northatlantic

Hey, sexy is in the eye (nose?) of the beholder! That being said, it's not surprising, sweet/spicy notes are things a lot of people feel sexy wearing/find sexy on other people. Eos in Excolo, with its honeysuckle and skin musk (skin musk seems to be similar to white musk, a light and "skin but better" kind of scent on most people, although skin chemistry can be a very variable thing), and Hermia in Illyria, which is honeysuckle and pink pepper, are light and feminine but with a little extra punch that might be what you're looking for.

A lot of people have that issue with wash-off products, it's kind of the nature of the beast not to cling to your skin. What might help is choosing a complimentary moisturizer, or an unscented one and mixing the imp into that, and that might help your skin keep the cinnamon scent better than adding more fragrance to the wash. Or, triple threat, washing with the cinnamon wash, a cinnamon-y moisturizer, and then applying a cinnamon-y BPAL--you should be spicy for hours! Thoughts for potential mixing or accenting: Chimera, Bengal, Plunder, and Inferno from the GC, Priala from Carnaval Diabolique.

Another couple of LEs that are probably a LEETLE easier to come by than Skadi are Jolasveinar and Mistletoe (like The Raven, less specifically Norse than an important symbol in Norse mythology).

Mag Mell feels very peaceful and cleansing to me, like a sweetly golden sunlit meadow and a lot of its ingredients have traditional symbolism of healing/dispelling negativity. If Mag Mell is a little too citrusy for you (lemon verbena seems to be something people either love or hate), Bastet is snuggly nurturing desert warmth.

So yesterday was the second anniversary of my mother's death. I do not want this date to be one of the things I remember about my mother. I want to remember her in her birthday, in Christmas, in gardening and crafting and the boys' birthdays, because she would always make a big deal of them, the day off work, the day off school. I'd rather remember her in the things she did for people. I don't want to remember that unspeakably cruel day. I was almost successful yesterday, until the dream that picked me up and shook me awake. I don't want to remember the color of her skin, the blankness of her eyes, the pain that we had to beg and demand to be eased enough for her not to cry, big gulping sobs and the incomprehension of a child. Don't want to remember her increasing confusion, talking to people who weren't there. Her fear, that I had nothing to offer to quiet. I tried. Dear God, I tried. I told her, when they came and got her for that last trip to the hospital, that they were taking her there to make her more comfortable and manage her pain better. Both were lies. As helpless and inadequate as we felt at home, the hospital was worse, having to tell people again and again "no, she has pathologic fractures, don't touch her that way, don't lift her that way." Not once, but over and over. The brisk and somehow indecent cheerfulness of the staff that I think was meant to be reassuring. The repeated sticks with needles because nobody would LISTEN when we said 'call for the tech, she's hard to put lines in' and of course, they ended up doing it anyway but not until there'd been several unnecessary attempts. I told her, when she was afraid, that they were going to help her manage her pain better than we could. Later, she was talking about "liar," and a word that Dad thought sounded like "puppy" but I think it was me, that she was angry and asking me why they'd taken her from home to the hospital only to hurt her. That something was in her head of her father's last hours in the hospital and the treatment that had ended up torture, not cure. I didn't know. Mom, I'm sorry, I didn't know. We thought they could help. By the time we knew they weren't going to it was too late. Maybe it wouldn't have been any easier at home and I'd have the feeling every time I walked into the house that you'd suffered without needing to. But I can't know that. I love you. I miss you. I keep thinking about how much you would have liked to see me doing Art-A-Whirl, the suggestions and the people you would have dragged there, the questions, the suggestions. I wish I could have believed in myself enough to do it when you could be there. I wish when I dreamed you, it was when you were happy, and not that pain and anger and fear and grief of those last couple of months. of that last day. I wish something I had done would have helped. Anything.

Never smelled it, BUT, light citrus and white floral suggestions: Phantasm and Zephyr in Bewitching Brews, Forbidden Fruit, Lolita and Muse from Love Potions, Cordelia from Illyria, and Santa Eularia des Riu from Wanderlust might all have similarities. I'd say of all of them Zephyr is probably the lightest and sweetest, and Muse and Phantasm are probably the headiest/most citrusy, with the rest of them sort of ranging inbetween.

