groovyrooby

Surprised myself at how much I enjoyed this. It started out sketchy - bitter, yellow/green, heavy on the balsam. Astringent. But somehow it developed into a golden glow of a scent, bittersweet and resinous. Kind of reminds me of Every Day You Play with the Light of the Universe (on a good day - that one is terribly fickle with me). Ultimately reminds me of the amber glow I love so much in Aglaea, minus the fruit, add some wood. Edited to add: tested from a decant, this is one of my favorite Liliths this year. I will be looking to size up.

I love some but not all lavenders. I am still getting acquainted with ozone. This did not work for me. The lavender is the dry herbal version (i like it sweet) and the ozone comes across sour. I like Stormclouds Over the Midway alright, but my skin/nose/taste did not appreciate this one.

Not what I expected but really nice. I love sandalwood, the light airy wooden box and incense kinds. I'm not sure what the four kinds are here, but there must be something red, because this started out smelling like sour, dirty feet. And something chilly & cool. A little patience through the drydown, and this takes on classy aromatic cologne vibes - very cool, dry, and wooden. I can only guess it's the tobacco absolute that makes the difference here. It's not the fruity, humid tobacco leaves but something more herbal and green. I gave this to my husband, and it's gorgeous on him.

I love licorice, first off. And I feel like this is what I wanted Black Licorice Smut to be. That one faded too quickly on me. This, however, last a bit longer and has a little more muscle to it. Starts out smokey. Like, smoked meat smokey. Sausages & bandaids. What is that about?? I was a little worried. But give it another 15 minutes or so, and it's got that cola note I get from Snake Smut. Sexy licorice. Sweet and sassy and wonderful.

Oh how I love this. It's a little Dr. Pepper fruity cola sarsaparilla to start, like I get with Jareth, An Ineffable Game, or Etienne de Boray Oak. Sweet, slightly spicy, wood. And I definitely get a rich Dorian sweet tea aromatic, brown but effervescent. It's got great throw. An enveloping smell. The lavender doesn't stand alone, but kind gives a lift and carries the higher notes through the air. Just a few dabs and I've got myself a delightful aura. Fun, curious, lighthearted but with depth of personality.

My skin makes lemon scream, and this is screechy lemon on me. A little more sweet than astringent. Maybe a little floral something if I try to find it, but pretty singularly lemon city.

I love florals, but I prefer them big, damp, and humid. This one is more sedate and dry. I don't get much Dorian here, and the lavender isn't the sweet kind I associate with Lilith. It leans more heavily on the dry leaves elements, more brown than green. Very much a dried floral arrangement. My skin turns most lemony notes into cleaning products, and here it makes the roses sing that lemony tune, overpowering the lilies and grasses.

Oh I love this for so many reasons. 8th Grade was a very tender, formative, turbulent time for me, and this captures that essence so well. There's a lot going on here! Floral, fruity, savory... at first blush, I got salty peanut buttery candy, like a Chic-o-Stic (LOVE), or The Haunted Beach. Not really sure the source, but I think it's something to do with the twilight quality. Then the plum comes in, at first smelling mentholated cough syrupy. After an hour or so, everything mellows together into a dark, delicious, delectable, tart plum, kind of like Asleep in the Deep, which I also love, but this has a lighter side. Each time I wear it, I can't decide if I think it's teenybopper candy or mature floral - much like adolescence, it waivers and morphs. It's complicated and wonderful.

This scent is so evocative of time & place, moment & feeling. Starts a little Irish Spring fresh, which is not usually a good sign for me. But it quickly veers away from soap and into wet, misty sea spray, with lavender - so fresh & brisk! The combination has potential to turn laundry detergent, but again dances the right way to cotton fabric, damp with saltwater rather than clean. Reminds me of a t-shirt drying in the morning's first rays of sunlight, when you've started out chilly, worked up a sweat, and just before the damp shirt makes you colder, the sun comes out and burns away the mist. Shares something with Lazy Daisy in that clean cotton way, but swap the lemony rose for herbal lavender. This is an excellent, peaceful summer bedtime smell and a great morning wake up. Bracing wind on a balmy day.

Exactly as it sounds! Those jellied fruit slices with the sparkly sugar "rind"! The peach is more perfumey than sweet or juicy, but the candy sugar is there. Eventually this ends in burnt plastic on me, as many foodie smells do, but the start is fun, and I'm thankful for the few sweet moments.

