bheansidhe
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Everything posted by bheansidhe
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Leather first, chocolate second - and this is a black and crisp leather, a severe leather, a designer black trenchcoat equally fitting for a post-runway brunch or an S&M munch. The chocolate: also black and bitter; a confetti snowfall of Valrhona Guanaja Dark vigorously microplaned into the pockets of that leather coat -- FOR LATER, for a SNACK, for AMBIANCE, to flavor the pouch of TOBACCO you tucked in there for safekeeping and not for any, ANY, nefarious purposes whatsoever -- though you certainly SMELL nefarious, and dangerous, and delicious, and darkly resinous -- only from a close distance, mind -- and nothing like a dessert. ETA: while this has low throw, it has staying power! The next day I'm getting zero leather, just a gorgeous chocolatey amber with some dark notes underneath. I love love the second stage and am willing to put up with my least favorite iteration of leather to get down to it.
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For those of you wondering "What the hell...?", I am here to reassure you: yes, this perfume is wearable. On first application, it's a banana perfume. The banana part lasts for about fifteen minutes on my skin, and then becomes a softer, vanilla wafer-coded sweetness. But first, last, and always, this is a "silk" perfume. Have you ever smelled raw silk fabric? It's a little musty and dusty - but not in an unpleasant way! - more like in a "furry to my nose" way. This smells like the occlusive dustiness of silk fabric, plus the fig fruit (I'm not sure why this is a "fermented" fig - it doesn't smell alcoholic to me). The "mushroom dust" adds a slightly salty umami note, like miso paste. I'm just baffled at how much this smells like a bolt of raw silk noil, but in a pretty way. TL;dr weird, but wearable! The far drydown is "a slightly spicy, seductive skin musk."
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Sniffed: smells like blue cotton candy with interestingly powdery, white sandalwood-y notes as the core stem around which the glittering blue sugar-crystals whirl. On the skin: there's the raspberry, which are big translucently red-toned sugar crystals soaked in raspberry juice. I get some warm vanilla in the background, too. Fun, fruity, sweet, uncomplicated.
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Sniffed: a candied tart red fruit. On the skin: something like a cross between sugared strawberry and sharp cranberry with a sneeze of pink pepper, anchored by *some* kind of resin - I don't know that I would have called it out as patchouli if I weren't looking at the notes - it's more of a "coca cola resin," if that makes sense. Maybe I'm getting the hints of pepper and coriander that are in the Coke flavor blend. It's getting more resinous as it dries, but it's never reading like a patchouli to me; it's more like labdanum. Dried: an interestingly spicy red fruit.
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Heavy, sultry, commanding; distinctly kin to Follow Me Boy, while utterly disinterested in bewitching a man; that's just a casual side effect of this potion. It does stay low on the skin, so you have to be within striking range, but it covers the skin like an occlusive velvet cloak.
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Goose Moon: White Sandalwood and Black Poppy
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
This is a sexy assassin touching the stopper of a poisoned vial to each pulse point, then walking through a mist of light floral perfume to veil its bitterness. Light enough for a child to wear, but somehow menacing as well - one of those "the whole is more than the sum of its parts" blends that Beth does so well. -
This is an odd one to review, to be sure! I don't get the spicy-floral smell of stock that I associate with carnation, and I'm never quite sure what peonies smell like (they don't grow in my climate). What I do get is a sharp-sweet pomegranate candy and what smells a lot like lotus root; a kind of pink bubblegummy coolness. If I huff and ask myself "Is this anything like Alice?" my nose replies that yes, something about this is like Alice, so presumably carnations are making themselves known. It never goes indolic, but I'd say it reads more like a sweet hard candy with floral sillage. The pomegranate part is distinct, so if that's a favorite note, this is worth trying.
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This one is incredibly realistic, sweet, fragrant, and nutty. This is not a Yankee Candle store; this is your grandparents' oven full of holiday baking. Huge throw and lingering warmth on my kitchen curtains.
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Fresh, this smells SO very purple - like a pure, bright, saturated child's purple in smell form. The purpleness itself is comprised of both a sweet but sharply herbal lavender and juicy cactus fruit (which does read like sweet melon flesh), plus a touch of Beth's snow note to stitch them together. The wear stays true to a "dark lavender" impression, like a dash of lavender bitters in your Midori.
