Hi friends, I'm back with thoughts on my new Nui Cobalt Critters! For my reviews of 24 past Critters (including all of the Rabbits and Squirrels), see my recent post HERE. As I wrote before, this collection isn't entirely sweet cuddly woodland creatures, but it does have a lot of those, including three of my all-time favorite Nui Cobalts: Little Brown Rabbit, Little White Rabbit, and Lilac Rabbit (so of course I had to try this year's new Rabbit!) Here are my thoughts on five of this year's new releases, with an unexpected favorite...
Ordering specs: Nui Cobalt's website is easy to navigate, shipping is very affordable at $3.45, items come very securely packed, and customer service is always spectacular. I don't think I've ever placed an order that took more than 2-3 business days to ship (and recently it has usually been literally the very next day). Samples are generous - 1.15 mls at least - in vials with wand caps. Each order comes with one free sample, chosen by them (there’s no box to insert requests).
Nui Cobalt's typical annual schedule of releases: (I [and especially Nui Cobalt] make no promises, of course, that these collections will recur; this is just in my experience)

• Late January - Valentines (Philias, Crushes, and Les Désirs Dangereux)
• Late February - Bees, Favorite Things (formerly also Celtic Treasures)
• Late March - April Fools
• Late April - Critters
• Late May - Fae Folk
• Late June - Big Island, Dances
• Late July - Witches' Utility Blends
• Late August - Autumn 1
• Late September - Autumn 2
• Late October - Whole Being, Astrology (formerly also Ascended Masters, Good & Evil)
• Late November - Yule/Nutcracker
• Late December - Gamers & Geeks

These perfumes were provided as press samples by Nui Cobalt in exchange for an honest review.
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Golden Retriever [Sunflower, amber resin, budding dogwood, fenugreek, and fresh-baked bread] Toast! A warm, ambery, spiced scent featuring toast made from a slightly sweetened bread. It's remarkable how sunny and summery this is - yet it's unmistakeably toast, and I keep getting distracted by this scent as I do other things, absentmindedly wondering where the breakfast is. If you like Poesie Amaterasu [Golden sandalwood incense, rice milk, bright cardamom, amber, dry wheat, and sunflowers], you'd love this; it has that same amiable warmth (though, of course, without the cardamom). As it starts to dry, the botanicals (the dogwood and fenugreek) come out more strongly (still with spiced ambery toast as a strong base note).
Red Admiral Butterfly [Blood orange, nasturtium flower, coriander, subtle blackwood, wild strawberry, and fresh garden basil] - This strawberry-blood orange combination is fabulous - the blood orange actually doesn't stick out much by itself, but it makes the strawberry note super juicy and takes away the candied artificiality of most strawberry notes in perfume. LOVE. I'm not super into this strong basil note, though. I love fruity-florals, but not so much fruity-herbals, and this is very much "juicy strawberry + basil and other dried herbs from a witch's cottage" (the "other dusty herbs" bit must be from the coriander note?). If they ever do that strawberry-blood orange combo again, I'll be all over it, it's quite stunning!
Black Sheep [Clean lamb's wool accord, myrrh resin, black seed, ambrette, and barely a whisper of oudh] - This is dusty twilight in a bottle. It's peaceful evening; it's cozy winter snuggles; it's the exhale when you can finally rest. It's undeniably dark, but soft and gentle, and I'd even describe it as gauzy. There is indeed but a whisper of myrrh and oud, just enough to make it dusty and dark, with the softest (and totally non-sheepy) cashmere and clean, slightly powdery ambrette. It doesn't have great longevity, lasting just under half a day on me, but holy wow is it amazing. I didn't know what to expect with this one - just looking at the notes, it's easy to think it could be too smoky or harsh - but it's beautiful.
Black Swan [Smooth tobacco, wild violet, humid black orchid, Peru balsam, clove bud, and a touch of star anise] - This feels like the bolder cousin of Black Sheep - it shares the same kind of dark, dusky beauty, but is significantly stronger, bolder, and less cuddly. The violets and anise (licorice) are strongest, with a really fruity purple plum/fig note too that's not at all listed but definitely arrives on my skin, over a base of the smoothest tobacco. Husband loves this tobacco. "Bring me that bottle," he declared upon sniffing my wrist, "I want to see what it does on my skin." And woah, it's SO different on him - the balsam is SO much stronger, making this a woody tobacco with a gently floral background. Are any of us surprised that he snaffled it?
Harlequin Rabbit [Nutmeg and tonka bean nuzzle up against toasted marshmallow, auburn cashmere, white pepper, black tea, and a trace of carrot seed] - Where Little Brown Rabbit is the snuggly evening one, Little White Rabbit is the clean elegant one, and Lilac Rabbit the soft pretty one, Harlequin Rabbit feels to me like the rainy-day one. I love this concept of the harlequin rabbit - that's a real rabbit coloring, by the way, and SUPER pretty, look it up! - created here by the Rabbit base plus black and white notes. This scent features a strong marshmallow note, the pretty, clean soapiness of Little White Rabbit, and malty notes not yet recognizable as black tea. It's cheeky, to be sure, but it also feels young, like it needs time to grow into itself. Nui Cobalt has a gorgeous black tea note, but it's surprisingly (and disappointingly) not that strong in this scent. Right now, Harlequin Rabbit feels like tea-dusted marshmallows (plus that soapy cottonflower note) rather than the more autumnal "rich black tea with marshmallow sweetness and a peppery bite" that I'm hoping it will develop into. I think it'll get there with a little aging, and indeed, the black tea and white pepper have already become stronger just over the course of my multiple wears of this, one a few days after its arrival and the other just yesterday (a week and a half later). Meanwhile, Husband interestingly smells generic "spices" from the tea and pepper, and says that the scent overall reminds him of Christmas markets (and he's quite enthusiastic in his praise of this one on me).

Personally...

I like Harlequin Rabbit (and it will certainly join my collection, standing alongside my other beloved Rabbits) but I don't yet love it as much as I thought I would. I really do think it just needs time to finish growing into itself. Black Sheep is the quiet standout for me - she's soft and unassuming, but she's a stunner. Red Admiral Butterfly is also quite a triumph - that glorious juicy strawberry! - and anybody who likes (or at least won't mind) the herbal notes should absolutely give it a try. All five of these truly have such artistry and strength of character, so you can't go wrong if you pick the ones that have notes you love.

The Umbrella Corporation is a US company that officially produces medicines and vaccines in ist nationwide branches. In secret, however, in the underground laboratory of the estate of the company founder Oswald E Spencer, who lives in the wooded outskirts of the small town of Raccoon City, illegal biological warfare agents are being worked on in order to sell them profitably on the black market. It is kept top secret that parts of the US government and the military also have business contacts with Umbrella and have commissioned the production of a new, highly efficient biological weapon: the T-virus.
One day, an anonymous source leaks information to „Stars“ that indicates illegal activities at Umbrella. Stars is a federal agency for the defense of biohazards that was founded in response to a terrorist attack with deadly viruses in San Francisco a few years earlier. Stars is alarmed, but is not given permission to investigate. The agency is incomprehensible and continues to try to get the green light for ist actions.
At this time, a certain Doctor James Marcus, a high-ranking scientist at Umbrella, contacts government circles that are now highly concerned, in order to propose a deal in view of the impending revelation of Umbrella’s machinations and thus the revelation of the involvement of key US agencies in the production of bioweapons: the elimination of evidence of the business contacts between the United States and Umbrella in return for personal immunity from prosecution and the provision of a sample of the T virus. Markus plans to run away and sell the virus to the highest bidder. What his co-conspirators do not suspect is that the scientist plans not only to sell the virus, but also field data from ist use against a trained special unit, which will document ist effectiveness. The Star task force that is to carry out the expected upcoming raid on the Spencer estate is to act as a test object. The plan is put into action. As a result, Dr Marcus causes a T-virus outbreak in the estate and in the laboratory, as well as the release of experimental BOWs for their upcoming use against the unsuspecting elite troops.
The agency has now been given clearance to investigate and an operation against Umbrella is planned, in which task forces of Stars gain access to the company’s branches and the private residence of the company’s founder Oswald E. Spencer in order to secure possible evidence. Team Alpha with members Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton and others under the leadership of a certain Albert Wesker is assigned the Spencer estate…
It later emerges that investigations were not initially permitted because the relevant positions were filled with insiders who had already been installed when Stars was founded in order to make the agency’s work more difficult in the event of Umbrella being compromised and to gain time until measures were taken to conceal the involvement of official bodies in the company’s machinations. It was also the same bodies that finally permitted investigations because a plan to cover up the matter was now in place.
It is also revealed that Captain Wesker is also a contact of the conspirators, who in reality is not tasked with securing evidence during his deployment at the estate, but rather with gaining access to the underground laboratory, taking the virus away from Marcus against the agreement and eliminating him as a witness and participant in the conspiracy. So it was no coincidence that Team Alpha was the one sent to the estate.
It is also revealed that Dr. Marcus himself was the one who leaked the information to the authorities in order to bring about exactly this situation of a sinking Umbrella with him as the profiteer and reaper, and to take revenge on the company because it was not he but a certain Doctor William Birkin who had been made the chief scientist in the estate laboratory, although it was not he but Marcus who was responsible for the breakthrough in T-virus research. The attack in San Francisco mentioned above was an early version of the virus that had been sold to terrorists. A version that leads to the immediate death of the infected and therefore could not be spread effectively as intended, making it unsuitable for military use. It was ultimately thanks to Marcus‘ tireless work that the T-virus could be modified to turn infected people into „zombies“ so that they are kept alive in a primitive and violent form and can spread the virus further. This is what made the project the weapon with high destructive potential that the US military had commissioned Umbrella to create.
When Markus now realizes that his agreements have been invalidated and his plans have failed, he – in order to evade Stars and Wesker – releases the bioweapon that was actually too dangerous and too uncontrollable to be released and tested: the „Tyrant“.
At the beginning of these events, the Alpha Team begins ist supposed investigative mission and gains access to the house…
Without knowing what a rigged game they have gotten themselves into and without even suspecting what is in store for them…
This is the beginning of a nightmare…
This is the beginning of the events of Resident Evil Reimagine!

