Elspethdixon

n the imp/wet - slightly perfume-y amber, with a hint of something warm and dry. Reminds me of some of my NAVA scents Freshly applied - once on, it's more of a creamy, gourmand amber. I can smell hints of the cacao, and it's very soft, warm, and sweet. Five-ten minutes in - The cacao is gone and the cardamom has really come forward. The gourmand aspect has faded, and now it's an oriental spiced amber, like a softer, slightly sweeter version of The Lion with cardamom instead of clove. I can't really smell the myrhh, but I suspect it's giving this a little bit of depth. It's also not like NAVA's sand note at all anymore. Thirty-forty minutes in - slowly morphing into something a little more amber-y and less spicy two hours in/late drydown - creamy honeyed amber, like a softer/less sticky version of O I really like this, but it's similar to several perfumes I already have (I have a lot of honey/vanilla/amber scents). It's very well blended, and morphs just enough over its wear length to keep it interesting.

Wet/in the imp - cool, candied rose scent. Almost minty? Freshly applied - a sort of slightly-minty sugar scent, with a hint of light rose. Think fancy rosewater marshmallows dusted with cool powdered sugar (you know how powdered sugar feels cool in your mouth when it first hits your tongue but then is just sweet? this is like the olfactory version of that). If there's honey in this, it's the soft/gentle/powdery kind of honey rather than the sexy, sticky Womb Fury kind. Five-ten minutes in - There's no musk note listed, but I swear I smell musk in this - maybe it's the sugar? Some musks go super sugary on me. Now that it's started to dry down, my arm smells like home made/artsy hipster cafe/gourmet macaroon-shop-style rosewater marshmallows with a puffy/pillow-y cloud of cool white musk around them. Like a rose-only version of De Vos, but sweeter, stronger, and with a good six inches of throw. I like sweet scents and gourmands, but this almost borders on too sweet/strong for me. This isn't much of a morpher. The scent stays basically the same from this point out - a very sweet candy floss/white musk sugar-syrup rose - and was still going strong five hours later when I got home from work and took a shower.

Wet/in the imp - perfume-y (but a unisex perfume); slightly astringent, slightly sweet-musky Freshly applied - sweet, sugary musk. Maybe a hint of woodsmoke? I cannot emphasize enough how sweet this smells. You know how Devil's Night from the 2016 Weenies was supposed to be "sugar-crusted musk?" This smells like what I expected that to smell like. I get maybe a hint of woodsmoke and animalic fur/hide right up against my skin, but the throw is all sugar-musk. Five-ten minutes in - I'm starting to get hints of the labdanum/resin, but overall Buffalo Man is primarily sweet musk with a hint of smokiness. Throw is limited, and the scent stays close to the skin, but it's strong when I put my nose to my wrist. The animalic/fur musk that some people apparently turn into pickles/vinegar is clearly sugary-sweet on me. Thirty-forty minutes in - The labdanum has come forward more, and the scent has gained an animalic aspect which is toning down the sugary sweetness a bit. But it's still primarily sweet musk. It's a close-to-the-skin scent, but very snuggly and pleasant. By the two-three hour mark, Buffalo Man has faded to a sweet, powdery skin scent (powdery the way black musk sometimes goes on me, rather than powdery late-drydown amber or like orris). A faint hint of baby-powder-y skin musk lingered on my skin for the rest of the day. I don't think I need a bottle, but this imp is definitely a keeper. Sweet, snuggly musk with a hint of woodsmoke. It does smell brown, but brown like brown sugar being gently carmelized, not brown like buffalo hide.

It's from the Post, not the Lab, but I'm pretty sure Mischief hair gloss from the new CD update smells an awful lot like Harley Quinn. Or at least, that's what I was hoping yesterday when I ordered it Catwoman is either Bast from the American Gods line, or Whip from the GC, for obvious reasons.

