enderfem

Imp: Musky sweat. Sort of what they were going for, I think. Wet: musky sweat and red currant. Not bad. Drydown: A very interesting amber/currant/musk blend, but it is ridiculously faint on me.

Imp: Rich, dark, pretty. Black tea with sandalwood and tonka notes, sweetened a little by rice wine. Wet: Tonka and black tea. Dark and rich. Nice. Drydown: This became insanely strong for awhile. I had it on the crook of my arm and my eyes were watering. Becomes mostly tea after awhile, and I have White Rabbit for that. Oh well. Sell/Swap.

Imp: crisp clean notes. I can pick out everything but the rose. I hope it stays that way. I like the grape note so far. Wet: Still crisp and clean but leaning dangerously towards laundry detergent. Really nice laundry detergent! Drydown: Yes. Really nice laundry detergent. Clean and soapy.

Imp: Mm, dark rich smells, the pomegranate and the barley. Nice. Wet: Drat. This smells almost exactly like one of those flavored lip glosses from when I was a kid. Drydown: This loses the lip gloss notes but then becomes something reminiscent of cough syrup. No thanks.

Imp: Smells almost exactly like honeysuckle. Maybe some of the vanilla flower. Pretty, but not my thing. Wet: Honeysuckle. Drydown: Oh man, this was honeysuckle for awhile, and then at the end it smelled like....old pee. Ugh.

This is Red Lantern O8 Imp: Caramel, tobacco and coconut. Almost exactly like Red Lantern 06, a bottle I dearly love but which has cassia in it. Cassia causes a rash. Wet: Oh man, this smells almost exactly like the 2006 formulation, but no itchy! Caramel, tobacco, coconut and a little something spicy. Mostly dark and rich and perfect. Drydown: Absolutely gorgeous. This stays the same as the wet stage and has throw like crazy. Hm. I'm going to have to see how much of 2006 I have left. If only I could be sure they will run it again in 2009!

Imp: saffron creaminess. A hint of vanilla. Very pretty. Wet: Cream and saffron. The vanilla is like an afterthought. I have Tokyo Stomp for vanillaness, so I like this for what it is. Drydown: Oh man. The saffron adds this really interesting tang to something that would otherwise be a vanilla-cream infusion that might be too feminine for me. I love this.

Imp: Currant and green tea with a hint of cherry blossom. Very pretty. Wet: Tons of green tea. A hint of the currant and plum flower, and a bit of cherry blossom. Not picking up anything I'd classify as "sake" but I like this. Drydown: OMG. Love. LOVE! This is a gorgeous clean green tea scent with layers of currant and blossom under it. Has decent throw and staying power. GORGEOUS!

Imp: Lots of candied melon and a ton of floralness underneath. Nothing else is distinct. Wet: Candied melon still, but with something darker underneath. I can kind of pick out orange notes as well. Not what I expected, but pretty! Drydown: This ends up smelling a lot like cucumber melon Bath and Body Works. It is pretty, but not something I need too much of. I may trade the imp as well.

Imp: Dark patchouli and ambergris with a hint of the orange blossom. I like this. Wet: A really dark, dingy scent. None of the carnation and little of the orange blossom are coming through. Very interesting. Drydown: Oh man, this gets all deep and complex and the orange blossom comes out more, but the darker notes still dominate. I'm glad I have an imp of this to play with.

Imp: Frangipani all over the place, with a hint of jasmine. I can't smell the rose in the imp. Maybe there won't be any on me? Wet: Lots of frangipani, and something vaguely sour which I think is the tuberose, as I've had it go sour on me before. Maybe it'll disappear. Drydown: The rose is kept largely in check by the frangipani, but this still goes all soapy on me in the end. Swap/sale pile.

Bottle: I can smell the apple and mullein, and the pumpkin, clove, and a little of the allspice. It smells like an apple-pumpkin perfume, which is kind of what it is. Something in here reminds me of wet leaves on a forest floor. Wet: Smells exactly like a country Halloween. Spiced cider, bobbing for apples, the whole thing. I love this scent. The pumpkin backs down and some of the other scents amp a little. None of the fir or patchouli though, which I am ok with. Drydown: This becomes a warm, rich scent that is mostly spiced cider, although towards the end it sweetens into something that smells almost like wine. One of my favorites.

