zenvodunista

Wine grapes, myrrh, frankincense and olive leaf, and the warm scent of offertory cakes. In the bottle: MMM! Cake! Creamcheese! OH! It's reminiscent of the elusive Beaver Moon! That's cheesecake I'm smelling....It's sitting on my laptop a couple of feet away from my nose and that tang is floating towards me. On: Whoa! Here comes the table. That Cake and Creamcheese gets dried out (in a good way) by the herbaciousness of the olive leaf - the olive leaf is reminding me of thyme somehow. Dustier and woodier though. *sniffs again* Frankinsese. Yep, hot and spicy, also dry, and whiffs of red wine. The cakes have been eaten and my table is graced by olive branches and rich red wine. Lingering remnants of the frankinsense burnt earlier hang in the air. That is all against my skin directly. The sillage of the scent is sweeter - some of the cake remains and the wine is richer, but it is no longer foody at all. This is complex. I think it would do well on a man or a woman. Very androgenous. Well done! N.

The velvet flower. A lush, thick, luxuriant bloom, bold and red. Almost like neroli or mock orange - but not quite. Darkened with something else - the tiniest dash of dragons blood? Something almost spicy, almost like cinnamon but utterly different lies at the base of this oil. It flickers between sweetly innocent (Lolita and Alice come to mind) and something darker. A hint of bright spring green. The sap of the freshly cut flower. Strange, utterly indescribable. Floral lovers, take note. n.

YULE The Holly King and Oak King each hold sway for half of the year, and engage in an epic, eternal battle at Litha and Yule. In truth, they are each a half of the whole -- known by many names: Pashupati, Caerwiden, Herne, Pan, Puck, Cernunnos, the Green Man, the Horned God -- and as the Holly and Oak Kings represent the light and dark halves of the year, thus do they also represent the light and dark halves of the deity, and thereby, of ourselves. During the darkness of the year, though it seems cold, barren, and bleak, the earth holds the warmth of life deep within itself, and in the depth of its shadows is the eternal promise of renewal and rebirth. It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh. In the bottle: sweet pine resin. Like when you go out into the woods and pick a bit of newgrowth of spruce off the tree and press it between your fingers? Your fingers get all sticky and for hours after you can smell that evergreen scent? Like that. On: Brighter and brighter, the scent grows. I don't know how to describe it. It's just *brighter* and more intense, and transforming from a simple evergreen resin to something else but I can't somehow say what. It's so... GREEN. Not the green of the swamp, or green grass, or green tea... It's the heart of the yule log. Sticky. Living. Green even in the darkest part of the year, on the longest night, that strong heart of living energy reaching upwards through the cold to dance in starlight. "EVER GREEN", Yule says, and I respond, "YES" because there is no other answer to that. Spot on. Yule, the ancient pagan holiday, in a bottle. Wow. I am blown away by the craftmanship of this scent. I'll be using it in the oil burner this Yule and I hope it comes back every year to keep me and mine company through the dark of the year. N.

I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. The land's sharp features seemed to be The Century's corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fevourless as I. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware. The hope of springtime penetrating winter darkness. Snow, darkness, and icy air illuminated by the thrush's song: warm amber, soft orris, and melancholy violet. In the bottle, at first sniff, all those "slush/snow" notes that BPAL does. That almost-aquatic note that says "Yule at the Lab". On: Vibrating just below this the orris, it *thrums* like the wings of a small bird. The amber is a faint bit of warmth behind the rest. Cold pine, just a wisp of it, lingers in the background. This is a cold and dark forest. I barely can find the amber, though I can tell there is orris in it. Very melancholy. Perhaps as I wear it, that little thrush will burn through the winter's cold. n.

