owlfeathers

In the imp: Woah perfume. I'm not actually sure what most of the components in this smell like, but I'm not catching any juniper or myrrh. It seems very familiar, like something my mother or grandmother would have let me try off their vanity as a kid. Wet: A musty drawer. I have no idea where that came from. Maybe that's the violet? Dry: Still a musty drawer, probably at my grandmother's house when I was little. After an hour or so it becomes a musty drawer with dried flowers in it. Though my grandmother didn't have one like that, I can't shake the image of opening a dresser while clearing out her room and smelling that.. Not something I see myself wearing, but it's a pretty powerful scent image.

This is dead, dry leaves with a very light backing of vanilla and myrrh filling them out. Leaves in soft focus, if you will. It didn't change noticeably on me from wet to dry, and it didn't last long. It's by far the truest dead leaf scent I've tried so far, but I was hoping for more of the other notes.

This is one of my favorites and wish I could wear it more. On me, Zombi smells like dry earth and dried roses, dead but calm and not at all menacing, and it lasts all day. Just as I think it's gone, I'll move a bit and suddenly the dried roses are back. Unfortunately, it's also how I found out I amp rose to ridiculous heights. Even barely touching the tip of the wand to my wrist, I'll hear complaints hours later about how someone must be soaked in perfume. Curse my chemistry. Still, I'm constantly tempted to buy more to use at home because it smells so wonderful. I'd love it as an atmosphere spray.

A furious scent, powerful and scorching, running red with fire and blood: pumpkin with red musk, pimento, red pepper absolute, red vetiver, rose geranium, and crushed red poppies. I'm hesitant to be the first on this because I'm not a terribly eloquent reviewer, but here goes. This is strong. My hair's too short for me to sniff directly, but that didn't matter. I was smelling it all day, and woke up the next morning still smelling it. I was hesitant to wear it out in public. Definitely heed the warning to apply it lightly. (At first I thought this might be an unavoidable "very short hair + gloss = way too concentrated scent" issue, but my other gloss is much milder. I may be amping something.) I could make out the red pepper and what I think might be the pimento, but nothing else distinct. There's a sort of creamy base that might be pumpkin, but if so it's canned pureed pumpkin rather than fresh carving pumpkin. Overall this is a very red-orange, peppery scent. Furious is a good word for it; this screams its presence. Too much for me to wear often, and one I'll hesitate to wear around other people.

2011 version: A very situational scent, probably better suited to a room fragrance than for wearing. Both new and now, it smells like a leaf fire. I can't make anything else out. I pull it out now and then when I'm headed out for an autumn walk and want to smell/feel like I'm ablaze or might be, but it's pretty intense and I can't imagine most people appreciating being near it, so I keep it for times I'm unlikely to run into anyone else.

In the bottle, this is cacao with a tinge of dry leaves. My own hair's too short for me to sniff directly, but the initial spray in the air smelled great, and I kept catching light whiffs of a dark chocolate incensey smell throughout the day that made me wish I could get a better sniff. MUCH more subdued than The Great Pumpkin of War, which was expected but still a relief. I don't often get comments on my BPAL choices, but this one got "wait, who smells good?" so I'm counting it a win.

I'm so glad I have a bottle of this. I wish it was GC. It blends together well, and I can't separate out any of the notes clearly. It starts off warm musky scent with a bit of incense that gets stronger as it dries, and within a half hour it's smoldering. I don't get a smoke smell from it, just a distinct sense that something's burning. About 14 hours later it's almost gone, leaving a faint version of that starting warm, soft leather musk with an occasional whiff of incense. It seems to stay pretty close to my skin for the duration. The overall effect strikes me as golden and unassailably confident. I feel like a demon prince with this on.

I got an imp of Dorian for the vanilla and tea notes. Dried down, it smells exactly like the lemon cookies my mother let me use for tea parties when I was little. No trace of the tea itself, though. I'll have to try again sometime, but I don't think this one's for me. I'd rather not smell like tray of lemon cookies.

I tried this for an hour or two a while back and liked the scent, though I'm not familiar with the floral components so I can't say what was stronger for me. I tried wearing it again today, though, and after a few hours realized that it had morphed into a perfect imitation of fresh, just opened Play-Doh with no trace of the earlier florals. Something about my skin chemistry must not work well with this scent.

Samhain 2010 I wanted to like this, but ugh. Wet, nothing but patchouli. Dry, the same. I wanted to wash it off or at least get away from the smell, but kept it on for an hour to see if anything else came out. Now, if I stick my nose right up against my wrist and sniff I get a faint trace of apple, and maybe some damp woods. Otherwise it's just the earlier unpleasant smell, albeit fainter. I keep looking for the pumpkin and spices but can't find them. It sounds like this one ages well, so I'll stick it away somewhere and try later.

I'm strangely fond of this one even though it seems to change every time I apply it. The first time I tried it, it was all linen for quite a while. A different day, it was tea and milk. Most recently, it was all ginger cookie and no trace of linen. I like the tea and ginger, and since this tends to smell like a tea party, I put on a bit when I don't want to smell like perfume but do want something cheerful about. I think I'd like it better without the milk, but it's hard to say. Overall, hard to predict but fun to wear once in a while.

I wanted to like this. I generally like Persephone-themed things, and I'm fond of both roses and pomegranates. On me though, it's loud, overwhelming rose. Even a few hours after applying I can only smell rose. The rose scent it fades to is fine, but not at all what I was hoping for, and the early scent is just too strong. I didn't think I amped rose, but maybe I do. I'll hang on to this one, but I think an imp's plenty.