Darkersolstice

Oh, look, it's Sols being drawn in by black pepper and leather and clove again! What a surprise! This is a nicely masculine scent profile, nothing too sweet about it to go sugary (as so many scents do on my skin). While there are spices in the scent profile, it is neither spicy nor spiced, and the leather is not, I think, BPAL's black leather or red leather note. It's giving dangerous mystery man in slightly-damp leather armor, which is absolutely a vibe I can rock.

I get the astringent lavender and pine notes. The lilac's hiding, as is the mandarin. I don't know if I know patch well enough to identify it here, but I feel like it must be present. There's something rounding out those other notes neatly. I'm fascinated. This scent is wonderfully ungendered in a way that I like. It's green on the nose in ways I really like; a living green, and not sweet. (Which is not a bad thing. I amp sweet like a speaker that goes to 11, and this doesn't have anything for me to do that to.)

It's interesting reading all the different reviews of this one. On my skin, it doesn't tend to swing floral at all--I get dragon's blood, I get spicy warmth. Something vaguely like a red musk and yes, licorice. I'm getting that wonderful black licorice note that I absolutely love. Really, I'm reminded of a couple of my favorite general catalogue scents here: - This is Kabuki without any of the fruity notes, gone a little more bitter and dark - This is Mania's cousin, more serious and less inherently a warm-weather scent (Don't ask me why, but Mania always feels like a summer scent to me...) May edit if drydown goes substantially different on me, but I'm very much in love, and glad I jumped on this when I saw it on the forums.

The imp I have of Debauchery's been aged in my imp box for over a year, so keep that in mind. I got smoke and musk notes immediately on application, and commented to my long-distance partner (who's been doing sort of a 'test an imp a day' with me) that it feels like a scent I'd wear out, but not at home. Too sexy, see. I don't need that for myself. Wet, it was all kinds of sex kitten vibes. But as it dried, it's ended up something comparable to Mania. The musks mellow, and the red musk comes forward with that familiar sweetness. I don't seem to be having any issues with the civet, though--that's a good thing to note for later.

I really enjoy Wrath as a power scent. Wearing it gives me confidence on days when I know I'm up against something challenging. It's bold, spicy, and a great introduction to dragon's blood resin (Dragon's Milk is a similar introduction, but with a less fire-breathing and more sweet tone). Shub-Niggurath is something I picked up as an imp with my most recent order, and I'll be going in for the full bottle with my next one. I'm especially looking forward to wearing it in the fall, because the spice notes seem pretty apt for the season. And my go-to for date night, if I just really want to smell sexy, is Athens. I am very not a big floralsy person, so this is one of the more feminine picks in my collection. It's fruity-boozy on me and soft and tends to wear long enough for a whole night out with my datemate.

I'm not sure whether it's skin chemistry or decant age, or my nose, or something else...but what ends up being primary on me is the ouzo note, that anise/licorice/sweet, limned with boozy lightness (rum is that you?), rooted by something vaguely fruity that grows stronger as it dries down. Tea? What tea?

Have I not reviewed Athens yet? It's my default date night perfume when I'm out with the datemate (as opposed to the partner, with whom I'd be more likely to go for something like Incantation). It's sweet, wine-forward on me, to where the receptionist at work read it as 'fruit juice' at first. Great confidence builder, definitely a feminine sort of powerful, as compared to 'I am dragon, hear me roar'.

Given how I amp sweet notes, this started off as "someone dropped a lemon jolly rancher in a pile of hay and pine needles, and they're debating whether to brush it off and stick it back in their mouth", but by the time I got to work (~1.5 hours into drydown), it's subdued and mellowed into mostly hay and leather and vetiver, with lemon weaving through it, lifting it all up. I agree this one may need to age for a bit, but I kinda like what it seems to want to be.

I don't know what geranium smells like, specifically, but right now I feel way too floral for my own good. No edge of bourbon, no earthy vanilla and patch. I had hopes while walking to the train, but now that I'm at the office, this is so very flowery it's landed next to New Orleans in my "gift to someone who likes smelling womanly" bin. (That said, if one of my datemates wore this, I'd probably nuzzle into them like a kitten, and I agree with everyone who called it a summer scent.)

Has anyone mentioned Slippery Poppy Tincture? It's a very gently floral with some grassiness in it, not as loud as New Orleans, but with some sweet tones that I likes. Another idea is Envy, which has mint and lime and lavender with green herbs. That one did not last on my skin very long, but I loved it while it did.

Wow, this is wonderfully dark and mysterious on my skin. Like, individual notes are not easy for me to identify here. Cardamom and...spice drawer...and musk? Musk, sure. But I love how there's nothing in here that I amp to a hellacious sweetness, and this just ends up being wonderfully deep spice. This is not something I'd wear on my femme-presenting days, and I think a lot of people will read it masculine overall. But goddamn, I am loving it for the office.

Received as decant. Hrm, I'm not sure my skin chemistry is jiving with this one, quite. While I get the cranberries, I also end up with something vaguely soapy about it on me. Like...if Bath and Body Works made a Cranberry Orange body wash, that's what I'm smelling. Which isn't horrible--definitely not a scrubber--but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I wonder if that's the bergamot. Oh, please don't tell me that note goes off on me.

This is not chocolate, this is cacao. That's the first thing to get straight, if you're looking at reviews. It's bitter and dark and there's something clean to it, and when I grabbed it from my imp box and put it on without looking at the description, my first thought was "dirt. Good clean dirt." I mean that in the best way, though. It's an empowering scent, one that makes me feel really grounded as I'm wearing it. I definitely get the lift of the cotton blossoms, but this one never strays into the girly floral zone that I avoid like the plague. I'm debating getting a full bottle--this is a great warm-weather scent.

Yes, this goes amazingly, horribly sweet on me. That said? I like it as a bedtime scent. Like, the beeswax and pine are comforting in a way I wasn't exactly expecting.

So. Red Queen smells like wood on me, but Incantation is the woods, and that makes a lot of difference. Last night, I tried it as a bedtime scent without reading the notes, and I landed on it being pine-dominant before I got to this thread. Is that what vetiver does, that "astringent like pine bud candy" smell? I'm all for it. The lemon peel lifts without drawing too much attention. There's something 'clean' in here without it going full-on soapy to my nose. I'm entranced. While some people seem to be finding it too masculine for them to wear, I think I'd call it 'not overtly feminine' instead. It is not sweet, not flowery, but very green and herbal. For something I found myself describing as pine-y, I think it'll still be a superb summer scent, hearkening back to my days at overnight camp as a kid.