Jenjin

Soft, green and figgy just at first, the sweeter woodsy notes come out during the drydown. I am in my second year of growing figs in my backyard, and finally they have fruited. This is very much like smelling my little plump figs. Hints of harvest day, walking through a wooded outdoor market filled with winter squashes, melons and fruits. I love the gentle sweetness from the sugary honey, mixed with evergreens and mosses. Delicately beautiful, this is another unexpected gem I am so glad I got to try.

Oh WOW! I passed this by when it first came out, thinking it would be darker and too masculine for me. This takes be immediately back to my childhood. My Mom would buy the glass jars of Lipton instant ice tea. I hated to drink it, but loved the scent of the powder just after the paper was torn off the top and a "poof" of tea smoke would rise above. I'm getting little wiffs of that experience, along with the smoothness of gorgeous cashmere. The leather is rich and smooth in the background, mixing with the tobacco it really does smell expensive!

Salty, sweaty leathered hides, i'm picturing pirates working the deck of a creaky ship tied to ocean shores. Barnacle crusted trunks down below and burnt candlesticks stubbed out. This smells like a classic BPAL to me, another one from "A Picnic in Arkham" mashed with the lab's beeswax note. Editing to add the drydown is luscious, shaggy leather, really nice.

Pink, pearly beachy aquatic without going soapy! I could see this in the GC sitting right next to The Sea Foams Milk and Y'ha-Nthlei. They would be the coolest mermaids. I do get a tiny bit of bubblegum just after slathering it on that fades away. The pink musk is very gentle, smooth without being overly sweet, a strong crystalline water note jumps forward on me after it's completely dry. This is uplifting, fresh and makes me feel like i'm on an exotic vacation, sitting by pink oceans illuminated by the amber setting sun. An experience to wear and the perfect 'tropical' for me.

A smoky, Japanese incense bomb upfront. It's alot like straight up smelling a joss stick, maybe sinking your face into the whole box. This is the good stuff, think the ultimate Shoyeido, all aromatic woods, resins and spices. I'm getting myrrh, frankincense and Egyptian amber along with the floral, a goth lover's dream. After a few minutes the blood red carnation opens it's dewy petals, swirling around with the deep-dark background in a magnificent way. I could definitely see this in the OLLA collection. Meditative and relaxing, I want to languish in this scent. Lazing around on brocade cushions with bamboo wind-chimes, the breeze blowing through carnations in the garden dreaming of long-lost love.

This is rich and has my favorite, rooty patchouli in it, syrupy, with tiny whiffs of something "purple" like sweet grapes or wine. What a warm, spicy treat! The copal is sticky and ceremonial, a luscious little nugget. This isn't the smoke when the resin is burned, but more like the plant itself, deep-green, earthy, husky weeping golden sap. The vanilla is deep, like freshly sliced vanilla pods and sweetens in the drydown, grounding down the velvety sandalwood. All the notes swirl together beautifully into a transformative dream: I am sitting at the base of the World Tree. The fires that burn at the "Gate to Heaven" are being prepared, and I am breathing in deeply as our passage slowly comes to light.

Obsessed with finding something similar to Rendezvous at the Bath, my favorite green tea blend. Also, i've been smashing and burning tons of juniper berries lately. They are so sweet and fill the air with sugared sap, so I was hoping this might take me to that same tranquil space. This goes on very similar, clean, spa-like and i'm getting all those fat, plump little berries. Juniper berry is VERY different from straight up Juniper, I think of them as little conifer raisins. The green tea and sandalwood are also there, mingling and giving it a deeper richness. I'm not getting much of the bamboo, which typically goes bitter on me, and here is mostly a 'still-water' note. The drydown becomes even sweeter, almost ladylike, and i'm picturing a Japanese garden with a beautiful geisha sipping sugared green tea.

High-end elegance, like an ethereal jumpsuit with a jaunty birdcage hat. I'm a huge fan of spicy tuberose, and the lab's couture-type fragrances, perfect for wearing to a fancy pants outdoor soirèe, or between satin sheets. What beauty lies beneath the surface upon warm, sun-lit skin. Reminds me a bit of "Ava" and "The Bride", while coming across as even more complex, and enchanted.

I'm getting buttery salt water taffy without the sugar. Like rolling up a handful of freshly dug beach salt and mixing it with cream and crystals. Very much like sniffing a star I think, if a star were a giant sparkling salty rock you dug from silver mud. I'm a geology nerd in the worst sort of way so all of these make me dream. Brava!!!!

Have you tried Media from American Gods? I LOVE Ava too and probably reach for Media more often. Fake News too, but it is a little more unisex if you're into that at all.

When I use the last drop of my backup bottle the tears will flow. I love this more than Castitas and that's saying alot. It is probably the most beautiful scent i've ever encountered. The End

Deeply elegant, this transports me into a dark, lily-lined chamber heavy with swinging censers and torn lace. Utterly beautiful and sophisticated, it gives my shabby living room a lux tone, with gothic shadows and black bats. None of the florals dominate here, the rose is so very deep and pitched with purple opium, while the lily adds decaying spice. Something about this makes me feel like i'm within a vampire costume shop, velvet curtains and capes all around, rich with long forgotten cologne and blood stains. Part of my wants to tuck this away, so I have plenty left for next fall, but when I spray this all around, it makes everything enchanted and filled with romantic gloom. The best atmos are tranformative and Lucy's Room takes me directly to Dracula's castle, I can practically hear Lucy hissing in my ear. LOVE

This is the 'poof' you get after pouring a big, frosty mug of root beer in a frozen mug. Smashing your mouth down into the brilliant, blanket of foam and savoring the sweet, creamy cloud. It calms down quickly as the cedar comes forward, giving it a base. Ahhhh, this is so lovely, drying down to a dry, herbal treasure. I would call it a skin scent, giving me an additional layer of sugary, warm sweetness. I've tried most of the lab's root beers, and i'm thinking this is absolutely my dreamcometrue root beer scent.

