strahlend

MYSTERIOUS WARNING A scent evocative of poisonous family secrets: dry lavender-infused amber, battered leather, nicotiana, osmanthus, and jasmine tea. In the bottle - lots of wonderful lavender. Reminds me somewhat of the lavender in TKO. On my skin - very much lavender warmed with amber. Soft, sweet and comforting. Subtly in the background is a whiff of tea that's reminding me of Dorian perhaps, I wouldn't be able to identify it as jasmine tea I don't think. This is a beautiful scent, lavender lovers like myself will be very happy.

THE GRAVE-PIG Fig, oakmoss, mushroom caps, and patchouli. I've been testing this out for a couple days now and I still can't really add much more than is in the initial description. I smell soft fig backed up by the most gentle patchouli with a lightly round sort of component that could well be the mushroom caps - I keep getting the feeling of currents although they aren't listed and I don't detect any oakmoss at all. This is a soft and gentle earthy scent. It doesn't feel heavy at all. If this scent were a color it might be a sort of walnut shell brown.

I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. At length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. But it was in vain; I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her, but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch –the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life. Breathless horror: icy white musk and thick olibanum with niaouli, carrot seed, white mint, and camphor. This scent is so mild that I'm initially having a hard time getting a sense of it. What I can smell is a slightly sweet, mildly earthy effect of the carrot seed. What I'm NOT getting is white musk, white mint or camphor. Honestly it's making me think of when I had a rabbit, something to do with the faint scent of wood chip bedding and food mix. I wish I could describe this better because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, this is very gentle, healthy, natural, barely sweet, and earthy in a sort of grainy way. The more I smell it, the more I love it.

A GOLDEN IDOL For again Scrooge saw himself. He was older now; a man in the prime of life. His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years; but it had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice. There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, which showed the passion that had taken root, and where the shadow of the growing tree would fall. He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young girl in a mourning-dress: in whose eyes there were tears, which sparkled in the light that shone out of the Ghost of Christmas Past. “It matters little,” she said, softly. “To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve.” “What Idol has displaced you?” he rejoined. “A golden one.” “This is the even-handed dealing of the world!” he said. “There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity as the pursuit of wealth!” “You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?” “What then?” he retorted. “Even if I have grown so much wiser, what then? I am not changed towards you.” She shook her head. “Am I?” “Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, until, in good season, we could improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You are changed. When it was made, you were another man.” “I was a boy,” he said impatiently. “Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you are,” she returned. “I am. That which promised happiness when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two. How often and how keenly I have thought of this, I will not say. It is enough that I have thought of it, and can release you.” “Have I ever sought release?” “In words. No. Never.” “In what, then?” “In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life; another Hope as its great end. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight. If this had never been between us,” said the girl, looking mildly, but with steadiness, upon him; “tell me, would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!” He seemed to yield to the justice of this supposition, in spite of himself. But he said with a struggle, “You think not.” “I would gladly think otherwise if I could,” she answered, “Heaven knows! When I have learned a Truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible it must be. But if you were free to-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose a dowerless girl—you who, in your very confidence with her, weigh everything by Gain: or, choosing her, if for a moment you were false enough to your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that your repentance and regret would surely follow? I do; and I release you. With a full heart, for the love of him you once were.” Glittering gold and loss beyond understanding: antiqued amber, English lavender, vetiver, and tea rose. Initially there's a lot of vetiver happening here. It's the most prominant note in the imp and wet on my skin. After a considerable amount of time the vetiver has mellowed out enough that the lavender and rose start to come forward. More lavender than rose. I'm not getting amber here, but I'm guessing it's blending with the vetiver. When everything has mellowed and softened up it becomes a rich, warm scent. This smells sophisticated and expensive.

MIDNIGHT BELL Diabolical monastic incense and crumbling stone. This is a fascinating scent. More pungent than I had anticipated, very effectively evocative of stone walls, an old library or a deep cellar. At first the sharp resins are the most noticable, and after a little while it softens up and feels a bit more woodsy. This is perhaps the most unique scent I've come across - and I LOVE it. The feeling of this blend is dark, heavy and cool.

