Little Bird

Hunter Moon 2007 worried me at first. I have a hard time wearing wine notes, and there was a definite snap of wine at first, sort of metallic and sharp and reminiscent of rotting berries. There is also a light hint of something spiced. Spiced wine, only the wine isn't working well for me. After a few minutes, though, the wine completely vanishes and, as other reviewers have said, this goes very musky with a touch of smoke. The light, sweet, creamy musk was unexpected, but I actually rather liked it. Hunter Moon continues to morph steadily into Total Baby Powder stage on me though, which is when I start hating it. Powdery scents and dry scents really don't work for me. The musk was lovely if this didn't turn to fullout baby powder...

This sounded so beautiful from the description. So why do the funeral blends hate me so? I'm a big fan of moonflower, and the thought of a mossy moonflower is what made me Have to Have this blend. Then, on my skin, I get an immediate stab of sharp, soapy lemons. As it dries down this is oddly herbal and sharp. The Phantom Wooer isn't at all the soft, cool, sweet, night time floral blend I was expecting. The floral aspects do make an appearance after about a half hour on my skin, but then it's a dry, sharp, thin little floral essence. Perhaps the dust, buttonweed, and honey myrtle ruin this for me...

Temple: Elemental is a really beautiful blend. It smells like a lot of things to me at once, and paints a very vivid mental picture. This is the smell of thick, dark green ferns, black soil with mushrooms popping through it, a misty-cold waterfall, and smooth, wet stones. It's a chilly, clean forest blend. Watery and earthy at the same time. This actually reminds me of the forests in Missouri where I grew up. It always floods in the springtime and everything feels clean and cool and brimming with life. This is the wet forest during springtime, during the floods. I always loved those times. And I love this blend, and the wonderful feelings, memories, and sensations that it conjures up for me.

This is going to be a scent-based review, as I actually wear a lot of my temple blend oils. Temple: Druidic smells like a mixture of juniper, juniper berry, and mints. At first it smells very green, like smashing juniper greens and their dark blue little berries between my hands. My grandmother has juniper planted all along her walkway, and I immediately thought of that. Then there is a burst of sweet mint that makes me think of wintermint chewing gum. The drydown smells exactly like juniper bushes as the mint disappears. Lovely and pleasant, but I'm not sure how I would use this one, because the scent association makes me think of nothing but my grandmother's house and going there during the summer.

I thought that this would be a fruity rose perfume scent from the notes, but the concept made me think it might be more dark and earthy. On me, it's not really any of those things though. It's strange. Crypt Queen probably has the potential to be awesome on someone, but that someone is not me. My skin amps up the fruity notes and the pomegranate, but pomegranate tends to smell very tart and dry on my skin. I wind up smelling like sweet tarts with hints of musk and dry floral notes that fade in and out. It's not at all a dark or earthy scent on me, which surprised me given its name & theme, though the floral notes seem to turn to full out dust on my skin over time. I amp up the Crypt Queen into unbearably dry sweet tarts and dust :|

I was excited to get this because some people have mentioned that it smelled rose-like to them. This is an awful, headache inducing floral on me though . It has a smell of sharp flowers and heavy musk with a drydown of heavy, dirty powder on my skin. The Queen's Salon is another floral blend that makes me think of the cheap drugstore perfume that I try to stay far away from.

Cold, crisp, ozone & citrus. It's sharp and soapy on me and then dries down to soft, lemony dryer sheets. I think that this would be better on my boy, but he's favoring warmer, spicier scents as the weather gets cooler. This strikes me as an everday, not remarkable or unique sort of men's cologne. Not bad, but not really interesting me.

Virgo is an interesting scent. It's herbal, slightly bitter but not unpleasant, green, vegetal, and somehow both clean and earthy smelling on my skin. I start to lean more towards not liking this scent in the drydown though, as a slightly soapy, sweet, warm floral note (guess it's the honeysuckle, though it doesn't smell like true honeysuckle to me at all) pops out. I like the opening stages of this, but it doesn't seem suitable to me as a personal scent. Perhaps I'll try the rest of my decant in the oil burner.

I know what you mean about looking for a catch; I always do that too, especially after the horrible attempt my boy and I had crossing the border at Sarnia. That attempt was so bad that we ended up hiring a lawyer. Of course, then we later found out that we just had the misfortune of getting an officer who was having a bad day and there wasn't really much of a problem with us crossing originally. But oh well. I think that hiring a lawyer is probably a waste of money now (which is why we didn't re-hire a lawyer for processing my study permit applications, so I'm hoping that all goes through okay with what we did on our own). My boy keeps reassuring me that it all really is straightforward and that they make it simple and straightforward so that your average person can fill it out by themselves. He is less cynical than I am Again, congrats on getting married

I hope you don't mind that I just sent you a PM about all of this, since my boy and I are going through such a similar issue right now. We ended up paying a lawyer $2,000 to advise us on how to fill out a lot of the immigrations paperwork because it was so overwhelming to us, so I thought I would try to share some of that advice with you, lol. Of course, it is 1 AM here and I might be slightly incoherent. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Or, you know, I'm also here if you just need someone to complain to about all of the paperwork

The Emathides is nowhere near as bad as I thought that it would be. My skin turns amber notes to dust or baby powder and amps it up like mad, but I actually don't smell any amber at all in this. The Emathides starts off rather sweet and pleasant on me. I do get that caramelized lavender that other people have mentioned, but this turns into more of a candied violet on my skin after a while with hints of dark, fruity, sweet currant and herbal-esque wood notes. Unfortunately, this gets a little too perfumey and sharp on me in the drydown, perhaps thanks to the other floral notes. Still, there is a sweetness and a woodiness underneath the perfume that I do like. I'll probably keep my decant of this for aging, but I don't need a full bottle.

