GinnyMoonbeam

Red rose and white magnolia in a tomb of vetiver, oak leaf, mahogany, and Somalian olibanum. Caveat: My nose is still pretty untrained, so others will be better at picking up individual notes. But since nobody's reviewed this at all yet, I thought my efforts would be better than nothing. In the imp I get heavy florals and sharp woods. Can't pick anything out distinctly. Wet, there's the same heavy florals -- I can pick out the rose, not familiar enough with magnolia but I assume it's the rest of the floral. Mostly they blend together. There's also something vegetative that I'm guessing is the oak leaf. Overall it's evocative of rich waxy flowers on a very expensive wreath with a lot of dark leaves and twisted stems. Dry, after a couple of hours, I'm getting a lot of mahogany, which I'm familiar with from The Mahogany Tree. Apparently I'm not a big fan of the note, although it's such a lovely word and color it took two blends for that reality to sink in. To me it's kind of a shrill note: sharp and loud without the depth that I love in other aggressive notes like vetiver. (Speaking of vetiver, I'm not getting any from this, or maybe it's light enough that it's blending with what I'm taking to be the oak leaf.) Overall, I'm disappointed in this one... it's not bad, especially at first, but I was expecting it to be a favorite.

I just sampled The Nun and the Courtly Lady and, especially wet, it totally reminded me of White Tea and Ginger. It's got other stuff going on in the drydown (lovely, honey-smoky stuff to my nose), so it's not the same by any means, but definitely worth checking out for White Tea and Ginger lovers!

This is the first definite love of my Luper decants. It's definitely feminine but in a dry, elegant, reserved way that I love. As befits the name, it's reminiscent to me of a beautiful woman who's inaccessible to all but a carefully chosen few. As I catch whiffs of it it's triggering a memory that I can't quite grasp... Oh! It's reminding me of BBW's white tea and ginger, which a friend of mine always used to wear. I don't think there's any ginger in this but it's that same kind of lightly warm, elegant tea scent. Anyway, if you liked that scent I'm betting you'll love this! As it dries I'm getting more of what I think is the tobacco flower, [ETA: and honey! The honey just popped out and it's lovely!] bringing in a hint of smokiness and passion... the nun and the courtly lady disrobing and going to town. Thankfully the honey is not going sour on me as it sometimes does. This is a big bottle for sure.

I feel like my top 5 are all over the map. Fenris Wolf Serpent's Kiss Nefertiti Brown Jenkin Ghosts in Love

Has anyone found that drinking alcohol increases likelihood of getting a cinnamon burn? I've been trying Harlot and Serpent's Kiss over the last few days (my first two cinnamon scents that I'm aware of) and the only time I got a burn was when I applied Serpent's Kiss after I'd been drinking for an hour or so. Even then it was only on my inner elbows, throat, and cleavage, and not on my wrists. Just wondering if that could have had an effect.

(Off topic, but I just HAD to say...) This is so cool! I'm one of the performers in that troupe (I did the River Song solo number as well as one in the River group number.) Two of our members are long-term BPAL enthusiasts, and they're slowly converting the rest of us! "What should I wear for tonight's show" is becoming a common question for us. (My collection is small, but I'm thinking Nefertiti for the next one. I've been wanting to get my hands on Anne Bonny, and I agree it sounds like a perfect scent for River!)