ladymeag

Sweet black tobacco infused with dried pumpkin and soaked in bourbon. In the bottle: YES PLEASE - this is Pumpkin French Tobacco. On my skin: The pumpkin pushes the tobacco scent over into a warm caramel-like smell, which tones down the cologne qualities of the tobacco scent nicely. Warm, a little heavy, great for cooler weather. On someone else in my house: Where French Tobacco goes super-sweet typically, this one holds down into a more moderately spicy tobacco scent with pumpkin. There's still a bit of that caramel sweetness but it's not overwhelming. We actually argued about who will be taking more of this bottle and decided that a second might need to be purchased.

I feel myself sinkin’ down I feel myself sinkin’ down My body is freezin’ I feel something cold creepin’ around My windows is rattlin’ My doorknob turnin’ round an’ round My windows is rattlin’ My doorknob turnin’ round an’ round This haunted house blues is killin’ me I feel myself sinkin’ down I been fastin’ in this haunted house Six long months today I been fastin’ in this haunted house Six long months today The Blue Ghost is got the house surrounded, Lord And I can’t get away They got shotguns and pistols Standin’ all round my door They got shotguns and pistols Standin’ all round my door They haunt me all night long So I can’t sleep no more The Blue Ghost haunts me all night The nightmare rides me all night long The Blue Ghost haunts me at night The nightmare rides me all night long They worry me so in this haunted house I wished I was dead and gone – Lonnie Johnson A ward against evil: bay rum, whiskey, cigar smoke, black pepper, and salt. I was scared of this one - salt often goes terribly for me and brings too much ozone. No need! In the bottle: aftershave in a smoky room. On my skin: The bay rum, whiskey, and cigar smoke all contribute to a classic aftershave scent and the black pepper adds just a hint of light spiciness that keeps it from veering into too sweet or too heavy. The salt, as far as I can tell, is absent. On someone else in my house: Baby powder, through and through. (Skin chemistry is so weird.)

Every leaf tells a story. In the bottle: French Tobacco meets October. On my skin: We called this the perfume tour. Seriously, it was like touring a number of fantastic perfumes as it dried down - unfortunately for me, this means that at the end it dried down into a too-sharp tea scent that smelled like a number of perfume samples all stacked up. On someone else in my house: Fortunately for my testing partner, this means it goes through a number of warm, tobacco-rich, vanilla-adjacent scents and then settles into dry leaves, warm vanilla tobacco, and a little bite of tea. Absolutely delightful.

Every leaf tells a story. In the bottle: Do you remember the way The Seekim smelled in the bottle? That warm but dry cacao scent? This is like a mocha version of that. On my skin: All coffee cherry - and by that I mean, cherries that soaked in some kind of sweet coffee, maybe. It just got sweeter and sweeter and took on a very heavy cherry scent somehow. Entirely bizarre and no leaves at all. On someone else in my house: Warm, wet leaves and slightly sweet coffee. Like having sweet flavored coffee on a porch on a rainy day in the late fall. Too sweet for my tastes, worked out well for my testing partner!

Engraving by G. van der Gucht after J. Wootton Bay rum, hay, dried alfalfa, aftershave, and cork stalk. In the bottle: oh! Did The Great Sword of War and Antikythera Mechanism have a spicy baby? On my skin: The first few minutes of this were glorious. That aftershave note really brought out the best of the feelings of Old Spice and the bay rum brought some warmth. However, as it dried down something added an ammonia scent and as it dried down it only got stronger. Boo. On someone else in my house: Warm aftershave with a slightly dry woodsy feel. It was described as "1930s sexy masculine scent" when dried down by the wearer. Definitely has a classic men's scent feel with some added woodsiness. Not a win for my picky skin but my testing partner got a win here.

Every leaf tells a story. In the bottle: mossy, warm, a little vanilla, a hint of vetiver. On my skin: I have two choices with vetiver - it either amps beyond all comprehension or settles in and provides a woodsy warmth. This scent has the second one with a nice mellowing of vanilla. There's an ozone quality here I can't quite place but it carries this scent straight into "crisp fall day among rustling leaves." Where October gives me all of the damp-day fireside warmth of leaves, this one is a nice dry-leaves scent that's not quite as sharp or bright as A World Where There Are Octobers or Sonnet D'Automne. On someone else in my house: All vetiver, all the time with a hint of soapy vanilla.

In the bottle: October! with a little bit of... something else? On my skin: Oh, no! What happened? This went very, very powdery and October went completely away. When I later washed it off, the lingering scent was pretty great, a hint of rosemary and vanilla but I can't handle the application, dry down, or full wear at all. On someone else in my house: mossy leaves, slightly dusty vanilla, and a small hint of smoke. Perfection!

