Gold Dust Kitten

2005 version I expected this to be the glorious, golden amber scent I've been searching for, and it delivered! It's very light in the bottle and upon first application. I barely smell the amber, which is thin and dry, with a bit of sweetness from the benzoin. It begins to bloom after a few minutes, and the amber is sweet, rich and golden with a creamy lemony note reminiscent of Joyful Moon--could that be the ambrette seed? It's truly lovely. I wish it had more throw, but it's a great scent to wear when you want to feel like you're snuggled in a fuzzy blanket.

This perfume was completely under my radar until I saw it on a swap post and got excited. I love Poe and ravens, but the GC "The Raven" didn't work on me. Raven Moon is resinous, smokey, and thick with benzoin, vanilla and golden patchouli. The chili gives it a nice kick but without being noticeably spicy. Flawlessly blended, it smells like sleek black bird feathers. This is one of the most perfect lunacy blends; it's right up there with Panther Moon. As a matter of fact, they smell very similar since they both share black musk, benzoin, and warm spices.

This smelled like a strawberry Jolly Rancher as soon as I opened the Lab box. I could almost taste the peach-strawberry candy as I applied the oil to my skin, and I could also smell the creamy cheesecake. The blend went a bit plasticky when I smelled it up close, then it disappeared. I'm also hoping the sweetness dies down and it gets more creamy. Beaver Moon '05 is still my #1 beaver.

I have to agree that Banshee Beat smells a lot like Angel on me. It's not an exact match, but very close.

It's trial and error. It took me several months to be able to start picking up notes. At first, my nose was so untrained that I could only pick out "musk", "floral", "resin", "green" or "vanilla". Now, I can distinguish between different types of musk, vanilla, woods, florals, etc. I'm still learning, and found that I amp certain notes like honey, ginger, red musk, and teak (to name a few) so those notes tend to overwhelm anything else that may be in the blend. This is great when I love the notes but if we're talking about aquatics, vetiver or milk, it can be very bad. Definitely train yourself on the scents with few notes, so you get used to what they smell like, and try everything. I like to test the scent and take notes before I look at the Lab description. I usually get frustrated and look up the notes right away and then I'm like "Oooh so THAT'S what I'm smelling".

Reviews for Defututa started in Jan '08, so if the new labels came out in '09, that narrows it down to either '08 or '09. Thank you both.

Which scent is it? Are you talking about a GC? Defututa, GC.

Question about an old label: I have an amber bottle with the older style black label with a blue border. Any ideas what year that is?

I think sweet pea's tart candylike quality = lemon to my nose, because this has the same lemony-vanilla musk that I adore in Dorian, Sybil, Lady Una and Joyful Moon. Strangely, I get fleeting wafts of MB: Underpants as well because of the vanilla and sandalwood notes...with the plus side of not going rancid like Underpants does with it's buttery cream note. I'm looking forward to this aging. I want less of the sweet pea and more of the vanilla/amber/sandalwood notes.

Black Lace, you definitely live up to the hype! I found a decant of the original version of Black Lace (not apple version--which is great b/c I don't really like apple scents). Initially it's very cologney but something I find comforting. It smells a lot like an Estee Lauder perfume my mom wore, maybe Knowing? It's so perfect in it's simplicity. It's incensey without being smokey, boozy without being cloying, warm and fuzzy with just the right amount of smooth, creamy vanilla. I love the cotton/linen accord in this blend. I was wary of trying this for a long time because I was afraid it would smell like dryer sheets. It's absolutely beautiful. A+++ ETA...this stuff has some great throw!

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a prototype for Bengal rather than O. It's a spicy carnation honey with an almost overbearing sweetness that just knocks you over the head. It's much different than the GC O, which I love to death. I'm really enjoying this version because it smells like my beloved Bengal which I can't wear because of the cinnamon.

