zankoku_zen

This one was so interesting. It had a very masculine vibe (I think it was the moss and the wood combination) and smelled like an old house with lots of green. It had a somewhat dusty, somewhat rotting quality to it. Best part? No roses. Just a bachelor's house, older than it should be, and basically collapsing on itself. Regal in its despair.

This one is really a strawberry covered in chocolate At the beginning the strawberry is very fresh, but as it dries it gets that creamy/milkshake quality that others have described. It dried to something like a chocolate covered strawberry creme. I swear, when I was a kid, there used to be a candy in Peru that was this strawberry flavored cream on top of a chocolate wafer, covered in chocolate. It was great and I could never eat just one. I detect a faint trace of plastic in the blend (strawberry has that notoriously bad tendency to do that.... I'm looking at you Strawberry Moon) but really negligible. What isn't is the insane cravings I got from this blend. I'm torn between keeping the decant, getting rid of the decant and getting a bottle, or getting rid of the decant in order to preserve my waistline!

This is dark chocolate and cherry... but the cherry does have a cough syrup overtone to it that I'm not crazy about. Pass.

This one definitely smells like sexy man's cologne on me, with just a hint of leather. I might have to purchase a bottle for the hubby!

On wet, this smelled like smoky bacon. So as it dries I get the vetivert and combined with the cedar, it smells masculine and a bit like men's cologne. It's dark but commanding. Vetivert and I don't play well together... but I keep trying!

On wet, it's a much greener scent. I definitely get the sharp airiness of the dandelions, and I smell the calla lilies. It's so pretty on wet. As it dries, I get more of the 'dust' and the vibe does go from green to gray with hints of green. I really wish the florals had stuck around.

Rose soap! This rose is nice, soft, subtle. I get a hint of orchid here and there, but overall, it makes me think of rose soap.

I really get the florals in this one ---- roses and cactus flowers. It's nice in a desert flower sort of way. And if you like cactus blooms.

Dark incensey resin blend. It was smoky and hot, but after about an hour... it's still that but there's a vague sense of emptiness. Utterly bereft of warmth. It's kinda creepy that way.

Spicy resinous rose.... It's a straight up rose/frankincense blend. Beautiful in it's simplicity and the frankincense does well to counterbalance the floralness of the rose.

Ohmygoodness. This was super strong and supersweet on wet. It smelled like cherry lollipops and chewing gum. As it has dried, I get more of the 'womanly' perfume, but it's still sweet and the lotus gives it a mild aquatic feel. If you want to like Candy Phoenix, but it was too sweet - give this a whirl.

This one is surprisingly wearable. On wet, I get a very strong apple blossom note that I associate with the rose in Rose Red. That fades away pretty quickly and I'm left with a soft, white rose with hints of freesia. Very fresh, very pure, soft. Feminine. For a rose blend, I definitely love it. I don't see myself wearing this often, but it really is gorgeous. I can see this being very appropriate for a wedding.

Version 2008. I definitely smell the maple syrup and brown sugar types the most. In the very very back I smell white florals and a trace of white sugar. Very sugary sweet. Perhaps too much for me.

I definitely get the musk, the metallic hint and the incense background. It might also have a touch of amber, and it reminds me to Herr Drosselmeyer but with more musk and metal. This is like a tricked out version of Blood Amber.

I get rose, violet and cedar. It's a soft, almost powdery blend because of the roses. Soft and cozy!

As a rose amper, I totally amped up the tea rose in this one. A hint of citrus and lots of rose with hints of patchouli. Very masculine rose here. After about two hours, the rose has faded into the background and I get more of the patchouli/rum/wood combination. Still masculine. My husband doesn't like roses and I'm not sure how I feel about the first two hours. I think I will pass this on to a more loving home.

The 2008 version. As a rose amper, I have to say that this rose is nice and innocent and not quite as voluptous, as a say a red rose. Definitely white. Creamy and very nice. The incense base makes a nice grounding of it. Pleasant.

I love the new scroll/parchment type labels for the GCs. To Tramp and Twilighteyes, thanks for the pics! The Box of Chocolate ones are soooo pretty. I don't collect bottles for label art, but those might change my mind.

Pomegranate wine! This is pomegranate juice - sticky and sweet with a boozy edge. All of the blends I've tried with the pomegranate component have been extremely sweet. Perhaps I just amp out the sweetness? In any case, not entirely crazy about it, so I think this will go to a more loving home.

Diabolical red and black musk with rooibos and mango tea. Musky mangos! At the beginning, the black musk was all I could smell, but as it dried the mango has come out to play. It's a musky/mango blend. The rooibos adds some additional fruity teaness to this. This is like Corazon but without the sage, which ruined Corazon for me!

This review is for the Beaver'varsary edition. It did smell very much like strawberries and cupcakes when I first applied. And now that it has dried, it's more of a cake/cheesecake blend, more vanilla than the original and it has like a burnt sugar edge to it. From my recollections of the original, this one doesn't go to plastic on me. But I'm still not sure I like it.

This one is definitely a soft skin musk blend. On me, when it was wet it sort of smelled like a soft vanilla musk, and oddly enough made me think of does, all pretty and delicate. As it has dried, it has gotten to be powdery. So I smell like soft vanilla powder.

Oh man, when I first applied this it was like a spicy version of Skadi. I had a GIANT fir tree and a tiny hint of berries with LOADS of snow, but you could smell the cinnamon. It's dried down to this cinnamon berry blend, which is nice and Christmassy, but nothing like it was on wet. Grr.

This stuff is fantastic. Take the Winter Stress Relief Elixir perfume, and make it something you can soak in. The geranium is one of the things I can smell the most --- but it's so relaxing. A hot bath, and you can literally feel the stress fall away from you in waves. It was the most calming bath, EVER. Loved it. This is a fantastic investment, and I can score more, I will totally try and get my hands on more!

This one oddly enough smelled like a mixture of jasmine and spicy Dragon's Blood Resin. The jasmine disappears after an hour, leaving behind a warm, musky smell that is a teeny bit powdery. I kinda like it at this point.