crebbsgirl

An unwholesome scent. A craving, an itch. This scent smoulders with a lust that singes the edge of your nerves and leaves your soul chilled: red amber and scorched musk with voluptuous carnation, charred vetiver, sensuous tonka, and orris. Whoa! Hellooooo vetiver! This is thick and SMOKY while wet. The vetiver is holding everything back. As it dries though, the red amber and musk start to come out more. I can catch hints of carnation and the tonka is adding a sweetness here. The orris note is pretty faint. The overall effect is very dark, smoky and smoldering, like coals really. That's exactly the vision I get when I sniff my wrists. Embers. But sexy embers. ETA: Okay, I swear I'm not crazy, but there are parts of this drydown that are VERY reminiscent to what aged Snake Oil and Snake Charmer smelled like on me.

There is a blast of hemp in the opening stages. Very green and a bit disconcerting. As it dries the beeswax and honeysuckle come out. It gets a floral sweetness and a depth. The hemp smoothes out and blends a little better. I can see this aging gorgeously.

This was rich cocoa and vanilla, with a delicious oudh note. This surprisingly doesn't get foody on me! The rose is very well behaved, I only get a subtle hint if it. It wears very close to the skin for me. It's very soft and lovely.

I have to preface this by saying that tea notes and I rarely get along. So wet on skin, this opens with a blast of tea and sharp ginger/citrus notes. It really smacks you right in the face. As it dries, the tea continues to dominate the blend on my skin, and it's really sharp and aggressive. As it dries, the citrus notes come out smoother, and the tea finally calms the hell down. The ginger sort of disappears for awhile, but reappears a little later, although much more subdued. It's a little too sharp for me. I was hoping for more citrus and ginger.

This one was oddly sharp on my skin, and it didn't last very long! I got musks and galbanum which I think was the culprit regarding the sharpness.

This is mostly honey and fruity red currant on my skin, with just a touch of bite from the ginger. The sugar cane adds to the sweetness but it doesn't go syrupy on me like that note is wont to do. It's nice but not spectacular on my skin.

Violety orris on my skin, with amber to sweeten and a bit of musk adding depth. Overall powdery and light. It smells clean without smelling soapy.

Soft red musk, ambrette and cognac. The lavender is a little biting, but it quickly smoothes out. The red musk here isn't as dominant on my skin as it's been known to be. There is a disjointed feel to this though, but I can't figure out what's making it. I'm going to let this age a bit and try it again.

Honey and fig. This smells a little green on my skin. The chocolate is not showing up on my skin very much, but in the bottle it was quite strong. The avocado adds a fresh, creamy dimension.

I'm amping the wine-infused cherries bit here. Not much chocolate on my skin. In fact, I know this is going to sound a little odd, but something here is reminding me of fruit leather on my skin. The star anise adds a little bite. Overall, this really isn't for me.

I was pleasantly surprised by this. Normally I have trouble with leather blends, but this stayed quite nice on my skin. It was soft and a little fuzzy from the moss. I think it reminded me a little bit of Mole from The Wind in the Willows series awhile back. It's leaning a little masculine on my skin, but not so much that it's unwearable. I quite like it, it's soft and cozy feeling.

Ah rose, I see we're still not getting along. This is sharp rose/juniper on my skin to start with. Throughout the drydown the cedar, almond and honey come out a little more to round and soften this a little bit, but the rose stays pretty dominant on my skin. Stupid skin chemistry.

This was predominantly sweet honey with a little kick from the cayenne. The apricot is very subtle on my skin, which seems to be a marked difference from other reviewers above. It almost reminds me a little of Bengal on my skin.

I had the same experience as Herb Girl with the geranium. It was pretty much all geranium all the time in the wet stages. Much later into the dry down other notes began to assert themselves, mainly the red musk and woods. It stayed sharp on my skin though, and I'm not a fan of that feel in my scents.

Yup, on me this was screaming jasmine. I had been hoping the other notes might tame the jasmine for me, but no such luck. My skin just does not want to play when it comes to that note.

Ok, my skin is doing incredibly funky things to this. I'm not getting much in the way of ginger, but I am getting something that seems to be reading like caramel? WTH? It's very cloying on me, and I just don't get it because ginger, honey and resins are normally all notes of win for me. Harrumph. Stupid skin chemistry.

Patchouli, moss and flowers on me. Thus comes off as a little perfume-y, but I dig it. Something is a little reminiscent of The Caterpillar on my skin, but I may be making that up in my head. I like this, and would wear it often if I had more!

White musk is a standout here. I was a little concerned about the leather, but it's very understated on my skin, and doesn't amp to screeching chemically grossness like most leather notes can. It does smell remarkably like Dorian on me, with just a hint of something else. Leather, maybe, but I think on my skin it's a little more floral than Dorian. This leans a little cooler on me than Dorian does. I quite like this. In fact, I think it suits me better than Dorian.

Ok this one went weirdly medicinal on me and I can't even begin to explain why. I'm tempted to blame the bay or the "polished" oak note. This wasn't smooth like I was hoping, but instead rather harsh. The tobacco came out during wear and tried it's hardest to temper whatever sharp medicinal note was amping all to hell, but it was completely overpowered. Boo.

This does start out pretty heavy on the balsam and black pepper. It was pretty green and masculine feeling on my skin. As it warmed and settled, the skin musk and honey came out a little more. It sweetened and softened during wear, but it took about an hour to get to a stage I liked. I may age this a bit and retest.

Predominantly orchids and musk on my skin. As it wears, the frankincense and fig leaf come out more to deepen and sweeten this a touch. It does wear close to the skin, and it's extremely seductive. I love it.

Holy crap how is this not getting more love? This is amazing on my skin, and it's full of death notes. I usually turn anything with frankincense to play-doh but here it stays sweet and resiny. The jonquil adds a sunny floral tone while the honeycomb prevents the sandalwood from getting too smoky and dusty. The musk is quite light on me and the clove is incredibly subtle. On my skin this ends up being warm and golden with a hint of musk.

On my skin this is really green and herby. There's a bit of citrus bite, and the overall effect is a fresh cologne-like smell. As it wears, the woods come out and deepen this a bit, smoothing the scent out. It's a little too fresh for me.

This does seem to have an aquatic edge on my skin. I'm not loving that. It gets progressively more nutty as it wears. Overall it's a little disjointed on my skin, and not very cohesive. I blame my crappy skin chemistry for this.

I was trying to figure out what this reminded me of, and Monday nailed it! This smells exactly like CK One plus on my skin. It's very cold and cologne-y. Not very me.