Victory

Oak, tonka, vanilla, white sandalwood, lily of the valley, white ginger, amber, and apricot. The first time I tried The Antikythera Mechanism at a meet and sniff, I was floored- it was gorgeous thick vanilla spread over dark wood. Then I got a bottle of my own and it's really sweet and it's been a bit disappointing. Haloes, on me, is that first Antikythera Mechanism. I don't get any of the other notes beyond the wood and vanilla, and I LOVE IT. The wood is a gorgeous, polished deep wood, and the vanilla is edible, yes, but I wouldn't say it's foody. It's just so gorgeous. I just- this blend is so gorgeous. I can't even say. Edited for the scent description.

My reaction to the L'Estate bath oil can be summed up in two words: oh yes. I can't really separate any of the notes- I suppose the amber is the most distinct- though I know them all; the blend is just seamless. When I put the oil in my bath, the scent dispersed too much for me- I like to smell my bath oils- although I will say that dispersed through the bath water wonderfully. And though I couldn't smell it, one of my dogs, the one who usually leaves me to bathe in peace- kept trying to get me to put her in the tub, so she must have enjoyed it. L'Estate bath oil is a sunshiny, golden cloud- it's glorious. I'd planned to paint my nails and really do some pampering after my bath, but when I got out I felt so lazy I just lay on my bed and breathed. Wonderful.

Maiden reminds very strongly of Alice, at least while wet. Alice has a very very short wear length on my skin, so I was hopeful that Maiden would last longer, and it does. However, while Maiden was interesting while wet- the carnation was somewhat sweet, the rose behaved very well, the tea was creamy- dry, it lost my interest. While I was wrestling the darn imp cap open, the oil spilled and I wiped some up with a tissue, and that smells really good, so Maiden would be a good scent locket choice for me, but I don't know that I'd drop Alice for her.

I got Candy Phoenix because the idea reminded me of Pink Phoenix, which I dearly love. In the bottle and the first moments on my skin, the scent is exactly like a fuchsia hard candy- I can almost feel the candy's smoothness on my tongue. On the joint of my thumb, it stays this way. On my wrists, as the oil dries, the apple and pear blend together such that the scent isn't either apple or pear but both. The apple/pear combination begins to cut the overwhelming- the apple is quite tart, which cuts the soft sweetness of the pear and the sugar jolt of the candy. As the oil continues to dry, the pear and especially apple begin to fade away, which is somewhat surprising since apple loves to shout out on my skin, and the black currant and pomegranate show up. I will say that I didn't recognize either the currant or pom as being those notes- they seemed very sweet and delicate and somehow floral to me. At this stage, when the pear/apple and pomegranate/black currant are eddying together, there's a sort of, oh, I don't know, depth to the scent. When I smelled it, it made me think of bread- not that it smells ANYTHING like bread, but it was like bread or steak or something filling as opposed to tofu or iceberg lettuce. It made me think of feeling full. I have NO idea why I thought that, but it was a very satisfying feeling. Then the apple/pear was wholly gone, leaving a very delicate, sweet but not cavity-inducing scent behind. The sweetness was there, for sure, but it was fragile like a snowflake on your fingertip. I too thought I smelled a vanillic scent like I smell in Pink Phoenix. I liked that part, too. Pink Phoenix, fresh, was so sweet I couldn't stand it but mellowed to perfection. I like the drydown of Candy Phoenix very much- I had my wrist to my nose constantly, all day- and I'm excited to see how the oil will age.

I agree with all of the Snake Oil comparisons. I find Khrysee to be in the same scent-feel family as Snake Oil, Vixen, and Ecstasy of Passion. In the bottle and wet, the orange blossom is a bit sharp and unpleasant, as I've noticed in other blends. Once it begins to dry though, my skin chemistry works with the orange blossom and converts it to that sexy scent I love in Vixen. But while the orange blossom is balanced with the ginger and patchouli in Vixen, it's the real star of Khrysee. As the oil dries, the vanilla and amber back the orange blossom up, giving it some depth. There's a creamy sort of aspect to the scent. It makes me think a bit of sun-kissed, healthy, velvety skin. For the next 8 hours or so, the amber moves in front of the vanilla, but for the most part, still remains behind the orange blossom. I never smell much vanilla, but maybe it'll show up as the oil ages. Mmmmm, sexy.

