archaesophilia

This is almost a dupe for Flickering Lantern from the 2017 Lupers, except it has the dusty patchouli instead of purple rose. I found that Flickering Lantern was aggressively sweet initially, but a year of aging made it my favorite shunga from 2017. I'm hopeful that Dalliances by Candlelight's honey will also mellow to bring the patchouli out more. Definitely a winner! If you were scared off Flickering Lantern because of the rose, you should give this a shot.

I have to agree with the first review; this is what I wanted Vanilla Orchid SN to be! This is a lovely green, spring floral. The green character in it is reminding me of Venus Verticordia. This will be excellent when spring hits in a month or so!

It took a few tries to really understand this blend; it morphs as much as the eclipse it is named for! It starts out as herbal-fruity-sharp, then fruity musk, then musk with a clarifying juniper and sage. It is lovely.

This is an amazingly balanced patchouli! I haven't found a patch scent as sophisticated since Nasty Woman. The rose and myrrh balance out the patch and vetiver in a way that I wish all patch and vetiver could be smoothed out, and the vanilla and ambrette lurk underneath. Velvety darkness is exactly what this is.

I had a tin of tea a few years ago from the republic of tea, I think it was called Desert Sage? Or something. This dries down to smell exactly what that tea tasted like with honey. There is a quite sharp note at the beginning, but after an hour or so it settles down. Very little throw on this one, and I thought it faded quickly. This is a comforting, hopeful scent.

This dries down to a sharper patchouli-floral than I was hoping for. It's very well blended, and very nice! It just has that bite on the back end that patchouli can have. I was hoping the musks and fruit would balance that out more, but this'll be one to age and revisit to see if they do after a while.

The Lady of the Graveyard! Autumn leaves, wild roses, bourbon vanilla, dry chamomile, and a bouquet of bright chrysanthemums and Mexican marigolds. It took me a few minutes, but eventually I realized what this reminds me of-STRONGLY-which is Harvest Moon 2013, the one with the roses and leaves. Sniffing them side by side, HM13 is a simpler, more grounded scent, while the florals of La Calavera Catrina are more complex (obviously, because there are more of them) and it's a little more herbal like other people have mentioned. I think this is going to age really well; hopefully the leaves note will mellow a bit with time like HM13. Definitely a keeper!

I discovered how much I like red musk recently enough that I never got around to sniffing this scent directly from the lab or otherwise. I voted for this iteration in the lunacy, and then happened to be making another purchase when it was available so I took a chance on it, knowing that someone would gladly claim it if it didn't work on me. I am so glad I did! The red musk and patchouli leaf and fruits are so perfectly balanced! I didn't jump on it when it appeared at the lab because I don't like fruit scents that much, but this is something where the sum far exceeds the parts. The gloss is also highly scented-it lasts well into the next day.

This is a really lovely sandalwood/rose scent. Unlike Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung Bath Oil a couple years ago, it doesn't instantly make one think of skin so soft, which is a good thing! The honey and sugarcane notes really elevate the scent, I think this is the snow/honey note from one of the lupers bath oils from last year.

This is very honey/honeysuckle forward, with the sage and lilies coming in as a whiff second. I was hoping for a more sagey scent, but this is still quite nice; a refined version of the honeysuckle single note. Not a ton of throw, faded out after a couple hours of wear.

This is a delicious jasmine sibling to Sanguinem Menstruum! Which, blood musk, yeah, should have been expecting that. I normally amp amber like crazy, but this lays in with the musk really well. The slightly astringent jasmine tea is also really well blended, not jarring or sharp to my nose. As above, this doesn't have a lot of throw. Really, really nice!

As I first opened this, SO walked by and commented that this is what all those candle stores WISHED they smelled like! I think it was the apple that was coming through super strongly at first that prompted it, but he's not wrong. There's a lot going on in the bottle; apples, smoke, incense, something spicy, and vanilla under it all. On first application, it's all about the apple with a cognac bite. Just dry, the incense and smoke come out. After about an hour it settles into a beautiful smokey vanilla. Not a ton of throw, but like other laces it lasts all day. I think I may need a back up of this one...

The honey in this is a subtle grounding for the cherry blossom/minty snow, but it doesn't make either too sweet. This is a lovely, well blended mix! It's very refreshing, I'll enjoy using it this summer.

This is gorgeous, gorgeous Jasmine! The honeysuckle and cream ground it so it isn't sharp, the throw is good but not excessive. This is just amazing!

This reminds me strongly of the Portrait of a Young Woman with Unicorn HG. It's something about the combination of vanilla and amber, maybe? I haven't ever smelled the original version, but the 2017 is an airy, warm, very very slightly floral, vanilla musk.

In the bottle and at application, this is all about the citrus. It very promptly dies down, though, and becomes a close, citrus/cyprus/tea scent. Evokes earl grey, this is a good gender neutral scent. Not a sweet scent, though I suspect the hay/honey are there in the background keeping this from becoming too screechy. Lovely!

This is probably going to age beautifully! An initial sniff right when I got it revealed-woody oud and not much else. After resting, the honey suddenly presented itself. On application, the oud comes out again and has the most throw, until it dries down to a honey vanilla booze/musk right next to the skin. It's already a wonderful, private, scent, but it's going to be amazing in a year.

A sinuous leather variant of BPALs Snake Oil. I'm not a huge fan of Snake Oil, my skin just eats it, but every now and then it blows me out of the water in a bled, a la Womb Furie. Alas, this was not one that blew me out of the water. The leather note was very aquatic on me and didn't blend at all with the other scents; then, as always happens, it vanished about an hour after application. If it didn't vanish so completely on me, I'm sure it would be a different story but as is this will have to go to someone who will appreciate it!.

I sprang for this because of the sweetgrass note, even though I suspected it would be maybe too similar to Coyote to work on me. In the bottle, the sandalwood, sweetgrass, and sage come through easily. Alas, they don't last very long on my skin, but the dry down for this smells exactly like dirt; not garden soil, but deeply buried dirt, which I find pleasant because I'm an archaeologist. I would recommend this for anyone wanting to evoke the scent of archaeology in the American west!