Little Bird

Pumpkin with pink grapefruit, lemon verbena, yuzu, lime, parsley, and mint. The mixture of notes in this sounded strange to me, so I just went with a decant of this particular pumpkin. Now that I've tried it on, it lives up to my expectations of smelling strange on my skin. On me, the pumpkin is buttery, the parsley is dry and herbal, and the citrus is sharp. The mint just wanders in and out like it doesn't know quite what to do with itself. And it all just doesn't work for me as a whole. It feels like this wants to be too many different things on my skin (fruity, foodie, herbal, minty, juicy, dry, buttery, sharp, candied - too much). The notes war on my skin for 2-3 hours, fading in and out and back again, before this dries down into a faint, sweet citrus. I don't think that I like this enough to wear it again.

The mention of "flora" scared me into just getting a decant of this and skipping the full bottle. I'm glad that I did. While I love the original Blood Moon, this doesn't really smell anything like the original on me. Where Blood Moon 05 is all dark and exotic with spiced incense, Blood Moon 08 actually seems bright and perfumey. I get a lot of perfumey musk and soapy-clean floral from this. There are hints of sweet incense and a weird, rotting wood smell in the drydown, but my skin chemistry seems to amp up the musk and "forest flora." I'm surprised at how much this doesn't smell like I expected it to. I really expected it to be a darker sort of scent, rather than a bright and clean perfume. My skin chemistry seems to have butchered this scent...

My fiancé thought that this smelled like caramel corn and pumpkin spice, but said that it's far too buttery for his tastes. It didn't smell buttery to my nose, but I love foodies and my hubby-to-be is very picky about them. I think that this smells like the best dark chocolate fudge with pumpkin spice and graham crackers mixed in. It smells like a really dark, chocolate-y pumpkin pie scent to me . I'm still favoring Dungeon and Down the Rabbit Hole as my room sprays, but this will be my go-to spray when I want something foodie .

In the bottle, this is nothing but buttery syrup to my nose. On my skin at first, it's pretty much the same. After a few minutes, the pancakes come forth, giving off a warm, bread-type smell that's very soft and comforting to me. Ten minutes later, I can smell a bit of the berry coming through. The berry note strengthens over time as the buttery syrup disappears. It reminds me of berry scented dolls, a bit plastic-y, but I still like it. I love the pancake smell, so I'm glad that the note doesn't disappear. Something in this goes plastic-y and artificial, though, so it makes me think of cake and berry scented toys. Thus, it seems like a comforting, playful scent to me. I like it a lot. I was worried that this would be sickeningly sweet on me, but it's not. I'm glad that I have two bottles, and I *might* try to pick up a third. ETA: Not picking up a third bottle, lol. This scent has gotten the worst reaction from my hubby-to-be (he actually started gagging and made me get away from him o_O). When I asked him what was wrong with it, he just said that it smelled horribly wrong and made him feel nauseous. It might be too sweet or buttery for him, but he said it's his least favorite of all of my perfumes. In any case, Pancake Breakfast will just have to hang out with me while he's at work, and get washed off before he gets home, lol.

In the bottle, this smells like sharp, green grass and something powdery and sickly sweet. On my skin, this morphs into a sharp, spiky grass smell. It makes me think of sharp, dark purple colored meadow grasses, drying under a fall sun. It's not a green, freshly clipped lawn sort of scent, but darker on me. I'm not sure why I like this so much, but I think it's a very wearable grass scent. I never pick out any other notes except for that impression of dried grass and just a hint of something like a powdery, sweet, floral incense in the background. I'm glad that I have a bottle of this, though I'm not sure how often I'll actually feel like wearing it.

In the bottle, this sort of reminds me of Pinched With Four Aces - peppered coffee and a caramelized, creamy sweetness. On my skin, it's black coffee, cloying-sweet powder, and a sharp grass note. It gives off the impression of being a dry, bitter scent. It's strange on me, and I don't really care for it.

