Casablanca

Black tea with vanilla sugar dominates, with a twist of unlisted lemon -- well supported by soft musks and a balanced and slightly perfumey accord from which I can pull no individual notes (presumably the fougere). Some have said they love this as a relaxing bedtime scent, but since I associate the black tea note with caffeine, it's better for me as a congenial afternoon pick-me-up. A favorite scent for an afternoon out.

With these listed notes, I expected to like this more than I do. But I don't dislike it... and it's growing on me... and it's different, which is a plus. There's an amber backdrop in this, and it's lovely, but the early standout notes are the hides and clove, with a little rustic dash of sage. The tanned hides note smells different from leather notes I've sampled. It's more raw and somehow the clove seems to enhance this. It's quite a different effect, for me at least, than smelling clove with cherries or smoke or something -- the clove and hides combine somehow to smell rubbery. Not like burnt tire rubber at all, but each time I've put this on, with each first smell, I think, "rubbery." That's what's giving me pause. That said, it's a great concept scent, and when I think of the clove and hides and the rest in the context of fantasy barbaric or tribal life, I enjoy it. Hunter smells, unsurprisingly, tan. It goes fine with my faux suede stuff today... and fades quickly into a skin scent that reminds me of Coyote.

This one is the exact lovely blend I expected from the notes list. First impressions: cedar, vanilla, sage, carnation. The second sniff is strong leather. The third is strong lavender. Then back to vanilla... They blend together at times, and take turns at other times. The spicy edge to the carnation works well with the vanilla cedar. Sometimes, in the wet phase, it's almost enough to make me think "woody-floral Snake Oil." This is fairly close to the skin on me when wet, and is more so once dry. I get cedar-vanilla-carnation when dried, with a touch of leather. The lavender and sage are mostly gone, but ghosts remain. This is probably one I'd reapply a few times during the day to freshen it. A treat.

Somehow I had this posted to my Pinterest wish list as "grapes, creamy almond, and greenery," and was surprised to see the lab's notes include no such mentions. No idea where I grabbed those notes from. Dunno. I smell grapes and creamy almond, so maybe there's something to the mystery notes. There's also a sense of tropical greenery -- maybe a white floral note or two among leaves. Gardenia and a little galbanum? I kinda dig this. But it is heavy on the grape at first. High John dries down creamy and faintly green. Once the grape has faded, it's mild and peaceful. Then it goes soapy.

His scent is a blend of holy myrrh, storax, balsam, and embalming herbs. This is pleasantly base notey. Mostly I get something balsamic, vanillic, honey-like, wood-toned and resinous that makes me think of benzoin with balsam, myrrh and a little honey. Embalming herbs? Not a clue.

Mr. Ibis smells to me at first mostly like wet, pulpy papyrus, which seems to be one of those smells I thought I wouldn't know until I smelled it, and then thought, "Well yes. That seems like how papyrus would smell..." Under the papyrus, I catch aloe, soft musk and an even softer vanilla, like a vanilla thing buried under a cushion. The blend doesn't last long on me and the sandalwood only colors things a bit without ever really asserting itself. The blend smells tan. Very neutral. I'm not an addict of this one but it's different from anything else I have. It reminds me a little of the tanned hides note in Hunter.

Bottle: Soothing tea and light sandalwood. Wet: The same, light and barely resinous, blending well on me. Dry: Light sandalwood and musk. Barely there. I was wary of the oud, but I don’t find anything here like the heavy ouds I’ve smelled before.

Wet on my skin, the first impression is black vetiver woods and fig sweetness. Then I get a faint, sweet coconut -- is that part of "black palm"? The cocoa is powdery-dry and barely there, just a mini-note of support for the fig. Once dried, the coconut seems stronger, but still I get vetiver-coconut-fig, with a little wood. The fig is quite a warm, fleshy note that pulls this well away from the vetiver-coconut-Snake Oil of Death Adder. I wear plain coconut oil a lot as a moisturizer and overnight hair conditioner, so I'm pleased to find another compatible night scent to go with that.

I smell the sugared molasses from this as soon as I apply it, even well away from my face, and then the woody oak. But up close, it's the honey that's strongest at first. I think of pockets of woods between Deep South plantations. Dried, this is very, very sweet. I still smell the oak, but want more to balance the intense sugar of the other notes.

