Gateau

An effervescent combination of pink musk, white peach, wild strawberry, pale woods, iris, and raspberry leaf. Emphasis on girly-fruity here, with these lush peachy-melon-berry notes. The pink musk and woods add a little grittiness that takes this goth. It's a great representation of the concept. Color impression is a hot pink, not a baby pink. Not really my style but if you're a fruity-musk person, worth tracking down.

Nothing quite that wide for me yet, but I've had noticeable differences in bottles of TKO. The first one had a more distinctive lavender and the later ones had almost a lotiony note.

I love Manhattan when I want to feel businesslike and powerful, yet femme and pretty all at the same time. It's a great work scent for me. I often reach for Celeste for interviews. I like that it's assertive on me, while also emitting wafts of very stranger-friendly vanilla.

I generally avoid red musk, because I get that rotten play-doh, latexy thing from it, but this sounded overall so delicious that I had to try it, and also I'm becoming more tolerant of the darker musks. In the bottle and wet it's a sort of woody caramel. I'm not bothered by caramel the way some folks are, but I don't do well with buttery scents. So far this was OK. The musk develops next, and lo and behold, it's working fine on me with the caramel and woodiness. But then it fully dries and that's where things go off. Something sort of decaying emerges, that old mushroom note that someone else mentioned. I wait for it to pass, and it sort of does, but then comes this overly floral incense sort of thing that combines with the caramel and musk in a sickly way. I want this all to blend into sexy perfection, but instead it becomes something I have to wash off. WAAH

When I first tried this on, after ripping the box open to get at it, I kind of freaked out because it was so sharp and cologne-like. It was that citrusy top note just screaming all over the place. But as it dried down, the swoon-worthy rich leafy, almost caramelized, tobacco mellowness took over and made it clear why this one is an instant classic. A week later, that screaming note is much quieter, and I expect that with age it will continue to mellow out. What gets left on skin is an absolutely realistic warm fresh tobacco that smells exactly like the pouch when I used to roll my own cigarettes. It's a delicious scent all on its own, and is utterly unisex, but it's brilliant for layering too. Try it with Black Temple Burlesque Troupe! Glad I got backup, kind of wish I got more than the two.

These are notes I just can't wear on my skin, but love in theory. Was so delighted to spray this and find it fresh but also rounded in a warm way. It's springy but not chilly. Need a big bottle for use in places and at times when the heavier, more leathery, resinous, or beeswaxy atmos I love are a little too sexy. Also the color impression I get exactly matches the sea green in my bathroom.

Wet, I get three very distinct scent impressions. First is a leafy grassiness, that I think must be the hemp. I also get something that smells sort of white chocolate, which I think must be the honey, amber, and beeswax interacting. Then there's the bright floral wild honeysuckle. This is interesting! Dry, those two scent groupings stay in place, and kind of swirl around each other. I'm not sure I get the black currant distinctly, but it might be hiding there with the leaves and grasses. After an hour or so, it's become predominantly hemp and beeswax. It's sweet, smooth, earthy, and leafy. Unfortunately, it's a little too earthy-leafy for me, and lacks the fruity-floral component I was hoping for. Will probably take this off to the swaps so someone who can appreciate it better can enjoy it.

Wet, this is a beautiful blend of pure, sweet honey, not a heavy or powdery honey, with delicate apricot (I can smell that it's white apricot, not a juicier nectar) and a dusting of cayenne that tickles the nose. As it dries down, I get a stronger sweet apricot, but it stays delicate, and the cayenne becomes more prominent. It's wonderful -- the cayenne keeps this from becoming entirely sweet, fruity, and springlike. After it's been on a while, the honey gets stronger and more dominant. It never get powdery or musky, but it smells more like honey, and the apricot and cayenne fade. It's a very pretty scent, and lasts a lot longer than I'd thought it might. I think it will be good when I want something that celebrates spring, but with that touch of pepper it keeps it from being too pristine.

This starts off with everything I love about orris and ambergris, a sort of fuzzy roundness and mellowness. It takes a little while for the amber to come up, and when it does I'm disappointed, because it's the type of golden amber that just does not do well on me, gives a sort of stale sweat scent to my nose. Eventually, that amber note dominates. Off to the sales with this one.

This is the headshoppiest thing I've tried on in a long time! Wet, I get mostly frankincense and a lily-like dry note, and just a hint of snake oil. As it dries down, the sweet champaca starts to come out, and ends up absolutely dominating. If I sniff hard I can make out snake oil in the background, but it's strongly nag Champa-frankincense incense, and quite fruity-sweet. I get that grapiness everyone describes, too. Not for me.

Well, by now any Death Adder is by definition aged Death Adder. I got a hold of a decant to test before the return of the CD, to prepare myself for the buying frenzy. Wet--Snake Oil with a very pronounced dry coconut note. I love the black coconut, it's not as sweet and fruity and suntan lotiony as regular coconut, but it's not as dry and woody as the husk. This evokes Caribbean to me, but not a Caribbean vacation on the beach. It's more like going into the backstreets with someone who knows the neighborhood and getting taken to a really sexy club. I seem to have avoided that initial blast of vetiver so many reviewers talked about. Drydown--The drier it gets the more pronounced the vetiver, starting with a whiff of throw that could be nothing else. Up close it still smells like coconutty Snake Oil. I really can't pick out vanilla or opoponax from the Snake Oil. Dry--Now the vetiver is amped up, and has made this distinctly masculine. I'm not a big vetiver fan, it's kind of a sweaty scent to me. I think it's very good for a man, but it makes me feel like he's rubbed his sweat on me, and not in a good way. Ultimately, I'll have to pass. That wetter phase was great, but I don't like it dry. I might do better layering something like Obatala with Snake Oil to get a similar impression without the vetiver.

