GingerGunlock

Cheshire Cat and Shub-Niggurath, any time I wear Snake Oil. People have mentioned smelling it "right when they walked in the building", which is funny, becuase it's always at a point in the day where I don't notice it anymore unless I'm huffing at my wrist like a crack addict.

I really really wanted Dracul to be clove-tastic (are we tired of hearing this from me? I think I've picked the one note that my skin won't amp, ever), but the pine really dominated. The pine amped so strongly on me that it created a driving ache way up in my sinuses, and never really let up. Other blends I've tried with pine or evergreen type notes in them have morphed away eventually on me, but Dracul really sunk it's piney fangs into me and didn't let go.

So, I tried it out today (right after I read the forum, in fact), and put on The Smiling Spider and swiped some Snake Oil on over it. At first, I wasn't sure how well they were doing together on me, but then the clove really came out in a way that pleased me.

Oh God, I never thought of that

I've got some Wild Men of Jezirat Al Tennyn comoing my way from a forum sale (it's red amber, Spanish moss, Indonesian patchouli, ambergris, red pepper, two cloves, and vanilla flower). Since my interests bound from one clove scent to the next once I discover and test one (my friend and I each ordered half an imp pack, so I've got Plunder coming, and she's got Jack, which I told her I might have to knock her down and take if it's just right ), I will test the Wild Men (well that sounds dirty) and report back.

I got this as a frimp with my last lab order, and I was very excited, because it was on my "to test because of clove" wishlist. Well, something kind of weird happened. When I put it on, it was at first a little bit sharp in a vaguely floral sense, which I assumed was the ylang ylang (I'm not all that familiar with ylang ylang, but wikipedia tells me it comes from little yellow flowers that look like starfish. Which I can get behind). "Okay," I thought, and went to work. After being at work for a little while, perhaps a half hour, I was kind of sniffing the air going "what smells like cotton candy?" I sniffed my wrist, and the inside of my elbow, and got patchouli, and a bit of myrrh, and a bit of that what-I-think-is-ylang-ylang. No clove. No cotton candy against my skin, though. I pulled back, and got the whiff of cotton candy again, so I guess that's what the throw of this was with my chemistry. A little while later, I no longer smelled cotton candy, but only myrrh, which is okay, because myrrh and I get along. As for the clove, I think I have the misfortune of loving and seeking out a note that my skin never amps ever. This was an okay blend, I didn't dislike it, but it didn't love me either.

This was absolutely scrumptious on my fiancé! So scrumptious, in fact, that wearing it made him constantly hungry so he had to stop On him, wet and dry, it was the same, very caramelly Irish Coffee scent that's in the imp. When I wore it, however, the lovely very caramelly Irish Coffee scent lasted only through the wet period, and then I smelled like freshly-varnished wood. I'm keeping it, because it's Miskatonic University, come on here, but only to mournfully sniff at every once in awhile. I wanted it to really work out on me, working in a library in a college town and all, but my skin had other ideas. Perhaps I'll scent-locket it.

I'm not sure what went wrong here on me, but 51, while a scent I had been curious about (I was a hardcore XFiles fan for years...I might still be. I haven't seen it for a long time), did not like my chemistry. It was very floral in the imp, and it went on nicely enough (they all do!), but very quickly became sharp and acrid in a way that almost reminded me of nail polish remover, or at least that's the only thing that comes to mind that's the closest approximation. Looking at the notes, I'm going to arbitrarily blame the freesia (sorry freesia) and perhaps the "smashed wood". I know that my skin has previously made a wood note amp like crazy and spoil the rest of the loveliness of a blend (Miskatonic University, I'm lookin' at you).

This is the first (and so far only) bottle that I've bought unsniffed, and it is lovely. In the bottle, the dark musk and I think the mahogany are the notes most apparent. On my skin, however, it's been different nearly every time I've worn it. I bought this to be my Ultimate Clove Scent™, and sometimes it is. However, sometimes it is musk and only musk, all day and with lots of throw. And yet again, sometimes the mahogany really takes the foreground, though not in an unpleasant way. On fabric (or on the cotton I used to wipe up a minor spill), it is almost entirely clove, but hasn't been consistently so on my skin. I love it anyway, but the Ultimate Clove Scent™ is still to be found.