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I was moved to dig this one out and review it to compare it with the huge Lavender Kitchen releases we've had the past two years. Despite the buttercream in the title, it's not a blend I would peg as foody; it's ALL a deeply steeped herbal lavender syrup cradled in a base that hints at the world's creamiest, most expensive triple-milled milk soap. As the blend dries down, the lavender gets softer and the base gets a touch butter-y-er, but I would still smell this blind and think "That's a FANTASTIC lavender-infused milk soap" and not "that's a lavender dessert." I don't get the marshmallow-vanilla of TKO or TKSnow. This is straight-up high-end apothecary shop, and it is GLORIOUS for lavender lovers. I love it as a sleep blend.
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So gentle and pretty that it might be a surprise bottle buy, making it the only hazelnut-forward blend to work on my skin. While distinctly warm and nutty, the hazelnut blends so well with the muted espresso that I can barely tell them apart. There's also a lot of the toasted milk note I remember from Snake Milk and a deeply sweetened, TKO-ish lavender syrup.
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I'm always impressed by Beth's ability to release many MANY sweet-coffee blends in a short span of time that all smell and wear differently from one another! Please Scream is an initial dollop of coffee ice cream deeply steeped in Turkish espresso - this is COFFEE coffee, and the diner might be a dive, but it's a CLASSIC, lovingly restored VINTAGE dive. The impression of Turkish-ness might be a result of the cinnamon and cardamom dusting the funnel cake; the cinnamon-and-cream also gives it a cozy horchata vibe. The ice cream digests quickly, and I'm left with treacle-y Turkish espresso dregs and spiced, sugar-dusted funnel cake much more reminiscent of El Dia de los Reyes (minus that one's chocolatl/cocoa). The weardown on me is similar to Pumpkin Spice Latte, but with stronger coffee notes and a different warm-baking-spice mixture.
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Golden peach, tobacco absolute, tonka bean, and honey with a squirt of red musk. Fresh in the bottle: peach and tobacco and red musk. There's a heady nose to it, like 80 proof liquor. Wet on the skin: at first it's intensely peach and red musk. And then tonka and tobacco roar up like a slow-motion fireball, obliterating all other scents in their path. For a few minutes peach is completely subsumed. Then it bobs back up, and there's this sinuous wrestling-in-a-sack thing where Peach is intensely juicy and female and Tonka/Tobacco are very masculine and between them they make a scent as androgynous as Tiresias, which is to say not gender-neutral at all, but rather a fierce yin/yang whirl of woodsy and juicey. Somewhere in here things start to heat up and become *really* good, if you know what I mean, like a gorgeous low warm haze on the skin. ...and then my nemesis, honey, arrives in a rain of fulminated cat pee. *sigh* Twelve hours later, there is still a noticeable whiff of peach-tinged tobacco on the skin. Drydown never smells *dry* per se; it's peach-soaked to the bone. There is the *perfect* amount of peach in this one. And tobacco makes peach's butt look amazing. Peach and/or Tobacco fans without my peculiar chemistry may wish to beg, borrow or steal decants. Red musk fans may be sad, as it's never prominent in the blend for me.
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This is indeed lighter and fresher than you'd expect a bleached skull trio to smell - the lily of the valley and Spanish moss linger in the background, softly green and ghostly behind the sandalwood. It's not quite floral, not quite mossy; it's gently earthy and and woodsy, so I'm going to say it smells like a New Orleans apothecary shop with antique wooden shelves lined with jars of rootwork ingredients, plus the trickle of a well-heeled customer's expensive, understated perfume wafting from behind the curtained "consultation alcove." Overall a very gentle, wearable blend, but subtly eerie if you perceive its hint of sweet, vegetal decay.
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Black Pine and Incense Smoke Atmosphere Spray
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Atmosphere
This is a parchment-dry and resinous pine forest jutting out of the high end of an arid, mountainous range. It's a touch smoky, a touch incense-y, but it also has a sweetness like ivy, or the crumbling, atmospheric ruins of a stone tower. So very much dark ancient dry forest and ruins; no pine-scented cleaner, cheerful Christmas tree lot, or jammy conifer here. I like how different it is from other pine atmos: cleaner, darker, drier, and wilder. This would fit in very well with the RPG lineup. -
This is indeed a warm, glorious El Dia de los Reyes spice medley dunked in a stonky, animaliac black musk. I can see how people are getting cumin, but I think that's the musk merged with the dusty nutmeg/chocolate (more of the cocoa in Gelt to my nose). Wear is going to depend 100% on your chemistry and how well the black musk plays on your skin. This is like getting a REALLY aggressively WARM hug from a bearded man in a huge fur coat who's been drinking Mexican hot chocolate.
