#And if y'all have any other LCs

[solarwynd]

I actually wish armys would try to get that 1 billion plaque for every member instead of just yapping about it as a subconscious desire to level things with Jimin.

Because I wanna see them try to balance five songs to take them to 1 billion, take fake love to 1 billion (because remember that's a thing), still stream SNTY (for end of year awards guys), and prioritise new releases (none of y'all deserve Tae or rap line 🥺). End of the day all they'll end up doing is removing those 2 LC streams from their 8 hour playlists.

Also real talk this happens for Jimin not because all of the armys who are suddenly inspired about 1 billion streams are explicitly Jimin antis. No it's because even if they don't hate Jimin, in their minds he's not that great. He's a part of BTS and they like his personality but other than that they have no respect for him as a performer. They'll always tune in for his songs, watch his performances, focus on the songs where he's got the most lines but it never clicks in their mind that that keeps happening because he's a superior artist or because he's better. So when Jimin achieves anything, they all decide that if Jimin can do it, it must not be that difficult. If we can do it for Jimin, then of course we can do it for Tae and hyung line and god forbid it doesn't happen, they start throwing a pity party. I'm getting more annoyed as I speak on it.

“They'll always tune in for his songs, watch his performances, focus on the songs where he's got the most lines but it never clicks in their mind that that keeps happening because he's a superior artist or because he's better.”

.🤷🏾‍♀️

“So when Jimin achieves anything, they all decide that if Jimin can do it, it must not be that difficult. If we can do it for Jimin, then of course we can do it for Tae and hyung line and god forbid it doesn't happen, they start throwing a pity party.”

You have to question whether they think this is because they know they’re not supporting Jimin (despite him only having them apparently 🥴) whereas the other members get their *full* backing. Or because they really think that lowly of him despite his obvious popularity. Probably a combination of both.

Realistically, only TH will probably be getting that 1B plaque. Hyung Line isn’t getting one. It’s just the truth. An army posted the year that they’d achieve it in and some of them are in nearly the next decade unless they get at-least quadruple the stream rate they’re getting now. Armys have picked up and dropped multiple songs towards that 1B goal so many times. Either because of their pissing contest with blinks or them wanting somebody else to get a record over Jimin. Every Spotify update, Neuron is dropping by the double digits and the rest of hyung line stays on that chart max 2 weeks. As soon as JK announces another single, this “all 7 to 1B” project will be forgotten and they’ll go right back to making him the center of everything again because they don’t care about HL fr. They exist purely as a foil to Jimin also standing out in any capacity for armys.

[purpleflameb0i]

Intro post !!

Hello, we're the Oculus System, and we have 11 members so far !!

Members are:

L (she/they)

S (he/she/it)

LC (he/him)

LL (he/she)

O (he/him)

P (they/it)

N (he/it)

B (any)

C (it/its)

Cb (she/her)

Bv (they/them)

(Names shortened)

We collectively use they/them and the name Fade ^v^

We're severely mentally ill, so we may not post very often :((

We struggle with isolation and social anxiety, so we most likely will not talk to people unless we're talked to first (plus we rarely interact with people's posts but we're trying to get better !)

Other accounts are:

@fadedlilrat (mental illness blog, starting to be more active there)

@beepidybeepidy (our objectum blog)

And @scopophobia-pfb (oc/character blog !!)

We're bodily 15, so please no nsfw asks (or anything nsfw in general) !

We don't really have a dni, just please don't be rude or anything like that ^.^

I hope y'all enjoy our blog !!

[luckychild]

I remember you sharing the not quites pin-boards, I was wondering if you also had one dedicated to Hiruko/any other ocs

I have one pin board/pennant dedicated to LC that includes sections for Minato, Kagome, and two sections for Keiko (one for past life and one for present). I've updated those sections a bit since I last posted photos of them; will have to snap a pic soon.

But more to the point of your ask, there's also a whole section just for Hiruko, the Fates, and the Makers!

The pin of the young person is representative of Hiruko himself.

"Nothing is Real"... well, I imagine that one is self-explanatory!

"Lies & smiles"... also probably self-explanatory, haha

The cherry blossom pins are a nod to his hair color and the theme of impermanence/fragility

Koi are considered lucky, so the koi carrying a lantern pin does double duty for his "god of luck" and "god of fishermen" status

And the pin toward the top left is a fishing lure, which is another nod to his "god of fishermen" status

The origami unicorn is a reference to Blade Runner and connects to Hiruko; this will come up in a future chapter.

There are three pins that represent the Fates, including Cleo: the starry measuring tape, the handle bearing a needle, and the scissors. Love that set. There's also a little pair of scissors with the word "maker" included, which... another self-explanatory pin, I guess.

Some pins you see in the photo that aren't related to Hiruko are the starry bunny (a Minato reference), the ace of swords (NQK), and the "We're all just stories; in the end, just make it a good one" is a reference to... well, the entire Lucky Child universe, really, but that'll be more obvious later on.

Hope you liked this and thanks for asking! I have SO MANY enamel pins; remind me to show y'all some of my collection sometime. The LC board is just one part, haha.

[izzyspussy]

👀 - A piece of lore you’ve been waiting for an excuse to share

Back in the day this thing was going to be a whole sprawling universe with different collections, much in the way of Mercedes Lackey if you know her set up? There would have been several different sets of connected novels all taking place in the same universe but not expressly connected to each other except by one cameo character (Ferris).

I'm not doing that anymore because that is Too Much. But! I might still do a sort of spin-off I guess you'd call it. Just one book, and maybe not even a full length novel, maybe a novella, idk it's not planned out because I'm not necessarily counting on it.

But it would be about Toots (mentioned in CTM but not present in the Stranger quartet) and Anca (present as a supporting character in LC).

A long time ago (idk if they still do this but I highly doubt it), orphans would sometimes be raised as, like, church kids basically. So technically speaking, the pastor (or whatever they're called, y'all have so many names for your Guy Who Reads The Book I can never keep track of which word refers to which kind of Guy) is responsible for the child, in the same way they're responsible for the church itself. And the entire congregation contributes to the upbringing of the kid, passing them around from house to house, with no one family necessarily fully adopting them.

Toots Tosetti is one of those kids. She was found on the church steps by Father Piero and no one knows where she came from.

Now, Father Piero's flock consists entirely of perfectly ordinary "secular" (as in my in-universe use of the word, not the irl definition) midwestern Roman Catholics. So, they are just fundamentally not prepared - and mostly unwilling - to raise a witch. And Toots is not even just any witch! She could probably have blended in just fine as a Hexist or a Florist or a Guardian. But no. She's an Augur - which means she is constantly surrounded by omens. You can imagine how notoriously superstitious Italian American Catholics would feel about that.

Anca is a Crone of the nearby Shaw coven, and an advocate for stepping in to protect and nurture their own in secular society. This is considered a pretty radical political stance because witch society is stringently insular. If you're not already part of a coven, no coven wants to take you.

On the other hand, after Everything That Happened with Angel, Anca is hesitant to outright meddle in anyone's affairs. So instead of taking Toots under her wing despite her coven's views like she did with Angel, she takes a more hands-off approach and inserts herself as a confidant and mentor for Piero so that she can slip him some advice and hopefully help him to care for Toots despite how her innate magic frightens him.

I don't really have much in the way of a real plot there yet, and as I said this is not a for-sure thing. But it will definitely be at least a little bit of a tragedy because that's just how I fucken role! Anca and Piero are doomed love interests, for one thing. And Toots never really finds a true home. 😊

Emoji Asks. Thank you for asking, anon!

[a-world-in-grey]

LC Epithets

@secret-engima yeeting this your way as well because you’ve always got good thoughts to add.

So I’m looking for Epithets to yeet at various ancestral LCs. I’ve got some already, but I need a couple more and I’m honestly drawing blanks (glares at computer screen).

Because I headcanon that all LCs are given an epithet upon their eighteenth birthday whether or not they actually take the throne, because sometimes it’s not the eldest/crown heir that takes the throne (coughTheRougecough). Of course, there are LCs who don’t get epithets because they never come into contact with the crystal, which is how the Wanderer’s eldest, Sterope, never got an official epithet for all that the Galahdians were all too happy to give her one themselves.

So! Without further ado, the canonical epithets (so y’all can have examples without having to look up the entire list): Healer, Mystic, Tall, Fierce, Clever, Just, Pious, Conqueror, Rogue, Wanderer, Warrior, Oracle, Wise, Father, and Chosen.

Then my LCs that I do have epithets for: 

Somnus’ children: Celas the Architect (Somnus’ heir), Pyrites the Red (second son), and Tacita the Silent (youngest and only daughter),

The Rogue’s brother: Luminis the Herald (who she was going to be Sword to before he was killed by daemons),

The Wanderer’s children: Piceus the Unyielding (his only legitimate child who tried to invade Galahd), Sterope the Hunter (his eldest child and the Ulric who defended Galahd against invasion),

The Oracles’ siblings: Asper the Sharp (youngest son but crown prince before his death), and Trista the Muse (second child who chose to pursue art over ruling),

Acris the Defiant (the Wise’s son who inherited the throne and ring at a young age but survived holding the Wall for forty years, defying death to do it)

Mors the Grim (because secret-engima’s epithet for him is amazing and I will never not love the pun),

and Sola the Ardent (who later is named Phoebe the Enduring by the Galahdians).

LCs I’m trying to figure out Epithets for:

Sideris, Somnus’ grandson and the third king of Lucis. His reign was marked by a power struggle for the throne, with various nobles backing different members of the Lucis Caelum family. Sideris was Celas’ only child, but his aunt and uncle had multiple children each. No few people thought Sideris unsuited for the throne.

Fulguris, the Wise’s grandson and 110th king of Lucis. Mors’ grandfather. He is the one who moved the Crystal to a more secure location after a failed attempt by Niflheim to destroy it. That the life expectancy of all Kings after this dropped is purely coincidental. (Sunshine!Sola off in the distance: I call BULL-!) Fulguris became somewhat paranoid after that, which would greatly influence his son and grandson’s behavior.

Saevus, 111th king of Lucis. Fulguris’ son and Mors’ father. Pretty much the majority of why Mors is Like That, and honestly if it weren’t for Mors’ Shield, Hand, and Heart-wife, Mors would have been a lot worse. So yeah, not a nice guy, with a Retinue that didn’t do much in the way of curbing Saevus’ more vicious tendencies. 

[charlies-agere]

Y'all- I tried. Sorry if she is a bit out of character- I tried my best!

S/O- your name

H/C - Hair colour

E/C - Eye colour

F/C - Favorite colour

F/SH - Favorite show

F/LC - Favorite little clothes

F/S - Favorite stuffie

F/P - Favorite Paci

SF/C - Second favorite colour

F/F - Favorite flavour

Tenko x Agere!Reader

"Little Day"

It's been a month since you told you girlfriend, Tenko, she wasn't mad or grossed out "Whatever makes you happy and comfortable as long as it's not hurting others!". She had no clue how happy it made S/O until she saw them regress, immediate Mommy mode.

