DoktorDandy

This scent absolutely broke my heart. In a bad way. It was one of the ones I was looking forward to and MAN did it let me down. I tried it at least three times, and it was such a flop... The first time, it ended up fresh and salty. Odd but not bad.... but way, way, way too mild for me. Not villainous at all- very saltwater & seaside. The next couple of times. Man. Sweet, very powdery, very feminine florals. Emphasis on powdery. Did I mention powdery? There was even a lotion scent in there- one of my most hated scent associations.This will sound terrible but it's... sissy. It's the word that came to mind right away when smelling it. I am swapping out both imps I have. I came looking for a companion to Vicomte de Valmont and I was very disappointed.... I'm still not over this, ugh. I really hope this is better on someone else!

Wet: This is... nice! It's all linseed oil and turpentine, but I mean that in the nicest possible way. It's blonde piney wood. Reminds me of pine cabins I've stayed in with generators, gas lamps, corrugated iron rooves, and only access-able via 70 miles of pine-lined logging roads in Maine. Puts me in mind of chopping firewood & setting it aside for weathering. I can really see some people thinking of this as car freshener pine or maybe pinesol but I have way too many natural associations. I find this really evocative. Dry: When it dries, Loup Garou starts getting smoother and more streamlined. Deep green hints with a slight sweetness- almost itchy associations. Comforting. There's something not unlike a floral hidden under here, not a tame, hothouse flower- more like a prickly thistle? I wish it had a little more lasting power on me, but it's, yep!- nice, really nice! Overall, I'm keeping the imp because this is DANG pleasant. A few more tries will let me know if this is a bottle scent or not.

Oooh! A wow reaction right away! Here's the floral I was looking for! The Lady of Shalott is all big, screaming florals on me- green and white ones, huge, hothouse blooms and so heavy. It's GREAT. There's a sweet honeysuckle-like scent that starts up, really overgrown and oversized. Creamy honeysuckle-like scents give way to glorious gardenia with something doing some backup wailing- maybe lily? When it dries, it continues to create this nice effect when I sniff it, similar to the feeling of breathing in cold air. It goes warmer eventually, and will do it faster (noticed this on multiple tries) the warmer the weather is. Reminds me very distantly of my favorite Pacificia soap- the Tahitian Gardenia one. This elbowed it's way to the top favorite scents and so far, she's reigning as the unexpected queen of the florals. Friends and family like this on me the most. There's a bottle of this in my future.

Immediately a musky, animalistic floral. Muse is all body-sweat and musk-jasmine on me. It's not my favorite kind of jasmine- this is a murky, swampy, armpit-y jasmine. A sweet prickle-scent starts up. Strongly, strongly reminds me of those scented markers from the 90's, a fistfull of the markers rather than a distinct one. That or scratch and sniff stickers. Wow, it's really close to those on me! Dry, it fades to just the scratch and sniff stickers- that's almost exactly what this smells like now. Very cool scent rather than hot. Not my thing at all, not what I expected. Went really weird on me.

In the Imp: BLAST of ginger-ale! Very Distinctive and surprising too, given the notes? Wow- I love gingery smelling things so I'm excited to try this! Wet: The bubbly note is amazing- I'm not sure how it's done but it's pretty amazing as far as a curiosity goes. What should be champagne is certainly ginger-ale on me, no question about it. Yeah, very distinctive. No strawberry or any other note I looked up for this. Dry: Ugh! The ginger departed, leaving behind something weird, plastic, headache-y, sweet & sour. At the end there's a copper or blood tinge that is nasty. Swap! Maybe it will be good on somebody else.

First impression before it hits the skin is a soapy head shop scent. As soon as it was on my skin it went sweet- spicy, honey sweet. Maybe sweet clove? Tingly, pleasant sort of autumn/winter scent. Eventually this effect was ruined by a weird, round, nutty sort of smell that I liked less. It lasted a while, but became this distant purr- not as strong as I wanted, and not as complex on me. I ended up liking the darker, more complex spices in Dracul. I sent this one on to a new home!

