Flutterings

Frequently wearing: Presence of Love, Men Ringing Bell with Penises (which actually smells really good on me; I'll be sorry when the bottle's gone, but once I resume singing more often, I won't be able to wear perfume on many days, so it's just as well I picked up only a partial)

Recently given away (I think -- it was a crazy week and I didn't pause to make notes): Veil, Antonino the Carnival Barker, Love Lies Bleeding

Ooh! I haven't paid attention to their new releases in a while, so I didn't know about the the new Shunga exhibition. (The first one was the collection that contained "Men Ringing Bell..."). Nothing that hollers "You must try me!" note-wise, but what great titles ("EIGHT VIEWS OF ACTORS IN THEIR DRESSING ROOMS" -- hm, that almost sounds like it could be a prompt for the Embracing Spring Fest. [/so not subtle]

Recently sampled - empties enclosed with a December secondhand purchase:

Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills - bottle (Yule 2008 release)
Lab description: "Skin musk, white sandalwood, balsam fir, frozen black berries, cedar, winter rose, and white amber."
Ribbons' reaction: Very strong in the bottle. Lovely. I smell mainly the winter rose and the fir.

Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (image is of tentacle porn - NWS!) (empty decanted imp)
Lab description: "Seaweed, honey, white mint, and ambergris."
Ribbons's reaction: Oddly enough, my first impression was "fruit wine."

Mouse's Long and Sad Tale (decanted imp; general catalogue scent)
Lab description: "...Vanilla, two ambers, sweet pea and white sandalwood."
Ribbons's reaction: Yep, sweet. Definitely not for me.

Fearful Pleasure (imp from a decant by burning_bryght; August 2008 LE, Legend of Sleepy Hollow set)
Lab description: "Dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss."
Ribbons's reaction: I smell mainly the apples. Not overly sweet, but not something I'd wear.

Guy in elevator, after several odd looks: What are you wearing?
Me: Beg pardon?
Guy: What perfume are you wearing?
Me: Uhm, something by BPAL.
Guy: It smells FANTASTIC.

For my reference, I'd dabbed on the dregs from a bottle of Nanny Ashtoreth I'd gotten secondhand as an empty. Lab description:

She wore a knit tweed suit and discreet pearl earrings. Something about her might have said nanny, but it said it in an undertone of the sort employed by British butlers in a certain type of American film. It also coughed discreetly and muttered that she could well be the sort of nanny who advertises unspecified but strangely explicit services in certain magazines.

Middle Eastern flowers, amber, honey, blood red-berries, whip leather, and polished paddle wood.

I am in fact wearing Hamadryad frequently these days. I'm not sure if woodruff is actually one of the notes, but that's what it reminds me of. If my body still metabolized alcohol with any semblance of reasonable speed, I'd go out and get me a bottle of May wine right now. *wistful*

Anathema - (lab imp via resale)
A scent as heavy as thunder from the Vatican, with notes that inspire every sin and excess. Black opium, with vetiver and honeysuckle.
Ribbons's reaction: Another scent that smells like dark sparkliness to me. Scents with vetiver or honeysuckle do appear to agree with me.

Glee (Possets; resale frimp)
Ribbons' reaction: Whoa. Cupcake in a vial. With three-inch-high frosting.

Isle of Demons (lab imp via resale)
Twin islands near Newfoundland, now lost, that were believed to be gateways to Hell. The scent is of wet, dark greenery, carnivorous flowers, volcanic gas, and the hot black musk of the demons and wild beasts that populated the islands. Other people's notes
Ribbons' reaction: Ooh, I like this! *looks at description* I'm not sure what it says about my body chemistry, though - that's like the third or fourth dark-and-dank scent that smells fresh and bright on me (Cthulhu's another one, and so's Caliban.).

Love Lies Bleeding (lab imp via resale)
The velvet flower. A lush, thick, luxuriant bloom, bold and red.
Ribbons' reaction: Sharp and sweet. Reminds me of Sol. [Follow-up reaction: WAY too sweet for me.]

Rome (lab imp via resale)
Refined, austere and graceful. A recipe gleaned from Classical Rome: cypress, juniper, chamomile and rose.
Ribbons' reaction: Very fresh. Immediately thought of pine trees. On a bad day, this would come across as mouthwash. On a good day, a good wake-me-up.

