bristlecone

Szepasszony always smelled a little like a glass of lemon-lime soda to me. I wish I bought a bottle before it got discontinued. (At least I still have my imp.)

I should love this. In the bottle, I do love it. But I'm getting mixed results on my skin. The first time I wore it, it was a lovely dirt scent with touches of water and greenery. The next time, it smelled like dog shampoo. Don't ask me; I don't get it either. Both times I wore it, it had all but disappeared an hour or so later. I'm not giving up on it just yet, though. I really want it to work for me.

Something about this reminds me of a lotion I got from Bath and Body Works 12 or 13 years ago. I can't remember what it was called but it was a short-lived limited edition and had "mountain" or "breeze" or something to that effect in the name. The Little Sparrow is sort of powdery but fresh at the same time. I don't really smell seeds per se, but there's definitely something about it that makes me think of dried grasses, warm breezes, and woods. I think it's going to make a great spring-into-summer scent.

This kind of thing is right up my alley. I was a little wary of the fir, which has smelled overly menthol-y and medicinal on me in the past, but it's divine here. I can pick up the freshness of the ocean water and the sweetness of the flowers. It's difficult to find a scent that truly smells like a rugged, forested coastline, but this one comes pretty close. May have to get a full bottle.

I received this as a frimp in my latest order. Wet, this smells like a tart, shiny, crisp red apple. Especially the skin of the apple. Dry, the apple backs off a little bit and I can smell the other notes- floral but also a little milky. Unfortunately it doesn't have a great deal of lasting power on me. But I am enjoying it anyway!

Serpentine green herbs, glistening red currant, sparkling yellow lemon rind, green musk, lime, and snakeskin. I think that if I hadn't already fallen in love with 51, then Serpents would have been a bigger hit with me. Don't get me wrong; I do like it. But I can't really smell the red currant and the lime isn't as tangy and crisp as I was hoping it would be, so it's mostly about the green musk. Which is a very nice musk indeed, but I like having some other stuff to balance it out. 51 does a better job for me in that respect. I might see if my friend is interested in trying my imp. If not, I'll keep it for myself, but probably won't invest in a bottle.

I got this as a frimp in my latest order (along with Hunger, which I thought was funny). I opened it tonight to sniff it and the lid split in such a way that repairing it wasn't possible, so I decided to just use up the entire contents in one shot. I dabbed some on my wrists and dumped the rest in my oil burner. Wet: Orange and something else. It reminds me of an orange/sandalwood lotion that Bath and Body Works used to have in their aromatherapy line, only richer and sweeter. Drydown: I just now read the notes. Red patchouli? Okay, I guess I can see that. It's getting much earthier and "dirtier", but in a good way. The patchouli reminds me a little of cinnamon, but without the "bite". Whoa, and now it's getting stronger. Not so much on my skin, but the scent from the burner is filling up my apartment. I just blew out the candle because I'm starting to get a headache. Verdict: I like this, but probably wouldn't buy it, because I don't see myself wearing it often and the headache issue is a problem.

A friend sent me a decant of this a long time ago and while I'd sniffed it and tested it, I'd never actually worn it for a full day. Today seemed like a good day to give it a chance. I get a lot of ozone in the beginning, which gives way to the mint, and there's something that smells almost fruity in there too- like melons, specifically. Eventually I pick up something that smells almost like vanilla, strangely enough. Might be some combination of the musk and mint that's doing that. I've had trouble with frankincense in the past (I'm almost certain it's the note that sometimes smells like pickles on me), but it behaves here. This is a cold, white scent to me, but reminds me more of ice than snow.

In the bottle: Grapefruit and something chemical... like cleaning fluid. On my skin, wet: Grapefruit and menthol? Plus some musk. It borders on unpleasant without actually going there. On my skin, dry: Wow, this is pretty! I get grapefruit and orange and there's a little bit of that menthol note underneath it, and some sort of velvety wood/resin scent. It's really not very strong; I have to hold my arm up to my nose to smell it. If a scent could be considered translucent, I think this would qualify for that term. I think that someone who doesn't normally like citrus scents could still enjoy this. (Edited to add that I'm suddenly getting a lot of musk in the drydown. It reminds me of the musk in Buck Moon.)

In the vial and when it's wet, it smells almost exactly like Szepasszony to me. If you put unlabelled bottles of each under my nose and asked me to identify which is which, I'm not sure I could. It's a citrusy, almost effervescent scent, almost like lemon-lime soda. Dry, it's a different story. Szepasszony stays ozoney/citrusy on me pretty much from start to finish, while Ether turns floral. I like florals but the notes in this just don't really do anything for me. They seem kind of "muddled" and a bit too muted. There isn't a lot of throw or lasting power here and it makes it difficult for me to really form much of an opinion about any of it. It's not really "there". I guess Ether is a great name for it!