This is the resurrected version. This is my mother's absolute favorite, so happily I can compare the old to the new. I think I prefer the resurrected Snow Angel to the old version. The lemon is much more restrained and I think the sugar is a little sweeter. This isn't to say that I necessarily think it's a sweet note- in Snow Angel, I often find myself thinking of it more as a foggy, musky, sometimes sharp note. But the scent is sweet. The peach isn't a luscious, edible peach, it's more peach tea- recognizable as peach, but not peach-y. (Sort of like how strawberry flavored water doesn't actually taste like strawberry, but you know what it is. Which is not to say the peach in this is fake like fake flavored strawberry water.) I also think the unified whole of the resurrected version is lovelier than the older version- it's smoother, without the lemon creating sharp edges. Very nice.

I understand where the people who say this smells like Sweet Tarts are coming from- I've never eaten them, but I think that's what it smells like, too! It's a sort of smashed powdered candy/Tums sort of smell. I don't smell any lavender at all, nor any honeyed milk, which is what I was really hoping for. Aging hasn't changed the scent at all since I got it in mid-November, which I admit I was hoping would happen. I don't dislike this scent, but it's just not what I had hoped for. I will say that sometimes, the baby idea enters my mind and I think it smells like blankets with lingering baby-scent. It's sort of a white scent with just the very faintest flushes of pink.

It always interests me to see how oils age, and I definitely notice a difference in Bensiabel fresh vs aged a few months. Fresh, the notes were much more identifiable- this is the lilac, this is the plum, etc. When it's aged, everything's come together into a harmonious whole. I'd bought an imp of this before I realized that leather can be iffy on me. Perversion's leather supports the other notes, and the rum and chardonnay keep it supple, as opposed to the horribly dry, pale leather in Brom Bones and Western Diamondback. If I had smelled WD and BB before I'd bought Bensiabel, I wouldn't have done so. I thought I just couldn't wear leather and Perversion was my leather miracle BPAL. But in Bensiabel, the leather is moistened by the plum juice and supported by the lilac and unnamed herbs. The result is a fusion of leather, fruit, and flowers. It actually makes me think a little of Blood Countess. When Bensiabel is wet, the leather is a stronger partner to the fruit and flowers, and it really stuck me how nice the leather was. As the oil dried, the plum and lilac, which are so intertwined with the leather that if I didn't know what they were, I couldn't identify them, step up and the scent truly intermarries. The leather takes half a step back and everything is supported equally. I prefer the plum in Bensiabel to that in Prunella, but I'll have to do more testing to see just how much I like it. Irregardless, I'm really pleased to have the imp because it reminded me not to wholly write off leather.

Florals are generally not scents I wear- my skin doesn't warp them, aside from amping moonflower like crazy, I just don't like the scents. However, I own and occasionally enjoy Peacock Queen and Nuit, so I thought I'd give La Primavera a try. I can't pinpoint any of the notes since I don't wear florals, but La Primavera does have a sharpness to it (probably from the hidden lemon peel) that distinguishes it from the lazy scents of summer flowers. The sharpness almost makes me think of the last bite of winter, the nip in the air as spring oh so slowly forces the bitter cold to yield. It lingers into the late drydown (several hours) along with the florals, which are very bright, like the brilliance of daffodils and crocus against the dead grass of my lawn. Once the crispness leaves, I keep thinking I smell a vanilla-like, musky sort of note. When I sniff my forearm, it's similar to the scent of my own skin. Whatever it is that I'm smelling, it's a nice accompaniment to the flowers, like a breath of warm air stirring them in the flowerbed. I'm not a floral lover and this scent isn't going to change that, but the crispness, the florals, and the warm skin musky note all bring to mind different elements of spring, and I look forward to wearing this oil once spring comes.