For those of us with the misfortune of delicious foodie smells coming off as burnt plastic, this one sadly did it, too. Already smells toasty in the decant. The peach didn't last long on me before the nutty/toasty took over. Gives it a snuffed out candle effect on me. Had a feeling this would happen, but had to give it a try, I love the concept so much. 😢

I love all these elements, different as they may be. Interesting to smell peach added to a more conventional combination. Puts the peach at the perfumey end of the spectrum. Aromatic and dry. Wafts like an expensive, old fashioned fragrance. White honey peach over an aromatic herbal green. Sophisticated and elegant.

Love peach. Love booze. Love Snake Oil variants. Love this. Wet, glowing peach, a bit like Aglaea, but less resinous, more like a damp, vegetal freshness. Syrupy sweet, almost like the grapey sweetness of a nice violet note, or the extra fruity peach in Les Bijoux. Candy sweet and juicy. Never powdery, like Snake Oil can do me.

One of the things keeping me chipper in the colder months is busting out scents like this Year 2 and the green pepper of the balsam has calmed down, but it's still lovely woody spicy. This feels very sophisticated and mature. Reminds me of a beloved elementary school teacher who was warm but firm, wise and intriguing. She used to play Carol King songs on the piano and lead us in singalong with her rich, smoky voice. Thinking back, I would totally believe she led a second life as a lounge singer. She smelled like powerful, fancy, grown ass woman perfume + a waft of cigarette smoke from the teacher's lounge (yeahhhhh if that doesn't say 'back in the day'...) - very distinct, striking, and I loved the smell of hugging her. This dries to a very woody but not outdoorsy scent. The dead leaves note doesn't work for me - too bitter - but this is what I wish it did. With a hint of sweetness and smoke. I wouldn't exactly call it masculine on me - I wouldn't suggest my husband wear it. But it IS powerful, confident, in charge, and bold. Leather can rub me the wrong way. Cream can go foul on me. But this blend is wonderful. Definitely wear to work when I'm feeling like taking care of business.

Sadly, I'm on the same page as @faerydusts. I was hoping for a peachy version of Lazy Daisy, which I love love love in the spring/summer. I love the tea & cotton notes there. This starts out a delicious juicy peach but morphs into a dryer sheet on me. Not a sweater, just the detergent. And I love lavender, but this is not that. I've tested this a couple times, and it's just not working for me. Bummer.

I am loving these Louisiana Duets. This one is a very real, natural honeysuckle smell. Like sticking your nose into flowers on the vine. Light, sweet, and fresh. Really beautiful. Another one I am loving for late summer bedtime with the windows open wide, like honeysuckle wafting in the breeze. Lovely.

I am so delighted with the Louisiana duets I have tried so far. This one - and this is going to sound strange, but I mean this in the best possible way - smells like cucumber melon and sawdust! Not the sweetest "cucumber melon" fragrances of yore, but like an actual cucumber melon - light, crisp, faintly sweet, very refreshing tiny cucumber melons. It's really powerful to start. It rises above everything else when I open the lid to my box of things to test. Beckoning. With lingering woody sawdust, almost sandalwood, but more like balsa wood. Like a craft table. I have been wearing this to bed pretty much every night since it arrived. For me, it is the PERFECT late-summer-with-the-windows-open-turning-to-fall--humidity smell. I shower at night, and this is excellent for feeling fresh and calm and cared for. I adore it. Very unique in my experience.

Holy bubblegum, Batman! Not at all what I expected!! I've actually been avoiding this one in the AG collection, because this passage from the book perfectly describes how honey notes tend to behave on me - so sweet they go sour, like pickle juice, like sweat dried on a cooled-off body. But this! This is the exact opposite! It is crazy sweet on me! Fresh, soft Bazooka Joe bubblegum. It's quite welcome, actually, because all the delicious-sounding candy gourmand scents I want so badly to work turn to burnt plastic on me, and the FOMO is killing me. But this scratches that itch beautifully. Hurray! Gets a little woody up close, almost car-freshener sweet with time. But still wafting longer, sweeter, and with a tinge of fruit (strawberry? definitely pink) than any of the candy scents I've tried. This is a win!

Still making my way through the AG scents, and nabbed a full size of this after trying. I was really scared at first - it's got a musty, tangy, coppery vibe when wet. The kind of blood note I do not enjoy. But on me, it dries into this rich, deep, gorgeous resinous smell. Husband picked out the woods right away. I don't really get them on me. But slightly smoky, copal up close, wafting a little incense, anchored by deep, glowing, red/brown resin. I'm wearing it to work today, on a day needing empowerment via confidence, steadfastness, patience, and resolve, but not complacency.