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan-Breckenridge/publication/324063627_Economic_Abuse_as_an_Invisible_Form_of_Domestic_Violence_A_Multicountry_Review/links/5ac5897c0f7e9b1067d4ce9e/Economic-Abuse-as-an-Invisible-Form-of-Domestic-Violence-A-Multicountry-Review.pdf
Crossposting audience: This is the first subreddit with scientific research on economic abuse. Please follow to learn more about the dynamics and damage economic abuse does.
One frequently hidden or “invisible” form of abuse perpetrated within intimate partner relationships is economic abuse, also referred to as financial abuse in much of the literature.
Establishing the prevalence of all forms of violence against women (VAW) has been a priority since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1 adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly (Articles 12 and 19). Most recently, the 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating VAW and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention,2 further details the importance of research intended to move beyond prevalence in order to better understand the dynamics of VAW in Europe (including IPV; Article 11).
. This is where abusers use a variety of tactics to maintain control over their partners by forcing physical, emotional, and financial dependency and producing a continual fear which prevents women from challenging their actions
Women forced into such dependency are at greater risk, according to the marital dependency theory (Vyas & Watts, 2008) and the interdependence theory (Rusbult & Van Lange, 2003), of being trapped in the relationship. This explains why women report that economic concerns are one of their top reasons why leaving the abuser is so difficult (Sanders & Schnabel, 2006; Strube, 1988).
Economic insecurity is oftentimes seen after leaving a violent relationship, sometimes as a desperate ploy to use covert force to force the person to stay with them
Practitioners and emerging qualitative research have for some time recognized that IPV contributes to “poverty, financial risk and financial insecurity for women, sometimes long after the relationship has ended” (Braaf & Barrett Meyering, 2010, p. 5). From this perspective, economic insecurity is framed as a likely consequence of IPV for women leaving a violent relationship at the time of separation and in its aftermath.
Workforce discrimination from sexist narratives with foundations of analytical incompetence still exist today and still result in the wage gap, often to keep women commodified and to force unpaid labor from them as the insignia of a country still struggling with backwardsness.
Economic insecurity is, without doubt, a gendered issue with factors such as the gendered nature of care, the undervaluing of women’s paid and unpaid work, and workforce discrimination all contributing to women consistently experiencing poorer social and economic outcomes throughout their life course.
Economic abuse plus general economic insecurity for women is truly violent and barbaric, keeping women exposed to violence where correct pay is protection and not paying correctly is purposefully exposing them to destabilization and violence. Nobody who doesn’t struggle with violence is going to be found doing this.
Given that existing prevalence data provide evidence of gender asymmetry in victimization and perpetration of IPV, it is not a surprise that economic abuse is compounded by the context of women’s economic insecurity more generally. It is also possible that victims do not always understand the ongoing consequences and extent of the damage caused by economic abuse prior to leaving the relationship and so may fail to recognize economic abuse as a form of IPV during the relationship.
Economic abuse is defined as a pattern where individuals interfere with their partner’s ability to acquire, use and maintain economic resources.
This means they are preventing savings, lying about wealth and access, and trying to heap costs to drain them. To do this, violence is required at all three expressions. Economic abuse has been defined as a deliberate pattern of control in which individuals interfere with their partner’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain economic resources (Adams, Sullivan, Bybee, & Greeson, 2008; Postmus, Plummer, McMahon, Murshid, & Kim, 2012).
Economic abusers control, exploit or sabotage employment for the purpose of interfering with the partner’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain economic resources. They know employment can remedy this so they purposefully interfere where they are legally barred from doing so to retain power and control. This also includes delusional people who think they are someone’s partner and are not, such as the delusion we are seeing from Xi Jinping not just to America but also to the Philippines trying to say and act like he is in charge of them while not in any way being in charge of them outside of weak internal vulnerabilities that need to be removed promptly.
For instance, Postmus, Plummer, and Stylianou (2016) suggest that economic abuse involves behaviors that control, exploit, or sabotage an individual’s economic resources including employment
Economic abuse is more than financial abuse; it includes taking away transportation, housing, employment and education. It is therefore violent, taking away what one would have through use of force.
The distinction made here between economic and financial abuse is that financial abuse is part of economic abuse and involves similar behaviors; however, financial abuse focuses specifically on individual money and finances and not economic resources (e.g., transportation, a place to live, employment, and education; Sharp-Jeffs, 2015a).
Deliberately causing housing insecurity, destroying credit, malicious interference with work and educational participation are all the signs of an economic abuser who shows violent use of financial force to harm a woman, especially when money is protection and they deliberately leave them unprotected as a way to force violence upon them. They are therefore violent people. Some of the tactics of economic abuse include reduced access to savings and assets (Braaf & Barrett Meyering, 2010), deliberately causing housing insecurity by damaging property or not making rent or mortgage payments (Valentine & Breckenridge, 2016), and malicious interference with workforce and educational participation (Breckenridge, Walden, & Flax, 2014).
There has been a failure in past years to connect economic abuse to use of force as violence, but it is now being established to be so. Other studies have included more than one question on economic abuse but again, fail to identify the term as a focus of the work.
Employment sabotage is a way to prevent the acquiring, using, and maintaining of financial resources to keep being violent to someone in a way that only backwards and violent nations have not joined forces to prevent.
Tolman and Wang (2005) focused on employment sabotage efforts that abusers use against victims in their literature review.
The scale of economic abuse (SEA) specifically identifies economically abusive behaviors and ties it to use of force as violence. Adams, Sullivan, Bybee, and Greeson (2008) created the first Scale of Economic Abuse (SEA) from several sources such as existing research and from interviews with advocates and IPV survivors. The researchers started with a 120-item scale covering several concepts of economic abuse including preventing women’s resource acquisition, preventing women’s use of resources, and exploiting women’s resources. After further testing, the final scale included 28 questions and two subscales including economic exploitation and economic control.
Further testing of the SEA-12 with a new sample of survivors found that the SEA-12 was a reliable and valid measure of economic abuse and that such abuse is distinctly different from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse (Stylianou et al., 2013). Additionally, the testing found that the three constructs were also uniquely different from each other and from other forms of abuse
The awareness of economic abuse as violence is very, very new. Similar to envy studies, there is not much previous work on it and lots of glaring gaps. research to date subsumes economic abuse into the categories of emotional or psychological abuse, fails to report the findings as economic abuse, or does not report the results of the limited number of survey questions at all.
Even defining financial abuse seems to have many DV resources struggling, as it includes a mathematical/proximal violence that isn’t direct and doesn’t allow for immediate and obvious visual verification, but more so takes away the protection of finances and purposefully endangers the victim, deliberately meaning to put them in harms way and experience violence. This shows this is very new if people are even struggling to define the prevention of the acquiring, using and maintaining of resources through forceful, aggressive and violent interference.
Each citation includes a brief description and whether: (1) economic abuse was clearly defined or not, (2) economic abusive tactics were included or not, and (3) which constructs were captured in the definition/tactics
A litany of common behaviors are found on those who engage in economic violence . Such economic control tactics included: restricting access to finances, refusing to contribute financially for necessities or other items, restricting access to financial information or involvement with financial decision-making, and controlling the household spending.
This was followed by economic exploitation (n ¼ 17) and employment sabotage (n ¼ 15). Economic exploitation included tactics such as misusing family finances; damaging property; stealing property, money, or identities; going into debt through coercion or in secret; kicking the victim out of the living situation; using wealth as a weapon or as a threat; selling necessary household or personal items; restricting access to health care or insurance; and denying or restricting access to transportation.
The checklist of controlling behaviors included a sublist of economic abuse, showing high awareness of the situation l.
The Checklist of Controlling Behaviors was used in two articles and included an economic abuse subscale capturing economic control and economic exploitation.
The SEA-12 is a breakthrough tool helping struggling researchers make something that is proximal and indirect coherent and clear to be violence in a way that a sensory, clear and direct violence detection system will fail to detect. It is still however the root cause of violence, stripping the victim of the protection that is inherent in correct compensation, and therefore encouraging and creating violence towards them as well as making it hard for them to leave violence and making it easier for the violent person to be violent towards them, showing violent people often just like being violent disgustingly enough (countries with high gore consumption all show signs of addiction around it that mirrors the pathways of addiction seen in those who are envious and jealous). Four articles presented an unclear picture of how economic abuse was measured.
The discouragement or slander of independence is a red flag of a particularly economic abuser. which suggest that a survivor’s increased financial dependence on an partner increases her risk for experiencing abuse. Thus, to better understand how and to what extent survivors’ increased access to economic resources might lead to increased independence from abusive relationships, we might also need to learn about the modes of financial entrapment that are used to restrict economic resources beyond those included as part of any measurement used.
Culture sets the stage for economic IPV. For instance, Confucianism was cited as a root cause of the violence behind economic abuse; ironically, violence being the opposite of order and harmony.
For example, in a Chinese population study of sociodemographic factors in domestic violence, Cao, Yang, Wang, and Zhang (2014) stressed the importance of cultural context, pointing to the sharp division of gender roles and responsibility for financial matters being the province of male family members based on Confucian philosophy. Hence, this cultural context fundamentally contributes to gender inequality and particular behavioral forms of IPV.
Overt abuse is seen in short term relationship; it seems that long term relationships have a more insidious pattern that is harder for even researchers to put into words horrifically enough, making it extremely hard to extract the victims when even the people disseminating the information struggle to have the words for what they’re seeing violently happen to the victim.
This is pertinent as some research has suggested that the “patterning” of abuse may change over the length of the relationship, with physical abuse decreasing and emotional, financial, and sexual abuse increasing with age over time (Bows, 2015).
Gendered division of use of finances can be so tightly linked that its presence itself could literally mean economic abuse.
Finally, it would be useful to establish at what point and in which contexts the gendered division of the management of financial resources and economic opportunities in intimate relationships actually becomes financial control and abuse.
Since access to technology and access to finances are completely linked, the use of surveillance in violence towards women is a necessary key component to the financial violence they experience. Those who try to take away access to internet and technology are fundamentally those who are economically violent abusers. Taking something away from someone is not the same as equal access. It is therefore forceful inequity and extremely taking something away from someone is not the same as equal access. It is therefore forceful inequity and therefore purposefully violent and revealing an understudied intersection of rape and envy.
For example, the development of digital technologies has increased the types of surveillance tactics that perpetrators now employ as part of their coercive control; there may be economic abuse tactics that are yet to be identified as such.
Finally, the paper cites that economic abusers discourage independence where discouraging independence is acknowledged to be something only a predator would do to encourage weak prey, not a partner. In addition it is a way to try to keep people, particularly women, in a financially violent situation. Finally, since it is mostly seen on only violent people when leaving a relationship, it can be a vehicle to rape to try to convince the victim they have to go back to the relationship they do not want to go back to. That would show premeditation to commit rape.