In the bottle, Mama-Ji smells to me like a spicy carnation-rose blend, but the flowers are subtle. On my skin, those flowers bloom wide-open, stepping out in front of the spice, and it seems I smell lotus flower among them. The rose, if there is rose, seems pinkish to blend with the lotus. As this dries, the spices come out again, cardamom foremost. As the lotus (if that's what it is) fades a bit, I get more of a spicy carnation-rose combination that reminds of the spicy carnation of Morocco. Later still, I smell a little soft vanillic something in the mix, maybe benzoin. This blend smells pinker and more playful than I expected, given the passage about Mama-Ji in the description. But it's lovely. Before three hours have passed, it's mostly gone.

A deep reddish-orange oil with immediate standout notes of golden amber, wood, and a delicate honey. This is beautiful and warm-toned, welcoming as a comfortable wood-panelled room. I can't tell the mahogany and ho wood apart, but they make a lovely combined wood note, and the scant frankincense reads more to me as a grainy wood texture here than an incense, for which I'm grateful. Glad I got this.

A deeply wholesome gourmand. A scent that says, maybe a little smugly: "I've had breakfast and all my needs are met, thank you. Think I'll have a walk in the sun with my pipe and look at the neighbors' veggies." Nutty oatmeal dusted with cinnamon, raisins, and some unlisted but rather festive red currants or cranberries, and some half-eaten, buttery coffee cake on the side. Foodie and fun and silly. Don't halfling without it.

I've never played a dwarf. This almost makes me want to. Right when I apply it, before I try to smell anything, I get whiffs of metal. Hard-clanged metal. Metal, and slightly warmed, dull stone, and wholesome hops right out of a brew mash (though no booze notes), with a smudge of sooty dirt. I don't get leather at first -- and then sometimes it's right in my face. It blends well with the hops. Once dried, this settles into a smoky leather blend, maybe with a little patchouli, but if so, it's not bothering me as it usually does. I'm thinking Thief or Fighter will layer well with this. It is... dwarfy. Brusque, earthy, productive, venerable, dignified, and grr.

It's so soft and snuggy! For a snake. This is like Snake Oil rolled in skin-cooling moss, showered in soft mint, and came out squeaky clean. I really like it, which is good since I just spilled some on my forearms. Oops. Wet on my skin, I can smell the spiced vanilla of the Snake Oil under the mossy, foggy, minty softness. I get primarily vanilla mint at this stage, with some moss and hints of spice. Vanilla mint lovers, this seems to me like a softer, breezier cousin to Green Tree Viper. I can pick out olive leaf, I think, as this dries, hanging like a subtle backdrop for a sea snake portrait. It's faint and almost seems that I imagine its presence sometimes. This is lovely. It goes to a subtle skin scent after a couple hours on me.

On the wand: Buttery Lovecraft gingerbread cookies? Much more foodie than I expected, but tasty and warm... Wet: Hot, spicy gingerbread slathered in butter. Delicious, though a bit weird for the inside of my elbow to smell like this. I get a lot of myrrh, but it's blending well with the ginger cookies. Dry: I'm not a gourmand person, but... the spices and myrrh in this are delicious, and the ginger is just the right amount. This wears steady on me with little change from wet to dry. A scent to revisit in fall.

On the wand: Mostly lime and lemon. Behind that, a strange calico pattern of florals, coconut, and a little musk. This is all over the place. Some of the florals are putting me off -- maybe the mix of iris, palmarosa, and something I don't know. Wet on skin: Coconut-heavy, garish and biting yellow-green citrus on a weird floral and slightly musky backdrop. Lots of lime and lemongrass. The coconut is chunky, pulpy and white-watery rather than smooth, creamy and soothing. This is closer to the real coconut off the tree that a driver gave me in Costa Rica: filled with hard coconut meat, some coconutty water, and flecks of dirt. The blend is tropical and strong like whoa. Dry: Lemongrass pulls ahead in the screaming race for attention as this dries, but the whole is settling down. And then something turns off and sour on my skin. Pass.

