patina

Maybe this will help? I've tried a few of the Halloweenie scents from other years. Samhainophobia is a nice dark and brown scent, but it's a bit heavy on the vetiver for me and some people say it smells like burning hair on them. Day of the Skulls is a bit sweet. The white sandalwood sort of gives it the texture of bones, the beeswax makes it a bit polished and sweet and the roses and tobacco make it more sweet. Some people may have trouble with a slightly bitter undertone from the tobacco and hydrangea, but I was fine with it. In color I get a white-cream with pastel roses. Samhain is nice, but a little warmer and heavier on the foodiness than I'd like from this kind of scent. (If you're a big pumpkin pie and cider fan this might be for you). From reading the reviews it seems to vary a bit from year to year though. Also The Hell-Gate of Ireland was one of my favorites early on. I got a decant that was an absolutely amazing sweet dark clove scent. It's very warm and when I wear it in cold weather, it actually seems to make me feel warmer. Sadly my bottle of this seemed too heavy on the lab's sulfur note. But I think it has mellowed with age and become more like the decant.

On me, Pickled Imp. It's like being surrounded by a soft vanilla spice cloud.

The Poisoned Apple (if you don't mind the opium) and the LE Conical Beast are really nice. Edit: Though I forgot to mention Conical Beast has vetiver. On me it's a nice background vetiver that's held in place by the pine sap and the super sweet, sticky cherry. But vetiver. Yeah. Conical Beast, Clark Ashton Smith. Black cherry pulp, aged patchouli, wild fruit gums, pine sap, night-blooming jasmine, and vetiver.

I've used this twice. The first time motivated me to write a poem and then may have stimulated some vivid, but non nightmarish dreams. The second time I fell into a dreamless sleep almost immediately after applying it. The scent feels cold to me because of the camphor. Immediately after applying it, I get chills and feel very alert. It's like being terrified without the fear. Initially, the scents a bit too far on the medicinal side for me but the drydown (when I've woken up in the morning) is complex and amazing. I can tell there's mugwort and myrrh involved.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s RPG scent series was designed to emulate the character creation process, and are meant to be layered in order to create a character concept. In short: you layer your class, race, and the two fragrances that compose your alignment to construct your character scent. Elf Druid works well, though it's faintly soapy to my nose. (Could be the wool in Druid?) Evil Elf Druid is also nice, although Evil does a bit of that smothering thing it does. Gnome Druid is woody, and pretty decent. but my surprise favorite was Elf + Darkness (Non-Rpg scent). It's pleasantly smoky without being as coughgag overwhelming as Evil. Dark Elf is awesome.

I ordered two bottles unsniffed and I don't regret it at all. It's caramel-like deep, dark pipe tobacco with a hint of vanilla. It almost reminds me of coffee, but really GOOD coffee. This is AMAZING.

Halloween: Los Angeles comes to mind though that has woodsmoke and might be hard to find. Otherwise, I don't know, Tombstone? Admittedly that's more vanilla/ sassafrass, but it's got a very dry feel to it and has cedar (I think.)

This is an excellent outdoors/forest scent. It smells like wearing a wool sweater in the middle of a grove of trees. It is somewhat faint though. (It's the faintness that makes it believably foresty rather than "whooo! Pine oil!") I think this would be better as a room spray, but I'm still tempted to get it. I think this would be lovely layered with a leather scent or a light spring floral.

How about Love-Lies-Bleeding or Love-in-Idleness? Love-Lies-Bleeding smelled like chocolate and something red to me. I think Love-in-Idleness is a soft floral, sort of a violet scent.

Somehow it reminds me of Black Temple Burlesque Troupe, but there's no cocoa and this has a herbal edge to it. Catmint? Lemongrass? I don't know, but I don't think it's catnip. There maaay be civit, but if so it's well-behaved. I think I'm getting the red musk from Witches' Dance somewhere here too. Nice dark, sweet musk, but may be too one-dimensional for me. (Yes, there are many notes, but they all have the same smooth muskiness if that makes any sense?) Also, I think this could turn to soap on someone with the right chemistry. It is sweet and pleasant though.

I get a lot of fir, which to my nose is sweeter, more rounded, and more lemony than pine. The birch is very present and it's making this sweeter. This smells like the offspring Ondurdis and Pale Student of the Unhallowed Arts, except this is mellower to my nose than both of those. Ultimately, I like it but I don't want more than an imp.

This is the myrrh note I've always smelled in blends. Dark, resinous, woody/bitter, sweet (without smelling like syrup), and with just a hint of cola. As people have mentioned, there's a dusty top note and this smells better as my skin heats up. Even though it's a SN, I might try wearing this alone. For some reason, I also have a strong psychological reaction to this note. It feels very comforting, like being soothed after you've been crying. Favorite note, yeah.

Chewy, sweet, dark, smoky licorice with black currant and spice. Yum. Blue pumpkin floss was way too spicy for me, or at least the spice didn't have much to hold it in check. This seems more balanced. Initially this is a strong, buttery pumpkin, but that gets fainter and the licorice takes over, though it's not too strong to smell maple syrup and blackcurrant. Can you tell I like licorice?

