holborne

Wet, Port Royal is extremely spicy; I get the impression of cinnamon and cardamom and not all that much else. When it dries, it's far more woody than it is wet, although the cardamom note is predominant on me. It doesn't smell like rum or wood to me so much as it does a spice rack. After about half an hour, I can detect a faintly salty note, but frankly, I probably wouldn't have identified it as such had it not been part of the Lab's description. To me, this is a rather masculine scent, although a woman who liked unisex scents could certainly wear it.

I admit I was a little worried about this one, because lemony scents tend to smell like Lemon Pledge on me. But this one is lovely. When wet, it smells mostly like tea (can't quite tell whether it's green or white tea) with a bit of sugar and lemon added. It dries down to a mostly tea scent; the lemon doesn't linger. Its only drawback, really, is that it fades very quickly on me. I could detect it after a couple of hours, but only very slightly. Rather subtle throw, as well.

I kind of fell in love with this one the moment I put it on, and I think it's pretty much a must-have for anyone who likes wine scents. It starts out a little sweet, but dries down to a honeyed grape scent, leaning toward spicy rather than sticky sweet. It has a good throw, and it lasts forever; I could still smell it hours after I put it on. I definitely need a bottle of this one.

In the bottle: Bitter dirt. Really -- bitter dirt. On, wet: Even more bitter than in the imp. The bitterness sort of reminds me of a mouthful of unsweetened chocolate, or maybe that bitterness you sometimes get with blackberries. I'm not at all sure I'm going to like this one. Drydown: The bitterness fades, and turns to dry earth. Eventually after about an hour, the earthy scent turns to a dark floral. The description says magnolia, although I get something far less sweet than magnolia -- perhaps a very dark version of it. I love this way this one dried down and developed, and I'm glad it was included as a frimp, as I probably would have passed it by, thinking it wasn't for me. I started out thinking there was no way I was going to like it, but I loved it by the end of the drydown. The best part was how it took its time revealing itself -- intense bitterness, followed by earth, followed by gentle dark flowers. It really is like a funeral and the ensuing mourning. Gorgeous.

I love honey, so I was looking forward to this one. However, I didn't smell any honey note at all. Oddly, I got orange instead of honey, and to me it smelled sickly sweet. To be honest about it, the smell I got was orange marijuana -- it had that same sick sweet smell that pot has. Not a good scent, to me. Off to swaps.

This just smelled like straight jasmine on me; I didn't smell any other notes at all. I quite like jasmine, but this makes me think of The Body Shop's jasmine oil circa 1990. It's nice enough, but not very interesting, at least not on me.

Ok, well, I opened the imp and smelled vetiver. Lots and lots and lots of vetiver. But the description says violet, which I loved, so I gamely swiped some on my hand. Bad, bad, bad idea. All I smelled was vetiver; I squeaked and ran to the bathroom to scrub it off. If you like vetiver, this may work really well for you. If, like me, you hate the stuff, stay far away. Preferably in another room. Yeek.

In the imp: Smells a lot like Manischewitz to me. Uh-oh -- I hate Manischewitz. Wet: Much less wine smell than in the imp; smells sweet and floral, but with a quickly developing woody scent, which I take to be the myrrh. Dry: Ah, now the myrrh is coming out very strongly. I can definitely pick out the honey scent, although I probably wouldn't have identified it as honey had I not already known the note was in this one. The strongest notes are myrrh and wine; it makes me think, probably rather incongruously, of the scents of my family Seder -- wine mixed with spice and nuts. The throw is medium-strong, which is probably a good thing, since it's a fairly aggressive sort of scent. LOVE. Must have a bottle soonest.

Definitely need to seek out Marshmallow Poof and Plastic Pink Flamingo. Will keep my eye on the forums and ebay, thanks!

I'm looking for two types of scents. The first a scent that's like marshmallow -- sort of Rice Crispie Treat-ish but perhaps a bit less sweet. I seem to recall that there's a marshmallow note in something, but I can't seem to find it, of course. The second is one with a milky, sugary quality, sort of like Demeter Condensed Milk. Any recommendations for either of these? Thanks!

Everyone has reviewed this far more eloquently than I ever could, so I'll just briefly throw in my two cents to say that I love this one. It doesn't smell all that much like tea to me, exactly, although I do find it somewhat sugary. It has a lovely, calming quality to it -- like walking into a welcoming Bed & Breakfast or small, charming hotel. This one is definitely my favorite of the ones I've tried so far; a bottle is in my near future. I'm sort of obsessed with it, actually.

In the imp: A sort of undifferentiated sweetness; I can't pick out any individual notes. Wet on my skin: Uh-oh. Still just a sort of undifferentiated sweetness, although it's sort of sharper. It makes me think of ylang ylang; it has that same way of poking me in the nose, but in a more aggressive way than ylang ylang normally does. Dry on my skin: Dried down to sort of a yucky, sweet smelling thing that reminds me of the cheap perfume of my youth. There's nothing especially complex here -- just sort of a sickly sweet smell that doesn't do a thing for me except to maybe make me think of drugstore perfume. The only thing I can think to compare it to is jasmine oil gone bad. Oh well. They can't all be winners, I guess.

In the Imp: A sweet floral. Wet: Lily of the Valley comes out much more individually than in the imp, but it's not overpowering. The lily is also tempered very nicely with the mandarin. Dried: Eventually, the sandalwood note is the most prominent, with a rather light note of lily of the valley and mandarin as supporting players. Although it was rather sweet before, it becomes much warmer on my skin. It might be a bit dramatic for everyday wear, but it would be a very fine first date scent; it's serious, but in a non-threatening way, without being too severe or stodgy.