Aveya

Sniff: Cold bright fruits Skin: Breakfast? It's making me think HARD about peach oatmeal and mimosa's. What the heck! Drydown: Ok so all my words are useless. This blend is amazing. Fruity fruity fruity. But not a berry blend, and not a "juicy" blend. Apricot, Pom, Citrus - These are bright fruits. If Berry blends are a deep red wine, apple/peach blends a white wine, these fruits are a champagne. If that makes sense. Dry, a touch of sweet, but mostly effervescent. It has an almost candy-aspect to it, keeping everything bright and crisp. I'm starting to think donkehpoo is my scent-twin, as I had exactly the same experience. Verdict: Better than most Champagne blends. Fruit-Citrus bubbly.

Do not smirk as a hearse goes by, For you may be the next to die. They wrap you up in a big white sheet And throw you down six feet deep. They put you in a big black box, And cover you up with dirt and rocks. All goes well for a week or two, Then things start changing; all is new. The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, The worms play pinochle on your snout. A big green worm with rolling eyes, Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes. Til your blood turns mossy green And oozes out like Devonshire cream. Worm Moon marks the season of rains, when the worms scuttle forth, aerating the earth with their movements and enriching the soil by digesting waste in organic material, which creates organic fertilizer. Pink and wriggling globs of grapefruit syrup clotted with congealed moss-green blood, rotting coffin wood spattered with soil, rusting coffin nails, a shard of bone, decomposing organic matter, and a gruesome burst of overripe blackberries. Sniff : Floral fruits - Strangely reminds me of my grandmother who passed last year, in the best way possible. Skin: Grape candy? Not much happening on the wet-skin phase for me. Little tendrils of sweet fruity floral things. (10:19) Drydown: So this one slowly unfurls on me. It starts out with a sweet-fruit base with a hinting-at-floral touch. Then I start to get wafts of deeper darker items. Sandalwood and moss; they start to add a beautiful backdrop against the sweet front. I still get STRONG nostalgia hits on this one. So - This scent is combining Crawdad Dreams, Candy Phoenix, and my Grandmother into one little bottle. When I first got Crawdad I was going through a shitty breakup, so my younger sister convinced me to go to Canada on a vacation with her and my grandparents. During it, I wore Crawdad a LOT. It became because of that vacation MY scent. Before then I wore things for my boyfriend,and my world was about him. That breakup gave me first steps towards being my own person, and with my sister and grandmother (two fiercely independent women) helped me build the framework for getting over everything. Candy Phoenix was a gift from my younger Sister, and I can't help but think of her each time I wear it (and it's so strangely accurate for her personality). Crawdad was that summer in Canada, watching the waves of the great lakes and contemplating the universe, and then my Grandmother wore blends that had a floral/sandalwood/deep edge that was uniquely her. To have these all wound up in one scent, a scent about humor with death and life and rebirth.. is like the weirdest coolest strangest thing. So; my review is now biased and tainted by all the memory and feels this one gives me. I also have NO idea what it's making me recall those specific scents; the note lists aren't overlapping from what I see. But they sure as heck smell similar to my nose. When I had my husband sniff, he said it smelled like Cut grass, sneezed on me, then said he didn't like it. So, there's that. Verdict: My sister and Grandmother, encapsulated in scent for all time. Non-Emotional Verdict: Candy fruits, Floral-Musk Moss (a bit dusty/sneeze-inducing), dirty-spiced vanilla-sandalwood-esq backing. Slow ramp, long lasting, medium/average throw.

Sniff: Juicy? Weirdly almost fruity juicy. I think it's violet but just being weird in the imp. Skin: Yup weird violet. It IS violet, but it has a strange spunk to it. Juicy violet with a fruit edge. (My only other violet experience is Faith - so "sugar" must tone down this juicy spunk). Dry: Really, nothing changes. It's exactly like the imp and skin. It's VIOLET with a hint of spices. And i remembered that I dislike violet all of the sudden. I enjoyed it in Faith, but more because I enjoy sugar-scents xD. Verdict: Sweet-spiced raw Violet.

Sniff: Dryer sheets, distilled in cleaning solution. Skin: Sort of faint and wispy. Clean, wet, bright. Floral edging. Dry: A very faint scent. For a moment there it blooms up honeysuckle (I assume, a strong floral-honey that I thought would overtake, then quickly tainted down). I've recently been dabbling in "tea" scents, and it's weird to me. It's a scent I struggle to smell - it's just nothing. maybe a little water and herbs? I guess that is tea. But in blends, it comes across to me as a gap in the scent. And I've found "tea" tends to dilute or drown out other notes. I don't think this is an exception. Honeysuckle I'm unfamiliar with, but it had that early billow like it was going to amp then vanished. Lemon verbena is a LOVE note of mine that usually is strong and bold - and here it's... maybe there. Behind the tea adding a little cleaning-ness to it? Overall vibe is faint, wet, pretty, clean. Slightly floral but more just a clean green must. It's a close-to-skin scent as well, really low throw. Verdict: Gentle, beautiful spring rain on fresh blooming flowers.