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A soft but bracing wintergreen birch, warmed by a touch (just a touch) of clove. There's a hint of pine needle and woods in the birch note, but it's primarily that bracing, minty sap. Drydown: Green, pulpy wood with touches of salt and sap. Fringed with clove on the outside, but never clove-forward.
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Beaver Moon: Blackcurrant and Iced Lemon
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
The feel of swallowing a long cold draft of an Arnold Palmer after three hours of gardening in the hot sun: slaking heat and thirst at once. This smells so light and refreshing that I want to actually drink it (but please don't). It's an absolutely true iced lemon and tart purple-black fruit from application to drydown. Blackcurrant doesn't play well on my skin, but this has been delightful in my oil warmer. Strongly reminiscent of a good lemon-drenched iced tea, even though there's no tea note. -
Cold Moon: Moss and River Silt
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
I'm a longtime fan of Halloween in New Orleans, and to my surprise, this is a VERY wearable blend that throws a definite HiNO vibe while being distinctly its own creation. I love its grit and saltiness, and how unexpectedly earthy and grounding it is to wear. The moss reads like Spanish Moss single note, not oakmoss, and not like cologne. It's loamy, not aquatic. If this blend had a color, it would be the weathered silver-grey patina of hundred-year-old bald cypress planks milled with hand saws from the heart of a Louisiana bayou. There's a faint woodsy sweetness in its wake. -
Cold Moon: Osmanthus and Sweet Frankincense
bheansidhe replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Wet, this is primarily frankincense sweetened by osmanthus, which to me always smells like young green leaf with hints of apricot or peach, and not like a white floral at all. It's surprisingly subtle and low, like the trailing waft of the New Age shop you visited earlier in the day. Resiny, not smoky. Layered with Moss & River Silt, it's a solid nod to my beloved favorite, Halloween in New Orleans. ETA: at the end of drydown it's a faint drift of incense smoke and no florals. It smells at this stage more like a nag champa note. -
This smells like a gorgeous Victorian's gentleman's cologne that's both villainous and seductive, and one that belongs in the Crimson Peak lineup.
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Sexy lichen indeed! This starts as a soft and nymph-like oakmoss draped in ylang-ylang and a very foody vanilla. Something about that combo plus the orris and ambergris gives it that distinctive "BPAL Lace" quality. It stays sheer, delicate, and low on the skin. Forest fairy face-powder is spot on - thanks, @gentle-twig!
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Sniffed, I get all coconut and a darkly astringent lavender, which plays oddly on my skin when first applied, but then morphs into a citrusy, lavender-tinged musk. Now the coconut reads like husk, like the color of dirt, like a brown vase holding the other notes, which lean heavily into the amber musk with just a hint of mandarin freshness. If lilac is here, it's just a supporting note, and the lavender fades quickly. It ends as a dry, husky coconut rind and and really resonant amber, plus a musk that resembles the base of Smut, all leavened with a bit of spray from the orange rind as the peel is cracked open. It also has the wet-tropical-woods feel of the discontinued Wanderlust blend Manila. Coconut husk, Smut musk, and amber with an orange twist on the rim. I love how dry the, well, drydown reads on my skin. I didn't expect to like this nearly as much as I do.
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This has such a sweet, bright tang that pairs beautifully with the Valencia Orange Hair Gloss. Where the HG is a more realistic orange, Fire Poppy is unquestionably a sweetened tangerine base that avoids all pith and pucker, blurring seamlessly into the other notes like a glorious scarlet-and-orange watercolor wash.
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Between the sappy, realistic chrysanthemum and the dead leaves note, this has a very La Offrenda vibe. It's bright, light, and crisp, like a dry champagne (no, it does not have alcohol notes). The maple is syrupy and sappy, but not gourmand, perhaps because it's so well balanced by the herbal chamomile and the light woods notes. Frankincense twines through the other components, lending a gooey resinous warmth. It dries to a light, unisex fougere overlaid with a powdery, woodsy sweetness. As someone who can't wear Samhain, I'm pleased to have this blend to fill the Samhain-shaped hole in my perfume collection.