Lucchesa
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Everything posted by Lucchesa
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Artificier (my imp has an extra i) definitely smells like it would be right at home in the Steamworks collection, somewhere between Galvanic Goggles and Robotic Scarab. It's bright, unisex, not specifically metallic on me. There is probably some ozone in here. I like it. No throw, which is typical for my skin, and wear length is only average or a little less on me.
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Chestnuts and Hearth Smoke was in my stocking this morning, and frankly I'm struggling to find the chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts is possibly my favorite smell in the whole world, but here I'm getting lots of that hearth smoke note, similar to the fire-red tobacco in Orion or the fireplace smoke in Hearth 2017, which is not the best smoke note on me. It softens nicely but wears very close to the skin. I was really hoping for a blast of roasting chestnuts. I will give this some time in hopes that the chestnut note will develop with a little aging.
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The Butterfly on me is a bright, sharp bergamot with amber and some chewy petitgrain. I'm not sure I'm finding the tonka at all. It's funny, my first BPAL love was Alice, with milk & honey, carnation, rose and bergamot, and it's looking like the only one of those notes I can reliably wear is carnation. The others are all iffy on me, and my taste has gotten darker and more unisex. Here the bergamot is just too bright and high-pitched for me. It's better after about an hour as it all settles down into a kind of citrusy warmth, and it's definitely an upbeat scent, but it isn't me.
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R'Lyeh came to me as a lab frimp and is one of the few available GCs I have not already tried because aquatics never work on me. I have to say it was surprising. It's much sweeter than your run of the mill aquatic and does not go into dryer sheet territory. If I hadn't read the notes (or what there are of them) before testing, I would have described this as more of a fruity-floral incense than a dark aquatic. Is there opium in this? It feels more like it belongs in the same category as Darkness or Event Horizon than Sea Foams Blood or Kumari Kundam. I rather like it, but given how many BPALs I love, I'm unlikely to reach for it often.
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Yew Trees is a skin chemistry fail on me. Berries rarely work for me, but I generally love pine notes. Somehow the combination brought out the worst in both on my skin. So I got something like sickly Pine-Sol. Swaps.
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Pipe tobacco is a scent my skin chemistry tends to devour (Hellfire -- I get nothing). I keep trying, hoping for that pipe tobacco holy grail. Frequently the same disappearing act happens with tea. Sadly, Mr. Young on my skin is clean, almost soapy, with a discreet aftershave. If you like Dirty and other scents that are advertised as clean, this ought to fit the bill nicely, and it's definitely work appropriate. I just wanted some tea and some pipe tobacco to go with it and they don't show up on my skin. But I'm so pleased I got to try this thanks to the PIF of a generous forumite!!!
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Yes. As advertised, Birthday Surprise is pure deep dark gooey chocolate. It's not terribly complex, but it's not trying to be. If chocolate scents work on you, this one is terrific. I can't stop sniffing my wrist. Decent wear length, not much throw (which is normal on me).
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In the Forest is predominantly a leather scent on me. I love it. There's a grounding of deep woody notes, the pitch and patchouli. I don't really get copal or oakmoss, maybe just a hint of sage and saffron, and the clove on me is only really perceptible in the wet stage. But it's really all about the leather, and it is not a Red Rider leather on me but a more worn, softened leather. On the masculine side of gender neutral. Rugged, sexy, comforting. It lasts all day, too. I'm so glad a super generous PIFer sent me the decant. Now where do I find more?
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On me, Yule Buddies is that gingerbread man wearing a leather jacket but also smoking a pipe stuffed with cherry tobacco. It has decent wear length on me. Cozy, sexy, total win. I love this!!!
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Table Turning is not my usual jam but was passed on to me (thank you, dear!!!). The ectoplasm reads as lime on my skin. White musk is always iffy on me and is a little screechy here, and instead of teak, this smells more like rosewood to me. (Sharper -- teak can turn quite sweet with my chemistry.) So all in all a sharp, clean, bright, citrusy blend, perfectly pleasant, just not what I normally wear.
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Low-Key Lyesmith was given to me recently in a spectacularly generous PIF. It's something I was curious about but would never have gambled on more than a decant for. In the bottle, this is not promising. It smells industrial, like a furnace where used whisky barrels are being burned. But within a very few minutes, the spices shake off the initial harshness, which disappears, and they continue to bloom and soften over the course of the wear length. I get mostly smoky clove against a ground of cassia. It's rare for a BPAL to transform from something frankly unpleasant to something I truly enjoy wearing, but that is the case here. The longevity isn't exceptional, but I'm happy to reapply when the end result is this good. TL/DR: Dark clove with an edge.
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White musk and ambergris can be iffy on me, honeysuckle, almond milk and coconut are all wins. So I didn't try Materialisation last year, but it was on my list of scents to watch reviews from, and I recently had the good fortune to receive it in a PIF. It's really lovely. Creamy coconutty almond milk with the sweetness of honeysuckle but more of a foodie than a floral vibe. The musk and ambergris are gentle and don't take this in an aquatic direction on me. Unfortunately, like many scents with ghostly titles or descriptions, it doesn't have a lot of throw or longevity on me, but it's beautiful while it lasts.
