naeelah

CXVIII I've found several CTs that I like, but I have finally found one that you will pry from my cold, dead fingers. I opened my decant and was blasted with the scent of coffee beans. In the imp, it smells just like opening a barrel of a flavored coffee blend. Dark, rich, and a little bit sweet. Maybe a little spice? I've been looking for a scent like this for ages. As it dries, it turns out smelling almost exactly like Pinched, on my skin. Perhaps a little heavier on the coffee. I think there might be tobacco in this -- a rich, sweet tobacco and not an ashtray one. There seems to be a rough wood note grounding everything. Maybe a hint of cinnamon bark. (But it's really subtle, sort of like El Dia de Reyes.) It's not sweet at all. The longer it wears, the stronger the earthy, tobacco quality gets. After a while, I started to wonder if there was chocolate in this. What I THINK I initially mistook for chocolate is fig. The earthy, rooty base of this is definitely the lab's earthy fig concoction, just like Strangler Fig. When the coffee simmers down, hours later, it allows the fruit note of the fig to come through. The coffee is so strong it's hard to say what else is in it, for sure. So, in short: DAAAARK COFFEE with rooty fig, maybe tobacco, maybe a hint of cinnamon bark.

MCCXLI - In the bottle, it's a lemongrassy fruit. Wet, there are definitely blueberries, and possibly some raspberry or a tropical fruit. It's hard to say, but the blueberry is for sure. The longer it dries, the more the lemongrass comes out, so it takes on a more tart, astringent quality. A while longer, and it settles into a cakey quality. At this point, it smells like a sugary blueberry pastry (only not quite so overtly foody), with a hint of lemongrass to balance out the sweetness. I love it! Wear life is a bit short, but this would be great in a lotion or something slatherable. It smells quite similar to Blue Fire, but I think I might actually like it more. Definitely a nice alternative for those who couldn't wear the gin note in Blue Fire.

CCCXIV (has been reviewed previously) - UPDATED TO REFLECT AGING Fresh, it was very buttery in the imp and smelled like a hot house on the skin. Wet, it smells similar -- lush, tropical blooms, probably Plumeria, maybe some Hibiscus (definitely no gardenia) and greenery, only it no longer has the buttery note. As it dries, a bright musk comes out, what I'm pretty sure is a paper note comes out, and it becomes less floral. It ends up smelling a lot like Aziraphale on me, with an added floral component. Previously reviewed by fairnymph. LXXXV (has been reviewed previously) In the imp, it smells an awful lot like Irish Springs. It's very strong when wet, so it definitely reminds me of opening a new bar of soap. The similarity is so strong that I can't think of any other explanation. It's a very clean, fresh, lightly floral green scent. As it wears, the soapy florals fade away and a stronger herbal quality comes through. It seems to have lemon verbena, but in a small dose. Definitely in the same family as other green meadow-y wanderlust scents, the Passionate Shepherd, etc. Previously reviewed by porcelina.

This blend is so simple, but encapsulates the concept very well. It starts out extremely herbal, almost all lavender. As the lavender settles and the other notes emerge, it becomes a soft, fuzzy, muted floral. The jasmine and honeysuckle are both soft, and the lavender is strong enough still to keep them from going to sweet. Together, the jasmine and honeysuckle do indeed provide a gentle glow. This scent is definitely the color of a pale ink sky fading to buttercup at the horizon. It reminds me a lot of Somnus, actually. It's very soothing and gentle, but relatively strong. Little by little, the flowers and lavender become better balanced, so once totally dry, it is more perfume-like than panacea-like.

Someone was lovely enough to frimp me a half imp of this! It goes on so soft that I can barely tell I've put anything on. The musk in this definitely seems to be skin musk. The sweet edge of tobacco quickly emerges, followed by rich, polished leather. Once dry, the leather takes over and provides a light, masculine, cologne-like quality. The tobacco remains sweet and rich, and doesn't go smoky/ashtray, and the musk keeps the scent grounded. It smells very much like a swanky classic men's room -- cologne, cigars, and a smooth leather couch. It's a soft, subtle scent, probably unisex on the side of masculine. Try it if you like: Nanny Ashtoreth, De Sade..there are a lot of other points of comparison, but right now, they elude me.

