Lucchesa
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Everything posted by Lucchesa
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Sadly Pyewackett isn't working on me -- the later drydown is nice enough, but it takes too long to get there. Wet, it smells like something's on fire that shouldn't be -- smoky with an acetone tinge. I never get a recognizable patchouli or amber note; I do get ink and paper and a dark red musk. The smoke never goes away but eventually it gets less chemical, more mad wizard's laboratory.
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Wild Sweet Pea is a lovely soft springtime scent. Almond milk is always good on my skin and there's a lot of it here. These are all gentle, delicate notes and for me they work together nicely. Low throw and wear length (which is fairly normal for my middle-aged skin) but I gladly reapplied.
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Deer Moon: Caramel and Dark Musk
Lucchesa replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
Caramel and Dark Musk reminds me so much of Haunted that I wonder if there’s a stealth amber note in here. This is very much a black musk scent, not at all foodie. My experience is very much like topazphoenix’s, with the musk front and center, the caramel in the background. Decent throw and wear length on my middle aged skin. It’s lovely, but if you missed it, just pick up some Haunted from the GC — it scratches the same itch. -
I chose this decant largely out of curiosity plus love of all things ancient Egyptian. There are unfamiliar notes here for me: carmine, elemi, blue lotus. I thought the carmine might be a blend of Egyptian and red musk, but I was being too literal; instead this is lighter and brighter than I expected, with something almost citrusy. The cinnamon and cassia are very subtle. It’s pretty — I think my mother would have enjoyed it. In fact I think most people would enjoy it. You could dress it up or down. But I don’t have strong passionate feelings about it.
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White Flowers. It kind of stopped there on me and for hours was something akin to single-note magnolia. Or gardenia or one of those exceptionally heady, fleshy white flowers that I never wear without some red ink or black paper dirtying them up. So I was hoping for maybe something ashy in the black note, maybe blood or red musk in the ink. I envy the minerals and resins and red musk Little Bird is getting; the florals are just drowning everything else out for me.
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2025 version. My carnations experience is the opposite of my lilacs one in that here I get much more SO than carnation (or clove), especially at first. And it’s fresh SO where I’m used to wearing very syrupy aged SO. The carnation and spices come out eventually, but I think it’s going to get much better with age. I’m definitely holding onto the slonk and I’ll try to check back in a few months or so with an update.
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I waited on reviewing this decant because it seemed like it needed a little more time to mature. It’s still not there yet, at least on me. It’s very pink. Berries often go berry candy on my skin, the musk is apparently an extremely fruity one, and I’m not yet getting any spice from the pepper or carnation. I didn’t upgrade to a bottled but am still hoping this becomes a more prominent carnation scent on me someday.
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The Serpent in the Lilacs is mostly lilac on me. Beautiful, stick your head in your neighbor’s bushes and inhale lilac. I love this note. The SO is very much a backing note, at least now, though I suspect aging will make it more prominent. It’s mainly making the innocent springtime note feel a little deeper and sexier. I knew this would be magic and I think it’s only going to get better.
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Seconding Debauchery. Read the review before mine and I think you’ll need to try it. Blood Kiss and Perversion and O also come to mind.
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Drow is definitely in the same family as Event Horizon, which I’m always surprised has no plum. It really should have plum. So Drow is like Event Horizon with plum and leather. It’s much quieter on me than Event Horizon, and the leather takes quite a while to develop. I think it will layer nicely and will probably also age well.
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Champaca ruins just about everything for me. I was hoping this would be an exception, and wet I got some musky patchouli and hemp, and then it was all champaca all the time. I think this would really good on me without the champaca, which I loathe and therefore amp. Sigh.
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I tend to amp DBR so am not surprised that Dragonborn is just about single note dragon's blood on me. Fruity DBR with great throw, just the faintest whiff of leather or smoke.
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Winter Night Figure on the Bridge from the Yules a couple years ago would scratch that itch if the mood recurs. Indigo musk, blackened lilac, wild plum rind, opium tar, tobacco flower, and snow. So gorgeous.
