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You know, I didn't think I'd like this one. I love the artwork of it - but I was worried about the tobacco and the patchouli and the honey. All of which can be very aggressive notes on me. I definitely get a whiff of pine, but I get a honeyed smoky resin underneath. It's strongly, slightly gritty, but womanly. And yes, it does make me think of the picture and it's inspiration. Heh. ETA: I had to try this again, and while the tobacco/patchouli bit is interesting, I find that honey sweetens very much, so it's a much sweeter blend than I would like, so I'm gonna have to pass this off to a good home.

This is a very light scent on me. Slightly herbal on wet, very dry and white on drydown. I do get a bit of the nuttiness and it throws me off a bit.

Iago for me is boozy kinda of leather. It's a leather coat fresh out of the rain in a smoky bar. Very masculine. In the bad boy sort of way. This is the sort of guy you know you don't have a relationship with. In fact, you don't even know when he's going to show up and screw your brains out.

This was a very citrusy rose on wet, and now it's rose powder. Nope, not for me.

This started out as sweet grass, and I thought it might have a little lotus in it, then it becomes a jasmine incense. Boo. I liked the grass stage.

I have to say that Clemence surprises me. It's more wearable than the notes indicate - it starts out spicy on me. I definitely smell the pepper and clove on me. As it dries, I get more of the carnation peeping out and some of the tea, which makes it an almost 'gentle' kind of scent. I can see this appealing to Hod, Inez or Judith & Holofernes lovers - but it's spicy in different ways than any of the previous three blends, at least on me.

Hmm, I have to say that Marianne smells like sweet red musk (ah lotus) to me. I get occasional whiffs of bergamot on the dry down which lends it at citrusy edge. This is very sexy, very sensual.

I definitely get the beeswax and the leather - and it makes me think of a candle burning. If the candle was made of desicated body parts! It's spicy and warm, sort of the same vein of Pickled Imp. But definitely a candle.

This is... sweeter than I expected. I get a super clean, light sort of scent. More floral than the description makes it sound. Odd.

This is strictly cinnamon and clove at the beginning, with just a hint of vanilla. In fact, it kinda smells like cookie dough. After several hours, close to five, it's less spicy, and the vanilla is more gooey, almost plasticy. But for the first five, my son kept saying, "I smell cookies!" Yeah.

This one does make me think green and boggy. It's very much in the same vein as Faeu Boulanger, but whereas FB is a little mistier, this one remains somewhat thick? It's a very clean sort of smell, and part of me is really attracted to this kind of scent. As a perfume, I'm not sure it works entirely with my skin chemistry though.

This must have cardamom, because it's one of spices I definitely smell. It's golden and warm, and spicy. And less floral than I anticipated. It's a little intense for me, especially in our small apartment, but in a huge house with gorgeous furniture, this would be stellar. You need something luxe for it to really do it justice. Nummy nummy. I'm still glad I was able to try it!

Smoky rocks? I get the smoke, but there is also something 'rocky' about this blend. I guess it must be the palm --- but no, seriously - smoky rocks. I'm impressed, confused and still hella impressed.

Oh man, I definitely get the dragon's blood and currants in this one. It's predominantly a sweet, semi-spicy curranty dragon's blood. A tad too sweet for my taste, but you know.

I was very afraid of the lotus - and at the beginning, in the vial and on wet, it was very sweet, almost like bubblegum. That faded, and I get a slightly sweet herbally lavender. Where's the citrus? ETA: Tried the cobwebs proto, Naiad v4, and I feel like the lotus is more of the lotus flower, as I don't get the bubblegum to it. There might be either ginger/ginger flower in this. Def. can smell the lavender and its sweet and mildly aquatic. I like this one much more than the original! My skin eats this up though!

A wispy, ethereal perfume with a touch of menace. Lilac, tuberose, Lily of the Valley, palmarosa, and white sandalwood. On me, the lilies really bloomed. It was very aggressive on wet. As it dried, the lilies calmed down and went to a wispier, white floral. Unfortunately, something in this combination has an odd trace of nail polish remover on me. Scary indeed.

This scent definitely nails in my mind that I need to stay away from BPAL's cream note. On wet, this is buttercream frosting. Then it gets this weird plasticy edge on me. Now it smells of burnt sugar and buttery plastic. *sigh* Not for me.

This is a very masculine scent on me - it's a metallic musky scent. It sort of makes me think of oiled leather and gleaming polish. The musk is the most prominent aspect. This is the smell of the guy that builds a time machine, wears long and fitted coats and recites a sonnet when he sees you. ETA: Tried a sniffie of the prototype. Much more cologne like, the musk is sharper and perhaps there is a touch of leather to it.

I have to say that the vanilla in this blend turns sweet on me. WTF? In any case, I was hoping for vanilla ginger, and that so didn't work out. Tobacco is a very dominant note for me, and it just went smoky. Sadness. ETA: So, this time around I get the mandarin orange, the hay, the leather accord, and hints of lily, tobacco, sandalwood and amber. Overall, its a much richer and a more complex blend, but it degenerates to an orange/leather with hints of amber and sandalwood blend on me. Sadly, if the leather were less prevalent, I think I'd enjoy it more. I think however, that given the King Mandarin SN release, all GC blends that feature mandarin should be revisited as its a bright citrusy top note that doesn't disappear in the first few minutes.

Oh god, this is like acai and honey having dirty sex on my wrist and leaving a gooey mess. Where is the poppy? I was promised a threesome. Sadly, I think poppy had the bright idea and decided to skip town.

I also got floral soap. Jasmine soap to be precise. It's pretty, but not what I expected.

Wow. This is serious blueberries. It was a fizzy blueberry on wet. And now it's a mix of blueberry and ginger. Mmm. I love this part of it. Although I have to admit I like the smell of blueberries, I'm not entirely sure I want to smell like them. I am keeping my decant, and perhaps thinking of more.

This is a very airy scent. I find that it has a note in common with Szepasszony and I think it's the dandelion. It smells sharp and moving and a bit like Szepasszony. Interesting.

You know, Undine smells to my mind what Undertow should have been. It's dark, masculine water. There is definitely vetiver in it. This is heavy water, deep sea water. Murky and kinda spooky. ETA: Trying Undine now after a few years and its definitely more of a powdery aquatic. There's ambergris, moss and perhaps even violet in this.

This one doesn't work on my skin chemistry - the vanilla goes plasticky, which leads to an odd almost dirty patchouli overlay to the red musk. The rose is the other predominant note - so it smells like a dirty, sexy red rose. Yeah, not my type of scent.