vyvyan

*Very* round, sweet, full peachy scent. The vanilla definitely comes through, as does the peach; I can't really identify the rest of the notes. It's quite warm, and lovely if you like sweet scents - which unfortunately I don't, so this one's to swaps.

Man's blend? Maybe their skin is vastly different than mine, 'cause I got light, light, light feminine florals, with just the *tiniest* hint of woods somewhere far in the back. For someone who doesn't mind smelling like flowers, this would be lovely.

On me, this went on like someone poured sweetened commercial apple juice over my skin. I wish I'd gotten some of the woods, etc. (or even the cidery-ness, instead of processed sugary juice) that other posters have had, but my skin loves to take anything sweet and amp it up until it's unbearable. Sad!

The perfect scent to wear to your next bondage ball, dungeon adventure or sojourn to your favorite pleasure dome. Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka. Wet: HELLO, alcohol! On me, this goes on very boozy, with the rum down beneath and the chardonnay hanging out in the upper registers. As it dries, the chardonnay fades and the leather comes out more, and the tonka peeks in there as well. ... I'm starting to get the feeling that tonka + me just doesn't work that well; it's sweet, and I can understand how somebody would totally adore it, but it just doesn't work for me. Ultimately this dries down to a leather-slight booze-warm sweet tonka smell, on me. Nice in theory, but not something that sits well on my skin. Swapped it away to someone who will hopefully love it much, much more than I can.

I've got two notes in my file, from imps I got in the same swap. Severin says "Lemon? There's lemon in this?" The Hierophant says "Cedar? There's cedar in this?" Oooops. There must be cedar here; my skin is *merciless* when it comes to cedar in blends. Instantly, as soon as I put it on, the cedar and the cinnamon are grappling in a fight to the death. Sadly, it's not a fight either of them are going to win, and they slowly sink to the floor, fingers still locked in chokeholds on each other's necks. Which is a quick way of saying - *wow* with the wood and the spice, and it really doesn't last very long on me. It's nice enough, and I can see really liking it on specific days in winter, but I'm picky and only keep stuff I utterly love. Glad I got to try it, as otherwise it would have haunted me *Forever*. Off to swaps!

Lemon? Why is there lemon?! Wet on, that's all I get. This really bright, crisp lemon scent. Nice, but I was expecting tea! As it dries, the tea starts to come out a bit, but the drydown stays very stable - smells like lemon-flavored Lipton tea that some lemon-fancier has added ReaLemon to. Very dry, crisp lemon-tea-lemon scent, but I'm looking for something with a tad more of the tea and a tad less of the citrus.

Something with this just did *not* work on me. I'm not sure if it was the violets or the tonka - I put it on my wrist, just a little bit, to test, after a hard day, and BOOM there was this *strong,* rounded, almost overly-sweet scent that for some inexplicable reason made me want to be sick to my stomach. I don't know what it was; all I know is I had to go scrub it off and then douse myself in Karma 'cause it *lingered* and I couldn't take it. I have a feeling this could be lovely on someone who obviously doesn't have whatever weird issue *that* was. Sigh. I almost hope it was the violets, 'cause I have some lovely-sounding tonka-based oils heading to me now, and I'd like to give them the adoration they deserve.

Wet in the bottle, this smells like something my grandmother used to keep around her makeup table. I'm not sure what it was, but it was an immediate memory. On me, it pretty quickly dries into total incense and patchouli. This doesn't smell green on me - maybe brown-with-gold, but not green. Little bit of soap to it, but more on my left arm than my right, wtf? Very headshop.

Oh my God, this would be *glorious* on a man. This is the scent of a guy who isn't pretentious or snobby, he just *really is* that cultured. I want to nuzzle my arm. Hell with the imaginary man - this is glorious on *me*. I'm not sure what these notes are, but taking a guess I'd say I get a lovely soft amber with a bit of lavendar or something crisp on top. Can't really smell any mosses, or any definable florals. It's one of the more traditionally perfumey BPALs I've yet come across, and while I don't usually like perfumes, that's just fine with this blend. Goes on sharp, clear, very masculine, but settles down quickly on me to a more subdued warm-yet-crisp, slightly spicy, totally androgynous scent. Melds fabulously with my own skin. I smell so freaking good!