Night Thoughts (Lupercalia ltd. ed., decant, inspired by Goethe) - 3/29
Lab description: Lilac, blue musk, dianthus, cedar, neroli, ozone, and luminous Eastern herbs.
Ribbons's reaction: It's ok. Not a standout.
Spouse's reaction: "Has potential."

The Presence of Love (Lupercalia ltd. ed., decant, inspired by Coleridge) - 3/30
Lab description: White musk, rose-swirled amber, pink grapefruit, and jasmine.
Ribbons's reaction: Pleasant. Baby-powdery with a hint of fruit. Reminds me a bit of Prague

Longing (Lupercalia ltd. ed., empty bottle included as a freebie with the decants I'd ordered) - 3/30
Lab description: Rose geranium, frankincense, Ceylon cinnamon, golden musk, bay rum, and bois du rose.
Ribbons's reaction: Pleasant.

A side note: I think it was Lore who pointed me to LuckyStar37, who is an excellent decanter - fair prices and superb labels (hers include the notes in the scent).

Wore Cthulhu to church this morning. Still very green. Still love it. :-)

Sea of Tranquility - decant - 2/10
Description/notes: See ScentScribbles / Silver-dusted lotus, white amber, rose otto, passion flower, white sandalwood, buttonweed, and white poppy.
Ribbons's reaction: I give up -- Moon/Lunacy LEs are just too sweet for me. This one smells like a very sweet Riesling, which I would love to drink, but wearing? Not so much.

C. Auguste Dupin - decant - 2/10
Description/notes: See ScentScribbles / Well-worn leather and lavender-lime cologne.
Ribbons's reaction: Definitely masculine. Interesting, but... the lime really stands out. A little too much like disinfectant.

Goneril - direct from lab - 2/10
Lab description: White geranium, calla lily, cedarwood and black orchid. A gentle floral bouquet masks a sinister and black-hearted core.
Ribbons's reaction: Not too gentle, this. Definitely has some serpent's tooth in it.

Czernobog - bonus imp from lab - 2/7
Lab description: A combination of three musks, with splashes of dark myrrh, vetiver and mullein.
Ribbons's reaction: Very dark in vial. Heavy and complex. Like wearing velvet with a sparkly sheen.

Magdalene - lab imp (direct) - 2/1
Lab decription: A bouquet of white roses, labdanum, and wild orchid.
Ribbons's reaction: Very few scents are smelling like much to me out of the imps these days -- even the set I just received direct from the Lab -- unless they're really bold like "Sol" or "Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo." Not sure if it's my allergies or familiarity that's causing this. ...Anyhow, this isn't bad on me, but not a standout like Asphodel. [Retested 2/6: today, the hint of bitterness smells stronger to me (not unpleasant; just more distinct than before. This seems to be true of the other imps I sniffed today, and is almost certainly related to my sinuses being better-behaved than usual.]

(My new anti-hoarding strategy, btw: if it doesn't wow me as much as Asphodel or my other favorites, it goes in one of the dishes to "send on to someone else.")

[My current method of keeping my stash quasi-sorted: I have a ceramic bowl where the majority of my imps reside, and a cup where I've put imps I haven't yet tested. Then there are 2-6 dipping saucers (like the kinds you see in sushi restaurants) where I've sorted the scents to retry, pass forward, etc. There are a couple more imps stored upstairs in a chest (Yule, which I put away after the twelfth day of Christmas, and my second vial of Embalming Fluid), and two imps in my car (Taurus and Asphodel).]

Seraphim - lab imp (secondhand)- 1/28
Reviewed earlier. I like this more and more. Might be a scent I can wear on rehearsal days - put it on around 9 a.m. and it had faded by 1:30 p.m. - though probably best not to risk it. Sigh. [Revisited 2/6: yes, definitely a keeper. It has both air and depth in a way that other perfectly-pleasant-but-not-for-me scents do not.]

Wicked - lab imp - 1/19
Lab description: A paean to all the Wicked Queens, Evil Stepmothers, and other misunderstood villainesses throughout history and lore. Lends an aura of majesty, refinement, strength, and a deep, brooding malice. A sophisticated, womanly scent: rich myrrh and jasmine draped in the subtlest rose.
Ribbons's reaction: I like this. Heavy - a winter scent. Reminds me of Phantom.

