delicate_fangs

Wah. I am sad, because I cannot smell the lime goodness. Mr. Nancy is all butterscotch to me, and on me morphs to something so intensely sweet that I am starting to get a headache. Alas, my skin chemistry strikes again. Oh, well, I will swap him to someone who will love him.

This is lovely indeed. At the beginning, I get a bit of musk, some amber, and something that smells almost like bay leaf for a moment, and then disappears. A soft floral note peeks out, and then it's a nice full-spectrum amber with something complicated and smooth overlaying it. I like this very much. Glad I bought a bottle when it came out, and gladder still that I finally got around to wearing it.

I love love love Tombstone. I love love love Western Diamondback. And Boomslang, but mostly because Boomslang might be the first chocolate-related scent I can actually wear. Western Diamondback, though, is of the western-y goodness. So there's another data point for you. (Hmm. Maybe if I layer Tombstone and Western Diamondback... nah. I'd faint with pleasure.)

I just want to type OMG OMG OMG eleventy-one! over and over. Wow. Especially since it started off pretty meh, and the cinnamon amped way up, and then for a while it smelled sort of like Three Witches with a metallic blood tang behind it. Now, I love Three Witches, but it wasn't enough different in interesting ways to displace them.... but then came drydown. Whoah. Heaven. Or given the subject, possibly Hell. A really, really sweet Hell, though. Must be the tonka. Must Find A Money Tree and Buy A Bottle Of This. Or maybe two. Oooh!

(catching up on transcribing reviews from my review diary, here) Oh, Candy Butcher, I wanted so much for us to be sympatico. Unfortunately, you have some kind of jasmine thing or other sweet thing going on under all that chocolate, and all I can think of is soapy soapy floral soap. It's not you, dear, it's me -- or at least my skin chemistry. I send you forth to find someone who can love you properly. (Bliss didn't work on me either. I think the chocolates and I are maybe not meant to be. Oh, well. Can't complain a bit, as there are so many other scents that do work.)

Wah. The mad monkey musk hates me. Tried it twice, same result, with sneezing. Alas. Off it goes to swaps.

Lavender and toasted marshmallows. Wow. I love this! Would type more, but am finally going to go achieve some sleep. Wonderful stuff, this.

At first I got very strong high notes of floral, and something else, which turned out to be aquatic, salt spray. Unfortunately, while it is a lovely ocean scent, it's just too much in the high range for me. I'll swap it to somebody who'll give it a good home.

I wish I had words to describe this, but somehow this scent goes right past the sentence-making part of my brain and straight into the pleasure centers. It's spicy and warm and sweet-but-not-cloying. There's something like cinnamon, but not quite, and like amber, but spicier... oh, I can't tell what it all is, but it's hard to keep from just sitting here all day snorting my wrists and sighing happily. Yum. Yum in a big way. So glad I got a bottle of this!

This pierces like the low note of a flute, Sharp-sweet; here diverse flowers are, and fruit. It changes on my wrist and soon becomes A spice-wind chanting deep carnation blooms, Yet something deeper sings beneath their note. How like are love and danger, sung full-throat! (Which translates to: I like this. It's lovely in a disturbing way. Very nice!)

Buck Moon is very hard for me to describe, because I can't seem to hang words on the scent. It smells like the way deerskin suede feels to my hand. It smells like the softness of a deer's coat looks. It smells like August, in all the best ways, when the grasses ripen and start to dry. It smells like sunshine... or maybe like sunshine that was stored up in the leaves and stems of the plants as they grew, and now that the sun is going down, the stored sunlight is being released as the deer move out through the tall grasses at the edge of the woods. It smells like the last sunlight at dusk, and like the word "golden" when applied to sunsets, only softer. When I put it on my skin, it smells like all these things, and most of all it smells like me. Which is a statement that looks chock-full of hubris, but that's not what I mean. I mean it smells like how I feel when I am really happy, especially if I'm walking a labyrinth mowed into a field on the edge of the woods, with the late afternoon sun on my skin. Beth, this one is big magic to me. Thank you so much for it. I cannot hang the words on it, but I might have to make a necklace to express it. *wanders off toward workbench with a contemplative expression*

This scent was both good and bad to me. Good, in that it's a really nice full-bodied rose, an excellent example of a deep red rose perfume; bad in that I think I must finally face the fact that I love roses when they bloom on the plant, but don't actually like them on my skin. Maybe it's skin chemistry, maybe it's that they have too strong a memory connection with another member of my family (I feel like I'm wearing something that's meant for her, not me), but either way, I think I'll steer clear of roses for a while. Too bad, though, because these are truly beautiful roses, at least before they get on my skin and do the memory dance.