I am happy to announce that the DNA Doe Project has been able to identify Maury County Jane Doe 1975 as Annie Carolyn Jenkins. Below is some additional information about our work on this case, in addition to some links to articles regarding this case:
The Maury County Sheriff’s Office and the DNA Doe Project have successfully identified the remains of a woman found in 1975 as Annie Carolyn Jenkins.
On Valentine’s Day in 1975, hunters discovered the skeletal remains of an unidentified black woman off Highway 99 East in Maury County, Tennessee. The woman, who came to be known as “Maury County Jane Doe”, appeared to be in her late teens or early 20s and showed signs of trauma. Despite an extensive investigation by local authorities at the time, her identity remained a mystery for more than 48 years.
In 2019, the Maury County Sheriff’s Office brought the case to the DNA Doe Project to try investigative genetic genealogy, a new technique using DNA relative matches to Jane Doe to build a family tree and find her name. Donors to the nonprofit organization funded the expensive lab work needed to produce a DNA profile from the Jane Doe’s severely degraded remains. It would take the efforts of four forensic labs over three years, but by the summer of 2022, Astrea Forensics and Kevin Lord had successfully created the profile and it was uploaded to GEDmatch.com, an online database used by law enforcement.
“It was particularly difficult to extract enough DNA to build a workable profile for this case,” said Kevin Lord, Director of Lab Logistics, “We worked through three samples over two years to get enough data to build a profile. Astrea Forensics really came through for us on this case.”
When the expert volunteer investigative genetic genealogists with DNA Doe Project started their work, they quickly pieced together one side of the Jane Doe’s family. But their research stalled when they tried to find the other half of the “union couple”, the parents of Jane Doe.
“We were working with too few, too distant matches – sort of like trying to do a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle with only 20 of the pieces,” said Lorrie Burns, a volunteer who worked on the case since its beginning. “The picture was incomplete, and we couldn’t tell how they connected.”
But, the team didn’t give up, committing more than 530 hours to the genealogical research. They narrowed the search to a handful of the closest family members, and Detective Keith Wrather of the Maury County Sheriff’s Department made contact, confirming that the family had been searching for Annie Jenkins since she boarded a flight from Chicago to Tennessee in 1974 and disappeared. She was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be a small part of this incredible team effort to return the identity of Annie Carolyn Jenkins, and to ensure that her family has some answers,” said team leader Traci Onders. “The pain of the ambiguity of a missing sister or daughter is hard to even imagine, and our hearts are with the Lipscomb family as they absorb the news of Annie’s loss.”
The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the Maury County Sheriff’s Office, who entrusted the case to the DNA Doe Project; Astrea Forensics for extraction of DNA and sample prep for whole-genome sequencing; HudsonAlpha Discovery, Lakehead University’s Paleo-DNA Lab, and The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for additional lab work; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FTDNA for providing their databases; our generous donors who joined our mission and contributed to this case; and DDP’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home.
https://dnadoeproject.org/case/maury-county-jane-doe-1975/ https://www.wsmv.com/2024/05/08/remains-tennessee-woman-killed-1975-homicide-identified-nearly-50-years-late

Now, hear me out. So, Opium has those 3 members (excluding Carti because he's on another level). For a while now, people have been saying that Ken is much better than the rest, even Lone but I am here to prove that they are wrong.
Firstly, the only reason they are spouting such nonsense is because Lone's last album, If Looks Could Kill, wasn't well received. Now, granted, it was a different vibe than his earlier work and it can be seen as repetitive so I understand the hate but it is still a very good album. The guitar samples are pretty crazy and I feel like the whole aura he brings with it is amazing. Check out Fly Shit or Make Sum Work to see my point.
On the flipside, the only reason Ken is being glazed right now is because HIS last album, A Great Chaos, is much more popular. Again, I like this album more than ILCK, but this is a flawed view to have as it doesn't represent Ken as a whole.
Music wise, I think Lone is much more creative and has better vision than Ken. Dropping ONE flop album doesn't disprove that. If we look in the past, his earlier albums CLEAR Ken's albums. Ken was repetitive, barely creative and trying too hard to be like Carti (save a few songs) while Lone's music was on a whole other level. Examples:
Ken's repetetiveness can be seen on songs like Clutch, Hella and Shake.
While Lone's older work is so diverse and much more creative. See Mud, Miley Cyrus or VVS Valentine to see how his music is more innovative from the beginning.
The only reason Ken is getting fame now is because he has some really good producers but Lone has been producing as well for longer and he clears him in that respect.

My neurologist suggested the Smell and Taste Center in Philadelphia for smell retraining. The evaluation process tested 40 scents and 53 tastes in an at-home test in which I scored in the 12th percentile. Not good. Nine out of ten applicants tested better than I did. I lost my sense of smell in 2019. I don't know how or why, but one day, while sampling perfumes for a Valentine's Day gift, I realized I wasn't getting anything at all from those sample vials. However, I had no idea I also had a taste problem. For that test, I had to guess on every sample but one. All these years I'd been thinking I was tasting normally, even when the information was missing. The brain is an amazingly flexible organ which fills in the gaps automatically with what it expects to be there, even when it isn't. When I pick up that cup of hot cocoa, it's hot, it's chocolatey, it's sweet, and foamy. I would swear I tasted the hot chocolate, but that was only a recalled memory of what it might have been.

