Little Bird

Chinese Prints - Spring - *Spirit of the Komachi Cherry Tree (The Salon): "Cherry blossom, blue lilac, lavender monofloral honey, white sandalwood, and Asian pear." Chinese Prints - Summer - *Sea of Glass (Sin & Salvation) or Banded Sea Snake when the Carnaval returns. Chinese Prints - Autumn - *Sunflower (The Salon) - "Sunflower bouquet, black amber, creeping black moss, wilted greenery, and scorched, dry stems." Or Al-Shairan (Excolo) - "His scent is fiery, bright and thick with sweet sinfulness: clove, peach and orange with cinnamon, patchouli and dark incense notes." Chinese Prints - Winter - *Cloister Graveyard in the Snow (The Salon) - "Three white musks, ozone, frankincense, mint." Gold Eagle - *El Dorado (Wanderlust) - "Copal resin incense blowing through halls of dazzling gold." Or Greed (Sin & Salvation) - "Base and earthy, yet glittering with golden notes: patchouli, heliotrope, copal and oakmoss." Blue Hummingbirds - *Good (RPG) - "Shimmering celestial musk with vanilla, white honey, acacia, and sugar cane." The Real Princess - *Aeval (Bewitching Brews) - "sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka."

Kostnice really smells like dill on me, but I think it's discontinued now...

I was hoping that this would be a bit more unique/exotic than it is to my nose. The list of notes sounds dreamy, but the notes mix together and just smell sort of vague and spicy-sweet to me. I can't really pick out the sandalwood, black pepper, coconut sugar, or licorice that I was most excited about. Exotic Bazaar smells like a spice scented autumn candle, with a bit of a warm, slightly powdery, resinous edge from the amber. My husband said that it smelled like 'apple cider candle.' It's nice enough, but probably not something I'll purchase a full size of.

Evil Temple is oddly spicy and manly at first, like a spicy men's cologne, and I think the wormwood and moss are giving off a bitter, sour quality that I'm not enjoying. I like the earthy, woody, resinous part of this, but there's a bitter sharpness to the blend that just doesn't work for me. ETA: I tried this again today (going through and selling a lot of my unloved room sprays) and this smells very different from when I first had it. I'm not sure if it ages well or if I just didn't shake the bottle up properly the first time I tried it, because it does seem to have a thicker, dark oil that has settled to the bottom of the spray. I'm not getting any of the sour moss or cologne from this anymore. Mostly this smells almost identical to bpal's Sloth to my nose - lots of thick, heavy, sweet myrrh and something like a spicy, dark, velvety vetiver. I'm kind've in love with it now...

I love the Tokyo Milk Dark line, and Bulletproof is one of my favorites . I think it smells sort of like spiced cola, woody incense smoke, coconut cream, and black licorice. I don't think that there's a bpal that's better than the real deal or super-close, but you might want to try these for a bit of a similar feel, if you haven't tried them already: *Schwarzer Mond (limited edition) - "The keeper of secrets: opoponax, Tunisian black amber, night musk, antique patchouli, zdravetz, terebinth, myrrh, and Pimenta racemosa." *The Antikythera Mechanism (Steamworks) - "Teakwood, oak, black vanilla, and tobacco." *Goblin (Diabolus) - "Black coconut, gnarly patchouli, and sweet benzoin."

Caligula mostly smells like sweet myrrh to me. Sweet, sort of golden-brown, and resinous. There's a tiny hint of something fresh & clean way down underneath the resins, like a hint of clean lemon and laundry. I like this, though it smells similar to a lot of resinous scents I already own.

This isn't as sweet as red musk usually is on my skin. It's like a sharper red musk with an incensey, woodsy edge. I get the dry spiciness that others have mentioned, but no coconut or sassafras. I keep thinking that I smell tuberose or iris or some other sharp, perfumey floral mixed in here. Overall, it smells sharp and disjointed to me.

I can see the bug spray comparison with this one. This goes on like a mix of sharp, sour lemon and orange, with a chemical-y edge and a hint of something bitter and green smelling to me. It fades really quickly on me, only sticking around for about a half hour.

This reminds me of opoponax (thick, cloying, syrupy-sweet, dark resins) with a little bit of dry, sharp spiciness and soapy ozone. It's sort of like men's aftershave and something sickly sweet... not so good on me.

