zankoku_zen

Mango and a whiff of pink floral tuberose. It smells like the tropics. Good throw and wear length.

Whiff of lime, and some white musk. It's soft, slightly tart, musk. Light to medium throw.

Wine! Wine with plums, pine, mulling spices, apples, pumpkin. So fall wine. But yes, wine. Wine for the Sabbath, and Mabon, and for all of those Autumn times. When the wind gets cooler, the nights chillier, the leaves turn color. Good throw and wear length.

Uhhh, Florida Water is that you? This 13 smells heavily of Florida Water to me. I get lavender, sandalwood, ylang ylang, mandarin, chamomile, bergamot and a whiff of hops and borage. There's some resins in the background, but its this floral lavender with herbs and other things. Good throw and wear length. Very calming and soothing.

Tobacco smoke with pomegranate dribbled on top. Heavy tobacco, and juicy red pom. Middle throw and wear length.

Peach, champagne, and a whiff of black pepper. This one smells actually like a bellini. It's a dry champagne, and just enough of a whiff of peach skin to give it a bit of sweetness. It's effervescent, sweet, but not cloying or overwhelming. Good throw and wear length.

This one is as advertised sticky sweet cotton candy sugar and incense. After it dries, the incense is more prevalent, and it ends up as a sweet sugary incense as opposed to straight up cotton candy and smoke. Medium throw and medium wear length.

Graham crackery and cream cheesy! Cinnamon brown sugary! Just a little carroty!

The orange marigold, or zempasuchitl, has been one of Death’s symbols since the pre-Columbian era. The yellow and orange petals are believed to represent the rays of the sun, bringing joy and light to the souls dwelling in the realm of the dead. These flowers surround Day of the Dead altars to guide the spirits to their offerings.

This was a prototype released via the Lab's ebay page. Puddin' described it as "It smells good" on the BPTP FB page which announced the ebay auctions. The prototype came in a cobalt blue bottle, with a white label, handwritten "Isolde", and the tag of "not for sale". When you first open it up and on wet, it smells like white florals. Which isn't something that really has a great shelf life, and my guess is that this is an early prototype, pre-2005. AND THEN LET'S START THE MORPHING POWER RANGER DRIVE, SHALL WE? I get this bourbon vanilla that sort of erupts underneath the white florals, which are fading into oblivion. It's rich, sweet, and vanilla. Maybe its also vanilla flower? Who knows. Then this marshmallow like note starts to develop underneath the vanilla, and I'm left with a sweet, marshmallow-vanilla, but yet still gives the vague white flower impression. As if you took marshmallows and made them into vanilla flowers. The throw is low, even skin low, but honestly, if my skin smelled like vanilla marshmallow flowers, it wouldn't fucking matter and given the age, I'm impressed it even has that much. So I got this because growing up, Tristan and Isolde were my favorite Arthurian pairing. Which I blame a summer reading class on when I was 13, and fairly impressionable, so I thought it was horribly romantic. Now that I think about them and their story, its got so many issues, that I can't even begin where to start.

"This is an oil of power, but specifically it is an oil of power accumulated and wielded benevolently. It amplifies charisma, heals while providing healing to those in your sphere, amplifies authority, and brings opportunities for you to use your personal power to commit acts of true generosity, kindness, and compassion. Honeyed amber with 24k gold leaf, organic Atlas cedarwood (Cedrus atlantica) and organic Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) essential oils, two organic frankincense essential oils (Boswellia carteri and Boswelia serrata), organic bay laurel essential oil (Laurus nobilis), organic bergamot essential oil (Citrus bergamia), organic clove bud essential oil (Syzygium aromaticum), chips of Baltic amber, bee pollen, saffron (Crocus sativus), whole wild-harvested cedar berries (Juniperus monosperma), organic chamomile flowers (Matricaria recutita), organic cloves (Syzygium aromaticum), calamus root (Acorus calamu), sunflower oil, single-origin olive oil, Ethiopian frankincense tears (Boswellia papyrifera), Baltic amber chips, and rue (Ruta graveolens), Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), bay leaf (Laurus nobilis) and angelica root (Angelica archangelica) that have all been harvested from the TAL garden on the day and hour of Sol, plus some heliotrope harvested on the day and hour of Sol from Lilith’s best friend’s parents’ garden."

To me, The Golden Sovereign codes to Heart of the Lion, but with a smidge of Jupiter's influence from The Fulfiller Who Whispers Words of Wisdom. It's this golden robe, more than a golden crown. It's powerful, golden, and solar. So much solar. It's about stability, generosity, and embracing the bounty that is life. To me, it smells like frankincense, herbs, amber. I wore this to a work retreat to bolster my sense of generosity, and also ability to be in a space with lots of people for several hours. It worked well for me.

UGH, jesus, I didn't expect this to smell so good. Manly tobacco, whiff of patchouli, but oddly enough it ends up as sort of a bay rum/tobacco blend on me, and if I were a dude, I'd be engaged in a sordid affair right this minute. Dangerously good. Medium throw and wear length, but slaying hearts when you do catch a whiff of it.

Dusty clove, and a whiff of dark chocolate. This is mainly clove on me. UGH. Delicious. Good throw and wear length.

Tropical coconut with cardamom swirls. Its that suntan lotion coconut smell. I swear, you would think you're at the beach. Good throw and wear length.

The smell of Healing is citrusy and herby, and very comforting. I rubbed this on my palm of my hand, where I had some pain due to over-exertion. It's like using ibuprofen. I did take ibuprofen last night, but this seems to be maintaining the level of inflammation down. I'm excited to use this on behalf of others who will be going through some surgeries in the upcoming future.

I mainly get lemon peel, and a whiff of hot ginger. Refreshing, sparkling, gingery. Medium throw and wear length.

Oh hey, aquatics! This is a manly aquatic. I get cucumber, lettuce, fresh water, bit of agave, and a manly sort of musk. If you wanted to smell like a mermen, use this. Great throw and wear length.

Dandelion and freshly turned earth. As it dries, it goes from being dandelion mostly, to dandelion and dirt, and after 8 hours, just a bit of dirt, with a whiff of dandelions. Medium throw but great wear length.

No scent description.

AHA! So black oudh is the same oudh as in Vampire Lace. It's very strong on wet, but then dissipates a bit after 2-3 minutes. I then get the white peach and red musk, but the red musk and black oudh combine to something that smells very very unpleasantly musky on me. I have to say that after 5 minutes, the black oudh has very much retreated into a musk territory after frightening the beejesus out of me and making me have flashbacks to the opening of Vampire Lace. My skin seems to be eating this blend, because I can barely smell it now. WELP.

Saffron, honey, and peach. So I think regular oudh is what is problematic on me, and sweet oudh just provides this musky delightfulness. This one is along the lines of a honeyed incense blend, because saffron, to me. Good throw and wear length.

I can see why everyone loves this one. The yuzu and grapefruit are the most prominent, but then the peach comes through, and its a sweet grapefruit/peach blend, with a little musk underneath. It's fresh, fruity, and a crowd pleaser. Great throw and wear length.

Marshmallow, sugar, and peaches with a whiff of orange blossom. Exactly as advertised. Foodie, sweet, peachy. Good throw and wear length.

Peach, and more of an herbal liquer to my nose than brandy. Medium throw and wear length.