Shollin

First sniff: Jaysus, Mary and Joseph. I’ve been trying to find a coffee scent for my caffeine-addicted Seattle guy… Gluttony wasn’t quite right, but this… this… gbgnrmmm. And in this amber bottle it almost looks like coffee, too. Wearing: Come to think of it, I might not let my guy out of the house wearing this… people might try to lick him. I’m a little worried about wearing it out in public for fear I’ll get the overwhelming urge to lick myself. Miskatonic University is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever smelled. The downside is, it had me craving chocolate all day… I think this might be one I’m content just to sniff on him.

Thanks to Finny for the decant! First sniff: I’ve never smelled anything that was so bright and fresh and yet so ominous at the same time. It’s a bit soapy in the vial. Wearing: An explosion of wet green bamboo hits my skin first, and the pepper follows a moment later. It’s still decidedly soapy, alas.

Thanks to chopchica for the decant! First sniff: Standing on a cliff over the angry ocean, under low, heavy clouds. It’s a far cry from the fresh-air sea scents… Dunwich broods, even more than the previous stormy-sea scents. Something is not right here… this place harbours secrets. Wearing: Brooding is the word… the clouds lift a bit when it dries, but overall it's very dark.

Wearing: Resiny-sweet in the vial and on my skin. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to sniff and analyze this, as I had a phone interview this morning and had to slather quickly... and they’ve offered to fly me to Washington for an in-person interview. I called the other papers I've applied to in hopes of getting an interview while I'm out there, and one of them responded within a couple of hours to say "come on by." And I managed to rearrange the flight I would have taken, extending my trip by a day to talk to the second paper and avoiding a redeye with two plane changes... AND getting into Seattle... on my guy's birthday. Sure, all that might have happened anyway, but who can say? Yeah, I'll be keeping this one.

First sniff: Whoever described this as “pink Sugar Skull” wasn’t kidding. Wow. It’s almost butterscotch in the vial. Wearing: Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet! Pink Moon is more of a girly-sweet than a caramel-sweet. It’s a bubblegum lollipop pink-flower sort of sweet. And when it dries, it’s so very, very strawberry.

First sniff: Resinous. Incensey. Wearing: Hrm. Hrmhrm. There’s something green and funky in here, and I have to wonder if it’s vetiver. It’s going a bit powdery too.

chopchica decanted this one for me and WOW. First sniff: Utterly delicious. Sweet and creamy and pure. If really good vanilla ice cream (the wonderfully rich kind, with the little brown flecks [aka vanilla seeds]) could be warm and still be ice cream, it would smell like Chaste Moon. Wearing: Now that just ain’t right. A scent called Chaste Moon should not send me into an eye-rolling moan when I put it on. Such moans are reserved for decidedly unchaste activities… or, now that I think about it, really good dessert, so I guess this does qualify. I can’t remember now why I didn’t get a bottle in the first place, but I want to go back to February and kick myself for it.

First sniff: Unexpected! I was expecting a cold scent, a piney ice-and-snow scent, but Cold Moon is very floral and happy. Wearing: This isn’t aquatic on me at all – just softly sweet florals with a hint of winter berry. Very pretty.

First sniff: I LOVE the little witches’ hat on the label. Hexennacht is a warm pine, a sweet pine, with a breath of cold that’s more like an unexpected breeze than like snow, and a wisp of woodsmoke. Wearing: Yes, I definitely understand the comparisons to Samhain. This has more woodiness to it, and it’s not as warm, but the overall feel is very similar.

Bless you, blackrayne, for the decant! First sniff: Hmm. Interesting. Blue Moon is soft and watery – there’s a hint of mint, and I’m pretty sure I smell the cucumber, but overall it’s hard to get an impression. Wearing: This is really beautiful on me. It’s light, airy, floaty… all the notes have blended together so I can’t pick out any of them. So very pretty.

First sniff: Thunderbird is somehow different from all the other aquatics/stormy-sea scents I’ve smelled. It’s the same sort of ozone marine fresh scent, but there’s a presence to it that’s unique. It’s somehow… important. Wearing: Fresh, clean, stormy and deep.

First sniff: Oh. This scent shimmers. It glistens, it twinkles, it dances in the morning dew. It’s a faint rainbow glimpsed through waterfall mist. In the vial, Oisin is purely bard, with no warrior in sight. Cushlamachree, this is wonderful. Wearing: It’s more masculine, more rugged, on my skin, but still sparkling and light. I could not stop sniffing myself all day at work.

Thanks to blackrayne for the decant... and I LOVE the little bat label she put on it. First sniff: Night flowers, yes… soft and gently sweet, just barely brushed by a breeze. Wearing: Chiroptera is all flowers in the vial, but on my skin it’s soft lemon and green herbs, and there's a lovely roundness to it.

