Lucchesa

A fellow reviewer generously shared a decant from a well-aged bottle of The Candy Butcher with me, and it is lovely if unexpected on my skin. Wet, I get the big, rich, deep dark chocolate note I love. Then I sat back and waited for the cream note to appear and ruin everything. And waited. And while there is a creamy undertone to this scent, the note that emerged was not cream but a rich perfume note, making this feel expensive -- more glamorous and less foodie than it did at first. My overall impression was of that little gold box of Godiva chocolate that my French teacher gave me as a Christmas present when I was her TA in 9th grade, my introduction to upscale chocolate. And this stuff lasts. I swear I could smell it on my wrist not just the next morning, but the morning after that!

I'm testing this today because of a suggestion that colored musks would be good for a Pop Art talk. It's surprisingly apt fit. My first impression is of sour green apple Jolly Rancher candy. When I look at the notes, I see there is no apple listed; I think what I"m smelling is a blend of lime for the tartness and papaya for the fruit. As it dries down, the fruitiness starts to share space with green grassy notes, slightly sweet cucumber, and the green musk I know from Geisha in a Green Kimono. The earthier components -- sage, green tea, even ambergris -- aren't apparent to my nose (my skin generally obliterates the green tea note, so no surprise there). In terms of suitability for Pop Art, Green Phoenix is fun, bright, candy-colored, punchy, and young. It's sunny and optimistic. Even the fact that my first impression was a brand name links it to Pop. It has no throw, which is pretty standard for my skin chemistry; unfortunately, it's almost gone an hour after application.

Thanks! I’ve never tried Pink Fuzzy Handcuffs so I will be on the lookout for a decant. apparently, Edie Sedgwick’s signature scent was something called Fracas. It was a dirty tuberose, perhaps my worst floral, so I doubt I could wear it.

This is totally off topic (since I had to google WTNV to find out what you were talking about) but any suggestions for a Pop Art theme? Like, what would Edie Sedgwick wear, or a fembot from Austin Powers? Thanks!

I don't do jasmine or straight florals but I ended up with a Zorya in a bunch of DC'd imps I'd bought, so I thought I should try it. At home in the evening in case anything went awry, which was a good call. Not because Zorya is bad, but because it's STRONG. Looking up a couple of reviews, I see "old-fashioned big sweet WHOOM! FLORAL scent" and that's exactly my experience. This smells like something my aunt Ginia, who was always wearing too much perfume, might have worn. If I'd worn it out, I might have scrubbed it off because it is so not me it would have made me self-conscious. But if flowers are your jam, it's absolutely gorgeous. I don't get any spice from this. The jasmine is soft and heady. I can't make out any of the other individual flowers, but they float over a base of pale musk, put out phenomenal throw and last forever (neither of which is common with my skin). I think this has aged phenomenally well.

I can't stand aquatics. There's an exception to every rule. Of course, in my case, the exception would have to be discontinued. But to my great surprise, I actually like Hurricane. Wet, it's a snap of ozone and what strikes me as a saltwater note over a base of smoky vetiver. I like smoky vetiver if it stays in check, and it does here. The saltwater (I know it's supposed to be rain -- or China rain, is that something else entirely? - but it's reminding me of the sea salt in Eyeball Seaboar) has a kind of toothsome quality to it. It layers beautifully with the vetiver and the ozone, which softens almost immediately. And it lasts exceptionally well, seeing as I applied it about 7 1/2 hours ago. Huh, I like an aquatic. Maybe I can chase down another decant or two.

The Unsavory Gravediggers is surprisingly wearable. It's a boozy earth scent -- dirt and woods and something akin to bourbon. I quite like dirt and graveyard scents, and the booze adds some sweetness and a little warmth to what is essentially a chilly blend. Unfortunately, I don't get much wear length with this at all.

Velvet Panther may have mellowed considerably in the decade since it was first produced. I wanted lots of star anise, but I'm not sure I get any at all. The vetiver has also become the cuddliest possible version of vetiver. Dark and velvety, like the musk and the woods. I can smell the king mandarin in the imp and wet, but it's swallowed up immediately on my skin and just contributes a subtle sweetness. No throw (which is usual for me) but it lingers quite a while as a soft, comforting skin scent.

I find BPAL dairy notes really iffy. Some are stunning on me, but a few go bad on my skin (Phantom Cow of Yerba Buena, Young Pine Saplings...). Sadly, Werepuppy is in the latter category. It goes from soft honeyed baby powder and nuzzling a sweet fuzzy infant to oops, the baby spit up on me. Way too realistic for me! The bottle art is adorable; the scent just doesn't work on me.

