nightwing

Ghastly misshapen branches casting long, twisted shadows and clutching at you with prickly needle-like fingers: pine pitch, bone-white dried fir, and spruce tar with opoponax and blackened tobacco. First off, take this review with a bit of salt. I just got it in the mail this morning and my bottle was so cold it misted up when I took it out of the box. But I was dying to try it, so here we go. ITB: Pine and something almost lemony sharp. Unsettling for sure. Wet: That lemony thing is totally gone, replaced by a sweet pine. The combination of the balsams and the pine is both sweet and dark and very masculine on me. Evil christmas tree is very much the right frame of mind for this. It's obviously pine and tree resin, but something else lurks in the background that's a little sweet, a little unsettling and very wonderful. Drying: Opoponax tends to be a sweet resin on me, and I can really notice that sweetening here. It's still a very dry scent, but there is something almost fruity about it, the way I had hoped Skadi's berry note would behave. I can barely notice anything I could call tobacco, which is a shame because I love it, but there is something blackened about this for sure. Right now it's prickly to the point of being a bit sneezy when I really huff it, but its not at all cleaner fluid, which I was worried about with all the pine. Dry: Surprisingly sweet. While there is still a bite to this, it settles into something that's a lot more unisex than I expected from the first initial blast of pine and woods. The brightness of the pine takes a back seat and I'm starting to get a wee bit of the tobacco, which I expect will be more pronounced as this ages and develops. My other really woody blend in my collection is Jupeterian Phoenix, which is an amazing and very snuggly wood scent. This, while still being wood dominant, is like JP's evil brooding brother. It's dark, pine rich and really wonderful. I made a good choice for my single bottle Cyber Monday purchase.

Dragon's Blood and I rarely get along, hence why I got a half decant of this, but if I full bottle upgrade on any of my lupers, it will be this. Wet: Floral but not traditional. There is sweetness from the daemonorops and honey, but the leather and musk are strong and powerful, keeping this from being super girly. Drying: The leather and musk are coming right to the front, right where I want them to be. The sweetness and floral notes are still there, but are secondary to the lush, potent leather and spicy musk. Dry: Leather and sweet musk. There is nothing I particularly pick out of this that shouts honey, but it's playing with that rich sweetness to great effect. Cream never showed up, which is great because it never works on me. I am currently wearing this with my Eldritch Dark Hair Gloss and they are a match made in heaven. I feel feminine and aggressive and smell amazing.

The moment I smelled this at Will Call I knew I needed to have it. In the bottle, I get deep blackened vanilla and tobacco with a hint of spice playing in the background. The cardamom came out a lot clearer on my hand and in my hair, reminding me a lot of Cafe Mille Nuits minus the strange coffee and scones issue that made me pass that along. The throw is subtler than the initial blast of scent suggested, which I think is a plus overall, given that I like wearing hair gloss that doesn't totally overwhelm other scents. The only trouble is it smells like NOTHING I wear, so I'll have to hunt for a good perfume pairing.

Wet: This is the most in your face chocolate of any of the bonbons I tried. I am getting musk for sure, and I think I can just pick out the warmth of the amber. The notes mean it is not foody at all to my nose despite the obvious chocolate. Drying: Much less obviously chocolate, and a little more peppery. I've never tried Haunted, but I would expect this is pretty close. Dry: The chocolate is back, and the spice is much more subdued. But it stayed pretty true to it's ingredients on me, and I'm looking forward to trying the GC Haunted after this was so good. I have to be in a particular mood for anything with any foodie feeling, but of all the bonbons, this is my favorite and I'm glad I have a full decant.

Wet: That's Embalming Fluid alright. And way stronger than the normal stuff is. The chocolate is there, but is not overtly foodie. I also never amped a true citrus from EF, and that's still the case here, which is probably why it's not reading as foody to me. Drying: This slight whiff of chocolate is hanging around to great effect. For the most part, this is a deeper EF, but there is a chewy texture that is very different from EF straight on me, which seemed to just up and vanish. Dry: The chocolate is much more even and evident now, but it's still not doing the awful chocolate powder that usually happens, which is a win. There is also something almost fake green tea about this. I personally love the scent, but there is a particular green tea feeling that gives a slippery vibe fitting of its namesake. This is an acquired taste for particular occasions, but I am happy to have my half decant and can see this getting play if it ever warms up.

