Little Bird

I don't have much else to add about Lolita v2. It goes on smelling just like sweet, pink bubblegum with that powdery sugar edge. The drydown brings up a hint of red hots candies cinnamon that slowly takes over, but it stays really light and subtle and clings close to my skin, which is unusual for cinnamon. After about ten minutes, it's all light cinnamon candy, and then after about a half hour, I can't smell the scent at all.

I thought that I would love this, but something here is going all wrong on me. I do smell a warm, pleasant, amber-y incense at first, but I also get a perfumey floral note and the drydown goes very dry, dusty, and slightly powdery. It also has little hints of what reminds me of dried herbs. I can see how this reminds people of Sunbird, but Sunbird is much better on me...

I'm crazy about leather scents, but I don't get any leather from this . This is pretty much all generic men's cologne on me... like cool metallic, slightly soapy ozone, and sweet, smooth citrus. The drydown is pretty soapy on my skin (though this doesn't go nearly as soapy on my husband). All in all, not enough leather for me, and not unique enough for me to want it for those days when I reach for a classic men's cologne smell.

Oddly, this smells a bit like bpal's snow note on me (though it's almost dryer-sheet-clean here), but it's very warm and slightly powdery with the white amber. White tea often smells very clean on me, so perhaps that's where I'm getting the snow note feel from. Yurei is super light on me, and smells both warm and clean, giving off an impression of powdery, soft white flowers. I don't smell any of the vetiver at all. This is mostly white amber, white flowers, and clean tea.

I forgot what was in this when I first sprayed it all over my house, and thought, "Yay! Limes!" It's such a zingy, energizing, happy citrus scent. It's sweet, but not candied smelling, and it's not too tart for me either... more of a juicy citrus to my nose. The husband is sometimes not too impressed with my room scents, but he said this one is "a favorite." As usual, the spray is really strong and a quick spritz scented our large livingroom area for about six hours. I might have to get a second bottle of this before it goes away...

In the bottle and on my skin at first, the berry smells like tart, fake-y cherry and I'm getting something like a hint of herbal mintiness. Smells like cough syrup :/. As it dries down, this goes sharp and musky/perfumey (though it loses its medicinal edge, thankfully). The fruitiness start to remind me of the sugar plum feel of Midwinter's Eve, but not as sweet. The mint is frosty/watery, sharp, and slightly soapy. So I'm left with a pale fruity note and soapy mint frost, all wrapped up in a perfumey, chemical-y something. I don't smell anything like pie crust or pastry at all. It's like I mixed cheap, musky drugstore perfume over some berries and then left the mixture to get freezerburn in the bottom of my fridge for a couple years. Doesn't work out for me...

When I opened the bottle on this, I immediately had one of those "I know you" moments. It took me a while to place it, but this smells almost exactly like R.M. Renfield on me. It's like a warmer version of R.M. Renfield, but I get the same dry, slightly sour moss that goes a bit salty in the drydown, with a hint of dry citrus. It smells like rocks baked in the summer heat, covered in silvery-green, flat, hard, dry moss. Hot, dry, and heavy on the moss. If you like Bayou, this is like a dry version of Bayou.

In the bottle, this smells like a mess of dark sweetness (like cinnamon brown sugar, maple syrup, sugared nuts, and chocolate). I figured that this would be way too sweet and/or way too heavy on the spices, so I'm surprised that I actually love this scent. I was also worried that "smashed gourds" would turn out to be bpal's buttery pumpkin note, but I don't get anything buttery like that here. I have trouble with cinnamon blends going too sharp on my skin, but this is a sugared, dark, soft cinnamon. I don't think that it smells like red hots candies at all (I hate red hots candies); this is smoother and softer, and doesn't have the sharpness of red hots. Something about this scent is like a background of dry, sugared wood notes as well (maybe the dark chocolate giving me that impression). It's not overly sweet or overly spicy. I find this very dark, smooth, and wearable. It screams fall to me, but I'll wear this all year 'round. This scent is so cozy and wonderful. I'm going to need at least one more bottle, though a little dab of the oil has tons of throw and staying power on me. Ghoul Hooligan is my favorite of the Underworld Cup scents. Love it.

