phoefromelsewhere

Decided to try this today as the buttery note in the bottle of Pumpkin Queen is still scaring me away. In the bottle: Woods, cider, a vague spice and cranberries. Absolutely lovely. Wet: I smell like a candle. Drydown and Later: Progressively worsening candle smell. It's a very lovely candle smell, all autumny and cidery and nice but I don't want to smell like a candle. I'm not big on room fragrances so this one will be passed on to someone who loves it.

Yes! A CN scent that works! Glad I got 2 bottles of this. I scribbled down some notes while testing this, I was too distracted sniffing for any more than that. In the bottle: Definitely a gypsy tent, dark, mysterious, evocative. Wet: Strongly feminine (no delicate florals or whispiness here). Spicy, smoky, powerful. Drydown: Rich, lovely, a dull warmth like a shot of brandy (not in the alcoholness, but in the spreading warmth through your body, this is that sensation perfumified). Finally: Absolutely gorgeous. I can't pick out any notes (except maybe dragon's blood?) but it's all rich velvets, silk veils, gloomy crystal balls and jangly gold jewelry. Yumtastic.

Hrmph. The first thing I ever ordered 2 bottles of (not at the same time tho) and boy was that a mistake. This starts off gorgeously sweet and foodie. There's no sense of SUGAR that Sugar Skull gives me but the similarity is in the sweetness. After that, there is no similarity. As it dries I get caramel apple and the taffy and some butteryness that doesn't smell anything like funnel cake to me. This smells more like a bakery than any carnival and while I don't want to smell like a bakery, it might work as a room scent. And then it happens: it goes pure plastic scented food. Ugh a million times over. I don't know what it is but all of a sudden I am smelling plastic scented food. Buttery sweet plastic. to Midway. And I bought 2 bottles. Bum.

Hrm, I don't get any vanilla or spice. There is a few seconds in the drydown when it smells like the perfume equivalent of a window frame (glass, wood) but then it starts screaming sweetness. This is definitely closer to Sea of Glass for me and thus, completely unwearable.

Ever since a meds change (hormonal stuff) things I used to love now smell awful on me (including one of my absolute favorites, Blood). Which is why I'm glad the lab threw this in as a freebie, I'd given up on anything with blood in the title. This is a gorgeous blend of spicy dragon's blood and warm amber. It's not overpowering or even all that noticeable, just nice warm and spicy. Will keep an imp on hand for when I need a blood kick.

There really isn't much to review on my skin. In the bottle: amber Wet: amber Drydown: amber Finally: amber overkill In summation, amber. I like a little amber but this is just ridiculous on my skin, I get nothing else at all.

I've had this in my bpal box for awhile, everytime I open it up, I get a whiff of dirt. Finally decided to try it. In the bottle: Dark dirt. Sort of like digging a big hole and standing in it and the top of it is over your head. Kind of creepy. Wet/Drydown/Finally: This went through dark dirt to potting soil dirt to just plain ol garden variety dirt (which I love). Very soft, no where near as overpowering as I thought it would be. Cool and comforting, an absolute gem.

Oof, evil gingersnaps it is. So far this just smells like Gingerbread Poppet's bigger meaner brother. Whoa, an odd blend of gingerbread and fresh pure ginger. And...citrus? Hrm, at the moment it's not smelling like anything other than a cacophony of scents. Hopefully it will smooth out a bit. I'm getting odd curry smells for some reason. There's currently gingerbread, gingery curry and lemon pledge in this. Which is nice and nauseating. Darn skin. Sometime later: Ick, there's a not very nice food smell in the background. Ick ick ick. I think it's safe to say my skin has mangled this one completely.

In the bottle: minty tea Wet: minty tea. Vaguely Frost Moon, but hopefully without the evilness FM had on me. Drydown: This is just...odd. Mint (and lots of it ), cucumber (a bit too much for my liking) and white pepper (which I love). Hrm, you would think 2 out of 3 would be good but this cucumber is REALLY strong on me. This mellows out to a lovely creamy mint, a hint of spiciness and the evil huge take-over-the-world cucumber and then disappears almost completely, leaving the mint cuke in it's wake. Bumification, I really wanted to love this.

Wow. This smells so good in the bottle I don't want to try it on in case my skin mangles it. Spicy and fresh, it's familiar but I couldn't tell you why. Hrm, going a bit perfumey but still the same lovely spicy freshness. The pepper and cardamom are in the forefront, with whispy airy trees in the background. There's quite a lot of depth to it as well even tho at first sniff it's VERY airy. Oof, this is going very high on me, no sense of depth anymore. I hope it calms down a bit, where's the creaminess others have mentioned? Ah, there it is. Well, kind of. This smells like chai. And freezing, ice covered trees. Very lovely!

I don't know how to describe this. In the bottle it was quite dryer-sheety with a vague otherworldly smell. I dislike the dryer sheet part but otherworldly had me written all over it so I put some on. Air and darkness is bang on. This is walking around in the dark outside passing no scent pockets such as the sun warmed roses cooling down or the pungent night blooming scents. Nada. Just a vague clean smell. During the drydown this is completely soapy on me. Which isn't unpleasant, it's just...soap. This is odd. It's flipping back and forth between vast darkness and space and Ivory soap. Which if you were the philosophical type would be stg akin to everyday existence, really. Perfume wise...hrm, gonna have to try this one out a few more times as I can't seem to make up my mind (and neither can it!)