I hadn't planned on buying the Piper, but the Will Call reviews sold me. (Honey and amber? So much my thing. Pine and patchouli? So NOT my thing.) When the bottle was fresh, the blood orange was really strong- so much so that I said, a-HA! THAT's what's in one of my CT3s. I find that the scent blood orange is orange in color, but not citrussy, if that makes much sense. As the bottle has aged, I don't notice the blood orange much at all. When the oil first hits my skin, there's a sort of tingling in my nose. It's similar to the grassy note in Hay Moon and in Coyote that I dislike fresh but which is so wonderful when the oil has aged for a long time, and that makes me really excited to see how Piper ages. It's a sort of golden note, maybe the heliotrope gives it the golden feeling. I see that mallow is in both Hay Moon and the Piper, which may be triggering the tingling (but then, tall, dry grass notes are in both Coyote and Hay Moon, so who knows). When the oil is dry, the honey is apparent, which I love, since I can't get enough of the Lab's honey. The honey is joined by what I keep thinking is vanilla, but it's not listed so it must be something else. Later, the honey becomes a bit powdery, probably from the amber. When dry, the scent really clings tightly to my skin. I have to have my nose right against my skin and breathe deeply to smell it, which I'm of two minds about. It worries me when others can smell my perfume since I often dislike smelling others' perfumes, but on the other hand, I like smelling my own perfume. But I'm a true dabber; applying more might resolve that problem. I think the dawn imagery is apropos. When the blood orange was present, it was like the bright flare of color when the sun is ready to rise, followed by bright beams of light creeping across the landscape, which is in turn followed by the lazy golden sunshine of the sun above the horizon and heating the earth. I'm pleased the pine note isn't more evident on me, but I can see how that would fit with the darkness before the dawn. I rarely wear this oil, since it doesn't call out to me the way my other perfumes do, but I'm pleased to have it in my collection. The evolution of notes is beautiful.

Thank, Lycanthrope, for the sample! Strangely, I don't smell any of the eucalyptus or fir (I'm happy, since I don't find eucalyptus pleasant) at all. I only smell the plum. And as opposed to the plum in L'Inverno the oil, this plum is very deep purple-smelling. I find the plum in the oil to be a fuschia sort of smell. Maybe it's because I love plum and my nose looks for it, or maybe because the soap has aged (I got the sample back in November, so it's more than 8 months old by now). The soap itself is also different that what the other posters have described- it's a deep tan, caramel-ly color. I'm very pleased to have received a sample of this to go with my other L'Inverno products!

Mourning Moon's name is very apt. When I smelled it, I didn't smell the notes, I just had this huge sense of mourning. It smelled maybe like something that a dead loved one owned, that you've kept in a drawer to take out and remember them- a little stuffy with dust and age, and just so sad. It's an amazing oil in the sense that it triggers the sense of bereavement, but I'm just as happy not to have the oil- I don't want to go looking for that feeling.

Plum's one of my favorite notes, so I considered buying a bottle of Prunella unsniffed. Luckily for me, I didn't because the plum is unpleasant. The only other plum that I haven't liked was in Midwinter's Eve, and this is the same one, or at least the plum + unknown flowers in both blends produces the same ick. It's somehow stemmy and planty and wrong. Wet, it's all the unfortunate plum. Dry, the cream flirts in and out of the blend, and a yummy plum peeks in occasionally. I like the dry stage, but I have such unhappiness with the wet that I can write Prunella out of my wishlist. Mimosatique is right- if you're a fan of Midwinter's Eve, you really should try this.

