strahlend

This is mainly a resin blend with a hint of pine. It's reminding me of scents like Cathedral and Midnight Bell. The pine isn't very strong, but it's had four years to age so maybe it's mellowed a lot. As with most resin scents I totally love it and also wish that it was a bit stronger or more pronounced.

Call me crazy but this smells like something sweet (tobacco? tonka?), cedar, and fig. It actually reminds me a lot of Intrigue. This has been my impression during two testings that were over a year apart. Weird. I like it but I don't get anything close to what the other reviewers do and I kind of wish I did since I love sexy boozy scents.

It's been a year since my initial review and apparently aging has dramatically changed my experience of this scent, so this is an update. This is one of those scents that makes me think that my nose is living on some other planet. I have two bottles of the older Res version (before the apple issue came up) and they both smell the same to me, so it's not a batch thing. I swear that when I put this on all I smell is black musk with a rich, dark vanilla undertone. This is a strong scent and it lasts a good long while. I like it quite well. I wish I could smell for a moment any of the listed notes or anything like what other people mention though, that would be cool too.

Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance: shining, moonlit ebony musk with benzoin, myrrh, smoky vanilla, patchouli, nutmeg, and dried red chili. I can't believe I haven't written a review of this, I have three bottles now - I love it! Raven Moon reminds me a lot of Marquis de Carabas, which I realize is my standard for “spiced, warm, sweet, musky” blends – of which many are made. I do get a feeling of black musk for a few minutes at the start. Myrrh, smoky vanilla, patchouli... seems to be a great base for an earthy, musky, spicy sort of blend and it's perfectly balanced here. The patchouli is clearly present, but not hoarding the spotlight. I would almost think there was a hint of clove here, but it's not listed so I guess it must be the nutmeg. This is both snuggly and sexy. I get no sense of red chili at all and I kind of wonder what that would even smell like in this context. I've collected many decants of lunacy blends and they almost never work for me, Raven Moon is one of the few fantastic exceptions and I'm so glad that I've had the chance to experience it.

I don't usually enjoy chocolate scents but I do love rum and red wine. This blend is such a great mixture of cocoa and wine that they form something totally new together. I don't really get rum or anything that makes me think of blood. Since I don't usually go for foodie scents it's pretty remarkable that this works for me. I'm trying to think of how to describe this but all I can think of is red wine and a bit of chocolate in perfect proportion. During the dry down it seems to take on a sort of incensey quality which is quite pleasant. I guess that says it all. Most perfume wares off of me pretty quickly, this one seems to stick around for at least a few hours from a light dab, which was also really nice. I just noticed that other people have commented that this scent seems to have an incense quality too. I'm glad to see that it wasn't my nose being totally weird.

I seriously suspect that age is a factor with this oil - as is the case with many red musk blends. This scent is BE-U-TI-FUL on my skin. Resin, flowers, musk, and a hint of something that reminds me faintly of apples. Like a reviewer above I get a nag champa vibe - which I totally love. It's a rich musk, with sexy, incense and deep but mellow jasmine (just realized there's no jasmine listed in here, but it smells like it to me). It results in a very inviting and mildly earthy blend that reminds me of what a sultry and confident woman would smell like. Wearing this perfume I'M the sultry and confident woman I love bpal

I really love this Mouse. Sweet-pea reminds me of my grandmother and it's a very happy, comforting scent. Combined with the vanilla and amber this is the olfactory equivalent of the softest, most wonderful, soothing, blanket in the world. It also reminds me a lot of Morocco but in that blend the floral element is carnation instead of sweet-pea.

I love this scent. At first it was musky and had hints of sweet tobacco and soft leather. Later the sweetness seemed almost more like honey with the tobacco and leather. It was sweet, warm and musky - very inviting.

For some weird reason this scent is in my blindspot. I can't really smell it in the imp. A swab on the back of my hand and I thought I could smell something for a second and it seemed like honeysuckle and then less than 20 seconds later and I can't smell anything except for maybe a very faint, far off whiff of something resinous. Weird.

