Little Bird

In the bottle, this smells dark, foresty and awesome. Bpal's pine notes can often be too sharp/sour and overpowering for me, but the pine here is sweet and resinous, almost like needles caught in sweet pine sap. I get lots of pine at first, but it quickly dries down to a point where the pine moves far into the background & just adds a hint of dark forest to the whole blend. I'm getting lots of sweet, resinous myrrh. I usually hate black musk, because my skin chemistry amps it up and makes me smell like cheap cologne, but there's just a sexy hint of it here. Lots of resinous, smooth, sweet myrrh with hints of sexy black musk, pine needles trapped in sap, and just a little earthiness from the patchouli. I'd wear this and love it, but it's even better on my hubby. ETA: This is another one that hasn't aged well. The pine has gotten overwhelming while the other notes seem to have disappeared. It reminds me of PineSol with a hint of woodsmoke

In the bottle, this smells very red and spicy. I can smell spicy carnation, dry, spicy cedar, sweet clove, and a RED rose. It reminds me very much of Red Rose. On my skin, the dry, spicy cedar, rose, and sour edge also reminds me of Pulcinella & Teresina. My skin usually amps up spice notes and rose, but I only get a tiny hint of red rose for the first ten minutes or so after I apply this oil. Mostly this is dry cedar, clove, and a bit of carnation spice on me. It's a little too much dry wood for my tastes. There's a lot of cedar going on here, especially in the drydown. After a half hour, all I can smell is tons of dry cedar and a tiny whiff of spicy carnation. I don't know if Ysabel is a keeper for me. I have blends that are similar to this, but a lot better, so I'm not sure I'd ever wear this one...

In the bottle, this smells very soft, breezy, sweet, and fresh. It definitely has that asian floral feel of blossoms waving in a cool breeze. Intensely pretty. Asian-inspired/themed blends rarely work on me. Bamboo tends to be too fresh and clean smelling, so I usually wind up smelling like dryer sheets when I wear bamboo blends. But Jingu is gorgeous. On me, this reminds me of cherry blossom. I get an overall sweet, clean, delicate flower smell. The mandarin is sweet & not at all sharp, adding a bit of juicy freshness underneath the floral. And all of the notes just meld together on me to make a charming, sweet floral with a refreshing, breezy twist. After about a half hour, Jingu is a little more artificially perfumey than I would have loved, but it's still very nice. It smells a little bit like powdery sweet tarts underneath the clean floral. I'm very glad that this isn't soapy, sharp, or overwhelmingly floral. It's pretty, delicate, charming, and sweet. I don't normally go for floral & bamboo blends, but I can see myself wearing Jingu .

This smells like slightly damp soil on me (I don't think it smells exactly like damp, black potting soil, though). As it dries down, it starts to smell slightly green and a bit off. I agree with sunshinedaisybliss's review in that the green parts of this make me think of lawn clippings that are wilting and rotting in the sun. It smells musty on me. Damp soil with wilting, sad, rotting greenery and an overall musty feel. I do like some dirt fragrances (The Potter's Field is *love* for me, and I like Death Cap, Destroying Angel, and a few others), but this one isn't going to be a keeper for me...

Guy Fawkes, Guy; Stick him up on high! Hang him on a lamp post And there let him die! Guy, Guy, Guy! Poke Him in the eye! Put him on the fire, And there let him die! Burn his body from his head: Then you'll say Guy Fawkes is dead! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Beer, woodsmoke, tar, and treacle. I'm surprised at how much I love this as a room scent. The perfume is awful on me (gritty, overpowering woodsmoke, stale beer, and burnt sugar). I think that I like the Bonfire Night room spray even more than I like Gooey Pillowcase, though. This strikes me as being slightly foodie, but not overwhelming. The staying power is just as wonderful as the other room sprays that I've tried. It lasts for about six hours if I spray it into the air, and lasts for days on linens or pillows. It smells like standing next to a campfire with damp wood, but none of the suffocating smokiness. It has a sweet, incensey sort of smokiness. It keeps making me think of a sweet sandalwood incense. The sugary aspect smells of toasted marshmallows drizzled with a hazelnut syrup. My boy loves smoky scents, but I usually can't stand them, and we both love this spray . I'm glad to have a large decant of this, and wish I'd purchased a full bottle when I had the chance.

I only had a small bit of this to test. My overall impression is that it's sharp and light on my skin. I get something like sharp, cool pine here at first, with something that smells soapy. As it dries down, I get less pine and more of a perfumey floral feel, and perhaps a hint of sharp citrus. Perfumey, musky floral and a touch of sharp citrus & smoke... still a bit soapy on my skin. I don't really smell the leather that other reviewers have mentioned, but leather sometimes smells smoky on me, and something about this does smell smoky. I don't care for this much. It's too sharp for me and the soapy edge doesn't work for me either.

