brilliantcat

In the bottle: A strange combination of notes. Most strongly beeswax, orange blossom, and ginger. Immediately after application: OH YUM. Leather, black pepper, and a smidge of oakmoss and orange blossom. Warming up: Mostly orange blossom with a tad of ginger and the vanilla-amber. Fading: Orange blossom and vanilla-amber. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: It started off wonderfully but dried down to a vanilly-orange scent. Very light. I thought this was going to be a winner but it ended up being just average. Rating: 3/5.

In the bottle: Hazelnut, lavender, and bergamot. Immediately after application: Same as in-bottle. The pecan is probably hiding in there with the hazelnut. Warming up: It's settled into a beautiful blend of lavender, bergamot, and tonka with hints of nuts. Fading: Soft lavender, tonka, and nut notes. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: Utterly gorgeous. I want a bottle for sure.

In the bottle: Incensey with a hit of juniper. Immediately after application: Still has an incense-like feel but the moss is predominant. Warming up: Pretty much all moss. Fading: Mossy. Faded: Average throw, average wear. Overall: I like a touch of moss in blends, but this was too much. Rating: 1/5.

The personification of insanity, Mother of Manes, Goddess of Night Spirits, Mistress of Undeath, She Who Gives Life to the Dead. With Mantus, she rules the Etruscan underworld, and her scent is roiling chaos and churning madness, but because she is the mother of the Lares, benevolent household spirits, her perfume also bears an underlying gentleness, and, like madness, a strange sweetness. Screeching white musk collides with a howl of red musk, with sharp white grapefruit and pale strawberry leaf. In the bottle: Musk with a hint of grapefruit. Immediately after application: Awesomely musky with just a touch of acidic grapefruit. Warming up: Just the musks now. Kind of like Smut without the smut. Fading: Musky and delicious. Faded: Average throw, average to long wear. Overall: This is going to be my GC go-to if I ever run out of my beloved Smut. Rating: 4/5.

Non compos mentis, indeed! A contrary, conflicted scent, bubbling with merry madness. Contains apple, rose, and lemon. I do believe I'm insane for testing this, as I have issues with both rose and lemon notes, but I am determined to test every oil that comes my way and I live in the eternal hope that one day these notes will not cause HORRIBLE THINGS TO HAPPEN. In the imp, it smells slightly effervescent and mostly of apples with a slight wisp of lemon and rose. Once on me, it's all ROSE ROSE ROSE ROSE. Godzilla rose. I expected that but I had to try. I will say it's much lighter than I expected and if you're a fan of rose scents, this one is quite light and pretty.

In the imp, I get florals, a pinch of musk, and the faintest hint of pepper. On me, it's truly a ghostly scent, faint and ephemeral. I get whiffs of light florals, then a touch of dusty musk, and now and then some of the pepper. It's so light but I like it! Maybe I like it because it is so very light and I only catch faint traces of it when I least expect it.

In the bottle: Fruity tropical drink! Immediately after application: Pineapple and grapefruit primarily, a little booze from the rum and brandy and maybe a bit of the lime. I can't make out the pomegranate or ginger specifically. I wish to be laying on a Hawaiian beach RIGHT NOW. Warming up: The ginger's come out now so it smells like spicy fruit. It pretty much smells freaking amazing. Fading: Spicy, fruity, a touch of rum. LOVE. Faded: Still getting wafts of fruity tropical nom hours later. Overall: ABSOLUTE LOVE. I want to hunt down a bottle now. I am so sad that I lost out on a bottle of this a couple weeks ago by about 10 minutes. I was bidding on it and got distracted. The other person won it for like $12 and it was a brand-new full bottle *weeps* Lime is often hit or miss on me, turning either weirdly powdery or sour or acidic and chemical. Apparently pink lime doesn't do that or there was enough of the other fruit to keep it in check.

Sadly I get creamy, sour tea, with a hint of fruit. Not for me.

In the imp, I get something astringent, medicinal. Wet, it's creamy, spicy, and resinous. I am loving it... wait... there's the damn rose. Amping. Amping. All I get is rose. DAMN. After it dries down quite a bit I get that amazing spicy, resinous blend back. Stupid rose has to go and ruin another blend for me. You'd think I'd just give up the moment I see "rose"

In the imp, it's delicious lemony green tea. I'm a bit concerned because lemon usually behaves one of two ways on me: dish soap or furniture polish. Once on me, it's predominately lilac though and I adore the scent of lilacs. They remind me of great-grandmother, who had a huge lilac bush in her backyard that I used to use as a cave when I played. My mother took a cutting from that bush and so I have very strong scent memories attached to lilacs. There is no hint of dish soap OR furniture polish, yay! As it warms, the lilac takes on an almost aquatic note. This is just beautiful. I rarely wear florals but I'd make an exception for this.

Avenger is absolutely terrifying for about the first 10 minutes. The pikaki does something awful that smells just like cat pee. I am just at the point of washing it off when it morphs into the most insanely gorgeous spicy sweet fruity-floral. So glad I gave it a little while to warm up! I can deal with a few minutes of weirdness for hours of amazingness. Deep, dark, spicy, sweet, and altogether beautiful!

At first, it's a gorgeous earthy, musky, incensey lilac that unfortunately dries to powder. /sadface

This one was a surprise. Lime notes can be iffy on me but the rest of the notes sounded awesome, especially the gunpowder. In-bottle, I get woodsy leather and lime. Wet it's woods and gunpowder. Starting off with a bang, so to speak. No soapy lime, yay! As it warms, I get woodsy leather with a hint of vanilla and gunpowder. I think I may need a bottle of this, or at least a partial!

