emzebel

At first Pink Phoenix is all bubblegum for me. It is a little frightening, actually. Then, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the other notes start coming out and it takes on more depth and I can smell the fruit. I'm not entirely sure what sweet pea smells like, but I'm guessing it is part of what I'm smelling. This is a very sweet, fun girly blend. Not something I would wear every day, but definitely something I will wear and enjoy and that will make me smile.

Beaver Moon was completely irrisistable, although I am sometimes overwhelmed by really "bakey" scents, so while I really hoped to love this, I was a little nervous. The first thing I smelled in the bottle was cream cheese frosting. Rally yummy cream cheese frosting with an undercurrent of cakiness. On my skin it mellows into a warm vanilla that is foody without making me feel like I've been rolling around in cake batter. Definitely a keeper.

I bought Snow Moon against my better judgement, because I was afraid that the florals would overwhelm it for me, but I was really hoping that it would surprise me. Alas, there is something in it that just does not agree with me - it is clearly a beautiful blend, but it is very sharp on me and the florals are very strong on my skin, like a winter floral bouquet with pine branches. I can see how people would love this blend (and the label is amaxing), but it's just not me.

Wow. As anticipated, this is a very rich, full scent. I can smell the tonka and the tobacco, but the musk and what I am guessing are the tea and herbs of conflict are the major players in this for me, with some very nice bright spots courtesy of Madame Mandarin. I just put this on as part of my OMG MY ORDER'S HERE! orgy of scent testing, but I suspect that this will be a very interesting morpher over the course of a day and cannot wait to wear more of it... Edited because this deserves a better review than what I initially gave it... This is an incredibly complex scent and is really what I had hoped that 13 might be, but was not for me - it is not candy sweet, but is a darker, more conflicted scent, as one would anticipate from The Great Sword of War. I can also see the comparison to Cerberus. But mostly, I waht to think of this as its own scent. There is a darkness here. But there is also sweetness, and a lot of foody notes...historically, war is tragic, but it also brings advancement, new technology, new food, new ideas...I think that might be part of the idea that Beth has tried to capture here with this very beautiful scent for this Horseman...

Mmm. Snowblind is, as everyone says, the perfect vanilla mint. To my it smells like to beautiful progeny of Milk Moon and Lick It and it the best of the two blends - it is warm and minty without being OMG MINT!!!!! and could easily be worn everyday (as opposed to Lick It which I like, but which is very holiday to me) and it has a little more oomph than Milk Moon. I love this and have never been so happy to be naughty.

I bought this for my husband, and I have to say, it is marvelous on both of us... The most prominent notes for us are first the vanilla, mixed with the pine, which is a really fabulous combination. The amber is present, but just enough the merge the other two and give the blend a "golden" feel. This is really lovely and we may need a bottle...

Bordello smells of ripe juicy sweet berries to me, almost a little overripe to the point of fermentation - that must be the wine and the cherry scent of the amaretto coming out... I like this a lot, but it is a very strong, powerful blend, that is perhaps not the best thing for the office.

I decided to get an imp of this on a whim, as I tend to like a lot of the notes, though I was a little afraid that it would be very OMG floral. While I like roses, I tend to like them either very pure or very tempered with other things. It turns out that Bess is very much the latter. Mostly, I smell the rosemary and some of the mint in this, with an undercurrent of the rose and the other notes. It is the teensiest bit kitcheny to my nose, but I'm not terribly bothered by that, as I like the smell of herbs and lemon, although this would not be my choice for a perfume when I wanted to smell particularly sexy or professional, necessarily. I cannot really see myself buying a big bottle of this, unless I was planning to scent a lotion or something, but I can definitely see keeping an imp on retainer...

Trying this without re-reading the notes, I described this as herbal citrus. I'm glad I wasn't too far off. I really like this one and hope it makes another appearance this year, as it would be a staple spring scent for me...I'm not getting a masculine vibe at all, but then again, in my past life, I was known to grab Italian men's colognes off the rack in lieu of more traditional feminine formulations, so perhaps my affinity for this blend is not that surprising...

Thanks, Oly, for letting me try this one. This is a very apt perfume for the Diamond Queen - a very pretty, cold and sparkling scent, floral without being overwhelming with just enough citrus that I can wear it without being overwhelmed. It is a little too traditional for everyday wear for me, but I can see myself dabbing this on for special, high-born ocassions.

Hearth 2005, oh how I wanted to love thee. One of only two Yule LE's I ordered right off the bat, the idea of honeyed nuts entwined with smoke and pine sounded absolutely divine. Alas, while Hearth does indeed smell delightful in the bottle, exactly what I want a holiday fire and candied chestnuts to smell like, on my skin the chestnuts turn, well, unpleasant. I've given this more than the share I typically give a scent because I want to like it so much, but alas, it is not to be...

I ordered Lick It on total impulse and immediately after I placed the order started second guessing myself, thinking "Just how much like a candy cane does a girl need to smell anyway?" Then I smelled the bottle and realized just what a fabulous purchase it was - so perfectly minty with just a hint of vanilla. Then I put some on and had a similar "what's that harsh thing" reaction as Chupa and started to feel sad, that Lick It wasn't going to love me as much as I wanted to love it. Then, like her, I rolled my bottle, and let it warm in my hands. And I tried it again. And then I found my wonderful perfectly holiday vanilla mint love. This is the drydown of Spooky after that crazy chocolate leaves the party, and since my Spooky is starting to suffer from too generous decanting, Lick It can...stick around.

