Caitfish

Yep. It's leather. That's not very helpful, is it? Well, let me add that I think that it is VERY easy to wear DMH, when mixed with something else! It's kind of like Bliss in that respect. While many people adore chocolate, it's kinda difficult to wear JUST chocolate - although people certainly do. Where I believe Bliss shines is in addition to other scents. It's like the "black" of scents - everything goes with black, everything goes with chocolate (with some exceptions). So - do the same with DMH. If you don't know when to wear it, think of something that would be awesome with just a little leather added. My first discovery to this effect is Santa Muerte. It's an ideal combination. The leather really pulls the rose down a notch and makes it more desert-y. It's also beautiful with Corazon, Hell's Belle, Eclipse, Scherezade and Perversion so far. SO, that's my review. Dead man's hand is so cool, and even if you aren't a cowboy (or a wannabe) it can be worn!

Santa Muerte, Saint Death, is not a harbinger of doom and symbol of entropy. She is the Queen of Mercy, a source of motherly comfort, and a symbol to all sweethearts that love lasts even beyond death. She is a vision of beauty in her own right: glittering rings adorn every bony finger, she is draped in a cloak of the finest satin, and her grinning skull, beneath her cowl, is crowned by a bejeweled tiara. A deep, resonant scent, both comforting and soft: lovers’ roses, solemn chrysanthemum, dark vetiver and dazzling cactus flowers Yay, first review! In the bottle: Sooo earthy. The vetiver is green and mossy. I can't even smell any of the flowers, except perhaps a soft hint of the white scent of chrysanthemum. On: It stays pretty earthy for a couple of minutes. It's so earthy that I swear I smell dusty cocoa. It's almost foody the way the sweetness of the flowers mixes with the vetiver. Then, quickly - the vetiver fades bigtime. I don't usually amplify rose scents, so this is an odd reaction. The rose rises to the forfront - and I'm gonna go ahead and say it, even though I know there's a troop of rose haters out there who won't ever give this the time of day because of it - but this is a ROSEY scent for at least a while. My favorite stage is a few moments after the rose slays the vetiver, about 20 mins into the drydown. That's when the cactus flowers really shine. Cactus flowers are a wet smelling flower... they're much like the cacti themselves. They smell wet, lush and exuberant. In more solid terminology, I would call the scent of their flowers a "white" type floral, but truly like nothing else. They compliment the rose and crysanthymum very well, and make the final (and resting) stage of this blend truly breathtaking. Final analysis: Not for those shy of Rose or white florals. The vetiver plays heavily in the initial stages but all but disappears quickly. Its final effect is one that I would define as a "dusty" one. It makes the scent more like the desert, but not by much. The ultimate scent *is* dazzling, and strongly floral. It's in the same vein as kurukulla, I think - but even brighter and definately more unique. It lasts quite a while and has a good deal of throw. Simply, I LOVE this blend. I am so happy that I bought a 5ml unsniffed! ETA: Layered this with Dead Man's Hand today - OMG. Simply amazing - Santa Muerte plus DMH IS the scent of the west - cactus flowers, dusty cocoa, herbs and leather. GAH SO GORGEOUS.

My favorite label is the one for Corazon, which is a beautiful picture of the Sacred Heart in full color.

GAH! THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE CATALOG SCENT. I must have a 10ml. The best part is, that this remains very sparkly! The amber warms it, definately, but it doesn't reduce the sparly, glowing gloriousness. It's just - GAH. This is the best peach BPAL evar, and I have big bottles of three of the others. It's breathtaking.

Oh, dear - I was going to buy a bottle of this in a trio with the other graces unsniffed, but I have to say that I am glad that I didn't. When this first goes on, it smells undeniably of burning plastic! How terrible for me! It smells beautiful on my friends, but on me - nope. After a while, the plastic turns into diapers, still burning. I am SO SAD. Freaking skin. I think that it must have been the gardenia/jasmine combo. Probably the gardenia.

Oooh, yay! Q_S lemme smell her premature arrival of the Living Flame. Unfortunately, this is also going to be an itsebitsy review. I can't remember what this smells like in the bottle, but on my skin, it's like a more vanilla-sweet, less spicy version of scherezade. Was there musk in that? I can't remember, but there is definately musk here... no cherry, cinnamon, carnation... to my nose, just sweetness and musk... warm vanilla-y goodness. It's treating me well. Sweet, warm musky goodness. I don't get anything floral. I think that people who like Morocco, Scherezade or Blood Amber will adore this one - it doesn't really smell like any of them, but it's definately the same type of vibe. It's faboo.

