jencallisto

In the bottle: A soft, springlike floral. Fresh on the skin: A little spicy, not too sweet, complex, light, pale powdery florals of all colors, with a bit of fresh green to go with them. A little perfumey/lotiony. 5 minutes later: Yeah. This smells exactly like lotion. A rather nice, light, pleasant lotion, though. Right now I've got Tabella on one wrist and E Pluribus Unum on the other, and I'm thinking they might smell rather fabulous layered together. 10 minutes later: Hrm. As much as I want to love this, I feel like there's some flowers in here that just aren't quite for me, tugging the whole of the scent in a not-me direction. 30 minutes later: Light, powdery floral, sweet and just a touch sour. 1 hour later: Oh, this has sweetened up a lot, to something pretty and powdery and really very lovely. 2 hours later: Light, delicate, beautiful, like a bouquet of powdery pastel florals. 3.5 hours later: I can't get over how pretty this is. 6 hours later: Just so pretty! Old-fashioned, but in the best possible way. Delicate and classic. Verdict: I was a little worried at the beginning that it would stay at the lotion stage, but it settled into a really beautiful floral. I'm definitely keeping this bottle. One word: beautiful.

In the imp: A rather dark, complex lilac. Fresh on the skin: I didn't realize lilac could be this dark! I don't know how often I'd want to smell like this, but it's gorgeous. Is it the leather that's giving this that heady dark edge? Oh, oh, I think it is, it's growing stronger as I type. And the hints of sweetness surrounding it must be the plum. 5 minutes later: Oh, leather, could you back off a little, please? You and the herbs are making this experience a little sharper than I'd prefer. Though the lilac in the waft is really nice. 10 minutes later: Oh, weird. This is doing a version of the dentist office thing that Severin did. It's not quite as exact as Severin, but it's similar. D'oh. I guess maybe leather smells like dentist's or doctor's office to me? Or at least leather + herbs/tea? How unfortunate. 20 minutes later: The waft is rather nice, though, almost all lilac, not very sweet. Fairly long throw. 30 minutes later: Oh, thank goodness. The impression of dentist's office is mostly gone, excellent. It's still basically a cologne-y lilac. It would smell great on a guy, which is not something I'm apt to say. In fact, I think it's the first time I've said it. But it's true. And I'm thinking it might be quite nice layered with Prunella. 1.5 hours later: This really is a gorgeous lilac, dark and slightly herbal. 3 hours later: I'm not sure if I really need to smell like this, but I do really like it. 5 hours later: That was sudden. It's gone, poof, just like that. I think there's a tiny bit of sweetness on my skin that's probably the plum, but everything else is completely gone. Verdict: Huh. I quite liked this. I'm not sure it's me at all, but I enjoyed it and I'm definitely keeping this imp. One phrase: dark lilac.

In the imp: Sweet and fruity, with maybe something green or very light floral behind it. Fresh on the skin: Whoa, herbal. This is a very green, pinpricky floral. I can tell the plum and cream are there, but they're currently drowned out by astringent green floral. 5 minutes later: Okay, we're softening down and sweetening up a little. This is turning into the most gorgeous light creamy plum with delicate wildflower scent. 10 minutes later: This has a bit of candle/potpourri feel to it, but not in a bad way. 30 minutes later: It's basically like a spicy plum candle has adhered itself to my arm -- the flowers disappeared fast, and there's a sort of thick warmth to the scent that makes me think "candle." It's quite nice, though. 45 minutes later: A slightly waxy plum hard candy. 1 hour later: Throw is not huge, but I get occasional whiffs while I'm typing. 2 hours later: Plum candle, faded and lightened. 3.5 hours later: Faded to a kind of generic, slightly waxy sweetness. 4 hours later: Oh. Basically gone, my arm is just faintly sweet if I press my nose right up to it. Verdict: It was quite a nice scent, though a bit too much like candle and not enough like skin fragrance. Sort of one-dimensional, and with a relatively fast fade. I wish the florals stayed around more. I really wanted to like this one -- it looked the most promising out of all the Marchen scents. I'll probably try it again at some point. One phrase: plum candle.