Probably Lily the Prostitute from the Pretty Deadly series! http://blackphoenixalchemylab.com/shop/pretty-deadly/lily-prostitute/ THANKYOU! I didn't know that's what the series was called? I'm still bewildered by the ammount of lines. This solves a couple of questions for me. I'm much oblidged!

Okay.. maybe this seems a mite dumb, but I have a frimp from a forumite and I'm not 100% sure what it is... it's a decant, labeled as "LILY" pretty deadly bpal 2014 something like that. Just lily- what is this most likely to be? I don't know of anything that's called that? That I know of? There are a lot of compond lily names...

Okay- some slight adjustments now that I've tested a little more.. 1- Viconte de Valmont (love how sharp and elegant this is, smells like a beautiful man on me) 2- Languor (the big dark opiate flowers that I didn't know that I wanted to smell like) 3- Count Dracula ( though Dracul is helping to ease the suffering of being unable to get bottles of this beauty, if only a little) 4- The Lady of Shalott (those huge white cold flowers, I love them) 5- Dragon's Blood (so far the other blends do not hold a candle to the straight up cheerful, bold warm original) I'm going through new scents every day, but curiosities like The Ghost and Loup Garou have been sneaking multiple wearings and Mr. Ibis and King Haggard may edge themselves into the top 5 soon.... Let me know if there's anything I should prioritize. I wonder if I'm showing any patterns yet... so far I know things that go to sweet/foody don't work on me. GC or unimpable only, please. Count Dracula broke my heart with his inaccessibility.

In the imp: Bitter, acrid, bright. Oily? What on earth is that? Wet: Pretty strong right off the bat. Weird note now- Lotion? Skin? Salt? Salty metal? Bitter and oily. Sweetness that isn't sugary or sweet. The oil is a little sticker and thicker than the others. Takes it's sweet time drying. The throw is pretty good. I keep getting wafts of it. Dry: Yeah this is a coppery smell. A dry, ashy sort of incense is there, almost dusty but I really have to huff my arm in order to get any of it. Starts to fade though. In Mechanism leaves an odd sour-bitter-sweet trace, almost powdery. The impression of Oil is pretty strong. Overall this is like licking a penny- or has that memory to me. Oily golden thing. Meh- I'll trade this. Too much of a bitter tang for me, though it's very interesting.

Wet: Something tingly that makes me want to sneeze. Then fruityness. Something like peach? Peach-bossom then? Fruit and floral are very close under the tingle. Too much of whatever the floral is- it's a squat, bulbous floral like jasmine with a bad hair day. I feel like this really needs something grounding in here. It ends up a little too sour too... Dry: Just not for me. Yeah, too sweet, too sour, too sweaty and pushy. Looking at the notes (pear?? really? huh.) I think Champagne might not be my thing. If you like Bon Vivant or maybe Lolita, you may like this (and vice versa, certainly).

Narcisse Noir sounds like Hunger. You'd want it aged to get the smoky incense effect. Thank-you! I'll be keeping an eye out for that then- hum! If anyone else has any ideas too, I'd be happy to hear them! Hunger was my first thought too! Extra feedback is good! Even more promising. As I have never smelled the original formula, I won't know for sure, but I'll share if I can find an aged one, and if it ends up at all similar. Hopefully it will do the trick...

Reporting back to ay that Dracul *IS* nice, and does work on me. It ends up smelling similar to Count Dracula but is missing some notes I think. They both go strong and spiced and snuggly on me, and both have woody notes though the one in Count Dracula is way more... gleaming? Warm? Weathered? In Dracul it's more forest-y. Dracul is missing the very slight leather note (to my nose) present in Count Dracula. Also the Count has a dead floral/dried flowers thing going on that's abscent in it's more rustic version. Some of the same clovey notes really shine though- I wonder if clove likes me, and that's part of what's going on? I still haven't discovered what works on me and what does not.

Narcisse Noir sounds like Hunger. You'd want it aged to get the smoky incense effect. Thank-you! I'll be keeping an eye out for that then- hum! If anyone else has any ideas too, I'd be happy to hear them!