I applied Villain at a stoplight this morning. I didn't remember the notes, but thought, "Lilac, lavender, bergamot, and other citrus? Is that lime?" After drydown, I was getting mostly a pale musk, similar to that in Dorian. Bergamot isn't listed, but it may be part of the "citrus musk." I like. Edit: I have to add that I accidentally spilled some of this on myself after I got to work, and then later I wanted more, and "accidentally" spilled some on myself. I used up most of the imp in one day. Worth it.

Black tea with vanilla sugar dominates, with a twist of unlisted lemon -- well supported by soft musks and a balanced and slightly perfumey accord from which I can pull no individual notes (presumably the fougere). Some have said they love this as a relaxing bedtime scent, but since I associate the black tea note with caffeine, it's better for me as a congenial afternoon pick-me-up. A favorite scent for an afternoon out. All the loves.

Bottle #42, the answer to the universe In the bottle, this CTVII is herby and medicinal, and I get more than a touch of oakmoss tint -- more like herbs over a rounded oakmoss base that smells, to me, like the color olive. I don't smell much that's floral here. On my skin, CTVII gives off a strong, leafy, oily, olive-colored scent. I wonder if there's violet leaf in it? There's also a touch of old, sour, brownish lime. Lavender is struggling to come out past the wall of olivey oil, but is mostly blocked. I don't smell any lilac. This is a green fougere. I like some green blends. Maybe not so much this one.

In the vial, I smell dandelions and wet hemp. Some of my fear of this wants to ebb away, but I must remain vigilant. On my skin... dandelions and wet hemp. No smokies, boozes or sleaze. It smells like I for some reason napped on the lawn on a warm April day and woke with marks on my face from the dandelions I crushed. It's... pleasant? Kinda? Really?

Effervescent, both lightly grapey and grapefruity. In the vial I smell nothing more than that. On my skin, I also get aquatic minty lotus. An odd combination, and I can't say I'm hooked.

...and in the vial this smells exactly as it's described: like a fizzy champagne so dry it should clear my congestion, and a scarce hint of sweet and red strawberry. On my skin, it's barely there. It smells like a large champagne bubble just popped on me and is already almost gone. I guess my skin was thirsty.

Whoa yeah. An overwhelming ahoy. A deeply butterscotchy rum. No, wait. There's barely any rum -- it's mostly 'scotch. I smell like I just had that first slip and fall into the muck of the butterscotch pudding wrestling ring that makes everyone cheer, because now my bikini is besmirched and my 80s 'do is a gloppy wreck. I'll bring it to the beach next week and amuse the whole family.

The color of the perfume oil is reddish-brown, and it smells that way, with a touch of fresh green from the fir needles. The top-notey fir springs out first, but -- for fir -- it's quiet and subtle. The musk is most evident for me, even at the start, and I think it's the same fuzzy and cozy musk used in Coyote. The cedar blends closely with it, while the smoke barely registers. When I look for the smoke, I feel I want more of it. Since I went to Chaparral Elementary School in SoCal, I was curious what the scrub would smell like. I'm picking out only a vibe of rustic desert blending with the cedar, which appeals, though it doesn't last long on me. The amber and leather are there, but subtle. Primarily this is a musky blend on me. I'll enjoy the bottle.

A wave of cypress and... something, part of which must be narcissus. It's an odd smell, kind of black lacquer-like and aquatic. I also have no ideas about the smells of stephanotis and onycha. So I looked them up. Stephanotis is a small white tropical flower that is said to smell a bit like buttery jasmine and to make people think of weddings, where they've often been used. I can pick out something like that here and I rather like it. Apparently onycha comes from the Greek word for fingernail and it's a mystery incense ingredient mentioned (but not explained) in the Bible. We don't know what it was. It's been thought to have perhaps been labdanum, the gum resin from the Astragalus plant species, or the "lid" of a small whelk-like shellfish. Labdanum seems unlikely to have been mentioned twice in the lists (both in the Bible and in the notes above), and BPAL doesn't use animal products, except those that come from the activities of bees. So maybe this is astragalus. While wet, the overall blend impression for me is swampy and a little floral, with a general and subdued sense of base note fragrances. It dries to a fairly attractive buttery jasmine-incense-resin scent for me, but vanishes within a couple hours. I like it but don't know that I'd chase down a bottle.