Elspethdixon

As LavenderCoffee says upthread, Arachne of Lydia is almost a single note clove and is great, if relatively short-lived. The Leaf Spirits, from the ‘24 Weenies, is a dry, masculine clove + dead leaves accord that has amazing staying power (it lasts all day long until bedtime).

Testing the 2024 Weenies edition, which is distinctly different from the hair gloss version from 2017. This truly is a pumpkin latte, not a pumpkin spice latte. Think coffee plus Pumpkin Sugar rather than coffee + Pumpkin Spice Everything. The coffee note is strong in the wet stage, but the drydown is primarily a soft, vegetal pumpkin that’s sweet enough that it has an almost peach-y quality to it. It reminds me of the sweet pumpkin-peach notes in Jack. There’s just enough coffee and smoked vanilla to keep it cozy and snuggly feeling and to avoid being too sweet, but it doesn’t scream “Starbucks drink!” at you. The 2017 Weenies HG is both dryer and warmer, with a warm, buttery pumpkin instead of a sweet, vegetal one, and slightly stronger spice notes (although the pumpkin spice is still very much in the background compared to the coffee and pumpkin - it isn’t a fall spice scent, but a warm, cozy fall scent that just hints at spice).

The listed notes don’t mention dead leaves accord, but either it’s an unlisted note or the listed notes are the dead leaf accord (plus clove), because in the wet stage this is aaalllll dead leaves. Once on my skin, the clove note takes over. I was expecting a much smokier charred-wood/bonfire scent, but Leaf Spirits is instead a strong masculine clove scent (it reminds me a little bit of Aerodynamic Junk minus the leather and plus dead leaves) with an undertone of dry wood and peppery dead leaf accord. Tom Ford could bottle and sell this in a black square bottle and call it like “Autumn Woods” or something. That’s how manly a clove scent this is. It’s also got some serious staying power. These Leaf Spirits have stamina and stay around for hours and hours - a manly clove skin scent was still clinging to my skin at bedtime.

I expected a rich, sweet scent due to the molasses, but the dried apple and alcoholic sour mash combine to create a sharp hard cider scent instead. I like it. I have enough apple scents that I don’t think I’ll need a bottle, but I’m definitely keeping my decant.

Testing this against regular Smokestack. Wet: Regular Smokestack (which is probably one of my all-time favorite perfumes from the lab) is resinous tobacco and probably vetiver, which become sweet and velvety once they hit my skin. Maybe a hint of conifer resin as well? Pumpkin Smokestack, on the other hand, is a blast of buttery pumpkin with a hint of tobacco on the wand. Freshly applied: Once it hits my skin, Pumpkin Smokestack is strongly pumpkin spice with a hint of smokey tobacco underneath - those “burnt pumpkin skins” were seasoned with pumpkin spice before they went into the fire. This is a better robust fall pumpkin spice than pumpkin latte, honestly, I’m already wondering how it would layer with a coffee single note. Drydown: Regular Smokestack is fairly linear, staying rich, resinous, almost spicy tobacco with a hint of something camphoraceous even hours later (and I do mean hours, it’s still detectable on my skin eight hours later). Pumpkin Smokestack is a much softer version, with sweet pumpkin replacing some of the robust tobacco. After the first hour or so the spice element had gone and it’s all buttery pumpkin + tobacco again, like it was in the imp. It doesn’t last quite as long as regular Smokestack either, maybe about half the overall wear time. I love it. It’s distinctly different from Smokestack despite obviously sharing the same base notes. I’m definitely getting a full bottle.

In the imp/wet - chocolate caaaake. This is sweeter and richer than the dark chocolate of, say, Candy Butcher. There’s a hint of something cool and sweet that must be the cream. What there is NOT is the gag-worthy reek of rotting blood, so the blood note is thankfully not whatever was in Mischief HG. Freshly applied - Once on my skin the rich chocolate fudge cake dies down and the soft cream comes forward, along with wisps of slightly spicy floral incense: the blood note must be dragon’s blood. Fifteen minutes in - You can tell it’s a chocolate scent, but the hyper realistic gourmand fudge cake opening has given way to a soft, feminine dragon’s blood and cream. About an hour in, it’s settled into a soft cocoa scent. Very close to the skin and not much throw. Meanwhile, I keep getting whiffs of floral dragon’s blood scent from where I applied it to my hair, to the point where I thought at first that it was left-over rose scent from the Mircalla I wore yesterday (before I remembered that I’d washed my hair and it couldn’t be). By four hours in it was only detectable as a cocoa skin scent if I put my nose right against my skin, but the right-at-the-skin cocoa lasted all day.

