Lucchesa

Sinister Groundskeeper is a nice variation on the graveyard dirt theme, surprisingly light and feminine.  It started out as soil, grass and dandelions on me, and while I could eventually make out a blood note, I was hoping for more clove.  It was very faint after about three hours. 

DL, TA & SB started out as all dead leaves on me, with the balsam note the second to make itself felt.  I never got any appreciable smoke, though I might not have been paying attention in that phase -- this is a morpher. So, cool, cologney dead leaves and balsam for the first hour, and then the golden amber started to balance it out.  The late drydown on me was all rich, warm amber.  I'm a sucker for dry leaves and a sucker for warm amber, so this is very enjoyable.

Yesterday I tested Endless Corridors (LOVE!) and walked to the park to play ping pong for an hour with a friend.  Today I just got in a short walk before it rained and short yoga session before bed.  I wore Western Bonneted Bat this morning and tested Unsettling Portraits (interesting) this evening.  

I love this, and it has lasted all freaking day, with lots of throw at the beginning (something I rarely get with my skin chemistry).  Lots of beeswax, smokier than Lights of Men's Lives and less sweet.  I absolutely adore everything Beth does with candle scents, and this is a gorgeous addition to the ranks.  If you love beeswax but hate vetiver, you should at least get a decant and try it, because I'm not finding the vetiver at all objectionable. 

I have to admit that I was hoping that the grave soil and heavy leaves of the title would find their way into this scent despite not being listed in the components.  No such luck.  Instead, this strikes me as a lovely late summer scent.  Fresh-mown hay and grasses and herbs in flower -- more of a green scent than a gold or brown one, and with more of a floral component than I expected.  No throw (normal on me) and not much staying power, though that might improve with some aging. 

My experience with Pumpkin Gazpacho is unlike anyone else's here.  I was afraid the cream note might be troublesome, but it's fine.  In fact, on me, the cream never shows up.  It's the "roasted" note in the pumpkin that my skin amps to high heaven.  On me, Pumpkin Gazpacho smells like someone made gazpacho and stuck some pumpkin and sage in the oven to roast, and then wandered over to the neighbors' house for a drink, or two, and returned to find all their smoke detectors going off and the pumpkin still in the oven, a blackened mess.  For the first hour or so, all I get is charred pumpkin and sage.  After that, it simmers down so that I can smell the cool watery cucumber and tomato, and eventually it becomes a rather pleasant garden kind of scent, but that first hour with my skin chemistry is rough. 

Bookcase Passage hit my skin with a blast of Lemon Pledge, or rather the nicer, old-fashioned furniture polish made from natural ingredients Lemon Pledge is mimicking.  This mellowed into polished wood which mellowed into dusty leather and crumbly old paper and a bit of incensey sandalwood.  Startlingly, it lasts on me, as if the furniture polish note has pinned it to my wrist.  Book/library scents never last on me -- my skin chemistry does them in -- so this is a pleasant surprise, as I really want to smell like a library and am rarely allowed to.  This may be bottle worthy. 

Black Licorice Smut took about 20 minutes to settle in on my skin, but then it was exactly as advertised.  The black licorice note smells sweeter than in Dead Leaves and Black Licorice, but I think that's just because Smut is a sweeter backdrop than the leaves.  It's got good throw, something that's rare on me, and good staying power.  Sugary woozy red musk with black licorice --- if that sounds perfect to you, do not pass this up. 

This is one of the two Weenies I was most excited about, the other being Black Licorice Smut.  Licorice lovers had a lot to rejoice about in this update.  I am in love with both these notes, and DL & BL does not disappoint.  Wet, it was a sharp version of the dead leaves scent, and at first I could barely make out the licorice.  But within a few minutes the licorice was there, nice and full-bodied, against the cologne of the softening dead leaves. This is kind of an earthy licorice, not a super sweet black vine -- it doesn't feel like dead leaves and candy so much as dead leaves and a natural licorice spice. The two notes balance each other really well.  I will need more of this.

Hello, dear witchy ones! Today I tested Dead Leaves, Bourbon and Bitter Almond and walked around Green Lake. I also, earlier, walked to a friend’s house for egg nog. I ate too much junk today and am headachy. 

