Gwydion

In bottle: This is very much as one would expect from the notes and concept. It’s aggressively fruity and fresh with a peppery edge that suits red’s character. The pink musk works beautifully with the pepper, providing a clever support to the fruit and almost creating the illusion of grapefruit. The cranberry is the dominant note, by the way, though with the current and support, it feels all season instead of Fall, if that makes sense. Wet: still cranberry dominant, still bright red and juicy. The Pepper and pink musk are more understated on the skin at first, but bounce back as the oil warms, to end up a little stronger than in the imp, but still well balanced. This isn’t much me, but I can think of several friends it would be perfect on, and I like it enough on me to wear. Dry: Mostly pink pepper with pink musk a strong second. The fruit is soft and no longer easy to differentiate.

In Bottle: This has the same soil plus the sharpness of radishes as it’s base that the Doozers have, but here, the effect is entirely different. The herbs are dominant, and surprisingly sweet and a little fruity. I was a little worried, I’d gotten a mislabeled Red imp, but a quick sniff of Red reassured me. This is only a little fruity, with a supporting mix of herbs instead of aggressively fruity. The herbal mix is more medicinal than for eating I think. This is interesting, even if it isn’t what I expected. Wet: Less fruity on the skin. The herbs and radishes blend together in a sharply arresting sort of way, and the dirt smoothly fills in the cracks. I like it, though I’m not sure I love it enough to crave a bottle. Dry: Mostly dirt and radishes, with a touch of sweetness.

In Bottle: This is a lovely, rich, loam dominant scent, with the radish giving it unexpected and delightful bite. The crystal is soft and gives the otherwise earthy scent a delicacy not normally associated with fresh turned earth. Wet: now only slightly dirt dominant, but both the radish and crystal are stronger on the skin. On me, the crystal and radish clash rather. The warmer it gets, the more ascendant the crystals are, becoming coequal with the dirt. The radish settles down, so as to play better with the crystal, but it is an uneasy truce. They give the crystal a sharp edge, sharp enough to cut. Dry: mostly dirt and radish.

In Bottle: It really is as described. Linden blossoms are strongest, but it really does smell like clean laundry hanging in a garden. The linen blends beautifully with the linden blossoms. The soap suds are understated and give the impression of clean. The Vanilla supports and deepens the florals. Lovely. Wet: Still very much a bright, breezy, clean smelling floral. The linden flowers are even richer, stronger, and more nuance as the skin warms them. It’s not very me, but I’d love this on someone else. Dry: Linen mostly.

Mr. Vandemar definitely smells embalmed.

In bottle: Lots and lots of black coconut. Ambergris, sugar, and ambrette are smooth support for the coconut. Champaca flower is soft and delicate. Wet: The coconut and the ambergris and Ambrette are more balanced here, which worked better on my skin, than the bottle balance would have. Indeed, the warmer it gets, the stronger the ambergris and ambrette get, the better it smells on me. The coconut ends up a strong second instead of dominant as in the bottle. It isn’t really very me, but I suspect it’d be lovely on someone with a more suitable personality. Dry: The coconut comes back as the various ambers soften. The balance ends up similar to the in bottle balance, only smoother and softer. The ambrette wears stronger than the ambergris. It’s absolutely lovely, but utterly confusing on me.

I love tombstone, but it's more old timey country store: Strong cedar sweetened by things like sarsparilla.

And then there's the way the natura scent of your skin interacts with the notes, which can magnify elements throwing blend out of balance or create an accidental accord.

In bottle: Oh god, the glorious woods! Call it teak and ebony dominant; with sugandh kokila, musk, sandalwood, tobacco, and patchouli support. (I’m guessing the touch of evergreen wood is the sugandh kokila, but don’t quote me there). The wild musk is, by which I mean dark and wild while dancing beautifully with the ebony but without being overwhelming. This really is all about showing off the woods, with the osmanthus, spikenard, orchid, and tonka mostly serving to soften it around the edges and smooth things together. Wet: if anything, the woods are stronger and have even more individual definition on first application. It’s all about the wood. I am particularly fond of the way the ebony, teak, and tobacco work together, but it’s all beautifully blended. Call it masculine or androgynous, with the florals so understated that they are hard to pick out wet. For the record, the wild musk is not too strong with my natural musk, sexy and a little dangerous, but not too much. Dry: Still wood dominant, but gentler, with more sandalwood proportionally as the others fade a bit. The musk continues to play well with the woods and tonka and now the little hints of flowers that reemerge. Even softened, it’s still a little bit wild. I’m loving this. It’s brilliantly blended to smell glorious in all stages while maintaining a sense of itself.