As doomsday_disco says, this one is syrupy rootbeer to the face. Testing this with regular Tombstone on the other arm for comparison. In the imp/wet: Regular Tombstone is equal parts rootbeer/cedar/vanilla, warm and snuggly and perfect. Pumpkin Tombstone, in comparison, is warm, leathery pumpkin spice and cedar in the imp, then blooms into a strong, toothpaste-y rootbeer on my arm - if standard Tombstone is a vanillic rootbeer, Pumpkin Tombstone is a spiced one. My bottle of Tombstone is at least 3 years old, so the difference in the strength of the rootbeer note may be more due to aging than a difference between regular Tombstone and Pumpkin Tombstone per se Five minutes in: The rootbeer blast has calmed a bit, but Pumpkin Tombstone is still a fall-spiced rootbeer forward scent. It’s like my wrists are two different bottles of rootbeer, one mild and vanilla-flavored and one strong and spicy. Pumpkin Tombstone isn’t as amazing as aged regular Tombstone, but I like it anyway and bet aging will work wonders on it just as it does for the unpumpkined variety.

In the imp/wet - light, sweet hay and mead combined with something cool, probably either the corn husk or maple leaves Freshly applied - the hay and mead are joined by a hint of something musty, an undertone of warm pumpkin, and just a whisper of dry/dead leaf note. On my hair it’s a nutty hay and mead like it was on the wand. Drydown - The first ten minutes or so have a distinct soapy element to them. It’s reminding me of one of Lush’s soaps, but I can’t remember which one. Once that dies down, Autumn Folk is a pretty faint scent on me. Right up at the skin I get sweet warmth, but the throw is cool and even slightly soapy from the dead leaves. By two hours in it’s completely gone :(, Alas. But for those two hours it was the first and only dead leaves-esque scent I’ve been able to wear well.

Wearing Suffragium for Election Day and just realized I’d never reviewed it. Wet/in the imp: Sweet and slightly paper-y, with a hint of wood. There’s an almost coconut like quality to it. Freshly applied: Once on the skin, the palo santo and cedar come forward, still with that coconut-like sweetness underneath. There’s an oddly musty element to it for a few minutes before it settles into a gentle, serene palo santo-dominant incense with hints of cedar underneath (the scent description doesn’t specify what type of cedar it is, but it smells more like atlas cedar than Virginia cedar to me - it’s spa-like rather than cedar-closet/chest-like). I don’t get the cola-like fizzy quality I usually get from labdanum - this is almost entirely palo santo/sweet white sandalwood/cedar. It’s light, cool, and airy. Suffragium fades off my skin pretty quickly unless I reapply it, so I don’t have an accurate read on the later drydown (other than “faint palo santo and cedar”) because I keep layering new applications on top of it.

In the imp: Almost winter holidays-esque dark red fruits with fizzy/fuzzy/syrupy laudanum underneath. Wet/freshly applied: still pomegranate labdanum but now there’s a floral element, too, and it’s less fruity/syrupy and has a smooth, well rounded, almost polished aspect. Drydown: Tart red fruit and fizzy/fuzzy labdanum remain the stars of the show. I agree with s feral’s description of “juicy yet gauzy” - it’s like sophisticated cranberry soda (or maybe a cranberry martini without the vodka). I can see what wodness was getting at with the “high femme who wears a lot of expensive lipstick” vibe.

In the imp: sweet tropical fruit plus almond cream (more guava then fig) Wet/freshly applied: fruity almond, with just a hint of something sour/musty that might be the patchouli. The throw from a few inches away is a slightly fruity sandalwood. On my hair (freshly applied): creamy, fruity sandalwood and almond with a hint of something sour/rancid (why does patchouli exist?) After about five minutes the off note vanishes from my skin and a sweet/warm hay note starts to come forward. The guava is stronger on my hair, where the overall scent after the initial drydown is fruity/tropical with a hint of sourness (the rancid hint from the patchouli sticks around longer after the initial drydown, alas, but eventually vanishes after about twenty minutes), while the hay/almond/sandalwood is stronger on my skin, where after the initial almond fruit smoothie blast it fades down into more of a soft, sweet “your skin but better” scent. Unusually, it actually has a much longer wear time as a skin scent then it does in my hair: the tropical sour-sweet guava scent lasted on my hair until about midday, but I could still get faint traces of Fig Vulva on my skin at bedtime if I put my nose to my wrist.

