Astarial

On first sniff out of the bottle, this is mmmm, bloody. Not that it smells like blood, dragon or otherwise, but it makes me want to sink my teeth into a nice steak. When I first put it on my wrists, it's... ominous. The red musk threatens to go like it does in Smut, aka burnt used condoms. But then, luckily, the rest of the notes assert themselves and it's rich, plummy, red, and a little bit floral, a little bit smokey. It doesn't morph much on me at all, which is fine because it's quite lovely.

This is a kind of dusty, almost woody chocolate when it first goes on. I'm guessing that's the cedar chiming in. Not an unpleasant scent, but it's not that great either. If it stayed like that, I wouldn't think about a bottle. As it dries, the chocolate tones down, the moss comes out to play, and the mint chimes in very softly. It has settled down to a sweet herbal-floral scent (chocolate usually goes floral on my skin, for some reason..). Not what the notes would imply, but comforting.

Wet, this is ALL MELON. In an utterly fantastic way. Juicy, fresh honeydew. As it dries, a bit of green tea comes out to support it. Not as fantastic as the pure melon, but really lovely nonetheless. Unfortunately, this doesn't last very long on me. If I can ever get my hands on a scent locket (come on clocket!), I'll test in that.

I tried this a couple days ago as a quick test, and got no mint, or possibly a very light, sweeeeet mint. Mostly it smelled fresh and green and completely delicious. This morning, I went to try it again and... tragedy struck! As I was unwrapping the lid of my decant, it slipped from my hands and fell to the floor. The bottom shattered, and all the lovely oil spilled onto the floor. It didn't splatter, luckily, so I was able to dip my finger into the puddle to get some on my wrists, but the rest of it had to be wiped up and tossed, along with the shattered remains of the imp. This time, I got some mint right away, but that soon gave way to the same utterly lovely slushy greenness I smelled before. I really don't know how to describe it better than that. The mint has since disappeared, but the freshly melted snow and sweet grass is going strong. I love this. I got the boy to sniff my wrists, and he said "Not bad". It had better be, since it's his bathroom that'll smell of Nuclear Winter for a while. I *definitely* need a bottle, if not more than one!

Hrmph. I really like this - on me, it starts out a blend of citruses and morphs quickly into a lime-dominated scent, but softened somehow, almost sweet. It makes me feel like I'm wearing a fancy green dress and standing on a sunny balcony having an elegant drink. The boy took one sniff, made his yuck face, and went "Smells like camphor". ...What a strange one he is. I guess this one is for me to wear when he's not around.

I was scared of this one! Strong spicy scents make me sneeze and I think people would look at me funny if I couldn't stop sneezing whenever my wrist got close. So, I waited a month and a half or so before trying this one, to hopefully give the cassia time to chill out. And I didn't test this one all-out yet; just put a dab on my arm. A small dab. In the bottle, strongly spicy. Actually smelled kind of bad, to me. On my skin: Hello, sushi rice! Not even kidding, that's what it immediately turned into, and didn't change. Maybe that's because of the small quantity I put on, so I'll have to retest this on a whole wrist, but... Not that it's an unpleasant smell at all, it just made me crave some sushi for breakfast.

I wasn't particularly enthralled by this at first. Wet on me, it's lavender and fennel, sort of sharp and herbal. It dries down into a light, sweetish scent, but with very little throw and it seemed to wear off quickly. However, the dry stage was soft and comforting, so I reapplied this a few hours before bed so it could soothe me to sleep. I woke up the following morning, rolled over in bed, and - Oh my God, my nose is in heaven! I couldn't bring myself to pry it off of my wrist for about ten minutes. YUM. Sweet and sexy and melts-in-your-nose all at the same time. I think it's love. I've had similar reactions to some of the snake pit scents when I smell my wrist the following morning, so some of this is what happens with Snake Oil, but blending it with Dorian made the morning-after sniff just.... amazing. It really is like an orgasm for my nose. Oh, and I bought a second bottle. When I get this one, I'll be tucking it away for a while because this seems like it would age magically.

