absinthetics

Green apple, bergamot, vanilla orchid, and tiare. A gorgeous and slightly sharp green apple, made only sharper by the bergamot. The vanilla orchid and tiare take that sharpness down a notch but it very much feels like there are two things going on here, rather than a smooth blend between the two qualities.

Just a hint of gorgon blood: bright nectarine, honey, sandalwood, green musk, sea buckthorn berry, and oakmoss. This scent is a beautiful fruity but somehow earthy scent. It has a very far throw. The sandalwood is very present while the buckthorn berry turns the nectarine a little bitter. But not in a bad way! I recommend at least getting to sniff all the Pandy scents. They are lovely!

Crisp linen, a smudge of ballpoint pen ink, soap-touched skin, apple shampoo, and effervescent science fair experiment residue. Considering the fact that I always do science experiments, I'm excited to review this one. This scent is very...generic though. It smells like a few different shampoos that we all know, combined. It seems that the ballpoint pen ink (i love writing things!) and the science fair experiment kind of tame this bright apple/fruity shampoo aspect. The linen and soap do the same, in much the way that you would expect, but unfortunately they both add to the "generic" aspect of this. There is a touch of "perfumey" edge, but for the most part it is a nice, clean soapy apple. Wear this if you need someone to absolutely know that you use great hair products and just took a shower =D After it dries down a bit the tame/linen...somewhat dry/husky background do come out a bit.

A stately brick mansion glowing with warmth: bay rum, fine whiskey, white carnations, and hearth wood. Oh what a beautiful, warm scent. It smells like a place where dinner is cooking, and all candles are lit for you to sit with loved ones. There is a sweet spiceyness that must come from the carnation. This sweetness becomes foody from the bay rum and whiskey notes. But underneath it all you get some of that hearth wood that settles it all down some, but not after first being quite foodie.

Je veux, pour composer chastement mes églogues, Coucher auprès du ciel, comme les astrologues, Et, voisin des clochers écouter en rêvant Leurs hymnes solennels emportés par le vent. Les deux mains au menton, du haut de ma mansarde, Je verrai l’atelier qui chante et qui bavarde; Les tuyaux, les clochers, ces mâts de la cité, Et les grands ciels qui font rêver d’éternité. II est doux, à travers les brumes, de voir naître L’étoile dans l’azur, la lampe à la fenêtre Les fleuves de charbon monter au firmament Et la lune verser son pâle enchantement. Je verrai les printemps, les étés, les automnes; Et quand viendra l’hiver aux neiges monotones, Je fermerai partout portières et volets Pour bâtir dans la nuit mes féeriques palais. Alors je rêverai des horizons bleuâtres, Des jardins, des jets d’eau pleurant dans les albâtres, Des baisers, des oiseaux chantant soir et matin, Et tout ce que l’Idylle a de plus enfantin. L’Emeute, tempêtant vainement à ma vitre, Ne fera pas lever mon front de mon pupitre; Car je serai plongé dans cette volupté D’évoquer le Printemps avec ma volonté, De tirer un soleil de mon coeur, et de faire De mes pensers brûlants une tiède atmosphère. – – – More chasteness to my eclogues it would give, Sky-high, like old astrologers to live, A neighbour of the belfries: and to hear Their solemn hymns along the winds career. High in my attic, chin in hand, I’d swing And watch the workshops as they roar and sing, The city’s masts — each steeple, tower, and flue — And skies that bring eternity to view. Sweet, through the mist, to see illumed again Stars through the azure, lamps behind the pane, Rivers of carbon irrigate the sky, And the pale moon pour magic from on high. I’d watch three seasons passing by, and then When winter came with dreary snows, I’d pen Myself between closed shutters, bolts, and doors, And build my fairy palaces indoors. A dream of blue horizons I would garble With thoughts of fountains weeping on to marble, Of gardens, kisses, birds that ceaseless sing, And all the Idyll holds of childhood’s spring. The riots, brawling past my window-pane, From off my desk would not divert my brain. Because I would be plunged in pleasure still, Conjuring up the Springtime with my will, And forcing sunshine from my heart to form, Of burning thoughts, an atmosphere that’s warm. — Charles Baudelaire, translation by Roy Campbell The pale moon pouring magic: Tunisian opium and mugwort with blackened bourbon vanilla, tuberose, glittering white musk, datura accord, wild plum, and tobacco absolute. This scent is absolutely gorgeous and will certainly be a hit for years to come. The burbon vanilla has a lot of burbon in it which is really magnified by the tobacco. The Plum is barely a fruit note while the datura does temper it so it's not that foody. Excellent!

