TooMuchTemptation

Grrr I typed this whole beautiful review, which got eaten when I clicked submit! I can't recreate what I wrote, so here's the short version. In the vial I smell the pickle-ish scent that I got from Ivanushka. On my skin, it's herbal and astringent, but I think it also has sassafras which sweetens it and gives it a minty quality. There's a hint of dirt there as well. It reminds me of Val Sans Retour a bit, but deeper, earthier and sweeter. The greenery is similar, but where Val is light and lemony, Yggdrasil is herbaceous and astringent, with the same grassy-sweet underpinning. It has a lovely foresty quality that makes me see the association that people make with Ivanushka and Buck Moon. While Buck and Ivanushka are gently animalistic to my nose, Yggdrasil is all vegetation. It's the deep forest the animals live in. If someone had asked me if I liked forest blends, I would probably have said no, but the more I sniff them, the more in love I become. Edit so that my sentences make sense.

I didn’t get Ivanushka when it first came out, but after I read the reviews that compared it to my beloved Buck Moon, I had to try some. I was able to score a decant of it. In the vial, it smells soapy and a tinge sour. I’m getting the pickle-ish vinegar smell that other reviewers mention. The gentle soapiness is the kind I associate with white musk. It reminds me of the white musk I smell in Black Pearl. It’s not bad, but it’s not killing me with beauty at this stage either. Wet on my skin, I get a clean powdery smell right off the bat, and a smidge of the pickle smell, but not enough for it to be an overpowering note. As it dries, it gets more powdery. Not like baby powder, but dry, slightly musky and dusty, not unlike, dare I say it, clean fur. It’s not the actual smell of fur, but it’s very evocative of it. Like a fur coat stored in a chest with sachets. Clean, freshly bathed, freshly powdered are all things that spring to mind as I sniff. Dry on my skin, this sweetens a bit, and gets a hint of spiciness. It’s this sweet spiciness that makes me think of Buck Moon, though it doesn’t smell exactly like it. Something about the musk I think. It's a bit like white musk, but a little more golden. But instead of the rich warm skin scent that Buck Moon evokes, this is very freshly scrubbed, just this side of soapy. There's a bit of dry grass, and I think I’m getting the dry leaves now too. The dried leaves smell can often turn potpourri or candle-ish on my skin, but whatever makes this scent so clean holds that in check. There may also be a hint of something pine-y. I can’t outright say I smell pine, just something that prickles my nose the same way pine does. Later, this scent retains the clean, sweet spicy muskiness that is reminiscent of, but not the same as Buck Moon, along with a strong dusty dry leaf pile scent. It’s quite lovely and very evocative of autumn to me. It remains sweet on my skin, but not food sweet, just musky-sweet. That feeling of fur or soft suede in my nose recurs from time to time, and it’s very pleasant. It smells like an idealized version of the outdoors to me. In the end, I have to say that it definitely reminds me of Buck Moon, but it has a bit too much powdery freshness to match its feel and the mood that makes me choose to wear Buck Moon. Buck Moon is a deer snuggling into its winter bedding place, and Ivanushka is a shy, fey doe that has been spooked and is springing through the woods and fields.

