Shollin

First sniff: Wow. This scent is cold, hollow, and freaky. It’s vaguely fruit, but ice-cold fruit, and fruit that probably isn’t particularly good for you. It smells menacing. Wearing: I don’t think I’ve had this kind of visceral reaction to a scent since Havisham. That one made me all melancholy; this one seriously creeps me out. Verdict: I'll find it another home where it can creep someone else out.

I don’t really have a first sniff for this one, as I swiped this on in a hurry after realising I’d gone through half my workday smelling like JustMe. Wearing: Holy… er, unholy, I suppose… blast, now I’ve lost my train of thought. Anyway, this scent is amazing. White musk and lavender, warmed by vanilla. I must try this on my guy and then glue my nose to his neck. But he’s not getting my imp, ’cause by the time it dries all the way, it reminds me of Dorian – only BETTER. I swear. It’s Dorian’s vanillagoodness with a spectacular white-musk shimmer and no distracting sugar.

First sniff: So very interesting! Superjuicyfruitytart with a faintly spicy undertone. Wearing: Red fruit is dominant, but the pumpkin is strong with this one. It’s not quite like anything I’ve ever smelled before. Verdict: It’s weird and I like it!

First sniff: This is one of the oddest rose scents I’ve ever smelled. The adjective I keep thinking of is hyper. Wearing: The rose wafts, the lemon clings, and the apple is in hiding. It’s the old-lady variety of rose, unfortunately.

First sniff: Powdery floral. Drat. Wearing: O Iris, why do you taunt me so? I love to look at you, but you turn everything you touch to powder. And yet… the powder seems to be only in the wet stage (wet powder? hrm)… when it dries, it’s awfully pretty, a jasminey sweetness that isn’t screamingly headachey. Verdict: It’s earned another testing, at very least.

First sniff: Seriously bright, sunny, happy citrus yumminess. Juicy, sweet and intensely yellow. Wearing: This is one of the most gorgeous bright fruit scents EVER. It’s pure cheerful sunshine after weeks and weeks of overcast winter skies. And living in Central Washington, I know whereof I speak. Verdict: Ohellyeah.

First sniff: Mmmm. Another “inhale until my chest hurts” scent. Terpsichore is boldspicysweetfloral in brilliant colors – no pale pink tutu and pointe shoes for her; she’s more into the jewel-toned unitards, or maybe hot pink leg warmers and an electric blue sweatband. Wearing: Flashdance is this scent’s soundtrack! (And I happen to really like that song, so it’s a good thing.) It’s flashy and strutty and just plain awesome. Take your passion and make it happen, baby!

First sniff: Red spice and ripe heavy fruit. It’s way cinnamon (cassia, whatever) in the bottle… I’m a little afraid of what my skin will do to it. Wearing: The wrist-scent is a lot brighter than I expected, very red and still mostly spice. Sadly, all the other wonderful stuff never really showed up, so I pretty much smelled like cinnamon gum all day. Verdict: Reluctant swappage. No luck yet with the two Phoenixes I’ve tried – maybe the Pink will like me more.

First sniff: Sharp and cold and sad. Frozen flowers over a tentative base of pale musk or aloe. Wearing: It’s so very cold. This is the scent of someone who has withdrawn into an icy shell for fear of being hurt again by someone he loves… Vanyel Ashkevron before the thaw. Verdict: Not an everyday scent, but a keeper for certain moods.

First sniff: Aaaaaaaaaamberlujah! With a wee touch of soft flower petals around the outsides. Wearing: Uh-oh. It’s rosier than I expected, and the amber seems to be going a little powdery. It was a bit more me-ish in the drydown… I think I need to try it again.

First sniff: Cocoa and orange! And something deep and furry. Wearing: Bright orange and green herbs, drying down to bright orange and deep red musk. SO good.

First sniff: Breezey, billowy and oh so clean. It reminds me very much of that scene in The Two Towers when Eowyn is standing in front of Meduseld and the wind over Edoras comes whipping past her, catching in her dress and her hair. Wearing: Just like Eowyn in a dress, Euterpe is outwardly feminine and well-behaved… but there’s a fire underneath. Hail the spicy carnation, ye who keep iris powder in check!

First sniff: Bittersweet orange,sharply fruity. Wearing: Oranges, book leather and dark wood. A bowl of fruit in an old library.