I just applied this a few minutes ago and so far it's a near dead ringer for the Midnight Pomegranate scent at Bath and Body Works. Seriously, if you want a very good idea of what Fruit of Paradise smells like, go to your closest B&BW and sniff Midnight Pomegranate. Though I must say that when I pull my wrist away from my nose, I catch whiffs of something that MP doesn't have... something almost citrusy. That may be some aspect of the pomegranate scent that Bath and Body Works wasn't able to capture. Or maybe it's the amber that at least one other reviewer has mentioned. This is gorgeous but I'm wondering if I should have ordered it, seeing as how I have trial sizes of the MP lotion and body spray. Oh well... if nothing else, I now have a beautiful pomegranate scent to use in my oil burner.

Candy charcoal, winter lilies, parma violet, a sprig of cypress, a poof of chimney dust, and holiday sweets. From the description, I thought this would be a floral with a touch of anise (the candy charcoal) and some underlying foody notes. I wasn't quite sure how they were going to pull off that motley crew of notes, but it sounded good to me, so what the hell. Unfortunately, that's not what it is at all. I blame myself... I should have waited for reviews instead of making assumptions based on the written description alone. I mostly get a syrupy burnt-sugar scent which eventually morphs into something akin to chocolate or caramel. I couldn't pick out a single flower, though there's something slightly powdery in there that I couldn't identify. There's no anise. (I'm one of those rare people who actually likes anise.) It's not horrible. I'll probably keep the bottle. But it's not what I was hoping for. I'll try it again on a different day to see if I enjoy it more.

This might be what Utrennyaya would smell like if you took out some of the mint and replaced the violet with almond. No wonder I like it (Utrennyaya is one of my favorite General Catalog scents). The almond is a bit unexpected and you wouldn't expect it to work with the other notes, but somehow it does. There's just two things I could do without: 1) There's a brief stage in the early drydown where it smells like men's aftershave or cologne. If I had to guess, it's due to the lavender, the verbena, or some combination of the two. 2) It fades pretty quickly (after two or three hourse, I have to hold my arm against my nose to smell it).

I'm also a Virgo, so of course I had to get this, despite not buying any of the other zodiac oils. This reminds me of so many things. My first impression was that it was like Ides of March 2007, but much less green. That was what I thought when I sniffed it in the bottle. When I first dabbed it on, something in it reminded me of Ochosi, a bottle I sold off because it did not work for me at all. Thankfully the resemblance was weak. Then something made me think of Pontarlier- probably the fern. I thought I got hints of the late great Mantis as well. Now that I'm seeing people mention vegetables and fresh earth, I know what they're talking about. It's a tad on the soapy side on me, but I can live with that. It smells like I've just washed my hands with some aromatic soap and dried them with a clean, fluffy towel. There are definitely worse things to smell like. I'm glad I bought it.

Wow... this is like Penny Dreadful Lite to me. I can appreciate that, because as much as I love Penny Dreadful, sometimes it's a bit much. I would say that PD is better for cooler days, and BH for warmer weather. I get light florals (esp. the peony, not so much the rose) and a dusty, slightly powdery greenness at first. It is earthy, but lightly so. After half an hour or so, it turns pleasantly spicy. The final drydown is where I catch resemblances to Penny Dreadful... something sort of lily-like (I'm guessing?) and perfumey. I guess they share at least one note. I like! I'm glad I got this frimp.

Ozone, salty aquatics, and amber. That's mostly what I get here... I think I can pick up on the florals too, just barely. I'm not really getting any grass. This is nice. I grew up in the desert Southwest and this does remind me of the thunderstorms we'd get every summer. There's nothing "cool" about it, to my nose. It's the scent of a hot summer storm, with lots of dust and wind but just a teasing promise of rain. It reminds me quite a bit of House of Mirrors (as well as Storm Moon), which I expected. I think I like House of Mirrors better. As Thunder Moon dries on my skin, the amber gets a bit too feral for my tastes. Still, I'm not disappointed with this one.