I can finally gush about this one now that I got my hands on a bottle. Endless Corridor is one of my all time faves. I also love fresh Dragon's Blood. It comes through resiny sweet and very floral on me - lilacs. Not at all the tangy musty cherry Tussin I expected. The Endless + blood combo rings clear as a bell here. Hot metallic tang, but not too tangy. Dry desert dragon heat, red musk that reminds me of Hexentanz. All over gorgeous beeswax. :d Husband took a whiff and said, "That totally smells like YOU." That sealed the deal! I save this one for special occasions, because it is so precious. I've worn it to concerts and Friday nights out, when I know there won't be too much atmosphere competing with this beautiful scent. On the other hand, I don't want to let it get too old, because I don't love aged Dragon's Blood as much. I'm keeping my decant so I can keep an eye on how it progresses. Just tested Mithras last night, and by golly it reminds me a lot of this one! (gonna need that, too!) So if you'd like to give it a try but can't get your hands on it, that's a great start.

Coming back to give this one some love. It's one of my favorites. I hoarded samples until I could find a full bottle. On me, it's frankincense and black pepper up front, with tobacco weighing it down, in turns cognac sweet and lemony cedar wood in a tussle. They're beautifully blended and all take a turn. I actually thought I hated frankincense - it's usually too dusty and powdery, almost sour on me. But this one opened my mind! I was surprised when I came back to see it in the notes here. The weather just dropped by about 20 degrees last night. Autumn is rolling in, and I found most excited to bring this out again. It's dry and the spices are faint, with a little cedar lemony wood Wearing it to work today. This could go pretty much anywhere.

I haven't read this series (although this inspired me to add to my reading list), so I can't speak to how evocative it is, but - I love this! I wanted to try for the black pepper and clove. I had no idea I was getting something so complex and intriguing! This started with a dry, cool vibe, like a very herbal lavender, like White Oakmoss & Lavender, which I love. Then it shifted to a cottony, lemony vibe, almost like Lazy Daisy (<3), and ended on the loveliest, lingering sandalwood, much like my beloved Solved Mysteries. I'd venture the two biggest standouts overall were black pepper and white musk in a tussle throughout. I sniffed my self all day, wore it again the next day, dropped a big bottle in my cart, and poked some BPAL mates to bring it to their attention. It's wonderful. I don't know how well it relates to the book, but based on the label, I'd say this does have an enveloping, encompassing quality. Outstanding.

Oh this is so fun! Starts a deep, syrupy fruity, with orange - or I suppose that's the pink bergamot - singing the loudest. The musk brings this to a resinous sweet, and the eucalyptus takes this to a dead ringer for Juicy Fruit gum. YUM! A wonderful fruit punch, with the strawberry joining in the chorus last. I am not a big fruit scent wearer, but I'm trying, and I was so intrigued by this combination. This is probably the best luck I've had with strawberry! (and I have been TRYING lord i have tried - Maenad, Rope Pulley, Hollywood Babylon, Strawberries & Honeycomb... Laura came the closest). But I will enjoy every last bit of the decant! I would definitely wear this during summer days - would be great for strolling through the park or shops, drinks with friends, heck I could probably even pull this off at work. What a joy! EDIT: yeah, so, I brought the imp to work in my BPAL stash, and it is the scent I have been reaching for most! lasts for hours. it's been a great refresher to follow orange or other sweet/fruity notes, like An Assortment of Spring Pleasures today, which does not appear to have fruity notes but absolutely comes across as fruity floral to me! B.O. is so far out of my usual scent zone, and i'm loving it!

I was most excited about the stone, moss, and hazelnut here, least encouraged by the pine and blackcurrant. To start, this confirmed my fears - that scratch n sniff book pine smell, with a hint of something lemony. Seriously, this was like sinus-clearing freshness, so herbal green it was almost sour, turned mentholated. Once that calmed down, this is a beautiful woods, slightly sweet from the hazelnut finally peeking through. Not at all Christmassy, which was my greatest fear. I would think fans of real, authentic forest/woods smells as well as stone-note fans will appreciate this. Very brisk, natural, and crisp.

Yes! Not what I was expecting to get from these notes! This read to me as something more like a chai latte - which risked going horribly wrong for me! But, no - this is a dry, scratchy woolly spice. I can pick up the coffee if I try, and it's a really dark, almost burnt but not at all unpleasant, coffee. Maybe milk dumped in to light beige? But very little cream for me - for which I am thankful, as it tends to give me burnt plastic. The cardamom and black pepper are the most distinct of the spices for me - a great thing! But these spices are like just-ground, freshly cracked, and so a little bit astringent. Not sweet and not-at-all gourmand. It's warm woody spice - scratchy wool from the cardamom and dry bitter from the black pepper. Really wonderful stuff.