Looking for complexity

[ladyphlogiston]

I'm sorry if this exists already, but I tried a few different searches and didn't find anything. 

 

Anyway, my husband absolutely loves when I wear Tlazolteotl, and I think it's because it's such a complex, shifting scent with lots of layers. (He likes complex drinks and foods too, so that makes sense.) I'd like to order a full-size of Tlazolteotl at some point soon, and a couple of imps of other things to try along with it. 

 

We don't generally like sweet/gourmand scents, and florals are iffy but worth considering. We like spices (our other favorite is a Hexennacht perfume that's very cardamomy) and resins and incense. Spruce notes seem to get very harsh and medicinal on my skin, but otherwise I'm flexible. 

 

Any suggestions? 

[VetchVesper]

I Wish I Were Your Mirror, from the new Lupercalia release is unusual, complex, and showcases spices in a really interesting way, though with its incense and floral notes, it's hard to categorize.  2 Westerners is also a winner, with a lot of conflicting notes that blend rather seamlessly.  To My Dear and Loving Husband is an incense and leather beauty that swirls around quite a bit.   

 

Café Mille et une Nuits from OLLA also springs to mind.  It's a more typical sort of spice scent, but it's a good one and has nice complexity, without being overly foody.  The Carousel from American Gods and Eshe, A Vision of Life-In-Death from Carnival Diabolique are sweeter and more floral, but there's still a lot of other stuff going on in there.  The lab doesn't sell decants of Cafe, Carousel, and Esche, but the bottles are available year round and you might be able to find some decants in the sales and swap pages on this forum. 

 

As for GC scents?  Hmmmm.....I'll tell you what I like, but your mileage may vary wildly depending on what your chemistry does with the notes.  I've had really good luck with ALL the Aztec pantheon scents, including Tlazolteotl, so if any of those strike your fancy, I'd check them out.  The cocoa in all of them is more earthy than foody.  The Steamworks blends are also a good bet.  No 92 Engine's one of my faves.  The "Come and See" blends in the Sin & Salvation section are also complex and more gender neutral. 

 

Random CG frangrances I remember being complex -  Kali, Baba Yaga, Black Tower, Nephilim, Namaste, 51, Kathmandu, Kumari Kandem, and Island of Demons.  Those are all very different scents, but they have a lot of stuff going on in them, so they should keep your nose busy.   

Edited May 24, 2020 by VetchVesper

[Lucchesa]

@ladyphlogiston So, I went through my spreadsheet looking for currently available GCs with a lot going on.  I avoided the foodies, heavy forest scents and florals -- I just don't wear florals and can't really weigh in on them.  And the list tends towards the unisex because that's the way I roll.  Also, some of my favorites are things like Haunted (amber and black musk) and Sloth (vetiver and myrrh) that are amazingly complex feeling for having only a couple of listed components.  But here are some ideas!

 

First I would think about the other Aztec-themed scents, as I've always considered them related:

Centzon Tetochtin: Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood

Tenochtitlan: Amber, hyssop, coriander, epazote, Mexican sage, prickly pear and Mexican tulip poppy

Tezcatlipoca: Deep cocoa laced with patchouli, leather armor, ritual incense, and a touch of Xochiquetzal's flowers

Xiuhtecuhtli: Copal, plumeria and sweet orange and the smoke of South American incense and crushed jungle blooms

 

Aperotos Eros: benzoin, Indian musk, massoia bark, myrrh, ambrette seed, galbanum, bergamot, and fir.

Baba Yaga: Spell-soaked herbs and flowers, cold iron, broom twigs, bundles of moss and patchouli root, and moth dust

Bastet (cardamom!  So good!  As is the related Bast from American Gods, which is a little less sweet): Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus

Blood Kiss -- a little foodie with the cherry and vanilla but it's complex and sexy: vanilla and honey with clove, red cherries, vetiver, soporific poppy, blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk

Calico Jack if you're not averse to aquatics: Sea air, driftwood, waterlogged kelp, plundered spices over worn leathers, rough musk, and salty wooden floorboards 

Cleric (I can't wear this because of the champaca): Rose amber, frankincense, myrrh, champaca flower, Peru balsam, cistus, palisander, cananga, hyssop, and narcissus absolute

