lilyliza

In the bottle: Rosewood, bergamot and chamomile. It's a very pleasant combination. Wet: Rose blooms and becomes the main part of the scent almost immediately. Bergamot and chamomile give it a warm, herbal base. I agree that it reminds me a lot of Lady Grey tea. After a while, the rose is deepened and sweetened by an emerging violet note and the sandalwood comes out to make a beautifully full but not too sweet overall scent. Drydown: After a few hours, it's much less complex and mostly rose, but it's still slightly sweetened by the violets and calmed down a little by the chamomile, so it's a beautiful scent. I'd definitely recommend this if you like rose and woodsy florals. This'll probably become my signature scent, I like it so much!

In the bottle: Lemon, green tea, musk...something spicy? Wet: Lots of lilac and wisteria, pretty. It rounds out quickly to cedar and musk prettied up by florals, lemon, and green tea. There's a sense of clarity and quiet but unmistakable strength. The brighter notes and florals keep it from being traditionally masculine. The blend is fabulous. There's a definite spiciness about this- it reminds me most of cinnamon, like others have mentioned. Drydown: The lemon and the lilac come out more, making this decidedly feminine. This is not a strong scent, but I really like its soft subtlety. The cedar and musk give it a little punch at the same time. It's lovely. There's a sort of calm resoluteness about it that I adore.

In the bottle: An intriguing mix of rose and wine with just a little tang of dragon's blood. Wet: Rich wine with rose and dragon's blood behind it. Soon the rose takes center stage, and the effect is a beautiful, deep rich rose. Then the dragon's blood really comes into play and it's just smoky-sweet seduction. Very beguiling. Drydown: It continues to morph as each note comes to the surface, but each incarnation is sweet but mature, rich but not overdoing it. It settles on a wine-centered scent complemented by powdery rose and a light base of dragon's blood. I love it. It's a very attractive and unique scent.

In the bottle: Assaulted by way too many strong scents all at once. Chocolate, tobacco, wine, honey...apparently I can handle these two at a time and no more. Wet: Mostly the same. I'm barely dabbing the stuff on, but I smell like a spill in someone's wine cooler which happened to be right next to their candy stash- extremely rich and sticky-sweet all at the same time. It's almost like I spilled molasses on myself. Eventually the chocolate warms up and finally begins to make things a little more cohesive. The hibiscus comes out too, along with just a little bit of lotus. The honey is what takes center stage in the end, warmed slightly by the chocolate and tobacco, with the flowers behind it. Drydown: Honeyed florals with the other notes in the background. I'm not liking this combination. Eventually there's mostly hibiscus. Yeah, definitely not for me. This is way too cloyingly sweet, and all the notes I'm picking up make a in-your-face jumble of scent.

In bottle: Lots of gardenia with a prominent aquatic note. Wet: This is a very much an aquatic floral. I smell gardenia more than anything, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. Eventually the other blossoms make an appearance, and the effect is somehow beautiful and sad at the same time, much like the inspiration of the scent. Drydown: Much of the same- the aquatic notes last much longer on me than aquatic notes usually do. It gets a little powdery and softer as time goes on, but it's always a quietly pretty scent. I was very impressed at how this evoked the poem it's based on. Personally, I think I'd like something a little more modern and a little less melancholy, but I can't deny that it's a beautiful scent. If you're into classic aquatic florals, you should definitely give this one a try.

I got this as a frimp. This is pretty much what it says on the tin from wet to dry. There's a strong, sweet jessamine note and a warm, rich honey note, pretty much equally matched, and they do go well together. It reminds me of a warm summer afternoon- hot and humid sun warming up flowers and making their scent heady and rounded-out. I like it overall, but I prefer my blends a little more complex than this.

In the bottle: Mint, grapefruit, champagne, a tiny bit of lotus. Actually, this is very minty. Wet: Mint completely takes over at first, leaving me very concerned. For a few minutes I just smell like a peppermint stick. After a while, it fades, and the grapefruit comes out. It's a very clear, neutral scent- it's very much like glass. Then there's champagne and a little lotus, and I get a very classy impression from this. It's cool and a little sexy, but it's also decidedly distant and a little mysterious. It's very ice queen, but it's an intriguing ice queen. Drydown: Mostly the same. The mint fades into the background and the champagne rounds out some, making a slightly softer scent, especially when I can smell the lotus more. I liked it. This wouldn't be an everyday scent for me, but I can definitely picture myself wearing it in the right mood.

