lady_pandora

I've been spending a lot of time with verbena lately, since I've been using an almond-verbena body wash, so the verbena blast that starts out The Fool's Rose was super familiar to me. It's not a really lemony verbena on me, but definitely herbal, just this side of medicinal, very clean and soothing. I could see it being a TAL scent for healing. The skin scent is almost all verbena at first, while the throw is incensy from the frankincense. I can't really pick out rose, but one quirk of my skin is that rose and frankincense are usually pretty seamless on me, and that happens here too. The rose reads as just an extra dimension to the frank. Over the course of the scent, the verbena fades out and I'm left with mostly frankincense, very pretty. I could see wearing this when I'm not feeling well or need a pick-me-up. I wouldn't call it a rose scent per se--if you're not a huge rose fan, you might still like this.

Oooh, frankincense is great! Les Bijoux and Cicuta are a couple of my faves, and I'm also loving the new Fool scent Eyes Skyward, Eyes Shut. I think it's in Cairo too, though unlisted. I have a special place in my heart for rose/frank blends--the two notes work really well together on me.

It's probably been 10 years since I've smelled China Rain, so this is a stab in the dark, but Swans on the River kind of reminded me of my memory of it.

This is lovely! It starts out with a sweetened lemon and gradually morphs into a creamy, sweet, but floral-instead-of-foody vanilla. It started reminding me of something, and it took me a while to follow my synapses down the rabbit hole and figure out what it was, but then I put my finger on it...Regan??? Seriously, on me this smells, after the early lemony stages, a lot like I remember Regan smelling. I sold my imp years ago and can't directly compare the two. I have no idea why the notes are coming together like this on me--as far as I know, they only have one note in common, the vanilla--but I'll take it. Definitely will be a bottle purchase. If you think in colors, this one's a bright sunny yellow.

This smells like iced lemon cake floating over a fairly mild patchouli. It's kind of an odd combo on paper, but it's working on me, and I like it. There's more icing in the early stages and more patch later on.

I love Lilith. She ages well too! My bottle is probably 10 years old and totally lovely. Cairo has red wine, and does not officially have rose, but a lot of us thought we smelled rose in it.

Swans on the River is definitely worth a try too. I'm still not sure I've accurately teased out which note is tuberose, but it's such a pretty blend.

Mmmm, I love this. It starts out creamy floral (much heavier on what I think is the vanilla flower, than on rose) with a little mandarin, and I'm beginning to think I LURVE mandarin with florals, because OMG. It's the kind of scent that's a floral, not a gourmand, but you still kind of want to eat it anyway. Later the red musk comes out. So far, red musk is behaving on me, adding sex appeal to the blend without amping up too much. This feels similar to Hell's Belle, and I suppose Lilith was the very first belle of Hell! I love this; it's just my kind of lush decadence.

Hell's Belle, Les Bijoux, and in the currently available LEs, Fortuna Balnearis, Who Would Not Tremble Too, and Courtesan with a Secret Lover

Sometimes tobacco can take over a blend on me, but in this one, it plays nicely with all the other incense notes to make the most dead-on impression of a particular head shop that I've smelled yet. And I do have kind of a personal-empowerment association with that place, so it works! I was worried about this one, but it's a keeper.

Like others, I get the BIG SMOKE BLAST early on--this is vetiver in its most charred, woodsmoky incarnation, and lots of it. I began to worry I'd arrived late to the Sabbat and found only the smoldering remains of the bonfire! And it does this for like an hour and a half, which is a little longer than the "early stage" of perfumes usually lasts on me. But when it turns, it turns good. I start getting incense smoke and intact wood and a sweet beeswaxy vanilla to round it out, almost like a corrupted Midnight Mass out in the forest, and I freaking love it. It's a longish wait for this stage, and I'll probably have to apply sparingly, but wow. Verdict: Hanging on to it until fall to see how often I reach for it then.

Well, there's no apple blossom in it, but try the current Luper, One Perfect Day--it's a really pretty rose with honey and some other stuff.

This is mostly an ethereal, white, slightly waxy floral with some unidentifiable greenery in the background. The floral sometimes smells more waxy gardenia, sometimes more misty tuberose (at least I think this is the tuberose--it's in Lullaby and Fairy Thorn). Beautiful, and evokes water without actually being an aquatic. Rainy days and teal clothing make me want to wear this. It's kind of faint on me, and that's my one possible hesitation about a bottle--will the faintness keep it from becoming a great love, or will it just mean I have to slather, thus using more oil? Maybe I need a bottle after all!

I bought this for the ACLU and didn't even expect it to work on my skin, but this is fantastic! The thought I keep coming back to is "This is what Aureus should have been." I tried Aureus a while back and my skin just sort of evolved it wrong--first I got ALL THE WOOD and then ALL THE PATCHOULI instead of the different notes hanging together harmoniously. Fortuna Populi Romani, on the other hand, all works together on me in a harmonious way. I get golden wood, a quiet patchouli, and an impression of something citrusy at first, and then the citrusy note goes away and vanilla starts to come in and sweeten it up. This isn't foody at all, though; this isn't Monster Bait: Underpants on me. It's maybe a little like Palmyra, but with the balance tilted more toward the wood and less toward the leather. Mostly it's the impression of the sun on clean blonde wood. Beautiful and gender-neutral. A great scent for lazing about in the sun with a book and a coffee or beer. So glad I blind bottled this. ETA: I re-listened to the Hamilton cast album the other night and I've decided this is the scent of the "My Shot" scene where they drink and solve the world's problems. I think I'll wear this when I finally see the show in a few weeks.

