raisin

I would not have guessed this one was entirely floral. I can't pick out individual floral notes (possibly because I'm not horribly familiar with these particular varieties, possibly because the individual flowers blend together so well). It stays very soft and close to the skin, and it's surprisingly dark. Almost smoky or earthy or slightly musky. This could work very well when I just want something that stays close. But I'm not sure I'll need more than the imp.

Very nice, springlike floral. Mostly green and lilac, with just the faintest hint of rose. I wish I got more lavender, but at least I don't get much sugar. If anything, there's kind of a nice, earthy bitterness to this one. I'd say this is the lilac blend I was hoping to find. I'm not sure I'll use enough of it to warrant a 5ml, but this is very nice.

I get strong lavender at the start, and then quite a bit of violet. I'd been looking for a violet I could like, and with the lavender, this seems like a strong contender. It's soft and very feminine, but I'm sure I can muster up a mood that would suit it.

Oh, how pretty! It went on almost candy sweet (citrus has a bad tendency to do this on me) but the woods and muskiness are beautiful and win out as soon as this dries. It's got a sharp coolness to it that make me think of the masculine, cologne-type scents, and I dig it. I think I may have to look into finding a bottle.

I'd hold on to this imp for the color alone (beautiful pale green) but it turns out I sort of like the scent, too! I get mostly eucalyptus with lemon and a hint of pine. Lemon usually goes very sugary and then dominates on me, but the eucalyptus is doing a great job of keeping up with it. I'll probably end up using this one more as an after-work winddown scent, but it's beautiful.

The tobacco/vanilla combo is quite potent. I get mostly a smoky, sugary vanilla here. The woods are present, but more in the background. On the whole, this is quite a bit sweeter than I'd anticipated, but fortunately not quite foody. I really want to like this more than I actually do, so I'm hoping some aging improves that vanilla a bit for me. It really is a nice combination of notes, and I definitely like it better than some of the other popular vanilla blends. It's just very sweet.

While it's a nice, spicy floral, which are my favorite kinds, I do get a little fruit (I think orange may be right) and a little spice (like clove... it's almost cinnamon like, but not that strong) and quite a bit of very fresh lily. It is rather like someone has a bouquet of those flowers next to a spiced orange candle. Not exactly my thing. I may give this another try, because it is really close to a floral I could enjoy, but I wish I could wear fruit better.

Bow & Crown of Conquest also seems to have a fair share of fans with a range of different tastes.

I don't know what it is, but I really like the lab's apple scent, even if I almost never wear it. This one goes on very apple-y, and smells authentic enough to me, albeit with kind of a bitter kick at the end. I lose the apple as it settles, but before I could pin down what it smells like instead (sort of fresh, but a little perfume-y?) it's pretty much gone. There's just a little patch of skin that's ever so slightly fresher smelling than the area around it. Alas.

Finally, an Arkham scent that doesn't smell like cookies! This is actually a pretty nice aquatic. It's not as sour as some of the other ocean water blends I've sniffed, and there's a nice green freshness to it. It's a little Irish Spring... I could see the comparison. But it settles into a very nice and clean water scent. I think I'd kind of adore this on a guy, and we'll see if I can come up with a use for it for myself that Sturgeon Moon can't fill.

Review of the 2006 version Definitely my favorite Yule I've tried so far. Initially, it reminds me of lebkuchen and various other German baked goods my family usually gets around Christmas. I don't usually like baked goods in my bpal, but this is nostalgic and not overly sweet (which is the problem I had with German cookies as a kid). The pipe smoke starts to come out, and reminds me a whole lot of my grandfather. This is definitely the closest approximation to his pipe I've found. Then I get what I imagine to be the linen, but couldn't be sure. It just reminds me of hugging my grandpa. Had I not been wearing a wood-centric blend all day, I may have missed the woods entirely here, but they're there. They're more polished than raw. The leather is remaining pretty hidden to me, but that might be providing a lot of the sweetness to the scent, along with the pipe smoke, and gets lost there. This is incredibly comforting and nostalgic and I'll definitely be going to this one over Christmas. Many thanks to the lab for managing to bottle my grandfather.

Oh, this is gorgeous. I was expecting something a lot drier from the listed notes, but instead get something very fresh and beautiful. It goes on as a very bitter musk that almost immediately fades to the background. Then out come the blonde woods, smelling much more old and loved and polished than I was hoping or expecting. They're gorgeously fragrant. (And nothing like the lumber aisle of Home Depot that I had originally imagined they'd be. It's reminding me more of this mostly wooden, art-deco-era lobby I've been in.) I get the impression of used books if I look for it, and then it's the most gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, idealistic take on "old book" one could imagine, but mostly it's just a very nice, clean, fragrant, fresh woodsy smell, lightly underscored with musk. I'm totally in love with this one.

This is morphing quite a bit on me. It went on as pure musk, but quickly morphed into a rather perfume-y incense stage, with a strange cold note to it. From there, I got almost pure lilac cologne, with an even stronger cold edge. I rather like this stage. Beyond that, I start to get the mahogany, leather, and a little lemon (which is thankfully not candy citrus, and just makes the wood note smell polished and gleaming). The vanilla doesn't stand out much to me, but there's a sweetness that might not be cologne related. I like this one considerably more as it settles down, so I'll just have to remember to give this one time to settle whenever I wear it. It's not as subtle as I might like, so I don't think it'll be anything I wear to work, but it would be fantastic for nights out.

Had really hoped to like this a little, but I get entirely the sugar-spun vanilla and very very little else. There might be a hint of something smoky that keeps it from going pure candy, but mostly... no. I'm not enough of a sugar or vanilla fan to like this much at all.