In the imp, this smells just like fruitcake. Yup, that terrifying concoction that's vaguely brickshaped, sits in my stomach like a brick, etc. It smells okay, though. I don't like Fruitcake, the cake, at all, but my fiancé does, and I thought to perhaps lure him with this to the BPAL dark side. Unfortunately, anything with a booze note in it seems to turn, well, sour and boozey on me. Fruitcake went on nice and buttery, but didn't take even ten minutes to turn sharp and brandy-ish. I didn't like it. He didn't like it. In the imp, though, it was a remarkable re-creation of what it was supposed to be representing.

Yeah, I think that, on me at least, the ylang ylang dominates in Malice, and perhaps conspires with the red patchouli against me, becuase I don't really get any clove at all. Perhaps a little in the throw, but it's ephemeral. The Smiling Spider is definitely closer to the Clove Cigarette scent, and smells quite like them on the wrists of my gloves right now, actually, but doesn't quite have that same effect on my skin. Or it depends on my mood, and I haven't hit upon the right one just yet.

I've been on a similar quest, and I will say that Dracul, on me, was purely pine. The Smiling Spider is very close to what I've envisioned for "my" clove scent, but some days it's more musky than others (stupid skin), though it's quite lovely either way. I didn't see it mentioned in this thread but I got a frimp of Malice with my order, and that's listed as "Ylang ylang, clove, Indonesian red patchouli, and dark myrrh." I haven't tested that one very much (Because I"ve been ridin' the spider), but it looks (smells?) promising as well.

I tend to always just say "Black Phoenix", or "The Lab" if it's somebody I've talked to about it before. And I think my perfume selection has been geared to getting stuff I know how to pronounce...I had to look up "Loviatar" before I would wear it

This was a frimp from my last lab order, and when I opened it after I first got it, the leather was way to stiff, new, and sharp. I've learned, though, that first impressions aren't necessarily the last ones with regards to these scents, though. Today I wore Loviatar all day long (I in fact just wore it on my wrist, swiping it around in a ring like a leather bracelet) and it was lovely. The leather had mellowed to the point where it was lovely high-quality new leather, and apparently red musk and I get along quite well. I've got I think three BPALs total with red musk in it, so that at least I can sniff, look at the description, and go "Oh, okay. Red musk." Loviatar definitely has staying power, but the longest part of the drydown was the myrrh and what I assume is black amber, as everything turned slightly sweeter and maybe an eensy bit powdery (but in a good way) over the lingering leather.

Previously, I was under the impression that benzoin and I did not get along. I was apparently incorrect, or perhaps that was only benzoin's evil twin that I had encountered, and this oil contains the good one. Wet, it smelled like roses, or a lot like roses, anyway, and had quite a throw (I put a single line of it across my left wrist at work, and both of my coworkers, across the room from me in opposite directions, could smell it). I'm not very familiar with musks, so this could be what red musk and "Moroccan unguents" do on my skin? Dry, I get a whiff of caramel, but only in the throw. On my skin, it's sweet and musky and very slightly spicy. Hours later, the caramel is hugging my skin with the spicy muskiness. I'm not sure if I ever separately smelled honey in this, but I know it contributed. Absolutely lovely.

My Snake Oil is only a couple months old, but even that couple months has banished the Eau du Play-Doh that was my initial, immediate problem. I still don't think it's at its full appeal for me, but I can see how perhaps in two more months, or more than that, it can be. I got the imp from the lab, and already it's kind of viscous, and leaves more of an initial color on my skin than other oils I've tried. It's hard for me to recognize the real vanilla, after my months of drinking Vanilla Coke Zero, but once I realized that's what was there, it was excellent. Overall, I can't really pick out any other notes (vanilla? some kind of patchouli? something similar to what's in Czernobog?), but it's to a good effect, not a muddy mess. It's a skin hugging scent, and one that draws me to sniff the "testing ground" (the back of my left wrist) at odd times. I've heard it described as "sex in a bottle", and if it keeps going the way it's going.....well....

When I originally got this imp, it was very pine and very juniper to my nose. Juniper I like, but the pine was mega-amped by my skin and kind of made my eyes water. Since then (about five months?) it seems to have mellowed out and become a bit more like pine sap and less like juniper, and has never been "woody" at all for me.

