Lucchesa

Liaison 2015 is one of those scents I can't come close to finding all the notes in. Powdery black musk and sandalwood are there. Tea I never count on because my skin tends to devour it. It is decidedly not floral, nor can I find the spice, honey or frankincense, but they are probably all blending together to create the soft, sweet backdrop of this clandestine encounter. Definitely a black musk blend, for lovers of Haunted and the like.

A ridiculously generous fellow addict gave me a decant of this. I get why it is so beloved. It's lavender Dorian, basically, but what a lovely thing that is. I think of Dorian as already having vanilla, and I can't honestly make out the snowdrops. Comforting lavender with sweet sexy Dorian. The lavender doesn't last long on my skin, but then again, it never does.

There are probably too many "blossoms" in the description for Elegant Vulvas to work on me, but it's a vulva, so I gave it a try. This is one of those sweet creamy florals that star in the lupers, and the lotus makes it a little too bubblegum sweet for me (teak is also the sweetest wood note on my skin), but I appreciate what a beautiful scent it is. On me it's mainly lotus and marshmallow honey with cherry blossom; the amber and teak take some time to develop. This scent evokes the temptation of girlish innocence.

Mummies of Mexico City is dusty frankincense and copal on me. There's a hint of sweetness but more like dusty beeswax candles than the lace note from Antique Lace. It never gets that sweet on me. Definitely atmospheric, the near-deserted church of my childhood with a few elderly ladies in mantillas. A skin scent for most of its wear length, which is pretty long.

The Golden Hour is lovely. It's an old-fashioned perfumey amber with soft vanilla underneath, and possibly a floaty floral of some kind that meshes with the creamy vanilla. It's not complicated, but it's as sweet and glowing as a favorite childhood memory.

I love Haunted, and I'm also quite fond of Haunted Pumpkin Patch though I struggle to recognize Haunted in it. There's a bit of spiciness I wasn't expecting, with a hint of pumpkin guts and some mature, woody vines and a lot of black musk. The amber is a low warm tone behind it all. I think of Haunted as autumnal anyway, and this bumps up the fall factor.

The oudh is strong in this one, overpowering all the other notes. I can barely make out the dead leaves note, which I love. OK, I'm going to be honest, I can barely make out any of the other notes. I sometimes amp oudh, and I'm doing it here. On me, this is a slightly mossy, hempy oudh. Not fecal, but down and dirty. I love the DL note (and hemp and frank), so this is a fail on my skin.

Venus Caelestis is lovely, and the name is quite appropriate. Testing blind it was sweet frankincense and amber on me -- I'm getting very little lemon or myrrh. I think the sweetness is the lotus more than the sugar of the sugared lemon note. Once I know it's there (and I can't tell blue lotus from any other color), I can parse it out, cool and round. There's something a little ethereal about this blend, though it lasts well on me. I don't think I have anything else really like it.

Une Folle Entreprise is all violet in the imp, which worries me. There are notes here I love -- patchouli, anise, licorice, tonka -- but this seems dominated by the ones I'm ambivalent about -- violet, iris, silvery musk (which to me means high-pitched white musk). If you're good with those three notes, this is probably a lovely blend on you. I got almost no licorice or anise, and barely any patch or tonka. This does have a silvery feel, kind of ephemeral (and in fact it became a skin scent very quickly on me), pale hyacinth gray in color.

I didn't think I'd ever gotten my hands on Mag Mell, but I looked through my untested imps and there it was. It looks to be a very well-aged imp. In the imp, it's bright lemon verbena and ginger mellowed by amber. The amber doesn't show up much on my skin, though. It starts out verbena and ginger, then the ginger cedes place to the grass. And then we have the cleansing droplets of summer rain, the bit that worried me, the bit that takes this into aquatic territory, which on my skin means soap. So it ends up a mildly soapy, grassy verbena, kind of a high-end spa scent. I wish I got some sage here. This is really nice until it is highjacked by the aquatic note.

I put this on yesterday when I was really rattled and angry. Our dog had slipped out while my husband had the sliding glass door open and was spraying a model airplane. She usually doesn't wander far and comes back when called, but we couldn't find her. He, my son and I were all out yelling for her. She finally came trotting out of a neighbor's yard. When we got her back in, I said she could no longer be outside without being leashed. "Yes, that's clear," my husband said. And then, as I headed downstairs to my office to give a lecture, I saw the sliding glass door was WIDE OPEN again, and my husband in a different room. So, Isychia. It's not the kind of thing I would have chosen as a scent -- ylang ylang is not me. I'm not sure what elemi or blue tansy smell like. It's a little bit tropical floral, a little astringent, a little citrusy. I was able to make out the chamomile more as it dried down. I think it helped me get my heart rate down so I could do my job. I'll have to try it again when I'm not in a panic situation, as part of the stated use of putting my own spiritual facemask on before I can help others.

