suileach

In the vial: Sweet and dark. Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, and sandalwood. This smells really lovely and promising... On me: Cinnamon sticks! And then...it becomes intensely dry. Dry woods, dusty tobacco, old patchouli. Dang nabbit. It smelled so luscious in the vial. My skin sucks the life right out of it.

Pinched With Four Aces, C.M. Coolidge. Colorado Maduro tobacco wrappers, cinnamon bark, coffee bean husk, and dry woods. In the town I grew up in, there was once a tea shop called "The Brown Bag". In addition to tea, they sold coffee, loose spices, honey sticks, and scones that were baked on the premises. In the vial, Pinched With Four Aces smells like that shop. On my skin, it begins as close scent-wise to huffing a bag of coffee beans as one can get. As huffing coffee beans is one of my favorite past-times, I rejoice! Over time, it becomes more and more creamy - it smells like whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg. I do wish the coffee scent lasted longer, but it must be said that I have just a small testable amount of this, so I used it quite sparingly. I thought Miskatonic University was my dream coffee scent, and I still love the heck out of it, but this, were it more readily available, would be quite the rival. I find the dry stage of this scent (the aforementioned spicy whipped cream) to be much prettier than that of Miskatonic University's (musty paper), and the coffee stage is darker and less powerfully sweet.

I was expecting an aquatic, but it makes sense that Cancer would get a romantic, floral blend. And it make equal sense that it hates me. It's lovely and refreshing in the vial - gentle flowers and sugared lemon - but as soon as it touches my skin it turns to an evil, powdery floral. It smells kind of but not quite like violet does on me - maybe that's the lilac mentioned by others. Not at all me, in concept or in scent preference. It actually reminds me a bit of how the TAL blend, Lionheart, smelled on me.

Wet: Sugared orange gummies or Mike & Ike candies, with a hint of an almost peppery incense. Drydown: ...milky, powdery, dust. Jasmine hates me.

In the vial: Rosewood and dried rose petals (the only rosey smell I really like - I keep multiple ziploc bags full of them!). On me: The rosewood really asserts itself on my skin, and there's also something sharp, green, and alive. This smells like immaculately clean wooden floors and sunny windows full of ancient spider-plants. Nice!

Incredibly strong foody smell. Tart, tart cranberry sauce with orange peel, sweet potatoes, and...yes, there really is turkey in there. I'm impressed with how amazingly accurate this scent is, but having my skin smell like a Thanksgiving smorgasboard is actually a bit nauseating.

In the vial: Lush tropical flowers and humidity. On me: ...Lush tropical flowers and tires. For the first 10 minutes l really didn't like this - neither tires nor flowers are high on my list of things I want to smell like, and the throw was incredibly strong. And yet, for some strange reason, I began to enjoy the scent after it calmed down a bit. Despite the fact that it still smelled of tires. I think maybe it has the same olfactory appeal to me that 'new car smell' and permanent markers have.

2005 Version Caramel, caramel, and more caramel. I smell like a Werther's Original candy! There's only the faintest hint of flour and pastry lurking in the background - not enough for it to actually smell like cookies on me, which is sad. After an hour or so, it ends up smelling nearly the same as dry Miskatonic University does on me. Conclusion: It's nice, but I don't actually want to smell like caramel candy, and I already have Misk U for when I need a dusty brown sugar drydown. Looks like no cookie goodness for me and my skin chemistry.

HELLO, pumpkin! HELLO, sugar! Creamy, candied sweetness and a pinch of cinnamon. The graham crackery goodness sets in a few minutes later and yes, it really does smell like smashed and buttered graham crackers. Yum. I think, though, that it smells more like pumpkin rolls than pumpkin cheesecake; I know that's a thin line of distinction, but this scent is very strong on the spicy pumpkin and low on the cheesy goodness, at least to me. Drydown remains true to the overall scent - it gets a little less rich and buttery, but remains spicy and pumpkiny. While it is truly wonderful and delicious, I think I actually prefer Jack! The peach gives that an interesting edge that this lacks.

In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...of grapefruit. Juicy pink grapefruit, cold salt water, and a hint of creamy ambergris. Unexpectedly lovely! The grapefruit is the primary note at first, but after a while the salt water and ambergris come out - chilly and spicy at the same time. One of the few aquatics that works on me. I am so glad to have been gifted with an imp of this!

Old Moon is a masterpiece. It works beautifully both as a personal and an evocative scent. In the bottle, there's a fierce burst of tart berries - the kind that only birds can eat - and winter wind. On my skin, it's a swirl of crisp snow, blood-red berries, and a hint of evergreen - mostly a subdued juniper and yew. All of the elements are balanced and are gorgeous together. It's a dark, deeply cold scent, but not a threatening one. Death has passed by and the predators are sated. The small creatures of the night rustle in the bushes; tiny birds rip fruit from the chokecherry trees. Above all, the moon - cold, bright, and ancient - watches.

Oh, Yvaine! I was not anticipating loving you this much. So delicate, soft and, indeed, crystalline. It's like a whisper on the night air. The lavender is quiet in this, subdued and hushed by fallen magnolia blossoms. There's a light, light musky hint to it as it dries that reminds me vaguely of a white musk blend I used to have. Wearing it is like being enveloped in a soft, fluffy purple blanket. It is stunningly calming and relaxing... I think I'm going to put on some more of this and go to bed feeling comforted and loved.

Sage out the wazoo, and dry, brown evergreen needles. Bittersweet dandelion. I want to be a Sagittarius now so that I can pretend this scent is me. And...what's that...? Burning candles. Flame. Dry brush and the scent of a hot summer day fading into evening. Never before has a scent brought me to tears, but this one's done it. It smells like something beautiful and fleeting - summer nights, love, thunder in the distance. Wow.

Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Scorpio is viscous and red in the vial, and smells almost molten; not firey, per se...but slick, coiled, and warm - heat liquified. On my skin, it's sweet and resinous. I don't think I can identify any of the notes - there seems to be a sweet musk in there, but beyond that I'm clueless. It's kinda earthy and kinda fruity. Very RED. I wonder if there's Dragon's Blood. Personality-wise, I think it suits Scorpio (my rising sign) to a tee. It's sultry, commanding, and mysterious. You cannot ignore this scent if it's around.

The Wild Men of Jezirat al Tennyn from Carnaval Diabolique has 'red pepper' and it was really peppery on me.

I'm going to throw Kabuki into the hat as a layering component - the cherry in it is lighter and more candied than that of MB: Bloody Mary, and it has a fruitcakey spiciness to it on drydown. My boozy rec would be Grog, which smelled like straight rum before turning to marzipan (which I got a hint of in Fruitcake) on me.

I noticed that a similar thing happened with my December order (which I received on the 24th and did not receive a CnS for). My uneducated guess is that it's due to how very freaking fast the ToT was for my order - maybe harvesting/payment processing wasn't done in the same way as usual in order for the lab to get folk's orders out in time for the holiday? I suppose I could be wrong and there could be something farked up with both your bank and my credit card, but I doubt it, and I really don't think it's anything to worry about.

In the vial and wet, it smells like creamy, lickable marzipan and candied cherries. As it dries, it becomes spicier and a touch boozy. There's also a hint of nuttiness. The spicy cherryness reminds me a bit of Kabuki, but Fruitcake is a richer, fuller scent. Definitely smells like its namesake.

TKO lives up to its awesome reputation. I've been using it as a bedtime scent ever since I got my bottle, and my bedding is hence constantly scented with it. Num. I'm another one who doesn't normally like lavender, but the other notes in this blend gentle the harsh, licorice-y edge that lavender usually has, making it really lovely. Likewise, the lavender stops the creamy, sugary notes from being *too* sweet. The scent always remains on my skin through the entire night, and is still there in the morning. Effect-wise, I didn't notice much of one until I went to bed earlier than normal one night. Often, I stay up until I'm almost too tired to crawl into bed, so I crash hard...but when I go to bed at an earlier time, before my brain has atrophied into mush, I notice that TKO helps lessen the urgency of my thoughts - I am a bedtime worrier who cannot stop thinking about the terrible things I've done, not done, and may do in the future, so anything non-addictive that slows down that train of thought is an excellent thing. Hoorah for TKO! It's also insanely good in a hot bath - it has almost as much effect as my prescription muscle relaxant, I swear.

Mmmmm...gardenia. One of the few florals I actively like. I was worried the other flowers would drown it out (like the dreaded rose), but instead they ground the gardenia in a really pleasant way. In this blend, the gardenia doesn't have that high-pitched, cat-pee-esque edge that it can sometimes have. There was an odd burst of peppery something when I sniffed the vial at first, and it reminded me strongly of something that I can't put a name to. Drydown is a creamy, light, somewhat cool floral which is predominantly gardenia. I think this will be a good scent to wear during the summer.

I've been using Black Cat to give me the little kick in the pants sunshine jolt I need during the winter. It invariably makes my spirit feel lighter and less weighed down. Layering it over O makes it warmer and a touch creamy.

In the vial: Pine and juniper. Wet: The same for a bit, but there's also soft, creamy, slightly spicy sweetness running through it. The pine calms down significantly. Dry: Absolutely beautiful. Unlike some other foresty scents, this smells like more than just pine resin, more than just needles and bark. This smells like the scent left behind on the coat you wear at a weekend camping trip - sweet woodsmoke, damp bark, crushed evergreen needles and deciduous leaves, and dewy mornings with crows calling in the trees. This is the foresty-camping scent I have always longed for, and is now up there with Lear and Wolf Moon 06 in terms of my favorite evergreen scents. Naturally, I was busy quitting my job and moving when this series came out, so I have just a wee imp. But I'm thrilled to have even that much of this wonderful, evocative scent.

I'm pretty thrilled to have been able to swap for a decant of this. In vial and wet: WHOA. Thick, rich, *syrupy* cherries. This is like a cherry cordial on speed. I have never before smelled a cherry scent that is so juicy and begging to be eaten. From a distance, I get a gorgeous, resinous wood. Up close, it is all cherry. Dry: After about 30 minutes, there's a dark, burnt quality to it. It's like a burning hearth log or pipe smoke..or quite possibly burnt popcorn, if you catch the scent the wrong way, as there's a slight bitterness to it. The stick-to-your-throat sweetness of the cherry is still present, and it's turned a bit boozy with a smidge of something chocolately. This is an incredibly strong, rich scent, and it's made me hungry for cherry pie.

In vial and wet: Raspberry ice cream! Dry: Gooey, buttery, sinful raspberry jam cookies. This stays nice and red and berry-like from wet to dry on me. It's a bit reminiscent of Eat Me, but with a somewhat softer and cozier sweetness.

Delightful! This smells like mochaccino topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg. Yum! The chocolate note was a little iffy to me in the vial, but it behaved on my skin. It doesn't smell like dark chocolate (*shudder*) to me at all - it smells more like the light, dusty chocolate that's in Velvet. The cinnamon definitely comes out more and more as time wears on, but it doesn't overwhelm the other notes on me.