tartchef

Nyomnyomnyom.... oh golly this is tasty. It's like Green & Black's Maya Gold in perfume form - clean, snappy orange zest & a hint of spice over deep dark chocolate. I was bracing myself for cloying Creamsicle orange, which peeps out when it's wet, but then quickly deepens into a smooth, almost smoky orange... the copal wafts in & out, as do some white florals, but I would hesitate to call this "floral" at all. It's not really foody, either, at least not traditionally so. It's a really nice alternative to the heavier incense scents I usually wear, and yet not totallly out of character... Ya know? /ramble

Ooo. This is niiice. Definitely sinus-clearing at first, all peppermint & menthol, but the violet quickly emerges. This is a dead-on ringer for the violet pastilles we used to get from my gran at Christmas - sweet, but not overly so, with an anise center... This is lovely. It's a fantastic alternative to aquatics & ozones, cool & refreshing & ultimately soothing.

Ooo, diiiirty. Seriously. The black patchouli is indeed salicious, putting it's grubby paws all over delicately honeyed apricot. The two are very distinct at first, but after an hour or so, they meld into a really fascinating scent - wood shavings, a bit of leaf mould, and a faint waft of fruit nectar. A really good fruit scent for those who don't want to smell like a Jolly Rancher amp fruit....

Hm. I was expecting War to smack me on the ass & steal my husband... instead, she knocked politely, asked to borrow a tea towel, and returned it freshly laundered, with a nosegay of honeysuckle... Wet, there's a whiff of cocoa, a la Tezcatlipoca, along with a bit of my favorite red musk & a light sweet nectar-y scent. Once on, the ginger pokes its head out & joins the dance. The honeysuckle & ginger together smell, to my nose, oddly like apple peels dipped in honey. I get an occasional hint at spiciness, but overall, War is a very quiet, restrained scent. It's nice enough, but Chrysanthemum Moon & Shub better fill my red musk & ginger needs.

In the vial, Spellbound is incredible - the almost-salty red musk & amber are keeping my arch nemesis rose at bay. It's almost edible, like a rose-syrup-infused cake... But alas. The moment it hits my skin, the rose smothers everything in a blanket of powdery, soapy mess. Once in a while, the musk & amber rally, and for a moment I think we might be able to pull this off... then it's back to grandmas & cheap soap. I'll give this a shot in my scent locket, but I don't have high hopes....

Every once in a while, I like to purposely try a scent that pushes my boundaries - I got Kubla Khan hoping that the opium/tobacco/vanilla notes might temper what would otherwise be a trainwreck of florals on my skin... Bah. No dice. All I get is rose shouting over jasmine soap, with leather bringing up the rear. I smell like a very expensive men's shaving soap. Nice, but so definitely not me....

That'd be the original DN, 2005. The 2006 version has a witch with 3 black cats, and the year at the base of the label. :curtsey: ETA: D'oh! Babylon beat me to it!

Now see, here's the freaky part - by all rights this should have sent me screaming for the hills, as I am She Who Amps Vetivert. I, too, neglected my research until after ordering, and was convinced this would be a total write-off. But. O frabjous day! Calloo! Callay! A vetivert I can wear! Wet, Death of Autumn is disturbingly close to the slimy water dumped out of a forgotten vase of flowers - slick, rotting vegetation. Thankfully, it transitions quickly into spicy mums with a deep earthy backnote. The amber pokes its head out now & then, with a puff of sweet powdery resin. As it develops, more of the clove comes to the front. This is a silky, velvet brown powder of a scent - less dark & disturbing & more dark & mysterious... a woman cloaked in brown velvet, lurking in the shade of an ancient tree with leaves swirling around her feet...

This is so much... nicer than I was expecting. I mean, I was hoping it would smell good, which it does, but it's so... inoffensive. I get the usual slap of buttered pumpkin at first, but then it quiets down into a faintly spicy, very cidery scent. It's sweet, but in a ripe apple way, not the warm, heady funk of tonka I was hoping for. The tobacco peeps out once in a while, adding a whiff of smokiness, but overall, Pumpkin 2 is a well behaved scent. It is, however, perfect for an Indian Summer's day, when I want to smell like fall, but the deep myrrhs & boozey scents are too much.

Lots of salt water & clean aquatics - a more complex Jolly Roger. The musk & patchouli help anchor things (forgive the pun) a bit, but ultimately I find myself wishing for more... I'm just not a watery girl, I'm thinking, as I can see this being lovely on someone else. ETA: In her final throes, Mary Read smells remarkably similar to Sri Lanka's drydown - a peppery, smokey scent, with some camphor behind. OK, so this might work on me after all... (weighs holding onto imp)

Out of the bottle, there's the familiar buttery smack of pumpkin. Once on, #4 calms down quickly to a lovely blend of dry grass & pumpkin vines - this is the scent of a true pumpkin patch, with sweet straw tucked under plump gourds, the faint scent of bruised leaves & prickly stems. AliBabble's right, this is a very "safe" scent, encapsulating the natural scent of fall, rather than an overly decadent/devilish/gothic fantasy thereof. It's also a fast scent, going from wet to dry to gone in about 3 hours, if that. That said, I love this It's subtle & lovely, for days when I want to smell nice, just for myself.