Hmm. At first it smelled like pineapple to me, plus melon and some flower hiding in there. Then I started smelling two floral notes as it dried: a lily or something like that, and jasmine. Not sure about the lily, because the jasmine really takes over on me. Later it becomes a vaguely spicy jasmine. Interesting, but not one for me to wear. I'm glad I tried it, and I hope someone will have fun with it when I swap it.

The Raven is very, very violet. The other scents didn't really show up at all for me; I guess my skin chemistry amplifies violet or something. This is unfortunate, as I am discovering that I don't want to smell of it, however much it reminds me of the violet pastilles I used to love and still occasionally enjoy. This was a good thing to try, but more in the vein of finding out what doesn't work for me. Oh, well, it's something for swapping, and will probably make someone else happy.

Decadence was in a group of imps I bought from somebody. In the imp, I smell wonderful almonds plus a little booze, more like almond extract than amaretto. Wet, it's almond extract to the max, which is great because I love that smell. There's something else spicy and sweet under it, but the almond hides everything else for a while... ..and as time goes on, the scent changes radically on my skin: the almond goes away, almost like flipping a switch, and something a bit softer but still powerful starts. This is startling to me -- not the change, but what it changes to. It smells like... electricity? Electricity from portable generators, and something sweet, and dust, and the aftereffects of sunshine on dust and metal all day but now it's night, and the smell of funnel cakes... huh! This is pretty much what I am hoping Midway will smell like. After a while of that, it changes again. (Do I just have really weird skin chemistry? And is my nose on crack?) I get something that's almost lilac, but not quite. I think there's cinnamon in the background, too. Still later, it changes to a fourth thing: berries, or red wine, or some mix thereof, but very soft. There's a tiny bit of cinnamon, and something sweet and salty at the same time, but the whole thing is somehow much calmer and langourous than the previous stages. (If this scent is Decadence, then this phase on me is le petit mort. ) Doesn't last all that long, which is the only thing that would keep me from buying a HUGE bottle of this when it's finally released. I like this.

Man oh man, I am in trouble, because I have fallen completely in love with this discontinued scent. It starts with grapefruit, sweetened a little, very strong. There's something else in there, a little fruity, a little flowery, but I couldn't sort it out from the grapefruit. (It's probably the currants and lavender.) Lilac comes up as the grapefruit fades. Eventually the whole thing goes to a soft creamy powdery-in-a-GOOD-way scent. I want 10ml. Now. Wah! Edite to add: And then the oddest thing happened. A couple of weeks later, I tried it again, and it went to bubble-bath on me. My skin chemistry changed its mind, or something. Wah. Oh, well. Swapped it out, and may someone else find joy with it.

My skin chemistry did something very odd with Haitian Lover. After about a minute, the scent morphed to... hm.... that smells sort of like balloons... hey, it smells like latex on me. Latex perfume; no, I don't think I'm a good match for this one. Guess my Haitian Lover was practicing safer sex, huh? Off to the swap-or-share pile with you, HL. Find someone whose chemistry pleases you, and have a good time.

When I sniffed the imp, Chango started out smelling like a combination of Juicy Fruit gum, tropical fruit, and a hint of some deeper almost nut-like scent behind them. Also, there was a strong overtone (at least to my nose) of an acetone; it almost smelled like nail polish remover. (Maybe that's my nose interpreting the intensely sweet, almost over-ripe tropical fruit thing.) When I put it on, it started to change. The deeper notes came out, especially something darker, although it was pleasant and had a sort of tobacco/nut thing going on. Still a lot of tropical fruit, though, and some of it was on its way to fermentation. (I can really see these things being interesting to Chango, based on descriptions of him.) I went and washed it off after a little while -- NOT because I disliked it, but because I got a strong sense that this is a ritual blend, and I felt like I didn't have any business knocking on Chango's door unless I actually had a reason with sufficient merit to warrant his attention. (Mind you, that's just me; I got no problem with anybody else wearing whatever they want for scent properties alone.) I personally would only use this in ritual, and I wouldn't use it much. Oshun, now, I would love a scent for, and likewise Yemaya, but I can wait for those. I'll swap this one, rather than hoard it, because I doubt I'd make sufficient use of it. Very interesting blend, though, and really well made. For Chango people it will be wonderful!

