Leopard403

This is definitely “spicy purple” in a bottle. I don’t actually smell pumpkin, but the typical pumpkin spices layer nicely over blackcurrant and plum. It’s reminiscent of Blood Countess underneath, which I just love!

Pumpkin is so weird on me. I actually find White Pumpkin Floss to be quite spicy, and the pumpkin drowns out what must be softer notes because it always seems to. The other reviews sound lovely, I just wish my nose and brain would cooperate.

I agree with earlier reviewers: Of all the dead leaf blends I have tried, this is the least-dead-leafiest. That sharp snap, that sorta-cologne-like smell present with other DL blends just doesn’t seem to be here. I don’t get blatant coconut, either, but I can definitely smell a chewy champaca. It is perhaps reminiscent of an old book scent, as Nepthys mentioned above, if you were trying to capture the smell of books in candle form. It’s quite nice, and very unexpected.

This is an interesting blend. In testing it the first time, I couldnt remember the notes, and despite how long I thought and sniffed and sniffed and thought, I couldnt identify any notes by smell, either. So I took a break. Coming back to it, I smelled coconut. All coconut. ONLY coconut. Very much like the Yes To Coconuts shower gel I often use. So you can imagine my shock when I looked at the actual notes here. Say what now? I concentrated really hard and still couldnt get cake or tea or blueberry, but perhaps its that rum that is making me smell coconut. Its a nice scent, fairly simple-smelling, and since it blends so seamlessly with my daily skin care I may actually buy a bottle. But it is not what I expected at all!

So, Apple Marshmallow HG. Apple and marshmallow. Who would’ve thought? I am so super grateful to my Con fairy for picking this up for me because it is GLORIOUS. At first I get a burst of crisp fresh apple, not the apple shampoo I expected but a more authentic apple. That is gone pretty quickly and then I get soft, fresh, poofy marshmallow, and surprisingly that lasts FOREVER. Often marshmallow is a note that swiftly disappears but I get sugary whiffs all day, and even the next morning! This is SO GOOD. I hope it’s made more widely available because more people need to bask in its glory.

Pickle is sooooo nice, and I find it VERY different than Coconut, Vanilla Bean and Tiare HG. In fact, this is the blend I wanted CVBT to be! Okay, yeah, there’s a suntan lotion-like smell for a very brief moment initially, but that is gone quickly. The scent left behind is definitely more of a “poof” scent. Yup, if you were wondering about that part of the description, that is where it fits in. If you could find a coconut-flavored marshmallow and pump it full of air, then add a burst of that glorious tropical monoi, you’d get Pickle. GET SOME.

I didn't like this at all when it first hit my skin. Something smelled sour. But after a few moments it settled, and now it smells similar to the Snow Fairy dusting powder Lush used to make. I like it, but it makes me sneeze.

Morning in the City of Angels is such an interesting scent! Upon first whiff it smelled exactly like Tulip Yankee Candles, a major flashback to 2001 when I worked at a little candle shop before going off to grad school. That olfactory memory sticks in my brain, so as this blend dries down I still get that same smell. If I concentrate, though, there's a lot more going on here. It's funny: Rather than being a frivolous top note, that sugary cereal seems to ground the blend, keeping those florals from becoming too headache-inducing. And yes, as others have mentioned, there's something similar to the creamy white of gardenia here, though there is greenness and a hint of bark, too. Not quite soapy, which is nice. Above all, something about this blend smells, well, complicated, for lack of a better description.

I smell...suede? What?! Also, my skin reacted to this one with a painful red welt. Waah. ETA: Yep, be careful if you could have scent sensitivities. Prior to this I've only gotten mild redness (and a slight welt) at the exact site of application, but something about this blend really spread. I applied Huntress to a site smaller than the size of a dime, but within 10 minutes I had notable swelling and redness reaching out to the size of a computer mouse. Ouch.

My mental association ruined this one for me. If I sniff hard, I smell the raspberry tang from Rasp Sufganiyot with a little something extra which must be that black cherry. And I like it. But that first whiff smelled like Mylar balloon and I can't get past that. Sad.

Pillory is gorgeous on application, you can really smell each individual scent note. On dry down, though, the whole thing carmelizes a bit too much so it smells like a rummy maple syrup.

Very much clove and patchouli. There is a soft rose on application, but it doesn't last. I was hoping the other notes would soften the hippy-ish vibe (after all, Bloodbath BO was a surprise hit, so I thought, why not?!), but it just ends up very much clove and patchouli. I'm sure people will love it, but it's not for me. eta: Okay, okay, the longer I am wearing this, the more it becomes a SUGARED clove and patchouli, so I have to give credit where it is due. Also, man, it lasts forEVER. I only tested a dab in the crook of my elbow and it was still going strong four hours later, like it had just been applied. Then I TOOK A SHOWER and it faded only slightly. I still got a whiff when I woke up, and at 3pm today I can still find the scented spot with my nose if I look hard enough. So, yeah.

I don't get any identifiable cotton candy, alas. This is dragon's blood leaning toward musky carnation. It lasts well into second-day hair.

