porcelina

i ordered this unsniffed before the carnival went away because so many of the notes seemed like they would agree with me! the only thing i'm a little scared of is the almond milk.

thankfully, the almond milk in the organ grinder is light, delicate and creamy- not the strong, overwhelming, sharp almond i get from a lot of other scents! it really just adds a soft, slightly creamy nuttiness to the blend overall.

the notes here blend beautifully. almond, patchouli and pine are all scents that tend to stomp all over every other note but here they are all playing nicely. the tobacco is like sweet pipe smoke when it meets the sarsaparilla. the patchouli is dark and earthy but not sharp or dirty. the pine is the first thing i notice on repeat sniffs but it doesn't dominate- it's almost subtle.

it dries down to a lovely sweet, slightly smoky scent that stays close to the skin.

ooh i really like the way the lavender & pine work together in blauer mond. there's a nice resinous backdrop with the frankincense and the sage and ambergris work beautifully, too. this is VERY strong and a little goes a long way. i had worried about the jasmine and cucumber but they're lost under everything else at first- i get more jasmine as it dries but it is not overpowering and actually quite nice.

not what i expected based on the description, but BETTER!

at first application, the most prominent note in blue moon is a very herbal lavender. as it sits on my skin, the OMGLAVENDER settles down into a soft cloud of elegant blue musk and light, kind of watery florals. it's very elegant but i wish my nose was better-trained to pick out more of the individual notes. i can't find any cucumber or green tea.

overall it's a bit too perfumey and floral for me.

mouse circus is bee-yoo-tiful. the first thing i notice sugary sweet creamy vanilla (i think the butteriness from the popcorn lends it a creamy, baked-goods feel- i do not get much salty popcorn here). there is a touch of fluffy sweet pink cotton candy and a very lovely smooth wooden base that keeps everything from going OMG CANDYYYY.

i wish it had better throw and lasted longer but it is lovely as a soft skin-scent for me and pretty much exactly what i hoped it would be.

i was reeeeeally excited to try butterscotch and blackbeetles but i don't think it likes me very much, sadly. these buttery candy or caramel or rum notes (there is something in here that reminds me a bit of grog, and of hot buttered rum) are never my friend.

there is a really nice base of patchouli that keeps it from being straight up foodie, and makes it smell kinda dirty-in-a-good-way, but the patchouli is sweetened by the butterscotch and it's a very pleasant combo.

unfortunately for me, the plastic-sugar thing never quite goes away enough for my liking but i know this would be amazing on someone who can wear a buttery sweet candy note well. i DEFINITELY get the comparison to banshee beat- the patchouli and the way it interacts with the sweeter notes is very similar.

lotus is a rare floral that i don't immediately want to run screaming away from, so i was excited to try this eight-petaled SN variety.

this is a very sweet, clean floral. there is something slightly papery going on? It's sweet, a little dry around the edges, yet watery at the same time. don't ask me how something can be dry AND watery at the same time.

it is a pure, clean floral, not screeching or high-pitched, very delicate and pretty.

siberian musk is gorgeous. that is the face i made when i sniffed it for the first time. it is deep, rich, smooth- so, so good, i can't stop sniffing myself. it is a dark dark smooth musk; it doesn't go powdery like black musk, though. if this isn't a component of snake oil, i don't know what is! it's smoother and deeper and less sweet than SO, and i think i prefer it.

this could easily be worn on its own or as a layering note when a blend could use a touch of musk. i can't wait to smell it aged.

at first sniff it is VERY similar to mother ginger- a creamy sweet ginger scent- but with something REALLY REALLY unpleasant underneath. i don't know what it is- but i think it mind be the way the lime is interacting with the spices to my nose. the saffron and coriander are doing weird things… it's kind of sour/tangy.

as it settles on my skin and dries, it starts to smell better. creamy ginger with a citrusy lime bite and a blend of crushed herbs and spices. it starts off really weird but it becomes much more wearable as time goes on and by the end i like it a lot more. it actually wears better on my skin than mother ginger and the lime and spices make it a little more interesting.

literally every note in epomophorus monstrosus is one of my favorites so i knew i had to have it from the start. (thank you, wonderful bat's day fairy! ) it's a lovely dark patchouli, sweetened by tonka and the barest hint of yummy sarsaparilla. underneath is rich mahogany (what my apartment smells of ) and dark dark cocoa. it doesn't seem super musky to me.