Since no one else has done so yet, I'll do a bit of explaining about the Japanese elements of this scent: A yuzu (Citrus aurantium, formerly C. junos; Japanese) is a citrus fruit that grows in Japan. It looks a bit like a small grapefruit, and can be either yellow or green. Yuzu flavor closely resembles that of the grapefruit, with overtones of Mandarin orange but it is rarely eaten as a fruit. It is commonly used as a herb somewhat like the way a lemon is used in other cuisines. Its outer skin is also used to garnish a dish. Yuzu may also be used to make marmalade or a cake. Yuzukosho, lit. yuzu and pepper, is a hot and spicy sauce made with green yuzu skin and green pepper. Bathing with yuzu on Toji (the winter solstice) is a popular custom. (Source: Wikipedia.org) Kaki are also known as persimmons or sharon fruit. Mikans are mandarin oranges. This is a glorious, citrusy, slightly bitter (black tea?) blend that makes me feel so good! I must have a bottle. I'm so happy, as this is the first of the Japanese blends that has really driven me wild. It's just gorgeous! Thanks for the freebie imp of this amazing blend, labbies!

SPOOOOKINS! <3 In the bottle, this is a riotous, boozy peppermint. Beautiful, and I haven't liked any mint scents before this one! It's not overpowering, I think that the coconut keeps it down. At first when I applied it, this became kind of dark very quickly, something that I thought smelled smokey appeared, then I realized that it was the unique smell of coconut mixing with the mint and cocoa. That hint of smokiness is about as much chocolate as I ever get from this one. It's not a very strong scent - which makes me rue the day that I only bought one bottle, because I'll definately have to slather and reapply to get the full effect of it. It's lovely.

I'm the exact opposite of Dagger, it appears! I love the apricot in this blend. It's sweet, tart, juicy and gorgeous - but the patchouli - is patchouli. If you love patchouli, you'll love this. It's earthy. This smells very incensy. I don't mean "spicy" or "smoky" or anything else. It smells exactly like a stick of inscense. If that's something that you are looking for, again - you'll adore this one. I'll be searching out more apricot blends (march hare?) after trying this one!

Hmm... In the bottle, I get the same bubblegumminess (what a word) that Q-S mentioned earlier in this thread. It was pretty repulsive to me at first, but I had to give this one a shot, so I tried it on. Almost immediately, the bubblegum scent was annihilated by the sandalwood and myrhh. I'm pretty surprised, but the sandalwood didn't dominate this blend either. All of the notes just melded and softened each other. It was a pretty (and dark?) white floral for a few minutes and then... completely gone. *sigh*

In the bottle, this is fruity (definately grapes or cherries or something juicy like that), effervescent (kinda champagn-ey) and a bit astringent. It also smells a bit musky. On, this is definately pretty synthetic smelling (Hollywood!), but not in a plasticky way. I think the strawberry and vanilla notes are doing this. AMBER + VANILLA = SO SWEET. Oh my goodness, this is sweeeeet. It's a warm sweetness. The musk really softens the blend. Very sweet and girly. Which I am.

I've had safe imp travel experiences (in carry-on luggage) in Albuquerque, Phoenix, San Diego and San Juan. Went straight through the x-ray, no additional searches required.

In the bottle, this smells like sweet cherry cola to me. The minute it hits my skin, it turns into Queen of Sheba with a hint of cherry. Almonds, honey, and a bit of spice mulled with cherries. As the queen is one of my favorite blends, I am very pleased! I adore this scent. Staying power - very good, just like the queen. I could still smell it today when I woke up after wearing it last night.

Sharp, crisp and very lightly green. Perhaps a bit astringent - but not overpoweringly so. It's a super, super fresh blend. Funky fresh. Soo fresh. Okay. As for the peony, I only get it in the bottle. It may be sweetening this blend a bit, but it's not an outrightly identifiable note. As this fades, it becomes more herbal and less sharply-green, which is good. It's pretty, but I think that Neo-Tokyo is my "fresh and super clean" scent - it's a little more complex. If you're a fan of soft, clean scents - you can confidently add this one to your repetoire.

Juniper berry and fig TOTALLY dominate this blend in the bottle and definately for the first few moments on me. It reminds me of the "lemon" phase of Vinland - which is really just amped up loganberry. Luckily, just like Vinland, the juniper berry chills out as the musks start to warm up. I definately get walnut, but it's beautifully blended, not too bitter and not at all rancid. Just nice and... nutty. After a while it becomes a lovely fig/bit o berry/walnut/musk blend - though I never get any cocoa, which was what I was so looking forward to in this. It's very lovely, though I swapped for this decant I don't believe that I will be purchasing a 5ml.