LadyMedb

Anything with moonflower on the one hand, or patchouli on the other. The two best examples being Midnight and Schwarzer Mond, imo. mmmm. Oh, the amber does it too, at least on me. I've gotten compliments on Bakeneko, Jacob's Ladder, and Death of Autumn, I think, because of that.

I had actually thought, from the note description that it was going to go soapy on me, but it didn't (that's a victory in itself where lily is concerned...I love the smell, but it sometimes gives me soap-flakes). Instead - my goodness, this is a bit like Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, and again a bit like La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente, both of which I swapped for being a bit too powdery. However, I kind of perversely like this one, even though it's still kind of powdery. I don't know if it's that rose-dust kind of thing the lily-violet-rose combination has going on with the sandalwood, but this is really pleasant to smell - kind of addictive actually. It's a little like Bearded Lady, but I daresay the notes are even more distinct and pretty - I might not have sold my bottle of Bearded Lady if it had smelled a little more like this. It might be a nostalgic factor, as others have noted here - there's kind of a vanilla thing going on, which flags nostalgia. I'm hanging on to at least this imp, and I might go in search of a partial bottle if I keep wearing it. I really like it - it's a spooky, sweet thing.

This smells like pumpkin, pipe smoke, and carnation. I mean, that's what it's supposed to smell like. It's really nice, but just kind of a little too sweet and oppressive, and it was also pretty sharp before the drydown. If you like pipe smoke, though, this one is totally for you - the smell is very true and very intriguing.

This is incredibly evocative - I am pulling a near all-nighter tonight, and my wrists' scent make a strange identity with the book I'm reading. There is something damp to this scent, but in a mysteriously comforting way. However, the muskiness of this is just a touch too masculine for me to wear on an everyday basis.

Oh, it's beautiful! The pumpkin and white chocolate are sweet and lovely, and while the pomegranate is a little piercing at first, it settles right down with the caramel, to make a cozy, well-composed whole. It's definitely not a scent one can wear everywhere, but it's gorgeous when one is in the mood for a nice autumn foodie - sweet but not overpowering, complex but still inviting. I went and bought a half-bottle of this for those days when my sweet tooth must be indulged.

OK, Mouse. You morph a lot, you wriggly little thing! This started out almost aquatic on me, then settled into a beautiful sweet pea vanilla. Unfortunately, the final drydown amped the amber for me, and I love amber, but the whole thing just got a little bit too sweet and powdery with the sandalwood and all. These are all notes I love, but they're just a tiny bit off-balance all together like this. It's a super-pretty blend - don't get me wrong - but I have a lot of imps lying around and I can't see my way clear to keeping this one.

This is a beautiful chocolate scent. It smells like delicious cocoa and cream, but cold heavy cream rather than warm. It never gets overpowering, and dries down to a light breath of cocoa over a demure vanilla a la Regan - there appears to be a light floral character to it, as well, but I can't put my finger on what that would be. I could bathe in this stuff; it's the perfect candy scent.

The Candy Butcher is chocolatey and creamy, but light and sweet - not like hot chocolate, but like the froth on top. I don't know if that would help, but it's in no way heavy like Snake Oil.

I was convinced I was going to adore this scent, but the roses and cinnamon were just both a little too strong for me - the combination ended up smelling nearly exactly like a Yankee Candle of some sort - it's partly that the rose was a little too sweet (I love roses, but I think I like it best when it's either light and pure (Rose Moon) or dark and incensy (Black Rose) ). This one was just kind of in-your-face. I know Harlot would work really well on someone else, though.

This is fantastically evocative - it starts out all sharp leaves and sweet sap, and dries down smoky and austere. There is certainly a quality that is men's cologne-y to me about this drydown, so it doesn't work with me the way I'd like it to, but it smells fantastic on my husband, so I gave him the imp, which he likes a lot. This and Death of Autumn (of which I bought a bottle) really seem to be masculine and feminine aspects of the same autumn scene to my nose, so if one doesn't work quite right for you but you're intrigued by the idea, I recommend you try the other.

Moonlight over grave grass, meadowsweet, marsh hellebore, rock sea-lavender, Irish Lady's-tresses, melancholy thistle, and wood bitter-vetch, with the scent of autumn fires in the distance, sprayed by wind howling over the Atlantic. This makes me think of Kate Bush's most recent album - "a sea of honey, a sky of honey." Although it starts out a little sharp and herbal, it becomes this amazing sugared grass scent seconds after application, with the slight tang of sea air hovering over it. I can smell something a little minty and fresh that gives it throw, but mostly I just think of golden light, late-summer air, and miles of derelict fields. It's so sweet, and yet so pure-smelling. This is just poetry, and like nothing else I own - I'm working on getting a bottle right now.

