patina

Ohhh, this is good. There's wood, but it's also almost foody. I can nearly smell spices and cookies. I also see where the "berries" thing comes from. There's something down at the bottom that almost smells like tart dried cranberries. I assumed lunar oils would be white, but maybe lunar oils for this moon include berries and spices. It is yule, right? Though considering I got Heavenlyrabbit's bottle, the berry effect may be all in the nose or skin chemistry. I like oak and while this doesn't smell completely like an oak tree (like The Twisted Oak for instance) this is still very good. Aging will probably bring out the wood and cut down on the tartness (I hope.) In the throw, I do get the distant scent of oak leaves. Edit: As my bottle's settled down over a few days the tannins are starting to come out and it's become more like cologne. Still oddly foody to my nose. I know old paper can smell like vanilla, but this seems excessive. But it smells more like wood now.

Cool people don't wear bpal? Just saying James Bond wouldn't. Cause he's all sophisticated and no fun at all.

James Bond would probably be too cool to wear bpal. But maybe Dee? That might be too scholarly though. Try Villian or Whitechapel.

Strawberry lip balm. At first. But then, there's a touch of pine resin rounding things out, and wisps of real spun sugar cotton candy. Maybe a few flowers. I don't notice them much but they give the scent a little light complexity. I'm so confused. I already have Boo! and Faith for all my sugary needs. This is truly lovely but I'll probably stick to my decant.

Great, I'll have to try it eventually. Edit: Discontinued. Heh.

So, does anyone have recommendations for a cold vanilla? Waltz of the Snowflakes and Snow White are some of my favorite vanilla scents.

Cacao, black pepper, and...furniture polish? The hay note is almost lemony. I can pick up a faint hint of inscence. As it is drying, I pick up whiffs of hay in the air, so the furniture polish only happens when I sniff close up. This is seriously reminding me of Black Temple Burlesque without the tobacco. Whoever said "dirty hippie" was right. This scent just feels shaggy, like rolling around in hay. Maybe I'm a bit weird, but it seems melancholy to me too somehow. Maybe it's the prickliness of the pepper, maybe it's the fact that I read the poem. I don't think I'm being unduly influenced by the poem, but this does seem like a scent that describes someone searching for something they may never find. I think I'll skip this one as I have another dark cocoa scent that I like better.

I get some kind of strange, sweet red rose-powder. It's lovely, but the rose smells crumbled. Along with some juicy pom, there's the merest suggestion of some sort of woody spice, which I believe may be the sleight bitterness of pomegranite combined with star anise. I wouldn't have guessed star anise was in this if I hadn't seen the description, though. Oh, and there are wafting clouds of champa. Lovely as this scent is, it diminishes quite a bit with time. Maybe I'll have to pass on a bottle.

Peach! mostly, with some dark, bitter opium (smells a bit chemical but not unpleasant to me.) Also there's jasmine. I worried it would smell like pee or drier sheets, but there's really so much going on here that jasmine won't ruin anything. There's also lovely, sweet blackcurrant-musk. This is way heady, intoxicating and a little animalistic (jasmine). "Haughty" and "decadent" describe it as well. In a book I once saw a woman's perfume described as "one of those scents that won't give up until something awful happens." This is one of those scents. It's not bad, though. I happen to like blackcurrant and this is stunning. It fits the picture in fact- a cold blue night sky with stars and swirling black clouds of opium. I like it, but I'm wondering if it's too much for me.

I have mixed feelings about this. This is mostly light frankinscense, with a little dark pine pitch and a tiny curl of woodsmoke. I'm sure it'll get stronger as it gets older and possibly balance out a little more, but it's a bit too close to Danse Macabre (and in fact, I prefer toasted hazelnut to woodsmoke ashes). Night Hag may be a little bit stronger than Danse (due to chemistry, I have to keep slathering Danse Macabre.) I'm just going to have to hold onto this one for a while.

I smell the leaves, moss, and vetiver notes from Black Annis. Maybe plus a little geranium, but that vanishes. I prefer Black Annis.

Coconut with patchouli? Try Goblin.

Oh, A Study in Scarlet would be nice. And a Hound of the Baskervilles. I have doubts about Dorian and London (yes, even though I just recommended London.) They both evoke Victoriana for me, but they might be a little feminine for Holmes stories. Old Scratch might work if you're looking for gentleman's cologne. Ooh, and I second Parliment of Monsters for general dark, dusty parlor-ness.

