VictorianLass

This is mentioned so often in Thomas Hardy's novel "The Mayor of Casterbridge" that I have been longing to know what it smells like. Was a must buy and was so worth it! Warm, thick porridge, heavy on spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of ginger, sweetened by fresh cream and currants. A very warm and rich scent with hints of ale as it dries down a bit. An excellent comfy foody perfume, on cold days, reading Wuthering Heights or some other dark Victorian novel! I love it!!

Entenmann's Raspberry Coffee Cake. Raspberry, pastry and sugary cream drizzle, drying down to raspberry with slight apricot undertones and the pastry descending. Absolutely delicious! I love this one!

A very warm golden cake with intoxicating whiffs of clove and nutmeg, drying down with dollops of honey to dip it in!

Starts off as an ooey gooey wet chocolate brownie mix and dries down to a rich, smooth dark chocolate covered nutty truffle candy with warm amber undertones, making it even more decadent!

In the bottle I can smell the popcorn with a sprinkling of brown sugar. On my the popcorn disappeared fast, unfortunately (I love Beth's popcorns!). But it turned into a very warm maple syrupy-sweet brown sugar with just slight wafts of popcorn lingering in the background. Very cozy on a cloudy wintery day!

The Metaphysical Shop I used to shop in, back in the 1980's. This is it in a bottle and I love it! Rich sandalwood, soft pink roses and carnation bursts. Such a beautiful scent....want it in the GC for constant access!!

It started off with a slight hot cocoa scent, as though you just ripped that packet open! Amped up to a full on hot cocoa, warm cinnamon and a touch of coffee, as though I am at a cafe and while I have my cocoa, the person behind me is having a cup of java! The brown sugar sweetens it up just a wee bit, but just enough, not overpowering. Drying down with less cinnamon and more hot cocoa with a sweetener. That person behind me is still drinking their coffee.... 😄

A warm mixture of rich golden honey, luxurious cream and a soft white and green floral. Possible honeysuckle, or something else that reminds me of meadows, bees, and waving wildflowers, sweetly scented, but not cloying, on a warm June day! Very pretty!

To me this smells exactly like it is described. Soft wafts of incense, a slight and subtle touch of smoke from candles burning, the warmth of old wood, and sugar cookies being gobbled up, while giggling in the back pews.

I just received this scent and am over the roof in love! When I opened the bottle the first sniff was so strong that I wondered if I would care for it at all. But I kept sniffing through those layers and was intrigued enough to put it on! I am getting major nostalgia moments with this perfume. The warmth of the tonka bean and richness of the golden amber, tinged with citrus and an underlay of soft wood kept reminding me of something. It smells exactly like one of my favourite antique stores nearby! Sun shining on dry old wood, lightly scented hand-dipped candles in the corner room, bunches of various dried herbs getting dusty hanging from the ceiling, soft citrus of orange peel and nutmeg in a bowl. Every time I move I am immediately transported into that store, which was closed for a year during the pandemic and just starting to occasionally open its doors. Hoping to wear this and go there this weekend for the 1st time in 1 12/ years! So happy to have it stored in a bottle!

In the bottle~A rich chocolate with warmth....something is baking in the oven! On the skin~Dark gooey very warm chocolate brownies. OMG this smells amazing! Dry down~Lasting quite well on me and my husband can smell it when walking by the den. He thought I sprayed something chocolate scented! It has softened a bit over the past few hours into rich brownie crumbs. The perfect perfume to wear while reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 😁 It is snowing out, with intermittent ice. I am getting ready for some gaming, organizing my books, window lights going on.... I smell yummy!