Redacted Dragon was terrible on me. Almost all the notes are generally good, except for jasmine, but Redacted Dragon wasn't bad in a jasmine sort of way. It was bad in a mean dragon cracking into fire sort of way. This is not a friendly vetiver. This is more of a Malediction or Rumpelstilzchen sort of vetiver, with a very harsh ginger. I wasn't able to appreciate any of the carnation or baking spices. I came really really close to scrubbing it off, but I let it stay and a couple of hours later it had become something wearable, but I won't be repeating the experience.

Leather and flowers I can't identify -- that's what I thought when testing Calocyclas blind. Once I see the notes, I think, oh, of course, sandalwood, and I'm kind of anosmic to the pepper note, so I'm not surprised I couldn't make it out. I don't think I really got much olibanum either. It's a really nice, kind of seamless unisex leather blend with a little throw but not terribly long-lasting. Apparently, the thing in the middle -- a marine creature, possibly microscopic? -- is a calocyclas.

Groom of Frankenstein wet is black leather and a sharp, almost citrusy ozone note, in about equal proportions. Both of them settled into a clean leather with a cool edge, really nice if you like unisex veering towards masculine. Ozone is not usually in my note pantheon, but it's not going detergenty at all here. I got good throw from this, which I rarely get with my skin chemistry, though wear length was only about four hours on me. I envy you 12-hour people!!!

I don't understand where everyone is getting the gin from. The Magician's Hands is not sharp on me at all. I get very little cinnamon from this, and the myrrh is a fuzzy backdrop for the nutty musky ambrette seed and the calamus. And I"m not exactly sure what calamus smells like, but I would guess kind of earthy-spicy-outdoorsy. (In other words, the parts that aren't myrrh, cinnamon or ambrette). Not much throw (which is normal for me), and average wear length. This is a nice, work-appropriate unisex blend but not something that I need to hunt down more of.

Growing up singing about we three kings, I always wanted to know what myrrh smelled like. Thanks to Aveya sharing some of her SN, now I do. Actually, myrrh was a note I thought I had a pretty good handle on from blends like Penitence and Sloth, and it turns out that was true. Unlike Aveya, I like myrrh. It doesn't turn to baby powder on my skin, though it does add a softness, a blurring around the edges that might be considered somewhat powdery. It's deep and dark and soft, like a warm blanket on a winter evening. Ultimately in late drydown it has much more sweetness than I anticipated. It's really beautiful, and I'm so glad to have gotten to try it.

Given the note list, Raven Moon 2012 should have been a slam dunk on me. And it's not that it's not working at all -- it's really very nice -- but it's not an instant favorite. It is definitely in the darker scent category I wear a lot of in the winter. Myrrh is the dominant note on me, with a subdued dark musk, not the lemony black musk variety. The patch is really understated, and so are the spices -- they're definitely there, but there's nothing foody about this scent. I don't get much throw (I almost never do), though it does last a long time -- with a late afternoon application, I can still make it out on my wrist the next morning. I like Raven Moon, but I wanted to adore it.

Someone told me a while ago that I would love Fake News. They were right. It starts off with that expensive vibe everyone else has mentioned. I think there must be amber, maybe as the gold element, because it smells a bit like Jacob's Ladder to me, and I always associate amber with an old-fashioned, perfumey feel. The patchouli is the next thing that jumps out at me. It's not a gnarly patch, despite the description; I don't get the comparisons to #occupy at all. It's a beautiful patch, and it's definitely patchouli, but there's nothing headshop about it; it's little-black-dress-but-haven't-sold-my-soul patchouli. The tobacco is very faint on me, and I have to admit that I have never been able to make out the lab's pink pepper note. I'm not sure what it's contributing here. There is definitely something Gilded Age about this scent, and I would agree that the patchouli is more sneaky than gnarly, but I'm happy to sneak in patchouli whenever possible. It's a gorgeous scent for a very, very ugly phenomenon.

Mopey Boar is an oddball. At first, all I got was Teaotter's machine oil -- the type of lubricant my dad used on the machines in his woodshop when I was growing up. I think this was the combination of the truffles and the incense, and in all honesty I don't know if I would have been able to name it had Teaotter not unlocked that scent memory for me (which is why I shouldn't read reviews before testing scents), but it was weirdly specific and lasted a long time, during which I got no clove, no cardamom and no ginger. It took a good two hours for the spices to emerge on my skin. It's gorgeous now, about 3 hours in, a kind of earthy incense with ginger as the most prominent of the spices. But the opening was definitely strange on me.