I purchased a little sample pot of this from the forum, and I'm so in love with it. My feet have been feeling tired, sore, and dry lately (lots of working out, plus being sick, plus Canada's lovely winter dryness), and this scrub is such a treat. The consistency is very interesting, and it's not like any other scrub that I've used before, though I generally stick to places like Wylde Ivy for a simple sugar scrub. I was afraid that the mint plus lemon combo would make this too sharply scented for me, but I honestly can't even smell the lemon or neroli. It smells like wonderful, chilly, bracing peppermint with a bit of sweetness, making me think of peppermint candy canes when I use it. I thought that this would be my least favorite scrub fragrance, but it's fantastic. When I scoop some scrub out of the jar, it looks thick and grainy, and then when I start rubbing it on to my feet, it's sort of like a really moisturizing gel with scrubbies in it. I hate oily scrubs of the sort where the oil separates and lays on top of the scrub for me to mix back together, but this doesn't seem oily to me. It's thick and wonderful. It's moisturizing without leaving me feeling like I have a bunch of cheap oils laying on my skin that will never absorb. I lightly dried my feet with a towel after their soak and scrub, and they didn't feel like they had any slippery residue on them at all, they were just super soft. And the peppermint it's such a soothing scrub. The peppermint seems to leave a chill on the skin that just completely relaxes and soothes away my aches. I was unsure about spending $30 for an 8 oz scrub, but I think these are worth every penny. I'll definitely be adding a full size scrub into my next BPTP order (the only problem is deciding between getting more Talaria or trying a different scent).

In the bottle, this is soapy-clean, bright, and green smelling. If I hold the bottle far away from myself, my brain interprets it as a sexy, clean, boy smell. If I sniff it within a few inches away, it just screams SOAP. On my skin, this is sharp, bright soap with a swampy sort of green smell suffocating underneath the soapiness. Meditation in Autumn puts blends like Dirty and Wensleydale to shame. Those are pleasant enough, clean scents. Meditation in Autumn is like being buried alive in laundry soap. It's so crazy-strong on me that it makes me feel a bit sick. Dry soap flakes with a cloying sweetness to them. After several hours, this mellows down to something wearable for me. It smells like sexy, clean, skin with a hint of very faded, masculine cologne. It smells like sexy, clean boy again. I'm not sure if I can handle the first couple hours of this, though, even if I do like it after it has dried down and faded a lot.

I'm not sure what it is in Mictecacihuatl that doesn't agree with my skin chemistry, but this morphs from being something like honeyed rose powder on my skin to rose soap, fake-y floral perfume, and cigar smoke in the drydown. Rose usually plays pretty nice on my skin, but it's almost like there's some sort of other floral in this that goes sharp and perfumey. Mictecacihuatl doesn't smell very spicy or resinous/incensey on me; it's all troubled florals and cigar smoke.

In the bottle, this smells like a pale, watery, cool, fruity-floral blend. It's a little too floral for my tastes. I don't care for most of The Salon fragrances, because they tend to smell like department store perfume on me, and they fade very fast on my skin. Lady Lilith has better staying power than most of the other Salon scents did on me, but it still has a very classic perfume sort of feel that makes it not very unique to me. For the first ten minutes or so, I actually really like this scent. The mandarin is fantastic and seems to keep the florals under control. The zingy citrus is uplifting and makes me happy. In the drydown, though, the citrus disappears and the rose takes its place. It dries down to a faint and unremarkable smell of light rose perfume with powder and some other, unidentifiable floral perfume smells thrown in. It's not as bad as Gladdener and Lilith Victoria were on me, but it's not very exciting or unique smelling on me either. Lady Lilith is just a light, boring floral scent on me.

In the bottle... if you had handed me this oil without a label, I would have guessed that it was The Oblation. It has the sophisticated lavender sweetened with honey and somehow even has the tangy, fruity, herbal sort of quality that I normally smell from the lab's blackberry note. It's much better in the bottle than it is on me. On my skin, this instantly sharpens up. I don't know how to describe it, except that it gives me a mental image of dry, thorn-y, desert weeds with sickly smelling flowers. It sort of reminds me of hemlock. I can still pick out the lavender for the first few minutes. In the drydown, the sickly florals and baby powder swallow up any other notes and start to make me ill. The Gladdener of All Hearts winds up being much like Lilith Victoria was on me. Insanely strong and not very good on my skin, with an overall sense of dry baby powder. It's an overwhelming smell of cloying sweet florals and baby POWDER. Very dry and very not-me.