Pandemonium, John Martin. Smoke-tinged red and black musks, mahogany, ginger grass, black gum leaf, rue, star thistle, tomato leaf, black amber, and mandrake accord. Sniffing from the decant: Pandemonium smells rich and dark, reminding me of a unified embodiment of the variety of notes that go into my favorite warm and musky blends. Skin testing – I imagine this is what it smells like when you spend a day mixing up oils. Maybe a little smudge of this, a little smudge of that ending up on your hands and clothes and hair. The warm woody musks and woods (I think I detect both the red and black musks, mahogany, and amber) blend together with the lighter green elements (I seem to get the tomato leaf as well as a little ginger grass and mandrake). It ends up a delightful mix, not too heavy, not too green, not too many notes mixed together... it's the Goldilocks of mash-up blends. Sometimes scents that span such a spectrum end up feeling kind of muddled and indistinct, not so here. It seems like this would be lovely for those days when you know you want to smell good but don't want to be locked into a particular dominating scheme. Versatile as well as beautiful, this scent is truly a masterpiece.

Fallen Angels in Hell, John Martin. Infernal red amber, scorched frankincense, damiana, red ginger, bloodroot, cayenne, and sulphur. Sniffing from my decant I get a strong impression of ginger. Particularly the kind of ginger that tends to not appeal to me until it gets on my skin (as in Inextinguishable Hatred - which I love) it's a bit overwhelming and sharp. But I've found that giving this wild ginger a chance to get skin contact makes all the difference in the world. Such is the case here. Skin Testing – yes, it goes on strongly ginger, but within moments a transformation starts to happen. Fallen Angels in Hell goes right into smelling lovely and resinous. Frankincense steps right up and dances with the ginger, taking the lead. There's a bit of spice lingering around the ginger giving it a twist, cayenne I would suppose from the listed notes, but probably wouldn't have guessed otherwise. There's a lovely balance happening between the roundness of the frankincense with the red amber supporting it and warmly spiced ginger. Personally I don't detect sulpher at any time, nor do I get a 'scorched' feel from this scent. On my skin this turns into a dominantly frankincense scent, but the ginger tweak really makes it interesting and sets it apart from other ginger blends and other resinous blends. I love both of those genres, so this is quite a hit with me.

15- year aged patchouli, Egyptian cumin, white frankincense, labdanum, and bitter almond. In the bottle I detect a thick and syrupy patchouli (not the rooty, bitter kind), more than a hint of almond, and just a hint of the frankincense and even less cumin. On my skin the cumin charges straight to the front and center, backed up by a patchouli almond fusion. Cumin is an interesting spice, with the other sweet and resinous notes behind it I get more of a spice shop feeling rather than a savory or animalistic vibe. It takes about five minutes for the cumin to back down and for the patchouli almond resin hybrid to resume being the dominant notes in the blend. The cumin continues to maintain a presence, but the sweet patchouli mix does eventually beat it into submission. The longer the scent has to settle in the more atmospheric it becomes. It's the kind of scent that swirls around you and it's hard to pinpoint exactly what or where it's coming from. Late in the dry down it has become a soft, incensy, sweet and resinous dominantly patchouli blend. Not for the faint of heart, but a marvelous masterpiece for those who enjoy unusual patchouli experiences.

The cup of life was poisoned forever; and although the sun shone upon me as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me. Sometimes they were the expressive eyes of Henry languishing in death, the dark orbs nearly covered by the lids, and the long black lashes that fringed them; sometimes it was the watery, clouded eyes of the monster as I first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt. A dense and frightful darkness: black musk, vetiver, myrrh, opoponax, hemp, crushed sage, oakmoss, and tobacco. First Sniff – wonderful black musk blend. Reminding me of Haunted. Skin Test – upon first application still reminding me a lot of Haunted – which leads me to ask the question, how is this different than Haunted? Maybe it's a little softer, I think maybe the tobacco and the myrrh together are giving this a little bit of a sweeter feeling with a very, very light soapy feeling. This is like Hunted's slightly more distinguished and elegant mother or grandmother. Just a hint of powderyness from the myrrh and maybe oakmoss. As it dries there's a bit of warm spice happening. This scent hangs on for quite a long time. At the mid point the resins really come out and it's musky and kind of resin-powdery. Late in the dry down I'm getting musky spice on my skin and it seems like it'll continue to hang on for a while. I feel pretty sure it's the oakmoss lingering. In the end it's the oakmoss that clings to the skin for an unexpectedly long time.