At first, I thought I was going to have to run and wash this off, as I hate hate *hate* licorice, and this went on entirely anise. But within a couple of minutes, it had calmed down, and the full blend was coming out - very light, a little crisp, and with the anise sort of hovering over top of everything. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll probably have to try it a couple more times to find out; not a 5ml scent, though. I can't love anise enough for that.

I got mostly fruit with a thin overlay of flowers. Rather deep, for a fruit scent. On my skin, nice but not spectacular, and not very "me". Regretfully, off to swaps.

This does smell clean and bright and lovely and I'm not sure why I don't totally love it, except that, wonderful as it is, it's not really *me*. Clean and a little sweet, not what I'd call "crisp," a good summertime scent.

This isn't a summer scent - it just smells like *summer*. I'm getting a lot of salt, and some wood - like an ocean pier, damp and salt-encrusted and hot from the sun. There may be a bit of leather or something else I can't catch lurking in the background, but mostly salt and wood. This is such an *odd* little scent - it would never have occured to me to want to smell like salt! But now I do, and it's kind of enjoyable, although not, I think, ultimately for me. It's fun wearing, but I'll probably swap this off to someone who desperately wants to smell exactly like summer.

I got this from a fellow forum-dweller, mostly as a "hey I wanted to try that but I'm not sure it'll work" along with Cathedral, which I was prepared to lurrve all over. ... I should learn that it's always the ones I'm not sure about that love me back. This is a really stable scent, on me; unfortunately on the light side, but oh so yummy. It's sweet, and berries, but not *too* sweet - the green stuff in the background damps it down nicely. I'm not a fan of really sweet scents, and I think I could love this. I might have to start thinking about a 5ml. It's just so light and beautiful and crisp and juicy! Edited to add: When I refreshed later that night, unfortunately it turned into the wax chips that my mom would burn to scent our living room. So. No 5ml, but I'll probably keep and finish the imp.

I really, truly, desperately wanted to love Cathedral. Oh well. Wet in the vial, the scent stirred a couple unpleasant associations; not anything church-related, just smelled kind of like the inside of a camper a family member used to have. I sucked it up, put it on, and - Cedar. Nothing but cedar. I went and stuck my head inside my cedar trunk to compare, and, yep, that's cedar all right. I have a feeling my skin amps up cedar; I got a lot more of it from Hamadryad than many folks seem to, so - curses, skin chemistry! After several hours, a slightly sweet scent poked its way out from under the cedar, but by that point, it was so faint I was half convinced I was making it up. So long, Cathedral, we barely knew ye. Hope you're as lovely as you promised to be on someone else...

Thanks, everyone! I'm taking notes....

I'm sitting here in the middle of a *total* downpour, windows thrown open, lights off, while outside the rain just buckets down over the asphalt and the leaves and the dirt alley behind my apartment - but I can't smell any of those things, because all that's in the air is the scent of *water*. I want to smell like that. So - any recommendations? (I'd really, really, *really* prefer things that are in the current catalogue.) I'm not a fan of florals, and am not looking for "showers on flowers," or ocean scents, or things to complement a rainy day, anything like that - just *rain*. I figure if anyone can do it, Beth can. Help a girl out?

HOLY OMG LOVE. I was afraid of this one, at first, because I'm not really a floral kind of person, but I am *so glad* I gave it a chance and bought it off a forumite. I am in mad, mad love. Wet, it's strong, and incredibly hard to describe - woody, but with some spice (the incense?) and fruit and just a tiny hint of floral over top - it feels like it *should* be dark, but instead it's both dark *and* light, somehow at the same time. So complicated! So gorgeous! Dry, it is not nearly so strong - fades down into "my skin smells *excellent*" mode, a very soft version of the earlier smell. I wish it were stronger! I'm not sure how I could amp this up so it stays loud longer, but as it is, I may well order a bottle anyway so that I can have it on hand to slather - and it does hang around for a while, it's just so, so soft. Oh man. Now I know what *I'm* going to be smelling like this summer.