Thanks to darkling for the decant! First sniff: I’ve never smelled hollyberry juice, but it certainly makes sense that it would smell like this. There’s no question that Yuletide is a Christmas scent – bright red and cheery and ever so slightly spicy. Wearing: So utterly Christmas. Yuletide is the red of Christmas where Skadi and Mistletoe are the green.

First sniff: Fruity brains! A very wet fruitiness, almost gummi-scented. Wearing: Mi-Go is a different sort of fruit than I’m used to. It’s more restrained than berry, definitely not citrus, not too sweet – it’s soft and subtle. I like muchly.

First sniff: Lemon and herbs… herbs of many colours, rather than the predominant green I’m used to from herbal scents. This is the first non-pine scent I’ve immediately thought would smell great on my guy. Wearing: Rosemary, most definitely. Rosemary and lemon, and a jumble of other herbs.

First sniff: Havisham is a bit of an old-lady, powdery-flower scent, but it’s so powerfully sad. Wearing: A very pale, gentle floral. I have a single-note imp of blue lilac, and that seems to be the main thing I’m smelling here – along with some rose and maybe some weeping lilies. This might just be because I know the story behind the scent, but Havisham strikes me as desperately sad. It isn’t really my kind of floral, either, and that coupled with the emotional overtone makes this one I won’t wear often.

First sniff: Whoa. Holy cow. Open one of those big bags of potting soil – the dark, rich, moist kind that almost looks edible (or maybe that’s just me) – and stick your sniffer down in it, and that’s Graveyard Dirt. Wearing: Potting soil. Absolutely potting soil. And so incredibly not me. Very cool though.

Thanks to Eoywin for the decant! First sniff: I. Love. This. Scent. And I could not begin to tell you what it smells like beyond cocoa splashed with rum. There’s so much going on here. Wearing: Deep cocoa with a hint of spice and a drizzle of alcohol – rum or red wine. It’s ever so slightly smoky, deep and complex, and I really, really like it.

Thanks to scourgeotheseas for the decant! First sniff: I don’t know why, but I was expecting a De Sade clone. Dead Man’s Hand is much lighter and softer. It reminds me of a stable, not a biker bar. Wearing: Yup, this is the leather scent I need to try on my guy. De Sade was too cold, but this… this has promise. I could also see putting it in the oil burner to make my apartment smell like a stable – not the sweaty horse smell, not the hay or the sawdust or the stalls, but the scent of the tackroom, of the saddles and bridles, that soft, smooth, dusty-coloured leather. I don’t think it’s something I can get away with wearing, but I do like it quite a bit – I used to ride when I was younger and the tackroom scent is very nostalgic for me.

Chaos Theory XCVIII, from blackrayne: First sniff: Oh, how very interesting. Lime, maybe? And lotus? It’s a watery-sweet that reminds me of lotus, but there’s also something fruity here. Wearing: This Chaos Theory is very soft, subtle and pretty. It’s decidedly feminine. I can’t figure it out, but I like it. Previously reviewed by andrabell and blackrayne.

First sniff: Sweet floral with a hint of green wood. Wearing: IRIS! Irises growing wild in faerie circles in the sun at the edge of the forest. They’re probably my favourite flower to look at, but on my skin they go all powdery.

First sniff: Warm and golden, with just a hint of sweetness. Brisingamen is what The Lion would be if the spices were replaced with sweet. There’s a bit of an edge to it, too – it’s not all smooth polished amber. Wearing: Yup, I like. It blossomed slowly over the course of the evening into a wonderful warm golden aura.

First sniff: Aha – that’s what smells so strange. Paperwhite narcissus has a very odd nonfloral scent, almost earthy, and it’s definitely dominating this imp. Wearing: Languor is much more floral on my skin, a laid-back, lazy floral. Something in here reminds me of jasmine, though I know it’s not – lilies, maybe. Yup, definitely floralicious… but not quite my kind of floral.

2005 First sniff: Oh, happy smoldery scent. When I smell Beltane, I think of flowers, grass and herbs crushed under entwined bodies. It’s not screamingly floral – it’s not a big scent, or a loud one – it’s the sort of scent that would cling close to the skin and invite someone to lean in closer for a good sniff. Wearing: Mmmm. Flowers and skin and life. It faded pretty quickly, but this is one to slather. ADDED 11/21/06: 2006 First sniff: Very fresh and green! Cucumber melon grass? It’s wonderfully bright. Wearing: Spring in a bottle. This makes me miss flowers. It’s bright, bright green and yellow, fresh and sweet and airy and delightful.