Wow. This is absolutely true to life. You can even smell the salt of the ham and the juices are a little less juicy because, well, it's a day old, right?

Whiskey, tobacco, and incensed bear musk. The bear musk is a nice brown quality that probably takes the bite out of the whiskey note. This is a very smooth, brown scent that has great throw.

Gurjum balsam, rose geranium, opoponax, violet leaf, brown leather accord, and patchouli. This is a gorgeous scent that morphs into so many beautiful qualities. The rose and opoponax are at the forefront with the violet leaf giving it a bit of a bite. The brown leather is barely there and sits in the background giving it a mellow backdrop with the pathchouli. For a moment the rose comes forward upon drydown, but it is slowly occluded by something almost a little spicy.

SNOW-FLAKES Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow. Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in some divine expression, Even as the troubled heart doth make In the white countenance confession, The troubled sky reveals The grief it feels. This is the poem of the air, Slowly in silent syllables recorded; This is the secret of despair, Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, Now whispered and revealed To wood and field. The radiance and desolation of winter. Crystaline, brital, beautiful, unique. In the bottle: Delicate, the most ephemeral mint. (But with something fruity sweet just lingering on the outskirts of oral perception.) Wet: The notes are so very very hard to pick out. Their is something Juicy hiding in there, and something sweet. The mint nearly disappears on the skin. It's a perfect winter scent without the pine and even without the mint. The mint disappears to leave just that subtle chill that makes this a gorgeous winter scent. I have to admit it reminds the nose of Snow White. That juicyness is still in there... whatever it is. Drydown: There is a mysterious sharp note that blooms later, it takes this to neither floral, nor fruity... It is not accosting either. It's just... pretty. This scent is .. magical. I can barely pick out any note, but the way the smells mix together.... Huzzah. Well done! Trully a piece of art.

Gleaming black and iridescent green: black patchouli and vetiver with green amber, oudh, tobacco flower, elemi, and champaca. There is something sharp and un-gentle about this scent, and it remains rather cold and hard. I'd say stony but it doesn't feel earthy or even dry. It's like wet black marble. None of the notes really pop out, certainly not the champaca. If you don't like green notes, don't fear, as I don't get a green feeling out of this at all.

Lily of the valley, patchouli, copal, violet leaf, ambrette seed, Cyprian bergamot, chocolate peppermint, and tobacco absolute. Ooh! There's the bergamot! Bam! Next come patchouli and violet leaf. After this assaults your nose with citrus, you get the ghost of lily in the valley, fluttering haphazardly by just like a ...Bernardino dotted blue butterfly. The chocolate and tobacco may round this out to give it a slightly earthy-etheral feel to it, but that original tang in the bottle really gets you. I'll post a wet review for this one because I really want to know where it goes next.

In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face — the face of one long dead — Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Cypress, Spanish moss, and clove bud with labdanum, Italian bergamot, and white tobacco flower. This is a woodsey, slightly citrusy snow note. It's rather jarring and there is definitely something earthy in the background

A room of cobalt hues, shadowed, with walls adorned innumerable pinned butterflies and moths. Lilac water, fossilized black amber, lily of the valley, violet leaf, and oakmoss. This room is dark, dusty and somehow sharp. The amber really doesn't come through, nor does the lilac. The violet is the most prominent floral note. But over all it is rather old and dusty and it does feel like there is something heady and formal about it as well. Old world, for sure.

Our therapeutic, anti-inflammatory blend of lavender, gingergrass, clary sage, eucalyptus, turmeric root, ashwagandha and peppermint will help relieve muscle strain, cramps, and fatigue! Rub it out and get yer ass back into that ‘Con! You can clearly make out almost all the notes in this scent. This will grab you very fast with bright eucalyptus and lavender. I would say that Lavender and the mints are what show up the most. It is rather antiseptic smelling and medicinal.