Funky, sweet musk, Benitoite has a sexy vibe, the "blue" almost like skin under pressure and rubs. A sultry, cool scent with a deepness very much like earth or sand inside a tide pool. It reminds me of being in the clay studio mixing earth on the pugmill, wet, grinding earth and sparkling pebbles turning and crushing with the water. The salty, creamy vanilla-like musk makes it animalistic in the beginning, like a sweaty, golem beast rolling down damp, coastal shores: "MY LIGHT FORM". It dries down into a cool and unusual vanilla on me, I would compare to Pediophobia. Over the years I have been pleasantly surprised by many of the anniversary scents, Benitointe included.

Round Dance and Pere Noel are very candy-like

Owl Moon

A tiny creature with a wingspan less than two inches wide, she thrives on diversity but has a taste for mustard. She may be small, but she is fierce: one cabbage white butterfly can be the matriarch of generations of millions. Orris root, orris butter, lily of the valley, and vanilla cream. The double hit of orris here transforms into a fatty violet, fruity, sweet and waxy floral with vintage overtones. I get a little bit of lily in the background, giving it a certain, damp coolness, like walking through a rainy meadow filled with silvery mist. The yummy vanilla is so creamy, it's alot like a delicious violet ice cream with the perfect amount of sweetness. I'm going to dot this on my pillow tonight because I find this incredibly soothing and perhaps the perfect sleep scent. EDITING to add that I opened and applied this the day it arrived and it screamed of talcum powder. I wasn't sure it was wearable for me, so I stuck it in my storage box and forgot about it. I think this one needs a bit of aging before testing.

Walking through soft sands and crushing stone, the purple blooming sage and brittle woods waft upward, while a big, orange dripping sun is melting into the landscape.Spicy, herbal and woody, i'm getting a different experience with each sniff. It is very transformative and literally takes me someplace else that is quiet and humming with beauty.

The name of this moon refers to the color of wild ground phlox, a primary component of this Lunacy Blend, which is one of the most widespread floral signposts of springtime in North America. This Lunar blend is soft with phlox, tulip, daffodil, pink columbine, delphinium, pink carnation, peony, and muscari, dusted with pink sugar and honey, bourbon vanilla and a touch of the first strawberries of the season. Just after application, I'm getting a wonderful mix of mostly peony and spicy carnation. This is a gorgeous blend of some of my favorite girly florals with a tiny bit of strawberry which I would call more of a tart berry blossom. It's sweet, but not in a candy sweet way which makes this pinky more mature than some of the earlier, candy sweet versions. Imagine sinking your face into a big bouquet made of perfect spring with just the right amount of spice to make it sexy. The honey is barely there, and seems to be mixing with the daffodil to warm things up. I'm also getting the silvery moon lunar note when I smell up close. It's really nice and makes it all crystalline and illuminated. The dry-down plumps up and takes on a bit more of the pink sugar, but it's balanced by the spiciness of the carnation and remains like the sweetness of a nectar filled flower, rather than cloying cottoncandy. I'm looking at the moon through heart-shaped, rose-tinted glasses and it smells like happiness.

I went through this for awhile when I was obsessed with Insects The closest GC scents I found to be similar are The Witch Queen and Bewitched. Neither have that green glittering smell at the beginning however.

This is a teeny tiny bottle of amazingness! It helped clear the air around her and the only drawback is that I need a jug of this stuff. I've been adding drops into my homemade cleaning spray, the bath, even my vacuum bag. I love the way it smells and wish my house could smell this way all the time. Like I said, I need and desire so much more of this beauty.

Sultry and sophisticated, Nimue goes on with a bright cherry rising up, and in the drydown, deepens into a velvety, luxurious scent. Each time I take a sniff, different things come out, the sweet red fruits, incense, and then something else I can't quite place except to say "fuzzy poison" with a basenote of cozy, cuddly musk. The oud is good stuff! warm and lickable even This is SEXEEEEEE but still very wearable and totally okay to wear in the daytime or on the darkest night. Like Aviatrix mentions above, it's alot like Lady Lucille, but this has a gorgeous basenote I think might be the oud and musk that uff! takes it into that epic BPAL territory. I can't quite explain it, but within all the best BPAL fragrances to me, there's this certain "deepness" or deliciousness that comes out at the drydown that's alot like chewing a buttery piece of fresh caramel. Not in a gourmand way, but in the exquisite way it fills your head and senses. Nimue has that same yumminess, which stole Merlin's heart along with mine.

Most of my young life, I lived in a place with fields of grasses and giant oaks. We also had a trickling stream. It was so far out of the city, my shaggy dog Sadie was my best and closest friend. Over time, I grew very close to the woods surrounding me, the plants especially, singing to the flower's faces, rubbing their delicate petals across my cheeks and fingers. I made countless bouquets. These weren't made of your typical flowers, but of wild, overgrown weeds flowering into seed. Queen Mab's Lace is both beautiful and seductive opening up with a vivid memory of these prickly, bug filled bundles. I would gather them up, carefully choosing the prettiest stems I could find, sappy and sticky in the heat. Wilting almost as soon as they were picked. This scent charms me, entrances me to sway in its wildness, sap trickling down stems, whirling blossoms luring me to sink myself deeper into the halo of fragrance. This is a scent that only gets better as it warms upon the skin, blending and drying down into gorgeous lace that is deeply magical. I step delicately amongst the sun dappled forest, butterflies lifting my gossamer wings to keep them afloat.