I think that I expected this to be more fizzy and boozy than it actually is. I don't think that it's really boozy at all, though it might have a slightly fizzy quality to it in the drydown. Mostly, Mountain of Bone smells like the clear/yellow gummi bears candies on me. Slightly pineapple-y with a touch of citrus. It's a very dry, clean sort of scent, though. The drydown reminds me of soapy dryer sheets. Mountain of Bone = pineapple and citrus flavored gummi bears nestled in a bed of soapy dryer sheets. This scent is too dry and too sharply clean smelling for me.

Cheshire Cat is my favorite citrus-lavender blend. It has the cool, smooth lavender and a bright, sweet, cheery grapefruit note (and I can't smell the other notes much at all). You might want to pick up Schrodinger's Cat as well.

I adore patchouli. I find that, of bpal's patchouli notes, the black patchouli is darker and sort of like black soil or black leather, and the red patchouli smells more of dry woods and sour, body odor :/. A lot of the regular patchouli scents just smell like dry, earthy-brown, sweet patchouli. Some of my favorites with a very strong patchouli note: *Depraved (apricot and black patchouli) - sort of smells like leather and blueberries on me, oddly. *Goblin (coconut, patchouli, and benzoin) - strong, sweet, dry, brown sort of patchouli and a creamy, very sweet coconut. *Greed (patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss) - a very dry, mossy patchouli. *Rumpelstilzchen (patchouli, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, tonka, vetiver, and myrrh) - I find this to be very smoky, earthy, and lightly spicy... sort of like woodsmoke, wood roasting in a fireplace, and fireworks. *Sin (amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon) - I get equal parts sweet cinnamon and earthy patchouli from this. Anne Bonny is a very strong, dry woods and patchouli scent. I'd recommend trying that one to someone who loves patch, though it doesn't work on me personally. If you're interested in tracking down some LEs, she might enjoy something like Schwarzer Mond, Luperci, Raven Moon, Falling Leaf Moon, Enyalios, Mole, Samhain, and Samhainophobia...

I don't think that you could really go wrong with any of the fragrances. I think that they're all well put together and every oil has its fans. As has already been said, I'd just try to include some of the most popular scents and a good range of oils from different scent families. Whenever I'm trying to enable people, I usually go to Dorian, Eat Me, Alice, and The Antikythera Mechanism first <3. Dorian always seems to get the best response for me...

I don't find Anesthesia to be very similar to Baku (I mean, they both have chilly notes and lavender, but they don't seem like the same types of chilly notes and lavender to me). Baku was more black licorice and menthol-minty on me with a bit of herbal lavender, where Anesthesia is a cold, sweet peppermint and cool, smooth lavender to my nose. I find Anesthesia to have a sweeter mintiness, smoother lavender, and no black licorice...

I second the recs for Bow and Crown of Conquest and Black Rider (though the opoponax & tobacco combo in Black Rider went crazy-sweet on me, I know a lot of people get a strong leather from it). I also would suggest The Red Rider. It's the GC leather blend that reminds me most of Brom Bones. I'm crazy about leather scents and that one is a strong, sexy, dark, masculine leather with a woodsy touch <3.

I'm not sure how I feel about Mr. Qubit. I like it well enough for a men's cologne scent, but it also smells sort of common and forgettable to me. It's a scent that I would find pleasant on a man, but not particularly unique or interesting. Qubit doesn't go as sharp or as soapy as I was expecting, so that's a good thing. It's a clean, cool, crisp men's cologne with a little bit of sweetness that smells slightly citrussy on me. I smell it and think "clean men's cologne - nice," but there's nothing really outstanding about it for me... I can't imagine my husband wearing this, but I wouldn't find it off-putting on someone else.

In the bottle, this really does smell like dusty, cold stone and air thick with dark, sweet incense. It makes me think of an old, stone church with wooden rafters. On my skin, it's more incense and dry wood. After about fifteen minutes, the hint of dry wood suddenly morphs into woodsmoke and it's like someone set the old church on fire. The incense also goes verrry sweet and cloying on me. I usually like incense blends, but Midnight Bell is better & more interesting in the bottle than it is on my skin... I doubt that I'd reach for this over some of the similar blends that I own, like Cathedral.

