patina

On me (will not apply to everyone): Banded Sea Snake: Nice, mossy and oceany vanilla scent. One of the few I can tolerate when I'm nauseated. Temple Viper: Incense, specifically nag champa and snake oil. Not sure what else since I swapped it away. King Snake: Frank and hyssop, kind of underwhelming to me. Green Tree Snake: Cool and refreshing, but the mint means it doesn't last long on me and has a fairly low throw. Boomslang: Rice milk, chocolate, and...dirty dipers? My skin chemistry hates it. Diamondback: If I was more into soft leather this would be perfect. Just that and a little snake oil. Very dry. Asp Viper: My favorite! But then I'm a fanatic for myrrh. Has an autumn feel somehow. The orange is pretty subtle and more of a sweetener than anything else.

It's a really fantastic book! It took me completely by surprise! I'm loving it, though pretty sure like most of my favorite characters, that the Gentleman won't be surviving. We'll see, ah well! I do have that book of short stories on my list as well, thank you for reminding me! I also LOVE the Raven King and Childermass! Haha, what do your think would match them? Also, I may or may not be looking into some of the scents you used for the Gentleman- some of them have slipped my notice and sound rather lovely. Huuummm! Childermas: The Raven, though that might be a little too scholarly. Robin Goodfellow, except that's too informal. The Raven King: Raven Moon, except with stormclouds? Honestly something with all the stormclouds and darkness that can be crammed in.

Hidden beneath the arms of an ancient gnarled oak sits an overgrown, weedy patch of monkshood, sacred to Hecate and brought forth from Cerberus' spittle, that is surrounded by shrieking mandragora, black nightshade, wise sage, dire hemlock, creeping ivy, and thorn apple. There's a floral/ herbal/ conifer edge to this and I can pick out the oak. It smells a little powdery, almost as if there was amber involved. Mostly it's just dark trees and herbs.

Even though Druid has wool in it, it's one of the most accurate forest scents.

"Smite Thy Borders With Froggies" is how I misread the scent at first and that's going to be how I always think of it. This is a strong green musk, like that in Laughter of Loki. There's a detergent element that I somehow don't find that offensive. Maybe because the vegetable element can frequently shift the scent from "soapy" to "damp greenness and raw squash." The vetiver stays well blended and in the background, the vegetables and herbs are lovely. However if you have a problem with soapy scents this might not be for you. In comparison with the other frog scents, this is more earthy and vegetal than Plague of Frogs, which is more of an aquatic. It lacks the strong powdery stone note of Palus Nebularum.

Try Titania, that's pleasantly peachy.

Red musk and black patchouli are my OTP though normally I prefer a third element to soften them up. This is dirty and sweet and a little goes a very long way. I do get a faint something sweet and a little charred which I think may be the birch sap. That element's faintly like tempra paint. Imagine red and black tempera paint poured out and blended a bit. That's a good visual representation of the scent. Or imagine a red and black vintage Krampus postcard in the expressionist style. It's amazing how well the scent captures the subject. All the Krampuses have been amazing.

Red Patchouli is not kind to me, it's very sharp. But I got this one anyway because I thought the musk and tobacco would triumph. And they do, but sadly the red patchouli and whoa! smokiness of the scent make it smell like burning plastic on my skin. I don't get any blackcurrent. Off to the swaps! Edit: Eventually the sweet musk smooths over the burning plastic.

Light and airy black tea. Apparently black sandalwood smells clean to me. This is so well blended I can't really separate the patchouli or vanilla even though they're certainly there and they become more prominent as the scent wears on. I get the same almost-anise sense I get with Nightsbridge. Maybe this has Nag Champa? If Visions of Autumn VII was too smoky-woodsy for you or you just want something that smells like night air this might work. So: night time, darkness, clean, cozy, mysterious Related Scents: Nightsbridge, Visions of Autumn VII, Noctiphobia, black patchouli, nag champa, The White Rabbit

First applied, this has strong clove and it's rich and cake-y smelling, as if there was a thick vanilla here. Sadly there's very little throw on me and the pumpkin stops being rich and buttery and turns dry and husky, sort of a wood scent. Still a good oil for those that like patchouli and clove. surely it will age well.

My favorite of the Weenies! Dark tobacco, smoothed and sweetened by opoponax and myrrh with just a hint of black pepper. The sandalwood gives it a clean slightly woody edge, but it doesn't smell soapy. Lovely for the resin lover, this does remind me of La Lugubre Gondola, but a much darker version (Edit: And with myrrh/opoponax instead of amber, of course!)

Skekung the Garthim Master?: Vetiver, smoke, steel, and dragon's blood resin. When the CD comes back, maybe The Chapel (if he drinks wine), or the Grand Inquisitor's Turning Fork LE: halloweenie: The Hell-Gate of Ireland (Smoldering brimstone, bitter labdanum, clove, black musk, and copper-colored feathers.) No blood, but it does have a cave/ sulpher hot springs vibe that might be appropriate LE: The Rending of the Rock (Doom unfettered, the ruin of hope: the tattered remains of Gelgja, smashed stone, feral grey musk, and blackened blood.) I haven't tried this but it might work. The Three Cocks (Red musk and belladonna blossom for Hel’s red rooster, amber and copal for Gullinkambir, and pimento-soaked red clove for Fialar.)

Ooh, pretty! Tobacco, vanilla, myrrh and orange blossom come together nicely. The cinnamon blends seamlessly into the other scents. I know it's there but I can only detect it by the very slight burning on the skin where I applied the scent. The scent reminds me of tiger stripes. If you like tobacco and orange blossom you'll probably like this.