Any degenerate who picks on her baby will feel her wrath, male or female! She loves it! She'll buy you pacis, stuffies, teethers, anything! After a few weeks, she asked you if you would want to get ice cream, you answered with an excited yes. You grabbed your F/P, F/S, and Tenko helped you put on your F/LC with a F/C bracelet and a SF/C hair clip.

Then you were on your way. "Can oo' hold my han' mommy?" You said, making Tenko's heart melt, she grabbed your hand, "Of course little one!". People stared, and one had the audacity to say " Oh look, it's an underdeveloped freak and their gross girlfriend." Tenko heard this, and her eyes widened in shock "What did you just say about my gorgeous S/O you degenerate!?" She must protect you at all costs, and she got into a fighting stance, " Oh what? You gonna fight me? This little chick thinks she can fight!" before Tenko grabbed them, and body slammed them. "That'll teach you not to mess with my cute little S/O!".

"Thank oo' Mommy!" You say, happy knowing she'll protect you "No problem S/O, anyone who makes fun of my little one will pay!" You're approaching the ice cream parlor now.

"Okay little one! Which flavor would you like?" Tenko says, playing with your H/C hair and looking into your E/C eyes. "F/F please!" You respond cheerfully "Okay!" She smiles as you approach the parlor and walk in. You wait patiently in line, you're getting a little impatient. Once you get to the front, Tenko smiled "They'll have F/F, and I'll have Mint Chocolate Chip!" The worker starts scooping ice cream into the cones, and Tenko pays. You both sit down at a booth, and Tenko gives you your ice cream "I brought this for you S/O!" It was a colouring book of F/SH and some crayons. You were smiling widely, at a loss for words "Awww tank oo' Mommy!" "You're welcome S/O."

[zombiiesque]

Nocturne Alchemy Halloween 2019 - Part Two

Originally published 10/10/2019

Hey y'all! Gonna dive right into these scents, today I'm reviewing the Resurgence scents that I have from the Nocturne Alchemy Halloween LC release. If you'd like to read my reviews of the new releases I chose, you can click here. NAlloween has always, and likely always will, be my favorite Limited Collection they do! I have so many treasures in my Halloween box.

Scarlet Bat - Red Sugar, Crimson Musk, Black Tea Leaves, Neroli-sugar, and NA Black Patchouli Absolute. Okay, my friend Heather picked this one up before I did last year, and she fell head over heels for it. I was already eying it, because I had two previous Vampire Patchouli Bats that I loved, and it had Crimson in it. It had to be a gimme. Like this year's Vampire Bourbon Patchouli Bat, it was a stunner right out of the mail - and it's only gotten better as it ages. Seriously, it's utterly fabulous. Slinky and sexy, and I think even if you ordinarily don't like patchouli, you might find yourself surprised by this one. Put simply, this is sugared red musk and patchouli. Crimson is a softer red musk than Kashmir, but there's almost a spiciness to it. This just warms up on the skin and reaches out, pulls you in. I crave this one when I haven't worn it in a while. For me, my two favorites of the Vampire Patchouli Bats are the Bourbon, and Scarlet. Neither is to be missed. And I don't find it to be like anything I have in my collection, either.

V by Thoth - Incense, Sweetened spices of Cardamom, Cinnamon, Allspice and clove swirled with Vanilla pods, Ghost Musk and Copal Resin. V was a fan favorite last year - and for good reason. It's part of a set of 7 perfumes, each one designed by a House of NA perfumer. I remembered that I have another favorite Halloween perfume that Thoth did: Frank's Monster. I love that one, so I was pretty excited when I saw V was done by Thoth, too. Y'all, I have a lot of incense perfumes. They're something I just can't resist. Okay, confession time: I did love this one, I thought it was a beautiful perfume, but I didn't really get it until I pulled it back out after aging it over the year. I thought I perhaps had similar perfumes...well. I was wrong. I tried it again a few weeks ago, when the weather started to cool down here in Florida, and it absolutely floored me. It was like I was experiencing a whole new perfume - this is positively SPECTACULAR. Very, very different from my other incense perfumes, and it might just be my favorite yet. I don't know what Ghost Musk is, but if it's that beautiful musk I'm smelling here, I could go for a full 10ml bottle of it. It reminds me a bit of Egyptian Musk, but not quite as sweet - very clean, and very appealing - floaty. I think that's it, and if so....Y'ALL, PLEASE MAKE THIS I WANT IT! Hahaha. I think I might like Ghost Musk better than Cemetery Musk, and I love that one too. Anyway - I'm dwelling. This is balanced against a light incense, and the spices are very much in the background, just a nice warm hum of support. But the copallll. I'm sure everyone knows copal rules my world, when we discuss favorite notes. It adds a lovely smoky, slightly sweet depth to this. I'm fully mesmerized. Thoth has outdone himself. I think this is backup worthy. So, a lesson to be had here, and one I realize quite often - if you don't really love something, put it aside for a while, and see what happens when you return to it. And I want to reiterate, I really did like this - but I didn't see, last year, what I was supposed to see with it - aging it and trying it when the weather was a little cooler and dryer really changed my perspective of it, and now it's become an obsession and a Halloween favorite. If you were looking at this one and wondering if you need it - let me ask, do you like musk and incense? If so, you'd better run and get this before it goes away.

The Mummy Returns - Patchouli, Vetiver, Australian Sandalwood, Cardamom, Frankincense, Myrrh, Rock Rose, Labdanum, Siam Benzoin and Tonka Bean. I made a little mistake, and it's the first time I've ever done this. I usually have a solid idea of what I have in my boxes, particularly my Halloween box, but I ordered The Mummy Returns this year thinking I missed it last year, but after my order came in, I was digging into my Halloween box and pulled out....an aged bottle of The Mummy Returns. Yep. So I'll be putting up my new one for swap. At any rate, it just really proved to me about the differences aging makes in Nocturne Alchemy's perfumes, so I kind of enjoyed realizing the contrasts! The Mummy Returns is a resin lover's dream. It's a deep, dark, witchy scent. I love the balance between the sweeter notes, like the myrrh and cardamom, and the woods. I'm writing this based on my aged bottle, and it's just so....well, at the risk of sounding dramatic, it's deep and mystical, and I'll probably be using this for my rituals, I feel such a connection to it. I couldn't tell you how, but it's something I've smelled before - there's some memory I haven't tapped into yet. I find it to be comfortingly familiar, but at the same time, it feels solemn and sacred. If you are nervous of vetiver, as I am sometimes, it's not a note that stands out a lot here, I can barely discern it when I'm huffing at my wrists. So yes, The Mummy Returns is quite an intense experience for me, but I definitely would recommend this in a heartbeat if you, too, love resinous, woody scents with a little sweetness to them. It's a beautiful perfume. It lasts quite a long time on the skin, too - more than eight hours, and I would say it's on the stronger side, so try it sparingly at first, unless you love to slather like I do.

A Change of Heart – Copal Resin, Shiraz Wine accord, Kashmir Absolute, Indian Oudh, Leather accord and burning embers. This bottle actually was gifted to me by my friend Heather. When I first got it, the leather seemed a little loud on my skin - and that made me nervous, because I was thinking it would be more like Hokum, which is a snuggly, sueded leather. But I figured I'd put it away, and let it age - and it would probably balance itself out. Well, that's exactly what happened. This is one of those scents that you can identify the various notes, if you're familiar enough with them - but they compliment each other so well, they're seamless together. It's definitely a chilly day scent, I did try to wear it in the summer and I don't recommend that - it just doesn't do well in the humidity of Florida. But it's great throughout fall and winter - like the leather in Hokum, this is a snuggly, easy to wear leather, and the copal, wine, and red musk of Kashmir just meld together so well. The wine is sweet, and a nice foil - definitely not a sharp note. I do love the way NA does their wine notes. I'm actually kind of wanting to pick up She Could Raise The Dead, which also features a wine and leather combination - reviews are really intriguing for that, too. And I have totally fallen for both Hokum and A Change Of Heart, so I think I might need it! The copal is of course my favorite note ever - it's a little sweet, sticky, and resinous - and also a bit smoky. This really accentuates the smoky oudh when it starts to shine in long drydown. I'm not sure I am doing this one justice - it really is unusual, and striking. Leather was a death note for me previous to NA - I simply could not wear it. If I tried to put on a perfume that had leather as a note, it would take over on my skin - and I couldn't get away from it. But these soft leathers (vegan, by the way!) that Nocturne Alchemy uses are very wearable for me, and I really am enjoying being able to wear it!

Pirate Rum - Bay Rum and a Chypre of Lavender, Chamomile, Pirate Ship Cedarwood and Siberian Fir Needle with a touch of French Vanilla and Oak. I got this one for my fiance, as the notes reminded me a bit of his beloved Ghost Ship. I can only give you a brief impression of this as to how it smells on him, but I thought someone might be interested in hearing that, so I'm including it! So on him, the bay rum is a nice, round spicy scent. If you're thinking Old Spice, push that right out of your head - this is dark and sexy, and nothing like that old standby. Much more complex and well done. The woods in this are the perfect balance against the bay rum, and the chypre is clean, but not at all feminine, so don't let that lavender scare you. I love this on him. Long drydown is a deep, warm spice against weathered, well aged wood. Very appealing! I tried a drop on me, and it's very different with my skinistry. I get a lot more of the chypre and chamomile, the spice of the bay rum is sedated a bit. I think it might come out more with age, if you wanted to wear it as a unisex scent, though. It is there, it's just not as evident as it was on him. The wood notes are gorgeous - I loooove that fir and cedarwood against the slightly herbal chypre on me. I will say, I much prefer this on him right now.

And a bonus - Halloween 2020, which was given out as a sample with orders for this release. It's also available in the All Hallows' Eve section as part of the Permanent Collection, so if you love this, you can even get a big 10ml bottle! Notes: A special All Hallows’ Eve blend of 7 Sandalwoods (Hawaiian, Indian, Australian, New Caledonia, Indian Santalum Album, Karnataka Sandalwood, African Sandalwood (Baphia Nitida), Cardamom essential oil, Clove essential oil, Bourbon Vanille Absolute, Bastet Amber Absolute, smoked sandalwood infused with oak and pine smoke in the NA Studio. There was also a beautiful frosted black bottle, a special edition, along with Halloween 2018 and Halloween 2019, in frosted red and orange bottles, in the Halloween LCs this year. I had a feeling I was going to love this one right away - and I do. SEVEN. SANDALWOODS. 7, y'all! Now this will likely change and get even better with age, but my first impression of this? It is like a sister scent to Bastet Halloween 2016, which is one of my favorite PC scents. The spices in that definitely have a similar feel to the cardamom and clove in Halloween 2020, and of course the presence of Bastet Amber, one of my soul scents, is a star here, too. But those sandalwoods. So smooth. I'm making my way through that 2ml sample alarmingly quickly. Right now I'm not getting much of the smoke on my skin, but the clove starts out a little strongly when it's first applied. Once it warms up and sinks into my skin though, the other notes come out to play, and the clove sinks into the background to add a little spicy kick with the warmth of the cardamom. Beautiful for fall, truly. Brings to mind blue, blue skies, bright leaves, wispy white clouds. A fluffy scarf wrapped around your neck as you explore a farmer's market. That's the picture I have in my head when I huff at my wrist. I'll be reaching for this frequently. I can't really differentiate all the sandalwoods, but the blending of them reminds me just a bit of my beloved Pyramid Santalum. I think if you wanted more smoke, you could layer this with Titanosaurus - or if you wanted to really play up the sandalwoods, you could add even more Santalum or Pyramid Santalum, or Pteranodon. Hey, never enough sandalwood, am I right?