In the bottle: Sweetly medicinal. Fresh on the skin: Lightly sweet, with a green center of slightly bitter herbs and a hint of citrus. I can definitely smell the galangal; it's reminding me of the Malaysian place I used to eat at when I lived in the Boston area. I like this a surprising amount. 5 minutes later: Delicate and light but also rich, it's taking on more resin and maybe even a little smoke as it warms, while still keeping a thick sweet golden base of almost (but not quite) honey. Maybe a little medicinal (it's reminding a bit of the lemon-herb Ricola I used to get), but also pretty, and beautifully blended. 15 minutes later: Hrm. What is that? There's something mildewing out my pretty golden tablet -- maybe the tobacco flower? 30 minutes later: It's only noticeable when I've got my nose pressed right up against my wrist, though admittedly it doesn't have much throw so to smell anything at all I have to get pretty close. 45 minutes later: Yup. Honey lemon herb Ricola, with something reminiscent of band-aid at the edges. Maybe something like beeswax, though neither that nor honey are listed in the notes. 1.5 hours later: I wish I could figure what it is in here that's not quite working for me. I don't hate it, but. 4 hours later: This has faded a lot. Still sweet and a little resinous. The smell that sort of reminds me of vaguely of band-aid also kind of makes me think of ozone, but not quite. The benzoin, perhaps? 5 hours later: Faded to nearly gone. Verdict: Enh. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Will try it again sometime, maybe in a scent locket. One word: Ricola.

In the imp: Fizzy light lemon ginger ale! I'm not sure how it's possible for an oil to smell this fizzy, but it really really does. Fresh on the skin: Still fizzy and very lemony, a little sweet and a tiny bit bitter and maybe a little chemically. It inches toward cleaning fluid for me, but it's still quite nice. 5 minutes later: It almost insanely bright and fizzy. I have Democrat on my right wrist and Independent on my left, and they each provide a welcome respite from the other -- if I get tired of the Democrat's sweet, thick beeswax, I can switch to the head-clearing citrus fizziness of the Independent. If I feel like the Independent is in danger of searing my brain right out of my head, I can ground myself in warm honey resin of the Democrat. 30 minutes later: This is _so refreshing_. It may smell sort of like dishwashing liquid, but in a nice way, not actually soapy at all. 1 hour later: Fizz fizz fizz. Bright, effervescent lemon soda or seltzer, not too sweet. 2 hours later: Ooh. I think it's softening a little, while still being fizzy and light. 3.5 hours later: Hmm. Still a soft and mildly fizzy citrus, but it's starting to take up just a hint of plastic that kind of reminds me of the ozone in Snow White, which kept reminding me of scotch tape. This hasn't reached nearly that stage, but it's kin. Maybe it's more like the ozone in Snow, Glass, Apples (which I liked more), but not as icy? Just bright and fresh and delicately fizzy. 5 hours later: Huh. This has faded down to slightly flat but still fresh-smelling lemon soda with a bit of sweet scotch tape, still pretty nice. Verdict: I enjoyed this -- it was pleasant in all stages and so unusual that it would've been hard not to. I don't know that I'd wear it often, but I think I'm keeping it. One word: fizzy.

In the imp: Honey, vanilla, and something brighter than either, as well as something a bit fruity. Fresh on the skin: A sort of complex sweetness that has a rather plasticky center. Hmm. Return of the band-aid smell? It's gone quite a bit darker and fuzzier than the imp would imply. Actually, beeswax or honeycomb might make sense. But there's also an additional perfumeyness that I can't quite put my finger on -- a little spicy, maybe a little resiny? Identifying notes is not my strong point, that's for sure. 10 minutes later: Powdery, plasticky honey-sweet with an odd waxy-resin depth. 20 minutes later: Beeswax and a bit of resin. It's not terrible but I'm not sure I'd ever wear it. Like scotchgrrl, I think I prefer it in the imp, though honestly it's probably still not exactly me. Maybe if I ever get a scent locket I'll try it there. 1 hour later: Warm and thick and a little heady, honey and beeswax and still that hint of something else I can't quite place. 2 hours later: I'm getting a little of that honey-chocolate that there are hints of in Kali, and the waxiness has faded a bit. Nice, actually. I like this stage more. 4 hours later: Almost all honey, warm and somehow more dry than sticky. 5 hours later: Fuzzy warm light honey. The beeswax is coming back a little. Verdict: I don't love it, though I don't hate it either. I might let it sit for awhile before trying it again. The label is adorable, which makes me suspect I'll be reluctant to swap it away. One word: beeswax.

