zankoku_zen

I am beginning to think that vetivert doesn't like me. On me: dark, feral, a bit dank. I do smell a bit of the violets but there is something lurking the in background. I had to try this on the husband since it is such a 'masculine' scent in my mind. And here is the transcript of his opinion because it was so funny when it happened: Him: "*sniff* I smell like a combination of old man and old woman. *sniff* It's like walking into a nursing home. Only a nursing home of rich people. Where they all buy fragrances. Not like a poor people nursing home... which just smells like formaldehyde." Verdict: A no-win in both cases. Too dark and feral on me... and 'too nursing home' on him. I think it really disturbed him to smell like old man & old woman at the same time -- I really think he thinks old woman smells like violets.

Strong floral... and again, the gardenia dominates with her wet wool scent. It's rosey and very very gardenia like, with an herbal touch. Nuts... I want a money blend to work out for me. Sadly, this is not it. *sigh*

I was hoping for honey, blood orange and tonka to win out on this one. Undisputed winner: gardenia. I get this warm, floral fruity smell with GARDENIA, which smells a bit like wet wool on me. Not enough to be throughly off-putting... but enough for me to sniff and think 'there's something not quite right'. GYAH! Verdict: This is a lovely scent... if gardenia plays well on your skin. On me it doesn't... and this blend is almost, so close, to being a wearable-gardenia that it's almost heart breaking.

I get a rosey-herbal powdery sort of smell from Black Cat. It's pretty powerful since I layered it with Dorian the second time around and I can't smell Dorian at all. The rosey-smell backs off a little on drydown, but remains powdery throughout. I do feel mildly feline when I wear this - sort of inquisitive, sort of standoffish, sort of playful, sort of contented. I haven't had much luck with the Voodoo scents... but so far, this one is the one that I like the most! ETA: I bought a bottle of Black Cat off a forumite because I was really drawn "to bringing back the joy one needs to have in life in order for living to feel worthwhile. Brings back a sense of delight in simple pleasures, and creates a surge of childlike curiosity and a youthful sense of fun." It's been a rough couple of years and I feel like this can help kickstart/maintain some of the more positive aspects I've been trying to encourage. In a lot of ways, it feels like a more playful, less potent version of White Light. As for smell, its pretty rosey powdery on wet, but as it dries down, it sort of melts into my skin. So, yes, I think I'll be keeping this kitty around.

I can't speak of the 'magickal' properties of this blend... simply the scent. It's very herbal and lasts for a while. Sometimes, it makes me think of almond, since I get something almost nutty about it. It's pretty warm and sometimes I think it has amber in it but I really can't pick out any of the notes. I can't smell apple, cinnamon or clove. I had a pretty average day wearing this, but I was also wearing Black Cat on my other wrist. I'll try it alone by itself and see what I get.

I keep trying to find an alcohol scent that works on my skin chemistry. This really does smell like a Cosmopolitan. It's light, fresh, boozy and breezy. However, it shares the same base as Twenty-One does and I think I detect a gin-like note. Perhaps its the alcoholic note... or the gin-like one but there is something that keeps me from loving the Hamptons. I like this much better than Twenty-One which inspires me to keep trying the alcoholic scents in search of the one that will work for me. A girl can dream, right? Verdict: First, hats off to the Lab for creating a perfume that smells like a Cosmopolitan tastes. Apparently however, I should neither wear nor drink Cosmos... or so my body is telling me. It really does smell light, freshy, breezy and wealthy. Like the kind of girl that shops at Barney's, has gone to a finishing school, and whose parents have a summer home in the Hamptons. Effortlessly elegant, well-dressed and very chatty.

I get a heavy caramel sugar note in this, which isn't either pleasant or unpleasant. Underneath, I have the same heavy buttery note that I get in Jack. I do get a whiff of the currants which lend 'acidity' to the mix and prevents it from going into sweet gooey heaven. The currants become more predominant after about a half-hour or so. Verdict: I don't do well with most foodie blends but this one deserves another go. I doubt I will ever buy a bottle of this stuff... but it's pretty yummy!

This is a very delicate fragrance. At the beginning I get cherry blossoms and lilies. Toward the end, the cherry blossom smell has subsided and I get a white sugary mint smell that reminds me to Lick It Again, but a much more floral and delicate version. Verdict: Absolutely awesome. I love it.

