Lucchesa

@ladyphlogiston So, I went through my spreadsheet looking for currently available GCs with a lot going on. I avoided the foodies, heavy forest scents and florals -- I just don't wear florals and can't really weigh in on them. And the list tends towards the unisex because that's the way I roll. Also, some of my favorites are things like Haunted (amber and black musk) and Sloth (vetiver and myrrh) that are amazingly complex feeling for having only a couple of listed components. But here are some ideas! First I would think about the other Aztec-themed scents, as I've always considered them related: Centzon Tetochtin: Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood Tenochtitlan: Amber, hyssop, coriander, epazote, Mexican sage, prickly pear and Mexican tulip poppy Tezcatlipoca: Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal's flowers Xiuhtecuhtli: Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms Aperotos Eros: benzoin, Indian musk, massoia bark, myrrh, ambrette seed, galbanum, bergamot, and fir. Baba Yaga: Spell-soaked herbs and flowers, cold iron, broom twigs, bundles of moss and patchouli root, and moth dust Bastet (cardamom! So good! As is the related Bast from American Gods, which is a little less sweet): Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus Blood Kiss -- a little foodie with the cherry and vanilla but it's complex and sexy: vanilla and honey with clove, red cherries, vetiver, soporific poppy, blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk Calico Jack if you're not averse to aquatics: Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, plundered spices over worn leathers, rough musk, and salty wooden floorboards Cleric (I can't wear this because of the champaca): Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute Croquet if you like citrus: Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk --also, How Doth the Little Crocodile, Schrodinger's Cat Druid: Woolen robe, ancient trees, fertile soil, wild herbs, spring grasses, and burgundy pitch incense Elf (this I adore, despite the violet): Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry Evil (really good aged): opium tar, tobacco absolute, green tea, black plum, kush, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, and costus root Kali (my notes for this say only, "Too much going on."): sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey Kubla Khan (champaca AND jasmine, not for me): Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine Le Lethe if red musk isn't a problem for you: Red musk and sweat-damp golden skin musk with labdanum, golden amber, nutmeg, tobacco absolute, black orchid, and hemlock accord Lyonesse: Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss. Mage : gurjum balsam, Sumatran dragon's blood resin, olibanum, galangal, oleo gum resin, and frankincense Morocco, a perennial favorite that has never worked on me: exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia Nephilim (on me the cypress took over but there are a lot of great notes here including cardamom): Holy frankincense and hyssop in union with earthy fig, defiled by black patchouli and vetiver, with a chaotic infusion of lavender, cardamom, tamarind, rosemary, oakmoss and cypress No. 93 Engine: Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage Oblivion (my best friend's favorite, she's on her third bottle): Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron Old Demons of the First Class: Siberian musk, black clove, opoponax, tonka, black pepper, and neroli Ozymandias (looks like this is discontinued, though): Dry desert air, dry and hot, passing over crumbling stone megaliths and plundered golden monuments, bearing a hint of the incense of lost Gods Plunder (spices!): tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg Seraglio: Sweet almond, Mysor sandalwood, Bulgarian Rose, neroli, nutmeg, clove and orange peel Sybaris if you can do violet (I can't): Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean The Black Tower: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine The Bow and Crown of Conquest: sage, carnation and cedar with lavender, vanilla, white musk and leather The Caterpillar: Heavy incense notes, carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver The Great Sword of War: Mandarin, tonka, saffron, black tea, cocoa, tobacco leaf, sanguine red musk and five classical herbs of conflict The Scales of Deprivation: lemon peel, white sage, frankincense, lavender fougere, sandalwood, vetiver and labdanum Uruk: Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna I know it's super long but it's easier than working your way through the website -- hope this helps! ETA VetchVesper and I were answering at the same time! And our lists overlap a fair bit!

Only one review? The Horned God is good stuff if you like cedar. It's strong cedar, like pushing your face into a cedar tree that someone has recently harvested bark from. There's other stuff growing in the grove around you -- nettles, which you don't want to push your face into, other green and woody things. I don't get lemon or florals, and the frankincense is the one in Cathedral that smells like cedar on me anyway. The Horned God sticks around a good long time. I will be putting this decant with my TALs but once in a rare while I may want to smell this gloriously of cedar.

Her Strong Enchantments Failing does smell like a fey scent. (Perfect for reading War of the Oaks with the BPAL bookclub!) Wet, it's purple fruit and smoky incense. I am perpetually in search of a blackberry that doesn't go all berry candy on my skin, and unfortunately this isn't quite it, because it goes through a phase which is pure berry Bubbalicious. But the drydown is worth it. The sweetness recedes and the blackberry gets entangled in the incense -- it's not a vetiver smoke or anything acrid. It's a pale, dry incense, not a nag champa. The effect is dark and light at the same time, earthy and ethereal. I'm going to try this in my scent locket to see if I can avoid the berry bubblegum phase.