This smells completely of citrus and a light wood to me, so much that after initially testing it last night, I pared it with an orange lotion this morning. Whatever the notes, it is an absolutely entrancing scent, completely and fabulously evocative of whispy ghostly spirits floating on the breeze. I am amazingly impressed with this entire series, which, I confess, did not excite me overmuch when it debuted in the excitement of the Samhain rereleases. But trying decants of them now, I am realizing just wnat remarkablr interpretations they are. And I think that Spirits of the Dead just may be my favorite. But I still have four to try...

I've tried Nine Mysteries a few times now, because I really want to love it... It starts out a soft, creamy, herbal mint...which is nice, and something I want to love. But it just doesn't sing to me for some reason. It is interesting to me that others have used this for their migraines, because it actually kind of gave me one the first time out. Anyway, it is really very nice and pretty and decidedly hard to describe, but just not something I will be wearing, alas...

Cherries, clove smoke and lust. If I could get my hands on some of Formula 54 without having to forgo so many other wonderful things just to apare the dollars from my budget, then I surely would, because I do love this scent. As it is, I am just happy to have tried it. Thank you Oly, for the opportunity.

Interesting...to me, Al-Araaf is a warm, ambery, musky almost spicy scent...like a sweet moist version of what I had hoped that Sherezade might be. It reminds me of curling up in a booth at a Middle Eastern cafe with a cup of strong coffee or tea and honeyed yoghurt and dolmas (not that these are the notes, but it is where the scent takes me, just to clarify that I am *not* smelling coffee and grape leaves!)... It is a very close warm comforting skin scent for me. I do not get fae florals at all, but I definitely want more than the decant I have...

Lenore is a sneaky one. I almost ordered a bottle of this the day DiMV came out, based on the lemon peel, thyme, saffron and plum, but I got scared off by "thick black vetiver" and decided to wait until I could try an imp and see some reviews. I should have just followed my gut, but there is time to remedy that mistake, because Lenore is just gorgeous. Sure, the vetiver comes on strong (and is not terrible on me actually) in choking wrenching sobs, but quickly fades into something manageable - a quiet tragic sorrow that hours later is spicy, almost creamy and just absolutely amazing. This later stage, the sobs after a storm of woe, is some of the most lovely perfume I've ever worn.

Hod is simply gorgeous. It is a close comforting scent to me, very creamy with what smells to me like cinnamon. If I had to pick two notes I would say sweat cream and cinnamon, although I am willing to allow that the spice could be clove or carnation or something else, that's what I'm getting. I love this, I really do, and am going to need a big bottle in my next order.

Yesod is very pretty and very florally and clearly has jasmine ergo is almost immediately on my get it off me list. Sad but true. Even though this did not immediately give me a headache like some jasmine blends, I have such negative associations with the scent that it is hard for blends to overcome that. Alas, while Yesod is beautiful, and evocative of the source of the water of life, all I can smell on my skin is the jasmine.

Someone mentioned that this is similar to their hopes for Kunstkammer, and my reaction is similar - I get almost no florals from The Haunted Palace. I do get a few, but just enough to give some depth to the vanilla and amber and orange (which are what I smell, pretty much in order). This does not smell sweet to me in a creamcicle/candy sort of way (a la Kunstkammer), but instead is a savory blend with just a hint of sweetness. It is really lovely and I think I am going to need a bottle.

Yum...I had this in my box to try for a while and am quite enthralled. Thalia is such a sparkling scent! I can smell the pears and the champagne which blend perfectly. I am not familiar with plumeria to identify itas a note, but whatever - this blend is absolutely delightful. Such a nice happy summery blend.

I wanted to try this mostly because of the concept, and less because of the notes, although I like white musk and patchouli in many of Beth's blends. However, I am graduallyand painfully coming to the conclusion that I cannot wear poppy and opiate notes. This was extremely heavy and perfumy on me. All I can smell is the poppy, whcih is heavy and languid and not at all what I was hoping for - particularly the part where it is tickling my throat and seems to be making me sneeze even after I've washed it off. Much sadness...

This is a really nice ripe dark berry scent. I like the freshness, and how it is not mixed with any overtly perfumy notes like musk or unrelated florals, which helps to distinguish it from, say Carnivale or Bewitched, both of which I adore. Baneberry smells like berries as you smell them on the plant, or just plucked from the branch, with slippery droplets of juice and the odor of the plant itself fighting to hold its fruit. This is outdoor fruit. Fruit that you work for little by little and that gets used in a potion, not a pie. I like it. Not sure if I will get a five ml, but I might one of these days.

My first impression of Hemlock was just how *GREEN* it was in the vial. It is the vivid color of a brewing potion, which is really neat considering. Wet, it is a heavy, almost incensy pine, but as it dries, it becomes almost sweet on my skin and the strong resinous pines mix with herbs and powdery florals. This really is a beautiful scent and one that will be nice for winter.

When this first came out, I was not particularly drawn to it, and probably would never had ordered it, had it not started getting such rave conversational reviews. And strictly speaking, I've still not ordered it, as Olympia301 was kind enough to gift me with a decant. But I will order it, oh yes I will. My first impression of Black Opal, other than "oh my god, yum!" was of coconut musk. Not that that is a specific unified note, per se, but that was my impression of the scent. When I tried it, sitting in the airport waiting to fly home at the end of my day, I could smell more on my skin...the mineral sort of scent that others have mentioned, and a definite creamyness rounding out the coconut. But at the end of the day, I think that Black Opal will always, for me, be coconut musk. And I am fine with that, as I am very happy to have found a non-foody, non-alcoholic sophisticated coconut scent. Yea for coconut musk.