This starts out very brown sugary, but as it dries, the overt sugar-ness burns off and I'm left with a honey and light, juicy sugar cane underscored by a hint of dark molasses. The oak wood is smooth and polished, much like in Miskatonic U, and it balances out the sweet notes very well. It's surprisingly light and subtle once dry, and while the sugar gives it a gourmand effect, I wouldn't call this foody. Overall, it reminds me a lot of Miskatonic U, only without the coffee and cream.

This is a very sweet blend, much sweeter than I was expecting. I tried it on without referencing the notes and I smelled chocolate and what I thought was fig, with a slighty dry tartness on the edge. I think it's the wine note that I was mistaking for the fig, perhaps with how it smells in conjunction with the rum. I don't feel this is boozy, just very sweet and grapey. There's perhaps a slight sour edge from the wine. It reminds me most of the wine note in Madrid. Quite syrupy. Chocolate isn't the main note, for me. It just colors the scent of the booze. It's strong and it has good staying power. I scrubbed it off to make room for testing other scents, and I can still smell it quite clearly, although it's much lighter. Blotted, it's less grape-y and I can smell more of the bittersweet complexity.

It smells like you'd expect: dirty, gritty, dark ash. No hint of wood or resin or anything else. Just, pure ash. Wet, it has a strong barbecued vetiver quality with a sour edge, but this fortunately goes away as it dries. Once dry, the vetiver seems to blend well and doesn't stand out to my nose as it often does. It gets lighter and cooler the longer it dries. Less gritty, more pale gray. Something about it smells almost wet, to me, but perhaps it's just memories of rinsing out fireplaces that gives me that sense. Obviously this is not a conventional perfume, but it's more subtle and wearable than you'd expect. It's amazingly dead on for the concept. Beth's blending powers never fail to amaze me.

CLXXII - This is an interesting one. It's a floral peppermint, with another component I can't quite identify. Some kind of resin, maybe? Benzoin? It's not smoky, it's more amber-like. There's possibly a tiny bit of fennel or some other herb or spice. It starts out smelling mainly like peppermint, but not overwhelmingly so. In the background is a lush floral quality with a smooth, darker foundation. The peppermint fades pretty quickly, leaving a scent that's primarily gardenia, with a hint of mintiness and the same hard-to-describe base. The mint lingers in my nostrils, so it's hard to get an accurate sniff, BUT -- I accidentally got some on the tip of my nose, without realizing it. I stepped outside and thought, "Oh wow, what's in bloom now? That smells fantastic." Then I realized it smelled like gardenia and...we don't have a gardenia plant. It's the perfume! It reminds me a lot of Tarot: The Moon, only with the addition of peppermint. Unusual, but strangely great for summer.

Clearly I just saw "incense" and went with that, because I didn't expect this to be a rose incense. Luckily I like rose. It smells like you'd expect. It's a very classic, wood based incense. Not dark, no sweetness. Just soft, non-evergreen woods, resins (myrrh is there for sure), and rich rose. It's very similar to both Rose Cross and Parlement of Foules, but the addition of woods makes is a little bit better rounded and also lends it more of a classic perfume quality. Rose Cross is a very deep, voluptuous rose, and Parlement is light and gentle. This one is, happily, somewhere in between. There isn't much more commentary to be made. If you like other rose incense scents, you'll like this. If the idea is appealing, give it a try. I think that this is my favorite of the three I mentioned, because it has an extra dimension. Perhaps it's because I amp rose, but this seems to emphasize the rose more than the incense. It isn't as deeply smoky and resinous as Rose Cross.

The first time I tried this, I have a strong DO NOT WANT reaction and was relieved I could send it straight out to a new home. I haven't swapped it yet, so now, a few weeks later, I gave it another go. I don't know if the oil has blended better, or if it's just a change in my chemistry, but now I actually really like this. Wet, it's like burying your face in pine cuttings. Pine pine pine....and sap. It smells just like the pine sap in Pickled Imp. But the pine promptly warms up with sexy skin musk, smoky vanilla, a hint of honey, and is kept anchored with patchouli. The patchouli, which went OH HAI CAN I COME IN THANKS the first time I wore, has learned its place and stays outside where it belongs. The vanilla is surprisingly strong, but it's smoky and so well balanced by the resins, pine, and other non-sweet notes that it definitely doesn't give this blend a foody feel. This initial dry down I think is strongest in skin musk, pine, and vanilla, tempered by resins. Everything blends very well under the nose. The longer it dries, the more the vanilla loses its sweetness. After an hour or so, it's a very earthy blend and not nearly as much to my liking. It's tobacco and patchouli (both notes I typically amp) grounded in resins, with whispers of pine and vanilla. I loved the first hour, but I'm not wooed by the second. I'll hang onto the imp, though, and see how it continues to develop.

