Jilara

For some reason (pig on the label?), I keep thinking of this being Greek for "E-I-E-I-O" . It even scans! "And on this island we had some pigs, a-e-a-e-aah."

... Dry leaves, autumn bonfires, blood red wine, feral, animalistic notes and the chill of approaching winter. Hunter's Moon is a lot lighter than I would have expected for something autumn-y. Wet, it's creamy musk with a mossy undernote. As it dries down, there is a background of fallen leaves that comes out, very subtle. Don't get any wine. Maybe I drink so much red wine I can't smell it -- just part of my normal skin chemistry now! No bonfire notes, either. Usually the fleeting stuff comes out during drydown, before departing, but I haven't gotten either wine or smoke. Dry, it's mostly creamy musk. Reminds me in some ways of Minotaur, with a little bit of Coyote, but I can tell it's a lunar blend. Under the musk, it's still a little bit woodsy, but very, very subtle. I like it, but I think I prefer Coyote, for similar sorts of scents. Pretty, but this is almost too subtle. It also stays really close to my skin, while Coyote has reasonable throw. Still, I think I'll keep it for those quiet moods.

Very definitely troll-ish! There seems to be a bit of the bridge they hide under, as well. Wet, this is almost dusty. Dust and stone and a bite of evergreens. A dank shadow under the footings of a bridge running through the dark woods. Drying down, a bitter backnote comes up. Something scorched. Must be the scorched cumin. I think that the black basil is starting to come up behind the evergreens. It's not a place I'd want to hang around. It's a troll den. Not a good place to be. Dry, it's a little sweeter, though that's not really the quality I'd apply to Troll. Less bitter and scorched, with a hint of musk? Maybe. Bitter musk, black basil and evergreen in your face in front, dust and stone in back. I don't get the clove smoke at all. I was expecting something like clove cigarettes, but I don't get either clove or smoke, unless the smoke is that scorched quality that speaks more to carbonized wood than smokey air, in my experience. Evocative, but I'm not sure I'd wear this. It's aggressive, and not in a comfortable way. But then, it's a troll!

2007 version. I had some misgivings of some of the floral notes, but BPAL honey note is usually gorgeous on me, and I just had a feeling this would be. I was right. Wet, it's all about HONEY. The honey is out there and in your face, ganged up with it's pal, AMBER. Whoah, aggressive, but in a nice way. Drying down, I started getting a mysterious floral note. Mysterious, because I can't identify it at all, even knowing what's supposed to be here. The vanilla starts coming up and mellowing the florals in interesting ways. A waft of sandalwood comes out later in the drydown. Dry, it's a balanced blend of sweet amber, vanilla, and sandalwood that's sexy but innocent. The honey has stopped being aggressive, and is just lending sweetness to a slight fruitiness in the background. The floral is still there, being mysterious and incognito, lurking in the shadows as a supporting handmaiden. Complex and nicely blended! Love this one!

I needed some balance in my life, right now, so Libra seemed just right! Wet: Rose, rose, ROSE. Ooh, and a whiff of honey. Drying down, it gets a nice sweet fruity background, but still a LOT of rose. Mmm, black cherry sorta like a black cherry scented soap I used to love, back in college. It starts almost fizzy, like Dr. Pepper, but dries down solid and gorgeous. Dry: cherries and something that reminds me of the plum note in Mme. Moriarty, but I think it's a little morphed by the black currant. All with a solid backing of roses and that whiff of honey. I don't get any carnation, though. It might be hiding behind the fruit. This lasts and lasts. It's faint after 8 hours, when it goes mostly to cherry and honey, but it's still hanging in faintly. God's teeth, I LOVE this. I'm so glad I sprung for a full bottle!

I've been putting off reviewing this one, because it's such a THWACK of red musk that's mostly what I get. Don't get me wrong. I love red musk, and I love Red Moon, but it's pretty overwhelmingly red musk on me. Everything else is a bit player, except the dragon's blood resin, which at least has a walk-on with a few lines. In the bottle, I get RED MUSK and a hint of citrus. Wet, it's RED MUSK and dragon's blood. Drying down, I get some very complex backnotes coming out, and a vague herbal quality, but it's still overwhelmingly RED MUSK and dragon's blood. As the day wears on, it's RED MUSK with a very complex sweetish back note, where I can't pick out any single note, which is unusual for me. Good thing red musk is one of my favorite notes, because Red Moon on me has it agressively in-your-face at every stage.