DCLV (655) : Snake Oil is VERY apparent in the bottle and on my skin. In fact, it feels like straight up Snake Oil without vanilla - but with a bit of cinnamon and some kind of wood. But it can't be cinnamon because that goes to plastic on me - but some kind of spice. I'm pleased because I'll definitely wear this one - but I'm not blown away. It's nice enough, but Snake Oil proper is really fantastic too, and it's very very close. But I'm pleased it works. The first CT I've *ever* gotten that worked on me (and two years ago I bought a total of 15 bottles none of which worked on me)! Towards some wearing, some berry comes out - which for me is nice as most berry scents I can't wear (too sweet). D(?)CCIV (704): The numbers are hard to read on this one. Bottle is EXTREMELY full. Frighteningly full. Like it probably overspilled when they capped it. Whoa. This one has some kind of fresh scent to it - and a weird slightly vomity thing going on... It reminds me of the back end of Prunus. On, the Prunus whiff disappears completely (its really only a tiny hint) but this has a bubblegum feel to it that really doesn't work with either my personality or my skin chemistry. It doesn't smell bad - but it doesn't smell like me either. It's nice because there's a mellow spicy undertone which is the SO holding the ground - but the top is more bubblegum and woods. I bet someone out there will really like this. I have no idea who though. It's not even bubble gum... I can't quite put my finger on it.... I want to almost say whifs of marshamllow or spun sugar.... It's sweet but the SO makes it not over sweet. It's growing on me.... but I don't ever think it will be a favorite. It has, as it ages, almost a nice linen quality that is a bit reminiscent of Dirty, or White Rabbit. Neither scent I wear, but I think are nice on other people. This is a SO for people who don't like SO DLV (555): That feels like a special number, doesn't it?! The bottle is again filled to brimming! In the bottle it smells like fresh cream accord. It reminds me of Glowing Vulva. On, there's definitely some kind of crazy wood vibe coming out - teak? It's a dusty spice now and the cream is totally gone. .... As I wear it though, it starts evening out and the cream comes back. My arm is a little hot where I applied it which has never happened to me before. I really like this a lot. I don't know what wood this is - I don't think it's teak, but a relative of teak... It's dustier than teak, and then this hot spice making my arm tingle, the cream, and the SO. I think this needs a bit of age on it for the components to even out a bit, but I'll be holding onto this one, no question. This is definitely one of those: OMG MADE FOR ME CT's. So it was worth the wait. I think this run, this idea of using bases, is a great one. I hope they do it again next year.

In the bottle: Like cherry cough syrup. WTF? On: Cherry cough syrup that slowly morphs into Sassafrass one note, and later one, sassafrass with a giant Oak Tree growing up behind it. I don't know if this is ever going to work on me. I'll keep it for a bit and try it again. I'm pretty sad though. I'd love to smell like an oak.

IF you love Black Lace (or missed it), and Glowing Vulva at Ryogoku Bridge (or missed it) get this. OH! I am so glad this is general catalog! Fantastic! N.

Embrace the power of "and" and look into layering! Maybe layer something like Dorian and Carnival Diabolique? Look for some baked-goods type perfume, and add yer citrus on top. N.

Snake Oil isn't sweet - but you might amp sweet (I do that sometimes) - try it. FWIW - sometimes people's noses register things like "vanilla" as "sweet". Same thing with "spices" especially if you associate spices with cooking. For now, you might want to avoid spiced scents at first and try some other things that REALLY aren't sweet and see if they do it for you. A lot of the "spiced" scents go to plastic on me (I think it's secret cardomom doing it), but I find that some resinous scents have a spice-like scent when I wear them. I can't wear a number of the following scents due to skin chemistry - but I know these aren't sweet! ANd a number have a big following As for definitely NOT sweet try things like Djinn which which smoky and dark and doesn't have a bit of sweet in it anywhere: The scent of black smoke, of crackling flames, and smoldering ashes. Really. NOT SWEET! Black Annis: mixture of damp cave lichen and oak leaf with a hint of vetiver, civet and anise. Fenris Wolf: Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood. - You might turn red musk to sweet, but give it a try - it's woody and resinous. Troll: vetiver, pine pitch, troll musk, black basil, clove smoke, and scorched cumin. There are spices in there, but not sweet ones. Envy: Green herbs slithering through mint, lime and lavender. Nothing particularly sweet here either. De Sade: LEATHER. Oblivion: I cant' wear a lot of woody things, but : Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron. Woody and spicy. NO SWEETS. Unless your skin chemistry does somethign sweet to dark musk. Mad Sweeney: Barrel-aged whiskey and oak. YUM. Coyote: The warmth of doeskin, dry plains grasses and soft, dusty woods warmed by amber and a downy, gentle coat of deep musk. Smells like hay to me. Not sweet. Odin: His scent is dry elm bark, amaranth, warrior’s musk, and Odin’s Nine Herbs of Power. Herbaceous, woody and musky. The Apothecary is one of my favorites, of all time. Not sweet- herbaceous and refreshing though! I have tried to avoid anything with a hint of flowers or even sweet leaning resins (like myrrh). Really, anything that might amp to sweetness. You'll have to experiment with the musks. Good luck! N.