Croquet if you like citrus:  Pink lime, pink grapefruit, white nectarine, wild rose, sage, woody patchouli, bergamot, and ornery hedgehog musk

--also, How Doth the Little Crocodile, Schrodinger's Cat

Druid: Woolen robe, ancient trees, fertile soil, wild herbs, spring grasses, and burgundy pitch incense

Elf (this I adore, despite the violet): Pale golden musk, honeycomb, amber, parma violet, hawthorne bark, aspen leaf, forest lily, life everlasting, white moss, and a hint of wild berry

Evil (really good aged): opium tar, tobacco absolute, green tea, black plum, kush, ambergris accord, ambrette seed, and costus root

Kali (my notes for this say only, "Too much going on."): sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey

Kubla Khan (champaca AND jasmine, not for me): Through sunlit caves of ice, roses unfurl amidst opium smoke and amber tobacco, golden sandalwood, champaca, tea leaf, sugared lily, ginger, rich hay absolute, leather, dark vanilla, mandarin, peru balsam, and Moroccan jasmine

Le Lethe if red musk isn't a problem for you: Red musk and sweat-damp golden skin musk with labdanum, golden amber, nutmeg, tobacco absolute, black orchid, and hemlock accord

Lyonesse: Golden vanilla and gilded musk, stargazer lily, white sandalwood, grey amber, elemi, orris root, ambergris and sea moss.

Mage : gurjum balsam, Sumatran dragon's blood resin, olibanum, galangal, oleo gum resin, and frankincense

Morocco, a perennial favorite that has never worked on me: exotic incenses wafting on warm desert breezes. Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia

Nephilim (on me the cypress took over but there are a lot of great notes here including cardamom): Holy frankincense and hyssop in union with earthy fig, defiled by black patchouli and vetiver, with a chaotic infusion of lavender, cardamom, tamarind, rosemary, oakmoss and cypress

No. 93 Engine: Balm of Gilead, benzoin, frankincense, balsam of peru, beeswax, saffron, galbanum, calamus, hyssop, mastic, lemon balm, and white sage

Oblivion (my best friend's favorite, she's on her third bottle): Dark musk, wood spice, labdanum, patchouli, dark African woods, and saffron

Old Demons of the First Class: Siberian musk, black clove, opoponax, tonka, black pepper, and neroli

Ozymandias (looks like this is discontinued, though): Dry desert air, dry and hot, passing over crumbling stone megaliths and plundered golden monuments, bearing a hint of the incense of lost Gods

Plunder (spices!): tea leaf, cassia, cinnamon bark, clove, allspice, sandalwood, tobacco, peppercorn, and nutmeg

Seraglio: Sweet almond, Mysor sandalwood, Bulgarian Rose, neroli, nutmeg, clove and orange peel

Sybaris if you can do violet (I can't): Bright violet with sweet clove, Mediterranean incense notes and tonka bean

The Black Tower: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine

The Bow and Crown of Conquest: sage, carnation and cedar with lavender, vanilla, white musk and leather

The Caterpillar: Heavy incense notes, carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver

The Great Sword of War: Mandarin, tonka, saffron, black tea, cocoa, tobacco leaf, sanguine red musk and five classical herbs of conflict

The Scales of Deprivation: lemon peel, white sage, frankincense, lavender fougere, sandalwood, vetiver and labdanum

Uruk: Thick bitter almond and heady night-blooming jasmine with saffron, cinnamon leaf, red patchouli, river lilies, bergamot, fig leaf and the sacred incense of Inanna

 

I know it's super long but it's easier than working your way through the website -- hope this helps!

 

ETA VetchVesper and I were answering at the same time!  And our lists overlap a fair bit!

Edited May 25, 2020 by Lucchesa

[Teamama]

I have a few to add to @VetchVesper & @Lucchesa's recommendations for complex blends.  I tend to like the sweet stuff, my guy does not.  Here are a few that I know are complex but not (very) sweet.

Aelopile: Citrus & resins & vetiver. Starts out with a citrus bang, ends with a vetiver purr.

Al-Shairan: Spicy incense & fruit. This gets mixed reviews for sweetness, so worth testing. 

Aureus: A golden resin-fest. 

The Coiled Serpent: Mysterious resins unfolding over time. Earthy.

Tsadikim Nistarim: OK, this is a little sweet, but it's so complex! All the herbs & resins tell a story. 

