greenranger

A frimp from the lab. In the imp, grapefruit. Wet on me, the only note that I can recognise is the grapefruit, but, there's more there that I don't pick out. It smells clean and energetic. Drying, it's fading. The energy is leaving, and now it is becoming more airy.

I looked at the notes and was hopeful as many of those are things I like the smell of, but, smelling the imp, I began to feel a little apprehensive. Wet on me, aaaargh!!! Pine+almond+vanilla are not my friends. Ick. Drying, the overwhelming assault lessens somewhat. so far, I don't like the combination of notes. The pine and the vanilla are fighting over who gets to be in front, with the almond egging them on. I'm not entirely certain that I can wait this one out. I may have to wash it off. 2 minutes in. The vanilla is claiming victory. It is top of the heap....for the moment. There's still an undertone of uneasy notes below the vanilla. at least the vanilla hasn't gone cloyingly sweet or shifted into baby powder. 4 minutes in, the pine is coming up the hill for round two. 5 minutes in, the vanilla has teamed up with the almond to attempt to beat the pine down again. 6 minutes in, tired of feeling like a battleground, I go wash it off. There mihgt be somehting interesting further in, but, I'm not finding it today.

Wet, Patchouli and leather, and there's some sweetness that might be the sasparilla?Or rum?...but then I smelled sea air, salt and leather. I liked it best just catching whiffs; close to the skin it was a little intense for a while. The leather did tone down a bit faster than usual on me, and I wonder if that is because it is "leather-tinged musk" rather than a straight leather note. Whatever the reason, after a half hour I had a lovely sea air and leather scent...that slowly changes over the next 4 hours to a very soft wood, leather and tobacco scent with a hint of salt air still hanging around. The throw was moderate to start, on me, and ended up being almost none. The woods(probably the remnant of the musk/patchouli/sasparilla notes) that were left at the end were hanging out close to the skin only. 6 hours later, there's barely anything on my skin, but, I do plan to wear this a bit more.

My confession is that I didn't actually try this *on* me....because I was going into sugar shock from the scent in the bottle. Peanut brittle caramel popcorn is exactly what it smelled like to me in the bottle. It smelled like the condensed flavor of a BIG BAG of hot sticky caramel/brittle popcorn.

A frimp. In the imp, *sniff* herbal? SOMETHING SHARP! *breath* *sniff* Roses? *sniff* Lavender..? *sniff* almonds and cherry? The notes are tanking turns? the heck? On my fingers from holding the imp I am getting lavender and cloves. Wet, on me, back of hand, roses, lavender, and sharp herbs. Wrist, cherry and almond, and shorp herbs. On the elbow, Roses, lavender, and cloves. I'm getting cloves all over, now, with roses and lavender behind. Except that the wrists are amping the cloves and herbs even more. Considering my guy's reactions to perfumes in general so far(he thinks 99% smell unpleasantly and intensely of soap), I doubt it will have the intended effect.

This was a frimp; Thank you lab folk! In the imp, sweet and light. On me, sweet and light. I don't recognise the flower, but, it's nice. Is that what peonies smell like? We don't see them so often where I am(meaning, here, they are a rather pricey florist shop flower and not available that often). This is a nice, light, well behaved scent, and very nice for work. I'm not in love with it, but, I tend to fall for the rich, thick, heady fragrances that I have to be careful how much I apply for the sake of the next cubicle over. I think I could spill this all over me and no one would think to complain, it seems that well behaved.

In the imp, cedar...maybe sandalwood, and something floral. On, the floral overpowers the rest till it dries. Eventually, the cedar and sandalwood come out again. Then, it fades. I tried this from someone else's bottle and got a nice lingering incense scent, that my little imp just is not reproducing. *sigh* I'll try holding onto it for a while and aging it. -------- I thought I remembered trying this one before! Anyhow, I received a frimp of this in my last order. This time, I got a very different experience. Wet, I got a high clear note like wind in the mountains, and the smell of flowers...and ash? Burning incense? The flowers hung around for a little while, but it eventually dried down to just incense. The incense lingered around for about 4 hours. This was such a different experience that I feel the need to track down the original imp to see if they are even the same perfume.