In the bottle, this smells like soft lavender soaked in Dorian's vanilla tea, with a background of dark smokiness from the Snake Oil. I love the lavender and Dorian combo so much that I think I'm going to start mixing Dorian and a lavender oil together for everyday wear . I digress. On my skin, it starts off smelling like I applied Dorian, but it quickly shifts into a dark, smoky, not-so-good scent. After five minutes, this is powdery lavender with a hint of dark smokiness underneath it. After ten minutes, this is all baby powdery lavender, cloying sweetness, and a weird, sharp smokiness that begins to smell dirty on my skin, like greasy, unwashed hair. It's very dry and powdery smelling. It's also very strong and overwhelming on me, making me feel a bit sick. It stayed the same for an hour and a half until I scrubbed it off. I'll keep my bottle and see how this ages, but it's not very good on me right now.

I tend to really dislike smoky scents, and this is insanely smoky on me. I have a hard time pulling off certain types of tobacco notes or anything with smoke listed. Chant D'Automne is the worst smoky scent I've ever tried on my skin. My skin seems to amp this into a suffocating, cigarette smoke type of smell. It's sharp and suffocating to me, with a gritty, dirty feel that I find very unappealing. This is my least favorite of the Halloween blends.

I didn't have high hopes for The Hessian, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. First on, I get a slightly smoky, charred wood smell, a bit of powdery sandalwood, and a metallic, rusty, almost red wine sort of twang from the blood note. In the drydown, I get that clean cologne smell that others have mentioned, and I'm not sure where it's coming from. It's still mostly earthy vetiver on me, but with clean, powdery edges and an overall feel of men's cologne. The sandalwood goes more powdery on me than usual. The Hessian is a bit too much for me (too smoky/earthy, too metallic, then too powdery and too clean), so I don't think I'll be keeping my decant or searching out more of this one. It's weird that it's both a bit too dark and a bit too clean for me...

I love the label art for John Barleycorn, but the scent is awful on me. It takes me back to trying on Mad Sweeney, where the whiskey comes on strong and smells like the chemical horror of rubbing alcohol. Blech. In the drydown, it's beer, rubbing alcohol, and baby powder on me. I smell like an awful, drunken nanny... I don't get any of the sweetness or grains that other people have mentioned. My skin chemistry doesn't seem to handle these beer and whiskey scents too well.

I wasn't sure how the mix of dry, spicy cassia and wet, green bamboo would work for me. And, in short, they do not work on me. My skin amps up the almost-cinnamon spice of the cassia (which I like in certain foodie or resinous blends). In the drydown, the cassia mellows down slightly and the bamboo pops up, and it's just too weird and disjointed for me. Bamboo smells green, pulpy, wet, and slightly lemony to me. I usually don't care for it in blends. The cassia and bamboo seem to war on my skin for about an hour, with no trace of lotus or wisteria, and then the whole thing just vanishes. I could see this being beautiful on someone who doesn't amp up spicy notes. Unfortunately, that person is not me

I was afraid of the tobacco and brimstone listed in Hellhound, but I still bought a bottle for the bourbon vanilla, and I'm really glad that I did. This doesn't smell anything like I expected it to, but it's still good. I don't smell anything that jumps out at me as being tobacco or brimstone, which I'm happy about. In the bottle, this smells very cologne-like. It's masculine and has a spicy, herbal quality from the bay rum, backed up by a slightly sweet, musky vanilla. On my skin, I can't pick out any bay rum and this isn't musky at all. This is a hot, herbal, earthy sort of scent with a shot of a not-really-sweet sort of vanilla. Earthy vanilla. I keep thinking that it smells primarily of an herbal, slightly medicinal, slightly powdery lavender on my skin (which may be the life everlasting). Herbal lavender and earthy vanilla, with a heat and grittiness to it that I actually find very appealing. My only complaint with this one is that it fades really fast on me. It only lasts about an hour and doesn't have much throw, but it's really wonderful on my skin while it lasts. My boy really likes it on me too. I probably won't need a second bottle of this, but I'm verrrry glad that I have one bottle, at least

