miss apple

Pumpkin with apple cider and mulling spice. Pumpkin with apples and spice makes for the most wonderful fall perfume. All of the best food scents of autumn are in this oil. I never realized quite how much I would enjoy Beth's pumpkin blends but this is my second PP scent that I've tried and loved. Sweet pumpkin mixed with tangy apples that give it a crisp edge and spices to give it warthm and depth - simply divine

Pumpkin with cactus blossom, sage, and sweetgrass. In the bottle this is mostly a warm but not buttery pumpkin scent. Once on, it sweetens up florally and the pumpkin really takes a back seat to the cactus blossom and sweetgrass (I think - I don't really know those notes individually but whatever I'm smelling is definitely flowery and not as much pumpkin-y). My nose detects a bit of sage and something slightly musty like hay. After a while I can't really smell the pumpkin at all which is weird because my skin usually loves and amps it. Not sure how I feel about this blend. It's the least autumn-like in my opinion. I'll have to test it again to see if it's a keeper.

BLOOD PEARL Lustrous, sanguine, soft and lavish: soft orris, blood musk, and coconut. In the bottle and on this is warm coconut and juicy redness; a very soft and sultry scent. The musky undertone adds depth and there's a floral hint as well. Sexy and understated, Blood Pearl is pure deliciousness in a bottle

Pumpkin with cocoa, hazelnut and walnut. Pumpkin with cocoa is such a delicious combination! The cocoa in this blend is not milky sweet like Bliss or Velvet but rather more subdued like fine baking chocolate. A good thing as the pumpkin is sweet enough in my opinion. I can't really smell the hazelnut or walnut outright but they add a bit of something underneath that make this a well rounded oil. This also strikes me as a gourmand scent as opposed to something foody. The combination enhances the notes but is well balanced so it's not cloying in the least. Simply wonderful!

Pumpkin V with Pumpkin II a close second.

The Lab sent my missing bottle so I can review this now! Pumpkin II - In the bottle: ah, this is the warm pumpkin smell that I didn't get from #1 or #4 (but not buttery or foody). After dry down there is a warm, spicy kick that blends with the and there's a soft floral note underneath. I can detect the carnation (reminds me of Lush's Potion) and something kind of gingery. It compliments the pumpkin nicely. If #4 was an end of summer blend this is definitely a beginning of fall blend when the days are warm in the sun and cool at night and there's no humidity. This is my second favorite of the new Pumpkin Patch.

Hunter Moon: In the bottle, red wine. I don't have one of my bottles of previous years of Hunter Moon but this seems a little different. Maybe not as musky? It's a little lighter somehow. After dabbing some on my wrist I can really smell the dry leaves and the red wine has softened. I don't know if it's the animalistic notes coming into play or what but this is a very warm blend to my nose. Another great version of Hunter Moon

PP#1: First thought on sniffing this is 'hmmm, pear'. The fruity sweetness combined with the grape is pretty aggressive and the pumpkin is somewhat subdued. Pear is never a good note for me (see the Unicorn) so I'm wary of trying it on but I do love pumpkin so I dab a little on my wrist. Once on, the pear and grape combination really doesn't mute much and I'm not getting as much of the pumpkin as I'd like. It doesn't change much over time and remains quite sweet. This may be better on a chilly fall day when the heat doesn't amp up the notes on the skin (or my skin at any rate) but I'm not sure I'm going to fall for this blend. I'll have to give it another try later on.

Oh, now that's a good comparison! Yes, I think that the girl in Black #1 would definitely wear this. It's dark and elegant with a touch of the exotic. I can't really pick out one note over another with the exception of a strong impression of vetiver at first (which does fade and play nicely with the others after it dries down) but the blend is delightfully mournful and spooky all at once. A perfect autumn scent and another one that I think would smell wonderful on a man.

October needs a cool crisp day to accompany it. This lingering hot weather makes it difficult to really get the feel for it and makes me long for warm sweaters and woolly socks. At first there is almost an astringent quality that makes my nose wrinkle and a bit of a cologne that makes me think this would smell really nice on a man. Once on, the scent of the leaves comes out and it reminds me of a leaf pile that is dry and crackly, and crumbly on the top but becomes musty and damp towards the bottom. All these are good things. I was worried about the smoke but it's very subtle and fills in the background rather than taking over. Very nice.

This is my favorite of the new Pumpkin Patch The pumpkin and the bourbon vanilla are simply lovely together and not at all overbearingly sweet. The touch of neroli does that I think, grounds it a bit. The ginger gives it a little spicy kick and the citrus rounds it out nicely. This isn't a buttery or even really a foody scent to me at all. Just warm and delicious. I am definitely going to get a second bottle of this before it goes away.

I really though I'd love #3 but I'm beginning to figure out that the Lab's caramel note just doesn't react well with my skin chemistry. It ends up smelling like burnt brown sugar and more or less overtakes the rest of the notes including the pumpkin. My nose can't even find the pomegranate or white chocolate. I may have to give this another shot when it gets a little cooler to see if my perceptions change but it looks as though this may be the first pumpkin blend that doesn't work for me.

Rose Moon: In the bottle: rosey but not cloying or overpowering. Not getting much of anything else but perhaps that's because it's been blended to enhance and manipulate the rose? Not sure but it's nice. Girly. Once on: I thought it would be stronger and that my skin would amp it up but it fades to just a hint of scent on my wrists after a few hours. I didn't put much on though so perhaps I just need a bit more next time. The rose softens and now I can smell honey which blends deliciously. I wasn't sure that I would want to wear this often but it has turned out quite nice. Definitely a keeper.

