ramblingrambler

Kabuki is good stuff. It’s a blast of red musk and cherry wet, but it dries into a lovely anise-cherry with the musk giving it an almost incense feel. I’ve unfortunately become recently allergic to the Lab’s red musk note and cannot stop sneezing, so this is no longer something I can wear. It’s too bad, too, because I loved it. I hope to pass this beauty on to someone who will also love it.

Snake Oil Jelly Donut, Strawberry Sufganiyot, and Beaver Moon walked into a bar... ...and had a ménage à trois. Folks, this ain’t no joke. I repeat: this is not a joke. You MUST get thee to a BPAL dispensary. (Trust me, if you’re into ANY of these fragrances, pick this up as soon as you see it come available from anyone’s destash.)

This would be the PERFECT scent if it did not include honey. Waaaaah. I stashed for a bit of aging, hoping the sweetness would recede, but it didn’t. Smells like a beautiful, deep smoked patchouli (with perhaps the faintest hint of vetiver), but the honey note throws it off on me. So, so sad.

Low throw, short wear, but one of the only apple scents I would contemplate keeping around, as the apple is not the main event. Booberry cereal is the showstopper. It’s like I’ve doused myself in it for about twenty minutes, and then it fades into a whisper of a creamy, berry scent. Wish it lasted longer, but it is *dreamy* for a hot minute.

Hmmm. I’ve had this for some time but can’t find my review, so I will post one now while wearing before I forget—excuse if second time! This is a tart, effervescent, green fragrance—not quite as green as, say, Thrice Plowed Field, but the dandelion is just as prominent as the champagne (or oaky wine, in the vein of Chardonnay) note. It isn’t as sharp or fizzy as Bon Vivant, so it is definitely a more subdued alcoholic beverage... I guess faeries can’t hold their liquor . This is pleasant and nice for late spring, early summer, but this is the only time I personally could wear it.

Ow. I want to love this because it smells so friggin good, but my entire arm is a red stinging mess right now. I scrubbed it off with a regular soap and a surfactant and applied some carrier oils to area, but it is still red and stings bloody well bad an hour later. Just a warning to anyone with cinnamon or cassia sensitivities! (I only recently got these sensitivities, and I felt emboldened by my last test of Loved To Death which only gave me the smallest tinge of redness and stinging directly where applied. This one was all out hellfire on my whole arm—either because it traveled while wet or because my skin hated it, not sure!) BUT!!!! It does smell great . It’s a yummy angel food cake with coconut, cocoa, and cinnamon (cassia) frosting. Too bad I can’t wear this, but yay for someone else!

Cinnamon used to be one of my favorite notes until I developed a sensitivity just recently, which is why I have this bottle. Totally forgot cinnamon was a note and didn’t sniff before I applied—but magically it went on without too much redness. (It was a little pink and stung at first, but it wasn’t too bad overall!) I’m glad I applied today because I forgot how beautiful this is. It’s a dark, chewy vanilla foremost with hints of beeswax and cinnamon and clove. Honestly, wet it smells like a blonde-brownie on me, and then it transforms into a gloriously seductive blend that I can’t quite place. The only issue I have with it is that it fades into clove/cinnamon before it completely wears off, and though my BF is into it in all its stages, he does say this smells a little like potpourri before it’s gone. Totally worth the potpourri at the end.

This has aged well over the years I’ve had it. Typically I’m not an apple fan, but wet is the only time I really smell APPLE. Dry, it becomes a honeyed fruit—the platonic ideal of apple is in there somewhere, but the honey stands out most. I appreciate its softness in all aspects: this is definitely “kindness” in a bottle.

A burst of apricot silk, blood orange musk, French lavender, and red benzoin chypre in a gilded sledge of amber. Oh, wow. This smells beautiful. When I first got it in a blind swap, I didnt think it would work for me, as all I smelled was lavender. I tested it out today and powered through, and I am so glad I did. The lavender, though still there, is but a whisper and recedes far into the backgroundfar enough to let the blood orange and apricot dominate with amber as support... the lavender gives it a surprise twist, I guess. Usually I cant do anything with any lavender, but this works. Thanks for sending in our blind swap, aphrodite! <3 ETA: I spoke too soon. Seems like the lavender sticks around until way after the other notes wear away. Ill see what my BF or mother thinks of it before swapping it away because it really is so beautiful if someone can deal with lavender.