In the imp: A light sweetness, and a bit of a edge that reminds me of really high-quality blocks of parmesan. Fresh on the skin: Mmmmmmmm, Starburst. Yummy. And just a touch of sweet soapiness below it, but a soft soap rather than sharp. 5 minutes later: I think the sweet soap is taking over a little. Yet the delicious fruity candy is still there. 10 minutes later: Ah, the waft is wonderful -- light and subtle, but with fairly long throw. 20 minutes later: This is definitely yummy. I get mostly the delicious fruits, which is exactly what I'd hoped for out of the scent. 40 minutes later: This kind of reminds me of Froot Loops. But in a good way! 1.25 hours later: Oh wait. What's this? That mildewed paper scent that ruined Miskatonic University for me? What the heck is it doing here? 1.5 hours later: And now it basically smells like fruity chapstick. Which is, you know, not a bad thing, exactly. 2.5 hours later: Nondescript fake fruit, quite close to the skin. 3.5 hours later: This has taken on a rather nice soft fuzziness, but it still smells basically like nice-scented lipstick or something. 5 hours later: Fading to gone. Verdict: I really liked it... until it went kind of boring on me. I'll keep the imp, but I probably won't be trying to track down a bottle. One phrase: Froot Loop chapstick.

In the imp: A lot like The Lion -- warm golden amber, a little soapy. Fresh on the skin: Soap soap soap -- honey brown soap, quite sweet and fairly mellow for soap, but still soap. 5 minutes later: Ooh, I think I can smell a bit of the almond flower. It doesn't really mitigate the soap impression, though. It's quite a sweet, lovely soap, though. 10 minutes later: This is actually really pretty, a golden-yellow crisp almost-floral, with just a hint of soap. It's very much not me, even though I rather like it. I'm not sure why that is. 20 minutes later: I swear I'm getting something almost citrus out of this. And I grow to like it more and more as it sits on my skin. Spicy-mellow-golden-soft. 30 minutes later: This is so confusing. Because I really like it. But it's really not me. It's kind of breaking my brain a little. 1 hour later: Hmm. This is doing that thing that The Illustrated Woman and Phantom Calliope did to me, but I thought it was the patchouli, which isn't in the notes for this. This is much lighter and sweeter and more golden than either of those, but there's just something about it. It may go with the soapy-powdery aspect. 2 hours later: I kind of wish the throw on this wasn't so far. I kind of love it and I kind of hate it and it's all very confusing. I think the "this just isn't me" is winning out, though. 3 hours later: Yeah, not me at all. 4 hours later: Still strong, still really not me. 5 hours later: What the frelling frell? I just took a shower, and it's still on my arm. Verdict: It's odd, because I did sort of like it, and yet I also feel a sort of antipathy to it that got stronger as it wore even though the scent stayed basically the same. It's quite a strong one, with a soft waft that is distinctive and pronounced. One word: golden-brown

In the imp: A delicate rose-based floral, extremely soft and sweet. Fresh on the skin: Perfectly candied orange peel and a bit of heady, powdery floral. 10 minutes later: I think this may be too heady and powdery for me. And suddenly my nose is stuffed up and I want to sneeze. It's quite close to something I'd really like, but something about it just doesn't still well with me. 30 minutes later: Soft, heady, powdery floral, rose and something else more yellow that I assume is the jasmine. Still not exactly me. 1 hours later: This has softened down to a quite nice light heady floral, mostly a kind of pink rose and an ethereal yellow jasmine. Powdery in a way that flirts with soapy, but doesn't cross over the line. 1.5 hours later: Faded and powdery and actually rather lovely, though there's still hints of the headiness of yore. 3 hours later: Wispy powdery sweet floral, barely there. 6 hours later: Totally and completely gone. Verdict: Enh. I'll try it again and see if I haven a different reaction, but it wouldn't surprise me if my thoughts didn't change one bit. A fast burn, with the beginning being way to heady for me and the end because a bit more powdery than I'd like. It was never terrible, but also never more than moderately pretty. One phrase: heady, powdery floral.

In the bottle: Complex, dark. Vanilla root beer with lilac and tobacco around the edges. Fresh on the skin: A complex, lilac-y floral, dark and sweet and a little smoky. 5 minutes later: Oh. Oh, I really like this. I wonder what hyssop smells like, if it's what's adding the slightly spicy jasmine-ness to the lilac and creamy-sweet-dark vanilla tea. 20 minutes later: This is freaking gorgeous. It's mostly a spicy floral, but there's a seductive depth to it that's just amazing. It's also reminding me of something, but I don't know what. Something good. And the waft is effective, but not insistent. _Very_ nice. 1 hour later: Fuzzy warm sweet lilac. Love love love. 2 hours later: Light, warm, lilac-y goodness. 3 hours later: Fading down the laundry, but really delicious laundry. 6 hours later: Faded to just a wisp of sweet, soft lilac. God, I adore this. 8 hours later: Still there and lovely. 14 hours later: The faintest whisper of lilac, but basically long gone. Verdict: I love this madly -- it may well be my ultimate lilac scent, something I didn't realize I was looking for but am utterly grateful to have found. I am so glad I have a whole bottle of it! (Thank you, Maidenhell!) One phrase: sweet, complex lilac.

