lightgatherer

Pinched With Four Aces, C.M. Coolidge.Colorado Maduro tobacco wrappers, cinnamon bark, coffee bean husk, and dry woods. Eep, this is the first time I've ever been a first reviewer. I'm not the best at reviews, but I'll do what I can. Straight from the bottle, this blend smells amazing. It's soft and warm and subtley sweet and woody. The boy and I were both swooning over the scent in the bottle. Wet, it smells very much the same as it does in the bottle. The coffee is quite restrained, and I couldn't detect the cinnamon until I went back and re-read the description. Given that I normally amp cinnamon, anyone with a cinnamon fear shouldn't worry about it in this blend. As it dries, this reminds me a bit of Miskantonic University's older, suave brother. There's the warm scent of caramel but none of the sweetness and the subtle coffee with just the slightest dash of cinnamon over it. This isn't overly foody, though - the honey blond wood scent underneath it keeps it all in balance. This is a gorgeous, balanced blend that I would imagine would have wide appeal.

In the bottle: Sweet and spicy! It reminds me quite a bit of my beloved Gingerbread Poppet which is probably why I latched onto it in the midst of the sniffing chaos. Wet on my skin: Oh. My. Goodness. This is spiced buttercream frosting spread over a warm wooden base to ground it. Frosting/buttercream scents frequently turn to plastic on me, but not this. This is just amazing. Dry, early on: Sadly all the spices faded away, but I'm still getting the buttercream over the wood. I think the wood is cedar, but it's not smelling like a hamster cage or pencil shavings on me so I'm a happy camper. Dry, later in the day: The buttercream has morphed into a fainter sweet scent, and the wood is just barely detectable underneath it. At this stage it reminds me a lot of MB: Underpants. I love this scent, and I really hope it gets released someday so I can stock up more than what I was able to get at the trunk show!

In the bottle: Pumpkin and something else Wet on my skin: Pumpkin and something else. I'm really having a hard time placing the notes other than the pumpkin. Dry on my skin: Yummy pumpkin! I'm still not sure of the other notes, but I want to eat my wrist. Finally, after about an hour, it hits me - this is very much like Pumpkin Queen. It's sophisticated but still edible, complex, and yummy but not overly foody. I think there's some vanilla, a bit of spice, and something else, perhaps some amber or musk. This is really well blended so it's hard to pick out the individual notes. I like Pumpkin Queen, but I think PP42005 is even better, almost like the Pumpkin Empress perhaps.

In the bottle: Pumpkin and melon Wet on my skin: Buttery pumpkin and melon. The lightness of the melon offsets the buttery heaviness of the pumpkin and makes for a surprisingly nice combination. Dry on my skin: The butter burns off rather fast leaving the pumpkin smelling like real pumpkin flesh - that smell you get when you cut into your future jack o'lantern at Halloween. Between the fleshy pumpkin smell and the melon, this is a relatively light and very refreshing scent that would be appropriate for spring or summer. I think there's another fruit note here along with the pumpkin flesh and the melon...white grape perhaps? It's not very prominent. I wouldn't have thought pumpkin and melon would make a good combination, but it's really quite lovely!

In the bottle: Coffee and something else. I originally picked out this scent because of the coffee - it's one of my favorite notes and doesn't seem to be in many blends. Wet on my skin: Tropical flowers, coffee, and something creamy. Because of the creaminess and the coffee and the name (EL) I wondered if this was an Eggnog Latte prototype! Dry on my skin: The coffee fades away, and I can detect it only if I really try to. The tropical flowers and the creaminess dominate. There's something else in here, too, maybe a bit of white ginger and perhaps the slightest touch of some sort of tropical fruit. I'm not a floral fan, but this is really lovely and well blended. I wonder if the original vision for this scent was of a tropical coffee plantation - rich coffee segues into a creamy tropical floral.

In the bottle: Spicy foodiness Wet on my skin: Whoa, curry?! I think there's some saffron in here that's giving off a curry note when combined with the other spices. Dry on my skin: The curry note disappears. Around Christmas my mom used to make this bread that had a filling that was made of raisins, nuts, spices, and I think some sort of alcohol. St. Lucia smells exactly like this filling. There's a definite raisin note, spices reminiscent of cinnamon or cassia, and a slight hint of something boozy. I don't see wearing this scent very often, but I think I will wear it during the Christmas season to remind myself of the bread that my mom made.

In the bottle: Boozy almond flavoring Wet on my skin: Boozy almond flavoring Dry on my skin: The booziness wears off, like the alcohol evaporating out of the almond flavoring. I'm left with a nice almond scent, almost sort of like almond paste. It's quite yummy. As time goes on I start to detect woody notes (oak, presumably?) underneath the almond. The wood adds depth and warmth and richness, and really balances out the almond nicely. This is surprisingly foody, like eating an almond pastry while sitting against a sun-warmed oak tree. This was different than I expected it to be, and I like it quite a bit more than I expected to. I'm definitely glad I have multiple bottles of this!

