make it uncomfortably sweet for me, and vanilla. And a bunch of other stuff. Woods, flowers, that sort of thing. I did not get hazelnuts or anything foodie, and no throw even wet. But it was really appealing. And 20 minutes or so later I sniffed my wrist again to see how it was developing, and it was gone. Where did you go, Great Red Dragon and Woman Clothed with the Sun?

Goliath Birdwing is quiet on me. I was afraid that lemongrass plus lemon balm would equal lemon Pledge, but the citrusy herbs stayed very mellow. Unfortunately, so did everything else. I guess this is one of those seamless blends where it's hard to identify the separate ingredients, but I would have enjoyed more pronounced sage and anise notes. It's pretty in the imp, but I felt like my skin was damping it down.

Another perfectly gorgeous scent from the Deliver series! I could almost cut and paste dementia_divine's review because Luke 10:25-37 behaved very similarly on my skin. The clove was the strongest note on me, followed by the amber; under them I could faintly make out some earthy saffron and sandalwood. And late drydown, a few hours in, is all sweet golden amber on me as well. This is a lovely, warm, comforting scent, and it will be beautiful in the fall and winter. It wears close to the skin (as most scents do on me) and lasts a long time.

Psalm 82:2-4 is the first of the Deliver scents I haven't absolutely loved. I was worried about the crystalline musk being close to white musk, which often doesn't work on me, and I was right to worry. The musk was just a bit too high-pitched on my skin, and I didn't get any vanilla for ages. It isn't bad or anything; it just didn't blow me away like some of the others in the series have. I wished it worked as well on me as it does on some of the other reviewers! ETA I noticed today that my imp is really stratified -- there's amber color at the bottom, clear on top (I actually thought I had just ordered a half imp and it was amber). So I rolled thoroughly, and this time I got the vanilla a lot earlier, and the whole effect was softer. I'm hanging on to this imp to see how it ages. It may end up blowing me away after all.

A second-hand imp of Ozymandias, of indeterminate age. Ozymandias is very faint on me. A little incensy, a little powdery, no throw nor a particularly long wear length, nothing that would raise it above beloved desert scents like The Lion or Bastet in my estimation or make me sad that it's discontinued.

Astringent lavender and black, black patchouli. I have an imp of East African black patch SN, and it's very recognizable here. So, unlike zanzoku_zen, I would NOT recommend this to anyone who's scared of patchouli, because at least with my skin chemistry, this leans pretty close to single note big bad patch. No lilac or star anise, only a hint of citrus ; some pine does peek out once the lavender starts to mellow a bit in drydown. And there's something about the lavender/patchouli mix that's not sitting well with me. I think this would be beautiful if my skin let it express more of the notes.

I love blackberries and keep trying to find the perfect BPAL blackberry scent, which has led me to a series of dreadful disappointments, as the blackberry note tends to go berry bubblegum on my skin. So I didn't have particularly high hopes for Exodus 22:21. But I love me some dark syrupy opoponax, and myrrh usually plays on my side as well. And this -- this is beautiful. There's the gorgeous rich blackberry and the resins and something almost lemony which I think is really tart redcurrant, balancing the sweetness of the berry, and I think the resins keep this blend from getting too sweet as well. Wet, I got unusually good throw for my skin. Drydown is more subdued, less fruity, rich and deep. This is not a playful, light summer blend on me. Phox calls it mature, and I would second that, but in the most positive way. I'm so glad I took a chance on a decant, and I may need more. In fact, I feel that way about all the Deliver scents I've tried so far. What a stunning collection.

I can't usually wear red musk, but I've had some success with blood musk. Blood musk is more apt to share the stage with other notes, which is especially crucial when there are only two notes. And the blood musk and ashes are in perfect balance here. Ezekiel 16:49 is a very somber scent, and utterly unisex; for the first couple of hours I get no sweetness at all, then it starts to soften a bit, but it is still dark. Gray ash, coppery blood -- this really isn't like any other scent I can think of, and it's beautiful. Not much throw on me (typical) but good wear length.

