donnatron

Bottle: Vanilla flower and ginger blossom. If I hadn't read the description I probably wouldn't recognize it as such but... I did. So there. Wet: This goes on mild with the vanilla orchid grounding the scent and then the giner blossom sort of fluttering overtop. I really love the drydown on this one--it adds a refreshing crispness to the scent. Dry: The ginger blossom really settles down and this turns into just a warm, creamy, interesting vanilla orchid. I smell primarily the vanilla flower but the ginger blossom adds a faint hint of effervescence. It's really simple and uncomplicated and I like that. A lot of my blends tend towards the paragraph long ingredient list and this is simple and pretty and not really confusing to my nose but I can definitely see where it sort of fudges scent classification boundaries. Throw: Very mild. A skin close sort of scent. Overall: Me likey. It gives me sort of 1940s pin up girl sort of vibe and I dig it. It's elegant enough for evening but also light and fun enough that I don't think twice before slathering it on to go to work.

I always laugh when I look back at these lists because I try to rotate through my collection so wearing these ones "a lot" translates to maybe four times in a three week period? That actually might be pretty good by BPAL hoarder standards. Anyway, the summer list: 51: I dunno. I wore it the other day and the weird sharp note in it has worn off and it's a lot more of a cool, salty melon/freesia. So gorgeous and sweet. Nuclear Winter: Because sometimes I want something extremely cooling and fresh without a hint of sweetness. Opuhi: The vanilla blossom makes it sweet and sultry, the ginger blossom jsut makes it to die for. Ashlultum: Like... if Dorian had a pink, frilly, girly twin sister? The astringent tea makes this a bit refreshing and the coconut a bit tropical. Scherezade: And now for something completely different... this is just so languid and sensual and a little heavy, yes, but also just sings in the summer heat. Maybe I need to print these lists off and put them next to my dresser so I can see it when I'm deciding what to wear in the morning.

Bottle: Weird. A little sickly sweet, a little astringent. No one note that really leaps out at me. Maybe... uh... dragon's blood? Wet: On the skin for the first minute or so this falls flat. It's not unpleasant but it's not particularly mesmerizing. There's something in here that's a little sour. I think it might be white rose but I'm not sure. Definitely one of those scents that takes its sweet time to adjust to my skin. Dry: I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is primarily dragon's blood and tonka. Am I right? Am I wrong? WE'LL NEVER KNOW!! But I'm getting a very distinct whiff of tonka and definitely some dragon's blood. Maybe there's some eucalyptus in here to give it a bit of zing? In any case, one's it drydowns it's gorgeous. Very sultry, soft, a little heated. Not in your face but certainly not a wilting flower. Throw: Moderate. Overall: I'm glad to have the bottle and will wear it happily.

Bottle: SO MUCH PLUM! And pomegranate. And raspberry. Basically this is a really strong fruit blend with the slightest hint of patchouli and frankincense in the background. Wet: Still really loud and a little scary. It's pleasant, just not distinctive. Reminds me of the Blood Garden, Fruit of Paradise, Kuang Shi, etc... The resins haven't really come out in any way and this is just not working on some level. The fruits need something to anchor them. Dry: I've reviewed, um, a million fragrances today and kind of slapped this one on for no real apparent reason. But the drydown is AMAZING. The fruits remain and the patchouli and frankincense give this an amazing, resinous drydown. It's not overt and it's definitely not a headshop or anything of the sort. It's just a languid, sensual sort of fruit scent with an excellent background of base notes. The benzoin isn't really apparent unless I am inches away from my wrist but it is definitely adding a lovely sweetness to the whole thing. Throw: For miles. Overall: I like Dionysia. I think she's very, very pretty. But she's also very strong and doesn't have the greatest drydown I've ever experienced. Probably I'll hang onto the bottle and kick myself when I run out and the Carnaval has inevitably left town.

