marared

Embalming Fluid is good, but I actually went and bought myself a bottle of Kumiho to age a bit before the warm weather really kicks in, because I love the ginger kick to it. The prototype Medb is also a wonderful springy/warm scent...

Unlike everyone else, I do not smell any lilac at all in this! Floral, yes, but definitively lilac, no. Of course, nothing in particular really announces itself, not even the vanilla. It reminds me of Peach Moon, which must be the ho wood. Fresh out of the imp, it's a little too strong and flowery, but given ten or fifteen minutes, it mellows out and becomes quite nice.

Loud musky citrus. I don't really smell any mandarin, nor even blackberry, but I do get a bit of the gardenia. This is something that will probably age really well, but right now it's too young and brash and cleaning-fluid to be really enjoyable.

Holy wine, Batman. Big red fruity boozy blast right out of the imp and on my skin. After a few minutes, the fruit and booze recede a bit, and the oak comes forward. No smoke or blood that I can pick out. I'm impressed at how well this represents barrel aged wine. I don't think I need a bottle, as I've already got Glühwein (a definite cousin), but if you like that or Blood Kiss, check this one out.

This is kind of a cousin to last year's Symmakhia, with pear being the common denominator, and jasmine as its strong floral rather than rose, but this is not quite as girly, and in fact the jasmine behaves very well. It's a fresh, light floral with the sandalwood giving it balance. Very nice. I wish I'd gotten this as my unsniffed bottle instead of Enyalios...

I had high hopes for this one, but the balsam and the juniper have definitely dominated the blend, at least right now as it's fresh - I was hoping for more of the patchoul, frankincense, and cocoa. Maybe with a few months it'll deepen, but right now it's very sharp and almost metallic - appropriate for the Lord of War!

In the bottle, it's yummy honey. On me, it's yummy honey and ... fresh Snake Oil. This is definitely going into the closet for at least six months, because I know it's going to age like a champ, but right now, the fresh Snake Oil ain't my thang...

Major morpher. It's downright nasty in the imp - all red musk and ginger, very bitter. I was afraid to put it on. But it changes within thirty seconds of hitting my skin - the fruits come charging to the forefront and it turns to a faint fruity musk. Not much throw, doesn't hang around long, but it's much MUCH nicer than the initial first impression. It also goes well with Morocco - I layered the two entirely by accident. Imagine the creamy carnationy Morocco wonderfulness with a plummy background...

We loves the carnation, precious, but we don't loves Hod!Rez. That first whiff of carnation is awesome, but then a nutty undertone comes in and I'm pretty sure it's almond because it smells like the almond oil used in some lotions and almond is a snooty smell that doesn't want anything to do with me. I don't even think I can blame travel shock. I'll give it a few weeks, but most likely I'll just decant myself a sniffie and sell/swap it on off...

Bottle - Sunny D. Yep. Watery orange-ish drink. If there's scents like patchouli, honey, spices, and sandalwood in here, I can't tell from the bottle! It reminds me of Szepazzsony with orange. I'm not sure how I get an aquatic vibe from this, but there you go. On my skin - there's the patchouli, and also the pepper. I can also start picking out the apricot from the orange. No rose, thank god. No amber or honey either, nor the red sandalwood, which makes me sad, because red sandalwood figures prominently in my favorite blends. Not nearly so aquatic as it presents in the bottle. It's okay, but it just doesn't have any personality to it yet. Patchouli and honey both age like champs, so I think it's worth trying again in a few months.

Musk? Really? I would have sworn this was patchouli - young, dirty, sharp patchouli, the kind that needs to be aged to really reach its potential. The ginger in combination with the musk is probably what gave me that impression. The fruit is also very noticeable - I had thought it might be pomegranate, but they're both tangy/tart red fruits, and that's the overall impression that this gives. No lilies, thank goodness. I'm pretty sure I need a bottle of this, but I'm also pretty sure I'll need to stick it in the closet for a year or two first.

In the imp, it's total caramel and nutmeg, but it turns into eyewateringly overpowering incense on my skin. There's a slightly icky background to it that I think pretty much confirms that caramel isn't precisely a death note but one I should avoid, because it really never does anything good on me. I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be any "enlarging" going on if I were to wear *this* on a date.

This is weirdly sweet, an effect that I'm supposing is from the pimento berry (or possibly the labdanum?) and a bit soapy from the myrrh, and the combined effect makes this smell like hippie air freshener - the sort of thing you'd hang in a dorm room to try to disguise the smell of pot. I don't really get the ginger or even the patchouli, but the clove is there, behaving itself for once. I can smell the vanilla in the imp (and it's definitely smoky!) but it disappears under the myrrh once it's on my skin. I don't really *amp* myrrh per se, but it masks everything else. It's nice in the imp, just not all that exciting on me.