I'm still pretty new at this, so I don't know what scent "does what", but apparently, anything with a hint of pine is amped on my skin. In Czernobog's case, I'm going to think this might be the mullein? It isn't too sharp or overpowering, and is actually rather nice. I think part of what reins in the OMG pine is the vetiver and myrrh, which seem to play together very well and steer the already laid-back pininess towards something that I don't have the scent-words to describe. I've tried, but not reviewed, Two Monsters, and there's a very slight similarity that my little nose detects (and there's a musk in Two Monsters, anyway). ETA: I can't believe I left out the most important part of this review: the Czernobog is hot. Not "hot" in the context of cinmamon, but "hot" in the context of "this is sexy and wonderful and I love it".

On me, Wolfsbane smells much like buttery, creamy, cedar chips. Maybe not hamster cage per se, but it is certainly evocative of going into a store that has cedar planks for the walls and the flooring. It's a pleasant scent, and one that I'll keep around, but I'm not actually fond of wearing it. Perhaps I'll fashion sachets or something to keep in my drawers.

I got Jester as a frimp in one of my orders (and I just can't get over how awesome that whole frimping thing is ) In the vial, and on me, and even hours later, this smells like lollipops on me. Red, very sweet lollipops, like the flat round kind you can get for free at the bank if you're a kid (and can still get if your bank is awesome). I'm never sure if they're cherry, or strawberry (or even, apparently, red currant), but they sure are RED. And that's how this scent is on me. Not entirely feeling the love, I've tried to pass it along, and three separate people I've tried to palm it off on--I mean, enable, shrink away from the vial going "it smells like Robitussin!" Which isn't what I got from it at all. Ah well.

On me, the red ginger was apparent first, foremost, and forever after. There was a half-subdued sweetness that lingered for awhile, which was like and not like straight up honeysuckles, so I think that's the red musk talking too. I loves me some ginger, but I almost think I prefer it without the struggling sweetness. I'll hold onto my decant and use it, but I'm unlikely to buy a bottle. ETA: I tried War again last night, and after its little bit of aging, the red ginger is still nice and strong, but works with the honeysuckle now to be rather gingersnap-y, and the patchouli is absolutely lovely. Now, I definitely want a bottle.

Shub-Niggurath, if you dig ginger. I don't think there's anything in it that can go sweet.

I've been a long time in reviewing this one, but Shub-Nuggurath is the one that I wear the most often, and that lingers in my clothes and my hair. It's hard to discern it freshly, without being influenced by other things. This is one that smells much the same both in the bottle and on my skin. Warm, very warm, and even without being able to name three gingers, I can tell that there certainly is more than one at work here. I've tried very hard to figure out what the other things are, the dark resins and ritual herbs (okay, and the aphrodisiacal spices). Clove? (oh, how I wish this!) Nutmeg? Suffice to say, I love this. My fiancé loves this. My coworkers love it. It's hot in the summer and warm and sharp in the winter. My bottle may have sweetened a bit with age (four months? I don't know if that's enough time), but that just makes it sweet and hot and sharp and spicy. GINGER!

In the imp: Smelled like sandalwood and rose, a combination I love dearly (and one of the few things I've bought from Bath and Bodyworks) Wet: Roses! Lovely rain-wet roses that haven't been cut yet, with cedary and sandalwood in the background. I don't get any patchouli, but maybe a bit of Jasmine? Dry: Lemongrass. Lemongrass grows up and sours out my roses, and that's as far as I get. Into the "will sell to people I entice or swap if I get around to doing that" box on my shelf at work. (At least now I don't feel as bad about not getting Cheshire Moon, if I amp lemongrass all crazy-like.) (ETA: this was a frimp. Oh how I love both frimps and portmanteau words!)

This is rather sweet, but peppery, when I wear it, and the frankincense really stands out. This is the only scent that I have that has frankincense without its buddy myrrh in it, and frankincense dries down into an almost salty scent on me, which I really enjoy as it reminds me of the beach and the ocean. Which isn't to say that Carceri smells like salt and pepper shakers on me, as that would be a bit dismaying. It's definitely a winner.