The_Merf

This is a strong bubblegum scent on me all the way through, and it fades very quickly. If I had to add more, I would say that the orange candy scent dominates the cherry candy scent (naturally, since I hate orange and love cherry!), and I could not pick up on the 'womanly perfume' at all, not even as a base lying underneath the more dominant sugary notes.

Man, my skin really does amp up the citrus notes. I couldn't believe what a sharp, soapy lemongrass this was on my skin. Sandalwood does not slouch on my skin, and neither do jasmine or cedarwood (in fact, those three notes often ruin other blends by taking them over). However, all I could smell, through all the stages of the scent, was a lemony note that tended toward soapy (which I'm sure was because of the rose).

I had hoped that Seance would be a really deep rosey scent, as I often find I love the red roses blended with lots of other notes and generallly "____" leaf is a real ticket for good times. However, this is all sharp rose. There's no depth from the rosewood (which has worked well with me in other blends), and the smoky quality I get from raspberry leaf or tomato leaf notes (in Alecto and The Jersey Devil) is absent.

This is a pretty standard mixing of patchouli and vetiver, two notes that I have increasingly fallen out of love with in the last few months. I will say that this is a really nice mix of the two--it's a very clean and fresh patchouli, and the vetiver gives it a bit of a "Green burn," as it were. Unlike some other red patchouli blends that have gone wrong, wrong, wrong on me, this one has behaved quite nicely.

In the imp: I can't exactly place this note, but it's a woody one. Wet: This is really driving me nuts...it's woody, but there are a few things going on here in the background. I'm surprised by how "masculine" this scent is on my skin; honestly, right now, it reminds me of Odin and Kathmandu. Drydown and wear: As the scent dries down, the woodiness becomes a bit more powdery and resinous, and almost smells like sweetened incense. This is an interesting imp, and I'm going to have to spend more time with the scent.

In the imp: This is all chamomile and geranium, with a hint of the tea rose (which I reconigze from London). Wet: This is interesting, as all the florals are sorting themselves out in terms of strength. The scent is very discordant right now. Drydown and wear: The scent dries down quickly and becomes very light. On my skin, the calla is the dominant floral, and I can barely pick up on the tea rose and I can't detect the violet at all. At no point in trying on the blend did I pick up on the autumn leaves note. This goes away on my skin very quickly.

In the imp: Bubblegum? Maybe this is coming from the pear, which I always consider a very sweet note, but I don't really think that's the source. I admit that I'm really unfamiliar with a lot of the notes in this blend, so this review probably won't be as helpful as others. Wet: It still smells almost 100% like bubblegum. Drydown and wear: The bubblegum smell goes away and leaves a very light and powdery drydown of amber and something herby (sage? coriander?). I don't get much floral--perhaps it was the floral note that gave the scent its bubblegum edge? This does remind me too much of blends with lotus to keep the imp.

In the imp: Wow, this smells like straight vetivert. I think I can only smell a whiff of dragon's blood because I know I'm supposed to be looking for it. This is very earthy vetivert, and I assume that some of the earthiness is coming from the spice mix. Wet: This does not change much from the imp. Drydown and wear: My skin likes spices, and true to form, warms this scent up considerably. This smells like warm earthy vetivert, with almost no dragon's blood at all. Vetiver/t is one of those notes that I have started to like less and less, and it needs to be blended with something for me to find it appealing. The DB might have worked, but it is washed out on my skin.

Man, I had a bad feeling that this scent would only have a few reviews--a real shame too, because it's quite lovely, really In the imp: Smells like a light mixture of woods and herbs. Wet: I'm not entirely sure what shea butter should smell like, but there is a creamy edge to the woods and herbs while this is wet that I'm going to attribute to the shea butter. Drydown and wear: This is really, really nice, and I'd say that this, along with Danube, are the only two GC scents in the last 50+ that I've sampled that I wanted to move to the 'potential bottle' list right away instead of testing it again (but I will test again--I always test again). This is very clearly woody/herby, but it is clean, light and really classy. This is light polished wood, not heavy wood on a wild tree, dark, with ancient bark peeling off (like Kathmandu, Yggdrasil and others).

