Lucchesa

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.

Testing blind, I got red maple leaves and redcurrant from Songs of Autumn V. What I did not get was patchouli. So whereas VetchVesper's experience was drier and woodier than expected, mine was fruitier and juicier. I suspect we would both want to swap for the other's skin chemistry in this particular case. Fruity is rarely my jam, and the bourbon melded with the currant for macerated fruit. I wanted drier leaves and perceivable patch. OK, late in drydown I could make out the patchouli, but too little too late for me. If you appreciate fruity scents, this is a beauty.

Currant cake. What was I thinking? It's the currant cakes in Eat Me that go so tragically wrong on my skin. Wet, Dusk in Autumn is all currant cake going tragically wrong on my skin. Sadly, I can't wear this. Once it dries down (I didn't scrub it off), it's significantly nicer, sweet, smoky: dusky and autumnal, in fact. The currant cake sh*tshow has calmed down significantly. But the wet phase makes this decant not a keeper for me.

This one might well be called Are You Snuggling on My Grave? or Are You Digging in the Blankets at the Foot of the Bed? It is super snuggly. The milky note, the most prominent one on my skin, reminded me of some of the Lab's non-dairy milk notes -- oat or rice milk or the like -- and they always work better on me than the dairy notes. It's kind of reminiscent of the goat's milk note without the goatiness, if that makes any sense. Some brown musk, some brown dirt freshly dug through the grass, some warm wiggly puppy energy and the sweet milk note. Lovely!

This sounds really nice but it doesn’t sound like this particular 13?

Dead Leaves and Chai is all dead leaves at first and then the chai spices gradually emerge to warm them up. I don't really get tea, but that's not surprising as my skin tends to devour the tea note. This is a lovely blend of comfort notes: autumn leaves, cardamom, gentle cinnamon, clove, maybe a kick of black pepper (another note my skin eats up). Longevity isn't great on me, so I'll be happy with my decant, but aging may help with that too.

I love the dead leaves note, and Dead Leaves, Cacao and Sandalwood is no exception. The cacao note is dry like unsweetened cocoa powder, not sweet like chocolate, and it is a little darker than the sandalwood and leaves. On my skin I have a hard time smelling them all at once. It's as if they layer but don't meld, so on some sniffs I get mostly cacao, on others the leaves or the sandalwood, which is an intriguing effect. The cacao is the first note to fade on me, and I wish it lasted a little longer on my skin, but aging may help with that. Another win for the dead leaves series.

I wanted to love this so much, as this Gemini loves power tools -- and Schwarzer Mond. But lavender never lasts on my skin, and the whole thing faded faster than I would have liked. It's lovely while it lasts, lavender and darker resins, quite unisex and appealing.

Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary features a pretty gnarly patchouli sweetened by lush cherry. I am a fan of both these notes -- cherry is one of the few fruit notes I gravitate to, and it needs to have something non-sweet grounding it for me to appreciate it. So this is kind of like cherry Depraved, which is a win in my book. The patch lasts longer than the cherry on me, and it's definitely a cherry-tinged patch, not a patchouli-tinged cherry. About average wear length, not much throw but that's normal for me. I like.

I was hoping Basket of Abalone would be a lovely bright invigorating citrus scent. And indeed it started out that way on me, but unfortunately it turned into a really clean aquatic. The tartness of grapefruit and yuzu couldn't hold their own against my skin chemistry's tendency to transform seafoam into laundry detergent. I actually use a laundry soap that smells a lot like this does after about 45 minutes on my skin. But I'm thrilled to have gotten to try it as one of the bounteous goodies in my 13 Nights of Halloween box.

Boots starts out surprisingly sharp on me. Sharp wood chips, sharp new leather, bright green grass and bright herbal lavender. Bracing and almost aggressively outdoorsy, like it's begging you to go on a hike. Also kind of unusual -- I don't have anything else quite like this, and the grass never went soapy as it sometimes does on me. Ultimately the conifer chips softened and sweetened and the leather became the dominant note. Leather and wood chips, like z_z says, like the woodsman in a fairy tale. I'm very fond of leather blends and this one is terrific on me.

Wet I got lots of the lovely gentle goat's milk note with citrusy white tea and lavender. Typically, the lavender didn't last long on me, but I got some throw, more than I usually do, with the goat's milk-tea combination, which pretty soon was edged with pillowy, sweet, musky marshmallow. The late drydown is mostly marshmallow musk with white tea, but it lasts a long time. This is a really comforting blend; I can see it being used for sleep, but it's also a real pleasure to wear.

Probably not! I haven't tried it, but red musk, mango, tomato pulp and fig is pretty unusual. You might try The Dodo (Red musk, lemon peel, sugar cane, cassia, white sandalwood, mango, and agarwood). The recent LE Blood for Cat might also be worth a shot -- out of stock but probably easier to find (golden amber, black cherry, tonka bean, sweet red musk, dried mango pulp, rooibos tea, red currant, and bitter almond).

I've always thought that marigolds smell weird. Kind of musty, kind of bitter. Weird and marigoldy. Tagetes on my skin smells weird and marigoldy. Not exactly as I remember, and it gets sweeter over its wearlife, which my skin tends to do to a lot of green notes. Not much throw (normal for me) but good wear life. I can't imagine wearing this as a perfume, but I enjoy the single notes as a way of reminding myself what individual components smell like.

