Medici

In the bottle: ringing, golden, citrus underscored with a softened vanilla… or is that amber? There’s something creamy underneath that first punch, in any case. Me likey. Wet: Orangey goodness warms up to a spiced amber… not a Snake Charmer spiced amber, mind, because the orange is really dominant but it’s warmer than you’d expect it to be. (This is a juicy, real orange by the way – not some crazed Jailbait orange sucker. It’s sugared, but more like a dried sugar… like orange jerky.) Drydown: Amber moves up while the citrus notes soften into the background. It is very “regal” if I could call it that, and without being sharp. Normally I associate citrus with the insane wake-up call offered by Moxie, but this isn’t that. It’s rounded off at the corners, and very comfortable. Roses come up at the very tail end as an afterthought, but thankfully, they don't dominate this blend for me. (This has also received daddy’s seal of approval, the “My daughter smells good,” accreditation.) 4.5/5

A soft, innocent blend, touched with a funereal, gloom-filled air: wild peony, sweet pea, cucumber and white sage with sea lilies and moss. I plucked up Annabel Lee for the cucumber note originally, so in the end I think I'm a little sad that the cucumber is barely there. In the bottle I get a very strong peopny that borders on bubblegum sweet. I like sweet scents, so I'm really not put off, but already my assumptions are totally shot. Wet it's very much floral, with an underscored bit of green herbal that gives a bit of an edge - but not much. In drydown the sweet pea makes an appearance, I'm reminded strongly of Titania without the heady berry rush. I think I'm having an off day with my chemistry, actually - because the first time I tried this I remember the florals being much more subdued in this stage. Originally, at this point, the sage picked up and the entire thing turned a nice, crisp green. Towards the softening point it returns to the expected herbal, but still, sadly, I don't get any cucumber out of this. Man what I'd do for cucumber and avocado and lime right now. Guacamole maybe. BPAL guacamole? Well, in any case, that's not Annabel. She's lovely, but not what I was expecting at all. 3.5/5

I think, out of all the Demon in my View scents, Dreamland is my favourite. It's much more playful than I'd imagined it to be - fruity, with a hint of floral. At the present time, about ten minutes into drydown, there is a lot of melon. Glorious, ripe, honeydew and cantaloupe. (I've never smelled a melon quite this accurate, so needless to say, I'm very pleased - I almost want to layer this with Fruit Moon to see what happens. A melon and grapefruit party, maybe? Fruit salad? ) There is a soft, powdery edge to it that takes off the crispness and lends to an aura of something almost wipsy and surreal. It's happy without being in your face, and calm without being somnolent. 5/5 I think I might need another bottle for the summer.

The scent of Death’s seaside throne: luminous aquatic notes threaded through by creeping ivies, white woods, waving kelp and bruised violets. Joy! City in the Sea is the subdued, wintery younger sister to Undertow on me. I detect something salty and fresh in the wet onset, and thankfully - unlike a few others, there are no violets here. As it dries there is a gradual but sharp mint that begins to manifest - a mint that is not a mint. In anycase, whatever it is, it lends a certain sharpness to it. It's a great "cold water" scent overall, but on me it's definitely not placid. It's not at all subdued like I expected; I imagined a calm beach, but this is a tumult. 4/5

This is morphing fast, so I'll try and spit it out as it changes: Onset wet: red wine, ivy, ozone In-the-middle-wet: Strong ivy, ozone coming to the front, something sweet and floral - a white floral at that coming out. Totally amps the sweetness of this blend, I wasn't expecting that. Drydown: Settling into an ozoney-green. Quite nice. But it moves fast. The red wine disappeared within five minutes.

I bought a 5ml of Scherezade unsniffed - at the time I was mentally on an incense and smoke kick, and let me tell you, wearing this has reinvigorated my lust for incense. It is a smoky, heavy-lidded and sultry blend that is almost pure incense on me. It's not changing much as it goes into dry down, though something almost citrusy - like the rind of an orange - is beginning to come out. Perfect for Fall, I'm very glad I bought a bottle.

I have steered clear of this imp for so incredibly long... Geez. One bad experience with pepper seems to be enough for me. Tonight, however, my nose is loving it. Tea, sharp honey, a nice pepper that is actually behaving for once, a bit of lemon, a bit of something earthy... and a rabbit's foot. No linen, thankfully. If I could associate this fragrance with a visual representation, I'd say a bunny cage. It's a little funny, like something's not quite right about it - because it's a touch furry around the edges with my chemistry - but that little offset lends to its uniqueness and for that, I think I really do like the damnable thing. It reminds me of summer as a child. (It took a little while to make that association - the sandbox and clean sheets in the summer. And chamomile tea though there's no discernable chamomile in this blend.) It's surprisingly innocent.

