Ashmedai

Mostly pumpkin for the first few minutes, but not the buttery pastry-type of note I remember from the Pumpkin Patch scents, it's more...pure pumpkin, without spices or embellishments. Woods become prominent after a few minutes, and I think the vanilla, while unobtrusive, sweetens and mellows this up a great deal. There's some note here that's adding a sort of vibe that smells a little bit bland, could be that's the linen I'm smelling. After a while that fades though, and it becomes a somewhat spicy-smelling pumpkin-wood scent with a good dose of vanilla. And the vanilla doesn't go plastic. Win!

This is mostly lavender with a dark-fruity note (dried plum? Something like that) and Moroccan jasmine that I hope doesn't ruin it for me. A while later, the fruity note has disappeared and I get some amber and a real wallop-o-jasmine - Moroccan jasmine yet, one of my death notes...but I wait it out. Fortunately, the lavender overtakes the jasmine eventually, and alongside that, the vanilla and amber combine to make this very sweet and soft - "golden lavender" if scent had a color. This vanilla isn't the type that turns to plastic on me, at all - in fact it's beautiful. All in all, it reminds me of one of the Somnus blends, just very much milder, sweeter, more vanillic and without that sharp edge of lavender - it's very soft in this blend. I think people who liked TKO or (especially) TKO v3 will love this - I like it better than either, and it's going to be a fantastic bedtime scent, for nights when bedtime means sleep-time. ETA: Very much later, the fruity note comes back very subtly, smelling a bit spicy like plums with mulling spices. Faint, but it's there, and it makes this blend even better.

I was wary of this because of the green cognac note, but unnecessarily so, as it turned out. It's initially mostly fir with an additional "green" note that's indeed sharp, and that I assume is from the cognac. Still - it's not bad, in fact even for me who doesn't like booze notes, it's surprisingly good. Fifteen or so minutes later, the fir and green notes become very subdued and it sweetens considerably with the red maplewood, which smells almost sap-like (but not like maple syrup...could be the honey in combination with the hazelnut adding to that impression). I do smell a bit of patchouli, but it's very soft and subtle, more a slightly earthy backdrop for the maplewood, honey and the increasingly evident hazelnut. Nutty notes are kind of dicey on me, they either work or smell horrible - here it works, and it works *gorgeously*, it's a very realistic, white nut-meat note that doesn't do that porridge-type thing some nutty scents do. There's also something very slightly smoky, but it could be my nose playing tricks on me, since the fir reminds me a lot of Hexennacht (although it is very different, I'd put Elegy IX in the same category). Dried down, I smell sweet maplewood, hazelnut, fir and honey, in that order. It's a beautiful, beautiful autumn scent and I might need a back-up bottle...in fact, I'm pretty sure I need a back-up bottle.

LOTS of wine initially. It doesn't smell boozy, more like a thick, sweet grape or blackberry note, accompanied by cake and lots of it. Intensely sweet. After a few minutes, I definitely smell Dorian, and later a very smoky scent like cigarette smoke. Not stale ashtray, this really is like fresh cigarette smoke and I'm kind of amazed at how well (and nicely!) it complements the other notes. The intense fruity note dies down as it dries, and the deeper notes emerge like the dry leaves note I think I recall from October, dark musk and that smoky note. They all hover around the scent of cake and vanilla (and this is actually a vanilla that doesn't turn to plastic on me...never thought I'd see the day), give it a really great depth and keep it from getting all too foody.

Pennyroyal galore - this smells like a strong herbal mint tea upon application, the kind where the leaves have been steeping for a long time and it's sweetened by loads of dark honey, maybe due to the musk? Black musk is dicey on my skin, but here it behaves and adds a gorgeous, sweet depth. Lavender and lemon (a very soft citrus) appear after a few minutes, and complement this perfectly. The minty pennyroyal stays on top, however, and I'm really digging this - it smells like a hot, sweet, strong cup of herbal tea, the black musk taking on a woody note as it dries. Wasn't even expecting to like this one, but I do!

I didn't even think lettuce had much of a smell. Turns out it does, and turns out I amp it like nobody's business. Even my man says "lettuce", and his olfactory system is in the soles of his feet. I iz disappoint.

Okay, it's a vanilla-marshmallow latte sipped in a cozy, sun-dappled forest of oak trees and cyprus/hinoki, and the khus adds an element that's a fantastic, earthy, grounding note (and doesn't make me smell like a side of bacon, the way it usually does). This is just so freaking good! Now that it's completely dry, I can definitely smell more of the coffee bean - and it is that rich sweet smell of roasted, darkly-shiny fresh coffee beans you smell in a good coffee shop. Absolutely delicious, and another winner from this selection of recent limited editions.

Heavy and sweet with a lot of grainy notes from acorn and corn, sweetened by what I'm guessing is tree sap and softened by creamy rice milk. I also smell a smoky, earthy note in this that reminds me of vetiver, and as it dries there's the burlap-bag note of hemp underneath the sweet, nutty-grainy creaminess. The predominant note is acorn and brings to mind white, sweet nut meat. Dried down, there's just a breath of something floral that I take to be the almond blossom, but it's a warm, nutty porridge-like scent overall, very unique, and I'm thinking this is going to age beautifully until winter, where it'd be a real comfort scent when it's cold outside. Nothing I'd wear as a scent, more like a sniff-curled-up-on-the-couch-while-reading kind of deal. Reminds me a lot of Sleipnir without the carrots.

For Canada I usually expect a delay of about 2 weeks after my Click n'Ship, so 5 days to Germany seems really fast to me. Could it be that this package was caught up in a random customs search whereas your previous ones have gone through uninspected? Bloody hell, I sure hope not. Meanwhile it's still not here, and Germany doesn't normally dick around with mail very long (letters normally arrive a day later, packages 1-2 days).