Snow White and I didn't get along too well so I was hoping that Snow-flakes would beguile me into playing in the snow. In the imp: Watery aquatic floral On Skin: Powdery. There is a certain freshness, still aquatic. On Drydown: Still very talcum powder and dusting of florals. There is a light mintyness which adds to the crispness underneath the baby powder. Verdict: Nuts. This so didn't work out either.

This is, indeed, a very red scent. Unfortunately on me, patchouli and tobacco pretty much dominate the entire scent. Not unpleasant but certainly not what I was expecting. *sigh* Again, foiled by patchouli.

Normally, amber and I get along. This one however smells like a fruity-floral powder. I can detect a bit of honey but I do get a sentiment of silky and feminine. This is pretty and yet doesn't play too well on my skin chemistry. Nuts.

For me, this is a very heavy and heady sort of sent. It's honeysuckle floating on top of something that smells very masculine, fragrant and a bit like incense, which is either the black opium or the vetivert, neither of which I have a clear idea of what it smells like. I can see this being absolutely smashing on the right guy, the kind of guy that with a sly wink leads you to a life of decadence.

In the imp: Citrus. Yum... On Skin: Upon immediate contact, I get lemon fumes. It's sharp and nose clearing. I thought I smelled grapefruit but it's more lime than grapefruit... which I think may be the lemon verbena. On Drydown: The lemon smell tones down a bit. I get a bit of a ginger smell to it. It's very sharp. It's a very 'clean' sort of smell, crystalline and a tad bitter. Verdict: I'll see what it smells on the boy. On me, it's a bit of a lime-ginger smell, too sharp for me to be comfortable with. I was hoping for more grapefruit... but I guess I should stick to Mania and Baobhan Sith for that.

In the imp: Lavender and something else On Skin: I get warm amber and some sharp herbal note. For some strange reason I think leather arm chairs and velvet. On Drydown: Again, the leathery connotation in my head gets stronger. So far, a very masculine but refined sort of smell. It's spicy, slick and sexy. Verdict: I think the boy will like this. I'm going to try it out on him. This is more 'masculine' in my mind than Wilde with the leathery sort of smell. It doesn't have the playfulness that I associate with Voodoo. This is a deep, thinking man's smell.

This is a very warm floral. I get predominantly notes of jasmine and lily. I can't smell the frankincense or sandalwood but it's there, grounding all the florals (or else, this would have been an overwhelming flower explosion)

Sometimes, I wonder if I got the same scent. On me this pretty much smells like Hollywood Babylon without the sweetness. I get a mix of red musk, something a bit spicy, a bit floral. At the very beginning I had a definite "coconut" smell going on... as well as a slight plasticky kind of smell to it. Interesting, but when it comes to "red" scents, I'm sticking to Hollywood Babylon.

This is something very light about this scent, despite being mostly honey, sugar and what smells almost like orange blossom. There is something almost powdery on my skin about this. I don't get tea or mint from this. I'm not having much luck with the CD scents in general. Sad. It doesn't have much throw either. Not a standout for me. Apparently Gennivre and I don't get along... which is a shame since there are many things about her that I do like.

In the imp: Lavender and mint! On Skin: Lavender explosion! I get whiffs of herbs and a freshness that I am going to attribute to either the lime or the mint. On Drydown: Still lavender. Noooooo. Verdict: If this is a 'green' scent, mine is definitely a pale, translucent green. It's like an herby lavender. No mint. No lime. Nada. Just lavender and herbs. Oh, Envy, you break my heart so. I was expecting minty goodness and got florals instead...

Scherezade is pretty but I have to admit that it isn't for me. The mustiness might be from the red musk. Different people work better with different musks. Red tends to be closer to "skin musk" White is fairly light. Black musk has been described as "feral". I think there's a musk discussion under either BPAL Chatter or Recommendations.

I have to be a bit daft because I don't really like martinis since I don't like gin... I prefer the vodka martini variations and I didn't read the reviews for this one either. In the imp: Gin... which apparently is the juniper berries. On Skin: Juniper explosion. I get no pine. Simply... gin. I have gin on my skin. I've sloshed a number of drinks before and I know what gin smells like on skin. And this is gin! On Drydown: Still gin. It's sharp, effervescent, bitter and I can see how it could be refreshing once you get past the bitterness. I never could. Verdict: I can't drink or WEAR martinis apparently. I'm not a fan of the gin, in either form. It was a great learning experience since now I know juniper and I aren't necessarily friends... or rather juniper loves me and I don't love it back. A bravo to Beth and the Lab though. This smells like a drink.... and alcoholic at that. Bravo!