*pouts* I was so looking forward to the cypress in this ble - oooh. Ok, let's back this up two steps. (I'm presently about ten minutes into drydown, and I was about to have a fit at the distinct cypress-absorbing quality of my flesh. Not so! Not so!) In the bottle: Predominantly sandalwood, with a sharper bite to it (indistinct, can't sort it to save my life) Wet: Red sandalwood... a bit of play dough which dissipates after a minute and a half. Drydown: Sandalwood and cypress - though not the murky sort of Bayou, it's very dry in this blend. I'm detecting the barest sliver of tonka as it warms, but I think - at this point in my cycle - the tonka is what's going play dough. I do have to bring my nose right up to it to smell that particular aspect of this blend, though. Not really my thing, while I love woodsy notes, it's not working with my chem this evening.

Mmmm, what a perfect scent for spring! It's a very light, white, almost sharp floral that lacks the bite of the "red" blends (Florence, New Orleans). In the initial dry-down London softens into a tranquil tea rose - which, sadly for me, my skin sucks up and lends to it an almost sterile edge. I would totally cram this into a scent locket, though. It's very fresh-smelling.

“The Beautiful One Is Come”. Egyptian iris and olibanum with red and white sandalwood, soft myrrh and a breath of North African herbs. Ohhh iris! This is such a beautiful, soft scent - predominantly floral, with a gilt edge to it. It's regal almost - though I'm afraid for the most part this scent on me is pure iris with the barest hint of sandalwood. Here I was expecting kyphi. Beautiful, but not me. Edited: Added lab description.

Vetiver and baby powder. Man, that's unfortunate. True, I'd relegated the imp to the back of my "to test" pile - but in the bottle I'd had high hopes. The vetiver came up fast but subtly, and it's barely dry - but all I've got is baby powder. I'm going to persuade my S/O to give this a go - hopefully it'll smell better on him than on me.

LOVE THE GHOST. LOVELOVELOVE. For a light green/white blend, this has a surprising amount of throw on me and a definitive presence. It smells very light and clean and green: a waltz between lily and ivy. Very very airy and wafting while at the same time, extremely poignant. (Haunting is the word I'm looking for - a wistful haunting.)

Grain, sweet almond and milky vanilla. Whenever I wear this I get the impression of something that's lily white but a little fuzzy, or lacy around the edges. Dana's got a mischevious kick to her - and sometimes, I think of her as a distant cousin to Alice, though without the spiciness. Very nice. I've got 2.5mls in stock, which I'll break out again in the spring. After that, though, I don't think I'll be replenishing since Alice has a tendency to tackle anything that smells "white" - Dana included.

Pomagranate and booze. Lives up to its name, nice and sweet - Good for everyday wear. It's not very dry though - as a martini should be (or at least a martini should be dry to me). It's a very luscious, sweet, and juicy pomegranate. While it's a lot of fun and playful, it's very much a summer fragrance. I do have a 5ml, though. Sneaky bottle made it into my last order.

Lemon! Freshly squeezed lemon juice. Straight up. No sugar - but rather than being a sour-puss, it's actually quite sweet. I don't get anything else from this blend, I'm afraid. No florals, no greenery, just the overwhelming smack of lemony-goodness. Very refreshing. Would I get a big bottle if I could? Probably not. I'm reminded strongly of the 6teen show - in which one character works at a lemonade stand and is forced to wear a huge lemon hat as part of her uniform. Wearing June Gloom regularly would most likely lodge that impression of myself in my head permanently. (I look wretched in yellow)

Holy mother of grapefruit batman! I applied Moxie to my temples and sat down at the old 'puter to do a bit of writing. Hardcore citrus; grapefruit, orange and lemon peel smacks you in the face. At first I sneezed, then my brain did the equivalent of a "bzzzztbzzzztwhirrrrrclackclackclack" and went into overdrive. If anything, it really affected my productivity... and posture... and how fast I was walking around my house each time I took a break. (On a side note, I find it very similar to the Body Shop's Satsuma. So - an experiment for next time - I'm going to load the oil burner with Satsuma and apply Moxie and see how much work iI can get done in under an hour) Definitely need a big bottle of Moxie.

Way, way too sweet in the vial. I'm a little nervous since I'm reminded strongly of Regan which is just totally over-powering with my chemistry. On: Not as sweet as I thought, but very heavy on the lotus. It's a "white" scent, that is to say, if I were to associate Paris with a colour I'd say white with pastel blue and pastel pink. A little too floral for my tastes, but I'll keep the imp around just the same since the sweetness calms down in a way that Regan doesn't. I find Paris to be a balance between Persephone (a spring flower, cut with grasses to temper the sweetness of it) and Regan (with is like pure white sugar on me). Paris is somewhere in between.

