LizziesLuck

Wet: Despite the description this smells more like strawberry candy than fresh strawberry to me. Or maybe cooked down strawberry with some sugar? I was expecting the strawberry from strawberry moon - this is not it. I thought at first maybe it was the lack of green note that made it seem less fresh, but no, this is for sure a different strawberry note. For me, it's currently missing that tartness that a real strawberry has under the sweet. It's not bad, and at least it's not going plastic, but it's not my favourite strawberry either. Dry: Much more like the strawberry note I was hoping for - some of the sweetness fades, and some fresh tartness creeps in. It's nice, but honestly I like slightly more complex strawberry scents I think. Great if you wanted straight up strawberry or a layering note though! Also, really good lasting power for any fruit scent, those often disappear on me.

Wet: Sprite! Or very near. Citrus and fizz. It seems light hearted and fun, but then something sinister and dark creeps in underneath. It's like a dark, slightly earthy floral note? Or something? No it's more green than floral. Like grass and Sprite whizzed up in the blender. Which is surprisingly pleasant to sniff, but also feels like it's starting to give me a headache. Dry: Mostly sprite again, but less fizzy. There are still hints of the green. It's really quite a nice, fresh scent! Didn't actually give me a headache, I just thought I was getting one.

I can't say enough how gorgeously creamy Vasilissa is!! I also agree strongly with Sudha Segara and Dana O'Shee. Not sure if the Lights of Men's Lives would be creamy enough for you, but since it's GC it's easy enough to find out! It's so pretty. Love's Philosophy is gorgeous vanilla cream, and on me the saffron keeps it from being too foodie. Since it was re-released recently, it has also become not too hard to find! Since you like Antique Lace I feel like the new Zorya Polunochnaya would be a good choice, as they have a very similar feel to me: Pale amber and ambergris, gossamer vanilla, moonflower, and white tobacco petals. (Not so) Penitent (Mini) Magdalene is lovely and creamy and very unique. Hope you find more non-foodie scents you love! And welcome back!

There's something kind of cat-pee like about this - like there's pine in it? That fades really quickly though and I get sugary lemon and peach. It's nice and light an inoffensive and I think it'll be great for work.

I didn't try this originally because the notes aren't me AT ALL, but then I saw reviews saying it smells like shampoo, and I had to have it!! I have been looking for HG that smells like shampoo so I can get away with wearing it to work but still get the benefits of it that I have come to rely on. Sprayed on my shirt for ease of sniffing - yep, a bit like shampoo! But gorgeous, fruity/floral shampoo. So clean and lovely smelling. I adore it and am so glad I snagged a bottle, it's perfect.

Uh oh - this smells like cologne in the bottle to me. hoping it's not too masculine on me! I rarely care for really masculine scents. Wet: For a second it's straight up aftershave, but then it warms and turns into the world's best commercial-but-better-perfume. Like Media, BFJA and Ava it has that "mass market" feel and appeal, but just so much better cuz it's BPAL. It's what commercial perfume WISHES it could be. Dry: There's metal in this. I amp metal notes like crazy, so even though I imagine there is the tiniest bit in there, it's dominant on me. This smells identical to Torture Queen or any other scent with a hint of metal in it on me, because my skin turns it to single note. *cry*. So sad!!! This was GORGEOUS for a few mins, but now it's warm metal. I will age it a bit and try again, but I am very sad. I had high hopes for this!!

Wet: Umfg, orange and tobacco is such a brilliant combo, and the hay gives it a perfumey quality I love so much. This is gooood. If the orange doesn't go off on me, this will be an absolute keeper. Dry: So. Good. Simple but gorgeous, I love it. The tobacco and hay keep the orange from going powdery on me, which is awesome, I love orange and can rarely wear it. I feel like this will be a wonderful early fall scent - it's bright, but grounded. Love it! So happy to have it.

Wet: Mmm, musk! Rich, fruity musk, almost grapey, but in a really good way. There's hints of spice and an earthiness about it. Oh this is gooood. Dry: I can't describe it, I have no words. It's like no white or dark musk or amber I have ever smelled. It's a thing unto it's own! And I really like it. I will need to test it some more though, I have a feeling this is one of those scents that changes a lot with both age and skin chem.

