Little Bird

I have a pic of a couple Schwarzer Monds and this year's Black Moon scents: Black Moons.

Ekhidna came to mind for me... dark, earthy, spicy, and kinda smoky & fall leafy, lol. The drydown is more resinous/incensey, but I do think it has a feel that's similar to Samhain.

I don't notice the pumpkin in Samhain either. It's more of a dark, earthy-spicy sort of scent on me (and not really foodie-spicy or sweet). My top ten favorite Halloween releases: Pumpkin Patch 5 2005, Samhainophobia, Pumpkin Queen, Mircalla, Calaveras, The Madwoman, The Shadowy & The Sublime (first bottles, as the bottles I purchased near the end of the season smell totally different), Perle von Mauren, The Girl, and Encroaching Madness. Falling Leaf Moon is my ultimate autumn leaf scent, though. Falling Leaf Moon, Pumpkin Patch 5, and Samhainophobia smell the most like autumn to me <3

BOBN1 is all perfumey floral on my skin. I don't smell any of the berry, citrus, or fruit that others have mentioned. I get a harsh, sharp, perfumey/chemical-y floral that reminds me of tuberose and iris. The drydown is slightly powdery.

This does remind me of Garden Path with Chickens at first, sort of a sunny greenery & herbs with florals scent, but the florals here are lighter and more white & clean smelling to me (soapy lily?). As it dries down, it's like floral scented laundry soap and a bit of lemon dish soap with green herbs. Very clean and not my sort of fragrance...

YAR7 smells like soapy aquatic, woodsmoke, and a hint of spicy bay rum to me. The soap and woodsmoke are too sharp for me, though my husband liked this (I think mostly because of the name, lol).

The released version of Titania (back in 2005) smelled sweet and fruity with a watery, juicy edge. Recent imps of Titania from the lab have smelled like sharp, perfumey florals, soap, and plastic-y, clean, unripe sort of peach to me. That said, I like Titania v3 and Titania v1 more than the released Titania (and v1 is my favorite of the three). v3 and v1 both seem to be fruity-floral type scents on me, but v3 smells more like a mishmash of fruits and isn't as sweet as v1. This has more of a crisp, clean feel with light, white florals, where v1 is more like juicy orchid, sweet rose, and watery blueberry on my skin. Titania v3 sort of reminds me of Shango, if Shango were to have some clean floral notes added in.

I'd guess that there's apple blossom and rose in Eve v2. Apple blossom usually smells like green apple scented shampoo on me, and I'm getting that soapy, crisp apple smell here. I normally hate that note, but there's a sweet tea rose sort of scent in here as well, and the sweetness saves the blend from being too soapy for me. It winds up being a clean, sweet, slightly fruity red rose. It reminds me of The Rose, but softer and a bit cleaner smelling.

This starts off as a juicy, fruity, crisp sort of rose on me (almost apple-like on my skin), and I quite like it. Then it dries down and starts to go slightly powdery and sharper, sort of like a more perfumey rose and a hint of sweet tarts candy. It's a little too sharp and tart for me, and there are rose blends that I like a lot more than this one.

I don't have much to say about this one, because it just turns to a soapy, harsh, sharp aquatic smell on me. It's not green, floral, or fruity on my skin, just chemical-y, unpleasant aquatic.

I don't get any popcorn from this, oddly. Shill v1 doesn't smell like much in the decant vial and then has a light, clean, perfumey floral smell on my skin. Sort of a soapy white floral scent, but very light and doesn't last long.

Without knowing the notes in this, I guessed that it had geranium and grapefruit (with something like lemonade in the drydown), so those are the notes that jump out at me. Gaudium starts off with lots of that almost spicy, green, herby geranium, backed up by tart citrus notes. The drydown is more like lemonade with a hint of geranium. I'm not a big fan of citrus, but I love geranium, so this still works for me. Nothing tops Holiday Stress Relief for geranium & lavender scented goodness, but I do like this. It's sort of like Holiday Stress Relief ditched its mint notes and fell into a vat of lemonade.

This kinda reminds me of the bptp Terrae massage oil. Sort of like earthy patchouli, cedar chips, and a hint of medicinal herbs and menthol. It's not something that I really like as a perfume.

Black musk smells masculine and sharp on me, but the dark musk here smells more like a red musk to me. It reminds me of blends like Lucy Kissed, Crypt Queen, Infernal Lover, and Mme Moriarty (but less complex than all of those are on me). It's fruity, sweet, wine-like, and sensual-musky. I like it, but it does smell a lot like several things I already own that are heavy on the red musk. I don't smell anyting of the amber.