I only get apple when this is freshly applied, then it's caramel and butterscotch. (It makes me excited for Autumn!) It also lasts freaking forever, and the first time I had it in second-day hair, I wandered around muttering "Why does it smell like pancakes in here?" for at least three hours.

I was nervous about Razors in a Doll's House (ha, what a weird sentence!) but am so glad I took a chance! It's amazing. Ah. Maze. Ing. But I don't know how to describe it, man! My first thought was that it reminded me of Atrocious Attic, and I could (and still can) see why that may be the case, but then I realized I was actually remembering my favorite seasonal scrub scent from a company I no longer order from. It was a fall blend meant to evoke funereal marble and lace, and half-wilted flowers, and GAWD that is exactly what I get here. In Lab-speak, I hesitate to say the L-word in case I disappoint people, but given that I've tried Black Lace, Summer Lace, and others, I could see how this would make a good addition to that Lace line... even, perhaps, if Antique Lace collided with rose water. Is that too much of a crazy leap?!? SO GOOD.

Wow, yep, Joy Buzzer is straight-up-the-nose champagne bubbles. (How does Beth do that?!?) This type of note fades rather fast on me, sadly (and I don't get any honey here) but I'm happy to slather on the contents of my imp while it lasts. It definitely makes me smile.

With Squirting Boutonniere, I get mostly the high, white note of lilies. No "Hey, that smells like cucumber!" which I was glad about, but no real crisp green scent either. And absolutely no rose. Sadly, lilies this loud are seriously headache-inducing, so I had to wash this off rather quickly. Bummer.

Alas, I lament. Why, why, why can't I get a cherry note to stick around on my skin? Let me tell you, Chattering Teeth broke my heart. Wet on skin it is perfection, like a sweet cherry slushie experienced by the nose rather than the tastebuds. Not a sign of the dreaded cherry cough syrup in sight. But then, in a split second, it's all vanilla mint. VANILLA MINT, Y'ALL. Cherry, though hast forsaken me.

I tried The Poem of the Pillow several different ways, and while it is delightful in its own way, I'm glad I only got a decant. In the bath, poured into water: Coconut comes out swinging but is gone in an instant. Vague citrus hands around. In the bath, applied to skin: Again, coconut doesn't stick around long, but at least the bergamot is identifiable for what it is and it lingers. As a moisturizer after a bath: The best moments of this BO are in application to warm, damp skin. It smells like expensive tanning oil, very much like cracked coconut with a kiss of citrus. But then the coconut wears away, and this just smells like old oranges.

Diligent Instruction is a nice scent. Yep, there's strawberry, sugar, and mallow, just as expected. But it smells like a big-chain blend that was slapped together so tweens would snap it up in body spray form. In the end, I'm just sort of bored with it.

I am terrified of green tea scents in anything because of an unfortunate Elizabeth Arden issue I had in high school *shudders* Damn you Liz. Also, lotus? Would this be too aquatic? (And why, lord, do aquatic scents always smell like the wrong side of the Bay at low tide to me?!) But the "blueberry musk" in Jinbari won over my curiosity and I thought, what the hell, lets try a decant. I'm so glad, because I just adore this. Wet in the imp and on skin it is all, well, blueberry musk. (Is that even a thing? And if so, how is this scent so right on??) It's not straight up blueberry fruit, and nowhere near blueberry pie. Rather, this is like a corner of an aged but beloved farmyard, stacked high with blueberries in the corner that is just now moving into cool shade. It's a warm blueberry haze on a still day. I think the lotus and green tea must temper this a bit, keeping the blueberries from going over where they would become too jammy and gourmand. This is delicate and sits close to the skin. It doesn't shout, it whispers, and in those whispers there are secrets.

Similar to Mistletoe & Red Berries HG, though this has the soft-mint-and-pine scent that often shows up as "snow." It's a nice scent, though not really springlike at all; much more festive for cold weather.

All three listed notes are pretty glorious on my skin, so I am puzzled about Kitten's actual performance. Once this has settled on my skin, it blends seamlessly and is quite nice. But to get there, I have to make it through the wet stage and the initial drydown, and in that sense there is something, well, off about this. It's the same kind of undertone I get when a bottle of carrier oil has just started to turn rancid. In this case, the pear note in particular seems to be, well, not quite spoiled, but just on the wrong side of over-ripe.

My nose is all intermingled with my brain with this one! I ordered it hoping it would be somewhat reminiscent of monoi, and it has that same kind of creamy high-floral vibe. But it also smells just like the night-blooming jasmine my mom planted outside my childhood window. So there is something definitively green in there, and I think this makes it more wearable. The hint of vanilla makes it lean toward the soapy side on the drydown, but in this case that isn't a bad thing. So how on earth do I reconcile all of that? I don't; I just wear it and smile.

I was excited about the cranberry in this scent and it did not disappoint! This is lots of tart red fruits with a "soft" green background (i.e. not overly Christmas-y), and it lasts FOREVER in my hair.