fathom

The very first scent I bought myself, when I was in seventh grade or so, was a Crabtree and Evelyn Carnation eau de cologne, and I still love the spicy floral of the carnation. Its nice to encounter it in such a sophisticated blend now that I’m (sigh) all grown up. Morocco is very pleasantly incensey and spicy. I am really not into patchouli, and this scent is one of the select few incensey scents I’ve encountered where the patchouli is just right. It gets to be more carnation and less incense as it wears, I think, eventually going through a very spicey phase. Very nice— could be a wonderful everyday scent for the fall. For all year, really. This might be up in my top five favorites.

A very lovely light, grassy, woody scent. I might have called it incensey, but that implies smokiness, I think. And it’s not smoky, but very fresh and airy. Like sunlight on sandalwood. Or like dried out prairie grasses. Very wearable, and very unique. This was a gift imp, and I am so glad I got to try it. I was drawn to the lab description, but I was put off by the other reviews and had not ordered it because of the iffy comments. So if you are on the fence—give it a try! It’s fantastic!

At first this smells very like vanilla and almond, but after it dries the scent changes remarkably on me. Once dry it is more complex, definitely. A lovely honeyed fig scent, with a slight hint of wood. Very sunny and friendly. Like Eden would have been! I really like it. I was a little worried about the honey in it, since I thought honey scents went bad on me, but from this and a couple other recent imps I’ve realized that some honey scents are awesome, but some (like Sudha Segara) really don’t work. Now I gotta go order a bunch more honey scent imps…

This is the first of the Seven Deadly Sins scents I've tried-- it was a gift in my latest order. I never would have ordered it myself, since I am not a real patchouli girl, but I was really interested in trying this blend. Wet: Damn, this is a real musk. This is heavy incense laden with musk, a scent for hardcore patchouli lovers. Once on the skin, it stays pretty true to the scent in the imp. Since it’s named Lust, I guess I expected it to be sweeter, but this is not a sweet scent. It seems pretty gender-neutral to me, and I can imagine it smelling pretty good on a fella. I don’t really think it is a very sexy scent, though a lot of the other reviewers do. Frankly, this class of scents doesn’t really turn me on, but to each her own! I'll take the coconut and rum scents...

The lab description on this one is right on. It’s a peachy floral, with a hint of greenness. There is a definite ozone tang to it, too, which keeps it from being boring. There are a lot of mass-market perfumes that try to smell like this and fail— Neo-Tokyo is a total success. I guess it’s not my favorite class of perfumes, and I am not sure I would need a bottle, but it is a really lovely rendition of a light floral. This seems like a very proper scent to me, good to wear when meeting your future in-laws or something like that.

The Spirit of the Divine Messenger, the Lord of the Crossroads, He Who Owns All Doors and Roads in this World. He is the intermediary between the Orishas and mankind, and stands at the intersection of humanity and the Divine. He opens all paths of communication, both mundane and Heavenly. His ofrenda contains coconut, tobacco and sweet, sugared rum. Oh, hell yeah. So rich. Like a mink coat in a bottle. Very dark and compelling to my nose. Yes, tobacco, rum, coconut… but also coffee, pecan maybe, cocoa perhaps? The coconut here is definitely not sweet like in Black Pearl, one of my favorite BPAL scents. I still love the coconut in this stronger permutation. Dang this is nice. I can imagine this wouldn’t be a scent for everyone, but for those of us who love the nutty, foody, rummy scents this is a winner. (edited for typos...)

In the imp: delicious! Very spicy and inviting. This smells like a purely spice scent to me. On the skin: Amber waves of grain. This smells grainy, somehow, like a good oatmeal cookie with plenty of spice in it. I imagine this might be a very seductive scent for the right person. It gets a little soapy on my skin as it fades, though. Not badly, just a little bit. It's still beautiful.

A gentlemen's blend, possessed of dignity, charm and refinement, but in truth masking a corrupted, hideous, soulless core. White musk, lime, lilac and citron. Fresh lemon peel, tempered with a gentle ashy note. As it dries, I can smell the ash note more intensely—it smells like scorched paper. As it fades, the lemon disappears almost entirely on me, and the papery scent starts to go soapy. Very interesting scent, but not working at all on my skin. Oh well...

Dark but sweet. The patchouli in this scent never dominates the blend. It’s well married to the musk, I think. There is a slight fruityness to the scent, and especially as it dries I can smell the apple. This could definitely be a good everyday fragrance, I think—it doesn’t really make a giant statement or jump out at you, but is very appealing and lasts forever. It’s like a good pair of jeans that fit perfectly. Really, a lovely unique scent, a very wearable, masterful blend from the lab.

Thick and sweet, like tangerine candy. And this scent has tremendous throw. While I like a good fruity scent, I think this one might be too young for me. The sweetness is so intense, it almost smells sticky. Since there aren’t any woody or musky undertones to balance the sweetness it ends up being kind of overwhelming to me. (edited for a silly typo...)

In the imp, it smells very spicy and delicious. The dark, dark color of the liquid makes the scent seem even more mysterious and inviting. Wet on the skin, it still smells spicy, but the musk overpowers the spice. It dries down into a sharp musk on me, though. Some red musks are piercing, almost irritating to my nose, and this is one of them. Unfortunately, it just isn’t working with my skin…

The Dark Side of Earth: deep, brooding forest scents, including juniper and patchouli. The scent of upturned cemetery loam mingling with floral offerings to the dead. Well, this scent has made me reconsider my aversion to all patchouli blends! It smells foresty, and dark, and foggy. I really, really like this, and the patchouli and juniper blend so, so well. The patchouli darkens and deepens the scent, adding an earthiness to the blend and evoking upturned earth. Some woody scents smell like cut wood or polished wood or incense; Burial is the scent of living trees in a living forest. The scent of a whole forest. It lasts pretty long on me, and stays pretty true to the scent on application. I didn’t find it particularly masculine, unlike some other reviewers. To me it seems earthy and outdoorsy, a scent for a very independent person of either gender. If you like woody/evergreen scents then you definitely need to try this one.

In the imp: Mint, but a round mint, not a sharp mint. Mint julep, not Altoids. Wet on the skin: Very watery and clear sea green. Its mintiness is not the scent of candy mint to me. It's the scent of the mint plant, perhaps after a heavy rain has loosened the soil it grows in. This scent seems to sharpen my focus and draw me to attention, somehow. To me it is a good scent for a summer day, but not a sensual, sexy, weekend sort of summer day. A long summer day where you have to keep your shit together and negotiate your way through some treacherous shoals.

In the imp: dark, spicy amber and a little hint of musk. On the skin: The amber predominates on my skin at first-- the wet scent is so warm and golden it almost smells like food. It's lovely. Dry: the warm sandalwood begins to shine through. This is the kind of wood scent I love: rich, but not cloying. The scent becomes increasingly a straight ahead sandalwood scent as it dries. Hmm, somehow I never smelled any floral notes in it, wet or dry. I don't know that I would term it masculine, though. I think it's a strong and clear scent for anyone.

In the imp: light floral with a hint of vanilla. On the skin: a really warm, honeyed floral. Jasmine... honeysuckle... As it dries the light musk comes through. Oh, this is a really sweet and gentle floral. Feminine, but not too girly for me. (edited, because I posted the review for a different scent here at first!)