If I’ve made any mistakes, let me know! Here’s a mod list before the long, typo-infested, rambly bits!
u/lonelytwatwaffle (x3)
u/Jane_Q
u/JaimeKJ
u/kittycatcon
u/babyraspberry (x6)
u/bluedecemberart (x5)
u/comingtogetyoubabs (x5)
u/constructionlower549 (x7)
u/cswl (x6)
u/DoraDoodle (x4)
u/ez330 (x4)
u/isar-love
u/Jdoodle7 (x4)
u/jvanct88 (x2)
u/korewrites (x2)
u/libertyprogrammer
u/LeeElla
u/mikepenpal6 (x5)
u/mlks00 (x2)
u/monetmonkey
u/mydinosaurdidit (x8)
u/onelittlericeball (x4)
u/pinkpengin (x7)
u/TigerLady13 (x4)
u/travel4me22
u/umeshufan (x14!)
I’ll start this with a huge apology. It was never my intention to take so long on my break or to post a thank you for all the amazing mail you’ve been sending. A few months were super… not stellar, and I just kind of wanted to hide under a rock so I wouldn’t bother anyone until I could feel a bit more like myself, and with all of that, you guys have just been the sweetest. I got so many sweet messages checking in and felt so loved despite the fact that it’s taken me half a year to get back on here. Thanks for all your patience with me. You guys are the absolute greatest! <3
An additional thanks to u/pinkpengin for sending a card basically inviting me to come back to the cool kid’s table to play this week! :D
Allsssooo also, I wrote half of these in January if any of them are odd, and I’ve also not detailed the cards that have been sent to family members as I didn’t read them myself, just added them on my count here, and sorry if the formatting is a bit wonky. I'm copying this from a document, so I might edit if it's terrible.
To start, I received a fun Meet-Up card from some now irl friends on here! Thank you guys! I really wish I could have made it to this one:
u/lonelytwatwaffle (x3)
u/Jane_Q
u/JaimeKJ
u/kittycatcon
u/babyraspberry (x6), You sent such happy mail with your world postcard day envelope! I love the picture of a beach in Portugal. It makes me want to take a vacay ASAP! I also loved the fun little fact you put about the Peach Springs, AZ USPS! So cool! You also included cute star cut-outs, a little packet of stickers, and washi on what looks like a fun space cat playing card! I’m seriously giddy to get to the pic!
Thank you so much for the sweet hot cocoa and New Year’s card you sent! You also included a pretty saguaro cactus card and lovely pastry scrapbook paper, because you’re so thoughtful like that! I love how pretty every single envelope and card is that you send! I’m also excited to hear that you’re getting settled into the new(er) place a bit more! I hope you had a great time with the family visits!
Oh, my goodness, the wintery cards you sent my way were just stunning! I really liked hearing about your walk on the frozen lake and what an adorable “Cake of Friendship” recipe! The stamp stickers are always just the perfect colotheme, too! It always gives me heart eyes!
u/bluedecemberart (x5), Your Halloween card was adorable! You made it even cuter with the stickers. You mentioned “catching up on mail someday”........... Lol! You sent me about 50 cards to my…. ahem… completely non-existent ones. You’re a treasure, friend!
Thank you so much for my massive care packet of cards in an envelope that was just the cutest, with cats and Totoro stickers! It was beautiful! Every single bit in the envelope was so thoughtful!
You sent a “You’ve Got Mail” postcard, which reminds me… I should rewatch that movie someday so u/comingtogetyoubabs can stop laughing at the fact that I mix up all the Meg Ryan/Billy Crystal movies. I can’t be the only one… or maybe I am?!
You also sent the cutest envelope and added little address cardstock labels to add some zest to my envelopes along with so many cute stickers of cats, dogs, and squirrels! So sweet! I really loved the “Support Your Local Librarians” sticker! We are so lucky to live close to a very nice library with super active librarians who really care about the community, and it breaks my heart that they’re being given extra nonsense to add to their worries right now. :(
I especially love the card that has “You can do anything! Just not Everything” on the front. What a perfect reminder. You are so caring and thoughtful, and I’m so thankful for you!
u/comingtogetyoubabs (x5) How do you always find the perfect cards and things to say?! I love the whole envelope filled with citrus-themed cards, stickers, washi, all of it! Your puns were cracking me up! You even made the address label with little lemons! Super cute!
Then you also sent cards that were bee-related and stickers galore! I’m pretty sure that’s the first cat bee return label I saw in-person! They are adorable!
You sent a fun fall card with such pretty watercolor animals on it! The little hedgie sticker matches perfectly! It’s giving me heart eyes! Thank you, m’dear!
u/constructionlower549 (x7) Ugh, your holiday postcards are always so cute! I love the pic with you and the pupper (both smiling) on the front! It’s seriously so sweet and happy! I also loved the sweet card you sent with the New Year’s plans/updates. It’s seriously been entirely too long since I’ve sent an update! I definitely agree… Christmas is a bit overwhelming for me every year, tbh. I always look forward to the New Year knowing that we’ve made it through another hectic season of cooking/visits/everything! XD I always feel like I drop so many balls and last year was one of the biggest times I’ve done that. I didn’t even send holiday cards last year. :/
What a cool Starbucks postcard! I had no idea they even had postcards, but I love the gold and white on this one! The sparkly purple pen you used on it is just chef’s kiss perfection! Thank you!
I loved hearing about your bday trip! It sounds like such a fun adventure! I know you mentioned you did a lot of HUGE things, but I saw, “hung out by the pool,” and for some reason that part was the bit that I was like, “WHOA! WHAT?! IN FEB?! …living her best life by going somewhere beautiful!” XD
Then I got the most cards (I really, really love the hydrangea ones) with backstories from some of the postcards you sent! <3 I loved hearing about your dog-sitting adventure! Ugh, I need to send you a recipe for ice cream when you’re there next time! It’s blueberry pie-flavored, and it’s basically the only one I make in the summers, though I haven’t made it for a few summers now. I was laughing at the “behind-the-scenes” stories from your trips! It’s so funny catching up with people from school, especially when they’ve become parents! It almost feels like a secret club sometimes, knowing things about them but only discussing it in front of kids basically in code language! XD Oh! You asked at the end… I think the postcard lady would definitely be the highest contender for my demise! Lol! I’d totally take an entire litter of rabid cats over her! :D
u/cswl (x6), Thank you for the lovely Halloween card with the glittery witch skirt and the little cat on a walk! So cute! Our cat actually loves taking walks on his harness, but it’s been too cold to go out with him recently, and our old sweet old man of a dog thinks it’s a bit of a pain to go out on big walks now too. Can’t wait for spring! (I wrote this part of your thank-you in January! Spring has been nice indeed!)
The school supply postcard is so cute! I love LouPaper designs and the little rounded edges! The bright rainbow colors on it is just so happy! <3
Such a great “M” card made out of mustaches, too! Very cool design!
What a cool Veteran’s Day card you sent my way! I haven’t seen very many for the holiday, so it was super fun to get one! Thank you!
I also liked your secret “Walt Whitman” card. I have been wondering how work has been going for you. I have done some “extra” work tidying myself at old jobs when I’ve been feeling less than good about them myself.
It was also fun hearing about the 2 festivals in one weekend… was super happy you didn’t have to cook that weekend! That’s kind of a mini-vacation in itself!
u/DoraDoodle (x4), You sent such a pretty Halloween card as well as such adorable cats in costume stickers! They were so sweet! You even finished off the card with a tiny skull and crossbones stamp on the back. Your attention to detail makes everything so perfect! I always love seeing how you perfectly coordinate the papers to make such nice designs!
We all loved your gorgeous handmade Christmas card! It was displayed with the ones we received from family! I definitely missed out on the fun and didn’t send a single holiday card last year. :(
Oh, my goodness, I loved getting your beautiful watercolor card from your trip. That is actually one of our family’s bucket list places! Were you able to catch the Northern Lights while there? I hope you were treated with a lovely view!
u/ez330 (x4), I loved the colorful tulip card you sent and hearing about what had been happening with you. Thank you for checking in with me! You also included such sweet stickers, one of a corgi cupcake that I absolutely adore! Our dog is red with the cute Dorito ears like a corgi, so I’m a little partial to those types of breeds because of him! <3
Oh, my goodness, how was your trip to the National Postal Museum?! My grandma was a retired postmaster, and I think she would’ve loved traveling there! I hope you had the best time!
I loved getting your sweet flower heart postcard too! Thank you so much for caring and sending notes my way. You’re so thoughtful!
What a gorgeous handmade Valentine’s Day card! The light aqua blue with red were actually my wedding colors, so every time I see them together, it just makes me smile! Thank you for thinking of me! It made my day!
u/isar-love, I loved your dragonfly postcard! I love learning differences in language and I really think “dragonfly” is much prettier in yours! My son has a book about bugs from close-up views, and the dragonfly picture is on the cover! I always thought that photograph was especially pretty! He’s terrified of bugs now, unfortunately, but every time I see a dragonfly now, I think of when he first asked if they were actual dragons as a preschooler, and I thought it was just so cute!
u/Jdoodle7 (x4) Thank you so much for sending such sweet cards my way to check on me! My birthday card was just so pretty, and I really like how you did the washi on a diagonal. It really set off the envelope! You even have birthday return address labels, and I just absolutely adore them!
I have out another card you sent recently, the one mentioning Monty Python! Oh, my word! I am so excited to meet someone who gets my references now! :D Poor E, I had to introduce him to it years ago when he mentioned he’d never seen it (can you believe it?!), but now he grudgingly chuckles or rolls his eyes when I quote it in passing!
u/jvanct88, Thank you so much for the super pretty I’m thinking of you card with a holo cat silhouette! I loved getting the life updates! Just so you know, I can’t use the tea you sent because the little packets are so cute! Oh, they’re in with my tea, yes, but only for showing off the cute designs on display! :) Thank you! <3
u/korewrites (x2), thank you for the postcards you’ve been sending my way! I liked hearing about your travels to visit friends. The place you went in January sounds particularly exciting! I hope you had the best time catching up with them!
u/libertyprogrammer, thank you for the lovely card with the super fun stamps on them! What a good idea to send it before the price increased (again), too! The stickers match the pretty dusty rose color of the envelope and I love how you made the card inside with such cute Snoopy washi! It is so good hearing from you! Oh, I might have mentioned in the last post, but I have finished all of your book recs, and I was absolutely blown away by one series in particular! Kind of bouncing up and down over the fact that a certain author has new author pics!!! Did you see?! I know everyone online is saying not to get our hopes up, so OF COURSE MY HOPES ARE SKY HIGH that we get a new book ASAP! :D I can’t believe there are some people who have been waiting for decades when I’ve only been excited for a few months!
u/LeeElla, thank you for the sweet card with the cherry blossoms and cute washi and stickers! I loved getting to hear about your travels. I feel like my family and I will start doing a small bit more of that this year finally, and I love hearing where others have been!
Also, your writing is lovely!
u/lonelytwatwaffle, I loved hearing about your beach trip! What a nice getaway! My family took trips there when I was little. I think it was maybe the first time I saw the ocean! It sounded like such a nice, relaxing time! I hope you had a blast!
u/mikepenpal6 (x5) I loved your purple Halloween card with the pumpkin and owl! What pretty scrapbook paper in the background, too! You always find the most festive and adorable carding supplies!
What a gorgeous handmade Christmas card! I love how glitzy it is with the little rhinestones and all the cute stickers and washi you used! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Ooh, I loved hearing about the concert you saw! That would’ve been so incredible! I’m super jealous and also really excited that you could go! I saw that one of my faves is going to be about 2 hours away from me very soon, so I went on the ticket site to buy them. E said that I definitely should, but I told him, “Meh, it’d be way past my bedtime.” lol I’m such an old lady now.
Your handmade Valentine’s Day card was absolutely stunning! I always love seeing the cute little gemstone stickers ppl use! I actually didn’t do a ton for this Valentine’s Day. I usually bake for our littles, make them a heart-shaped pizza for dinner, and cook something for E that he likes, but this year, our tiniest got covid (on my birthday! boo!), so we were all sick by Valentine’s Day, and we basically stayed at the house for the rest of the month to make sure we didn’t spread the joy to anyone else. Yuck! I really am glad you were able to do fun things and enjoy the weather with the family!
u/mlks00 (x2), Thank you so much for the sweet Christmas card you sent to the fam and me, especially with the handmade snowflake! How cool! I feel like I haven’t done those in too long. Have you seen the ones you can print online with Star Wars characters snuck into the designs?! They look so cute!
I always love getting your check-ins and updates! I really like this “hello” card stationery too! How classy! I hope you’re doing well, friend!
u/monetmonkey- Oh, what an adorable avocado holiday card! Thank you! Not only that, but you included such cute stickers with a sweet fox and snowy day scene! I loved all of it as well as how you decorated the inside of the card with the diagonal washi. Such a cool effect!
Of course I loved the fun stamps, especially the Maine Coon one! Our kitkat isn’t quite as massive as that, but he’s close, at over 7.5 kg/17ish lbs!
Loved the way you addressed the envelope vertically, too! It really made it stand out!
u/mydinosaurdidit (x8) You sent such happy mail to me last FALL (it’s been way too long since I’ve been here), and it was just so touching that you thought of me for it. It’s beautiful, thoughtful, and I was so taken aback at your generosity! Know that I have it set out for my next project now! I’ve been waiting to make something with it for the summer, and I’m so excited! I’ll send pics when I get it finished! I’ve had a pattern I’ve been wanting to make, but I’ve not had the right materials…until now, and the fact that it’s sentimental is just the cherry on top!
Oh, you gave me ideas for my bullet journal by sending me a sample-type page, and I really like how you have it set up! I’ve been book journaling a bit more lately and still use a bullet journal for my busier months, but I’ve been converting most of the dates to a wall calendar and still using a bullet-style on there for the tasks. It’s so helpful!
What a pretty holiday card you sent with tea and everything! I loved the adorable little paper stars to match the color of the font, and the message made me laugh!
I got the sweetest check-in card from you, typed and everything. It made me a bit teary-eyed. You even included journaling pages and stickers. You are so thoughtful, friend. A few months there were super not super, and I just kind of wanted to hide, and there you were telling me it was okay to just exist. You’re an absolute treasure. <3
Then you sent a kitty postcard with “You’re alive!” on it, and I burst out into laughter! It made me think of Schrödinger's cat, and it just made me ridiculously happy on top of it just being so freakin’ adorable! Thank you, friend!
Such a cool state card you sent! I like the ones with the different flowers/flags/birds on them to see how many I remember from my fourth grade class! :D We visited our state capitol building (where I lived growing up) during school, and the only part I remember was being so nervous that I’d be too loud walking around the halls with the echo-y marble floors… and then I suddenly stopped fretting over that when I realized how slippery the stone made the stairs and imagined falling down them making way more noise than walking funny ever would. XD I was a nervous child… glad I’m not anymore….ummm :D
Thank you for the sweet birthday wishes as well! You handmade a gorgeous pop-up card with a rainbow quilt, and it just blew me away!
The second (!) kitty postcard you made with all the rainbow writing/washi/stickers was just so happy! It made me smile!
u/onelittlericeball (x4), thank you so much for the gorgeous cards you send! I always love seeing your handwriting and the pretty washi/sticker combos you use!
I really liked getting updates on things that have been going on with you lately. It's so nice hearing from you, and I have your latest in my "reply ASAP" stack now!
u/pinkpengin (x7) The fam loved our cute black cat purpley Halloween card! The Halloween donut washi you have is top notch!
Your Jane Goodall Institute card is so cool! She’s one of my heroes (as are you, of course)! I actually bought this little amigurumi book where you could make little feminist icons, mostly because one of the characters is her! I digress… Okay, so as of that card, you had 22 kitters… have there been any more foster fails since then (bc I can absolutely say I’d be such an enabler about that! I nearly got another one myself last month)?
Oh, what a cute little fox riding a bike! I think these notecards are just adorable! You absolutely did not need to write a thank-you, but of course you’re just super sweet and thoughtful like that, and it made me smile! :)
Your sweet holiday card was displayed with the family cards we received this year, and it was so cute! Thank you! We all really enjoyed it. Maybe I’ll get my act together by winter and send some myself this year?! Here’s to hoping!
You also sent such a sweet Valentine with two additional mini cards inside! You are so thoughtful. The envelope was so pretty with how you decorated it! I think Valentine’s Day might be my favorite holiday… I don’t really do anything to celebrate other than baking, but I think that’s maybe why I like it! It’s low stakes! :D
You also sent an extra special holiday card VERY recently… but I’ll be commenting on that one elsewhere. ;)
u/TigerLady13 (x4), I really loved the Christmas card you sent! The stamps were so cute on the envelope, and the Santa in the woods feeding apples to the horses were so just so pretty! Thank you so much!
You have been sending such sweet cards my way! Thank you! My birthday cards were so super sweet. Both were decked out with the cutest washi and stickers galore! You are so very thoughtful! I really like the envelopes! They both had ribbon streamers on the insides of them! How festive!
u/travel4me22, thank you for the fun Blue Ridge Parkway postcard saying hello and checking in! That was so thoughtful! I hope your year has been great so far!
u/umeshufan (x14!) Your pop-up llama card (so cute!) along with an additional note was so cute to get! I really liked the signatures that you and a family member added to it! It was from 15 Nov, so I had the biggest smile reading about a recent event that happened there! <3
The Christmas card you sent made me laugh! I’ve seen shirts with that sentiment on motorcycle drivers, and to see it on the back of a reindeer was just the absolute best! XD You find the most hilarious cards! I definitely need to up my card game!
Thank you so much for the beautiful cards from all your travels over the past 6 months as well as sending notes to other family members! You have been to so many places already this year, and it’s always fun getting to live vicariously through your descriptions of each place!
The NZ sheep postcard is adorable with the little sheep, and I loved hearing about each stop along the way. The “Where’s Wally/Waldo?” one is extra cool! Thank you for sharing it with us! You’re always so thoughtful!
Oh! One of the cards you sent from NZ had another person added to the card, and I don’t know if I’m mentioned, but I think their handwriting is just beautiful! I especially like their A’s! That was so sweet hearing from them as well!
During one of your trips, you were in the same time zone as I was, and I was so excited to get FOUR cards from there! It was so fun getting cards that arrived so very quickly! I always love seeing The Snooty Bookshop cards! They’re hilarious!
You also sent 6 cards just last month, completely putting me to shame! I have them out for a reply just as soon as I pick up some different cards from the store. I think part of my extra long hiatus has made me not want to dig out the perfectly fine old cards I had but start fresh… capitalism at its finest, I suppose… :/
Thank you for sending so many cards to the family over the past half year as well. Your cards always brighten our day! You’ll be getting some replies from E soon, too. He’s not been on RAoC recently either, so I’m adding some of his on my post for him.