Aries 2007 In the bottle this is very dark and I smell something very close to vetiver. I couldn't remember the notes but that was what my nose was telling me. Almost from the moment I put it on it became quite floral with maybe a hint of spice or earthiness. The vetiver-like scent completely disappeared. It started out strong and toned down slightly after an hour or so and after several I could barely smell it any longer. I do wish that I could detect more of the dragon's blood and ginger but I still quite like this.

I will third the thought that this is a difficult scent to describe. It starts with a sweetness that reminds me of Sugar Cookie but it's really only a hint. There is something citrusy too but it's also soft and a dash of florals..not rose, not violet, not jasmine...I have no idea what it is but all the notes mingle together to create a soft, lovely fragrance. It's not very strong but does have nice staying power. Quite different than most of the scents I have so I'm glad it's part of my collection.

Carfax Abbey - in the bottle: cold stone with a bit of earth. Once on the dry, brittle woods combine with the cold stone scent. There's something herbally and perfumey mixed in that gives it a haunting quality. Echoes of life left in an old abandoned building in the middle of winter. This is a dark and lonely oil. I can't decide if this is the perfect winter scent or if it is too evocative to wear while it is still cold and dark. Food for thought.

Haloa - wow, I don't get the Beaver Moon/Underpants similarity at all. If anything this reminds me a bit of All Souls with a subtle warm pleasantly sweet cake-like fragrance. I'm not getting any grapes or wine but rather an oily undertone. It sounds weird but goes well with the cake. Like a gently fried sugar doughnut perhaps. I'm hoping some of the incense comes out a bit but right now this is a lovely, comforting blend.

I totally forgot about my blog here. On the one hand I feel like I'm not doing much worth writing about but on the other it's pretty much pure laziness. I've been going through a phase of apathy recently; from dancing, to knitting, to sewing, etc. Little bits of creativity surface now and then but for the most part I feel as though I'm out of touch. Part of the problem is all the sutff in my apartment is piled everywhere and I think it saps my energy. I know I'd feel better if I would get off my butt and clean and organize but I am hardly ever in the mood to do so. The ony time cleaning urges occur are at some inopportune time like midnight when I really need to get to bed so that I can get up for work and also I'm sure my neighbors would not appreciate me running the vaccum at that hour. My husband and I are a deadly duo of disorganized packrats. I have lots of stuff (collections and crafty things) and he amasses tons of papers and gadgets (and the boxes and manuals and accessories that go along with said gadgets). Even though I can look around and see more of my stuff than his I somehow feel that I am not the problem (oh denial ) since I feel as though my stuff is in neat piles and his is just scattered around. He, however, does not feel the same. We keep talking about changing our habits but that's all it's been so far - just talk. We even bought a book on organzing and cleaning but I think it got buried How sad is that? We really need to find a solution soon though because winter is coming and having to spend more time indoors makes looking at it ten times worse. Oy vey.

I would totally do the same thing with a procrastination book I have tried to start small but then weeks go by and stuff has built back up again. Aside from getting packages one reason I hate mail is all the catalogs from mail-order stores. Those then have to be thrown out but for each one that comes in (along with all the other junk mail) I have to tear off the address label and put it in the shred pile. The shred pile is filled with the labels and then those checks credit card companies issue in their statements in hopes that you'll borrow even more money, receipts, and on and on. It is amazng the amount of paperwork generated from day to day life. Not to mention all the menus and cleaning service/moving company ads that get stuffed under my door (I call that floor spam) and crap stuck under my windshield. It just makes me want to scream! ahem. I feel better now

Schwarzer Mond - very dark in the bottle and I can't really pick out any notes. Once on it becomes extremely heavy - incense and some sort of men's cologne. Despite the fact that I don't wear the oils on my skin something about my chemstry really amps musk and initially I worried that it would be too much. After about an hour the musk calms down and the incense comes out more. Musk does weird things to my nose so I'm guessing that's the cologne scent but since it isn't as strong I'm finding that I like it. It's quite masculine but not so much that it is unwearable for me. Definitely a particualr scent for a particular mood and I'm going to keep my bottle for those darker days

Punkie Night - in the bottle: fresh apples with the tang of cider, very crisp. Once on the apples warm up a bit so it's not as cool and serious (like Verdandi). There's more cider coming through with maybe a touch of cranberry adding some fruity tartness. Mostly this is a silly, playful apple scent. Quite perfect for fall!

Creepy - in the bottle it's all caramel apples which makes me worry that it will be a little too cloying for my tastes. Once on, the butterscotchy, caramelly-ness still dominates the apple. It really smells like fresh dipped caramel apples - there isn't the cool crispness that apples generally have but rather a warm (but not baked) aroma; apples in the sun maybe. This is not as strong as I thought it would be and not overly sticky sweet either. It's a nice blend of the two dominant scents and a perfect fall perfume.

Samhainophobia - in the bottle it's all vetiver (which I used to dislike immensely but here I love it). This is definitely a blend with a smell of fear. For the most part this stays a strong veitver with a hint of something musky underneath. After a few hours I can smell the fall leaves though. Smokey and dark with a bit of resin mixed in - maybe that's the clove? It's not sweet but gives the darkness a bit of depth, a shifting quality. I'm suprised how much I like this - it's the perfect dark, spookily evil perfume!

All Souls in the bottle smells quite cakelike. Once on though, the incense comes out and the cake scent moves towards the back. It's amazing how quickly this changed from a foody blend! I'm also getting the impression of something floral like jasmine but my nose isn't that good at deciphering notes so I could be naming the wrong flower. I do wish the cake wasn't so dampened but the incense is quite lovely. Not as heavy as Cathedral - lighter and sweeter. I will probably not get another bottle but will enjoy this one while it lasts.