Amicitia is my favorite fig blend, followed closely by Figgy Pudding (alas, almost all the GC scents with fig have patchouli in them, which rules them out for me).

The imp was in my jeans pocket for an hour or so before I applied it, so the oil was already warmed to close to body temperature when I opened it and put it on. Wet/in imp - a hint of leather and a blast of fruity sweetness that borders on cloying Freshly applied - a hint of spicy Christmas-candle bay leaves, a touch of leather, and a blast of fruity rum. As it dries on my skin, the cloying fruitiness fades and the spicy bay berries/leaves comes forward. This is nice - Christmas-y without smelling like evergreens or holiday baking. Five minutes in - Manly Christmas candle, but in a good way. Ten minutes in - Manly Christmas candle keeps on Christmas-ing. The skin on the inside of my wrist/forearm where I applied it is starting to feel slightly warm/tingly, but I'm not sure if that's actually a reaction to Baron Samedi itself, or a sympathetic/psychosomatic reaction to the "wtf did I secretly put on icyhot?" oakmoss reaction going on on my other arm (testing Robin Goodfellow on that one). Thirty minutes in - The tingly feeling has gone away, but the manly bay leaves-plus-hint-of-leather/rum non-foodie masculine Christmas candle scent continues. This would probably be much better on a guy, but it's not bad on me. I don't need a bottle, but I'll definitely keep the imp.

The imp was in my jeans pocket for an hour or so before I applied it, so the oil was already warmed to close to body temperature when I cracked it open. Wet/in imp - herbal/forest-y outdoors. Sharp/clean without being citrus-y or pine-y. Freshly applied - sharp/sour and fusty. I can still catch a hint of the clean/herbalness, but the sour fustiness is mostly drowning it out. Also my skin feels tingly-weird on the inside of my wrist where I applied it. This is my first time trying anything with oakmoss in it, and I'm starting to suspect oakmoss might not be my friend. Five minutes in - The fustiness has become soapiness with a hint of outdoorsy showergel. This was so lovely in the imp. Where did that clean outdoorsy herbal forest go? No visible redness like with cinnamon, but my skin still feels weird where I applied it, as if I rubbed icy-hot there. Looks like oakmoss is a definite no for me. (ETA: And I've just remembered that Faiza from the CD line also has oakmoss... and IRRC also gave me a mild skin reaction and I couldn't figure out why. I guess now I know). Ten minutes in - On the one hand, the soapiness has faded somewhat and I can smell the clean forest again, if only faintly. On the other hand, my skin is starting to turn red and itch slightly. My arm stopped itching/burning a little while later, and then I forgot to take any notes on the scent for the rest of the day. The soapy, outdoor-forest-themed showergel scent lasted on my skin for hours at a low-throw/skin scent level, nowhere near the lovely crisp herbal-forest smell from the imp, nut not unpleasant, as manly soap products go. I'm not sure what turned it into soap/showergel, since the notes don't mention any pine or ozone or aquatic notes, which are the usual soap/dryer sheet culprits on me - maybe the black/dark musk? I wouldn't be able to wear it even if it the wonderful early wet stage had stuck around, though, since I'm apparently allergic to it.

In the imp/wet - rich chocolate-coffee ice cream, like coffee candy. Utterly amazing. Freshly applied - creamy coffee candy/mocha sundae with an edge of curry spice. Weirdly good, just this side of cloying. Five-ten minutes in - the coffee candy sundae has become a wave of sweet, spicy curry. I want to eat my arm. Not in a sexy way, but in a "how long is it until lunch, again?" way. Fifteen-twenty minute mark - All curry, all the time. I had goat curry for lunch once at a local restaurant in Bermuda, and Jeweled Spider is pretty much a dead ringer for that lunch, complete with a hint of the iced coffee I had with it (so A+ for realism, I guess). I love gourmands, but I'm not sure curried goat stew from the beach-front bar next to Mangrove Bay is something I want to smell like all day long. I may keep this imp around for the nostalgia value, though - that was the first vacation my wife and I ever went on together and that day was our favorite day of the trip. Two hour mark - The curry has faded away, but it took most of the rest of the scent with it. I can get traces of soft tobacco-cooffee-vanilla-hint-of-savory-spice if I press my nose directly to my wrist, but even that is fading now. (ETA: Actually, a trace of tobacco hung around as a nose-to-my-wrist skin scent for several more hours)