Interesting and so hopeful, but not quite right. In the bottle: Ginger, but not gingerbread, lemon On the skin: A touch of ginger and sugary lemon cookie, but only briefly. The sharp twang of ginger and the sour snap of lemon fought each other. The sugar disappeared until we had more of a lemon clean scent and the gingerbread turned into gingerale. Dry down: Faded fairly quickly, but the softer the scent, the nicer it was. Never kept that gingerbread scent which I craved, nor the lemon cookie, which I love. They fought it out all along the way. I think this fragrance has so much yummy potential. I feel it needs something bready to keep it more of a gingerbread scent and less of a straight up sharp ginger, and something warm like a soft vanilla to keep the lemon more sugary instead of turning into kitchen cleaner fresh. I plan to pair it up with something I already own, not sure what, and layer it to sweeten it up a bit more!

Lovely fragrance!! In the bottle: Lots of scents equally blended together; beeswax, gentle leather, something sweet and a tinge of hearth smoke On the skin: Hint of smoke again, sweet chocolate syrup, beeswax, very soft leather and aged pages. Really nice! Dry down: All of the above, but faded. The smoke is almost gone, but not completely. Same with the leather and book scent. Beeswax has softened. No more chocolate, but almost a tiny hint of cranberry or some kind of fruity scented candle, but very, very soft. Lingering wonderfully on me! I received a wonderful used copy of Candide! I will be sure to wear this while reading it!

Hmm..... In the bottle: Pure leather. Leather, leather, leather. It smells like a brand new handbag or a Coach store. On the skin: Smokey leather, like books being read around a smokey fireplace, but not a tobacco smell. No sign of coffee. Dry down: Smoke, ashes, the fire has gone out, the leather book has faded quite a bit, back into the stacks. So, on first thought, the leather was overpowering and like others have said, it smells like new leather, not old. I never got a single whiff of coffee in any stage, which was very disappointing. If you know of really good coffee scents, please PM me. That being said, I admire how perfect the leather scent is...it amazes me how Beth can create such fragrances! I also like the smokey part which calmed that leather smell right down. It has a bit of nostalgia for me. It reminds me of back in the mid 1980's when I stayed a week at the Wayside Inn and spent the winter days and evenings by a warm smokey fire in the old hobgoblin hall and read all day long. This is all about reading books by the hearth to me. But the original new leather smell is not a favourite of mine. This will make a nice post-holiday scent when snuggled by the fire, deep in a Dickens' novel.

Oh yum! In the bottle: Apples and fresh greeneries of all sort, but not sharp! On the skin: Soft clove, warm roasted apples, fig and greens. Dry down: Soft clove and fig with a dash of leather. Nice and unique. The scent in the bottle reminds me so much of the first room of our local nursery this time of year where all the live wreathes, garlands, etc. are blended together on tables. I just stand in there, sniff and smile. Holidays are not holidays until I smell that! On my skin it takes a warmer, more fruity and clove scent, but very seasonal. If I had to bottle up my favourite nursery at Christmastime, it would smell just like this!

In the bottle: A nice spicy incense blend of Frankincense and Amber with a hint of floral. On the skin: A complete flip-flop. The incense fades to the background and the bergamot, while soft, comes out. Dry down: A lovely even blend of incense and bergamot. In the bottle it reminds me of when you first walk into an old Catholic Church that still uses incense frequently with perhaps the hint of someone's perfume from the Mass that ended an hour ago. Wearing it reminds me of actually being at a shrine inside a church with incense burning and a statue adorned with flowers, while both fragrances play with my senses! Quite lovely, not overpowering, but staying with me for hours! Nice pick!

In the bottle: Warmed up butter On the skin: Buttercream with vanilla and a slight bit of chocolate cupcake goodness, with coconut starting to come forward. Dry Down: Lots of coconut cream with a dash of butter and velvet cupcake. The coconut is definitely winning out, which is bit sad for me, as I find it more of a tropical, suntan lotion smell, whereas the other fragrances worked nicely together and they should have stopped there, imo. Buttercream, vanilla and red velvet cupcakes sounded so divine!