Resurrected: Bottled Snake Charmer is what I wish applied Snake Charmer would smell like. It’s like the best components of Snake Oil, Morocco, Scherehezade, and Madame Moriarty. It smells incredible. On, it isn’t bad at all. My boyfriend loves it. Each of the aforementioned fragrances are still profiled in this blend. That said, this does what Crucifixion does on me and turns into baby diapers. If you check out my review of Crucifixian, you’ll see that I low-key love the baby diaper scent though, so it’s NBD. My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy because he doesn’t smell diapers at all, or if he does, he says they’re the most magnificent diapers in the world. It’s okay. I’ll take it. Whatever this blend actually smells like, it doesn’t matter to me. What does matter is that I like it and my boyfriend likes it, and it seems like random passersby also like it. This means it is a TO KEEP bottle.

2011 Version from a blind swap: In bottle, it smelled... interesting, to say the least. I couldn't begin to describe what scent was occupying my nose, but it wasn't a good or bad one---it just was. Wet, I thought it was horrible. I was SO SAD that this blind swap didn't work out for me in the slightest (it was a four-bottle blind swap, and none of them seemed to work! Dems da breaks with a blind swap though!). I decided to keep it on just to see if it would dry down into something better. Not gonna lie, wet it smelled like an old, musty, urine-filled parking garage stairwell, and I wanted to immediately remove it. Persevering was a good call because fifteen minutes later (an interminable fifteen minutes though....), this ungodly scent morphed into full bloom. I still don't LIKE it---it's not my type of fragrance profile---but it isn't a "bad perfume." Tl;Dr: This is a musky lavender with some copaiba and myrrh. I get no orange blossom at any point in wear. Not bad but not good (on me. You might have a completely different, heavenly experience. ).

Snagged Kit during the re-release, and I’m glad I did. I’ll probably buy a second bottle so my boyfriend and I can each have one. Kit is cozy and warm and full of memories over a long life. It literally smells like the life of the mind, and a well-lived one at that. On me, Kit is mostly a soft, woody (but not pencil-shavings!) fragrance. It’s the feeling of an older gentleman up late at night at his writing desk in a packed-to-the-brim, dimly-lit home library. Honestly, I don’t know how to describe the blend outside the feelings it elicits... which is snuggly—like being wrapped in a cozy sherpa blanket. Lovely.

Oh, wow. I had been eyeing this one on the second market every time it popped up, thinking it could go either way without listed notes. I’m glad I took a chance on it with the re-release because this is soooooo nice. On me, clove seems to be the star of the show tempered with some sort of light red musk and maybe resinous incense. Maybe some frankincense and a drop of vetiver in it too? Honestly, I can’t tell. It is a high pitch blend that remains totally grounded by just a hint of dark, deep notes, whatever they are. This is exceptionally good. I’m getting a backup before they’re all sold out, and you should too.

Hmmmm. I let this age since I got it from the Lab early after release, hoping it would start to mellow... but after testing today, only seven months in, it still isn’t quite where I want it to be. The sharp, acrid note I often get with a super fresh bottle of SO is still very much present. I’m going to put this aside for another couple of years before I even come back to it, tbh, and hope at that point the SO I love will be there accompanying the lovely pumpkin spice notes already shining.

I let this sit for a year before I came back to it because it was much, much too heavy on me when I tested it upon its release. Today, over a year later, it is still very heavy, but it has calmed down some. On me, I am hit with a fuzzy fur scent, large and in your face, for about three hours. This reminds me of BTBT and others in some ways with the extremely heavy muskiness and depth. After three or so hours, it finally relaxes into what I love about Blood or Sin, two of my favorites. It’s more subdued with a certain sexy “come hither” vibe you get with those scent profiles. Honestly, I want to let this age more and try to wear it for the drydown stage, but I think I’m going to put it in my boyfriend’s box of goodies to see what he thinks/if he finds it more wearable from the get go.