I just *knew* I would love this blend - and I do. I adore pretty much all these notes, and the only one I had worries about was my tendency to amp myrrh, but it seems to be behaving pretty well. This is a hard to describe scent - certainly it is resiny but it doesn't scream reisin. It's not churchy in the slightest. It's feminine, but it's not "girly" in the slightest. It's womanly, but just a bit butch too. Good stuff! Lupercalia rules

WHOA - BUTTERCREAM ICING! Now that time has passed, it's still pretty buttercreamy but with a hint of something smoky and spicy in the background. I'm going to let this age a bit before I pass judgement. N.

This started off VERY aquatic - which I honestly dislike. I don't like aquatics - I was hoping for that salty sea note. Remember City in the Sea? That was the only aquatic I've really liked and it was for that salt note that was so gorgeous. Well, I put this on and it was all water baby, and that bummed me out. As time has passed though, the aquatic has died back pretty significantly and now it's a soft honey with ambergris. I love both honey (in moderate doses) and I ADORE ambergris, and the two together are definite sealove. And I mean that in the carnal sense That's a seriously hot dream the fisherman's wife is having. N.

This is elegant, sophisticated, delicate, sexy, and warm. It feels very yonic and very glowing, and so is perfect for the image. I am wearing about four scents right now, but I look forward to wearing this on it's own, and seeing how strong it is. I was worried about the lotus blossom. I needn't have worried. It's much creamier in the bottle than it is on skin. This is gorgeous. N.

I tend to amp caramel, so I can't wear Red Lantern which is ALL CARAMEL ALL THE TIME on me. I looooove Tireseas though, because it's caramel + tobacco and other lovely dark notes, and not CARAMEL. I also like Bad Luck Woman Blues which is an earthy, mossy, caramel. It sounds bad, but smells *fantastic*. Kill Devil was all brown sugar on me, which is a bit different than caramel. The Arrival at the Sabbath was CARAMEL on me, too much so. I need some mix in my caramel to be able to love it. Bien d'Loici was all honey honey honey on me. Too too sweet. Sugar Skull is carmelized sugar. Um. Others as I think of them. In conclusion: try Tireseas because it's very different than Red Lantern. N.

I can't wear Antique Lace as it turns to powder on me, but my BF wears it and it's a lovely soft musky vanilla on him. I got two bottles of Black Lace - one for me and one for him. On him it's reminiscent of Antique Lace with a hit of floral and I can smell the cotton as well. It's musky but refreshing if that makes sense. On me, Black Lace is a combination of Sed Non Satiata, Perversion, and Lyonesse. Musky, warm, incense & smoke filled, honeyvanillasex. This stuff is *fantastic*. I only wish I'd bought FOUR bottles! Three for me, and one for him N.

I bought this polish on the basis of the reviews. I usually don't like brown, I don't wear it, or anything. This polish? I love it. I adore it. Seriously. I think it looks like chocolate in the bottle - but at 2-3 layers, that eggplant note comes out and then it's Another Color for which there really isn't a name. This is deep, dark, intense, and decadent. Of the three polishes I bought (Mme.Moriarty, Blood Countess, and this) this one has the most staying power of them all. I am not a girly girl and am quite hard on my hands and nails, and I wore this for about 5 days with only minimal wear at the very tips of my nails - and that was without a base or topcoat. Even my "Everyone should only wear black" BF liked this polish better than straight black polish. It's darker, and deeper - warmer, too. HIGHLY recommended. I'm really glad I bought this one. N.