Bottle: I can definitely smell the moss! And unfortunately, nothing else. Wet: The mossy smell, and something that smells like dirt, with something slightly darker and richer behind it. Drydown: Dirty moss smell. I keep trying this and it keeps not working. I'm going to have to sell it.

Imp: Almonds and sweetness. Almost like almond extract. Wet: Almonds and plummy sweetness, although something is trying to go a bit bitter here. Please don't go bitter, almonds! I don't want to smell like cyanide. Drydown: Mostly plum but still some almond. This scent is very faint, but very nice.

Imp: Lilies. Lilies like whoa. Wet: Lilies, and the tuberose almost immediately. A shame. No opium at all. Drydown: Rose-scented soap, as per usual. There have been few rose scents that work on me at all.

Imp: A grape smell that isn't like bubblegum! I can also pick up something else I think is olive leaf. Wet: Sweet grapes and frankincense. Very nice. Maybe better for a room though. Drydown: This blended very well and was quite pleasant, but it faded very very fast.

Imp: ooh, red wine and clove. This is pretty. Red wine tends to smell like grape bubbleyum on me, but let's see. Wet: Hm. Grape-ish, but not a bubblegummy grape. Yet. The clove is nice, but fading. Drydown: The clove surged again! This was mostly pretty with a threatening bit of plastickyness towards the end. It faded pretty fast.

Imp: Patchouli. Just patchouli. Wet: Patchouli with something else over it that smells sweet and almost like commercial perfume. I'm not sure what it is. It smells a little like Obsession. Drydown: Nice, still smelled like a mixture of Obsession and patchouli. Probably one for the swap pile.

Imp: mmm, peppery and citrusy. nice and different. Wet: That same citrusy peppery scent, with a little ginger undertone. Nice. Drydown: Ginger and citrus and not much else, which is disappointing. Not unpleasant, but not what I was hoping for.

Bottle: A hint of bourbon and cake, but mostly blackberries. Wet: Mostly this is the blackberry smell from the bath and body works blackberry line, with a hint of something underneath. Drydown: I still don't get enough of something other than blackberries to really excite me. I keep trying this one, but I think I'm going to sell/swap.

Bottle: Smells like rich warm cake. Not necessarily coconut. Mmm. Cake. Cake. Cake! Wet: More cocoa and coconut, but still mostly cake. And burning. The cassia makes me itch and burn a little, but as the oil has aged, it has gotten less icky. Mmmm. Cake. Drydown: This doesn't really change at all, maybe it gets a little more coconut smell. Still mostly CAKE GLORIOUS CAKE. I love this but have to be careful when wearing it, as it has amazing throw and makes people near me hungry. Also, the itching and burning goes away.

Imp: Something sharp, I think maybe bergamot, as I can place all the other scents. I can definitely pick up the lemon peel too. Wet: It smells like a citrusy men's cologne. Hmm. Maybe it'll get better on drydown. Drydown: I had to wash this off, actually. It smelled like icky bad cheap cologne and was REALLY strong.

Imp: oooh. This is an excellent lavender scent with a hint of spice. Beautiful. Wet: Less spice, more lotus and a ton of lavender. Soothing, but I'm hoping it develops a bit more. Drydown: The lotus becomes more prominant and adds a nice sweetness, with the lavender as a base and a little spice thrown in. Oh, this is gorgeous!

Imp: The ginger hits first, a sweetly spicy tang, but I can smell the good white tea smell underneath. Like a spicy version of White Rabbit. Wet: Now it is tea with an underlying hint of spice. I like the tea, but I want more ginger! Drydown: This definitely becomes more gingery, which is awesome, but it starts to become a bit soapy. If it didn't do that, I'd be far more tempted to get a bottle. I'll probably use up the imp, though.

Bottle: incense, with sweetness in top of it. I think it is the almond milk and rice flower. no coconut yet. Wet: Mostly the same as the bottle. One of the better incense scents thus far. I can smell a little of the mango now. Drydown: This blends so well it is hard to pick out individual scents on drydown. It doesn't get over-incense-y and make me feel I'm at high mass, which makes me really happy. It is just a well blended pretty scent, sweet, but not foody or flowery.