Bayou is and has been one of my ranking favourites since the start of the summer, so I am a little biased when it comes to this scent. (I'm actually a little surprised... didn't I review this? Well, guess not. Anyway - on with the show) If you've ever been on a swamp tour in New Orleans, this isn't exactly spot-on realism since you don't get the pure dirtiness of swamp water. You do, however, get a very strong aquatic base laced with overhanging Spanish moss, balanced by a watery cypress and the nice, sweet little white flowers that peek out from the shadowy depths of the swamp. Is it atmospheric? Oh yes. Watered-down woods with just a bit of floral to lighten the "mood". I particularly love breaking out Bayou on the rainy days, while it's predominantly green and blue, it still gives a bit of perk when it's wet outside.

Floral, with a hint of spice, a bit of cinnamon and the "dirty" quality I've gotten in French Creole (which I've learned to adore) It's surprisingly soft and almost clean smelling, but unfortunatly, it doesn't carry enough throw to really give me a mental smack and get the gears going. I'm going to hold onto the imp for now (since its such a pretty shade of red), and give it a re-run sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Wet: I'm sitting at my desk chanting, "Don't go plastic! Don't go plastic!" Onset of drydown: Bam! Burning sugar on the stovetop, morphs into burnt plastic. Sugar Skulls does the exact same thing with my chemistry. (Now sitting back and chanting, "Oh hell.") Drydown: Back to burnt sugar, but with the added benefit of cinnamon. On the bright side, my skin didn't smolder (which has happened once and only once in my trials of BPAL). Verdict: Off to the swap with you, foul temptress! May you suit someone else better.

Eh bien, mes cheres - I think we should take a promenade in the Quarter, this evening, non? The first time I tried this a couple months back, my initial impression was that it was flat-out dirty. I got the impression of rained-out streets in the French Quarter, trash, and late, humid nights where you’ve been dancing and sweating too much to be proper for a “lady”. At the time, I dismissed it. But now I'm back after trying French Love and finding a similar essence with Creole. Initial impressions: Green, slightly aquatic, and spices. Still dirty - but more sultry than sleaze. It's a twilight fragrance for a humid night, as gaslights flare on in the dusk. I still get the impression of balminess with the fragrance, but this time around, it's much more pleasant. There's a hint of spice to it as well, but overall it all blends together seamlessly creating more of an ambient fragrance that really is multi-tonal. If it ever comes back in another incarnation, I'd definitely partake of a bottle.

If it helps any, I'm from Montreal and still waiting on my June 10th Carnival Noir order. They do Canadian orders in batches, since shipping international usually requires manual delivery and waiting in line and such at the post office. I wish I could give you the thread where I read that originally, but yeah - that's how it works. Have no fear

Mmm Grandmother of Ghosts - damp forests, a hint of wet leaves and just the barest brush of florals towards the end of drydown. Omen - definately - hardcore woodsy, but not of the forest variety on me. More like... logging woodsy. Hamadryad turned to a very sweet, ripe fruit with a hint of green - no woods unfortunately, though it is very fresh. Try Ouija for a dry rose wood/lilac. Quite nice, smells like an old cabinet (minus the mothballs). Queen of Clubs - sharp, wet woods - and a fistful of earth. Lastly - and I can't vouch for this though I will say a couple of people rec'd it for me when I was looking for a haunted wood smell, Black Forest. There's always Hexxennacht, but it can be tempermental - it either drives off the pine totally, or becomes full of dripping, sappy pine trees.

This was the reformulated blend, which allegedly smells nothing like the original creamy psychotic butterscotch. I'm pleasantly surprised, having thought it'd be a very masculine scent because of the leather and tobacco - but it works really really really disgustingly well with my chemistry. The tobacco is predominant, but in the sweet, musty, fresh-cigar-and-badboy-smoking-it kinda way. I wonder if I could persude my S/O to wear it - but if he doesn't, I will. This is another 5ml on the roster.

An epithet of the Morrigan, crow-winged Celtic goddess of war, strife and fertility. Adoration of this Goddess is expressed both through the ecstasy of battle lust and the ecstasy of sexual regeneration. Black orchid, apple blossom, meadowsweet, and rue over Irish moss, hawthorn and red clover. Oh the love of sweet, red apples - where did you come from my pretties? I had no idea you were in this blend - nor that you'd be so ephemeral and sweet. It's a very light pink and red floral, laid over crisp apples. It evokes a very airy mood almost, so much so that I had to dig up the description. Black orchid, apple blossom, meadowsweet, and rue over Irish moss, hawthorn and red clover. Funny, because I love Queen Mab which is another paen to the Morrigan. I get you, ye gods, I get you. I'm getting a 5ml of this next order (and a 5ml of Queen Mab, for the record).