Pottersville

Nope, nothing to see here.

Ditto to finding this a very "perfumey" perfume! I can't really pick out individual notes either. To my nose, everything blends into a very sweet, cloying floral melange, which is odd because I think orange blossom is really the only floral? I was also expecting something darker and smokier than this Bette Blanc!

Apparently Mr. Vandemar has BO, which is in keeping with how I pictured him, but not what I want in a perfume oil. Srsly ... upon first slather something in this blend hit me as SO WRONG that I wanted to immediately wash it off. It may have been the metal, as I haven't had much luck with the Lab's metal notes. I fought the urge and after a bit, the wrong note backed away enough to let the others come out to play, so I had a nice -if indistinct- slightly sweet, somewhat peppery scent to wear. A few hours later I started to wonder if my deodorant had failed. Nope, it was just Mr. Vandemar. Peeyeewwww!

Ohhhhhhh, this started out so beautiful! So promising! There's a certain earthiness -I'm guessing from the tonka, clove, and coconut shell? The licorice adds a slightly astringent spiciness to the mix, which is sweetened up by the amber. I can't quite find the ginger cream and probably wouldn't know what stinging nettle smelled like if it ... um ... stung me! It's gorgeous and complex and quite unique. Unfortunately, at some point in the dry down it began to go a bit pencil shavings on me. If I huff really close to my wrist, I can still get the coconut/licorice/spice, so I'm on the fence about going in for a bottle.

Not very green at all on me, but more of the fields you get with Scarecrow. The dirt note is also of the dry varietyand is mercifully short-lived on me. Glad I stuck with a decant! I was hoping for something more along the lines of Gunpowder grainy.

Not at all what I was expecting, which was woody and herbal with perhaps a splash of subdued floral. I get a bit of sweet flowers late in the game, but the first -and more overwhelming- notes are swampy and brackish. Not my thing!

My skin chemistry amps rose to the nth degree, so this one was a bit of a risk for me. of the other notes tempted me to try it, however! On me, Illuminati Cotillion is mostly cloying, sweet incense and heavy, overblown roses. The wood and pipe tobacco are background notes that keep the overall feel of the scent very dark, heavy, and mysterious. I don't hate it ... but I don't love it either. Perhaps the biggest hurdle is that it smells a lot like something else I already have from Arcana or Cobalt Blends. I'm going to give IC some aging time and revisit to decide if it stays or goes.

Wet - a full-on hit of cake and biscuits. It's bready and only mildly sweet. Nice! Dry - it's a lightly floral cucumber. I'm sad because I never smelled the Earl Grey, which is a tea I adore for its bergamot scent.

On me, this is all dry orris root and ancient leather. And perhaps some of those old tymey Band Aids. Not a hint of ginger or cream, or even of frankincense. If I could give it three thumbs down, I would!!

At first dab, I got an awful rush of cat pee that usually heralds BPAL's honey note on me. It ran away pretty quickly, leaving a lovely peachy nectarine smell, tempered with something vaguely floral (the quince?). Later, the tobacco came out to play and reminded me somehow of the Dogs Playing Poker series. If it wears well throughout the day, this may well be a bottle purchase for me!

Ditto to upthread comments about how very well blended this is and .... "interesting"! I find it very "interesting" that it's so difficult to pick out individual notes in something that has so few. I'm also on the fence about liking AP. I do like it best wet because that's when it's at its most aromatic. During the drydown, it just seems to get somewhat muddled and indistinct.

Lovely well-behaved resins and a hint of spicy carnation. But there's also something sour in here that doesn't work on me.

Ohhhhhhhhhh, first sniff in the decant and on the wrist was lurv. Beautiful mint and playful vanilla. And then the coconut started to amp up and turned the blend into a slightly old, musty, sour somethingoranother. So sad.

Cherry marzipan tart. Simply mouth watering!!

Lovely! Sweet, fruity, ever so slightly spicy. I "get" the comparisons to Agape because of the creamy fruitiness. Pet Magah Bird is much darker, though. It reminds me of one of the Grindhouse Ladies ... Aerowen or Dionysia, perhaps?