zankoku_zen

Soft lavender and strawberry leaf gives way to STRAWBERRY CANDY AND HONEY. GETTING SMEARED ALL OF YOUR FACE. AND NOSE. AND I CAN'T BREATHE. IT ALL SMELLS SWEET. .... (so yeah, if you're looking for sugary blends, give this a whirl. Lavender, why did you leave me all alone? Why?)

Green, stemmy floral. It's nondescript to me. It had a bit of a sour tinge on wet, and then dried to a creamy, slightly sweet floral. PASS.

To me, Evening Stock SN..... smells like Charlie. Yeah, that 80s perfume? Except better. It's lush, sophisticated, heady, purple floral. It's got a bit of an resinous drydown. And goddamn does it stick around. After 12 hours, I can still smell it on my wrist (very skin close, but still prevalent). .... Mayhaps I need a bottle?

So Silver Haired Bat starts up as an odd musky cotton candy blend, that quickly warms and loses its sweetness on me. It dries to a smooth, slightly sweet cedar and amber blend, with hints of pepper that gives it a spicy note on me. Whee! I feel like I dodged a bullet. Part of me really wanted musky cotton candy. My wallet however was not in concurrence with the idea.

Light, clean and fresh. It's a little watery, a little soapy on me but I am absolutely astounded that it doesn't smell like actual bubblegum on me. Weirdly fabulous!

Dark, syrupy, musky. It reminds me to Spawn of the She Devil the most (Snake Oil second). It's very wearable, but probably not by itself and I'd definitely use it to make any scent "sexy muskier".

Oh lord, it smells like an outside garden. I do get whiffs of moss, and sunflower (a little bitter, which works well to counteract the sweetness), ivy. It smells like slightly sweet blossoms, and greenery. FABULOUS. LOVE IT!

Leather and dandelions... It's a bit odd, actually. It's like Orc had a wee-baby. It's got that same green planty smell with a TON of leather.

Coconut, rice milk and hints of apricot. It's a milk, creamy coconut and rice milk. It's tropical and lush.

Red musk, frankincense and leather. Sexy, leather, red.

Lush orchids, hint of bitter marigold and smokiness. Sophisticated, heady, womanly.

I am utterly and very pleasantly surprised with this blend. It's got a hellish Pom (you know, its bright and fruity but if you EAT it, you have to stay in Hell with Hades for like, ever) and the entire vibe is RED. I swore it smelled like it had red musk in it (probably due to the fruity Pom), but on the drydown I realise it's the myrrh and the leather having some a SEX baby hybrid that smells like the red musk single note. The Apple of Cain is the fruit from the strawberry tree... Have no idea what it smells like, but probably is contributing to the fruitiness of the blend. Slight whiff of cognac after about an hour of wear. This blend reminds me to Regina Erebi and the other 'hell' Poms (and that Pom atmo I can never spell the name of).

To me, this is definitely a lighter rose (more along the lines of a tea rose) note. It's starts out lemony/citrus on wet, and as it dries that drops off a little, the rose aspect develops and so does the 'green stem' part, which actually reminds me more to the 'green stem' fresh quality that some of the Rose Red blends do. It sort of reminds me to some of the Yule 'christmas rose' blends[is it the First Soft Snow?] which aren't really a real rose but some time of narcissus, although sometimes it veers into the tea rose category. Fresh, citrusy, rosey.

Apricot, honeycomb and pink pepper. It's a lush, gorgeous apricot/peach noted honey with enough pink pepper to keep it from being too sweet. Sadly, I amp up with pink pepper note, and it ends up too peppery on me. Other than that, on wet, it was absolutely delicious.

OMG, Ebisu you are back! I amp up the nectarine and the oakmoss... except sweeter because of the honey, and I get more of the sandalwood with some musk peeking through. But yes, whoever said that this is Ebisu is right. Except its more of a female Ebisu. Softer, sweeter, gentler. I enjoyed Ebisu, so I enjoy Alcie. I used to have a partial of Ebisu, and this is a pretty close dupe to it.

Lavender, ylang ylang, white florals. It's sort of sharp and soapy on me. PASS.

Yup, thank you ma'am! On a total aside, was craving tim tams the other day. Thought of you, and your special Australianess with a gazillion tim tam flavors at your disposal.

Cereal and cherry jelly beans! Sweet, foodie, candy!

I have to agree with SDB in that there's a very CLEAN aspect to all of these patchouli/smoke/suede. Its much lighter than expected. And it smells like a combinations of patch/smoke/suede should smell like.... but as a reflection. It's like the real thing was here AGES ago, so you just catch whiffs of it. On me, I totally amp up the linen aspect of it, so take that with a grain of salt.

Oooh goodness, this definitely smells like Camay soap. Which was the soap that my grandma used to use! It's an utterly nostalgic blend to me. My grandmother passed away when I was thirteen, and this just brings back vivid memories of grandma hugs, washing my hands in her soap. It's a happy, cheery, lilac/rose floral. Very comforting. Would never really wear it as a perfume, but definitely a 'grandma' blend in the best way possible.

I find Opium Tar to be the most heavily scented of the bath brews I've tried. Again, it makes the water silky and milky, and it smells like black currants and a hint of opium. I'd adore it with a teensy bit more of sweetness (why hello Tears of Seraphim, would you like to come play too?) but its still lovely and I would still use it as is.

I meant to write this review a while ago, but forgot. It's not so much for the scent as for results. I used BTC (possibly with Road Opener at one point, but can't remember) around the time that we wanted a situation resolved. Well, it worked. And we got what we wanted. And it should have been scary, but it wasn't. I guess the most apt words are "movement" and "flow", as BTC makes things HAPPEN. Its highly effective, and I'd recommend that it be used when you really want a desired result. Just be careful, because you WILL get it.

Anyone have a picture of the Benevolent Triple Conjunction label?! Anyone?!

Orange! On wet, its got a strong orange note that dissipates to a soft milky blossom and spicy ginger blend. This is fun, energetic, and sporty. If you liked the Fraggle Rock Red blend, you might want to give Bub a whirl.

Leather and paper. This is nice, soft brown leather and a crisp 'paper' note. Its a bit dry, and fairly masculine on me. I find the leather along the lines of Quincy Morris, in the sense that its brown leather, soft, and accessible as opposed to the black leather note from DeSade. Leather lovers, take note.