LavenderCoffee

Wow, the olive blossom and amber combo really sings out on me at first. Freshly applied, it goes olive oil, beeswax, OLIVE BLOSSOM AND AMBER!!!1! And they're not wrong to be so excited because they are lovely together: very fresh and clean without any citrus, fabric, or soap vibes.

As it dries there is definitely a shift in the scent profile. Olive blossom amber settles down into the beeswax, and the fried sufganiyot begins to waft out around the periphery along with some pomegranate and fig. I usually amp fig, but it takes its time gaining strength here.

The composition is cozy and comforting while retaining a gentle perfume quality. It's lovely and quite impressive, and would be a slam dunk for me without the pom, which creates a grainy/dirty effect more often than not and I don't know why my skin does that! Boo hiss. 

This is quite yummy. I was not prepared for the gorgeous creamy pistachio of this when it is freshly applied. I do get the cherry a bit more as it dries, and more of a salted nut component. The vanilla part of the chocolate is really coming through for me - most good chocolate desserts have vanilla - but I'm not picking up on chocolate otherwise.

I am a fan of a good whiskey note so I was hoping this would be booze forward based on "soaking in 90 proof." It does smell like booze, but it's not a big booming boozy scent (alas). I do get a bit of cherry as well, but it's not really coming across as foodie in my opinion. If you think you would be into a politely boozy holiday scent, this might be a good one to try!

Just received this Monday, it's now Thursday. Fresh out of the mail and directly applied, it actually smelled eyeballs-rolling-back great for a few moments. Then it went weird.

Applying again today, it remains quite weird. To quote someone else's experience of A Sorceress: "Never have I been so wrong about how something would smell on me." It's all mealy red apple sadness with a trace of plastic. Damn my skin chemistry! 

I may stow Bob the Snek for awhile or just let it bring joy to someone else.

Holy wow this is good! Sharp and sour when wet but bless me, when it is dry! Reminds me of a beverage from the local brewery called Dead Druid King based on a recipe reportedly found in a crypt that called for oak leaves in the beer. It's intimidating at first as well.

The dry scent is gorgeously sweet and earthy. Time has been good to this bottle.

My experience of this blend is a delightful triptych of the notes in the order they are listed - on wet, I get a nice big fir needle embrace. As the fir needle settles down, peony blooms and announces itself - I'm a big scent note too! Drying down, the musk becomes apparent and wraps its arms around the peony and fir notes. I was not sure what to expect from this, but it's very straightforward and cozy. Indigo musk with fir has a great blue-evergreen vibe. The musk with peony feels sensual, and reminds me of Black Goat/Pink Flower even though that one didn't have musk listed, it had a very nice musky vibe, and this is that same peony note. 

Anywho if you are a fan of these notes, I would give this one a shot. I think it could work for anyone (at least to me it doesn't read as overtly masc or femme). Lower/moderate throw. 

I could not resist candlewax and cloves, and that's mainly what I'm getting from this scent. I don't mind a bossy clove, but this is not bossy, it's beautifully blended with pepper and cardamom. Plus I think the beeswax and black amber are doing some nice things together. Very wearable!

This one is tremendously lovely. I'm matching it against Witchecraft because I'm trying to tell myself I shouldn't FS both, but is that really true?

Immediately I get the same broomcorn note as Vigil for the Harvest Suitors from the Darla Teagarden line sitting on top and sweetening things up ever so gently. The pine wood is identifiable to me, as are the frankincense, oakmoss, and ambrette, but this is indeed a very well blended scent. There's not a ton of throw, but it's just so gorgeous. I would apply liberally and enjoy smelling like a cozy / slightly arcane kitchen. 

