greenranger

... Our Dragon Moon represents the forces of rebirth and the vigor that springtime brings: dragon's blood resin, galbanum, blue sage, lavender, peppermint, sweetgrass, frankincense, moonglow magnolia, bergamot, and green cedar. I ended up slathering a bit more than I had intended...because this was my very first serious spillage of the precious. *sigh* For a proper ritual baptism, it was also a spillage of a Limited Edition. My computer desk should feel properly blessed now. It had better! There are a lot of notes here that I don't know yet. In the bottle, I can maybe pick out the pepperyness of the frankincense, and maybe the magnolia? On me, dried(once I finished the cleanup ), it's a light airy scent. I may be detecting more of the cedar, but, mostly the scent is too well blended to pick out single notes. It smells like coasting on a breeze above a meadow. Oooh, it's getting sweeter. There's more of a floral feel to it now than there was. It started out more green than this, and the floral notes are steadily growing stronger.

In the imp, alcohol...scotch or whisky or something. Wet on me, not much misbehaving actually going on is there? A solemn, well cleaned, library or study. I'm not certain what happened, but something is repressing the scent something fierce. Usually I can smell leather, tobacco, musk, and incense very clearly. Each of those notes is often the last note standing on my skin in other blends...so...where's the party? In fact, the one spot on me that I can smell much of anything smells a little like someone's been cleaning. Did someone get wind of a visit from Mom and tidy up the evidence? Prompted by the reviews preceding mine, I tried to wait it out. It DID come back...slightly. It was a very very very faint tobacco scent. I don't understand! Perversion was lovely, other scents with similar notes go well with my skin, what happened? ----------- A few days later, I gave this another try, just in case it was my monthly skin chemistry playing with it. In the imp, alcohol. Something hard, like scotch or whisky. On me, I smelled tobacco only on the spot I applied on my elbow, and then...gone. It's gone in all the places where I applied it, except for the faintest whiff of cleaning solution. So far, I am terribly disappointed. ------------ Third try. I can be really stubborn sometimes. This time I smell smoke....some sort of scented smoke or smoke mixed with incense. It's actually more noticable away from the places that I applied it, though. I usually like tobacco and incense, but this one? ehhh. Swapping.

In the imp I could smell chocolate and flowers. MMmmmm. Wet, on me, the chocolate came out first, and then vanished. Coming up close behind and covering chocolate's tracks came rose. For a little while the rose dominated, but, I have gotten to the point where I sort of expect rose to do that in any blend I wear. It usually burns itself out after a bit and then the other notes can show up. The rose hung around a long while, at least for rose on my skin. There were a few other scents hanging around in the background that I couldn't quite identify past the rose. When the rose finally faded I was left with a faint, creamy floral of very little interest. Apparently all the other interesting notes got tired of waiting and left for another party. Several hours later there is the slightest whiff of incense on my skin. I am thinking that this one doesn't work for me. The promise showed in the imp never materialized. I might try it in a locket before swapping, though.

In the imp, lubricating oils...but, so much better smelling than the petrochemical derived sort. On me, the leather is taking a while to settle down and play nice, but, I have high hopes. Nothing else is separating out from the overall blend yet. Wait, there's a little bit more spicyness. Drying, the leather is beginning to lose that "perfume" scent it always seems to start with on me. It's blending in to the rest now. I can't pick out the rest of the notes, but, that's ok. I have an image of a small, newly made, independently moving bit of brass and leather clockwork, whose inner and outer surfaces are polished and maintained by the alchemist's art. This is cooler to me than the 93 Engine. Maybe that's because it is a smaller contraption, and running on something other than steam? On me it also has less throw.

In the imp, sweet and resiny? A tang of oiled metal. On me, beeswax. Then, several scents that I can't recognise, but, together they smell like very pleasantly scented machine oils and metal. Moving parts lubricated with natural oils, rather than petroleum oils. The beeswax has been swallowed up and blended into the rest of the scent, and now I can't pick any one thing out. This is neat! I'm not entirely certain that I will want to smell like this often, but, the scent does make me think of a machine shop where everything is polished, lubricated, and fueled by things that aren't petrochemicals, and the main metal isn't steel, but brass.