For some reason I'm obsessed with collecting and testing book/paper/parchment scents, even though I rarely wear them. So I was very excited to try this blend, especially given the presence of brimstone (another note I'm kind of obsessed with even though I can rarely wear it). Although it looks dark and heavy, The Contract is a relatively light scent. Wet, it has a clean, fresh quality. The paper note is strong and resembles starched linens. The red musk lends a bright, chemical-y edge. The daemonorops, presumably, give it a slightly green, watery quality, and underneath is just a suggestion of incense. As it dries and everything settles down, paper is still the most prominent note, but now it's accompanied by a richer musk, richer smoke, and smooth resin. The longer it dries, the stronger the incense quality becomes. The brimstone smells a bit like a wet ashtray at first, but it's really light. I can hardly tell brimstone is a note in this. In the middle phase, it's basically a light incense and red musk blend. Reminds me of Krampus, but not as strong. Once it's been dry for a while, it's brittle parchment and dark smoke and ash. The red musk doesn't seem as pronounced, but you can feel the effect. This is a paper blend for those who want a book with a dark edge. It's quite similar to Lurid Library, but with a very different musk. Try it if you like: Eshe, The Bugger Alle This Bible, The Chapel, The Lurid Library, Krampus.

This is exactly what I hoped it would be. Other absinthe blends have been too licorice heavy for my tastes, but this has just enough balance of sugar and light florals to make it beautiful. Wet, it's sugary boozy absinthe with light roses. The anise is very subtle and fragrant. In the initial dry phase, the sugar and booze fade away some and it smells primarily of anise, roses, and lilac. It's very light and feminine (but I think it would make a terrific scent for a dandy). After a while longer, the scorched aspect of the sugar the the opium smoke begin to creep in, making the scent a little bolder and deeper. It really smells exactly like the note description, only subtly so. A sugar cube, lightly scorched, with soft anise and light roses and lilac, under a faint puff of smoke. Even though it contains sugar, I wouldn't say this is a sweet scent. It isn't bone dry, but it isn't at all foody. Definitely a winner. Try it if you like: Absinthe, La Fee Verte, Pontarlier (duh), Rose Moon, Sugar Moon.

This is the coolest spice blend EVER. Wet, it's a bizarre, peppery medicinal scent that reminds me strangely of Aries. There's a sweetness, but in the front is sharp spice and an unusual, cool note. That cool note is the pine sap. At this point, it's a little bit like eating a cinnamon roll in a room where someone is mopping. And that's kind of great. The more it dries, the more sweet vanilla comes out. It's very icing-like. The clove and cinnamon blend well, and it smells more like a pumpkin pie spice mix than two separate spices doing their own thing. Except for the pine sap, this smells a lot like Gingerbread Poppet. After a while, the custodian puts away the mop bucket, and you enjoy your WOAH THERE'S A LOT OF CLOVE AND CINNAMON IN THIS BUN with a side of vanilla icing. The pine sol scent lingers in the background. The pine sap is a stroke of brilliance, I think. It adds a unique edge to the blend that makes it more than just a foody perfume. This will appeal most to foodies, but give it a try if you've always wanted to like foody scents but then decided you don't want to go out smelling like cake after all. As some of the sweetness of the vanilla wears away, this really straddles a nice line. Try it if you like: Plunder, Inferno, Gingerbread Poppet, Love's Philosophy.

I can't give this a very in depth review, but my general impression is this: As a young blend, the most prominent notes are iris and red musk. The red musk is bright and a tiny bit chemical-y. The iris is sleek and sophisticated. Underneath, it's enriched by subtle, earthy vanilla and darkened just slightly by clove (which really only adds depth, not so much spice). I can smell the magnolia, but it doesn't take over or give me a headache, as it does in many blends. I'm not as familiar with the scent of mimosa, but I suspect it's right up there with the iris and red musk. The rose is definitely at play, but only to lend depth and smoothness to the bouquet. Even on my rose-amping skin, Grindhouse does not strike me as a rose blend. I was expecting something a bit deeper and creamier, more like Sacred Whore. Instead, the Iris and red musk give me something much more chic. This is a sophisticated, classic floral that hints at a seedier background. As it is, it's a little too dry for my tastes. However, I think this is a great candidate for aging, so I'm definitely going to keep my imp and see how it changes.

