bluelena

GAH! Cheap hairspray! I thought that caramel was the only note that did this on me. Maybe with age things will change? I hope so. If not, off to the swaps section it goes!

Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. Days and nights in vaults and charnel houses: grave soil, necrophagous insect chitins, moss, mold, dried blood, rot, dirt-smeared wool, and sweat-drenched citrus lilac aftershave. If there was a such thing as a clean dirt scent, this is it. I get a whole lot of graveyard dirt and some of the moss that is taken down a notch maybe by the citrus lilac aftershave. However, I can't pick out "citrus" or "lilac" separately. It reminds me a lot of a softer, gentler Worm Moon.

I don't usually review, because my nose isn't quite sophisticated enough to pick out individual notes, but I like what I like. And I LOVE THIS. As in, this might be my first multi-bottle purchase. (And I have A LOT of bottles and favorites) Let me preface by saying that this could have been very, very bad on me. Sweet-sugary notes can often be notes of death and burnt hairspray on me, and wine is sometimes pretty barfy on me, but I'm so glad I took the plunge on this one. There is a layer of pipe-tobacco and incense, a layer of something sweetish (red velvet?) and maybe a bit boozy, and a layer of the dry leaf/autumn-y thing that reminds me of my beloved Dia de los Muertos. Definitely not OMGWTFCAKE as I feared. As others have said, it does stay close to the skin, but I kind of don't mind that. It's so complex, well-blended, and just plain special that you should have to get in close to earn a whiff.

Okay. I'm not sure who I need to contact on this one. Right after I placed my last lab order, the debit card I used through CCNow was compromised. I had to cancel and reissue it. The charge went through just fine and I received my stuffs from the lab. Strangely, though, well after I received everything, my bank shows a "reverse debit" from CCNow in the exact same amount as the order. I scrutinzed my records and I wasn't ever double-charged, so unless I won some sort of super secret contest, it looks like I got my stuff for free. To reconcile, do I need to contact CCNow? Or the Lab? I'm confused.

This is totally sweet and aquatic on me. I'm a freak!

When I first applied this, it was pretty foody. I likened it to a spicy muffin. I never got any plum. And then it dried and went all Aqua Net.

This smells exactly like pineapple upside down cake on me. I can't decide if that's a good thing or not. I'm still exploring foody scents.

Even though they don't have any notes in common, Velvet Bandito smells like a slightly woodsy version of Potion on me.

Another LUSH comparison here... and my very first review! My nose is still wearing its training wheels, but when this goes on I can defininately make out the cedar. It's really kind of dusty/spicy on me, wet. And then, even though it shares NONE OF THE SAME NOTES, it dries down to LUSH's Potion that's a little woodsy - LOVE!

YSL Paris is the first thing I thought when I tried Wanda this past weekend. On me, it's a dead ringer!