I never got to try the original Blue Moon so I can't compare. I've worn this one twice. The first time, it went on as a nice herbal/floral scent with a hint of cucumber, and dried down to an absolutely gorgeous aqua-ish scent. Not really your typical marine or aquatic scent at all, but it did make me think of a big pool of deep, dark, cool (but not cold) water. It smelled nothing at all like any BPAL I'd tried before, and I love to experiment with the cool/fresh/watery BPALs, so this is saying a lot. Unfortunately, it also had poor throw and lasting power. Today is my second wearing. And I swear I've been smelling anise all day. I like anise, so no biggie, but why the hell am I smelling it? I don't blame the scent; I've felt pretty "off" the past few days so maybe my skin chemistry and/or my nose is playing tricks on me. On the plus side, it seems to be much stronger today. I guess I applied more of it this time. I wish I could combine the scent I got from the first testing with the longevity I got from the second testing... then Blue Moon 2007 would be just about perfect. Maybe I'll get that result the third time I wear it? At any rate, it's certainly interesting and I see myself getting a lot of use out of it.

This smells delicious in the bottle. On my skin, it's a mixed bag. It smells great for the first 10 minutes or so, then I get whiffs of something that sort of reminds me of cigarette smoke. Then the smoky scent goes away and it's just vanilla and mint, but the vanilla is sort of plasticky. I'm thinking vanilla just doesn't work on me much of the time. I am surprised that the mint part lasts so long. All in all, it's similar to Green Tree Viper, but GTV works better on me. I'm definitely going to try Tokyo Stomp as a room scent, though.

In the bottle: flowery, fresh, kind of green. I can't think of any better words to describe it, but it's pretty. Wet: flowers lightly dipped in honey. Honey always kind of scares me, but it behaves itself here. Dry: okay, my wrists still smell like the honey-dipped flowers, but the insides of my elbows smell like the best flowers on earth. Which note or notes are doing that? Wow. It kind of reminds me of Gap Dream, which I believe is mostly orange blossom and freesia, but neither of those are in here. I keep sniffing my arm. Unfortunately the throw isn't great and it's fading kind of fast, but it smells so good that I don't care. I'm glad I bought this.

Interestingly, I get only a little lemon verbena in the vial, and none on my skin. It's an unmistakable note and usually quite prominent, so I'm surprised about that. I do get plenty of orange blossom and... something else. I couldn't tell you what heliotrope smells like, but I think Maenad has it too, and there's definitely something common between them, so there you go. Orange blossom and heliotrope. And maybe a little honeysuckle. There's something slightly plasticky about the whole thing, but I couldn't tell you which note is doing it. I figured I'd like this, but I have other orange blossom scents I like much better. This isn't bad, but it's not doing a single thing for me.

I'm not sure about this one. A friend of mine had a bunch of imps she wanted to re-home, so I picked the ones that sounded most interesting, and this made the short list because I'd been interested for a while and I happen to love Utrennyaya, one of its "sister" scents. Wet, it kind of reminds me of Evening Star. A fresh, feminine, bright floral. I happen to love Evening Star so this is a good thing. However, as it dries, it becomes more piercing and high-pitched. I don't usually have problems with jasmine, but if this is what jasmine does on a lot of people here... well, let's just say I can understand why jasmine is so widely feared and avoided. It's a bit strong. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, but it's definitely not for the weak at heart. I don't feel that great today so maybe on a better day, I'll like it more. Because not only does it remind me of Evening Star, it also kind of reminds me of Destroying Angel, which is another one I like. I think there's potential here.

Smells a lot like Whitechapel to me. I think I prefer Whitechapel because of the lilac, but this is nice too. Refreshing and crisp. I don't really get much grapefruit- it's mostly just the verbena and white musk. I don't get Lemon Pledge from this, but it takes a lot for a scent to remind me of Pledge. Just being lemony is not enough; there has to be some kind of chemically, artificial quality to it. I guess I'm lucky that I don't make that association.

A new year’s blessing! Peony, China’s national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat, pussy willow, and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, and peach blossom for longevity, with a splash of blazing red of dragon’s blood… to help you scare away the rampaging Nian. I knew from the note list that this would be a winner for me, and I was right! I get lots of bright orange and red fruits at first, but then a big dose of florals (especially something that smells very "velvety"- I think that's the peony?) and pine resin come out a little later. Imagine Lotus Moon plus Peony Moon with a big splash of sweet citrus, and you've got Fire Pig. This scent is festive and happy, but not manic or in-your-face. I think it might actually be better for fall- there's something about kumquat that makes me think of cool, crisp, sunny days.

I smell lots of lime and grapefruit at first, then a bit of the rose, then something that reminds me of one of the base notes in Peony Moon. (Musk, maybe? I think it was also in my Chaos Theory- while I'm not sure what it is, the scent is distinctive.) This could have been very run-of-the-mill and ordinary ("pink" fruity-floral scents are all the rage in commercial perfumes, after all), but it's not. I think it's my favorite out of my recent order. I only wish it had a tad more throw.

Danube has the word "dark" in the description but it made me think of bright sunlight reflecting off a stream. No citrus or amber.