zankoku_zen

Cool florals. I get a whiff of tulip, and something that smells like crocus and phlox. This is cool, light, and very green florals. It smells like spring, on a lake that has just defrosted. Medium throw, good wear length.

Black leather, and red and black musk, with whiffs of cherry wood. This oddly enough, smelled like a leather chypre on wet to me, and then dried down to have the leather and the musks amping up. It's a fairly masculine scent, very sophisticated, and very very good. It's not my type of blend, but its gorgeous. Leather lovers, take note. Awesome throw and wear length on me, because leather.

Red leather, chocolate, and black pepper. I get mainly red leather with whiffs of chocolate and black pepper. If you're into leather blends, give this a whirl. Medium throw and wear length.

This is pretty much Sanguinem Menstruum with a very prevalent marshmallow note. It is honeyed, musky bloody, and a sugary marshmallow coating on all of it. Good throw and wear length. If you liked the original SM, but wanted something slightly sweeter, and more accessible, there you go.

OKAY, this very much coded to an apple blossom and white musk. I think its the combination of pink clover plus ectoplasm. It's clean, white, and floral. Good throw and wear length.

Camazotz is for you leather fiends. It's a nice warm leather, a la Lordy, but without the aftershave, and with more musk. It's like Lordy after work. You know takes off his tie, takes several shots of mezcal because goddamn, litigation is a bitch. Who knew that paper trails caused you to work out to much? Good throw and wear length.

Ganeida smells more like an aquatic floral to me, the lavender is the salty type of lavender, which sort of adds to the aquatic presence. It's a sweet aquatic floral though. Medium throw and wear length.

Lady Hatton is a very clean, delicate floral. If you like Dirty, this is like that but slightly more classical? If you're into aldehydes, I'd check this out.

This one is a dark powdery resin. I get mainly myrrh, labdanum, and a whiff of blood musk. It's dark, resinous, and slighly powdery on me. Good throw and wear length.

Creamy root beer with a dash of honey. Yup. Good throw and wear length.

This reminds me to Gun Moll, but sans the gunpowder. It's all this lethal sexiness, but more purple as opposed to having that modern weaponry about. This has all of those dark purple fruits, smoky musk, and threat laced throughout. This is the scent of a woman capable of exsanguinating a man with her bare hands and not getting a drop of it on her dark purple velvet dress. And when she smiles, there's a lizard part of your mind that simultaneously says RUN AWAY and HIT THAT, and you're sure that both sides are 100% right. Good throw and wear length.

Pink Moon is a very pink floral, with notes of peony, freesia, lily and phlox. I get a whiff of strawberry, but in general this is mainly a very pink floral, which transitions and has more of a honey/sugar note as it wears through. Good throw and wear length.

Peru balsam essential oil (Myroxylon balsamum), steam-distilled terebinth essential oil (Pinus palustris), pulverized organic fig and chestnut, handcrafted vegetal musk, blue chamomile and Roman chamomile essential oils (Matricaria recutita and Anthemis nobilis), hyssop essential oil (Hyssopus officinalis), clary sage essential oil (Salvia sclarea), blue yarrow essential oil (Achillea millefolium), valerian essential oil (Valeriana sp.), wild-harvested pinon pine resin (Trementina), chamomile flowers (Matricaria recutita), sarsaparilla root (Smilax regelii), wild-harvested cedar berries (Juniperus monosperma), organically grown orange peel from the TAL garden, juniper berries (Juniperus communis), bayberry root bark (Morella cerifera), crushed oak galls, organic rosehips (Rosa canina and Rosa rubiginosa), locally wild-harvested white sage leaf and white oak bark (many thanks to the genius loci of Los Angeles), and dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale). Each bottle contains a piece of lapis that has been washed in whiskey. Okay, so this smells like chestnuts, orange peel, sarsaparilla, chamomile, and a whole bunch of sage, and whiskey. It sort of golden, and homey, and full of bon homie. It's expansive, and fun, and in general all of the best parts of Jupiter's presence sans the ROCKSTAR/HEY BABY CAN I HIT THAT? In other words, this is more charm and less sleaze. The same way like a good looking suit on a guy does more than having him flex his pectoral muscles does to sell you on the whole package deal.

Honeyed Snake oil with a whiff of cinnamon. If you're into SO or honey, this seems like a match made in heaven. Medium throw and wear length.

