absinthetics

LOLA Lola Montez was born Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert to a British soldier and an Irish beauty in Grange, County Sligo, Ireland. When she was just a toddler, the family followed her father's regiment to India. He died from cholera shortly after their arrival, and her mother married another British officer. Montez, then called Eliza, was sent back to England for schooling, and there she blossomed into a willful and wild little girl with a reputation for mischief. At 16, Eliza eloped with a British officer and moved to Calcutta. They separated five years later, whereupon she took up the name Lola Montez and embarked on a career as a dancer. Unfortunately, dancing was not her strong suit. However, she gathered friends and lovers in her travels, and gained both popularity and notoriety because of her extraordinary exotic beauty, tempestuous charm, and fearsome temper. During this time, she took on the mantle of courtesan, and cultivated relationships with artists, aristocrats, and politicians, enmeshing herself in Europe's fashionable Bohemian literary circles. Lola was no shrinking violet: she would crack unwelcome suitors across the face with her whip, and once fired her pistol at a disappointing lover, sending him fleeing down the street with his pants around his ankles. When her lover, Franz Liszt, grew exhausted by her passion and fury, she smashed their hotel room to pieces. Lola Montez was very, very Rock Star. In 1846, she became the mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria and was made Countess of Landsfield in 1847. She wielded a tremendous amount of power behind the throne, until Ludwig abdicated in 1848. In 1851, Lola moved to the United States, where she reinvented herself once again and became an actress. Some years later, she moved to Australia and resumed work as a dancer, entertaining Gold Rush miners. After trotting the globe her whole life, she ultimately settled down in New York, where she spent her final days doing charitable rescue work for underprivileged women. Pomegranate, red carnation, pimento berry, red plum, patchouli, heather, tuberose, thyme-moss, foxglove, Easter lily, Scottish moss, Tunisian jasmine, and Indonesian clove. In the bottle Lola is a sweet floral. I'm not a jasmine fan so I took the risk on her for that but the jasmine is very soft and in the background. As is the clove, which I would have liked to have more of. But that's just me! On the skin Lola is long lasting and even sweeter. The plum and pomegranate accentuate the florals in a way I personally really like, like in Snow White and other juicy florals. The unassuming herbs, lily, moss and thyme make this a timeless floral... but she is not common or subtle in any way. As time passes, the fruits start coming out and she's a bit of a morpher. I look forward to seeing exactly how she ends.

A brew for the dead: dried chrysanthemum petals, black tea leaf, and black poisonwood bark sweetened with honey. A swirling, almost dusty blend. There's something leafy about it, I think it may be the bark. This is floral with a hint of sweet.

Black leather, white sandalwood, jasmine sambac, bourbon vanilla, narcissus, tonka absolute, and ylang ylang. A beautiful, sweet white/amber scent. The leather mixes with the jasmine in such a way that the jasmine is almost non-existent while wet. I am not a jasmine fan, though I learned to like it in Miss Ida. If I had to say which jasmine is in here, it is more like the one found in Miss Ida. But I still can't really smell it, even as it dries. The tonka also mixes with the leather note in a way that smoothes out the scent. Though there is a little bit of that leather-whip like in De Sade, it is a whip smoothed in subtle tonka/sandalwood. In a way, these almost turn into an amber note, with a sandalwood undertone. As this continues to dry, jasmine is really nowhere to be seen. This is a creamy tonka over a little bit of leather, wrapped around a core sandalwood heart. The vanilla makes the tonka pretty and almost foodie, but the ylang ylang and narcissus add something beautifully, maybe dangerously feminine in such a way that the scent is not really foodie. I would identify myself as a foodie, but I also love those creamy faux-foodie scents like Black Lace. I'd say that the sweetness in here is kind of that perfect tobacco sweetness type. Not saying it smells like tobacco, but rather that it goes "foodie" like tonka and tobacco can feel foodie to me. Honestly, the scent is damn gorgeous, and I am bummed that I put it on at 7am before I go take a shower. I'm going to have to wear it through the day. For now, the scent stays close to the skin but it is still going rather strong. (Ugh, and as I edit this post, the vanilla is starting to slink out. <3) I'll update this post with just how long it goes strong later today. If you close your eyes and think of a pretty, lethal, ninja-girl, this probably smells like the crook of her neck or her hair after completing her mission. ... As I finished this .. I realized something. In early 2011, I was asked to dream up signature scents for myself. When I finished this review, I went to look them up in the email I sent to a friend. This is what I sent: "Those are some ideas. ...Though, I have always wanted to do a scent that would work for a (now bare with me) a pretty, seductive, Elven ninja assassin girl. I was a bit disappointed with the how much super-leather and pine were in the RPG scents. That's just not my thing. I realize this girl would wear leather..but I didn't want to smell it much! This would be dark, incensy but with something underneath that was warm, infused with heat and old books (dust, church incense, oak, tonka), but something effervescent and timeless and glowing (vanilla, white sandalwood, white ginger, amber). A skin musk, with maybe some teak, something bright and etheral (no citrus though) but also herbal and rich, but this has to have something sharp in it, maybe a dark chocolate note or dirt. Maybe some fig and/or apricot here." Other than the last part... Beth made my dream scent. Damnit.