the individual notes are really well-blended, like all the bat's day scents i've tried- it's not like occupy wall street where i can smell the patchouli and the cocoa and the tobacco individually. but if you like occupy wall street, or banshee beat, or boomslang, this is a must-try!

there is almost something in great vampire bat that puts me in mind of egyptian musk? at any rate, like a nice clean, soft musk. but it's only there at the beginning; as it dries down the prominent note is definitely incense. the incense is not smokey; the whole blend smells fresh and lush. i actually love the incense note here and it blends beautifully with the "jungle orchid," which is sweet and lush without being a heady, overpowering floral. this was the only one of that bats which i wasn't sure about from the start but i like it quite a bit!

ooh! there is a smooth sandalwood base with a really nice patchouli and a touch of sweet frankincense. it is very well-blended and lovely- a more elegant patchouli blend than the dirtier varieties i've been wearing lately (like in occupy wall street). it's a little more "perfumey" than my typical choices but not in a bad way at all.

silver-haired bat is dry, smooth and sweet. it has a dry resin feel, with smooth wood and a hint of nose-tickling pepper. there are similarities to tombstone and maybe even antikythera mechanism (though it is much much drier than the latter) but smoother and more elegant. i'm very happy to have a bottle!

really really surprised by this one, since it's not at ALL my usual type of scent (musk, resin, dirt, blood, wood, smoke, etc.), but it's so nice. it's fresh and happy and young and SO SPRINGY! it's pink and cute and sweet- the sugar/honey notes really help the florals stay out of AAH POWDERY FLOWER territory, and it just smells so fresh and delightful. i was scared when i saw "lenten rose" but apparently lenten rose is actually hellebore and not really related to rose-roses.

this is so pink and pretty and perfect for spring. of course it's august now but this will totally be my easter scent next year.

wily grasser… is a weird scent! weird, but delicious.

on my skin there is a blast of cotton candy sweetness! it's fluffy and sugary and i can practically taste it! the wildflowers are soft, a different kind of sweet, and they soon become the dominant note. i get a BLAST of fresh pine needles that fades away into the background as it dries. it's all cotton candy and flowers after that- fluffy pink flowers. fun and sweet.

i have The Ta-Ta and The Arabian Dance sitting in front of me and I will do a side-by-side comparison. (No Bah!- I don't own it and the whiskey would probably not play nice on my skin anyway!)

So, first, Arabian Dance:

[i[Leather, coffee, hazelnut, tobacco, and Middle Eastern spices.[/i]

I wore the hell out of this one in winter 2010-2011. I had largely ignored coffee as a potential scent in perfume until I tried it, but when I did, I fell in love!

The coffee is dark, but a bit creamy-sweet; I think this is some combination of the hazelnut and tobacco. The latter always gives me a sense of dark sweetness. It is not a fresh-roasted coffee bean coffee; it's more drinkable. The spice is noticeable. The leather is what keeps this from being a drinkable, foodie scent- it grounds the scent and makes it very sexy.

Now, the Ta-Ta:

Boiled leather, carnation blossom, coffee absolute, and tobacco.

This coffee is more of a strong, fresh-ground dark roast coffee note. It is not creamy or drinkable like the Arabian Dance. Now that I've tried the Spanish Red Carnation SN, I can really pick out the carnation here- there's a faint spicy floral component, but I find carnation to be one of the most wearable bpal florals (I am not a floral perfume fan). It is mostly dark coffee and smooth leather.

Comparing them side-by-side, the Ta-Ta is definitely the least foodie of the two. In fact, I wouldn't call it foodie at all. It's dark, almost a little gritty. The Arabian Dance is smoother, sweeter, creamier- spiced coffee with hazelnut liqueur, drunk in an elegant library. The spice and hazelnut really make a difference. In the Ta-Ta, the coffee and leather blend almost seamlessly on my skin. It's darker and drier than Arabian Dance.

oh man, autumn cider. you could have been perfect. warm apple cider, a bit of sweet butterscotch, sugar and spice and everything nice. BUT NO. orange comes along and turns the whole thing into a fruit bowl. the orange takes it from a warm mug of cider drizzled with butterscotch syrup to cloying, drippy canned fruit.

but wait… as it dries, the orange settles down. the fruit becomes secondary, tertiary even, the lemon zest adding just a hint of citrus to brighten the blend. it still might be a LITTLE too cloying, a little too sticky. it's not perfect, but this is the closest to a true spiced cider blend i have come across. it makes me wish i could drink it.

