lightgatherer

As expected, the vanilla, musk, amber, etc. notes are delicious on me as always. The fruit notes were faint but blended in gorgeously. As a happy surprise, this was a nice rose on me - it was subtle and added to the other notes rather than clobbering them all to death. As a sad surprise, the earth notes just do not work on me. I kept sniffing and thinking, "Mmm, yum, sweet, warm, love, OMG dirt! Get the dirt off!" I loved the rest of the notes in this, but the dirt stood out, sharp and jarring. The dirt fades after a while, but unfortunately, the scent has mostly faded by this time too. I might tolerate this in a GC, but I have a higher standard for LEs. This deserves to go to someone who will love it, so, sadly, off to swaps.

This one was so close to working on me. The throw I got off of it was sweet and lovely - primarily the cocoa and vanilla beans. However, whenever I got too close to my wrist, I got smacked by a harsh perfume note that I assume is one or more of the florals. After quite a few hours the perfume smell has died away, and the smell on my wrist is lovely, but the throw is completely gone by then. For yummy primarily vanilla throws, I have other scents I can wear that won't smack me with perfume. I'm almost tempted to hold on to this one to see how it ages, but I think for now I'll try to swap it.

I initially get the citrus scents and the pumpkin dancing back and forth with each other over the amber. After a while the citrus dies back a bit, the pumpkin takes a little more hold, and the amber comes to the forefront. I forgot about the scent for a bit until I smelled the most delicious sweet, spicy scent - kind of like spice cookies - and realized it was the Pumpkin Queen. Yum. The initial scents aren't my favorite ever, but they're nice and totally worth the exquisite spice cookie drydown.

Citrus. Not a bad citrus smell, but citrus. I never got any other notes but citrus. I wish I had more to report than that, but my skin entirely ate this after about an hour or two. EDIT: After reading some reviews about how much some people loved this, I decided to give it another try with a heavier application. Unfortunately, I still just get all citrus again, but with a bitter note this time. The smell still dies after a couple hours.

Huh, Bengal again. I get strong cassia and some musk from this - it's a bit odd given that cinnamon or cassia aren't listed as notes. Is my skin just really amping the cardamom? After a couple hours of strong spice, a hint of the chocolate and cherry peek out from underneath the spice. As it is right now, this isn't a winner - for this sort of scent I like Bakeneko better. I suspect this one may get nicer with some aging, though, so I'm going to hang onto my bottles for a while and see how they smell down the road.

At first, this is all floral on me. Fortunately, this is a good floral rather than a chemical floral. After a short while, the florals turn into a floral incense, and I start getting the first hints of fruitiness from the currants in the cakes. I never outright get cake from this - just a general sweet note. After a bit longer, this has melded into a delicately smoky incense with hints of flowers and fruit and that elusive sweet note. This was not how I expected this to smell, but I really like it.

Oof. Headache-inducing chemical floral. There were so many other notes in here I was hoping would come to the forefront and that the floral would lurk in the background, but it was not to be. I had to wash this off.

This is what I'd hoped Svadhinaopatika would be - sweet honey and soft woods. I don't get any incense from this which is surprising - just honey and wood. I keep sniffing my wrist whenever I can and am quite charmed by the scent. It's possible I may need a second bottle of this.

Lady Macbeth with a hint of oak instead of berries and a lot more duration. I want to wear these two at the same time for a side-by-side comparison.

This reminds me quite a bit of Blood Kiss which isn't surprising given that they share a number of notes. I don't remember the vetiver in Blood Kiss being quite this strong, but it overwhelmed me for a while in this blend. Once the vetiver died down, though, I was ready to eat my own wrist I smelled so good. I really want to try to snag an imp of Blood - it has quite a bit of what I like in this blend and in Blood Kiss but without the nasty vetiver.

Yup, sugar, candy, and fried sweets - amazing how Beth got that in a bottle! I'm a little surprised and very pleased that this doesn't turn to plastic on me as a lot of the cake-or-cookie-scented oils do. The throw is fairly subtle, but the scent does last for quite a few hours. I didn't love this quite as much as I thought I might, so I don't think I'll be needing more than one bottle. It's a fun scent, though, and I'm glad I do have a bottle.

I was really expecting to love this one, and there was a lot in it that I did. The musk, amber, and vanilla came out on this and were incredibly strong; the coconut and spices hung back a bit but added nicely. This oil would definitely work on a guy; I felt almost a bit butch wearing it. Unfortunately, there was something in this blend that just kept bothering me - my nose tickled when I sniffed my wrist too close, and it just smelled off. I think for now I'll keep the imp and reapply more lightly next time to see if that off note stays in the background.

