telesilla

Why I tried it: I like the notes and wanted to see why this was so popular. In the bottle and wet: Spicy, sweet vanilla. Drying down: It's a little sweeter than I usually like and there's a powdery noted under it that makes me wonder if there's amber in here too. Dry: Still quite sweet and most of the spiciness is gone; what's left is a kind of sweet powdery vanilla, almost as if I'd dusted my wrist with vanilla sugar. I've read that guys fix on vanilla as sexy for various reasons, which may explain why this is so popular. It doesn't say Teh SeXX0rs to me, but I'm not a guy. All in all, it's nice but since I'm not over the moon about it, and I know someone who will probably like it more than I do, it's going to her.

Why I tried it: Notes, middle eastern hook and um ... Jinn. What? In our vampire universe, the vampires are considered Jinn. Yeah. Nothing to do with Qui-Gon. Really. In the bottle and wet: Mmmm .. spicy oranges. Drying down: Ok yeah the patchouli is showing up a little but it's not too bad and my skin chemistry likes patchouli. Dry: Oh man I might as well just buy big bottles of every single middle-eastern scent Beth makes that doesn't have roses in it. This is a very luxurious scent, very much a "come viz me to ze Casbah" kind of thing, all spicy fruit and incense. It's like the other spicy scents--almost foody but not quite. Big bottle for sure.

Why I tried it: It's totally up my alley, note-wise. In the bottle and wet: Cinnamon and clove and honey! Drying down: Still mostly cinnamon, clove and honey, but I get a little tang of ginger as well. This is absolutely fantastic, more sweet than expected but I love it. Dry: It doesn't morph much, and I'm glad really because I love it as it is. I think I can catch a tiny whiff of the peppers but it's mostly sweet. Such a keeper.

Why I tried it: I like tea scents and love honey and some of the other notes. In the bottle and wet: OMG Latex? Kink fans rejoice. Drying down: No seriously, this smells like a dental dam. And while I hate dentists, I have some good associations with dental dams. Be that as it may, I don't want to smell like one. Dry, later: Still smells like latex. Not a keeper.

Why I tried it: I love me some fruity blends. In the bottle and wet: Wow! Neroli! Drying down: The neroli isn't so bitter now and the raspberry is coming forward. I'm not really getting any blood orange yet. Dry: People talk about a specific BPAL smell and for me it's that there's often a resinous or faintly incensey note to the perfume. I know people have called BPAL "head shoppy" and maybe that's it. Whatever the note is, it's here, although it's faint. And I can smell the blood orange as well. Later: It's very nice now, all fruity without too much of one given fruit. It's very summery and light. I may need to have a BPAL deathmatch between this and Swank.

Why I tried it: I liked all the notes and it's one of the Lab's most popular scent. In bottle and Wet: Sweet amber Drying down: I can actually get each note here. It's still overwhelmingly sweet, and right now the vanilla's on top. Also I either put on too much or for some weird reason it's not drying down as fast as stuff usually does. Dry: It's a little more balanced, but still quite sweet. I like the way the amber is just a little powdery and the honey is very warm in a way. It so totally does not make me think of O at any point in her journey; it's too simple, to be honest. O was a little more complex and even before she went to the Chateau, a little too sophisticated to wear anything like this. Makes me think more of her friend's sister, the young girl that got pulled into the whole thing. Later: The blend's mellowed out some, and it's not as sweet as it was. It's also quite sexy in an interesting way. I'm thinking I might use this to layer under things I want to sweeten up. I need to do an ingredient search too, this would smell really good with some almond under it to give a little bit of a bitter note. In short, I like it and I might even order a big bottle.

Why I tried it: I like Bet's wine blends and I love clove so it seemed a no brainer. Also I enjoyed the few days I spent in Madrid in 1978. In the bottle and wet: OMG bubble gum, but fruit bubble gum, not the traditional. Drying down: still very very sweet but I can smell the clove now. Dry: Nancy says it still smells like bubble gum, but I'm getting Sweet Tarts and cloves. It's an oddly nice smell, but not as a perfume. I wonder if this is because it's Old Madrid? Maybe the formula's been changed or maybe this is just old enough that the chemistry is wacked. It's also got one hell of a throw on it. Later: I think I can smell the wine note but it's buried under the clove flavored Sweet Tart. I'm afraid it has to be a "no."