I love patchouli so this was high on my list to test. In the bottle, it's all patch all the time. On me, it's dirty, dirty patchouli and I love it! As it starts to warm up, though, it starts to get this odd cologne-y feel. Noooooo! Sadly, I have to pass.

I should have been wary of this one with the rose note but the rest of the notes sounded so lovely I had to try it. In the bottle, I got a slightly powdery bergamot. I can deal with this! I love bergamot! On me, I get the same but with the addition of the hated rose. However, it's behaving itself. At first. Eventually the whole thing warms up to powdery rose and I can't get it off fast enough. Not for me.

Sweet, sweet red musk that hardly morphs at all on me. I literally said "YUM!" I need at least a bottle of this and possibly more.

Very herbally and green on me, not a whiff of sandalwood to be found. A very fresh, planty smell. I like it well enough but no bottle for me.

The listed notes sounded AMAZING so I bought a bottle unsniffed. Boy was that a mistake. It smelled so gorgeous in the bottle, slightly fruity with sugar and woody notes. On me, it turned to cedar. All cedar all the time. I barely got a whiff of any of the other notes. It reminded me of my gerbil cages when I was a kid. UGH. Not what I want to smell like So disappointed.

I didn't get much pine from this, it morphed almost immediately into a smoky, sweet incense. "Yum!" I thought. And it became cloying, to the point that it almost made me gag No fair, I really liked it at first. After retrying, it's quite lovely. Woodsmoke and pine and pachouli and very much fall. It does, however, smell very similar to Tricksy bath oil and I have a whole bottle of that so it's nothing I feel the need to search out.

Wet: Herbs, lemon, a hint of dust and ink perhaps? The herbs and lemon are strongest. It's certainly not at all off-putting at this point though I'm hoping for some of the deeper notes to come through, like the woods and incense. The description had me absolutely hooked. And there's the smoky woods and a hint of the metallic, like blood almost. It's probably the ink. I'm definitely put in mind of an old bookshop. I'm so excited this is turning out just how I wanted! Upon retesting, I get a lovely woodsiness overlaid with cookies. On-skin, it's gorgeous buttery cookies with dry woods and a smidge of the ink. Not as lemony as my first test by far, I get barely a hint of it. Whoa, the wood note amps up quickly! It's quite evocative, and I can easily picture nibbling cookies, sitting in a squishy fat chair in a bookshop with the wooden racks gleaming with polish. I get a whiff of the tea I would surely be drinking!

From the listed notes, I thought this was a surefire winner. It wasn't horrible, it just didn't work out quite how I expected. In bottle, it's very sweet tobacco leaf and goes on wet the same. I noted that it was "too sweet" for me, and I LOVE both tobacco AND foody notes! The sweet, cloying tobacco remained overwhelming, though the woods peeked out a bit. I'm glad it wasn't only me, since I see many people have noted the super-sweetness. It really is reminiscent of caramel and caramel doesn't usually do well on me, I find it sickeningly sweet. I'm sad, the overwhelming sweetness is ruining this blend. Disappointing

In the bottle I get honeyed bread. When wet I get a definite yeasty bread note and a "greenness". As it warms, the green feel fades and I get some grape-y sweetness that I associate with 90% of the lab's wine notes adding to the mix. Possibly a bit of smoky meat? It's certainly an interesting scent and it smells pretty good warmed! I doubt I'd wear it often, or possibly at all, but it's definitely a very cool blend.

I gave this a try on a whim because of the french vanilla. In the bottle it was a floral vanilla musk that turned to a blend of white musk and light floral notes once applied. Unfortunately as it warmed it gave me the distinct impressive of expensive soap and was altogether too traditionally perfume-y on me.

In the bottle: Mint, definitely. Some other notes I can't identify. Immediately after application: I still have no idea what it smells like except that it smells GOOD. A vaguely aquatic feel. I swear it feels cool on my wrists. Warming up: It DEFINITELY feels cool on my wrists. FUNKY! It smells like ice. No, really. There's some minty undertones but I get definite aquatic notes too. I picture icicles. This is awesome since it's getting hot out, it'll be perfect for those superhot days. I'm just so tickled by how my wrists are tingly cold! Fading: Mostly aquatic with a tiny hint of mint. Faded: Softly fading aquatic notes. Overall: I quite like it! It's definitely an I'm-so-hot-I-can't-stand-it scent. It's freezing cold and refreshing. I'd consider it gender-neutral but it might have a bit of a cologne feel to some.

In the bottle: Chocolate-covered cherries. Immediately after application: Not foody at all, a sophisticated orange and cherry scent with undertones of chocolate. Color me surprised! Warming up: Some of the chocolate is coming out now. My skin seems to be slurping up the cherry and leaving mostly orange. Fading: Rich chocolate/orange/cherry that is surprisingly not foody. By that, I mean not candy-smelling. It smells more like a liqueur or a fancy dessert. Faded: Spicy-ish deep chocolate and mostly orange. Maybe a hint of cherry. Overall: Very yummy but like I said, not over-the-top foody or sickly sweet. It's a sophisticated gourmand scent. Unfortunately I did a lot of cooking and so washed my hands/arms a lot and lost a lot of the scent. Boo. It still smelled amazing.