cfrancesca

I mostly get a dry, old, slightly creamy wood scent from Mary Celeste v4. I find it surprisingly wearable and kind of comforting and cozy.

I get spices, resins, clove and amber from this one. As it dries I also get some smokiness. I'm surprised with how strong this one is.

Wet, I get strong florals, but they start to mellow out almost immediately. Once dry, I start to get a slightly fizzy, lemony scent almost like very soft champagne or it could be metals which almost always end up smelling like fizzy citrus on me. The fizzy citrus is very pleasant and I get a slightest bit of vanilla orchid scent in here as well. The florals in here have softened a lot and now it's equal amounts floral and that soft citrusy fizzy scent. This is a very fresh and lovely floral blend for the warmer months.

TP'd Tree has a fresh laundry scent to my nose, reviews are here.

WBSP1 being a Sara Pezzini proto makes a lot of sense (that was a good find, Haley!). When I first smelled this I thought it reminded me of Sara Pezzini, so I did a side-by-side comparison but though it has the same feel, the leather is very different and I found Sara Pezzini was much sweeter on me and I think a different type of honey. On me, WBSP1 has a lot of strong, slightly aged leather and skin musk, the leather is kind of sharp and peppery to my nose and the musk is light and almost watery. I also get some soft, slightly herbal, flowery honey, and a touch of woods. As it settles, the leather is still the strongest player but does soften with time. eta: I tried this again today and I'm getting a lot more honey than I did before. It's kind of a 'dirty', musky kind of honey, and it doesn't have much sweetness.

I get a lot of creamy tonka and a soft, dry wood scent with a tinge of smokiness, I think it might be creamy sandalwood. When it settled, I'm left with a lightly sweetened, warm, creamy vanillic tonka bean scent, which smells almost bourbon vanilla-like (I wonder if there's also a bit of vanilla in here or if it's just coming from the tonka) with hints of creamy almonds and soft spices, the dry sandalwood is still present but slowly blending in with the tonka. The result is a warm, dry, slightly sweet, creamy vanilla-woodsy scent, it ends up getting kind of powdery/dusty on my skin. The scent is soft with low-throw, but it got little bit cloying after a while.

This one was kind of confusing to me. It somewhat reminds me of a stronger, darker and more masculine Andreiphontês (without the tonka), it could be they share the same black sandalwood note and possibly other notes. I also get something a little peppery in here, and a slightly creamy, nutty scent emerges as it dries, maybe hay and a soft grassy scent, but definitely not fresh green grass. It settled into earthy scent of dark, dusty, smokey, blackened woods with a tinge of vetiver, some hay and maybe a touch of benzoin? I was expecting to get leather from this proto but it's not coming up on my skin.

I mostly get creamy vanilla and some sassafras from this one. As it dries, I also start to get a light, creamy citrus scent (slightly Jingo-Kogo-like but a bit tarter) in the beginning, but it slowly fades off with time. The vanilla is strong but well-blended and the sassafras is fizzy and pleasant on my skin (not harsh or medicinal). It settles into a vanilla cream soda scent on me. This reminds me of Anti-Saloon League, but with less cream and more vanilla, and whereas ASL ends up becoming kind of masculine on me, this is slightly more feminine, I feel. It eventually develops a slight plastic tinge, but it behaves for the most part.

I find this a very light and well-blended scent. It starts out creamy, musky, maybe a little bit of tonka and a light, fresh tea-like scent (maybe soft green tea or Earl Grey) and slightly tart, soft citrus, which could be bergamot? As it dries, it's like a skin scent, like fresh, musky skin. It does go a little powdery, I think there's white musk in here and now I'm also getting some soft honey. This is lovely.

I get gorgeous, juicy, strawberry with some green, soft florals (dandelions?)and maybe a bit of tonka? As it settled it started to remind me of a Lush strawberry jelly I used to use, the scent is very similar but I can't remember the name. This is really beautiful and definitely my new favorite strawberry blend.

At first, I get a light and creamy soft vanilla and the same honey I got from Valse Finale et Apotheose (which I find to be slightly musky, powdery, a touch herbal, and just a bit reminiscent of the honey in O). It settles into a beautiful, soft and slightly creamy honey scent. Delicate and pretty.

Smells like the perfume, but much softer on the teak and stronger on the cream and amber. Sadly, it ends up being a little too softly scented for me.