Wet: There is orange and chocolate at first, but quickly the patchouli and I think the apple coming through changes this from a true foody scent. The apple gets strong for a moment and is very green, but pulls back to let the chocolate come back through. Drying: Chocolate covered apples! I get musky apples with a backdrop of chocolate. It still doesn't feel foody, even though the main notes I'm picking up clearly are food notes. Dry: The vanilla is now noticable, but is grounded in the musky non-foody chocolate. I get something a little wooden which I think is the teak? I never picked up neroli or bergamot, nor the rose. And I am stunned by how mild the usually aggressive black patch is on me. I'm on the fence on this one. It's a strong devation from what I normally wear, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It certainly didn't do any of the things I feared from the notes, but I certainly won't be needing more than my half decant.

I got a half bottle at Will Call and had my first bath with it tonight and boy it was a good purchase. I can't wear Beth's chocolate note on my skin, and when I skin tested this, I ran into the same problems I usually do, but in the bath it bloomed beautifully and what lingers on my skin is a subtle rich sweetness under light oudh. Bathing in brownies was just amazing, and my skin feels light and well loved as is the usual with the Post bath oils.

I was going through my imps for a purge and I had to review this when I smelled it in the imp. Because in the imp, it smells like cheese. Sharp blu cheese with a little bit of musk. Wet: The cheese feeling goes away, blooming into musky amber with a hint of something orange. The vanilla also quickly makes itself known and while not overtly plasticky the way it sometimes can get, it does feel a little off. At this stage, it's very cloying and a bit powdery. Drying: The wax must be what I'm smelling, because there is something waxy about the way it smells, a bit like waxed cooking paper. I'm getting none of the notes I was hoping for (leather, ginger, pepper, oakmoss or balsam), and just something odd and a bit stale. Dry: The notes I love are finally showing their faces, but this blend is crazy mild for something with so much spice. It doesn't have a ton of throw and is very close to the skin. It like it enough to keep it, but only just.

I thought an atmo spray would be the way to tame the cinnamon red hots monster. I was wrong. On my thick heavy towels I get a hint of something else, but everywhere else it's just a cloud of red hots, certainly nothing I want to smell like.

I am so unhappy. This is all honey and dark rose. No leather, no musk. Just honey with a note of faintly powdery rose. I hope this is just like what happened with my Tree Roots, Fallen Leaves and Tomb Moss atmo, which needed a few days rest before coming into it's own, because where is my beautiful, sexy leather??? -edit- Turns out that all that beautiful leather got all separated out in travel. I had these dark globs in the bottom, and a skin test revealed that they were the leathers and musks. With a little shaking and a little resting, I'm sure this will blend back together.

Mist-shrouded woods: Siberian fir needles, white pine bark, aspen leaf, wild lily, bergamot, wood violet, thimbleberry, sun-star, golden bell, snowdrop, heartsease, and bloodroot. So I got a free goblin squirt of this in an order, and am not sure how I feel. On the one hand, it's not a me scent at all. It's sweet and very floral and I get almost no pine. There's almost a 'fresh woods' laundry detergent feeling about this. On the other, I can't stop huffing the little corner of my sheet that I sprayed with it, and it is extremely relaxing and soothing. I'm going to spray my pillows with it tonight, because if it helps me sleep, it's worth considering a bottle.

ITI: There is no listed booze note, but in the imp, I swear this smells like straight up boxed red wine. Grapey and sharp and gross. Wet: The wine note seems to have resolved into the musk and incense. It's not boozy anymore, but it still has an odd grape feel. Drying: The leather and tobacco are raising their heads, much more vanilla and soft than I would have expected. This is less bondage and chains and more smoldering seduction. This one is very sexy and it has a lot of throw, but it's sophisticated rather than dirty. Dry: I finally have the ambergris, and it's really wonderful. It's mostly the musks and incense, but the other notes round it out wonderfully and it has a great blend. This scent belongs to an attractive sophisticate with a cigar in one hand as they rake their eyes across your body. It'd say it trends masculine, but I think this would be stunning on the right sort of lady as well.