Wet: I like the lavender I'm getting from this right away! It's the first thing that hits me! I've been looking forward to finally getting to try something with the Lab's lavender note, as I usually like lavender things quite a bit (heck I even cook with it sometimes). Ooh yeah this first note is lavender goodness! I think the Nag Champa comes out after that... less pleased. Surprised that I'm not pleased, but it's suddenly not coming off like something that I want on my skin- more like I've been rooting through a box of slightly musty incense. Nope nope nope, it's getting worse now, oh dear. Dry: Hooo boooy. Incense B.O. Not good. This went sour and unpleasant- too much Nag Champa for me maybe? Yeah there is something good and sort of smoky/woody here, but it's covered by the bad sour note in the foreground. Wet, sour- something didn't agree with my chemistry. Ends up straight Nag Champa with BAD SOUR stuff all over it, ack. Note- on somebody else!- On my mum, smelled like a lovely soft incense BLEND with maybe sandalwood and some fuzzy brown and gold and purple edges. She ended up with both little imps. She says she's not 100% in love, but she's pleased that it's the only one that doesn't seem to change day to day on her. Low or dark notes do well on her, whereas I seem to amp higher, sharper things- so maybe that will help someone trying to decide.

Wet: OOoohh. Green and shiny-bright. Right now this is all grassy, transparent loveliness. Clean, plant-y scent that really puts me in mind of a grass scent that Demeter had? I smelled it ages ago. This smells like my memory of that? Drying: Pleasant. Clean. Green. Grass. Soap. This is really a simple creature so far. Feels really nice because of the hot weather while testing. Dry: Faint, and unfortunately, once again, not too long lasting. Pity that it doesn't stay. There's still a little bit of it here- salt, faint dry grass, and weirdly, something with a bit of a tingle that puts me in mind of green bell pepper. Will likely use up the imp for something. I would get a bottle if it had a more interesting/appealing dry stage and if it lasted longer. If you like Dirty- try Embalming Fluid, 51, Absinthe, The Apothecary or The Ghost.

Wet: Hum, very odd. When I smell it, I have an impression of a dark golden color. Murky overall so far. Weirdest of all, when I breathe out after smelling it, I get the very distinct smell of puffed grain cereal- something I haven't had in many many years, but it brought the memory back. But I have no idea why in the world I am smelling that. I will have to look at reviews after I post this to see if anyone else says that....I think I'm getting the patchouli note, and something like an incense note, but there's this sweet, almost piquant tang that is really not agreeing with me, and I can't identify it. Dry: Classic sort of incense-y notes with a weird low sweetness. A sweet metallic tinge like blood or iron that puts me in mind of Baba Yaga's iron teeth. Won't be keeping the imp.

Glad your inquiry ended up here, unlike mine! Maaaan, I wish I knew more scents by name, but I do think of some notes. I think of spices for Freddie Lounds, and sneaky musks. If I get to smell war, I will think of her, I'm sure! I think of desperate, tweedy cologne notes for Chilton. Dark, pretty florals, red, black and blue for Dr. Bloom.... Would love a Francis Dollarhide based on books alone, (so looking forward to the TV series interpretation). Huummm Jack Crawford might be interesting too. Abigail Hobbs?.. man. Will would be such a challenge as they actually do bring up his scent in the show- I wish beth could get her hands on that character concept, maybe do two scents, one for Will during his .. episode shall we say (where the scent clue gets discussed by Hannibal, trying to avoid spoilers here just in case) and one for his usual self with amber, warm, doggy sort of scents- lots of earth and warmth, yeah, and aftershave haha. Even his internal happy place could be delightfully interpreted as a cool, woodsy aquatic. I want a ravenstag-wendigo scent pretty badly too. I'm most interested in Hannibal though- in my mind it's an exquisite fougere, a classical old world scent- something with all that citron/green/geranium/vertiver going on and maybe a white musk/civet hint to play off his likeness to ermine in the books and hint at the hidden viciousness. It's just such a shame- not only are the books rich with scent ideas (like I said on the other thread, the honey in the lion riddle, ect) but the TV show with it's strong characterizations and use of color... it just seems like a natural choice, like it would lend itself to the sense of smell really easily.