Hmmm. Ultraviolet or Lurid from Bewitching Brews, maybe? or Nyarlthotep from Picnic in Arkham. Not impable, but still available is Kataniya, the Clockwork Woman in Carnaval Diabolique. Good luck! Try hitting the search engine for "electric," "metal," or "ozone" maybe? Manila in Wanderlust sounds like what you're after: A tropical, humid, lush scent, with a faint echo of Pacific breezes, jungle blossoms, and deep wet woods. Sampaguita blossoms, banana leaf, palm, and narra. Other thoughts in Wanderlust: Ile de la Tortue, Macchu Picchu, Santo Domingo, The Isle of Demons. Also, from Excolo, Hi'iaka or Xiuhtecuhtli.

Definitely check out Blood Amber and Anne Bonny in Bewitching Brews, Bastet in Excolo, Shub-Niggurath in Picnic in Arkham, and Bengal and Morocco in Wanderlust (don't be afraid of the carnation, most people interpret that as a spicy note, not floral), and there is an entire section of scents with a large component of dragon's blood, Ars Draconis. Also, how do you feel about tea notes? If you like/don't mind tea, check out Plunder in Bewitching Brews, Kumiho in Diabolus, and Silk Road in Wanderlust.

As you probably already know, while incense has been huge in Japan since the middle ages, personal fragrance historically has been minimal, and definitely geared towards the fresh/outdoorsy/low-key when worn. I'd suggest something with cedar, tea, bamboo, and/or aloeswood(a.k.a. oude, wood aloes, and lignum vitae) maybe Habu from Carnival Diabolique, Fox Fires on New Year's Eve at the Garment Nettle Tree at Oji from the Salon Exhibit III, or if you're feeling a bit racy, Men Ringing Bells with Penises from Novel Ideas for Secret Amusements. The first thing that came to mind was Highwayman from Bewitching Brews - don't be alarmed by the flowers, it's TRES masculine. The other two were The Black Tower, also from Bewitching Brews, and The Bow and Crown of Conquest, from the Sin and Salvation subgroup Come and See. From Ars Moriendi, I'd look at Dance Macabre, Haunted and Thanatopsis. The only gc scent that has gunpowder is Agnes Nutter in Good Omens, and that can't be ordered in imps. You might be able to track down an imp, though, and while you're at it, look for Crowley, it seems to go more with the overall feel of the character. Good luck!

Adventures in environmentally sound bearded clam husbandry follow. If you're easily squicked by "woman things," you will probably want to bail out now. If, however, you're interested in a user review of the Diva Cup, then by all means, read on!

Awesome! Yeah, a different folding technique was like a miracle in the amount of difference it made getting it to go in there. The first attempt took forever, hurt like bejesus and I was like "okay, am I totally defective?? Why doesn't this work?" But I was determined--I spent the money, I was damn well gonna get through one period before I bailed, and the LJ community was such a good resource not just informationally but for the knowledge that there were other people who 1) HAD problems instead of immediately being "OMG CUP YAY!" and 2) that those who had problems usually seemed to figure them out with practice. I hope it works for you, I am so happy with it now and it really does get a lot easier once you've managed your first successful insert/retrieval.

Mag Mell is a citrus/amber blend that feels sunny to me, but it's a little more green-gold than spicy desert gold. You might try The Lion for a dry, spicy amber scent that a lot of people have described as golden, Bastet for sweet amber, or Morocco for the warm carnation/vanilla aspect that a lot of people got from Ahathoor.

if you're up for LE, grab some Archangel Winter before it's gone! Alternately, Sea of Glass for GC. Shango springs immediately to mind, Eclipse, or Lightning. If you are in the mood for a hunt, there was a LE oil Salamander, but in the GC Chimera, Dee or Ogun would be my first thought. Magus, Xiuhtecuhtli or Jezirat Al Tennyn. glad the earlier recs were helpful! Winterwind, I personally like it because it helps make the character more...concrete to me, you know? Smell is so evocative, I think it helps me as a cosplayer or roleplayer kind of get in the mood to BE someone else, to make that visualization extend to my concrete senses as well as my imagination. That being said, something that's accurate but really unpleasant and jarring to me isn't going to help do that, I'd be too busy thinking 'ew' or sneezing or being headachy to think character. So when I'm reccing for someone else or choosing for myself, I do like to know if nothing else, what makes them run the other way or cross themselves in horror

51 in Wanderlust immediately leaps to mind. Seth: Fenris Wolf, Death on A Pale HorseElegy: Casanova or Dracul.