Got this as a frottle from the lab that says "Yuki-Onna Vintage" on the label, and it's a standard amber vial - not sure what that means with regard to the original formula vs the "resurrected" one. It's an absolutely lovely fresh jasmine blend, bright with bergamot and lemon verbena. Not a trace of anything indolic, it's like having tea in a sunny garden full of jasmine. In fact it reminds me a bit of the Jasmine Tea/Lemon Peel/Honeycomb trio from this year, although this one is sharper with fresh florals and the trio is a quieter tea blend.  

I find this blend to be quite subtle and instantly wearable. The dead leaves are recognizable on application but not screechy or sharp. The vanilla helps bring the leaves and praline together, and the praline is fairly unassuming. I get the "warm, caramel-y nutty" impression mentioned above tossed together with the leaves: whiff of this, whiff of that. Nicely done!

I FOMOed myself into getting this because I love sweet patchouli. I initially passed because I don't enjoy honeysuckle. So after a good long rest, of course I get a whisper of yummy patch, and then vanilla honeysuckle is doing a big old "nyah nyah" right in my face. Maybe I will put this in a drawer and forget about it and it will turn into something more pleasing, or maybe I will rehome it. 

This is a beautiful vanilla almond in the bottle, but fresh on my skin tonka takes over and adds a weird dirty/waxy quality that mutes the other notes - this happened to me with last year's tonka duets. Fully dry, the vanilla almond fights its way back through, with some musky ambrette, allspice, and ...dirty tonka. Boooo. 

Every rum cake recipe I've seen calls for a butter rum sauce to be poured over the finished cake. This blend seems to have butter rum sauce in the recipe too! Plus whipped cream and pumpkin notes can go into buttery territory, so that's likely why this is all butter when freshly applied.

After it dries for ~20 minutes or so, Pumpkin Rum Cake starts to remind me of Zipline II: tasty pumpkin rum cookies. I only get a hint of coconut, and I'm not getting much of the pumpkin pie spice, but I don't miss it, since it tends to stomp out other notes in my experience.

This is one of my favorite weenies this year. I'm a fig person. Are you a fig person? This DL blend is for us. 

It goes on very fruity (almost juicy!) and vanillic with a nice shot of brandy - all the notes are there except the DL, to my nose. Then as it dries, the dead leaves sneak in and fill out the background. Very different from my usual experience with DL blends, because normally the leaves are the ones to rush up to greet you. I wasn't sure how the sweet fruit would work with the leaves, but they balance really nicely, and I think the vanilla bean helps bridge the gap. The booziness of the brandy fades, and this becomes a gently sweet, earthy fig blend. A lovely bridge from Fall to Winter. 

This kind of fig note wears all day for me, with enough throw for a nice personal scent bubble. Excited to see how the vanilla in this will evolve with age. 

The honey in this is not agreeing with me at all, and it's the loudest note in the blend when applied to my skin. I have several honey scents I love, but I don't think this one will work out. 

I'm enjoying this one more than I thought I would. It begins with a lemony floofy marshmallow and settles into a somewhat dry tea scent with some sweetness around the edges. Not getting much honey or cream, but still quite nice. 

I only tested this briefly because my sister loved it so much I had to give her my decant. The only thing that jumped out at me was that the rose cream reminded me a bit of the poinsettia gown, but this blend is not as rich than that one, and it's tricky to pick out many other distinct notes. The honey was not overpowering, and I wouldn't call it a floral blend, if you are concerned about the jasmine or rose.

edit/update: lies, it is definitely a floral blend, but it is also slinky and creamy and subtle, low throw and come hither - agree that the color impression is indigo/purpley. some other recent blends with a linen note have been Very Linen/Laundry but this one is not. I definitely get the wildflower honey, jasmine milk, and rose-touched sweet cream notes all swirled together in a silky smooth blend. I am also getting a bit of seashell in the drydown. really nice.

This one starts in a very promising place for me. The chestnut/russet vibes are great and well balanced with the sweetness from the fig, but then the myrrh really amps up on me and brings out more powder in the musk. Very minimal clove in this.

