hkhm

currently, i love coral snake more than snake oil. i love apple scents and they love me right back. and even the name gets me all worked up: coral snake. i just love the way that sounds. normally, snake oil is so strong on me it will give me a headache if i do more than put the tiniest dot on myself. but it is a lovely, alluring scent.

i'm just assembling this image of a librarian wearing a scent like penny dreadful. i worked in a library a while back and we weren't allowed to wear scents either. think most of us did anyway but we kept it light and low-key.

imp: this smells almost just like ferns and cottonwood trees to me. an extremely green scent. wet: this is such a shrubby tree-like scent i just can't put my finger on it. there's almost a faint aquatic note at the very back that reminds me of quiet little brooks running beneath a canopy of trees in late summer dusk. it's a lovely scent. dry: it just fades to a softer green scent. this is a quite amazing blend. much like zombi, it is exactly like the description. i'm really impressed.

imp: this smells just like tiger balm to me. wet: whoa! really spicy, really tangy tiger balm! this smells incredible! dry: i will always think of this scent as tiger balm without the medicine. luckily, i love tiger balm and since i use it pretty often after kendo practice, it's the scent of happy exhaustion.

imp: wet greenery. this is very aquatic to me but without the sharpness. this feels more like rainwater dripping off of leaves in early spring. that sort of aquatic. wet: i don't really get berry from this scent, it's green aquatic all the way. dry: this ends up smelling like soap, true it's very clean, good-smelling soap, but still soap. i'm almost certain it's the aquatic note that makes me think of soap.

imp: spicy, creamy cherries. i'm noticing that almost all almont scents smell like cherries to me. wet: now it's more almondy, a very spicy almond with a sort of toasted, carmelized scent. this smells very much like a dessert. dry: the musk and amber warm up a bit more and mix perfectly with the almond. and there's still just a bare whiff of spiciness.

imp: strong, acrid pine with something sharp and almost citrus. this smells like really strong, medicated shampoo. wet: this is far more mellow. the pine smells more piney, not so bitter. there is a wonderful sweetness with it now too, something that smells aquatic and like fresh, wet foliage. dry: this dries to something sublime! it's sweet and fresh and beautiful! like faint fruits and flowers on a breeze through the forest. i find it hard to wrap my head around how harsh it smelled in the imp and what a lovely scent it dried down and became!

imp: light juniper and musk. wet: i'm not getting any patchouli at all. i'm getting musk, faint juniper, a bit of bergamot... i don't get any orchid either. that's weird. dry: the musk is the only thing that lasted. i'm beginning to think that musk gets amped on my skin because often when there's musk in a scent it dominates the blend and stays on my skin for hours and hours.

imp: this smells like apple blossom / citrus rain. very light and crisp with a definite zing of something tangy. wet: a super tangy aquatic. this is both strong and smooth. very unusual and interesting. dry: this goes to a slightly softer aquatic that really doesn't lose it's zing, it just doesn't zap you from across the room.

imp: that is some serious opium! very strong. wet: it's like i've fallen into the plane of pure opium. this is so intense and strong i should have put on only the tiniest dot. dry: this dries to a sweet, smoky opium that is quite mysterious. lovely.

imp: violet with a teensy bit of neroil. this smells so gorgeous. wet: violet and iris. there is a weirdness here though: when i smell this in passing it smells sweet and flowery, when i put my nose to my arm it smells like one of those really strong indelible ink markers. so sweet yet so virulent. dry: the violet still dominates this blend. it's one of the few blends that the violet stays sweet and true. that odd marker scent fades after a while (still can't figure that one out) and this stays sweet and strong.

imp: this smells like frankincense and myrrh incense. wet: very piney, like cypress or juniper with the smoky scents of frankincense and myrrh. this is a very somber blend, i like it a great deal. dry: this has softened to a sweet, resiny, piney incense smell. there is the faintest trace of myrrh that gives it a wonderful zing.

imp: very deep, very strong earthly patchouli. wet: very woody, earthy patchouli. i'm not getting any oakmoss or heliotrope but there is a faint hint of copal. mostly, though, it's all rich patchouli. dry: the patchouli is staying very strong but i'm finally catching hints of moss along with the copal. still no sign of the heliotrope though.