I haven't found anything that is perfectly the sugary sweets and fried doughy goodness that is Midway on my skin. However, Cockaigne on me is buttery yellow cake, and The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil is mostly caramel with a little sandalwood on my skin, so perhaps the two layered might begin to approximate Midway. For good measure perhaps you could also mix in a smidge of Drink Me or Hellcat (or perhaps both!) to add to the effect.

Wet this smells like some sort of ointment. In an attempt to keep from biasing myself about the scent, I keep my nose away from my wrist for a while. After about a half hour I take a sniff and I get coconut and a much fainter dose of the ointment. About two hours after application the scent is a weird hodgepodge of coconut, ointment, and something else odd. Around hour three the scent turns into an incense that doesn't work on me. Incense is hit-or-miss on me (sometimes gorgeous, sometimes awful), and in this case it doesn't work on me and is the source of that strange ointment smell. I've been wearing the ointment incense smell for about five hours now, and it doesn't seem like it's going to do anything else, so I don't think it would be terribly unfair of me to go wash it off.

Wet this smells like fruit salad. In particular, it smells like canned fruit salad with cherries. As it dries something else creeps out, and it doesn't quite agree with me. There are multiple notes in this blend I've never worn before, so I can't say which one it might be. It's at the same time a little too sweet, a little too sour, and a touch chemical, so it might be a combination of notes. Unfortunately it's giving me a bit of a headache, so I'm going to have to send my cute little piggie bottle off to swaps.

I wish I could give this scent a better review, but it never really smelled like anything on my skin. Wet, I couldn't smell this at all - it was like I'd put canola oil on my wrist. As it dried, if I shoved my nose into my wrist I could smell hints of amber and honey. After a few hours my skin gave off the particular odd scent it does when I've had red musk on it, but that's it. I'm going to have to swap this in hopes it will go to someone who has the skin chemistry to make it actually have a scent.

Two words: Mulled wine. The throw from this is the grapey-wine scent that's typical of BPAL red wines, but when I get within a few inches of my wrist, this is the perfect mulled wine scent I've been seeking. Unfortunately, this doesn't last very long on me - after about three hours the scent has faded. Also, when the scent fades, it turns into something kind of icky and sour-smelling on my skin. But for mulled wine, it's worth it. I'll just plan on scrubbing my skin when the scent fades.

Wet, I don't like this and try to keep from smelling it. After an hour, it smells like a sweet red musk - not bad, but not inspiring. After three hours, this turns into the most amazing blend on my skin - sweet musky spice. Even though I usually amp caramel, I haven't been able to pick it out in this blend. I'm getting more of the honey, but it's subtle - mostly enough to add some sweetness to the blend. I'm glad I gave this a chance - after two hours I had added my imp to my swap list, but that transformation at the third hour has this now on my bottle list. EDIT: Unfortunately, that gorgeous stage didn't last long. After about 30 minutes it went back to mediocre. This is back on my swap list again.

Wet and for a while afterwards, this smells like soap on my skin. After being dry for an hour or so, though, this is the most uncanny scent - it actually smells exactly like cherry blossoms. It's spring right now, and I've been burying my nose in lots of tree blossoms lately, so the scent of cherry blossoms is clear in my mind. The blossom smell, slightly hinting of the cherry it will become, and the soft musky smell...this is cherry blossom through and through. Granted, this isn't something I would want to smell like myself very often, but it's uncanny how perfectly the scent of cherry blossoms is captured here.

Vanilla and something else kind of watery - perhaps the tea? This is an incredibly light fragrance, not so much as it has a light throw (I would call it a medium throw) as the blend just smells light. It's definitely a lovely blend, and I can see why it's so popular, but it's just too light for my preferences.

Hmm. Hot buttered coconut rum meets Thin Mint cookies. It's an interesting combination, but I'm not quite sure it's one I like. After a while it dries down into coconut mint with a hint of chocolate. If I get close to my wrist, the scent is strongly plastic. I'm glad I got to try this scent, but it's going to be very easy for me to pass on getting more.

A sweet reward for a worthy deed: caramelized sugar and sweet cream. Buttery caramel, yum! As I wear it, the buttery wears off and a slightly burnt note crept in. I was worried that this was the beginning of the scent going plastic, but fortunately it wasn't. The burnt note grew dryer and dryer, and it started smelling just like smoked sandalwood. For most of wear on me, Mitzvah is sweet caramel and smoked sandalwood. It's lovely, and it's also extremely close to how The Arrival at the Sabbath and Homage to the Devil is on me. Given that the former is rare and expensive and the latter is general catalogue, I'll be keeping my imp but giving up my search for more Mitzvah.