I am really excited for Vicomte de Valmont now because it sounds gorgeous from the recs (and has rosemary like The Gentlemen, which is a pretty rare bpal note)! Yeah, unfortunately for me, Jareth is a near dupe for Dorian on me, both in the bottle and on (lots of sugar and some musk). I get none of the leather or lilac. That being said, chemistry is a fickle thing, so you should definitely get a imp and check it out! I hope you like Dracul, it's one that I like a lot. I don't really have any good recs for Count Dracula (which sounds lovely) but you may want to try, if Dracul is up your alley and if you get a chance, Troll or Iago for that sort of dark, swirly, musky scent. I hope you like Vicomte de Valmont! It is head and shoulders above the rest on me- I absolutely love it. Immediate love. I'm not sure he can be dethroned. On me it comes off as really well blended. If the rosemary is doing anything, it's not foody- it would probably be lending a stabilizing green note. It feels wonderfully classical and old world and I can't stop smelling it when it's on. It's the first one where I knew that I was going to get a bottle for sure. I think I miiighhtt amp leather, so I am interested to see what Jareth does on me. I just had an imp of Dracul come in along with some scents that are supposed to be similar to the good Vicomte (Or so I hope!). I'm excited to try Dracul as I think it shares some notes with Count Dracula? I'm afraid I may not be able to find a substitute for the teeny vial of the Count I have. Count Dracula was the most snuggly, velvety, woody, dried-floral, clovey thing on me- really comfy and so effortless with leathery edges and man oh man. Maybe Dracul will work out... Here's to hoping...

Wet: Nothing floral, something almost.. dark and herbal. Hay? No... Oily. Heavy. Swiftly followed by a burning scent that I associate with creosote, maybe? Not certain. The burning turns, becomes more like burning wood than a distant brushfire. Eventually leather starts blooming, very slowly, coming from underneath everything. Is there musk in here? Hum! Dry: Consistently a sort of pretty, mildly burnt, slightly masculine scent. Sweet without sweetness, wood without resin, leathery without it being the most prominent note. Slightly bitter, pleasant quality that I associate with vertiver, maybe? But lighter? Nice. Curious. Overal Impression: Interesting, yeah. A curiosity. I will keep the imp for now. I didn't like it enough to buy a bottle though, I don't think.

In the imp: Wow that's a dark-colored oil! A little intimidating! The smell is dark too, rich and fruity. Impression of black cherry? Wet: Pretty straightforward- dark incense with something fruity. Then, in quick succession R'lyeh changes. Goes sweet, almost vanilla, falls to distant molasses, climbs back up to grapefruit rind and brown sugar. After only about five minutes the fruity chorus packs up and leaves. Dry: After it settled a while, I kept sniffing my wrist, trying to catch the memory this was triggering. Then I remembered- bare with me- this is a dead ringer for blueberry incense my family would buy in Acadia national park/ Bar Harbor, Maine. It's not a blueberry cobbler, fake blueberry or real blueberry. It smells like it's own thing. Just very weird to find it here, of all places. As a reader of Lovecraft, and possibly a distant relative, I find all these cheerful, fruity Lovecraft scents to be pretty funny. TL;DR- this is a dark, sweet incense that might have a distance acquaintance with spruce or pine. Not bad, not my favorite, but could get better. We'll see how I use my imp.

In the Imp:Dusty warm somethings/nothings. Maybe ivy? Huummmm. Wet: Same as the imp then suddenly BANG! IVY! Greenhouse green, a hothouse without heat, cucumber glass. I am tempted to say there's a citrus in here, but the lack of fruity sweetness kills that impression.I am encouraged! This seems to like me! Vines are uncurling. I don't get the stony or ghostly aspects. So far the impression is more like a neglected hothouse dryad left to his or her own devices, going feral under the frosted glass, sheltered from the winter months, overgrowing everything. So far I am pretty fond of this. Dry: It's not as long lasting as I would like, and while it shifts, it doesn't stray too far from it's cool, green nature. It has the feeling of a floral with all the buds and flower heads nipped off. Either that or buds, not blooms. If there are florals they're green and white. I'm going to test this a couple more times to find out if I want a bottle, but after two trials, the idea is tempting.