imp: lavender and something. lillies or jasmine or lilac? something. wet: lavener and i'll make a guess at jasmine. this is very strong even when i just put a little on my arm. whatever the other floral note (or notes) is, it smells nicely sweet against the normally sharp lavender. dry: the lavender fades after a while and (wonder of wonders) a sweet, soft rose scent emerges that does not go soapy on me. i can also catch hints of other soft florals: jasmine and... well, something else... i think i'll leave this imp out for when i'm having trouble dozing off.

imp: honey and milk in cream of wheat. wet: honey and milk! this reminds me of a really nice soap i used to use that was, you guessed it, milk and honey. so it smells very clean to me. dry: this fades too quickly! it is a wonderfully yummy scent that has a nice crisp feel to it.

imp: rosey musk with strong, sour spice. wet: sour lemon furniture polish with an awful rose soap smell. the rose here is one of the worst i've ever tried. true, rose almost never smells good on me but this smells just terrible. this scent is strong and brash and just... sour. dry: this just will not fade and go away! this is the first bpal blend that i have actually hated. i suppose there was bound to be one that smelled terrible on me but i wasn't prepared for how bad this smelled.

imp: sweet, faint florals like you might smell on the breeze while you take a walk. wet: this has a honey-like sweetness that is almost too much for me. the florals have gone ultra-sweet and strong. dry: i'm still unable to pick out any specific florals over the super-sweetness of this scent. it just stayed strong and flowery.

imp: frankincense and patchouli, very nicely blended. wet: patchouli, sandalwood and frankincense. dry: the patchouli came out on top with the frankincense second and the sandalwood a distant third.

imp: smels like honey and coconuts... and something fresh and crisp... like faint citrus or something. wet: there's a woodsy, smokey scent here that overpowers the sweetness. suddenly i'm gripped with the thought that this is like a female version of crowley. there's almost a faint leatherish scent as well. dry: there's a sweet vanilla musk sort of scent here, still backed by woods and smoke. very interesting scent.

imp: very floral with lots of violets. wet: strong, sweet florals. the violet is still quite strong. dry: these are some serious florals. even when my arm was at my side, covered by a sleeve i could smell this blend very strongly. the violets have, for once, worked well on me and smell wonderful!

imp: oh my! this smells like vanilla sarsaparilla! yum! wet: wow... the cedar really comes out once i put this on! so we've got a sort of cedary vanilla scent. dry: this is a very unusual scent. at once it's cripsly woodsy and syrupy sweet... it smells much more like an incense fragrance to me.

imp: lilac with some rose and a wee bit of lavender. wet: this smells dark and green with lots of soft florals hiding about. i wonder if it's the fern that smells so green? dry: this is one of the rare rose scents that does not go soapy on me. the lilac comes through most strongly and stays pleasant throughout.

imp: almond and... bay leaf? wet: this smells like sweet ashes. there's a burnt scent that overpowers everything else. i can catch hints of citrus and almond and the bay-leafy scent but the burnt smoky aroma is by far the strongest. dry: the burnt scent faded and vanished after a little bit and left a very pleasing bay rum scent. this is quite nice, i'm be tossing it onto my husband's imp pile to see what he thinks.

imp: bergamot and lavender... and... i feel like i can almost pick out every note before the entire fragrance turns to 'men's cologne'. wet: oh lord. this smells like some sort of men's cologne soap. or some god-awful aftershave. this is what i imagine quagmire from family guy smells like. this makes me think of sleazy guys in vegas with pomade in their hair and some awful smirk twisting their lips. ugh. dry: will this scent ever fade? this is only the second time i've actually attempted to scrub a scent off of my arm. and it will not come off!

imp: the cypress and juniper are making a nice piney scent while keeping the rose in check. i'm not sure if i'm catching the chamomile or not but there is a nice, rich sweetness that just can't be the rose... wet: this is a disaster. i smell like scratch 'n' sniff stickers. a pine tree and a rose sitting next to each other on the same folder. dry: even worse. the rose has gone soapy and the pine scent smells like pine-sol. i smell like a freshly scrubbed guest bathroom