Tombstone A celebration of one of the first commercially produced perfumes of America's Old West. A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar. In the imp, I am smelling mostly balsam and cedar, I think. Wet on me, The cedar is jumping forward even more. The other notes are going to have to shove it out of the way to get noticed. Everything is locked up tight in a cedar box. Well, the box may be locked, but, the other scents are attempting to seep through the wood to get free. I think I can detect the vanilla, and maybe the sassafras. Mostly they seem to be the sweet edge to the cedar. On me this is a very woody scent so far. Now it is vanilla and cedar. This isn't a delicate scent, to me. It feels more outdoorsy than most of the vanilla scents that I have tried so far. There is still a lot of cedar there, and I think that a guy could wear this, easily.

Applying from the imp I got rootbeer and a vivid flash of vanilla. Wet on me, rootbeer. Drying, hmmmm. The rootbeer has stepped back and there is something...it smells slightly buttery, maybe?...which could be the CO2 butter extract? Or it could be me picking up suggestions from the note list. It's actually very light and airy at the moment. More the carbonation or atmosphere wafting off of the rootbeer than the rootbeer itself. Except that it has changed a bit and it isn't really rootbeer; It's a potion with sasparilla in it. I'm tempted to think that maybe my skin isn't messing around with this one. Except that the only place that I applied it where I can still smell it is on the back of my hand. My elbow and wrist have almost nothing. It's fading......... Later: Well, it hasn't vanished completely, but, it is more airy and light than I was expecting. Someone else compared it to Tombstone, but, to me, Tombstone is settling down to a cedar and vanilla scent that is too earthy to be easily compared to this, even though a few notes are similar. I do tend to amp cedar though, so someone who likes this AND doesn't get so much wood from the scents might try Tombstone.

In the imp and wet on me, I could smell the cocoa, but, as it dried the cocoa vanished. Mostly I can smell the mandarin and the herbs. For a little while it was sharp...as I imagine a sword of war would be. It has settled down and smoothed out, but, in settling down it lost almost everything except the mandarin. If I sniff closely, I can smell that there is musk there. Now the mandarin is also vanishing, leaving...an interesting musky fragrance that is very close to the skin. Maaybe I can smell the tobacco, and maybe just a tiny bit of the vanished cocoa? The remaining notes are closely blended and all I can really say is that it is a spicy musk. It isn't very strong at the moment, but, that may change. It's been changing a great deal since I put it on already. It is still a spicy musk. The mandarin is only really noticable inside my elbow. I think the cocoa is maybe more noticable on my hand than it was...but I'm not certain. Nothing is very strong at the moment. It's an interesting scent, but, I'll need to give it some time, I think.

In the imp, smoke and something that my nose just identifies as "perfume." Wet, the smoke scent has vanished, and the "perfume" scent is all I am getting. Drying, some of the smoke scent is back...but, I don't think this scent is meshing well with my skin, and I don't know enough to identify the notes that I am getting. Maybe if I try again another day. Later: Well, it is smoky now...but, it is also vaguely soapy? On my elbow I can now smell the creosote, clearly. It's interesting, but, I don't think I want to wear this right now.

In the imp...I can't discern notes, but, the scent seems sweet and golden. Wet on me, the citrus is coming forward first, but I can tell the cedar is there...the other notes I either don't know what they smell like yet, or can't separate them out. Yum, so far. Drying, on me, mmm. This is a brighter golden scent than some that I like. More sunny and less sultry. A daytime scent, but with something interesting and spicy grounding it. This is another scent where what is appearing on my wrist is different than on my elbow or the back of my hand. It's dissapearing on my wrist, but, wafting nicely from the elbow and hand. Over time, the citrus vanishes. It might still be around as a slight sweetness hanging around the edges of the cedar. The amber hangs around a little longer, but, eventually all I get is the cedar. It's a nice cedar, though, and it stays around a good long while like cedar usually does on me.

I wanted to love this one, but, I'll have to settle for liking it for now. Maybe something will change with my chemistry or aging it will help. Wet on me, there's a high note like wind in the mountains. Then the breeze fades slightly, and under the wind there is the spice from the much closer market or a laden caravan traveling on a dusty unpaved road. Then, when it dries, it's cinnamon with a couple extra spice notes in the background....a nice scent, but the trip was too short. The cinnamon scent does last a decently long time, though.

