quikslvr

Courtesy of the random LE swap circle. Oh, beautiful. Clean and light, but slightly masculine. Soft musk, clean though. Airy. Despite its touch of masculinity, this certainly wouldn't be out of place on a woman. Work-safe, too, which is extra helpful in my case. Light and vaguely sweet. There are certainly herbs here, but that isn't where I'd place this at all. The musk doesn't scream musk at me either. Oisin just hangs in the air, lightly reminding you it's there. I'm sorry I missed this one, but I won't be pining for it, because it's really not quite me other than in particular moods.

Courtesy of the random LE swap circle. I totally expected this one to be dark in the vial, for some reason. On: Fresh, clean aquatic? That's not what I expected from Cthulhu. Now the green's coming out, making it more masculine and sharp. Then it goes darker, becoming even more masculine, and a little threatening at that. That's the Cthulhu I'm familiar with. Murky yet clear. All the wonderful paradoxes inherent in an elder god. Bang on, Beth. I'm sorry I doubted this one at first.

Pow! Right in the nose. And the skin, since I'm sensing more than just a tingle there. Weird start: more earthy and spicy than real ginger, even when cut open. It's got an odd patchouli tinge to it (that might be the "red" variety, I suppose). It burns a bit, far up the nasal passage. Scary strong. The feel of it on my wrist is starting to get uncomfortably burny, so I think my relationship with Red Ginger might be at an end. Powerful, earthy, with a weird middle tone I just can't catch to identify.

Juicy juicy juice juice! Pure pear juice! It softens after the first blast, and becomes still juicy and fruity, but a little more on the floral end of things, with a touch of alcohol.

Dry, dry sandalwood. Yes, it and Vanilla Bean make up Tombstone. I'm sure there are other notes, but those two are Tombstone to me. Sweet, slightly peppery, fragrant, and dry. It's strong but retains its softness (maybe as a function of how dry it is?). Beautiful.

Via the single note swap circle. This one's really hard to pin down. At first, I almost want to say it smells musky, but it may be that it's just paired with musk in a lot of scents that I'm used to. It's got an almost spicy top edge, and on fresh it's a little difficult to deal with. Not crazy "can't stand it" reaction, just a bit of nose overload--too many different tones entering the nose at once, or something like that. As it dries, though, it's much smoother. It settles around you like a blanket, warm and comfortable. A warm wood tinge enters, without feeling overly dry. Imagine opening those handcarved wood boxes you see from India every once in awhile--the inside smells like this. Of course, that comparison might just be a 'me' thing. It's lovely, though. I could easily wear this on its own. The grounded lightness of it, with both a little sweet and a little spicy tone to it, make me think it's a near-perfect balance. If this were still available, I'd buy a bottle.

Via the single note swap circle. This is another I might mistake as honeysuckle at first blush. But after that it turns very clean, with a yellow tinge, evoking jasmine a little. That fades a bit, turning it more white than yellow. Not sure if the headache coming on is from it or from just getting home from work. Airy, barely there, with a gentle waft. Very pretty, but not my favorite of the florals (see Hyssop and Calla Lilly for that--but then again, I'm not a floral person to begin with).

Via the single note swap circle. Dark, dark, but kind of sweet scent. Strong, dark, and biting on me. Uncomfortable medicinal tinge that I remember from childhood--probably an unfortunate side effect of some cough syrup or another. I certainly couldn't wear this by itself, but I can smell it as a component in other blends that I like.

Via the single note swap circle. Beautiful floral. Hyssop is a note I probably mistake for others most of the time--I take it for notes like Honeysuckle and Jasmine, probably. A high yellow scent. It's beautiful, rich, and syrupy. The syrup calms down to be a little more clean as it dries. At times, it pops a little more green than yellow on me. Consider that this is coming from someone that doesn't normally like florals: this is gorgeous.

Via the single note swap circle. Calla Lily is one of the notes that strikes me as seeming "commercial." It's so sweet, exotic and alcoholic, for lack of a better term, that it strikes me immediately as a scent I might buy in a department store. It's gorgeous, and I don't hold its "commercial" nature against it alone, though I sometimes might in blends. It's beautifully sweet and clean--another that, as a non-floral lover, I still find gorgeous. It's also strong enough to stick around, it seems. I don't find it that light, but I do recognize it from something else. Arrgh. And this note is in something I used to wear regularly, too. That's going to drive me bonkers. Estee Lauder's Pleasures, perhaps? Or Polo Sport Woman or Tommy Girl? This is totally by memory: I have none of the above to compare to, but I'm just remembering the scents I used to wear in the era in which I was more familiar with this note. You could easily, easily wear this as a fragrance unto itself. It's complex enough to carry, unlike some of the other single notes (but not all!).

Via the single note swap circle. Grape Kool-Aid! at first. After that, gathers to itself more darkness than sweetness/artificiality, and creates a deeper, earthier atmosphere, though it still maintains the high sweet note in the nose. It's like the single note itself contains more than one note--a tribute to its complexity, perhaps, and the simplicity of calling these "single notes," when, in fact, some (most?) are blends. It's weird, but pretty and grounding in its own way.

Via the single note swap circle. Wow. I dry roses habitually, often spreading the petals around my room, and my first whiff of this was dead-on of rose petals after they've just been dried. The rose essence still in them, but the wispiness/powderiness (I hesitate to use this term, but I in no way mean "baby powder" here) of having been dried. Reminds me first of Phantom, of all the rose blends I've tried, followed closely by Othello and Whip. There are a lot of blends that have this rose in it, though, and I'm not entirely sure I've identified this particular rose correctly when I mention the above blends. But that's what comes to mind. What also comes to mind: when I first visited the Vatican, I bought a rosary carved out of rosehips (?) or rosewood (?) or some such, that had been thereafter dipped in essence of rose, supposedly, and blessed. It smelled very, very much like this. I wonder where I put that thing? Well, I know it's not in my house currently, so there'll be no comparing tonight, that's for sure. Unfortunately.

