Franny

He was looking at Mr. Nancy, an old black man with a pencil mustache, in his check sports jacket and his lemon-yellow gloves, riding a carousel lion as it rose and lowered, high in the air; and, at the same time, in the same place, he saw a jeweled spider as high as a horse, its eyes an emerald nebula, strutting, staring down at him; and simultaneously he was looking at an extraordinarily tall man with teak-colored skin and three sets of arms, wearing a flowing ostrich-feather headdress, his face painted with red stripes, riding an irritated golden lion, two of his six hands holding on tightly to the beast's mane; and he was also seeing a young black boy, dressed in rags, his left foot all swollen and crawling with blackflies; and last of all, and behind all these things, Shadow was looking at a tiny brown spider, hiding under a withered ocher leaf. Shadow saw all these things, and he knew they were the same thing. "If you don't close your mouth," said the many things that were Mr. Nancy, "somethin's goin' to fly in there." Cigarillo smoke, spatters of ice cream sundae, a supersized mug of coffee, a pile of fruit, and a little bit of curried goat. This is, fittingly, so damn smooth. Hints of coffee and the sweetness of a sugary fruit note (actually this part reminds me of sugar skull) with creamy vanilla and smoke just rolling over the top of it. Not an extremely smokey note, but like vanilla smoke with no harshness, just smooth as hell like Mr. Nancy ought to be. I don't know that I get anything I could identify as curried goat, I suppose it is some kind of spice or musk grounding the blend? I don't know, I can't smell it. Perhaps it will come out in time. This is really REALLY good. I'm so happy I got this.

"Such a pity," Zorya Vechernyaya told Shadow. "In my fortune for you, I should have said you would have a long life and a happy one, with many children." "That is why you are a good fortune-teller," said Zorya Utrennyaya. She looked sleepy, as if it were an effort for her to be up so late. "You tell the best lies." The melodious sweetness of false fortunes: sugar-swept honey and rose. This is really what it says on the tin, honey and sugar and roses. If you love all those things this one is for you. It's a beautiful sugary sweet honeyed rose scent, I don't have a sweet rose like this one in my collection. I think sugar and honey get as much attention as the rose in this, other rose scents I have are more strongly rose. I love this being the scent of a false good fortune told, the smell of something so sweet and beautiful it can't possibly be true.

There was something he wanted to say to Laura, and he was prepared to wait until he knew what it was. The world slowly began to lose light and color. Shadow’s feet were going numb, while his hands and face hurt from the cold. He burrowed his hands into his pockets for warmth, and his fingers closed about the gold coin. He walked over to the grave. “This is for you,” he said. Several shovels of earth had been emptied onto the casket, but the hole was far from full. He threw the gold coin into the grave with Laura, then he pushed more earth into the hole, to hide the coin from acquisitive grave diggers. He brushed the earth from his hands and said, “Good night, Laura.” Then he said, “I’m sorry.” Violets, upturned earth, mothballs, formaldehyde (mixed with glycerin and lanolin), and the memory of the taste of strawberry daiquiris suspended in twilight. This is strawberry daiquiris and violets on me, and then every now and then I get a hint of earth grounding the scent. That was my first impression and it has stuck. I am curious how this will change as it ages. It's like something that is sweet and beautiful on the surface but something altogether different underneath that you can't quite get at.

Shadow had done three years in prison. He was big enough and looked don’t-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife. The best thing—in Shadow’s opinion, perhaps the only good thing—about being in prison was a feeling of relief. The feeling that he’d plunged as low as he could plunge and he’d hit bottom. He didn’t worry that the man was going to get him, because the man had got him. He was no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, because yesterday had brought it. Glittering gold and silver, rolling over knuckles – concealed in palms – and pulled from the sun, the moon, and the stars. It reminds me of a bright elegant classic women's perfume. There is something familiar here and I can't figure out what it is. I'm really not sure what the notes are. Every time I try to pin it down I think, no that's no right though. There are elements that almost seem citrus but its not that, it just feels bright like citrus, like the sun. It's very pretty, feminine, but has that element of "perfume" to it so I couldn't call it a light scent. This one feels potent and has weight to it. Beautiful but not to be taken lightly.

“How’d you lose your eye?” Wednesday shoveled half a dozen pieces of bacon into his mouth, chewed, wiped the fat from his lips with the back of his hand. “Didn’t lose it,” he said. “I still know exactly where it is.” The depths of Mímisbrunnr: mugwort and frankincense, grey amber and ash. This one starts out pretty heavy on the mugwort, it smells kind of sweet but medicinal. Then everything settles in together as it wears on the skin. This is a really beautiful herbal resinous blend, it feels religious to me like I should wear it in meditation. I suppose that makes sense given the inspiration of Odin's eye sacrificed for wisdom. After hours of wear I really smell grey amber and frankincense and a hint of mugwort rather than how it starts out.

