ramblingrambler

Very soft, floral, and feminine. Upon application, I get mostly champaca and ambrette with lots of lotus, making it extremely soft and slightly powdery. After a few moments, the cypress and sandalwood come out, adding a tinge of soft woodiness, but it's only very slight. As it begins to dry, it takes on a hint of incense until it fades into a wisp of soft powder again. This is beautiful, but it is too soft and floral for me. Someone will be pleased with this one though.

Unfortunately, the vetiver ruins for me what could be an exquisite scent in the opening. I applied it and thought "Oh no, another perfectly fine fragrance tarnished with vetiver!" until it almost instantly blossomed into something floral and fragrant, using the vetiver as roots to connect it with the earth. This is jasmine and honeyed vanilla, dirtied, that's for sure, with the baser notes... but somehow it works. For me it is less powdery and more soily, earthy, grounded than the above review.

Jasmine works either really, really well on my skin, or it turns into an astringent, sharp note that gives me a migraine. This jasmine worked exceptionally well, and I'm floored at how lovely this fragrance is. On application, this is sweet, sugared vanilla and jasmine, melding into one beautiful, strong, single note. Wow. I wouldn't mind if it stayed this way for the entirety of its wear! About ten minutes in, the anise comes out, and though I didn't think this could get more beautiful, it adds a bit of depth that would make someone tilt their head and say "Hmm, what's that?" LOVELY, lovely, lovely. As it moves into its fading moments, the jasmine stays strong with a slightly smokey vanilla at this point. Anise seemingly bows out long before this point. I'm left with a tinge of jasmine to my skin before it disappears all together. I'm probably going to get a bottle of this, and I'm not usually a floral girl. This one is too good to pass up.

Oh, this is flower and flowers and more flowers! There's a peppery undertone, but I see that as soil under the fragrant, blooming petals. Wow! I'm not a floral girl, so I wont be keeping this, but it absolutely smells like one of my favorite gardens to walk through because the flowers are so succulent and bright. There's a green note in there, too. The champaca and white tea give this a slight haziness... as though there are fluffy white clouds dotting the sky, but you know in your heart the stratocumulus clouds in the distance can come by and release those spring showers at any moment. Love this as an idea, but it isn't for me as a fragrance. Someone will be SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY with this though. <3

On application, it's light, airy lavender with vetiver anchoring it, grounding it. About five minutes in, the ambrette softens the vetiver, and grey musk comes out. As it dries, the notes mingle and entwine, leaving no room to disentangle them. I imagine the rum absolute give this a slightly spicy undertone, but not the usual cardamom and nutmeg scent the Lab does with spicy blends---there's just a slight pop to the scent that otherwise would not be there. The most prominent note to my nose is lavender and vetiver, but they're really tightly wound around the other in a yin-yang way. This is both light and dark, airy and earthy, and really very lovely.

I should have known this wouldn't work for me, but I HAD to take a chance because patchouli is my weakness (and some musks... wasn't sure what a "shadow musk" would smell like though!). Wet on application it's straight up vetiver and lasts without any morphing for the first ten minutes. I wanted to wash it off, but I needed to see what this would do. Around the twelve to fifteen minute mark, the mahogany oudh came out, and though I thought I hated the vetiver alone... the oudh made it worse. :*( It smelled like a BBQ on my wrist and made me want to wash it off. Of course I trudged through---unless I get a migraine, I always stay with the fragrance through its whole journey at least once---and am happy I did. At about 30 minutes in, the patchouli started to temper everything and mellowed it all out. In this stage, it begins to take shape into something workable if you're experiencing the same thing I did, so stick it out to see if it's something you can handle! Throughout the rest of the wear, I get weaker ick elements and stronger yay elements (patchouli looooove). Ultimately, I wont be getting a bottle of this, but I'll probably wear my imp a few more times before passing it on to my father whom I think will like it.

Wet on application this is extremely woody and... almost has a deep vetiver smell, though vetiver isn't a listed note. I loved the woodiness though, so I persevered and am glad I did. As it dries, the white amber revs up and gives it a... gaussian blur... type of feel. Tobacco makes it a smidgen sweeter than I would like, but I think the opium tar tempers that some. As it fades away, the sandalwood and amber remain. It's lovely, if nothing else than for the beautiful sandalwood.

On application, my first thought was "toothpaste on flowers!" I hoped it would morph into something new immediately. Thankfully, it did! About five minutes in, it become more pine-y (unfortunately, that's a death note for me), and about five minutes later it had more of a what smelled like the Lab's "snow" note. Pine receded and out came apple and... coconut? Not the super sweet coconut flakes, but unsweetened condensed coconut creme. I have no idea where that's pulling from since it isn't a listed note. Maybe the tobacco and apple mix for a coconut scent to my nose? Thirty minutes in and it transitions into more of a musky violet where it stays for the rest of wear. As it lingers and floats into oblivion, it becomes a powdery coconut again. Throw's medium and wear-length lasts about five hours.

