Ondine

This is my go-to incense blend. I love sandalwood and I love cedar, so Chintamani-Dhupa and I get along quite well. It's not fantastic in terms of throw but it's okay because it seems befitting an incense blend--softly wafting about instead of being cloying and heavy.

This was exactly what I had wanted Hexennacht to smell like on me. Hex 05 was far too manly for me and Hex 08 was a shrieking pine note. The Illustrated Woman is just enough pine pitch mixed with vanilla/musk to temper it so that it is noticeable (not really subtle, per se) but not bang-you-over-the-head PINNNNNE. It's a definite fall scent to me.

Weird. I have a bottle of Inez, unknown purchase date, that smells like Underpants Lite on me. Just like MonsterBait: Underpants, but it fades quickly and is a little lighter.

 

I also have a decant that smells heavily of carnations and spice. Completely different than my bottle. I wonder if it's aging or batch variations?

 

Both are beautiful, though I love the bottle version more.

I reallllly get coconut most of all on this one, which is lovely since I love coconut! I think this one may be bottle worthy. I'm not picking up much of anything else besides coconut and vanilla.

Not that my review is going to add much different, but here goes: Butterscotch Hard butterscotch disk candies. Which is fine by me as those are some of my favorite candies! Only wish the throw and wear length were longer, as this fades quickly on me.

This is for the 2007 (reissued at Cobwebs III) version. I originally had a bottle of this and something about it didn't work for me at first. Too heavy or something, I don't know, and I sold my bottle. Well, later I regretted it and got another bottle. This is better than I remember. The red musk is really heavy but not cloying and it reminds me of Snake Charmer. Moral of the story for me: Don't sell a bottle until I've tried it throughout a whole year!

Like a nice glass of Bailey's Irish Creme. Backup bottle worthy!

I can only smell the blueberry in this one if I'm not trying to ... does that make sense? If I put my nose up to my wrist, it just smells vaguely perfumey, maybe that little hint of spice other reviews mentioned. But if I ignore my wrist, sometimes a waft of blueberry will hit me.

 

Nice, but I think I want something more in-your-face blueberry.

On immediate application, there is a blast of banana, true banana and not Laffy Taffy or candy. Sadly, it burns off rapidly and leaves a floral perfume behind. Like I was hacking through the banana forest wearing cologne and only once in a while smelled bananas.

Like Bah without the whiskey note that made that scent slightly bitter. I can also definitely pick up on the Egg Nog aspect of it. So, Bah plus Egg Nog minus whiskey! Unfortunately very light and fleeting on my skin, much like Egg Nog 2007. Pretty, but I think I will stick to Bah for my go-to coffee scent.

Thank you to the labbie whose name I do not know who found two bottles of Severin for me to purchase at Convergence!

 

Severin is what I wanted Dorian to be: Sweet, light tea. I don't get the leather in this really at all. Just sweet tea, but not like Southern sweet tea, more like you put a lot of sugar in your cup of hot brewed tea then let it cool down.

 

Very little lasting strength on me but it's pretty enough to look past that and re-apply!

I certainly get the sweetish edge to it, and it's not so much desert (sandy) to me as deserted parking lot; maybe that's the "stones" part coming through. Not really for me, but those who like sun-baked scents with a touch of floral would probably enjoy this.

I definitely caught the violet and the mint, and they're blended well and play well together. The mint is never overwhelming and it's a floral violet rather than the sweet candied violet of something like Faith or White Chocolate and Sugared Violets. Rather than sugary, it smells like the lingering perfume of an old-fashioned woman getting ready for the evening.

 

Bonus: I had my husband sniff my hand after I'd applied this and he simply said "It's a keeper!"

Yes, definitely reminiscent of Milk Moon 2007 to me minus the fruits and with a sort of fresh herbal scent. Milking a cow out in the green pasture perhaps? It's not one I'd slather all over me, but it's certainly intriguing and I'm glad I picked up the bottle. It seems to me it'd be a good one to layer underneath a super-sweet chocolate scent like Bliss.

Floral, but with an aquatic/water type note lurking lightly underneath it, and I can't do water notes. Very fresh feeling and befitting a bridge setting.

It smelled a lot like Gingerbread Poppet 2005 on me: spicy, sweet, but with a little extra syrupyness on it. Sort of like GB Poppet was a cake and you poured an extra sugar glaze on top. Unlike Shub, which to me is a very "hot" ginger, this is sweet ginger--more like bakery ginger. Very pretty!