The last fleeting moments of sunset, casting a perfect, magical, golden light across a damask-adorned dining room, bathing a father and daughter in an enchanted glow. This really is a golden, perfect scent. But it is warm and golden in a way that isn't sharp or bright, but warm and soothing. There is a vanilla softness to this that also illustrates a warm luminescence. There is also a richness to it that deepens the vanilla in a way that grounds it and doesn't leave it too etheral.

Golden amber, juniper berry, white sage, leather, cardamom, and black pepper. I'm still waiting for this scent to dry down and hoping the golden amber is a bit more prominent however for the most part this is a heavy juniper berry blend. The leather and black pepper make it an equally dark scent. I can't really discern white sage at this point but I think it blends in with the juniper berry in a fascinating way.

Wild strawberries, strawberry flower, strawberry blossom honey, vanilla-infused sugar, early summer grasses, and milky dandelion sap. What a beautiful moon! Wild, ripe strawberries, the extra red ones! And you can smell the tang of the 'leaves' (which i imagine is the summer grasses). The vanilla infused sugar smells like a bowl of cut strawberries dusted with sugar just before you pour the cream on. At the end of it all you really do smell the dandelion. This is my most favorite moon lately, up there with Pink Moon this year. (Yes, my foodiness has come out.) I can't even express how, once you get past the ripe strawberry scent, there is even that...center of the strawberry scent...which is slightly muted but just as juicy. So great! This and one other bottle actually leaked in my order >.<; but I can't say it wasn't an amazing smelling box!

Saffron, pimento, cardamom, beeswax, cajeput, tomato leaf, geranium, and pink pepper honey. What a great scent in the bottle. The first impression is the honey, saffron and cardamom. The beeswax lies waiting in the background and there is a tang of tomato leaf. I would say this is a pink and green scent. Very interesting!

A dark scent, sultry but sullen: tobacco absolute, birch tar, blackened clove, whip leather, and spiced rum. This is a dark scent that settles more around the blackened clove and birch tar. The spiced rum and tobacco give it a hazy, slightly sweet quality but overall it's rather dark and murky. For now, as it is wet, it's more sullen than sultry. After settling, this scent gets a bit more foody, with the spiced rum and blackened clove giving it a warm, spicy bite to it. The leather sort of comes in waves, almost totally gone sometimes, and then sneaking back in... like a whip. >.<; =D It's a little more sultry now.

Apple and white mint layered with tobacco flower, pink pepper, white jasmine, bourbon vanilla, orange blossom, and champaca flower. I picked up an extra bottle of this at NYCC. The jasmine and vanilla and orange blossom are just so sweetly pretty in this scent. The mint and champaca give it this interesting ethereal quality. Somehow it ends up a bit juicy and sweet but not too much. The apple is also not overpowering.

II est amer et doux, pendant les nuits d’hiver, D’écouter, près du feu qui palpite et qui fume, Les souvenirs lointains lentement s’élever Au bruit des carillons qui chantent dans la brume. Bienheureuse la cloche au gosier vigoureux Qui, malgré sa vieillesse, alerte et bien portante, Jette fidèlement son cri religieux, Ainsi qu’un vieux soldat qui veille sous la tente! Moi, mon âme est fêlée, et lorsqu’en ses ennuis Elle veut de ses chants peupler l’air froid des nuits, II arrive souvent que sa voix affaiblie Semble le râle épais d’un blessé qu’on oublie Au bord d’un lac de sang, sous un grand tas de morts Et qui meurt, sans bouger, dans d’immenses efforts. – – – Bitter and sweet it is on these long winter nights To sit before the fire and watch the smoking log Beat like a heart; and hear our lost, our mute delights Call with the carillons that ring out in the fog. What certitude, what health, sounds from that brazen throat, In spite of age and rust, alert! O happy bell, Sending into the dark your clear religious note, Like an old soldier crying through the night, “All’s well!” I am not thus; my soul is cracked across by care; Its voice, that once could clang upon this icy air, Has lost the power, it seems, — comes faintly forth, instead, As from the rattling throat of a hurt man who lies Beside a lake of blood, under a heap of dead, And cannot stir, and in prodigious struggling dies. — Charles Baudelaire, translation by Edna St. Vincent Millay A new interpretation, inspired by Millay’s translation- A soul, cracked across by care: blood and ruin, smoke and sorrow, incense and ice. This scent is dark, with dark incense. The Ice is that of black ice, and the smoke is definitely in the background, but not too burnt smelling. I don't smell any "blood" and the "ruin" is just this overall sharpness. Very intriguing scent.

