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I purchased this bottle back in 2015, but I didn't review it due to life events, and now, here I am, 11 years later, reviewing the scent.

Aristocratic Couple is a delightful apricot scent. I applied my Bourbon Vanilla Hair Gloss yesterday, before I tested this, and it really helped me to isolate that note in this scent: it's a sheer vanilla that has a bit of brightness to it, and isn't floofy or foody whatsoever. I think that note has gained strength as it has aged over the years, but of course, the apricot is the star of the show here. The cardamom, on the other hand -- well, there's really only a light dusting of it. I didn't test them side by side (despite owning both scents), but I agree with another reviewer's comment about this being a cousin to March Hare. March Hare has its sprinkling of clove, and this has its dusting of cardamom, but the both lightly-spiced apricot scents.

I am glad I ordered a bottle of this back in the day. I really should wear it more often.

If you love ginger, this scent is for you, for it has it in spades! The ginger root is the strongest note throughout wear, and it is somewhat effervescent, reminding me of ginger beer. The lemon is next in prominence, and I get touches of the other notes, but they don't hold a candle to those two.

This smells like the sort of tea you would drink when feeling ill. I don't think I need a full bottle of this one, but I'm definitely going to hang onto my decant for those times when I'm not feeling too well and drinking lots of lemon and ginger tea.

On me, this goes on with what I believe is the white ginger, which is reading as a sweet floral on me, followed by a rush of brandy and the apricot mash. It is very sweet and boozy at first, but then the brandy wins out, and the sandalwood joins in, so that it is mostly a sandalwood-infused booze scent on me. The vanilla wasn't noticeable on my skin, but maybe it just needs some age.

In any case, of the two apricot Shungas in this update, I prefer Apricot Vulva, since it doesn't contain any booze.

I went the decant route on this one in case it would be too similar to Aristocratic Couple.

I gave this a full-day slather during the day yesterday and then deathmatched this with Aristocratic Couple (while also testing Workman Displaying further down my arm...). During the daytime slather, this was predominantly bright apricot and bergamot -- the bergamot really brightens the scent. I don't get any of the bourbon vanilla from this, or the cream musk, but maybe they will emerge with age. Unfortunately, I do get a waxy quality from the scent after it has been on my skin for a few hours, especially in the crooks of my elbows -- it's almost more like a dried apricot, even though it started off like a fresh one.

Compared to Aristocratic Couple, this is much brighter, and while the apricot and the sheer bourbon vanilla are really noticeable in Aristocratic Couple, I am not able to detect the bourbon vanilla in Apricot Vulva. Since the bottle of Aristocratic Couple is 11 years old at this point, it's possible that Apricot Vulva's bourbon vanilla will also be more noticeable as the scent ages. But fresh, Apricot Vulva does not smell as good to me as Aristocratic Couple, which also has the bonus of being infused with a tiny bit of cardamom that makes it even more appealing.

On the other hand, Workman Displaying His Sexual Prowess and Gigantic Size of His Member in a Variety of Situations is quite different to Apricot Vulva. It does not feature the same apricot note, is very boozy from the brandy on my skin, and it has the woodiness of the sandalwood. Of the two, I prefer Apricot Vulva.

I don't feel the need to upgrade my decant to a bottle since I prefer Aristocratic Couple and March Hare, but I'll be hanging on to my decant.

I loved this as soon as I smelled it, and as it bloomed on my skin, I knew that I would need more than one bottle in my life.  

The Indolence of Resting Men predominantly smells like sugar cane and cucumber on me, with a squeeze of lemon swirled with some black tea. It smells like the most wonderful, sugared cucumber and lemon-infused iced tea, and I know I'm going to love to slather this on every summer. I'm not getting any of the cream from this, but that's fine with me.

I went the decant route on this because I wasn't sure how the cucumber would go with the other notes, but it turns out, they complement each other perfectly! I will definitely be needing at least 2-3 bottles of this before it goes away!

I bought this bottle thinking it would be a sure win, since I've come to love the Lab's blueberry notes and regret passing on Blueberry, Cream, and Cardamom.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how I feel about this one, even though I've tested it twice, and I think that's because it's not primarily a blueberry scent on me. This is mostly about the cardamom and whatever comprises the chilled component of this scent (which is not mint!) on my skin. I do smell the cream beneath the cardamom and the cool note, and a little blueberry beneath that, but it doesn't smell like a gourmand scent on me.

I'll set this aside for a month and see how I feel about it then, but at the moment, I wish I got way more blueberry from this!

When I first received this, and when I first applied it a week later, I wondered if I had received Colors of Spring in disguise, because this was much more dewy and fresh than I had expected.