Penny for the Guy? If he smells like this, I'll put in five! Bonfire Night starts out almost pure, unadulterated black treacle - thick, sticky bittersweet & spot on. It quickly warms up to a toasted graham cracker scent, with a malty back note that must be the beer. Once it dries, the tar & smoke appear, adding a gritty layer that cuts through the sweetness. This is hardly "perfume" - nothing so pretty or intentional. It's the smell of your hair after you come home from the festivities, with bits of treacle toffee stuck to your jumper and dribbles of stout on your dungarees, picking cinders from your scalp & blowing on your frostbitten fingers. This is pure nostalgia for the ex-pats out there, faintly industrial but absolutely exhilarating.

Oh, Morocco, how have I neglected reviewing you? I got an imp of Morocco in my very first BPAL order, enticed by the promise of an exotic whirl of spice & sandalwood. I was a bit disappointed when, on me, it went 100% straight up cinnamon churros. Very foody, bakery-sweet, and a dry but ultimately non-descript dusting of cinnamon. I wore it occasionally, just for kicks, but it eventually sifted to the bottom of my imp tin. Fast forward 3 years, and I get a frimp of Morocco in my Lab order, and I'm inspired to dredge up my original...Wow. What a difference aging makes! Gone is the fried dough, and in its place I get a glorious, rich cloud of smooth spice, pale musk & carnation It's still not an assertive scent - throw is modest, and it only lasts half the day before fading to a faint whiff of dry vanilla spice. But it is lovely, just the thing for when I want to feel pretty, but grounded. It's on my Top 10, a comfortable constant that warrants a big bottle to age...

I can absolutely see where folks are getting nail polish remover at first - straight out of the imp, Scarecrow has a harsh, solvent-like smell to it. Once on, it's waffling back & forth between sweet crushed hay & SuperGrimeOff. I keep getting faint whiffs of what I hoped this would be - alfalfa & timothy fields at dusk, with a bitter, dry hint of charred earth. Up close, though, it's all commercial cleaning solution. And oddly ManlyMan... there's a sweet aquatic note in here that's reminding me of some over-cologned guy I knew in college. I'll have to try this on the other half & see how it does with his chemistry.... hopefully he gets more romp-in-the-hayfields and less Junior Executive... ETA: Ah, that's better - hours later, all traces of chemical ick are gone, and I'm left with a lovely green grass note...

Oh Shub... where have you been all my life? Seriously, why has it taken me so long to try this?! Shub starts out with a whallop of extra-strong ginger snaps - two kinds of ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, molasses... I want to chew on my arms & roll around in a bottle of this... It fades quickly, alas, but a few hours later re-emerges with a waft of Captain Black pipe tobacco - dry, smoky vanilla & spice. This is a warm duvet of a scent, all comfort & satisfaction. I feel like purring... and making cookies... with a scalding hot cup of ginger tea to dunk them in...

... The scent is one of unadulterated spiritual purity, with a taste of the world's eternal pathos, and the joy of suffering with grace: frankincense, olive, spikenard, hyssop and galangal. This was a generous frimp from a fellow forumite, one that despite loving frankincense & galangal, I never would have picked for myself... Wet, there's a moment of harshness, but almost immediately I'm enveloped in a soft cloud of... what? I know this scent. It's faintly fruity, but not overly sweet, with a dusky greenness... it reminds me very much of a non-descript climbing weed that puts out fluffy, pale green flowers - not the kind of thing you'd ever notice, but brushing up against it releases an unexpected halo of scent. This is crushed stems & pollen, very close to the skin. The olive lurks in the background, adding a thickness & weight to what would otherwise float away. That said, this one fades fairly quickly - barely an hour on & it's little more than a trace of pollen... If you liked the botanical, ferny sweetness of Caliban, definitely give Tzadikim Nistarim a try. This is lovely, not my usual fare, but one I'll keep around for the warm weather. ETA: Several hours later I'm suddenly getting the same drydown I got with Jolly Roger, of all things - something akin to rosewood & saltwater... ETA2: Over a year later, Tzadikim Nistarim has quietly worked its way into my top 10 GC scents It's such a quiet, comforting scent - not cozy in the usual sense, but calming & centering. The final throes of the frankincense last all day, grounded by the gentle weight of the olive... I got my hands on an old 10ml recently, and it is absolutely beautiful...

Dry dry dry, and hot. I get a huge whallop of peppery sandalwood at first, with dry cedar & a bit of patchouli surfacing once things warm up. It's like a dry sauna - it seeps into my bones & warms me from the inside out. Perfect for cold, rainy days & when I'm feeling my Kapha tendencies slowing me down. (Vetivert amps on me to the point of nausea, and I'm not getting a trace of it here, thank heavens.) ETA: O alas & alack. Hormonal shifts bring what must be the tiniest dab of vetiver out of hiding, baring its pointy fangs & chasing me out of my toasty warm sauna. Phooey.