Shadow was in a dark place, and the thing staring at him wore a buffalo’s head, rank and furry with huge wet eyes. Its body was a man’s body, oiled and slick. “Changes are coming,” said the buffalo without moving its lips. “There are certain decisions that will have to be made.” Firelight flickered from wet cave walls. “Where am I?” Shadow asked. “In the earth and under the earth,” said the buffalo man. “You are where the forgotten wait.” His eyes were liquid black marbles, and his voice was a rumble from beneath the world. He smelled like wet cow. “Believe,” said the rumbling voice. “If you are to survive, you must believe.” “Believe what?” asked Shadow. “What should I believe?” He stared at Shadow, the buffalo man, and he drew himself up huge, and his eyes filled with fire. He opened his spit-flecked buffalo mouth and it was red inside with the flames that burned inside him, under the earth. “Everything,” roared the buffalo man. A scent of compression and release, of heat and faith, of plunging through the jet-shadowed darkness of uncertainty. The heart of the land: roots plunging ever deeper into thrumming black soil through the graves of faith, disillusion, and skepticism. This scent makes me feel like I am in the scene. When I first put it on it smells like hot earth and the smell is all around. That sounds weird but I think this is a little weird, especially right away. It doesn't smell of just soil, it is more than that. As it dries down it becomes spicier and richer and I feel less like I'm sitting under the earth with the Buffalo Man and more like it happened hours ago and the scent has lingered and become something more complex and interesting. This is really wonderful.

This is really beautiful, really true to the inspiration. It's delicate but has enough throw that I can put it on before bed and still smell it in the morning. I detect the vanilla most easily and then amber and ambergris and a touch of the florals but this is a scent where it all just becomes one thing. So happy with this one. I love wearing it before bed so far, but see myself wearing this a lot.

“How the hell did you find me here?” he asked his dead wife. She shook her head slowly, amused. “You shine like a beacon in a dark world,” she told him. “It wasn’t that hard…” Grey oudh and bay rum luminous with amber. This is what Shadow's skin would smell like if you hugged him and smelled his neck. It's sexy. This has bumped up to the top of my list, already a favorite. I can smell all three notes but they blend together so well. Nothing here is overpowering, they just meld together.

2016 bottle: This is just gorgeous. It is bright and fresh with the orange/tangerine and then settles into something a little deeper and more complex with the anise. I don't smell a ton of lavender but I think it's there grounding the scent and keeping it from just being a blast of citrus. I love this.

This is quite wonderful. It smells like an outdoor garden party, with carnations and lavender blooming and you are eating something sweet. I had no idea how these would blend, but it works so well. I would say the dry down is a mix of spicy carnation, with hints of lavender, hay and maybe that's the strawberry candyfloss/vanilla I'm getting? It's very balanced, I don't think anything overpowers the blend. It is playful and beautiful. Another hit for me.

Labdanum incense, wild plum, and pink pepper with smoky vetiver, red clover honey, and saffron. On me this smells like dark and beautiful plum incense. It's not too dark but couldn't rightly be qualified as sweet either. It feels so balanced. I'm not familiar enough with vetiver or labdinum to pick out which is which, but they don't feel too dark or grungy like I was worried they would. The pink pepper and saffron and red clover honey balance it all out. What results is something just about perfect. It's another scent that I love and is going to age beautifully. I'm very happy with my bottle purchase.

This opens with a blast of sweet honey. Once it has had a chance to sit on the skin for a bit I get honey, red musk and a hint of leather. I have been wearing Smut a lot lately, and in certain ways this has similarities. It's not as sugary, but the sweetness from the honey is a strong presence on me, as is red musk. For now the leather remains a little in the background for me. As it wears the sweetness from the honey calms and the leather comes out more. At this stage it loses a bit of the Smutty similarities as the red musk also calms. I like this a lot. I think I will like it even more once it ages, because I think all the notes will melt together more.

This is one of the most gorgeous BPALs I have ever smelled. I have trouble picking out the notes from each other.. I get the vanilla saffron, carnation, sandlewood incense, but it all blends together so wonderfully. I am in love. The bottle is still pretty fresh, I can only imagine how wonderful it will be when it has had a chance to age.

Ok. So. First things first, this scent is absolutely stunning. In the bottle: I think I am mainly getting a lovely soft peach. On the skin: This blooms into a beautiful soft floral, Peach recedes into peach blossom and cherry blossoms. After a few minutes I start to smell amber and some sandalwood grounding the scent and every now and then a very soft hint of lilac. It is soft, beautiful, gentle. No loud overwhelming florals for me here. I am obsessed with this. Seriously. If I was the type of person to buy back up bottles I would get backups of this. It smells like a magical fairy garden of flowers that never come out of bloom.

It felt really uncharacteristic of me to order this, and I'm so happy I did. It kind of brought on the realization for me that I love foody scents. In the bottle this smells really buttery but as soon as I put it on my skin it transforms into a sweet lemony pastry. It is amazing. The pear and lemon together are just exquisite and the cheesecake note isn't as cheesecake as it is a baked goods, cake, amazing vanillaish kind of smell. I really really love this.