Astrid’s New Collection! Copied text from email: (Not affiliated, just a fan of Astrid’s art). Just wanted to share since it hasn’t been yet! Ajevie has sample pre-order up as well.
}..rustling feathers..{ I have just reopened the shop with the arrival of a collection I have planned to do for many years. This idea has been simmering back in the days of Blooddrop even! It has been a long, looooong time coming.
Today, I bring you La Plume Noire (The Black Feather) which is a collection of 24 perfumes inspired by crows and ravens. I am immensely pleased with how these perfumes have turned out. While smelling them as I bottled, I kept thinking, "Oh yes. This one is excellent! Oh, this one came out really good, too!" over and over again. Not that I put out perfumes that I think are mediocre, but sometimes some just strike me as slightly more successful than others. In this collection, there are a lot of those that I consider the latter.
I just love crows. We have so many around here and even a few years ago we had a family of them that kept showing up in our yard while mom taught her youngsters about being an awesome black bird. And two winters ago I kept seeing a deceased crow's body in town and that bothered me so much, so I wrapped it up, took it home, and had a burial for it in my back pasture, surrounding it with red roses (inspiration for the perfume Funeral for a Crow). Crows (and ravens and all the corvids) are such cool birds. They are smart and ruthless and silly and elegant. They are just amazing creatures! I know many of you feel the same.
The other current collections are a Study of Lilac, Whinnies (the marshmallow ponies), Valentine's Day, and a Study of Lychee.
The next scheduled should be late June or early July, I think. Possibly sooner!
Be well, Astrid xo
Free USPS shipping on all US orders $75 and up. Free Merci gift perfume with orders of $100 and up
Branwen-
Jasmine sambac, honeysuckle, and strawberry jam.
Caw-
Vanilla musk, amber, pumpkin muffin, candied cherry, and rose geranium.
Corvus-
Shimmering orange sugar, fir balsam absolute, spearmint, Japanese peppermint, and shea.
Crow's Eye-
Neroli, orange essence, cucumber, Oman frankincense, aloe, teak wood, and fern leaf.
El Grajo-
Desert sage, prickly pear, cedar, rose, sandalwood, cinnamon, and palm sugar.
Ever So Clever-
Pink lilac, double distilled patchouli, beeswax, willow, and bright ginger.
Funeral for a Crow-
Soft and secretive rose petals, mourning violets, tonka, myrrh, and golden tobacco.
Gifts Left-
Cherry pie, patchouli, amyris, and sandalwood.
Grawk-
A blend of oranges, green clover, lime, and aloe.
Hitchcock-
Rosewood, mourning violets, shadowy musk, dark patchouli, African geranium, and lemon tea tree.
Huginn & Muninn-
Lush Nordic woods, fossilized amber, craggy oakmoss, juniper, dry lavender, and coastal winds.
La Plume Noire-
Black currant, shadowy musk, star anise, black pepper, green mandarin, and jasmine sambac.
Merlin-
Clean bath linens, blueberry jam, and blueberry muffins. If you are interested in the story behind this perfume, please see the website.
Mischief Maker-
Honeydew melon, pink grapefruit, patchouli, apple, lily of the valley, pear, and white musk.
Nevermore-
Mourning violets, black currant, vanilla, oakmoss, and chamber door accord.
Noir Irisé-
Turquoise musk, clover, aloe, blueberry, green cognac, cucumber, peony, white musk, and ivy.
Rookery-
Early morning mist, pinion pine, pink grapefruit, juniper berry CO2, and tulsi.
Shiny Things-
Shimmering ginger, orange blossom absolute, sweet peach, warm teakwood, wild herbs, and glowing mahogany musk.
Soaring-
A cool fougere, lilac, cloud accord, sunshine beaming off feathers, and wind accord.
The Morrigan-
Golden armored musk, myrrh, amber, vanilla bean, jasmine absolute, benzoin, lemon, gardenia, clove, rose, and patchouli.
The Ravens & The Tower-
Smoked oud, golden amber, lemon, Australian sandalwood, petitgrain sur fleurs, tonka, and rising sun accord.
Trickster Bird-
Peach, tobacco, amber, and tonka bean.
Unkindness-
Tobacco, vanilla, patchouli, cashmere musk, black tea, clove, amber, and vetiver.
White Raven-
Sea spray, white tea, fougere, gardenia, and Egyptian jasmine.