I love creamy, vanilla scents, so I was interested. After comparisons to Love’s Philosophy, I had to try this. I searched around until I snagged and imp of it. In the imp, I’m waiting for the cream to jump out at me, and it doesn’t. My initial impression isn’t of cream at all, but strong, herbal, medicinal, capital-S Sassafras. On second sniff, there’s also something faintly aquatic about it. But mostly it smells like a sweet old-fashioned tonic. Horehound or the cola syrup my grandma had for upset tummies. It verges on licorice-y. It’s sweet, but dry. Wet on my skin, I get a super-strong kick of sassafras, followed immediately by a sweet spiciness. It makes me think of the feeling you get it your mouth when you drink sassafras tea. It smells wholesome, and refreshing, but more like a treatment than perfume. Happily, a lot of the medicinal sense I get from this falls right off as the oil settles and warms. As it dries on my skin, oh noes! I’m getting hints of the freshly sharpened pencil smell that prevents me from smelling the vanilla in Tombstone. The oak leaves maybe? It’s not as strong in this scent, possibly because the spicy sassafras is holding it down. It dries a little further, and the pencil sharpener smell settles back to a mild wood-dry leaf-y scent. I breathe a huge sigh of relief. The sass and the wood settle into something warm, smooth and spicy sweet. At this stage, this is something I would wear as perfume. Dry on my skin, it’s curly, woody dried sassafras bark and ahhh, here’s the creaminess. It’s been hiding behind the more aggressive notes all this time, lending smoothness, and waiting for its turn to peek out. It’s not crazy creamy or buttery on me though, which I appreciate. There’s just enough creamy sweetness to make this velvety to my nose. Sniffing it is the olfactory equivalent of stroking a length of light golden brown silk velvet. It’s comforting. I bet this would be amazing layered with something lightly musky. This isn’t really much like Love’s Philosophy to me. To my nose, LP was vanilla cream, butter cream, ice cream, and a dollop of spicy root beeriness. SSS is more herbal, dry and almost peppery spicy, with a bit of cream to take the edge off. This is different enough for me to justify owning a bottle of both. LP is for when I’m in a definite food-y mood, and SSS is a refreshing, yet warm and spicy scent that I can wear whenever I want. I’m rather pleased that SSS isn’t a root beer bomb on me. As much as I like a root beer float, I wasn’t sure I wanted another scent to make me smell like one.

I've been wanting to try this scent for a while now. It's more foody than I usually go for these days, but there was something appealing to me in the description of the blend. Wet in the bottle, it smells like toosie rolls to me at first, slightly spicy tootsie rolls, full stop. On my skin, it smells more cocoa-y, and now I can definitely smell the cinnamon and the coffee. There's also a bit of caramelish sweetness that I have trouble teasing apart from the cocoa smell. It kind of smells like an expensive latte. Very Very foody, but pretty good so far. As time wears on, the smell shifts, and not in a good way. I often have trouble with chocolate notes, and this is no exception. First, the cocoa part of the scent goes through a seriously cocoa butter phase where it smells quite a bit like chocolate scented lip balm, then the cinnamon gets really strong and hot smelling, then the chocolate note does what a lot of chocolate notes do on my skin, develops undertones of butt. There's just no polite way to say it. On my skin, chocolate scents develop definite tones of baby powdered butt. I am not happy. It smelled so yummy at first, and then my skin killed it. I know I have trouble with chocolate, but I keep trying chocolate-heavy scents. In a bit, I can smell cinnamon, the chocolate smell I don't enjoy, and nothing else. I guess this wasn't for me.

I got this as a very generous gimp. I wasn't sure what to expect from this scent. I actually hadn't even looked at the description, since I figured I'd never smell it. Off the bat, just sniffing the imp, this rather reminds me of Chaste Moon. That creamy sweet with soft florals thing, but a tinge spicier. Wet on my skin, it's still creamy-florals and again like Chaste Moon, there's some slightly astringent fruit, this is different because the cucumber, lettuce and squash definitely make things vegetable-toned, and there is definitely a spiciness to the mix. As it dries, I smell some very juicy fruits, underlaid with a cream note that's ever so slightly dried out by the way honey turns powdery on my skin. But there's no honey funk to this, and the fruits keep things sharp and bright. I can definitely smell the cucumber and lettuce. They're juicy too, but cooler and green rather than sweet and astringent, giving this a very interesting twist. And on top of everything else, there's a lingering floral feel to this. My review may make this sound like a hopeless muddle, but that's the thing, it isn't. This is very complex, but harmonious at the same time. It's quite light and lovely. Later, the creaminess is what's lingering on my skin, along with some sharp sweetness. This is really amazing. That said, as much as I'm enjoying the scent, I'm not sure it's quite me. I tend to like creamy, heady scents, and this tends to veer towards the delicate. Also, towards the end, I catch a hint of the honey doing the funky musky thing it does on my skin sometimes. I'm super happy to have gotten a chance to try this though. It's really a work of art. Something so complex, yet dainty and not overbearing.