In the imp: Sweet and creamy, bright and rich. Fresh on the skin: Oh! The pine blooms right away, but there's the lovely fuzzy sweetness around the edges, and I'm definitely getting a little smoke at the center. 5 minutes in: This is kind of strange and fascinating. There's a little caramel fizziness from the sarsaparilla, which blends seamlessly into the whiff of tobacco smoke. I've got a sharp soapiness at the very edge that I suspect is the white pine bark, but it's not so strong that it drives the whole scent unforgivably soapy. I just sneezed, though, which may not be a good sign. 10 minutes in: Ooh. I think that sweet creaminess in the waft must be the almond milk. Mmm. 15 minutes in: This keeps getting deeper and more well-blended, the sweet and the cream mitigating the sharper notes, and made more complex in return. 20 minutes in: There's something almost fruity about this, particularly in the waft. Something about the almond milk and sarsaparilla, I expect. The center of the smell has a tinge of something that sort of reminds me of Band-Aids, weirdly enough, but it's not apparent unless I get quite close. 1 hour later: Ah, good. The Band-Aid-ness has softened and rounded a bit, though it is still there. 2 hours later: Confusingly this has taken on a bit of coconut. It's faded quite a bit, but luckily the Band-Aid smell has basically gone. Soft and round and sweet. Rather delicious, really, without being foody. 3 hours later: Buttery? It's gone... buttery? But still not in a foody or overwhelming way. Huh. This just keeps surprising me, and mostly pleasantly, too. 11 hours later: Almost entirely gone (and probably faded fairly dramatically a few hours ago while I was asleep). Verdict: I enjoyed this, mostly, though there's some element in it that doesn't quite work for me as much as I'd like. I think I'll be trying it again, though, to see what it would be like to really wear it. One word: Unusual.

In the bottle: Roses, mostly. Light and thready and not too sweet. Fresh on the skin: Completely different. Wow. Dark, almost opiate but not sweet, like a deep, evil, resin. I barely get any floral at all, at first. 5 minutes later: Smells kind of amazing in my hair. Rose and... something else. Something insidious. On the skin, still dark and mysteriously un-floral. 10 minutes later: I think I'm starting to get a tiny bit of a slightly sweeter rose-based floral on the edge of the skin, but the dark bitter resin still predominates. 40 minutes later: A very perfumey floral, more dark than sweet, but strangely ethereal despite its weight, and with a bitter edge (like the tears wept in the description). I get a sweet rose wisp from my hair, but on my skin its goes warm and thick and heady. Is that green bitterness ivy? This is the least sweet rose blend I've ever tried. 1 hour later: This is fascinating. Very... absorbing, somehow. It reminds me of the last verse of Natalie Merchant's song "Ophelia" -- Ophelia's mind went wandering, you'd wonder where she'd gone/down secret doors and corridors, she'd wander them alone/all alone. 1.5 hours later: A little powdery, a little soapy. Mostly a bitter dark green rose, but ghostly and beautiful, somehow. Next time I'm going to try putting more in my hair, because the hints I get of it really are lovely. This would be an appropriate goth club blend, I think. 2.5 hours later: I'm wearing a sweater with extra-long sleeves today and the cuffs are acquiring just the faintest bitter rose scent. The actual aroma on my wrist has powdered down to a subtle sweetness with a little spicy-bitter kick to it. Soft and dark and lovely. 7 hours later: Gone. 10 hours later: Though, there are still delicious remnants in my hair. Mmmm. Verdict: I liked this a lot. It's a rose blend with an intense darkness and bitterness, unusual and evocative and quite beautiful. One phrase: Bitter rose.

