LizziesLuck

Wet: Bright, juicy, sweet orange. Really nice. So fresh! It really does smell like biting into an orange. Makes my mouth water a bit! Dry: Powdered bathroom cleaner, and then POOF! Gone. Pretty much to be expected, that's how my skin reacts to citrus, and there is nothing to ground this or give it lasting power. I am not much of a layerer, so this is not for me.

Benzoin and white juniper with dark musk, tobacco, nag champa, and oudh. Really excited about these notes, but juniper is not always great on me. Still, excited!!! These decants just came today, but I cannot wait to try them. Wet: Benzoin and juniper are both REALLY strong. So it smells like a sweet, syrupy gin drink. Not really a horrible thing! But hoping the juniper does what it often does and dies down, letting some of the other notes shine. Dry: This goes through a phase where it reminds me of Savage Forever - dark musk, woods, and something cold. But about half an hour after that this has settled into a screechy, powdery, soapy mess. No clue why! Actually, now that I smell again, it's not consistently bad, and may still be morphing. I think this would have benefitted from some more patience on my part, and I will have to test again once I have let it settle. Overall impressions though are of juniper and benzoin when wet. Juniper fades a lot, benzoin stays strong, and the musk really comes out. I think it's the nag champa going soapy on me, so it clearly has a strong presence. Will update this if it changes after it settles. Right now I don't know what to think of it.

It might be subjective? But I use it to mean when a scent is fully dry and settled on my skin, and is no longer "morphing" or going through different phases, it's in its "final stage" so to speak. HTH I thought that was the 'dry'. I was under impression there's wet, drydown, and dry, in that order. Hmm, I think I sometimes use it for both - I might say "during drydown" but I also might say "after drydown". So ha, confusing, and I think subjective. For reviewing purposes, if you're worried you're not being clear, you can just avoid that word and say, "as it dries" and then "once dry"?

It might be subjective? But I use it to mean when a scent is fully dry and settled on my skin, and is no longer "morphing" or going through different phases, it's in its "final stage" so to speak. HTH

Wet: Jasmine smells like pee on me, and oudh smells like poo. Why I thought this would be a good thing to put on my skin, I will never know. The sad part is, I can smell the sandalwood and amber underneath, and they're lovely. Dry: JASMINE! Super sweet and sickly floral. Though both the urine and feces smells have gone. Still not my jam, but fun to try!

Wet: Ozone! I thought I hated ozone - I have recently discovered I was wrong. Ugh, but then there's something STANKY smelling underneath. Like unwashed bits. Gross. The ozone faded really quickly, and now instead of smelling clean, this smells like something that has gone off. Dry: Ok, the ick does away, and this dries down to a lovely clean ozone scent. I really like it. It's quite sweet as well. It might make a great work scent for me, and I would consider a bottle.

I've enjoyed a lot of this series - I have and love Sissy, Beauty and Sarah and I did enjoy Alice, but in the end she wasn't for me. I struggle with the Lab's tobacco flower note (it turns into single note and is high pitched and screechy on me) but I wanted to try this anyway. Wet: Mmm! What is that? It's spicy. I guess that's the pepper note? Doesn't actually smell like pepper to me, maybe more like cardamom, mixed with sarsaparilla or sassafras or something? I get something that could be the booze too, and the sweetness of the amber. This is lovely! But I am starting to worry it was mixed up with Sissy? The notes don't seem entirely right, I guess because I was expecting TOBACCO FLOWER!!! and I get none. And the spice is really prominent but just doesn't smell like pepper. I like it! It's almost effervescent. Dry: This was just so not what I expected. I do quite like it. It's spicy and sweet. A tiny bit smoky. Really nice! Not sure if I would wear it, needs more testing.

Wet: So much vetiver, or maybe it's brimstone, but it smells quite like vetiver - smoky/sour/sweet all at the same time. While applying it, I got huge amounts of rich wine, but on my skin, it's all vetiver, all the time. I don't hate vetiver - I like it in the right combinations. Not loving it here though. It's very strong, almost acrid. Dry: The wine comes out a bit more as it dries, but the vetiver is still very strong. I'm pretty ambivalent about this scent. Don't like it, don't dislike it. ???