But no, this is the right scent. The plum blossoms are the star of the scent throughout wear on me, with the cherry blossoms settling behind them and being most noticeable during the wet phase of the scent, while the pink lotus is rather understated, but has a nice airy quality to it that's noticeable after several hours of wear. There's no bubblegum-y aspect to the lotus at all, if that concerns you. The plum blossoms are fortunately not doused in any sort of plum note, and they're the source of the fresh, dewy scent I'm getting from this. It takes about four hours before the sugar pops up on me, and I really love the sugar paired with these floral notes. As for the cream, I can smell it in the crook of my elbow by the end of the day, but it's really tame and not buttery or funky whatsoever (like some cream notes can be). That said, it's mostly about the sugared florals (with the plum blossom remaining as the star of the show) after a full day of wear.

I was hoping this would be like Reflected Vulva, but with plum blossoms and lotus instead of sweet pea. It's not a replacement for it, but this is really pretty in its own right, and I'm glad to have a bottle.  

An oil of purification, renewal, and the banishment of stagnation. Use this oil to cleanse your home and the spirit within it simultaneously. Scrub away the accumulated weight of winter: old griefs, old dust, old patterns that no longer serve. Invite the new light in.

Contains: white pine, hyssop, lemon verbena, juniper berry, sweet grass, camphor, angelica root, rosemary, white sage, and yellow bergamot.

Ulmus rubra’s mucilaginous inner bark produces a thick, protective gel that coats and soothes the throat in herbal medicine, and in rootwork this same quality becomes an act of slippery sorcery: thanks to the Doctrine of Signatures, the same mechanism that heals the body becomes armor against the violence of speech as wicked words slide away, accusations refuse to stick, and malicious talk loses its purchase and slides away, harmless.

Governed by Saturn and resonant with the Air element, the domain of communication and the spoken word, slippery elm carries correspondences that reinforce its purpose. Saturn’s cold discipline enforces silence and binds the tongue of the enemy while Air governs every form of speech, rumor, and persuasion. Slippery elm sits at the crossroads of both.

In hoodoo and rootwork, this translates into a robust tradition of anti-gossip and protection work and is a guardian of reputation. Slippery elm is carried in mojo bags, powdered into sachets, burned over charcoal, and sewn into charms. Pinches of the bark placed in the four corners of a room are said to protect the home from evil; a knotted yellow thread tied around the bark and cast into fire is a traditional working to cease all gossip directed at you. Keep the root close to your body wherever two-faced company gathers. In court case work, slippery elm shields against false accusations and slander, helping a difficult case move smoothly toward resolution. 

Slippery elm does not merely silence: it may be worn as a charm to cultivate eloquence, and it loosens the tongue when silence has become a trap or a curse, granting fluency and persuasion to those who carry it while denying the same to their enemies. 

A nutty, earthy-scented root with a whisper of benzoin, bourbon vanilla, and slippery, sweet sugar cane.

A doobie-tinged rendition of BPAL’s classic Smokestack scent. Greenish flue gasses belch from colossal steel and concrete monoliths, forming bloated clouds in the dusk-dark sky.

Creosote, coal, sticky resin, industrial waste, and a bellow of mary jane.

Folks, I’m telling you,

birthing is hard

and dying is mean-

so get yourself

a little loving

in between.

― Langston Hughes, Advice

A garden enclosed is my sister.

– Song of Solomon, 4:12

If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

– Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Nets of jewels, exquisite fragrant banners,

Brilliant lamps hung like clouds;

Covered with various decorations,

The world-transcending true knower sits within.

– The Flower Garden Sutra

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.

– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Shimmer sativa green jelly!

All of our nail polish is hand crafted by Haute Macabre!

A fluttering tempest of black oud, indigo poppy, pale lavender, blue lilac, white tea, ambergris accord, and sweet pea.

Frances Macdonald
 

Crushed dandelion stem, a riot of pansies, warm bare skin, sheer vanilla silk, cherry and apricot blossoms, wild strawberries, wild roses, sun-warmed grass, and a gust of white clover honey.

Frederick Sandys
 

Ylang Ylang and White Sugar.

Passionflower and Wild Plum.

Ti Leaf and Elizabeth Root.

Honey Dust and Black Balsam.

Fossilized Amber and Wildflower Nectar.

Calla Lily and Purple Musk.

Flower Moon is a vision of nocturnal tenderness: pale ylang-ylang and moonflower absolute unfurl against sun-baked earth that is cooling under springtime moonlight. Flickers of white agave nectar and fragile, luminous stargazer lily exhale over a whisper of dark amber and wild honey, like sweet pollen dusted onto velvet wings.