Penumbra, it's dark, a little fruity and I get compliments on it. Glowing Vulva goes perfectly with my chemistry, and it smells sweet and creamy yet sophisticated. It's one of the things I put on when I want to feel sexy. Black lace is very pretty and sophisticated, but rather ladylike, until I layer it with Buck Moon, which gives it a gentle boost of sweetness and muskyness. The last time I went out with that combo on, I got a lot of attention.

Ichabod was one of the Halloweenie bottles I ordered unsniffed. When I sniff at the bottle I smell tea, what I'm guessing is the wool, and a slight after bite of pepper. I'm on board. Wet on my skin, Ichabod Crane puts on a wool sweater, busts down my door with an axe and says "Heeeere's Lily!" Lily is almost all I can smell. I have lily of the valley growing in my yard, and it's a very pleasant smell outdoors, but on my person it's very loud. The smell that I think is wool is there, and way under I get a hint of spiciness, but Muguet is out in front, big mean and oppressive. Everything else is cowering in fear. This is killingly floral for me. Later on my skin the lily recovers from it's psychotic episode and falls off some. It's still quite present but now the tea with a touch of cream, wool, and yes a honey-esque base smell that must be the beeswax. It's quite pretty and nice actually, but I don't think I can put up with the initial floral attack to get to the this stage. At this point it makes me think of having tea with a maiden aunt. She's in her apartment with candles burning, the heat turned up to 80, wearing her Sunday perfume and a wool sweater and serving cup after cup of tea with milk. It's a cool concept, but not the scent for me. Edited to use complete sentences.

I ordered a bottle of this unsniffed because I love the copal and florals in Xiutehcuhtli, and this just sounded divine. When I sniff at the bottle, it's hard to say what I'm smelling. I get the copal right away because, for some reason I find copal intensely sniffable. Smelling it almost makes my mouth water. There's also a slightly green sappiness that I'm assuming is the agave nectar. Maybe a hint of spice, but my nose may be faking me out. I'm not sure if I like this or not. Wet on my skin, this blooms into a scent that makes me huff my wrist, and then tip my head back and sigh. I'm glad no one can see me holding my wrist in front of my nose going "Oh! *sniff* Ohhh! *sniff* Wow! *sniff*" Yum mouth-watering copal, then sweet agave nectar, then deep dry woods, and just at the finish something faintly spicy and ever so slightly rosy. As it dries, the woods and resin tilt it slightly towards the cologne-y end of the spectrum, but not in an annoying way. Copal, sweet woods, and spice. If you're afraid of rose, you should know that I don't really smell it strongly here. There's a slight rosy roundness to the tail end of the spices, but nothing that I would sniff and say smelled like a rose. I think I've found my fall into winter scent. This is round, warm, resiny and spicy without being heavy or smelling like fall potpourri. Damn if I don't think I might need another bottle. Edited for clarity.

I had to get this, there was no question that I was buying a bottle unsniffed. Honey is an iffy note for me, but I didn't care. In the bottle, I mostly smell honey and cream, and something a bit funky. I think it's the honey taking on a bit of an edge. Wet on my skin, this is nothing but white rose, and since I love the Lab's take on white rose, that's just fine with me. It's true, clear, sweet and delicate. It's a clean, dewy, fresh rose, nothing heady or blowsy about it. As it dries, it gets creamier, but not the thick cream note that I'm used to. This is lighter and smoother. After a bit, I notice the powderyness that I get from honey coming out, but rather than turning the whole blend into baby powder, it keeps the rose and the cream in check. Neither of them gets too much out of hand, because the sweet honey note is backing them up. The rose isn't sweet at all, so the honey isn't overwhelming. Dry, it's the white rose that I love in Penthus, but instead of salt water and incense, there's the light touch of cream and the dry, almost musky sweetness of honey. It hasn't gone wrong on me yet. Yay! Lovely formal rose, with a slight kick. This scent is delicate, traditionally feminine, and a bit flirtatious. Not sexy or anything so overt as that. It's rosy and enticing, the most pink and white thing I've ever smelled. It's like the flash of lacy petticoat under an otherwise austere Sunday dress. I really like this scent, though I have to think about what occasion this will be the scent for. I was afraid that this might be too similar to Hope, but it's not. It's a completely different style of rose. It can occupy it's own space in my collection.

