Casablanca

On the wand, Witch's Garden is intensely green, both herbal and vegetable, and reminds me of the veggie-and-greens chop I make for my parrot. (This puts it ahead of Orc, which smells like someone ate that chop and threw it back up.) I pick up carrot, parsley, hemlock, and a little bit of sage, but I'm unfamiliar with the rest of the listed notes. It smells brightly green, like absinthe -- which it also kind of reminds me of -- with bits of orange and little clouds of coniferous blue-green. This smells like a very out-of-the-way place, in every way off the beaten path. On my skin, well, it's just odd. I seem to amp carrot, parsley, and something blue and floral I don't recognize. Morning glory flowers? I like them and appreciate the quirky garden vibe of this, but it's not for me.

Based on a couple of the lab's steampunky blends I like, I see "gear lubricant and smoke" and my heart goes pitter-pat, but I've heard this is mainly ginger ale. Let's see. Effervescent ginger ale is right. On the wand, this is so fizzy, I feel the little gassy bubbles popping in my nose. Is the fizz coming from aldehydes? When I get used to the bubbly, I can inhale more deeply and get a little spicy peppercorn and a drop of gear oil. I get how sarsaparilla is blending in with the ginger fizz. No smoke, balsam, or nutmeg, though. On my skin, Gnome immediately hides, with only a few little ginger bubbles popping up from his place of cover. I smell a hint of popped and dried ginger bubbles once this has dried. After a while, an even smaller hint of gear oil and smoke emerges, an undertone to the fizz, barely there. Gnome is playful, but I'm not much for fizz perfumes. The other notes would need to be stronger for this to work for me.

Wet on my skin, this is chamomile, honey, vanilla tonka, and sage-like mint, in that order. Dried on my skin, this is a pale, dry, tranquil green herbal with honey. This is like a sleepytime tea without the tea, or a sun-warmed field you dream of, but never find. Creamy and light yellow-green; calming and close to the skin.

This gives an immediate impression to me of heady, red-fruity lily. I'm getting something alongside the lily that reminds me of red roses with a hint of red grapes that aren't quite grapes. Like artificial red grapes in a centerpiece bowl: not rubbery, but not real, either. Or something like cranberry with absolutely no tartness at all. But not much soul, either. Maybe it just makes me think of "red fruits" in the way that there are "purple fruits" in Imperious Tiger-Lily. This is red, anyway... There's something about it that smells too artificial to me, whether it is or not.

I've had this for some months, and worn it a couple times, but haven't gotten to reviewing. Regretful disclosure: Tiger lily is probably my favorite flower, but this isn't my favorite fragrance for it. There's the tiger lily note, with orange blossom and a mild ginger, but the blend goes immediately and almost wholly soapy as soon as it meets my skin. Besides that little problem, the purple fruits aren't adding anything positive for me, but it's just personal preference. They're a subtle contrast with the rest of the blend, and that's usually something I like (a lemon twist on vetiver or black tea, for instance), but I'm not personally lured to this combination. Before reading the notes, I also caught that grainy feeling I often get from frankincense, but didn't think that was included. Having seen the notes, I can pick out the fragrance of it, too, but at first it was just texture for me. I bought a sample of this early on and received another as a freebie somewhere along the way. I'll use them both eventually, but it's not a reorder item on the horizon. I thought it would be love -- I'm sure for some others it is!

Love these notes (other than the mystery "fae spices"), so I chanced a bottle with this one. Una's first impression is a sweet honey musk with green tea. The tea hints of citrus, but I don't get a standalone citrus note. Then I get blackberry and vanilla. After a few minutes, the spices emerge, smelling much like the "chai spices" blend on my kitchen spice rack. The throw is pretty good for a while, and the longevity of the honey musk part is about a half-day. I'm in love with this.

On the wand, this smells like a rosewooded, feral red musk. Wet on my skin, it's mostly red musk, the Ruiner of Things for me. The woods and amber help this time, though. The rosewood stands out first, with sandalwood stepping up alongside it after a minute or two. The amber isn't overt on my skin, but it smooths and sweetens. I seem to get a little ashy vetiver at first, too, but it doesn't stick around. Unfortunately this dries mainly into a sandalwood red musk. There's something armpitty about it, as there often is when red musk is on me. People who love red musk will enjoy this more than I do.

