Lucchesa

O was in my very first order from the Lab, and I wasn't impressed at the time. The vanilla hit my skin and took over in a very weird way, or maybe it was the vanilla and honey combination, but it just wasn't good on me. So, this morning I saw a necklace of mine hanging in the corner of my office. It's a Japanese necklace with a compartment inside, I haven't worn it for at least a couple years, and looking at it, I thought, "That would be perfect to hold a couple of imps." I opened it up and damn, that's where Fae and Uruk and my original O had gone! O is now a dragon's blood red; I don't remember it being this color originally. And it is freaking gorgeous! The three notes blend together seamlessly, and there's a tiny bit of spiciness, maybe from the amber? It is sexy as hell. Age this one, folks! Age it! It's fantastic.

On first sniff, I didn't read Tisiphone as a floral at all. On my skin the floral notes just begin to creep out, but are still overwhelmed. Black patchouli can be an enemy of mine, and it does me no favors here. Neroli is usually good on me, and I wish there were more here, but the black patch beats it into submission. This is just not distinctive or long wearing on me, either. Swaps.

Siren on me is predominantly a young white ginger - the kind with the smooth skin in the grocery store, not the gnarled kind - with a little jasmine. I can just get apricot, but the vanilla barely makes itself known. I want to drink this as a tea, but I'm not sure I want to smell like this.

Sheol is another of Beth's gorgeous lily blends that work so well on my skin. It is a beautiful bright floral on first application, and as it dries the resins darken the scent, making it richer and deeper. A sophisticated floral -- it never gets muddled as it seems to on other users. And I love the idea of the scent, the reminder that all we have is the brightness of this world which is fleeting.

This was a BPTP frimp that I knew wouldn't work for me when I first sniffed it in the imp. I finally tested it today, and I was right, it doesn't work on my skin. It has gives the weird sensation of being both sharp and cloyingly sweet. And it's giving me the hint of some buried scent memory that is not a pleasant one. My elf is just going to have to find some other occupation besides picking pockets.

This is a powerful leather scent, and it makes me, as a vegetarian, a little uneasy (I know no cows were killed in the production of this perfume, but it's not really what I want to smell like. It's that realistic.) I'm not sure what red moss smells like, but it has a musky edge to me. Pretty good throw, which is characteristic of scents I'm ambivalent about. I'm swapping this with someone I hope will appreciate it more.

A shadowy, unapproachable forest of maple, birch, dogwood, cypress and pine softened by a garland of New England wildflowers: bergamot, columbine, rue anemone, blue violet, creeping phlox, bloodroot, toadflax, and pixie moss. This is sweeter than I expected and sunnier. I didn't get any evergreen notes, which can sometimes take over completely on my skin. Just a nice balance of greenery and floral scents, a little bergamot, some violets peeking out. Quite lovely!

AE is deep and dark and orangy when wet -- I smelled a lot of bergamot, which is a favorite note of mine. But on drydown something cologne-y takes over. I'm guessing this is the benzoin because I had a similar experience with Nun and the Courtly Lady, and bergamot and benzoin are the shared notes. It becomes quite lovely when thoroughly dry but very faint on me, despite my having reapplied it. And since I don't like the drydown phase, I'll probably swap this one.

I'm so glad this happened to someone else in the first few reviews or I would think I was nuts -- on my skin, this turns into cedar chips. In the imp I can smell the orange and the patch, but despite the fact that there are no cedar or other conifer notes listed, my chemistry makes cedar out of the various ingredients. As it also does with Cathedral -- I just assumed the ancient church was built with cedar beams or something. I have cedar scents I like more. Swaps.

On me, this is a pretty aquatic floral, mostly hyacinth. I was hoping for a stronger fir note, but I guess the forest is a little ways off of the seashore. No throw at all. Very nice but not something that I imagine reaching for often.

I have the "old" gnome, very pale in color. It smells as if someone mixed ginger ale and root beer on my arm (but without the stickiness, fortunately). I don't get any pepper, gear oil or smoke. Very odd and not particularly what I want to smell like, though from other reviews it looks like people are enjoying this quite a bit. I will keep the imp, as with all my RPG scents, but won't be seeking out more.

This has really good wear length and throw for me, which is unusual. Sadly, I'm ambivalent about it. My husband called it "interesting." The description calls it conflicted, which I found dead on. I felt like the three notes never reached a detente and decided to work it out. They just kept duking it out, vying for dominance. I'll need to test this one again -- if it does stick around, it will definitely be a bright summer scent.

