pekeana

In the bottle, Pussy is almost herbal with a hint of sweet spiciness to it. On me, it's mostly brown sugar and saffron with just a hint of honey and the barest breath of orange blossom. Quite frankly, my dear, I doth love it! It's really not sweet, which is astounding, considering it's *brown sugar* of all things.

Butter Arsenic: I really didn't care for this scent at all, which made me sad upon receiving it. I got a bright herbal scent overwhelmed by leather and resins. It pretty much stayed the same on my skin (except it took on a weird, funky house with an unshowered person kind of a tone after 8 hours) and people at work kept asking me what was wrong with my perfume. Alas, not my cuppa.

Eat Me v6: The released version of Eat Me is always on my "reach for" list (even when I should wear something else), so it was natural that I'd snatch up a prototype if I could. v6 is less sweet than the released, drier, almost with a bitter edge. It's the unrefined take you out back and smack the tar out of you version of Eat Me. It's less complex, with only a couple of cake notes (a nut cake and, yes, the currant cake), and has a bitter berry tone to it that is out of keeping with the released version. On me, it dries down to a snarky little hint of cake and nuts with just a hint of vanilla sugar that keeps it from being too overwhelmingly bitter.

IXHV37: I have a Chaos Theory that's somewhat similar to this, but fruity instead of buttery. I love both with amazing intensity (for reasons I can't quite fathom, but okay then). For what it's worth, I get the black current cake note from Eat Me, mixed with a hint of pumpkin, a dark milky note, and something similar to clover in the background. There's also something kind of floral but you can't quite put your finger on what precisely it is. When it dries down on me, it becomes a deep, milky pumpkin with just a hint of black current.

A very warm, positive blend. This oil brings happiness and harmony to a rocky relationship and grants peace of mind. Use only at night, in conjunction with the powder and incense bearing the same name, on white and pink candles. Hmm, what to say about this one? Helping Hand, in the bottle, is very minty and has a deep boozy undercurrent, and the first thing that entered my mind was, "Hmm, this smells kind of like I thought Spooky would". It's also got an undercurrent of something that smells almost like chocolate, but I can't tell what kind of mint or what kind of chocolate, if it's chocolate at all. This is a very strong, astringent scent. On me, it's a domineering mint that eventually backs off and something soft and spicy comes up beneath it and rounds it out. As it fades, the mint stays strong but balances well with whatever else is in it. It's a very pleasant scent on dry-down. And as far as the helping bit of it, it did relieve some of the headache I had brewing. ETA: I just realized why I've fallen in love with Helping Hand... it smells just like the cologne a guy I really like was wearing not too long ago. Mmmm, yummy.

The Phoenix smells just like taking a swim in the Pacific just before dawn. You can smell the seawater sluicing off of your body, and the kelp, woods, and other seaweeds tangled around your ankles as you climb out of the water. It's very cold, not at all warm or inviting, but bracing and invigorating. (And damn sexy.)

"Teenage Cannibal" reminds me of Monsterbait: Bloody Mary a lot, and it's very similar in the wet stages at least on my skin. As it dries, though, it becomes dustier and more reminiscent of cotton candy, lemondrops, and ginger Altoids. All in all, it's kind of like crack in a bottle. YAY CRACK! (No cannibal should smell this good. I'm just sayin'.)

I got my Yule order and immediately sank my proverbial teeth into Fruitcake. Dear goodness, I wish real fruitcake was this nice! I get spices and a little bit of candied fruit and a lot of almond cake, the kind made with fresh almond flour and almonds and almond extract to amp up the flavor. It's divine and so wonderful that I'll treasure the giftie imp -- till it's all gone.

Poisoned Apple is just that -- apple dipped in the dark herbs of poison. I get more of a green granny smith edge from this apple, though, than red. Of course that could be because of the narcotic herbal swirl of the other elements of the blend, driving the apple into sour ripeness. This is The Hesperides x 1000. Instead of sweet and tart, it's tart and herbal, and it's definitely hypnotic in its scent. BIG A++ for this one, though -- it stays on my skin and confuses the people at work.

Beckons all giant creatures from gargantuan reptiles and humongous moths! These babies are sure to crush everything from dollhouses to shopping malls! Can even be used to summon colossal robots in a pinch! A sweet and crisp vanilla mint! Dear mint; I love you so much. Why don't you love me? You stick around for just a little while, and then you vanish. WHYWHYWHY, becky So, anyway -- Tokyo stomp is like a Thin Mint cookie. This is what I wanted Spooky to be. And then the mint vanishes and I'm left with a weird combination of vanilla, anise (wtf?), and chocolate. I love it, don't get me wrong, but I know this is not what it's supposed to be. HOWEVER, that being said? It's still incredible and I love it! I just wish my skin wasn't so sucky about mint notes.

I get a chillier version of Dorian out of Hunger Moon. It's got that smooth roundness of the oakmoss/verbena, mixed with the chill of snowy ozone, a hint of pine, and creamy but slightly spicy wood notes. To my nose, it's very similar to what I get with Dorian, but without the vanilla tea aspect of it, and darker, older, wiser, with a smack of "hi, SMELL ME, bitch!" I thank pkwench most gratefully for the bottle she swapped me.