Hekaerge is a lovely and lasting patchouli scent on me. Testing blind I guessed patch, cedar and lemon balm — the latter two would be the balsam and lemongrass. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the opening — applied right before leaving the house — so I may have missed the lavender entirely as it rarely lasts on me. I’m not getting much myrrh either. A gritty honey is sweetening things only slightly but adding to the staying power. Very nice!

Wet, the geranium ran off with this one. Sharp, spicy, herbal geranium, though I couldn't have specifically identified it as the bourbon variety. It was all geranium all the time for nearly an hour before the red musk showed up, with the amber playing backup. Then it lasted quite a while as a fruity red musk/geranium blend with amber and faint woods in the background. I was hoping for a lot more patchouli but the red musk and geranium ganged up on it. I think this would be amazing on the right person, but my skin gave too much prominence to the geranium. Super glad I got to try this one!

Wet: vanilla! Creamy almond vanilla. I am a lover of marzipan, so this is right up my alley. Then as it dries down, the leather emerges in a big way, and the almond starts to bow out quietly, so the leather marzipan stage doesn't last long on me. What I end up with is vanilla, leather and maybe a hint of oak, but I never actually get much patchouli. Supreme_c0rt likened this to Antikythera Mechanism and I agree, it's like AM with leather instead of tobacco. Not much throw but that's typical of me; good wear length. Kind of a femme leather blend, though perfectly approachable for either gender. Haute Macabre is a beauty!

Loup Garou starts out as all evergreen forest. I usually avoid eucalyptus, but it is definitely playing backup here, though there is a sinus-clearing property when wet. Lots of juniper and cypress, so much that I can't make out the galangal. This would be a terrific atmo. On my skin it softens in drydown as evergreens always do, and then it disappears. Only a couple hours of wear length before my skin ate it up; I was death matching with Burial which lasted much longer.

Testing blind, the only element I identified with certainty in Polyhymnia (a very aged imp by now) is the myrrh. My impression was herbal, myrrh, and some floral that is not obnoxious on me (honeysuckle, as it turns out. Check.). When I know it's there, my nose can find the lemon balm, but it's very subtle. I'm not getting a lot of red sandalwood -- it's definitely not doing the #2 pencil thing -- but the powdery orris root is probably the dominant note here. I suspect the top notes have dampened in the last decade, but while subtle, this is still a beguiling blend, and it has good wear length. I'm so grateful to the generous forumite who frimped me this in an art swap, but I don't imagine reaching for it much, so I will put it in my swaps so someone else can satisfy their curiosity.

Mint is one component I avoid, and it's the dominant ingredient here. Wet, Nine Mysteries is peppermint and maybe something else with a medicinal edge like eucalyptus (another death note). Menthol. This is obviously not in my wheelhouse -- it might be ok for a wake-up shower gel or aromatherapy but not something I would wear as perfume. Swap.

I put Hohenzollern Crypt on yesterday because it was one of the imps in my car and I'd left the house unscented. I must have tried it but never reviewed it. It's very good. Citrus (more orange-lime than grapefruit) and lavender at first, but lavender never lasts long on me; it resolves into a lovely citrus chypre with the tobacco grounding it (I often find this kind of scent too high-pitched). Perfectly unisex, work appropriate, subtly sexy, reasonably long-lasting. No throw on me but that's normal with my skin chemistry. The scent it brought to mind for me was Auroraphobia so if you're hoarding that, this might be an easier-to-find alternative.

I like Mr. Wednesday all right, though he's not my usual type. It's sort of a bright herbal cologne, tending masculine on the unisex scale, with a little woods. I'm not actually getting much whiskey. It has a little throw on me (more than I usually get) and pretty decent wear length.

Testing High Pitched Shriek blind, my conclusion was citrusy marshmallow and some kind of floaty floral (sugar blossom?). I never would have chosen this because strawberry goes tragically awry on my skin, but it's not objectionable here; it adds a bright pink color and a little tartness to the general sugar rush of this scent. If sunny, fruity, girlish marshmallow scents are your jam, you are going to love this one! It's too ingenue for me, but I am SUPER grateful to the fabulous forumite who let me try this!

Pillar of Flame isn't nearly as dark as I expected it to be. I'd never tried labdanum incense but it's lovely -- imagine the almost fizzy quality of labdanum as an incense. To me it's not dark brown but more of the color of a piece of translucent amber. I read through the notes and felt like I could smell them all. The wild plum is less sweet than a cultivated variety; the vetiver is gently smoky, not the charred terror of Malediction. The pepper and saffron and vetiver counter the sweetness of the other notes; the late stage is mostly clover honey, always a lasting note on me, but with enough spice and incense to keep it interesting. I know this is a Luper but it's perfect in crisp fall weather, channeling the brilliant colors of autumn foliage more than the pastels of spring. I will definitely use my decant and be on the lookout for more!

I've been wanting to try Kunstkammer for ages -- it's an art history thing. It was generously gifted to me in an art swap, so I finally got the chance. My decant is easily a decade old if not more, and Kunstkammer has definitely mellowed with age. I often have trouble smelling the black pepper note, and that was the case here. But the olibanum was equally reclusive. I got soft sweet blood orange and warm benzoin, and my skin ate them up within a couple hours It's nice but nothing exceptional; I'm kind of relieved I don't have to track down a bottle. But I'm thrilled I got to try it.