Wet, Fishtail Beaver is all cedar and mint. I don't mind the cedar, but mint is not my bag. As it dries down, I get more of the patchouli and vanilla, but still too much mint for my tastes. (I won a PIF of testable empties of all the anniversary scents, thanks to a super generous forumite; I wouldn't have tried this otherwise. Because mint.) It does mellow down into a lovely snuggly patch with cedar and vanilla, but I'm just not able to appreciate the mint component.

Gin is not a good note on me, so although I love the idea and the label, this was unlikely to work on my skin. And sure enough, it's gin and tonic all the way -- gin and lime, gin and lime and evergreen. When I first read the notes, I wished the hound playing Scotland the Brave could be represented by scotch, not gin. But then it wouldn't be an annoying bagpipe playing dog. It would be a nice wolfhound curled up by the fire. So this scent is absolutely right for its inspiration, and I think it would be a terrific summer blend if gin works on you -- something to wear while downing G&T's on a sunny terrace somewhere.

Soft and smooth, Constipated Elephant has no sharp edges on me, not even wet. I don't really have a handle on nagarmotha yet, but the cypress is gentle. There's something much more elegant about this blend than I expected from the name or the description; also, I guess I expected a kind of poopy oudh would go with the concept, and that is not the case here. I don't get much throw (which is normal for me), and it's pretty faint after not quite 4 hours, but I have a testable empty so I didn't exactly slather. I'm so glad I got to try this!

Oh man, this smells like college. Wet, the cannabis is the strongest note on me by far, with some hippie patchouli which as usual is trying and failing to cover up the smell of weed. Damn, I could huff this one all day. It gives me the emotional rush of that period of my life without inhaling. This is NOT work appropriate. Not even in Washington state. I may need a bottle. Eventually, the kush settles down and I don't smell like a pothead's dorm room anymore. (Though I wonder if my nose is just habituating to it and others would still pick up on the Mary Jane.) Then the myrrh and gorgeous black musk start to take center stage. This is good. I definitely need more than the few drops in the empty bottle I won on FB. ETA This lasted a long time on me, and the late drydown was almost syrupy, dark and delicious. I would never have tried this without the generosity of a PIF-ing forumite -- I'm so grateful!

I would never, ever have tried this had a generous forumite not done a BPAL PIF of testable empties of the whole set which I won! Champaca is my enemy, generally. There's something sick-sweet about it on my skin. And I never smell the pink pepper note. It smells quite pretty in the bottle, a kind of floral vanilla tea, but champaca's fruitiness increases the moment it hits my skin. Yep, starting to amp the champaca in that cloying way. If champaca is good on your skin, this is going to be lovely on you. Not on me, sadly. By the way, I think Injured DIckchest is a terrific nickname for our newest supreme court justice.

Grapefruit! This smells exactly like the Method grapefruit spray I use on my kitchen counters. That is a good thing - it's a huge mood booster. Unfortunately, my skin ate up all the lovely juicy tart citrus in no time. If this had any staying power on me, I'd be buying a bottle.

I was worried about the salt in Eyeball Seaboar (also the name, Seaboar) taking this into an aquatic direction, which would not be a win on me. But it's really very good. The blend that came to mind while testing this is Mithras, my favorite AG scent. The only shared note is honey, but the blood in Mithras has a saltiness to it. I also thought of the sweat and honey of Sara Pezzini. If either of those is good on you, this is definitely worth a shot. The patch is sweet, as advertised, not a big bad hippie patchouli, and the overall feel on me is that of a second-skin type of scent. I'm not getting great throw or wear length from this, but my skin chemistry may just be having an eat-em-up kind of day, as it obliterated the Bellicose Clam on the other wrist... Aging may also help. I'm definitely keeping my decant and will retest in a couple weeks to see if I need more.

Sour Pard opens in a blast of sweet cherry almond on me. I love the Lab's almond note, so that's a plus, but it never lasts long on me. Sour Pard settles in to being mainly a red fruit scent, not too sweet, and red musk has finally decided it is OK to be a bit player on me, so I get a fruity red musk that complements the other notes. I'm not really noticing any carnation, though; maybe it will strengthen over time.