I’m looking for someone to roleplay Cooper Howard/The Ghoul from the Fallout show against my nonbinary/transmasc OC on Discord. I’m talking slow burn, enemies or reluctant allies to lovers, nitty gritty character development; that kind of stuff. Little snapshots of scenes with an overarching plot are easiest for me, and I am so down to double. Characters I’m best at/most interested in playing in the Fallout series include Nick Valentine, John Hancock, and Joshua Graham, but I’m willing to pick up just about anyone for you :)
ABOUT ME: I’m M, they/he, and I’m 25 (26 next month). I’ve been writing creatively for almost 15 years now and take pride in my skill. I’m online almost every day and can reply multiple times with two to five paragraphs every day/every other day. I’m also extremely ADHD and tend to cycle through my fandoms pretty quickly, but I A) always return to a previous idea or fandom after a while, and B) am always game to roleplay another idea if I lose interest in what we’re doing currently. I also love OOC chat and befriending my partners; expect lots of Pinterest boards and art and headcanons from me.
ABOUT YOU: Over 18. Literate writer and frequent replier. Down for OOC chat and being buds. LGBT friendly. Understanding of my neurodivergent habits. That’s pretty much it!
If you’re interested in my ad, please hit me up WITH A WRITING SAMPLE (doesn’t have to be anything super long or special!) and a little bit about yourself. I can also share a sample of my own writing upon messaging.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day!

Hi all!
I’m looking for an indie perfume with key notes of cherry, white chocolate and rose.
I fell in love with Solstice Scents Rose Mallow Cream, and have samples of Sorcellerie A Witch’s Valentine and Hex Amor on the way. It seems fairly easy to find strawberry/white chocolate/rose fragrances, but I’m specifically looking for a cherry variant.
Does anything like this exist? Thank you so much in advance!

I've always been a girl who loves animals, and now that I have two pet rabbits, both adoped within the last year, I am extra excited about the return of Nui Cobalt's Critters collection! This collection isn't entirely sweet cuddly woodland creatures, but it does have a lot of those, including three of my all-time favorite Nui Cobalts: Little Brown Rabbit, Little White Rabbit, and Lilac Rabbit. When Forest posted in the Facebook group asking which Critters we'd like to see return, or which animals we'd love to see emerge as new Critters, I waxed rhapsodic about the Rabbits and suggested a bunch of other colorings of rabbits that could become amazing perfumes... so I'm hopeful that we might even get a new Rabbit this year. I would just about die of happiness if she really did make a Blue Otter Rabbit after my sweet bun Hazel. She also teased a Ladybug scent for this year, which would be SO CUTE!
Anyway, the Critters are due back this Friday, with the newsletter announcing them on Thursday, and I am excited. As usual, I thought I'd post my thoughts on all the past Critters I've tried in case that might help you formulate your wishlist. And if you've tried any of these, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Was your experience similar to mine?
My preferences: I especially love snuggly scents, incense, golden amber, cardamom, black tea, beeswax, non-gourmand vanillas, and white florals (particularly tiare, honeysuckle and tuberose; sadly I am allergic to lilies and jasmine doesn’t work on me). I don't like hay, overly sweet gourmands, excessive musk, dragon’s blood, leather, patchouli, labdanum, or any really dark scents in general. To my great devastation, Nui Cobalt’s apricot and pear notes don’t tend to work on me, though I haven’t given up hope and I continue to try new blends with those notes occasionally.
Most of these perfumes were provided as press samples by Nui Cobalt in exchange for an honest review.
​

Rabbits

Little Brown Rabbit [Nutmeg and tonka bean nuzzle up against fluffy marshmallow, cottonflower, pink pepper, and a trace of carrot seed] (this perfume is so popular that it is also in the Continuous Collection and available all year 'round!) - This is one of my absolute top perfume oils. It comforts me on hard days, it cozies me on laid-back evenings, it cheers me on rainy days. My husband recognizes it immediately and honestly I think he finds it cuddly too when I'm wearing it, and it's also his primary frame of reference when he sniffs a new sample I'm trying - "that smells a bit like Little Brown Rabbit" is high praise from him. Wet, it's very strongly nutmeg and caramel, almost mapley, but also with just a bit of pepperish bite from the carrot seed - this is as gourmand as I'm willing to get. Once it dries, the caramel dissipates and it becomes the most marvelously snuggly scent. Having a bad day? Little Brown Rabbit can cheer you up. Having a cozy day? Little Brown Rabbit will make it that much better. Wanting to unwind in the evening? Little Brown Rabbit is my go-to snuggly evening scent. And I think it's the absolute must-try from Nui Cobalt.
Little White Rabbit [Nutmeg and tonka bean nuzzle up against cottonflower, white peppercorn, clove, vanilla marshmallow creme, pale blue cashmere, carrot seed, and honeyed almond] - When the news broke that NCD was releasing a new little rabbit variant two years ago, I was SO excited (little did I know that it would seemingly become an annual thing!), and I blind-bought a full-size (something I never do). Especially because Little White Rabbit adds that wonderful cashmere note to Little Brown Rabbit, this one was a no-brainer for me, and my trust was easily rewarded. Nui Cobalt has outdone themselves with this, their most snuggly of perfumes. I expected this to be a lot like LBR only less mapley and perhaps more cashmere-y (and yes, it is both of these things), but truly, LWR feels even more like it's built on a base of Spidersilk vanilla (Starlight and Spidersilk: [Slender strands of cotton flower hung with trembling dewdrops, cold crystalline musk, and tiny black vanilla beans]), with some of the LBR spices (the peppercorn and carrot seed, but I don't sense any cloves) plus the comforting warmth of the cashmere and almond of Silver Fox (see below), another favorite of mine. And then finally, the marshmallow ties it all together into a pillowy cloud of coziness. It's frankly astonishing. Love at first sniff even just from the vial, and on my skin it blossoms into the most comforting scent. Do I love it even more than LBR? I still can't tell, even years later. I love them both. One final note that may be helpful to some of you: the cottonflower is pretty strong with this one, which is part of why it reminds me so much of the Spidersilk vanilla, but if you're not so much a fan of "clean" laundry-like scents, this one might not be quite your cup of tea - go for LBR instead.
Lilac Rabbit [Nutmeg and tonka bean nuzzle up against toasted marshmallow, carrot seed, summerweight cotton, allspice, and pale lilac in a smooth fur accord] - Oh friends, I hoped and pleaded for another new Rabbit last year, and the universe (and Nui Cobalt) answered! I'm not actually all that fond of lilac and I think I have ended up destashing all of my perfumes with lilac notes, but I was willing to risk it for the chance of a floral Rabbit. Lilac Rabbit is gorgeous - but really, did you expect it to be anything else? I get primarily marshmallow, allspice, and cotton. It sits exactly halfway between the other two Rabbits, with the allspice and peppery carrot seed spices of Little Brown Rabbit (but without the maple quality), and also with the silky, slightly soapy fabric aspect of Little White Rabbit. There is perhaps just a touch of musky lilac, but it doesn't really read to me like a floral perfume. Lilac Rabbit is comfortable. The closest metaphor I can think of is a day when you're wearing a new outfit, one that fits perfectly and really suits you, but it's also completely comfy, with no itchy spots or seams that dig in, and it moves with you. It's like a day where you feel perfectly yourself, fully at ease, and completely put-together. This new Rabbit is everything I could have possibly dreamed of, and it immediately became one of my favorite spring & summer scents.