I thought that I would hate Crowley because of the red patchouli. I normally love patchouli, but the lab's red patchouli smells so dirty and awful on me. I actually don't smell any patchouli in this at all though. It's a pleasant surprise, because my skin usually amps up and does awful things to the red patch. Unfortunately, my skin amps up my other problem note in this blend (leather). First on this is a classic men's cologne feel (which I like) with hints of zesty citrus freshening everything up. In the drydown, I get more woods and then suddenly this morphs into a very heavy on the leather scent. Smoky, warm leather. There's a sweetness to this along with a warm muskiness, but Crowley is mostly smoky leather on my skin. Drat. My boy seems to have trouble pulling off strong leather scents as well, so I'll probably be swapping away my decant of this'n.

I'm rather fond of The Gibbous Moon. I adore the lab's moonflower for its sweet and chilly qualities, I love the watery-fresh cucumber, and I love the green edge that the moss adds to this scent. At times it seems like this wants to go perfumey on me (hyacinth?) or soapy (lily?) but it never actually turns on my skin. It's like the wonderful moonflower is keeping the bad notes from misbehaving. On me this is a chilly, watery, green, fresh scent with sweet florals swirling about. The moonflower smells musky-sweet and ethereal on me. Lovely. My boy loves this on me too.

The Sportive Sun has two notes in it which go to baby powder on me - amber and calamus. This starts off a little bit spicy and a lot powdery, and then dries down to a little bit of dry woods and a lot of baby powder. The floral aspects of this don't survive at all on my skin. It's a light, dry, powdery scent on me.

Singing Moon is very sharp and herbal on me, with sprigs of mint thrown about in the drydown. I'm also getting a damp earth and sharp ozone twang from this. My brain seems to have a hard time actually wrapping itself around this scent. It's perfumey, sharp, and then every once in a while I catch an actual hint of something I know (dirt, mint, ozone). Singing Moon is a combination of a lot of smells that I don't really care for or get along with, all wrapped up in a sharp, perfumey bow. It's worth a try because it's so unusual, but it's not something I'll personally hold on to.

I seem to be in the minority for not loving this scent. Aziraphale is far too dry of a scent for my tastes. It really does have a dusty, dry smell to it along with some dry woods. It turns to dusty cedar shavings on me after a while and makes me think of hamster cages. I even kinda like that smell, but there's something far too dry about this one, like it's going to suck the moisture out of my wrists, lol. Thankfully, I find this to be rather light. It's just very much not-for-me.

I love lavender, so I was excited to try Yvaine. It starts off a sort of sharp, astringent lavender that I'm not fond of, but it quickly mellows into a calming, sweet, smooth, cool lavender. I do get a hint of something perfumey in the background that I'm guessing is the magnolia. In the drydown, what I think might be a sharp ozone note starts to dominate. It's a cool and airy scent that's not really unpleasant, but I think it goes a bit too sharp with my skin chemistry. I probably will swap away my decant of this one.

Tristran goes all strange and wonky on my skin. I normally love woods and patchouli (and oh how I love tonka), so I was super excited about this one. At first I get a soured smelling rosewood and something sharp and herbal-like. Over time the woods notes get dryer and more dusty. I can see the book/library comparisons. Unfortunately, on me this mellows down into a baby powdery sandalwood with soapy lemons. I thought I'd slather this on my boy since it doesn't work on me, but he sniffed it in the vial and didn't like it and thus is refusing to wear it. When pressed he just said this smells like cheap cologne to him. Ah well.

I rather like Mad Meg on myself and the boy (it's super sexy and aggressively spicy on him in this deliciously sweet, peppered sort of way), but my boy just gave it a 6 out of 10 and said it was 'okay.' On me, this smells a bit like LUSH's Silky Underwear perfume at first, with more heat and earthiness added to it. Over time this sweetens up and softens on my skin a lot. It has a powdery feel to it, like a dusting powder scented with hints of orange and earthy sweetness (almost vanilla-esque on me). I normally hate smoky scents, but the hint of smokiness underneath the other notes is really attractive in this blend. I expected this to be awful and darkly earthy with the scorched earth and vetiver, but it's not overwhelming to me at all. Mad Meg is much sweet and softer than I was expecting, dappled with orange and spice. This isn't full bottle worthy (especially since my boy isn't crazy about it), but I'll probably keep a decant of this one .

