More CB I Hate Perfume

Review by Tom Continuing the double header, I decided to get three more of Brosius' creations, and then one more as a blind buy.... Burning Leaves Absolutely amazing! I don't know how this man does it- but this is exactly the smell of burning leaf piles, starting with the tiniest whiff of starter fluid, the leaf piles blazing. It dries down to the most amazing simulacrum of leaves that I can only quote March who put it so well: But here's the kicker for me -- if I wait for hours, until the scent starts to fade, the smoke clears and what I get THEN is just "leaves" -- you know that exact smell of being inside the leaf fort you made as a kid, or jumping in a pile of leaves? Even now, as a boring grownup, walking down the road when the leaves are piled up like snowdrifts and there's that funny, dry, almost-dusty fallen leaf smell... you know? THAT smell. Is there a better smell? It is the smell of being six years old, playing outside at dusk in the fall chill, without a jacket (even though it's just cold enough to need one), looking forward to Halloween, and feeling like everything in the world was created just for my pleasure. In the Library This one is also very successful- it really smells like like a book in a slightly dusty library- the smell of paper and leather and dust. I also get something that smells something like glue and oddly, cinnamon. Interesting, but I don't see myself wearing it. But I would love having it around... Gathering Apples Another stunner- I don't know how he does it; this smells exactly like a fresh Macintosh apple: roaring fresh from the orchard fresh. It's so evocative that I can almost taste it. The initial burst of apple mellows slightly and becomes more wearable, once again it's not for me, but it's really nice. Musk I bought this blind at the inferred behest of March and Colombina, who described it as being the stankiest of the stank. Like Colombina, I have graduated to the idea that MKK is something that I can wear to the office, so I was expecting something that would be like "Nuit de la Mineshaft" (and maybe you have to have been a New Yorker of a certain age to get the reference). I was actually surprised: maybe my personal De-Skank-o-tron was in force. I got an interesting "berry musk", like blackberries gone bad. Not fermented, but blackberries hanging out at a club, smoking Luckies and being of easy virtue. As time passed, it grew more and more, not exactly strong, but disconcerting in a way that I knew that I was completely and hopelessly in thrall over. It's not really fruity, it's not really musk, it's something primeval and fecund, an ancient spirit of Beltane. The best blind buy I ever made, and yes, I will be wearing it alone. Although, March and Colombina, it is DIVINE layered with Yatagan: the blackberry sweetness of the CB nicely cuts the ashtray accord of Yatagan's opening, while deepening and amping up the leather. It both civilises and makes more dangerous Yatagan: it turns the barbarian into Jason Stratham, still the kick-ass barbarian, but in an Armani suit The images of the bottles are from CB I Hate Perfume.