Dammitdammitdammit. Curse you, vetiver! Hex was so full of promise - apples fermenting in a heap, almost ready for the cider press; soot & smoke from the bonfire (who threw branches from the cherry tree on there?); whispers of dark pine sap & sex... And then vetiver comes sidling in, ruining the party. There's only a trace here, but it's enough that I can taste it in the back of my throat. I'm going to give this a shot in my scent locket & see if keeping it away from my skin is enough to hold Stinky V at bay, as this has the potential to be truly gorgeous... ETA: and now it smells like pee. Oh skin musk, WTF?!

Wow, this is boozey! Much sweeter than I'd expected... I think it's the opium I'm reading as wine, as I got a similar twang from Dr John Seward... Surprises aside, this is really nice - smokey, very tart & dry (who was it who mentioned underripe blackberries?), lots of tannins with a faint warmth at the back. Like inhaling fruited pipesmoke, or taking a sip of fortified wine - warm, but only fleetingly so; somehow juicy & bone dry at the same time. It fills the back of your throat at each sniff, very close, almost claustrophobic, much like Strangler Fig. This is a scent for dimly-lit, enclosed spaces, deep couches & dark conversation... Edited 'cause I can't spell, apparently

We moved just before Tartlet turned one, and I used Panacea: Safari to help ease the transition from snug apartment to creaky old house... it's lavender-based, and so helped I think with getting back to a sound sleep despite lots of new noises. I dabbed a bit on his little sheep lovey, and on my shirt when we nursed. (OT: yay extended nursing & co-sleeping!)/AP-hooray hijack Now that we're facing a transition to group daycare & a big boy bed in the next few months, I'm turning more to calming scents that don't necessarily mean sleep, per se. Sudha Segara is what I put on at night when I'm feeling restless & out of synch, so I think we'll start with that, or perhaps White Rabbit - sweet, but light scents. There's a thread somewhere on BPAL & kidlets, and I remember Dragons Milk being referenced a lot.

Ooo, compare & contrast! I got an imp of Kathmandu with my very first Lab order. I had very high hopes, and was somewhat put off by the rootbeer & BandAids opening I got... Once it dried down, it was a pleasant enough blend of sandalwood & faintly sweet spices. I wore it, but always a bit wistfully, pining for the saffron & smoke of my dreams. Fast forward 3 years, and I get my hands on a bottle of Old Kathmandu... Now this is more like it. There's still a hint of antiseptic, but it's gone in a matter of seconds. Now I get a full rich dry cedar, with the sandalwood & lotus hovering in the background. After a few hours on my wrists, it fades to a faint but beautiful vanilla-like incense, strangely akin to White Rabbit & O on my skin; in the crooks of my elbows, the woods are still morphing, throwing off dry smoke & resins with a waft of bitter saffron lurking at the edges. It's not an all-day oil - I can see reapplying this mid-afternoon, or layering another resin & woods-based oil on top for longer wear - nor is it a "public" scent, to me... It's one I'd wear when I knew I'd be alone all day & wanted to feel relaxed & focused. This is akin to Sri Lanka, Cathedral, The Coiled Serpent & Mandrake, but somehow more austere & ascetic. It feels faintly medicinal, and I think I'll be wearing it more for meditative purposes than as fragrance...

This starts off amazingly fresh & green, with the dry woods hovering in the background. Picture a rocky mountain path on a sunny day, winding through scrubby evergreens... there's a nice breeze coming up from the valley below. As it dries, the myrrh surfaces, but thankfully it is a bit player, not overwhelming, just spicing things up a bit. It's still a very fresh, outdoor scent, like how your hair would smell at the end of the trek mentioned above... This is beautiful, all I'd wished Kathmandu would be. So very very glad I gambled on a Big Bottle - this is an instant Top 10. ETA: Hours later, OMFG. Sweet mother of woodsmoke & pepper.

Ugh. Count me in on the civet-haters. I grabbed this & slathered it on this morning, thinking it was Depraved... you can imagine my dismay when, instead of sticky apricot & patchouli, I was enveloped in a fug of ripe cat's butt & burning rotten leaves... It was a generous frimp from a fellow forumite, but alas, this must leave my house post haste...

In the imp: lovely lush dark green ferns with a haze of lavender On me: expensive triple-milled lilac soap. Pooh.

Oh golly. When I pulled Hod out of the mailer, I very nearly wrote it off then & there - I could smell it already, and it was heavy & cloying & teh ick. I parked the bottle in my eBay box & forgot about it for a week or two. Something made me fish it out yesterday, and I can only believe that it was the Universe guiding my hand... Hod is absolutely gorgeous. I agree with maijasu - it's honey & heavy cream & the most beautiful, spicy carnation I've ever sniffed. The elements are very distinct to my nose - the deep, almost bitter sweetness of the honey; fresh, cold cream; and freshly plucked carnation petals - there's even a hint of the green sepals floating around in the background... Bonus points: this lasts for-ever. I put it on in the morning & could still catch its warmth on my wrists as I went to bed. I don't think I need the whole 10mls, but I'll be keeping a goodly decant for myself...