Okay, I've tried previous years. They all failed - too waxy, too sweet, too powdery, too olive-oil-ish. 2013? This is my year. In the bottle: Sweet pomegranate and fig On my skin: I don't know what's going on here but this is pomegranate shisha. The fig is warming up to add that molasses scent that shisha has and something about everything else is playing together just right o make it smell exactly like the pomegranate shisha I occasionally buy. If I get my nose right up there and breathe in deeply, I can find the beeswax and olive oil but they're playing really nicely, which is a first for my skin. I think someone ate the sufganiyot, which is fine with me. You might want to give this one a test if you haven't had luck with previous years.

Corrupt indeed. If Wormtongue wore something, this was it. This feels a little like something that the guy who won't stop asking you out at the office might wear. A bit sleazy, but in a good way in this case. In the bottle: Leather and bergamot. Bergamot usually rules my nose though. On my skin: The vetiver and leather took a holiday somewhere else together. Which is sad, I love vetiver and leather. What I do get here is sharp bergamot and bright pepper, and that kind of sandalwood every guy thinks they can pull off the first time they buy cologne. Very sharp, lots of throw, lots of staying power. Even after washing this off, using alcohol pads, washing it off again, and taking a shower, it's still here, sleazing up my living room. If you like this try: Bram Stoker, A Countenance Foreboding Evil, Czernobog

Enhance your Wise Woman cred with this combination of sage, shrewd oils. Herbs of wisdom, flowers of wit, and the comforting scent of the hearth: hyssop, oak leaf, acorn hull, elder blossom, three sages, and tobacco absolute, with kitchen herbs and raw honey. First things first, my bottle came labeled "Helpful Crone" not "Sympathetic Crone." So, it looks like a name change happened before labels were made. In the bottle: honey, which usually overpowers everything and ... vanilla, is that you? On my skin: Sweet, warm, a little deep. I'm not picking up any of the sage, kitchen herbs, or elder flower at all - which is fine by me, honestly. The honey combines with some of the other things and kind of makes for a patchouli-less Feed Me and Fill Me With Pleasure. It has a bit of the cologne-y bite of tobacco/vanilla blends, which should mellow a little bit with age. The honey isn't the variety that goes powdery but it is a bit syrupy on me, again like FMaFMWP. There seems to be a faint woods behind it all, which I think is the acorn and oak leaf coming through. I'm conflicted - if it were less sweet, it might be just right. If you like honey, this is the thing for you. If you like this try: Feed Me and Fill Me With Pleasure, Araña, O.

As a woman with two kids, I'm going to add another "this" to the 'please don't scent anything unless requested' pile. I'm very sensitive to scents and when I was pregnant, I was even more sensitive. The laundry soap of the L&D nurses used was over-the-top to me, I could pick out lotion brands, I could tell which ones smoked-and-washed, which ones usually wore perfume when they wore that watch or necklace, and so much more. Asthma and allergies can also be serious issues and the last thing you want during labor is an asthma attack or allergies flaring. I'd avoid personal scent and room scent, unless requested by the patient.

I have floral-triggered migraines and additionally amp roses, jasmine, and carnation. I avoid floral blends heavily and have only found a few with floral notes listed that work well. Additionally, I have a smells-like-florals-and-soap problem with most aquatics. There's a lot on offer for floral haters with BPAL. It looks like you have a lot of recommendations on hand but if you want some leather-heavy, vetiver-heavy, or fairly masculine recommendations, I'm happy to post a few.

I agree with the comparison to October. This is like October's slightly lighter, smokier, woodsier companion. I feel like I'm sitting in a cabin somewhere with a roaring fire and a nice blanket of fallen leaves. Absolutely beautiful. Edited to add: This took three days to completely leave the area I sprayed it in. Given that I run a total of four HePA + UVC airfilters in my 1200 sq ft home at all times (for my asthmatic kid,) this is quite the staying power. I attribute it to the oils landing and clinging somewhere.

I said over in my review for Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch that incense blends tend to disappoint. I'm not wrong. Add in some lemon peel and, well, it doesn't go so well. In the bottle: woodsy pine-y musky lemon? On my skin: Pine! Lemon! Pine-Lemon! Pine Sol! If Pine-Sol was a toothpaste, this would be it. I'd lament it more but what's even more odd is that my skin, which usually hangs on to everything and amplifies even the lightest of scents, ate this within ten minutes of it drying, which is better than I can say for mopping with Pine Sol.

Ever smelled "white" coffee? That fruity note? It's here. In the bottle: vanilla syrup-y sweetness. On my skin: Definitely a sweet vanilla. It might need to be aged out to gain the depth I typically like from a vanilla scent. The coffee bean note is really evident if you've smelled beans before they go in the roaster or some really well-brewed white coffee - it's a kind of fruity nuttiness that's hard to pin-point but it's definitely here. The spice and patchouli seem to be on vacation in my case, so I'm not getting any here, perhaps they'll show up with aging. It's a little sweet for my tastes now, but so is first-year Antikythera Mechanism or anything else with a vanilla note. Off to the back of the box and we'll see you again in a year. I hope you keep that coffee note.