darkling

I am not sure what orris smells like so I can't vouch for its presence. In the bottle and on my skin this was almost pure sandalwood. There is an extremely faint hint of pumpkin underneath but it is largely subsumed by the sandalwood. This is a fairly strong, long-lasting scent and I am sure that any sandalwood fans would love it.

Annabel Lee is predominately sweet pea in the vial and on my skin. The sweet pea note is very gentle and innocent. There is not hint of cucumber or moss which makes me very sad as I love those notes. Over time, this scent becomes too floral for my tastes; lilly may be the culprit. Anything reminiscent of the sea never appears. This scent seems to work well with other people's skin chemistry so I know it will find a good home elsewhere.

Baneberry has an almost perfect balance between sweet, dark berries and lush greenery. It is very well-blended. The berry note is especially intriguing; it smells like someone crossed a raspberry with a juniper berry. This scent has a lot of throw at first but fades fairly quickly (within the hour).

Trick or Treat had a strong enough corn smell in the bottle that I started to get nervous. Fortunately, the corn scent faded as soon as the oil touched my skin. Instead I smell sweet sugar and maple candy. Yum! Over time, there is a hint of smokiness behind the sweetness that is quite in tune with the atmosphere of Halloween.

Hod starts out lovely with the scent of sweet almonds. I am pretty sure that there is honey in this scent because it turned powdery in less than five minutes

White Light is a gentle floral scent with a hint of spice. This scent is soft and soothing. It doesn't last long but is very comforting while it remains.

Harvest Moon 2005 is hot apple cider with an undertone of spicy floral that adds depth to the scent. This is a gorgeous autumn fragrance and will be perfect for helping me feel warm once the weather turns chill. It is not very long-lasting as I had to reapply in under an hour for my partner to be able to smell it on me. I guess this will be one that I will have to slather.

Al-Shairan is a warm blend of orange and cinnamon on my skin. I believe that the clove is lurking underneath and adding a spicy/peppery element to the scent. Unfortunately, there is also an undertone of something musky and plastic-like which can only be one of my nemeses, patchouli. This is just another forceful reminder that no matter how beautiful the other notes are in a scent, patchouli and jasmine will ruin it for me every time

Asphodel is a gorgeously understated floral scent. It has grey and crystalline overtones and it is very light and gentle. Asphodel makes me think of buttercups that have had all the color leeched from them. I tend to dislike floral scents but Asphodel is a winner.

I am devastated to find that the only note in Fruit Moon that shows up on my skin is cantaloupe I generally like cantaloupe but I was hoping for the wonderful fruit salad that everyone else has been describing. I want apricots and currants and berries and luscious tropical fruits. Over time, the cantaloupe develops a pungent undertone that may be some of the topical fruits trying to emerge. But they can't break free from the stranglehold that cantaloupe has on them.

...a singularly chilly, delectably ice-rimmed perfume. Revel in the gelid polar frostiness that is Numb, and forget about the heat for a moment. Sadly, Numb is not my friend. It smelled entirely of industrial strength cleanser mixed with baby powder.

I could not identify any of the particular notes in Peace but my initial impression was that is was sharp and green. Over time it developed a crystalline edge but I found this scent harsher than I would expect from its name.

Chaos Theory II: CDLXXXVII via sitanpu She described this to me as smelling like strawberry and cloves and I can definitely smell where she got that impression. On my skin, there is definitely strawberry although it is dominated by a somewhat artificial generic berry scent. The clove is muted and this chaos has the same slightly oppressive air as did another fruity chaos theory that I tried. This is a nice fruity scent but I don't love it enough to hold onto it.

Very few of the notes in Torture King actually showed up on my skin. At first touch, this scent was rich, strong lime. But it faded almost immediately into musk, smoke, and tobacco. After a few hours, the musky tobacco developed an edge of baby powder. Torture King turned out ot be a very masculine scent with none of the notes that I enjoy making a long-term appearance.

Medicine Show is a dark green scent. The balsam note dominates along with a medicinal scent and a touch of lovely, dark opium. While I enjoy the opium note, I am not a big fan of balsam or green scents.

Ack! Super sweet! It is pure, sugary bubble gum. After a few minutes, Kunstkammer becomes sugary, orange bubble gum. This is way too sweet for me.

Sensual, sibilant, sexual and hypnotic: Arabian musk and exotic spices slinking through Egyptian amber, enticing vanilla, and a serpentine blend of black plum, labdanum, ambrette, benzoin and black coconut. I am pretty sure that this is Snake Charmer rather than the House of Mirrors. This is a sharp, spicy scent and brings to mind the image of being bit by a serpent. It is spicy and piercing. Snake Charmer is a bit too harsh for my tastes but I can see it being lovely on someone else.

I have no idea what note it is that gave Bed of Nails a definite metallic scent. The focus of this blend for me was the cologne base that reminded me of Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. The combination of metal and cologne made this a very masculine scent.

The lunar oils dominated Buck Moon reminding me strongly of Blue Moon. However, Buck Moon had a warm, musky quality to it that added spice but not darkness. It was soothing rather than overpowering. This is a very gentle scent and has great staying power (7 hours and still fairly strong).

Does it smell exactly like buttered popcorn? Yes. Do I want to smell exactly like buttered popcorn? No.

Fig, cocoa, and musk are the notes from Freak Show that I can identify on my skin. There is a hint of madness in this scent with its odd combination of syrup and spice. It is both enticing and disconcerting.

Midway is lovely but not quite as fabulous as I had imagined. I primarily get the scent of cotton candy in the bottle and on my skin along with a hint of caramel, salt, and sugar. Once in a while, I detect the delectable sweet bread smell of funnel cake. What detracts from these sweets is the periodic whiff of butter. While I love the smell of butter on my popcorn, I just don't enjoy it on my skin. I will definitely hang onto at least an imp of Midway but I am not sure if I will use up my bottle.

At first, Carnivale is dark, sultry berries. They are simultaneously sweet and spicy. After a minute, the spice and darkness become more prominent and reminiscent of patchouli which I hate. There is also an unpleasant floral note that smells like something rotten. I loved the initial stage of this scent but its transformation made it unwearable for me.

Lustration is the scent of chamomile and honey with a hint of lemon. It is calming and comforting. It reminds me a lot of Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea. I absolutely adore this peaceful scent and have taken to wearing it to sleep. I plan to get a bottle of this in the future.

Baghdad reminded me strongly of a dusty market. It brought to mind the image of the wondrous marketplace from Neil Gaiman's "Ramadan" segment of Sandman. Baghdad had very faint notes of fruit and rose but more prominently that of sandalwood and spices. It was woven through with the dry scent of dust and sand. While this is a lovely scent for evoking a specific image, I can't see myself wearing it frequently.