This is a review of the 2005 vintage which, er, I apparently never got around to reviewing. The first two or three times I wore Snow White, I could really smell the florals in the wet stage. After that, the florals moved back into the seamless "Snow White" smell. It's hard for me to describe what Snow White actually smells like. I don't smell coconut, or almond, or vanilla. When I wore it today, I could smell a watery coolness - some have attributed this to cucumber, I think, but I couldn't say whether that's the note or not. Snow White doesn't smell like snow per se, but since I wore it every day that classes were canceled for snow for the last three years, I really associate the smell with lots of snow falling silently. Maybe I can better describe the scent by what it's like. It's like standing outside in a drift of snow while snow falls softly on your shoulders, in your hair, across your vision. Snow White is a beautiful, beautiful scent. Every year when it comes back I fight against getting more- I have two bottles, and I'm less than halfway through the first.

When Perchta first arrived, I feared it'd have to be swapped because of the the relentless soapiness. Now, I don't normally get soap (only Santa Muerte was soapy on me, of the hundreds of oils that I've tried) so it was heartbreaking. I'd inhale and smell unique florals unique florals unique florals SOAP! It was awful. I put the bottle away for two weeks, and now the soapiness is very much reduced. I'm hoping that some more aging will get rid of it entirely, but at the point it's at now, it's not a deal breaker. Wet, Perchta's all floral. I'm not a floral girl, but I bought a bottle partially because I was so intrigued by the florals. I can't identify a darn one, but they definitely smell alpine and chilly. As the oil dries, the musk (which to me, is animalistic in the sense that I'm reminded of Coyote, rather than animalistic in the sense that it smells like a civet or something) comes out, followed by the snow. In the dry stages, the musk and snow swirl around each other. Although I like the florals, this is my favorite stage. I'm glad I gave Perchta another chance.

Wow, Marianne is one of a kind- I don't smell the red musk at all! Red musk tends to smell like rabid peanut butter on me until the oil is several years old, and it's not a shy note, so this is a new thing. Marianne is a burgundy scent, much like the color of the actual oil, but almost all of what I smell is fruitiness. Looking at other reviews, I think it's the lotus root. Sometimes I think I smell bubblegum, which I haven't smelled with before in lotus blends, but it's not predominant. I think the other notes are creating the beautiful burgundy smell, but I can't separate them out. Sometimes, the lotus/fruitiness is too much for me, a bit cloying, which I haven't noticed when it's off my skin. I think I'll try aging Marianne to see if some of the other notes come out, but I'm just so pleased to have found a red musk scent that isn't peanut butter gone bad!

What really stands out for me in Down the Rabbit Hole is the dirt. I'd sniffed Graveyard Dirt just before smelling this, and while Graveyard Dirt is undeniably dirt, Down the Rabbit Hole is somehow dirt-ier. Maybe it's because Graveyard Dirt is purely dirt, whereas DtRH has those other notes that I associate with earth. DtRH is wet soil first and foremost, with the daisies and twigs playing back-up notes and making the dirt dirt-ier. But that's just me- my mother didn't notice the dirt note until I mentioned it. I guess even in atmospheric sprays we're not all smelling the same thing.

I'm a peach lover, so I had to try this. Wet, all I can smell is glorious peach. Not a fuzzy peach, this is somehow very smooth and somber. As it dries, the peach remains strong, until it begins to alternate with the wood notes. The wood notes I detect more by feel than smell. They feel like running your hand across well sanded wood, wood that isn't soft with the shavings, but completely and utterly smooth. I liked the oil, but since my finances are limited, I passed. I think had the peach layered over the wood, I would have been totally sold.

Oh, yum. Now THIS is what I had wanted from Sugar Cookie '05. Sugar Cookie, after the wet burst of butterscotch, was a pale, weak scent that wasn't particularly cookie-like on me, but Butter Rum Cookie is an absolutely delicious cookie. I don't smell the almond or orange, which is ok since I was a little concerned that the orange wouldn't be to my liking. The rum is tempered by the cookie smell, like they can't be separated out from one another. I just got my bottle today, so the other notes may come out more upon aging, but I had to post my love ASAP. I don't mind if the other notes never present themselves, I just love this.

