corglacier7

Got a 5 mL from mandragora (thanks!). In bottle: ZOMG GRAPE. @ application: Quick fade to a blend of grape, lilac, and a touch of plum. @ 5 min: A twist of red wine, still lilac, and the plum is becoming a bit stronger. @ 30 min and on: Fully a nice fruity/flowery blend. Nothing really stands out as a strong note, but the overall effect is great. Deep and complex. Not sweet and cloying like a lot of fruit/flower blends. I don't run around smelling like a tropical drink. This one's...I guess "rich and dignified" are good words for it. I wouldn't call it "somber" since I don't think that's the right tone. A very nice blend, and it really is purple in a bottle.

Since I'm an oceanography major and a pirate geek, I bought this one from dnagirl. Yum! In bottle: Sharp, almost a little soapy. @ application: Still sharp, a quick note of reeds, grass, and salt water. It's like being the in salt marshes near my marine field lab without the "OH WOW" hit of sulfur. @ 10 min: Drastically softened, salty sea air and wood. @ 1 hr: Salt air, wood, and a kick of lime. @ 2 hrs: Still a yummy blend of salt, wood, lime, and a touch of sandalwood. The way I wish sea air smelled... All in all, it's a surprisingly light, fresh kind scent considering some of the things that go into it: musk, tobacco, leather, etc. I really like it. It's got a little kick and definitely isn't girly, but I don't think it's a heavy masculine scent by any means.

Finally managed to get my mitts on a bottle of this, since I'm Year of the Pig. In bottle: Fruity, juicy, a heavy hint of lychee, bit of floral. @ application: Heavy fruit, mainly peach and lychee, kind of sticky smelling. @ 15 min: The fruit starts to blend with the floral, and it's a bright, tropical-island kind of scent. @ 1 hr: Softens to just hints of the fruit and flowers. It's still a total pick-me-up without being in your face. Glad I managed to find this one. I can only describe it as a "cheerful" kind of scent; the fruit goes heavy initially, but the stickiness dies down quickly leaving just the yumminess.

A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930s. Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice. In the bottle: Holy sweetness and tobacco, Batman! @ application: Quick fade to a heavy caramel/coconut. Yum. @ 5 min: The caramel-coconut starts to blend with a lovely dark spice that keeps it from being sickeningly sweet. @ 1 hr: Still catching a whiff when I turn my head and wishing it was a food so I could eat it... @ 3 hrs: The sugary food bit is mostly faded, and the remaining part definitely isn't pipe tobacco--it's not nearly heavy and masculine enough--but it shares the same kind of rich, sweet/spice scent combo. I think I'm picking up just a touch of the opium finally. All in all, a really neat scent. Not cloyingly sugary, and not too dark and heavy. A good option for the those who want something that's not musky, flowery, or sticky sweet, and has that touch of the exotic. Glad I went for the full bottle.