In the imp: Darkly sweet and spicy, like a black cherry soda with extra kick. Fresh on the skin: Lots of spice, and a sort of dark candy... Actually, it reminds me a bit of cinnamon Altoids. Mixed with sasparilla. Huh. 5 minutes later: A surprising mixture of caramelly spice candy and powder. 15 minutes later: If they made cinnamon-cardamom-clove altoids instead of just cinnamon ones, I think the inside of the tin would smell like Phantom Calliope. It's also, somehow at exactly the same time, reminiscent of Reed's black cherry soda, strong and dark and fizzy, and not too sweet. I quite like it. 20 minutes later: It's quite close to the skin, but it does have a nice subtle throw that I approve of. 40 minutes later: It's starting to smell like a spicy, somewhat fruity candle of some kind. 2 hours later: Powdery spice. It does have a sort of fizziness to it that makes me think root beer, but is otherwise unremarkable. 3 hours later: It seems to be powdering down to spicy laundry, maybe with a little musk? It's actually reminding me a little of a sweeter, lighter, cleaner Illustrated Woman. This is... not ideal -- the Illustrated Woman didn't work very well on me and hung around for nearly an entire 24 hour day smelling like armpit; I guess this is at least the right direction, though. 4 hours later: Huh. And now we're edging into a sort of sweeter, lighter version of the sandalwood soap one of my exes used to favor. I'm so confused. I mean, I guess this must be the patchouli. But where are my dark red fruits? Mrph. 5 hours later: Light, slighty soapy, musky patchouli. 6 hours later: Faded patchouli and musk. 7 hours later: Almost gone. Verdict: I liked this rather less than I expected, though the very beginning stages were nice. I think I'll try it again and see if I'm more in the mood for it some other time. I suspect part of the problem is that I've used Lush's deodorants for so many years that I've started to associate patchouli with armpit and sweat. Oops. One word: patchouli.

(2007 version) In the imp: Sweet, bright white, maybe a little vanilla. Fresh on the skin: Oh. Oh, this is a lovely. Kind of like a delicate, perfectly tender angel food cake, dusted with powdered sugar. And a little of something else -- alcohol? Something a little chemically, but in a reasonably nice way. Perfumey. This is reminding me of one of the Lush bombs, especially once I've rubbed a little bit of it in my hair. 10 minutes later: There is something sort of aquatic about it, though I don't really get the icy of snow. Maybe the really fluffy kind of snow. And a sort of vanilla-y pale white not-quite-floral. Soft. 20 minutes later: I'm not sure how I feel about this. Like but not love, maybe. 1 hour later: This smells like a particular odd artificial thing. It keeps reminding me of the time I had transparencies made, but I don't think that's it. But something like that. Something plasticky. And yet, it's pretty nice, with a sort of sweet vanilla-ness, despite the artificiality. 2 hours later: Seriously, that sweet artificial plastic smell. Sort of like... scotch tape? It's not terrible, but definitely not actually desirable. I don't get any flowers at all, just sweet plastic adhesive and vanilla. 4 hours later: Maybe it's ozone? I do think it's changing a little, subtly, but the scotch tape adhesive quality remains, with a vanilla powder edge. 5 hours later: Sweet, sweet vanilla ozone. 6 hours later: It's really not bad. Just also... not good? Or both a little bad and a little good, maybe. 9 hours later: Ozone is mostly gone, leaving a nice vanilla, interesting and not over-sweet. Wish I liked the primary scent of this more. 11 hours later: Gone, gone gone. Verdict: Enh. I mean, I'm fond of Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing and all (3M has morphed a lot as a company, over time), but I don't really feel the need to smell like vanilla polymer. One phrase: scotch tape.

In the imp: Sweet and incensey. Fresh on the skin: Pine and resin center, spicy smoky vanilla-honey edge. And interesting combination of bright and smoky. 5 minutes later: Sweetened pine resin with a bit of a baby powder edge. Nice, actually, but I don't know that it makes sense to me to smell like this. 1 hour later: Sweet, syrupy pine resin. Pretty nice. 2 hours later: Warm and sweet and syrupy. A nice medium throw, all glowing and fragrant and maybe just the tiniest bit soapy. Remarkably stable and robust. 3 hours later: This is kind of like a syrupy version of if you were to combine the two Lush deodorants I like. Which is not a bad thing, but it's also not exactly ideal. 4 hours later: Basically, a golden brown soap. Very nice, but not what I really want to smell like for hours on end, especially not given how strong this is. It actually might be making me feel a bit queasy (something is, but it may or may not be this). 4.5 hours later: Okay. This is slowly becoming sour and icky on me. 6 hours later: Obnoxiously strong laundry, with annoyingly long throw. Bleh. 8 hours later: It has taken a lot of willpower to not just wash this off. Not that I think it would work by this time. I suspect this is still going to be around tomorrow morning. Unfortunately. 16 hours later: Ugh. Still there, going strong, smelling basically like "deodorized" sweat. Admittedly, I put it on my inner elbow, where it tends to smell warmer and last much longer than on my wrist, but still. 20 hours later: Ahahahaha, it's still there. I even did actually try to wash it off, too. I do think it's finally fading at least. 22 hours later: Approaching gone. Finally. Verdict: I can acknowledge that it's nice enough for awhile, but pretty strongly something I just don't really want to smell like, and the laundry finish is additionally unappealing. One phrase: golden brown soap/deodorant/laundry.