As a fan of incense scents, I was definitely intrigued by this. I am determined to find a brimstone blend that works for me. The Chapel starts out like many dark incense blends before it. Soft, sweet, fuzzy resins that gradually darken as it dries. It takes at least 15 minutes or so of drying for the full complexity to open to my nose. From a distance, it still has the same sweet, fuzzy, dark scent -- a little like young Al-Azif, minus the maple. But when you look closer, you realize the foundation is extremely ashy and gritty -- the brimstone. In the darkness of the smoke, I think I can pick out traces of vetiver, but it is not overwhelming, even to my extremely vetiver sensitive skin and nose. The sweetness is almost like bubblegum, and it's making this scent a little bizarre for me. Part of the sweetness seems to be from the wine. There's a grapey, boozy quality, but I believe it's also part of the blood component. The oil itself is a dark orange, and it probably contains a little dragon's blood. And it's STRONG. I put on a dab on the back of my hand and it's screaming "HELLO WELCOME TO THE CHURCH OF SATAN WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CANDY HERE TAKE A HANDFUL!!" It's like, party at the brimstone pool! Whooo! It's growing on me, but it's way sweeter than I wanted it to be and doesn't seem to be working out. In the end, it's like dragon's blood wine and charcoal. Pretty neat, but not quite what I wanted.

Wet, this is definitely way sweet. It's a little bit syrupy, but it smells more like a freshly opened back of brown sugar. As it dries, it becomes much more subdued and wearable. It still smells just like brown sugar, but now it has a milky quality, with just a hint of wine. The wine is soft and boozy, not very grapey. It adds a slightly sour edge to balance the extreme sugariness. So, I would say this smells more or less like you'd expect: soft, milky cake and sugar. Throw is relatively good, but of all the scents of this kind that I've tried, this seems to be the lightest and most gentle. I've seen this compared to Crumpet Rebellion. The similarity is definitely there at first, but the more it dries, the more different it gets, on my skin. They're definitely alike in that they're caramelized sugar scents, but this lacks the currants and the dark, gritty edge of Crumpet Rebellion. So, same family, but not exact matches. It reminds me more of Anaconda -- which, on me, smelled like musky brown sugar. If you layered this with well-aged Snake Oil, I bet it would be pretty similar. Definitely close enough for government work, so if you want a substitute for Anaconda, give this a try!

DCXCIII - In the bottle, it smells like green apples. On the skin, the apple was gradually replaced by a very light, clean aquatic scent. The apple is still there, but just flavoring the water. CDLIX - Hazelnut, golden musk, and tobacco or a dark incense note. Wet, it's very strong on the hazelnut, but this burns off as it dries, and for a while, it's almost a single note golden musk. It's a sparkling, fruity golden musk like in Aziraphale. The longer it wears, the more a dark, smoky quality emerges. Most dark incense blends have this effect on my skin. It's not an overwhelming smokiness, it just darkens the blend. The nuttiness is gone by this point. DLXXXVII - The main note is MELON! It smells very similar to Earth Rat, really, but much more aquatic. I'll have to expand on this review after another try. DXCIV - UPDATED TO SHOW AGING -- at first, this struck me as a dark, grassy, minty herbal. Now, the top note is sweet red apple, followed by a sharp, green note that I now believe to be cardamom. It's not nearly as minty as it used to be, and once dry, it blends in very well. As the blend dries, it takes one a more grassy and herbal quality, getting darker, but the overall quality is more golden. There may be hay or amber or something. I'm really not sure. I used to think the grassy scent was vetiver, but now that the blend has settled, I don't get any sense of vetiver.

I think he would probably smell exactly like Dungeon -- leather, skin musk, and a nice Chianti after a hard day of fighting crime. (Or maybe from running out in the middle of dininer to fight crime. Either way.)