In the imp, it's almost bubblegummy to my nose. But on, wet, we immediately go to pepper and something citrus-y and spice. Very tart, but spicy! Drying down, the amber and honeysuckle come up and blend, and the citrus quality fades. Dry, it's amber and honeysuckle leavened by pink pepper and a hint of spice, with something a little fruity and tart in the background (passionfruit?). After a few hours, it's just amber with a hinting of pepper, but the final stage lasts most the day. Hermia is tart and peppery, with just a a touch femininity, so appropriate to the character!

Wet, this is very vegetal/wild herbs. There is some nagging hint of a flower in the Compositae that I should be remembering, that smells like this, something wild and rank, but not as strong as tarweed. Not the flower itself, but the plant. There is a bit of bitter sap, like lettuce that's run to seed. Something crisp, which could be the clean smell of carrotseed. There's something that softens it as it dries down, but I couldn't tell you what it is. The honeysuckle comes out, but lurks in the background, behind the wild greenery. I was hoping for fennel, since I used to play in fennel patches as a kid, but I don't really detect it here. Pretty and full of wild plants. Don't smell valarian at all, and having taken enough of it medicinally, it's something you generally don't misidentify/forget/crave... So maybe that's good.

In the imp, a salty waft of sea breeze. Wet: salt spray, with something that makes me think of white flowers. Something green but with a substance I can't quite identify. Could it be green musk? Slight hints of tea. Drydown: not as salty, now. An aquatic fruit note, more than anything. Tea and that green smell. Dry: very clean and green and fresh, tea and delicate floral, but with a heavy jolt of aquatic fruit for body. Not getting any kelp, unless it's in with the overall aquatic notes. A lovely scent, but not very strong on me, after the drydown period.

Wet, this was amber and light background florals, mostly ylang ylang. Interesting, but no depth. Amber sometimes just goes "meh..." on me, and I was afraid this one might. However, as it dried down, the strong notes of vanilla and heliotrope and a hinting of honey came up, and reenforced it solidly. The flowers never really were more than a hinting, though. It's an interesting blend, and I definitely got hints of neroli and citrus in the middle dry stage. However, it's been almost four hours, and they and most the floral have faded out. It's now amber/heliotrope with a little bit of carnation, and gone very faint. Methinks it needs a refresher.

In the bottle, it's mossy with a strange hinting of ... cherry? Both I and my housemate both smelled this vague hinting of cherry... Huh. Odd. Wet: aquatic notes, with something mossy and dirtlike in the background. No cherry, now. Dry: early on, it's a dreamy floral, full of aquatic notes, not so much as seaspray but a storm off the sea, a squall hitting moorlands. Thinking more, I can identify the non-aquatics: it's like you'd get coming in toward land, from the ocean, when you start to smell land and vegetation, if that makes sense. Still mossy notes, something peatmoss and dirtlike in the background. No fires or woodsmoke on me. In the later dry stage (6 hours later) I'm still getting misty florals and aquatics, but the dirt has dropped out and been replaced by something faintly minty-herbal. There's almost a creaminess in the background that I recognize from the background of how Cancer smells on me, in its late phases, but more delicate. I think this one's a winner, another for my "wear fairly often" list.

Wet, this is very green, with a fresh-washed quality, and a hinting of floral. Iris, maybe? Dry, it's still extremely clean and green, with still that floral that makes me think of iris and/or lily, but I swear there's a hint of something like white musk. Something slightly minty in the background, but also an amberish note that balances cool with warm. I don't get any dandelion, like others seem to find, nor do I get anything bitter. Seems like something that's very head-clearing, makes you feel awake and alert, but quite grounded.