Sado-masochistic holiday cheer: whip leather, cardamom, patchouli and bourbon. First sniff: SPICEpatchoulileather. No, wait, make that LEATHERspicepatchouli. Hang on a second, now it’s PATCHOULIleatherspice. Make up your dang mind, will ya? Wearing: It’s the spice variety when it hits my skin, but the waft is strongly leather, and occasionally, just to freak me out, it flips back and forth. One of these days I’ll learn that I just can’t wear leather. Well, no, I probably won’t, because I’ll keep trying everything.

First sniff: Peppermint vanilla gorgeous wonderfulness. Wearing: This slowly morphs from Scintillating to Decadence as it dries and the mint wears off. It really does smell like Brooke’s soaps, right down to the faintly-boozey-ness of the vanilla.

First sniff: “Bubbly” is the first word that comes to mind. This is a light, happy, bubbly scent. Wearing: Oh WOW, this is gorgeous. It’s a very gentle lemon, drizzled with melted sugar, turned into a sparkling drink.

First sniff: A lighter Sugar Skull with hints of butterscotch. Wearing: It’s quieter than I expected, which is good… because this strikes me as a cozy cold-weather scent and my WeatherBug informs me that it’s 91 degrees outside.

First sniff: Yup… brownie batter. Not straight chocolate like Bliss, or baked goods like Gluttony, but thick, gooey brownie batter. Wearing: Dangit, now I’m hungry again.

First sniff: Fresh, juicy, bright green honeydew melon, with a smidgen of vanilla teasing around the edges. Wearing: It’s so incredibly honeydew, with a glorious vanilla base that just gets deeper and more pronounced as it dries.

First sniff: Soft pale floral with a teeny bit of water. Wearing: Oh, this is very nice. It’s smoothed out into a very round, creamy floral. By the final drydown, it is – at least to my nose – exactly what you’d get if you removed the vanilla from Antique Lace. It’s stunningly gorgeous and I’m wondering why the freep I didn’t buy a bottle… but I’m very grateful to dpoulsen21 for my imp.

First sniff: Of the four Patches I’ve tried so far (#3 is still in the review pile), this one is by far the strangest, the most unexpected. If I didn’t know this was pumpkin, I might not be able to figure it out. It’s green and wet and low ivy-twined walls of flat stones encircling a field of crops in the rain. Wearing: It’s so very green! Ivy and mossy and green green green. I keep looking for the pumpkin and I can’t find it.

First sniff: Sandalwood and orris are both rather hit-or-miss on me, so I was afraid of woody powdery pumpkin, but this is just pumpkin. It’s a deep scent, no hint of sweetness. Wearing: The moment it hits my wrist, it develops an undercurrent of spices that lighten the scent considerably, both in weight and in color. Every so often I catch a whiff that reminds me vividly of walking into a Cracker Barrel, all light brown wood and cosy warmth and tchotchkes from floor to ceiling.

In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred. First sniff: This will come as a shock to no one, but the Peacock Queen is, of course, All About Rose. She’s a little more haughty, a little less velvety – and a little more powdery – than Rose Red. There’s a bit of greenness to her too. Wearing: I’m fortunate to have two Holy Grail rose scents – Rose Red and Two, Five and Seven. I don’t often feel the need to smell like a rose, so I suspect those two are all I’ll ever need. The Peacock Queen is a bit too cold for my taste.

First sniff: I got a big waft of cocoa powder right when I opened the imp. At a deliberate sniff, it’s cocoa and sweet, airy flowers. Despite the flowers-and-chocolate thing (which makes it sound rather like Valentine’s Day), it’s quite dark and… growly. Wearing: Oh, hey. Leather explosion. Bottle: flowers and chocolate. Skin: leather and patchouli. Chemistry works in mysterious ways. I usually can’t wear leather, but this is pretty nice… but it falls under the category of “interesting but wouldn’t wear much,” and I have so many scents I adore that Tez just doesn’t make the cut.

First sniff: Bright pine, fresh air, and cold. You know how sometimes you can smell snow on the air if the wind is right? That’s the cold scent I’m getting from Snow Bunny. And it’s a happy pine, not foreboding like some of the dark forest scents. It’s a Christmas-tree pine. Wearing: There’s a chilly sweetness above the pine, but the evergreen scent is definitely predominant.