Allumina

Ian you are delicious and I'm so glad I snagged an imp. Leather mixed with sweet, yummy booze. At first I got a lot of strong leather, but it fades into a close skin scent dominated by the sweet booze with a hint of leather. I want to roll in this stuff. This reminded me a lot of Goblin, but with leather instead of patch.

Okay, so I'm over on the opposite end of the spectrum here- I am finding my decant to be really pleasant. The main note for me is what I suspect is the "bone", which is dry and slightly earthy. And I'm glad someone else mentioned the hint of le pere fouettard cookies, because I'm smelling that too in the background. After a bit, the cookie smell fades away and I get a bit of salt and a bit of soil mixed in with the bone note. And although "bones and dirt" sounds gross, I'm finding it to be pretty, clean, slightly warm and unisex. It's a very interesting, different scent; if I had more time with my decant I could see myself maybe wanting a bottle in the future, but there's not enough time for that unfortunately.

My decant is faint and men's cologne-y on me. I'm not getting any veviter out of this, oddly and unfortunately.

The first time I put on my decant, I got straight up Dial liquid soap and was totally disappointed. However, after about 15 minutes the scent did an about face into heavily herbal, thyme dominated aquatics. This is a very unique scent, as I don't think I've ever smelled a thyme dominated perfume before. This would be great for the summertime.

This was the surprise winner of the Ragnarok decants for me, which I wasn't expecting since amber and I don't get along. On, the main note is cubeb, but it settles down to warm, non foodie spices. I like spicy scents that don't smell like pie or Christmas, so this was a winner for me. The second time I applied it though, I slathered and got the itchy, red wrist that others have gotten, so I'm wavering on whether to get a bottle or now. ETA: I'm pretty sure the cubeb in this is Litsea cubeba (aka may chang) not Piper cubeba. May chang is a very bright sweet lemony smell, not a peppery smell.

This went straight to moldy powder on me, and stayed that way. No pine at all. Sigh. My decant is off to swaps.

Ugh, I wanted so much to like this, but it just didn't work on me. In my decant, it's all intriguingly herbal with a strong note of patchouli. On, however, it quickly settles into a very powdery musk, and I'm not a fan of powdery at all. I'm going to gift this to a friend that loves Norse mythology. The ginger never showed up, which for me is usually a good thing as bpal's ginger note goes weird on me.

(2009 version, I think) This is a slightly sweet, slightly powdery aquatic that does absolutely nothing for me. If it was lime-y at some point, the lime has definitely burned off by aging. The aquatics are strong enough that this reminds me of commercial perfume. On close inspection, there is a hint of lichen that's interesting, but it's not enough to make me want to keep my decant.

I was hoping aging would fix my skin chemistry's problems with this, but no go. I don't know if it's the ginger note, which never works for me, but this was gross on my skin. What I think was the chocolate plum note was cloying and fake, and the whole thing just smells like cheap, strong old lady perfume. No amaretto, no candied fruits, no red musk. I'm trying to hold out for a miraculous late drydown, but I may wash this off.

I'm not sure what possessed me to get a decant of this considering how I do with honey notes, but I found it in my pile of decants to retest and went ahead. Wet, this smelled very strongly of may chang and not much else. As it dried down, I started getting a sense of milk/white chocolate in the throw, which I'm guessing was how my chemistry processed the honey. (Which is a step up from how honey usually interacts with me) There was still hints of the may chang, mostly adding sweetness, but eventually this ended up sticking close to the skin as a vaguely perfumed, sweet scent.I didn't get any cardamom. As expected, it didn't really work on me, but it's an interesting scent.

I second Crowley & would also recommend... The Bow & Crown of Conquest: Sage, carnation and cedar with lavender, vanilla, white musk and leather. Thanks for the rec! I have a strong suspicion I have an imp of the Bow & Crown somewhere and that I enjoyed it a lot when I tested it. I'm going to go dig through my imp box...

I don't know if this is helpful - it's not GC and the notes aren't identical - but the current version of Luna Negra is still available at the Trading Post. Unfortunately for me, the current version seems to keep the berries and amber but ditches the musk, which is what I'm after. Thanks though!

This is probably a long shot, but does anyone know anything similar to Luna Negra 2011 that's not totally impossible to find? I tested a sniffie recently and really liked it. The key for me here is whatever musk they used, which smelled divine. I don't need a berry explosion (the berries were pretty faint on me) and amber usually turns into powdery death on me... (LUNA NEGRA: TED'S CREATION The solace of shadows: blackberry and blackcurrant with Nepalese amber, kewda attar, and a deep, rich, sweet dark musk.)

Maybe Jareth or Crowley if you don't mind musk/lilac? Otherwise their notes have quite a few similarities to Casanova. Oooh, thank you! I have Jareth, but unfortunately it smells like a Dorian dupe on, and Dorian doesn't work particularly well for me. I'm trying to age it to see if it gets better. Crowley, however, I never thought to try and it sounds amazing and pretty similar. I'm going to see if I can hunt down a decant...