In the Imp: Another fruit loops one, hoo boy! Bad fruit loops too, to my nose. Nothing floral, and the fruit loop smell is more of an artificial tinge, rather than a real one- like fruit loops were all lemon in a vague way. Wet: Straight up toilet bowl cleaner. Cleaning products yes, then goes more like Pledge, better then BOOM! Lemon verbena! Very distinctive! It's such a familiar smell to me- summertime outdoors as a kid, taking big handfulls of lemon verbena from a just about abandoned house whose backyard was overgrown with the stuff, until it had overtaken even the fences and spilled into neighboring yards. Unfortunately, this isn't long lasting, and something waxy creeps in. An impression of musky, white, easily bruised petals with a spongy quality, but most of the impression of the floral itself is absent. Weird. Not sure I like where this is going. I was hoping for a beautiful result from this, yikes. A sinking feeling has begun to sink in. Uh-oh.... It was so fun for a little bit there... Dry: For just a little bit, I thought there was my beloved orange flower and honeysuckle. Alas, no! Fuzzy, sticky sweet somethings that feel wrong to me are blooming. Getting really hideous now. I tried to give it another hour or two but after maybe an hour and a half, two hours, I had to scrub Lolita off. A miss on me. Might be okay on somebody else, and by all rights, I love a lot of these notes, but Lolita went BAD on me. Poor Humbert Humbert- I hope Lo didn't lure you in and make you feel this bad... I guess this scent does follow the plot a bit. Dear Lab, Please, please. I'd rather try something fashioned after Humbert Humbert. It even sounds like a great name for a perfume. What are you wearing today? "Humbert Humbert!" Poor lonely ol' Hum would probably smell way better on me than this shrill, spoiled young lady. Thanks, -Dandy

In the Imp: I perked up immediately on opening this. Herbal with a dark but cheerful undertone. Not quite fruity. You immediately want to put it on. Inviting. Wet: Grass and fig? Not the fig fruit on me, more of the white sap from a fig stem. Herbs are there, not bitter at all, but I can't pick out their individual notes. The tea notes step forward and stay a while, along with now just the tippy top high green grassy notes. This is almost going into sneezy territory. The tea is great, so I don't want it to go there. It's a clean tea, not a smoked or toasted tea. Feels more like an aquatic green or white tea, rather than a broody black tea. Herbal essences shampoo has become my thought, but now it's very much reminding me of a discontinued Suave green tea shampoo that I adored. This isn't too soapy though, despite it's clean qualities. Dry: Alas, it did not have a lot of lasting power. Within a couple of hours it was next to gone, but it was nice and very soothing when it was here. Might have lasted a little longer if I had applied more, I think? Could be the short of thing for a spring weekend outing- something like a windy beach walk or a park or a museum. It's a half-day at school, a leaving-work-early sort of scent. Not challenging. Straightforward and yes, cheerful. It would be good for the afternoon because by the time you're drifting off to sleep all you'd be getting is a gentle, calming clean linen and cool greenery scent. Want to take a nap in a hammock under some big shade trees, falling asleep reading some sort of esoteric and mildly amusing book. A sunny spring room would work as well. What a lazy Apothecary! I like him, but I think I wanted his sharp, urbane brother. I'm keeping the nice little imp though.

Imp: Muh? Musky, musty, ugly, messy, vaguely limp floral thing. What is this? Here goes nothing! No turning back! Wet: Corn husks! Corn fields at night! These scents are shortly followed by... fruit loops? Yes, a fruit loop smell- like opening a bag of some sort of organic knock off fruitloops that have gone bad, but are also unsweetened, weirdly? Now it's marginally better, and has a strange icy citrus profile. I can't imagine that this will have much staying power on me. Maybe that's a good thing. Dry: Fades into a dry, powdery floral with overtones of the type of store-brand detergent with a mysterious scent name that you sniff and then promptly put back on the shelf. Not only was it not memorable on me, it eventually had a legitimately poisonous feeling to it. This sort of thing wouldn't bother me if it was a wicked overtone and such- but this really reminded me of working with dangerous chemicals, and getting hints of sprays and things that I am not supposed to breathe in. Something about my skin chemistry turned this into a really hazardous-smelling brew. I will swap, and hope it turns to a dark and brooding lily on somebody else. Sad because I think so far lilies like me. Not this one though. This one was out to get me.