In the bottle: Lavender and ozone. The combination is interesting. Wet: The ozone and the lavender is blending further. It's strange- the lavender keeps this subtle, but the ozone makes you take notice. It really gives the sense of there being more than meets the eye to someone wearing it, but in a quiet, understated way. The resin, musk, and currant help round out the overall scent to a slightly fruity, soft but clear scent. I think this is a very nice blend of notes. Drydown: The currant comes out a lot more to make an almost candy-sweet scent, but not quite. The lavender and musk help keep it from being too cloying and girlish. From there, it blends with the lavender more to create a hard-to-describe but very pleasant scent. It fades to musk and resin with a little bit of lavender and ozone left behind to add a slight air of mystery. It's an interesting scent, blending together what might seem like opposite impressions in a pleasant way. I think this is the closest to what I've been looking for out of what I got in my first imp pack, but it's not quite there. I think that's just because I seem to be fond of lavender, but not when it's the main note of a fragrance- I seem to want something more. If you're a fan of lavender and want to try something a little different though, I'd recommend this- it's a great blend.

This was one of my frimps in the order I just got. The description was intriguing, so I was looking forward to testing it. In bottle: This is a pretty in-your-face kind of smell. Rose and jasmine battling it out with honey and incense. It's a warm, strong scent. Wet: Mostly honey and incense. The incense is so strong the overall scent is hardly even sweet at all. It reminds me almost of leather until it starts warming up and coming very close to smelling like insect repellent, then very close to a dirty diaper smell, but never quite becoming offensive. There's a little bit of lemon in the background after a while, but not much. Drydown: Eventually it softens into an almost powdery scent with a lot of lemon and honey. Vanilla and a few soft florals make a brief appearance, but there's still a lot of incense the whole time, making this a pretty assertive scent. For most of the total time this is on, it's an almost girlish honey-lemon powdery smell with a strong va-va-voom wave of incense behind it. I don't know...I like it overall, but I guess it's a little strong for my personality. It's a beautiful and empowering scent though- I would definitely recommend it if you're a fan of honey and/or incense-heavy scents.

In bottle: My first reaction was "It's so fun! It's so...strange." And then I laughed a little. That kinda sums up my feelings on the whole thing from first sniff to drydown, really. Wet: Lots of lime. I can smell the mint chocolate and lavender too, but this is mostly a whole lot of bright citrus. It doesn't take long for the rest of the citrus notes and the oakmoss to appear, and then it's a scent that's hard to describe but interestingly pleasant. As my mom put it, "It's neither floral or fruity or spicy...but then it's all of those at the same time." Drydown: It does a bit of morphing- at one point I smelled very lavendery, and then later on I smelled very much like an Andes mint, but the other notes are always there in the background, making it amusingly peculiar. Eventually it calms down to a very pleasant light citrus grounded by a little lavender and oakmoss- really nice. I have developed a fondness for this scent, definitely. It's so quirky, I don't know if I'd wear it often enough to warrant buying a bottle, but I will definitely enjoy using up my imp.

In the imp: Very soapy. I'm kinda concerned. I smell a tiny bit of rose but mostly lily. Wet: Lily. I can smell hints of sandalwood and moss trying to come out, but lily is just overpowering everything. And this particular lily note is doing something pretty weird. It turns into something very soapy and amazingly bland. It's like the mild soap I use when I don't want to smell like anything. It's as non-offensive as they come, but this is not what I want in a perfume. Drydown: So much better. Once the soapy blandness gets out of the way, there's a really pleasant mix of mandarin, moss, and sandalwood. And then the rose finally gets a chance to shine, and it's such a nice, subtle woodsy floral. The lilac kicks in a little later on as well. It reminds me of relaxing in a nice forest. The drydown is lovely, but getting there seriously tries my patience. I'm ambivalent about getting a bottle because of it.

In the imp: Lots of iris, and I can pick out some sandalwood too. There's a combination of notes that really reminds me of reeds and the riverside. Wet: Very pretty florals, and it suits the herbs so well. I really do get the sense of an Egyptian queen. But it's not like the "queen sitting holding court among her many riches" deeper scent I was expecting, it's a "queen resting on her ferry floating down the Nile and still being awesome" kind of scent. It's a bright aquatic floral slightly tempered by the herbs and what smells to me like dirt. There's sandalwood and myrrh, but they're a very small part of the overall impression, there to hold everything together. Drydown: My skin has decided I should get very well acquainted with the myrrh note, apparently. The other notes are still there, but myrrh is the main player. Unfortunately, something about the way the myrrh is mixing with what I think are the herbs is creating a sweet tang that is literally a little nauseating...and it persists until the scent wears off. It's not so much that I want to take it off early, but it does cut into my enjoyment of the scent overall. This is a very nice scent, but it's not for me. Weird tang issue aside, the overall effect is too bright for my personal tastes. I love florals, but I like them a little deeper or creamier than this.