And that wraps up the second half of my NAlloween choices. Did you read the first half? What perfumes did you choose from this release? What are your favorites? I'm thinking about going back for one or two more, there are so many that caught my eye!

[a-flickering-soul]

So I hear you worked in a lab for two weeks.... tell me about that. What kind of lab, what did they have you doing? (I haven't been in a lab since my bacterial metabolism classes in college over 10 years ago and I miss it)

     All right fam let me lay in on this shit because it was WILD      So first off, let me start off with telling y'all that I’m a huge fucking nerd, so I have no idea if what I see as super fucking cool is actually super fucking cool to any other normal person.   So consider this a disclaimer, because this is way longer than I anticipated and is kind of dumb.

    So this summer I had the amazing opportunity to do a chemical analysis course at a local college and honestly I signed up for it on a whim and had no real idea what it actually entailed. So I show up the first day after getting lost like six times, roll into the lab like 10 minutes late, and immediately get hit with a lecture about molecular structure and intermolecular forces that I was woefully unprepared for, to say the least (the rest of the lectures for the next two weeks went largely the same way, with very few exceptions).     The first week, we used a GC-MS to analyze mystery substances on a paper sample like they do in crime shows (I am now able to bitch properly about how inaccurate they are) as well as analyze caffeine amounts in specific drinks  (to my recollection, it was black tea, green tea, decaf green tea, coffee, instant coffee, and red bull). A GC-MS,  or gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, is basically a machine that takes a substance dissolved in a solvent, breaks the substance up into molecules, and analyzes how much of a specific molecule is in the substance  (I’m sure there are multiple things wrong with that explanation; bear in mind that I’m really dumb).  In order for the GC-MS to run the samples, the substance tested had to be added to a solvent and mixed. There were three different ways to mix it: there was a sonicator, which used sound waves to break up solids into tiny little pieces, a centrifuge, which spun samples at like 5000 rpm  and something called the vortex, which literally just shook things really hard (that one was my favorite).     The second week, we synthesized aspirin in the lab. Like, we made aspirin. I took powders and liquids, mixed them together, and made something that could actually be used and help people. The rest of the second week, we ran tests using the LC-MS (a liquid chromatographer-mass spectrometer, which you get to set up manually with a fun syringe getup instead of automatically like the GC-MS) to make sure that the substance we made was actually aspirin (it was). We also got to make esters, which are basically these chemical structures you can make with alcohols and acids that smell like, depending on what you mixed, fruits, liquors, or god-awful literal dogshit. It was great. The whole lab smelled like raspberries and Expo markers. The second week, we also got to make our own sparklers (!!!) and GOD, words cannot express how GODDAMN COOL that was to me. My sparkler came out this lovely pink color and burned so bright it left afterimages on my eyes. (We also got to make liquid nitrogen ice cream, but that was more the grad students we worked with than us high schoolers (grad students are really weird, by the way (like one of them tried to squish an ant with a pocket knife (it didn’t work))).     What I loved most about this entire experience was the equipment we got to use. Like, SHIT, dude, the most technologically advanced thing I’ve used in a lab was a Bunsen burner, and going from a dinky little flame to a huge humming $8k machine was dizzying in the best way possible. There was a scale that measured milligrams and was so sensitive it would pick up your footsteps on the floor. We got to wear actual lab coats and I am now enamored with the feeling of a lab coat flowing out behind me as I walk. We also got actual clear lab goggles we could see out of, which was huge if you’ve ever had to wear shitty high school chem lab goggles. It was incredible, and the lab work was amazing to say the least.      Honestly, words can’t describe how awesome I found the whole experience. Even if you have no interest in science whatsoever, I highly recommend taking the chance to check out a lab if you can, because to be surrounded by such high-tech equipment and people who are so clearly passionate and invested in what they are doing is really a blessing. Sorry, that was probably way more information than anyone wanted, but honestly that whole experience was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done.

[zombiiesque]

New Year's Eve in St. Petersburg, FL

Happy New Year!

Originally published on 1/20/2020

Hello, all! Happy New Year to you. I hope your holidays were wonderful, and I wish you lots of light and a prosperous year to come. I had hoped to get my Nocturne Alchemy Holiday order reviews up in December, but I got so busy after Thanksgiving that it didn't happen, and I am sorry for that. I rarely make resolutions, but I do try to set goals for myself, and this year I want to be more organized about writing, including here at Zombiiesque. (Plus, I am overdue for a little redesign for both sites, so that's another goal!) I am going to get my second post in the seasonal series up this month, NA for winter.

But I'd like to talk about some of my favorite perfumes from Nocturne Alchemy for 2019, a look back. It was a stellar year of releases, including some PC (Permanent Collection) releases, and a good bit of additions to the SL (Studio Limited) section, which has always been one of my favorite sections of their catalogue! I will also be including perfumes that I had rediscovered in 2019 after socking them away to age, as there were many that really delighted after some time to sit.

I'll start out though, with the seasonal offerings that I loved. The year for NA started after a little break, as it will this year, with the Valentine, and Valentine Resurgence, LCs (Limited Collections). By the way, you can find the entirety of the LC releases and the notes over at the Nocturne Alchemy LC Archives, if you ever need them! From the Resurgence, I have and love Vanilla Wedding Cake - I usually shy away from the more gourmand perfumes, but I find myself opening up to those more and more, because NA is really wooing me with what are, for me, very wearable gourmands - and if you've been reading Zombiiesque for any length of time, it's obvious my wheelhouse are the woods/resins/incense/musks. This year they came out with two new things that I found extremely intriguing, the NA Bunnies, and the Candied series. I actually did some swapping to get my Valentine perfumes, which is always fun, and wound up with Speckle Bunny, Star Bunny, and Midnite Bunny. I originally got a sample of Midnite Bunny, and didn't know if I was going to care for it, as sometimes spices can go seriously awry on me, but wow, it knocked me off my feet. It's SEXY. I love all three Bunnies that I got, but Midnite Bunny was the surprise hit for me. And I wound up with a full sized Candied Egyptian Musk, and a sample of Candied Crimson - and those are both glorious! I think I would probably love the frankincense, myrrh, and sandalwood variations, too, but those two musks are just beautiful. This collection also saw the Bastet’s Ice Cream bois d’epices et de crème, which was new. I received a sample of the Teak & Sandalwood, and I thought it might be something that would smell great on a man. So I made my fiance experiment with it - and W O W. Also wound up going back and buying a full sized bottle for him because it was just jaw dropping - if you have the opportunity to try this out (on your guy, or yourself if you are a guy reading this) I highly recommend it. It works on me too, but it is just perfection on him.

Sadly, I missed out on both of the Spring LCs, but I was wearing a lot of the Art of Love/Art of Literature , and falling for them all over again. Those were huge collections, and an absolute treasure trove of wonderful scents - Enigma, Overseer, Pandora, Music, Ophelia, Holy Grail....the list goes on and on. I also wore the Bunnies and Candied Crimson/Candied Egyptian Musk long into spring, as well as some of my beloved PCs.

July brought the Summer LC collections, and Oh. My. Gods, the beginning of the Eternal Egypt Anniversary collection. As Eternal Egypt is one of my desert island scents, I was....a little obsessed. I have three of the first round, EE Vanille, Santal, and Ambre, and adore all three, huge favorites this year. Still wearing them well into winter. They also did the Eternal Summer subcollection, and my other favorite was absolutely Eternal Egypt Summer and I wore it so, so much. Sublime. Really a stunner of a chypre! I also have really loved so much of the Summer Teas and Tea Service, and have written about so many of them. They are constantly in rotation in the summer for me, especially, of course, my beloved Green Tea Crimson, and this summer was no exception, as it's also one of my fiance's favorites. But they also came out with some new offerings and of those I got Chamomile, Vanilla, & Spice Tea, which sounded very intriguing - and Agave Nectar from the Tea Service. Highly recommend them both, and they pair absolutely perfectly together! I also had missed Apricot Sugar the year before, and my best friend, who is also my skin twin, loved that one so much, I made sure to pick it up from the Resurgence. Whew, am I glad I did - I love it with literally everything I have tried. It's extremely versatile, and so beautiful.

September, Bastet's Bazaar came rolling in - and I was swept off my feet by her ChakRA collection. Oh, if I had only been able to get the whole thing! I would have loved to do it. I managed to get three of these - Ajna, the dark blue one, Svadhishthana, the orange, and Muladhara, the red. Truly all three ChakRAs I have are fantastic, absolute perfection. Wonderful for meditation. And they continued the Eternal Egypt Anniversary celebration with Bastet's Bazaar, so I grabbed Eternal Egypt Incense - and I. Freaking. Love. IT! Might...just might...be my favorite of all of them. But it's hard to choose.

Okay, with that we are falling headlong into my favorite collection of the year, NAlloween. Pfffft no self restraint, and I loved everything I grabbed. I rediscovered V by Thoth, and it had aged into something so, so swoonworthy. And my bottle of The Mummy Returns - it, too, had changed so much. I loved it fresh, but aged? I was completely obsessed and wore it so much this fall. I was able to grab Pirate Rum for my fiance, as his absolute favorite scent by NA is Ghost Ship, and they have a similar vibe, although they're different. Can absolutely report that Pirate Rum is fantastic on him, also. Scarlet Bat from last year also got a lot of love, and as a matter of fact I just wore it again for the end of the year. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Seth's Sleepyceratops, I wore this all year this year, and it is a wonderful sleep scent. But I haven't even touched on the new Halloween release, and....I just went for it. I got Blood, Blackout, Blood Queen, Moonsand, Mummy's Spirit, and Skeletonic....all were huge wins for me. And of course, the fan favorite this year was Vampire Bourbon Patchouli Bat - whew. It was a DO NOT MISS. Absolute perfection, and very worthy of being a fan favorite! The sample they gave out this year was for the PC offering, they do a new Halloween scent every year, and Halloween 2020 is just not to be missed. Seriously, what stellar fall offering. I loved every single one of my choices!