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Hunter’s Moon: Chestnut and Patchouli
Lucchesa replied to doomsday_disco's topic in Duets & Menage A Trois
When I did my junior year abroad in Italy, I rounded a corner one frigid fall day to be hit with the most extraordinary aroma. I knew immediately it was "chestnuts roasting on an open fire," which I'd sung about most of my life though I had never to my knowledge smelled them previously. A street vendor was roasting chestnuts on a brazier and selling little paper cones of them. The chestnuts tasted wonderful, but the aroma was even more heavenly, and I've been looking for it in BPAL for years. I thought it would be Chestnuts and Hearth Smoke but the smoke is still a little off-putting on my skin. I somehow missed One Good Turn Deserves Another and have one coming in a swap. But here it is in an October lunacy whose decants I am only testing now, when they're no longer available from the Lab. Earthy, nutty, warming, and somehow tied to a genetic memory of a beloved fall ritual. I will treasure my tiny bottle of Chestnut and Patchouli as a reminder of the scent of one of the happiest times in my life. -
I was keeping this decant regardless because Michelangelo. Apparently I never reviewed it. I get a different perfume than the one the notes would suggest. Lots of oakmoss, very fougere. No black currant unless it’s just playing the citrus role in the fougere, no beeswax. It goes on all sharp cologne — I like unisex but this is a bit much. But it settles down fairly quickly into a dry cologne in a higher register than my usual taste. Still, it’s something I can wear, and will wear when lecturing on Michelangelo, and therefore should have worn last Wednesday. But I forgot.
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Beanman and Beanwoman Climb Genital Mountains
Lucchesa replied to radiantfracture's topic in Lupercalia
This very well aged decant of Genital Mountains has some big, bad, old school BPAL energy. It’s a russet color but rubs in without staining, and freshly applied I would call it Snakes in the Coal Mine: a very Snake Oil musk with lots of vetiver. Eventually I get some hazelnut and booze, and definitely that caramelized sweetness, though hardly any leather at all. This is all surprisingly quiet on me once it’s dry, and after a few hours it’s barely detectable sweet musky vetiver. -
Just concurring with the cocoa-dusted Snow White thing -- that's exactly how Midnight Marzipan dries down on me. My bottle has a lot of chocolate globules and I didn't see any brown on my skin where I applied, so it might be more chocolatey if I make sure to warm and roll the bottle well between my hands before applying, Soft warm hug, though, and for one of my favorite causes. So glad I blind bottled this!
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I applied this on public transportation. On my way to an open rehearsal of the Seattle Symphony. I know, I know. But the vast majority of oils are relatively quiet on me. The Acrobats, not so much. This is a BIG apricot, with way more throw than I expected. I blame the oud. If an oud is stinky on me, I get massive throw and longevity. This one is not poopy at all; in fact the only real sign of the oud on me was amping the apricot. Not that I’m complaining — I love a scent with some oomph. So, mainly a big juicy apricot with some warmth and depth from the other notes and surprisingly good carrying power. I agree with @icecreamcone that this one is reddish orange.
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Rendezvous With Her Lover Behind the Rice Straws
Lucchesa replied to zankoku_zen's topic in Lupercalia
Rendezvous with Her Lover is not very complicated, but it's very nice. It opens with lemony hay and then as it dries down I get the gentle creaminess of the rice milk and the sugar, which I always think is a sugar cane note here -- something about the way it interacts with the hay, I think. Plant milk notes tend to work for me when dairy and cream will curdle on my skin. Low throw and wear length -- definitely a personal scent, safe for work -- but I don't mind slathering and reapplying. Thank you, @Teamama! -
Apparently I never reviewed Mage. And I haven’t really worn it since testing it, though I kept the imp. So this is a very well aged imp, possibly close to a decade old. Nothing sharp or evergreen here, or smoky; if anything, Mage is fruity on me. DBR is problematic — often cloying— on my skin; here it’s like a dark berry note with some non-specific resins in the background. It’s nicer than I remember, tbh, and deserves to be worn more than once every eight or nine years.
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Flaxen Flame is so gorgeous, I wish I had a bottle and not just a decant. Dragon’s blood is always a big question mark on me. Here it’s quite light against a lovely warm amber like in The Lion and gentle spices. It all just works together beautifully on my skin. There’s something sunny and hopeful about this one. Maybe I’ll see it on eBay or Etsy some day.
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Huh, I realized I never reviewed Bram Stoker. Nothing bloodsucking here: this is the writer, not his creation. I have a very well-aged lab imp, I'm guessing at least eight years old, and it goes on strong whoa cologne. It is never soapy on me as some have experienced, and it settles down quickly and lasts a long time. Lots of smoky vetiver and a little grassy, maybe vetiver, maybe the hay; a little bergamot, I'm not making out opoponax or bourbon, but this is very traditionally masculine and sexy. I wear a lot of unisex blends and this definitely trends more m than f. I like it, but you need to be comfortable with something on the masculine spectrum to enjoy wearing this.
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This is a very sweet peach, and the combination with the fruity red musk and fig taking it even further in that direction. I was hoping for a smutty Depraved but the patchouli is very light on me. Good throw and staying power as is typical with red musk on my skin.