In the vial and immediately on my skin, Rage is one of three scents I have tried that straight-up smells like the medicine amoxicilin (Undertow and Blood Lotus are the other two). I thought this was a lotus problem, but I think that the same effect also occurs when dragon's blood is combined with lots of other sweet notes. Thankfully (because this particular smell makes me sick), this does not last long, and what emerges on the drydown is a very light rose. Definitely off to swaps.

In the imp: mint, with 'eau de amoxil' hanging around at the edges. Wet: Min-tee! This reminds me of LifeSavers mints, mint gum (spearmint) and other sugared minty candy things. Drydown and wear: Stays pretty much the same. There is a sort of pink haze floating around this scent, which I guess comes from the blooms.

OK, my review was eaten twice...Pele is a very lovely blend on me--the ginger dries up the florals and turns them into very soft and creamy white florals (as opposed to the high, sharpness of say, white rose). No doubt this is the work of the muget. However, this is not as "tropical" as I thought it would be, since when I sniffed it in the imp, it smelled a lot like the beach (it sort of reminded of Intrigue in the imp, but they were totally different on my skin). This really is quite pretty, and I'm lucky in that I get good throw from it.

How old is my imp--this baby's got Old Kathmandu on the label! In the imp: That is some mighty powerful aged woods, y'all. They are heavily smoked, and I think that's not just the cedar, but the sandalwood too. Wet: This goes on very much as it smells in the imp. It is an overpowering smoked wood, very dusty and almost "bone-dry." I often get this with orris, but it's undoubtedly cedar here. Drydown and wear: The variety of spices are more evident on drydown. I don't get anything in common w/Scherezade and other saffron blends, so maybe it's the Nepalese spices. This is an interesting little fellow (though I get no mint here and wonder if that's part of "new" Kathmandu...mint usually doesn't work on me), and I'll mull over the imp, at least. Drydown and wear:

In the imp: Creamy floral that has the slightest suggestion of lilac, but almost reminds me of lilies (which is what tuberose smells like to me). Wet: Big blast of tuberose right away. A very creamy lilac that isn't quite as 'high-pitched' or steamy as that note can be. Perhaps this is the effect of the violet; I can't smell violet specifically, but that must be what is grounding the lilac. Drydown and wear: Unfortunately, as with most lilac-based things, this vanishes almost immediately. It's really lovely, but because of the lack of staying power, I'm going to have to swap the imp.

In the imp: A citrus floral--I'm going to bet that this is a combination of the blooms, the aquatics and the "decay" notes. Wet: Very much the same as in the imp. Very orange (but my skin tends to amp all citrus notes). Drydown and wear: The orange might actually be coming from the incense, as this smells a lot like Cairo on me. However, there's more floral at base in this scent than there is in that one. As it goes down, some of the clay/stone emerges, but this remains orange.

In the imp: I'll be honest, I'm going off the note list here and assuming that what I smell is the plum, because I really can't discern anything. Wet: This is fruits and florals...it's very light and I still can't pick out anything in particular. Drydown and wear: This vanishes pretty quickly on my skin, and there's just the slightest mix of fruit and floral where I tested it on my skin.

In the imp: The vetiver is not overwhelming, but it seems like the violet and the vetiver are in their own separate streams and not really blending. Wet: The vetiver is really strong for a few minutes, and then it smells like it did in the imp except for the fact that the notes blend together better. Drydown and wear: The vetiver is not bad in this at all--it's not nearly as green, earthy and dominant as it can be. Oddly enough, my biggest problem with this blend is from the violet. This is one of the highest, sharpest violets I can recall from a BPAL blend. It almost smells like a flower that's been grown in "drowned" soil (so maybe the vetiver is contributing a little bit). The drydown gets better on this, but the floral remains really sharp.

