Meirion

Frimp in a recent lab order. This smells exactly like a rose incense I burned all the time in freshman year of college, and I mean exactly. As if I'm standing right next to the incense burner. It's not just rose plus incense, it's a smoky heady rose incense. Strong, strong throw. It's very pretty, but unfortunately not something I want to wear on my skin.

A very pretty, simple, bright green floral. It smells just like walking into a florist's, or the moment you cut a flower's stem. I don't get the spiciness of carnation at all. This one is nice for summer. I wore it on a bike ride once and felt very fancy-free.

Veggies, baby powder, and that's it. I don't get any leather or vetiver whatsoever.

This one is not a friend to my skin chemistry. It smells exactly like the blue stuff in a porta-potty. A complete tragedy.

The Black Tower's metallic note is an all-time favorite of mine. It's like a silver sword abandoned in an overgrown hedge-maze. John Watson has a nice metallic note as well, like a shiny golden brass.

Super-lemony tea and leather. That's pretty much it. I get none of the fruit or florals -- I was surprised to see them when I revisited the lab's description after wearing it around for a while. The apricot is definitely there in the bottle, but it disappears the minute it hits my skin. The leather goes on a little plasticky but mellows out into a pleasant, worn in brown leather (Cohen's jacket?) This is sweet (I get a little of the honey when I look for it) but not at all cloying. It's masculine without being remotely cologney. It feels appropriate for work (and I teach at a preschool, so that's no small feat). I reach for it when I'm feeling cheerful and mild-mannered. Major throw. One time I applied it and my housemate instantly shouted from the next room, "That smells so good! It smells like the third grade!" Make of that what you will.

I had to get this one because I'm a huge nerd for astrological aspects, and Mars and Saturn are dominant in my chart. I was hoping for something gritty, dry, herbal, resinous, and a little unsettling. Before aging, the resins and musk dominated. Not a dry scent at all, and not particularly herbal to my nose. It made me think of a heady dark purple, sweet and chewy. It quickly became a power scent for me, partly because of the association with power-planets, but it was an in-your-face scent that definitely required me to be in a certain mood. After aging for more than a year ... oh my goodness, y'all. It's gorgeous. In the bottle, I smell the herbs right away. There's something that reminds me of clary sage. It's distinctly medicinal, but mystical. Like opening the medicine chest of a powerful sorcerer who works as the village healer on the side. And those herbs are totally saturated with rich resins. It's like a bundle of dry herbs was dipped in a (slightly malevolent) magical potion and then left to sit in the sun. Once it's on my wrist, the resins turn more incensey and the herbs take on a slightly charred quality. As it settles it gets drier and dustier, and I realize that the sorcerer's workshop is in the middle of a dry evergreen forest, on a desolate mountain, in an isolate realm. I could almost swear there's a stone note in there somewhere. Everything blends beautifully, while retaining complexity and the distinctive quality of each note. This scent has so much personality and I'm smitten with it. It's definitely dark, and a little scary, but strangely down-to-earth at the same time (that's Saturn for you). It's the scent of being forsaken by everyone but yourself and the mountains. Does that sound horrible? I promise it's not. Major throw and lasting power.

From a frimp, left to sit in a drawer for almost two years ... The aftershave / men's cologne aspect is dominant, which isn't normally my thing. But if this is an aftershave, it's a really beautiful one. It's much less piercing than this family of scents often is to my nose. Much more smooth and golden. There's a distinct citrus note, but it's well-blended and not too sharp. I definitely smell metal, kind of a polished brass. I love love love a good metal note, and it's beautifully featured here. I also love a good cloth note, which is not so foregrounded, but definitely present. On wet, the linen presents initially as the kind of "clean linen" candle scent that smells nothing like real linen to my nose. Thankfully, it very quickly relaxes into something more realistic and subtle, and a pleasant wooliness starts to come through. After a few hours, this really is the smell of a gentle-but-masculine man burnishing a brass revolver with a worn cloth. If I were to get a big bottle of a cologne-y scent, it would be this one.

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