Diana

I put off wearing this until today because I was too afraid. Based on the not-so-favorable reviews and the way it smelled in the bottle, it just sat on my shelf. In the bottle, it smelled reallllly super perfumey in not a good way. Like Windsong or some drugstore perfume from the 70s. Ugh. THIS is why I never put it on. Today, it touched my skin! The perfumey quality lessens within a few minutes. NOW I get violets, but only briefly. A shame, since I really love violets. I can sort of detect something really faintly green & herbal, almost like aloe. The spots where I applied it are chilly! The perfume smell becomes a bit more powdery. It definitely has an ozone quality to it, but only just. The powdery smell reminds me of days when I was little and my mom would be doing laundry. The smell of the detergent for my brother's baby clothes, freshy starched & ironed cottons. And just a tad of the violet mixed with baby powder. Huh. Totally not what I expected. It's pretty and clean smelling. Not something I'd wear every day, but this would very much would be a nice summer scent (and today is so not the best day to wear it—cold & overcast!). I'm definitely keeping my stash!

This was the CN oil I was most hesitant to try. Anytime I think I saw the word vetiver associated with an oil, I shrink away and quickly apply something else. However, I got the whole Odditorium, and I recently wore something with the V that wasn't completely awful. I'm so brave! Putting it on, I can smell the vetiver, but it's pretty faint. What is more obvious are the lime & lemon notes. They fade fairly quickly, though leaving a smoke scent (I thought I was smelling woodsmoke this morning and realized it was me!). The smoke becomes less evident, then next the leather comes into play. A rich, black, cool leather. What's left now is a bit of a musky scent with a bit of clove and a tiny bit of smokey leather, and just a fractional note of vetiver (enough so I notice it, but not so much that I need to scrub this off ASAP.) This is actually quite nice, and I'm surprised at how much I like this!

To echo everyone else, yes, this smells dead on like buttered popcorn in the bottle. Putting it on, it's mostly a rich, creamy butter smell with a hint of salty popcorn under. Butter is really the main component. It also blossoms into a wonderful, buttery-caramel note, which reminded me greatly of Gluttony. This was actually very suprising. I didn't expect to like it at all. It did change enough from the bottle smell to skin smell (though it is subtle) for me to like wearing it. This didn't seem to last very long on me, but that may have been because it was a "roll out of bed, throw on clothes, apply BPAL" day. I'll have to give it another go on freshly washed skin to see if it lasts longer.

This perfume is an interpretation of the Hanging Gardens by night, based on further accounts of its fruit and flora: date palm, ebony, fir, pomegranate, plum, two pears, quince, fig, and grapevine with plumeria, three gardenias and dry rose. Putting this on, it exudes a rush of fragrance of lush, ripe, wet fruits. It's a different fruit smell than either Fruit Moon or Mi-Go. It's mostly pear that I'm picking up on, and a bit of fig. As this wears on, it stays really lush and wet smelling. The florals start to kick in a bit, but they (the gardenia & plumeria) seem to fill the capacity of wet juicy fruity florals, so they mingle in with the already established fruits. The rose occasionally peaks out, giving it a scent slightly reminiscent to Persephone. This totally makes me want to sit outside in my parents' back yard, eating juicy, dripping wet figs right off the tree that have been warmed by the sun. Yuummm.

Florals are usually a 50-50 chance gamble for me. Barring that, I ordered up some Beatrice, which doesn't really have notes listed. This smells pretty much the same all day from the bottle, to wet on the skin, to drydown. I don't really get spices from this at all, though there is something in there that might be carnation, but I can't really tell. I can't detect any specific flower, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was orchid & rose & lily & iris in there. I wouldn't describe it as creamy, either. It isn't offensive, but it hasn't really got any OOMPH behind it (for me anyway). It does remind me a tiny bit of Bearded Lady, but I like the sweeter florals in that one better. It's a fairly innocuous scent, kind of reminiscent to a floral scent I get from shampoos & conditioners I tend to use. It's nice, but I like my scents to have a bit more bite to them. I do think my mom would love this, though. She likes delicate, soft blends like this.

Sounds like maybe Rose & Almond might be issues for you? Shame Sin didn't work out for you... it's one of my favorites! Anything with Red Musk is TEH WIN, I think. (see also: Schrerzade... amazing AND long-lasting) It's musky, it's slightly spicy. Totally sexy. I'd also recommend: Lust Kabuki (untraditional spicy–anise!) Wrath (spicy like the Big Red gum) Bengal (which doesn't last too long on me) Golden Priapus (similar to Snake Oil with more "wood" huh hhuh huh) Chimera (also spicy-cinnamony) The Lion (I found this to be a bit too "dry" smelling for me) Maybe also Kathmandu, but it's been a while since I've tried out my imp.

