Voleuse

I have no idea what "sweet opium" is supposed to smell like, but the rest of it sounded pretty good. Out of the vial, and on first application, the lily comes out pretty strongly, and I think...a little of the sandalwood. A little generic to my nose, but then again, almost every floral scent I try starts out generic. I'm getting almost no vanilla or mandarin, though there's another note I suppose could be the opium. It's very light, very fresh, but not specifically a clean scent. I never got any of the vanilla or mandarin, which is disappointing, as those were the notes in which I was most interested. As it is, it's kind of a breezy and faint and chattery. Pleasant, but not at all substantial. After a while, it turns to soap on me. Fancy soap, but soap nonetheless. Ah, well.

The imp for this was very full when I received it, so when I opened it, it kind of spattered on my hands. Luckily, this isn't one of those heavy scents that start out by giving me a mild headache. No, Embalming Fluid is exactly as advertised--light and clean. It smells kind of like the Platonic ideal of soap. The lemon is evident, but the rest blends so smoothly that I'm hard-pressed to identify the individual notes right away. Actually, as time passes, it does kind of become a powdery, soapy smell, with a faint hint of lemon, but nothing else I can distinguish. I think I can catch the aloe, but the musk disappears, and I never caught any green tea at all. And even with the extra spatter, it still faded very quickly on my skin. Not a keeper for me, but it's a pleasant enough scent. Very calming.

My goodness, this is strong. Even in the bottle, it leaped out and grabbed me by the throat. Clove and apricot. There's no doubt about it. The clove struck me more strongly, simply because it brings to mind a lot of winter holiday scents. Kind of like walking into a craft store in December, except much more real, much more alive. After a while, it fades nicely, but the clove is still predominant on my skin. A couple of hours later, and the clove is very faint, but the apricot is still there. This is more of candle-type scent, to me, but it's also the kind of scent I can't stop sniffing while I'm wearing it.

Wow. Bright and bittersweet is a perfect description. On first application, it's both sweet and little harsh. I keep wanting to use the word gunpowder, but it's not at all like that, just similar in effect, and in a good way. It's certainly very Japanese, but the cherry blossom is faint. It's very fresh, and brings to mind an orderly garden with a pond. A kitchen, mid-morning. And tea, but that's faint to my nose as well--the citrus really springs out. It's rather refreshing that it isn't orange or lemon, but still distinctly from that area. The citrus fades a little, after time, and the tea comes out more strongly. It mellows, but stays sweet. I've swapped the imp, but I'm making a note about getting a 5ml bottle sometime in the future. I really like this one, and I might try adding it to unscented lotion. It fades quite nicely on me, but it fades quickly.

I don't think aquatic scents make a good first impression on me. It's not a bad scent, really, but I did a bit of recoil, because it comes off so strong. I'm assuming it's the aquatic that did it, because I barely got any hint of the florals at first application. Which is kind of surprising, considering the forum almost uniformly labelled this as a sweet floral scent. Or maybe my mental "floral" tag is different. Several people mentioned honeysuckle, which is what I think the scent fades to, after a few minutes. Less harsh to my nose, and the aquatic scent became more...inviting? And after a while, the floral really does become alluring. And as it softens, it starts to become more obviously complex. This one's too strong for me, but it is interesting, and really pretty, I think.

Definitely a more complex smell than the ones I tried previously. The jasmine is obvious immediately, and then a hint of the lemon verbena. I'm not sure what neroli smells like, so I can't speak to that, but I didn't catch the green tea right away. Over time, the lemon overpowers the jasmine, and then it evokes a sunny room, with freshly polished furniture. It's only later that the green tea starts to come out. The jasmine returns, too, but it's the green tea that takes over. Nice. I really like the scent, but I think I'd want something a little warmer, perfume-wise.

This is another one that first struck me as mildly generic. It's the "pale rose" bit that gets me, I think--I've fallen across too many faintly flowery scents, so stuff like this always bores me at first. It's a pretty color, though, very pure-looking. After a few minutes, the rose comes out more, and weirdly, it does smell distinctly like roses at night. Like it's the only flower that's blooming, and there's dew beading on the petals. The scent fades quickly, left me a little bereft by the end. Huh. I'm not sure how much the BPAL description influenced this, but I suddenly stepped into that scene. Wow. I don't think this one's a keeper, but I definitely like it a lot more than I anticipated.

I have no idea what vetiver is, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I like the color of this one--it's a nice orangey-gold. Iago is dark, mustier than I expected, but not in a dusty way. Masculine, I guess? Leather and a bit of wet. And musky! My scent vocabulary sucks. It's a heavy scent, but it would be awesome on a warm, wet male, sitting next to a fire, or possibly up against a wall. Does that make sense? Like, under the right circumstances, this is a damn sexy cologne. It's too strong on me, though, and I don't think I'd enjoy it on a daily basis. While I had it on, though, I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist.

In the bottle, nothing about the scent struck me as particularly good or bad; a neutral reaction. On my wrist, it smells a little more organic and a little funereal. Also, a little bit like fancy soap. But again, nothing particularly striking. As it fades, it smells less green, but more cool and floral. In the end, I did like it, but it ended up smelling too generic on me.