yakiguri

Yum, sweet soft sandalwood soaked in vanilla cream. I don't detect much lotus in this blend, which is fine since lotus can get screechy on my skin. I find it a softer cousin to Blossoming Vulva, which is a brighter, lighter woodsy vanilla.

I love rose, but I definitely need a weighty anchor with it as Harlot is there and then immeditely poof! gone into the ether. I agree with the soapiness, I smell like I've used rose soap but hours afterward.

I guess I amp almond since Hellcat smells almost exactly like another cat, Bastet. The hazelnut and cream makes this slightly foodier than Bastet, but those notes are eaten up right away by my skin. Once they're gone Hellcat smells flat and dusty, like Bastet after its loooong drydown. As I'm still nursing an ancient bottle of Bastet I don't think I'll need anything more of this kitty than my one imp.

Love's Philosophy starts off as a BEAUTIFUL spicy vanilla cream...that then quickly flip-flops between plastic doll heads and cream soda. >_< Hoping more aging will bring out the former and less of the latter.

(2016 version) Either it's me, or my bottle is too new, but I don't smell oudh at all in this. This is pretty much a rose single note on me, and if I didn't know better I would think I had a bottle of The Peacock Queen instead. Every now and then the oudh peeks out a tiiiiny bit but overall it's all rose. I'll put it away for a few months in hopes the oudh gains a bit more confidence and comes out more.

^Totally agree with the above review, Bright Red Dildo is Eldritch Dark minus the sweet floral aspect (the sugared rose) and the slight chemical bent from the black leather. Exactly what it says on the tin--honeyed red musk and leather. The red musk is a bit sharp as the bottle is just a week or so old but this will be lovely with more aging. Maybe the Eldritch Dark sex shop sells Bright Red Dildos?

I agree that The Gift is a soft, radiant, body heat kind of scent. On my skin the amber and woods are dominant but soft. The white honey provides an underpinning of sweetness, and while every now and then it and the amber fight for who can shout the loudest I'm sure this will be smoothed out with age. If you like your woods on the sweeter, lighter, and brighter end of the spectrum The Gift wouldn't be a bad choice.

This smells exactly like Satya Super Hit incense (the black box) on my skin: SUPER-strong nag champa with dashes of rose and sandalwood. As it dries it gets a bit of a plasticky note which I recognize as fresh carnation. Though rose ultimately comes to the fore as the blend dries, there's no denying that it overwhelmingly smells like Super Hit. I like Super Hit and have a box of it, but I'm not sure if I want to smell of it. I could get that from lighting it in a small room. I'll revisit in a couple months and see if the blend calms down a bit more.

Out of the bajillion honey+patch+vanilla blends I own, Impressions of the Floating World is the foodiest. It starts off as a chewy, nutty patch that strongly reminds me of peanut butter (!) but more complex. Within a few minutes this aspect scales back dramatically as benzoin shoves it out of the way and steals the spotlight. As benzoin is soft on my skin it steals the spotlight...only to mumble and not look anyone in the eye, though refusing to leave the stage. The nutty patch is still there, but benzoin is ensuring it gets smelled first and most. I'm hoping more aging will make the benzoin chill out and let more of the peanut butter patch element step forward, as that stage was GLORIOUS.

Oh man. Oh man oh man. UNF. *tries to calm self down* On my skin Blossoming Vulva is sweet oak dominant, buttery and soft. I'm SO glad for this as oak is my favorite wood note and I don't see it enough in blends I can wear. The lotus is a little high pitched at first, but not nearly as screechy as it has been in other blends I've tried with it, and is quickly wrangled into submission by the oak into a bit of background sweetness. Tea blossom melds beautifully with the oak, providing it with a stronger background. Oddly enough, I get no hints of amber. Age is just going to make this more glorious, and I'm going to have to get another bottle or two before this year's Lupers go down.