An imp of this showed up as a frimp (!!) so I'm very excited to try it. ITI: Buttery warm hay. Not the usual overwhelming pumpkin. Wet: The hay note seems to be cutting the pumpkin's tendency to go buttered popcorn on me, and this is really delightful. There is a sweetness thanks to the pumpkin's foody vibe, but it's cut well by dry hay and something a bit green from the vines. Drying: I'm really getting the metal note as this starts to dry. It adds a really interesting mineral sharpness that really keeps the pumpkin from going fake food on me like it usually does. Dry: This is a beautiful pumpkin note. It has rich creamy smoke to it and the buttery richness of cooked pumpkin, but the hay, which is the strongest note, and that metallic note are really in the front. I'm pumped to find a pumpkin note I can wear, but am bummed that I will probably never find any more of this. It's really a smooth, wonderful pumpkin.

Thanks to BPAL I have discovered that what I always thought was a general allergy to perfume was actually an allergy to perfume alcohol. There are still many notes that give me the spitting headaches, but it's transformed the way I look at perfumes.

The current Yule Hans Trapp is basically Tattie Boggle plus leather to me, so you might want to check it out. It's not that lovely black leather from Adam, but it's still pretty great. How was Hans Trapp not on my list??? Hopefully they'll have it at the Salem Willcall so I can take a sniff, because the sound of Tattie Boggle +Leather is amazing to me. It seems like you enjoy earthy dirt scents, so I would definitely give both Yorick and Penny Dreadful a try. Also, if you like the maple in 1914 you might like the Shunga Noh Mask and Maple Leaves. For Black Rider I would suggest either Hans Trapp or Liz. I steered clear of Yorick because I can't do floral at all, but Penny Dreadful has amazing reviews, so I'll see about throwing an imp of that into my next order. I'm a bit worried about Liz because of the floral and the vanilla. Vanilla can be super hit or miss for me, and if the floral is white, I am destined for a headache.

Because I gave some recs but didn't ask for any. Top 5, in no order: Adam (OLLA) Placopobia Hallowee'en 1914 Tattie Boggle Black Rider

Unsure as to the age on this one. It was sold to me as the 05 resurrected version, but it's in a cobalt bottle with the standard GC label. ITB: One sniff I got lavender, the next chamomile. Soothing and somber. Wet: Hi rose. At least you're not squashing all the niceness of the chamomile and lavender. There's an odd, slightly sour sweetness that I think is ylang ylang, which is amplified a bit by the herby feeling of this blend to make it slightly BO/Cat Pee like, but that only seems to last for a moment, and quickly fades. Drying: The throw seems to be all rose and floral, but when I get close, I get this really heady and wonderful herby and woody underlay that makes this rose dominant scent really wonderful. Dry: Oh no...Rose of doom. This is now single note rose. It's a nice, sweet and slightly dry rose, but it's also super generic. The herby feeling that made this rose unusual and thus my style, is completely gone and I am left with an unobtrusive old lady rose soap scent. It was so good for about half an hour and then it's settled right into rose like I was afraid it would. There is a wee bit of kick from the lavender as it continues to dry, but this is very much a rose show. Assuming I keep this (which I might just for the sake of having a cobalt bottle in my collection), I'd probably want to get a scent locket for it, or maybe turn it into bath salts. I adore the way it smells in the bottle, and would love to find a way to get more of that scent and less of the rose.

I was able to track down a bottle of the 2010 version from a third party seller, so this is a very aged bottle, which I think really mellowed the oiverall scent out. ITB: Oooh, this is a very familiar and very loved waft of sexy Black Rider style leather, softened and sweetened by something citrusy and fruity. No trace of wood, and only the barest impression of olive oil. What oil I do get is very similar in scent to the sharp, grassy smell of my Gram’s fresh pressed olive oil. Wet: Still that fresh, deep, black leather and the bright and very orange top note. The scent of oil isn’t so much a smell but rather a really interesting feeling right in the back of my throat. I’m starting to get a whiff of the wood, but I’m not sure what type of wood it is. Very dark and polished, but not at all overwhelming or gloomy the way wood can be sometimes on my skin. Drying: This is seeming to fade very fast into something that’s mostly a snuggly citrus. The leather is the main back-up scent, and the wood and oil seem to be pretty much gone, which is not a terrible thing. Dry: The wood note has come back as the citrus has faded a little, and it really rounds out the leather scent. The olive oil seems to amplify the idea of skin to me, because this very much gives me the impression of leather warmed by body heat with the hints of oil floating around. How this manages to be sexy and comforting all at once is beyond me, but that’s really the impression I get from this. I’m happy that the leather is the main player here because that’s what I got this for, but it is not as aggressive or in your face as either Black Rider or Adam, though it shares the similar black leather note. This fits perfectly into the daytime leather slot that was missing from my leather perfumes, so I’m very happy about that. Plus, any citrus that hangs around for more than a minute without overwhelming is a total win in my book.