The Holiday collection is probably my second favorite of the year. Last year, they came out with the two Copals - Vanilla and Sandalwood - and they were instant fan favorites. I knew I was going to love them both, so I did grab them last year, but I was not prepared for how much MORE beautiful they had become with age! Unfh. So those both got a lot of wear starting in November for me, and I wore Sandalwood Copal for New Year's Day, too. From the Resurgence collection, though, I really fell for Holiday Rex this year, hatching it with several vanillas and finding it was perfect every time. Vampire Cardamom Bat was a surprise hit for me last year, and I found myself reaching for it so many times this year. It's such a snuggly scent. I have to tell y'all, I missed out on Cherry Bourbon Vanille last year, and I regretted not grabbing it, so I definitely went back for it, and it became a surprise favorite this year. I love that tobacco note! It's so beautiful. That brings me into the new Holiday LC release, and ... wow, there was so much that sounded like perfection, so I kinda threw myself headfirst into it and did not have a single miss. I picked up, and love, Crystalline Chai, Vanilla Dreams, Private Universe, and Royal Elephant. Vanilla Dreams is an amazing, cozy, sleep scent. Crystalline Chai feels like snuggling in a comfy chair with a throw blanket, with snow falling outside. Yep, it really gave me quite a visual response! And of course, the last two Eternal Egypt Anniversaries came out - EE Frankincense, and EE Myrrh. Had to get them both, and I am so glad I did - they are lovely worn on opposite wrists, and lovely layered together.

Okay. Whew! That's just the LCs, y'all. And I .... I love them all. So maybe I will break this into a second part, to talk about my PC loves from 2019 tomorrow. I'd hate to overwhelm y'all!

[zombiiesque]

Seasonal Series: FALL For Nocturne Alchemy

Originally published 10/3/2019

So I've been meaning to work on this series for a while, but I keep getting distracted! I'm terrible, I know. I've had the idea to write up a series of four posts, one for each season, of scent suggestions from Nocturne Alchemy - both LC (Limited Collection) and PC (Permanent Collection). I've asked my fellow House of Nocturne Alchemy Tent members for their suggestions, too. If you are not already in the Tent on Facebook, please join us - we'd love to have you! It's a wonderful group. So, fall. It's October, and here in Florida the temperature hasn't really given us any relief, and I'm dying to wear my heavier fall scents. I am really glad not to have snow here yet, but I really would like to have some cooler days! Bring on that crisp fall air, I am ready.

Let's start with LC scents, shall we? Some of my favorites: Phantasm Kiss. Can't talk about fall without talking about this, the biggest gun of all, for me. The vanilla/smoke/wood balance is absolute perfection, and it's cozy and dark and right in my wheelhouse. To boot, it literally makes everything I have ever layered it with smell just so much more amazing. I don't think I've ever tried it with something I didn't love 1000%. This is VHTF, (very hard to find) though - if you come across one in the secondary market, you'd better act fast. Jack's Halloween Oudh is another iconic fall scent - everyone seems to love this, and it truly is fall in a bottle. It took a long time for me to be able to wear it, because for some reason I amped the dickens out of the spices, but they finally mellowed with age enough for this to truly be an experience, not just a perfume. It's a FALL fall scent, in capital letters. Just a tad on the foodie side, but balanced enough with the other notes that I wouldn't call it a gourmand. I'm not going to pick a particular pumpkin from the 31 Pumpkin Library, but I will say this: If you haven't been following along with this series, you are missing out. This is the last year for these. I was not sold on the idea of pumpkin as perfume, because I was never much of a foodie gal - I liked it well enough for room scents, and will eat the heck outta some pie, or muffins - but I just didn't really ever try any that appealed to me. Now I've accumulated a good 10 of them, and love them all. There's something for every taste, even the folks who don't like pumpkin or foodie scents. Can't wear spices? There's even several without spice in the series, too. Feeling Witchy, with a capital W? Sisters of the Moon was created by Bastet in honor of Stevie Nicks, and it's perfection. Herbal, dark, haunting, mysterious - it's everything you want in a witchy perfume. Always a favorite of mine this time of year. My absolute favorite Halloween subcollection though, is the Mummy series. So many favorites in this - Mummy Crypt, Mummy Tomb Incense, Embalmed Mummy, Mummy Amber, and currently available in the Resurgence, The Mummy Returns. Even better, these all do well layered with each other - I highly recommend experimenting with this! My absolute favorite is Mummy Crypt, but truly, I love them all. I would be remiss if I didn't mention V, also available in the Resurgence. I have to say that one really crept up on me - I really liked it, but I do have a lot of incense, and I wasn't sure it was totally unique to my collection. I wore this recently and it was like I was hit by a lightning bolt - I GOT THE FANFARE. Holy. Freaking. Bats! Don't skip out on this if incense is your jam, because this is a beauty. I am not sure whether it was hormones - mine have been in flux for quite a while - or the aforementioned warmer weather, but although I did like it, I wasn't obsessed with it. I surely am now, and it's going to get a lot of wear over the next few months. Thoth did a spectacular job with it, he truly did. Oh, I don't want to forget to mention the Patchouli Bats. If you love patch the way I do, there are some beauties here, and my two favorites right now are Scarlet Bat - available in the Resurgence section of the Limiteds, and the new Vampire Bourbon Patchouli Bat. I'm not going to say a lot on that, as I've got a review coming up at the end of the week with a more in depth look at Bourbon Bat, but it is divine, and already a fan favorite. Another Patchouli Bat I love that came out with the last Holiday LC is Vampire Cardamom Bat - I added this on as a last minute choice, and wasn't really sure about it, but it's become a quick favorite, and I wore it year round this year, but I think it's definitely more appropriate in the cooler months. Scarlet Bat is sugared patchouli red musk, and it. Is. Sexy. Seriously stunning. Okay, lest I go on too long here, I'm going to wrap this up by mentioning some of the LC favorites in the Tent. Vampire Bourbon Patchouli Bat is a fast fan favorite, and everyone is raving about it. Also

mentioned were Halloween Evening, Skeletonic, Blood Queen, Sandman, and Eternal Ankh Spice. Based on the review thread in the Tent, if you like lavender and sleep scents, Halloween Dreams is very popular. Okay, there are a ton of other really wonderful LC choices for fall, but I obviously could go on and on - let's head to the Permanent Collection!

Nocturne Alchemy has a large and wonderful PC, so if you have not explored this yet, you are truly missing out. Treasures untold, as Ariel says in The Little Mermaid. Right off the bat, I'm going to mention the brand new Halloween 2020. It was available in a special black frosted bottle in the LC section, but it's also part of the All Hallows' Eve subcollection, along with previous Halloweens, including my beloved Bastet Halloween 2016. This is a sandalwood lover's dream. I received a sample with my order, so I'll be talking about it when I post my reviews, but I LOVE it already. This is a great fall section, chock full of perfect cooler weather scents. BOO! is a fan favorite - I keep meaning to get a sample of it, because I want to give it a try and see if I can wear the spices. I do, however, have a sample of Day of the Dead, and it is the perfect Horchata. Sugary rice milk, creamy vanilla, and a touch of musk - it's so wearable, even if you're not into foodie scents. It's a snuggly white scent. I used to have a sample of Black Crow, but I gave it away many moons ago - but it's something I need to upgrade to a full bottle of, I loved it. I do however have a big bottle of Black Raven and I adore that one! The patchouli is prominent, but it's blended well with the other resins, and it's a rich and dark scent. If you love those kinds of scents, don't skip out on this one. I could really go on and on in this section, but I'll stop, and just encourage you to explore this one for yourself, especially for fall. Another section you won't want to miss is the Goblins. This one contains another big fan favorite, Spooktacular. I have the original version, without the addition of Bastet's Ice Cream Accord, but I need to pick up the new one, as well. This is simple - gooey, creamy, marshmallow goodness. If you are looking for a marshmallow scent, Spooktacular is the one you want. And it layers with absolutely everything! Demonseed Cake and Pina Ghoulata are also popular. The Immortals has another favorite - Emerson. This is a beauty for fall, a bright, rich golden resin scent. Mina is another popular one, jasmine with vanilla, musk, and pepper. I'm going to mention Ozymandias here, although I wear this year round, if I had to put it firmly into a season, I would call it a fall scent. I highly encourage you to age this one if you find it faint at first, that is common with this scent. It's a cozy, sweet resinous scent with just a light kick of pepper, and just perfect for snuggling into a jean jacket and thick sweater. It's in the Pharaohs & Queens section. There are a literal ton in the Studio Limited sections that would suit, so I'm going to briefly mention a few favorites: Ember Vanilla. Smoked out, slightly chewy vanilla, and layers well with many other perfumes. I haven't tried Bourbon Vanille solo yet, but having had it in blends, I am yearning for a bottle, and I think it, too, would be a great fall scent. There are many of the Ombres that are heavier and absolutely perfect for the fall, not the least of which are Oud Ombre and Fig Noir Ombre, a darkly sexy, date night fig and resins perfume. The newly released Musk Haven musks are great as well - I'm thinking particularly Vanilla Musk and Amber Musk, with the golden, stunning amber musk of Saphir. Ember is a rich, woody combination of frankincense and myrrh that I crave all year, but in particular during the cooler months. Kashmir - a dark, sexy red musk, and Bloodstone - a deep, spicy dragon's blood - are heavier and well suited for fall. Really, there are a plethora of choices in the Studio Limited, so I'll leave you to browse at your leisure, and just mention a few more that come to mind. Etherias is another section worth exploring, and I have several of these on my wishlist, including Etherian Ambre, which I think sounds perfect right about now. But one I really crave once the temperatures drop is Polichenelle - a gooey marshmallow with a puff of smoke and spicy clove. This to me is the perfect scent if you like clove, but it can amp up on your skin. I have that problem

myself, but not here - the marshmallow really reigns it in and it is beautifully balanced. It dries down to a lightly spiced marshmallow musk on me. The Royal Ambers have so many favorites, but I really want to mention Sky Amber, Thoth Amber, Sekhmet Amber, and especially Horus Amber. The cardamom in this is so smooth and rich, this is a gorgeous golden scent that is just wonderfully warm. Let me put the brakes on, y'all. There are a lot of great choices for fall in the PC, and some recommendations from my friends in the Tent include Burning Jack, Vanilla Pumpkin Pie, Halloween 2019, and Halloween 2017 (I too have this one and love it).

OH, another one - I would really feel bad if I didn't mention this. The Desecrated Tomb is a great little section, and the three I have all layer well with each other - Black Frankincense, Black Myrrh, and Black Vanilla Embalming Spice. But that last one is a perfect fall vanilla, it's dark and smoothly warm with the spices, and totally unique. And it's another fan favorite!

And that's it! Fall is my absolute favorite season, so I get a little verbose with the recommendations. There are so many wonderful possibilities, and not just in the Limited Collection. What are your favorite fall scents? Do you have and love any of these? Happy October, y'all.