I quite enjoyed Songs of Autumn III, but I quite enjoy Quintessence of Dust, and I found the dust note similar.  Songs III has a lot of dry notes:  dust, sage, tumbleweed, ash.  Then there's the sticky cactus nectar tying them all together.  Despite the cinders, it's not particularly smoky on me.  Dusty high desert and agave.  I had to get up close to smell it (normal with my skin chemistry), but it's comforting and grounding. 

I don't know what it is about BPAL's library scents, but my skin chemistry obliterates them.  I did try Lurid Library recently and got soft incense rather than old books, and while it lasted a long time, it was very quiet on me.  The Lurid Library's Pumpkin Patch smells similar to me.  There is no pumpkin spice here, not that I expected it in a pumpkin patch; there may be some faint squash vines and soil, but I'm not finding any appreciable pumpkin.  And after an hour or so, there was very little scent left. 

@VetchVesper I don’t know anything about pruning! I just know I have a wisteria that has gotten way out of control, is snaking  up my cypresses, in and out of my fence, and around the top of the chimney, and while I did actually spend an hour today hacking away at it, I realize I need a professional to get up on the roof and do it properly. My step counter has gone off the rails again because it’s giving me 16,000 steps, and while I did walk about 4.5 miles today, first to one store then to another, plus the pruning, there’s no way I got that many steps in, and the last thousand or so came while watching Die Hard. Anyway, Sinister  Groundskeeper sounds like a perfect fit.

@Amazonia I too got my Weenies yesterday, but I only tested one: Dead Leaves and Black Licorice. It’s practically perfect except that it has no throw on me.

@Kelthara Rest days are part of the process. I hope you had a rejuvenating one. 
 

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it!!!

@VetchVesper Two hours of raking is exactly the workout I need to do!  And pruning, I need to do a lot of pruning.  

@Kelthara Life the Sculptor sounds perfect for yoga.  I just walked today, to the independent bookstore to get some last-minute presents.  I wore a couple of decants I found that I'd gotten in a swap and forgotten to test.  Weenies of last year.  And then after dinner I walked a few blocks to get up to 10,000 steps.  Love to everyone -- working out is always good for me for dealing with holiday stress.

Sweet lush vanilla, almost like the vanilla orchid note is in there as well.  The bergamot is just a hint, and the sandalwood only a little more prominent.  Really, this is the vanilla show, an almost floral vanilla.  It's kind of uplifting, as if it were a happy-making TAL, but it's not the kind of thing I wear.  It does have unusually good throw on me, though!

Today I am indeed sore, with something close to pain in my right shoulder, which I need to be watchful of (it's a weak point of mine, frequently reinjured).  This morning was gorgeously sunny after the godawful slush of yesterday, and Abby and I took a brief walk, about 20 minutes, at one of Seattle's most beautiful parks after visiting a friend of mine who lives nearby.  I wasn't wearing any perfume because I wasn't sure if my friend had scent sensitivities or not.  But this afternoon I walked to the nearby grocery store for lentils, and by that time I was wearing Kabuki, which I just got in the Solstice Swap!  I'm so happy with it.  I'm still not quite at 10,000 steps -- perhaps I can walk around the block before I go to bed.  My friend mentioned seeing a  particular tree in Seward Park every day for 30 years, and that made me think.  What if I started every day with a walk around Green Lake?  Just make it the first thing I do every morning, rain or shine.  It would be an interesting experiment for January.

Go, @Amazonia!  Anti-masker dodging is a sport, right?

@Madame Mew Yep, it POURED all day today and even snowed some. Supposed to be sun tomorrow. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Today I wore Velvet and did a 30-minutes Gaiam exercise ball video from the library streaming site. Definitely better than Denise Austin though it was new to me and I had trouble figuring out what they were doing a couple times. I’ll be sore tomorrow. Happy Solstice, everyone!!!

@Kelthara I just ordered a bottle of V'al Hanissim from the brand new update since I am still kicking myself for not buying one this year.  Yules seemed like they would be up forever, but it sold out.  Welcome back!