To me this is very patch heavy (which is great because I love patch and it's in a lot of stuff I have). This is the dark and dry cedary patchouli and is not sweet at all. The leaves at a hint of sappy dirt to the overall smell profile, which keeps this from just being single note patch on me. It's very similar to placophobia, which I pair it with a lot. It's that same warm, dry spicy dirt feel.

The leather in Adam is almost exactly like Black Rider to me, and Red Rider is another amazingly warm and spicy leather heavy scent. Tontentanz is another amazing leather if you can find it. You might also really enjoy the current weenie Tattie Boggle, which is a great dry and smokey scent with a lot of both fire and woody notes. Thanks, I will add these to my list, they all sound awesome! (That's the second rec for Red Rider I've gotten recently, so I should get on that) Tattie Bogle is actually the only Weenie (that I got a decant of) that I'm considering buying. The Rider set is such an amazing leather trio. Sexy leather, delicate leather, and a very in your face dark leather. I cannot recommend all of them enough. They are very much my top GC scents right now.

Jolly Roger lept right to mind, mostly because it's my go-to adventure scent. It smells so much like creaking wooden ships and salt spray to me, and is super evocative. If he likes more foody scents, Miskatonic University is an amazing and snuggly coffee house in a library sort of scent. Of things that aren't already recommended, 51 (inspired by Area 51 of course) is a really unusual and I think very unisex green and sappy scent. Cairo is pretty unisex if your fella likes classic incense type perfumes and if he likes metallic scents El Dorado is very sharp and interesting and trends masculine. Glasgow, while foody on me, was also pretty unisex because of the heather, and if he doesn't tend to amp floral Ogygia is a really interesting and complex scent as well. (I personally amp the woody aspects of this, but it does have some noted floral hanging around.) I think Port Royal is another scent that could be perfect. It's very piratey, with the wood and rum, and it is very unisex as well.

The leather in Adam is almost exactly like Black Rider to me, and Red Rider is another amazingly warm and spicy leather heavy scent. Tontentanz is another amazing leather if you can find it. You might also really enjoy the current weenie Tattie Boggle, which is a great dry and smokey scent with a lot of both fire and woody notes.

Floral scents are totally not my thing, so I feel this thread so much. Anything jasmine or white floral goes right to my headache centers and is just unbearable. I also can't do fruity very often (plum and currant turn to cough syrupy fake grossness) so some of these are interesting departures from typical floral/fruity scents. I loved Eldrich Dark, with it's wonderfully subtle rose, and I second Kabuki Ice as a really unusual and amazing floral. It's really ozone heavy on me, which cuts the sweetness of the floral notes really well.

Wet: Lemony soap. It's just an extremely bright, soapy lemon. Nothing aquatic about it at all, and certainly nothing like the salt sea air smell I was hoping for... Drying: Okay, I am getting salty now. It's kind of a salty white floral citrus right now. Everyone tells me this is a super oceanic scent, but I'll take Jolly Roger any day when seeking a hit of the ocean. That one smells exactly like old ships and sea breeze to me, where this is just a salty bright ozone. Dry: Okay, I'm finally getting something that feels like ocean, specifically ocean through Caribbean flowers. I smell a hint of something coconutty, and it's a very bright and clean scent. The longer it dries, the more like the ocean it smells, but it's not the harsh New England ocean I know, but as the notes say, some scent from a big sandy beach filled with flowers. I think my review sounds a lot more critical than I mean it, but this was a scent I had a strong expectation for and it turned out totally different in a bad way, though the scent is nice and I can see myself wearing it during the summer. --edit-- I figured out why this scent is so nagging. My brother had a cologne called something like Blue that was almost exactly like this that I stole all the time when I was in middle school. It was one of those cheap aquatic scents and I don't think I'll be able to shake the association.