When I first got L'Inverno, I thought, THIS is what I wanted Midwinter's Eve to smell like!! Midwinter's Eve was a horrible stemmy sort of scent, but L'Inverno was a gorgeous fuchsia plum scent (with faint white musk way in the drydown), and I loved it. As it's aged, the plum has backed off some so that I can smell the other notes. Now, when the oil is wet, the plum is the strongest note, but the musk and wood are beginning to peek out. The plum is a sweet one, not hard candy like in Midwinter's Eve, but sweet. Very, very happily for me, the pine wood is pine WOOD, not PINE wood- not particularly distinguishable from the stable wood in Gunpowder, for example. When L'Inverno is dry, the plum, florals, musk and wood sort of carousel across my skin. The plum is still the strongest note, but I like the soft woodiness and muskiness. Surprisingly, I think this is my favorite of the Four Seasons- I had been a bit concerned about the pine, but for me it's just a wood notes, the plum is wonderful, and everything else is beautiful.

L'Autunno reminds me very very VERY much of Punkie Night. In fact, if you missed PN, L'A is almost a dead ringer replacement. Both are apple cider scents, but I prefer PN because when it's wet there's the crisp, tart scent of a Granny Smith apple being bitten into. L'A is all apple cider, all the time. When I really look for subtleties in L'Autunno, I can detect a similar base scent to L'Estate, which is kind of fun- it makes me think of the tie between summer and autumn, when you can't really tell which is which. Sometimes I think I smell very faint greenery, probably the hawthorn, which makes me think of brick walls covered in vines. I wish that I smelled some of the other notes so that this oil was more different from Punkie Night.

This is the scent of florals lying on a bed of vanilla amber, and is very lovely. L'Estate reminded me very much of biggerCritters when it was fresh, and now reminds me very strongly of The Oval Portrait. Actually, when I put OP on one arm and L'E on the other, they are very hard to tell apart. All three scents are vanilla + florals, with different florals but bC's vanilla is different than the one OP and L'E's seem to share. I really like all three scents, but I wish that they were more distinctly different on my skin and I wish that the honey showed up more in L'Estate, since I love that note. It may just be that my skin amps the floral/vanilla combination since others haven't had this response to the oil.

I pulled out Fruitcake in honor of the Yule update. I know it was unreleased, but why haven't I been wearing this more?? I love it! I smell a similar cakiness to Eat Me, but with dried cherry and booziness, like everyone else has said. It's just the kind of foodiness that I really like. Mmmmm. Thanks for the gift, labbies!

I got to sniff Oisin from the bottle during a Meet and Sniff, so my impressions are based purely upon that. With that said, Oisin makes me think of a masculine Antique Lace. I have a bottle of AL that is very vanillic and an imp that's much lighter on the vanilla- Oisin is much more like the imp, although not identical, of course. I'm sorry I missed this when it was first out, since it's really lovely.

I have horses and have always hoped for a horse/stable BPAL scent. There are very distinct smells associated in my mind with horses- the smell of their sweat, the hay, sometimes cigarette smoke (because often other riders are smokers), their feed, some manure... This isn't what I had hoped it would be. (Luckily for all of you, since I can't imagine anyone else wants to smell like manure and smoke and horse sweat!) Gunpowder doesn't smell like a horse to me, but sometimes there are some reminiscences. When Gunpowder had just arrived, the maple was very prominent. Now that it's aged a little, that's receded a little, which makes me happier since I haven't smelled any maple around horses. Wet, the oat is the most prominent note. Sometimes the molasses combines with the oat, and it makes me think of the sweet feed we would use when I was a child to entice the horses in from their fields to be ridden. When dry, the oat is still the strongest note, sometimes with the molasses, alternating with the musk and the stable wood. I don't smell either the hay, chaff, carrots or the apples, which is somewhat of a surprise since apple is usually obvious on me. I'm happy that Gunpowder doesn't smell like a cookie on me- I prefer for it to keep it's faint horse-y memories for me. It's not what I had dreamed of, but I do like Gunpowder on its own merits.