Dragon-Smooched Snake Oil is powerful stuff. Wet, I barely smell the Snake Oil at all. I get strong, cloying dragon's blood resin, patch and honey. But the SO starts to assert itself pretty quickly, and as it dries down the DBR backs off somewhat. Fresh SO is super sweet on me already, so this is almost overpoweringly sweet, with terrific throw. The extra patch gives it a more structured feeling. It is ridiculously sexy, and I don't even particularly like dragon's blood. D-SSO lasts longer than most of the SO blends do on me without simply turning into Snake Oil, though it's not still there the next morning the way plain SO might be. Of course this is likely to age magnificently. If I loved dragon's blood, this would be to die for. As it is, it's still pretty great.

Jester is berry, berry, berry! I was hoping for a little more of that incisive, bittersweet neroli to round things out, but it's sweet berry, more huckleberry than red currant, sweeter than I associate with either of those in real life. If you live for berry scents, this might be your holy grail; then again, it's awfully hard to find...

I tried Job 31:32 today along with Romans 13:8. They seem to be related scents to me, and they are both brimming over with win. Sorry, Soupy Twist, but I got the Caity Cat experience. The opening was all roasted hazelnuts, reminding me of the roasted nuts of Himalia, which I adore. I'm not sure I could pick out the almond because the hazelnuts were pretty insistent. But the chewy dark fig nosed its way in, and the Turkish delight with a tiny hint of rosewater. Romans is the rose version of this theme, and Job is the hazelnut version, and hazelnut lasts much longer on me than almond does. Sweet, rich, nutty, but not totally foodie if that makes any sense. I think this will be a wonderful autumn scent as well. I got good throw (which is rare for my skin chemistry) when wet and really good wear length; I did reapply once today, but that was 10 hours ago and I can still smell it. I am just blown away by how beautiful, generous and open-hearted the Deliver scents are.

I've had a run of bad luck with oudh lately, so I didn't order Romans 13:8 initially, but I was persuaded to get a decant. I'm so glad I did. This is absolutely beautiful. The oudh is just a deepening note here, not indolic in any way. It starts out with a sweet blast of almond, but that never lasts long on me. It settles into a gorgeous, almost heartbreakingly realistic rose, with a whisper of almond in the background and some chewy fig and on me just the faintest hint of cardamom. Rose does not always work on me, but it's stunning here. I got good throw from this when it was wet and excellent wear length as a skin scent thereafter; I reapplied once today but can still smell it ten hours after the second application. I had Job 31:32 on the other wrist and they seem to be related scents and are amazing alone or together. I am floored by how Beth has taken her outrage and righteous anger and transmuted them into these things of beauty.

If I were designing this scent, I would have gone all literal. Murky seawater, hemp rope, stone. But there are lots of excellent reasons that I am not heading up a perfumery, like, who would want to wear that? Beth goes instead for the sunny meadow we imagine Jesus sitting in as he suffers the little children to not get horrifically ripped away from their parents. I love the Lab's honey scents, but I tend to amp champaca and it can go strange on me. Here, though, it behaves beautifully. This is mainly a honey and champaca scent on me, with the warm sandalwood grounding it. I rarely get throw, but this is champaca, so it actually has pretty good sillage on me, though the wear length is just average. Energetically, this blend is the color of sunshine. Recommended for lovers of the Apiary, Against Idleness and Mischief, Venus Verticordia, honey-based Shungas and the like.

I love the painting (https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/caspar-david-friedrich-winter-landscape) and was excited to try the scent. It captures the image beautifully, I think. The piney snow note combines with ecclesiastical incense -- mostly frankincense on me -- and a drift of roses like the pink sky at the top of the canvas. Rose is not always reliable on me and goes a tad sour in combination with the incense, but it is a very pretty and evocative blend all the same.