Beautiful. Licorice bark and freesia are strong on the first application and it's a bit soapy at first, but the soapiness disappears, leaving a clean, pretty scent that is dark and sheer, fluttery almost. The jasmine behaves itself. The scent on the whole is quite sweet.

(Note: can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet. My bottle is from '09.) Lots of jungle leaves and florals, dark, slinky, animalistic (must be the honey, jasmine and blackberry), sweet and juicy with a dry finish from the sandalwood. Basically what everyone else said. On certain chemistries I could see this turning too sour. It almost does that with me, but even though I don't normally do well with citrus, the orange pulp behaves. I consider this a summer scent.

Schwarzer mond - heavy on the patchouli and resins The Final Darkness- It's a bit sweet and candy like but I love the black amber Panther Moon - if you don't mind a slight anise smell, this is an incredibly smooth dark musk. Destructive Vagina of the Fox Spirit- coffee, vanilla orchid, dark musk, black amber. And stuff. Count Dracula- Nice clove, patchouli, oak scent On Darkness- weirdly the lavender reminds me of blueberry waffles. Resins turn sweet on me, though. Creature Feature- dark musks that smell a bit like some classical perfume. Very fifties. German Expressionist Horror- If you don't mind pine, this is a very dark, musky scent that reminds me of the smell of old velvet theater curtains. Blood (GC)- Myrrh, cherries, clove, dragon's blood. This smells delicious to me. Ship of Hel- The scent has myrrh and ice notes. The spruce does smell a bit like pineapple though. I still love it. Eldrich Dark Witch's Dance- the red musk and leaves smell dry and a little woody. I think there might be some smoke here, so be cautious. Halloween Los Vegas- cake and a dribble of snake oil yes, just a little smoke, but it's delicious and amazing. Totentanz- another good clovy dark scent

I get syrupy, super sweet dark resins and dust. This is actually not bad, though there's a faint medicinal tinge. There's a faint bit of coolness, a hint of ice and black ocean. The sweet resins are the most prominent thing though. I get a good throw. I love this one, although I am a dark resin fanatic and I don't mind the syrupiness.

Spruce does the weirdly fruity, fizzy thing it usually does. It almost smells a little like pineapple at first! However, it soon calms down and the resins and oak come out, making it smell a like cold, murky root beer. I like root beer, so this is awesome. The scent is fresh, dark, cold and perfect for summer. It reminds me of a less light and muddy Kumari Kandam.

On me this is very ozony, almost cold. Rubbery too. There may even be a spearmint note here somewhere. I detect a murky green scent like cucumber underneath the ozone. The comparison to aquarium funk is pretty acurate, but it goes away on the dry-down. The aquatic doesn't turn completely to dryer sheets which is rare for me. This would be a perfect hot weather scent, but sadly it disappears very quickly on me.

Ooh, forgot Plague of Frogs from the Hellboy series. It smells mostly ozony and clean (maybe a little minty) but there's a definite unwashed aquarium/ bitter green undertone that isn't exactly unpleasant. No plants and it doesn't last long at all on me, but it's got the green murky water thing down.

shanghai? Is that you? It also smells a bit like one of the atmo sprays, minus the cherryblossoms. Mostly bright green tea, but with something in the background keeping it down a little bit. Probably the agarwood. Maybe some tobacco, but I can't smell it over the tea. Try it if you like: Shanghai, Evil, Okiya Atmosphere Spray.

Wine! Also roses and frankincense and a little inoffensive honey. The frank is very dry and holds the super-sweetness of the wine in check. Really this is one of the best frankincenses I've smelled. It smells like a little altar. Most likely a bottle purchase, but then again, I like everything here. It gets a little faint on the drydown but that's okay.

The red musk is the strongest note at first, but it's not the spotlight hog that I anticipated. Together with the opoponax there's a strong woody feeling. The rose blends well with the scent, it's very lush. This is a bit of a vampy scent. Scratch that, it's an extremely vampy scent. It vants to suck your blood. This is definitely not as strong as I thought it would be. The opoponax is probably holding it down. Although opoponax gives the impression of syrupy sweetness, it can be hard to actually pick out as a scent. That must be why red musk isn't amping all over creation. I will have to test further and see how long it lasts.

In the vial: Strong nag champa, with coffee bean. It smells a little fruity (as in, it's coffee bean, not brewed coffee) and I can detect a depth that might be coming from the black amber. The vanilla is present as well. Overall, this is weird. I don't know about this combination. Skin testing: Yum, this is sweet, milky coffee (without an actual milk note. It must be the vanilla). There's champa but doesn't clash. As another reviewer said, it's like having a latte in a coffee house where someone's been burning expensive champa. The champa becomes more prominent after a while. Results: Drat. I didn't want to have to explain why one of my perfume bottles has "vagina" in the name. The only problem is that it's a bit on the light side.

Faeu Boulanger (CD) is supposed to represent marsh lights. It has violet and it may be kind of light for what you want. It smells misty and weirdly metallic to me. Bayou is mostly floral and wood to me. The Black Swan (a retail salon) if you can find it, is a dark aquatic. Although it has lotus it's very evocative of a dark pond. All in all it was probably the best swamp scent I've tried. I tried The Gilman House Hotel yule?, but it was a bit more sharp and green than I'd like. Also there's a paint thinner note. Wiley's Swamp from the Sleepy Hollow Halloween series smells strongly like boiled chesnuts. For dank rotting oak, Oborot (lunacy) and The Twisted Oak (Halloween) are two of my favorites. Druid isn't exactly a swamp smell, but it is a realistic forest smell. I suggest looking up scents with oakmoss or Spanish moss too.