In the imp: Floral, spicy and sweet. Fresh on the skin: Only more so. There's something achingly familiar about this, but I can't put my finger on it. It's a heady floral, but fresh, and strangely pale. 5 minutes later: It has an almost honey-sweet edge despite the slightly bitter greenness of the floral. Rather lovely, actually. I think I like pale sweet flowers like this. It's delicate, but the throw is quite impressive. If this had osmanthus in it, it would be _amazing_. There's something (that honey note) that gets a bit close, but it doesn't quite make it. 10 minutes later: This is kind of like a night-time version of Love-in-idleness, whose pale delicate wildflowers I grew to like a whole lot. This doesn't have the springtime feel of Love-in-idleness, but it does similarly remind me of some bath salts my mom used to have. 1 hour later: This is just so pretty and soft, and somehow dark and pale and delicate all at once. It hasn't gone soapy, and while I think it might go powdery later, I suspect it'll be a nice powdery. 6 hours later: Soft, sweet, delicate, powdery floral. Really lovely. 8 hours later: Still going strong, in its soft way. Maybe a little laundryish, but in the nicest way possible. 10 hours later: A faint veil of it on my wrist. Beautiful. 13 hours later: Ah, it's almost completely faded away, but the last lingering bits are still lovely. Verdict: Really very nice. I don't know that it's me, quite, but it's nice nonetheless. I'll probably keep the imp but I'm unlikely to buy a bottle. But I might be wrong about that, because I did enjoy it a lot. One phrase: delicate floral.

In the imp: Spicy, slightly sharp, bit of floral. Fresh on the skin: Green, herbal floral, dark and rather astringent, but with a bit of overarching sweetness, too. 5 minutes later: It's doing that green soap thing that herbals sometimes seem to do. But with something else going on, too. 10 minutes later: Sweetening up a bit. Still fresh and a bit astringent. 30 minutes later: A rather nice soap, sweet, green, bit of berry, bit of an incensey wood. 1 hour later: This has mellowed into a very nice subtle sweet purple-green soap. 1.5 hours later: Soft and sweet and a little juicy. 7 hours later: Totally gone, and has been for quite a while (I've been away from my computer). Admittedly, I only had the tiniest sniffle, so this is probably not representative. Verdict: All right, but I don't really think I need it. One phrase: nice, sweet purple-green soap.

In the imp: Woodsy vanilla buttery pumpkin. Fresh on the skin: Woodsy, but a nice spicy dry rich resiny wood, and pumpkin all dark and not too over the top foody. I think the musk is anchoring it nicely on my skin, too. After the disaster that was Pumpkin IV '08, I'm quite pleasantly surprised. 10 minutes later: This has a dark orange smell, exotic woods perfectly burnt and polished to a high, silky shine. 20 minutes later: I can't even explain why I like this, I just do. It smells of lovingly oiled dark woods, but with this subtle sweetness from the tonka and pumpkin that just add to the elegance rather than taking it into foody territory. 40 minutes later: Seriously, this is wonderful. Warm and sweet and glowing. 1 hour later: This has faded down to a mostly nice sweet wood smell, but if it was warm and glowing before it's gone a little cold now. Much lighter. And a little... plasticky? Hrm. Goes in and out a little. Mostly it's really quite nice. 1.5 hours later: Oh. Oh, this as gone warm again, spicy-sweet elegant wood, with a nice, subtle, lovely throw. This is just getting better and better. 2.5 hours later: Still light and lovely, warm and natural. 3 hours later: Shoot. I think this is beginning to shift in the laundry direction. 3.5 hours later: Or maybe it's going to go warm and spicy and woody again. 5 hours later: Light, spicy woods, maybe a little laundryish, but nice. 7 hours later: Soft, sweet, warm. 14 hours later: It's still there, wow. Soft and fuzzy and nutty and woodsy and a tiny bit spicy, faint but definitely there. 15 hours later: I think this might be finally fading out. 16 hours later: Lingering... 21 hours later: Um. I'm pretty sure that tiny hint of caramel-wood on my wrist is the last little bit of this. Wow. Verdict: I liked this, and much much more than I thought I might, actually, given the way woods have been misbehaving on me recently. It's maybe not my favorite thing ever, certainly, but I could definitely see myself wearing it occasionally. And it lasted freaking _forever_, and was quite nice the whole time. One phrase: sweet dark woods.

