SnornL

Ow, ow, ow, this is jasmine at its most headache-inducing. Jasmine is possibly my least favourite note ever (on my skin, it either smells like cheap soap or something a little rancid), but I'm sure I've tried scents where it plays nice before. This is not one of them. I really wanted to get some other notes out of this, but it's not happening. Soapy and stabby, straight to the swap pile.

I like this blend far more than I thought I was going to from reading the reviews... I generally avoid floral notes as much as I possibly can, especially rose and jasmine (probably my two most hated notes ever). Because I mostly hate florals, I can't really pick which one is in this, but it's quite lovely. The main thing I like about this scent, however, is the myrrh: upon initial application, it's not that strong, it just adds a spicy deepness to the femininity of the floral (and at this stage, there's something a little green and herbal feeling in there too), but as the scent dries, the myrrh keeps coming forwards until it's all that remains on my skin. No powderyness at all, which is the way most florals tend to go on me. I've tried about half the sephiroth blends so far, and this is my second favourite (after Chesed). It's totally spot on at evoking Binah - divinely feminine and with a great sense of power, I absolutely adore it.

I passed on a bottle of this one because although I like don't mind musk in a blend when it's sweet-tempered, I didn't know if I'd like it enraged. Turns out that I made the right choice, though the musk itself is not so furious - I'll probably use this imp, but the blend just isn't really me, so I won't give it much wear. I do really like the wet greenness I get out of the imp and when freshly applied, it's definitely very rainforesty and gives the scent a nice freshness to balance the alluring combination of amber and all those musks. I'm a big fan of orange too, and I find that it adds a pleasingly tart touch while it lasts... unfortunately, a few hours into the drydown, it goes from being a sweetly musky skin scent to a very unremarkable, dry and powdery mix of musk and amber. I might play around with layering or just give the imp to my mother (this actually smells like perfume she used to wear when she was my age), as there's lots to like about this blend, it's just not quite right on me.

I bought Undine because I really liked the words associated with it, but I'm not sure that this scent evokes any of those things for me. This was the last scent I tried out of the order it came in, because I was so put off by the way it smelled in the bottle, so strong on the vetiver (a note that I want to like, but it always turns on me after a little while) and overall quite murky. That first impression turned out to be pretty accurate, unfortunately. Undine is a dark, corrupted aquatic that reminds me quite a bit of the grey-brown water at the wetlands where I used to work - it smells like someone has stirred up stagnant, earthy water. It even has a salty, planty edge to it, like the mangrove trees growing along the bank. The thing is, if any of us fell into the water such that a good proportion of our clothes was covered in it, we were allowed to go home, because it's not a pleasant thing to smell of all day. Even so, I can't seem to stop sniffing my wrist. I can't make up my mind on this one at all - this probably sounds like a negative review, and it's definitely a very strange scent, but I'm not entirely opposed to it. I'll no doubt end up trading away my bottle, but it was definitely interesting to try this. I think this is what I expected R'lyeh to smell like, just based on the name; it's certainly a deep and forboding scent, with some of the same sense of darkness I get from Yog-Sothoth.

Of the Muses, I've tried Clio, Calliope & Melpomene, and Clio is by far my favourite, probably because it's the least lavendery. I don't noticeably get lavender at all in this blend; I actually have issues picking out anything but orange clearly, because when I first sniffed this in the imp, it was so effervescently fruity that I've got it in my head that this smells just like Fruit Tingles (best. lolly. ever.)... I'm not quite sure what's giving that fizz to the orange, but my mum says she smells a lot of patchouli in it, so that could be it. I really love this scent, it's quite light & sweet and perfect for the hot weather we've been having lately. I'll wait and see how long it takes me to get through the imp, but this may warrant a bottle purchase.

This was a frimp, and I love the lab for sending me such a complex and interesting scent! I like everything in the description except rose, and to hear that there are five varieties in this blend vexed me greatly. I can wear rose on very rare occasions, and happily, this is one of them, as the rose is only discernable for a short time. In the imp, Bess is all grape and lemon with a hint of orange, very bright and fresh. When first applied, the grape keeps the spotlight, with other notes dancing around in the background. It reminds me of Titania at this stage; I guess it's the grape and rose combination, though the rose is not so obvious here as to bug me. As it dries, the grape dies down and it's all about the rosemary, which I love. Orange flower and mint are clear in the background, with the rose and grape appearing on and off. The only complaint I have is that it fades too quickly, but everything's been doing that lately, so I think it's just me. Apart from that, I really love this scent, and I'll most likely get a bottle in my next order.

I got this as a frimp from the lab, and I'd never even heard of it, so I looked it up and was intrigued. I was hoping it would be a vodka martini, as I've never been a fan of gin, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. It's a very sharp, clean scent in the imp, much like dishwashing detergent or maybe it's Pine-O-Cleen. Not exactly the kind of thing I want to smell like, but I know how much a scent can change on the skin, so I applied it and waited. As the oil dried, it lost its edge and became softly herbal with a twist of lemon. It's not at all bad at this stage, I like the freshness of the citrus, but it seems to fade quite quickly into a stale detergent smell. I think this could really work for a man when it's in that bright and bubbly stage, but on my skin, it just kind of makes me smell like I've been washing dishes.