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I tried Blood Squib Snake Oil before Blood Squib, which was PIF'd me by a wonderful forumite, and I think the SO version works better on me. Wet, Blood Squib is a blast of maraschino cherry with that familiar cherry-almond smell. It does turn to artificial cherry flavor, though, and on me it faded fairly quickly. I'm glad I got to try it, and cherry lovers should take note to see if it works better on them.
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Goat’s milk and honey are what I get most of in Harlequin Milk, which was PIFed from a supremely generous fortune.. There is some bright red currant peeking through, especially when wet, but not a lot of orange peel on me. The pale musk is more evident an hour or so in. This is lovely and cheery and lasted all day on me.
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I was worried about the brown oudh in Death's Head Moth, since I've been so burned by black oudh. I wasn't worried that the clove husk would commandeer the entire scent experience, but that's pretty close to what happened. The oudh is quiet, not at all indolic; the vetiver and ash are also very subdued. It is a kind of cuddly comfort scent, without much throw (which is normal for me), but I wish the warm, dusty clove husk would let some of the other notes have more play on my skin.
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Wet: Maraschino cherries. I love maraschino cherries, but I'm not sure I wanted that as a single note. It takes a while, but ultimately I get some Snake Oil poking its usually not very shy head out. The later drydown is a delicious mix of cherry and SO, but it wears close to the skin, whereas I'm used to SO having more sillage. If you love cherry and Snake Oil, it's hard to go wrong here.
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Someone upthread describes this as non-foody caramel corn, and that is right on the money for me. Wet, it's all buttered popcorn with a hint of caramel, but once it's dry I can just make out the Snake Oil with its vanilla goodness under the kettle corn. This wears really close to the skin for me. I think I'll keep my decant -- it is definitely a mood-lifting scent -- but I don't need a whole bottle.
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This decant has had 9 months to age and is still oudh oudh oudh on me. Like theseagrows I cannot wear black oudh and was hoping burgundy oudh would be less nasty on me. Beth, please give us crushed velvet musk in something oudhless because it sounds divine. First Morning in Paris I had to scrub off.
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My obviously well-aged imp of Wolfsbane is lovely on me. Dry and woody yet soft and cozy. There's probably cedar and sweet vetiver in here. It wears close to the skin, which is pretty normal for me. Definitely a comfort scent. Too bad it's so rare now.
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I keep trying blackberry scents and they keep going to candy on me. I wouldn't have tried this one, as the other fruit notes would have put me off, but I was given a decant by a magnificent forumite, and so I got to see if blackberry oudh would be an exception to the berry candy rule. And nope. Le Carrousel de Montmartre was all fruit candy on me. Blackberry was strongest, with pineapple and apple along for the ride, and amber was present as well. Like samanare I got hardly any vetiver (and the word "sweet" attached to vetiver is a strong attractant for me), tobacco or cinnamon. Mainly fruit. Fruity candy, that is. Oh, well, I'm delighted I got to try it.
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Dead Leaves, Nutmeg, Sweet Vetiver, and Virginia Cedar
Lucchesa replied to zankoku_zen's topic in Halloweenie
Dead leaves and bright cedar when wet, a striking and lovely combination. As it began to dry down, the vetiver came more into evidence, the same beautiful sweet vetiver as in last year's Two Sheep and Two Goats. Unlike z_z, I got no nutmeg at all. The late drydown -- and this lasted hours -- was all sweet vetiver, subtly dark and smoky. The decant is a keeper, and I'll make sure to test it again before weenies come down to see if the nutmeg ever shows up on my skin. -
Black Moths is nowhere near as fruity as I would have imagined. On me, there is a lot of the charred variety of vetiver and a camphorous patchouli. The rose doesn't show up, which is fine, but I think someone with the correct skin chemistry to wear this well would get more of the dark syrupy opoponax and the dark fruits balancing the harsher vetiver and patchouli. I can imagine how beautiful this would be on someone else, but it's not really working on me.
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Indulgence does smell like beautiful murder, as Joyleaf_ says. Everything in this nearly 4-year-old decant is dark and smooth and polished; there are no rough edges on the patchouli or vetiver, nothing indolic about the oudh. It's a black marble foyer with a spectacular floral arrangement in a neoclassical niche. It is a little more floral than is to my taste, and champaca is rarely a note I can wear, but it's a work of art and I'm delighted I had the chance to try it.
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Pirates! only arrived in today's mail, but I had to try it out. It is very gunpowder-forward on me. Salt, leather, rum and wood all make an appearance, but the spices are quite subdued. I was hoping for more smoky spices and less brimstoney gunpowder, so I'll let this one rest a couple weeks to see if the spices emerge more strongly with a little aging. I would definitely keep the decant and might spring for a bottle if they do.
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Testing blind, I was mystified and enchanted by Songs of Autumn VII. It was green, outdoorsy, with a dry sweetness, but I couldn't come up with the notes. It's not a sweet, ripe fig note. It's not a woodchippy cedar or a drippy golden honey or the fizzy labdanum so prominent in last year's Weenies. It is brilliant sunlight on a crisp autumn day, the chill in the air, those poor figs that never ripened still hanging on their branches. Once I read the note list, I could find the tobacco, the pale dry honey, and the other notes, but they blend together seamlessly. I'm going to try this again in about a month to see how it is settling and if I need a bottle.