A furious scent, powerful and scorching, running red with fire and blood: pumpkin with red musk, pimento, red pepper absolute, red vetiver, rose geranium, and crushed red poppies. This is more red musk and pepper than rose or vetiver. I am delighted by that. The pimento and poppies add a bit of green and a bit of mellowness at the same time. But that is only a background to the dark spiceyness.

Oiled leather, a splash of bay rum and Italian bergamot, rose water, patchouli, and black tea. Very leathery. The rum and rose and patchouli make it a sort of herbal and sweet old brown leather, but for the most part I can not smell the black tea and bergamot. There is something dark and herby about it too.

Literally everything. Incredible and everything you thought it would be! Gorgeous pumpkiny goodness that is oh so spicy. More reminiscent than the Pumpkin Floss v5 proto than anything else. Stock up!

Crisp, effervescent champagne bubbles drifting over a cluster of white carnations. Oh so bubbly! So, so bubbly! I like carnations to add some heat and spicyness but for a long time this remains just super bubbly! Oddly, there's almost something smokey in this, like the bubbly champagne came from a sparkler. I could be making it up but that's what it reminds me of >.<;

There is almost a touch of cinnamon in this. Like the insides of a peach pie baking, without the smell of crust. It is very bright and refreshing.

I just wanted to mention that wow! Has this aged awesomely. It is sweet and soft and pretty. Resinous and woody but with a soft sweet side. Lovely!

HUGE vetiver in your face when this comes out of the bottle. There's a sharpness to it like wine. And then it's smokey and patch. It's like an alcoholic vetiver first, though. There's a strong sort of BBQness that lies in the bacground. Burnt alcoholic vetiver. It is not patch-dirty but there is a 'great depths'ness of it. It's hard to explain. But for me, the vetiver is just way too much to really get into this scent. I have yet to try it on.

Ctfrancesca did an excellent review. The cream and even a little teak-yness of Glowing Vulva is in here. There's something woody but I imagine it is the leather note doing something a little non-leathery. You can smell the leather in the bottle, but on it fades into the background and gives that teak-quality. There's a little of that pencil-shaving smell. The leather stops this scent from being a fully foody scent. Really, it is hard to pull out a hazelnut quality to this. Overall, it is creamy teak with leather straps =D

I third or seventh or what have you. This is an amazing cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows. It is perfectly evil and tempting.. as it should be. This note does not change on me and it lasts a good while. This is somewhat like Sue's puppet show but even more realistic and with none of the other 'stuff' to make it non-foody.

This starts out a little 'dough'y but not as much as the original. Then a cinnamin burst comes through. I'm going to wear this today and update my review but I wanted to say that there was a cloying sort of dough/rice note in the original that I did not like at all. Really rubbed me the wrong way. I was hoping that this version had less of that, and it does! There is some baked goodness that I do like (I am quite the foodie) but there isn't the milk/porridge note that goes wonky for me. (Not just on my skin but out of the bottle.) I'll look up which of the last Lupers also had that note for me. More later!

WHOA Leather upon opening the bottle. Leather and dust. There is an industrial side to this SN like the others for CBLDF. The smoke starts poking through in the dry down, and it is REALLY there. Think BBQ without the sauce.

Very bright apple note. So far the throw has been intense and the lasting power is up there with some of the best. The "snow" note here is a little pinesoly. It is super wintery in that way. Think of some Nuclear winter, that kind of thing that was not present in the release version. Will add more as it dries down!

This really is exactly what it says. A brown, sugary gingery chai tea-ness but with a bit of kick. I do get a nice nag champa out of it but it settles down to more of what I expected. This is really beautiful!

Utterly amazing and slather/hoard worthy. Amazing. Love's Philosphy and Silver Haired bat meet some saffron and... something else. I thought this would be my second favorite out of this year's bats, but it is easily my most favorite. There's the sweet of Underpants but there is an herbal quality to this that makes this more wearable for the not-so-foody. Incredible!

