marared
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Everything posted by marared
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Strawberry has never been one of my favorite BPALs - every one I've ever tried has not worked real well, but they've also been super sweet, either in a desserty or a plasticky way. This is a lot more of a *fresh* sweet. The strawberries are loud on immediate applications, but it turns green very quickly, with the vanilla sugar faint in the background. If this came in a shower gel I would buy multiple bottles. I might wear this more often than I initially thought when I first got it, too.
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(Since I am apparently the first reviewer, I'm not sure if we're lumping all four variants under a CTV title, or if we're going to split the topics for each base, so I went with the latter.) VIII Easily, it's Boomslang without the cocoa note. In the bottle, the oil is very gourmand - I initially thought it was hazelnut, but that's obviously not an option, as the Lab excluded major allergens like nuts. It's sweet, but a dry sweet, and when it's wet on my skin, it briefly takes on a woody note. I thought about it for a while, and when I hit on the Boomslang comparison, I realized that what I'm smelling is *rice*. It's Snake Oil and rice pudding! And it's actually pretty yummy too, so far. I'm gonna stash this for a while and see how I like it in a month or two.
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It's fudgy in the bottle, but the coffee appears immediately on my skin. It takes a little while for the amber to peep out, and the cardamom mostly just holds the scent together rather than being a noticeable ingredient, but this is mostly cocoa-tinged coffee on me - and I am totally okay with this. It's a somewhat dry scent, and it lasts several hours, but it doesn't have a lot of throw. I particularly like dabbing it in my hair and getting a nice whiff when I take it down after work.
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Frottled in an order. Bright, fresh, agree that that's probably rose geranium, might be bergamot too. Not sure what the underlying sweet note is but probably floral. I might dab this on my wool dryer balls, but I don't think I'll wear it for myself.
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Starts out as loud powdery orange blossom, but morphs pretty drastically over the course of 10-15 minutes through the amber and into a very frankincense-forward with the orange blossom entwined underneath. Surprisingly, it doesn't end up as powdery as I expected. It's also not nearly as loud as it was at first. Basically, don't let the opening salvo scare you off - let it sit on your skin for a while and see if it's more to your liking.
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Green Cardamom, Oakmoss, and Patchouli
marared replied to Seajewel's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This immediately reminds me of Stung By The Cock Tree In Hell, so I assume it must be the same patchouli. It is loud, fuzzy, and unrepentantly masculine - a very Billy Butcher blend! Oakmoss really takes the spotlight here, and the cardamom keeps it dry. I kind of wish it had a more sparkle - a ginger, citrus, or labdanum might be good layering options. I dabbed a little Hanksite Phoenix on it to see how that worked, and now I have Billy Butcher who bothered to put on some deodorant this morning. I don't think I could wear this on its own, but there is definite layering potential. -
Yesterday when I took it out of the box, it was patchouli. Today, it's sandalwood, oakmoss, and just a ping of vetiver. No vanilla or leather, or at least it's not noticeable. It is a much, much drier scent than I expected - I thought it would be fruitier, and I do kinda wish there was just a little more plum/berry to it, but that's why we layer! (I've got a bottle of Elderberry Flower & Sandhill Plum, that might go well with this...)
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I'm normally not a fan of sweeter scents, but I wanted to give this a shot. I agree with an earlier comment that this would be great for canoodling - the marshmallow is lovely and soft, and the plum gives it a nice dark feel - it's more almost more purple-musk than purple-fruit to me. It avoids being ghastly sweet AND the plum does not turn the whole thing into craft store ambience, which is a win.
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This is super rich and chocolatey in the bottle and freshly applied, with the whiskey a zingy undercurrent, but the long-term drydown is much different. It's still rich but much less sweet. It reminds me a little of TokyoMilk's Bittersweet, which has totally different secondary notes, but also turns into a dry, non-gourmand cocoa scent. It has a bit of throw at first, sticks close to the skin once it dries, and lasts several hours.
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You May House Their Bodies But Not Their Souls
marared replied to Seajewel's topic in Limited Editions
The skin musk and amber dominate here. The patchouli is very light and the vanilla ... is not nonexistent, but it takes a while to show up and it it takes quite a back seat to the musk and amber. If you want something cozy that doesn't depend on fur or wool, or radiant golden warmth without anything floral, this is a good one to try. I imagine this will warm up and become quite sensual with some body heat. -
First thing I smell in the bottle is black pepper in oudh. Pepper usually burns off with a little time, but this has held on for 15+ minutes although it is less sharp. The oudh is very gentle but is clearly the "shadow" part of this. I would probably have mistaken this for patchouli rather than oudh. It takes a minute for the honey to peek out but it's barely noticeable, and I can't even smell the vanilla in this. Very soft, gentle, low throw.
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Oh I like this. I am not usually fond of anything "metallic" because it can be high-pitched and screechy to my nose, but this is a well-loved, well-cared-for dildo that smells more foresty-woody than bronze-y. Musk and oakmoss are at the forefront, with the cardamom giving it just a little zing, and the amber/patchouli/tonka keep it smooth. This reminds me of some of my Serge Lutens perfumes - it smells really expensive. Depending on how this ages over the next few weeks, I might have to get another bottle in my next order...