If you love opium, then I'd definitely recommend this scent. The rose seems to be very soft and well behaved, and the opium stays strong and central. Rose notes usually amp up like crazy on me, and I can only detect a faint whisper of sweet, girly, pink smelling rose here. Unfortunately, I don't really like opium. The opium here isn't as sharp as usual, but there's this hint of cheap, chemical-y, 80s hairspray underneath the creamy, white smokiness that I can't stand. I could see this being really lovely on someone who can pull off opium notes, though.

This is my favorite of the Horrid Novels series. It smells very rich, dark, gothic, and sensuous - like velvets, incense, cold earth, and bitter wine. It reminds me of The Zadok Allen Vinyard (though this isn't as heavy on the booze or as sweet) and Romanti.Goth. Pomegranate is usually bitter and overpowering on me, but it just adds a tart, fruity hint to the wine here. And the scent has just enough sweetness to be wearable for me, but it's not a sweet fragrance. The "mossy earth" smells like cool, black dirt on me, but in a sexy, perfumey sort of way. And something here really smells like dark, sultry incense smoke on me (maybe the blackened woods?). All in all, this makes me smell dark, sensual, and mysterious, and I love it <3. ETA: I wound up selling my bottle of this recently, as it didn't age well for me. With age, Horrid Mysteries smells like sour, too warm wine and fades very quickly into a faint, dusty, sour fruitiness.

In the bottle, Mysterious Warning is a very sweet, cool, vanilla-y sort of lavender and a hint of dry, dark floral. On my skin, the floral aspects go slightly more perfumey, but this is a dark, poisonous sort of floral that doesn't strike me as being really girly or feminine. As it dries down, this reminds me of that slightly soapy, but still dark, dry, and gritty tobacco flower note in The Lady on the Grey. This is sort of like sweet, cool, vanilla-lavender scented dryer sheets + tobacco flower on my skin as it settles down. I wanted this blend mainly for the leather note, but I don't smell any leather here. There are lavender scents that I prefer over this one, so it's not a keeper for me...

I actually like Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener a lot more than Anti-Saloon League for a root beer float type of scent. This isn't nearly as creamy or sweet as SSS. I get a little bit of a root beer type of smell for the first five minutes or so on my skin, but not much after that. There's a sharp, perfumey, sour edge to this that goes to baby powder as it dries down (and it has a brief stage where it smells like dry wood chips). It's sort of like a heap of clean baby powder and a hint of something sour. It reminds me of Hellboy more than anything else. I'll stick with Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener for a root beer scent. I don't find Anti-Saloon League to be really sweet, foodie, or soda-like at all after a few minutes on my skin.

You might want to try Tzadikim Nistarim (notes of frankincense, olive, spikenard, hyssop and galangal) and No. 93 Engine (notes of Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage). I think that both of those have a feel that is similar to Templum Victoriae.

I was hoping that this would be a floral incense scent, but I don't get any of the incense. The amber & sandalwood go creamy and powdery on my skin, and the other notes blend together in a way that reminds me of fruity-floral, perfumey, department store fragrances. Kaidan is fruity-floral perfume, a bit sharp, and baby powdery... too floral, perfumey, and powdery for me.

First on, I get something like tart grapefruit and herbal lavender with a touch of sweet mint. It's very clean and spa-like. As it dries down, this starts to smell more green (the juniper?) and the cedar amps up. It's like dry wood and tart, perfumey citrus with a cool, green edge from the juniper and mint. I like it more initially; something about the drydown is a bit too tart and perfumey for me.

This smells like it might be good in the bottle, where it's smooth, cool, golden incense (reminds me of Midnight Mass) and a hint of girly, sweet rose. On my skin, however, this turns to powdery doom. I love amber from pretty much every company but bpal... bpal's amber turns to baby powder on me, and I get tons of baby powder from this, with a bit of cloying, perfumey floral behind it. Not good times.

Night's Bridge smells like a fresh, clean, zesty, ozone&citrus man's cologne on me. Like sweet lime zest and a tiny hint of mint, all wrapped up in a clean, cool aquatic/ozone scent. It reminds me of a lot of the men's colognes that are available in department stores right now, that are all clean and vaguely citrus-sweet. I like it, but it doesn't smell terribly exciting to me. I could see this being a good, safe gift for a lot of the men in my life, though.