Somehow I missed when Casanova got discontinued. Anything out there that is similarly delicious, unisex and a mix of leather and spices? I have Le Pere Fouettard, which has the lovely anise & leather mix, but I'd love something GC... (Casanova: A rakish blend of leather, anise, lavender, bergamot and amber with tonka, lemon peel and lusty patchouli.)

A forumite was sweet enough to include a sniffie of this in an imp order, and there was just enough to scrape out a bit for a skin test! It might just be my skin chemistry, or aging, but I'm not getting any of the berry explosion. Regardless, this is weird and lovely. My initial thought (without knowing any of the notes) was cold and foresty and feral, with a hint of red berry. The musks really smelled like animal fur to me, but in a good way. It dries down to feral, dark musks with the berry showing up occasionally and adding just a bit of sweetness to the blend. The musk in this is really fabulous. Amber usually doesn't work on me, but if it's showing up here it's playing nice. This is super sexy, so of course, it's impossible to find! This reminds me of Mme. Moriarty a bit, which is probably why I like it so much.

Boo. I guess this cinches that the Lab's fig note doesn't work on me. To my nose it's very feminine and perfumed in a way I don't like. Wet, this was deep, dark patchouli for a second, before quieting down into a soft, earthy scent with the sweet fig front and center.

This smells...pretty much exactly how you'd expected it to, which is Satyr + Gingerbread. The labs ginger note usually goes sort of rotting on me, to my chagrin, but the Satyr seems to keep it in check (mostly), which is awesome. The spices in the gingerbread add a nice grounding to the scent and help cut the sweetness in Satyr a bit. I'm enjoying my decant, but considering my confusing relationship with Satyr I probably don't need more unless this ages differently. ETA: And for those that don't already know what Satyr smells like, it's feral sweet musk.

Hmmm. I think this confirms that the bpal candy mint note doesn't really work on me. Oh well. The mint is fleeting for me, and this settles into a creamy, sweet generic vanilla candy smell that has a hint of the medicinal about it. Off to swaps!

Warm cinnamon, husky clove and white pepper. (Resurrected version) On me, this is pretty much just sweet cinnamon. (I amp sweet like whoa though.) In the wet stage, it looks like maybe the clove is planning to fight the cinnamon, but it pretty much backs off and is just a faint undertone if I huff my wrist. This would probably work better on someone who didn't turn everything into candy.

Leather tanned with the pulp of Amazon ferns and rainforest herbs. Wet, I get leather with something oddly sweet in the background, which I'm guessing is the greenery. On drydown I get leather, smoke, and a bit of something sweet underneath it all. So basically this is a less sweet Bonfire Night on me with leather instead of beer. Yum. <3

Oh man, I like all the notes in this and was hoping for the lovely musk everyone else got, but on me this spent about 10 minutes flopping around before turning into burnt sugar. And not in a good way. Boo. *Off to swaps*

This imp was a good decision. Wet, this is completely burning wood, with something behind it poking it's head out once in a while. On drydown, the wood calms down and there are some spices and a sweet note (the tonka, I think) melding with it. This has low throw and stays close to the skin. I kept sniffing my wrist to every once in a while and smiling happily. As someone that finds the burning blends warm and comforting, I enjoyed this one a lot. EDIT: This imp was actually a bad decision. After letting it settle for a few days and retesting, my eternal nemesis myrrh emerges, doing it's usual thing on my chemistry where it makes a scent smell kind of rancid/dusty. It's not as bad here as it is in some scents, but it's still enough to ruin it for me. Bah. I guess I will have to stick to Bonfire Night for my woodsmoke fix.

I know Veviter is one of those love/hate things for bpal fans, and for me is is love x100, so I jumped at the chance to get an entire bottle of the lab's vision of it. This oil is dark, both in color and in scent. In the bottle it's almost overpowering- smoke and earth and licorice and alcohol. On, it's earthy and green with a hint of smoke and sharpness. It smells like I would imagine night in a enchanted forest in some fantasy novel would smell. As others said, if you don't already like veviter, this probably isn't going to change your mind. I've put this on under pretty much every other oil I have to deepen it. I'm so glad I got this and can't wait to see how this ages!

I wanted so badly for this to work on me, but alas, it was not to be. I don't like sweet, foody scents, but aquatics, incense, and a touch of non-foody chocolate sounded awesome to me. Unfortunately, to me this is all pretty much one note sweet chocolate, that lasts and lasts. At one point I got a hint of incense, but it was quickly drowned out by CHOCOLATE. And not Wulric chocolate, which is dark and sharp and just a hint of sweet- this is just straight up sugared chocolate bar to me, and gives me a headache. Also, it LINGERS. I am still finding the smell on my keyboard, near the shelf my scent locket was placed, etc. 2 days later. Which, if you like the scent, would be a good thing, but for me was annoying. But, if you like foody chocolate, sweet and strong scents you'll probably love this. Off to the swaps for me...