I've had a couple of useless days -- I had racked up 100 straight days of meditation on Insight Timer and I broke my streak, and didn't exercise either.  Today I did a one-hour hatha yoga class online through my local studio.  It was a pre-recorded one available for subscribers.  My back is hurting because I've been sitting ALL THE TIME -- I really need to yoga more regularly.  I wore the TAL Joy and I highly recommend it!

@Madame Mew Rain here today too, hence the yoga!  Awesome ingenuity!  How did the cinnamon rolls turn out? 

@Amazonia You are kicking ass as usual!  @VetchVesper So glad our fearless leader is back!!!

Today I gave a talk on Wayne Thiebaud, famous for painting pies and cakes and candy, so I wore Popcorn Ball Snake Oil.  It rained all day, so I wanted to do some kind of indoor workout, but I'm tired of YouTube interrupting with ads.  I realized my library has workout videos available to stream -- but they're oddball.  There were old Jane Fonda ones, a bunch of 20-minute ones (that I could in the future combine, like lower and upper body), some short paleo ones, a ton of Denise Austin.  I ended up doing 35 minutes of a Denise Austin video that had to be from the 90s.  PBSO held up beautifully, but the workout was definitely dated.  I went back in and bookmarked some that look more interesting -- a few from Gaiam, a Bollywood dance workout...

Hi, lovelies! Since I wore Aziraphale yesterday, today I wore Crowley. I did about a 40-minute walk to the drugstore to pick up some photos I’d ordered. I got sweaty, which is kind of my goal. Crowley is still faintly hanging on, many hours later. My perfume was definitely the sexiest part of my day.

@Seajewel Welcome back! I’m so glad you were able to run yesterday! I don’t know that scent and would probably avoid it because champaca is one of my death notes, but the name is awesome.

This morning I gave a talk on the National Gallery in London. I wore Aziraphale because it seemed like someplace he would enjoy hanging out, and I was showing several slides of angels. Later I got in a quick rain-free walk to the library to return my books, about 25 minutes. 

Fragment 38 was a frimp in a swap, and it's much fruitier than I would have expected from the notes.  It's candy-sweet and almost citrusy, and while the olive blossom doesn't go to soap as it often does on my skin, I never get the wood and amber combo I was hoping for.   Sweet, summery, and higher pitched than I normally wear.  It definitely has that high-end spa vibe that others have mentioned.

Witchy workout friends, hello!!!  I'm sorry I haven't been checking in.  I've been exercising pretty regularly, and wearing perfume pretty regularly.  But today I forgot to put any perfume on before heading out to play pingpong for an hour with a friend.  In the brilliant December sunshine.  In Seattle, where the sun never shines in December.  Win!  Now I'm testing Leather, Indigo Incense & Red Amber and Dark Chocolate with Sun-dried Tomato, Pink Peppercorn, Thyme & Comfrey. I hope you're all doing well -- @VetchVesper, maybe a 20 minute walk would be a good break from decanting? 

I received a sniffie of this in a decant circle, and I dug out enough to skin test because gosh darn it, this is the only blend I have with sun-dried tomato in it.  And this is an oddball.  At first, I'm not a fan.  It's chocolatey in a way that doesn't seem to go together with the savory ingredients.  I wouldn't choose this to eat except for curiosity, and I wasn't buying it as a scent.  But it got less weird and more interesting the longer it wore.  The chocolate gets less sweet, and the thyme and comfrey get to shine, with the chewy dried tomato note tying together the rich dark notes.  I don't need any more of this -- I have no idea where I would wear it -- but my initial distaste transformed into admiration. 

When this first hits my skin, it's soapy, but that lasts for less than a minute. It settles into a rich, fruity incense, and I do agree with supreme_C0rt that it's tinged with opium.  The amber and leather are barely making an appearance on me, although an almost spicy note plays around the edges.  This is not at all what I expected -- I wanted a lot more leather than this and some amber too -- so I'm going to hang onto the decant to see if it gets more balance with age.  I'm also going to hang onto the decant because it's a gorgeous incense blend, even if it isn't what I was hoping for.