When the Halloweenies came out, I ordered the things that were just calling my name, and Huesos de Santos was one of them. I open the bottle for the first sniff, and my brain goes CAAAAAAAKE! It's buttery, vanillary custard-cake! It's rather reminscent of the cake note in Eat Me without the fruity berries. I don't really smell anything else, but that's okay, it's delicious. Now I'm craving cake and frosting. When I dab it on my skin it's still cake, but now I smell the orange as well. It's like someone took a wonderful moist cake, filled it with custard, and drizzled it with orange syrup, it's sweet, but not sickeningly so. Now I smell the anise, and I think it's one of the things that keeps the cake from becoming too cloying. It adds a sweet slightly medicinal edge. Many scents with anise also have mint, which makes it smell like toothpaste to me. This is cake, custard, orange and anise. As it dries the initial burst of foodyness starts to die off. The vanilla cake goodness is still there, but the anise gets a bit stronger and now I can smell the florals. I can't tell what they are, because the cake is still first in line, but there are flowers there that keep this scent from being too simple, and pull it in a slightly different direction. There's the yummy creaminess, the anise to ground things a bit, and then the florals, floating quite lightly and delicately along underneath it all. It reminds me of a wedding cake with fresh flower decorations on it. Later, this has gotten more complex as it dries, sweet, creamy and floral. I think I'll be reaching for it when I get my sweet tooth.

Interesting. I wonder how that blending could be done with candy scents though? I mean like candy corn, cake, stuff like that. Well I guess that's the art of it. Finding the items that evoke a certain smell and then blending them. It involves having a sharp nose, and a good scent memory, and the willingness to sniff all kinds of things to find the right ingredients. It totally blows my mind that the Lab can do this while restricting themselves to naturallly derived ingredients. I also think that this is what makes the scents so unique. Edited to Add: I know for example, that seaweed extracts can be used to evoke a salty, oceanic scent, and that Candy Corn is primarily flavored with honey and wax, both of which can be made into scent absolutes. You can get extracts of butter, cocoa,vanilla, and various spices, which is basically what we smell when we smell cake. Other than the typical floral notes that we're all familiar with, there is a huge palette of oils, resins, absolutes and concretes that can be blended in an infinite number of ways.

I've recently taken a liking to violets, and so I added this to my wishlist. Someone sweet sent me an imp with a swap. I didn't know what to expect from this scent at all. Wet in the imp, I smell the violet right away, and right behind it is a tangy sharpness that I'm going to say is red currant. It's not fruity per se, but it's sharp and juicy like a broken stem. Then I smell patchouli and the dirt note. Patchouli doesn't smell like dirt to me, but something in this blend smells like clean dirt. Wet on my skin I still get the tangy broken stems and sweet violets, but now I'm also getting an herbal whiff before patchouli and the dirt. Also, this is getting very dry, almost dusty. I like it though. It's not like anything I've smelled recently. As it dries out the sweet violet blooms on me, and the scent dries considerably. What's interesting to me about this is how it can be so dry, and at the same time refreshing. The currant, violet and patchouli are tangy-bittersweet, but in a good way like tonic water and lime. It doesn't smell like tonic and lime, but it's a reminder that bittersweet can be good. I'd love to have some soap or shampoo that smelled like this. It's dry clean and refreshing. That said, I think this is too heavy for summer wear, at least for me. I think I might have a hankering for it as the cooler weather sets in though. I'm going to keep sniffing, because I'm not sure if this imp is enough, or if come winter I'll want a bottle. It's really a work of art though.