I had tried this at the Will Call, and thought I liked it. What I liked, though, was the dry down. Apparently trying all the different scents at will call distracted me though the two hours it takes to get to a nice warm tobacco smell that lasts about two hours past that point. Trying it on its own, though, I discovered that the first two hours, aren't to my taste. I'm still learning what the different notes smell like, so I couldn't really tell you what it was that I didn't like for hours one and two. Hours two through four, on my skin, I like. I'm not certain that putting up with the first two hours is worth it, though. Looking at the listed notes, I am beginning to think I need to be a little wary of things with leather. I know I like some, but, some other scents with leather seem to be problems for me.

In the imp, flowers and tobacco. Wet on me, flowers, but I have no clue what kind. Rioting flowers in a jungle. The tobacco vanished into the background. Drying, still flowers. Still no idea what kind of flowers. No rum, and the tobacco is not in evidence. Dry, on my wrists, the tobacco comes back first, then I can smell it on the hand and elbow. It's only a base note underneath all the flowers, like a leafy platter spread with too many flowers to name or count.

In the imp, sweet and lavender? I'm not sure, but, it smells slightly herbal. Wet on me, sugar and musk with maybe some tea hanging out in the background. Drying, the back of my hand is smelling of sweet tea. My wrist is mostly sweet musk with something...else...hiding pretty effectively behind the sugar and musk. I can't identify it. On my elbow, I'm getting more of a sweet floral tea scent with the musks providing a base... Isn't skin chemistry weird? Altogether the scents are nice, but, I have doubts about their staying power on me. ---------- Much much later, after becoming addicted to Dorian: This one grew on me. It has become one of the scents that I reach for often. It's a little better for hot weather than Snake Oil or Dragon's milk, so it has become my vanilla of choice for when the air conditioning at work becomes unreliable, as it often is. I grew to love it on a trip I took recently. I packed a few scents that I thought wouldn't interfere on a wine tasting trip, and Dorian was one. It turned out to be the one I wore the most. It's a nice comforting vanilla and tea scent, on me, now, and it is possible that aging it slightly helped the scent. Oh, and I shouldn't have worried about the staying power. It lasts fine on me, as most of the vanillas seem to.

In the imp, rose and leather. Wet on me, the leather gets very noticable for a short time. As it dries, the leather and the rose become more balanced. On me, it settles down eventually into a lovely rose with a bit of leather underneath.

From reading this, I would never have picked it. However, I tried a pit of it on my hand at the will call, and I decided I needed to give it a good try so I purchased an imp. In the imp, I get almonds. Wet on me, it switches to roses. I'm getting lush, billowy masses of roses. Drying, I still get roses, but, there's an incense note backing them up. I bought Whip at the will call as well, and comparing the two on my skin, Black Phoenix has incense where Whip has leather. I like them both. Its throw is moderate. I don't need to worry about the entire office smelling my perfume, but, I can still smell it. Dry, a bit later, the incense is coming forward, especially on my wrist, but, I can still smell the roses. The roses are interesting, since everyone else seems to be getting almond or cherry notes, and those notes were what had been scaring me away from trying this. It I sniff really closely I can almost detect a bit of almond. I like this one...lots.

Bliss was one I tried at the will call. I went home with a bottle of it. In the bottle, chocolate, but with a little something almondy perhaps? Like a chocolate and almond candy in a gift assortment. Wet, lovely chocolate. I'm not getting an image of a solid chocolate bar, though. It smells richer and more complicated than that. If it's candy, its an assortment...but the scent of it when you first open the box. Or possibly, melting chocolate to add to a recipe, since the scent strikes me as warm. Drying, it isn't changing. One of the reasons that I had to have a bottle, was that this was one of the longer lasting scents that I tested on Sunday. It was one of the first ones I tried at about 4ish, and it was still going strong when I got home, several hours later. A scent I love, that also lasts on my skin? Mmmmmmm!