I don't see rose as a note...but, I think there is at least a little in this, because as Scherezade was going from wet to dry on my skin it begin to amp up, till I had a rose scent, backed up by musk and spices. It was lovely, because for once, the rose wasn't the star, but was only one part of the blend...a lovely musky spicy blend with rose in it! Except, of course, the only reason it was playing nice was because there wasn't enough rose in the scent to list in the scent description! Heh. Having amped up, the rose reached its crescendo, and then faded, leaving a spicy musk. It's a nice scent, and I'll have to try it again. It isn't grabbing me the way Snake Oil did, though...or even Chernobog which has even more musk. It's nice enough to put in the imp rotation, though, and it could be that my chemistry will change in a few days, or that aging it slightly will help it.

I tested this at work, and had no access to the list of scents. Now that I am home, my response is, "Where are you all hiding?" What I smelled was a soft creamy sort of scent, with a modest throw that certainly wouldn't annoy anyone in the next cubicle...but I couldn't pick anything out. I remembered that it was supposed to have tea...I couldn't smell it. Part of what I was smelling could be the white linen that I recalled might be in it...I wasn't picking out notes well, and I couldn't bring myself to feel more than "meh" about the scent. Now that I have the notes in front of me, I'm a little upset. This should have been marvelous. Strong black tea, milk, ginger, honey, and vanilla are all things that I like or love the smell of. It's only the clean linen and white pepper that I don't know well enough to have an opinion on. Is my skin messing around with this that much? Gah!

In the imp, vanilla and ...something alcoholic. Wet on me, vanilla, white wine of some kind, and leather? Drying on me, I smell the tobacco coming out. There's still leather. The vanilla and wine are reduced to stains on the leather. The scent is getting dryer. Oh, yum. Sweet vanilla tobacco and leather. The wine and rum have faded, though. =( It does smell like a rather decadent good time has been had by all, and now you are lying, relaxed, and possibly spent, on the leather couch, too comfortable to move. I tried it a second time on a swatch of cotton. Wet on cotton, sweeter than on me. Vanilla and wine. Ah, there's the rum. The fruityness of the wine and the sweetness behind the rum and vanilla are more apparent than on me. Drying, the liquors stay apparent longer on the cotton. The scents are more blended, and I really like this scent even if I am having trouble picking out the different notes from one another. I'm getting a hint of coconut, though...*checks the notes* *checks Wikipedia* Aha! Tonka may be like vanilla, but, it is different enough to explain the possibilty of getting a faint coconut feel from it.

In the imp, vanilla and wood. Wet, on me, Oak and Teak, but, there's a slight sweetness hanging around that might be the vanilla. Drying on me, vanilla, woods, and tobacco. I can almost tell the difference between the oak and the teak. Hopefully the woods won't overpower the vanilla or tobacco when it dries completely. Ah, there went the vanilla, darn. The vanilla is playing hide and go seek or something. It's coming forward and then hiding. It doesn't have a great deal of throw on me, and I think I can wear it for me without worrying about slapping other people in the face with my scent. I do like this, and I suspect to like it more over time. This is likely to be completely different on cotton than on me. Wet, on cotton, ...nothing is poking it's head out of the mix...the gears are too busy turning inside the box. It smells smooth and polished...well oiled. Drying, on cotton, there's still no note popping up above the others. I am glad that I tried this on cotton as well as on me. The odd thing is that on me I can find the scent notes listed in the description, but, on cotton I am getting more of the object...I'm smelling a smoothly polished, well oiled mechanism. So...I suppose if I want to smell like wood and vanilla, I'll apply it on me, and if I want to evoke the image of the machine, I'll put the scent in a locket or on clothes instead. Unless I am going to a metalworking class, I think I'll usually prefer the vanilla and wood. =) I'm very impressed with the scent, though.