In the bottle: Kool aid. I get berries and wine. Which, even tho my skin normally hates both, is turning into a lovely scent (what is it with the lab freebies totally being unexpected loves?). It's very warm and alive, which is a bit of a shock as I expected Lady Macbeth to be cool and barren. Not so. Alive to the tips of her toes, she is. It fades into a gorgeous red/purple haze. Another for the 5ml pile!

My brain has been sidetracked by this. I can't remember what is in it at all, only that it is unspeakably beautiful. Soft, feminine but not girly. I'm in love. 5ml for me!

Hrm. I love lilies and a touch of honey would just set them off to perfection. But I can't make my mind up on this one. It does smell JUST like lilies with a bit of honey in, which while nice on the bottle, is clashing horribly. Not with my chemisty, but believe it or not, with my self image! I am not the type of girl to wear this. Blood, Sacred Whore of Babylon, Samhain...that's more me. This smells beautiful in the bottle and likewise on my skin but I'm have an existentialist debate on this one. I'll keep it just in case but I don't foresee wearing it often.

Honey, roses and orange blossom? Doomed from the start. I expected it to go sickenly sweet so I applied this over a sink (in the quick dodge to get it off before it nauseated me, as all three normally do). I put it on and...within 2 seconds, it's turned to baby powder. I wait and wait to see if anything else develops but it doesn't. Baby powder, plain and simple. Oh well. I tried.

I'm an Alice In Wonderland freak, so this one was definitely one I wanted to try. But then I looked at the description. Uh oh, black musk. I wind up smelling like a very stinky hippie shop usually. Or worse. I'm going to have to try this one at a later date because I suspect a fluke. This is GORGEOUS. No musk or overpowering lavender at all! It's vaguely lemony, mildly lavendery and very very minty. It does smell masculine, but only in the way that it's the way a man's leather chair in some posh library would smell after he'd left it. Very faint and vauge, deliciously fresh and minty. I love it. My only complaint is that it lasts mere minutes on me before fading to an even lighter imprint of the scent. Which, while still nice, isn't quite as nice as the full scent. (Which is whisper light on me anyway). This is going on my 5ml list.

I'm being brave with this one, roses + musk = big no no on me. Surprisingly tho, I smell very little actually rose, it's more of a vague floral. And the musk really behaves as well. It deepens and balances out. Now I'm reminded of incense and then it hits me: it smells just like the Underground in Sacramento (head shop/music place). And then I remember that SWoB smells the exact same way. So this one, while lovely, is off to the swaps to avoid blend repetition.

In the bottle: grape candy. Wet: Very sweet but not overly so. Still very much like candy. Drydown: The honey really floats to the surface as do the musks. Wonderfully balanced, the honey never gets too sweet and the musks never get too strong. Finally: it did go rather musky but the initial phases are enough to convince me to try it again.

In the bottle: fruity and floral. Wet: The fairy queen, bedecked with flowers sits down to a banquet of sweet fruits. And I promptly go into sugar shock. And powder shock. Drydown: Oof, overkill. Finally: It’s too powdery and too sweet for me.

In the bottle: Watery and sweet. Wet: This is very very pretty. Very girly and sweet but it’s dark and watery. If it stays at this stage, I may be able to wear it. Drydown: This is completely evocative of Ophelia and it’s very nice but the rose and lotus are trampling poor Ophelia into the swap pile.

In the bottle: rose and patchouli. Wet: Mainly rose. I do get a smidge of sandalwood and patchouli. Sweet and spicy and warm. Drydown: The rose is there but not as sickeningly sweet as it normally goes. I think this is because my skin loves patchouli even more than rose. Still too sweet and rosey for me tho.

In the bottle: fabric softener. Wet: Hmm…it’s very citrusy and yet softer than citrus. Drydown: The white musk does go powdery but not horribly so. This calls to mind tight corsets, fans and huge powdered wigs with some well classed sexual predator in their midst but that could be the powderiness. Finally: Hmm. It does go awfully powdery (lilac and musk do that on me) but the lime and citron keep it from being pure powder. I’ll use up the imp for sure.

The essence of innocence shattered: glittering Egyptian amber and heliotrope, infused with the sweetness of strawberry and vanilla - dragged into debauch by lusty red musk and a dribble of black cherry. In the bottle: Grape kool aid. Wet: Very fruity but not overly so. It’s darker and more grounded. I can definitely smell the cherry…wonder where I was getting grape? This is similar to Blood Kiss on me. Drydown: There is a store in Sacramento called the Underground. I smell EXACTLY like that. Finally: It softens nicely into a sort of decadent haze. NOW I get where the Hollywood bit comes in. Looking back it makes perfect sense. Genius! 5ml for me!

In the bottte: homemade peach pie. Wet: Hrm. It smells nice and spicy and deeply fruity but there is an odd sour smell. Maybe the pumpkin? Drydown: Smells like Gingerbread Poppet mixed with fruit. Finally: This is just way too strong for me. I prefer Gingerbread Poppet.

Soft, lush myrtle and dry, sweet melilot with wild rose, pomegranate juice and peach blossom against a background of deep aquatic notes and a twirl of melancholy autumn breezes. In the bottle: fruity and rosey. Wet: Rose. There is stg pungent and tart (pomegranate I think) there as well. I’m bit worried about this one due to the combination, since Persephone hated me. Drydown: Urgh. This smells like nail polish remover. Unfortunately, the smell is sufficiently rank enough to merit washing off. Finally: Roses and pomegranate are a definite no for me. Oh well, thought I would give it a shot anyway.