Sniffing from the bottle, Yog is fresh and citrusy, and on first impression a bit cologney. But strange as it sounds, this perfume leaves the feeling of darkness in your nose, especially on my skin when it becomes a cool, salty kind of emptiness. Luckily, I got Janie's bottle of this just in time for the warmer months, and I agree with her review that it'll be great for summer. I can definitely see myself wearing this on those 40°C days to cool down, as it evokes the feeling of floating through cold, dark space.

In the vial, the strawberry reigns supreme with the musk and cherry behind it, darkening it and keeping it from being too cloying. As it dries down on my skin, the amber and vanilla come out more and really round out the scent. It becomes this beautiful spicy-sweet blend, but unfortunately this stage doesn't last too long on me... my skin loves amber, and that's all that's left after an hour or so. I'll probably keep the imp nonetheless, maybe my skin's just being finicky today.

I'm no scholar of French history, but was the Belle Epoque known to be a time period in which people favoured particularly pungent shampoo? Because that's what I'm getting out of this imp. I wanna say Pantene, but that's not quite it; it smells like something cheaper, to be honest. Pert, maybe? On my skin, it's clean and sharp to the point of irritating my nose. The mandarin and sandalwood are discernable, but even though I usually love red sandalwood it's not particularly charming me here, and the mandarin doesn't do much more than add a bit of zest to the sickening soapy-sweet topnote (I guess it's the lillies, but I'm not sure, I'm not that familiar with opium either). It didn't improve upon drydown, and the whole thing disappeared in an hour or two. I'm all for "clean" scents, but this wasn't quite what I'm looking for.

This is really sickly-sweet, it's not me at all. Very bubblegummy to begin with, it loses some of that on the drydown, but I still far prefer Lady Macbeth for a red currant/berry scent. I imagine this might work well as a linen or maybe room scent, though, so I might keep it around a little longer.

In the imp, this is rosy as hell, with a tiny shot of bitey-sweet mandarin behind it. Wet on my skin, it's almost all roses, though there's an underlying creaminess which balances the scent out a bit. As it dries, the roses retreat and the woods and resins come out to play. I really like this stage, red sandalwood is gorgeous and it blends well with the amber. I'm just disappointed that the notes I like best don't show themselves until so late in the drydown, and that it's basically ROSEROSEROSE until then. The mandarin never really comes out either, which is a shame. I won't be buying more of this, but I'm definitely considering aging my imp to bring out the depth & spice a bit sooner.

Every time I open the imp, the first sniff I take is very sweet & somewhat floral (I'm not familiar with dragon's blood, but from first impressions, I like it!), and it's only when I raise it to my nose again that I manage to pick up the hint of something darker underneath. Wet on my skin, this is gorgeous, and exactly what I imagine a dragon's hide should smell like - warm leather with the pulse of dragon's blood just below the surface. However, as it dries, I find I can't shake the mental image of a dragon in a bathtowel and shower cap. It's still quite draconic, just very cleanly so, and I'm not sure what to make of that.

In an effort to create a pleasing environment during a surprise trip to Yuggoth, we have created a soothing yet stimulating blend of pink pepper, peony, jasmine, mango, kiwi, pomegranate, pineapple, white ginger, serene white tea and light musks. Bon voyage! The first time I tried this, it smelled like someone had tossed a dirty nappy under a jasmine bush. Yikes. I figured it was just a time of the month thing, so I'm giving it another go now, about a week and a half later. In the imp, it's very strong, and there's still the hint of something disturbingly fecal. Wet on my skin, it's pretty much kiwi, jasmine, and poop. It does become a bit more pleasant as it dries, it softens up considerably and the jasmine doesn't dominate so much (which is nice, because it was starting to make me nauseous, it got quite cloying). I get a bit of tea and peony, which is quite pretty, but it fades all too quickly and the whole thing's over in an hour or two. The initial scent is so overpowering, I don't find it worth battling through to smell good for half an hour. Definitely not a scent for me.

I hesitate to pin this scent down to any one colour when describing it... for me, it's more like the pale rainbow refracted from the dew glistening on a spider's web. Freshly applied, the floral comes through the strongest (I'm not huge on florals, so I can't guess what it is, but it's very sweet and bright), but as it dries, it retreats behind a misty veil and it's easier to catch the woods & herbs. But they're behind the mist too; the main thing I smell is just a sense of coldness or freshness, like a spring morning. Cool spring days are the perfect time to wear this perfume - I gave it a shot on one of the warmer ones and found that the dusty aspect of the scent became overwhelmingly pronounced. I've been wearing Arachne a fair bit lately, and found it varies in how long it sticks around (this is probably weather-related again, it's been all over the place lately), but after about 2 or 3 hours I'm usually left with nothing but a faint musky-incense smell which wasn't discernable in the blend before. It's still very pretty though, this is one which has me smelling my wrist constantly all day. I'm going slather-crazy with the imp, and will definitely buy a 5ml.