BPAL log:
Kindly Moon - limited edition; tester
Lab description: Utterly ethereal, an exquisite expression of love: moonflower, lotus root, white gardenia, beeswax, peach blossom, blue musk, stargazer lily, golden osmanthus, ti, sandalwood, hyacinth, ylang ylang, and a touch of vanilla bean.
Ribbons's reaction: Smells like juice and musk, but more pleasant than "Paris." Not offensive, but I won't be ordering more of it. Two samples do not a representation make, but given my reaction to "Long Night Moon" (which I also thought on the sweet side) I'm wondering if Moon scents aren't my thing. (The LE series that has worked well on me so far is the Zodiac.)

Shameless squeeing:
Listened to some more of Cedar's reading of "The Hounding of the Baskervilles" over supper. Oh, is she good. *glee*

Spork-watching log:
( Deadly Hollow as a variation of midrash )

Log (most recent listed first)

[Copied from 12/4/07 entry]
A new handful of imps arrived in the mail over the weekend. The BYM liked Ivanushka and Long Night Moon best, and wasn't so crazy about Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo (a frimp) or Sagittarius. He likes scents to be on the subtle side.

Lab descriptions:
LONG NIGHT MOON
The nights are at their longest, the sky is at its darkest. The air is still with reflective silence.

A bouquet of night-blooming flowers, petals dusted with frost. Cereus, moonflower accord, night phlox, honeysuckle, silver thyme, white mint, and blue musk.

SAGITTARIUS
Mutable Fire: the essence of striving.
Sage, clove, dandelion, balm of gilead, fig, and chamomile.

IVANUSHKA
Soft, velvety fur and warm musk, brushed by forest woods and dusted by dry leaves.

My initial impressions: I wasn't wowed by any of them, but none of them were "OMG no" either.
Ivanuskha (decant) I have to sniff hard to smell at all (not unlike Ozymandias). Kind of powdery.
Long Night Moon (decant) - sweet but not cloying. Has a bit of a bite to it - maybe a winter version of Gemini?
Sagittarius (decant) - kind of sunny and mild. I think it's the chamomile. (Doesn't quite fit the name, associations with arrows notwithstanding.)
Cleopatra's Veil (sample from a different manufacturer) - interesting and pleasant. Reminds me of Chanel No. 5, but I'm not sure if they've actually anything in common. It just tickled that tendril of my sense-memory.
Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo (lab imp) - very flamboyant. Very orange, which I personally like. (Probably wouldn't smell all that good on me, but I'll keep it for the "staying awake until stupid hours trying to catch up" nights.)

Sol (decant, discontinued)
2/6/2008 - it's fun, but it's not me. The name fits.
12/4/2007 - heavier, more aggressive scent than the Long Night Moon scents
11/29/2007 - not sure what I think of it yet. It is brighter and sharper than a lot of the stuff I'm accustomed to wearing, but it's not unpleasant. May need to sniff it next to "Prague" and see how it compares... lab description: Authority - Creativity - Courage - Leadership - Abundance - Good Health & Healing - Illumination - Truth - Honesty - Wise Counsel - Prophecy - Pride - Revelation - Equilibrium - Mediation - Nobility - Generosity

Vampire Tears (decant, 11/24/2007, Shojo Beat LE)
lab description: Regret born from ceaseless longing: wisteria, white grapefruit, neroli, green tea, jasmine, white ginger, honeysuckle, iris, and tonka.
my reaction: Butter! and sugar. If I put this on, I'd smell like a popcorn ball.

Seraphim (lab imp, 11/24/2007)
lab description: A perfume sacred to the highest of the angelic hosts: calla lily, wisteria, white sandalwood, Damascus rose and frankincense.
my reaction: I've been wearing this the past couple of days, and will probably alternate between it and Yule for this year's holidays (with a definite preference for this one, though). I smell mostly rose and smoke -- for me, it's in the same family as Lady Luck Blues and Erato, but a touch lighter.
the BYM's reaction: "Smells better up close than further away."

At some point after the holidays I may start a separate post where I log my reactions to scents in pairs and groups. I was sniffing some imps in tandem a couple of days ago where the dirt notes in some of the earthier scents became much more obvious to me after inhaling some other scents in which they were absent. That sort of thing.

