Lucchesa

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.

That naughty Tengu: Peppery, smoky red musk. But mostly red musk.

We Must Love One Another Or Die is a rose and lily blend on me. Now I don't usually wear florals, and rose is very iffy on me, but this is a gorgeous rose that makes me hopeful that white rose is a variety I can enjoy. After a while, I get rose, lily and sandalwood, but I was really hoping for the ambrette seed, vetiver and smoke to dirty this one up. I'm going to hang onto my decant for the time being to see if any of those notes emerge, because they would make this scent amazing.

I was swapping for a less-full bottle, so my partner threw in a decant of Silkybat. It is all that. Sugared patchouli goodness that flirts with gnarliness but never gets all the way there -- this might be a gateway patchouli for people who are on the fence about it. Better throw than I get with most oils, and it lasts and lasts. Kind of like Berliner Dom Antics without the gingerbread. I love this!

Tamora is very, very sweet. Sweet peach, sweet amber, and vanilla. After an hour or so a smooth sandalwood becomes apparent. I'm not too clear on what heliotrope smells like, but this is definitely more fruit than floral. I tested this ages ago and kept the imp; I'm retesting the aged scent now to see if I should keep a new frimp. While I definitely appreciate that this is pretty, I'm not sure when I would ever want to smell this sweet or this peachy.

Why haven't I been wearing my foodies every day? SO comforting! On me it's a dark vanilla flan with a dusting of cacao, doused with tequila and set aflame. So many good foodie notes! I didn't really get the jalapeno (I often have trouble smelling the Lab's pepper notes) and certainly didn't get any skin irritation. Calaveras not only lasted all day, but I could still smell it the next morning. A total keeper.

Spiced rum, check. Cinnamon bark, check. Vetiver? Usually vetiver is powerful and unmistakable, but for the first hour or two it was sheltering in place so far beneath the other notes that I could barely make it out. So, rum and cinnamon and clove, but somehow it's not foodie in feeling to me. I agree with artisjok that it's not a sweet, sloshy rum. And about an hour into weartime, the vetiver comes out of hiding and turns a nice but unremarkable scent into something really good. It's a sweet vetiver, not a harsh, smoky one, and it gradually tilts the balance until the spices fade, then the rum, and the late drydown is mostly vetiver. You could wear this on a date and it would just get sexier and sexier. Totally unisex, good wear length.

Red patchouli, Nutmeg and Oudh is definitely oudh, but definitely not black oudh. It's not barnyard; it's deep and rich and very grown-up, and it's a perfect foil for the dry red patchouli. Just these two strong, self-confident notes (I honestly struggled to find the nutmeg) twining together, and yet it's not simple because the notes themselves are so complex. It has oudh-level throw, too, at least for the first hour or so, after which I did get a hint of nutmeg, but just a hint, because this is femme fatale, not spice cabinet. The woman who wears this does not bake apple crisp. Gorgeous now, and I bet it will be phenomenal in a couple years.

I didn't have any interest in trying Shakarri because I thought sea moss + coral = too aquatic. But then I saw all the reviews mentioning licorice, and I am a whore for the licorice/anise/fennel family of scents, so I gave it a try. It's an odd duck, all right. It doesn't seem aquatic at first. I get a hint of pear, the limey anise of absinthe, and the labdanum, and if it stayed there I would be delighted, but as it dries down, the sea moss comes into play, and gradually it moves closer and closer into dryer sheet territory. Aquatics and my skin just don't get along. I never get much patchouli, and I have no clue what coral smells like. I'm really glad I got to try this one, but it doesn't work for me.

I wore Atsui Mono yesterday and am surprised I never reviewed it. It is so comforting. In fact, if I could have a beverage made for the current situation, it would be black tea with vanilla fig milk creamer and honey. My skin always eats up tea notes, so the tea fades in drydown, but the rest lasts a good long time as a kind of pink-gold creamy fig with the subtle warmth of honey and hay. I get a bit more throw than my skin usually allows, though not enough anyone else to notice now that we are all six feet apart. But I knew I smelled fantastic.