Wet, it smells like a more candy-like Mead. Sweet, syrupy, boozy honey. The red currant adds a tart undertone. The dandelion feels like the whole plant -- just a little bit of dry weediness, along with a gentle, buttery floral quality. It has kind of an herbal effect, and it reminds me of the florals in Fairy Market. It's very strong at first, but it quickly burns down to a very light, ethereal, and, well, fae kind of scent. It's still sweet, but now the currant and dandelion are a bit better balanced with the honey. It's still very boozy, which I like, because the booziness adds a more astringent quality that helps balance the honey and bind all of the notes together. I've really loved all of the Stardust scents so far, and this is no exception. Compared to Lady Una, it's less fruity and creamy, and compared to Fairy Market, it's less floral, but it's in the same general family of scent. I think it's lighter than Lady Una, so if want a honey scent but found her too heavy or cloying, maybe you'll like this better.

The Day of Kings, the Celebration of the Magi. In Mexico, on January 6th, children place their shoes by their windows. If they have been good during the previous year, the Wise Men tuck gifts into their shoes during the night. Hot cocoa with cinnamon, coffee, and brown sugar. Water, saponified free-trade palm kernal oil, coconut oil, soy oil, shea butter, jojoba oil, castor oil, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oil and henna powder. I'm going to need a lot of extra bars of this! It smells exactly like the fragrance oil. Very rich, creamy chocolate -- a lot like a plate of freshly baked brownies -- with a small pinch of cinnamon, and a splash of coffee. The coffee doesn't really stand out to me, it just kind of makes the scent deeper and richer. The aroma is nice and strong, and very fragrant in the bath. It leaves the faintest hint of chocolate on my skin after drying off. The bar is a light, creamy brown with a white core. That reminds me of those trashy, cream-filled Hostess cupcakes, so combined with the chocolate aroma, it makes me pretty hungry. The bar is very soft, even a bit squishable, so it melts a bit faster than average in the shower. This has good lather, the thickest of any BPTP soap that I've used, so far. Compared to other BPTP soaps, my skin actually seems a little dry, but perhaps that's only coincidence. The ingredients here are the same as other recent soaps, which I find very moisturific, but perhaps the actual balance of ingredients is slightly different (which could account for the different texture). I'll update after I've used this one longer.

I think I have a new favorite BPTP soap! From the perfume, I got bright musks and sugary, creamy tea. Not much lemon. From the soap, the first thing I smell is lemon and bright musk, followed by sweet, milky tea. The soap is not so heavily musky or sugary as the perfume, but the milk tea scent is still pronounced. I think it's actually more pronounced in the soap, since the musk doesn't get the chance to take over. The scent is a good strength. It's a smooth, creamy bar the color of milky tea. It might be tiny, tiny bit less moisturizing than the newer formula soaps, but it isn't drying.

Jailbait? The Blockhead? Vice? Perversion? Bon Vivant? Hollywood Babylon? Or maybe something like Swank, Manhattan, or the Hamptons?

Yep! It's GC! And as a Gaiman scent, it's charitable! I might be swapping my bottle (it was way more leathery and masculine than I expected), so you might check out the swaps forums too, to see if someone has it listed already.

This is officially one of my new favorite rose blends, and one of my new favorite floral BPALs. I tried it in knowing that it was floral, but not remembering what the exact notes were. Marguerite has a sweet, almost fruity quality, so I was surprised to find that there is no fruit, no honey, no skin musk, no anything like that in the notes. First and foremost, this is a rose scent. Rich red rose, lightened by rose geranium and brightened by ylang ylang. The gardenia adds a creamy sweetness, but I don't really single it out. Actually, in general, this scent blends really well. I can guess at what's in it if I really look for the individual notes, but they really cohere into a singular blend. Red sandalwood and I have a history, so that is the note I was most worried about, but it behaves admirably. It adds a light, warm wood touch to the base. The myrrh adds a hint of resiny richness, but also doesn't call attention to itself. And then there's the palmarosa, helping to round things out. This is my favorite kind of floral scent -- it smells like a walk through a garden, but really it's richer and more well-rounded than that. Not so dry as a purely floral blend. It's a lighter, girlier rose blend, I think, but still very classic. Try it if you like: Lady Luck Blues, Abhisarika, The Presence of Love, Peacock Queen, Three Brides...