Hm. I guess this is supposed to be woodsy/floral but on my skin it smells so sweet that it seems fruity/floral. After a little while it's just floral/floral. Much lighter and brighter than I was expecting. After a while the woods come up to the front but in a nondescript and floral kind of way. I didn't even write a review in my notes when I got this bottle back in July - it's pleasant enough but not very memorable.

This isn't the kind of scent I usually like but I'm really enjoying it. It's fresh and clean and somewhat soapy but in this way where it seems a lot more interesting than other blends I would usually use those words to describe. I think it might be the vetiver in there giving this sunny blend added depth, even though I can't smell it as a distinct note. There's something kind of sexy, kind of soothing about this scent. I like how bright this scent is without it being traditionally fruity or floral. I'm really glad to have a bottle.

This is reminding me a lot of Velvet Dogs Playing Poker. They both have a thick, rich, woody, musky, sweetness. I think this blend has more of a cedar factor to it though because there's also a sort of dry wood element too. This smells like fragrant dark woods and cologne - like in an old library with expensive imported furniture where men with good taste in fragrance hang out a lot. Very potent, very luxurious, very intense. I'll say it's swoon worthy. I very much enjoy this scent and I can't believe it took me so long to try it.

I was digging through last years Lupers after this years update came out and I realized I had pretty much forgotten about Smut. Time to check in again. It starts off a lot sweeter than I usually like. This is some sweet stuff. Later I notice that even though I'm testing something else on the other arm all I can smell is Smut. I do love a scent with a decent throw. A while later though I'm still getting some intense whiffs and it's starting to remind me of ... corn. I don't know why, but I kept thinking of that musky/sweet smell that fresh ripe corn has. It stuck around for a good long time - its presence was noticeable for longer than any other bpal I can remember. Overall not a scent for me, but it is long lasting.

Now that my beloved Macabray is gone I'll be stocking up on Cloister Graveyard in the Snow. Not the same... but it's the next best thing.

Beautifully musky and powdery in that sort of way that opium always makes me think the word dusky - it's sweet and smells almost like a floral/fruity/smokey sort of musk. I think this is what other people are calling the incense element. The only listed notes I can detect are lavender and the pomegranate - and maybe the copal. Overall it's very well blended and no note in particular stands out. As other reviews mention, this scent feels like it might be in a similar family to Mme Moriarty. It's very lovely and I find it to smell quite comforting, making it a great choice for an evening or sleep scent. I'm just happy to have a bottle.

Blends like this are the reason I try things I don't think I would like. This strikes me as a creamy white flower, a bit of milk, a bit of salt, a tiny hint of coconut maybe. I don't normally think of myself as liking milk or cream scents since I seem to remember thinking they went sour on my skin - but here we are. This is definitely milky and it totally works for me. I don't normally like florals either. This blend shouldn't work for me at all, but it totally does and I'm putting it on my bottle list. This will make a lovely spring scent, it's fresh, clean and light without being herbal, lemon or soapy. I love it when I come across scents that break all my rules and show me how much I have to learn. ETA: during the dry down I keep feeling like I'm smelling some fantastic vanilla french toast. Sure enough, it's this stuff. The surprises just keep coming Update: I loved this scent and bought a bottle. Unfortunately the bottle scent is MUCH more floral than what I had in the imp that this review was based on 2nd Update: Bought another bottle thinking that maybe the bottle I already had was a fluke. Nope. I guess the wonderful smelling imp was the fluke. This bottle is also more floral/aquatic than creamy and sweet. It ends up smelling like generic floral bathroom spray.Very sad

Love at first sniff I could run through the streets like a mad woman and shout to the world how much I love Phoenix in Autumn. I really, really love it. What does it smell like? Well, let's see. I'm getting a really beautiful balance of ivy and the patchouli - and the patchouli is blending so nicely with the teak that it's like the three notes are having a love fest together. This isn't overwhelming dirty hippy patchouli, it's more just a feeling of depth and a hint of warmth. I would say that the leaf/ivy notes are the stars in this blend. I usually don't get the feeling of leaves in blends that include mention of them, but the feeling does come across here. What I'm not detecting in this blend is any sense of coffee at all and I'm not getting tonka as an independent note, although I suppose it's in there somewhere sweetening things up a bit. Mainly though, ivy-patchouli-teak. My new holy trinity. I'm going to need several bottles of Phoenix in Autumn! I can see at a point in the drydown a similarity to Samhain (which I also love), but I would probably call them cousins. Since others have mentioned Falling Leaf Moon I'm trying to track down a bottle - even though Lunacies don't usually agree with me. That's how much I love this scent. ETA: I would definitely put Phoenix in Autumn in a similar category as Falling Leaf Moon and Samhain. I think I've found a scent family I particularly love.