I ordered this one because I love most of the notes. I'm only cautious about the verbena. I like lemon verbena -- I used to grow it. It just has a way of taking over, and it's not something I look to wear. On the wand, Mag Mell is a sweetened, gingery lemon verbena. The ginger-lemon is high-pitched and whiny. Uh oh. Wet on my skin, the ginger-lemon calms down some, smoothed out by amber... and also by the green grass and rain. Yay green grass and rain! I don't pick out any sage, which is a surprise -- sage usually jumps out. By the time this has dried, the ginger-lemon has mostly integrated with the whole. It was a screechy handful of minutes, but the blend is pleasant enough now. It goes great with my summer cold, since I want to drink hot ginger-lemon tea right about now. I can't tell if this will be a bottle, but I'll enjoy the sample.

This smells like its description. The ginger was the last note I found, and seems the least strong at first, but the developing spiciness seems to go beyond ginger into cassia or cinnamon and maybe even a little pepper. If so, the pepper stays subtle, and I like it OK when slight. This free sample isn't one I would have ordered, and is clearly foodie, but it's cozy-nice, and would be a good autumn scent. It reminds me of Halfling in these ways. If I turn to it enough this fall, I might get a bottle.

Woo vanilla cakes! I think I smell a tasty rum cake among them, and I want a bite. I keep sniffing at the test spot. It's too close to lunch for this blend to be a good idea -- I kind of want to eat my arm. The currants are more subtle than I expected. I wish there were a bit more of those, and more tartness there, but I like this.

Yummy. I get more from this than beans: It's like coffee candy, sweet and molasses-toned. The beany part of the blend is strong on me at first, but the sweetened molasses tone is dominant on me over the rest of the wear length, flavored by coffee beans. I wasn't drinking coffee when I put this on, but I had to get some after. The Guatemalan Volcanic is a craving-inducer. Best to be prepared. Edit: I like how this layers with Alice's Evidence. I want that breakfast...

I can't help but read the name of this blend as "Nostril Remedy," like a summary of a relationship with wasabi for clearing the sinuses. This is fun -- the third fragrance I've tried with a listed wasabi note, but the first in which I smell the note more than as a subtle grainy texture in my nose. The honey sweetens the wasabi against a not-subtle backdrop of bitter-leaning black tea. Quite short-lived on me, though. A fun tea addition. I don't see me turning to it every week, but a good scent for the right mood.

A potent, artificial-smelling cherry blossom comes up first -- then I realize that aromachemical fruity smell is bursting from at least one of the fruits. I'm not familiar with them, so I can't say which, but it's melon-like to me. Over time the note fades but doesn't improve. I never get more than a hint of black tea. A sad pass.

Lighter than feathers, this blend is a breath of sweet peony green tea that quickly takes a soapy turn on my skin, though the tea still leads. After a few minutes I get lemongrass, also. The whole doesn't last more than a couple hours on me. I don't see full-bottling this, but I'm glad I tried it.

Yes, it's a bit bitter. Mostly this is a mixed berry tea or tisane. (The blend keeps bringing tisane smells to mind.) I smell lots of red currants and a few blueberries. I also seem to smell a little red rose (or rose hips) and definitely clove. There's almost no throw after the first bottle opening and application. If I didn't habitually sniff my wrists anyway, I'd forget it's there. It also doesn't last long on me, but I expect that of tea. It won't be my favorite tea scent, but it's a great addition to the little tea collection.

A fragrance with a lot going on. On the wand, I get a mix of minty aromatic and floral components sitting on a musky cologne. Mint, jasmine and other flowers I can't distinguish, rosemary (and maybe thyme?), and something a bit woody-grainy that may be the sandalwood. On my skin, I start to pick out the neroli, which I seem to amp anyway, but it blends well with the jasmine. The mint is present but unobtrusive. There's something curiously, idly serene to this one. I think of a hot summer day that forbids much more than lazing about under drooping, barely rustling willows. This blend makes me want to get out in the sun, and be lazy too.

A perfume for dear Oscar. Let's see how this sme... whoa. Strong. This is a well-developed whirl of fragrance. I get bergamot, maybe tonka (but less strong or vanillic than in Jareth), lavender and thyme, a floral lilt of jasmine and maybe other flowers, and the grounding of patchouli, but all blended enough that I'm not sure what I'd have picked out without the notes list. Maybe just the lavender-thyme. I don't pick out moss. Every note I do find supports the other notes without seams. When wet, this smells... involved. This dries to a lighter and mostly lavender-thyme-tonka cologne on me. One to keep.