I don't get along with foody scents, especially not before I've eaten. They tend to get too strong or spicy and make me queasy. Even so, I wanted to give Candy Butcher a shot. In the bottle, it's delicious chocolate. Holy crap, this is making me swoon. I want to smell like this for ever and ever!! Wet: OH YUM. A creamy, rich, delicious chocolate. I can't stop huffing at my wrists. And I'm not queasy at all! It's just making my tummy growl with desire for yummy chocolates. Drydown: Oh no... oh no no no! Not the fake banana smell!! Don't do this to me, Candy Butcher! Dry: Still plasticky fake banana. I kept hoping it would morph back into chocolate, but nooo... I eventually had to wash it off in the afternoon, as I couldn't stand the stench anymore. I think I'm going to let this sit for a while - maybe a couple months of aging will help it? I'm not overly optimistic, as Dragon's Milk does the exact same thing on me (where the heck do those share a note??) new or aged. If that doesn't work, I'll look into getting a scent locket. This really is a gorgeous scent, it just doesn't work with my chemistry.

YMMV, but I've found that wearing spicy foody scents (jack, gluttony, etc) in the morning make me feel queasy until they settle down, so I would anti-recommend them when you're already suffering from morning sickness.

Are there any scents that are sweet, innoncent, and mechanic? Cause that'd be perfect for her. I've gotta say, the image with Violet Ray always makes me think of River.

On me, Port Royal turned into a lovely spicy aquatic. The spice is a little.. masculine, though, so I'm thinking it will be better on the boy.

I actually found Eden almost entirely almondy. Not an unpleasant scent, just not tropical.

Waah. ;_; I wanted to like this one... In the bottle, it smelled like those chewable vitamins. On me, it smelled like a lovely tea for about five minutes, then vitamin all day. Luckily, it doesn't have a strong throw. Now, in the evening, it's smelling like tea again... but putting it on the night before to smell good the following day isn't a viable strategy. Oh well. I'll let it age a bit and then give it another try... if it still doesn't work, it will be off to swaps.

I got unsolicited compliments when I wore this today, so it's certainly a keeper. In the bottle, it smelled spicy, and a little... floral? But once on my skin, it was exactly what I was hoping.. spicy, musky, and delicious, and it stayed that way until mid-late afternoon, when it got so faint I could only smell it by pressing my nose to my wrist. The woman I carpool with told me I smelled good enough to eat, and asked what I was wearing... I may get her a bottle for herself. This enabling thing is fun!

I wore this to work yesterday, and oh MAN do I love it! In the bottle it was floral, with a tang that I think was the ozone. On my skin, it smelled so watery, with a light hint of those florals. The ozone came out a little later, and for the whole day, whenever I smelled myself I felt like I'd just been swimming in a secret underground lake that nobody else knew about. It made me feel so... clean and refreshed. I think I'm going to need a bottle of this one.

In the imp, this smelled like toasted marshmallow.. kind of weird. o.O When it was wet on my skin, it had a little of the toasted marshmallow, plus some toasted almond and honeyed milk. NO idea where that was coming from. When it was drying, some florals came out for a while, but didn't stay very long. It mostly smelled like vanilla and honey and milk on me, after the initial changes. Not complaining - it was a nice, light, absolutely lovely scent... just not what I was expecting. Definitely a keeper, though.

In the imp, it's very floral... but is that something slithering under there? But it's gone now... hiding again. On me, the gardenia stands out at first, with a touch of berry. The rose soon comes out to join it, and I can definitely smell the slithering thing again. I can't quite place it, but it turns the lovely floral into something dark and sinister. Mmm, as it dries further, it gets spicier. Delicious, but still with that undertone of something's wrong. That part is getting juicier though, so I'm guessing it's the plum. It's a lovely scent, but I'm not quite sure what I think of it on me. I'll see how it morphs over the next few hours before coming to a verdict.

On first whiff, I got a chocolate peppermint, that disappeared with the second whiff, leaving only a citrusy goodness. On wet: This is familiar, but hard to place... almost like hard candy. It soon morphs into a lovely chocolate orange with undertones of citrus and lavender. As it dries down, the citrus comes out more... mmm, a lovely grapefruit, with a tinge of lime. It's certainly living up to its name... whenever I lift my wrist to my nose, I get a different scent. Unfortunately, after a couple of hours, it seems to have settled down into a liiight grapefruit scent, with a bit of laundry... it's nice, but I'm not sure I want to smell like my clothes! Not sure what to do about this one. I think I'll give it another try sometime later and see what happens then.

Of course, if it's only going to make him feel terrible and not actually kill him... you could always let him buy a larger bottle and drink it so he'll learn the hard way.