DMOF is like powdery, girly sweetness (not sure it reminds me of Celeste, as Celeste is sweeter and easier to wear for me) with a sort of dark undertone (maybe oak, as oak is a note that goes sort of bitter and off on me). There's something going slightly soapy as this dries down, but it mostly fades into a baby powdery scent after an hour on my skin.

This goes on smelling like sharp citrus on me (sort of lemony), with a bit of a sharply floral-musky drydown. I was expecting it to be more of a creamy scent with all of the comparisons to Loosening of the Obi's rice wine, but this is rather sharp and bright smelling on me.

Smells like a companion to Elf, with the clean, misty pine and tart fruitiness, but Elf is softer, has sweeter touches, and doesn't turn as soapy as this atmo. Fae Forest is sweet, misty pine, a tart and body odor-ish pink grapefruit, and lots of laundry soapy powder.

You could try Hurricane. It isn't a match to Shadows of What May Be (I find it to be sweeter and lacking the grassy edge of Shadows of What May Be), but it is an earthy-aquatic. I can't think of much else in the GC with dominant earth and water notes...

Redoul Honey goes on smelling like sharp, bright greenery and sweet honey, and dries down to tons of sweet honey and a hint of tart fruitiness that doesn't smell particularly like blackberry on my skin. The honey part is really strong on me and seems to drown out the other aspects of the scent. It becomes a bit too sweet after a while.

This doesn't smell at all like how I was hoping it would. I'm really sad that, out of all of the lovely listed notes, all I can smell is rose and baby powder. I don't smell even a hint of resins, coconut, vanilla, or red sandalwood in this blend. Vanilla musk sometimes has a powdery edge to it, but this is like tons of powder and none of the vanilla-y goodness. Touched Twice isn't so bad on me for the first fifteen minutes (sort of a cool, pale pink smelling rose with hints of green stem and something spicy, and a touch of baby powder), but the drydown really amps up and just smells overwhelmingly baby powdery. Tons of powder and the rose note turns dry and sort of old fashioned, sharp, and lackluster on my skin. I'm really letdown by this one . I gave in to the hype of it only being available for a couple hours and ordered two bottles, but I probably won't use up even 1ml of this, unless it somehow ages into something less powdery...

If you feel like tracking down some limited edition scents from the forum swaps/sales, I'd definitely recommend these two for non-fruity gardenias: *The Harp of Cnoc Ichosgair: "Gilded amber, tiare, golden sandalwood, vanilla, cardamom, and tagetes." *Tissue: "Rice paper, white gardenia, and raw honey." In the GC, there's a lack of gardenia, but you might want to check out: *Eternal (Ars Moriendi): "Stephanotis, cyclamen, heliotrope, white rose and gardenia." Lists rose, but a lot of people have better luck with the white rose note, and I don't find this to be overly rosey, but heavy on the creamy floral notes. Euphrosene (Excolo) is similar to me, but more rosey. *The Lady of Shalott (Ars Amatoria): "The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger." *Le Serpent Qui Danse (Ars Amatoria): "Violet entwined with vanilla and gardenia." Though this is mostly sweet violet and vanilla on me with a hint of creamy gardenia. And you might try these (that don't list gardenia, but smell like gardenia on me): *Sacred Whore of Babylon (Excolo): "An ancient formula that inspires unrepentant decadence, lechery and debauch." Smells like honeyed almonds, spices, and gardenia on my skin. *Thy Godfather's Present (Marchen): "A bruised purple bundle of herbs with hyssop and life-everlasting." I hope that you can find something that your mum loves

I also got a small tester of this in one of my forum packages, though I don't remember seeing it on any prototype lists? It smells very similar to Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple on me, starting off with a crunchy, fresh smelling green apple and drying down to a green apple and warm vanilla candy sort of smell.

300F v1 smells the way black musk usually does on my skin - sharply perfumey, masculine, and woodsmokey. As it dries down, it has a bit of a soapy aftershave quality. I find this to be masculine, but too sharp for my tastes.

Delirium (Bewitching Brews) is apple, rose, and lemon.