I love this. This starts as mostly spicy cardamom (reminiscent of cinnamon) with a slight sweetness from the bourbon and soft leather in the background. I get the a faint hint of patchouli but it's very soft and well-blended. The spicy cardamom is definitely strong in the beginning with leather in the background, but the leather starts to amp on me and the blend settles into spicy leather goodness . I can say I like Spanked revisited better than the aged, original version.

This one reminds me so much of the Amaterasu prototypes. I get strong vanilla musk and orchid, some creaminess and saffron. I think I was expecting this one to be sweeter than it actually is. The blend has a slight sharpness (almost alcohol-like) which is reminiscent of vanilla extract, I also get an amber scent, but I'm sure it's the saffron fooling my nose on both counts. After about 20min. the vanilla gets almost fluffy and the vanilla musk gets a slight unisex-vibe as it usually does on me. I think this blend will benefit from some aging and the saffron and vanilla musk will hopefully loose some of it's sharpness. Overall I find this a sophisticated vanilla blend, though it is feminine it's slightly tipping on the unisex side on me. It has a similar vibe to Amaterasu protos and CC: Female.

I get sweet, soft coconut, soft white rose, lavender and a fresh, slightly watery-feel coming from the freesia, mango and cucumber. Sadly, the freesia amps and get a bit sharp on me for a while. Overall, I find it too soft and it sadly didn’t last very long.

2011: I get smooth and polished light wood, almost citrusy olive oil and smooth, oiled leather in the background. The leather does amp with time, but this version has a slightly sharp, chemical-type scent running throughout that wasn't in the 2010 version (or maybe there was, but it disappeared with aging?), I think it may be coming from the leather. It's now mostly leather on me with hints of polished wood and olive oil. Comparing it with last year's, the 2011 version starts out softer on the leather and a bit stronger on that citrusy-type scent they both share, but when the it finally settled, I found the leather was stronger in the 2011 version.

I noticed batch variations with my 2010 bottles, one was much heavier on the honey, the other was heavier on the Snake Oil. The 2011 version starts off a little heavy on the O-type honey, but it quickly mellows out and the Snake Oil gets stronger. It ends up settling into soft Snake Oil with honey in the background, I find it a bit flat.

This one starts off strong on the worn, suede-like leather (I haven't tried Dead Man's Hand, but it does remind me of the leather in Quincy Morris), with the nutmeg, frankincense, cedar and sandalwood present, but remaining in the background. After a short while, the leather moves back and the nutmeg, frankincense and woods amp up and get slightly sharp. It really does smell like cowboy scent at this point. I think there might also be some very soft musk in here. Though the leather ends up taking a back-seat at on me, I still find it's the most leather-heavy blend of this year's Lupers. It dries a little powdery and sharp on me.

I get sweet and juicy black cherry, fruity red musk, soft dragon's blood and some soft spiciness from the pimento berry, as it dries I get soft (red?) rose and a faint hint of incense and wood, which amps a bit more with time. I like this one! It smells very "dark red" to me, complex, dark and fruity. ETA: Sadly (for me), the dragon's blood resin really amped up about 20 min. later and started to get a bit sickly sweet as it usually does on me.

Very similar to Metal Tiger, but this is better on me. Sweet, almost juicy, fruity, citrusy, fresh and bright. Many notes stand out- soft mandarin, quince (love this!), kumquat, a hint of peach, plum blossom, soft peony, and dragon's blood. It smells like a delicious, fruity, citrusy, cocktail. But as is usual with most fruity scents on me, it started to fade within a half-hour.

I get strong tuberose, with softer, springtime florals with a soft "greenness" and a bit of sandalwood and mandarin in the background. After a little while, I also start to get soft, green musk and the tuberose gets slightly softer. It dries to a heady springtime floral.

Initially I get strong, heady florals and some tartness, shortly after, the honeysuckle, lily and jasmine start to peek out. Dries to a heady and slightly musky honeysuckle blend.

I get hay, amber and soft musk, with soft frankincense in the background, after a few minutes I get a bit of very well-blended patchouli. The hay smells almost nutty to me.

This starts out strong on the tart, fruity red currant, blood orange and fresh red rose. It dried down to mostly strong red rose, with soft fruitiness, myrrh, and a bit musk in the background (which gets a little powdery). I find the blend a bit cloying.

2011: For me, this is the best Smut version and a total surprise love. I owned bottles of all the previous versions and ended up re-homing them because of this rubbery scent I got from both the 06' and 07' versions and last year's was too fruity grapey on me, but this is just right. Sugary, sexy, slightly boozey red and dark musks.