Invidiana

Oh yes. Of course, I had to get a Shakespeare-inspired scent, and Richard III did not disappoint. This is deep, dark, smoky frozen evergreens veiled in the mystery of musk, sweetened ever so slightly by the clove and nutmeg into one villainous decadent pleasure Note that I do tend to amp warm spices, which always come out somewhat sweet on my skin--maybe they come out bitter on others', I don't know, but what my own chemistry does totally works for me. Christmas trees have nothing on this stuff!

I know this has been a hit-or-miss for a lot of people, but for some reason it just works on my skin. The barley, beer and whiskey add up to rich, sunset-drenched golden fields ever so slightly boozed up and the blood accord, which I'm sure has dragon's blood (yesss) adds something of a hint of autumn berries on me. What I take is a notoriously fickle and uncooperative scent has found its match here!

Wow. This is one sexy pumpkin. I was hunting it down for eternity and finally found it, and am I ever glad I did! Pumpkin Queen really does rank up there as one of my holy grails. It's the deepest, stickiest, warmest, just drop-dead sexiest pumpkin scent I've ever put my nose to. The amber just makes it oh-so-queenly, and the rest of the notes embellish it with jewels. If you're a pumpkinphile like I am, you must relentlessly hunt this one down. You WON'T be disappointed--I promise!

I had to try my imp of this asap because I absolutely love that poem. It's mostly rose, I'm not getting much of the bewitching seductiveness, mystery or foreboding. Based on the poem I would have imagined it to be more sinister, deeper, muskier, possibly with a cold note since she does leave the narrator to die in a cold cave at the end...ah well.

This one was worth every penny. Definitely a "me" scent, no question--and arrived at my doorstep on Halloween, no less! Gorgeous, bursting, bloody dark fruits on an earthy base that suggests something ancient and sinister. Even though there is no juniper in the description, I could swear there was some juniper berry in this, which I love...maybe the rose musk mixing with something gives me that impression, because in certain mixtures rose can come off that way, which is a pleasant surprise. It's a long-abandoned crypt oozing with bloody goodness...LOVE!

I have to think I was a little afraid of this after reading the description and put off trying my imp of it for a while...then I got a second imp and since I had it right in front of my laptop I thought oh, what the heck, so I dabbed it on my kneecap. I can't stress this enough--don't always judge a scent by what it seems to be in words. This stuff is wildly sexy! It's not nasty slimy seaweed at all but more like the "dark, unfathomable waters" in the description. I can't pull my nose away...if I didn't know the name of this scent or the impetus behind it (let's face it, Lovecraft's Cthulhu must smell like an airplane toilet ) I would have guessed it was some sort of attractant!

"ghastly" plus "garden" might make some people think of mold and rotting plants, but this is hardly the case. I do have to admit the "puterfying wet greenery" unnerved me a bit. However, far from anything decomposing, this is rather a patch of very alive twisting, twining, gnarly night-blooming things that snare hapless insects for dinner. Even better, the sap and dark berry notes keep it from being too jarringly "green". This is one garden of good and evil (well, mostly evil) I wouldn't mind walking into at midnight

Equal parts snowy and evergreen, this scent is a perfect crisp winter blend that isn't too jarring or astringent. It just makes me think of standing outside on a chill winter's night surrounded by powder-laden evergreens and endless drifts of glittering snow bathed in the moonlight. The white mint adds just a slight zing of refreshment that complements but doens't overpower it. Reminds me of the blizzard of '96 when the snow was so thick I could jump into them headfirst without hitting the ground. Perfect snowiness

This is a gorgeous, golden amber sweetened by the vanilla and made alluring by the musk and sandalwood. The myrtle adds a a citrusy touch, which is not astringent like myrtle can tend to get sometimes, and definitely appropriate for summer--but really, this could easily qualify as a fall scent without a problem, and I love anything evocative of fall It's liquid gold, sensual and spectacular!

Wow. This is so much more than *just* a cider scent. Yes, there is plenty of cider, sweet spiced ciderwith a hint of orange peel (and I absolutely love orange and spice), but it's the smoky notes in this that realy encapsulate the "fearful pleasure" Washington Irving was talking about. The chimney smoke and slowly burning firewood are very prominent, suppored by the more muted woody notes of the beer, hawthorn and oakmoss. This smoldering combination gives this scent, with all its foody qualities, a real unsettling, spooky quality--and that's even more delicious

A rich scent by all means. The sticky dark juices of blackberry and pomegranate really make their presence known here, and the patchouli gives just a hint of dark earthiness. If you're a patchouli-phobe, it barely comes out in this at all; just gives it a a nice depth. I can't make out the heliotrope and bergamot specifically, but that's probably because they meld seamlessly with the more prominent notes to add more dimension. This is one delicious (and calorie-free!) bat

Snow-covered pines, witches herbs, bestial musk, flax, and ethereal flowers that represent both birth and death. This is one amazing evergreen! There is a wonderful cold quality to this scent that makes me feel I can almost touch the cold, crisp pines laden with snow. It's the background that sets it apart from mere Yankee Candle territory--not that I have anything against those, because I hoard them for the house--but Frau Holle is taken to another level by the musky, mysterious background with just a hint of floral sweetness (which, again, strikes me like the florals in Perchta that seem to turn into delicious berries on me, which is what these do is well). Behind the Christmasy pines, this blend has something enticingly sinsiter overshadowing it, like murky shadows in the depths of a forest. Love!