Why I tried it: I like the notes. In the bottle and wet: Sweet! I'm not getting sandalwood at all, which is odd as my skin usually emphasizes it. Drying down: It calms down some; I'm getting the amber now, but it's still mostly peach blossom and heliotrope and a little vanilla. Dry: I like this, although I have yet to smell the sandalwood. It's vanilla/floral, a rich sweet floral that manages not to be cloying. I'm just not sure it's something I'd wear, as it's not very "me." But if you like vanilla and florals, this is a good one.

Why I tried it: There isn't a note here I don't like and several that I love. In the bottle and wet: ALMOND! Drying down: The almond is still strong, but I'm getting the cardamom and the saffron now. There's an almost dusty note that I think is the myrrh. Dry: Oh this is nice. I'm still hoping to find something that's exactly like Scherezade only with almond, and while this isn't it, I still really like it. The dustiness is still there and the almond has died down so you can smell the spices and the amber. There's just a tiny hint of bitterness thanks to the myrrh, but it's mellowed by something--the musk maybe. I'm not getting the lotus at all, or at least I'm not getting anything floral. Later: It's gotten even smoother, and it's hard to separate out the notes now. I like things like Swank, where the one note is obvious, but I also like things like this, where the individual notes get lost in the blend.

Why I tried it: A friend gave us a bunch of imps she was looking to get rid of so I figured I'd try it. In the bottle and wet: Fruity and rosy. Drying down: It's a really fresh clean rose scent and the pomegranate compliments it nicely. Dry: Ah rose. My soapy old nemesis. *sighs* Too bad; I hope Nancy likes it on her.

Why I tried it: Mostly because it was a frimp, although it was also on my wish list thanks to the fruitiness of it. In the bottle and wet -- Wow! Fruit! Flowers! Um and...stuff. Drying down and dry -- No thanks, the gardenia is way to floraly rich for me. It doesn't smell bad on me, in fact, it smells pretty good. But it's just not a me scent. *gives to Nancy, who likes it a lot* Also? So, not gender neutral.

Why I tried it: It's one of the Lab's most popular scents In the bottle and wet: Sweet and rich. I get the sugared vanilla but not the tea yet. Drying down: There's a sharpish note that I think is the tannin from the tea. Right now, it's not, for me, all that and a bag of chips. I'm not hating it, but I could easily name five blends I like better. 15 minutes later: There is no Victorian Gentleman anywhere near here who is going to take great liberties with my person as soon as the door is closed. No Victorian Lady either, alas. It's just vanilla/musky--didn't Jovan do a vanilla musk back in the late 70s?--with a slight whiff of tea. Later: I don't dislike it, but I'm not all that wild about it either. Might be my body chemistry or something, but I don't think I'd be as disappointed it everyone didn't talk it up so much. Oh well, more for you all who like it. *grins*

Why I tried it: In spite of the jasmine--a note I'm not wild about--the other notes sounded good. I love Beth's fruit scents, particularly her apricot. Also, it was a frimp. In the bottle and wet: Apricot and jasmine, with more of the latter, alas. Drying down: The apricot comes to the foreground. Dry: It's blended pretty well, no one note dominates the other, so it's sort of a fruity, sharp, floral. I don't dislike it, but I'm not as wild about it as I am about March Hare, for example. It's kind of...nice and non-offensive. Later: It's still nice but not nice enough to keep.

In bottle and wet: Cold minty, but it's a green mint and not the sweet mint of Lick It. Drying down -- Still minty, but it's got that odd band-aidy smell that Hemlock had for me. Nancy thinks there's anise in it but I'm not so sure. 15 minutes later -- I think this is the green note that's in Cthuhlu, because this smells like minty Badades. It's a cold smell but not the barren desolate cold of nuclear devastation; it's too green for that. This is more like when you have a cold rainy snap early in spring. Later: It doesn't really morph much. It's a keeper; this is gonna be really nice in the summer when the temperatures get up into the 100s.

In bottle and wet -- Gingerbread, the soft kind, not gingersnaps Drying down -- Still gingerbread, there's even a little baking powder type tang to it. Dry -- It doesn't seem to change much at all. Unlike Shub-Niggurath, there's no evil undernote; if Shub is Evil Gingerbread, this is Good Gingerbread. I think Shub wins out with me, but I'll keep this one. It's about as close to foody that I want to go and I've been informed I shouldn't wear it when Nancy's hungry.