[zombiiesque]

Nocturne Alchemy Summer Limited Reviews

Originally published on 7/2/2019

Yikes. So I never finished my Vaults, did I? Well, I'll have to come back to it! Right now, I have a few reviews I wanted to get posted from the Nocturne Alchemy Summer Limited Collection release. I'm also including a brief review of the PC Eternal Egypt, for reference purposes! I chose three perfumes, and they sent me one of their choice because I won a giveaway on their business FB page. So what I have here, in the picture, is Eternal Egypt Summer, Eternal Egypt Ambre, Chamomile, Vanilla & Spice Tea, and Apricot Sugar. The sample is Kashmir, which is the free sample while available, that they send along with orders. Any of you who have been following me for a while know that Kashmir is one of my favorites! Let's hop right to it, shall we?

First off, I want to talk about one of my desert island scents - Eternal Egypt. I'll be brief, but I think it's helpful for comparison to the two special versions I picked from the Summer LC. The NA site has this description: Eternal Egypt (Signature Blend): White Amber, Red Egyptian Musk, Egyptian Amber and the sands of Egypt.

I started off with a sample of this many moons ago, and at first I was a little leery - I had ridiculously bad luck wearing ambers. Smelled like baby powder on my skin. I think I wound up putting the sample in my box for about six months, and one day I dug it out and waved it in front of Jody's nose. Win. He was instantly a fan, and he remains one to this day - it's one of his favorites on me and he can name it when I wear it. I think it's the only one he knows, even though he has others he loves, too. It truly is a signature scent. I graduated from the sample, to a 5ml, and now I have a 10ml I'm flying through. The white amber gives this almost a coconut vibe? This is very bright and fresh, and that sandy note, I don't know how they do it, but this is just such a classy scent. It feels like a high end perfume, but at the same time, it's very easy to wear. I must say this is pretty perfect to represent Egypt - when I wear it, I am transported. I feel like the red musk gives this just the slightest bit of sexiness. If you've tried Crimson, I think that's the red musk here, or something similar, as it's not the bold red musk style of Kashmir. It's clean and a little spicy, and very appealing. The combination of the musk and amber is just totally perfect.

I've added a picture of Eternal Egypt Summer and Eternal Egypt Ambre side by side, so you can see the height difference. Ambre isn't as big as my 10ml original EE, but it's definitely larger than the standard 5ml.

One thing I want to mention, about a lot of Nocturne Alchemy perfumes, and particularly Eternal Egypt: these do get travel shocked. So a little caution note, a little imploring: Please do not judge these by what they smell like when you first get them - and please, please try them on your skin before you dismiss them. They change quite a lot with some rest, and what you smell in the bottle can be very different once it melds with your skin and warms up. Eternal Egypt variations in particular seem to do a lot of "filling out" with age; they get richer, more beautiful - the notes seem to meld and really reach their full potential with a little time in your possession. So my initial reviews will stand, but it's like they're amplified TL;DR? Give these some time. It's summer, it's hot, they've traveled a distance to get to you.

Eternal Egypt Summer is part of the sub-collection Eternal Summer. Notes are: White Amber, Labdanum, Crystalline, a little eNVie saphir Amber, Copal, Guaiac wood, Lavender, NA Chypre accord. I opened this fresh out of the mail (not advised, ever, I have to say, but I have no self-restraint) and I swooned a little. This is pretty different than the original. It's got a cool feel to it. I gave it a few days to rest before I tried it on my skin, but I could kind of tell right away I was going to love this. Converse to the cool feel, there's a warmth here from the copal, a sweetness from the guaiac. The lavender isn't a star, but I think rather blends with the chypre, which is absolutely lovely. I usually like chypres, and this is no exception. You can definitely tell that there's an essence of Eternal Egypt to this, but if you're worried you might be getting a dupe, you're definitely not. How does this make me feel? Like I'm at the beach. It's a perfect, sunny day, the water is a sparkling turquoise, and there's a cool sea breeze on my sun-warmed skin. Yes, this feels like summer to me.

Eternal Egypt Ambre is a part of the 13th anniversary collection. NA says this: Eternal Egypt Anniversary Collection – a reinterpretation with exclusive notes, beautiful blue pearl bottles but most importantly celebrating thirteen years of the original perfume blend from Nocturne Alchemy in four new iterations and limited to 75 bottles each. From the elegant label art to the carefully chosen bottle and the exquisite ingredients, the owner & creator of Nocturne Alchemy (Emerson Hart) wanted the create something to honour the first perfume created at Nocturne Alchemy thirteen years ago. Aging these perfume will bring out the resins and natural notes.

The notes for Eternal Egypt Ambre are: Bastet’s Amber Absolute, Labdanum, Cedar essential, Palo Santo essential, Black Patchouli, Benzoin, Heliotrope, Smoked Balsam of Peru, Italian Lavandin, Black Pepper and White Amber Absolute. Oooof. Well, y'all already know how much I adore Bastet Amber, and here we have my two desert island scents? Okay, that was an obvious gimme. This, too, is pretty obviously different from the original Eternal Egypt. The bottle is GORGEOUS, as is the label! When I first got this, it was far more travel shocked than Eternal Egypt Summer. I couldn't really tell what was going on, and there was almost a black licorice note in the bottle sniff. What? Turns out, that's the palo santo note. It can smell like anise, or minty...but I gave this a good bit of rest before I tried it on my skin. Four days. The anise had calmed down, and I could get an idea of what this was going to be like on my skin, I thought - except, it was so much better than I could have imagined! It absolutely transformed once it warmed up and melded with my skin. Wow. This is more complex, and sexier, than Summer. I'm having a hard time picking out individual notes, that's how well blended this one is. If Summer is bright and fun, a day at the beach - Ambre is a sultry summer night, a slinky black dress, and low slung heels. The palo santo gives this a cool feel, as does the white amber.

Honestly just so glad I chose both of these, I have several variations of Eternal Egypt, because I love it that much, and these are two wonderful additions to my collection. Backup worthy, really.

One of my favorite things Nocturne Alchemy does for their Summer Collections are the Summer Tea and Tea Service. You can read my reviews here, although I've added more that I haven't reviewed from previous collections. The Summer Tea Service reviews are separate, you can find them here. Y'all, it's hot in Florida. And it's hot from April right through December these days. I find myself craving the Summer Teas as soon as it warms up, so they get a lot of wear from me. Green Tea Crimson is easily in my top five all time favorites, ever.

Last year I missed out, but my good friend Heather grabbed Apricot Sugar, and absolutely adored it. So I promised myself if it came back in the Resurgence, I would for sure have to nab it - it seemed like everything she wore it with was perfect, and of course, it was wearable alone. So I chose that for my third bottle, and as I mentioned, I won a giveaway (thanks, y'all, SO much!) on the Nocturne Alchemy business page, for a free bottle of their choice from the LCs. They chose Chamomile, Vanilla & Spice Tea for me. I had already eyed it, because it sounded delightful. The notes for this are: Blue German Chamomile, Bastet’s Ice Cream Accord, Vanilla Bean, Vanilla essence, Black Tea, Cardamom Spice and a little sugar. I love chamomile tea. I have one that's chamomile and vanilla, and it's so soothing, puts me right to sleep! And Jody's mom grows chamomile. This is very realistic. I guess this could possibly go a little floral, but they are such masters at blending, that never happens here. It's got a bit of a floral/herbal tinge to it, for sure, but it's reigned in beautifully by the vanillas. The cardamom is more of a supporting note on my skin, just a slightly spiced warmth, honestly, it's perfection. The balance here is superb. The black tea is something I utterly love, and it adds a little strength to this. Unfh. I've mentioned before, I didn't use to like tea notes, they would go bitter on my skin, but that's never happened with NA, and this is no exception. This is just so appealing! I could not be happier with what they chose for me, I adore it. The ice cream accord adds a tiny bit of foodiness, and it's at the perfect amount. Yum. Obviously, you can easily wear this alone, but I love to layer my Summer Teas with the Tea Service, it just is the perfect compliment. The first time I wore this, I added a little dab of Apricot Sugar, because that's what I had on hand, and it was delightful! I wasn't sure if it was going to wear well with this one, but I have to say if you have both of these you really should try this, it was a wonderful surprise. I've since tried Rice Milk and Sugarcube, and those are both easy winners, too. I haven't tried Sweet Santalum Milk or Coconut Milk, but I suspect those will work well, too - or even my original Bastet's Ice Cream Accord, if you want your tea to be a little creamier/more foodie.

Apricot Sugar: Apricot stone essence, Apricot Skin, Egyptian Sugar accord, Papaya skin and Vanilla fleck. Oh, how much do I love NA's sugar note. It's just so dang good! I have a couple of bottles of the original Sugarcube, and I have worn it alone, because I love it so much. There's almost a freshness to it, and of course sweetness - but it's not tooth-achingly sweet, if that makes sense. That base is pretty present here, more so than it is with Lemon Sugar. The apricot is bright, juicy and just a little tangy, and extremely realistic. I think the papaya skin is more of a supporting note, I've had it in other blends and enjoyed it, but I don't really notice it here. It may be adding to that juiciness. This is a simple blend, but it was meant to be layered, and it really shines when you do that. As I mentioned above, I wore it with Chamomile, Vanilla & Spice Tea, and I've also worn it with White Tea Vanilla, and Crystal, so far. I'm going to try it with Santalum White and White Ambre Ombre, because I feel like those will be great pairings, too. I think this is a very versatile layering perfume, and would be lovely with so many perfumes. Anything with vanilla, for sure. Bastet Ice Cream Accord, some Dinos, Eternal Ankh, really I think anything you think might work. I bet it would be pretty with Egyptian Musk, and definitely Diamond. I'm so happy I grabbed this! If you were a fan of, or yearning for, Love of Bastet: Pink Vanille, I think you should definitely get this.

I have Dimetrodon from last year, but I've run out of time, today, so I'll post that separately. It's currently available in the Summer LC Resurgence, in the Prehistoria collection.

What did you choose from this release? What are you looking at? I'm eyeing a Dino or two, and more Teas....always more Teas! I hope y'all enjoyed these reviews, and they helped you to make some decisions. As always, thanks for reading!

[zombiiesque]

Nocturne Alchemy Vaults: Part One

Originally published on 4/30/2019

I'm on a mission, after completing my month of samples! I've got a good collection of what I call Vaults - perfumes from the early days of Nocturne Alchemy, long before I started collecting. And I tend to hoard these, rather than wearing them. I don't think I have enough for a solid month, but I'm going to try to do a few weeks of these, spread out over the course of a month, and do a bi-weekly update. Maybe it will force me to wear these beauties as intended!

I have a mixture of both LC (limited collection) and PC (permanent collection), but it's mostly LC in these, so I want to go ahead and warn you now, these are probably hard to get, but it can't hurt to put out an ISO (in search of) in the NA Marketplace Facebook group. They age wonderfully, so it might be worth the hunt!

