It seems to me that categorizing a note as one you love simply isn't enough. Beth and the lab are masters of their art and quite often the qualities of a note within a range of scents can differ greatly. So I plan on breaking down each note that I love and figuring out where it works, and where it doesn't, as well as blends I still want to try.

Leather- my love of the scent of leather started when I began working with horses. The scent of leather, hay, and horse was one of my favorites when I was riding in high school. Leather took on a new meaning when I picked up a new hobby a few years ago after college- leathercrafting. A freshly unrolled hide of veggie tan leather has a simply wonderful scent, but it's an elusive one that doesn't last long and is hard to match in perfume.

The Lab's leather notes: Seem to be split into at least two qualities. One is more of a 'leather jacket' soft suede feel. The other is supposedly more raw though I haven't found that one yet. Of the various leather notes, I tried most of the commonly recommended ones that weren't super hard to get hold of. I have yet to find that elusive veggie-tan quality in any of them- in fact it took me comparing Crowley and Black Rider to finally realize that one of the prominent notes WAS the leather since it seemed much more soft and cologne-y then what I was expecting.

My favorite blends with leather in them thus far: Bensiabel, Bow & Crown, CC: Female, Crowley. Black Rider is nice but I feel it's a simplified version of Crowley.

Blends that I liked but the leather wasn't prominent: Marquis de Carabas, Western D, VILF

Blends that were horrible on me: Black Tower, Highwayman, Tintagel, U.

Blends that I still REALLY want to try: De Sade, Dead Man's Hand, Dee, Hand of Glory, Liz, The Red Rider.

*- Signifies ones I tried.

Lab's leather blends: (GC) Antony*, Bensiabel*, The Black Rider*, Black Tower*, Bow & Crown of Conquest*, Calico Jack, Casanova*, Dee, Dragon's Hide*, Havana, Hellfire, High Priest Not To Be Described, Highwayman*, Iago, Jolly Roger*, Kubla Khan*, Les Infortunes de la Vertu, Manhattan, Mary Read, Perversion, The Red Rider, The Robotic Scarab, Tezcatlipoca, Tintagel*, Wanda*, Whip, The White Rider*

(LE) A Bachelor's Dog, The Blockhead, The Bloody Sword, The Blood Garden, Boadicea, Brom Bones; The Buggre Alle This Bible,De Sade, Dead Man's Hand, Det. Patrick Gleason, C. Auguste Dupin, Count Dracula, CC: Female*, CC:Male*, Crowley*, Doc Constantine*, Eau De Ghoul, Enkhespalos*, Erik, Geek, Hand of Glory, The Head of Holofernes, Hearth 2004, Herr Drosselmeyer 2005/06, His Station and Four Aces, Hua Mulan, I Married a Vampire from Planet X, Krampus 2006/07, King of Clubs, Kroenen, Le Père Fouettard, Les Anges Dechus (II), Liz, Lord Ruthven, Loviatar, Macbeth and the Witches (III), The Marquis de Carabas*, Monsieur Petitbled's Frivolous Wheeled Footwear, Mutant Hot-Rodders from Hell High, The Nameless City Drive-In Theatre, Nanny Ashtoreth, Olisbos, Pirate Moon, Poe, Prosperity of a Country, Pumpkin II (2008), Quincey Morris, The Rat Speakers*, Rivet Goth, Sacrifice, The Sailor's Den (II), Sara Pezzini, Severin, The Shattered Pumpkin, Shrunken Heads, Sitting up with a Sick Friend, Spanked, Story Time at Dark Delicacies, Torture King, The Traveller*, Trick #1, Two Monsters (I), Ü*, Vilf*, Violens, Volt, Western Diamondback*, 413 U.S. 15 / Miller Vs California