archaesophilia

The green congac in this reminds me of Emerald Lace in a good way! I dab cleavage and wrists and the florals burn off my wrists almost immediately, leaving a slightly foodie, delicious lace behind that is very like Crinoline and Lace. The cleavage dabs don't lose florals as fast, and after a few hours there's still whiffs of peony. This is one of those laces that is a 'room lace' rather than a 'person lace' in it's story telling. Lovely, and I'll be keeping my back up!

In the bottle, this is a lovely spring green honeysuckle scent. After an hour or so on, it becomes a gorgeously balanced floral vanilla amber/musk. The deep notes come out a lot more with time and the florals fade and aren't as sharp. Towards the end of the day, the florals burn off and what's left behind is a lovely lace.

These burgundy musk blends are really hitting it out of the park! This is so well blended; the jasmine is purple, and the mahogany, musk, and spanish moss play sooooo well together.

Wooow, this is what I've always been hoping for in a Lupercalia HG; it's what I wanted all those red musk and honey variations to be. It's (almost) red musk, sweetened by the creamy amber, made dirty by the patchouli-but it's not a patch forward scent-and given a little sharpness by the pepper. It's really really well balanced and I can see myself easily finishing the bottle.

This is a wonderful example of why I love the Lupercalia releases; it's creamy and sweet, but not foodie, floral, but not harsh, and just really, really, balanced. One of my favorite Vulvas thus far!

This is the same combination of leather/smoke that's in OLLA Quintessence of Dust, which is a little unfortunate for me because it's a death note in my nose. Fortunately, after an hour or so on, the screechy leather backs off and it does become a nice, soft kid glove worn by a wicked and interesting lady! It grows on me as I wear it, and it's one of the more interesting/evocative laces to be released recently. I don't think I'll need my back up of this, but I'm glad to have it and see how it ages.

This is gorgeous vanilla musk that's sweetened by coconut cream, made a touch more complex by the cognac and tobacco combination. This is like Antique Lace's more sophisticated daughter.

Because I tend to amp rose, Lycan Lace is all feral roses-a rose forward, incensey tobacco with a whiff of pine, grounded by musk. If there's any patchouli in the 'soil stained' part, then that's there, too. The lace is barely discernible under it all, mellowing all the other sharp notes out. After a day of wear, the lace does come forward more.

In the bottle this is a scary, funky, musky lily. On, it rapidly mellows out into a dry, musky, spicy lace. It's actually really nice! I was expecting a lily death note based on what's in the bottle, but this is probably going to turn into one of my favorite laces.

I wear regular SM pretty regularly and I have to say that this is mostly pumpkin spice and not much SM. I also don't typically like foodie scents, so pumpkin spice isn't in my usual line up so I don't know what it's usually like, but it interacts in interesting ways with SM. I think the honey from the original scent is amping the PS sweetness and at the same time the musk and poppies are making the spices more complex. It kiiinda reminds me of a PSL that's been left out overnight. After a few hours this settles down to a powdery, creamy, sweet, very lightly spicy scent.

Holy moly, this is a close relation to Cave of Treasures! It's a little sweeter and creamier, but otherwise it's really showing why dragon's blood blends sometimes read as lilac. So happy I got a bottle of this!

Amber, fig, vanilla flower, oak, patchouli, vetiver, dragons blood resin, leather, and neroli. I haven't smelled the perfume version of this, but the hairgloss has rapidly become one of my favorites! This is a very sophisticated blend-reminiscent of Nasty Woman from last year in that it has a patchouli/fig base-yet, entirely it's own thing. The fig/patchouli fade and blend with the woodiness of the oak and the sweetness of the dragon's blood, amber, and neroli, balanced by the vetiver and grounded by the leather. It doesn't have a huge throw when applied on wet hair, but an extra spritz when it's dried makes it more long-lasting. This is one that lasts through the day and renews itself when whetted in the next shower even after a shampoo.

I'm sitting here with original eve on one wrist and WSFU on the other and they are both amazing! The original is more rose/honey/incense, but the sage is amping to incense/herbal/honey. The sage is definitely adding a depth and a richness that isn't present in the more ethereal original.