Tushnamatay: Dry, woody incense with a bittersweet heart.

Wulric, the Wolfman: Musk blend with a lavish background of notes that change over hours of wear. STRONG.

 

I endorse Aperotos Eros as a complex, morphing scent. On me, it's on the sweet side, but my skin tends that way.  Ditto Kubla Khan, Oblivion, & The Carousel.

[ladyphlogiston]

Wow, you guys are awesome! Thanks so much! I'm totally blown away by the time you put into assembling these lists for me ❤️

 

Time to go through with my husband and come up with a first order. Sadly buying 40 imps at once is probably not in the cards.... 

[forspecial_plate]

You might want to try Snake Oil and also browse through the Snake Pit while you're at it (except I think Snake Oil is out of stock at the moment 🙁), since it is one of the Lab's most popular scents and it's talked about a lot, and you might enjoy it.  I think I would recommend Boomslang in particular (part of the Snake Pit, in the Carnaval Diabolique section), if you like cocoa.  It's a warm, slightly earthy, sultry cocoa + Snake Oil (and other stuff) scent moreso than gourmand in my opinion.  The list of notes may not sound complex but I think Snake Oil on its own is rather complex, musk and spices, vanilla, who knows what else.  : ) And the Snake Pit scents really vary on how much they resemble Snake Oil.

 

Also I would try stuff even if you think you won't like it, you may be surprised by something.  : ). I didn't think I would like any foody/gourmand scents but I ended up loving Sugar Skull, Eat Me, and lots of pumpkin scents too.  : )

Edited May 25, 2020 by forspecial_plate

[VetchVesper]

2 hours ago, ladyphlogiston said:

Wow, you guys are awesome! Thanks so much! I'm totally blown away by the time you put into assembling these lists for me ❤️

 

Time to go through with my husband and come up with a first order. Sadly buying 40 imps at once is probably not in the cards.... 

 

No problem, and happy hunting!    And there actually is some good overlap with the suggestions, so hopefully that narrows it down. Also, I will third Aperatos Eros and second Tsadikim Nistarim.  I actually thought of those two, but I'd already posted.

 

So, the CG's two or more of us agree on - Aelopile ("Steamworks"), Aperatos Eros, Baba Yaga, Black Tower, Kali, Kumari Kandem, Nephilim, No 92 Engine, The Bow & Crown of Conquest, The Scales of Deprivation, The Great Sword of War (these three are in "Come and See"), Tsadikim Nistarim, and any of the Aztec "Excolo" (God) scents.  As well as American Gods Carousel, if you're willing to spring for a bottle or hunt down a decant on the forum.  Also, @forspecial_plate is quite correct.  You should check out Snake Oil. 

 

Hope that narrows it some for you.  I know there's a LOT.  That's part of the fun though.   

Edited May 25, 2020 by VetchVesper

[Lucchesa]

Thirding Tzadikim Nistarim! It’s one of my favorites!

[Lucchesa]

On 5/24/2020 at 7:32 PM, ladyphlogiston said:

 

Time to go through with my husband and come up with a first order. Sadly buying 40 imps at once is probably not in the cards.... 

I just received a 51 as a frimp I can send you, and I’m sure I have an extra imp of Tzadikim Nistarim as well as Bastet and Blood Kiss (they didn’t make  the short list, but they’re faves of mine).  It looks like I have a duplicate of Aperotos Eros, too. And of The Carousel!

If you PM me your address, I’ll get them off to you. That will pare  down your list a little. And try the For Sale thread — it’s a great place to find $1 imps while you’re still figuring out what works on you and what doesn’t. 

[ladyphlogiston]

4 hours ago, Lucchesa said:

I just received a 51 as a frimp I can send you, and I’m sure I have an extra imp of Tzadikim Nistarim as well as Bastet and Blood Kiss (they didn’t make  the short list, but they’re faves of mine).  It looks like I have a duplicate of Aperotos Eros, too. And of The Carousel!

If you PM me your address, I’ll get them off to you. That will pare  down your list a little. And try the For Sale thread — it’s a great place to find $1 imps while you’re still figuring out what works on you and what doesn’t. 

 

That would be amazing, thank you so much! (And Bastet was on my short list anyway - I love cardamom!) 

Edited May 27, 2020 by ladyphlogiston