In the imp/wet - light, perfume-y vanilla, reminiscent of a softer Pediophobia Freshly applied - cool, hazy, slightly floral vanilla. There's a hint of something faintly soapy, probably the ambergris. Five-ten minutes in - light, airy vanilla and white musk, like the cool, pale sister of Pediophobia. It makes me think of fluffy white clouds and clean white sheets. Has a good two inches of throw (okay, well, two inches is good on my dry, oil-eating skin). Fifteen-twenty minute mark - same as 5-10. Two hour mark - by two hours, it's faded to an airy vanilla skin scent. The perfume-y white musk gauze-iness has changed to a clean, slightly creamy sort of skin musk, like being freshly scrubbed and going to bed in a clean, white nightgown. It reminds me of hugging my mother for some reason.

The Intangibles for Orisa is perfect! (and of course Hanzo and Genji are both Ars Draconis scents! I should have thought of that).

Like several other people in this thread, I initially avoided tobacco scents because I was afraid it would be similar to cigarette smoke (and even just the scent of that on a smoker's clothes can trigger asthma and/or migraines for me), but after finally trying Antikythera Mechanism, I realized that no, it's glorious on me and not cigarette-smoke-like at all. I grew up in the Southeast, so you'd think "cured tobacco = inside of a tobacco barn =/= cigarette smoke" should have been a no-brainer, but somehow it wasn't. My favorite tobacco scents so far: Antikythera Mechanism: I get oak/teak/cozy wood, caramelized tobacco, and just a hint of vanilla. It's a warm, dry scent on me rather than a sweet, vanilla-y one (in fact, I often layer it with Light of Men's Lives to add more vanilla and beeswax to it). It reminds me a little of a restaurant in VA that's a beloved family tradition - the building is an old tobacco warehouse, and when you go up the stairs to the top level of seating, you can smell the massive old wooden floor and ceiling beams overhead and around you, which are still permeated with a faint tobacco scent from years of having hogsheads of tobacco stored there. Dark Chocolate, Black Tobacco, and Vetiver: My skin eats chocolate notes, so this is all sweet/warm tobacco (I've heard this compared to the French Tobacco SN, which if so, means that that LE probably ought to be my holy grail) and smoky/warm vetiver. It smells like warm, sweet/dark hot wood, like being inside the world's most wonderful exotic-wood-paneled sauna. It's more humid/not as dry as Antikythera Mechanism, and both darker and sweeter. Pleasures of the Imagination III: Humid, sexy tobacco with a hint of leather (miraculously, the leather in this behaves and doesn't amp and dominate everything) and sweet/faintly-spicy honey-benzoin. This is both really humid and really sexy. Smokestack: I'm convinced that this has tobacco in it alongside the really obvious vetiver. It smells like a GC scent cousin to DCBT&V, except a little less humid/sticky, without the hint of chocolate at the beginning and with more a more campfire smoky-vetiver and a hint of maple syrup on the drydown. Other faves that include tobacco but aren't tobacco-dominant: Mars Ultor - mostly black amber with a hint of nutmeg, but I can tell the tobacco is there because it's similar to a lighter/softer, sweeter/less-dry Antikythera Mechanism. It doesn't last very long on my skin, so I tend to wear it in my hair when I'm wearing either DCBT&V or AM Pumpkin II (2014) - this is primarily cloves and oakmoss with a hint of pumpkin, and is also one of the only things with a patchouli note that I've ever been able to wear. I bought this at NYCC back in 2014 based on a sniff test without knowing the notes, so I wasn't even aware that it had tobacco at first. Bunraku Theater - Hay, beeswax, and pumpkin (like a less-sweet Midnight With a Pumpkin Light). I can barely detect the tobacco at all, but I got this one entirely for the beeswax/hay combo, so I don't mind. A Grievous Swarm - I was able to try this at a meet-up, and it's a gloriously gritty/smokey vetiver. The vetiver and myrrh are both strong enough to largely drown the tobacco note out, but I love vetiver so I love this. It's my vetiver Holy Grail. I had really high hopes for St. Clare, but it's super-faint on me and fades extremely quickly. Tobacco Honey smelled like bugspray and made me sad. Elegba is nice but is mostly rum-dominant, while Plunder is mostly cassia/clove and tea. Perversion is almost entirely leather because I amp leather.