Bottle: Unremarkable. There are florals. I smell iris and rose. Wet: Poisson D'Avril just blooms on the skin. The honey and sugar blossom lend this great grounding note and each note really uses them as a springing board. Unlike like a lot of honey/floral blends this doesn't have a sour or gritty phase on my skin. It just immediately becomes lush, full blooms witha gorgeous and sultry honeyed background. Dry: It doesn't change a lot on the drydown. Becomes more skin close and in a weird way more alluring. The wet phase is basically like "HI! ARE YOU TEN FEET FROM ME? I BET YOU CAN SMELL ME LOUD AND CLEAR!!!" (Mixed metaphor notwithstanding). The dry phase is so much closer to the skin and so much more like the type of scent you want to whiff from your partner's neck while you dance at a backyard party. Very feminine and interesting. Not sleazy or cheap in any way. Throw: Excellent. I've got a few different blends on and although the others are theoretically stronger this one is definitely the dominant scent. Overall: I really like it. I'll admit I don't really wear it often because I kind of forget about it but every time I put Poisson D'Avril on I remember how breathtakingly gorgeous it is. Writing this review has triggered my memory and hopefully I'll get a lot of wear out of it this summer.

Bottle: Blood orange, pine and patchouli. Wet: Lots of patchouli! This is good--when I first received it the blood orange and pine were in a battle to the death. The blood orange is still present and I get a faint hint of the honey--I think it might be the Jezebel style honey. The honey actually doesn't seem too psyched about being on my skin chemistry. Dry: This probably still needs awhile. The brown musk/pine combo is medicinal and the blood orange sort of screeches over the whole thing. I can definitely smell a base of elements that I like and since all my favourite notes are strong agers I'm not going to give up on this one yet. The longer it stays on my skin the more the patchouli comes out and the pine sort of mellows into a lovely, warm scent. But right now the drydown stage is around an hour and that's a little long to wait when there are people to see and things to do. Throw: Quite mild considering the ingredients. Overall: I like its potential more than I like the blend itself. I would say I wouldn't be wearing this until the fall/winter anyway so hopefully it will fall into line by then. A lot of really promising ingredients, they just seem a bit too interested in infighting with each other at the moment.

Bottle: Frozen citrus. ?? Dunno. Wet: I really like the lab's snow/ice/slush note. It really makes your nose tingle and replicates that feeling of stepping out of your nice warm house into the cold. The snow note doesn't really linger on my skin, however, and in Euganean Hills it kind of acquires a lime quality. I get some warm amber and skin musk. Dry: I don't actually know why I like this so much because when I describe it it sounds kind of nasty. Frozen citrus skin musk with roses and amber. The fir and cedar lend to the general frozen forest feel. I guess it's kind of like smelling someone wearing amber/rose perfume with hypothermia but I can assure you it is much prettier. The longer is sits on my skin the more the skin musk and amber and rose meld to create this very pretty and delicate skin close sort of scent. Throw: Minimal. Overall: I like it. I'm just very inarticulate at explaining why I like it.

Bottle: Boozy pomegranate. I'm on a testing binge and I kind of winced when I opened this one--it smells exactly like these pomegranate coolers that have been sitting in my fridge forever because it turns out I really don't like coolers. Wet: FoP amps way up and gets very sweet and sticky right off the bat. I love pomegranate in most blends though and what pom blends haven't worked were usually due to other components. Dry: Soft, sweet, dusky pomegranate and... cardamom? There's a really strong cardamom accent to this which... kind of makes sense because I get cardamom from Mme. Moriarty as well. It's nice. It adds a bit of depth to the scent but I'm pretty sure it's just a chemistry thing. There's a likelihood that this also may share a component or two with the cardamom accord? Or they use cardamom oil in it? It's a mystery! Throw: A sharp, strong pomgegranate throw. Overall: It's a lovely, elegant, grown up fruit scent. Definitely something memorable and something I will treasure--FoP is definitely something that is worth saving for special occasions.

Bottle: Primarily juniper. I have a love/hate relationship with juniper. Sometimes it's all sorts of amazing and sometimes it smells like bathtub gin. But under the juniper I get a nice, fresh pine note and a hint of something darker. First time I sniffed this I thought it was amber but then it turned out to be musk. No idea what type of musk from the bottle sniff alone. Wet: JUNIPER EXPLOSION!!! NO ONE HAS EVER SMELLED THIS MUCH JUNIPER!!! Seriously. Thanatopsis is one hell of a head clearer when I first put it on. Very energetic and bright--lots of juniper and almost as much pine. The drydown is astringent and bright--it smells more like an aromatherapy blend or something I'm wearing for medicinal purposes than a straight up perfume blend. Dry: The musk warms up and comes out to play. I wonder if this is a combination of two or more different musks? I have nothing to back me up but ye olde sniffer but I get distinct hints of both red and black musk. Definitely that sultry, sweet incense scent of red musk and something a bit more fuzzy and animalistic. It might even be a red musk/civet combo? In any case it's absolutely gorgeous and the musk lingers for a long time after the pine and juniper dry down. Very sweet and warm. Throw: The pine and juniper throw a lot more than the musk but the throw is definitely sweetened a bit by it. Overall: I really like Thanatopsis. It's both a little recalcitrant and a little classical. Like a professor who teaches all the approved books in lecture but is tossing Marx and Bakunin at you when you stop in during office hours.