2017 version First, before I review, I am going to take a minute to beat myself up - "Future Liz! Be smarter! Stop thinking you are saving money by getting less decants and leaving scents off the list that you really do want to try! Recognize that you will just hunt them down later and pay more in shipping!! Just get the damn decants all together!!!" OK, I'm done now. Moving on. Wet: Honey, fruit and cocoa. Actually much more gourmand than I anticipated. Wow, that's really nice. Ohhh. It's turning powdery. Stale-cocoa-puffs-of-doom. The peach note is really nice though, hoping this will recover, and maybe some of the ambergris will come through. Dry: Really good. I don't always love peach, but I love it with some darker notes, like patchouli apparently. This reminds me of Peach V in that way, one of the only other peach scents I love. This is a great GC alternative to that! The hints of cocoa get much less gourmand as it dries, and just give it some depth and smoothness. The honey keeps it sweet, but it's not too sweet. Really nice! (I never detect the neroli at all, and it's usually a horrid note on me). I don't get any of the ambergris, but this does have a tiny bit of muskiness to it that I really enjoy. Lovely!

I just have to say, this latest act of the Carnaval is AWESOME. Wet: Wet - I have to admit, this was a bit of an experiment on my skin. Pine and Snow are both notes I amp to high heaven - they become single notes on my skin. So I wondered what would happen if they were in the same scent? Which would win? The answer is pine, though I don't know I would call it winning, as it mostly smells like pee. It smells like a cat peed in a snow bank where someone had discarded some compost consisting of apple and lemon peels. That's surprisingly not as terrible as you'd expect, and it's getting better by the second. This might be the type of pine that recovers on my skin and eventually smells like tree rather than pee. I like the lemon and apple with the snow note, which is a different snow note than I am used to - powdery and sweeter. This actually kind of smells like winter in the woods, the more it dries. Huh, what do you know. Dry: Quite pretty. The snow note actually came through stronger in the end. It's powdery and sweet - almost candy-like, but also cold. This is nice, but I have other snow scents (Mat Night) that I like much better.

Wet: Coconut and tart fruitiness - the pomegranate and orange blossom seem to combine to smell like neither, but to be fruity for sure. Interesting. Not sure how I feel about it yet. In the throw, the incense smells like champa - I don't really detect it, nose to skin. Dry: Ugh, I so wanted to love this. I wanted it to be a coconut incense scent. Instead, it's all about the pomegranate which first I don't like, and second it really bitter on my skin. Sadly I don't think this will be a keeper for me.

Wet: Warm, citrusy amber. Bright and fairly sweet. Lovely so far. I adore amber, honey, saffron and vanilla. I like orange, but it doesn't always like me. Neroli is typically horrid on me, so this was a risk. So far it's beautiful though. The orange is soft, somewhat muted. Not too tart or sharp. This is one of the most beautiful orange perfumes I have ever smelled. Dry: Very soft and light. Really pretty. I don't really know what frangipani smells like, but there's a pretty floral note here with the amber that I am loving. There's just a faint hint of citrus left. This is lovely. I think it will be even better with some aging.

Wet: Oooh. That's niiiice. Smooth sandalwood. Slightly musky ambergris. This is very soft. I THINK I pick up some of the vanilla blossom, but it's very light. This is all about the sandalwood, and it's one of the most beautiful sandalwood notes I have smelled - smooth and sweet, rather than sharp or harsh like it can occasionally be. This is actually quite beautiful - a soft, subtle skin scent. Somehow clean, without being even marginally soapy. This is different than anything I have. I haven't had the best luck with the 7 Word Story scents, but I think this is the one that works for me. So far it is bottle worthy. Dry: Once dry, I can smell the carrot seed, which is a very clean, almost glittery sort of scent to me - always hard to describe. Maybe crystalline is better word for it? The descriptor of "slowly shattering tears" is quite apt. It combines beautifully with the ambergris. The sandalwood provides a lovely back drop - it's still very smooth. I really love this, it's very different. It's soft, low throw, a skin scent. I am going to get a bottle, as I think I can get away with wearing it to work. I think z_z might have summed it up best in the post above - this is definitely hauntingly beautiful.