Rose and lilac have entire rec threads dedicated to them (The Rose Apologist Thread, confusingly located in the Bpal Chatter section instead of this one: http://www.bpal.org/topic/85392-rose-apologist-thread-aka-everybody-hates-rose-but-not-me/page-20, and the Lilac thread here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/16838-lilac/page-6), but my favorites are Cave of Treasures (like a lilac bush in bloom), Adrastea (gourmand rose that smells like honeyed pastry and rose Turkish delight), and Jezebel (orange blossom and rose).

What about characters from Overwatch? I'm thinking Hana would be something exceptionally pink (Cascading Blossoms? Pink Moon? Serving Fish?), while Mercy should be a soft, clean, golden scent. Lucio should be something cheerful and bright/fruity. I have no clue what Soldier76, Hanzo, or Genji would be. Reaper smells like Grimdark. Or possibly A Grievous Swarm. Other thoughts: Tracer: Shroedinger's Cat! Or something else with a sharp/effervescent zingy grapefruit note + mint, like Shattered. Widowmaker - Her Calm Enchantment Failing (sophisticated and sinister bruised-purple scent), or possibly Morgause Mei - Cryophobia, The Snow at Noon, Insula Ventorum, basically anything with a eucalyptus/mint or eucalyptus/white tea combo. Ana - Ginny, the Reaper of Vengeance Torbjorn - Gnome or Robotic Scarab Junkrat - Djinn, Agnes Nutter McCree - Western Diamondback, possibly with a little bit of Bulgarian Tobacco thrown in. Zenyatta - Embalming Fluid. (Probably just my weird opinion, but it's got such a clean, crisp, fresh, light green smell, not death-like or morbid at all). Winston - Gingerbread, Vetiver, and Black Clove, because of the way the wet stage smells weirdly like peanutbutter.

There was a discussion about that a few pages back, I think (mostly revolving around how Sokka needs to smell like beef jerky somehow). I think the conclusions reached were (quoting from old posts): Katara: "one of the lunacies, just for thematic reasons. Preferably one of the ones with ice or snow notes, like one of the Hunger or Wolf moons." Sokka: "I'm tempted to say that Sokka ought to be Tenochtitlan because it has prickly pear in it and prickly pear is a kind of cactus, but really he should be something a lot less floral and preferably with a leather note." and "Sokka should smell like beef jerky too! So something with fur/leather/beef jerky note?" Aang: "something along the lines of Tristran I guess, I like the thought of Coraline for him as well but maybe it's a bit too clean" Appa: My Baby and a Baby Goat Momo: Tweedledum

My skin also hates citrus, and aquatics and "clean" scents are usually a straight ticket to dryer sheet/laundry detergent land. I second the rec for Obatala (which, if called on, you can always claim is sunblock ). Other faint/light scents that work on me are Black Pearl, Hidden Pearl, and Half-Elf.