Like the member above, I, too, am destashing, so I'm doing a mad review spree. Penis Admiration reminds me of looking at, erm, SOMETHING and saying "Awwwh, that's adorable!" because, well, you're not sure what else to say. It's a "cute" fragrance on me. It's mostly tonka, smokey vanilla, and lilac. There's a hint of what smells like marshmallow to me somewhere in there though, but it's the barest, barest of hints. There's no other note present throughout wear, and it's a pretty linear scent for me. I'm mostly through my bottle, but it's time to send it on to someone who might get something else other than "cute."

I love Gluhwein. That's why I purchased this bottle. And it does smell similar in some ways. However, it is lacking the spiciness present in Gluhwein and instead adds a deeper note, perhaps vetiver?, to embolden it further. I can get away with wearing Gluhwein to work, but not this. It's straight up port wine with a deep, dark undertone. I like it, but I wont get a ton of use out of it, sadly.

Cockaigne is, by far, one of the sweetest GC bottles I've owned and loved. Typically gourmand and foodie scents make me nauseated if they have a hint of caramel cream, but I can do this one---and do it often. This opens as a blast of intense buttery sweetness to the face, and then it mellows into a buttery, spicy pastry I'm settling down for coffee with... and I'm ready to devour it. Do recommend to foodies.

Aged incense blend here. I thought aging it might do something for it, but no. It's the same incense-y, perfume-y fragrance I got when I first received it. It's not terrible, the scent, but it wasn't what I wanted when I purchased Beaver Moon 2011. Instead, it smells like I layered myself in incense---not a bad thing, of course---but not what I expect to smell when I pick up my bottle and think Beaver Moon.

Every time I wear my beloved Beaver Moon, I want to gnaw my limbs off. It's delightful. This is a berry cheesecake all the way from bottle through drydown for me, no morphing at all except for the undulating cheesecake/berry back and forth all the way through. Truly a foodie masterpiece.

I want to love this, I do. And, to be frank, off me, in the imp, it's perfect. But once I put it on me, my skin makes it turn into lavender beer with butter and cream. Those are likely the components that in the vial smell incredibly good together, but for whatever reason my body decides that it likes them in their own categories and wont let them play together. If you like lavender or pastry scents, this will absolutely wow you if your skin is unlike my own.

This was my third favorite Yule (Raspberry Suf and Peppermint Cream Cupcakes topped it, sorry!). It's such a unique scent---frosted, sweet, and floral. It's gorgeous! In the imp, it's exceedingly sweet and cold. I think it's plum and maybe (spear...mint?), which sounds like an odd combination, but it works very well. Wet, it maintains this chilly, frosty plum, for a few seconds, but then the florals kick in too. As it dries, the brrrrr factor fades away and leaves the wearer with a plummy floral scent. Very, very pretty. As noted above, you only need a small dab, as this is LOUD and ECHOES FAR AND WIDE.

This is considerably aged, so my guess at the notes will be entirely based off what is present in my vial. This is absolutely, without doubt the scent I would pair with its namesake card in the imp and wet on skin (I'm using my imp to channel the sun from here on out ). Wet, it is slightly citrusy, with [myrrh, amber, frankincense, and/or sandalwood] in the background. Citrus is in the forefront, and rightly so, but it is glowing and warm due to its support. I smell this and think marigold. As it dries, the dominant citrus fades—and it's gone, melded into the background notes, mingled and indistinguishable as a line note, within twenty minutes. The result is a beautiful, slightly woody, slightly powdery (the "good" kind!) scent left over. It's lovely, calming, and grounding, inspiring peace and confidence. I hope this is not the last of it.

Agrat Bat Mahlat, you devil. I purchased two of you hoping we would jive, only to be led on and let down! Tsk. I know you and someone else will work out, however, so I am letting you go free. In bottle: Mostly a creamy, musky scent. I'm hoping the cream (which is dominant over musk) recedes to let musk breathe out. Wet on skin: Slightly sharp cream and teakwood muddled by the caramel feel. Do not like the cream and caramel so far—not that they're not beautiful notes, but a RamblingRambler does not smell like these notes. A RamblingRambler smells more of teak and musk and amber (of provided notes)! I hope they come out soon. Dry down: Fifteen minutes: Ahhh, there's the honey and slight apple notes, but cream still dominates. Thirty minutes: I feel like this is mostly a cream and honey and caramel scent so far. Please make it stop. It's too round and welcoming. I wanted something much more crisp and sharp from this! This is definitely a warm scent, and on me very heavy with good throw and sillage for the first two hours (when I would have preferred less, as I want not a fan at this morphing stage!). After, it does die down a little, but it carries itself through to hour six before it begins to fade away. Around hour three is when my magic begins as the cream and honey fade, but the magic ends much before I feel satisfied hanging out with it. Pretty fragrance to be sure, but excellent in the last half of dry down. Tbh, if I keep it, I would probably layer with Antikythera Mechanism for the teak I'm missing in the first three hours, but AKM is perfect all on it's own, so I don't know why I would do that.