Whiffs of lily and red musk. This is a very wispy white blend. Low throw and wear length.

Wet wool gardenia, jasmine and a whiff of something else. Gardenia is a spoiler on this one for me. Great throw and wear length, of course, those bastards.

If it be sinne to loue a louely Lad: Oh then sinne I, for whom my soule is sad. O would to God (so I might have my fee) My lips were honey, and thy mouth a Bee. Then shouldst thou sucke my sweete and my faire flower That now is ripe, and full of honey-berries. – Richard Barnfield Animalic, sensuous, and fierce: juniper berry and patchouli with leather, black musk, burgundy pitch, and honey-berries. Juniper, honey berries, whiffs of black musk and pitch. The leather is MIA. Honestly, this smells like a very clean (hey juniper and gin!) chypre, slightly soapy. Very gender neutral, but definitely a clean chypre for the men folk. Good throw and wear length.

Brian: “Lilith is always up for staging a hammy, fun photo. Here, I’ve found a Distracted American Child at Weihnachtsmarkt am Alexanderplatz and am very subtly and skillfully picking her pocket.” Lilith: “We saw a sign on the ground that said Pickpockets! – and me and Unkie decided to pose like what the picture looked like. He let me pickpocket him for real after we took the picture and he let me keep the money.” Neon pink grapefruit, lemon peel, petitgrain, and peppermint, all crunchy with sugar crystals.  Grapefruit, mint, sugar and lemon. This one is a very citrus based one, and honestly, very refreshing and pleasant. Medium throw and wear length.

Clear honey with a whiff of amber and red currant. It's mainly a honey with a touch of amber. Good throw and wear length.

Minty snow, touch of thyme and sandalwood. This sort of reminds me Death of a Gravedigger or Cloister Snowyard from the Salons. It's got that cool snowy mint, but touches of warmth underneath.

Fresh green bamboo, aquatic moss, and a grounding of patchouli. This is a very fresh cologne on me, very gender neutral. Ugh, I really am digging this. Medium throw and wear length.

This is mainly a dry spices (definitely cinnamon and allspice in there), woods, and no apple. It's still got a nice lather, after all these years. Hella cured soap. I mean 9 years later, and its still good.

I get eucalyptus on wet, fringeing the orange blossom and sage. It dries down to a very soft orange blossom with hints of green almond. Clean, pretty, would make a lovely shampoo or lotion. Very high-end. Medium throw, average wear length.

Brian: “Here, we’re en route to Frankfurt Flughafen and then off to Berlin. It’s always fun to travel with Lilith. We’ve been on a lot of trips together, going all the way back to her first trip out of LA when she was 1. We went to New Orleans that time. We’ve traveled for work and we’ve traveled for fun, and everything is a little bit more interesting when I’m with this kid.” Lilith: “I remember being in a t-shirt in the freezing cold here because I took my jacket off in the airport because it was so hot. I love travelling with my Unkie.” A reinvigorating travel survival oil containing essential oils of frankincense, lemon, eucalyptus, peppermint and rosemary. Leave it to the Virgos to have a practical oil here.  This one smells herby! I get mint, rosemary, a whiff of lavender and frankincense, actually. This one is an herby lavender blend to me. Good throw and wear length. Perfect for aromatherapy for travel.

A working oil for activists. Use when you feel your momentum flagging, to keep yourself centered and grounded, and when you need a boost of strong, steady, stable force to keep yourself calling, faxing, writing, and marching. Myrrh essential oil, Himalayan cedar essential oil, juniper berry essential oil and dried berry, red patchouli and patchouli leaf, jasmine sambac essential oil and jasmine flowers, palmarosa essential oil, peppermint essential oil and dried peppermint from the TAL garden, green pepper essential oil (piper nigrum), palo santo C02 extract, tobacco absolute, and black cohosh from the TAL garden. Post-Justice Kennedy announcement, I was feeling very disheartened. I popped this on today to remind myself that the work is not done yet. It's so easy to despair these days. Or more importantly, use my privilege to joke about moving to Canada. But as a friend pointed out in another FB post, what about the people that can't leave and are stuck here? What about them. So we keep on trucking. And there are days when you have to remind yourself that you're still here and didn't leave others in the lurch is your stepping stone. And you push yourself to do better. This smells like woods, peppermint, and a touch of jasmine. And I'm off to resistbot at my Congressmen.