In the imp: Sweet fruity pumpkin, light and lovely. Fresh on the skin: Oh, the fruit in this is magnificent. Sweetness and light on a base of creamy, sparkly pumpkin. Wow. My favorite of the pumpkin scents I've tried so far. Given the notes, I guess I'm not surprised -- I've discovered recently that I really like amber, I adore citrus when it's done well, and cardamom and ginger are two of my favorite spices. 5 minutes later: I think it must be the amber that's letting this adhere so perfectly to my skin. God, this is amazing. 10 minutes later: I am practically drunk on how much I love this scent. I can't stop sniffing my wrist! Oh, I'm all worried now about how hard it's going to be to find a bottle. 20 minutes later: I want to marry this scent. Though with Prop 8 passed that would be even more difficult than it would normally be. 1 hour later: Still warm and delicious. Maybe going a little smoked candle-y, but not too much. Fairly long throw, but in a totally non-offensive way. I really, really like this. 2.5 hours later: Warm and sweet and incredibly sexy. 4 hours later: The faint sweet smell of crayons. 6 hours later: Long gone. Verdict: I could roll around in this in its early stages and be totally happy, I think. I don't love the (rather brief) linger, but the first few hours are lovely enough that it's probably still worth wearing, and tracking down more. One phrase: fruity amber pumpkin.

In the bottle: Ozone, mostly On the skin: Still mostly ozone, but with light, crisp, tart-sweet golden apple as well. Oddly heady for something so watery. 10 minutes later: This is really quite interestingly complex. Delicate, sweet ozone-apple. I'm not totally sure how I feel about it exactly, but. Definitely interesting. 20 minutes later: I swear I'm getting some kind of barely-there musk-floral at the very base of this -- light and a little powdery. But still sweet ozone-apple over the top. But the powdery almost-floral is growing in strength. Huh. 30 minutes later: This is mostly ozone-aquatic, icy-bright, but softened by that hint of apple, and maybe apple blossom? And the occasional whiff of musk. I never really expected an aquatic to work for me (this is the first one I've tried), but I'm kind of really seriously liking this. 1 hour later: Musk-ozone-apple-floral, bright and crisp and soft. Incredible, really. 7 hours later: Soft, warm, laundry. Verdict: I liked this a lot, but I don't want to have its babies or anything. This is good, because I suspect trying to track down another bottle would be problematic. But I'll definitely hang on to this one. One phrase: ozone-apple.

In the imp: Woodsy-sweet, with the tiniest bit of apple. Fresh on the skin: Harvest-themed potpourri. Warm, sweet, spiced, bit of apple and nut but mostly woodsy things. Pleasant. 10 minutes later: Yup, totally apple cider scented potpourri. I'm not sure how I fee about smelling of potpourri, but this would be a lovely room scent. 2 hours later: It has been gradually calming down from that strong potpourri scent, though it's still basically the same, just softer 'round the edges. It's interesting, I quite like this, but it just doesn't quite feel like something that's supposed to be on my skin. Maybe I'll try putting it in my hair next time. Or figure out what I did with that oil burner I used to have. 4 hours later: This is remarkably stable. I do think it's lightening a bit, veering much closer to a plausible skin scent than it was before. Morning after (~11 hours later): Completely gone. Verdict: Nice, but more like a candle or room scent than a personal scent. One phrase: apple cider potpourri.

In the imp: Cream, citrus, sweet light florals, a bit of spice, wow, this smells amazing. Fresh on the skin: Spicy creamy musky light citrus-floral... soap. Noooooooo! It smells so nice in the imp. I hope the soap goes away as it dries. *crosses fingers* 10 minutes in: Sweet, creamy, delicate floral... soap. I wish I knew what it is that's turning to soap on my skin. This is a pretty nice soap, high quality, french milled, and with a lovely texture, but. I'm getting some baby powder too. Hrm. And the citrus has burned right off. 20 minutes in: Oh. Oh. This is still powdery, but it's gone quite nice. I think it's the vanilla coming through and bringing everything together. I'm still getting quite a bit of spicy on a hint of floral, and something incensey -- maybe the opoponax? This may be redeeming itself. 30 minutes in: Yes. This has turned into well-blended loveliness on a canvas of baby powder. I can't describe it, but I do like it. 1 hour in: Light, sweet, baby powdery. Nice enough but not really my thing. 1.5 hours in: This is fading exceedingly fast. I can barely tell it's there anymore. 2 hours in: Well. This is effectively gone. There might be the tiniest hint of sweet baby powder on my skin, faint and laundryish, but it's just as likely I'm making that up. Verdict: This is the first scent I've ever tried where the disparity between in the imp and on my skin is so great that I've thought that maybe I should get a scent locket. Because, oh, this is so lovely in the imp! But it's just not the impressive on my skin, even for the short period of time it sticks around. One word: powder.

