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juushikaDEAD LEAVES AND RED CARNATIONS (LE, Halloweenie 2018: Pile of Leaves)
In vial: What it says on the tin: dead leaves and carnations, spicy and vegetal and lovely.
On me: Carnation as it goes on, so distinctive, spicy and gently sweet and very red, with an undercurrent of dead leaves. Some of the carnation dies back during drydown, and this becomes a smoothly balanced blend: spicy red carnation, gently sweet and almost hot, against a drier, wider, more bitter, more vegetal and earthy base of dead leaves. It's simultaneously deceptively complicated and seamlessly united; a lovely blend. But throw and wear length are both pretty limited.
Verdict: I love this. The only reasons I didn't get a bottle are because of the limited throw & longevity, and because I have a lot of very good carnation scents already. Of them, this is closest to the Spanish Red Carnation single note, but replaces that carnation's freshness and greenery with the richer, earthier scent of dead leaves.
ZOE AND THE GOAT (LE, Halloweenie 2018: Pickman Gallery: Portraits of Genus Capra)
Caramelized patchouli, cream, and thick golden honey.
In vial: Smoky sweet patchouli.
On me: Liquid caramel, in the same vein as liquid smoke—a one-note but profoundly rich, burnt-sugar caramel scent; you wouldn't eat this—you'd put in a drop to flavor something else. Reminds me very much of a less floral Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht (amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak), which either means that I amp caramel or that I'm getting the cream/honey from Zoe and the Goat and just can't pinpoint it. A stable, non-morphing scent; decent throw and wear length.
Verdict: Not at all my thing; it's simultaneously too strong and too simple. But I layered it with Fearful Pleasure (dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss) with great results, so I imagine I can use my imp precisely to add a drop of liquid caramel to other scents.
TWO OLD MEN (LE, Lupercalia 2016: Fleurette’s Purple Snails)
Sweet brown leather, cacao absolute, coffee bean absolute, and teakwood.
In bottle: Masculine, cologne-y.
On me: The same, a masculine, cologne-like scent, a little sweet, a little spicy, herbal, airy, aquatic—but mostly just "cologne."
On cloth: Still the same!
Verdict: Is this leather? is it Old Men? I've gotten this scent from BPAL before, not strictly from leather scents but often from their masculine blends. Whatever it is, it amps on me and/or I'm bad it's reading its nuance; regardless, I don't like it.
HORN OF PLENTY (GC, Conjure Bag)
Forces a change of fortune, helps overcome poverty and want, and helps attract prosperity, prestige and earthly bounty.
In vial: Sweet, gently fruity, with a hidden herbal note.
On me: A warm red scent, almost but not quite fruity-floral, certainly dragon's blood resin or DBR-adjacent, with a smooth, sweet cream or honey backdrop. It has a gentle spice, which helps complicate the scent. Distinctly similar to Dragon's Milk(dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla), but I find Dragon's Milk to be more intense, more sweet-but-spicy—a little harder to wear, but more interesting. Great longevity, but after a few hours this goes a little stale/sour/grape-like, echoing the cough syrup others have reported.
Verdict: Pretty and wearable enough that I wouldn't be adverse to wearing this for its intended practical use. As a perfume, it's a lesser Dragon's Milk.
MEAD MOON (LE, A Little Lunacy 2008)
Golden mead, fermented with gruit, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger root, sweet-briar, rosemary, and lemon.
In vial: A pale lemony amber with herbs hiding in the background.
On me: Goes on richer, warmer, sweeter. But the herbal elements predominate in drydown: astringent lemon and herbal top notes, a touch of spice and almost-fruity booziness, and a broad backdrop of golden mead.
Verdict: This has the wrong balance for me, reading in almost perfect reverse order of the notes, when what I really wanted was an ornamented, enriched honey. Not for me, and tbh I ended up washing it off.
I'm gently regretting not getting a bottle of DL & Red Carnations, which I retested to finish off my review, and which I know will fade in another hour, but is right now so lovely. But, FWIW, and to soothe my own troubled soul:
Very Good Carnation Blends (Which I Already Have)
The Ta-Ta (boiled leather, carnation blossom, coffee absolute, and tobacco) dirty dark deep carnation
Morocco (Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia) gentle sweet skin-scent-but-better carnation
Masquerade (patchouli, ambergris, carnation and orange blossom) romantic, mysterious, deep, shot through with the spice of carnation
Spanish Red Carnation SN—fresh-cut bright spicy carnation
Hod—if carnation were a sugar cookie, gentle and powdery and soft
Inez (golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood) Morocco's sensual elder sister, rich and bodied and spiced
Runner Up
The Caterpillar (heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver) sleepy carnation incense, mercurial and deep
In vial: What it says on the tin: dead leaves and carnations, spicy and vegetal and lovely.