Bottle: Peachy! But it's a deep and musky woody peach, not the bright and fruity and springtime variety - it's like walking through a peach orchard, where you can smell them ripening on the branch, but you can also smell the branches and the nearby gardens. On me: it's peach and wood for about three minutes and then here comes the JASMINE JASMINE JASMINE. The chrysanthemum just barely keeps it in check. I still smell the wood, and then there's that slightly bitter background of white tea, unsweetened. The peach gets pretty overwhelmed, but it still peeks out from time to time, and actually strengthens up again after about ten minutes once the jasmine has announced itself. It's a really fascinating morpher - I need to try it again when it's had a chance to rest, but I'm pretty sure this is going to age awesomely. I find that after only one day I'm constantly picking it up and applying it, too - I'm really liking it so far. I wouldn't recommend this if you have jasmine issues, though, particularly if you amp it. I foresee a lot of "cat pee" descriptions with the wrong chemistry.

First application and for several minutes until drydown, Bat of Wealth is a huge blast of pomegranate mostly, and the bergamot hitching a ride under it all. If there's blackberry, I can't smell it - the pom is totally dominant here. It takes the patchouli about ten minutes to show up, and it's a sharp, dirty patchouli - it's still a very *good* patchouli, but not as smooth and mellow as I get from other blends. I think this is more what I was hoping for from Depraved (except for it having apricot instead of pomegranate). I get the fizz comparison - it's almost alcoholic. Yummy.

I've never smelled anything even remotely equivalent to SNOW either... that sharp tang to the air that's almost *dry* despite all the moisture. (one of my favorite things to do in winter when I'm standing with a group of people is to look up at the sky and say, "Huh, snow clouds" - and watch how many people look up and nod, and how many people go huhwhat? Mostly only effective in the south.)

Swank is a fizzy pomegranate martini. Very yummy.

Thirding Penumbra - about the only purple scent that I really like, too.

Wow, yum. This makes me want to run to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice latte - initially, there isn't a whole lot of pumpkin, mostly just nutty coffee, but it starts picking up pretty quickly and ... no, this isn't something I can wear, sadly. I think it's the hazelnut that makes it turn weird, and it's actually giving me a headache now....

No nyquil here, just sweet cherry syrup, the kind that you put on snow cones. It's a little too loudly CHERRY to wear on its own, but I think this is going to be a great *layering* scent, with the other fruity blends or, even better, chocolate. mmm. Must test this with Boomslang and Velvet and Shub Nig and ....

Azaroles, nuts, and apple blossoms with red apple pulp, mulberry, blackberry, and pomegranate juice. Yummy cider, the kind where other types of fruit are mashed up along with the apple. I smell no nuts or flowers, just lots of sweet, tart fall fruits. This is more what I had hoped for from Pinwheel, really. I can see where it would turn to acetone on some people, and I was afraid it would do the same with me as I haven't had much luck with the mostly-fruit blends lately, but no, this has stayed nice and gently sweet and true on my skin. Yum.

Languid, melancholy fire: red musk, purple orchid, frankincense, smoky vanilla, Styrian herbs, peru balsam, tonka, Zanzibar clove, and patchouli. This is much smokier than I expected, and I'm beginning to think that clove is an amp note for me. It's not bad, but it's overwhelming - it's eating up all the other notes except the frankincense and patchouli. This is the sort of thing that I'd wear with a ridiculously low cut dress, preferably in red - it's not a daily scent by any stretch. It's too intense. Use up the decant, yes - bottle, no.

Mostly this is fruity red wine and honey, with a gentle background of vanilla. And it's strong like WHOA - a very little dab lasts forever. Massive throw, massive staying power - one of those oils that requires two or three arm scrubs when it's time to go to bed because it's so strong. I'd call this an expensive cousin of Blood Kiss, in that boozy fruity family that's sweet but not foody-sweet. I was afraid of the cinnamon, which is frequently a bad-amp note (Red Hots), but it plays along perfectly with the other spices. The bottle was totally worth it.

Pretty much the same thing everyone else has said: it's a creamier, softer Fearful Pleasure. It's a lovely relaxing scent, and the creamy aspect slowly gets stronger on the skin - the spices are very mild and fade under the apple milk. Being that milky notes are not great on me (they're not bad, but they don't do anything spectacular), I don't need a bottle, but I think I'll get good use out of the two decants.

I'm one of those people on whom pumpkin smells like butter. Even in the bottle it smelled like butter - spiced butter! On me, though, the peach quickly came out to play - I originally thought it was apple, due to the light fruit aroma and spices, but no, that's peach, and a somewhat muskier peach that I'm accustomed to from bpal. It tried to go sour for a while, but happily didn't quite turn. This is another one where if I get the bottle, it's going in the aging box first.