Wet: Metal (very faint) and smooth rich Myrrh. It's sweet, and there's something earthy about it. It's a mix of warm and cool notes, which is really neat. It still manages to be harmonious. Interesting! Dry: Myrrh single note - which is typical, I amp it. It's gorgeous, but I really wanted cigarillo smoke with the Myrrh! I'll age it and give it another go.

I am excited about this, more based on the idea I think - I often don't do well with scents with too many notes, my skin is too unpredictable on what it will pick up and amp to high heaven... Wet: There is a green note in this that is stunning, and then something minty? Nope, not minty...but cool feeling. Interesting, I'm not getting any Myrrh and I figured I would amp that to the point of drowning everything else out. One of the "green growing things" is for sure The Lab's grass note, it's now coming through loud and clear. I love that smell. Hoping for some honey though to sweeten it up! Dry: It sweetens up, and the ozone manifests in a really beautiful clean, rain-fresh sort of scent. The grass is there still, but there are other green growing things, and it's lovely. It smells like new life. I very much enjoy it.

The scene that this scent represents is one of my favourite parts of the book, so I think I would have needed to try this no matter what the notes were. As it is, these notes are pretty iffy on me, though I love oak. Wet: Hmm! That's not what I was expecting! Tough to describe, but I have never smelled a scent like this before. At this stage in the game, I find few scents that are really unique - this is. There's something bright and sharp about it (in a pleasant way - like citrus but not citrus?) and it's both smoky and ashy, but again in a really pleasant way. There's sweetness and incense and wood also. I don't get the DB at all (and I usually amp it) unless it's the tiny hints of spice I am picking up. This is sooo interesting! Very atmospheric. Unisex. Neat. Dry: The dry down has that sour/sweet ashy scent at the forefront. Interesting, and not unpleasant at all, but not really something I want to wear. Very atmospheric, but not a perfume I want to wear. I'm going to keep it though and see how it ages - it is really neat and I am glad I tried it.

Wet: Oooh! That honey mead note is almost effervescent, and the musk is sparkly, and the anise note from the fennel is yuuuumm. It also has a somewhat clean vibe I was not expecting, I thought this would be dark and heavy. So far it smells bright and clean and springy. Dry: Nothing. I waited too long to revisit it and it faded away to nothing! Sad. I will age it a bit, as it was promising. See if that gives it some lasting power. It was pretty while it lasted.

Wet: Blarg! It smells like bubblegum?! Why?? No, it's not bubblegum - it smells like sauce. Like that sweet red sauce you dip Chinese chicken balls in. That's what this smells like. Like Chinese food. SO. ODD. Dry: Perfumey sweet and sour sauce. Seriously still getting Chinese sauce undertones here, and it's freaking me out. It's perfumey at the same time. I cannot pick out a single note. It's given me a headache. I will revisit this later, but currently it's freakin me out like nothing has since that time Round Dance smelled like hotdogs on me and I couldn't figure out why.

This sounded like it might smell somewhere in the vein of Dana O'Shee, which I really like, and I can't resist honey, so I had to at least try it! I assumed there would be Dragon's Blood in it, but looking at the colour in the vial, I doubt it now. Wet: The cream note is strongest at first, and reminds me of the cream note in Boo There's something a bit floral - I wonder if it's the oil note, like an olive sort of floral vibe? It's absolutely lovely. Quite sweet, but I can't really identify the honey. Something is a bit spicy. It totally reminds me of Greece somehow, maybe it's just the imagery of offerings to the Gods, maybe it's this olive oil/flower idea that I now have in my head, I don't know but it's taking me back to Greece and I love it. It's gorgeous and unique, which is not what I was expecting from a milk/honey scent. Smells nothing like Alice minus the florals, as I had half expected it would, nothing like Dana O'Shee. This is one of those "way more than the sum of its parts" scents. American Gods have been knocking my socks off! Dry: Cream, something perfumey which I have decided is olive oil, sweetness and a very faint copper tang of blood. I love it way more than I expected and want a bottle.