In the imp: cocoanut and lime Wet: LIME with a bit of ozone. As it dries down, I'm catching a whiff of something more conventionally citrus, vaguely lemony. I'm not sure if I'm getting mint or not, as lime often morphs into something minty on my skin, so it could just be the lime doing its thing. Dry: The cocoanut has come back, lurking in the background, but the major note is a cold note, with ozonic lime dominating. Just a hinting of something vaguely creamy in the background, that grounds it just slightly. Very pretty, very cold and bright.

I was looking forward to trying O, but O is "oh no!" for me. In the imp, it's sweetish. Wet, on my wrist, it's toilet bowl cleaner. Drying down, it's toilet bowl cleaner with a hint of those moth cakes you hang in the closet, with lots and lots of throw. A hint of bug spray in the background. My housemate thought the moth cake and bug spray was overpowering the toilet bowl cleaner as it dried. I never got all the way to dry. It was so horrifying I had to scrub it off after about five minutes.

Well, this one seems to only smell good at certain times of the month (say, whaa???). Then it's almond milk and sasparilla, like some sort of fascinating soda drink. But most of the time, it's Pine-sol with with a heavy almond milk chaser and the black patcholi does awful things reminiscent of bug spray. I liked it when I first tried it, and then couldn't figure why the next time, it was so horribly wrong. Then I tried it again, and it was back okay. Then... And I started to figure it out. Not for me, methinks.

I've had variable luck with chocolate, which seems to die a lot when it hits my skin. But this one is just gorgeous, and will probably be a bottle sometime soon! Wet: chocolate brownies, with extra chocolate chips melted in Dry: chocolate cake...I'm thinking more Devil's Food than just regular chocolate. There is distinctly something cakey, with just a hinting of almond extract. I don't get cherry at all, unless it has morphed to almond, which is possible. A hinting of orange flower water. I'd eat this one as dessert, in an instant. Lasting power...meh. Maximum of two hours. (However, my standard "glue this scent in place with a top layer of Candy Butcher" seems to help it last longer, as it did with Boomslang.) But that's my skin, wanting to gobble up all that yummie chocolate...no self-control!

In the bottle: Raisins. Interestingly enough, it reminds me a bit of prunes, too. The power of suggestion, from the name? A hint of orange. Wet: pleasantly orange fizzies Dry: orange crush with champagne? Very light and refreshing, hintings of oranges and white wine, and a faint green note, slightly astringent, still slightly making you think of something effervescent. Lovely summer scent, but only moderate lasting, two hours at most.

Finally, I'm getting around to reviewing this one! I originally tried it on one hand, with Leo on the other, to compare and contrast, since they seemed similar. They have some distinct similarities, but on me, Sportive Sun is a clear winner of the comparison contest. It's more rich and complex, and lasts much longer. Wet, it's all amber, with a note I could have sworn was some sort of musk, but I don't see musk in the ingredients. Drying down, the heliotrope comes out and mingles with the amber. The musky note vanishes. Dry, it's very well blended. The amber and heliotrope is distinctly at the fore, giving a warm and golden feel, with a somewhat resinous background. I don't get cedar at all, unless in that resin note, but it's nothing like the cedar in Tombstone. The resin is more grounded than I expect from cedar. Knowing there is calamus in this, I went looking for it in sniffing, and I think I can detect it vaguely, but this whole scent is very well-blended, so that nothing is really distinct except the amber. It's a little like Jacob's Ladder on steroids. It's subtle, but very nice, and lasts well. A good board-room perfume, where you want to be subtle about smelling good, but also make a statement that you're very together and self-assured.

This one is intriguing. Wet, it's a greenish floral with...a hint of wintergreen? Seriously, I think of the old Teaberry gum as the undertone. Drying down, it's a bit more minty. There is still a hint of Teaberry gum. Dry, it's like someone blended a light floral note (iris?) into Chartreuse liqueur, yellow Chartreuse to be specific, with a whisper of mint. Very summer-y and refreshing.