Let's get this shindig started!

Eternal Egypt Summer Crystalline REZ: White Amber Absolute, Limestone Amber Resin, Lime Zest, Saffron, Gold Santalum, Moonstone (African White Vanilla Bean), with the new addition of Crystalline (Egyptian Vanilla Orchid stigma Resin) Absolute aged with Kyphi (a honey, raisin, & wine based incense), Guaiacwood eo, Mandarin Skin, Egyptian Sugar and French Golden Amber Resin. This baby is a favorite of mine, I have several backups of this with varying fill levels that I've nabbed over time from the Marketplace, and from Laura. It came out in 2015, the first year I started collecting NA. It's SO, SO GOOD. Like, my ultimate summer scent, honestly - besides the Tea collection! I will continue to keep an eagle eye out for more. A girl can never have too many, right? Right!! Hah. Okay, so if you've ever experienced Eternal Egypt, this is an enhanced version, with a zip of citrus (the lime is fabulous, seriously) and the beauty of Crystalline vanilla - honestly, it's just the right amount, it doesn't take over the other notes. It's so aged, I don't get really the kyphi, which I love, or the saffron. But that's okay. It seems simple, but there's definitely some complexity. I have raved and raved about this one, maybe one day they'll make a version something like it in the future! PS. If you haven't tried Eternal Egypt, what in the world are you waiting for? Remedy that as quickly as possible! *wink* Seriously, it's a fan favorite, and it's a lovely scent.

SP 8: Sandalwood, Teak, Rosewood, Cedar, Black Amber, Black Musk, Black Myrrh and Black Patchouli in a sea of memory. This is from 2013. This is a beautifully dark scent, the woods and resins are just, at this point, incredibly potent. I don't need a lot. I love to pair this with a vanilla, like Crystal, or Protoceratops, to keep it from going too dark on me. I think this one is pretty unisex, and I think it would be fantastic on a guy too. The sweetness of the myrrh, amber, and cedar is perfect against the heavier patchouli and black musk. I don't know a lot about this collection, but somewhere in my dusty memory I remember that SP stands for Steam Punk, and this was a pretty limited collection, so I treasure having both this and SKL, below.

SP SKL: Damp woods, Aged Velvet Crystal Vanilla (Vanilla Musk), the scent of old linen in a coffin, a touch of graveyard musk and a sentient of mystery. Like SP 8, this is also from 2013. Gorgeous. I have a bottle of Crystal, from the SL section, and I love it. First thing I catch is that vanilla musk, but it's aged and deepened. Paired with the woods, this is so gothic. I particularly love to wear this one in the fall and winter, it feels very cozy and like a warm, dark hug. There's like a dark sexiness lurking under the snuggly vanilla.

Cleopatra Moon: Fresh Peach Incense, Peach Essence, Egyptian Frankincense Resinoid, Egyptian Myrrh Lite Resinoid, Sapphire Amber-Musk, Persian Sandalwood, White Peppercorn Essential Oil and a drop of Egyptian Hibiscus and a breath of Egyptian Hyacinth Petal. This treasure is from 2011, the Pharaoh Moons collection, from what I can see. I got this one from my friend Melissa, and oh, how hard did I fall for this? She's gorgeous. It starts out with their luscious, juicy peach, just bursting out of the bottle and onto your skin. That's followed closely by a melange of resins, so well blended I can barely pick them out, but I think that the Sapphire keeps this bright and helps the peach linger. I don't really get the hibiscus or hyacinth, on my skin - they may be background notes, or as aged as this is, impossible to discern. I do get a little kick of pepper, which is always a welcome smell for me. It adds the slightest spiciness, but it's not obtrusive. Cleopatra Moon curls around me for quite a long time, I get at least eight hours from it. It's enchanting and mysterious, what I imagine her namesake to be.

Selket Anti-Venom Rez: In the new composition I took the old recipe and changed it toward more of an ode to Crème de Menthe bringing up the mint essential oil note and adding nuances of Crystal, Blue Sugar and a little Incense in the shadows before the scorpion Goddess stings with her tail. The Crème de Menthe composed with marshmallow and peppermint eo. This one came out the same year as Eternal Egypt Summer Crystalline REZ, 2015. If I remember correctly, it came out in the summer - and while I absolutely adore my Victorian Candy Cane Crystalline, this is the mint I reach for when I want something cool feeling in the summer. It's like a creamy, mint drink, on a long screened in verandah. There's a crust of sugar in here, as well - I love their sugar notes. But this definitely feels green, it's different than the Christmas VCCC. There's a slight hint of liqueur. Absolutely adore this, and I should wear it more often, but I'm guilty of hoarding it. I will note that in long drydown - this lasts a while! - the mint fades a little bit, and you're left with a sweet, creamy, sort of musky marshmallow, with just a hint of the mint. Just as beautiful as the beginning stages, though.

Bastet's Witching Hour: Black Incense, Black Vanilla, Black Haitian Voodoo Vetiver, Black Aged Cedar, Black Cherry Extract, Black Aged Saffron and Black Amber rests at the death of this hour. I usually store all my Vaults in the same box, but - in order to confuse myself, hah! - I store my NAlloween Vaults in with the NAlloween box. So I'd actually realized when I was pulling out my Sleep Elixir that I had more Vaults than I realized! Anyway. this beauty is from 2011. I have two bottles of it, this was my first experience with NA's cherry and I fell hard for it. This isn't a candy or cough drop cherry by any means - this is a sexy, alluring fruit and dark resin perfume. The incense curls around you, and entwines with the slightly tart cherry. The vetiver is smoky, and the cedar is sweet and woody, they sure do woods right. I feel dark and witchy when I wear this, and I crave it all year. But of course, my favorite time of year to pull it out is fall, and I reach for it often. Incredible.

Hathor's Peach Kaproret Tea: Sensual Peach, Coconut powder, African Kaproret Tea, Fresh morning Apple (subtle), Tibetan Black Tea Leaves and Egyptian Plum. Here's another early one, from 2009. I've got about a quarter of a bottle left, it's one of the beautiful green 5mls. This one is a lovely summery scent, a little bit of tropical feel with the fruit/tea blend. I'm not sure what kaproret tea is like (EDIT: I've since learned it's a black tea type from Kenya!), but I definitely get the black tea, but there's another tea-scent in there that I've never had myself before, and it's almost got a zing to it, and it works really well with the lush peach and coconut notes. Thankfully I don't need a lot of this, because it's so aged, because I love it, and I'm hoarding it. I do have Peach Cardamom Tea from the Summer Tea Service, but that's quite a bit different than this. If you love tea and fruit, and happen to come across this one, I would not hesitate to get it! As with my other Teas from NA, there's never a bitter edge to the black tea, it's smooth and distinctive, and balances so well with the fruits. I've also worn this with a few of the Tea Service, Coconut Milk, Sugarcube, and Rice Milk, and they all pair well with it.

Y'all, I got pretty behind on this - life got really busy! I meant to have it up a week ago, but there's all kinds of stuff going on here in our little corner of the world. I'll try to get on the second half of this with a little more expediency! I hope you enjoyed this first half, though. There are some pretty amazing treasures to be had in hunting these down.

[zombiiesque]

(photo: Clearwater, Florida)

NA Mood Lifting Scents

Originally published 2/11/2018

Hey y'all! I've actually been working on this idea for a while, and it's a little unusual, but I figured I can't be the only one who goes through struggles, and so for this I've asked for a few contributions from my fellow Nocturne Alchemy fans in the House of Nocturne Alchemy Tent (also affectionately known as the Tent, and my family!). I want to say straight away, I'm not a doctor of any kind, and I'm not here to tell you what will definitively make you feel better, but merely make some suggestions for you to try, if you struggle with similar issues. Also, I offer big, gentle, e-hugs.

I struggle. I struggle a lot with mental issues - they even keep me from writing, which is my joy, truly. Y'all probably noticed it took me quite a while to get back to this blog after dear Laura passed. And it wasn't just that, although I did have a hard time moving past it, and I'm still not fully over it. I miss her dearly. But shortly after that, I started spiraling into a rather deep depression, which combined with my anxiety and PTSD, and all the junk life was throwing at me, seemed to go on for quite a while. I'm slowly climbing my way out of the pit now, but it's not easy.

And honestly, when I'm struggling with these issues, there's not much that gives me ease. Scent is truly one of those things, and for me, music. It gives me the ability to take some deep breaths and get out of my own head, and tell myself, I'm OKAY. It's going to be okay.

So, all that said, I thought I might offer up some ideas, and I asked others what soothes them.

The biggest point to make, though, I think, is that scent, and what makes us feel better in scent, is intensely personal, and varies so widely from person to person. My aromatherapist friend, Rain, says that a lot of folks associate pine with Christmas (or Yule), and for her pine is death - she's literally severely allergic to it, and so for her Christmas is scotch tape and paper and MINT. So that's a great example of how personal scent actually is. Therefore, I'm going to reiterate that these are merely suggestions.

Now that I've beleaguered that point, I'll give you a list of notes that I love and then some particular suggestions, both from me, and my NA Tent family!

What started all of this, for me, was in the fall of 2015, Nocturne Alchemy had their Halloween Part 1 release, and sent out samples of Bastet Halloween 2016. This was actually part of the permanent catalogue (PC), at that time in the VA section under the All Hallows' Eve heading. Every year they put out a Halloween perfume in the PC for the following year, so it's always available, and that year they put out a matching pair, so both Bastet and Anubis were released, and the sample I got was instantly loved, and upgraded to a full bottle. It's become such a comfort scent to me, and has pulled me through some very dark days. I realized that I found myself reaching for it constantly when I was at my lowest points.

Notes that I really love when I'm down or anxious are sandalwood, frankincense, copal. So resins, they feel like a nice warm hug. I find the NA oudh absolutely sublime for this, too. And there's something very comforting about Nocturne Alchemy's ambers, too. That kind of falls in between two categories for me, as I also like fresh, clean scents, or herbal scents, and the ambers can be very fresh, and also resinous. I love sage, chamomile, patchouli, citrus, and occasionally lavender from the fresh/herbal/medicinal/clean category. Citrus can be such an uplifting note (or notes!) when you need your day brightened. I also find NA nag champa,or incense heavy blends, soothing.

But a lot of times it's sort of a gut instinct/strong scent memory that makes you feel like you're wearing scent armor. Rain mentioned that she loves her Eternal Ankh Anniversary during such times.

So a little list of possible scent suggestions.

From the SLs, Hessonite, Ember, Santal Ombre, Patchouli Ombre, Santalum, Pyramid Santalum, Frankincense Ombre, and even the new Oud Ombre. Eternal Ankh Anniversary, Eternal Egypt Anniversary are others to consider, if you find vanillas to be your "blanket" you might like Crystal, Crystalline, Kobalt, etcetera from that line. I really love the OP line, it gives me a boost of confidence and the incense is incredibly settling for me, particularly OP Baba, because of the nag champa and black musk - musks are a power scent type for me. I forgot to mention I like myrrh also as a comforting resin, so definitely Myrrh Ombre, one of my first purchases!