Imp: Vodka? It smells like alcohol. Like very strong proof alcohol. WEIRD! Wet: On my skin Galvanic Goggles become more of a metallic scent. Bronze metal for sure--although I can't really identify any of the notes wet on my skin I definitely get a sort of dark golden haze from this scent. Very steampunk. Dry: Once the tobacco flower situates itself on my skin this is working wonderfully. The metal remains sort of as a background note, the musk warms everything up and then the tobacco flower is really the star of the show. While it's definitely a unisex, possibly more masculine type of scent, my chemistry is definitely sweetening it and making it more feminine. Throw: Moderate. It's not a giant cloud around me but it's fairly strong. Overall: I like it. It's unusual and interesting without being incredibly weird or dischordant on my skin. The sort of scent you wear to a high stakes business meeting. Will definitely be hanging onto this imp.

Imp: Weird, weird, WEIRD dark smell that I think must be the black poppy and nutmeg. Wet: On my skin this become more nutmeggy. Very weird. I like the taste and scent of nutmeg when I'm eating but maybe not when I'm just sitting around sniffing my wrist on a Sunday. I think the black poppy must be the odd, unidentifiable scent. I don't care for it. It becomes sweeter on my skin and a little repellent. Dry: Laudanum is not my bag. The sassafras comes out loud and clear and is GORGEOUS. I love the sassafras note. However the black poppy is thick and heavy on my skin and just really, really unpleasant. It smells like spoiled molasses or some other borderline rotten sweet, sticky scent. Laudanum is actually making me feel a bit nauseous. Throw: Unfortunately it's really good. Overall: I'm a little bummed. How awesome would be be to wander around in a cloud of Laudanum all day? Unfortunately the poppy just dominates the scent and makes it really not work me. Sadly, it will have to find a new home.

Imp: Rich, strong cedar with a bit of sandalwood and patchouli. Wet: On the skin this immediately gets very, very cedar-y. I can smell some of the patchouli in the background and the woods actually seem to be sort of wrestling the cedar into place. Dry: Okay. The cedar still dominates and I don't think there's enough sweetness or contrasting ingredients to make this particularly interesting on my skin. It's smells like a beautiful wooden chest or similar. I don't think it really works as a skin scent for myself but if you have the sort of chemistry that makes wood sing this would deinitely be an interesting, exotic sort of signature scent. Throw: Okay. Very subdued for cedar, actually. Overall: Not my favourite. Glad to have the imp and every once in awhile will probably feel like smelling like this. There is something oddly gripping about it.

Imp: Florals and rosewood. I'm on a rosewood bender so this is a good thing. Wet: Immediately on the skin I get a nice warm rosewood with a hit of chamomile and then a warming musk underneath. There's something a bit sharp here--reminds me of the cosmetics/personal care area of a health food store. Dry: So I discovered something interesting about myself today: I amp primrose like CRAZY! I can smell the rest of the scent and it seems like it's a nice, classical men's sort of scent but it is underneath this really high pitched and unpleasant primrose scent. It smells a lot like a shampoo I used to sell when I did work at a health food store and it is making the scent really, really cloying. Definitely a wash off. Throw: Not great, luckily. Overall: It was worth a try. I don't think I've tried a primrose blend and now I know to avoid them. Libertine has a lot of potential but unfortunately it just doesn't jibe with my chemistry.

Parchment, Siamese benzoin, infernal incense, red musk, brimstone, and daemonorops. Imp: Red musk and parchment. Wet: Immediately on the skin this splits into a warm red musk scent and then a thin, linen-y high pitched note that appears to be the parchment and brimstone colliding. The red musk and dragon's blood wind together in a warm twist of incense smoke. Dry: Mmm... this is gorgeous. All thick, bookish incense and a touch of parchment. The red musk is both incensey and skin-close. The benzoin winds through adding a perfect, vanilla resin base. It's a very smoky sort of scent--definitely smells like I've been sitting around marinating in incense but very, very high quality incense. Red musk/dragon's blood is one of my favourite combinations in the world and the addition of the brimstone and parchment lighten it up a little so it seems more appropriate for a warm day. Throw: Moderate. Overall: I really like this but it reminds me heavily of a few other blends that I already own. I'll use the imp up and see if I miss it.