Ethereal lilac fougere and gleaming leather with ti leaf, tonka absolute, white musk, and oudh. In the bottle this smells to me like Dorian with more lilac. On my skin, it becomes Dorian with less tea, more lilac, and... sorry, got lost there; this is really good... pale musk and a smooth, almost creamy vanilla that might be coming from the tonka. This sits on a solid fougere -- a fougere with extra tonka in the accord. The sweet vanilla-lilac is strong on me. Once dry, the lilac fades some, but the tonka is still going strong. Only a little leather is coming through on me. I thought I got a brief glint from it early on -- then it was gone for a while, but now again I get it as a mild black warmth over everything. I have to sniff this from further away to get the leather: if I put my nose right to wrist, I only get vanilla-lilac fougere. Anyway, this is fabulous. I miss the man.

Aromatic citrus -- this opens as very fresh, dewy, pale yellow tones with hints of light purple lavender and something darker in the distance. As the initial citrus burst just starts to ebb, I get a strong mint, like it just jumped out from something in front of me when I turned my head for a second, and I'm left wondering where it came from. So, ah, I guess that's pennyroyal. There's a sweet, slightly powdery note to this that reminds me of clean laundry softened with dryer sheets. Behind that, I get a little shadowy vetiver. But for a while, mostly it's mint. Later the Hatter settles into a dark musk with a backgrounded but high-pitched citrus-mint. I don't like the shrieky tone the citrus-mint takes on from this point. The whole scent fades after a few hours.

On the wand, this is a blast of acidic red merlot. Choke. But on my skin, the flowers bloom open... alongside glasses of less acidic red merlot. I can't pick out myrtle, but the rose and violet are good merlot pairings. I don't smell any leather or musk. Later, this is a soft merlot-and-roses scent. Not my thing, but good for someone.

First impression: Honeyed cherry-vanilla and deep red, clove-spiced wine. I'm not usually drawn to perfume booze notes, but this wine doesn't put me off. It seems balanced and purposeful in this combo: it's not weak, but other parts are strong, too. I'm not drawn to it, but it has a point. Considering its initial potency, this fades to a close honey-cherry-wine skin scent quickly on me. I still want less booze, more spice.

Cool green tea and bamboo dominate this blend, but it leans a bit more earthy and citrusy than bamboo and tea tend to by themselves, which makes me think of the oakmoss-patchouli-bergamot part of chypres. I do smell bergamot or another orange at first, and maybe a light musk. And I wonder if a drop of lilac or wisteria is helping with the rainy part, because I get something blue-purple and floral for that. The blue-purple floral grows to supplant the early bergamot impression as this dries on me, but is not long-lasting either. It's not long before something like a light mossy musk remains. Pretty, soft, damp, green (tea-bamboo), and light mossy earth.

The initial throw is like a slop of sweet apricot booze into my glass, like someone went to pour for me, partly missed, and is laughing. It smells kind of lazy and kind of fun, but overly sweet, and although the spill was funny, I wish the person hadn't gotten some on my dress. I get much more of the sweet apricot than the brandy, and it smells to me more like an apricot additive to something else than how the fruit tastes or smells by itself, if that makes sense. It's very simple. But it's OK. Not for me, though.

At first, the Pearl is fresh coconut sweetened with iris. After a minute, a woody hazelnut appears, and this is nice -- and then the iris turns into soap. I don't get much besides a creamy floral soap after that. It's light and gentle, but not for me.

It's as common to smell a perfume and say, "That smells like my grandmother," as it is to look at abstract art and say, "I see a face." I don't think that will be anyone's genuine reaction here, though. I've been on this elemental/metal kick lately, so I had to try this, despite my aversion to ugly-ass muppets. Right out of the bottle, skekUng is a dark, oily, metallic burst, like firebomb shrapnel. Fun -- except there's a green-tainted sickly quality to it that smells like someone spoiled the vetiver. I can't tell if the smell comes from an unlisted component, or is just this type of vetiver. Though I smell lots of oiled metal and smoke, I find no dragon's blood at first. As this dries, though, the red resin comes out, adding a sweetness all the more welcome to me because it seems to counteract the sickly taint. Then the resin fades and I get some leather. The dried skek is closer to the elemental mix I was after, but I don't think it's hitting the brass ring for me. Still, it could have its uses.