Wow! I wasn't sure what to expect with this, but it turns out that it's a summery version of Sanguinem Menstruum! It's a bit of a morpher; sometimes it's more fruity, sometimes it's more floral, sometimes bloody! But overall, it's a lighter version of sang, so if you were scared away by how heavy that one is, you should give this a try.

In the bottle and wet it's dry, sharpish lavender over caramel. The lavender quickly mellows and blends in, followed by the caramel. After an hour or so the other notes start to come out, and a couple of hours after application it's a close to the skin, really well balanced, classic lace scent. It's a very demure lace compared to Emerald and Solstice, more along the lines of antique lace.

This is from the new run. Eve isn't a stand out in the bottle, but really blossoms and comes alive on the skin! For me, it is a gorgeous rose, herbal, incense over honey. It's a nearly perfect scent for a honey and incense lover, which I am. It doesn't throw a lot, and I found that it doesn't last all day. This is a really gorgeous, femininely powerful, scent and I'm thrilled that I got to try it!

I wish this worked better on me than it does; I can barely give a good review, because my hair just eats it, which has never happened with a hair gloss on me before. Initially, I mostly get the sharp florals of the lily and wisteria, with maybe a hint of something behind? Then by the time my hair dries, it's gone. Alas, I'll have to pass this to someone who can appreciate it.

This one of those blends that's so well done that it's hard to pick individual notes out-the honey musk is gorgeous, and the apricot is the musky side of apricot, the rose is a sharper, spicier variety, and the amber seems to be the glue that holds them all together! Wonderful!

This is my perfect spring floral blend; all lilac and roses, nothing too sharp, nothing too fruity, just sweet new blooms! Paired with Cave of Treasures from last year, and I'm in lilac heaven!

This is...a warm spiced cookie you eat while wearing a wool sweater. The grass note fades after just a few seconds, and what is left is all baked goods and comfort-I'm guessing that the ivory fang interacting with the cardamom? Not exactly the musky, doggy scent I was hoping for, but definitely nice!

This took...2 weeks to settle? Something like that. For a while, I was worried that I'd have to pass this by as a purely high note floral, but I tested again last night and it's starting to come good! It's a surprising scent-the notes made me (and others) think it was going to be a chewy, plummy, earthy kind of thing, but in reality it's...more like the thin ribbon of smoke floating above aristocratic prostitutes. Definitely floral dominant for the first 4 hours or so with moderate throw, then it fades in to a close to the skin smokey poppy. The sweet patchouli modulates the jasmine in a really, really interesting way. This is one to put away and age for a year, and then probably regret only getting one bottle.

This is a gorgeous, chewy (without, somehow, being gourmand) blend! The notes balance wonderfully. The vetiver and myrrh keep the current and cream from being too sweet, which in turn temper the sharpness of the vetiver. Not a ton of throw, but it has decent staying power. I'll keep the bottle, but I don't think I need a spare.

On the spectrum of SO wearers, I'm the tricky kind; only Womb Furie acts like it should AND has staying power. Even regular SO vanishes within the first half hour. So, every time there's an SO blend (and there are so many!) I have the hope that it will at least rival Womb Furie in how it lasts/reacts to my skin chemistry. This starts out a super chewy, delicious patch/dragon's blood/honey SO and then...Poof. By the hour mark, all that is left is powdery dragon's blood and faint traces of the rest. I was really lucky to get a bottle of this, so I'll keep and age it for a year and then re-asses, but I'll keep looking forward to other blends (and buy another back up of Womb Furie. Look, a woman can never have too much, can she?).

I get a whiff of sweet almond when this is wet, and then it's gone. The rest is a lovely, close to the skin, rosy incense.

I don't get a huge grass hit with this at first; instead it's allll green congac and lace. The grass comes out a bit more once the booze burns off a little, along with the tobacco and rue. To me, this smells like a green papered victorian room-all rich cognac, tobacco, and vanilla. Another hit!