Starts off as wine and then wine and honey. Quickly dies off to almost nothing - I have to mash my nose into my wrist to smell it. As it wears on, I think I smell patchouli (is that the winter note?), and then it turns into (fortunately faint) patchouli. Stays at patchouli for a long time before finally turning into a faint berry scent and then dying. I really wanted to like this one - I was hoping for mulled wine - but that's way too much patchouli for way too long.

Starts off with a bit of the florals (I wasn't able to distinguish any individual floral notes) and then becomes just the mulling spices with a heavy overlay of the wine and fruits. This is so lovely on me. Unfortunately, it wears off rather quickly. I'd love a bottle of this so I can reapply it greedily.

Given that it's two and a half years old, it's obvious that this oil has aged and lost quite a bit of its potency. What's left of it is very nice, though. It's a soft, subtle sweetness reminscent of perhaps cornbread and brown sugar. I would wear this for a time when I need a comforting scent but don't want anything strong such as doctor's appointments.

Wow. I love this. Cinnamon, vanilla, musk, and a hint of clove and dragons blood. Early on this is almost like a Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce latte on me - cinnamon, but not overwhelmingly cinnamon with a sweet creaminess. As it wears on the musk and the subtle dragons blood come out a bit more and blend beautifully. I swapped for a bottle of this on a whim, and I'm so glad I did - it's just gorgeous.

This is a lovely warm scent. I couldn't pick out any individual notes other than perhaps the amber, but overall the smell was sweet and golden. The boy thought it smelled like a vanilla candle. This had a long wear but very little throw. I may have to wear it side-by-side with The Lion and see which I prefer.

This starts off smelling like a Pier One store (this is a good thing). After a bit something (the vanilla?) comes out more and starts smelling like ginger cookies without being overly foody. The ginger comes out more as I wear it, and it is tasty love. I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist and decided I needed more.

I initially didn't order Bitter Moon because I was afraid it would be too floral. When the reviews started coming in I decided to take a chance on it, and I'm glad I did. It's initially a bit herbal and bitter when applied, but that phase doesn't last terribly long. After that the scent begins a series of soft drifts, each of them incredibly lovely. I don't remember anything in particular other than blackberry (like biting into a fresh blackberry, just a little underripe from the vine - not like ripe, sugared, cooked blackberry), but I just marvelled at how well-blended and nice each phase was. I'm definitely glad I took a chance and got this.

This starts off with a much greener scent than I was expecting. After a while the honey and a tiny bit of the ginger starts to poke out, and the green dies down. The ginger isn't strong, and the honey isn't predominantly honey, so after a while this just melds into a sweet scent. The throw is very, very light, but the smell is nice. I see this as more of a spring or summer scent. I don't see needing a lot of this, but I'll keep my imp.

Starts off smelling like cake batter scented plastic. Unfortunately, this stage continues as an already-weak scent continues to die. After a while I can smell something sweet and faintly cakelike when I press my nose into my wrist. Unfortunately, this stage of the scent is way too weak to merit actually wearing it. Due to the initial plastic scent, I don't think I could stand slathering this. On to someone whose skin doesn't totally eat this.

I originally didn't order Lycaon because I wasn't sure about the patchouli. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a mistake because this is the lab's patchouli that works on me - the soft, woody one. The musk and the resins are more obvious at first, but they settle down after the first couple hours. Then the patchouli and something bright and almost citrusy - the ginger, perhaps? - come out to play. This scent is definitely a complex morpher, and I loved smelling it as it changed. I'll bet this one ages divinely.

I suppose I just never will learn my lesson about evergreens. This is a lovely scent and very well-blended, but I continually found myself thinking that as well as they fit, I would like the scent better without the evergreen notes. I'm going to plan on swapping this and hope that someone else will love it as it deserves.

I never get the orange, cherry blossom, or tea in this, and I have to agree with another user who compared it to Bengal. Unlike Bengal, though, I think this works on me. The amber musk in this is very much like the note in Bengal that made me think of unwashed female genitals, but it stops just short of that. It's a warm musk that reminds me of lying close to a lover after just having rubbed their skin with a spiced oil. This is warm and sexy and has a long wear. I think I might just have to keep it.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff! Musky clove with the amber and vanilla lurking softly in the background - they're not noticeable as their own scents but rather round out the clove and musk. After a few hours the clove dies down a little more and the vanilla becomes more noticeable. I love this vanilla, too - it's the rich, warm scent I associated with vanilla pre-BPAL rather than the light, sweet vanilla I typically find with BPAL. The boy loved this on me, and I really wish it was going to be possible to get a second bottle for less than the cost of my firstborn and a few limbs.