i would love this if not for the rose. leaves, herbs, chrysanthemums and lovely sweet vanilla… and ROSE. big old fat bossy rose comes along and takes over la calavera catrina and makes it a rose perfume. come on, rose, can't you let the other notes have their fun?

boo is clean, sweet and cuddly. like a teddy bear in a ghost costume. it's so soft and clean and yummy… it's light and gentle on its own, but i think it would be great to layer it with things that could use some added sweet creaminess. happiness to my nose!

calaveras, in the bottle, has a deep dark cocoa and caramel thing going on, with a touch of spice.

the pepper is not green, fresh jalapeno, it is dried and spicy, a bit of smoke. on my skin, there is no sweetness- just peppery spice, smoke. it's a dry scent. it smells like a cabinet full of mysterious spices and ingredients. but there is something there that my skin does not approve of- probably the sugary cajeta- and the resulting plastickiness ruins it for me.

i moved to las vegas around halloween last year so naturally i had to order halloween: las vegas.

on my skin: rich, rich cake frosting, dark snake oil and sugary-smooth dorian, boozey red wine and the barest hint of smoke and something that reminds me of tenochtitlan (the desert flowers, maybe?). it's very sweet, pretty playful, but musky and warm.

the lab sent me le revenant by mistake (was supposed to be nocturnal reverie). with the glowers and the cognac and the white musk, i would never have selected it on my own!

oof. this is a sharp white floral, fresh dewy petals but no greenery, and white white musk. it's a high floral perfume; it tickles my nose. it smells, i dunno, fancy? there is the barest whiff of ambrette seed… dusty sandalwood underneath it all. not for me!

john barleycorn is sharp in the bottle, and really boozy.

on my skin… it does the bad thing that rum and sugar notes do to me, where they go all thin and plasticky. it's a little grainy. the blood is not really noticeable. not a favorite.

i tried it on my husband and it went CRAZY powdery on him!

it's apple overload today, as i test my way through all of last year's weenies! i love how wildly different all the 2011 apple scents are, and how they each use apple in a special, unique way.

golden apple is good stuff! i described glittering apple as like being outside on a crisp autumn day- this is inside. it's warm, glowing, there are candles and i am sipping a cup of spiced tea with FRESH ginger. warm, spiced tea is the dominant scent here. i have a favorite tisane that has lots of dried fruit and spices and is so good hot in the fall, and with the apple, hibiscus, ginger and tea notes, this reminds me heavily of that delicious drink.

there is a chance it could stray into craft store-territory if you amp spice (i do, and i also used a spicy body wash today- lush's glogg- so there is a heavy spice component going on) but i really think the sense of freshness from the apple and ginger helps ward against that.

first impressions of black apple- not good. metal, and something medicinally fruity- maybe the quince? a thick, viscous scent.

on my skin- dried apple, concentrated and resinous. still getting a cough-syrup note that i'm not liking. it gets overpowered by the black musk, the resins and the tobacco, but it's there underneath it all. there's not a whole lot of apple left, but i know it's there. this is really strong, smell-it-from-a-mile-away stuff.

as it dries, the medicinal quality fades and it becomes powerfully dark and resinous. i like dark and resinous, but i'm not sure there's enough that's special about this for me to reach for it over one of my preferred resin blends (schwarzer mond, midnight mass, etc).

whoa! major scent memory ahoy! when i opened glittering apple, i got a blast of the crispest, juiciest apples pressed into the freshest, crispest, most delicious apple cider on a crisp autumn day with blue skies and red leaves. it reminds me of a childhood visit to an apple orchard, a specific orchard i visited with my mom, on a park district or preschool-organized trip? i remember other little kids, a bus, my mom and the crisp fall day, the apple trees and the big warm building where they sold cider by the jug and apple cider donuts. and i haven't even put it on yet!

this apple is so juicy and sweet-tart that i swear i can taste it.

when it hits my skin… oh my deliciousness. delicious, fresh, CRISP apple (how many times can i use "crisp" in one review? i don't care, fall is the crispiest and most delicious of seasons and this is the crispiest and most delicious of apple notes), softened by gentle musk and vanilla. it is so lovely and soft and sweet. a juicy apple, a cup of tea, soft perfume, a beautiful autumn day.

it's way more "perfumey" than most blends i like- that's not a bad thing, and i'm not comparing it to a commercial perfume. but i usually go for things that smell like things- incense, dirt. this is a beautiful afternoon distilled into perfume. it makes me long for september, october and november. gorgeous.