Venneh

Can finally review this, as I'm back at school and with my decants. In the decant, I think I'm getting the verbena first and foremost; very lemony, which makes me edgy. On my skin, this is very, very much verbena; wood polish all the way. We'll see if any of the rest of this comes out, but I'm not having much hope. Yeah, wood polish verbena all the way, and doesn't work very well with my skin chemistry. Swaps/sales.

Last night was Bon Vivant; champagne and strawberries for the yay! And today was Snake Oil; no particular significance there, that was just what I chose from the imps-that-I-need-bottles-of bag.

In the imp, this is herbal wood, and really very sharp on me. It's making me a bit nervous, so I'm going to be applying lightly. On my skin, it's a really sharp green and wood note. And if anything, this is confirming my skin chemistry; this may be the single worst BPAL on me to date. Can't get this off quick enough.

In the imp, this is sharp floral incense. Hrm. On my skin, it's a mix of the incense and the sharper florals. Not really sure if I like this. Turns into a generic floral. Passing on this.

In the imp, this is pretty straightforward ROSE. On my skin, this is really strong, heady rose, like Peacock Queen taken up to 11. Not sure how to feel about it. This ends up being too intense of a rose for me. 'm actually getting a headache off of it.

This is definitely mulled wine in the decant, and absolutely beautiful. Now, we'll just see if that scent translates to my skin. Once on, this is mulling spices first and foremost, with the wine smoothing things out underneath. Barring any sudden changes, this one is probably going to the DISOs. Amazingly wonderful mulled wine scent; to the DISOs for sure.

In the decant, I get a fruity-floral red musk with an undercurrent of patchouli; if the latter note can stay down far enough, this could be beautiful. On my skin, the red musk is beautiful and mixes with the patchouli to make the latter wearable, and there's a deeper fruit/floral note that I think is going to come out with a bit of wearing. We'll see where this goes. ..And of course it's the patchouli that ends up coming out. Agh. Swaps/sales.

In the bottle, this smells very similar to I Fell In Love With a Floating Brain and Beaver Moon '07, only a touch darker; cake, berries, and I think that I'm catching either the chocolate or the tea note. Once on my skin, the tea and a lemony scent (maybe the leonine musk?) amps. Hmmm. Not quite what I was expecting. We'll see what this does. The lemon tea fades out after a couple of hours to a berry scent, and then finally down to a cake scent that's a bit on the moist side and very similar to IFILWaFB (and makes me want to retest that scent again). Doesn't quite work on me, sadly. Ah, well, though; there's definitely going to be someone out there who wants this.

In the imp, I get all of the notes, and it's very sharp. On my skin, it's looking like the lily and neroli first and foremost, with the rest lurking underneath. And then the ginger comes out, and hoo-ee, that's strong. Ends up fading back to lily and neroli, not that good. Swaps/sales.

Seeming balance between rose and frankincense; then again, the former has tended to dominate two-note blends like this, so we'll see how this goes. On my skin, it's still pretty equally balanced, which is something in and of itself. Depending on how this goes, this may end up being a stealth bottle. ...And the rose ends up domming the frankincense. Of course. *sigh* Swaps/sales.

In the imp, I'm getting sugar and booze, and maybe a bit of mint in there; we'll see how it plays on my skin. Once on, it's pretty much the same, and not all that appealing on my skin. We'll see how this goes. Ends up being a really sharp scent, I can't quite place my finger on what it reminds me of, but it's not good. Washing it off now.

In the decant, this smells dry and spicy, almost like Sunbird, or at least a close cousin. On my skin, this is first and foremost spicy, not quite sure just what it is yet. We'll see how this goes. I think what I wind up with is the red musk and a bit of spice, I'm not really sure. Overall, it's just kind of meh on me.

Dark chocolate with a heavy cream undertone. I got a partial decant of this as a Santa gift from sunshinedaisybliss; thanks again! In the decant, this smells delicious; dark chocolate with a creamy undernote, just like the scent description, with maybe a hint of fruit in there? On my skin, it's an almost fruity chocolate that's bordering on plastic. Uh oh. This ends up being a chocolateish note with a strong component of paint on me. Sadly, just not for me; PSX54 works far better, and in the meantime, someone else will appreciate this far more.