A friend and I who co-ordered are still waiting on a package too. We received the CnS roughly two weeks ago or a little more. We're in the EU, so it usually takes about five days to a week before the package gets here, but this length of time is very unusual. My friend sent an e-mail to the Lab and was told there are delays on international orders right now, but we're still worried sick, especially since we ordered a ton of CD stuff. Have any of you international folks had a long lapse of time between receiving the CnS and the arrival of your order?

Tangerine...fresh, ripe tangerine, that smell that rises up when your fingers break through the skin to peel it back. It lingers on top for several minutes before gradually settling back and letting a gorgeous cypress shine through, softened and mellowed by white musk, before all three notes blend in perfect harmony. This is like a scent holiday in the Mediterranean sunshine, absolutely beautiful and uplifting in a way that makes your toes curl in contentment. I knew it would smell great, but it exceeded all my expectations - it's fantastic!

Bat of Health! Dead on. It smells just like the cough syrup I got as a kid and I love it! I'd also put The Apothecary in the "medicine" category, and also Against Idleness and Mischief & Litha (both smell like chamomile tea with honey to me). Also Purple Phoenix and Tum (grape cough syrup), or Blood Amber and Blood Kiss.

This is the first oil I've reviewed I'm kind of "meh" about. I love BPAL's tea notes, but after the sharp ginger bitchslap that's Kumiho, and the sophisticated, sleek sparkle that's Satan and Death With Sin Intervening, Dorian seems so...TAME! It is a nice scent, don't get me wrong, but very subtle, understated and reserved - like a nice cup of tea, but not 100% mine.

Mrrrr...this turns to pure, sweet, warm caramel on my skin, with a touch of sage that smells a bit like marijuana, and something else, darker and deeper. It makes me think of curling up against a very sophisticated and elegant man, and feeling a rush of warmth, just before a thrill of apprehension makes the hairs in my nape prickle, because I sense he's very bad news indeed, and means business. This scent is freaking hot!

Okay, this blows me away, especially since cocoa normally turns to donkey pee on me. This seems to be a similar cocoa as in Velvet, or in Gelt, the only ones I've been able to handle so far. It's a heavy, almost black, rich and syrupy oil. It goes on as a deep, semi-dark chocolate sparkling with crystals of vanilla sugar. The patchouli and incensy components slowly weave their way through, along with creamy rice milk, twisting the rich cocoa from foody to the most blatantly in-your-face sexy thing I've ever smelled. It slithers, oozes and drips over a teakwood base that gives it a touch of the impossibly expensive, like the One you want and can't have because you can't afford him. You can watch, though, look but not touch, but it's enough, because anything more would be too much, and already anything else pales in comparison. This is edacious, self-indulgent and voluptuous chocoholic sex in a bottle, srsly - who needs Godiva?

Wearing the 2006 version on the left hand, and the 2008 on the right. Both are complex, deep, intoxicating, dangerous, predatory and drop-dead gorgeous. The 2006 is sweeter and somehow deeper...is that how this one will age? Yowsah! It's definitely a unisex blend, but something about it reminds me of a perfume my mother used to wear, Yves St. Laurent's "Opium", only darker, richer, it's Opium's diabolical wet dream on sheets suffused with spices. Rawwr!

Most prominent is teak, smooth, shiny and sleek, along with a smoky-black vanilla that softens it and makes it incredibly voluptuous. Thankfully the tobacco note isn't the one that turns to a rancid, stale ashtray on me (as in Velvet Dogs Playing Poker or Herr Drosselmeyer), in fact I'd have a hard time picking out a tobacco note. If anything, it reminds me of a good pipe tobacco (Stanwell Melange, with a hint of dried dates and fig), but more incense-y than smoke. It envelops the other notes perfectly, so that overall it's sweet and silky, but with an edge that tells you not to f*ck with it. Very nice...definitely unisex.

This is one of the (to me) most soothing and comforting blends I have. It evokes the image of one of those old-fashioned libraries, softly lit with petroleum lamps, surrounded by polished antiques, old books, and warmed by a fire in a fireplace. It's a relatively masculine fragrance, but still soft, warm and sweet, caressed by incense and what could be pipe smoke from the tonka note, like being wrapped in a blanket and someone's arms, while he reads to you from an old leather-bound book, and everything is quiet, peaceful and focused.

Personally (I'm male), I love Eat Me and Drink Me. Who doesn't want to smell like good pastry? King of Hearts really is too "adult" because of the lavender, but how about Knave of Hearts? It does have roses, but I don't get those, it just smells like black currant tartes to me. March Hare, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, White Rabbit and Mad Hatter are also winners IMO, and were mentioned above. Skip the Jabberwocky, it's ice-pick-to-the-brain eucalyptus. Otherwise (and if they're not as big Alice fans themselves), the Ars Draconis scents are fantastic and more or less gender-neutral. Blood is another one I like (and I admit it's also the name), so is Snake Oil, Coyote, Boomslang or Al Azif (maple syrup and then sweet wood).

Um, yeah...apricot brandy, though more like a sweet dessert than booze. Too sweet and feminine for me, but it might work as a room scent.

My first review here - yikes! In the bottle and wet on my skin, it *stung* and smelled very medicinal, with hyssop and frankincense overwhelming anything else. Frankly, if I hadn't been set on actually trying the more unisex scents, I would have skipped this one right then. Now I'm glad I tried it. After it dried, the oak moss, patchouli and vetiver came forward. Definitely scents I like. An hour later, lavender came out and for a quarter hour or so, it smelled kind of soapy, but then it seemed to all blend into a very nice warm, spicy, woody scent that's a little on the sweet side. Unfortunately, I didn't get any fig at all, but all in all it's a great scent. I like!