This goes on *sharp* - pine, pine, medicinal pine. It calms down reasonably quickly. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the drydown - it's still strong, smells almost like carnation to me. I'm getting the same scent from this I get from Lush's Potion, which is not what I was expecting. That kind of peppery, warm/cool sharp scent. Very clear. Fades fast, and is gone within a few hours. I can't really figure out a season for this, and I can't figure out if I like it or not. ... Very ambivalent scent, eh? Or maybe that's just me...

Soap. Soap soap soap! Went on soap, stayed soap - for the couple hours that it did stay. That was the only good part, that it faded pretty fast on me. I wanted to love this; the combination of scents sounded fabulous. But not for me! I'm starting to think that my skin has problems with rosemary & piney scents. Too bad.

Ooooh, Hamadryad. I thought I'd like it, but I *really* like it! Yay! On me, it never has a floral phase. It's a woody, slightly spicy scent that stays pretty stable. I'm crap at picking out individual notes, but now that everybody's been talking about the cinnamon, I can guess that that's probably the spicy bits; the wood is harder to pin down, but I think I get a whiff of cedar in there - not too strong, but lovely and dry and clean. This feels like being in a room full of unfinished wood furniture, with maybe something baking in the back, and all the doors open to a forest outside. It's been growing on me throughout the day. When I put it on, I thought "oh, that's nice, but not very special." My nose keeps getting pressed to my wrist, though! I think I may like this more than I thought.

I had hopes for this; I should learn that florals + me only work very, very, very infrequently. Unfortunately, this was not an exception. It was *pretty* florals, mind, but still far too many of them. I think I could smell some fruit underneath, and it did have a lovely purple-y feel to it, but no incense, just a huge pile of flowers. Mnaaah. I could smell it on my wrists for about 4 hours; I had a friend over that evening, and she could smell it 6 hours after I put it on, and agreed that it is just not for me. Oh well. One for the swaps!

I got 2.5ml of this unsmelled, and was on pins and needles, hoping I would like it. In the bottle, this was scary-strong knock-you-back ozone-aquatic. I was a little frightened, and saved it for the second day of scent-testing. But once it got over the initial "*strong!*" on my skin, it calmed down a bit, and I fell in love. It's very clean, very fresh, maybe just a tiny bit floral; a totally gender-neutral scent. Doesn't smell so much like a storm to me as it does the aftermath of a thunderstorm, when everything is soaking wet and the air has that tang to it. I guess I can understand why some people are comparing it to detergent - but on me, this is what detergent *wishes* it were. I can see myself wearing this all this summer, when it's hot and muggy out and I just want to feel fresh. I put it on four hours ago and it's still hanging around, so it seems to have decent staying power, although I don't think it's going to make it to eight hours. Mmmmm. Happy storm smells.

Put this on for the first time in the gym after my workout, and unexpectedly ran into my crush half an hour later! Stood there talking to him thinking "at least I smell good!" And I did smell good. Ides of March goes on *very* sharp on me, but mellows out a little rather quickly, although never entirely becoming what I'd call "warm." I can't pick out any specific notes, but it's very herbal, a little spicy, and a little woody. There's nothing floral at all on me. The person who pegged it as an expensive men's shaving cream was right on - which is not to say that it's too masculine to wear, by a long shot (I like gender-neutral scents, but I'm not a fan of really masculine scents). Once it dryed down, it stayed pretty true - a green, woody, herby scent that lasted for a few hours and then faded to just a shadow. Lovely while it stuck around, though, and continually surprising to my nose - somehow, I never quite expect this scent. To me, it felt like those spring or early-autumn days where it's cool out and only slightly overcast, but the leaves are green and full and there's a breeze and you have to wear a jacket. I'll definitely finish the imp!

Wet, this was *strong*. The blackberry was pronounced toward the beginning, but now it's faded a bit and I'm getting predominantly (what I suspect is the) heather. Kind of a powdery mauve sort of floral scent. There might be a bit of berry under there somewhere, but I have to really stick my nose in my elbow and snort to get at it, which doesn't strike me as being worth it. It seems inclined to stick around. It's nice, but not as much my thing as I thought it would be. Oh well!