When I made my order of polishes, I bought Mme.Moriarty, Destroying Angel and Blood Countess. Blood Countess lies between the two - and I was really impressed with the fantastic color of it. It is almost like a black-red if that makes sense. It's very much red, but has the same "falling into darkness" quality that Destroying Angel has. I'm quite smitten by it. I thought I might be when I read about testers trying it - but I'm really blown away by it. It's very sexy, and very dark. In some ways I love it more than Mme.Moriarty because it is an unusual red - it's not the red you think of when you think of red nailpolish. I'm intrigued and I love it. Of the polishes I got, Blood Countess chips a middleing amount. But it's sturdy enough for wear during the week. I love this stuff! N.

This is a perfect red. I have a yellowish undertone to my skin, and most "red" nailpolishes and lipsticks look orange on me. Mme Moriarty is a perfect RED. Colorwise, it is FANTASTIC! I have had some trouble with it chipping in the first 24 hours of wear, despite the use of base and topcoat. I even switched to a highly recommended base and topcoat and it still chipped. Oddly enough, the darker the nailpolish in regards to the BPAL plolishes, the less chipping on me. So, this was chippy. But honestly, it's such a fantastic color that I will just make a note to be sure to put it on about an hour before an "event" and just not worry about it! I just know I can't use it for daily wear. N.

Croquet!!! Seriously! Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk. This is such a sweetly cheerful scent, but it never gets sickly sweet. It's interesting to note that it has a number of scents recommended by Beth to help manage SAD. I think the patchouli and sage ground it, and the rose and musk smooth it all out. I'm constantly surprised by how much I love this blend. Great stuff! N.

Also, get rid of the sweets in your house!!! Seriously, it's just making the temptations worse. Give them to your coworkers. Clarity (TAL) might help - lots of spearmint. For grapefruit, I rather like Croquet. I have Manhattan and can't really smell the grapefruit in there. N..

Honestly, I'd say just don't wear your new dress - wear something that it is OK if it gets mauled. And if your Aunt complains that you aren't dressed for the occasion explain to her that you didn't want your nice clothes being ruined by her dog. IME, different animals - like people - respond to different smells. So, there's no way to predict which scent the dog will hate. Wear a pair of kakhis and a turtleneck. She'll get the picture. N.

I've been agitating for the scent, so it will surprise no one that I had high hopes for it. In the bottle this smells a lot like Bliss. Hmmm. I put some on and it is... Chocolate cake. Warm, fresh from the oven, chocolate cake. Devil's Food Cake, even. THe throw? Chocolate cake. My Mom's chocolate cake, the one she doesn't even put icing on - just a little powdered sugar? It's moist, and decadent, and delicous. But it's not Mexican Hot Chocolate. Am I an awful person to be sad about that, while simultaneously thinking this is a great scent? I won't lie - I'm hoping with a bit of aging the chocolate dies back a bit and I get some other notes out of this, I'd love the coffee to come forward! And others! But for now, this will go with my Beaver Moon. Something to wear as a serious indulgence. I think it will be great for parties. Oh, and it's got SERIOUS throw! I put a dab on from the "nipple" of the cap, and I can smell my hand when it's fully extended from me! Holy moly! N.

I don't know what's happening to me. I've suddenly turned somewhat foody. It's weird. But I had a feeling about EggNog and even though I was never interested before, I bought a bottle. Yep, it's EggNog in the bottle, and on my skin it's rum and cream and warmth. I really like it and it makes me want to cuddle. N.

Djinn. On me: Kathmandu. Anything with "scorched" sandalwood. N.

Yesterday I was a sexy serial killer leading about my gimp-boy. I wore Perversion & Smut layered together Today I am a boring old pirate, but I am wearing Pirate Moon, natch! N.