I didn't care for the original Black Moon (smelled like watery, sickly-sweet florals and sharp, perfumey musk), but the addition of resins and aged patchouli made me hopeful for this year's version. In the bottle, this doesn't really smell good to me at all. Oddly cool-minty, powdery, and perfumey floral with a hint of weird, fruity sweetness that's a little like banana flavored candy smell. On my skin, it's much the same, but the juicy orchid and a little bit of the dirty patchouli & opoponax come in to join the mess. After about a half hour, the scent isn't quite as weird as it was initially. It dries down to a perfumey, sharp sort of white floral smell with hints of earthy patchouli and sweet resins. The patchouli and resins smell dirty and a bit strange underneath the bright floral. The startup is a little too off and jumbled for me, and the drydown is a bit too sharply floral... glad I just went for a partial bottle of this one and not a full bottle.

If you go to the "Shiny & New" section on the black phoenix alchemy site, you can read all of the updates you've missed (or read them here in the forum announcements). Some of my personal favorites and things that are rather popular & new-ish: *Atlas (currently available LE - and the whole moths & butterflies update is lovely) - "Mallow, oak bark, coffee bean, hinoki wood, and khus." *Rogue (new RPG series) - "Soft, well-worn black leather, hemp, and rosin." *The Last Unicorn series (my favorites being Molly Grue, The Harpy Celaeno, and Captain Cully) *WILF (forum only scent that's still available right now) - "Warm fur coupled with red and black musk, vanilla bean, patchouli, champaca flower, juniper berry, chocolate peppermint, frangipani, browned sandalwood, ferntop ash resin, and massoia bark."

I was expecting a mossy sort of green aquatic from the name, but this is heavily floral to me. It smells like sharp, perfumey white floral with a soapy aquatic edge. It actually starts to give me a headache after a while (reminds me of the Coney Island Creek spray). I find it to be very sharp and heavy. I wish I were getting the greenery and earth notes that others have mentioned.

This mostly smells like green, bitter herbs and maybe a powdery, musky floral perfume. Something about it smells slightly aquatic to me as well (clean sharpness as it fades).

Two not-so-good mixes I tried recently: Lawful and Paladin both have clean qualities to them, so I wanted to try them together. Oddly, together, they seem to amp up those clean qualities and actually turn soapy on me, when neither are soapy on their own. The chamomile also seems sharper and more bitter. Evil Halfling. I like Halfling layered with most things, but I hate Evil, so I wanted to see if Halfling could make Evil wearable for me. It doesn't. It's better than Evil on its own, because Halfling tries to sweeten up the blend, but it smells sort of like cookies smashed into an ash tray with a splash of sharp opium poured over them. Adding Rogue into the mix makes everything better again, though. I'll have to try just Evil and Rogue together at some point...

I like the name of this, but the scent doesn't work for me. I get that it probably isn't supposed to smell like a perfume and is more insect repellent-y, lol. First on, this smells like lots of herby, sour lemon, probably lemongrass or lemon verbena, and a drydown that's like sour lemon + a hint of green, slightly powdery mint. It might be nice, but I'm not really a fan of lemon or mint unless they're mixed with something sweeter...

This reminds me of apple blossom and bitter grapefruit. It's like a very soapy, fruity shampoo smell with a dry, bitter citrus. Then the drydown is less fruity and more like floral perfumed dryer sheets.

I like this blend a lot. It's sort of like pepper-spicy cedar chips with a drydown that's more like a sweet, warm sandalwood incense. I might try to track down a bottle for my hubby at some point. I just wish that it were a bit stronger and that it had more throw to it.

This is all sharp and sour lemon on my skin. It reminds me of lemon verbena or lemongrass. A clean and sharp sort of scent. I don't like it, but it only lasts about an hour on my skin anyhow...

I've never tried that perfume, but these came to mind when reading your description: *The Little Wooden Doll (Marchen) - "Gently carved wood warm with a maternal love that reaches beyond death: rose-infused amber and soft golden sandalwood." *Vasilissa (Marchen) - "Creamy skin musk and blushing pink musk with soft sandalwood, white amber, dutiful myrrh, and star jasmine."

I really like bpal's apricot note, but this mostly just smells like red musk and maybe a hint of smoky tobacco on me. It has that fruity, warm, almost wine-like quality that red musk often takes on my skin. It's okay, but I have red musk + fruit type scents that I like more.