I like the smell of ginger but I'm not really into foody smells. I got this decant on impulse partially because I like the name. In the decant and on my skin this is much more ginger ale than it is gingerbread. I like that. When I prepared for my first sniff I was expecting something heavy and cakey and super sugary. In contrast this scent actually has a little bit of a pungent edge like real ginger. It's light and fresh and just a bit sweet. It seems almost effervescent like ginger ale. I like this a lot more than I thought I would.

October 2010 In my decant I really liked this scent. It made me think of piles of dry leaves laying near puddles. On my skin though it turned into a very soapy (irish spring) kind of scent. I bought a partial bottle anyway because of how nice it smelled. It finally dawned on me today to put it in my clocket and now I've found the perfect solution to wearing this scent. Yay!

I was just frimped Dance of Death recently and it's quickly become a Smell Of Interest. On my skin this is a bunch of black musk - and I really like that. Before I looked at the notes I didn't know what it was that was rounding out this scent but seeing it's patchouli and myrrh does not surprise me because I really love those notes as well. I've been avoiding orris because I came across it in blends where I thought it was the dreaded powdery culprit, but here I'm not having a problem with it and nothing is turning super powdery. I don't know why this wasn't on my wish list, but now that I've found it I know I'll be on the lookout for more. Yay, another scent to love!

The scent of the blend and wet on my skin is almost indescribable. It goes through many stages and all of them are quite strange. I get a feeling of bread one moment and some kind of unidentifiable fruit the next. BUT - I do know that what it dries down to smells a lot like an oatmeal cookie with a bit of brown sugar. I love how off the wall this scent is.

sandalwood. vanilla. musk. spice from the carnation. It's warm and soft and beautiful. I often like heavier, darker scents but this one is perfect for when I'm in a more snuggly mood or need to be careful about knocking people over with my usual favorites. Same sort of woody, spiced idea that I ususally like - but sweeter and much more mellow. It kind of makes me feel a little sleepy though, I think I'll also try it as a bedtime scent. Oh! I just realized why. I like to wear Mouse's Long and Sad Tale to bed and the sandalwood and vanilla I think are reminding me a bit of that scent. Yep, it's reminding me of MLST but without the sweet pea and added carnation. ♥

I'm not getting anything here that makes me think of metallics or being claustrophobic... quite the opposite. In my decant I smell mostly a sort of bitter oak. On my skin, oddly enough, this smells kind of fresh and pleasant. There's a green element here that seems almost aquatic. It's reminding me of something... ivy... that's what it is. It's making me think of the oak/ivy combination in twisted oak tree - it's more of a feeling than a direct connection. Wow. This is a really interesting scent. It's green and woodsy and it feels clean without being overtly soapy. A good scent for spring/summer. This is totally different than I was expecting, I like it a lot.

In my decant I don't get any note in particular - and I feel pretty familiar with most of this list of notes. It's a blend that really forms a whole. This scent makes me think of a well aged spice cupboard. It's kind of sweet, dark, hazey, incense - set down to age in a spice cupboard. It's interesting, and I'm pretty sure that if I smelled this on someone else I would think it was lovely but it's triggering a subconscious scent memory for me that makes me not want to wear it.

In my imp this reminded me a lot of Womb Fury. On my skin it's a unique honey scent with something that feels fresh and has a bit of a sparkle to it. I'm thinking it smells like there's pink pepper and cinnamon in here. I'm really not sure how to describe it. This is a wonderful blend! On the dry down it's mostly honey. I don't get the feeling of anything metallic or woodsy in this blend at all. I would call this a sparkling honey, it's not cloyingly sweet, heavy, dark or powdery... it's like honey with sunshine glowing through it. The more I sniff this the more I think it's my favorite honey blend so far. Bottle worthy!