I can't do violet, gives me a headache, and patchouli just hasn't been what I reach for lately, but let's face it, with a name like that I had to try this! Wet: Sweet, green and patchouli is what I get, and it weirdly reminds me of Banshee Beat for a moment, but then I sniff again. It is a similar patch to BB though, not a dirty patch to me at all. It must be the oak leaf that is giving this a green, fresh vibe? And the opoponax adds a syrupy sweetness. Ya this is nice! Totally not the dirty gravel patch scent I was expecting. I do get faint hints of stone, but they're lovely, not dirty at all. Smells more like clean rocks picked out of a swiftly flowing river. I get no violet, and I almost don't want to type that for fear of jinxing myself! Ya this is good, and if it stays this good I want a bottle. Man, I always forget how much I LOVE opoponax! Mmm, sweet dark resiny goodness. Dry: This goes through a brief phase of really muddy, dirty patch and I hate it, but then it recovers and gets really good again. It's difficult to describe, but I get sweet resiny opoponax, something green (assuming the oak leaf) and some rich Myrrh which I think is what eventually squashes the patchouli. Patch fades into the background and just adds earthiness, which is fine by me. I really can't detect the violet, but there is a vague perfumey quality, which I am assuming comes from the violet. This is a lovely resinous scent and I do think I will eventually get a bottle. American Gods is going to bankrupt me.

Wet: Somehow this combo of notes ends up smelling like fresh cut grass and damp earth...huh? Incredibly pleasant, actually, but not at all what I expected. I like it! I guess the soap is reading as grass (some people say BPAL's grass note is soapy? I dunno) and the patchouli is of the really dry, earthy variety rather than gnarly or chewy. So ya, I'm getting grass and earth. It smells clean and springy. Very nice! Dry: Still very clean. Really lovely. Perfumey and sweet at the same time, but so light. It's really quite gorgeous, though not at all what I expected. The patchouli adds depth but is totally not recognizable as patchouli, same with the champaca. Even the soap still smells sorta grassy to me. I like this! Might be on the bottle list for work appropriate scents, which is crazy when you consider the notes. A neat scent!

Wet: I hate aquatics, but this is different. It smells so clean and light and fresh, it's impossible not to like! My stupid work went "scent-sensitive" and it's KILLING me, but this will be super safe to wear, it just smells like sweet cleanliness. Lovely! If you love clean scents you have to try this. Dry: It's like clean water from a mountain spring, with a hint of the nicest soap ever. The most universally inoffensive thing I have ever smelled. I love it, and will buy a bottle (or several!) for work. If you like Boober, you have to try this. I like it even better than Boober.

The notes reminded me a bit of Jiggery Pokery, which is my most favourite orange scent, so I had high hopes for this, plus I really just felt like I needed to own it. Beth is such a genius, she cracks me up. Wet: Peppery orange! It's immediately a nonsensical sort of smell and it makes me smile. Slight effervescence from the gin. Creamy. There's a cake-like note in there I was not expecting, but am quite enjoying. It reminds me of something from my childhood - couldn't tell you what, but it's totally making me smile. Dry: Creamy orange with hints of spicy carnation. It's sweet, bright, a little spicy. I like it a lot! Great for warm months.

I haven't tried the original Buck Moon. I have sniffed it in the bottle, I believe, but honestly can't rememeber anything about it. Wet: Wow, this smells a lot like Samhain, but without the horrid medicinal note that hates my skin. Intead I get pine/cate pee of doom. Blarg. So not what I was hoping for! Sometimes pine pitch is OK where pine is not (like Pickled Imp) but this is not one of those cases. My arm smells like mentholated cat pee and Samhain. HOWEVER, it's settling, and giving me some hope. There are some gorgeous notes in there, and they are starting to emerge. There's something really sweet and creamy and lovely happening. I think age might fix the pine issue as well, it's already receding into the background. Mmm, that musk!! Dry: Ya, I am still getting a Samhain vibe from this, but it's much better on me that Samhain ever was. The pine gets smoothed right out, no more cat pee! It's creamy, musky, woody, sweet, spicy. Slightly wild, a bit feral. Hard to describe, but I love it. A keeper, I'm glad I got it, even though it was not remotely what I was expecting.