None of the other 13s have really, really worked for me, so this is me being shocked and surprised. When I first put 13 on, it's all chocolate and peaches with just the barest hint of nutty-wood base. After a while, it just kind of melts into my skin and does its magic. Chocolate, and ginger peaches, and then eventually the peaches fade and the white chocolate (creamy milk & sugar vanilla) comes up and tangos with the honey and clove. And then it fades away to pure, undiluted honey. So much happiness.

Wow, Beth's really outdone herself with Yemaya -- this is the first Orisha oil I've had the pleasure of buying/testing, and I love it! In the bottle, Yemaya is very strong fruit. Both my brother and I decided that it smells kind of like honeydew and strawberries, but on second sniff, it resolves itself into something that's almost watermelon, but just not quite. Once it's on, it takes on a heavy salt-water aquatic note, and the melon/berry fades a bit to the background, but it's just divine. A softer, sweeter note is coming up beneath all of that, and I may be crazy, but it seems like the molasses note from Gingerbread Poppet? Not sure what it is, but it's really good. Yemaya is comforting and warm, like a day out on the beach with your toes in the sand and a watermelon shave ice in your hand. I'm definitely glad I grabbed it. NOTE: This review topic is for the Twilight Alchemy Lab oil blend dedicated to Yemaya. If you're looking for the Excolo scent of the same name, that topic is here.

Mostly ambergris for the first hour or so, but then the aquatics come up and lift it up into tolerable territory -- and then disappear completely. My skin, boy, I dunno.

I get iris, lemongrass, lime, and just the barest hint of coconut. Alas, the way the iris plays in this is just too much for the rest of it to balance out. And there's an odd afternote to it that's kind of powdery but bad musky that you register after you inhale it deeply, then move away. It's very odd, and, ultimately, not for me. *siiiiigh*

I love it. It has a bit of the same quality as Strangler Fig down at the very bottom, then it builds orris and floral (I'm not good with IDing flowers, alas) on top of it, and somehow, the entirety of it ends up coming off as a nutty chocolatey floral. Very complex, very sensual, very inviting.

I love to throw the Lantern Ghost on when I don't feel like wearing anything, because it's just a gentle, soft cherry blossom and tea scent on my skin. My skin eats mint alive, so I don't get any mint from it, and the wood is very, very light and in the background of the beautiful tea and cherry blossom. Loves it, loves it, loves it!

I think you'd like Night-Gaunt. Very citrussy over light floral.

Sundew is one of my favorite GC scents. It's lightly floral, lightly green down beneath the big bright yellow sweet ball of happy sticky warmth. It makes me feel happy, it makes me feel alive, and it's a good replacement for the sun on a cold, snowy winter's day.

I love the way Priala works with my skin -- the myrrh isn't at all powdery, just very dark, strong, sweetly resinous, and I get a lot of the smoke, and down below it all, there's a gentle bite of warmth from the cinnamon. I never expected it to work at all for me, but I bought it anyway -- and I'm ever so glad I did because she's beautiful in the most introspectively transformative way.

Boomslang is pure happy smutty smutty goodness. That being said, if I don't get it mixed up enough, it smells like unwashed ass. And rolling it doesn't always work, so my precious -- alas -- must be shaken. At first on my skin, it's just straight Snake Oil with just a hint of smooth creaminess that must be the rice milk. But after it's melded with my skin and melted in, the cocoa comes out and plays. It's sexy, smutty happiness in a bottle.

Oh, hello -- happy happy joy joy! In the bottle, Enraged Groundhog Musk smells like Mitzvah went boozing with Smut and Miskatonic University and stopped in to watch Kabuki get its groove on with Bliss. Seriously, dude. On me, at first, it's all butter and musk. Eeeew, butter. But then it mellows out and becomes this beautiful creamy, slightly sweet musk with a light dose of cardamom. Once in a while, the chocolate and cherries come up and make it a little fruity, a little chocolatey, but... Love the creamy musk.

I've been hesitating about reviewing Black Moon, tell the truth. On my skin, it's very much jasmine and cucumber with orchid and something a little acrid beneath. It kind of smells like the unholy bastard lovechild of Blue Moon and Danube to me. It's very strange, and slightly flat on my skin. HOWEVER: it is perfect for its intention -- this scent is not warm, nor cold, not sweet, nor savory, not floral, nor fruity. It is all that is and all that is not: the void. The space between. The silence and the darkness and the absence of all being. I don't know how Beth does it.

Oh. My. God. So wonderful. *gasp, flail* Schwarzer Mond, to me, is kin to Shub-Niggurath. It's the dark ritual incenses beneath the offertory ginger that Shub has. Schwarzer Mond is smooth, dark, and infinitely fathomless. Completely dark.

Mme. Moriarty... oh, you are such a card. Every time I put her on, she immediately reeks to high heaven of patchouli and fig leaf -- it's dark, earthy, and overwhelmingly green. But then, after an hour or so, the pomegranate and musk peek out and tame the patchouli and fig leaf to a gentle scent reminiscent of Snake Charmer: but with patchouli instead of amber. But to give you an idea -- my skin amps pomegranate to the point that that's all you can smell in a blend. For the patchouli to beat it out at any stage in the game tells you just how much my skin amps patchouli in comparison.