Arcana is unusual and lovely. Wet it was sharp and dry - lemon verbena and lavender and rosemary? I'm still not certain I can identify frankincense. Neroli is usually good on me, and it showed up in drydown. This feels very Renaissance to me and kept my interest over all of its stages.

Another gorgeous lily blend! My skin amps lilies and soaks up most everything else, so I am Learning to Love Lilies. On me, this is lots and lots of lily of the valley. Not sure what Syrian hibiscus smells like but I really don't catch the apple blossoms or much sandalwood. There's a kind of acid green note I'm attributing to unripe fig which keeps the lilies from being overbearing. Still, even on drydown this is mainly lily of the valley on me. Less fruity than Queen of Hearts, less grassy than The Reaper and the Flowers.

I love carnation, and Alice is my happy place, so I have been meaning to try Maiden for some time. In the imp I smell the tea and rose, and wet on my skin tea and rose are in the foreground. I get some carnation, but it's the very quiet florist's carnation, not the spicy carnation I love in Alice. BPAL tea notes are often lemony on me, which is great because their lemon tends to go all Lemon Pledge on me, so for a while I get lemony tea and rose and the faintest hint of carnation. But as it dries, the carnation gets spicier and more assertive. I was afraid this maiden would be too faint and virginal and retiring, but no. This is the maiden who can get the unicorn to lay his head in her lap but then clambers on to his back and rides hell for leather through the forest for safety when the hunters approach. And Maiden got me through a whole Zumba class with lovely lifts of carnation while Hellfire, which was on my other wrist, just rolled over and went to sleep. Maiden has catapulted herself to the top of my summer scents list.

I tried Hellfire yesterday and am retrying this morning to see if I get the same result. (For the record, I haven't showered yet.) Hellfire just disappears on me, within minutes. I think the notes are beautiful, but after a quarter of an hour I have to make wrist contact with my nose and really concentrate to smell anything at all. Apparently my skin wants all the hellfire for itself. This just doesn't work for me, alas.

Dirty is clean, clean, clean! I love to put my laundry on the line on a sunny, breezy day, and this captures that smell. I agree completely with DiesMali: the linen of the description has been laundered with organic detergent. The good stuff. For a light airy scent it lasts surprisingly well on me (which is rare).

Undertow is not for me. I had hoped the juniper would balance out the mint, but wet it was unpleasantly minty, and on drydown I got a kind of juicyfruit smell, which must be the lotus. Juniper stayed way, way in the background. Swaps!

Death Cap is a little weird. (I know, who buys a perfume named after a poisonous mushroom then complains of its weirdness?) Wet on skin, it reminds me of that potting soil with the little green balls in it - Miracle Grow? As it dries it becomes a sweet floral, almost fruity but with a tinge of decay. It's really very pleasant though I wish it had more throw.

Antikythera Mechanism is lovely, a soft vanilla not going all weird but held in place by tobacco, teak and oak. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long on me, fading quickly to a soft generic vanilla. I wanted to love it because of the name, and I will definitely use up the imp, but I'm not sure I need more.

Yep, this smells like a yoga studio. Woodsy patchouli with a side of patchouli and a patchouli chaser. Gorgeous if you love patchouli. Not my thing. ETA November 2020. So, somehow I became a patchouli hoor. I love this very much. And today, after wearing it for a tough yoga session, I got, under the patchouli and sandalwood, something that smells an awful lot like Egyptian musk. Don't know if it's really there or if it's some weird symbiosis with my sweaty skin chemistry, but I like it.

Desire should be terrible on me. I avoid black musk and black patchouli, and vanilla can be a problem. But bergamot and I are in love, and neroli is usually on my side as well, and they keep all the other notes in line, including that big red rose that threatens to crowd everything else out. On drydown, the citruses and rose are dominant, I'm not getting black musk or patch at all (thank goodness), and everything else is playing gorgeously around the edges. I thought for sure this would be straight to swaps, and instead it's bottle-worthy!

Wintergreen or whatever the minty note is just doesn't work for me. Fortunately there are other woody scents I love. This one goes to swaps.

I wanted to adore this because it is so beloved, and these notes should be fantastic on me. And tragically on my skin it smells like those coca cola bottlecap candies that were a thing when I was a kid. SO disappointing.

Nothing vicious here at all, on me. Sweet orange gives this a fruitiness that reminds me of Akuma. Usually I amp lily but here it's overpowered by the orange note; maybe it will show up on further drydown. Nice but not exceptional; I'll keep the imp but won't buy a bottle.