rayvn1

I received a sniffie of this in a swap and had barely enough to test, so that may explain why this scent is one of those "barely there" scents on me. Just a light breath of sweet perfume and flowers. There's a dryness to it that is probably the orris and tea coming into play. Nice, but not something I'll probably track down since I have Severin for my tea needs.

I'm a sucker for amber so I had to try this blend! It went pretty powdery the first time I tried it, so I waited a few more months before trying again. I just tried El Dia de Reyes last night and at first this smelled like that oil minus the cocoa. Spicy and warm, with a cinnamon bite to it. going a bit powdery again now that it's been on awhile. Ah well, to the swaps!

This could have gone really, really wrong on my skin since milk and honey don't often agree with my skin chemistry. But I was lured in with the promise of grain I'm always on the lookout for grain and hay. This went on smelling almost of marzipan - very sweet with a nutty, almond note. It dried down to a milky, sweet scent that reminds me of the leftover milk in your bowl after eating Honeycomb cereal Not something I'll wear, but it was fun to try this one.

Very light, powdery scent. I was hoping for some grave loam and this was a nice scent, but not my cup of tea.

Holy crap! Why have I not tried this before?!? Good god, it has two of my favorite notes - opium (sweet opium at that!) and sandalwood with mandarin and vanilla to boot? Heaven in an imp-sized container. So glad I ended up with two imps of this rattling around my imp box. Started off generically floral and I thought "meh" and went to sniff the oil on my other arm. When I went back a few minutes later though, Wham! A sexy, decadent and domineering cloud of sweet spice made me whip my head around in surprise. Keeper, to say the least.

At first I would have sworn there was some kind of creamy coconut note in here... Drting down to a rich, tropical scent bursting with golden ripe fruit. Probably would have sworn there was peaches in here too... Beautiful, but not my cup of tea

So, I was a belated convert to 'On Darkness' from the 2008 Yules, and I only recently acquired a bottle. Now, of course, I'm completely in love and must must must have more like this. Rather than stalk everyone who admits to having a bottle, I thought the GC would be the socially (and financially!) acceptable way to go.

That's one of my favorite oils and I realized that way too late to buy any straight from the lab. I have one wee bottle, but I'm also always comparing oils against the sexy lusciousness that is On Darkness. This may just be my skin, but I get a hazy, dusty, dark purple, almost plummy feeling from it and though I don't think they have similar notes, I've gotten "purple" and plummy from Bensiabel and Dionysia since they have a plum note that works for me better than Bordello's or something like that. the problem is they don't have the dusty richness I get from the opium in OD. I thought Dr. John Seward had a similar vibe with the opium poppy notes in that one. Since that's an LE too, maybe layering Opium Poppy and Bensiabel?

I held onto this sniffie for months before actually trying it just because I've always avoided the foody bpal scents. My god, what have I done?!? This is freaking amazing! One of the most luscious, comforting scents I've run across. Think of all the other kinds of foodie precious that I've been ignoring. The mind boggles. This is a seriously warm scent, rich with sweet, dark chocolate and deepened by the shot of coffee. The dry cinnamon floats along the top. Gak, this is good. I will be tracking some down, pronto!

I've always avoided the foody bpals - not really sure why, I just always assumed they wouldn't smell good on me. Silly, silly rayvn1. I'm going in with a bang with this 13 on one arm and El Dia de Reyes on the other. Chocale heaven This is a rich, verrry dark cocoa with and cinnamon and a sweet glow of peach. Yum! Well, crap. Now I have to start tracking down the foodie scents too

Edit: NOOOOOO! Fifteen minutes after posting my review it turned quickly and unfortunately into plastic chocolate hallmark candle. Im not even going to repeat what my husband thought it smelled like (lil' stinker that he is...)

I'm not a big floral fan, but this is unbelievably beautiful! I credit skin musk with my love of Giant Vulva and Illustrated Woman, so I was eager to try this one. Also for the amber and mandarin notes. This is a brilliantly sweet floral like a ray of sunshine glowing on a summer's garden. I just visited the family farm and the rose note smelled straight out my mom's rose garden that was in high bloom. So beautiful! I don't think Mr. Rayvn will approve, but how can he complain when it makes me feel so damn sexy?!

Strong blast of manly leather right from the get-go My skin hates dragon's blood with a fiery passion, so I was worries it would swamp the notes that work for me as it usually does. Now that it's drying it's still strong leather, but now with a sweet and sweaty layer too it (rawr ). Every other note in here I love - myrrh, steel, benzoin, etc. Awesome. It's like Tristan's ancestor went to battle and what he'd smell like afterwads (double rawr) Please dear god, don't turn to dragon's blood powder of doom later on!