The Imperfect Enjoyment has indeed aged beautifully, and I wish I had more than half a decant of it. It reminds me a little of Blood Kiss. Blood Kiss without the vanilla, cherries or honey. There is a sweetness here, though. I'm not sure where it's coming from, and it's very dark, but it's there. It's a smoky, sexy, clove-infused patchouli and myrrh. Gorgeous.

Crumpled Wrapping Paper smells just like wrapping paper. But not crumpled -- more like when you've just taken the plastic off a fresh roll and the ink it at its strongest. It's amazing to me how Beth recreates such a scent. Also, why. Once it's dry it's quite subtle, and the wear length is not great on me. But it's super interesting and realistic and I'm glad I got to try it.

Wet I got lots of orris, dry and powdery with a trace of bitterness on my skin. Gradually it was taken over by the coconut, and the combination worked surprisingly well on me. Soft tropical coconut with the orris keeping it from going foodie. I like this one!

Tushnamatay is a sweet sandalwood incense on me. Looking at other reviews, the sweetness could definitely be lotus. It has that almost bubblegummy quality, but the incense is dry and balances it out. I didn't try to meditate with this, but it's very pleasant just to wear.

Vernal Equinox Full Moon is soft, cool spring florals backed by a pale amber note that emerges gradually. It's pretty, very feminine and light, and my skin eats it up in about two hours. This was gifted to me by a generous forumite and I'm glad I got to try it because the idea of the bulb flowers backed with amber was intriguing, but it's much too floral to get much wear from me.

Maybe I amp cherry wood, but that’s what I’m getting the most of here. There’s tobacco accord, but it’s not the cherry tobacco I adore. The patch is fruity, not the darker variety (I seem to prefer black patchouli), and for whatever reason, this trio, which should have been dynamite on me, never quite gels. It does have some throw and good wear length, though.

This decant was given to me by a friend and is the comfort scent I didn’t know I needed. Chocolate, milk and dark, cozy cardamom and hazelnut, and brown sugar praline, which dominates the late drydown. I don’t get marshmallow but don’t miss it either. Good throw and great wear length.

Um, a kind swapper gave me a tester of this in an imp, and I didn't realize it was HG. So I'm wearing it on my left wrist right now. I was guessing mahogany, bourbon and tobacco, but apparently the polished woods are oak. It's beautiful. It's not holding up all that well as perfume. I definitely have to get my nose close to smell it, and after an hour it's very faint. I need to figure out how to put this in my hair and get more of it!

Wow, no one has reviewed The School for a while! I have a tester and was hoping for woods, beeswax and salt. Maybe the dusty beeswax of Quintessence of Dust with some forest and pirate notes and golden amber. What I got was surprisingly reminiscent of blackcurrant. It's one of those scents with a lot going on in which aging has mellowed any sharp corners and blended the whole into something in which the parts are unrecognizable. So the beeswax is sweeter than I would have expected, and the woods are subtle, and on my skin everything resolves into fruitiness. I wish I could have smelled this one fresh because I think it would have been really evocative.

I have about one application left in my decant, so I'd better review Luxuria. Obviously I'm enjoying it. I use it as an after-shower moisturizer, not in the bath. Luxuria is a very fruity red musk, bolstered by the red fruits, the sweet orange and the vanilla. The nutmeg gives it just a zing of spice, and the patchouli is definitely in the background. This doesn't read as a killer sex bomb on me but rather as something more fruity and playful. It's an excellent late summer scent and pairs well with anything in the red fruit/fruity red musk family.

Not sure what year my decant is. I get a dry, feathery incense -- not nag champa, fortunately -- and what smells like dusty sandalwood. I'm not getting any clear sense of old books -- no appreciable leather or parchment. There is a subtle muskiness as well. This is a skin scent on me but lasts a long time. Kind of a low-key comfort scent but nothing I need to seek out more of.

Sportsmanship is pretty much all honey on me. I got it because I am interested in the salt note, but it's minor and fleeting here. And it's not one of the honeys that is particularly good on my skin.

I received a sniffie of this in a recent decant circle, just enough for a skin test, and just enough to confirm that orange blossom and eucalyptus are not my friends. At first I got almond, and the orange blossom and eucalyptus seemed to balance each other out. I'd be interested in seeing more of that green almond note because I didn't really get a good feel for it here and it didn't stick around for long. The eucalyptus did not persist either, and this ended up orange blossom and perfumey white sage on me. Much too floral for my tastes. This lasted a really long time as a skin scent.

This is a really beautiful honeysuckle blend. Three or four hours after applying, I’m still waiting for the patchouli to show up. No, not fair, it’s there, just very faint. I was hoping for a lot more patch, though.