I've tried both Snow Moon and Skadi and wasn't thrilled with the pine note in either since apparently it decided that it loved me... and was going to shower me with pine sap... and not allow any other component to love me. I've also had problems with the 'snow' component from the Lab. Most notably Snow White... *sigh* In the imp: Very piney and reminiscent of both Skadi and Snow Moon. More Skadi because I get a whiff of some berries. On Skin: Wet, it's pretty much like Skadi without the pine explosion. There is a definite berry note on my skin. This could be problematic since berries also tend to explode on my skin... but perhaps in this blend the sharpness of the pine will balance the sweetness of the berries. There is a definite cologney sort of smell, sharp, bright, clean. On Drydown: Still no snow. But the cologne sort of smell is very crisp and clean, like sunlight off snow. I don't get a citrus connotation, which I usually associate with crisp & clean smells. The pine is still there, but seems to be playing well with the berries. No coconut either! Yeah! Verdict: I can see why this is called girlie. It reminds me to an eager girl, all bundled up, enjoying the snow, the skiing and the ski instructors. She is bright and cheery, flirty and charismatic. I can picture that this is her perfume when you come in for a kiss, and you smell it wafting in from under the turtleneck and with snowflakes caught in her hair, she's laughing softly in your ear. It's a very wintery scent. Again, like Tess who swapped with me for this decant, I'm strangely attracted to it... and winter is probably my least favorite season.

I don't get a strong dirt note... in fact, I don't get a dirt note from this scent at all. I thought it was lilies and some other floral, which made me think of wisteria but wisteria is not listed among the components or in the description. It's a soft feminine perfume floral, with a drowning aquatic background. It's very feminine in a melancholic way. Unfortunately there is something in this that turns into soap on my skin. Very clean soap but it remains a soapy-undertone throughout after the drydown. But yes, I don't get the smell of dry leaves... unless it's some sort of pressed memory sort of feel, or dirt... or any real wood for the matter.

Thanks to nineveh for swapping sniffies with me! In the imp: Smells like melon, cucumber! and some sort of berry floral. On Skin: The strongest note upon application is the cucumber/melon scent. I do get the watery-sort of undertone with it and the brush of some light florals, which might be the moonflower because it shares the same sort of smell as Nuit without being so heavy. I get whiffs of orchid. On Drydown: There's something about this that reminds me to a BBW scent and I think it's the moonflower. My skin loves florals... so it loves this by extension. I can't help sniffing my wrist. It's cool but not overly aquatic, floral but not exploding. The cucumber and melon notes give it a freshness. I can definitely see why people are crazy about this. Verdict: I can't wait until April rolls around. I am ordering a bottle of this. I don't care if I have to massacre and sacrifice one of my husband's credit cards to get this. I want it. It's light, fresh, cool and a floral aquatic. Right up my alley. It's so pretty. If I could, I'd try to find an imp... but since it's nigh-impossible, I will just count pennies, rescue quarters from the gutter, pick up dimes from dirty asphalt until April rolls around. Thankfully there is a Blue Moon this year. I will shut up now because I have waxed rhapsodically about this enough.

I got a bottle cap to test from nineveh! It smells very lily, clean and yet, musky which I think is the amber. I pressed the bottle cap to my skin and it's very faint. But what I got was linen and the warm glow of amber. It's a white floral... but there was something almost slightly standoffish about this. This isn't some girl that is sighing forlornly or dreaming about love. It's very self-containted. I don't know. I like this scent and yet I don't. It's warm and yet the vibe is more stand-offish than welcoming. If Berenice were a girl, I wouldn't know what to make of her. She would be the girl that was perfectly nice and proper but that didn't want further intimacies and I would never be able to figure out what it is that she was really thinking.

Awww sad. I think most aquatics do end up having a floral component and I suspect that it's usually some kind of lily. The only one that might not be that way is Tears. But I haven't ever tried it and it's extremely rare to get. I do recall Bluebeard being salty sea air and violets. If you could handle the violets, that might be another aquatic scent.