Bottle: Warm vanilla and honey with champaca and a sort of incense/resinous quality. Wet: On my skin the jasmine definitely becomes the star player. I like jasmine so this is definitely a bonus. It's the same sort of sticky sweet languid jasmine in New Orleans and Twilight. I also get a sort of green floral edge that I'm going to say is the olive blossom because I honestly don't know what olive blossom smells like. The champaca comes out more as the scent dries down. This is all over a heady, smoky, honeyed vanilla base. I get a very faint hint of the cinnamon but it's not the primary scent here. Dry: So... this lives up to its name. Technically it dries down to a soft, skin close vanilla-honey with jasmine and champaca. But it smells like someone who has just had one hell of a romp in the hay. It's really blatantly, overtly sexual. Bot necessarily in a "Come here NOW!" sort of way like Depraved or something. It's more like a languid, naughty wink and a whisper of "Wouldn't you like to know what I've been doing." The cinnamon comes out more on the drydown and gives it a really warm, sensual golden haze and the vanilla and honey combine to give a sort of skin scent with the florals warm overtop. It's just... wow. Really, really sexy. Throw: Skin close. That's a good thing. I think if someone walked into a room blasting this scent at everyone we'd all be like, "OMG! WE KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID!" Overall: This is so beautiful and golden and just so raw and sensual that I am kind of at a loss of where I should wear it. It's glorious, I'm going to treasure my bottle (and am very curious to see what it will smell like as it ages) but it's the type of scent where I feel like other people have to earn the right to smell it on me. I guess this is the sort of scent I will be dragging out when I feel like smelling like a glorious, sexy queen

Happy fifth birthday to the bpal.org forum! To commemorate five years of camaraderie, love, and unbelievable kindness, we present a scent comprised of notes that encapsulate the essence of friendship: carnation, apple, sweet pea, vanilla cream, passionfruit, sugar cane, tonka, and guava. Bottle: Warm creamy fruit with something powdery--the dread pirate carnation. Carnation is a note that definitely needs to age up before I can appreciate a blend and I was superpsyched this morning when I cracked open Agape and could smell notes other than carnation! Wet: Very, very sugary sweet. I smell primarily the vanilla cream and the sugar cane. The fruit note that seems to be strongest is the passionfruit. I get a faint watery hint of the apple--I think it's green apple. Dry: Fully dry the vanilla and the cream predominate and then I get a faint hint of sweet, tropical fruit in the background. The carnation is present but itss actually a little spicy rather than its usual sweet tart candy tone on my skin. This reminds me a lot of Milk Moon 07 but richer and creamier with better wearlength and throw. Throw: Close to the skin but itss so sweet and creamy that I think if this had Snake Oil or Mme. Moriarty levels of throw it would be utterly revolting. Overall: I think it's a wonderful idea and I love so many of the forum only scents. Agape is a fun, warm weather scent. It'sdefinitely not a new holy grail scent or anything but I'm glad to have the bottle and will probably break it out for barbeques and get togethers throughout the summer months.

Le Serpent Qui Danse is "Violet entwined with vanilla and gardenia." If you're okay with searching the swap forums The Attrocious Attic has a great vanilla/violet combo and is also a little powdery and soft. Venice is a blend of "lemon, red currant, wisteria, red rose petals, heady jasmine, Florentine orris root, waterlily, red sandalwood, violet plum, and violet leaf." The orris has a fairly violet-y vibe to it and the citrus is very strong and bright in this one.