Paris (lab imp, 11/21/2007)
lab description: Sensual, decadent, and enigmatic. Lavender, softly underscored by lotus and spice.
my reaction: Well, crap. I wanted to like this but it smells like a juice concentrate someone left out too long that's not quite fermented into wine. I think the description's on the money -- it's very interesting, and it's not as obnoxious on my skin as it is in the vial, but each time I smell it in the vial my first instinct is to recoil. The words "spoiled sweetness" come to mind. And yet it is interesting...

Yule (2006) (decant, 11/21/07)
lab description: It is Yule, and the Holly King has slain the Oak: blood red holly berry, mistletoe, wild thyme, verbena, cinquefoil, hemp, winter rose, evergreen, frankincense, juniper, and myrrh.
my reactions: I've worn this a couple times this month, in a sort of "I don't love it but it's ok" way. The main note I could pick out prior to rereading the description was pine; post-description, I can recognize the thyme as well. (The thyme may make it a keeper, actually, as that's one of my favorite herbs. It's a bit embarrassing being this suggestible, but both my senses and my wits tend to lag about ten steps behind when it comes to scent- and taste-memory/recognition)

Despair (decant, 11/12/07 - discontinued)
Kelly Neumeier's description: Roman chamomile, rosewood, cypress, Rose Otto, lavender, sandalwood and ylang ylang.
my reaction: First impression - rather sweet. It's on the light side -- not unpleasant, but not a standout for me.

Erato (lab imp, 11/3/07) [discontinued 1/24/08]
lab description: a crush of roses with sweet pea, myrrh, ylang ylang, orris and stephanotis
my reaction: Late-summer honey. Very nice.
additional note, 11/21: I've been wearing this a fair amount lately - a good daytime scent on me when I want something not too heavy, not too bright, and not too showy. (Put another way - in some settings, I need to feel unobtrusive and blendy-in like. This is a fairly conservative scent that fits that bill.

Ozymandias (lab imp, 11/3/07)
lab description: Dry desert air, dry and hot, passing over crumbling stone megaliths and plundered golden monuments, bearing a hint of the incense of lost Gods on its winds.
my reaction: Doesn't smell like much of anything in the bottle or on my fingertip. I can catch the whiff of incense if I inhale deeply enough, but I don't want to work that hard to enjoy a scent.

Cthulhu (lab imp, 11/2/07)
lab description: A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.
my reaction:
(before checking the lab description) Oooh. OOOH! I really like this. Light and green. Reminds me of Embalming Fluid, which is a favorite.
(after rereading the lab description) Hm. Is this my body being weird? I admit that "light" doesn't go well with the Cthulhu concept; doesn't smell all that creepy or slithering either. "Prague" is darker and more mysterious to me.

Three Witches (tester, 11/2/07)
lab description: warm cinnamon, husky clove, and white pepper
my reaction: Smells like a bourbon ball. Not unpleasant, but not something I'd wear.

Gnome (tester, 11/2/07)
lab description: PURIFICATION :: HEALING :: FORGIVENESS THE ASTRAL BODY :: EMOTIONAL HEALTH :: COMPASSION DREAM WORK :: DIVINATION :: IMAGINATION :: FRIENDSHIP SPIRITUAL GROWTH :: TRANQUILITY :: TENDERNESS RECEPTIVITY :: CREATIVITY :: ILLUSION [This would be why I end up trawling the net to find out what the hell some of these things actually might smell like before gambling on them...]
my reaction: Interesting! Very woodsy. Leaf mold and mulch. Reminds me of the time the entire garden of the office park atrium got dug up -- the entire building smelled of fresh dirt. It was so strong that it was almost on the verge of unpleasant. ETA: Mulling it over this some more, I can't see myself wearing this either, even casually, because I'm about as outdoorsy as an electric coffee grinder.

Prague (lab imp, 11/2/07)
lab description: Crocus with snowdrop and three lilies.
my reaction: Dessert wine -- a shade heavier than a sweet Riesling. Muscatel, maybe. I like this. In the same range as Taurus and Gemini.

( reactions prior to 11/2/07 )

Scents listed in grey = no longer on hand.
Origin of imps sporadically noted, as that helps me remember relative age of the sample.