These two were very similar to my nose: Penumbra (LE) Rich purple musk, moonflower, red sandalwood, black amber, oakmoss, copal, lavender, neroli, tobacco, and pomegranate. Dionysia (CD) Wild plum, pomegranate, raspberry, Siamese benzoin, plum blossom, patchouli, frankincense, and mahogany. They both had a resiny fruitiness but Dionysia's drydown is amazing and longer lasting though.

I think it's because men are programmed to love the smell of baked goods, and Shub is a yummy spicy gingerbread.

Black rose, olibanum, dark musk, myrrh, blackcurrant, lavender buds, bourbon geranium, and amber incense. This is a truly beautiful and very well blended oil. It's a dark lavender in the bottle, and a deep musky lavender with the sweetness of black currant and the softness of amber. The lavender lingers as it dries down to a fruity, black curranty amber.

Banshee Beat is my perfect vanilla. I need to get 2 more bottles at least.

Mme Moriarty always gets attention. Other sexy ones for me are: Snake Oil Smut (2006 is my fave) Tombeur Spellbound Bastet Defututa Haloes Lady Una Banshee Beat

Good old Snake Oil.

In the bottle, it's a delicious syrupy cherry. There's nothing cough-medicine about this cherry, even with the cherry liqueur note. On my skin, it's a very subdued cherry vanilla. It's what I hoped Blood Kiss would be (pesky vetiver), but not nearly as strong...or the cherry in one of those cherry cordials...aaand Cherry Chap-Stick. The vanilla gets a bit plasticky on the dry down, but I finally start to smell the Egyptian Musk. All in all, I wish it had more sweetness, throw, and lasting power.

There is something in here that reminds me of Angel, but I can't put my finger on it. Aside from that, the florals smell sharp and commercial-perfumey, berries smell plasticky, and I don't detect any spices or amber.

This reminds me of a Burt's Bees carrot face cream I had once, and the orange blossom is SHARP and soapy. The carrot seed gives this a strange, earthy smell that I cannot tolerate.

The Sodom of the New World! -- touted as the richest and wickedest city in all creation! Port Royal was the center of 17th century Caribbean commerce, a notorious safe harbor for pirates, and the site of our third flagship store, which was, sadly, destroyed in the earthquake of 1692. Spiced rum and ship’s wood mixed with the body-warmed trace of a prostitute’s perfume and a hint of salty sea air on the dry-down. In the vial (before I dumped it on my sweatshirt): Cool salty sea air, wood, booze, and a hint of floral perfume. On my skin, it was rum and wood, but not as masculine as expected. Then, I smelled cloves. I was pleasantly surprised, because anything faintly aquatic goes dryer sheet on me, but this was a perfect balance of boozy, woody, spicy, and sea notes. edited to add Lab notes

Have you tried Alice or Inez? They both have carnation which is a spicy floral. Inez is especially beautiful, warm and sexy. INEZ Golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood. ALICE Curiouser and curiouser. Milk and honey with rose, carnation and bergamot.

Tombeur is Snake Oil for men. It's a very masculine blend, yet totally wearable for a woman. I'm surprised my nemesis Vetiver is behaving in this. I tried this on my skin and it's very strong, so I'd only need a teeny drop. It actually smells better in my hair. I'm torn. I'm thinking I need a bottle of this but the decant is super full so I'm going to play around with it before I buy...

I feel like the honeysuckle is confusing this blend. It doesn't seem the notes are playing well together on my skin. There's definitely an olfactory war going on...is it supposed to be sweet or musky or spicy? They aren't blending well but fighting. The first note I smell is a very dry ginger, then honeysuckle. I also smell pepper and faint red musk, but something is turning sour and I'm going to have to wash this one off.

I also got a cinnamon note from this the first day I tried it, but not the second. It's more of a cassia, since I amp cinnamon and it makes me break out. I wasn't wowed by this, because it smelled like men's cologne soap to me, with a lot of smokiness. I'll try it next week when my monthly bill is gone, perhaps it's screwing up my sense of smell.