ralenth

Source: Fresh Lab imp

In the imp: Tart cherries and... gravy?

Wet: The cherry Luden's note whooshes to the top over a thrumming gravy boat.

Drydown: The cherry is subsiding and I'm starting to get the aroma of one of those tv dinners with the turkey and stuffing. Hmm.

Dry: Slightly buttery stuffing drizzled with gravy.

Overall: I'm suddenly wishing for Thanksgiving. I'm not a foodie, but my curiosity has been assuaged. To date, this is the strangest BPAL I have tried.

Soft, cool heather, dribbled with blackberry juice and wrapped in a misty breeze.

Glasgow reminds me of washing my hair after brewing heather beer. Obviously, we're missing the warm hoppiness, but it's quite charming.

Surprisingly, I'm in love.

Sweet, lush floral with aquatic undertones. I was surprised by this one completely. Now I'm looking at planting of these some come spring.

Straight up Luden's Cherry Cough Drops. It hugs close to the skin, but it's comforting in a strange way.

Wet: Bazooka Joe single note. It's perfectly sweet and powdery.

Drydown: Softly vanilla-ed bubblegum.

Dry: Disappeared.

Overall: I was fascinated by my sudden desire to collect Bazooka Joe comics again. Thankfully, it passed as this faded into the aether.

This scent quickly turns sharp, medicinal, and herbal green on my skin. The heavy parsley cloud hangs on for ten minutes before sharing the limelight with a soft, blooming jasmine. It's an odd combination, but eventually the jasmine wins out and the verdant notes die off.

Bottle: Peanut buttery toffee popcorn.

Wet: Light, fluffy popcorn kernels with movie theater butter. Mmm...

Drydown: Slightly sweet, a little plasticky, but overall mostly still popcorn.

Dry: Vacillates between popcorn and a soft delicious sweet musk. If I could shoo away the popcorn...

Overall: I was really hoping for more cotton candy on my skin. I'm not a foodie, but I could totally go for some cotton candy in liquid magic BPAL form. We all have our limitations, right? Don't tell on me.

Bottle: Crisp apple, slightly sweet.

Wet: Slightly tart apple, with something hollow resonating underneath.

Drydown: As it warms, that hollow thing morphs into caramel sticky sweetness.

Dry: This smells exactly like the bag of Brach's candy corn that I regretfully consume every Halloween.

Overall: A foodie lover's dream. Not for me.

On my skin, CvC is all lemon with a dusting of soft pepper. It is interesting, but it's not really me.

Luperci 2011:

Bottle: Mmm, vetiver with a touch of sweetness.

Wet: Soft, musky, slightly animalistic. This is sort of how I imagine a clean satyr would smell.

Drydown: As it dries, Luperci '11 gains a honey drenched woods undertone as if it were embracing a lovely captured nymph.

Dry: A sexy dappled patch of forest ground (without the loam I detest so much).

Verdict: Luperci 2011 is a little gentler than the previous incarnations I have tested, but I adore it.

CCNOW keeps timing out for me...it is just because so many are using it now? Every time I try to add something to my cart, it refuses to load

I just checked out and it seems to be working now.

Bottle aged since release.

Wet: Coconut and soft aquatic florals.

Drydown:At this stage, my SO came in and asked if I was"drinking Mexican cocoa." Nope, quite a morph!

Dry: Soft and chocolatey, not really my thing. It is very pretty, but a little too foody on my skin for some reason.

#8

In the bottle, this blend smells like crushed Sweet Tarts. On my skin, it melds into this delicious honeyed tobacco with a touch of non-foody sweetness. It smells like nothing else I have ever tried.

Soft, sweet, floral. I usually find freesia to be overpowering, but Nymphia is delightfully feminine without the unpleasantness I usually find in florals. After it dries down, Nymphia is predominantly apple blossom with hints of white rose. I would definitely classify this as a spring scent.

Soft, dry woods, with sweet vanilla overtones. At first, I catch hints of something ferally musky, almost like vetiver, but not quite. After five minutes, the scent slips into a sweet, powdery phase over the wood base. After an hour, it has faded to a whisper, but it is soft, woodsy and unisex. I never heard anything from my dreaded nemesis rose on this one, thankfully.

Wet: Foul, rotting odor, mixed with wet vomit. Hard pressed not to wash this off!

Drydown: As it dries, it seems to be mixed with aquatic cologne-type notes. It's genteel and ethereal, but there's still that scary opener lingering about.

Dry: Unchanged.

Overall: It sounded like something I might love, but it completely failed on my skin.

Beautiful, crisp snow, juniper and pine. It has mysterious undertones, very much like the forest in Mononoke Hime that an earlier reviewer compared it to...

This very nearly was sent to a massive eBay destash. I am so glad I took the chance to retest this as I adore it!

It's pure, sweet white chocolate on my skin, but it disappears in five minutes without a trace.

Wet: Wet leaves and sweet pear with hints of soft muskiness.

Drydown: It reminds me of a gentler Falling Leaf Moon (2009). As it dries, HM 2007 is soft and creamy. Oh, delicious.

Dry: Gentle, sweet musk. Disappears within two hours.

Overall: This one hugs tightly to the skin. I wish it lasted longer, though.

Warm, pine and resin wrapped in red musk. As Lucy, Kissed dries, she morphs into a sharp, green powdery scent. Oh, how roses loathe me. Sadness.

Wet: Warm spices and freshly crushed sage.

Drydown: As it dries, Vespillo goes really green on my skin. It's sweet and almost grassy.

Dry: Warm and musky, but rather subdued after an hour has passed. It still has tinges of sweetness, but at this point I can't pick out notes.

Overall: Dry stage is very nice, but I wish it had retained more of the delicious spicy sage of the initial application.

Wet: Sharp, sweet tobacco with a woodsy background. Mmm, cigar shop.

Drydown: Super sweet for the drydown, eventually it mellows to a nice honeyed tobacco.

Dry: Warm, soft tobacco. Slightly smoky as well.

Overall: Very nice feel. Reminiscent of Fledgling Raptor Moon, but less fluffy.

Wet: Hot bitter herbal, with dark overtones.

Drydown: Spicy, earthiness following into the drydown, then a blast of something akin to sweat. Then, it shifts again to sweet, but bitter sweat.

Dry: Sweet, sour and hot all at the same time. I suppose I should have expected that this blend might be a bit jarring, but it does not work on me at all.

Overall: A little goes a long way here. I'm sad this one smells so off on my skin as it really appealed to the Classicist in me.

Sharp, herbal lavender, but it seems sweeter than my bottles of the released version. TKO v.3 also knocked me out, much like I would expect, but I didn't sleep as hard or as long as I do when I use the released TKO.

Bright, brassy mandarin, Carnal smells like I stuck my face in a freshly peeled orange. As it dries, there's a bit of depth to it, but it never really gets too figgy. It would make an interesting room scent, but I don't think I would get much wear out of this blend.