Bottle: Warm dragon's blood with chamomile, leather and a sort of metallic/ozone tinge. Wet: The leather dominates for the wet phase along with a sharp peppery scent (the pimento?) and the blood musk smoothes out. Warming incense. Dry: I wouldn't necessarily describe it as lovely or pleasant but it is a very interesting fragrance and smells quite good. There's something a little "off" about it, however. It's not the type of scent I wear when I want to just chill out or have a lazy sort of day. It's very intense and driven and smells like someone who knows exactly what he or she is doing and why it's being done. The technical aspect of the scent is a sort of smooth blood musk/leather with a sharp waft of incense. I definitely retain some of the pepper/pimento/chamomile quality but they sort of drift in and out of the scent--the blood musk and leather are definitely the shining stars in this scent. After the drydown the leather is a lot less aggressive and lets the blood musk really shine through as the dominant note. I love blood musk and it's great being able to smell it as the star player in a scent. Throw: Okay. It's one that definitely reacts to body heat/general temperature. I like wearing it on long road trips during the summer because long after I think it's worn off I'll turn so the sun is coming through the driver's side window and it warms the scent up so I can smell it again. Overall: It's an interesting, evocative scent. Probably one of my favourites of the Picnic in Arkham line and definitely the PoA scent I wear the most. If you're a fan of almost paradoxyically unisex blends--this seems like a combination of pretty aggressively masculine and aggressively faminine notes--then definitely give it a try. If you're a fan of blood musk or any of the blood notes, it is also definitely worth a try.

Bottle: Clean florals and a light, almost linen-y scent. Wet: Sweet, crystaline mandarin and red musk. The florals chill out a bit and I get mainly a warm, musky vanilla-mandarin. The mandarin is very sweet and sharp and I think I'm picking up a bit of the parma violet scent. There's a stronger hint of linen in the wet phase. Dry: Delicious. warm red musk, vanilla cream and the mandarin dominate. I can smell the florals in the background but they're really not at the forefront. This reminds me of a combination of Red Phoenix and Kubla Khan. This is gorgeous. Throw: Light. Overall: Loves it.

Bottle: Ginger and rosewood. Ginger is always a little iffy on me but rosewood is a winner. I get a faint hint of the opium--sort of a smoky sweet resin in the vanilla/benzoin/tonka family to my nose. Wet: Colour me surprised. This goes on pretty medicinal. The opium really amps up and reminds me a lot of the drydown of Sleepy Moon. The ginger actually pretty much disappears which is very odd, especially for a scent starting to dry down. Dry: Damn! Medicine Show is a great woodsy, slightly masculine powerful sort of blend. The rosewood is sweet and warm, the opium sort of calms down and gives it a resinous base, the tobacco is warm and sultry and then the ginger gives it a little bit of extra kick that makes it a truly interesting blend. It's really not in my usual style of scents but I am OBSESSED with the awesomeness that is Medicine Show. Throw: Good. Overall: There's this Moxy Fruvous song called (natch) "The Incredible Medicine Show." Whenever I put on Medicine Show I find myself humming "Don't say no to the Incredible Medicine Show..." over and over again. And Moxy Fruvous happen to be correct--this is an amazing blend. It's intriguing, unusual, sensual and a wonderful signature scent. I loves it. And really hope for a Carnival Noir resurrection because I know I'm going to power through this bottle pretty fast and it will be a sad, sad day when I can't reach for Medicine Show anymore.

Bottle: Sweet, warm pine pitch. This is truly a pine pitch scent rather than an straight up pine--there's a sticky sweetness to this. Under the pine I get some warm honey and a whiff of patchouli. Wet: The pine stage is pretty strong right off the bat. I like pine so it's not a problem but it is a little difficult to smell the scent forming underneath. The honey and vanilla definitely get stronger. Dry: Man oh man. Sweet, warm, soft skin musk tempered by this amazing vanilla/honey/patchouli over a really dense and smoky tobacco. The pine pitch is perfect in this--it keeps it from getting too sweet and cloying and adds an interesting savoury note. It's already an interesting, sensual blend but the pine really pushes it over the edge into freakin' perfection. This is one of my favourite scents; it's the sort of scent that I put on and it's like putting on my favourite pair of kickass pumps. It's impossible to feel like anything but the centre of attention when wearing this blend. Throw: Actually pretty mild on my skin. Even with a generous slather you have to be pretty close to detect it. Overall: Love it. One that I will miss sorely after the carnival rolls out of town.

I really like Parliament of Monsters (Dust, incense, wet tobacco, and a curl of opium smoke) for a lighter, sweet (from the opium) tobacco scent. It's not the greatest fresh (to my nose it smelled very lemony) but after aging up a bit it's very distinct. Some other tobaccos: Gaueko Blackened sandalwood and misty lavender, with curling wisps of smoky tobacco, nag champa, and labdanum. Very smoky and incense-y. Galvanic Goggles Metallic notes with Indian musk, tobacco flower, and African balsam. A bit astringent and cologne-y. Not quite a pure tobacco scent but I get a definite hazy sort of tobacco quality from it. Santo Domingo An exotic, sultry blend of tobacco leaf, bay rum and heady Caribbean blossoms. Hot dman. I haven't tried this but reading the reviews makes me want to try it. Dia De Los Muertos dry, crackling leaves, the incense smoke of altars honoring Death and the Dead, funeral bouquets, the candies, chocolates, foods and tobacco of the ofrenda, amaranth, sweet cactus blossom and desert cereus. A bit sweet and foody--I have 04 and 07 and 04 is definitely more tobacco-y but I can't vouch for whether that's aging or formula. Herr Drosselmeyer Pipe smoke, sweet leather, woods and linen. Yeah. I know. Good luck.