The comparison with Blue Moon is distinct. Gibbous Moon is more watery, while there is something a bit more lush and grounded in Blue Moon. I put Gibbous on one hand and Blue on the other, and find Gibbous is much more acquaeous and ephemeral. It's a very dewy scent. Wet, it's lilies and cucumber, but I could swear I get just a hinting of white roses lurking in the background. Rosa alba semiplena, to be specific. I had to go back and check to make sure there was no rose. Maybe I'm hallucinating, because it goes away as Gibbous Moon dries down. Dry, it's a very acquatic note in the foreground, with moonflowers and lilies and a hinting of hyacinth in the background. I suspect cucumber and Irish moss (which is a kind of seaweed) give the acquatic feel. I understand why one could see a lettuce note in this, too. There's a green note in behind it, as well. One thinks of damp lawns surrounded by traditional English garden. "Come into the garden, Maud, The black bat Night has flown..." --but the Gibbous Moon is up in its glory!

I like this best of all the 13s! Bottle: creme de cacao Wet: very creme de cacao, with a haze of peach and tropical floral. It's very boozy at this stage. As it dries down, a spice note that must be the clove comes up, and something that smells herbal. Dry: early dry, there is a prevalent creamy note that must be the white chocolate, mingling with the creme de cacao note. The peach is still strong, but just as strong is a note that somehow reminds me of rum-and-maple pipe tobacco! I don't know what starfruit smells like, and it might be hiding in with the peach, because there's some other fruity quality there. A spicy background, but very subtle, and the herbal note is gone. It's later in the dry period, now, and the cocoa absolute and white chocolate are actually reenforcing from the rear, with the fruit and spice note on top, with a hinting of orchid. Could my skin be eating the chocolate, the way it does with Boomslang? It's no longer the strong chocolate I was led to expect. But I like it better this way! Still that odd "sweet pipe tobacco" note in the background. But I didn't see any tobacco as an ingredient. Very nice, very well blended! The chocolate is there, but after this 13 has dried down, it's not in your face at all. Not even remotely foody, but very warm and female. A distinct winner!

When I got a frimp of this, I wasn't sure what to expect. And when I first put it on, the initial wet phase had something sharp and not very pleasant, and my heart sank. But then I gave it a couple minutes, and it started to bloom. Drydown turned into vanilla musk, not the stuff that passes for it now, but the old Max Factor vanilla musk from the late '60's/'70's. Hey, this could be good! Dry, there's a musky vanilla (but not the same as the drydown vanilla musk) with a note that others have commented on being chocolate-y. It seems entangled with the narcissus note. Chocolate narcissus? I'd kind of hoped for a vanilla musk clone, but this is much more complex and sophisticated, now. Vanilla musk grew up, put her hair up and put on a black dress and spike heels, with dark red lipstick and a ruby necklace. It's much too vampy for everyday use, I fear, but I'll love wearing this for a swanky night on the town!

Wet, this is very similar to Dragon Moon, which I love, but with a lighter touch. The bamboo note is most prominent, slightly sweet and almost cucumberish. Dry, the tea has come out, but the bamboo fades quickly, unlike in Dragon Moon, where the dragonsblood backs it up. After an hour or so, Holiday Moon is all tea notes, with no bamboo at all. Still, for that first hour worth of scent, I'm glad I was able to score a bottle off ebay.

I so wanted to like this frimp from the Lab! But no, it's not the right rose for me. There are three roses in how they interact with my chemistry, one which plays nice, one which smells rotten, and one which goes to soap. Wet, it is light rose with an almost acquatic feel. Then it goes straight to soap, and not even good soap, but soap with a slightly rotted undertone. Sigh, someone else will get this.

Love the label! In the bottle, this is very foody. The analogy of "buttercream frosting" is spot on! Wet, it's butter and amber. A hinting of resin. Still very foody. Drying down, I get frankincense coming out. Dry, the butter note drops out but lends a lush richness to the amber, which now gets solid backing from the frankincense and a hinting of saffron. I don't get chamomile or walnut bark. Very warm and luscious, though. Unfortunately, this one is almost as bad as Eclipse on me, in terms of fast vanishing. I get maybe half an hour of scent out of it, before Leo goes off to explore other savannas. Which is too bad, because I really like it. Maybe if I keep reapplying...