I tested this today at work with no access to the list of scents in it. Looking at that list, I am amazed at how differently my nose interpreted this one. I also decided that my skin was playing havoc with a couple notes, so I put a few drops on a bit of paper and tested that as well. First, when I opened the imp, the first association I made with the scent was Thornton's chocolate covered turkish delight. I did recall there was no chocolate listed, so I thought that was strange, and I also have not gotten the scent since from the imp or on my skin. It's gone. So, the second time I opened the imp, I got rose and sage. Wet on my skin, ROSE, sage and maybe metal and wine behind. Drying, the rose begins to overwhelm all the other scents, and I am thinking, "Darn, I don't need another rose scent." About an hour in, the rose exhausts itself from holding everyone else back, and I get a strong sage scent. Sunwarmed sage, like a very large bundle of sage, straight from a very sunny garden. I can tell there's a little wine there...not just booze to get drunk, but, wine you'd taste at a wine tasting(since I just did a bunch of that in Napa, that's familiar). So, the overall impression is a little like tasting pinot noir in a garden that is completely overgrown in sage, and people keep brushing up against the leaves and releasing more sage smell. The rest of the afternoon, I am attempting to get anything past the sage smell. Then I come home and look at the scent notes supposedly in this and just shake my head. Pinot noir(some perceived, partly it could be because I remembered that it was supposed to be there), dark myrrh(nope), red sandalwood(nope), black patchouli(nope), night-blooming jasmine(really nope), and attar of rose(definitely!). No sage listed at all. Apparently all those scents on MY skin blend into something that my nose thinks is sage. So, I try it on cotton... I've looked at the notes again, though, and this may affect the way I perceive it as well. Wet, on cotton, rose and pinot noir, and I think maybe a little jasmine is peeking out. The rest of the notes blend too well to pick out, at least as far as I can tell. This is much MUCH more balanced than on my skin. The rose isn't stealing the show completely, though it is still there. It isn't a "rose" scent on the cotton, so much as a scent with flowers, one of which happens to be rose. I still can't pick out the patchouli or the sandalwood, and everything is blending nicely. Drying, on cotton, THERE it is...Jasmine! The rose and the pinot noir are now sharing space with the jasmine and I might be able to detect the sandalwood and the patchouli now, far far in the background. On cotton, all the notes are blending into an elegant evening type scent. It feels dressy. The throw is pretty decent. It feels assertive, rather than shy. So far, this is a locket scent for me. There's no point in wearing this one on my skin if I like it this much better on cotton. I suspect that unless it really grows on me over time, that the imp will be plenty, though.

I got a chance to try this yesterday. Wet on me, it smelled like a very expensive men's scent with lilac as the most identifiable note. Everything else in the scent was just backing up the lilac and emphasising that it was an EXPENSIVE scent. Dry on me, the wood and leather became much more apparent. Expensive rich smelling wood and leather. I have tested other leather scents before and this one was definitely buttery leather of the sort that you always touch, because you can't help it, and always leave behind in the store, because you know you can't afford it without even looking at the price. The lilac faded away, and the dominant notes became the wood and leather. This one really makes me wish my guy were into wearing scents at all. *sigh* Of course if he did wear this, I'd have to beat the girls off of him with a stick, so maybe it is just as well.

After O didn't work for me, I worried about this one. I was afraid that this would be the second popular vanilla scent that I couldn't wear... I was so wrong to be afraid. In the imp, vanilla and something spicy behind it. On me, wet, vanilla and cherry. I know, there's no cherry in this. My nose just interpreted the other notes there as "cherry scent" for some reason. My nose got cherry from Dragon's milk, too, but, I had thought that was because of the Dragon's Blood. On me, dry, eventually the "cherry" scent fades out and the spices become more apparent. *sighs in bliss* First of all, beyond the vanilla, everything is so well blended or unfamiliar that I can't pick out notes, but, its a warm inviting sweet spice mixed with the vanilla. Second, on me, the throw is about perfect. I can smell it in whiffs, though I only applied an average about on my wrists, hands and elbows. I don't have to get up to my wrist and sniff to smell it, but, I don't feel like I am slapping everyone around me in the face with the smell either. Third, it has lasted all day long! I applied it at 6 AM. It is now 4 PM. I am still getting whiffs of it now and then. The only thing that could top this is if my husband decided that he likes it too, but, given his opinion of perfume in general, that is unlikely. ~later~ Husband's response, "It smells like perfume." Ah well. Otherwise, the scent is wonderful.

Vanilla and cherry. The vanilla is playing nicer than it did in O. Some of the dragon's blood mixes are lasting really well on my skin, and I am hoping that this one does as well. After a short while I figured out that I smelled like Dr Pepper....and my husband agreed. Several hours later, the scent lost the cherry flavor, and settled down into just a very nice vanilla. Now, 9 hours later I can still sniff the vanilla on my skin. I like that it lasts, and will probably use this one fairly often.

This one is a nice musk. The dragon's blood didn't stick around much, but, that's fine. It may be tempering the musks and adding sweetness, but, I don't really care for dragon's blood on its own. The main reason I am trying this particular musk was because the blends with dragon's blood seem to last really well on my skin, even if I am not smelling the dragon's blood itself...and a nice musk that lasts I'd like. Nine hours later, it is mostly gone. It had a nice run today though, and though it didn't stay as strong as Dragon's Milk did, I still think I will use this one.

