Gwydion

In bottle: Sharply herbal and oddly sweet in it’s floralness. It does manage to convey a sense of purpleness, like dried flowers. Wet: An herbal green sort of delicate purple floral. It’s a purple wildflower sort of floral and the herbs are rich and pleasant green. They go together well. It’s more herbal as it warms and it quickly gains dominance, while the flowers fade to a gentle top note. The herbs smell fresh cut. I am detecting what I suspect is some lemon verbena, or at least some similar citrus adjacent herb in the mix, but I’m failing to find names for the others, though they are familiar. Dry: sweet purple herbs. No really.

A gentle, healing love blend, often used to help mend a broken heart. Brings peace of mind, soothes the sting of loss, and aids in finding closure. In bottle: A pretty mix of lavender and dragon’s blood, with a touch of something herbal. There might be a hint of incense. Wet: there may be a touch more floral than I thought, though the lavender is so dominant I can’t tell what. Dry: mostly dragon’s blood with a touch of linen.

In bottle: Fairly evenly balanced and well blended. I think the carnation is marginally stronger, but really the plum and musk are not far behind. Wet: I actually like this even better the musk and plum really pop on the skin while the spiciness of the carnation adds a special something to the warmer plum. Dry: fast fading. What little is left is vaguely musky plum.

In bottle: The apple is indeed crisp and it spars for dominance with the oak. The leaves add a green shade to the blend, and the mists lend a softness. Wet: The apple wins, though the oak stays strong. This has a shady, late August, early September feel. The elements balance well on the skin, and it is different enough from my collection of Halloweenie apples to be worthwhile as a separate entity. Dry: sweet crisp apples with a hint of oak and mist.

In bottle: Gnarly dark green roots, vines, and herbs. This perfectly embodies it’s concept. It is very much a late summer working garden, with hints of poison under the carrots. I really like this. Wet: still carrot dominant with the vines second. Despite my bad history with some of the poisons in Rappaccini’s they are well blended here. Dry: Surprisingly floral, but in a good way. All that dark gnarly greenness is transmuted to purple flowers. Not what I’d wanted, but certainly interesting.

In bottle: Pleasantly tangy dark berries over honey. Omnomnom. Wet: Sweet rich tangy berries over honey. It’s not quite like the other berry notes,

In bottle: Surprisingly dry. Cranberry and gin dominant with raspberry second. The mango lends a touch of the sweet. Mint is barely detectable. Wet: I’m not a juniper fan, so I’m surprised at how well the gin is playing with the berries here. It’s still cranberry dominant. Actually, it’s mostly cranberry with the raspberry and gin in support. I did not expect to like this but I do. It’s a nice, bright red summer scent. Dry: There is more mango on the dry down, shifting the balance into something just as interesting, but completely different. I’m not picking up the mint at all, which is just as well. Consider this an all around pleasant surprise.

In bottle: Rich, nutty porridge with a hint of pastry lending a touch of sweetness. Wet: Very soft on the skin, mostly vaguely nutty pastry. Dry: A lovely soft pastry with powdered sugar. This would be perfect if it had more throw.

In bottle: It really does smell like iron and stone. It is very earthy, the hops and leather combining with stone to suggest rich loam, as well as the leather and hops intended. I really like this, but it may not be to everyone’s taste. Wet: Still iron dominent, the hops are stronger than stone and leather on the skin, creating a vaguely floral edge. It smells less like dirt on the skin, though there is still a hint of it mixed with the soft leather and stone. It’s nice, but not as brilliant as in the bottle. Dry: Surprisingly aftershave like. It bears little resemblance to the notes previously detected. It is aggressively masculine and has tons of throw.

In bottle: I’m not skin testing due to the terrible things my skin does to roses. This is weirdly chemical, dry and sharp. It does indeed smell like white roses predominantly, and the ozone quality does suggest the ethereal, the wood notes suggest the board, while the dryness does suggest ghosts. It really does fit its concept, though it’s not exactly my idea of pleasant.

I did not get a rice note in Loosening of the Obi (but it is FABULOUS), but I did get it from the 2011 Hungry Ghost Moon I'm not sure about differences, if any, between the 2006 and 2007 versions of it though! Likely small differences only. The older version of Hungry ghost Moon is strongly tea dominant and sweeter, while the new has a really strong rice note.

In bottle: Rich cherry scented honey. Wet: This is the cherry scent that smells least like cough syrup on me. I know this sounds like faint praise, but it is literally the only cherry related scent that didn’t go instantly nasty on me. As it warms, the cherry smells more like tart true cherry, and the honey rises in a wave. It’s maybe not a scent I’d pick to where often, but it is lovely, and it’s clearly the cherry scent for people who normally don’t do well with cherry. Dry: Perfectly balanced honey and cherry, almost creamy in it’s affect. I can’t believe how good this smells on me.

