reconditarmonia

Starts out very salty, and dries down, rather weakly, to what I imagine is dragon's blood*. Not for me; I'll probably trade or give away my imp to someone who can appreciate it. *I've never smelled it before, couldn't describe it well (though having been told it's like lilac, I can sorta imagine that), and probably couldn't identify it. It won't put me off a blend, but I won't leap for it.

Pollen-dusted honey, diligent tonka, steadfast chamomile, and goodly hyssop. This smells like sunshine on me. I'm not much for the images, beyond color, but this is like sitting in a field of yellow flowers. Floral honey with tonka to ground it. edit: when I talk about my perfume, I've come to refer to this as the "happy bees" scent.

Tons of leather - smells very like The Bow and Crown of Conquest on me, so perhaps I amp the leather in both. If I bury my nose in my wrists, I do get some parchment (and maybe other components too, but it's too light to tell), but this is mostly leather. Edit: I put this on in the evening without washing off Against Idleness, which I'd worn during the day, and either Dee grew on me very quickly or it's improved by layering. I may try it with some of my other creamy-type oils (Morocco, Hod) to see what happens.

Starts out with a lot of sage - I smell like a seasoning! Luckily, it dries down to a leather/vanilla/lavender/cedar (?). I like it.

I can't believe how beautiful this is. Strong, pink-smelling rose. There's a sort of translucent feel to it.

Wet: Lilac! *dances joyously* Dry: Mostly lilac! (I don't know what wisteria and osmanthus smell like.) Something that is probably green tea. Not getting the lemon, which is a little sad. But I mostly bought this for the lilac anyway. Quite weak on me after the first few minutes. Goes through a stage where it doesn't smell as true and then fades almost completely. Edit: Gave it another try, as I tend to for anything I like at all, and I get more of the lemon/cedar/tea when it's wet. Dry, it's well-blended (it's hard to pick out anything but the lilac and maybe tea), but still very faint. Caveat: I can't identify musk.

I get mostly blackcurrant and ozone, with what may be resin or musk. Disappointing, as I got this in the hope of finding a lavender blend, but apparently lavender is not very strong on me at all. Still pretty, but not what I was hoping. Edit: Okay, I get a bit more lavender in the drydown. This blend is quite weak on me, but for what I can smell of it, I like it. Edit 2: Apparently not as weak as I thought, I keep getting whiffs of it.

Jasmine jasmine jasmine. Apparently I amp jasmine! Who knew? (Maybe there's lavender in the drydown, but I didn't wait. It would probably have been unsuccessful anyway, as lavender hasn't shown up strongly on me in any of the lavender blends I've tried.)

In imp (and in the package, as one of the two imps I ordered of it broke): candy cinnamon or other spice Wet on skin: Pepper, tea, clove, allspice. Darker, less sweet, and less realistic-dry than Bengal. Dry: Sandalwood is coming out, otherwise mostly the same. Sort of an odd "clean" undertone, but that could be me anticipating an undertone, not finding one, and smelling the skin of my wrists. I prefer Bengal for spicy scents; it's richer and doesn't fade as quickly.

In imp: Sweet spice. Wet on skin: Dry, realistic cinnamon with sweetness that may be honey or clove. Lighter in "color" than Plunder, sweeter, and the spices are drier in feel. Dry: Mostly the same. Dry spice with underlying sweetness; identifiable notes are cinnamon and musk. I like it a lot; it'll go on my bottle list (which is not official, it's my list of things I'd buy if I had an infinite amount of money - but still).

The Lion is really similar to Hod on me - perhaps I amp amber?

In imp: I can't smell much, but I have a fairly weak sense of smell, so that doesn't mean much. Wet on skin: Amber! Dry on skin: More amber! (I'm actually wondering if there's amber in Hod now, because they're kind of warm and creamy in the same way. This seems less white, though.) I like it. Mmm. *purrs* Edit: Tried it again, and still don't get the spice. In fact, not only do I not get the spice, I layered it with Plunder to try and approximate what everyone else is getting, and minutes later all I could smell was amber. It's pretty, and I think I prefer it to Hod - it's just not what I thought it would be. Edit: I just spilled half my imp over my hand. *screams* And I was thinking of trading Hod because I had an amber scent that was better. ...I can smell the spice on my hand, though! Maybe I should try what little remains on non-wrist parts of my body and see what happens. Son of Edit: Came back to this (on wrist) almost six months after I first tried it so I could compare it with another amber blend, and O HAI SPICES. That took a while. Lovely combination. If only I hadn't spilled it.

A very fresh, rather juvenile carnation-rose. Dries a bit warmer, but not very strong or exciting. EDIT: "Fresh" note identified (from Kumiho) as the white tea.

Dorian is seriously sugary and cotton-candy-like on me - I get the vanilla, sugar and musk but none of the tea or fougere.

Starts out OMGWINE in the imp but dries into something very unpleasant. Myrrh?

Not getting the fougere, not getting the tea - just an almost sickly sweet vanilla-musk-sugar. Almost like cotton candy. Not for me. (Which is good, since it's, er, not for me - this is a sneak test of an imp I bought for a friend.)

In imp: N/A (the imp of Plunder in my order broke, so everything smells like that) Wet on skin: A floral I don't recognize (which may be the wisteria, or a combination of the other notes that comes over as unfamiliar), seems aquatic initially Dry: Rose with something that sweetens it, reads as blue-purple, and is probably the wisteria. Not getting the lavender, which is disappointing since I bought this in the hope of a nice rose-lavender blend. Verdict: Pretty. Probably not bottle-worthy, but I'll definitely use up my imp. I'm glad this works on me, since I love Keats. Edit: I still don't get lavender, but what I've been identifying as wisteria is similar to Crabtree and Evelyn's lavender hand lotion. Neither smells particularly like lavender to me, but I guess that's the lavender.

I guess I'll try it and see.

I was planning on including an imp of Dee in my next order, but then I read through the reviews and a lot of people are getting a tobacco note. (Alas! Books, tonka, and incense, too good to be true.) I really don't want that - is there an impable scent that's similar, but without tobacco? (I'd totally get Aziraphale if it were impable, but alas.)

I think someone already did a pirate set, but here's a more complete set (like other sets I make, all GC and impable): Anne Bonny Mary Read Calico Jack Plunder Grog Port Royal Ile de la Tortue Windward Passage Black Pearl (if you insist) Hurricane Kill-Devil Lightning Tavern of Hell Tempest Undertow Greed Havana Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo Windward Passage

Ach, I should have asked here instead of in the free-for-all! What do original series Sephiroth look like? Of course Hod Resurrected has the resurrection label unrelated to the theme, but do the originals have special labels or just GC?

What BPAL blends have a honey note similar to that in Burt's Bees Thoroughly Therapeutic products? (in particular the honey in the body butter)

Alchemy! (/hermeticism/mysticism/masonry) Dee Saint-Germain Rose Cross (Tzadikim Nistarim?) ... I can't think of any more. :/ Hellfire isn't quite the same thing.

Thanks!

What (GC/impable) scents would you recommend for summer that aren't fruity? I might end up trying Kumiho/Embalming Fluid/Shanghai anyway, but I'd rather avoid aquatics and fruit. For reference, King of Hearts is rose/lavender on me and feels very fresh, the sort of thing I would use when it's hot out, though I got it this past winter and don't know how well it will stand up to the heat. I'm also thinking Moon Rose and Psyche/Ode on Melancholy?