Sniff: Rum, tobacco, wood side. Kind of sexy awesome. Skin: Sticky sweet rum, earthy gritty tobacco. "Chewy" is the best ever term for this. I avoided this blend because of the "Caribbean Blossoms" and how much I hate florals. Bad me! Little did I know (back then) how much I adore tobacco leaf. Recently I've expanded into tobacco and just... have been in heaven since. This stage is gloriously heavy tobacco sweetened by rum. Dry: I let this sit for a LONG while before documenting the dry stage, but I was super nervous about the Caribbean Blossoms becoming a hot floral mess. I didn't get that. The longer the scent sat, it did get drier and the chewy aspect fades in the waft around me. But close-to-skin it's still strong and beautiful. it's a bit dustier / incense-esq in late than I adore. But this is a sure fix for a tobacco lover. When I did some manual labor for a bit it sort of popped out the chewier/sweeter side of the blend. And when I sat at my desk playing a game, it got more incense/dry. So, a chemistry scent for sure. Verdict: Chewy tobacco sweetened by rum.

It appears I've never reviewed Bengal. Bengal is, so far, my absolute favorite Wanderlust. It's one of my top-ten bottles frequently, and currently in my top three GC. I love this scent. I LOVE THIS SCENT. It's all sexy spicy musk. Honey usually amps on me and takes over blends with sickly sweet disgust, but not with Bengal. I actually forgot honey was in this blend until writing this review. I believe it merges perfectly with the "skin musk" and makes something glorious.This is all spice and sultry human skin. I think the glory of this blend and why it's a favorite of mine, is because it's a LONG wearer that stays true 24hrs+. It's when I'm on my 11th or 12th hour of work and I'm about ready to destroy the world or myself with my angst-ridden despair and I bury my head in my shirt/coat/whatever, and then BENGAL just floods me. Sultry sexy spicy. it's energizing and relaxing. It's empowering and dominating. It's the scent of success and energy. It gets me through really rough days and meetings, and gives me a backbone when mine's been ripped out. This is a scent that's grown on me over the years and was one of my first sample-packs years ago. It's a regular go-to, and a favorite in winter when the world is a bit bleak, white, and dead. It adds heat and passion to my world; it's incredible. It gets me moving in the morning and keeps me moving when steam is long gone. I've used it to survive work, but then it transitions beautifully to dating life and can come across incredibly sexy. I do think there's a level of skin chemistry happening and I drew very lucky cards. But I adore this scent. If this one gets discontinued with a warning, you can bet I'll have an entire row of like 50 bottles stashed for the future. Verdict: A life-saver pickup. A staple on my shelf.

A rich, bold blend of imperial rose, carnation, lush jasmine, lily of the valley, dark musk, amber, bergamot and gilded tangerine. I'm making my rounds through all the GC catalogs just cause I think I should (and my GC box was overflowing, so it was time). So I'm trying out scents I probably wouldn't otherwise. Sniff: Surprisingly sweet orange. Like a candy. Skin: Musks up right away on application. Orange sweet musk. Dry: A very floral musk blend. I anticipated as much so I won't go on my normal blegh-routine about floral musks. But that's what this is. Rose and carnation are not main players, it's more amber-orange-jasmine than anything else. I was a little hopeful carnation and rose would add a spiced beauty to orange? That could be cool. But that's not this. Verdict: Orange Jasmine Amber musk. NOT my cuppa.

Sniff: Black dripping rose Skin: SHEW rose. Nothing black or twisted about it just straight up ROSE. Dry: There we go. Dark rose. It's still strong and deep, but fades back to give room for something damp, airy, and dark. I cuncur it's something myrrh-esq mixed in there. This phase though doesn't last long, and before I know it the rose is vanishing into my skin. Which is insane. This is ROSE we're talking about. The amper of all ampers. The world-taker. The End All... well you get the point. Whatever is blended with this rose made it lose the ampage. Yay for those who dislike amp rose? But then there's not a lot left behind. Just a sort of musky dark warm-moist creepy thing. Verdict: Strong black rose, drowned out by empty sorrow.