I keep moving Briar Rose in and out of the swaps box. I can't make up my mind what I think of it! It's definitely a challenging blend. You do kind of have to get through the briar-hedge to get to know this one. It starts out bitter, dusty, kind of dank. Khus is vetiver, and it's strong in the opening. This is a rose locked up in the tower, or buried in the root cellar with the witch's herbs. At this stage I'm really appreciating the craft of it, liking it conceptually, but not necessarily wanting to smell like it myself. And then it blooms. It turns into a lovely soft rose with just a hint of the dusty/basement thing, and the whole thing goes faint for a while, and as time goes on, it gathers strength again and I would even say it becomes a sweetened rose, reminding me, of all things, of Pink Fuzzy Handcuffs, which I've been wearing a fair amount lately. Is this the ambrette? The mandrake? I'm not sure I know what either of those really smells like. Where do I wear this? On what occasion shall I smell like a basement for an hour and then sweet rosy heaven for the rest of the evening? Briar Rose confuses me, but I think I'd regret parting with her!

RED MUSK RED MUSK RED MUSK and maybe a little bit of spice and also some RED MUSK RED MUSK RED MUSK for good measure. Drat you, skin!

Elf starts out with a blast of moss, then I get evergreen with a hint of roundness or sweetness to it. Pine and its friends can sometimes be harsh, but here it's smoothed out, and I think that must be the beeswax and amber working their magic but without really standing out on their own. There's a hint of berry, and maybe a little mint; it's the cooling sensation like in Wolf Moon 2016. This is a Yule-ish scent to me. I like it and will be keeping the imp.

This is STRONG oakmoss from the get-go, with violet underneath and patchouli in the background. It's weird enough that it took me a few hours to realize I liked it, but I find it oddly soothing. It is kind of medicinal. But I feel mysterious and witchy in it. I'm not quite sure what kind of occasion or mood to wear it for, but for now, I'm keeping this imp. LOADS of staying power, sweeter in the late late drydown.

Gooey, spicy, syrupy peach pie filling! Not the whole pie, just the filling, and no discernible pumpkin. I like peach, and I quite like this! Autumnal vibe. I'm tempted to layer it with Samhain; it kind of reminds me of the way Samhain's apple note works on me, and I think it would play well with the earthier notes there.

My jasmine-amping skin strikes again. This is basically Jasmine SN on me, with maybe the tiniest hint of lemon, and fades quickly. Hearts for Ghost Friends and Hell's Belle evoke NOLA more for me.

I got a little purple baby! The scent of actual king cake is really fresh in my mind, since I had it pretty recently, including a half-hour stint in a warm car where the heat just kept amplifying the AMAZING scent until it took all my self-control not to grab it from the back seat and OM NOM NOM the whole thing right on the spot. King Cake, the perfume, starts out butterscotchy on me, then turns to a buttery, almondy, maybe a little syrupy scent. It reminds me a lot of Hot Buttered Rum. I don't get the impression of a baked cake at this point--it's definitely making me think "liquid"--and my skin is not cooperating very well, because I don't get any of the icing or any cinnamon or filling that the cake might have. It's just super super sweet, liquid, and a little bland. It's actually cooperating better than cake scents usually do on me, but I think I'm still just not cut out to be a cake-scent wearer. Womp womp. After sleeping on it overnight, I do get more of a bready note in the morning. I wonder how this would do as a room scent, since I think the problem is my skin more than anything else.

This starts out with a medicinal lavender, and then turns into the pine solo act. And this pine is a very strong, harsh one on me. It sort of drifts back and forth between "floor cleaner" and "men's aftershave," and just isn't really my thing. Love Silence, though!

I never tried the body butter, but maybe Tamora?

I didn't even order this, but I love it! Thanks to Mystery213 for including a tester of it in my decant order. I would never have picked it out for myself; I'm meh on tea and white musk, and jasmine is usually amped to annoying levels. But this doesn't even really smell like those things, on me! I popped open the imp and instantly made the "unf" sound, which is always a good sign. In the vial and when it's first on my skin, I get a lovely blend of sweetness, floral, and citrus--if I hadn't been looking at the notes, I'd have said honey/orange/lily instead of what's actually here. It's delicate and just sooo pretty. I find myself sniffing my arm constantly just for the pleasure of it. It dries down to a combo of the sweet honey and the bitter lemon peel. I can distinctly make out both the sweetness and the bitterness; they don't cancel each other out, it's more like a bitter candy with a dusting of sweet on the outside, if that makes sense. They enhance each other. The early stages are absolutely divine, and the drydown is also quite nice, and I've been looking for a new lemon scent since exhausting my Seven Herbs Charm. Big bottle imminent! ETA: I think it might be a little like Iulia.

Emphasis on the "ancient" rather than on the spices--Deux gives me a definite "Egyptian sacred funereal oils" vibe. I'm pretty sure there's myrrh in this, which comes out really strongly on me, and rose obviously, as well as whatever incense note always smells a little soapy to me (it's also in Thanatos and in 7 Word Story: Lust). There's enough myrrh that it feels mournful; the most similar oil I can think of is This World, Where Death Reigns. It's not quite what I was looking for in a Luper, but it really is quite beautiful and might find its true calling during the fall or winter. Probably a decant keeper, but I don't need a big bottle.