Every once in a while, I'll get a random catalog oil without testing it first, just based on the description or the notes. Here's a good example. When I open the bottle, this smells strongly of orange blossom. That doesn't bode well for me, and I have actually put off wearing it because of that. I can only take it in small doses (like in Catherine), otherwise I find it overwhemling & nauseating (Seraglio). Throwing caution to the wind (after double checking that there is, in fact, no orange blossom), I slather it on. It starts to develop a more strong orange note (no blossom). It smells almost of orange lollipops. Mmm. It's sweet, juicy, and more than tolerable. As it wears on after a few hours, the juicy fruit note moves aside and the sandalwood becomes stronger and more evident. The sandalwood never becomes all that strong though (which is a shame, because i LOVE sandalwood). The overall effect is a soft woody note that you'd smell while drinking orange juice. This totally works.

these are ones i consider to be floral/rainy scents (some are slightly more aquatic than others): empyreal mist, lightning, tempest*, ulalume, szepasszony, desdemona, danube *especially a lot.

OP - original poster Ultraviolet was very violety on me. And a tiny bit of eucalyptus. And not really any aquatics. Crazy, eh?

Hmm I did some searches for "aquatic" "ozone" "marine" "rain" in the database and came up with some Aquatic/Ozone varieties you might like: Tempest Nyarlathotep Hurricane Szepasszony Danube Ulalume Bayou R'lyeh Earthy/Mossy: Burial Nocnitsa Nosferatu Thanatopsis Greed Fallen Crossroads Omen The Apothecary hopefully some of those work out for you.

This is the bastard child of 13 and Cerberus. Out of the bottle, and wet on the skin, this smells almost identical to 13. Almost too much so... it's got that oily, somewhat artificial orange note over a kind of oily chocolate note. It's close to being too much for me to wear in the morning, as it's almost a bit toooo cloying. As this settles in, though, the oily/fake notes fall away, and the fig and slightly lemony notes come to the forefront, smelling almost like a lighter version of Cerebus. NOW I really am starting to like this. The deep notes aren't as deep as Cerebus, but the dried, sweet fig has an almost woody characteristic, and it's lightened by the fairly faint, but perceptable citrus. YUM. edited for english.

Severin is earl grey tea, which has some bergamot in that component.

Mad Hatter this 'twas minty/greenery with a bit of lavender Ides of March (if you can get this) rosemary, bergamot, lemon rind and vervain with costus, benzoin, gray amber, cardamom, white narcissus and iris.... the cardamom on my was warm and green at the same time Rome —cypress, juniper, chamomile and rose, though i can't remember how rosey this actually is Tulzcha (another one that may be difficult to get a hold of) mint mint mint and cucumber Wilde, Lear, & Villian also may be some to try. they're technically "men's scents," but i find them pretty green and definitely wearable by a woman Embalming fluid haven't tried this out (yet), but it usually gets good green/herbal/clean reviews edited because english escapes me

I forgot about Seraglio. Very orange blossomy. Initially it has some almond, but the main note (on me at least) is orange blossom.

I looked up Utterly Nutterly. It seems to be a blend of almond & hazelnut. Oils with hazelnut: Black Pearl, Hellcat, Danse Macabre, Pumpkin Patch 2, and Gluttony Oils with almond: Eclipse, Voodoo, Inferno, Hellcat, Bastet, Hecate, Queen of Sheba, Salome, Seraglio, Eden, Port-au-Prince (and a few more that don't have it listed...) Since Hellcat seems to have both, that might be a good place to start. I didn't get much hazelnut in Black Pearl, just screaming iris. Gluttony is good too, but very rich & sweet. hope that helps

I originally got Snake Charmer in my House of Mirrors bottle. I finally got my HoM, and I'm annoyed with myself for not trying this *before* CN went bye bye. Holy Wowzers. In the bottle, it's very citrusy, with a slight pine note to it. Kind of like when you drink orange juice after you brush your teeth and run around going CHA CHA CHA? ok, maybe not. On the skin, the citrus note kind of goes away, but not entirely. This slightly aquatic, slightly piney, slightly musky. It reminds me almost dead on of a Sephora perfume from a year or two ago called "L'eau Bleu Relaxant" which lists notes as Green Pine Floral(Jasmine, Violet) Musky Woody. At times it is a dead on duplicate, at times it takes on a more masculine cologney-old spice kind of scent to it. Either way, I freaking LOVE this. This is a light, slightly masculine, clean scent. I dig.

ymmv, but i found buck moon & yggdrasil to be veeeeeeeery similar.

Agony and ecstasy: black leather and damp red rose. In the vial, putting it on aaaaaaaaaall the way through drydown hours and hours and hours later, this hardly changes at all. It's mostly rose. In fact, that's the main note. It's a velvety rose, not a sharp note like a tea rose, but kind of fuzzy and soft. The leather note is so so so subtle. You can tell there's something else going on other than the rose, but the leather is barely there and only just noticable. If you knew it was leather, you could probably pick it out, but if you didn't know the specific note, it just kind of blends with the rose and adds another dimension to it. This lasted incredibly long & well also.