Agnes Nutter has that BBQ smell that I hate (which I get from certain types of vetiver and cedar). Mesquite and charred cedar planks. This actually smells a lot like Azathoth on me. It's insanely strong and overpowering just in the decant vial, and it's even worse on me. This makes me smell like amped up beef jerky. I can't smell any of the listed notes except the 'charred wood.' Arcana's "Mutiny" scent will remain my ultimate gunpowder fragrance.

I actually like Shadwell for the first five minutes or so on my skin. It smells sort of like milk and brown sugar layered over a light, salty aquatic note. Unfortunately, the drydown of this is just salty aquatic with hints of a smoky, dirty smelling tobacco. It gets sharper and headache inducing over time. If the sweeter notes in this were stronger, I might be able to pull this off. As it is, this is a strong aquatic-tobacco scent. Too simple and too sharp for me.

I've gone through a couple decants of this now and I really should just take the plunge and buy myself a bottle. At first this reminds me of Riding the Goat, but a better and less sour version. It's musty, pale green, salty, and slightly sweet (reminding me of green olives again). The boy sniffed my wrist and said it smelled "sort of lemony fresh." I don't get lemon from this but I can see why he might interpret it as a fresh/clean sort of scent. He said that he can understand why it makes me think of green olives. So we compromised, lol. After fifteen minutes or so, the drydown of this is just gorgeous. My parents used to let me grow sunflowers every year; the flowers would grow much taller than myself and were always such fascinating, hauntingly beautiful plants. I love the artwork for this one too. Anyhow. My point is that this scent really is evocative of the artwork and the sunflower for me. Sunflower is slightly musty (in a good way somehow), dry but still green, and truly smells like sunflowers to me. It has a sultry, dried wildflower sort of scent to it without striking me as being floral. It's not at all perfumey. I love this scent, so I have a hard time describing it. It's warm without being hot or bright, dry without being dusty or powdery, and green in a pale, fading sort of way. So pretty. I'm going to wind up getting a bottle of this just because it reminds me so much of a happy memory from my childhood

I would have bet my life that there is fig in this. It smells strongly of a woody sort of fig on me, and it starts off unpleasantly warm and perfumey as well. Perhaps the massoia bark and fruit is what is giving me that fig impression. Fig and a perfumey, warm floral. My boy gave it a thumbs down and said that it smelled wooden, musky, & masculine to him. I asked if he wanted to wear it and he said no though, lol. After a half hour, I like this more as the department store perfume aspect fades off, but it still smells strongly of fig on me. I can't pick out any chocolate at all, but this takes on a creamier, sweeter edge the longer that I wear it. It begins to smell like fig swimming around in buttery, salty vanilla cream with drizzles of honey and a light, sweet spice. I'm on the fence about this. By the time it reaches a stage that I really like, it is incredibly light and clings close to the skin. It has faded away entirely before I've even worn it for two hours. I don't know if I'd be willing to wait out the unpleasant first half hour or so for the incredibly light, yummy drydown. I'd go through a bottle pretty quickly with the amount that I'd have to slather on for each wear. I wish this lasted longer and had better throw as it is, I probably won't keep my bottle. It starts off too perfumey and fades far too quickly. *ETA: I *did* swap away my bottle of this and it turned out to be a case where I should have given this blend some time to age. I recently got another full bottle in a swap and I love this now. It instantly reaches the drydown stage that I initially loved. Lots of vanilla bean, warmth from the clove and ginger, and an extra zap of sweetness from the honey. In the drydown now, it stays pretty much the same, but with an added hint of white chocolate and cocoa . The staying power and throw is even better on me now. This Thirteen just needed some time to age (or maybe my skin chemistry needed time?), because it's fantastic on me now.

I wanted this primarily for the beeswax note, but I love all of the notes in it with the exception of the tuberose and ylang ylang, which both go horribly perfumey on my skin. Of course, I get a strong tuberose and ylang ylang from this and no beeswax at all. A lot of the florals that I've tried lately smell disappointingly like mainstream, department store floral perfume on me. The Witch Queen reminds me a lot of the Dark Delicacies blend. It has lots of lovely notes that just get eaten up by a musky, sharp, metallic, bitter, fakey-floral essence. It does have a dark vibe to it, but it's very musky and overwhelming to me.

Victoria is such a beautiful little rose scent on my skin. I love BPAL's tea rose note so much. Calla lily goes awful and soapy on me, but the stargazer lily is sweeter and powdery soft. I've tried vanilla musk single notes from other companies and they tend to be like a vanilla scented baby powder to my nose, which is what I also get from this blend. I'm not usually fond of powdery scents and Victoria definitely is powdery on me... but I still really like this. It's powdery without being unbearably dry or simple. I get a vanilla powder, powdery-sweet lily and the candied rose fragrance from the tea rose. The lily starts off strong and a bit sharp and green, but it quickly softens and fades to the background. I especially love the drydown of this when the tea rose amps up a bit more. Victoria almost has a dry, elegant quality to it. It's like dried red roses dusted in vanilla powder on my skin after a while. Light and pretty. I've had a lot of floral duds on my skin lately, so I'm really thrilled that I finally stumbled across one that works on me, lol. My boy really likes floral scents on me, so it's always nice when I find one that we both like. I'll definitely keep my decant of Victoria and might even need a full bottle