Tajha, I looked at your wishlist but at this point, not knowing what-all you've tried and not seeing a real clear pattern for your wishes as far as what group of scents you most favor, I'm doing this completely thematically. Faith: Probably something from the Sin and Salvation group, possibly Dirty, Penitence, Magdalen or Rose Cross. (Or Fallen, but Fallen's kinda...masculine on a lot of people.) Tajha: The Apothecary or Tzadikim Nistarim, for healing/general righteousness. Ellywick: Dragon's Milk or Tiger Lily, sweet with a little more to it. Alana: Leanan Sidhe or Phantom Queen come to mind, as something freshly herbal, slightly wild and consummately feminine, while the symbolism of both is something more dangerous.

Looking at the notes I found for it (narcissus, vanilla, rose, jasmine, and orange blossom), depending on if the orange blossom is more prominent or the rose, I would try Hunger (Black narcissus, orange blossoms, and vanilla) or Pride (Moroccan rose and narcissus), or possibly layer the two together.

Any of my girls in the house fellow gaslamp fantasy enthusiasts? Recs for Agatha Heterodyne/Gil Wulfenbach sans roses, lavender or honey, all of which are me-Kryptonite? (just not Kataniya, she's already claimed by Von Pinn.)

Thematically, Phantom Queen or Baobhan Sith might work well but I don't know how you do with white florals. I'd consider also Bewitched, Eris, 51 and Leanan Sidhe; Queen Mab, Spellbound, Mata Hari and Osun are probably also good choices thematically but they have rose and/or honey which hate me, if you do better with those notes they're also possibilities.

In the bottle, wet, and drydown: Smells exactly like my grandma's chocolate frosting. No coffee, no cinnamon, just sugar and chocolate. Which, while a pleasant scent memory, not something I want to smell like. Tremendous, I would actually have to say AGGRESSIVE throw. sigh. Glad it's sampled from a friend's bottle and not a purchase of my own.

For ozone, try Tempest and Lightning. For clean/grassy, The Apothecary (has fig but only a tiny bit, the dominant is herbs/moss/grasses) and Amsterdam (also a tiny bit aquatic). Aquatic - Sea of Glass. Clean - seconded Dirty and Embalming Fluid, also try: Shanghai. Are citrus scents counted in the "not big on fruit?" Because Schroedinger's Cat is very fresh and bright.

I don't know if it smells like Gap Grass, but I know that The Apothecary has that sweet, thick, almost rank grassy smell of a freshly-cut lawn in the summer to me. I might track down an imp of that and see what you think.

Starts with sweet pumpkin and smoky tobacco, but after about fifteen minutes or so, the champaca and tonka take center stage, kind of like the drydown of Vasakasajja but with velvety pumpkin instead of the tart orchid it somehow becomes more cuddly than sexy. I like my decant, I'm trying to decide if I need a bottle. I never got the carnations at all, but that's OK, I don't miss them

For a moment, wet, it's a sweet pumpkin, not as buttery as PQ or Pumpkin V, and a wonderful autumnal dry grass--and then the cactus flower starts amping. And amping. And amping. And the lovely pumpkin and sweetgrass are swept away in an avalanche of what smells like Dawn dishsoap to me. The sage didn't put in an appearance at all that I could tell. Uncool, cactus flower, uncool.

Back in the speculations when people were talking about pumpkin royalty, to this, this is a Pumpkin Princess; while the initial pumpkin is Pumpkin Queen's, the drydown is much lighter, almost effervescently fruity with the lemon peel, orange and neroli. The benzoin and vanilla are almost nonexistent on me, and the red ginger is almost more of a fresh ginger root kind of smell than a baking-spice, blending so much into the citrus notes it's hard to pick out. Playful and sparkling, but I prefer Her Majesty's ambery richness to Her Highness, so I think I will just enjoy my decant and not go for the whole bottle.

Okay, I had to quote this, because I got the exact same thing. For a few minutes wet, it smelled like the baked pears that people were talking about in earlier reviews, but as soon as it dried, I was like "what does this smell like? It smells like SOMETHING I know, but definitely not pears. Or vanilla...circus peanuts! It smells like candy circus peanuts!" A pleasant nostalgic moment, but not something I care to smell like. Two of my officemates love it, though, so my decant quickly found a better home and at least one of them is planning to order a bottle.