I love any combination of milk, honey and ginger, so this was a good one for me to try. I especially want to (finally) go through all my imps and properly try *everything*. Hah. In the vial it's a nice delicious aroma. Not quite as spiced as chai, but not just plain milk. Sweet. Putting it on, I realized this wasn't very stronly scented. I put on HALF AN IMP. And I could still barely smell it. The ginger warms up a bit and the milk/honey combination is really sweet and light in the background. There's another note here, but I cannot for the life of me name it. Someone somewhere mentioned "rice pudding," and that almost exactly hits the nail on the head. Over the day, it's still very faint & light, but I can occasionally catch small whiffs of it. The ginger becomes sharper & greener over time, and there's another spice note, which I think reminds me of cardamom. This is oh so lovely, but sadly, it just didn't last and didn't have enough throw for me. This is a nice cuddle scent, though.

Catherine definitely has a strong orange blossom note, but there's also rosemary & rose in there, which you may or may not have issues with. Akuma also, which has berry notes in it as well. If you do a search for "neroli" or "orange blossom" on the site, you'll come up with lots of listings, but I think it's strongest of the ones I've tried in these two.

I'm not a huge fan of florals, but this had Vanilla and Musk and Sandalwood listed, so on some crazy leap of faith, I ordered a 5ml bottle. Oddly enough, in the bottle, it doesn't smell like anything. Putting it on, the Jasmine & Sandalwood are rather sharp, kind of soapy and a bit harsh, but I know that this is just the wet stage. And I'm right. After having had this on a few hours, it erupts into a soft & wonderful blend. BPAL Jasmine is usually a bit too sharp for me, but this one is much softer and different than most of the others I've tried. The vanilla is just barely there, softening the jasmine, the musk & sandalwood form a dizzying base note and the whole thing is just GORGEOUS. I'm not picking up on the clove at all, sadly (I think my skin tends to ignore that note), but I'm not really missing it. Even if you're skeptical with Jasmine blends or florals in general, you may really like this. It's soft, clean smelling, pretty. Reminds me a bit of those finely milled guest soaps, but without the super soapy part.

probably some echos, but here goes... Dragon's Milk - sweet honey & creamy Dragon's Heart - berries & figs. Kali - sugary, chocolately note over sweet florals Pele - sweet in a beachy sort of fragrant way. Agalea - fruity, tangy, sweet Aunt Caroline's Joy Mojo - fruit stripe gum. Horn of Plenty - cherry jolly ranchers Spooky (LE) - mint & coconut cookies, covered in chocolate Midwinter's Eve (LE) - plummy sweets Dia de los Muertos (LE) - sweet. no other description. heh. Sugar Skull (LE) - sugary, mapely, caramelly. yum. 13 (LE) - chocolate orange Mi-Go Brain Canister (LE) - fruity fruit fruit. Cerberus (LE) - lemony, nutty, fig newtons Midway (LE) - caramel, funnelcakes, marshmallows Absinthe - anisey-minty candy Bliss - chocolate! Bon Vivant - strawberries & champagne Juke Joint - boozy, but minty & sugary too Inferno - cinnamony-spicy candy Gluttony - like wearing an entire dessert cart. Dorian - sweet tea, vanilla & lemon biscuits. Jailbait - bazooka bubblegum Bordello - sweet plum with an incense base Jezebel - very sweet combination Kabuki - sweet cherry with a touch of anise. Lolita - smells like a lollipop O - honey & vanilla Akuma - berry sweet Hellcat - sweeeeeeeeeeet mead & almond and ow my teeth hurt March Hare - apricots & clove - very sweet Jester - smells like candy Hollywood Babylon - strawberries & vanilla Yerevan - also with the sweet apricot smells by no means a complete list, but some of the ones i thought might appeal to someone with a sweet tooth.

Paris was pretty close to straight up lavender from what I can remember. Somnus is also very lavendery, but it knocks me out cold. Something you may want to take into consideration. ETA: Ace of SWORDS I remembered was also very lavender-based. You'd probably have to plead with someone to get an imp though. edit because i was thinking of the wrong tarot oil

Vinland and Yggdrasil.

This is really difficult for me to review. I've worn it twice now, and it's hard to pick out individual notes. In the bottle it has really sharp, overly perfumey notes. Like that smell that wafts out of department stores. This perfumey, slightly soapy aroma lasts for a few minutes after application. After about 10 minutes or so, it's still perfumey, but nothing like the initial application. Here it reminds me of when I first apply Scherezade. Another 20-30 minutes pass, and throughout the day, it turns into a floral. I can't pick out any specific flowers, though. Someone said Jasmine, and I can actually see that, though it's just a mishmash of flowers. However, there's more to it. It's got a musk note in it, no doubt. I also detect small wafts of coconut from time to time, but I don't know if that's my nose playing tricks on me. I do detect some similarities to Scherezade as far as base notes, but everything else is beyond me. Though I'm not too huge on unspecific floral blends, this one is warm and pretty, and definitely something I, with my finicky tastes, can wear.