In the imp: Sharp, fresh, almost citrusy ginger and warm/sweet amber. maybe a hint of frankincense Wet/freshly applied: once on my skin, the soft amber becomes more dominant, with the ginger and frankincense as just the faintest whiffs. Everyone who said this was lighter than the HG was right - much lighter and not much throw. The oude does not become barnyardy and take over, though, which is what I was most worried about given Herb Girl’s review. Drydown: After a few minutes, everything smoothes out and it’s like a light, sheer haze of gold with a faint sharp, sophisticated edge. It’s recognizably the same scent I love in the HG form, just much fainter (I have a more recent bottle of the HG, bought around 2019). Sadly, it fades very quickly, and by an hour later it was entirely gone, even from my hair where I also applied it to check how the scent profile evolved without my skin chemistry in the mix (less amber, basically). However it’s worth noting that I live in the Mojave desert right now and a lot of oils have about half the wear time here that they did back on the East Coast.

In the imp, this is a sweet, honied scent (but a warm, sticky/glowing sweetness, not a sugary vanilla one) with hints of something green and growing- it makes me think of a white daisy with a yellow center, growing in the sunshine. This is what I wanted Marc Jacob’s Daisy to smell like (sadly it was nothing like this). Once on my skin, it goes herbal and almost minty. There’s a brief minute or so of fustiness in the wet stage that’s probably the chamomile since floral scents often go musty on me when initially applied. The honey never comes back as strongly as it does in the imp, and overall this is a fresh, slightly sweet scent that’s not quite floral and not quite herbal. It’s soft and close to the skin and makes me think of the milky white sap that comes out when you snap dandelion stems.

I love this one. The amber and balsam (doomsday_disco is right, it does remind me of NAVA's wonderful limestone amber, except the addition of the balsam makes this a little sharper and tangier) blends beautifully with the beeswax. The whole effect reminds me a little of the beeswax/olive oil/candle smoke combo in Hanerot Halalu, except richer and without Hanerot Halalu's fresh/clean feel. I'm tempted to upgrade my sample vial to a full bottle just so I can wear this during Hanukkah.

If you loved Stekk or Stale Sugar-crusted Marshmallow Chick, run, don't walk to get a bottle of this one. The marshmallow note is obvious, but instead of Stekk's soft, clean wooliness, this is a sweeter, richer scent. It didn't occur to me until I read kaileycatface's review above, but the vanilla is indeed similar to/reminiscent of the vanilla in Antique Lace, like you opened up a bag of Kraft marshmallows and poured an imp full of Antique Lace all over them.

I got a partial bottle of this back in 2015 when it was newly re-issued and it didn’t wow me, possibly because I was expecting a sweeter and more candy-bar-like chocolate. Either my nose/taste has improved, my skin chemistry has changed, or six years worth of aging have worked magic, because now it’s the perfect rich, slightly bitter dark chocolate base scent to layer literally any chocolate or cacao blend with. My chocolate-eating skin chemistry zaps the dark chocolate notes after a couple of hours, but the very late drydown at the end of the day (we’re talking the 8-12 hour mark) is this amazing sweet/rich vanilla-like scent that will last on my hair until the next morning.

You may want to check out the Sugar Plum Tree perfumes in this year’s Yules. One of them, The Shore of the Lollipop Sea, has blueberry lollipop as a prominent note. Rope Pulley from the 2020 Shungas is pure strawberry marshmallow. It ended up turning into the scent of a 1980s Strawberry Shortcake Doll on me, but I have bad luck with strawberry notes. As a fellow lavender marshmallow lover, both A Place of Seeing (rosebud, lavender, amber, sandalwood, marshmallow, and bergamot) and Lights, Camera, Something (lavender, vanilla, and cardamom) from this year’s Liliths and TKO from the general collection all give me a sweet/soft lavender vibe similar to Capax Infiniti.

Black Phoenix Trading Post bath oils are amazing! They're my all-time favorite bath oils from any company, and I'm not just saying that because we're posting on the BPAL board. Their base bath oil mix is wonderful on my super-dry skin - I use it all over as a body oil in the winter. While not as great as BPAL's, Haus of Gloi's hair oils also make pretty good bath oils.

This one has become my new sleep scent. The lavender and juniper make it similar to Mitral Valve from last year’s Lupers, but the bergamot and white incense make it a fresher, lighter scent (whereas Mitral Valve is cool and dark). It layers beautifully with No Coward Soul is Mine, which feels like an especially apt combo for a Lilith scent.