Dorian is yummy. In all sorts of ways. It starts off smelling to me of vanilla and pine needles (perhaps the pine is the way my nose interprets fougere/herbal stuff?) but goes quickly to vanilla tea with musk. Yum. And there's just a tiny edge of citron and that pine-needle-y scent to keep it fierce. Why is it that fierceness held in check by propriety is such catnip to me? RrrrrroOWR! Maybe it's because of what it hints at in the future. In other words, I do believe Andrabelle speaks for me as well, in her review of this one. I can understand the comments that this is reminiscent of southern (US) sweet tea, too. Double yum. I so want a bottle of this. Am trapped in fiscal responsibility until after my next show, but ooh. Want.

Oh, my. I like the Red Queen. First sniff from the imp: All cherries and red things. Almost a deep velvety red rose scent around the edges, even, or something with that texture. (Maybe some of the red is those currants.) On me: Cherries! Yay! I smell edible. (This, for someone who used to wear vanilla extract as perfume in high school, is a pleasure.) Drying: Oh, here comes something nice. Deeper. Woods, I guess. Not exactly cedar. I don't know what mahogany smells like, but perhaps this is it. Later: Ooh. A very faint waft of red cherry and other red delights, and a wonderful smooth sandalwood scent. Might be some other woods in there too, but what I smell seems like sandalwood. I like this. My big bottle wish list is a bit longer than my budget, but I will think about this. The only reason I might not get it is that it doesn't last quite as long in the cherry phase as I would like, but the sandalwood phase is lovely too.

Queen - oh, sweet Goddess on a stick, do I love this one! I can't identify the components to this scent, but once it dries on my skin, it has a lot of the scent of an oil I used to love dearly: it was called "Big Mama Protection Oil," and it was made either by Z. Budapest or by Starhawk, and went from them to my friend Antiga, who gave a little bottle of it to me shortly after an old girlfriend of mine and I escaped being hurt by some jackasses who came after us with a crescent wrench and then tried to run us over. There was the same tangy sweetness in Big Mama as there is in the drydown of Queen. I love it, and I missed it so much, and I never thought I'd find it again, and now here it is! Must have big bottle. Must. Next time I order, this is top of the list, even higher than O or The Lion or Tombstone, which are my top three at the moment.

I love The Lion. It's all amber, all the time, rich and nose-tickly and warm and happy. I think I could live in this scent. (Mind you, I'm the kind of person who usually has at least five different bottles and boxes of various amber scents around at any given time -- but this one combines the things I like about many of them.) It's a glorious Leo scent. Definitely going on my big bottle wish list.

Yep. Especially that last bit. The last time I wore this, some nice people bought a couple hundred dollars' worth of my artwork. As for how it smells, I cannot tease apart all the components, because I am getting a large undifferentiated nose hit of floralFLORALfloral. I can't tell if it's jasmine, lily, or something else, or a combination of several things, which seems more likely. Will wait and see if the scent changes later, but now, when it's thoroughly dry, it's still floralFLORALfloral. I wouldn't pick it just on its smell, but I can't argue with the results, so I'm wearing it and doing my bookkeeping and show prep.

A celebration of one of the first commercially produced perfumes of America's Old West. A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar. Tombstone was one I looked forward to, and was not disappointed. (I thought I had already reviewed it, but couldn't find a review from me, so here goes the second wearing of it.) In the bottle: Sassafras and wood. Emphatic. Wet: Sassafras, wood, and vanilla. This is strong, and I like it even if the cedar is a bit much for me. A leather scent comes out almost immediately. The sassafras and wood go a little spicier. Not sure if this is the scent or my body chemistry affecting it, but whatever it is, I like it. Later: The vanilla and sassafras are singing harmony now. Later: It smells like warm weathered wood, a little dusty. I love this. This is definitely going on the "buy a bottle" list. It reminds me of being in the Black Hills of South Dakota at my grandmother's place, and the times we used to play in the old corral, or drive in to Deadwood.

Satyr As soon as I put this on, it turned into a mighty fanfare heralding the arrival of a goat. A goat? More like King of the Goats. Eau de Goat, this is. Which is all very nice if you like goats, and I do, but I prefer them curried and on a plate rather than perfuming my arm, I have learned. Still, on the right person, I'm sure Satyr is big fun. As I am apparently not the right person, I went and washed my arm off after a couple of hours. The soap I used was Lush's Rock Star. In hindsight, that may have been a mistake. Now my arm smells like someone took a goat, dyed him pink, and shaved him like a poodle. Boy, is my nose confused now. I think I'll hold onto this scent for ritual use. (I typoed that at first as "rutual use," which is a good a phrase as any, really.)