These threads might be helpful http://www.bpal.org/topic/85103-newbies-guide-to-the-bpal-galaxy/ http://www.bpal.org/forum-7/announcement-65-swapping-101/ http://www.bpal.org/forum-7/announcement-70-universal-price-cap/ http://www.bpal.org/topic/25934-swaps-etiquette/ Cheers! <3

Jasmine smells like either cat pee, or feces on me. Like, pretty much always. It can be a footnote in a scent (like, "a hint of jasmine") and it will take over and rain cat pee and fecal matter all over everything else. So what happens next is kind of a miracle. Wet: Gorgeous creamy honeysuckle. Very sweet. Hints of skin musk. (Notice what I didn't mention?). This is sweet and creamy and LOVELY. I actually have Wild Honeysuckle SN on the other arm, as I am testing it too, and the floral note is pretty similar. If you didn't tell me, I would not know there was *whispers* Jasmine in this. Miraculous. Now, I have been on vacation for the past three weeks, and have had some seriously crappy family stuff going on, and I have been eating my feelings. Like, a lot. So my skin chemistry may be all screwy compared to normal. But as of right now this is bottle worthy. What is happening??? Dry: I am flabbergasted. I can smell a tiny hint of the jasmine...and I like it. It's primarily still sweet juicy honeysuckle, and sugared milk (you know like the milk that's left in the bottom of your bowl after you indulge in some sort of really sugary cereal? That smell), but I do get hints of the jasmine, and it's still utterly gorgeous to me. This is a sensual scent, stunningly beautiful. I will test again once I get back to eating like a normal person in case this is some "I've eaten junk for weeks" skin chemistry fluke, but I foresee a bottle in my future.

Up until now, the only scent where I had really been able to smell honeysuckle was Badgers, which I adore, so I had to get this! Wet: Juicy, honeyed floral. This is beautiful! It's such a warm, glowing floral note. It almost smells fruity also? LOVELY. Like, astoundingly good for just a floral single note. This makes me need to try ALL THINGS HONEYSUCKLE. It might be a new favourite floral, which is exciting, because I have been moving away from floral scents lately. Dry: Utterly beautiful. I had no idea how much I love honeysuckle, but it's a new favourite floral note for sure. Really glad I snagged a bottle of this - it's a sweet, fresh, juicy floral scent that I will wear a lot in warmer months.

Wet: Sweet coffee (the sugar smells slightly caramelized) and LOTS of spice! I don't get the buttercream - this is a very dry scent, not creamy or buttery at all (which I am OK with, as sometimes buttercream goes sour on my skin). I would think that those who enjoy Café Mille's coffee and spice combo might enjoy this. That's what it's reminding me of. It's lovely. The spices lean more towards allspice and cardamom (I don't get any anise, which is surprising as it can be a bully note). The cinnamon is there, but it's not that overwhelming cinnamon hot-heart type cinnamon, and you can still smell the other spices. As this dries, it is way more about the spice than the coffee! I'm not sure I can even smell the coffee anymore... Dry: This gets better as it dries, the spices calm down a bit and let the coffee come back through. It really does remind me of Café Mille, and I may have to death match them to see if I need both. I am getting to the point in my collection where I have TOO MANY and have to be more selective of what I keep....

Harvest Moons have such a special place in my heart! When I started collecting in 2005 it was the first Lunacy I purchased (I still have that cobalt bottle!) and then I loved it so much I purchased it again in 2006 (the label on that one is one of my favourite of all time!). I'm really excited that Beth has gone back to a traditional Names of the Moons series. Wet: Rich, complex. Spicy, with an almost brown-sugary type note that I am loving, but also something bright and citrusy peeking out. I can detect clove, woods, fruit and a hint of leaves and smoke, all laid over a crisp autumn breeze with the scent of freshly baked goods wafting along it. The brown sugar note is unexpected and lovely. The cedar is fairly subdued, but I can tell it needs some aging to lose it's edge. This smells nothing like 2005 or 2006, and I love that about it. It's still in the same family though, of "late summer, early autumn captured in a scent". Dry: The cedar amps up a bit - it really does need some aging, but I can tell it's going to be lovely with the leaves, spices and fruit. I think I am going to cherish this just as much as my 05 and 06. <3