Fruity, spiced bubblegum. I quite like this, but it is such a light scent—I much prefer my perfumes to announce my presence.

Bought this bottle off eBay maybe four years ago, and it hasn’t changed much—used to remind me a little more of MB: Bloody Mary, but now it’s like MB: Bloody Mary and Bitches Love Unicorns had a baby. This is extremely sweet—very much a candy scent—and very much a hot, summer fragrance.

I knew this one would be lovely with some aging, and I am so glad I set it aside upon its release and retested it today. New, it smelled somewhat similar to the Wiley Gasser’s immediate gasoline scent, which I attribute to the predominant pine. It settled down to a sweet cherry almond with no patchouli at all. I wasn’t impressed, but I knew the notes would work for me if the pine would recede and behave itself. (Almost as a rule I can’t do pine. I hoped I was right about this one, that the pine would fade, and something beautiful would emerge.) Almost eight months later, I was right. It is on its way to being glorious. The pine is (unfortunately) still there, particularly in the first ten or twenty seconds, but it begins to dry into a scent reminiscent of Banshee Beat. The patchouli has finally decided to come out and play, and it is so lovely with the addition of vanilla (again, of Banshee Beat), fig, and almond. I am going to set this aside for another eight months to a year to see what happens, but if it keeps this up, I believe it has the potential to be just as incredible as my beloved Banshee Beat/Revenant Rhythm.

Quite lovely. This is an extremely crisp, candied citrus, perfect for late-spring through high-summer. It reminds me of sitting on the porch and drinking mimosas over brunch—the ruffle of breeze through orange blossom leaves and sun beating down on my legs feels very real with every inhale of this scent.

I wish it didn’t, but to me French Tickler smells exactly like that pink Amoxicillin goop I always had to take for strep throat or ear infections or any other weird thing a kid picks up in their hey-day on the playground with other germ-infested munchkins. Poo. I was super excited for this one.

From the recent 2001 Private Stock release, mentioned to be a quite potent blend: This is sex in a bottle. Deep, sexy patchouli with a spicy kick—gave me a head-rush immediately after smelling. I had been waiting patiently for this. My partner and I have been very stressed and very busy with work recently, and we haven’t had time to connect or get physical in what seems like weeks; it seemed like every time we had a chance to get intimate, the moment wasn’t right for some reason, whether unexpected house guests or an emotionally hard day at work. After using today, literally ten minutes later we were all over each other having a *very* passionate time! Whether or not you’re purchasing for intent, the smell is glorious, and that alone is worth every penny. This is a definite buy if you’re a patchouli person, and it’s an even more absolute if you’ve been wanting to connect with your partner in a bit of a dry spell.

Snake’s Kiss is the love-child of Womb Furie and Snake Oil on me. I get a LOT of honey from this blend, and the sharp, high notes from a fresh bottle of Snake Oil. That said, I love both of these blends, especially once I’ve let them age for a few months (to a few years for the glory that is a well-aged bottle). I feel like maybe there’s an addition of Honey Myrtle here. My boyfriend asked if I had just done a honey myrtle hair treatment when I was wearing this, so perhaps that’s the warmth that’s peeking out.

2018: Very fruity, creamy, and sweet. Pretty linear throughout wear. I get no leather at all but instead get an almost... smokey, incense note from something. I like this a lot, but the incense is not agreeing with my nose and makes me sneeze every few minutes (this has been happening for hours at this point, hah!). Sadly, I might have to pass this on. Boo!

I wanted to love this so much, but I must have the skin chemistry that makes it smell much too clean. This is pure soap on me, sadly. In the bottle, it smells like smoke and high-florals; quite simply, it smells wonderful. On my mother, it is much less soapy and much more a smokey, plummy floral. She tends to wear these types of scents quite well, so it was no surprise.

This is my second favorite Roses release from this Luper, beaten out by Sept by only just a smidge. On me, this reads as a sweet, spicy, romantic fragrance, absolutely begging to be worn out for date night at a fancy restaurant and then chic wine bar later. And then home for a sultry evening. This is “lady in the streets, freak in the sheets” in a bottle.