I love the artwork and the trading card that comes with this <3. The card says: "What a terrible sound these things make! How can it be that a plant screeches so? Truly, this is the weed of ill-omen." The artwork with the three little leafy-headed roots with their mouths wide open is too cute. The scent itself is also lovely. Screaming Mandragora is my favorite fragrance of the Wunderkammer set. In the imp, this smells wooden, warm, dry, and slightly sweet. It reminds me of coconut husk. I also get a tang of something fruity underneath the strong woodsy note, and it smells sort of like red fruit punch. On my skin at first, the woodsy aspect of this amps up even more. It smells like coconut husk, maybe some sandalwood and/or dry cedar, and a hint of black cherry. The fruitiness starts off a bit tart on me, but dries down to a gorgeous, clean smell. After fifteen minutes, this smells like coconut husk and a fantastic, clean cherry (almost like cherry shampoo, but not soapy, just clean and gorgeous). Wet cherries against dry, golden, sweet woods. Half hour in, it's still reminding me of coconut husk and clean cherry, but there's a creamy sweetness to it as well, like creamed coconut or vanilla on my skin. This is really gorgeous, and I love how it plays out on my skin. It's all very soft and muted on me, though. It doesn't have much throw. It disappears entirely on me after about an hour. It's the sort of scent that I want to slather on and reapply, so I'm sad that I can't get a full bottle.

I was hoping for the fizzy lime and violet that other reviewers have mentioned, but Wiley's Swamp goes instantly to super-clean soap on my skin. It does have a bit of citrussy sharpness at first, but I don't know that it smells like lime to me. It smells watery at the start, and then dries down to, well, a dry soapiness, like floral breeze scented dryer sheets. I usually have better luck with swamp type scents (I love Whippoorwill and Dunwich, and liked Bayou), but this one might just be too aquatic or something for me.

I've been loving the Stimulating Sassafras. I don't think that it smells like a rootbeer float, exactly, because the vanilla isn't strong on me, but I think the vanilla adds a smooth bit of sweetness to this that makes it smell like the perfect rootbeer. It goes on smelling like rootbeer candy, and then dries down to smell like really good rootbeer. Oddly, I don't get any butter from this while I wear it, but if I wash my skin where I've applied the oil, it smells like pure butter (ie: if I put this on my wrists and then lightly wash my hands, it smells like butter). Thankfully, I love that smell. I'll definitely need a couple bottles of this and I have the urge to put some of this oil into unscented lotions. I want to be able to really slather it on . The staying power of this isn't great on me, probably only 1-2 hours and it doesn't have a lot of throw. I don't mind re-applying, though, because this is a great pick-me-up scent.

Sticky Pillowcase is like a mix of Sugar Moon and Treat #1 for me. It starts off like musky sugar and dries down to zingy lime sugar. I was hoping that this would be saltwater taffy and marshmallow on me, but I guess all I get is the 'rock candy dust' and 'spun blue sugar.' I hope that the rock candy dust has lime in it, because I get tons of lime from this scent, lol. This has a lot of throw on me for the first couple hours of wear. After that, I can smell it all day, but only if I press my nose up against my skin & get close to it. I'm glad to have a bottle of this, since I recently ran out of Treat #1, and this is a similar scent.

I was worried about the florals mentioned in the description for Huesos de Santo, but I don't smell any florals at all in this blend. It's sort of like a moist, buttery spice cake (I dunno where I get spice from this, but it's a light, warm yumminess) with vanilla cream frosting, studded with orange hard candies. Unfortunately, this is a really light scent on me. It only lasts about three hours, and has very little throw. Still, it's a delicious and comforting smell. I'll love wearing this on days when I want a foodie fragrance that's more subtle than most of the other blends I own.

I love the 05 and 06 versions of Harvest Moon. This 08 HM is just okay for me. The only notes that I can smell in the bottle and on my skin are the black cherry and wine. It's dark and fruity, but it also has a warm, perfumey quality to it. At first I thought that I could smell something like pepper, but the drydown is all black cherry wine on me. It smells rather boring on my skin. I'm surprised (and disappointed) that I can't smell any of the other listed notes

As most everyone else has said, this smells just like green grass to me, in the bottle and on my skin. Fresh, green glass clippings. It's the scent of mowing the lawn, in a bottle. It has a lot of throw on me. One tiny drop has me smothered in green grassy goodness, lol.

In the bottle, I smell warm, maple oatmeal. On my skin, oatmeal and, um, candle wax? It's like sniffing a puddle of hot candle wax next to a bowl of sweet oatmeal. Weird. I don't get any carrot, apple, woods, or musk. For about five hours, this is just warm, sweetened oatmeal and candle wax. It's a very light scent on me. It clings close to the skin. Gunpowder is interesting. I have a partial bottle of this for now, and I think that's all I need of this blend. I'll be interested to see how this ages. Oatmeal & molasses scented wax isn't unpleasant, but I don't know if I want to smell like it.