In the bottle, this is all earthy vetiver and juicy orange. It smells very deep and rich. On my skin, this reminds me of Priala. It has the same warm spice & resinous qualities, but Tiger also has that juicy orange and dark, earthy vetiver. I adore Priala, and this smells like Priala with a twist on my skin. I usually amp up vetiver and figured that Velvet Tiger would be all vetiver all the time on me, but this is fantastic. The vetiver smells nice and earthy; it's not that smoky variety of vetiver that smells like mesquite bbq on me. This is like damp grass and earth with exotic, spicy resins and a squeeze of juicy orange. It makes me think of a tiger stalking through the jungle. I love this. It's such an exotic, awesome smell. I'm insanely glad that I picked up a full bottle of this, because I think that Velvet Tiger just beat out Velvet Unicorn for title of my favorite Velvet scent.

Wow, those are gorgeous <3. I really love the lawn ornaments and Season of the Inundation. I can't wait to get my bottles

I love frankincense, myrrh, white rose, and bay rum. Unfortunately, I can't really pick out any of those notes here. St. John's Eve mostly smells like that odd variety of vetiver on me, the one that smells like sweet mesquite bbq on my skin. Smoky, sweet, a little spicy, and makes me think of charred, BBQ meats. After about an hour, I might be able to pick out the bay rum and something incensey, but that might just be my imagination, lol. Mostly, this makes me smell like I was standing in the smoke from a BBQ grill for way too long.

Ides of March '09 starts off smelling like citrussy-clean men's cologne on me. It's a bit soapy. As it dries down, the iris comes screeching in and smells sharp and a bit like cheap hairspray on me. Sharp, perfumey floral, lemon, and soap... these are a few of my least favorite things. My skin amps lemon and iris, and I had to scrub this scent off as it started to give me a headache.

The original Litha was mostly sunny, sweet citrus with a hint of wildflowers & honey on me. This new version starts off very herbal on my skin and has a powdery drydown. First on, this smells herbal and soapy, and has a dry, green, herbal stage thanks to the parsley. As the soapiness calms down, a bit of sweet honey, perfumey floral, and something smoky creeps in. As it dries down, this starts to go powdery and smells like smoky floral incense and powder on my skin.

The label for this is just too cute <3 and the fragrance itself is beautiful & complex. I usually hate jasmine and have trouble wearing citrus scents, but Lilith & the Jarocho is surprisingly lovely on me. At first, this is mostly salty lime margaritas and candied orange, with little hints of what smells like a tropical floral and vanilla. I usually amp up jasmine & am not a fan of it, so I'm glad that I can't really pick out the jasmine here. It's like a clean, sweet citrus and vanilla with some extra exotic notes giving it a lot of oomph. As it dries down, I smell something like incense and dried flowers (reminds me of Chrysanthemum Moon, actually) underneath the citrus and vanilla. Salty, boozy lime margaritas, candied orange, sweet vanilla, and a touch of dry floral & incense. Verrry pretty and I can see myself wearing this quite a bit this summer.

I was sooo excited about Strawberry Moon '09. I've been on a major strawberry kick lately. This really doesn't smell good on me though. Oddly, it doesn't smell like strawberries at all to me :/ almost to the point where I wonder if I got a bad bottle. But I bought two bottles of this, and both bottles smell the same. This smells like really bitter grass to me, with no berry to be found. It starts off as a pale, watery, green grass smell and then morphs into bitter grass. No vanilla sugar and no strawberry. I usually like the lab's dandelion note, but I don't like the bitterness that I smell in this blend. As it dries down, I'm getting a hint of baby powder in the mix. It's very faint on my skin. Weird, and sad . This blend sounded so good to me, and the label art is my favorite lunacy artwork *ever.* The oil just isn't working on me. The lab's White Chocolate & Strawberry smells like awesome, true strawberry on me with a bit of extra sweetness. I even like the original Strawberry Moon's fakey strawberry more than this newer version. I was hoping this would be mostly strawberry with a hint of greenery... oh well. Hopefully this will get better with age, and maybe the strawberry will come out to play. Right now, though, it's definitely not a winner for me.

June Gloom '04 was strong lemon and soapy floral on me, sort of like lemon & wet laundry. The citrus isn't as aggressive here and the whole blend seems softer than the 04 version. It smells like clean, wet, perfumey floral and a little touch of sunny citrus. It's a little bit soapy-clean on me at first. After a half hour or so, it just smells like traditional, generic white floral-y perfume. A clean, springy, sharp sort of floral, and definitely not for me.

Velvet Bandito and Velvet Unicorn are my definite favorites of the Velvet series (though I'm still waiting to try the Tiger from a decant circle I joined that has gone all to hell :/). Anyhow, Velvet Bandito doesn't sound like anything I would enjoy from the listed notes. I hate dusty scents and cedar & tobacco often smell dirty and off on my skin. But this is such an awesome, soft, dry woods and sweet clove scent on me <3. It reminds me of the smell of my grandparents' barn when I was little. Dry, sweet, sun warmed wood and a comforting spiciness. Velvet Bandito makes me feel warm, happy, and calm. It's like warm sunshine in a bottle for me. I probably don't need multiple bottles of this, but I'm definitely glad to have my partial bottle

In the bottle, this smells like sickly sweet cherry and red licorice. On my skin, this instantly becomes darker and less disgustingly sweet (though it still hovers on the verge of being too sweet for me). It really does smell like red licorice, spiced rum, and a bit of sweet, dry, earthy tobacco at first. Over time, something about this smells like spicy potpourri on my skin. Rum often smells cinnamony on my skin, and I'm definitely getting that here. Sweet cinnamon and candy. It smells cheap and starts to give me a headache. This isn't as unique or interesting as I had hoped. It smells mostly of cinnamon with hints of sweet candy on me. I might tolerate this as a room scent, but it's not something that I can actually wear.