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This one is really interesting and I'm not sure what to make out of it at first. This is very dark and foresty. There's something very slightly camphoric - not much but on a deep inhale it tickles the top of my nose. The hinoki and mahogany are dominant but it's not a clean wood smell, it's very ... fuzzy, textured, like you rolled an old log out of its resting place, that's the combined effort of the rest of the notes. I think it's probably the oud giving it the darkness - and it is NOT stanky! - and the moss/patch/tobacco/mushroom carrying it the rest of the way. This is what an Ent would smell like. The hinoki is what makes this so interesting, I think. I've loved other blends in the past with this note, and it really conveys the "ancient" sense behind this.
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Aquatic laundry detergent that's pretty at first but turns powdery. Definitely going in the NOPE drawer.
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Oudh always makes me a little nervous - sometimes it's stanky, sometimes it lends incredible depth. It's the latter in this case. And when you put this on, do yourself a favor and do a good deep inhale - get it all up in your sniffer. It's not going to be the same scent going in your nose as when it hits further back in your olfactory receptors. The rose is rich but it is not loud. It's slightly powdery at first sniff, but the petals are sweet at the very end of that deep inhale. There is not much honey here - it's just a deep dark rose with an undercurrent of non-barnyardy oudh.
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Testing the lemon scents tonight, and this is starkly different from Gold Ribbon. This is bright, sharp, and salty. Not too strong on the lemon - it does not turn into Pledge on me, but it does get more and more sour with time (and by sour I mean flavor-sour, not get-this-oil-off-me sour). The honey is barely there, just a drizzle to keep things together. It is so very salty, though. I need a drink just sniffing this. ...it's a lemon margarita with a salt rim! I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to wear this, but it is a super interesting scent.
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This is SO pretty. My experience is just like the previous review: it starts out a bright lemon cream, and then the amber and musk start glowing underneath it all. It smells like it could be a bar of soap from Lush. Not too loud, not too powdery.
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Oh, yum. I can smell ALL of the notes in this, depending on how I turn my hand and how long the oil has been on my skin. Mostly, it's a little smoke, oats, and spiced wine. It gets a little wine-ier with time, a bit more honey to it. Fortunately, it does not amp to high heaven the way wine often does on me, and it's just so cozy and pleasant. If I sit there and really inhale and think about it, I can sorta understand how LdyKnight gets "band-aid" out of the scent, but it just doesn't have that effect on my chemistry.
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This was a hard pass when I first got the box, so I put it away for a couple months and brought it out to try again. Still a hard pass. It's gooey, thick and syrupy, reads almost like fig or raisin pastry filling. It's not sour or anything, but it's just blech. Absolutely nothing like RR/BB to my nose.
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When I first got this, fresh out of the mailbox, it was absurd and delicious - minty marshmallow with a hint of lemon. In the two weeks since I got it, it's gotten a LOT mintier - it doesn't smell like a cough drop, but it hits high up into the sinuses like cough drops do, if that makes sense. Almost like mint gum, but with a marshmallow element. That high pitch calms down with a little time, but I want to layer this with something a little sweeter. I bet this would go nicely with TKO...
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It is indeed very pretty, and very faint. I can only smell it when my nose is pressed to my wrist. On a really deep inhale, I get the smoke, otherwise it's a very warm amber with a slight hint of creamy vanilla. It's not a complicated scent, just calm and pretty.
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It starts out massively herbal lavender with a nearly camphoric note on deep inhale that's probably the chamomile. The rose geranium lays low (which is good because it can dominate blends a little too much), and the orange peeks out from under everything - but slowly gets stronger and stronger until it shines out over the lavender. Sweet and lovely.
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I wasn't entirely sure if this was going to be doughy, spicy, gourdy, or leafy, and the answer is ... all of the above. At first, this is spices and cologney leaves, and I like it a lot. The cookie aspect is there, but it's not gourmand, and I prefer it that way. But pumpkin blends are usually pretty loud and buttery, and while this is not pumpkinny at first, nor is it as assertive as usual, it does start rearing its head after a few minutes and changes the scent to spiced pumpkin leaves and no molasses. I don't like it quite as much once that kicks in.
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2021 edition! Whoa. This smells no-huh-huh-thing like the previous version - that was more green and fresh , and this is a punch of warm sunny flowers, heady and loud. Heavy floral, amber-rich, almost powdery but doesn't quite cross that line. Put on your most colorful frock, sail through the crowd with this on, and heads will TURN.
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I keep trying to figure this one out - one of my minions went "ooh you smell GOOD" this afternoon, though, so clearly it works ok on me! The bottle has a slight oud funk. Not barnyardy at all, but it is definitely oud. On my skin, it's got some kind of cool, almost metallic aspect to it. I think it's the musk and the tea that's giving it that impression. Nothing smoky about it. Oakmoss adds a layer of sweetness - it's not really floral at all, but the black orchid is definitely the most prominent of the flower notes - I don't think I have a decant of Tom Ford's Black Orchid anymore to compare, but I think TFBO is spicier. This is cool, calm, serene - melancholy is a good word for it.