nineveh

The Caterpillar has jasmine and patchouli. Greed might be a good choice. It's not girly at all, but rather a dark, earthy scent. I didn't get any floral out of it. edited because I thought The Caterpillar had oakmoss, but it was actually vetiver.

#81/300 Sweet, dark, spicy incense! Oh I love this. I haven't really found a BPAL that smells like burning incense to me, but this is it. I don't find it that similar to Red Phoenix, except for the overall darkness and the plum. This is spicy on me, but it's more of a rich, smoky pepper smell than cinnamon like RP. Thankfully, the plum is subtle and I can't detect the narcissus at all. I'm so glad I caved and bought this.

Huh, I can barely tell that there are roses in here. I'm mostly getting a sharp, dry, somewhat salty wood note. It reminds me of a patchouliless Anne Bonny. That's probably not what it's supposed to smell like, but I like it. You probably shouldn't let my weird chemistry influence any last minute purchase decisions.

Luperci and Smut bottles! Someone posted yet another Smut picture on LJ too.

My bottle definitely has a different label. I'll take a picture once it's light out.

In the bottle, this smells almost exactly like Misk U to me, which turned into peanut butter on my skin. Uh oh. Wet on my skin, it's offensively sweet caramel with a sharp chemical note. It gets a lot better once it dries, thankfully. The caramel is still there, but it softens. A very nice smokiness comes out along with a bit of coconut. I can't smell what it is, but something is giving this a lot more depth on my skin than Misk U had. This is very heady, sweet, and darkly golden on me. I'm not utterly in love with this, but I'm not a foody scent person either. Sniffing it makes me want to wear it during rainy weather, so it's a keeper.

I'm one of the people who can't do honey. I gambled on this in the hopes that the honey would be drowned out by everything else, and it is. This blend is just wonderful. I'm getting the oakmoss of Greed and the juniper of Golden Priapus mixed with a warm, sweet musk and beeswax. There's also a hint of spice. The patchouli is rather subtle on me. Blended all together, this has an earthy incense quality that I adore. It dries down into a skin scent that reminds me slightly of DSH's Hippie Chic, minus the coconut. This is so good. I am considering multiple bottles. Edit: Yep. I have three more on the way.

When I tried Spirits of the Dead (which was a creamy, lightly lemon tea on me), I thought, "This is my favorite tea scent." But Holiday Moon beats it. This is fresh green tea without anything lemony. I don't know what bamboo smells like, but there's a cool, mild, plant-like note in here which may be it. There's also an extremely subtle darker, softly spicy note, which I assume is the oude. This is just what I had hoped it would be. I'll save it for warmer weather.

I hope that someone posts pictures of the Come and See bottles. I ordered The Bow & Crown of Conquest last night, but of course that'll take a while. I love that the new blends are getting special labels! It makes collecting bottles that much more fun for me. I hope that eventually there'll be a label design for each category, like the ones for the Rappaccini's Garden blends.

I didn't think this would be so spicy. The cassia in Morocco and Kali didn't go nuts on me like this. It's not as bad on me as cinnamon, but I can still barely smell anything else. If I seriously huff on it, I can pick out the tonka. This smells a lot more mellow in the bottle, so I know it's my skin throwing things off balance. Oh wait, now more notes are emerging. It's getting sweeter and smokier with a touch of juiciness from the plum. It's still very spicy, but it's not completely cassia now. Although it shares several notes with The Great Sword of War, they don't smell that similar beyond a general spiciness. I'm not getting any mandarin here, and GSoW has a prominent saffron note that makes it smell more golden than red. I don't know where the patchouli is. Hopefully with some aging, this will become more balanced on my skin. I shall keep it for now, because I know it smells great under all that cassia. Edit: Apparently letting it sit for almost a month was enough. Now the cassia has toned itself down, and I can smell the patchouli. I really like it now.

Dark, spicy, orange chocolate. I think fans of red musk and spicy/foody scents will love this one. This is definitely a fiery scent, but not in a cinnamon way (for which I am thankful, because cinnamon turns to redhots on me). It's actually heating up my skin where I've applied it. Once it's been dry for a while, the spiciness calms down somewhat, and then the blend becomes sweeter and smokier. Luckily, the mandarin is behaving on me. This strikes me as a very confident blend that would work equally well on men or women.

Yeah, this is very difficult to review. I can't really pick out any notes for certain, so I'll have to do this by comparison. This starts off with what seems like a bitter clove note; it's similar to Madrid or Sybaris, and it's going kind of wet-dog on me, as clove loves to do. When it dries, it smells a lot better. It shifts to more of a Gypsy Queen kind of incense, but with more spice to it. It's dark and not sweet. There's a little bit of metallic sharpness if I look for it, but it's mainly just spicy Gypsy Queen incense. I think this is a lot creepier-smelling than Midnight Mass.

This starts out as being offensively sharp to my nose, like walking past a hair or nail salon at the mall. The more it dries, however, the better it gets. The sharpness starts to lift away to reveal a layer of light dustiness. I'm one of those people who is fascinated by dirt/dust/mold notes, so this is a good thing. It's kind of a clean, soapy dust with a slight sweetness. Sometimes I can detect faint, light woods behind the dust. The musks, while there, have a Buck Moon feel. They don't seem heavy or dark to me. In fact, this blend is not at all dark like I thought it would be. Instead, it feels pale and ghostly, and very atmospheric. It's making me picture a dusty room in an old abandoned house. All the furniture is covered in white sheets and everything is glowing from the moonlight coming in through the window.