I generally can't do aquatics, but I have realized over the past few months how much I love the sea salt note, and that's the note that's uppermost when Two Westerners hits my skin. And it's glorious -- salt and wood and beeswax, vanilla and old books. I'm getting no red musk out of this, a note that usually dominates on me. Unisex and not too sweet. This was almost an instant bottle, except that it faded away in about two hours. I'm hanging onto my decant in case age improves the wear length -- I like it so much I almost don't care. I love zanzoku_zen's description as Lights of Men's Lives (probably my favorite GC) taking up a pirate's life.

I received a decant marked Lotus SN in a circular swap from a super generous forumite and am just now getting around to skin testing it. It is sweet, sweet, sweet. It's that bubblegum floral I've come to expect when I see "lotus" as a component. I don't see myself wearing this as a perfume, but I'm delighted to have it to train my nose.

I love the discontinued GC Grand Guignol (apricot brandy) and was hoping this would be a woody, musky variant on that theme. On me it starts out as FRUIT. Not even specifically apricot -- I would have guessed there was some berry in there as well. Fruit poached in a lot of sugar with a dollop of vanilla. Within a few moments I can recognize it more as apricot in heavy syrup -- nowhere near as boozy as Grand Guignol. And as it develops, the musk and wood come out and the apricot recedes. The final impression is a skin scent of vaguely apricot scented, slightly woody musk, and it doesn't last all that long on me. I may hang onto this decant to see if a few months of aging helps bring the various components into better balance, but Grand Guignol wins this round.

Ah, yes, here is the patchouli win of the Lupers. If you hate patchouli, you probably weren't going to try this one anyway. If you love it, don't miss Dalliance with an Amorous Bat Demon. It starts off all about the honeyed patchouli, which at first is pretty gnarly, but its edges are quickly softened by the other notes; within 30 minutes or so it reads as a more grown-up, safe-for-work patchouli, reminiscent of the patch in Fake News. It's sexy in a cozy way, not a dark scent on me, leveling out into soft patchouli, sweet labdanum and smooth sandalwood with very low throw (normal for my skin).

One of my all time favorite Lupers is Delightful Visitor Among Haystacks (chrysanthemum incense and red carnation) and To Lesbia is the closest thing I have found. Like VetchVesper, I don't smell any nag champa, which is the one incense note I cannot do. Instead it is more of a Shunga-feeling incense with a spicy, smoky carnation. Really nice.

Lemon honey. Bright, cheerful -- a very light musk, a little beeswax, some sticky leaves. On my wrist, Chushu-no-Meigetstu flirts with Lemon Pledge throughout its wear length, though it never became all-out cleanser that needed be be scrubbed off. Still, my decant can probably find a better home with a lemon lover whose skin chemistry is kinder to it.

A Vision of the Courtesan went on brighter and more lemony than I expected. It settles down into creamy rice milk, soft sweet tobacco and a touch of frankincense. It has terrific throw, something I'm not used to with my skin chemistry, and good wear length -- in fact, I could still make it out this morning after wearing it all day yesterday. Really beautiful -- I see why it is getting so much love!

The Death Grapple, though the throw is low, has given me a solid nine hours of wear time, which is excellent for my skin chemistry. Lavender and sandalwood are the strongest notes on me at first, then the lavender and sandalwood recede and the cola-like labdanum take center stage. So cool vanilla labdanum grounded with herbal lavender and sandalwood.

I'm not familiar with aguardiente but am very fond of Strega and other anise liqueurs and was hoping for a lot of anise from this. I didn't get it, but I still like this quite a bit. It starts out really boozy, with what smells to me more like a coffee bean note than a brewed coffee one. The milk note behaves and doesn't turn on my skin. Cola de Mono settles into boozy coffee on me, agreeably spiced and with a dash of vanilla, and the coffee note hangs around a lot longer than it does in several of the Kaffeeklatsch scents. I would love to drink this, but I'm enjoying wearing it too.

I love the chocolate-based 13s, but I was excited to get to try this one. It's lemony sugar on me, not as ridiculously sweet as you'd imagine, and very cheerful. It's like Lemon-Scented Sticky Bat with the proportions of lemon and sugar reversed. I've not tried layering it because my life is complicated enough already, but this would be a delightful summer scent to wear on its own.

I am conflicted about Mayhem at the Battlefield. On the one hand, I love it. It's weird and wonderful, and it somehow smells quintessentially BPAL to me, and like no other perfume I had ever smelled prior to BPAL. Earthy and musky and spicy. The ginger and the hippie patchouli rub elbows with the funky mushroom note and the honey musk, which is not like the fae honey musk of Lady Una. It's way earthier. It's not for everyone, but I really enjoy it. The reason I'm not in line for a bottle, though, is that something in here (and I'm betting on the mushroom note as it's the one I have least prior exposure too) seems to be making me sneeze. But I'm going to keep wearing the decant, and if I find I can't live without it, I may have to put up with the sneezing.