Sometimes simple is wonderful! We have two notes here and they are having fun battling each other out on my skin! In the Bottle: Cherry with patchouli incense On the Skin: At first a bright cherry bomb that is quickly smoked down with a beautiful, rich patchouli. Very dark and heady! Dry Down: A little less cherry, but occasionally wins over this incredibly rich patchouli woods, but a very elegant one. Not overkill, yet strong and long lasting. The patchouli reminds me of a metaphysical store I used to go to back in the 80's, which is sadly now gone. They must have burnt a lot of patchouli incense. But the cherry in this sweetens and warms it up nicely. It gives me a balance I really appreciate and works well together. The patchouli definitely wins out and I wish the cherry lasted a little longer, but it still has a hint of fruit in it several hours later. This is making me very sentimental and wanting to pull out all my oldest tarot decks and books from that shop!

The most mysterious Lavender I have ever come across and I love it, not being huge on lavender fragrances. In the Bottle: Bergamot and a warmed up lavender! On the skin: Lavender, bergamot, a dash of patchouli, vetiver...at first a bit powdery or soapy, but quickly transforms into something darker as the chocolate comes through. Dry Down: Lavender fading to the background on my skin, bergamot, vetiver, a very soft patchouli and hint of chocolate settling down. A slight green scent whispering throughout... An hour later, the lavender is back, softly, on fairy feet and raven's wings! If I were attending a fairy ball in Faerie, at midnight, this would be perfect to wear, though I am pretty sure I would never return...

Love this! Very unisex, imo. In the bottle~soft chocolate scent, a bit woodsy. On the skin~Chocolate at first, with patchouli and a dash of peppercorn piercing through, warming up with almost a soft cedar scent.I love this scent! Very late autumnal! Dry Down~Chocolate now very faint....Krampus has lured in the child with sweets, but the sweets are gone! Now it is full on wood, patchouli, cedar, dark woods, a quick slap of peppercorn with his switch and into his bag we go!

In the bottle~A soft warm floral scent, rather nondescript, but pretty and very feminine. On the skin~I definitely smell the vanilla bourbon warming up the florals and after about 10 minutes the carrot seed is coming forward. Dry down~The roses are soft, sweet and warm, not overbearing. Just a soft hint. I smell a tiny bit of licorice in this scent as time passes and the carrot seed. The carrot seed goes so nicely with the roses. I love deep dark rose scents, but this is not one. It is definitely softer without being powdery, warmer and balance with carrot seed to make it a gentle, but alluring fragrance. The carrot seed almost lends a tad of green to the mix. I took a chance on this and it is nicer than I expected!

Deliciously chocolate! In the bottle~Dark, not too sweet, not too bitter, chocolate! On the skin~First smells like I just poured Hershey's syrup all over me and then quickly transforms into a dark, decadent lava cake. Dries down~A devilishly tempting lava cake that slowly fade to warm baked brownies...the gooey kind...that you want to eat while watching Hocus Pocus....

This scent is so unique! Really quite lovely! I was listening to Cher's single Dark Lady and imagine this is what the fortune teller would have worn. I'm going to get a lot of wear out of this one! And yes, Lady MacBeth in a bottle. No question about it! In the bottle~Something floral and a touch of clove. First on skin~Clove warmed with a dark but very pleasing musk, floral, but not specifically red roses....yet! Dry down~Warm blood and a lovely dark musk dripping over cloves, with a hint of antique roses from an ancient grave, most likely picked by a guilty hand!

Starts off with a pungent rose and spice mix for me, like a vampire's bite! Sort of an innocence lost feel, as there is almost a sultry scent to it, which is unusual with roses, but works quite nicely with this scent. Dries down on the skin softer, slowly fading over time, to a very Victorian Rose, and disappears elegantly once the sun rises....

In Bottle: Dark chocolate covered cherries! Wet on Skin: Chocolate, deep bright cherries, a touch of sweet orange to balance it out. Dry Down on Skin: Same for about 2 hours, then the orange and cherry calmed down to a soft fruit and the chocolate almost became like a light Nag Champa 6 Hours Later: Ever so slight scent of chocolate, cherry and Nag! I love this scent and ones similar to it because they stay on me for ages and I seem to enjoy each phase as it changes!