Squirrels

In past years, they've offered a complete set of all the Squirrels, which was how I tried them all a few years ago. (They've since been discontinued, but sometimes discontinued things return again, or perhaps you might run into one in the swaps, so I'll include all my Squirrel reviews here.) All of the Squirrels are built on the same base of almond + apricot + benzoin, and then each one has different additional notes. Like the Spidersilk variants (all built on the same Spidersilk vanilla base but with different additional notes - my reviews HERE), the Squirrels each have an entirely different vibe. Interestingly, the actual proportion of almond to apricot also seems to vary by Squirrel, perhaps because of the interactions with the different added notes, or perhaps because they actually use different proportions in the Squirrel base for each one. It means that they don't feel anything like near-exact copies of each other, but each have a really distinct identity.
Black Squirrel [A playful blend of almond and spiced apricot, grounded in rich benzoin and copaiba balsam, deepened by black oak, black currant, vanilla bean, and myrrh] - When I first put it on, it's very strongly and exclusively almond - a warm almond that reminds me of baking almond cookies, and it must be the vanilla that helps to make that association. The almond veers slightly towards cherry. As the oil warms on my skin, the apricot emerges and then overtakes the almond. It's apricot skin, soft and velvety, rather than the fleshy fruit of the apricot. These two notes, paired with the woodiness of the balsam and (presumably) black oak, makes this a very bookish scent, perfect for the dark academia aesthetic of my wardrobe in autumn. It's not really an incense-heavy perfume; the myrrh just grounds it and gives it a beautiful dark richness. On me it's not terribly fruity (though I know some folks get mostly dark stone fruits; isn't skin chemistry fascinating!) It's the longest-lasting of the Squirrels, too - the second time I wore it, its throw was a bit too high at bedtime so I washed my wrists, and even so, I could still smell Black Squirrel the next morning!
Flying Squirrel [Raw almond, spiced apricot, and rich benzoin borne aloft by lavender, cotton flower, and tart kumquat] - This one reminds me a lot of Napping in a Flower [Tender ripe apricot, Bulgarian lavender, spiced summer honey, plum blossom, daylily, honeysuckle, and ylang], which makes perfect sense since they share a lot of the same notes, but without the honey and honeysuckle that made Napping too candle-y on me. Husband said this reminds him strongly of Little White Rabbit - he said it's the spices that make that association for him, and I suspect he was also picking up on the shared cotton flower and almond notes. I'm finding it easier to compare Flying Squirrel to other NCD scents than to describe it on its own; its combination of notes feels quite erratic and the concept doesn't feel terribly unified. I couldn't classify this as a "cozy" perfume even though it does have a strong cotton flower note, nor is it citrusy enough for me to think of it as a fruity perfume (even though it has the strongest apricot of all the Squirrels), or herbal enough for it to go in my lavender section (in fact, I'm hoping that some aging brings out the lavender more). If you like Napping in a Flower or Little White Rabbit - two perfumes that are really nothing alike! - you'd probably enjoy this one too.
Grey Squirrel [A playful blend of almond and spiced apricot, grounded in rich benzoin and copaiba balsam, softened with cotton flower, cashmere, and teakwood] - This one gives the effect of eating an almond cookie while snuggled in a wool blanket. This one is super cozy - the autumn cousin of my beloved wintertime snuggly scents (Silver Fox, Snow Cat, Chionophilia, all of which also feature almond and fabric notes - see their full notes lists and my comparative reviews HERE). Grey Squirrel stays pretty static, not morphing like Black Squirrel, and the apricot is only barely present.
Red Squirrel [A playful blend of almond and spiced apricot, grounded in rich benzoin and copaiba balsam, warmed with red musk, red sandalwood, and smoldering amber] - This one is pretty heavy on the red musk, and was in fact partly responsible for me finally figuring out that I don't personally enjoy red musk. The almond, apricot, and sandalwood combination does give this a rather gourmand-adjacent feel to it, more so than the other Squirrels. It's a very rich and warm perfume. It's funny how actually "red" this scent feels - it feels like the experience of watching a bonfire die down, even though there's no smoke note at all. "Smoldering" indeed.
White Squirrel [A playful blend of almond and spiced apricot, grounded in rich benzoin and copaiba balsam, cooled with aloe, white musk, and smooth white amber] - Even without looking at the notes, it was easy to identify the white amber in this one, even though Nui Cobalt only infrequently uses white amber as a note. White Squirrel is very like Grey Squirrel, equally cozy but lighter and airier, with that white amber instead of cashmere. White Squirrel is cooler, more standoffish than Grey Squirrel - that "cool" effect must be the aloe - more a wintertime snuggly scent rather than an autumnal cozy scent. Even the now-familiar almond + apricot base feels daintier and even less foody here in White Squirrel.
Overall--

• Grey Squirrel and White Squirrel are the snuggly ones. Wear Grey Squirrel for cozy blanket vibes, and White Squirrel to be even daintier.
• Wear Red Squirrel for sexy outdoorsy gourmandy vibes (is that a thing? I think Red Squirrel makes it a thing)
• Black Squirrel is the dark academia sibling, and Flying Squirrel is the playful cousin