Thank you so much to the sweet friend who snagged this for me! <3 Wet: Dragon's blood is a note I sometimes struggle with, but this is the more "floral" less spicy DB note, to my nose. I also pick up hints of green with the strawberry that make this totally delightful. The DB almost smells like lilacs to me? Which works amazingly with the strawberry. I thought this would be candy sweet, made ever sweeter by DBR, but instead it's a fresh, natural smelling strawberry floral scent. It's quite beautiful, and not at all what I expected. It makes me hope that Lilith will continue to make perfumes - she certainly has a flair for it! Dry: It sweetens up a bit more as it dries, and turns more from a fresher strawberry note to the more candy-like strawberry I was expecting. It's still totally lovely though, and there are still enough floral DB hints to keep it out of the realm of sickly sweet. It's a very innocent scent, and I really enjoy it, but would likely keep it even if I didn't - made by Lilith, and with that label, how could I not? <3

I love quite a few of the Laces, but not all of them. I am also wary of the apple, but still very excited to try this! Wet: Quite a bit of apple, but it's OK so far, doesn't smell artificial or like a candle. Under the apple is the familiar scent the laces all seem to share - vanilla, tobacco and an ineffable quality that makes them really special. The smoky aspect is gorgeous. This is going to ago so well! An autumnal scent, for sure. I think the fact that it's "apple wine" rather than just apple is really making this work on my skin. It's really pretty. Dry: Smoky, sweet, a tiny bit incensey, "lacy" tobacco. I really like it, and I think with some age I will LOVE it.

This was the only blind bottle from this series for me - I can't even tell you exactly why, this one just spoke to me. Wet: Wow, that's gorgeous. Very perfumey (in a good way) and feminine. Amber, ambergris and chypre are the main notes on me, with the faintest hints of smoky clove and tobacco. I don't think I get any rose, which I am OK with (it often steals the show). As always with a strong chypre, this is so much more than the some of its parts. Oooh, I am glad I got this! I had doubts right after I ordered, as I bought it in haste and then really couldn't decide WHY, based on the notes, but this is so different from anything I have, and truly gorgeous, I must have just had a brilliant psychic moment when I picked it. Dry: I really wish I could do this scent justice in my description of it, but it's just so difficult to describe, as none of the notes are prominent, it is so well blended, and so much more than the sum of it's parts. The feeling of it starts with sweet and perfumey amber, but it's so much more than that. The chypre is really something special in this. Either the ambergris, or a component of the chypre makes this musky in a way I adore. The tobacco is so faint, but I can just barely pick it out. It's almost like a cross between tobacco and tobacco flower. This is beautiful, feminine and sophisticated on me. So glad I got a bottle.

I got this as a free sniffie bottle from my lovely decantress <3. Wet: The wine and the ash are the strongest notes, and surprisingly they smell lovely together. Also surprising is the fact that the wine smells great on me- normally it smells like grape cough syrup, but this is the second scent I have tried lately with wine and loved (the other was Behind the Veils). This is deep, rich, a bit sweet, but also a bit sour/tart (in a pleasant way). The wine and ash seem to balance each other out perfectly. Dry: A rich wine and amber scent, darkened by hints of ash that make it a tad moody (in a way I really like). It's somehow a bit incensey as well. I have never liked a really strong wine scent before, and that makes me think I should have more of this one! So I think I will....

Maybe Gomorrah ripe fig, date and currant with black herbs. ? Or Eden fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood. (But I feel like that's not as likely)

Wet: ??? I don't know what I am smelling. It smells like damp soil. I guess that's the asphodel? It's quite pleasant. If "clean dirt" makes any sense at all, that's what I am getting, along with sweet amber. Actually, I am wondering if I am getting vetiver as well, if that's what the smoke note is. Very interesting. This does conjure up an image of the sun blotted out. It's a dark scent. I quite like it so far, it's neat. Very atmospheric. Dry: Interesting. Sweet, smoky but somehow clean. It's different. Very light once dry. The amber is much colder in this than it usually is. Having a hard time describing it. I think it needs another test once it has settled, but right now I enjoy it but not enough to grab a bottle I don't think.

Wet: Mmmm, tobacco. Can one have too many tobacco scents? No, no one cannot. The sweetness of the amber and the floral notes from the rockrose are lovely with the tobacco. This tobacco has an almost fruity note to it. It's interesting. It is also fresh out of the mailbox today, but I have no idea how long these will be up for, so I am testing them now. Dry: This is beautiful. I ADORE tobacco scents, and this is one of the best I have come across. I also love amber, so the combo here is amazing for me. The ambergris isn't really identifiable, but adds a muskiness. The florals fade completely. This is all about the tobacco (which is chewy, rich and sweet) and the amber. I need a bottle!