French lavender, spike lavender, and French lavender absolute, Roman chamomile, wild-harvested frankincense, styrax, bourbon vanilla absolute, bourbon geranium, ethically harvested Australian sandalwood, oudh, mugwort, and opium tar. So, this one starts out with so much lavender. I really don't like lavender. It is strangely annoying to me, like jasmine. So, I am already a bit bias against this scent. However, the notes in the background are intriguing. You can smell the chamomile and frankincense. Those notes are very peaceful to me, and they don't calm the lavender, they kind of put a feeling of calm Behind the spike of lavender. Vanilla sweetens this calming heart of the scent. But this sweetness takes on a lot of the earthy tones of the sandalwood and oudh and opium. The sweetness is there, but it never bites you with sweet, because the rest of those relatively calm notes take that jab of sweet away. It comes close though, but never quite delivers. If the lavender wasn't quite as heady, and if I liked it, the rest of the blend would be wonderful. It does calm down after drydown.

An amazing scent. I use this and India Ink to do most, if not all, of my art work. I had to have it. It smells like paper but there is a light floral aspect to it. I am going to layer them together and see what happens =) There is a bit of a chemical note to it that I can't quite put my finger on as well. It is a VERY unique scent.

I just sold my bottle of the Hag... and as I put it in the envelope I got to smell it and WOW!!! It smells amazing! the rum has really come out, it's this dirty, dusty, vetiver infused Red Lantern. I regret selling it already.... What a lovely aging process! This is why I find it so hard to part with things!

Sandalwood, to me, reminds me of pencil shavings. And since art is my hobby, I like that scent. I would honestly say that the white sandalwood here quietly tones down the rose. ...This scent reminds me of a lightly rosey version of Intrigue. I love Intrigue, I have a cobalt 10mL from '06 that sits in my GC box and this smells more like the newer imps that I get sometimes. After this dries though, it does become dusty. It's dusty in the way that Havisham was. I guess I would say this is Intrigue + Havisham. This is very proper and ladylike if you can envoke that idea. I love reading Victorian novels so I love that I have a bottle of this to dab on when reading.

GRR's review is perfect. I ignore lemon verbena scents for the most part. And jasmine to be honest. And it is amazing how both of those are just...Not here! I seriously have an issue with jasmine... This is a beautiful vanilla with gardenia scent. I am seriously amazed how the jasmine is really not there, it usually screams at my nose. (I can't drink jasmine tea without my tongue feeling weird and funny.... it's not an allergy it's just a very keen dislike.) As I wear this and type, the jasmine does begin to come in, but it is so smooth and creamy with that vanilla and gardenia. I really love this scent. I think that this scent is a true representation of Beth's sophisticated way of blending. It's amazing. I think foodie people who don't only like foodie scents (they are willing to go elsewhere) ...will think this is amazing. Hoard worthy, even. (The jasmine is indeed coming out more.... but the way it works with the vanilla... I love it.) Amazingly, I am off to see a Fiona Apple concert... and I have chosen Miss Ida to be my scent for the evening. If that doesn't say a lot, I don't know what does!

First you get the rose, it is not a heady rose, but a rather floppy, big petaled rose that isn't too in-your-face. Fig is the second note you get when it's wet, but the fig just grounds out the scent to an earthyness as it dries. For a little while it is a somewhat dusty-scent, very subtle. But as it gets drier, on my skin, the honey begins to chime in. It is that sweet honey from the single note. Right now, the rose is fighting the fig and I find it hard to smell them both at the same time, it's more like if you look for the rose, you smell rose, if you look for the fig, you smell fig. Very interesting!

I don't know if I can improve on GRR's description. The peach is very present. I picked up extra bottles of this specifically because of this peach note. It's a big candy-ish, but a very high-end peach candy that I can't put my finger on. The amber is there, warming it just a bit. I was hoping for more carnation but I am getting mostly freesia out of any of the floral notes. This is a sophisticated but sweet scent. I think this will be the second most wanted out of the NYCC scents. As it dries down, the woods do pop out.

Patchouli is the first thing that hits my nose, wet. And behind it slips honeysuckle and the vanilla. This is a different vanilla than a lot of the vanillas in foodie scents. As it dries, there is a sharp amp of sweet on my skin, perhaps the honey part of the leather. The leather is all but not there in the beginning but as it dries, it peeks out from behind. This is a warm, foodieish scent that has an incense quality due to the patchouli. I wouldn't call this a straight up foodie scent though. It's a little bit what I wanted Dolly Kei to be. More later on the dry down!