As you pass down Houston street, faro banks abound, till we reach an unpretending red brick building No. 25, kept by Frank Burns, known as the "Judge and Jury". This is a great resort for the sportsmen both of this and the other country. Everything here is conducted in a respectable and orderly manner. Bay rum, polished oak, exquisite pipe and cigar tobaccos, and a splash of bourbon. This is GORGEOUS! Tobacco is strong, sweet, and dominates this blend. The rum and bourbon are more subtle. The oak is providing a smooth and sophisticated base. This is tobacco lovers heaven. It smells like walking into a tobacco shop that has some really classy wooden furniture. It's very atmospheric but not overwhelming, at least not for me. The sweetness of the tobacco meshes into my skin and becomes an almost vanilla-tobacco-soft wood sort of skin scent. I think I'm going to try to secure another bottle or two before this one comes down. Reminds me of: Buggre Alle This Bible, Havana, Mahogany Hall atmo spray, Antikythera Mechanism

Dost thou wonder that I flew Charm’d to meet my Leila’s view? Dost thou wonder that I hung Raptur’d on my Leila’s tongue?— If her ghost’s funereal screech Thro’ the earth my grave should reach, On that voice I lov’d so well My transported ghost would dwell: If in death I can descry Where my Leila’s relics lie, Saher’s dust will flit away, There to join his Leila’s clay. - Abu Sahet Alhedhily Plum musk, ambergris accord, matcha tea, oakmoss, patchouli, violet leaf, and cypress. This scent went from dark, bitter wood to bright lemons in less than five minutes on my skin. My chemistry does seem to amplify anything remotely related to the lemon family, in this case I'm guessing it must be the matcha tea. In the end it smells like a mix of very gentle musk and lemon/verbena. Not at all what I expected from sniffing the decant!

First sniff – dragon's blood and patchouli are what I smell first. I like it very much. Testing – I would think that there was a drop of ginger in here? I get a bit of the scorched oak, but just a hint to darken it up a bit, not overwhelming. Mostly a dark dirty patch and the dragon's blood that smells like it has a snap of ginger in it. Dries down to a nice sweet, if somewhat powdery, dragon's blood.

Testing – at first it's autumn leaves as featured in many other blends, but!!! on the skin that immediately burns off and I'm smelling the most gorgeous myrrh and smokey musky vanilla. This really is quite lovely. In the dry down I feel like I'm smelling a finish of oakmoss.

First sniff – very vanilla sweet with just a hint of the patch. Testing – On the skin this reads very much like Velvet Dogs Playing Poker Lite. Although, it is quite strong and might not be Lite at all. Thick and sweet with a syrupy patch and what might be oudh. I might guess that the smooth wood in VDPP is oudh and that Irish coffee is cousins with goat's milk accord w/ honey. If you would like to try Velvet Dogs and can't find it, this would be a very acceptable substitute.

When scents have this many listed notes I sometimes worry that it will be more of a cacophony than a wearable scent. Such is NOT the case with this scent. There is a very real, sweet, herbaceous, soft, green feel to this scent. No note in particular sticks out - it reminds me of a mild, leafy, green, sweet sort of scent that feels like a blend of lettuce leaf and sweet pea flowers. I would never pin this as a honey, bay rum, or myrrh scent. The whole really is an amazing effect. I would say that is it soothing, gently refreshing, and amazingly beautiful.

Buen Viage, Francisco de Goya. Tonka bean, red sandalwood, black pepper, vetiver, hiba wood, turmeric root, and Ceylon cinnamon. Sniffing from the decant – vetiver and pepper with a sandalwood backup. Skin testing – This is intense stuff. I'm still getting mainly pepper and vetiver, but I can tell there's something in here rounding it out a bit. This is starting to smell very familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. The sandalwood and tonka are trying to emerge, the more it mellows out the better it's getting. It seems like there's almost something fruity in here. I don't detect cinnamon (as I know it) at any point. Over time this scent has really grown on me. It's now reminding me of a Snake Pit type of scent. Silky, rich, smooth, vetiver and gently woody sandalwood, but so much more than that, things that don't seem to be accounted for by the note list. The scent swirls around me and I catch myself thinking 'what smells good?' then I realize it's me. This is one of those times when the dry down is absolutely worth the (relatively short) wait. I can tell this will cling to my skin overnight and I'll likely wake up with it in the morning.

First impression – vetiver and black pepper come through clearly. Skin testing – it is strong vetiver, but not as scary as it would seem in the decant. The bit of tobacco does sweeten it up and round it out. The cardamom is throwing me off, it just doesn't seem to fit with the other notes, unfortunately it has quite a presence in the blend, at least initially. After a few minutes the vetiver does come back and interwine with the cardamom, thankfully. It is now striking me as a spiced dry wood scent. It's bringing to mind things like understated aftershave and the inside of a cozy wood cabin. The vanilla and tobacco seem to be the base of this scent and they really come in and save the day. I wasn't even going to skin test this because it seemed so strong and plain in the decant, but it has developed into an unexpectedly delightful scent. This is why we always skin test, I should know by now. It's still not something I think I need a bottle of, but it is very different and much nicer than I thought.