This has been on my wishlist forever. I got Hope all on her lonesome in a swap. When I saw sugared rose, I had to go for it. I was kind of waiting for this to be a really simple, one-note scent. Sniffing from the bottle, I definitely get the sugar before the rose. It's like rose syrup or rose jam. But as soon as I sniff something in my head says "Oooooo I like this!" Wet on my skin, it's sugar sugar sugar, and roses. Wait, is that vanilla? It's something creamy, and it briefly reminds me of Possets Silver Roses, except where Silver Roses is delicate and ethereal, Hope is sweeter and headier. As it dries my initial Silver Roses impression goes away almost immediately, and the sugar note dies off a bit. Rising up from my skin is a very sensuous rose scent. It's still sweet and a tinge creamy, but now I'm getting something that my brain calls musky from this scent. This rose wants to edge towards soapiness I can tell, but the sugar and cream keep it from going there. Later I'm still compulsively sniffing my arm. Hope, that little minx, is turning sexy on me. Often rose either goes very green and stemmy or sour, but this is warm and soft and sweet. It's gotten a bit drier and more powdery. I don't like the use the word powdery because I often use it in a negative sense with fragrance, but that's what it is to me. The sugar has gone from wet and syrupy to a light dusting of powdered sugar over musky rose. and just a touch of violet maybe? It's not enough for this scent to be violet-y, bit I feel that it's there. Hope and Faith are Siamese twins after all. Every once in a while I get wafts of the initial rose jam scent, but it's fleeting. I'll have to wear it for a while to be sure, but I think Hope is the BPAL rose scent I've been searching for. Right now, I like this even better than Rose Moon.

This is a review of a bottle with the GC style label. I swapped for this hoping to get creamy vanilla underlaid by florals. Wet in the bottle, I smell the grapefruit, then immediately afterward the vanillas. I have hope for this blend. Wet on my skin, grapefruit, and then gardenia. Gardienia for some reason often presents to my nose as an oily bittersweet floral smell. Next comes the Jasmine, sweet and strong, and almost a little funky. I'm not happy. I was hoping that I could skate on the jasmine in this blend, but as of now, no dice. As this dries, the grapefruit fades back, but the Gardenia and Jasmine are still kicking out the jams. I can smell the creamy vanilla in the background, but the florals are louder than anything in this blend on me. And the Jasmine gets funkier and funkier. The grapefruit is giving this a bit of a sour turn for me. Later, the florals have fallen off and softened, and the soft lovely vanillas underpin this. I'm not fond of this blend though. I like my vanilla with a hint of floral, not vice versa. Jasmine tends to come to the fore on me, so I'm not surprised that this didn't work out well.

I've been haunting my mailbox waiting for this bottle to arrive. I'm not very fond of apple scents, so I had mixed feelings about this purchase. On the one hand I really wanted the book. On the other hand, I eat apples and am rarely tempted to smell like them. I kept reading the reviews of apple and mint and wondering if I had made the right decision. On first whiff from the bottle I smell a very sharp and dry kind of green apple. Not jolly rancher, but a pretty good rendition of a freshly bitten Granny Smith. On sniffing more deeply, I still get the green apple note first and foremost, but there's something aquatic and ozone-y there. Ozone usually smells like fabric softener or laundry soap to me, so I'm a bit wary. Wet on my skin, slightly soapy apple. It's not bad, it's just very much a clean laundry, green apple shampoo scent for me. I'm trying to be patient and wait to see what happens. It's still a little soapy, a tinge floral, and not tangy or juicy at all. At this point, this feels cold, and bit icy, and I'm not sure how much I'm loving this. Dry on my skin, ah now a bit of sweetness and warmth is coming out. Still aquatic, still crisp, but not as cold. I think the crystalline musk is stepping up to take the place of the apple which is fading fairly rapidly. It IS sweet, but not in a sugary fruity way, but in the way that flowers and musk are sweet. That said, it's not strongly floral to me. It's just that the sweetness is reminiscent of flowers. Later, this becomes a fresh crisp sweet aquatic, and I'm sooo not giving it up. The musk is blooming out too, clean and clear, rather than murky. I can't usually wear aquatics, but this one works really well. I'm keeping it for when I want to smell sexy fresh.