Is there stealth oudh in here? I accidentally ordered two decants of A Glimpse, so I'm going to wait until the next one gets here, but my first glimpse is stinky oudh, probably black oudh as that's the worst on me. I guess some of the other reviewers are having the same reaction.

When I retested Pleasure Boat, it was pleasant but I wasn't sure why I had adored it so much on first try. I do love carnation; the carnation here feels like a fresh-cut greenish note rather than a spicy clove-like carnation. I got amber and vanilla (not overly sweet) but I wouldn't have said rose. There's also understated sandalwood and some green notes. It's nice. But an hour later, it's amazing. It's still carnation-forward, but everything has melded together into something that transcends the individual components, and it lasts a long time without morphing further. AprilB's description of this as like a golden brocade is spot on. Definitely a spring/summer scent (which are underrepresented in my collection), mood-lifting, my favorite so far of the Lupers (though many of my decants were delayed and I'm still waiting...). Definitely bottle-worthy.

Thought Photography on me, as with so many lavender BPALs, went on with a big blast of lavender, this one with a slightly metallic patina. I was hoping something interesting would develop with the palo santo and ambrette, but unfortunately, my skin ate Thought Photography right up. Not only the lavender but the whole thing was gone within about 90 minutes. I'm delighted I got to try it but will pass this decant on.

Saturday Morning is delightful. It's a beachy lemony coconut with some bright green notes and a little lavender. On me, lavender usually comes on strong at first and fades immediately; this lavender was never strong but didn't disappear either. Super cheerful, which makes it an excellent shelter in place scent, with better throw than I usually get and great wear length.

Lilacs are blooming, so I'm wearing Cave of Treasures and Eusapia. What other lilac loves are you trotting out?

Red Peach, Sweet Oudh, Honey and Saffron was generously frimped to me, and when I put it on I initially thought too sweet, too fruity. But it develops into something much more complex and interesting. There's nothing skanky about this oudh; it contributes a rich depth that's very grown up. The saffron also helps to cut the sweetness. This is a beautifully balanced scent and just gorgeous.

I tried and rejected Qandisa early on in my BPAL journey when I was still afraid of vetiver. Now that I'm a fan, I definitely wanted to retry this one. I remembered it being a heavy headshop scent, and I was gratified to see supreme_c0rt mention nag champa because that's exactly what I recollected, although it's not a listed note. I do like it a whole lot more than I did initially, though it still has a bit too much of a suggestion of nag champa to be something I would wear often. The black musk and honey initially read like red musk on my skin, so my impression wet was sweet red musk and vetiver. I never get a lot of lemon peel. As it settles, the red musk sensation recedes in favor of black musk, honeyed incense and dry earthy saffron against a pretty assertive vetiver, and not the sweet cuddly one of Two Sheep. So if you are scared of vetiver, this isn't going to change your mind. It's smoky and sexy, with good throw and wear length.

2014 version. This is gorgeous. I am a big fan of the dead leaves note, maple leaves especially, which is what ties this scent together. So it starts out as dead leaves, then there’s some sharper green ivy, the beautiful, mournful soil note and the early sweetness of the fig. And a thread of incense floating above it, all wrapped in the dead maple leaves. Good throw and wear length, too. Nostalgic, sigh-inducing. Did I mention gorgeous?

I’ve been wearing my foodies during this period of social distancing because I find them comforting, but Anne Beany is a little too sticky sweet for me. It’s basically all butterscotch for the first hour or so, then mellow down into butterscotch rum. Good wear length and a little throw, which is a lot for my skin, from this well-aged decant.

Gaudium reminded me immediately of A Season of Ghosts. Both are geranium-citrus scents, and they both feel clarifying. I do think Gaudium is well-named -- it's kind of a short sharp shock back into remembering the joy of being alive. I had only a tester, and I don't use bath oils in the bath anyway but after a shower. So I put Gaudium on my dry elbows and forearms. I didn't realize there was lavender involved; on me it was all geranium, citrus peel and lemon verbena. I like to use grapefruit-scented shower gel to get me going in the morning, and Gaudium continued that sense of bright awakeness into the next part of my day. I need more of this.

Cozy Pumpkin Sweater on me is definitely cozy and pumpkin, but I get hardly any spice. On me, it was simple: fluffy sweet vanilla pumpkin. It felt more like what I would imagine pumpkin floss to smell like. Although it's low key, it lasted for 24 hours on me.