Falathwen

You see, I am the only one of us who brings in any money. The other two cannot make money fortune-telling. This is because they only tell the truth, and the truth is not what people want to hear. It is a bad thing, and it troubles people, so they do not come back. But I can lie to them, tell them what they want to hear. So I bring home the bread. Red musk and wild plum, orange blossom and jasmine, juniper berries, sweet incense and vetiver-laced sandalwood. My favorite character in the book (other than Shadow himself) and so many of my favorite notes. I could not resist this one. I had been a big fan of the discontinued Vechernyaya blend, but this shares no notes with that. Amusingly, in the book there are many aspects of a particular god/dess so this seemed appropriate. First impression: This is a complex mature scent, matching the character well. There is bitterness as well a subdued sweetness. As usual, the red musk and wood notes come out strongly and linger all day long. The florals and other notes soften and blend the stronger ones. Lingering impression: It reminded me of staying in a church or sanctuary after a ceremony has ended. The light is falling and the candles are blown out. There are flowers in the shadows you can smell but not see. Old wood and incense warm the air.

As it is a feasting holiday here, I decided on Cockaigne, the "lazy and luscious" land. I was not terribly lazy (walked about five miles all told) the pumpkin pie was definitely luscious.

This is a fantastic feature. I am so excited to try working with it. Thank you!

I wore Tintagel for my birthday, since I read that King Arthur was also born at the solstice. It fit the season so well I wore it for Christmas too.

I do not have a cooler...will the cold of our fridge damage the oils? Hopefully we will be dropping back to reasonable temperatures soon.

Sultry. The dominant note at first is tonka, which on me smells like cocoa butter…sweet and creamy. When that finally fades back the sweet pea is noticeable…at first it seems like grape, but it becomes more floral with time. I do not detect the sage. Musk warms this blends and helps the sweet pea and tonka blend beautifully. This blend lasts a long while.

This was a generous free imp from the lab. I adore vetiver and enjoy cinnamon, but as I feared, the other notes "rose" up and attacked me. My skin amplifies rose and jasmine strongly and does terrible things with lovely gardenia. This blend of them all was incredibly intense and acrid. I think the smokiness was the leather. I tried to wait for it to dry down, but washed it off fairly quickly.

I had to try this because I am a fan of violet and Arthurian legends. I am guessing that two of the night blooming flowers in this blend might be jasmine and gardenia because my skin chemistry turned this blend into a strong "white" floral. As it dried, the violet attempted to make an appearance but sadly this blend is not for me

A free gift imp which I had been wanting to try for a while. This blend is simple and lovely for summer. The tea makes this feel very clean and bright. The peony is amazingly true to life and gentles the scent. While it is not very strong, I keep catching a wisp of this scent as I move.

A free imp that I would never have tried and yet adore. I had assumed this blend would be heavy and acrid on me - leather does not love my skin. Instead, it is light and energizing. The grass and herbs are strongest at first. At first, I could not pick out the basil, but when I cut some from our porch garden I realized that I was imagining the scent of cooked basil whereas this is the scent of the fresh cut herb. The incense comes out as this dries down. This blend evokes St. Francis to me, rather than a warrior. I imagine someone walking long miles over fields with the faint scent of incense still clinging to his robes. I will wear this delightedly and share it with my husband as well.

Fun! As soon as I applied this blend I imagined eating a perfect fruit salad in a summer garden as twilight cooled the heat of the day. I got hints of each individual fruit, but they blended in well with the floral notes. Unfortunately my skin amplified the rose as this blend dried down and soon that was all I could detect

This was a very intriguing free imp from the Lab. The mandarin and wood stand out at first. The floral notes are in the background. This blend seems like Ullalume’s big sister…probably because they share a wood and lily combination. It is entertaining to try to pick out the individual notes in this swirl. I had a feeling that this would work fine with my skin chemistry and it does, though it is more complex that I normally prefer.)

This is splendid, but remains surprisingly close to the skin. It evokes its namesake very well. There is a gently cinnamon that makes itself known at first - and burns my wrists a little. I can also pick out tea, something wonderfully resinous, and a floral I cannot name which reminds me of lilies. As it dried down it grows ever spicier, softer, and sweeter.

This is definitely an ozone aquatic, like Lightening; but there is a deeper green note in this which makes it far more wearable on my skin. I would not say that green note is seaweed, since it is more evergreen than iodine. It makes a fantastic and surprisingly cooling bath - I wonder if the green part may be some sort of mint?

Tasting, smelling, or feeling cucumber and/or mint has long been my favorite antidote to summer swelter. When I saw this blend I knew I wanted to wear it in the heat of the summer. On my skin, the pepper is not noticeable at all. The mint is very dominant at first, but the cucumber blends in as it dries down. It is wonderfully cooling to my mind as well as my senses