In bottle: Really different. It’s very late spring/early summer afternoon. There is a sense of warmth and of lying about in the sun, of bees hovering over flowers, and the sharp bite of mosquitoes. Very clever for a day feeding mosquito know for spreading deadly fevers. The saffron, beeswax, tomato leaf, and pimento play together brilliantly and together give the strongest impression to the nose. The geraniums are soft and sort of the afternoon on a warm day outdoors feel to the thing. I like that the beeswax and honey work together with the geraniums to hint at the hum of bees. The pepper in the honey works with the touch of sharper tree oil, which I’m guessing is the cajeput, to suggest the mosquito’s bite. Tomato leaf contributes to the sense of garden with the geranium; while saffron, cardamom, and pimento suggest the start of the fever. This is a beautiful scent poem before I even put it on my skin. Need I mention, I’m already in love? Wet: Sweeter on the skin, with the tomato leaf, geranium, and pink pepper honey moving to the forefront. The effect is simultaneously sweet and savory, outdoorsey with a real bite. Omnomnom. Less subtle on the skin, but still stunning with it’s shifting alliances. As it warms, the tomato leaf and pimento gang up on the sweeter elements and it goes primarily savory for a while. Then it softens and the beeswax, saffron, and geranium, rise… You get the idea. Something is combining to make a leather accord that collapses like a man made of insects into components again if examined too closely. It changes minute by minute. I’m not sure the pimento/cajeput dominant phase was entirely apropos, but wait a minute or two and the cardamom, honey, and geranium strike back. This is the most fun I’ve had with a scent poem since a friend let me skin test Storyville. I think this will not be to everyone’s taste. It has it’s viscous and awkward moments; it is fickle and strange; sometimes smells like gardens and fevers and other times like leather. It is to my taste though. I love it for the complex songs it sings to my nose, it’s sunny garden feel, fever sweat, and savory bites. Dry: Mostly that accidental leather accord to my nose, with touches of cajeput, pepper, honey, and saffron that I can still pick out individually. I love it, but I still suspect it may be for a specific audience instead of wide appeal.

In bottle: It’s a very ‘70’s retro patchouli dominant incense heavy blend. The vetiver plays well with the patchouli. The cumin adds an air of the middle Eastern cooking. The matcha and ti leaf lighten it a little. The gardenia is very understated and shouldn’t prevent you if you love incense but hate florals. This isn’t my sort of thing, but it’s well designed for what it is.

In bottle: lily dominant. It’s a rich unusual lily, with grapefruit, lotus, and orchid providing strong cleverly designed support. The rice wine is understated. The bourbon vanilla blends well with the orchid in particular, but smoothes things out and ties them together, like paper around a bouquet. Wet: More grapefruit than in the bottle, still doing gorgeous things with that Japanese lily. Orchid is still providing lovely support. Lotu is more understated on the skin. The balance is different, but it’s still absolutely stunning and possibly even better than in the bottle. Dry: The florals and the vanilla have the most staying power, which turns out to be lushly gorgeous .with lotus in support.

In bottle: I’m calling this smoky wood dominant. The anise and musk are second in strength, with sap and myrrh as a strong third rank. It’s well blended and unusual, feral and sly. Wet: A bit more myrrh and sap on the skin. I’d now call it smoky wood and sap dominant, with musk a strong third. The anise seed gives it edge, and the myrrh ties things together. All elements are strong and retain individual character within the whole. Dry: Anise, musk, and myrrh end up strongest as they fade the least. I can still pick up woods and a hint of sap. It works, but is less interesting.

In bottle: This really oes smell strongly of honeydew, more consentrated than in an actual melon, but it feels authentic. The honey is next strongest, with the soft green musk blending beautifully with the honey dew. Wet: It’s still strongly honey dew dominant and with the honey support is making me think of some of the honeydew based treats they sell at the Asian market. This really is all about the melon, with the other notes a delicate setting for the jewel. Dry: The honeydew fades down to a ghost, breaking down into some lovely accord components that last longer than the others, but the honey and musk are lovely with what’s less. Delicious with more staying power than I expected, though it doesn’t survive as honeydew per se.

In bottle: I’m goin to call this apple dominant with the blossom supporting the pulp. The red current and champaca are gentle support to the apple notes. The tomato leaf is softer than I’d hoped, but gives a sharper greener edge to the otherwise gentle fruit and floral blend. The brown grasses are giving the tomato leaf very understated support. Goma appears to be a sesame dumpling, and if I’m guessing right which element it is, it’s very understated and mostly serving to tie the other elements together. Wet: Still strongly apple dominant. The red current is stronger and brighter than it was, but still supporting apple pulp. As the tomato leaf and brown grasses come into their own, there is a more outdoorsy than foody feel to it. This is really well blended and utterly lovely as a whole, though I think the apple blossom and champaca tip it a little too far into the florals for my comfort. Dry: Fast fading into soft red current and champaca.