Quatre on me starts out foodie, with lots of cocoa powder, then settles into rose --- one of the good roses, a big red rose I can wear -- and cacao in equal measure. I am not usually a rose enthusiast, and this was gifted me by a generous forumite, but this is really nice. Unfortunately, on my skin the balance keeps tilting in the rose direction, and the cacao fades substantially after an hour or so. A really fun scent journey, but being left with rose, even nice rose, is not me.

Deux was given to me by the lovely and generous Teamama. I wonder if this is tea rose -- it's definitely one of the roses that doesn't work on me. Sour rose and dusty spices. Maybe some saffron and nutmeg? And I see other reviewers think there is myrrh in here, and I would tend to agree. Rose rarely agrees with me, and this is not one of those times.

Not what I expected: the first hour or so of 13 September 2019 on me was right on the verge of Lemon Pledge. I hadn't looked at the components, but I would have guessed lemon, lemon verbena, lemongrass, maybe green tea... all the lemony stuff. Now that I'm looking, I guess that's the litsea and mandarin and bergamot, but it definitely combined to make lemon on me. Later drydown is very herbal, chamomile and hops, and I never got a lot of ylang ylang for which I'm grateful. Still, this feels much more like a TAL to me than like something I would wear as perfume.

This is a 13, all right. Deep dark chocolate and lots going on. The only note here that's troublesome on me is the champaca, and I do get a little nag champa tinge with this, but with so much else good stuff, it's not a problem. I get lots of warm snuggly notes melding with the cocoa: tobacco and cedar and boozy patchouli. I don't get lemon at all (and I have a heavily lemon scent on the other wrist which ought to have brought it out). Despite the honey and chocolate, this isn't overly sweet. It's hugely comforting -- perfect for the present anxiety-ridden moment.

The Drunkard's Dream starts out as sour fruit and moss on me, and I agree with sarandipitee and bookandbroom that there is a soapy quality as well. I'm not really getting vetiver, opoponax or labdanum. Instead it's a really odd sensation of tart redcurrant doing battle with dripping moss and never resolves into anything I'd be excited about wearing.

A little Cigarettes and Offerings goes a long way. I wouldn't wear this one at work near a militantly smoking-averse colleague. It's really quite a realistic cigarette scent, yet cloaked in nostalgia. It's the silvery cloud of cigarette smoke that enveloped Marlene Dietrich or Greta Garbo. After an hour or so, the smoke sweetens, and the incense becomes more evident. No throw at this point, but that's normal with my skin chemistry. I'm grooving on this much more than I expected.

Fruits and flowers are not my jam, and I only ordered Metal Rat because it came as part of a set of February decants. It's primarily peony and melon on my skin; the citrus notes are present but faint. I couldn't make out pine at all, though it is a note that has been going sweet on my skin lately. This is a sweet, uplifting blend, and so far out of my wheelhouse that if I keep the decant it will be to use more as a TAL than as a perfume.

Raccoon Moon starts off as lots of minty snow and evergreens, with the juniper prominent. After a couple of hours in, the evergreens had sweetened considerably, allowing a snuggly musk to emerge, with a little patchouli and some soil. The florals are quite subtle on me, which suits me just fine. I wasn't sure about this one -- I might not have ordered a decant if I hadn't gotten a whole February set -- but I'm really enjoying it and glad I got to try it. It lasted all morning then needed to be reapplied.

JK Men Are Very Good etc. really hinges on that divot. It's very much a grassy scent at first, maybe even with some dandelion thrown in, and a little soil. Even when it dries down, it's definitely more about the cool green notes of grass and after shave than the warm brown ones of leather, tobacco and bourbon. I love those cozy brown notes, but this is a fun twist on them and I quite like it. Definitely on the masculine side of unisex, as the description implies, and it hangs around for much longer than most "green" scents do on me.