From the PCs, I cannot recommend the OM NAs enough. Temple NA, Eternity, and Balance in particular, although I should really try Khet, as it sounds lovely. Gabriel from the 7 section has both frankincense and myrrh. I like to layer Raphael, as I find it clean and fresh, with Santalum. The Royal Amber section is a veritable treasure trove of comfort scents, particularly Bastet Amber, Sekhmet Amber, Thoth Amber, Temple Amber, and Sky Amber. I'm wanting to add Priestess Amber to my collection, as all of the sandalwoods and amber sound like an amazing combination and I've been lucky enough to smell Rain's bottle and fallen in love. I have a full bottle of Black Frankincense from the Desecrated Tomb section that I find absolutely heavenly, and it layers well with so many SLs - and the Prehistoric collection, too, for that matter, but that's for my LC suggestion list. There's also a veritable treasure trove in the Eternals, but I will say for me the biggest one is Eternal Egypt. It's become just such a signature scent for me. I

Another set of oils to consider are the NA Purpose Oils, which can be found offsite at The Blackest Rose. I have Protection, and I find it absolutely fantastic, but I really want to get Strength and Guidance.

Now, there's also several LC (limited, seasonal collections) perfumes that I absolutely adore for these purposes, which have been occasionally brought back as Resurgence, but you could put out an "ISO" (in search of) in the NAVA Marketplace or Indie Perfume Lovers groups on Facebook. For me Horus Haven 2 is a warm hug of a scent. I also really love Polter-Guests, it's got that herbal/clean thing going on. And I always, always reach for my Holiday Egyptian Frankincense for layering. There's a whole treasure trove in the Prehistorics, Pteranodon is fantastic for adding sandalwood to any perfume, and of course I love Cryolophosaurus for the patch and amber. Camarasaurus from last year has become a huge favorite of mine, because copal just makes me feel like myself again. I'm going to go ahead and mention NA oudh, the Icons. I find their oudh to be so gloriously beautiful, and the ones I own are Egyptian Temple Oudh, Labyrinth, and of course my beloved Copal Oudh. Phantasm Kiss from the 2016 Halloween release is so good, I bought 2 bottles of it, and I wear it alone and layered with other perfumes to boost my spirits. There was a series of Dream Bottles that came out with the winter collection the year I started collecting NA, and it taught me that I could, indeed, wear and love lavender, so I'll mention the Blue Egypt and Dead Can Sleep Dream Bottles. There was a sandalwood as well, which I totally regret not nabbing! But although those were pretty exclusive and hard to find, you can still find the original Dead Can Sleep and Blue Egypt in the PC section.

I'm going to close this by giving you various suggestions from my Tent family. But I also wrote and asked if the NA crew had any suggestions for you, and Freja said she would recommend OM NA: Balance, Crystalline, and the Purpose Oil: Inner Love (which is also one of my friend Rain's favorites!). Suggestions from fans include Lavender Santalum, Pink Grapefruit Frankincense, Moonstone, Holiday Egyptian Sandalwood, Myrrh and White Amber from the LC Holiday 2017 Collection, OP Set (huuuuge fan of OP Set so I second this motion!), Santalum, OM NA Eternity, Orange and Sandalwood Vanilla which is an LC Holiday scent and SO comforting!...from my lovely friend Heather - Santal Ombre, Ember, Pteranodon, Protection, Speaking with Spirits! So, some great suggestions there, and definitely worth hunting down, I particularly had forgotten about Speaking With Spirits, and would add from that same LC Halloween 2017 collection, when I'm really struggling with sleeping, Sleep Elixir is absolutely divine. I can't wear it without falling asleep in minutes.

So, really there's a wide range of possibilities here, but just know, whatever makes you feel most comforted in a scent will really help you when you feel down. I forgot something that I should have mentioned, I also like peppermint for uplifting, and two LCs I absolutely adore are Victorian Candy Cane Crystalline and Bastet's Pink Snow. I'll close with a quote from the Eagles:

I wish you peace when times are hard

A light to guide you through the dark

And when storms are high and your, your dreams are low

I wish you the strength to let love grow,

Oh I wish you the strength to let love flow.

[zombiiesque]

Nocturne Alchemy Seth's Dinosaur Collection - PART TWO

Originally published on 6/28/2016

Hi y'all! I'm back at it again today. And crossing my fingers I don't get pulled away from the computer, so I can get this up for y'all. It's a gorgeous day out, and we haven't had any rain yet. I swear, we've been waterlogged here in Florida ever since hurricane season started.

So I think this review will be a little shorter - I'm sure you're all breathing a sigh of relief. Hey, I can remember when the internet was ALL TEXT, no graphics, no photos, just....text. Yep, true story. We've come a long way. Anyway, so today I'm covering the second release, which is when the Prehistoric collection name came about. There were six perfumes in that release. Of those, I have four - I'm missing Ankylosaurus and Caudipteryx. I actually had a full bottle of Ankylosaurus, and I traded it away (I think for Pumpkin #6, actually, if I'm remembering correctly!). I definitely have some regrets over that, I'm thinking I might want to try to get that one again if I can. Also, I'm kind of doing a *headdesk* moment over Caudipteryx - y'all, it's a chypre! Umm, why did I not get a bottle of this? Probably because I was too obsessed last summer over picking up my beloved Pteranodon and the others I didn't get in the first round, so in playing catch up I wasn't paying attention too closely for the note description of Caudipteryx. Anyway, so I have four perfumes to cover for you this afternoon, and two of them are quite complex, so let's just dive right in, shall we?

As a side note, if you missed my review of the first release, you can click here and it will take you to it, it has some pertinent notes about these perfumes. I want to go ahead and mention this again, though - these perfumes were designed to be "hatched" or layered, to bring out the complexity of the notes. They might seem a little flat or linear to you if you wear them alone, although of course you are welcome to do so. This is especially relevant to two of these I'm reviewing today, Giganotosaurus and Deinonychus. In addition to that, the notes again state that bits of resin may occur with aging, and it will enrich the perfume even more.

Deinonychus: Resinous Amber Accord, Limestone Amber, VA Cemetery Musk Accord, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Sandalwood, Hungarian White Cedarwood, Kobalt SL (Vanilla Orchid of Cairo) and a drop of Egyptian Temple Oudh.

Okay, might as well get the two super complex perfumes out of the way right off the bat. No need to be intimidated, Niki, you got this girl! Haha. Erm. Well, see, when I know that something is particularly special, I get nervous about writing about it. I worry I'm not going to do it justice, so I won't properly capture what it's like for you. I'm going to give this a try though, as always! Hah. Deinonychus was a blind buy for me. Right off the bat, I knew I was going to get bottles of this, Giganotosaurus, and Velociraptor (BECAUSE IT'S VELOCIRAPTOR!! EEE. More on that later.) Okay, so looking over the notes, I see my beloved Egyptian Temple Oudh. Hnnnnngggggg I cannot express my love of this enough. It's eye-rolling good, life changing, and if you're into it? Great for a mediation perfume oil, it will totally take you out of your normal life and put you into that special place. Anyway, that's just one component. The other one that caught my eye was Cemetery Musk. Now, I've had some experience with this, it's also an accord used in my beloved Snow Amber, Underlord Akhenaten, and it looks like it's been in a few other LCs that sound pretty amazing, Zombie Grave Edition and White Zombie. Hmmm. Anyway, how to describe this musk that I like so much? It's sort of a sweet, dry, clean musk? Maybe sort of a light golden feel, or even a sort of gauzy white. It's deceptive, I mean it's a light and clean musk, but it packs more of a solid punch than say NAVA'S Egyptian Musk. As a note in these three scents that I have, it sticks around for a long time, which is what I mean by deceptive. I'm okay with that, I love that smell. So if you wear Deinonychus alone, it's a little more complex than some of the Dinosaurs. That's neat. You still won't get all of the nuances unless you add another oil, but I definitely get the Cemetery Musk right out of the gate, and I'm picking up the ambers in the undercurrent. They're so lovely, I really enjoy that sort of "freshness" of NAVA amber. It's quite distinctive. I've worn Deinonychus alone for an entire day, and it's pretty amazing, actually. I put it on in the morning, and then I made a trip to Clearwater. As I was walking around in a shop, something like 6 or 8 hours later, I got this lovely, smoky scent drifting up at me. I stopped dead in my tracks and tried to figure out what it was - bingo, Deinonychus. The Egyptian Temple Oudh just kicked in and the Cemetery Musk took a step backwards - HOLY WOW THAT IS AWESOME. I mean, I'm not kidding. So let's talk about layering. (I know, this is long. But it's complex and wondrous and it deserves a full review.) When you hatch Deinonychus, it's quite a changeling. Not as drastic as Giganotosaurus is, but depending on what you layer it with, you'll get more of the other notes - the Kobalt vanilla, the cedarwood, and the sandalwood all make appearances but if you layer it with a vanilla heavy perfume, Kobalt comes out even more to play. Honestly the two stars of this always remain the Cemetery Musk and Egyptian Temple Oudh, but layered all of the aspects come out and it is glorious. I'll give some examples below. By the way, the cedar in this is not at all pencil shavings - if you've not had the please of smelling Diamond, which you totally should by the way, you won't recognize it, but it's a light, sweet wood here, almost juicy, absolutely lovely.

TL;DR: CEMETERY MUSK PARTAAAYYY. Umm. Let me try to be a little more concise. Hatching Deinonychus, it's quite multifaceted, but the stars are always Egyptian Temple Oudh and Cemetery Musk. The vanilla, sandalwood, ambers, and cedar all make appearances.

Layering recommendations: So now, let's talk about how to make certain notes sing, shall we? If you layer Deinonychus with the aforementioned Diamond, it becomes a Cemetery Musk (CM for short), Egyptian Temple Oudh (ETO), and Cedar party, with the sandalwood, vanilla, and amber as supporting cast. The woods in Diamond are so beautifully done, and they really go so beautifully with this, it's quite a stunning combination. The guy loves this particular combination. And let's say you layer this with one of NAVA's superlative vanillas. Crystal, Crystalline, Kobalt, Kobalt Dark, Ember Vanilla, OP Pakhet, Phantasm Kiss. Wait, let's hold off on Phantasm Kiss, that one is special. All of these other vanillas though, then it becomes a CM, ETO, and Kobalt party, with the ambers, sandalwood, and cedar as supporting notes. Now let's get to Phantasm Kiss. Wow. This is a good one, because it's got both vanilla AND ETO. So this really showcases how incredibly multifaceted Deinonychus is. You already know who's at the party here, I'm sure you're following along by now. So it's also especially lovely with Santalum, Santalum White, or Santalum Ombre for the same reason. You might try it with Ambre Ombre to really bring out the two lovely ambers - it's actually kind of jaw dropping good with Ambre Ombre, or White Ambre Ombre, if you want something a little lighter. Umm, let's see, what else? Oh, you could easily do Egyptian Musk, Crimson, or Kashmir with it. As far as LC suggestions? Sky's the limit. It goes well with almost any of the Oudhs I think. I don't think I've tried it with Labyrinth, but I've tried it with ETO, Copal Oudh, Samar Oudh, Inferno...Snow Amber, Holiday Egyptian Gold Amber, Embalmed Mummy, Underlord Akhenaten, Underlord Bastet, Blood Moon, Holiday Egyptian Gold Vanilla and Sandalwood, Under the Moon - really the possibilities are endless. This is such a workhorse of a scent, it's amazing.