*sigh* Unfortunately The Instructional Manual reminded me of why I have very few fruit-laden scents. It starts off as a sweet strawberry with red musk, but quickly devolves into a dusty fake-fruit scent akin to Flintstone's vitamins, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, or cheap candles. I typically try to keep a blend for a year to see if aging changes my mind on it, but there's too many other Lupers I want this year to justify keeping it around. Off to swaps and sales.

I'm also getting the initial blast of high octane gasoline, which then swerves quickly into plastic before FINALLY into a soft-ish cherry-tinged leather. It's still way sharper than I'd like, but I'm confident that aging will turn this into something GLORIOUS. Will revisit at the end of the year.

On me, Scholar's Tower is a syrupy sweet blend of amber and woods, and STRONG. Strong to the point of almost being screechy. Mahogany, cedar, and amber are three of my favorite notes, but I guess having all three together in one blend means they're competing viciously for my attention. Once the blend dries down more, the incense and ash add a smokiness to the blend that dials back the strident sweetness considerably. I can safely assume more aging will mellow out the bite Scholar's Tower currently has. I'm glad to have a bottle, but honestly in a stash full of similar blends I don't find it particularly unique.

Imaginer starts off as a lovely syrupy honey patch with a kick of spice from the pepper and saffron. Unfortunately my skin eats this blend within minutes and turns the thick sweet goodness into something flat and nondescript. There's no death notes in this, but I wish I know what combo of notes is turning this fantastic blend sideways. Hoping it's just hormones skewing this awry.

I bought my bottle from Ashmedai. <3 Was super stoked for this since I missed out the Chaos Theories due to rough patch at work, and I was excited at the thought of honeyed lavender. But what he thought was allspice is either sarsparilla or sassafras, because root beer is SCREAMING out of my wrist. I'm talking rivers of A&W / Barq's / Dad's Root Beer spitting out my wrist like I was some sort of smelly Spider Man. x_X UGH. There's some honey but it's quietly whispering in the corner while the root beer diva steals the spotlight. Unfortunately I dropped the (full!) bottle while testing so my sink and vanity are going to reeking of root beer for some time. I may not have liked this blend but having half a BPAL bottle literally go down the drain is heartbreaking.

Wow, I love the Lab's green tea note but it dominates this blend. I don't get any tobacco and the wood is soft to the point of being nigh-undetectable. I like it enough to keep, but I think I'll need to add French Tobacco SN to actually get any tobacco out of this.

I've dried quite a bit of BPAL's "desert" scents--Baghdad, The Ifrit, Ozymandias--but all of them all seemed just a tad too dusty in scent for me to buy. Palmyra has the dry heat and spices like the others, but it's softer and sweeter thanks to the vanilla sandalwood and leather. I know there's no tobacco or honey in this, but the blend of resins and vanilla reads as syrupy tobacco to my nose and on my skin. Love scents like White Peacock and Variety of Pleasing Amusements? Make sure to pick Palmyra up before it's gone!

I love the Lab's beeswax note, but on my skin it utterly dominates this blend. There's some smoky vanilla swirling in the mix, but unless I rrreeeeaaallllyyyy sniff at my wrist looking for the spices the clove and cinnamon are practically nonexistent. I'm reminded strongly of a slightly more complex O and/or a softer Blossoms in Springtime. Since I missed out on the Blossoms in Springtime and have yet to buy O, I'm ok with this. I just wish that more of the spice would show up. Hopefully more aging will add more complexity to the blend.

Bamboo is quickly becoming a favorite fresh/aquatic note, especially since it's one of the few notes in that category I can wear. This blend is definitely on the softer side of fresh thanks to the pearl, silk, and woods, which I'm thankful for since fresh scents can get screechy on my skin. Because it's so soft though the throw is quite close, so it's definitely a skin scent. Oddly enough the jasmine is nonexistent on my skin, and jasmine is my favorite floral scent. Glad to have this in my stash for those summer days where it's much too hot for my thick patch, vanilla, leather, and honey blends.