Hellfire sounds promising if Sherlock Holmes infiltrating a Black Mass isn't too weird for you: A scent celebrating Sir Francis Dashwood's Order of the Knights of St. Francis of Wycombe, also known as the Hellfire Club. A swirl of pipe tobacco, hot leather, ambergris, dark musk and the lingering incense smoke from their Black Mass. Also I'd try London (Wanderlust), and Smokestack (Phoenix Steamworks- I'd take a look through the whole Steamworks line myself.) None of the scents say "chemical experiment" like Brimstone, but it has no other notes. In LE's there's Velvet Dogs Playing Poker: Smooth wood, sweet pipe smoke, tonka, and Irish coffee. and A Bachelor's Dog: Soft musk, leather, and Brazilian cigar tobacco.

If you can stand coconut (I think it has it) there's Black Opal. Maybe one of the Salons or traveling Salons would suit you? I'm not terribly familiar with them. I'm also tempted to recommend Prague based only on your eye color, ha. Shanghai goes well with sushi too.

For some reason I thought of La Belle au Bois Dormant first. Not sure is the spelling is right, but it's a rather lovely pear. Lyoness is a lady-like but lovely vanilla, sandalwood scent. If you want something with a little more kick, you could try Liz.

So, if you were putting together a list of scents for a villianess, which ones would you choose? I vaguely have Snow White's wicked queen, Maleficiant, and the Wicked Witch of the West in mind. You can add your own, list scents for wicked queens in general or be specific.

I like patchouli and dark musk. I'm sometimes ok with vetiver, but this... It smells extremely unpleasant in the imp, and ends up mildly unpleasant on my skin. There is something farm-like about it. I blame red sandalwood and ambrette for my dislike. If there was some kind of spice or sweetness to this, I'd probably like it. Try this is you'd like a dark, woody vetiver with a bit of a pimento note.

Beautiful musk and vanilla with apple. Reminds me of Snow White. Then the florals get all shrill and high-pitched and take over. Florals and musk battle it out.

Light mellow apple that's the tiniest bit headshoppy. I really love this one even though it's faint and sticks close to the skin. Be warned, though, when I first apply it, I get the smell of sweet tart candies and then it turns into unpleasant detergent for a few seconds.

The citrus may be the white tea? That's what I'm sensing. I also smell violet leaf and faint hints of red musk. This scent is sweet and complex. There are pale, delicate, dusty notes, citrus-bright notes, and something (myrrh? red musk?) giving it a bit of depth. I can't pick out the myrrh and saffron as scents, but I can tell they're giving this a spicy, resinous weight. I can't smell wormwood at all. This has a traditional perfume vibe and I have no idea why I love it as much as I do. It would be even more gorgeous in the summer, because of the cool pale musk note. I haven't tried The Unsteady Governess, but I think this is in the same family as The Phantom Wooer and Shanghai. Edit: Ok, now I get the herbal powder of wormwood. This is still gorgeous and I get the sense of wispy tendrils of perfume wrapped around me when I wear it.

I was interested in this one, but it has a sweetish, powdery scent that reminds me of hairspray mixed with dust. There's also the suggestion of the powdery insides of latex gloves. After a little while it becomes more pleasant. The sandalwood, while still powdery, loses some of the sickly hairspray sweetness.

The Vetiver is very present, but it doesn't overpower the champa, clove, and cognac. The champa here does have a kind of rootbeeresque scent. Right now, this is a bit manly for me, but I think this is one of those scents that has to be smoothed out by aging before I can appreciate it. It has the potential to be very pleasant dark scent in the future. Edit: actually, as I wear it, this is getting smoother, spicier and more likable. I may get a bottle.

I've read that this could be compared to Smut with cloves, but I don't know because Smut immediately turned to plastic on me. What it does remind me of is Old Demons of the First Class. No black pepper, of course and the musk doesn't seem so shiny and black in this one. Also, Sentimental Initiation is less sharp and woody. The edges are rounded and sweetened a bit, but that doesn't mean it's any less powerful. If anything it may be more powerful than Old Demons. Strangely I get an ash note under the clove. Ashes and something that's almost a burning clove cigarette mixed with those orange circus peanut candies. Well, maybe not quite those, but the mandarin and the fruity red musk seem an odd contrast with the rest of the scent. Later on the drydown, I think I can smell a darker musky version of a ginger-citrus bodywash I had once. That had clove in it too, so maybe that association's not so crazy. This is wonderful to wear in chilly weather, but people who don't like cloves or patchouli should probably stay away.

How about Hymn for the angel/housewife? Or maybe Pink Plastic Flamingo. For Sally, I'd imagine something with cloth. Boo has linen.