What lilac blends are y'all wearing for the Glorious Fifth? (For me, it's Cave of Treasures)

Al-Azif layered with Half-Elf is like putting on an upscale/more complex version of Banana Boat sunscreen. (At least on me - Al-Azif is a weird morpher that smells like bananas on some people and acrid dessert sand on others).

Applied to skin as a moisturizer, this smells like a classy/more sophisticated version of a dreamsicle, with the bergamot providing the citrus and the creamy coconut substituting for the vanilla. It's a gentle, soft scent, not the giant cloud of scent around me that bath oil applied straight to the skin can sometimes be.

Pleasures III is very heavy on the tobacco and light on the leather when I tested it (and I amp leather notes to the skies). Snake Skin is getting rave reviews, and will probably be easy to re-sell if you don't like it. The Carnival Diabolique collection that's up right now includes a Snake Oil +Leather scent called Western Diamondback that's like a less-sweet/more outdoorsy Snake Skin (like someone took the snake skin and turned it into a pair of cowboy boots) that you might also like. Other leather-dominant GC you might want to try: Red Rider (very strong brown leather, like a nice leather goods shop), Dragon's Hide (dragon's blood and leather), Iago (leather with black musk and vetiver, like a less-sweet, manlier black rider), and Perversion (leather, rum, and tonka -it was pretty leather-heavy on me).

Wet/in the imp - perfume-y lilac and a hint of something creamy Freshly applied - sour/funky mustiness similar to the unpleasant wet stage of Skuld, because indolic flowers hate me, and they hate me extra when combined with honey. (on my hair, however, it's honeyed lilac with creamy amber and a hint of spice and smells lovely - even if it stays awful on my skin I'm keeping this imp as a hair scent) Fifteen minutes in - The sour mustiness has mostly faded, and now my arm smells like slightly powdery/slightly creamy floralness that's pleasant but doesn't shout "lilac" at me the way it did in the decant. My skin flattens all the glorious heady lilac down to a generically pleasant powdery floral with only a hint of lilac in it (meanwhile, having run the little wand through my hair a few times, I'm surrounded by a faint but just noticeable scent of lilac, like being outdoors in warm weather next to a blooming lilac bush. I want to wear this in my hair always. You will pry this imp from my cold, dead hands. I'm going to the sales forum to track down other decants of it as I type because decants work better than bottles for hair application) Two hours in - After an hour or so of wear, the powdery generic floral blooms on my skin into a creamy honeyed floral (not like the heavy-thick honey note in O, but you know how lilac blossoms and honeysuckle smell almost honey-nectar sweet? Like that) that is sweet and delicious, and stays like that for at least the next hour. Scents don't really morph much in my hair, so that's still keeping on with the fresh outdoor lilac bush smell. I haven't really gotten any noticeable cardamom from either application, except for a few moments at the very beginning (and only in my hair). By three hours the scent in my hair is starting to fade a little, and on my skin, Cave has mellowed from a creamy floral to a creamy amber with a hint of that honey-like floral . I'm reconsidering whether or not an additional decant will do, or whether I need a bottle after all.

Wet/in the imp - I can smell the similarity to Lights of Men's Lives (creamy beeswax) before I even crack open the imp (am I the only one who sniffs at imps/decants before opening them? Like shaking a present). Once opened, it's all rose and beeswax. Freshly applied - creamy beeswax with a hint of fresh/light rose (don't be the bad!rose, don't be the bad!rose) it doesn't smell particularly purple to me, but it does smell nice. I'm not getting any incense/smoke or tobacco leaf that I can single out but they may be what's making the beeswax feel warm/melted like LoML's (though it's not as hyper-realistic burning candle as that scent, which really is an amazing dead-ringer for just-blown-out candle). Fifteen minutes in - the beeswax remains lovely and the rose keeps flirting with whether it wants to go sour or not, but seems to have settled down to a thick, syrupy scent like rose candy. It's slightly powdery/soft rather than a heady rose-splosion. The throw (a couple of inches) has more rose and when I put my nose close by my skin I get more beeswax. Several hours in - this just gets softer and better melded (and slightly more beeswax-dominant) over time. And it lasts - I'm at five hours now and the scent has only just begun to fade. Now it is starting to smell kind of mauve-colored, but I think that may just be power of suggestion. In conclusion: I don't know/can't tell what the difference between purple rose and pink or white rose is, but it goes very nicely with beeswax and if you like Light of Men's Lives, you should like this, because it's essentially Light of Men's Lives plus a subtle rose note. The opening stages are equal parts rose and beeswax, and the late drydown is all soft/creamy beeswax candle time. Warm, glowing, velvety/creamy, and sweet/vanillic without being overtly foody.