Wet: Ugh. I knew there was a chance the orange blossom or oudh would ruin this for me, and wet orange blossom certainly is. Bitter. Smells like wet cardboard and powdered orange bathroom cleaner. and sadness. I love all the other notes, so hopefully it dries OK! Dry: Actually, really awesome. I thoroughly enjoy this dry. It's mostly a really dry honey note (which I have never experiences before, and I like it) with saffron and hints of orange (also very dry). The whole scent feels dry and exotic and I really like it! Will see if age makes the wet stage more tolerable.

Wet: Like someone stuck a cold creamsicle into a cup of hot tea. Not at all what I expected, but super yummy! The tea quickly takes over though. It's quite a perfumey tea, not as bitter as white tea usually is on me (I typically don't like it, but this is nice). There is a bit of a bitter edge, but it's well balanced by the sweet citrus kicks I get from the bergamot, and the hints of silvery musk coming through. Very interesting! Quite a clean sort of scent (but not reminiscent of laundry at all). Dry: Somewhat soapy tea. Which is surprisingly more pleasant than you would think, however not for me.

Wet: Mmm. Pretty. Hemp, honey, beeswax, currant, honeysuckle - all the notes come through in unison and are blended gorgeously together. I think the honey comes through a tiny bit stronger than the others, but they are all very present, and sooo beautiful. Dry: I love this. It dries down to a soft honey scent (one of my fave notes) with hints of fruit and green and floral. So lovely. I likely need a bottle.

In that case, armed with that knowledge for your desire to experience honey/amber and honey/light musk dominant blends, let: Blossoms in Springtime, O, Harikata, The Lights of Men's Lives, and This Wan White Humming Hive be your first hunts! Let us know how you go! Harikata sounds amazing! I have to hunt down a bottle of that! Anactoria, Sleeping Nymphs, and A Wonderful Light sound awesome as well! Definitely keeping an eye open for those! And possibly Creeper Dragon and Mrs. Bunce. I have a teeny amount of Blossoms in Springtime, so I rarely use it. So I tested it again and yep, amazing! Need more! And I should mention that I amp beeswax, so as nice as Wan White Hummingbird and Lights of Men's Lives are, they turn into beeswax single note on my skin.Edit: I'm realizing that I have a lot more scents like this in my collection than I thought :-P Harikata is gorgeous, but has a really strong orchid (vanilla flower) note that drowns out the honey, at least on my skin. Still totally worth trying though. I just got a bottle of Kypris, and it's a new honey fave - Peru balsam, vanilla bean, Rainier cherry, bitter almond, golden honey, rose water, lemon peel, sugar cane, and benzoin. If you like a bit of spice, you might also try Bartholomaeus Anglicus’ Phoenix scorched, honeyed cedar and carob wood aflame with amber, cinnamon, and red sandalwood.

Wet: Fucking tobacco flower!! I am so sick of amping this note to high heaven. It is so crazy strong on me in everything, turning it into a single note, essentially. I guess I should know better at this point. There is something else coming through a bit, and it's actually making it worse - a sort of sour green smell. This is not good on me at all. Dry: Ok, ok, so I was all mad at the tobacco flower, but it has calmed down a bit, and I can smell the other notes a little bit. I do actually like tobacco flower, it's just that I hate that all tobacco flower scents smell almost identical on me. I think I have enough of them that I likely don't need to keep this one, though it is quite nice.

Wet: Mmm, coffee with a whole bunch of interesting subtleties. Hints of floral come through. A bit of champaca. Lovely. Sweet, but not overly so. A hint creamy, but somehow not gourmand. It's like incensey, perfumey coffee. It's quite close to the skin. Dry: An incensey coffee scent, quite dry, just sweet enough to be really lovely. I like it a lot. I like coffee scents a lot, so not surprising. I also LOVE the name! Happy to have it.