Sniff: Sandalwood musk and spice. Skin: Natural skin musk ; warm, soft, gentle. Reminds me of the backdrop of Bengal. Dry: There's a funk scent I keep smelling in a few different blends, it's like a plastic vanilla baby musk. I wish I knew what it was? But it's in this. It's off to my nose, but at the same time I see it being lovely and appealing. Confusing. Whatever the note is, reminds me STRONGLY of Diabolic Offspring. Another commenter mentioned this has something in common with O and Snake Oil - I agree. Those scents also just sit strange with me. Maybe it's a chemistry thing? I like the concept, and I almost like the scent... but it just is off somehow. I also get no carnation, at least not the spiced amp variety I'm used to. So just a disappointment here. Oh well! Verdict: Diabolical Offspring Heartburn

Skin: bright and zippy. Bittersweet yuzu and a floral backing. Dry: Floral, Clean, and a strange sort of citrus. Like a dry grapefruit. CLEAN is a key word here. A nice, happy clean? But very clean and a little peculiar. Fun scent, citrus-floral. But not sweet or juicy. The longer it sits, the more astringent it gets for me. Verdict: Clorox Disinfectant Wet Wipes, Orange Fusion (exactly that kind. Go buy a bottle to clean your house and do a scent comparison, lol)

Fun story - I've never reviewed Dorian. I've never tried Dorian. I've been into BPAL since like 2006 or something. I've read countless reviews and raves and people I'd consider scent twins and cousins rave about it. And I've just skipped along the sideline ignoring it all for whatever stupid reason. So, Finally decided to sort and start trying out my growing, dusty GC collection. And MAN THIS IS AMAZING. Imp: Creamy leather. Skin: Smooth creamy sweet vanilla with a lavender tea underneath. Dry: ... I don't know how to describe this. Dark, warm, sweet, creamy. Tea is accurate. Musks take a little time to billow out - but they do. Vanilla musks. Lots of musks. It dances with this border of masculine and feminine that comes across fantastic. It makes it "unisex" but I'd describe it more as gender fluid. It plays with my brain a little bit. I fell asleep to this warm musky vanilla and I am in LOVE. Verdict: Fuck - Beautiful. This is what I get for ignoring hype all this time. Buying with my next Lunar purchase.

Sniff: Strangely sweet clove Skin: Yummy clove. Lots of a mixed spice vibe to this. Heavy cinnamon. Strong high note. Dry: The wafts of this are where the clove reside. To me clove is a hard scent to smell, which is weird. But like vanilla, the best part of the scent is in the base. It has this airy creamy mellow quality that is so distinctly clove I love it. It has an airy or watery quality to it - like it's missing the middle or heart. Which I think is because it's a single note. It needs something in the middle to take center stage. Unlike the Carnation single note which can be a star by itself, this belongs with something else. And amusingly I'm testing Galbanum on my other hand - and the two smell fantastic together. I think this scent needs an earthy or heady or sharp something in the middle to round it out. By itself, it's a spiced clove missing something special. Verdict: Clove tea.

Sniff: Dirt! Fresh twiggy half wild soil. Skin: Gets greener. Still has a dirty bite to it, something similar to patchouli in the DIRT note. But much brighter and higher than patchouli. Very green, mushroomy, and dirty. Dry: It loses the green element and turns more towards rotting wood. It's strangely pleasing to me though. Like hiking after a rain - where fallen trees are falling apart at the touch but there's still this element of life. Strong "mushroom" vibe still. I could see how this would be an interesting element in a blend. I've seen this pop up in scent descriptions before but I never knew what it was. Amusingly I'm testing Indonesian clove on my other hand - and the two smells FANTASTIC together. Like, omg amazing. So fun story there. While I don't like this scent on it's own, I am 100% open to this in other blends now. Verdict: Mushroom's wearing sandalwood.

I FINALLY got a hold of this imp to try. It's been on my radar for a long time because Apricot + Clove sound amazing for me. Both notes work beautifully almost every time. So Excited. Sniff: Fruity and dark. Skin: Flippin' beautiful. Warm spiced apricot. I just want to drown in this scent. Dry: This stays, for me, in a warm spiced apricot realm of perfection. It is a close-to-skin scent for me - but I imagine age could have an impact on that. But it's warm and bubbly. Spiced and delicious. As described. I'm so sad this is discontinued. But it's going to be on my watchlist now if I ever see it up for grabs. Love love love. For me, I like this better than other Apricot scents I've tried because it's not Apricot dom on me. It's perfectly balanced between fruit and clove. Smells almost like simmering cinnamon apples to me. It does make me want to try simmering apricots and clove and seeing what happens lol. Adore. Love it. So thankful I got to try this ❤️

Incoming: Forum bottle swap Sniff: Sticky thick lavender. Skin: Yummy herbal lavender, strong at first then dims down quickly, and a woody vanilla breeze comes out and mingles. Very peculiar, what do I think about this? Dry: I really freaking love this. It's keeping the strong lavender blend - very herbal and potent. But it's been woodied up, and despite some of the other reviews scaring me - the oud behaves VERY well with the benzoin for me. The three scents are tempering each other out and they become well balanced. A beautiful, truly unisex blend of vanilla, resin, wood, and distinctive lavender. On me it has the slightest inkling that it might go medicinal with the benzoin/lavender combo, but as soon as i think it a waft of musky vanilla (oud or the other side of benzoin, I suspect) comes up and washes it away with deliciousness. This bottle found a happy forever home on my shelf ❤️ Verdict: Unisex herbal vanilla wood. Yummy. Would also make a spectacular bath oil...