No idea if you'd like this, but how about something from The Last Unicorn collection? Or Mokey or The Gorg's Garden from the Fraggles (if you don't mind smelling like radishes.) From the GC, there's The Witch's Garden and others(go browse around the Marchen section.) No mermaid scents, but there's Yemaya.

This is green, mossy and leathery and it has the sweetness I get in some aquatics. It's pleasant and reminds me of some masculine cologne or other. My brain is tricking me into thinking this smells a bit like damp evergreen forest and tobacco too. Wererats smell of moss and manliness, apparently.

Here goes: Black Annis (GC: leaves and stone, musky cave.) The Decrepit House, definitely. Silenti- reminds me of a well cared for Victorian house. Old Moon- Dusty attic scent Seance- GC: smells like wood in a dusty parlor and old roses (rosewood) to me. Days and Nights in Vaults and Charnal Houses- downright creepy underground scent. Also smells like spring flowers somehow. House of Night- GC: evergreen, floral. Reminds me of a funeral home, all flowers mixing with various people's perfumes and faint cigarette smoke. German Expressionist Horror DD: Old, mildewing velvet drapes, black and white pine forest- a dusty, lonely, mysterious movie set. Sloth GC: Dank basement or room filled with burning incense. I don't know what smells like castles, but Night's Bridge might work.

I also get mahogany or some dark wood with the smallest touch of something lemony. (then again, maybe mahogany just smells slightly lemony to me. Pandemonium certainly did.) Also, there's dust, possibly black musk and the faintest possible smell of oatmeal. This scent has actually made me want oatmeal now. And I don't really even like oatmeal. I can't tell whether this scent has a cold feel to it or not, especially since my room's cold anyway. This scent's just dark, formal wood. Dark wood and a small bowl of warm oatmeal. Mmm, warm oatmeal.

At first sniff, I get something weirdly bitter, like burned nuts. However, as soon as this goes on my skin, the burned smell turns into frankincense and salt. I wouldn't be surprised if ambergris accord was involved too. I get billowing clouds of frankincense smoke and damp, salty ocean air. And stone? Maybe? This has a medium throw and sticks around for a good while on my skin. Similar scents include Halloween: San Francisco.

This is a good pumpkin latte. There's more oak than latte, but I happen to like oak. I also get a musky scent and cologne, but, while the cologne would smell good on a guy, I think it's something I could pull off as well. It helps that the pumpkin spice sweetens everything up. I'm not sure if I want a bottle, but this is a nice, cozy scent. Misketonic U. didn't work on me since it turned into milk, mushrooms and wood. The spice in this one keeps it from going bad on me. It isn't terribly strong after drydown though.

I can see a comparison to both Halloween: Los Vegas and Samhain. (The red musk smells a little fruity, suggesting the cider from Samhain.) This is a very dry, sweet, and very, very red musky scent. I can imagine swirling autumn leaves against an oxblood red sky. However, I can't pick out an individual leaf note. The incense sweetens the blend and gives it more of a perfumy edge. I couldn't tell you what resins were involved in the incense, though. Bottle-worthy? Maybe. The red musk is a little aggressive. Maybe this will smell richer with age.

Initially this is herbal in an unpleasant way. On my skin, it turns into smooth mahogany with a trace of smoke and some spice (the gingergrass, probably). It's a very dark scent. I'd like this on my skin, except there's an aggressive, perfumy edge similar to the one I got in Lurid Library. I'm blaming the red musk. The lemony gingergrass may also be playing a part in making this faintly soapy.

Odd red spice. A little like red hot candies. My mind initially says cinnamon, but it's its own brand of sweet red spiciness, rounded out by the amber and frankincense. This would be a definite bottle purchase, except ginger vanishes on my skin. It turns into a nice sweet resin with a little spice and very little throw. Good, but not great.

This is very sweet and, as another reviewer commented, something like an old perfume. I get the powdery, woody scent of old pages and soft leather but it's more a tactile sense than a smell, if that makes sense. Mostly I get perfume. The resins here are very sweet for some reason (they remind me of Mage) and I can detect tiny traces of the lab's warm brimstone note (as seen in The Hellgate of Ireland.) This is a warm room full of aging paperback books that have soaked up incense and whiffs of brimstone over the years and were recently generously sprayed with old fashioned perfume.

I don't think anything can negate the smell of death (from what I've heard.) I do have to work in an environment heavy with rancid bacon grease sometimes. I've found musky, dirty scents generally make the problem worse (so does Snake Oil). Resins and spices are probably your best bet, especially if they're strong and sweet (not foody, just sweet). My favorites are Melainis (powerfully sweet caramel with spices. Yes there's musk but it's overpowered) Sentimental Initiation (even though it's got black musk, there's some powerful clove) Day of the Skulls (it doesn't seem like white sandalwood, tobacco and beeswax should be so strong, but they're pretty effective at blocking smell for me. As for GC, maybe some of the spicy ones other people have suggested. I've used Event Horizon, but it hasn't cut into the bad smell the way I wanted.

Ditto. pure bananas and hazelnut. This might be nice if you like banana bread, but it seems to disappear from the air not long after I spray it. Too bad.