In the imp, cinnamon and maybe tea? Could be wishful thinking on my part. On me, wet, Cinnamon, and spices. Dry spice cinnamon, not red hots or cinnamon syrup. This cinnamon appeals to me more than the cinnamon in Chimera. I got imps of both to make a thorough check, but, I suspect this is the one I'll be wanting to upgrade into a bottle, if it lasts on me. Drying, so far, mostly cinnamon. Cinnamon in a wooden box...with tea... I did go check my spice cabinet to make sure, and, though cinnamon is still dominant, I am smelling more wood and possibly tea now. Mmmmm. Once again, different notes are coming forward in different places. The wood seems more apparent on my wrists. On my elbows, some of the shyer spices are peeking out. I am not getting enough to identify which ones, but, I am definitely getting more than just cinnamon and wood from the elbows. Chai tea, the unsweetened kind with no vanilla added, and stored in a wooden box. Very very nice, and if I can get it to last decently on me today, I think I have my next bottle upgrade picked.

I got a chance to try this at the West coast will call. I had to know what lightning smelled like, even though I suspected it wasn't something I would want to wear much. This was a very fresh and clean scent. It kept about the same notes going from wet to dry, and over about two hours it didn't fade all that much. It smelled very much like fresh clean air after a storm, and I can see times when that might be wonderful. Unfortunately I don't think this is a scent for me to wear, but, it was refreshing.

In the imp, cinnamon! Wet, very sweet cinnamon. I hope the sweetness pulls back some. Dry, it is still a sweet cinnamon. It isn't foody to me at all. It does seem like a warm scent, though mostly it is a warm environment rather than a fiery aura. ------- Coming back to this with more experience with the scent notes, This almost smells like there's vanilla in it. I suspect that what I am smelling is the myrrh combined with the cinnamon and honeysuckle, though I can't pick out any honeysuckle or any floral in this at all. It is still a sweeter cinnamon than I care for; I prefer the dryer cinnamon that I get in Plunder or Tanin'iver.

In the imp, it smells green. Wet on me, I think I smell the woods. I don't feel very informative on this one. There is to much I just don't recognise yet. Drying, I can pick out rose? Maybe sandalwood. It seems a fairly well behaved scent to have a name like "Wanton?" I'll need to try it again I think. I tried too many different fragrances this morning to know for sure if the rose is from this or another. ADDED May 16: In the imp, rose and something else. Wet on me, almost all rose. Drying, maybe the patchouli and sandalwood are coming out to play in addition to the rose? Still mostly rose. ADDED Dec. 9: In the frimp, rose and sandalwood. Wet, on me, palmarosa and sandalwood. Drying the rose kicks into gear...and doesn't start screaming. It just blends with the palmarosa and sandalwood. I haven't found the patchouli yet. For something with rose in it, very nice. Surprising, even. Not strong. I did think maybe my nose wasn't working properly, but, then I sniffed something else and all is normal. Rose, palmarosa and sandalwood, nicely blended.

A frimp from the lab. In the imp, sweet floral and what on earth is that? That must be the medicinal smell that others have gotten, and I have no idea what that might be. I can't identify it. Wet on me, there's still that something I can't identify, but, it is no longer hitting me over the head at least. The floral is gone or covered. Now it is fading, and I find myself somewhat relieved. Some roses are peeking out. The scent is fading still. It is more floral now, and there's more there now than just roses. Every time I sniff a different flower is in the forefront, now, though the roses push to the front of the line more than the others. Even after washing it off, the rose is being persistent. Heh.

A frimp from the lab. In the imp, apples and lemon. Wet on me, rose and apple. Drying, it is tending just slightly towards rose. It does move back and forth a bit between the apple and the rose as main scents, with the lemon in the background. It's a light, clean smelling scent on me. It does come across as cheerful and bright. It isn't overwhelming...and it also isn't very deep. I'm going to pass this on to someone who may find it more interesting.