A wonderfully woodsy and smoky scent, sweetened just slightly by amber and florals. There is a certain eerie allure about this scent, probably brought on by the "skin warmed by dance"note which I'm assuming to be some sort of sexy skin musk. When it mingles with the other notes, it creates what I imagine to be the essence of a medieval witches' sabbath in the heart of the Black Forest, drawing you closer and closer until you get completely sucked in.

Copal, precious woods, South American spices, agave nectar, cigar tobacco, and roses. An eerily regal concoction fit for a queen of the dead. For anyone afraid of roses, they're barely a whisper in the background. It's really the woods and spices that take the reins here and provide for an intoxicating, mysterious blend. The agave nectar adds just the right amount of sweetness without making this too foody--because while I love foody scents, I just don't think too much foodiness would work here--and the cigar tobacco adds the final beguilidng touch by shrouding everything in smoke. I could swear there is something reminscent of the tang of blood in the background...

Forget what it says in the description, this smells like a dark, intoxicating blend of berries, evergreens and anise. Maybe the black poppy and incense comprise the anise part, the geranium and sweet benzoin give the illusion of berries and the rosewood and lavender hint at evergreens. Whatever this is, on me it just morphs into something AMAZING--a wintry and ever so slightly slightly spicy pitch-darkness.

Rich purple musk, moonflower, red sandalwood, black amber, oakmoss, copal, lavender, neroli, tobacco, and pomegranate. I love purple musk, and it certainly doesn't disappoint here. It comes to the forefront along with the resins, smoke and dripping bloody pomegranate, creating one gorgeous crimson shadow that will certainly cast a spell on anyone who catches a whiff of it. Another one of those blends where I was always finding something new. Beautifully bewitching!

This scent really is "diabolical voluptuousness" encapsulated. I don't know how Beth does it, but...she did. For anyone afraid of violets and/or roses, as I've heard a lot of people are, they're barely a whisper in this scent. What really takes the forefront is the deep, seductive red musk and blood accord lashed with the evergreens, all of which blend into those earthy, shadowy "hypnotic" undertones that take it to new sinister heights. A complex and mysterious scent that had me sniffing over and over again and finding something new every time. A definite winner!

What had me doubtful after a straight sniff from the bottle bloomed into a rich, intense, seductive spiced wood with an earthy shadow. It's a searing blood rush of a passion-frenzied scent that I could definitely use to my advantage when going out...

Forget that this is part of the Summer Garden series, it's a totally appropriate winter scent too. I LOVE molasses, and I can definitely smell it here, thick and dark. If you're a molasses fan, you absolutely *need* to try this. The sweet foodiness of the red currant, molasses, and vanilla cream mixes flawlessly with the earthy mystery of the moss and patchouli to create a scent that's just as enchanting as its namesake.

I want to nom my wrist off. This is a yummy, buttery, sugary snickerdoodle (did I mention sugary?) It starts completley buttery and vanilla, and the cinnamon comes out after a couple of minutes. It smells so true to the real thing you actually think a batch of them is baking in the kitchen until you realize it's just the perfume you have on

Holy tubular Tuesday, Batman...this is p-r-o-v-o-c-a-t-i-v-e. Perversion is the seductive non-butch sister of DeSade that a woman can totally wear, and how. The booze drenches the leather in intoxication, the tonka gives it tempting lusciousness and the smoke throws a veil of mystery over it. All in all, it's smoky, spicy leather with just the right splash of booze perfect for a night out...or in . Dirty, sexy and downright delicious; definitely getting a bottle after all the Yule madness has died down!

On me this came out to two things: lilacs and wintergreens, even there is neither lilac nor wintergreen listed in the notes. On their own and mixed with other notes, lavender and anise each turn out lovely on my skin, but I think the combination of the two just went all wrong in this case and turned into a thick fog of Easter lilacs and wintergreen mints Again, both lilac and wintergreen are lovely notes on thier own and in the right blends, but in this case the bouncer at the Tavern of Hell kicked me out.

This is a really strange morpher on me. At first, I'm intrigued by the contrast of cold aquatics and memory of tropical flowers and incense. As time passes different notes get their turn to come to the surface; ocean, incense, florals. However, in the end it just turns into an extremely sweet tropical fruit/flower/incense cocktail that gets to the point of being cloying. If it could have stayed in its first stage the whole way through, I would have been a convert.

This is way too butch and heavy on me, but it evokes De Sade alright, of whom I'm a huge fan (ever read his diary? You'd think people didn't put that stuff on paper in those days!). I like smelling it, just not on myself; I'd rather be doing reprehensible things with a gorgeous guy who has it on

This was one I wanted to try for a while and LdyKnight was kind enough to include a surprise imp of it in my package When the first note of something says "grapefruit", I usually think astringent, but that might just be from one too many bad candle experiences. But the fact alone that it's vampire related meant I *had* to try it. Vampire Tears isn't astringent at all--it's Froot Loops! Like lemon lollipops and Froot Loops. And for those of you afraid of honeysuckle, I didn't get any at all. Doesn't exactly make me think of vampire tears, and while it isn't something I'd put on for fall and winter I'll definitely be hunting a bottle of this come spring.