Gin

Cancer 2007

I have to laugh that my review is following CynicalPink's, since I found Cancer to be... sort of generically aquatic. Not in a bad way, just in a cool, watery way. I couldn't pick out any notes at all, I just got a calm... wateryness.

Gemini 2007

Well, hello lavender, how are you? Dominant? Why, yes, you are! I think I can smell a bit of the frankincense, but really, this is soooo lavendery.

Libra 2007

Love. Lush red rose + cherry with... an almost incensy base. It's floral but not "old lady," it's really very sexy.

Katrina van Tassel

Mmm. This is a good rose blend. Not too powdery, not too loud. The honeyed cream gives it a richness without it overpowering it.

Pepper

Oh, boo. I don't know if I'm going through a weird skin chemistry phase or what, but I feel like I'm amping ginger. Pepper is sooooo gingery on me. No berries, no vanilla or honey, just ginger ginger ginger ginger ginger. Too bad, because I like the concept, and I like the notes listed.

Milk Moon 2007

I'm glad that others mentioned pineapple. My first impression was pineapple and cream or maybe coconut. Sadly, then it went sour--like, wash it off sour--which made me sad. I thought maybe it was past its prime, or perhaps that I remembered it wrong. When I sniffed again, though, it had morphed into the scent I remembered--sweetened condensed milk with maybe a tiny hint of fruit.

Pink Moon 2007

Pink and sweet. It really is what it says--sweet carnation and sweet pink phlox. I feel underwhelmed when I apply it because it seems so quiet and simple, but then it blooms on my skin. I love carnation, so this is perfect for me.

Fairy Market

Incense. And flowers, but... more like a flower-scented incense. I'm surprised at how incensy this is. I expected whoaflowers! Dry, it's faintly floral-incense over something vanilla-like.

Fairy Wine

Hey! This smells like wine! Sour at first, probably because of the dadelion and red currant, it morphs to a sweet, fruity honey wine.

Aries 2007

In the bottle, it's scary--stabby pepper and dragon's blood. On the skin, mmmmm! Dragon's blood mellowed by honeysuckle, with the faintest whiff of ginger. Beautiful.

Pickled Imp

I loved Three Witches with its cinnamon, clove, and pepper, so of course I had to get this. In the bottle and initially on my skin, I felt that it may have been a mistake. The vanilla, which smells very much like Vanilla Bean SN, seems too... sweet? (Mr. Gin said Play Doh) under the spices. The pine sap pops in for a minute to say hello and to tell the spices to settle the hell down, and leaves, taking the too-sweetness of the vanilla along with it. I'm left with a fan-fricking-tastic vanilla-cinna-clove. Brava, Beth!

Beaver Moon 2007

Whoa. As a devotee to the original Beaver Moon, this caught me off guard. The vanilla cream is very loud initally, and is walking that line between beautiful and plastic. It calms down into a cherry-vanilla that reminds me of Velvet Unicorn. Cute and sweet!

Velvet Clown

Wow. One whiff, and I think I'm drunk. Two, and I'm hungover. I think I applied a bit too much, and it was OMGBOOZE! The red licorice in the bottle completely morphed into alcohol on my skin--I feel like I could almost smell it changing--and then let the cigar smoke take over. Dry, it's a whirl of ... well, a carnival at nightfall. It's sticky-sweet candy that you've eaten too much of and smoke and greasepaint. It's not unpleasant, but it has a sinister feeling to it--but maybe that's because I have an aversion to clowns.

Les Bijoux

Honey flowers! I'm quite surprised to read the listed notes because all get is honey and honey-scented flowers. Now that I know apple is listed, I think I can smell it far below the honey, but it might just be the power of suggestion. This is terribly sexy and has amazing throw.

Sugar Moon 2008

Sugar cane at first, to the exclusion of all else. Then, what I'm guessing is the blue musk and blackberry leaf. This is not as sweet as I had expected... it's actually sort of musky/woodsy/herbal. It's nice, but not my type of scent.

Enraged Bunny Musk

You know those scents that you know you won't like, because none of the notes are 'your' notes, but the imagery is just too much and you have to get some anyway? Yeah. Enraged Bunny Musk was one of those. I was able to pass it up when it was available from the Lab, but caved later. I'm not one to go for the 'clean' scents, but I'm a sucker for bunnies (and reviews that mention lemon). On me, this is all powder + cotton blossom, with a touch of white musk. Cute, but not my style.

Carnaval Diabolique

I put this one off for a long time. I had a preconceived notion of what this would smell like, and I knew I wouldn't like it. (*smashes head with trout*) I ended up getting some anyway (after reading the 'smoky lemon' reviews) and let it sit untested for a few weeks. In retrospect, I can't believe I was such an idiot. This is lovely. Instead of a dark, black musk + smoky smoke scent, it's slightly incensy lemon with hints of heliotrope and coconut.

Spiked Punch

In the bottle, this was.. not good. Too syrupy, maybe. Not the bright red, How 'bout a nice Hawaiian Punch? scent I'd expected. On my skin, it's grape. Grape, grape, sticky purple grape hard candies. I thought there was supposed to be booze in this? I get none. I like it though. It's different but still sweet, and let's face it, grape is awesome and often overlooked.

Versailles

Roses? Yup. Orris? Yup. I wouldn't have guessed amber, but it makes sense. Versailles is all floral-powdery on me. It's not really my style, but I like how well it seems to capture my idea of Versailles.

Asphodel

Ghost flowers! It's unquestionably floral, but the florals are all pale, translucent. Sweet, but sad.

Al-Shairan

Clovey-peachy-orange. Underneath, there's a medicinal scent? It makes me think of some sort of topical ointment--Icy Hot or something--which is, of course, all I can think of now.

Ah'Duno

The always generous and lovely Evon sent this to me with an eBay win. Like some others, I had no idea what the heck this was. On the skin... Dragon's blood? Wintergreen? Cinnamon? Lilac? Lotus? I really have no idea, but it dries down to a pretty straightforward Red Hots style cinnamon.

A Countenance Forboding Evil

Eek! Vetiver and Patchouli stabbing me in the nose! This is *sharp.* As it dries, it calms down, but it's still pretty much patch + the 'ver, with maybe a tiny hint of blood orange. (No hint of ylang ylang, yay!) I was hoping the orange would be more pronounced, but I can hardly tell it's there at all.

51

Well... I'm not sure what I can say about 51 that hasn't been said. It really is spectacular. What does it smell like? I don't know. It just smells good. It's kind of light green--like a cool, whitish light green, not a vile chartreuse. It's fresh and sort of floral, without really smelling like flowers. I think this will be in heavy rotaton now that the weather is heating up.

MVJBA : Dog Days of Summer

I admit, I was a little disappointed when I went to finally order my Fan Pack and this was the oil listed instead of Mother Shub's peanut brittle popcorn confection. I mean, wildflowers and grass? That's *so* not me.

Except that it's fantastic. Like DigitalCoyote, I feel like this is my childhood in a bottle. I lived with my grandparents in the summer, next to a hill of amazingly tall grass, weeds, and whatnot. I would get up in the morning and run out to the garden to pick berries for breakfast and would then roam around in the "meadow." Dog Days is the smell of that. It would be hot already, and humid. Not terrible at that point, but you knew the day was going to be a scorcher. The long yellow grass would look dry, but it was all bent over on itself, so it was still wet and mushy underneath. The sharp/sweet grass dries down to a soft, sweet floral, much prettier than I expected.