Sweet, honeyed peach, frosted with a touch of neroli. I can make out the cocoa and the patchouli, but they're fairly faint, and just dirty it up a little bit. It reminded me overall of Depraved, but a much less lusty version of that. Honestly, for a dirty stone fruit, I'd rather stick with Depraved, with the added benefit of being GC.

To me this smells exactly like the perfumey part of Black Lace, without the vanilla lace base, and like a drier Lyonesse. Definitely get the amber and whiff of incense. I like it, though I like the richness of the other two scents I mentioned a bit more.

I've always loved lavender, and I'm addicted to TKO for sleeping purposes, but have been looking for a BPAL that features lavender in a non-sleep-inducing way for daytime wear. Arcana might be a contender. I get a lot of lavender at the top, smells like freshly picked lavender I've crushed between my fingers. That is accompanied by a strong lemon verbena, which is both lemony and herbal. The lemon is quite aggressive at first, but it settles down and then I also pick up a small hint of the rosemary. I was expecting the rosemary might come on stronger, and I'm glad it didn't. All three herbs stay distinct, and overall it's quite a natural, herby, garden scent. I can't pick out the frankincense or the neroli, so I'm guessing they're just rounding out the top and bottom of the scent while letting the herbs shine through. I'm going to keep testing this as we get into the spring and summer and see if it's what I'm looking for. It seems more appropriate for those seasons, or for a little breath of outdoors in the winter.

This doesn't go plastic on me, thankfully, but it's not my best type of vanilla. It's the buttery, creamy kind, with lots of sweet rum. I tend to like the more floral or dry perfumey type of vanilla. Still, it's warm and pretty and I think it might make for a good layering thing to have in the repertoire. It's not terribly distinct to my nose from the Rum Soaked French Tonka, so I'm sure I won't keep bottles of all of them, and certainly don't need backups off either.

I got the black roses, and they come through loud and clear. I can get a hint of the other notes in the background, but perhaps I amp rose too much, but they really don't have much of a presence. Not the resiny-inflected dark rose scent I can smell in my mind's nose. Later, as with so many roses, I get a soapiness.

Count me as another who took away floral-with-ginger from this more than anything like a gingerbread. I also got a whiff of the candies and icing from Maison en Pain d'Epices. For my gingerbread needs I'll stick with Gingerbread Poppet.

This one reminded me -- and not in a good way -- of the fruity version of Sprinklecake. But at least with this one I knew I was supposed to be getting a fruity note, so at least it didn't shock me.

Like milo, this is what I was hoping for from Mahogany Hall. This has richness and softness, it's not overpowering at all. It smells like really good worn leather, fresh tobacco, and a lovely layer of vanilla. I sprayed it around my closet this morning, and immediately all my clothes and shoes seemed classier and more expensive. Surprisingly comfortable scent to live with. So glad I snagged it.

Sweet, roasty, seasonal. I sprayed this around the living room at Christmas and it very much made up for the fact that we don't have a fireplace. It's maybe a little sweet and foodie for me to use it with greater abandon, but I'm happy to have a generous decant to use for just such an occasion.

This came so close for me, but in the end it didn't work. At the start, it's a lovely spice mix, the kind of spices you find in holiday baking. That mixes with a beautiful rosewater, which doesn't go soapy at all. I am loving the Lab's rosewater note, from this and The Orgy. If the black tea hadn't come along and turned into something rather damp, stale, and dank, this would have been perfect on me, and I enjoyed the rosy, spicy throw it sent off. Unfortunately, when I'd sniff it more closely, that tea note (which I've had trouble with in the past) overwhelmed.

I love the smell of pine, but it's really hard for me to wear. It loses its nice woodsy outdoorsy scent and turns sweet in a weird way on my skin, something that smells almost like (ew alert) fresh urine. That's partly tempered here by a good dose of clove, but ultimately the whole thing together gets sweeter than I'd like.

My 11 year old son wanted to try this, so I got him a decant as I always want to encourage good smellingness in the pre-adolescent boys. It's a nice clean citrus-metallic scent that really is perfect for him. It reminds me of a cross between Aelopile and Mr. Quibit, which both get lots of wear in our home. I think it's easily a good unisex scent.

This is the one I was most eager to try, but it's nothing like I'd imagined. Quite a morpher. Wet: supremely sweet cherry-almond with strong sense of honey Drydown: the almond is backing off and now I can smell the herbs more distinctly Dry: predominantly dry thyme with some dry lavender in there too. The sweetness of the nutty candy is virtually gone, though if I try I can sort of sniff out something slightly sweetly foodie in the background. Worth another test, but what I'd assumed was going to be a bottle purchase probably isn't.

Peony. Peony. Peony peony peony, the kind that smells like a fine-milled expensive soap. I'm really not getting any of the creamy, vanilla, hazelnut notes that other identified, just a realistic peony. If this is a note you like, definitely don't miss this, because it's peony all the way.