This is a lovely blend. Wet, this is all floral. Unlike most florals, though, it doesn't smell chemical to me - it's almost like smelling real flowers. Unfortunately, my nose isn't good enough to say what flowers these are, but they're flowers. The spices start to come out on drydown, and they're incredibly yummy. During the latter hours of wear, the throw is just the spices. The spices are so good that I keep leaning into my wrist to get a deeper sniff and end up unhappily surprised when I smell floral. Yes, it's a really nice floral, but I'm realizing more and more that I'm just not a floral person. If this were just the spices or if the floral were more subtle, I'd be buying vats of this. Unfortunately for me and fortunately for my wallet, the florals are enough to keep me from wanting any more of this.

I got an imp of this from a decant circle simply because I couldn't imagine what that combination of notes smelled like. I didn't expect I would actually like it, but I was very, very wrong. The musk in this is soft and sweet and gorgeous. The rosemary spikes up briefly during the wet stage, but it doesn't make itself known for the rest of the time. The saffron does what saffron generally does on me - weaves in and out of perception during wear. The rose and neroli are background notes here, only adding to the sweetness. If I hadn't known there was rose in here, I would have never been able to pick it out. Overall, this reminds of of a sweet, musky, slightly spiced incense. I'm sorry this blend doesn't seem to be getting more attention because it's very well done. I'd already placed my Lupercalia/Heroines order, but I'm going to need to place a separate order just for a bottle of Khandita.

I had high hopes for this, such that I was tempted to buy a bottle unsniffed, but I must say I'm glad that I didn't. That being said, I think this scent is an incredibly brilliant execution of its concept. On application I get a flash of yummy caramel. After a bit of wear, the tobacco starts to poke out. The tobacco starts to deepen and gain dominance in the blend until it's equal with the caramel. For that time, the scent is the masculine and the feminine, together as one. At this stage it also reminds me of a darker, deeper version of Red Lantern. The patchouli starts to come out after a few hours. Even though this is one of the bad patchoulis on me, it thankfully doesn't go to single note on me as many of the bad patchoulis tend to. However, the patchouli does have a long, sour stay on my skin. This scent stopped working for me when the tobacco became as dominant as the caramel, but the patchouli sealed the deal.

Mmm, this is one of the rare BPAL chocolate blends that works on me. The cocoa absolute stands out here and is gorgeously chocolately. There are several other notes lingering in the background that I can't pick out individually but that mingle and add complexity and sophistication to the blend. Unfortunately, there's an element in those background notes that smells off to my nose. I suspect it's the vetiver, lavendar, and/or sage as all of these notes have been problematic for me at one time or another in the past. Overall, though, this is incredibly well-blended and should be incredibly gorgeous on someone with different skin chemistry.

Yum, I'm so happy this works on me. I was afraid of it going plastic on me, but happily that wasn't the case. I get a sweet, sugary note that isn't quite a gooey caramel but something in that family. I think previous comparisons to the crisped sugar topping of a creme brulee is quite appropriate. As it wears on I still get that caramelly sugar note, but I can start to detect the Snake Oil underneath. I'm amazed the blend continues to work as Snake Oil itself didn't work on me - it went plastic after about an hour. Here, though, I get the nummy vanilla, a hint of something woody and perhaps lightly musky all blending gorgeously with that sugar-caramel top note. This is sooo good. It just makes me sad I'll never be able to get a bottle of it.

This was so close, and it had so many things in it I did love. The musk, the vanilla flower, and the cloves were gorgeous. Something smelled strongly and a bit sharply off during wear from beginning almost to the end, though - I suspect it was the red pepper, the patchouli, or both. Unfortunately, as lovely as the rest of the blend is, that sharp note is enough to make me send these wild men off to swaps.

On application I get a clear citrus notes. The tea and the white chocolate come out quickly, and it smells like an old orange herbal tea my mom used to drink, but with milk and sugar added for creaminess and sweetness. After about half an hour, a sharp note I can't identify comes out. Fortunately, the sharp note dies away, and a slight musky note comes to take it's place. The longest part of the wear is like one of those white chocolate oranges with the slightest hint of musk. This is definitely an interesting one. Fairly light throw, moderate duration. If this is re-released, I may have to buy a bottle.

(This is the 2005 version.) I honestly was not expecting to like this one. I was expecting a cloyingly sweet smell, possibly chemical, but that's not what I got at all. I can't remember each stage of the scent as it did morph over time, but what I got overall was the impression of being in an autumn kitchen. There was mulled wine, baked apples, wine poached pears, and the smell of a lightly spiced brown sugar being sprinkled over everything. This was so incredibly good - I couldn't stop smelling my wrist. I've ordered a bottle of the 2006 version, and I'm hoping it will remain fairly true - otherwise I'll have to track down a bottle of 2005 to get more of this incredible fix.