Bottle: Sweet, yellow florals. And a very light, slight touch of honey. Wet: Whooboy. I like florals. I am a fan of almost every floral there is. But this is like, "HI FLORAL SO MUCH FREAKING HIGH PITCHED CRAZY FLORAL!!!" It's backed by a weird green note that I think is eminating from the strawberry leaf that makes it just too... loud. If it was a person it would probably be Shrieky from Care Bears. Dry: So I put this on to test and then had to run out to run some errands. For the first twenty-thirty minutes I was frowny because this was one of those blends that I thought was so very, very up my alley and so far it wasn't exactly working out. And that is why you should always let borderline blends dry down completely. Because you know what scent I adore? King Cobra. However, King Cobra gets very little wear from me in the summer months because I find the frankincense/copal combo overpowering with the Snake Oil. However, Ostara dries down to a beautiful, warm floral with a dose of honey sweetness and that amazing frankincense/copal combo. It's so light and pretty but with a bit of gravitas and interest. Love it. Throw: Mild. Overall: Man oh man. This is even better than I imagined it could be. Too bad I will probably never see more of this after I run through this bottle.

Bottle: Bay rum and patchouli to the exclusion of all other notes. I really dig the patchouli used in this--either it's due to the combo with the bay rum or it's a slightly different variant from the other BPAL patchoulis I've tried. It's very warm and sweet and now that I think about it, I could be smelling it's combination with the dark woods which is giving it a bit more of a fuzzy edge. Wet: Bay rum and patchouli. And the weensiest little bit of rose. This is surprisingly powdery right off the bat. Dry: Frederic is a dream. Dry I get a nice, high pitched top note from the currant which is what keeps this from getting too masculine or overbearing. The amber musk and rose sort of combine together into mid-notes. The amber musk is very golden and warm. Maybe this is what I smelled when I thought Frederic seemed fuzzy? Underneath it all I've got that drop dead gorgeous patchouli/bay rum/dark woods combo. I'd also hazard a guess that there's a drop or two of salty sea air or seaweed accord in here. There's a definite fresh tang of saltiness to Frederic--maybe something from the chypre? Throw: Good. Overall: I do love me some Frederic. He's a good companion for freezing winter days and for hot, languid summer ones (applied, of course, with a lighter hand). Interesting, unusual and a little like wearing your man's favourite sweater or button up shirt after he's changed out of it and the scent of his cologne and skin is still clinging to it.

Bottle: Vetiver and musk (red musk?) with a bit of dry sweetness. Probably the tonka and orris combining. Wet: VETIVER EXPLOSION!!! This is a good thing. The vetiver goes dark and warm and smoky over a warming base of red musk (seriously, if it's not red musk it appears to share some ingredients with red musk) and amber. I still get some skin close sweetness from the tonka and a bit of powder from the orris. I don't smell the carnation at all unless it's suddenly decided to behave--fresh carnation usually smells like sweet tarts on my skin. Dry: Man oh man. I am one of the rare forumites who absolutley LOVES Lunar Eclipse. While Lunar Eclipse has a bit more of a lush, elegant tea/musk/fruit gums drydown, this captures the initial smoky blast of Lunar Eclipse and then builds on it beautifully. The vetiver lingers and the musk and amber combine into this incredibly sexy blend. The tonka adds some vanilla sweetness and the orris gives it a bit of dry gravity. This smells like an assassin or a black widow. Definitely sexy and intriguing but with an undercurrent of real and present danger. It's definitely a power scent. Throw: Good. Definitely one that you should probably refrain from slathering. Overall: It's a gorgeous, gorgeous blend. If you like smoky, dark scents or are looking for new, inventive ways to wear musk or tonka, I'd definitely recommend it. It's the sort of scent where you can be assured that no one else in the room is going to smell like this.