This was a frimp from the lab. Wet, it was piney, musky and sweet. Dry, it settled down to a sweet musk...and lasted, and lasted and lasted. It's darn near 12 hours since I put it on and I can still smell the sweet musky scent of it. It hasn't had much throw, but, I don't always want the whole room to smell me either. It's complex enough to keep me interested, and I'll likely wear it at least enough to use the imp.

This one didn't work for me. Wet, I was reminded for some reason of marachino cherries...which for me is not a good thing. Dry, I couldn't think of what it was it reminded me of, but, I didn't care for it. I asked my husband, and his response was, "Baby powder." I sniffed again, and yes, that is it exactly. I'm disapointed. I was looking for something sexy, and baby powder just won't do. I have no idea why my response is so out of line with so many of the rest. Ah well. Washing it off.

I've been frimped this twice, and I've only even gotten two orders, so maybe I need to try it. In the imp, floral, but, I can't distinguish anything. Wet, on me, strong floral. I smell honeysuckle, and I think I smell opium...I'm new and still learning the scents. Vetivert I don't know yet, so I have no clue. There is definitely some spicy resin anchoring the sweetness of the honeysuckle. Drying, on me, the sweetness of the honeysuckle is most apparent, once again, on my elbow. =) My wrist and the back of my hand are both picking up more of the spicy resin scent. It's nice. I don't usually picture myself wearing florals, but, we will see. ~edit~I've worn this a few times now, and I must bless the wisdom of whoever it was that frimped this to me. It is definitely a keeper and I am considering a bottle, though with two imps of this even if I wear it often it will take a long time to run out. It lasts a looooong time on me, and merely changes from honeysuckle with a spicy base of Opium to Opium gone slightly smoother with time, sweetened by honeysuckle. I have been in the mood to wear it partly because the honeysuckle in my yard had been blooming like mad...and I wanted to smell that good and intoxicating too.

In the imp, florals and spice? I really can't pick out a note. Wet on me. mmmmmmm. carnation and musk. This is subtle and not as spicy as I had expected. Drying on me, once again, different spots are different flavors. On my wrist, it just vanished, except for a bit of musk. On the back of my hand I smell very faintly the carnations, musk, and spices. My elbow is holding up a little better as I can still smell the carnations and spice there, even if it is fading, or faded, elsewhere.

In the imp, cinnamon. Wet on me, cinnamon...with something else behind. Other spices seem to be appearing? I think I smell the musk. Drying, I smell the cinnamon, and possibly ginger. I think I am getting the musk mostly as a unifying and smoothing note. Both those spices can be sharp on their own, but this is...getting slinky. A brightly colored tiger stalking through the forest. Rawr! This one smells soft to me...but, really strong to my husband. This is a problem, as my husband still prefers me to smell like "me" and I like to catch whiffs of the perfume. Ideally, almost any perfume would smell stronger to me than to him. This is usually not the case, though, and certainly was not with this. The second problem I have with this scent is that when it did change, it couldn't decide whether it was a candle or not. The cinnamon and ginger and musk eventually settled down and blended with the other spices that had been in the background to become a "warm spicyness." Most unfortunately, the whiffs I got during the day alternated between candle and yum. Even later, most of the cinnamon and spices seemed to vanish leaving sweet warm barely spiced milk scent, that also, unfortunately, alternated with vanilla candle wax. I think this may be a swap, but, I'll give it another try in a week or so.

I was worried about this when it arrived. I had just tried another scent that had dragon's blood in it, and that particular note had gone all cloyingly sweet cherry-floral on me. However, when Dragon's heart did NOT do that, I took heart(heh) and opened this imp to try next. In the imp, it smelled sweetish, but I couldn't identify anything else. On me, I smelled the dragon's blood, and then...oooh... Woah, smoke and leather! mmm. It has since settled down to a warm leather jacket scent...y'know the boyfriend's jacket that mysteriously ends up in your closet or on you instead of on him. A warm leather jacket that has been worn by a sexy man around campfires. I am liking it on me...but, I need to try it on the husband...so that later on I can steal it back and think of him while wearing it, just like the jacket.