It's here! ok...

Smelling the oil in the bottle, it's very spicy with prominent sandalwood, I think. There's a sweet note in there too.

On my skin it's herbal, clear, and cool - kind of a burnished metal smell to it.

Then....chocolate? I get cocoa - like a milk chocolate bar just out of the foil with herbs, cinnamon, and spices mixed in. I may be having a strange chemistry day (or a strange nose day) but this is really unexpected! Yummy and light, but satisfying at the same time. Still surprised at the lack of burning or warmth I expected, but this cooling, vaguely foody scent is really complex and I wouldn't doubt it if it morphed in the next few hours.

This is so strange! I don't get juniper at all - and I love love LOVE juniper. What I *do* get is a rich, sweet cloud of tropical goodness. Sweet bejeebus this smells good! It's red musk that actually works on me mixed with a tropical bouquet of glistening orchid and lilac. This is an incredibly sexy scent and is just how I pictured a succubus would smell like. Female version of Crowley, maybe Keeper!!!

This smelled truly gawd awful when I first applied it. Strong, sweet cherries in the imp and then Blam! disaster on my skin. Utter, complete disaster of plasticky , rancid proportions About five minutes later the cherry cough syrup died away and I'm left with a strong anise note that has more licorice in it than L'heure verte or La Pere Fouetard. Might be the lingering dash of cherry making it smell like red vines. I must confess that I hate the smell of red vines It was a long shot, but 'twas not to be, Kabuki.

Man, am I happy I have an imp of this discontinued beauty! It's everything the descriptions says. The scent of brokenhearted weeping next to a vase of white roses whose petals have started to fall in sympathy. Dude, I have to quit reading The Shadow of the Wind - 's making me melancholy, but this smells exactly as I pictured Penelope, trapped in her room.

Shroud is like sitting in an abandoned garden, sheltered from the weeping rain in the shadows of a crumbling and rotting gazebo.

It's atmospheric to say the least.

Glad I have an imp!

I was going out on a limb with this one since I'm not big on florals, but I'm a sucker who'll try anything with musk in it. Anything <sigh>. Very sweet and feminine floral. Pretty with light throw, but completely not my cup of tea. Worth a try!

Just want to get it out of the way that I usually can't stand jasmine notes and they tend to swamp a scent that has just a bit of it in the notes. Nuit, however, has none of that going on (yay!) It's a light, soft, night-time floral. Alluring and very pretty. Probably not bottle worthy, but nice.

Woah! Sparkling, effervescent floral mixed with 7-up. Beautiful and completely unexpected! One of the best in Rappaccini's Garden for me so far.

I've been waiting for a chance to try this one when my Mr. is out of the house since he's so allergic to pine notes. Honestly, this is a little odd on me Sweet with almost an apple freshness while wet, this dries to a liquid hand soap smell that's sweet and slightly astringent. Not something I can imagine reaching for, but I'll try it again in case it's a weird skin chemistry day...

Sweet and flowery in the imp with a hint of incense, once on my arm this really blossomed into a cloud of dark incense spice with a rich clove note and only the barest trace of violet. Good throw and the tonka probably helps with the dark richness of this scent. Not sure if I'd wear it very often no matter how much I love the individual notes.

I also put this on about ten minutes before bed and it's slightly sharp lavender with a creamy tinge in the background. Light purple smell and soothing. I had a deep, completely relaxing sleep I didn't expect after going completely out of character and watching scary stuff before bed (what was I thinking?!?) Anyway, Oneiroi kept me safe and I instead of scary dreams I had disgruntled dreams of going to a big banquet but never quite finding the right plate and sliverware to eat anything I may be using this more often on restless nights!

This reminds me a lot of Vixen, but without the orange in that one. Cinnamon and vanilla. Nice!

Urgh straight out of the imp this is pretty nasty smelling on my skin. I was sure this would work! I've been eagerly awaiting this one and recently racked up two imps worth. It starts off sour smelling and a bit like cream that's recently gone bad. I haven't had this bad of a reaction to a bpal in a really long time. Eventually it settled down to a peach pit scent that is getting sweeter as the day goes on, but I don't think I can sit through the plasticky wet stage to get to this point again.

I was really looking forward to this one because I've always loved the Medea stories and operas (Cavalli's incantation scene in Giasone is amazing!). This even had several notes I love like incense and poppy. Luckily I get a good dose of dusty poppy enhanced with dry incense. Smoky scent with minimal throw. Very nice, but not bottle-worthy so far.