In bottle: I am not skin testing, as this has a plethora of things that go badly on my skin. Well blended, with lily dominant, and jasmine a close second. A distant third are the orris, rosewood, and lemon. The other elements are soft, but decernable. It’s a rich, lovely floral, with a darker undertow. It’s genuinely a gorgeous floral blend.

i find the cedar dominant in Tombstone. it's more old timey general store than root beer float.

I can't help with Carceri d'Invenzion, as my sample lacked throw and went a little funny with aging and my skin chemistry, but I do love both Antikythera Mechanism and Interfector. Interfector is a little like AM and Tombstone had a baby. I think it's the different wood mix, honestly. it is both masculine and lovely, if that's any help.

In bottle: The white leather note is very gentle for a leather and plays well for the sandalwood. Where many sandalwood blends smell dry, this is wet and lush. Wet: The elements are more distinct on the skin. The effect is rather leather and bone, and more sinister than I was expecting. Now that the leather is stronger and clearer, I’m thinking I may not be a white leather fan. I do think the sandalwood is interesting with the white leather, but I’m thinking my skin is just not that into this. Dry: Soft dry sndalwood with vaguely flowery leather.

In bottle: The oppoponax is rather strong and bringing out a chemical quality in the leather, while the amber is doing that cottonelle thing that amber sometimes does. The effect is rather unfortunate. Wet: The tobacco comes out on my skin and tries to make a bridge between the elements. This is a big help to the leather which suddenly pops as a distinct element instead of breaking down into components. The amber starts smelling like amber also. The oppoponax stays rather sharp, but is now an edge rather than overwhelming, It’s still not as good as some of my other leather favorites, but it’s not bad. Dry: Mostly leather with some amber.

In bottle: Acai berry dominant. The acai berry blends well with the snake oil, extra vanilla, and neroli. I haven’t the age of this sample, but judging from the snake oil, I’d guess this is well aged. The amber is understated, the cardamom is mostly gone. Wet: My skin eats a lot of the berry and gently amps the amber. The result is a heady, berry sweetened incense heavy snake oil blend. It’s very well balanced on my skin, with enough berry to give it a fruity edge, but not enough to overbalance the complexity. Yum. Dry: The berry comes back up, highlighted on a background of aged snake oil.

I wish Chanukah were stronger.

Wow, the myrrh in Haloa may be the loveliest I've ever sniffed!

In bottle: That’s a lot of rose geranium and rosewood. The benzoin and incense are rather harsh. The amber manages to make a solid third. I honestly can barely pick out the other elements. Wet: The benzoin is strongest on the skin, but the rose geranium really tries hard. This is really not working on me, though I can see how the insense and rosewood would work really well on someone else. On me it’s rank and cloying. I can pick out the lavender now. This is giving me a headache. It’s really strong. Dry: I normally love lavender, but hear it has ganged up with the benzoin and rose geranium and some of the incense to do terrible things to my sinuses and head. I did not wait as long for the retest as I normally would because the resulting headache is rendering me rapidly in need of a shower and a lie down. I think I need to add rose geranium to my do not wear list. I’m not fond of benzoin, but I think I would have noticed it making me ill before this. Sorry, I can’t be objective here.

In bottle: Almond pastry with a touch of apricot tang. The cherries are clear, but not overwhelming. Wet: Slightly more apricot on the skin, but still almond pastry dominant. I normally don’t do well with cherry, and while it turns a little on my skin, it manages to stay subordinate to a degree that means this could really work for me. Dry: Smells vaguely like the linen note for no logical reason. The apricot stands out more strongly as the other elements fade to a soft background.

In bottle: Unusual. The ginger in this is really different than the usual note and is doing fascinating things with the palm date. The vanilla softens it and the oakmoss gives it edge, but the ginger/date combo is very dominant. Wet: The red ginger really pops on the skin. The palm is less interesting on the skin, and the whole blend goes rather contenelle with my skin chemistry. Heartbreaking. Dry: The oakmoss and ginger have staying power, and the oud comes out rather as the other elements fade. It ends up surprisingly floral and shrill on me. This is likely my skin chemistry not working well with the oud and to a certain extent the red ginger.

In bottle: The musk and sandalwood form a dominant team, very dry and sexy. The beeswax is particularly lovely, as is the white tea leaf. It is a touch polished wood, but in a good way. Wet: Sandalwood beats out musk, with the beeswax rising. Musk would be a strong third with the other elements mostly subsumed. Dry: Mostly sandalwood with a touch of musk and tea.

In bottle: The cake is by far the strongest note. I would swear there was a touch of orange glaze in this, though I could be miss parsing the grape. The incense is very soft, as is the olive leaf. Wet: Still cake dominant. This is a surprisingly clever use of grape, which doesn’t usually work on me, but does here. They are soft, but I am really liking the olive leaf in this and I think this is a particularly good myrrh. Dry: surprisingly like cotton candy or pipe Tabacco. The cakes and grapes are just really interesting together.