patina

It's not out yet, but I think you might want to look into Electricity is Life when it gets released with the Carnival. Otherwise, maybe Lurid or Lightning?

Thank you so much for posting those. By the way, has anyone seen the new TAL lables? They have a mercury symbol. I'd take a picture, but I don't have a camera right now.

seconded. Also, what about the RPG lables that aren't shown on the site? (ie the male halfling and so on.)

This is one that needs to settle in on my skin. At first it's a bit jarring and bitter, but the bitterness eventually goes away. Other reviewers have done an excellent job of describing this already, so I'll just say that this smells like Julia Stone, if Julia stone had leather instead of linen.

I can't pick out any particular reisens, but on my skin, this blooms into something incredible. It's very soft-edged and a little sweet. Not sugary though. Somehow I'm a little reminded of Event Horizon even though there isn't any opium or orchid here.

Yay! I got some imps. Here's a series of Evil themed tests ____________________________________________________________ Evil Cleric: I don't really care for this. The Cleric dominates and tends to bring out the soapiness in Evil. It's sweet and the the tobacco and frankenscence does well together, but I don't like it. The roses clash with the plum. Evil Cleric Orc: The leather smooths and improves the Evil Cleric. The zucchini and vetiver, however are just plain out of place until the scent settles down. Picture an orc in a slinky black dress, wearing eyeliner. She's got roses in her hair, she works with sweet inscence every day, but if you cross her she will smash you with her enormous fist. On the American grading scale, I give it a C. *********************** Evil Elf: Elf smells a little childish to me on its own, but add Evil and it smells like a Saturday morning cartoon villianess. Still childish, but sultury. For some reason I picture her with light purplish skin and white hair. B. Evil Elf Ranger: Even more fruity. Why so fruity? Well at least there's the buckskin showing up. I think Ranger deepens the scent a bit, but doesn't measurably improve it. Chaotic Evil Elf Ranger: Lollipops. Grape, cherry and pear flavored lollipops with musk. The beeswax must be bringing out the sweetness because this is much too much for me. ***************************** Elf Fighter: The berries clash with the steel and leather a bit, turning Fighter chemically in a major way. I'm afraid it probably wasn't meant to be. ***************** Evil Dwarf: Sweeter than Dwarf alone. I can't help but think of Evil as feminine. Now, I have an image of a dwarf in a slinky black dress and eyeliner, swigging beer and smoking in some dark workshop. Cheri Littlebottom, is that you? Lawful Evil Dwarf: Ahh, that's better. Not that it was bad before, but Lawful gives a certain backbone to the scent, pulls it together somehow. Lawful Evil Dwarf Rogue: Wood, leather, and chemical musk overkill. The reisen in Rogue is nice, but the hemp seems to turn into scented tissues. Not my thing. ************** NON-EVIL RELATED STUFF I LIKE: Sorry this post is so long! Orc Fighter- Light, leathery unisex cologne. This is so good on the inside of my wrists. Seriously, neither of them smell nearly so good alone. Sexy Orc (Snake Oil + Orc): Seriously, it's Snake Oil, rough leather and the cucumber turns to grass. How could it smell anything less than good? But Chaotic Sexy is even better. I don't have Neutral, but I think Chaotic must need some kind of light musk to keep it under control. Chaotic and Snake Oil is just amazing. Rogue or Mage does further nice things to this blend.

In Imp: Shoe-store leather with something metallic/sweet. Dragon's blood? Weird. On: A lot of the RPGs have turned out weirdly sweet on me and this is no exception. Can that be lemon verbena I smell on the leather? Something lemony that isn't lemons, anyway. It's like a very fancy, sophisticated shoe store with in-house perfume. If the sweet stuff is meant to be steel, it's polished, gleaming. (and I still say it smells of lemons.) I like this, but it's so weird. Edit: This has become my go-to scent for wanting to smell like an Amazon. The steel and hint of blood stops the leather from being overwhelming. Now that this has aged I no longer smell lemons. And...it's just good.

Berries! It does smell a lot like Bewitched, except the honeycomb makes it an almost dead-ringer for wildberry lipgloss. But then the beeswax starts heating up on my skin and various woods come out to play. Not wood, really. I can't pick out any particular scent. Except maybe juniper? It's more like a sense of leafiness. Childish, but pretty.

In imp: Whoa! Sharp camphor/ pine and maybe some musk. On: This does smell a bit like a dark workshop. It's got the dirty roots of Badger, the stone of Nightsbridge, and the metal from Phoenix Steamworks (if I remember the last correctly.) And camphor. Camphorcamphorcamphorcamphor. Eventually the camphor disappears and it turns into a nice rooty dark workshop.

Stickwitch: because I didn't see your post answered- since you seem to like moss and dry scents, how about Danse Macabre? It's got frankenscence, cypress and moss.

How has it taken me so long to find and review this? At first application, it was a lovely dark cola scent. I don't amp opium, so all the oils play nicely together. The orchid smells somewhat like vanilla. This turns into a light-intensity scent after a little wear. My only complaint is that it's a bit one-dimensional, flat. Hades is similar in feel, though that scent is more of a floral to me.

If you don't mind jasmine, New Orleans is lovely.

Ah, Romanti.Goth. The one I figured out I'd like far too late. Heh. You know, I'd heard of Chrysanthemum Moon, but I thought it was pure chrysanthemum or something. Definately some things to try here.