In the bottle, this smells like powdery pineapple and a bit of creamy caramel and burnt sugar. I don't like the pineapple, but the sweet, creamy notes in this smell delicious. On my skin, there's a brief stage that I love where this is creamy vanilla, caramel sugar, and a hint of tropical fruit. In the drydown, though, this quickly goes powdery and loses the creamy sweetness. It's like very light, tropical fruit scented dusting powder mixed in with actual dust. Velvet Tiki smells like tropical fruit dusting powder, but it's too dry for me. This is also an incredibly light scent. It clings close to the skin and doesn't last more than an hour on me. All in all, this probably isn't something that I'll wear again (and I love Tiki Queen and a lot of the tropical drink scents).

I hated the wasabi & tea combo in Nostrum Remedium, and cedar, sage, khus, and coriander are all iffy notes on my skin, so I wasn't expecting much from Velvet Cthulhu. In the bottle, this smells surprisingly upbeat, fresh, and grassy. It makes me think of grass, dandelions, and lemony herbs. On my skin, this is intensely lemony with a background of green, bright herbs. It smells like fresh sliced lemons and green weeds on me. Unfortunately, this is too much intense lemon for me. It's hard for me to wear lemon scents, and this one is just a bit too sharp and overpowering for me. The longer this sits on my skin, the more the lemon takes over. Within ten minutes, this is all lemon all the time on me, and it just gets sharper and more soured . I wish that some of the green smells had stuck around.

Blue Phoenix starts off super-sweet and cloying on me. It reminds me of blueberry pie filling, sticky-sweet with extra sugar. As it dries down, the berry becomes a bit more tart and a baby powdery vanilla type of note is creeping in as well. Blueberry candy and powder. It stays blueberry candy and baby powder on me for a few hours before it fades. I don't think that I need more than my partial decant of this...

In the bottle, this reminds me of Intrigue minus the darkness and cocoa. It has a similar dry woods & figgy sweetness to it, though. On my skin, the sassafras note quickly rounds up the other notes and takes over. It smells like root beer, a hint of dry wood, and fig's earthy, wooden sweetness. It makes me think of rootbeer bottle caps candies in the way that it smells dry, sweet, and somehow fizzy all at the same time. Rootbeer bottle caps candies laying out on a dry, splintery, dusty wooden table. The sassafras is definitely the strongest note for me, but it has this dry, wooden sharpness to it that starts to smell unpleasant in the drydown. I like Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener a lot more for a sassafras bend.

In the vial, this smells like strawberry jam and a hint of rose. On my skin, I'm surprised at how little throw this has. Bat of Virtue clings very closely to my skin, and it's very sweet. I'm also surprised that I don't amp up the rose in this more. I'm getting a very sweet, strawberry jam scent with a hint of rose and perhaps some powdery violet in the background. As it dries down, it starts to turn more and more powdery. This might be too sweet & powdery for me if it were stronger, but it's very soft and fades quickly on me. All in all, I don't really dislike this, but it's not amazing or all that unique on me. There are many strawberry & sugared floral scents that I like a lot more (Possets' Walter scent is my ultimate in roses + red jam and cakey goodness, lol).

Bat of Longevity is mostly a sugared lemon scent with medicinal undertones. Lemon-heads sour candies with an extra swish of peach sugar, plus what smells like pine, menthol and lavender soap on my skin. Dries down to a sweet lemon with a medicinal pine-y background. Not bad, but I find it to be rather boring and a bit too medicinal to be worn as a perfume.

I think that Strawberry Moon '09 has my favorite label ever <3. I can't wait to get my bottles now

In the bottle: Smoky, burnt caramel? On my skin: AH! It's Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy, but somehow even worse. Bitter, painfully dry woods, sickly sweetness, and the addition of stale cigarette smoke & a hint of burnt, stale coffee. It's bad and unbearably dry smelling on my skin. I had to scrub this one off. I was hoping for smooth tonka, manly woods, and sweet tobacco... but this is burnt coffee left in the pot all night, cigarettes left in an ash tray, bone-dry woods, and burnt caramel. Not good on me. At all.

I don't get all of the love for Gossamer; it just doesn't smell very good to me at all. This smells like an intense, heavy, cheap white floral perfume to me (like something you'd find in the bargain bin at Walgreens) mixed with some cheap, metallic, chemical-y hairspray. I usually love the lab's moonflower note, and I can't pick out any moonflower in this. I get harsh white floral (like bad iris, opium poppy or tuberose) and something like sharp, dryer sheet ozone. It's not soft, gentle, or sweet on me at all...