I'd suggest checking out these: *Fenris Wolf (Diabolus) - "Rosewood, amber, red musk and a dribble of red sandalwood." *Golden Priapus (Love Potions) - "A truly carnal, energetic men's blend: vanilla and amber with juniper, rosewood and white pine." One of my favorite pine/forest scents, the amber and vanilla sweeten the scent and make it sensual and unisex for me. *Ochosi (Excolo) - "His ofrenda is the soft shea he shares with Obatala, forest herbs, and sprucewood arrow shafts." I find this to be a sweet, sunny green blend with a sensual softness to it. *Ranger (RPG) - "Untamed wilderness: buckskin accord with Terebinth pine, Russian birch, black ironwood, elder bark, hay, armoise, juniper, patchouli, galangal root, Spanish moss, and cabreuva." *Rogue (RPG) - "Soft, well-worn black leather, hemp, and rosin." *Voodoo (Bewitching Brews) - "A midnight scent, evoking images of flickering golden firelight reflecting off the sheen of glistening skin and the jerking shadows of bodies suffused with spiritual ecstasy. A deep, powerful, resonant blend of myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond and clove." For earth/dirt scents that are still a bit feminine: *Death Cap (Rapaccini's Garden) - "A warm, soft, ruddy scent, earthy and mild." *Destroying Angel (Rapaccini's Garden) - "Papery white notes evoke the grace of this fungi, grounded by thin, crisp soil." *Penny Dreadful (Bewitching Brews) - "Soft perfume evocative of noir heroines over rich red grave loam."

Donna Con Ventaglio smells very musky/perfumey on me for some reason, and has a classic perfume feel to it (that I get from a lot of The Salon blends, actually). It goes on with a perfumey, sweet-ish rose and burst of citrus and dries down to a perfumey, slightly sharp floral scent. It's slightly powdery on me in the drydown as well, but none of the listed notes go powdery on me normally, so I dunno... Smells like a classic floral-musky perfume with a warm, powdery edge. I'm disappointed that I can't really pick out many of the listed notes. I wonder if whatever makes up the 'white chypre' is just overpowering on me.

I think that I'm getting tired of red musk. It's one of those notes that really amps up on my skin, so most of the red musk blends smell like a similar red musk single note on me. I like it, but I already have so many similar things, if that makes sense. The amber, sandalwood, and golden musk here sort of melt together into a dry, powdery, perfumey-sharp edge to the warm, slightly fruity/wine-like red musk. After about an hour into the drydown, it's a little smokier & darker as the incense and tobacco come out a bit. But mostly this is a dry, powdery, perfumey edged red musk, and a little too dry and perfumey for me. None of the Klimt scents have great throw or staying power, and this one clings close to the skin and only lasts about three hours on me. I'll keep my decant to see how this one ages, but don't need a full bottle.

I was hoping for more frankincense and cedar (especially the cedar <3), but I don't really get either of those notes from Pallas Athene. This is mostly a warm, powdery amber, sweet myrrh, and light, bright spiciness on me. Something about it is sharp and musky-like on me at first, but it dries down to a powdery, resinous, golden, spicy smell. I don't like it enough to get a full bottle, but I might keep my decant.

In the bottle, this is red musky... sort of fruity, warm, sweet and almost wine-like, a bit perfumey... but like red musk mixed with a sharper musk. On my skin, I can't pick out any particular fruit note. It smells like red musk + perfumey drugstore musk and a hint of baby powder. Oddly, I don't know if I'd even say that this smells particularly fruity on my skin as it dries down :/ Even though the listed notes are so different, this actually still smells similar to Berry Moon 09 on me. They come off with a similar sharp muskiness (like chemical-y hairspray) on my skin and not much in the way of actual berries. My husband said that this smells like 'medicine and hairspray.' Boo.

In the bottle, this smells like a tart citrus tea with a bit of woods & vanilla that reminds me of The Antikythera Mechanism. On my skin, Tree of Life starts off with tons of sharp mandarin orange and the barest hint of chocolate and tonka (smells a bit white chocolatey to me). It's reminding me a little of the original Thirteen blend and the GC blend The Great Sword of War, but much less sweet and foodie. I kept waiting around for the tart citrus note to fade, as I'm used to citrus being a top note that disappears pretty quickly, but that sharp, perfumey citrus quality hangs on strong for me here. The chocolate/sweetness disappears rather quickly, but the mandarin sticks around. As it dries down, this is sharp, perfumey sort of citrus tea with hints of earthy moss and smooth woods. After an hour, this is a smooth, warm woods scent that's rather nice, but it has almost no throw and fades pretty quickly after the hour mark. I love Atlas, it smells very foodie and sweet on me, and lasts all day when I wear it. I wouldn't call Tree of Life foodie or even particularly sweet... I can kinda see a similar woods feel between the two after Tree of Life has mostly faded away, but Atlas is a lot stronger and richer smelling to me.