Here are my bottles of The Cracked Bell and The Rat King, fresh out of the box.

Ooh, Dracul is wonderful. One of my favorites. I doubt that anyone here would think you're weird for liking them. It seems that the traditionally masculine/feminine labeling has gone by the wayside now anyway; none of the new blends have been anything but gender neutral, at least. I agree with what the FAQ says, that it's just a matter of taste and preference.

I'm another girl who unabashedly wears the traditionally masculine blends. I'm just not very interested in light, cheerful, or floral scents. If it works with your skin and you like it, then wear it! It would be a shame not to just because it's suggested for men. Which one do you adore, by the way?

I'm still very unfamiliar with the majority of the notes in this. Everything besides the amber and tonka is apparently some kind of herb/flower. And yes, this blend does smell slightly plantlike to me. Mostly, though, it's glowing amber with a touch of sparkling freshness. The amber feels light, but it's not faint. It's definitely rich, but soft. There is a little bit of a "perfumy" aspect to this, but I think that that edge actually adds more dimension. It's moderately sweet on me, and feels very uplifting. What a lovely blend.

I thought that this would be my favorite of the three Yule blends I ordered. It turns out to be my least favorite, but it's still definitely a keeper (I ordered well, it seems). On me, there is very little sweetness here. I know the description says sweet leather, but when I breathe deeply, I can detect the hot, somewhat intimidating leather from Geek. The tobacco has a thick, pungent quality in the same way that the incense/vetiver has in the Caterpillar (I don't think they smell similar, but rather have a similar feel). There's also an overall smoky nutty thing going on. I'm not sure where that's coming from. I can't pick out the linen or woods individually, but I can tell that there's more here than just leather and tobacco, so I guess they're just adding to the experience. Overall, this is deep, thick, complex, and masculine. To me, it's not comforting like Dee or sexy like Geek. I do find it compelling, however, and, as the description states, refined and mysterious. edit: Upon subsequent tryings, this smells sweeter and more comforting. I like it even better now.

Here's a group shot of the three Yule blends that came today: Midnight Mass, Jacob's Ladder, and Herr Drosselmeyer.

This is so good. I've never been in a Catholic church, so I can't comment on that aspect. But I love incense perfumes. This is similar to Cathedral, somewhat, but sweeter and with less of the polished wood scent. I can also pick out a faint bit of burning candle, like in Gypsy Queen. There's also some spicy frankincense. I can't pick out anything beyond that, but this is smoky without being overwhelming, and absolutely wonderful. If you love incense/resins, you've probably ordered this already. If you haven't, what are you waiting for?

I'm not doing anything for Halloween other than going to class, so I don't have a costume. I do plan, however, to wear my ouija board t-shirt and hoodie with a skeletal torso on back. I'm not sure what perfume to wear though. It's supposed to be 82 degrees tomorrow, so I don't want to have something too heavy. I'm thinking of going with Penny Dreadful. That seems appropriate.

Some impressions of Lenore: - So dark! Earthy, but in a disquieting, hot way, like you're digging a hole and getting close to an underground passageway filled with lava (possibly cursed lava). This isn't spicy, but it smells warm to me. I guess that's the saffron. - Surprisingly, the white musk doesn't get covered up by all that darkness. It smells like the musk in Dorian to me. If the perfume Dorian is Dorian Gray's facade, then this is his true nature. - The child of Snake Charmer and King of Clubs? I'm picking up similarities to both (guessing the plum and vetiver) on the drydrown. - Sometimes vetiver smells like a campfire on me. This time it's more subtle; it's not outright burning, but buried and smoldering. - If this were a song, it would be by Lycia.

The leather in Dee was pretty sharp when wet, but it dries down very nicely. This is warm, woody (like furniture), deep, and slightly smoky. The tonka comes out as the oil dries and gives an unexpected sweetness. Dee actually reminds me a lot of Geek, but lighter and having more of an old study/library feel. I love the parchment note. In fact, I love all the notes, and I love how they've been combined into a comforting and atmospheric scent. The only problem is that I ordered just an imp and not a bottle. I shall correct that immediately.

my favorite amber-prominent blends: Baghdad - rosy, spicy, exotic amber Verdandi - apples and amber Golden Priapus - if you like vanilla, pine, and more masculine scents Haunted - thick, spooky amber Black Forest - like Haunted, but with foresty notes Titus Andronicus - also like Haunted, but with orange notes Old Scratch - lavender, vanilla, and amber If you can wear dragon's blood or honey, most people seem to like Blood Amber and O.

I love Sri Lanka so much. It is similar to Silk Road, but without the floral/cinnamon notes that kept me from getting a bottle. Sri Lanka is cooler and greener than Silk Road, but still spicy. From the notes, I expected something very dark and heavy, but instead this is quite light and refreshing. The woods are soft, sweet, and a bit powdery, but they're mixed in with a green, sappy note. I've already ordered a 5mL of this.