This is a strong, long-lasting leather scent, almost a leather single note. It's definitely a cowboy/tack-room leather rather than a leather-jacket/motorcycle leathers or leather-seats-car-interior leather. I expected a smokey vetiver note thanks to the mentions of gunpowder, but nope - it's all leather here and no guns. In the Imp - Fresh leather-goods shop/suede with a hint of clean, dry grass? Wet/freshly applied - A pleasant combination of suede-type leather and grass, like a tackroom or maybe like horseback riding out in the sunshine. It's a very dry, clean, soft leather, like fresh suede. On my hair there's a hint of smokiness and dry grass accompanying the leather, but on my skin the leather dominates. Half-hour in - Clean, dry leather, with an almost grey quality to it, and maaaybe a bit of drying grass accompanying it. It combines really nicely with the Song of Autumn I and II grass scents I'm testing on my other arm. Late dry-down - Hours later (and by hours I mean a complete work day) the leather note is still going strong on my skin. I cannot stress enough how much staying power this has. I applied it to my hair as well as my skin and 48 hours and one hair-washing/shampoo later I could still catch faint whiffs of tack shop leather from my hair.

In the Imp - Sweet grass/plant scent, slightly fruity. Wet/freshly applied - PLAANNTS. Then a more perfumey note starts to come forward as it dries on my wrist. By several minutes in, it's notably a lighter, drier scent than the freshly-cut green grass of Autumn I. At the 10-minute mark it smells like summer. Perfume-y drying grass. Half-hour in - Dusty, slightly-sweet skin scent, like dry desert warmth with a hint of sunblock. I never really got any smoke from this, and sadly it's fading pretty quickly.

The description said wet grass, and it meant it. Green, freshly-cut, lushly growing grass. This is a very summer-time smell. In the Imp - Grass. Sweet, green, freshly-mowed grass with a hint of perfume-y fruitiness (and without the lawn mower exhaust scent that always accompanies mowing grass IRL). Wet/freshly applied - Freshly cut wet grass, which gains a slightly drier tint from the sage as it starts to dry on my skin Half-hour in - Cut grass, just beginning to dry in the sun, along with a bit of perfume-yness and a hint of something that does remind me of lawnmower exhaust now (but not in an unpleasant way at all - plus I suspect my brain might be subconsciously adding that note in because I am so strongly reminded of mowing the lawn by this scent). At this point it's less like mowing the lawn and more like raking the grass cutting up afterward.

I was anticipating something similar to Jezebel's honey-orange blossom-rose with an added spice note, but instead it's a sexy combo of red musk, tangy honey, and sharp rose with the clove adding a hint of something almost metallic. These are definitely bloody kisses from Dracula's vampire brides. In the imp/while wet I get a sharp, vegetal rose, with a hint of green stem (the sort of fresh/sharp rose that has an almost minty quality) alongside a sexy/tangy honey that reminds me of the honey note in Elegant Vulva. Definitely not the orange juice/velvety rose opening of Jezebel at all. As it starts to dry on my skin the red musk comes forward along with a metallic hint of warm/sharp clove and it turns into a sexy scent that's neither overtly floral nor spicy but instead a sort of sensual crimson/deep blush pink skin musk with an underlying sharp tang that makes me think of blood (but thankfully without the rotting-blood note from Whitechapel or Mischief HG).

Goes on all soft teak, with the coffee coming forward as it dries. It smells like a restful/peaceful hotel room morning and I love it. I only put it on my hair, but sadly even that made my scalp tingle/burn in places. Whhyyy must I be allergic to oakmoss?

In the imp - Sunblock-y coconut splashed over rich vanilla (a foody creme brûlée vanilla like B&BW's Vanilla Bean Noel) Freshly applied - Vanilla bean coconut water sunblock. Part coconut - a cool coconut that makes me think of swimming pool water and sunblock - and part rich/warm/sweet/musky vanilla. When it first hits my skin there’s a burst of vanilla, and then the cool, summery sunblock gradually comes out over the course of the first minute. Great summer scent. Like the innocent pool visits of my youth. Drydown - More of the same - cool, watery coconut and warm/sweet/musky VBN-esque vanilla. I expected the coconut-water element to fade and late drydown to be all vanilla/sandalwood, but the further into the drydown I get, the more prominent the coconut sunblock aspect is. If you liked Obatala but wanted it to be sweeter (or if the milk note in it didn't work on you), this scent is the answer. Probably one of my top three faves from this collection.