I really like the opium note in On Darkness (at least I think it's the opium that I love) and I'd like to try other opium scents. Any recommendations? I've tried Darkness, but narcissius is a bit off, somehow (too perfumy?). I've also tried Anathema and loved it...until it dried down and turned into eau de cardboard box. What are your favorite sweet, dark opium scents?

I second Madame Moriarty. There's also the Snap-Dragon Fly which some people don't like due to the holly. It smell like gorgeous rich stewed plum on me, until it turns sour and soapy, but that happens with all plum scents for me, I love plum, but I can't wear it well. If you can find Mother Shub's 13 for sale on the forum, that has plum, flowers, fudge and black musk among a lot of other ingredients and it smells lovely- at least until my chemistry kicks in.

I was confused about whether to try Rose Red, The Peacock Queen, or The Rose for the smell of a real rose off the bush, so I smelled them all. I had to compare scents from different years, so keep in mind that aging might be a factor. The Peacock Queen (2007) smells like wine. Fresh from the bottle it smells fermented and acetone-like, but it soon settles down. Rather than the fruity true-red rose from Rose Red (2005), this reminds me of a dark maroon or burgandy. It is velvety. Unlike both The Rose and Rose Red, Peacock Queen doesn't seem to have greenery. I think I can smell some bare wood in there, but it doesn't smell like leaves. I don't amp roses and Peacock Queen is a fairly light scent for me. It does have good throw, though. With my hands at my sides I catch whiffs of a faint rose scent sometimes. Peacock Queen is darker (in tone) and more enduring than The Rose and lighter (in intensity of smell) than Rose Red.

Sybaris. Definately. The tonka gives it a sweet, candylike smell. Or Faith, which has sugar.

In the decant, this is strongly patcholi and wormwood. On, this evolves into HEMP. As in "HI, I'M HEMP. I'M IN A ROPE." There may be a little cowering patchouli behind it. It's not actually bad, just not good either.

Impolight posted a picture that captures the colors I get from this scent. I don't actually get that visual. If one came to mind, it was more of a tangled swamp. But anyway, it's got the blue of a twilight sky with dark, murky woods. I have no idea why I get a bluish element to this one, but I do. I like black cypress, it has sort of a gnarled, spicy-wood smell. Pine is evident, though it doesn't take over. I can't separate the smell of sassafrass from anything in here- rather it sweetens the whole scent a little. The dirty-vegetation element here probably comes from the comfrey leaves. If anything bothers me about the scent, it's the sunflower. There's the greasy scent of sunflower seeds which is distracting, but it eventually dies down. All in all, I like this. This is a true "dark forest" scent and I find it more complex and evocative than most. Though dark in tone, it's a fairly soft scent on me. (I don't amp woods.) It can be compared to Schwartzer Monde (though this doesn't have patcholi) or Arkham (though this is far darker).

Ahh, I love violet. It makes me sad that it's not the longest-lasting oil. (I had a bottle of Faith that went bad once. Not saying all violet does that- it depends on the blend.) Hmm. I don't know much woody violet. Saturnalia and Faustus come to mind, but those are probably too woody for your purposes. (And Saturnalia has vetiver which bothers some people.) I like The Raven. It has sandalwood, and the ylang-ylang isn't exactly sugar, but it does sweeten it a little. It does have black musk, so be warned. But it's a true violet- violet to me, with a little bluish tinge from the Iris. Sadly the sandalwood makes it dry rather than creamy. Some people really like Marie, though to me the tea rose takes up more space than the violet does. As far as LE's Silver Phoenix may be too delicate for what you're looking for, but it's a lovely dewy violet-and-silver scent. It's also hard to find, but the past Yule The Darkling Thrush may work (I've never smelled it) The hope of springtime penetrating winter darkness. Snow, darkness, and icy air illuminated by the thrush's song: warm amber, soft orris, and melancholy violet. Really, your best bet may be to layer a woody scent with Faith.

Ooh, that's some smooth musk. The pepper and clove definately have a kick to them, but what surprised me is the sweetness of the scent. The neroli is powerful and citrusy. The tonka is very helpful in smoothing things down, though occasionally a bit of pepper will kick it out of the way. If the scent had a color scheme, it would be yellow, orange, and black, with a hint of clove-brown. Smooth and sweet, with sharp claws and teeth.

Thanks! Moonflower smells very dewy to me and it tends not to get too sharp. I'll have to try Gibbuous Moon, for certain. I have tried Evening Star and I love it, but I'm allergic to some component. Sob. I didn't know Titania had moonflower. It's like a giant peach that likes sitting on things.

oh wow. I don't smell apples right off. Not crisp ones at least. What I do smell is pastry, honey, reisens, and assertive florals that blend into the musk. As the scent sits on my wrist for a while, the florals die down, but they're still noticable. It's lily of the valley, which is much softer and less soapy than the standard lily. It smells red, if that makes any sense. Cooked, red apples and honey and glazed pastries, and golden liquid amber, and musk and bold lily. This is good and I don't normally like pastry scents. Best for people with outgoing personalities who like being seductive. I don't know if I'd personally wear it for fear of overwhelming people, but it is good to sniff.

For a dry moss, I like Danse Macabre. But you've got to like cypress and frankenscence too for that one.

It's really sad that smells don't translate into words that well, but reviews can be a tiny bit of help. All I can suggest is to read the scent notes. If you happen to get extra frimps or sniffies, practice on those and look up the notes even if you don't like the scent. I don't think anyone except professionals can pick notes out all the time, but I've definately developed a more educated sense of smell.