In the imp/wet - Fresh/sweet, creamy, doesn't smell much like pear to me but maybe asian pear is different from the pear I'm used to. Freshly Applied - white musk and light, fruity-floralness (still not the amazing Bartlett pear type scent from The Vine that i was hoping for). This smells very clean, like a scented hand soap Fifteen minutes in - tingly/fizzy white musk and Dial "fresh pear" foaming hand soap (I think there's a hint of something creamy underneath, but I may just be imagining it because of the "rice milk" in the description). This doesn't sound like an endorsement, but it's a very fresh, clean, almost effervescent smell that's nice, but not very me. Two Hours in - still clean/fresh, slightly fizzy pear handsoap, but now with a noticeable creamy element to it. By the late drydown (6 or so hours in), the white musk and asian pear have faded entirely and only the rice milk is left as a deliciously creamy-yet-light/soft base note. I'd buy this for sure if it was like that the entire time, but as it is I think I'll pass on getting a bottle.

In the imp/wet - Honeyed cream Freshly Applied - honeyed cream, rich and similar to the goats milk/honey/white chocolate scent, almost reminiscent of Caramel Apple Cookie without the apple. It wants to edge into cloying territory but hopefully won't. Fifteen minutes in - soft, warm goats milk and a hint of honey (but a sweet/slightly powdery honey rather than the sticky, sexy kind). I think I may need to do a side-by-side of this and White chocolate, Marshmallow, Honey, and Goats milk. Two Hours in - still warm/soft goat's milk and honey, with maaaaybe a hint of carnation. Maiko doesn't morph much, if at all, and stays basically the same throughout the rest of the wear time (at least 6-7 hours)

Have you tried Fae? I haven't worn Fae, but De Vos's Unicorn is a creamy pastel-tinted rose-lavender-apricot + white musk that never turns into dryer sheets on me (always a risk with white musk). It might be in the same creamy fruit/floral white musk family as Fae.

I literally swapped my winter scents out for my spring/summer ones yesterday after a week+ worth of 45-55 degree (Fahrenheit) weather only to have to reverse the process this morning because now it's suddenly snowing again. My current spring scents (up until today's five inches of snow): On me: Adrastea Bensiabel Mouse's Long and Sad Tale First Cry of the Warbler on the Plum layered with Bensiabel De Vos's Unicorn King Pursued by a Unicorn Allegory of Chastity Volcano in Springtime/Blossoming Vulva (basically scent twins) Love's Philosophy The Bride layered with Skuld The Bride layered with Volcano in Springtime/Blossoming Vulva Poor Monkey Palmyra Black Pearl/Hidden Pearls Obatala Lovers and a Fan Tenochtitlan On my hair: Jezebel (when I wear Adrastea) Black Pearl (when I wear anything coconut-containing) Boo HG Sharing of the Cake between the Lion and the Unicorn HG First Cry of the Warbler on the Plum (I'm gonna cry louder than the warbler when my single decant of this runs out - on skin it's a burst of quickly-fading florals followed by honeyed green tea but worn on hair this is a cloud of wisteria blossom that lasts for 48 hours straight) Love's Philosophy The Bride Libra 2016 (when I wear De Vos or Allegory)