The Supreme Crown, Rashith ha-Gilgalim, the Primordial Ether, Primum Mobile, the Source of All, the Origin of Will that radiates 620 pillars of light. In the imp: This kind of smells like a cinnamon roll...in frankincense. Wet: I was floored to read all the people talking about almond and cherries...I get nothing like that. This smells like a combo of warm amber and sweet frankincense, with some sort of spice. Drydown and wear: The spice becomes more prominent and really smells like cinnamon on me...it's very sweet and does remind me of a bakery. In the latest stage of the drydown, that bakery-cinnamon combines with a powdery amber. I quite like this.

In the imp: I think I have a nose for ambergris, because no matter what else is in a blend, I smell it the most. However, I also pick up on the leather, vetiver, and, of course, the oakmoss. Wet: Oakmoss and ambergris. This gives it almost an aquatic quality while it is wet. Right after the initial blast, I can detect the leather and a mix of the vetiver and black musk, with more vetiver. The leather is a very clean one and reminds me the most of Les Infortunes de la Vertu. Drydown and wear: This smells like Infortunes with ambergris in place of the orange blossom note. The ambergris (and vetiver, I believe) give this a cologne coolness, and I say this scent is gender netural leaning toward masculine.

In the imp: I can pick up both floral notes. Wet: All narc, all the time (!!). This smells exactly as Darkness smelled on me, except that Darkness had a bit more kick from the opium. I honestly cannot pick up on the rose at all. Drydown and wear: I'm really stunned. I must amp narcissus like nobody's business, because that's still all I can smell.

Man what a great frimp from the Lab--thanks, guys! In the imp: Strong and sharp; I can discern some floral, but I'm more bowled over by the aquatic sense. Wet: There is an initial blast of aquatic, but then there are these wonderful flowers...flowers lightly dusted with rain by the river. This is really nice and evocative of spring. Drydown and wear: This doesn't morph that much. Perhaps the florals become stronger, but not by a lot. This is really a lovely, lovely blend, and the result is very much akin to a single note Lilac oil that I have (not by BPAL). Just fabulous. I adore this.

In the imp: This naughty little thing broke en route, and I was like, "WTH smells kind of like Black Forest?" Indeed, the pine, pine, pine is the mark of this scent in its imp. Wet: Right away, this goes in the Alecto/Lear family of scents (which is good, seeing as how I <3 Alecto and like Lear a lot). The blackberry leaf behaves a lot like the raspberry leaf in Alecto, except this is a bit cooler and deeper with the pine (the vetiver in Alecto is not strong on me). Drydown and wear: This gets nice and complex; I can discern the tomato leaf and the cedarwood as it morphs. This imp is definitely sticking around.

In the imp: This is straight up clean patchouli...it struck me as being very close to red musk. I'm reminded of Urd, without the grapeyness. Wet: Patchouli right off the start, pretty much as I smell in the imp. Drydown and wear: This starts to morph after about 10 minutes on my skin. The patchouli actually disappears pretty quickly, and reveals the peach and musk (with a slight powdery bit of amber). Sadly, the peach and musk do not interact well on my skin, and this smells like a skin scent, but slightly off, as if the perfume had spoiled. This one's off to swaps.

In the imp: This is the wine note from Lilith, and it dominates. I think I pick up on a bit of the flower. Wet: I actually removed this scent from my GC wishlist after I realized that honey and I didn't get along so well. However, at the start, this is all wine and myrrh, and a touch of floral. As it moves from the initial stage, the honey does come out more and more. Drydown and wear: The story of the drydown is the emergence of the honey. The honey stays on the edge of stale, and I'm afraid that after this sits for 2+ hours (it's been there for about 90 mins.) it will give me the usual rankness of honey. Still, this imp is going to get a second shot from me; I do like the initial stages.

In the imp: A shot of incense (perhaps even the ozone from Nyarlathotep?) and citrus Wet: Citrus explosion! This is very orange creamsicle, and yet there is an incense edge to it. Drydown and wear: The orange dries down (thank goodness, as it's not a favorite scent of mine) and what is left is incense with a surprisingly heavy waft of cedar. I'm going to have to mull this imp over. It's an unusual take on incense blends, which I like, since I like unusual and I like incense, but I have to see what the average time for evaporation is on the heavy orange scent.