Port Royal is a woody, spicy, aquatic all the way through. Wet, I thought I smelled a hint of patch, but it might have been a strong musk of some type. As it transitioned from wet to dry, it became more woody, almost overtaking any other notes. After about ten minutes, spices came out and played with the wood. On drydown, it's mostly salty and spicy with a hint of wood. Lovely, truly---slightly reminiscent of Our Hearts Condemn Us (on me, at least) in some ways---which is why I have to say that, although another gorgeous blend, it isn't for a RamblingRambler to wear.

I don't know what's wrong with my skin chemistry, because I did not get any of the above. Diligent Instruction for the Bridal Night, on me, is strawberry-flavored... popcorn. Who knew? Purchased for its Stekk acclaim, Diligent Instruction made me very, very sad. In the bottle it smells like it would absolutely rival Stekk---with a bonus of strawberries! Wet, I get strawberry milk, like someone said above. After that, as it begins to dry, something goes terribly wrong. It begins to get salty... and buttery... and popcorn-y. And that's where it stays from there on out. I don't mind popcorn. I really don't. But I don't like strawberry popcorn. Such high hopes have been dashed with this bottle! Off to swaps!

Love Lies Bleeding is interesting, that's for sure. In the bottle, it's floral and chocolate-hazelnutty. Wet, there's no floral to be found at all. It's pure cocoa, caramel, hazelnut. This stays--potently so--very gourmand for at least twenty minutes, past its prime in the wet stage. I am not a fan of deep gourmands, as they often make me nauseated, so I impatiently waited it out hoping to get to the good stuff: spicy floral goodness. Nope. None of it. Florals either aged out of my bottle or my skin devoured them. After the twenty minute of deep gourmand, the only other notes that came out were possibly amber and/or myrrh and/or bitter almond with its whispery cherry breath. Those who said chocolate-covered cherries are dead on. This is chocolate covered cherries on a velvet blanket with a bottle of unopened champagne nearby, and the recipient is in for a dirty, delicious treat that isn't just dessert...

For some reason, this wears as a deep, dark men's cologne on me, something my father would have worn when he dressed up to go dancing with my mother when I was a kid. I contemplated giving it to him to try, but he is way past his prime in wearing cologne (doesn't seem to wear anything anymore, not me projecting an age thing here ), so off to swaps it goes.

On me this was pretty terrible, mostly grass and soil and leather. I got no lemon candy, and that was the only thing aside from the leather I was looking forward to. However, this was purchased for my other half, so I didn't think it would smell very good on me. On him, it's very much the same, unfortunately. Leather is thicker and grass is deeper, and he gets a hint of lemon. The soil/mud spoils it for both of us, I think.

A perfect, lovely, gleaming red apple whose sweetness masks a swirl of narcotic opium, oleander, and hemlock. Whoa. In imp and wet, this is a realistic apple blend, both as a fragrance blend and as a bushel of multiple types of apples. I'm getting green and red apples, tart and crisp and juicy. As it dries, it gets sharper with a different green note than the green apple. Maybe that's the hemlock, maybe that's the oleander, or maybe that's the poison working its way through my system, because I was sooooooold on the apple and devoured my arm. I'm still loving it as it's drying down, but we'll see how it finishes off (or finishes me off ).

I received this as an obviously very aged frimp from a lovely member who did not like this fragrance. She gave it to me because I have been a fan of spicy berry scents recently. This did not disappoint. It's too bad it's DC'd, otherwise I would probably get a bottle, and I don't think many people are willing to give up theirs. This is very feminine: floral, spicy, and fruity. It's simply gorgeous! Wet, it's predominantly gardenia with some... carnation, maybe? There's a hint of spice and something sweet. As it dries, gardenia anchors everything together, but the plums and berries swell with the spice, and they mingle together creating a juicy, dripping... something. I keep thinking of---and this is going to sound crazy, but bear with me---the Disney World "Snow White" ride, at the point where the rider's outside and bursts through the door painted with the witch holding the apple... and then you're plunged into darkness. I have NO IDEA why this image keeps hitting me, but it definitely captures the "feel" of this fragrance. It only gets better with the hours. As it fades away, it's a spicy gardenia. Fruit has left us. I can see this love affair ending very badly for me. I will be left wanting more when my imp is gone. DISO list!

Hmm. I don't get any grape or roses as others do. For me, this is mainly a "dead leaves and..." fragrance, oddly enough. There's a slight smokey sweetness to this, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. I'm not particularly a fan of forest/leaves/etc., so I'm off to swap.