In the imp, chocolate and sandalwood. On me, the sandalwood comes forward more, and the chocolate merely sweetens it. A warm and toasty scent. I'm not getting the vanilla, but, since vanilla has been kind of hit and miss with me so far, I don't mind. I got the scent because of the chocolate, anyways. The myrrh may be present as part of the warm spicyness. The whole scent is fading pretty fast. The next morning... The sandalwood came back up. I had thought that the scent had faded, and went to bed, but, this morning the scent is back on my wrist and elbow...not as much on the back of my hand. I can only smell it close to the skin. What is still hanging on is a slightly sweet, very slightly spicy sandalwood. It's nice, and there is hope that I might wear this one, especially on a day when I can't wear a scent with much throw for whatever reason. It isn't a chocolate scent on me, though. For chocolate I still have Bliss. ------ ------ I'm back a few months later to edit this, and I am laughing. I don't know whether the scent just needed to settle or what, but, Velvet has become one of my favorite scents. You'd never guess from my original review, would you? I tried Velvet when I was new to the scents and notes, and I hadn't yet figured out that woods, myrrh, vanilla and chocolate all love my skin for some reason. It's a well blended mix of the sandalwood, myrrh, vanilla and cocoa. The sandalwood is only slightly the dominant scent, and the whole effect is warm, soft and inviting. Velvet lasts about 8 to 9 hours on my skin, has moderate throw, doesn't change much over time, and is good for almost any occasion. It isn't too foody, too sweet, or too woody. It is the scent equivalent of the perfect pair of pants that can be dressed up or down, and is too comfortable to be believed. If I could only keep ONE scent, this might just be it. I know it would be hard to give up. This opinion is subject to change according to mood and new scents becoming available.

In the imp, roses and jasmine. Flowers. On me roses, and jasmine...and sweetness...which may be the way the vanilla is playing on my skin tonight. The jasmine is really showing up on my elbows and wrist. The roses have backed off into the far background. It's reminding me a bit of Flying Fox from Lush. I don't know that it is the same, but, the jasmine is there. Several hours later, the scent has changed quite a bit on my skin. Right now it is a really lovely vanilla, that I can't stop sniffing, backed up and made not a foodie scent by what smells to me like a whiff of star jasmine. Star Jasmine has always smelled to me like a cross between jasmine and gardenia, so this must be those two scents backing up the vanilla. This...this is what I wanted O to smell like. Well, not precisely, but, the effect to me is the sexy vanilla that some people described with O that I just did NOT get. I like this. I like all the changes it goes through, but, I especially love the way it smells after it has dried for a bit. The next morning, I can still smell it faintly on my skin, and it is still the vanilla with enough gardenia and jasmine behind it to take it out of the food category.

A frimp with my latest order. In the imp, definitely lavender and possibly musk? Wet on me, lavender and a sort of cologne scent...interesting, and not what I expected at all. Lavender, and possibly...leather. It's fading. At least it's fading to my nose. It hasn't been overwhelming at any point. It might be a scent for a day when I really want to wear perfume, but, circumstances prevent me from wearing the ones I like that have more throw. Well behaved and mannerly, at least on the surface.

The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls. In the imp, coffeeee! On me, the coffee is overwhelmed by the smell of books. This is the scent of stacks of books and papers over every available flat surface in the room with some on the floor. These aren't new paperbacks either, the most recent of these is 50 years old and the bindings are leather or wood. Oh, and forgotten on a corner of a desk is a large mocha. Some of is is spilled on a corner of a parchment, and it hasn't been noticed or cleaned up. The scent is long lasting, though. It took a good 5 hours for the books to leave and the coffee was still there. After twelve hours the coffee was still scentable if I sniffed my skin. It is possible that I should be wary of anything that says it is the scent of paper or books as I apparently amp whatever that scent is. I don't know if I want to smell like someone's amazingly large research project. Thats a little to close to smelling like work to really appeal to me.

This imp hid from me earlier and I ended up trying Voodoo instead. In the imp, roses, and ...something... behind that I can't make out. Wet on me, roses, and another floral...lilac? Where is the wood hiding? Even my wrists, which usually amp wood and resin, are amping rose instead. Nice, but, I have several rose scents already.