This is quite a lovely scent in the bottle, but unfortunately I keep forgetting that orange-anything is all for bad on my skin, and neroli only works when grounded with deeper notes as it drowns out everything else. After a few fleeting moments of everything working the orange disappears and the neroli take over the blend with vengeance, turning it into an orange blossom single note. I guess I should at least be thankful that the citrus didn't go sour like it usually does and just simply disappears? *shrug*

I'm not sure what note in here is doing it, but on my skin Startled Toad is an oddly creamy, meaty spice, like pepper milk. o.O I suspect it might be the lemongrass since that was the only note I was iffy on and everything else are known winners. No amber, no patch, no vanilla, no coconut, nada. ARGH. I hope some aging will bring the other notes, especially since the label art is so awesome. EDIT 11/28/15: In the bottle it still smells like pepper milk, but on my skin it now smells like...pencil shavings? o.O I know there isn't cedar in this since that tends to turn to pencils on some people, but cedar actually works on me. Again all the notes aside from lemongrass work on me in other blends, so I can only assume that's the reason this blend goes so, SO bad on my skin.

Tanuki shopkeepers putting out their signboards. Golden musk, ginkgo nut, persimmon rind, and bitter almond. Yum! Despite having bitter almond in its notes, Tanuki no Kanban on my skin is a sweet, slightly maple-syrupy almond with a slight bit of smokiness. I'm surprised at how sweet this came out, especially due to not-so-fond memories of being around gingko trees as a child--anyone who's lived in Asia can attest to gingko trees not having the most pleasant of odors. Supposedly though cooked gingko nuts are sweet, so that might be the reason for the sweetness behind this blend. The musk and persimmon rind keep everything from going too headache-inducing. Will definitely have to grab a bottle!

Took a chance on this blend since the Lab's green tea note hasn't agreed with my skin in the past. I figured though if I can wear Bvlgari's Green Tea, the Lab's should be OK...and I'd much rather have my money go to the Lab. I'm glad to say that green tea has officially switched from "nope" to "YES!" Serving Tea After Coitus is a lovely fresh honeyed green tea scent. The green tea note isn't high pitched and screechy like it tends to be in commercial green tea scents (see aforementioned Bvlgari). Honey amps on my skin so it quickly overtakes the other notes, turning this into a honey one-note blend. I'm hoping more aging will keep the green tea in focus longer and bring out the plum and ambergris more. I'll add this to my stable of hot weather blends where my usual patch and leather blends are much too heavy for the California heat.

Prosperous Flowers has ALL of my favorite / most winning-est notes so I knew this was going to be nothing but win on me. Indeed, this blend doesn't disappoint. It's a beautiful blend of sweet, honeyed patch + spicy woods that's heady, but not so rich that you'd feel stuffy wearing this on a warmer day. Unfortunately Prosperous Flowers isn't particularly unique. If you have Variety of Pleasing Amusements (more honey), Feed Me and Fill Me With Pleasure (stronger/sweeter patch), and/or White Peacock (more tobacco), you can safely skip this. If you missed any of those or are looking for backups, Prosperous Flowers works as a decent stand-in. I would say compared to those just listed Prosperous Flowers has more vanilla. Hoping aging will separate it more from the rest of its family notes-wise, but I'm still glad to have a bottle and will keep it regardless.

Maybe it's because I'm still fighting off the last vestiges of a particularly nasty sinus infection, but I smell nothing here. There's a vague floral soapiness which I suppose is the lily, but nothing else. ARGH. I can smell the Lyonesse I have in the crook of my arm, so I have the sinking feeling that this is just how this blend is on my skin. Hoping a looong stint in the aging box will help the other notes come out. EDIT 11/28/15: Nope nope NOPE. I can smell it now, but it's a super high-pitched and powdery floral, and the white musk is making it even MORE screechy. I guess I'm adding lily and white musk to "NOPE can't wear these" notes list.