This is a lovely pink sandalwood, but that white chocolate/mallow flower combo is creating a big ol poufy sweet cloud around it. It feels very flouncy and silly and fun.

Freshly applied the chocolate is most evident, but it recedes quickly. The blend is chocolate flavored, not chocolate forward. The champa orchid has less of an incensey character and less throw here but it still blooms up into prominence. I think the vetiver is keeping the volume down on the champa without becoming too loud itself. This is an interesting, velvety-quiet combination on my skin.

I get a big hit of white sage at first, then as it dries the strawberry and currant are coming through - quite a shift! I am regrettably unfamiliar with the carnaval characters in the mix. Curious to see how this develops over time.

ETA: as this is wearing it is reminding me of the strawberry/may rose/red musk trio, but less juicy and with an herbal backdrop

ETA again: more aspects of the carnaval characters emerge later in the dry phase for me, here are the notes to save you some clicking:

Mlle.: Coconut and a bit of sugar with pomegranate, pink musk, orange blossom, cypress, honey myrtle, and incense.

Mme.: Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, black currant, patchouli leaf and wild plum.

Theodosius: Earl Grey tea leaves, a white fougere, jasmine leaf, pearlescent white musk, and vanilla bean.

Wow, this is stunning. Of the Roy G Biv spectrum of scent notes, the red/orange/yellow end goes on brightest when freshly applied, especially king mandarin and dragon's blood. As it warms and dries on my skin I get more of the moss and musk lurking behind Frank(incense) and Roy, adding a cologne-like dimension to this golden amber-hearted scent composition. Not getting much plum, but if it has any acidic sourness to it, it's probably hiding out with mandarin.

I really dig this. I passed on it initially because amber/coconut/tuberose are all iffy for me, but those notes don't come across very strongly on my skin. I get smoked vanilla/honey/orange blossom and it is divine. The smoked vanilla is so gorgeous, I just cannot stop sniffing myself. Plus the musk seems to anchor the other notes really well to give the scent some staying power. It doesn't have a ton of throw, but you don't have to go nose to skin to pick it up. Also agree this has a tobacco sort of vibe to it. 

Heloise really does smell like a charming haunted witch puppet - stranger than the sum of her scent notes. Her scent is a bit sour and green, like she was working on a potion with eye of newt, etc. Maybe she was in the vicinity when Witches' Lace 2019 was being brewed. I suppose the polished aspect of the polished limewood (broomstick?) is what's coming forward, but it's not as prominent as other polish/lacquer notes I've smelled. There is much less of a dusty aspect than with Abelard, although the hint of smoke and spice suggest some age -  myrrh has been burnt and only smoke remains, the blackened bits of spices served their purpose. 

I am also testing Abelard and A&H together. Together, they smell happier and less haunted, more like a pair of well-loved old puppets you might keep in a drawer. The sourness of Heloise and the stale dusty aspect of Abelard are tempered when they are combined. It's not quite like putting the lime with the coconut, but they clearly belong together. I think I'd be more inclined to wear Heloise as a standalone scent because of the witchy-ness.

Edited to clarify the A&H combined scent - it's kinda cozy. 

Abelard really does smell like a charming haunted clown puppet - stranger than the sum of his scent notes. It's almost like he lived with a puppeteer that smoked cigars 100 years ago, even though he no longer smells like any kind of tobacco. There is an overall dusty old wood type of effect, although there is also a bit of sweetness that I suspect is coconut husk with frankincense, and something sortof sharp that might be pearwood. It's maddening and wonderful to try to pick out the notes in this unfamiliar context.

I am also testing Heloise and A&H together. Together, they smell happier and less haunted, more like a pair of well-loved old puppets you might keep in a drawer. The sourness of Heloise and the stale dusty aspect of Abelard are tempered when they are combined. It's not quite like putting the lime with the coconut, but they clearly belong together.

Edited to clarify the A&H combined scent - it's kinda cozy.