The spiciness of this one reminds me a little of Hermia, especially in the imp. Wet to drying, I get less of the spiciness, and while the blend undoubtedly smells like lily, it's sort of threatening to go fruity on me (like a raspberry sort of fruity). I do really like this blend, as the spicy/creamy floral is one I have a weakness for, and the fruitiness doesn't seem to become more than a threat. I think I'll hang on to this one (for now) for the days where I try to give florals a chance, but I don't think it's a bottle purchase.

My mother wears Roma, and I'm noticing that Night's Bridge reminds me quite a bit of that. That might explain why I find it so nice and comforting!

Oh... oh... I love this. It's amazingly clean smelling, like some people above have mentioned, without smelling soapy or like dryer sheets. The lavender is easiest for me to pick out, and there's a nice greenness from the moss and thyme. I get kind of a coldness from the bergamot, which blends beautifully. The patchouli isn't very prominent to me, but I can only barely pick it out, and the jasmine is so, so faint, just sort of vaguely sweetening the blend with a little bit of floral. This is just a fantastic cologne blend. I'll be seriously considering getting a bottle.

I didn't think there was much of any way this could go wrong, but I didn't end up getting any lavender at all, just the bubblegum other people have mentioned. How unfortunate!

Oh, this is so so close to being something I'd desperately want. Between the frankincense and something vaguely fruity (it's like artificial tropical fruit) it loses me. But there's something green and beautiful underneath, so I guess I just need to learn from these notes and move on.

Oh, sweet heavens, yes. Absolutely gorgeous, perfect gin scent. This comes wonderfully close to smelling exactly like Hendrick's, my favorite gin. It's got a little bit of juniper, something nice and slightly effervescent, and an overall light and playful feel. I had worried after falling hard for Bathtub Gin that I would be lost without it, but this is a nice GC substitute. I don't think it has the throw or spice or all the fizziness of Bathtub Gin, but Twenty One definitely gives me a great, wearable gin note. Adore it.

Got this as a frimp from a wonderfully generous forum member. Mostly cream, though there's a dark note to it. It's nothing I'd identify as sarsaparilla or rootbeer (certainly not that sticky sweet)... it's closer to sunscreen to me. The first time I tested this, I regretted putting it on when I was on my way out the door, because it took all of one sniff to realize this was nothing I wanted to wear. But I must admit, while I was driving, I was exposed to a bit of the throw on this one, and it's pretty. Bordering on gorgeous. Still nothing I especially want to wear, because it's just not me, but I can definitely see why this one's popular. It's a nice very slightly spicy vanilla, bordering on squeaky clean and totally innocent, but not quite there. The throw is just delicious, and so much better than what I get with my nose to my wrist, but I just can't ever see myself wearing this. So... off to swaps.

This makes me think of greenish booze notes, like a sinister cocktail party. I get the lime & mint, juniper, and anise, and my mind went straight to mojitos, gin & tonics, and absinthe. (Maybe living with a bartender is getting to me?) It's definitely a green scent, and I find it terribly relaxing and wonderful. I absolutely adore this, but haven't dared to use more than a single spray from my tester yet. I really want to bathe my sheets in this stuff, so I desperately hope it gets released. Or at least get a chance to find out what the notes are, so I can look for similarities in existing room sprays.

I had forgotten most of the notes when I picked this up (aside from lavender and carnation, which were the reasons I picked it up). It went on almost medicinal, with a little floral from the carnation. I liked how bright and fresh and different this stage was. The scent warms as I wear it (I'm guessing that's the amber at work) and becomes a nice, smoky lavender scent. I also get quite a bit of musky leather, but I don't see that listed. There's still a bit of carnation, and a hint of something vaguely green. The end result was heavier and more cologne-y than I expected or desired, but nice. It reminds me of Casanova, but has enough differences that I think I can justify having bottles of each. Mainly, this is a great lavender/carnation blend, which was what I was looking for. ETA: While this one goes through a pretty strong phase, it settles pretty quickly and nearly disappears on me. Though it stays close to the skin at that point, the staying power is pretty amazing, and even takes a bit of effort to wash off.

Just picked this one up today, and oh my god... LOVE. Granted, I'm totally into lavender, leather, and tea, so there were very few ways this could go wrong on me. It's sweeter and creamier than I would have expected, and something about the scent has that mint-like, chilling effect on my nose, without actually smelling like mint (reminds me of the "snow" note I've come across). I don't get much leather, just something faint that keeps the scent from going too girly. I'm not familiar enough with nicotiana or osmanthus to pick them out, but there's definitely something a little floral about the scent that isn't all jasmine. I'm not big on florals in general, but I like these. I don't get anything definitively jasmine tea, or much beyond a hint of amber. It's certainly old and proper and a little bit dangerous, and totally evocative of the concept. Mostly, though, this is a lavender scent, so I love it and will be wearing it a lot. ETA: I've also started to get kind of a woodsy note several hours into wearing, similar to the paper note I've come across. That sort of takes this one from "awesome" to "OMG PERFECT" for me, so... yay.

I'm too much of a Bowie fan not to have pounced on this one the moment I heard of it. I was a little nervous about the components (naturally, as I was purchasing it solely for the concept, it has a lot of florals in the description) but the florals never bother me or seem terribly floral. It's more like glam androgyny than anything specifically feminine. The only note I'm able to specifically pick out is the champagne and that dies out after an hour or so. There's kind of a glittery floral haze beyond that, and a slight warmth and masculinity from the musk, but nothing too specific or standout. I suppose I might see where people get hairspray or cigarettes, but I don't get anything literal there myself. It's certainly like a party fragrance, and not subdued or put together. In terms of Bowie songs, I get Rebel, Rebel more than Ziggy. Mainly, I'm just happy to have discovered something that's gorgeous and feminine, but still a little on the masculine side underneath. I could easily imagine a man wearing this (and boy howdy, would I be all over that).