All the other Critters

Akhal-Teke [Fine ecru suede, raw silk, pearl musk, white amber, precious Hawaiian sandalwood, and creamy pistachio] - As someone put it, "super shiny horse". Silky yet fuzzy and soft, sophisticated yet snuggly. I recognize that pearl musk + sandalwood combination from Cancer [Cotton flower, steamed rice, soft sandalwood, vanilla orchid, coconut milk, and pearl musk] and I love it here too. All of these notes, suede + silk + pearl musk + white amber + sandalwood together, are gentle and just the epitome of softness, yet with just enough body and presence to be soft-on-purpose, assertively soft if that makes sense. This is not a wallflower scent. On to more specifics about the literal smell. At first, the nutty pistachio is pretty present, but it melds beautifully with the gentle suede. The silk and white amber give an elegance. I also definitely get the pearl musk and sandalwood, which take more prominence in the drydown when the pistachio dissipates a bit. This is my favorite stage - just soft, gentle, creamy, and absolutely lovely. Akhal-Teke has low throw but high longevity. I should note that after a year of aging, the pistachio amped quite a lot, overpowering that gorgeous pearl musk/sandalwood base that I loved so much. I'm hoping someday Forest might make one that's basically just pearl musk and sandalwood, without any gourmand elements!
Black-Capped Chickadee [Dogwood saplings, cedar resin, the tang of young stone fruits: still tiny and green, sugar maple, pine nuts, and barely-thawed soil] - I'm not one for dirt notes, so I completely passed this one up for several years, but enough really glowing reviews finally convinced me to try it. In the vial, it smells of wood, honeyed fruits, and hay. On my skin, it's soil, slightly nutty and incensey, with plush fruit and some very cedar-forward wood notes - and yet it's surprisingly dainty, and a perfect encapsulation of a black-capped chickadee. There's something about this scent that reminds me of snow-covered pebbles, and also of Shakespeare's poem "The cloud-capp'd towers" from The Tempest. After much sniffing and pondering, I finally figured out why I made that snowy association - the fruits read to me like cranberry, making this feel like a wintery scent. As for "The cloud-capp'd towers," I think I'm getting that Shakespearean reference from the combination of daintiness and dirt.
Blossom Bat [Humid rainforest blossoms laden with nectar, dense moss, passionfruit, black fig, and bamboo] - This was an order freebie that I wouldn't have picked out for myself, but it's so fun, and it went straight into my "Aloe and dewy" section of my summer perfumes, next to Waimea Mist and Aloha from the Big Island summer collection. Blossom Bat is velvety flower petals against a lush background of aquatic notes. I don't often enjoy moss notes (they often turn into honeydew melon on my skin), but here the moss contributes to the especially verdant feeling.
Blue Jay [Sturdy blue spruce and young oak support the bold elegance of white peony, angelica, blackberry bramble, and rhubarb] - In the vial, it's extremely fruity with a hint of trees. On my skin, it matches the description much more closely: evergreens and forest floor, brightened by fruity sweetness and a hint of floral. If you loved None of Your Beeswax [Thorny brambles of blackberry, elderflower, violet, fennel seed, sacred benzoin, and unfiltered honey] from the Bees collection, do give this one a try - Blue Jay is like None of Your Beeswax's summer cousin. I once wore this to a community theater production of Into the Woods and it was perfect.
Copper Fox [Warm chai with steamed almond milk nestled in sumptuous cashmere, crimson musk, sarsaparilla, and budding birch] - I once went on a quest to find the perfect chai perfume, and of course I had to try Copper Fox! Immediately on application, Copper Fox is root beer, spicy root beer - there's that sarsaparilla in a big way. As it quickly dries, the overwhelmingly root beer-ness of it backs off somewhat, and it becomes much more chai spices + the woody birch (and still with an undercurrent of root beer). Chai latte this is not - it's all the spices of chai (cinnamon and black pepper especially, and probably a bit of ginger as well) without any sweetness or milky creaminess. I should note that at this point my skin has a slight reaction to this perfume; this perfume ended up being part of my discovery that like many others, I too have a slight skin reaction to cinnamon. It didn't hurt a bit and the redness went away fairly quickly, but be forewarned, if you're a person that has a reaction to cinnamon, this might be a blend worth steering away from, or at least planning to wear in a scent locket or in your hair instead of on your skin. Finally, several hours later, Copper Fox has a third stage, and to me the most lovely: chai spices backed by gentle almond and cozy cashmere (and at this stage it's clearly a "Fox" like Silver Fox).
Elf Owl [A bright concoction of liatrix, yellow sandalwood, beach-tumbled teak, solar musk, crushed coriander, and a scant pinch of pale cinnamon] - With the teak and cinnamon, and of course the obvious cue of the "solar musk", I was expecting this to be in the same family as Nui Cobalt's Sun, Heliophilia (Love of Sun), and Sunrise on Spidersilk (comparative review HERE!). Those sun-themed perfumes can be a bit too sharp and masculine on me (I tend to prefer snuggly scents or white florals), but as a great lover of owls (and a huge fan of Nui Cobalt's Snowy Owl [Dried coconut flakes, pale woods, frozen tuberose, vanilla orchid, and fluffy feather musk], with which it admittedly shares not a single note), I absolutely could not pass up Elf Owl. I'm so glad I didn't. This actually isn't in the sun-themed family, nor, of course, does it match the highly white-floral Snowy Owl. Instead, Elf Owl turns out to be much closer to Squash Blossom [Cocobolo wood, orris root, carrot seed, sunflower petals, mandarin zest, and acorn squash baked with brown sugar] from the Autumn 1 collection, though much less vegetal. It's a very well-blended perfume and nothing in particular stands out. The overall effect is gentle: gently floral and slightly vegetal, with vanilla and baking spices but without any sugary sweetness. (Liatrix, for anyone who doesn't know what that note is--I had to look it up myself!--is a "sweet, coumarinic, herbal, tobacco-like floral and offers a pleasant vanilla-like scent".)
Fennec Fox [Blush sandalwood, amber resin, antique Egyptian cotton touched with saffron, spiced peach preserves, and sweet cedar resin] - It's gentle, warm, and spiced, with that snuggly feeling that you get with anything that has NCD's cotton note. If you really look, you can distinguish the wood, saffron, and peach, but they meld together extremely well. Surprisingly, I actually get quite a lot of the same sand note as in Flying South [Pink lemonade, warm sand, tiare blossoms, and a flowy cotton sundress] even though sand is not listed. I wear Fennec Fox in autumn on days when I don't feel like a pumpkin.
Glasswing Butterfly [A diaphanous veil of coconut water, elderflower, moonlit gardenia, silver musk, green lavender, and a slender twist of lime] - Nelophilia (Love of Glass) [Elderflower, silver musk, coconut water, cardamom, silk tree, lime blossom, and smooth hinoki wood] is one of my favorites from the Valentine's collection, but it's been discontinued for some time. So I was delighted to see this one because its notes read like a combination of Nelophilia and Queen Bee [Creamy white gardenia and fluffy whipped honey], both among my favorite NCD perfumes. It's not quite - it's not the same almost-spicy gardenia as in Queen Bee - but it is absolutely divine. Glasswing Butterfly is basically Nelophilia with all its smooth, cool, rainy, white floral nature, but here the cardamom is more present (YES! I love cardamom), and with a bit more floral. After a year of aging, it became quite a LOT more white floral; the heady gardenia came out with a KICK, and it's nearly but not quite indolic.
Honey Badger [Black amber, raw honey, smoked maple wood, and cardamom-infused cream] - I mean, duh, I had to try this one just for the cardamom cream. This is somehow so recognizably a NCD scent. Honey straight from the comb, dripping and golden, rich and sweet, backed by maple wood (but not really maple syrup) and a whiff of cardamom spice. Not nearly enough cardamom for my taste - but then, we all know what I'm like! I'm so glad I tried this one. Since its notes list starts with "black amber," I expected this to be quite a dark scent, but while it's quite rich, it's not ominously dark. Husband really likes this one, which is always a special success.
Hummingbird [Darting from oleander to orange blossom with ripe nectarine, hibiscus tea, and traces of tuberose] - White florals with orange and nectarine fruit notes, chirpy and cheerful. It's a juicy but not sugary scent. I love it for warm spring days - it's an absolute staple of my springtime perfumes - though I find it a little cloying in very hot weather.
Opossum [A bold nocturnal potion of Hatian amyris, soft black suede, red patchouli, freshly-turned earth, copal resin, and Peru balsam] - I get suede, red musk, and brown patchouli; meanwhile Husband, sniffing my wrist, gets pine and petrichor. Yet the combination of all these things is surprisingly gentle, not a shouty, in-your-face kind of scent. Absolutely none of the notes we're picking up on are my thing, but just about all of them very much are Husband's thing, so guess what - he immediately snaffled this one.
Orchid Mantis [Ripe Philippine mango, dragon fruit, tamarind, Indonesian teak, clove bud, sandalwood, tuberose, and a touch of ylang] - This one is bit too sweet for me on application - at first it's all sugary mango - but as it warms on my skin, the other notes creep in: more fruit (but less sugar), a bit of sharp clove for balance, and hints of woodiness and florals. As it dries, those hints of clove and woodiness amp further (and at this point, all my husband smells is cinnamony clove). For some reason, this is one of the very strongest of my NCD scents, with high longevity and even higher throw.
Raccoon [Sepia cashmere, guaiac wood, Egyptian amber, Copaiba balsam, golden musk, a twinkle of coriander, blonde oudh, resinous Himalayan cedar, and myrrh] - It's so well-blended that I can't pick out a single note individually, but something about this feels so quintessentially NCD. Right on application, it makes me think of Cheat Code [Windswept teakwood, cedar, coriander and tea are grounded in black tonka with a hint of fine leather], another one I had trouble describing, and it has a similar level of elegance and polish. Meanwhile, Husband smelled a bit of cola or sarsparilla, and noted an almost chocolatey undertone. As it dries, the cashmere and musk come forward, quite woolly and plush and just a touch animalistic. It seems a similar cashmere musk as in Arctic Fox [Soft amber nestled in sumptuous cashmere, steamed rice milk, winter white musk, and snow-covered fir trees]. If Arctic Fox worked for you, you absolutely must try Raccoon. Since Arctic Fox doesn't work on me (my skin amps that cashmere to unpleasant levels), Raccoon ultimately won't win a place in my collection either - which is a bummer because that opening is so pretty. I'll have to stick with Cheat Code for my polished, sophisticated vibes.
Robin's Egg [Dainty forget-me-nots and lily of the valley, a dollop of whipped blueberry creme, and a cozy birch nest tucked into a flowering dogwood tree] - This one has the same amazing blueberry as Grey Cat [Dry smoked vanilla, fluffy marshmallow creme, fresh blueberries, the gentlest touch of lavender and a warm cup of Earl Grey], House of Transcendence [Top notes of wild blueberry and morning fog, a heart of pale lilac and cashmere, with a base of orris and white amber], and Choreophilia [Wild violets, warm Earl Grey, Dominican blue amber, orris root, a handful of blueberries, and a touch of lime marmalade]. This iteration of the blueberry note is juicy and floral. After a few years of aging, Robin's Egg has become even more gorgeous and creamy, with that stunning blueberry and a vision of dainty blue flowers. This one is discontinued and I'm really sad about that (but you could maybe find some in the swaps if you ask around).
Silver Fox [White tea with honey and rice milk, almond macaron, soft grey cashmere and cool woodland musk] (this perfume is so popular that it is also in the Continuous Collection and available all year 'round) - Stunning. Sophisticated yet snuggly. The cashmere is the most prominent, followed by fir, the sweetness of white amber, and NCD's gentle whipped honey note. I also wouldn't have been surprised to read that copal was a note - there's just that little bit of resinous almost-smoke. When it dries, the sweetness goes away and the fir comes forward. This was a freebie with one of my orders - I hadn't actually bought a sample of this for myself, worried that I wouldn't like the rice milk (which, as it turns out, I don't actually smell), but it has since become one of my favorite wintertime scents.
Sugar Glider [Raw cotton, sugar cane, flannel flower, macadamia nut, pearblossom, palest musk, and dandelion puff] - So here's the thing, I'm wary of gourmands (in fact I always sit out most of the April Fool's gourmand collection). Sugar is listed in the notes description in the very second place, but I am a sucker for cute woodland animals, so that's how I ended up with this sample. After a first sniff in the vial, I got a little nervous about it, because it smelled very sugary, but I figured I'd wear it once, review it for you all, and then in a worst-case scenario, destash it to someone who does love sugary dessert scents. But wait! There's something strangely intoxicating about this one, and it's not really a gourmand. Immediately when I put it on, it reminded me a bit of the Sweettart-ness of my beloved Somniphilia (Love of Sleep) [Lamb's wool accord, orange blossom, barely-budding lavender, melissa, green fig, clary, cloud musk, and weightless vanilla marshmallow meringue]. I was pleasantly surprised that Sugar Glider is not at all dessert, instead more sugar + wood, and really rather cuddly. And then when it dries down, it reminds me so strongly of the blue raspberry note in Dewdrops on Spidersilk [Cerulean strands of cotton flower bejeweled with dewdrops, cold crystalline musk, tiny black vanilla beans, frozen blue raspberry, and gentle incense], except it's not "blue" (nor is it raspberry, but neither is "blue raspberry"). How did they achieve this effect? I have no idea, but it's so addictive: such a delicate, cheerful, springtime scent. It really does remind me of the experience of picking a perfect white fluffy dandelion and making a wish as you blow it. Definitely a springtime favorite.
White-Tailed Deer [Soft brown suede, golden musk, wild forest berries, and roasted chestnuts dusted with maple sugar] - I am always hesitant about suede, but was very happy when this was included as a free sample because I'd heard lovely things about it but wouldn't have purchased it for myself. It's an interesting one because my experience is of it is very different depending on distance. When I'm just smelling it as it wafts around me, it's such a warm, cozy scent, the suede mingling with chestnut and brown sugar. When I bring my wrist directly up to my nose to sniff, the suede does get a bit overwhelmingly leathery, and overtakes the other notes. Once it dries, though, that unpleasantly smoky leatheriness dissipates (even right up under my nose), leaving only the highly autumnal coziness behind. It is indeed very "golden" - or maybe a really rich, warm brown. I don't get any berries at all. It reminds me of the very stylized acorns and hedgehogs that fellow autumn-lovers love to idolize. (And for some reason, Husband gets saffron!)

Personally...

Robin's Egg, Sugar Glider, and Elf Owl are some of my TOP favorite perfumes for spring; Fennec Fox for fall; and Silver Fox for winter. Black Squirrel is my favorite of the Squirrels (in fact I ended up destashing all the others since I continue to have some issues with NCD's apricot note) - it's so beautifully dark-academia. And in my opinion, the three Rabbits are absolute must-tries (and I hold so much hope for a new Rabbit this year!). If you try nothing else from this collection, try whichever of the three Rabbits most calls your name - they're all different but all absolutely stunning.
What are you hoping for this year? Any particular animals you're keeping fingers crossed for? Do we think it'll be mostly woodland creatures this year, or perhaps we'll get some oceanic or other Critters too?