White sandalwood, opium tar, tobacco leaf, and white amber. This is a gorgeous scent. I would say that all of the notes are equally represented both wet and on the dry down. The sandalwood and opium tar are more prominent but in general I find tobacco leaf and white amber to be more subtle scents. The throw is excellent and the scent sticks around for quite some time. This is definitely a sandalwood heavy scent.

HARVEST MOON Harvest Moon is celebrated in almost every culture, and the bounty of the season is marked in a myriad of ways. Harvest Moon touches the Equinox, the festival of Janus, the culmination of Homowo, the “crying of the neck” in Cornwall, and the Women’s Festival of the Moon. This is a day that celebrates abundance and beauty, fertility and progress, and the light of this full moon blesses new undertakings and reunites lost loves. The Harvest Moon, by definition, is the Full Moon that falls closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and thus, it shares some of that Sabbat’s characteristics. This Full Moon was thus named because it rises within half an hour of the sun’s setting, in the Northern Hemisphere, and at this time farmers are able to work longer into the night by the light of this Moon. As the year draws to a close, the Full Moon rises an average of fifty minutes later each night, with the exception of a few nights surrounding the Harvest Moon, which only rises 10-30 minutes later. This moon is also, to the human eye, the fullest and largest of the year’s Moons, hanging gloriously huge, yellow and low in the night sky, and many lunar illusions play tricks our eyes at this time. The Harvest ushers in many celebrations, including the Equinox and the Festival of Janus, God of Doors. Janus is the Roman Lord of Gateways, beginnings and endings, and transitions. Thus, the Harvest Moon is a time for blessing new ventures, the onset of new and progressive phases in one’s life, and rites of passage into adulthood. This time of year also marks one of the Festivals of Dionysus, Lord of Ecstasy and the Vine. This Harvest lunacy combines the autumnal scents of dry leaves, warm, brown spices, white oak, Himalayan cedar, Russian sage, red apple, sweet black plum, juniper berry, clove, saffron, verbena, and yarrow with Dionysus’ sacred grapes and ivy, the amaranth and lingum aloes of Janus, and a gentle breath of Harvest Festival woodsmoke and sweet red wine. Wow! What an amazing Lunacy. This is an example of why Lunacies can really surprise and amaze me still. In the bottle it is glowing warm, the dry leaves, saffron and brown spices are really amazing. There's this buttery wonderfulness that is not foodie per se, and nowhere plasticy. The fruits I was hoping to come out the most were apple and plum. Though apple isn't your typical apple note the plum is there. But it slowly settles down as it dries. On the skin, the clove comes out a bit but mostly as a heat in the background. This is not a boozie scent, nor an overwhelming wine. It's almost like a halloweenie that got lost. In the end, the hay and woodsmoke creep up, taming the fruits.

It’s nature. A savage world of little things dying or eating each other right beneath our feet. Flora and fauna, man and beast entwined in a cycle of endless brutality: soil and rot and the heat of rage, blood-smeared musk and sharp decay. This scent is sharp and biting. There is the deep scent of the grave but there is also something warm and wet in it. It's a fascinating blend. There is a dry and dustiness to it too.

Teak, ebony wood, osmanthus, patchouli, red sandalwood, vanilla orchid, tonka bean, tobacco, wild musk, spikenard, and sugandh kokila. Right out of the mail, the patchouli is strong in this one. Straight up Banshee beat patchouli but without the creaminess. I would say the second note is the teak. On the skin, the sandalwood and tobacco make a play but the patchouli is still quite strong. The notes I smell the least are the vanilla orchid and tonka.