In bottle: It’s pale lilac and fern colored sort of scent. It really does feel like Jareth looks. Call it lilac fougere dominant, with ti leaf a strong second. It’s one of the softer leather scents leading a coalition of white musk, oudh, and tonka 9listed strongest to softest). It’s well blended and balanced, ethereal and more than a little wicked. It’s a bit softer than I’d hoped, but lovely. Wet: Still fougere dominant, but the oudh makes it’s move to a strong second, taking ti leaf as strong support. Then.it warms a little further and the leather asserts itself strongly overtaking everything to be co-equal with the lilac fougere. It’s quite the morpher. This is what I’d consider a mid-level leather, with some of the sharp, chemical edge that characterizes black leather, but nowhere near as strong, and some of the softer more supple feel of the gentler leather notes in the catalog. Best not to try this one if you don’t like the stronger leather notes, though in this blend it’s toned down enough to play really well with the delicate notes that make up this blend. Dry: Leather dominent, wwhith quite a bit of musk. A touch of fougere and tonks lingering.

In bottle: This is rather intense. That is definitely fermented pumpkin, and strongly dominant. With the other elements, it’s very much a dark brown scent. It’s beautifully blended with tobacco, leather, and woods providing excellent support. (Listed strongest to weakest. The dust is soft, but distinct, tying it all together further. The edges all blend together. It also smells strongly brown sugar. The brown leather here is worn and soft and lacks the chemical edge in many crisper leather blends, so this may work for folks who have trouble with black leather and other stronger versions. Fermented pumpkin and brown sugar dominant as in the bottle. This is an uncomfortable scent though not as uncomfortable as, say, smashed pumpkin. The support is still there, but now instead of blurred edges, they are so folded together that it takes work to separate them in my nose. Dry: Mostly Fermented pumpkin with a touch of leather and tobacco.

In bottle: oooo! I wish this were a real beverage! It does indeed smell like ginger cider. It’s fizzy real ginger beer scent about coequal with a hard cider scent. Wet: The ginger is now stronger and the cider less alcoholic. There is still fizz, but it’s more understated. Let’s call this mildly carbonated ginger beer with a touch of apple. This is the best the fizz note has ever done on my skin and paring it with ginger is pure genius. The ginger and apple play really well together. Omnomnom. Dry: mostly ginger with hints of apple and fizz.

In bottle: Oh my God! It really does smell exactly like Lavender honey cheesecake. The cheesecake is dominant with honey a close second, and lavender a slightly weaker third, but really, they are all strong and distinct, yet work together well. Wet: The note reverse order on the skin with lavender strongest, honey in the middle, and the cheesecake drawing up the rear, noticeably weaker than the other two. The effect is really a lavender scent with a sweet, vaguely foody undercoat. I’m just fine with that as I love lavender and this blend is unusual for lavender scents. Dry: The cheesecake comes back as the honey fades. The result is still lavender dominant, but more balanced. I’m thinking this is cleverly constructed to allow the honey and cheesecake to cover for each other during their weak phases. This is genuinely lovely, and as someone who makes a lot of lavender backed goods, this is incredibly pleasing.

In bottle: It’s slightly candied, boozy apricot, rather than the bright fresh glory of the lost march hare. It’s a whole lot more sugary really. Wet: apricot dominant. Still sweeter than the pure apricot note, the booze comes out more. Less cloying than in the bottle and more dangerous smelling, as my natural musk mingles with the apricot brandy. While I like the lost fresh apricot note better than this brandy apricot note, the brandy version is interesting enough in it’s own right. Dry: It’s a little weird on the dry down, a little artificial and fusty while stille seemingly like apricot brandy. It’s warable, but not quite right on me.

There's no reason you can't reapply boo as needed I often layer it with various gingerbreads. Gingerbread has more throw and duration than boo, so I touch up the boo. I don't see wh that might not wok layering with something cinnamon.

As te oil level in my March Hare drops lower and lower, I am heartbroken it's irreplaceable. they sell so expensive on ebay, I don't see that happening.

Leather also tends to mellow and loose the chemical edge with aging.

Yes, you are right about that. My point is just that if you are anxious to review the new version of Frederic, go ahead and post it in the old thread and report your post. When the review mods make the new thread (in fact, if they are off schedule creating new threads this will remind them), they can move your review of the new version to the new thread. Or was there something I am missing? This won't help you if you are just interested in reading new reviews, of course. Oh, I agree. I was just trying to clarify when new threads show up for the same scent name.