Giganotosaurus: Resinous Amber Accord, Limestone Amber, Patchouli, Cedarwood, Ginger, Rosewood and Hungarian Teak.

Oh, girl. You had me at patchouli and rosewood. I was curious what the rest of it would smell like, but I knew I was getting a full bottle of it. Little did I know that I would blow through a half a bottle in six months! I actually saved this review for last, because as much as I love Deinonychus, I love Giganotosaurus even more. I have tried this with errydangthing. I mean it. And it's a total chameleon! With some perfumes, it turns light, feminine. With others, it deepens, becomes more earthy, woody. But I have not found anything I didn't like it with. It's been blowing my mind and I can't get enough. And the more I age it, the more delightful it becomes. I can't believe how the different facets come out with different blends. This; this is the reason I am such a fangirl for NA. I swear, they're magicians. They truly are. Now, you can wear this alone, or with another Dinosaur (see my note at the end of the review for more about this) and it is lovely. As it dries, it changes. More facets come out. At first, I get patchouli and amber, and hints of some lovely wood beneath. The rosewood comes out, and then the teak and cedar, and they are all playing together, as if they are creating a symphony. It's lovely, and sort of a yin and yang, both masculine and feminine, how in the world? I don't know, but when I do my layering experiments, this is further reinforced. It seems to somehow smell different with every perfume oil, even the SL vanillas - for instance, it's a little darker and more earthy/woody with Kobalt Dark, and sort of lighter and feminine with Crystalline. I don't know how to explain it other than telling you it's magical. I could keep going, waxing poetic, but I'm probably not very poetic, and I think you get the idea at this point. My initial plan last year was to get a backup of Cryolophosaurus, but I fell so hard for Giganotosaurus, I ended up panicking and getting a backup of that instead. Seth, you sir are a genius. First, you (and Bastet!) get me to dip my toes into the magical water of NAVA gourmands, and now this? I'm struggling for words here.

TL;DR: The most magical of all the Dinosaurs, in my opinion. This is extremely versatile and smells quite different depending on what you layer it with. It also is lovely and long lasting worn alone.

Layering suggestions: Oh boy. Here's where it gets crazy. I don't think there's anything I wouldn't recommend you try it with, because why not? I haven't had a bad experience yet. Tonight I'm wearing it with the incredible Byzantium Amber, and it's so lovely, sort of feminine. One of my favorite options is Labyrinth, a patchouli oudh, or Patchouli Ombre. Those are both rather heavy, earthy blends, and Giganotosaurus lifts them both, making the patchouli more wearable for those of you who might be a little nervous about a patch-heavy scent. Speaking of patch-heavy, Hessonite. Child. I understand Hessonite packs quite a punch, but please, try adding a dab to Giganotosaurus, you will thank me. So, everything else under the sun. Mummy Crypt. Holiday Egyptian Gold Amber, White Ambre Ombre, Santal Ombre, Black Raven, Bastet Amber, Gabriel, Pyewacket Cat, Anticipation, Carter, Enigma, Holy Grail, Cecilia, Horus Haven 2, Egyptian Temple Oudh, OP Baba, OP Hathor, Ozymandias, Under The Moon - okay seriously, just try it with everything. Hah!

Protoceratops: Resinous Amber Accord, Limestone Amber, Crystalline (Egyptian Vanilla Orchid stigma Resin), Kobalt (Vanilla Orchid of Cairo), Crystal Absolute (Vanilla Musk), Vanilla Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream Accord, Vanilla Caramel, Bastet Amber and Egyptian Sugar accord.

Okay, I almost passed on this. Almost. I was looking at the notes and thinking, I can't wear that. It will come off as too sweet on my skin, I tend to make foodie blends too foodie. This is one of the reasons I love NA. Always expanding my horizons. I read a review from another blogger, and she said it was not overly foodie, so I though huh - maybe I can sneak in a bottle of this last minute. I somehow managed it, and Protoceratops showed me that I can start to branch out a little on foodie blends. This is...delightful. If you wear it alone, it's kind of an ice cream, waffle cone, buttery vanilla. However! The ambers lift this up and keep it from going too far into foodie territory. It's a little more light, and clean. Not overly caramelized, like some foodie vanilla blends do on my skin. And that Bastet Amber is the icing on the cake, I LOVE that stuff. It's incredible, so there are a melange of ambers in this to lift this up. And do you see what I see at the end of the notes? Vanilla Ice Cream Accord? WHAT IS THAT? I needs it. I do. Because although this is lovely and light, I'm catching whiffs of that, and it smells delightful. So, around the time that this was released, they very kindly included a sample of Bastet's Ice Cream Accord. There was no plan at that point to release a full bottle of it, but it was an instant hit. It's SO good. It's definitely a foodie blend, but I actually slather myself in it! Unfh. It's like vanilla ice cream in a fresh baked buttery sugar waffle cone. It's like walking into an ice cream parlour and being hit with that delightful smell. Anyway, not a review for that, but just so you know, if you want to emphasize the ice cream aspect of this Dinosaur, that's your best bet. They ended up releasing three versions of Bastet's Ice Cream Accord over the holidays last year. Anyway, back to Protoceratops. If you wear this alone, when you first put it on, you get a good whiff of the ambers - Bastet Amber really brings these to the forefront in this blend. As it dries down, it starts getting more creamy, and the waffle cone starts to come out a little bit. Yum. The amber is still there, so it never gets that overly foodie aspect. It's quite well balanced. This is pretty lovely alone, but when you pair it with other blends, it's really a star. Mmmm, that sugar is lovely, like a crust of sugar, that shows up when layered.

TL;DR: Lovely, lovely creamy vanilla ice cream with a sugared, buttery waffle cone. Lifted away from the foodie category by the addition of Bastet Amber, it's perfectly balanced - if you are nervous of foodie blends, this is a fantastic option for dipping your toes in.

Layering suggestions: Go crazy. This one is easy! Any of the vanillas go well with this. If you're lucky enough to have a bottle of the now discontinued SL Moonstone, that's a great choice, as it's a little more foodie, but it also easily goes with Crystalline, Crystal, Kobalt, or Kobalt Dark. If you want to ramp up the ambers more, add some Bastet Amber. I like it in the summer with Santalum White or White Ambre Ombre. I've worn this with some of the Tea Service blends and it's fantastic, like Coconut Milk or Sweet Santalum Milk. I have paired it with tea blends too, Black Oudh Jack, Underlord Bastet, Luxor Lemon, White Tea Vanilla. Try it with OP Pakhet or Tawaret. I've worn it with any number of fruit blends too - Ophelia, Egyptian Peach Blossom, Black Crystalline Black Fig, Raphael, Fig Noir Ombre, (I have a lot of NAVA fig!) Ichabod, Black Crystal Candy Apple. I like it with Vamp, Victorian Candy Cane Crystalline, Selket Anti-Venom Rez, Coconut Cockatoo, Adele. Offbeat but also works: Anticipation, Nag Champa Seahorse, California Redwood Crystal Musk, Holiday Egyptian Gold Amber, Halloween 2017. If you have a coffee blend, such as Seth's Secret Sweet Vanilla Bean Black Coffee, Protoceratops adds a lovely cream and sugar element. Over the top? Sure, Bastet's Ice Cream Accord, Spooktacular, Orb, Poison Pumpkin, or any of the 31 Pumpkin Library! This one pairs so well with all kinds of blends.

Velociraptor: Resinous Amber Accord, Limestone Amber, Black Musk Absolute, Black Amber and a drop of aged viscous Velociraptor Kashmir red musk.

Oh, sir. OF COURSE I HAD TO GET YOU. Anyone who knows me knows my fondness for Jurassic Park. So no matter what the notes were, I HAD to have him. Hah! Well, remember our friend Utahraptor from the first collection? Velociraptor has emphasis of the Black Musk, rather than the Kashmir. This is absolutely glorious. Yes, you still smell the Kashmir, because of course, there's no way that Kashmir is going anywhere without getting noticed! But it's not the star of this show, and that's okay, because NAVA's take on Black Musk is perfect - it's not too heavy, it's balanced in just the right way. Often, black musk blends can be too overpowering for me, but never with NAVA. The amber in this is definitely noticeable too, with the addition of Black Amber. This is lovely to wear alone, but when you hatch it with something else, it really comes to life! This one is not shy. It's definitely as potent and long wearing as Tyrannosaurus and Utahraptor, so bear that in mind when applying. If you don't mind that, slather away - I do!

TL;DR: This Dinosaur is the opposite of Utahraptor, in that the Black Musk is the star, but don't worry, both Kashmir and Black Amber show up as well.

Layering suggestions: Oh, this is fun. Try it with any musks, I actually love this with Egyptian Musk, and of course it's beautiful with SL Kashmir. I like it with the SL Vanillas, but I also like it with Santalum, Myrrh Ombre, Ember, OP Osiris. I love it with the Oudhs like Egyptian Temple or Copal. Absolutely amazing with Kadmium Amber or Eternal Egypt Decade. Try it with the Holiday Egyptian SLs like Frankincense, Myrhh, Gold Amber, or Gold Vanilla and Sandalwood. I also like it with the Nag Champa Seahorses - all three, but particularly NCS Kashmir. I've worn it with Pandora Enigma, Egypt 1, Mummy Crypt, Blood Moon.

Something that I forgot to mention in the previous review and I need to edit is that these are lovely when you pair them together! And I've done this several times with different combinations. Pteranodon with Protoceratops or Deinonychus, Velociraptor with Utahraptor, Diplodocus with Giganotosaurus, Protoceratops with almost anything! Hah.

Another thing to mention, if you have eNVie Saphir, many of these are stunning when hatched with Saphir. Definitely worth experimenting with - I have Saphir, Ambre Saphir, and Encens Saphir, and they all do well with the Dinosaurs.

Phew. So, that wasn't quite as wordy as part one, but it was still wordy huh? I certainly hope my layering suggestions gave you some ideas for hatching these! I think some people may not be aware that these were designed with that in mind, although I do think they are lovely alone as well. None of them, alone, seem to be a single note, because of the ambers. Anyway! We are now two days away from the grand reopening, and I'm at the edge of my seat. Have a lovely evening folks!