My notes on this one were: "Vetiver!!!!" (Yes, with many exclamation points.) If you like vetiver, this might be the blend for you. If you don't want what was essentially a single-note vetiver to me, then ... this is not the blend you're looking for.

Beautiful! Like a blast of chocolate mint. Do you like Andes Mints or things of that ilk? Then you will love this. I don't pick up pistachio, oakmoss, or cedar--just chocolate and mint

EDIT: I wore this the other day and did start picking up the oakmoss more after the chocolate and mint burned off. It was like eating mint Milanos in the forest.

Slightly warm and sweet, with an almost fruited note underneath. Like standing on a sunny beach with an orange in your hand, peeling the orange and eating it, and just feeling the warmth, the sunniness, and the sandiness. But you don't smell the orange very well; it's just a subtle fruitiness underneath the sun and sand you're smelling.

 

It's a very round, smooth blend to me and it's in the family of desert/sand scents. But rather than a desolate, sandblasted desert, it's more like a calm, deserted beach somewhere near your house that you can sneak away to and enjoy.

Bear in mind that I haven't tried Fenris Wolf (the released version) on at all.

 

The oil is a reddish color and on application I am immediately hit with a sense of powerful masculinity. This scent would be HOT on the right man. Yet I think it's nice also on a woman.

 

I smell almost a cola-like note underneath muskiness. It's definitely like the red musk the released version describes but I'm not picking up on amber in it at all, so maybe the amber note in the released version was replaced with the cola note I'm smelling here.

 

Overall, it seems closest to me like Schwarzer Mond, so if you liked that blend, you'd also likely enjoy this one.

Bubblegum. Straight-up bubble gum (which I love), the pink sticky kind like in a packet of Big League Chew or maybe one of those ancient sticks dusted with white powder you'd find in a baseball card packet.

 

There is no subtlety to this scent; it is young and innocent and lacks that flirty sort of edge that the released version of Lolita has. That strikes me as the difference between the two: The prototype is more like Lolita's little sister who hasn't yet developed that jailbait edge, while Lolita has that dash of maturity and naughtiness. (Oh, and, well, obviously the released version of Lolita has wholly different notes. This seriously has nothing of the notes listed in the released version, just bubblegum.)

 

Bottom line: If you like the smell of sticky pink bubblegum, this is totally the scent for you!

 

Edit: I just tried Jailbait, the GC scent, on and it smells just like Lolita v2 on me. So if you're looking for an easier to find version of this, try Jailbait!

I agree--sweet, citrusy, like a bowl of sugared oranges or biting into a juicy orange candy. Not really creamy but definitely sweet. Very beautiful!

My strongest scent impression on this one is "grassy field." But not a strong grass note like in Blade of Grass; more of a lighter, hay-type note. It doesn't go to floral on me at all; it stays like standing in a field in early summer and breathing in the air around you.

 

(The other way it could go, after seeing someone post her impression of it as "winter without the coldness," would be "Christmas shop." You know, like places that are open year-round and sell Christmas decorations and other things? I don't get pine though and on me, it's definitely more of a warm scent than a cool one, thus the summer field feeling that's so strong to me.)

I'm one of the few people who doesn't really like Dorian (the released version) but I definitely like this prototype. On me, it's heavy on the lavender, which I love, and settles into a creamy lavender scent. It's like a lighter version of TKO without the sharp note that I find TKO has; like lavender marshmallows or lavender tea. I don't pick up any of the grassy notes Persephone76 caught.

 

My only complaint is that it doesn't have much throw at all; I really have to have my hand near my nose to catch the scent at all. I wish there were a way to amp this!

On me, this is a very sweet, uplifting kind of scent. I really enjoy this scent and it's something I would categorize as a "pick me up" sort of perfume for when you're feeling down.

 

I'm terrible with scent impressions, but it's definitely coming across on my skin as a creamy scent with perhaps a touch of white floral, not heavy at all (maybe gardenia?) and citrusy, like an undertone of bright lemon. It strikes me as being in the same family as Velvet Nudie, so if you enjoyed that one you might like this too.

 

It's somewhat fleeting on me, though, and becomes quite close to the skin after about five minutes. Later, after most of it has burned off, I get a lingering coconut note, which is great!