I agree with bodegaselkie to a degree about this one, just because the initial scent of the Death of Autumn is so amazingly evocative of the chilly breath of imminent winter. However, the drydown to saffron and amber, with a subtle bit of chrysanthemum (which was all too much for me in Chrysanthemum Moon but just astounding here), adds a sweet sophistication to the last rustling sighs of the dead leaf note. My wrist will waft a small amount of this by my nose at various points during the day, and I will wonder for a split second what that absolutely beautiful scent is. This scent is at once outdoorsy and uptown, complex and direct. I absolutely love it and have a full bottle on order right now, thankfully.

I really thought I was going to love this (I was thinking of Vixen, which I love in small quantities), and it started out really beautiful - kind of strong and bloody and sweet. However, it just kind of goes syrupy after a while - I guess the honeysuckle and the sweeter side of the ginger combine and make it just a little too much to take. I love the spiciness of it, and the darkness, but it's just a little cloying on my skin. It's a shame, because this was almost it.

Victoria or Rose Moon.

IMO, to my nose, Empress and Rose Moon are very different. Unfortunately I don't have Rose moon, I'm remembering from memory, but it was a sweet rose? Empress is almost all rose (I don't know what kind, but I know it's not tea rose as in London), and there's a slight men's cologne on the drydown (I'm thinking Bergamot, I'm not sure what the note is). I think a closer similarity to Rose Moon is Hope from CD. Hope is much sweeter but I remember thinking they were very similar. Just my 2 cents. Happy hunting! I find that Stardust's Victoria is really similar to Rose Moon - I know it's not strictly GC, but it's something on which you can stock up a bit. Victoria is a little less green and a little sweeter, but they're very close to my nose.

I like the cake, I like the incense, but I can't get over the salad note. I think it's a psychological thing, because the olive leaf is really only a fleeting top note. I was intending to swap this, but I lost it. Oh well.

Undislikable - Thin Mints and vanilla with something slightly dark in the base, slather, wear, repeat.

mmmm. The Gibbous Moon occupies a special territory between Blue Moon and Midnight - two of my very favourites. It's a sparkling, beautiful scent - the moonflower is just bewitching. The lilies would normally go soapy on me, as they do in White Moon, but the moonflower and cucumber keep that from happening. I always enjoy finding lilies I can wear, as I love the scent of them independent of my body chemistry. I just love this delicate, glowing blend. It's a perfect summer scent for work or home. It fades a little fast, but I've just bought a big bottle off the forums, so that shouldn't be any trouble. EDIT - I sold that big bottle. It just goes a little too dusty-lily on the drydown to justify keeping it. It's still a lovely blend, but I found myself reaching for the aforementioned Midnight and Blue Moon more.

This is like a cross between Bearded Lady and Rose Moon. To me, that's a really good thing - there's a little bit of weirdness before the drydown, but it's overall a rich yet ladylike scent, with a lot of dimension to the roses, and lilies without that dreaded powderiness. One can wear this anywhere. It's really beautiful, and I want more of it.

Just like the market, this has got a bit of everything - sugar, flowers, resins, and fresh notes. Such a long list of ingredients would normally be an awful thing, but it seems to work perfectly in this case. In the end, though, it's just a little bit too cotton-candy smelling for me. Delightfully well-balanced, sweet, incensy, and playful, the Fairy Market would be great for me if I were a little more into foody scents (when I want to smell sweet, I tend to go for creamy vanillas). I'm swapping, but with regret.

I really like the idea of this scent - the lavender is very clear and sparkling, and the other flowers add a good deal of depth to it. As always, I really like Beth's magnolia note. However, Yvaine still goes kind of sharp on me, and while it's well-balanced, it does not seem to go very well with my chemistry. I'm going to have to swap.

I was just going to say Polyhymnia myself - I absolutely love it. It's got a bright lemony top note and a sweet incensy base. Another that's a little like this is The Great Sword of War, although that's a little heavier on the woods.

Midnight is a little like that too, but humid. And Nyx...that's another Nuit-like one. I like it better than Nuit, though, but not as well as Zorya, which rocks my world.

Big second on Thalia, and you might like Muse, too!

This is a beautiful, delicate, soapy kind of rose scent, which is very sheer. The gardenia adds a little bit of body, but the whole heliotrope-stephanotis thing, while pleasant, doesn't help to ground the overall composition. It's a really pretty scent, but it's not the kind of thing I would wear - I like my florals to be a little more va-va-voom. On the right person, however, this would be lovely. Overall, this scent difficult to dislike, in a classic, Crabtree & Evelyn kind of way.