In the frimp, there's a herbal/resinous edge to this, not really sure what to think. It's pretty much the same on my skin. Not really feeling exceptionally kinky tonight with this. We'll see how this goes. Ehh. Pretty resinous, borderline cough syrup. Going to pass on this.

In the frimp, this is smelling pretty similar to Wicked, which was a spectacular failure on me. Doesn't give me much hope for this, but the hell with it, might as well try it. On my skin, it's pretty much myrrh, with maybe the florals lurking underneath. And pretty much the exact same as Wicked. May as well try and see how it goes. And yep, it's pretty much Wicked again.

In the imp, this is jasmine, and a bunch of other florals, with something else lurking underneath. We'll see what this does. On my skin, this is a pretty generic floral, with the sandalwood supporting it. We'll see if the frankincense or the black currant comes out at all. Nope, Floral McGeneric Floral all the way.

A sinister, darkly seductive scent inspired by poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Violet entwined with vanilla and gardenia. Got this as a frimp recentily; in the imp, this smells like a predominantly violet blend, with vanilla and gardenia lurking underneath. On my skin, it's predominantly violet and gardenia, and it's not blending so well. We'll see how this goes, but it's not looking good. The vanilla in this goes plasticy, and with the gardenia and violet, it's just wrong. To the swaps/sales with this one.

In the decant, I'm getting spices, maybe a bit of herbs, and amber. Maybe some patchouli, which could kill this blend for me. We'll see what it does. Once on my skin, it's a blend of amber and patchouli, but the earlier seems to be mellowing the latter. No spices or hyssop yet. Hmm. This could be a good blend. This turns into an amazing warm spice scent on my skin. I love it. Definite bottle.

Got a tester of this in a recent sales package; thanks, cfransesca! In the decant, this smells like very bubbly champagne, almost soda-y. On my skin, it's primarily champagne, with the chocolate and skin musk lurking in there somewhere. We'll see if it comes out or not. ...And that's a no, sadly. I'm not really sure what's going on here, as the champagne note in these blends seems to be radically different than the one used in Bon Vivant, which is the best champagne blend on me to date. Huh.

Got a decant of this in a recent swap; in the decant, it smells like cocoa powder, with a faint amber note. On my skin, the amber and cocoa come out in equal measure, not quite sure what to think of it. We'll watch what it does as it dries down. The cocoa note swallows the amber on me, leaving a cocoa scent that's fading quickly. I have better cocoa/chocolate scents, so this'll not be a bottle upgrade, but I'll keep the decant.

Got a decant of this in a recent swap; in the decant, it smells like chocolate, with fruits/florals/spices lurking underneath. Interested to see what this does. On my skin, this smells like Lambs-Wool with chocolate added; spicy apples and chocolate drizzled over it. It later turns into chocolate and spices, but regardless, this is one of the best 13s on me to date. Definite bottle upgrade.

Got this as a decant in a recent swap. In the decant, this is all sharp florals and herbs. Interested to see what it'll do on my skin. Once on, it's that sharper floral/herbs at first, but seems to mellow out into a more perfume-y smell. We'll see what this does. What it does is go to an herbal-cologne sort of smell, vaguely reminiscent of Pa-Pow, and then goes to nothing. Well, that decides it. Swaps/sales.

In the frimp, I'm getting something similar to a fruit tree; fruit, and what I'm assuming is wood. On my skin, it turns into a boozy fruit and wood scent, with a hint of musk. Hmm. We'll see what this does. Aaand the combination of the musk and the woods on me seems to have sent it careening into cologne-ville. If there was a man in my life, I'd probably give this to him to wear. Sadly, there is not, so to the swaps/sales with this.

In the decant, I'm getting mint, herbs, moss, trees, and dirt. ...This probably will not turn out well. On my skin, it's primarily the mint and the herbs and the moss. I'm going to let this one sit for a long while, as it seems to change dramatically, if the other reviews I'm seeing are any indication. Nope, mint and herbs and woods and moss and dirt. Swaps/sales.

Got my last two decants today, so it's test away! In the decant, I'm getting honey, nuts, berries, and grains of some kind; this smells like it'd be wonderful for breakfast. On my skin, it's primarily honey, berries, and I think the nuts and grains thrown in there somewhere. Hmm. We'll see what this does, but it's a bottle candidate. Both on the thumb test and the wider skin test, this smells like something you'd cook up warm for breakfast, almost like porridge or something. I likes. Bottle needed.