On me: Carnation as it goes on, so distinctive, spicy and gently sweet and very red, with an undercurrent of dead leaves. Some of the carnation dies back during drydown, and this becomes a smoothly balanced blend: spicy red carnation, gently sweet and almost hot, against a drier, wider, more bitter, more vegetal and earthy base of dead leaves. It's simultaneously deceptively complicated and seamlessly united; a lovely blend. But throw and wear length are both pretty limited.
Verdict: I love this. The only reasons I didn't get a bottle are because of the limited throw & longevity, and because I have a lot of very good carnation scents already. Of them, this is closest to the Spanish Red Carnation single note, but replaces that carnation's freshness and greenery with the richer, earthier scent of dead leaves.
ZOE AND THE GOAT (LE, Halloweenie 2018: Pickman Gallery: Portraits of Genus Capra)
Caramelized patchouli, cream, and thick golden honey.
In vial: Smoky sweet patchouli.
On me: Liquid caramel, in the same vein as liquid smoke—a one-note but profoundly rich, burnt-sugar caramel scent; you wouldn't eat this—you'd put in a drop to flavor something else. Reminds me very much of a less floral Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht (amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak), which either means that I amp caramel or that I'm getting the cream/honey from Zoe and the Goat and just can't pinpoint it. A stable, non-morphing scent; decent throw and wear length.
Verdict: Not at all my thing; it's simultaneously too strong and too simple. But I layered it with Fearful Pleasure (dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss) with great results, so I imagine I can use my imp precisely to add a drop of liquid caramel to other scents.
TWO OLD MEN (LE, Lupercalia 2016: Fleurette’s Purple Snails)
Sweet brown leather, cacao absolute, coffee bean absolute, and teakwood.
In bottle: Masculine, cologne-y.
On me: The same, a masculine, cologne-like scent, a little sweet, a little spicy, herbal, airy, aquatic—but mostly just "cologne."
On cloth: Still the same!
Verdict: Is this leather? is it Old Men? I've gotten this scent from BPAL before, not strictly from leather scents but often from their masculine blends. Whatever it is, it amps on me and/or I'm bad it's reading its nuance; regardless, I don't like it.
HORN OF PLENTY (GC, Conjure Bag)
Forces a change of fortune, helps overcome poverty and want, and helps attract prosperity, prestige and earthly bounty.
In vial: Sweet, gently fruity, with a hidden herbal note.
On me: A warm red scent, almost but not quite fruity-floral, certainly dragon's blood resin or DBR-adjacent, with a smooth, sweet cream or honey backdrop. It has a gentle spice, which helps complicate the scent. Distinctly similar to Dragon's Milk(dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla), but I find Dragon's Milk to be more intense, more sweet-but-spicy—a little harder to wear, but more interesting. Great longevity, but after a few hours this goes a little stale/sour/grape-like, echoing the cough syrup others have reported.
Verdict: Pretty and wearable enough that I wouldn't be adverse to wearing this for its intended practical use. As a perfume, it's a lesser Dragon's Milk.
MEAD MOON (LE, A Little Lunacy 2008)
Golden mead, fermented with gruit, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger root, sweet-briar, rosemary, and lemon.
In vial: A pale lemony amber with herbs hiding in the background.
On me: Goes on richer, warmer, sweeter. But the herbal elements predominate in drydown: astringent lemon and herbal top notes, a touch of spice and almost-fruity booziness, and a broad backdrop of golden mead.
Verdict: This has the wrong balance for me, reading in almost perfect reverse order of the notes, when what I really wanted was an ornamented, enriched honey. Not for me, and tbh I ended up washing it off.
I'm gently regretting not getting a bottle of DL & Red Carnations, which I retested to finish off my review, and which I know will fade in another hour, but is right now so lovely. But, FWIW, and to soothe my own troubled soul:
Very Good Carnation Blends (Which I Already Have)
The Ta-Ta (boiled leather, carnation blossom, coffee absolute, and tobacco) dirty dark deep carnation
Morocco (Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia) gentle sweet skin-scent-but-better carnation
Masquerade (patchouli, ambergris, carnation and orange blossom) romantic, mysterious, deep, shot through with the spice of carnation
Spanish Red Carnation SN—fresh-cut bright spicy carnation
Hod—if carnation were a sugar cookie, gentle and powdery and soft
Inez (golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood) Morocco's sensual elder sister, rich and bodied and spiced
Runner Up
The Caterpillar (heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver) sleepy carnation incense, mercurial and deep