In the imp: Spice and incense. Fresh on the skin: A dark, complex spice and subtle floral mix. I definitely get a little tobacco and rose in there, too. Sweet and fragrant. 5 minutes later: Oh, oh, I'm getting a distinct almost honey-like sweetness from the agave nectar, and it's mixing with the rose into this incredibly gorgeous top note, anchored by the darker spice-and-wood base. There's a little sour in the sweet that I'm not sure I love, but overall this is amazing. 10 minutes in: I tried a little in my hair, and it makes me imagine I'm in a high class wild west bordello or something. This is a good thing. 20 minutes in: God, this is amazing, heady and sweet and still a little sour. It kind of reminds me of Kali -- also a good thing. It's a little less foody, but the essence is similar. Yes, I might have a thing for complex rose blends, I admit it. 1 hour later: There's something very green about this. I think it must be the agave giving the rose a very different feel than usual. 2 hours later: Oh. Hrm. This has gone rather soapy. 4 hours later: So, so soapy. It's pretty nice soap, but. 5 hours later: Serious soap. And no longer pretty. 8 hours later: Soap soap soap. If I put my nose to my arm and sniff around the edges, I can catch a little bit of the sweet rose. But mostly, it's soap. Verdict: I'm so sad about the soap. So sad. I wanted to love this, and I did love the initial stages. But I don't especially want to smell strongly of soap for hours on end. I'll try this again at a different time of the month and hope it makes a difference. Mrph. One word: soap.

In the imp: Creamy and super-sweet spiced pumpkin. Fresh on the skin: Sweet spiced pumpkin with a woodsy after scent. Mmm, the cedar-pine edge is subtle, but very nice. 5 minutes later: Oh. Hmm. I'm getting a some of the wood in Miskatonic University, which unfortunately makes me think of mildew. That's... unfortunate. Maybe I'm just not mean for woodsy scents. Also, this is reaching sugar overload level of creamy-sweet. Like, just the smell is kind of making my teeth hurt. 10 minutes later: And yet, the waft is really nice. Sweet and warm and buttery-creamy-rich. 20 minute later: Yeah, I'm definitely having a problem with this similar to the one I had with Miskatonic University. I think it's something about having an incredibly rich foody scent mixed with something so very very not foody and yet related in the woods. It's like my brain is translating the "no, don't eat that even though it teasingly smells partially like food," into "ew." Sad. 1 hours later: The smell of this is almost disturbing to me, somehow. 2 hours later: At best it smells a bit like pumpkin spice potpourri or something, a little artificial. Or like pumpkin pie baked on a strongly scented cedar plank. 3 hours later: Huh. This has become almost entirely spices and pumpkiny maple syrup spread on top of scorched wood. I like this calmer stage more. 6 hours later: I get mostly warm sweetness, with a side of soap. 9 hours later: Spiced pumpkin creme brulee on a wooden plank, quite faint. I rather like this stage, actually. 10 hours later: Spiced caramel wood, faint, but not as faint as all that considering I applied this 10 hours ago! Verdict: Despite the promising notes and a reasonably nice last few hours, this doesn't really work for me. I might try it again, but I'm starting to think wood is not so much for me, at least when paired with foody things. One phrase: splintery pumpkin.

In the imp: Sharp lemon peel and herbs. Fresh on the skin: Um. Smells like... seafood? Lobster, crab, shrimp cocktail. With a squeeze of lemon, and maybe some cocktail sauce on the side. But seriously, like shellfish. Weird. 5 minutes later: Oh. And pungent enough to make my eyes water. I can feel a headache coming on, too. Please please please calm down, Nanshe. I so wanted to like you. I think this might be lemongrass rather than just lemon, and maybe that's what's adding the sour foodiness. 20 minutes later: It pains me to say this, but I'm really not liking this at all. It's so... sour. Like fish sauce with red pepper flakes and lemongrass. Possibly good to eat, but just the aroma is a little much. 50 minutes later: Wow, this only smells worse and worse. I think it's time to go to sleep with my wrist as far away from my nose as possible. morning after: Gone. Probably a good thing. Verdict: So, so sad. I really thought I'd like this one. I mean, I like lavender (Is there even lavender in here? I am not convinced.), I like citrus. Why don't I like this? I think I'm going to try it again at a different time of the month. Maybe my chemistry's all out of whack or something. I hope! One phrase: Thai lemongrass seafood.