First impression – this one is hard to pin down. It does kind of smell like lite patchouli and cherries, but the notes in the decant are rather elusive. Skin testing – warm and sweet patchouli. The resins are lending a bit of sharpness to the background. A few minutes later and something more astringent is coming forward, smells like vetiver, but must be the opoponax? A few minutes later and things are mellowing out again, but still predominantly the kind of astringent, sharp opoponax mixing with the dry patchouli. It's a dry patchouli without any the sweetness. And that seems to be where it sits in the late dry down, dry sharp resin with a bit of dry sharp patchouli.

First impression – like spilled sour wine in an old ashtray. Skin testing – initial impression plus the undercurrent of whiskey, which is actually an improvement. Whiskey, a splash of wine, and some additional red currents. Not as bad as I suspected. The ashtray does come back though. It seems like there are a wide variety of interpretations of this scent, it certainly is an interesting experience.

First impression – very much vanilla mint as in the “Lick It” series, but I'm guessing that this one really develops on the skin when the mint blast wares off. Skin testing – goes on smelling as described above. Vanilla mint lick it. After just a few minutes I think I'm getting the slightest hint of rosewood. It's really mild and adds an interesting dimension to the vanilla mint, a bit of depth. It is used very sparingly, and somehow bridges the sweetness of the vanilla and sharpness of the mint. Not a combination I would have expected to work. Something about the sweet/sour/ astringent of the rosewood combines with the sweet/mint/sharpness and brings it all together. In the dry down, the rosewood has merged into the vanilla mint, creating a whole new beast out of the whole lot. It's quite lovely and unusual. I can smell the roseyness of the rosewood in there, but the other notes have rendered it an interesting feature rather than the stage hog that it usually becomes. Far more prominent is a sort of sweet, woody, mint. I lump all the green notes in with mint because I'm sure that they are what is making this lovely green note come together and hold rather than fade away. Quite lovely. One of my two favorites from this series.

First impression – reminds me of other bog smells but without the putrid element. It's like a green oakmoss with a little bit of spice, I think the vetiver, cucumber, tomato leaf – those make sense for this sort of chlorophil juicy green notes. Interesting. Skin testing – goes on weird, but not unpleasant. Boy, this is a hands down winner for most unusual. I feel like little bits of all the notes show up here and there. There is a top that is a little bog gas unpleasant and a bottom that is holding it all together just barely. Not something I would call wearable. Ends up way late in the dry down being a sort of faintly green musk. For a while there though it almost made me feel sick to my stomach. An interesting sniffing experience, but not all together pleasant.

First impression – reminds me of the hay note in Gunpowder with a sweet and soapy aquatic note. My impulse is to love it, but I know that after a time this usually smells like cloying bathroom soap on my skin. There's also something just a little minty toothpaste in here. Skin testing – This smells as bad on my skin as I feared it would. It unfortunately reminds me of strongly scented toiletry products, like it's designed to cover unpleasant odors.

First impression – sort of medicinal and green, also a bit sour/astringent smelling. I think it's mostly the olive wood and juniper. Skin testing – a little bit of green, a little bit of vicks vapo rub, a little bit rooty, a little bit sour wood. Even when it mellows out a bit it still smells rooty and sickly green. The notes just clash in an unpleasant way. Mellows out a bit and sweetens up. The “blood” is coming up and saving this blend. It's still not good, but it's a lot better. There are probably at least 10 other "blood" blends that smell better than this, so it brings nothing necessary to my collection.

First impression – lots of almond. Skin testing – goes on smelling acrid, sharp, kind of unpleasant. Pungent patchouli, perhaps? After a few minutes it does start to calm down a bit, as is the way of our people. Still not an appealing scent. The bitter almond and black patchouli with the bitter cinnamon. It all combines into a pungent mess. No thank you.

First impression – vanilla sandalwood, as stated. Skin testing – super vanilla, but certainly not foody. I think I'm smelling mostly the cedar and sandalwood, which I like. A vanilla scent is never going to set my world on fire, but it's nice to smell a nice non-foody vanilla. It's rather light, I have to get my nose right there to be able to smell it. Fades off pretty quickly.