This has some serious bite at first if you're not ready for it. For those who love the smell of clove cigarettes, imagine that the smoke from a huge batch of the absolutely best clove cigarettes (or just the scent of the cigarettes themselves, depending on your tastes) was solidified into a solid block, which was then liquified onto your skin. That's this scent. For those who don't love the smell of clove cigarettes, imagine a similar effect with the smell of clove in baked goods--cookies, ham, you name it. Just identify the sweet spice of cloves baking (you can include a hint of honey or sugar, just to get the sweetness in there), not the scent of sticking your nose into the clove jar. I just huffed both my ground cloves and my whole cloves, as well as my clove cigarettes, and the above is correct. But it's got the same oomph behind it, as the spice itself, that's for sure. Just a little more on the sweet side. And for those that compare this to Three Witches: I've gotten a sniff of Three Witches, and I hate to say that for me, they're not as close as some say. I pick up the other components of Three Witches, and the Sweet Clove alone is far, far better by itself. For me, though, this is way foody. That's not to say I wouldn't wear it by itself, though.

Via the single note swap circle. Sweet, sweet, sweet, and syrupy. Crazy bright, and a relatively loud note by itself. Greeny. Definitely the note from Desdemona--more relevant, it may be the note from Desdemona that went toward latex balloons on me. (later) Yes, yes it is. Notable, though, is that it doesn't do so by itself. That may have been a freak accident or a weirdness of the combination of notes. This is a clean, light, albeit powdery floral.

I've had that happen too. The skin is thin(nest?) at the wrist, so that's probably the most sensitive spot. Other places I've had trouble was the hollow of the throat and the crook of my elbows. Anyplace you can see veins (relatively) easily, basically. With me, it was Eclipse that did it first.

A veritable miracle, I tell you! A scent that soothes the spirit and stimulates both the libido and the mind: tobacco, balsam, ginger, elemi and rosewood, with a touch of opium to fuddle your senses. A bit more direct a tobacco scent at first, but very Perversion-like in its tone. The rosewood is a nice touch, though, if that's the edge I'm smelling as it mellows. Oh, it softens beautifully! If a bit rose-y for me. But yes: Perversion with a rose drydown, on me.

You know the basis of Tombstone, and a lot of what's in Dana O'Shee? This is it. It surprised me, because it's not as warm as I thought. It starts on the over-sweetness of Dana O'Shee, and mellows to the Tombstone tone, which I find more reasonable. I've got an old tarted imp, which turned my skin yellow. But it laaasts. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Lavender punch which drops off quickly--a quick turn to something oddly familiar that I can't get a handle on. The spice section of carnation, perhaps. Clove or cardamom, maybe? I like it: I think it's very pretty, and very me (although not for common wearing, obviously). I was too excited to sleep at first, because I was more interested in picking up notes, but I did drift off once I stopped sniffing my hand. I woke up this morning thinking I didn't dream, but now I remember that I did. It wasn't a particularly positive one from what I remember, but it's not like I had a nightmare, either. I couldn't smell it at all come morning. I do feel refreshed this morning, but I also got an extra hour or so's sleep than I have been the past few nights.

Wow. Reaaaallly strong at first. Also far more perfume-y than I was expecting from a single note, but only if I sniff my wrist. The waft is much more base fruit-y than perfume-y/flowery. It's even got the tart edge of a dried apricot. And it is more dried apricot than fresh: it's got the same punch that the dried ones do because the flavor is so much more condensed when they dry. Little sugar/sweetness at first. Very tart, very pointed--verges on the offensively pointed. Has a weird woody edge to it after an hour or two.

Ginger! start. Even dry, pure ginger--ginger of the sharp type, not the foody type. A touch of the spices from, say, Black Phoenix. Aggressive: possibly even masculine. What The Lion is to amber, this is to ginger. Focused yet complex.

Very cleaning product-esque at first. Dish soap springiness. Very lemon-tart, then goes sweet and sugared. Dries to a light, springy, but still cleaning product-tinged scent. Since I can't shake that association, out to swaps it goes.

First impression: a lighter Bliss, with a perfume hint that I have to assume is iris. That note turns airy and kind of powdery as it dries. Oh, and there's the currant, with a juicy tone. The white chocolate becomes barely chocolate at all--the entire package (and I think I'm getting the white tea now) becomes very stereotypically perfume-y. But lovely, well-balanced.

Acrid, bordering on the offensive, at first. But then it changes, with a hint of some syrupy floral, perhaps--something harmonious. Ah! The dragon's blood peeking out. Thereafter, it reminds me of one of the heavily dragon-blooded voodoo blends. Then it softens into more floral a blood scent. By the very end, an herb-y clean sweetness. I like it! (how appropriate)

Patchouli cocoa at first. Fascinating mix. Earthy and sweet. Then the patchouli takes over, with a hint of the incense. The incense comes out after that, with a touch of smoke. Beautiful patchouli/incense mix, but that's it for me. Much later, just dirt.

Very odd start: fresh and springy and kind of herby. Tropical pear, maybe--but reminiscent of Juicy Fruit, a bit. Becomes much less artificial quickly. Stays fresh and light, fruit and herbs. Drying, still very light, clean--I would tend to say so much so that it's soapy, but it's not soapY, it just resembles soap because it's so detergent-y fresh. Very pretty, very office-wear-appropriate, but not very me.