fallow deer

Almond is one that feels really wierdly painful on my skin. It's like the sharpest burn, not like cinnamon (which can burn but in a warm way that dies down quickly). I love the smell of almond, and mostly it's quite minimal in a blend and doesn't hurt, but certain ones like Hecate and Eclipse are unwearable for me because of the searing pain. Quite often, almond and cinnamon are together in a blend, so it's difficult to know which is the culprit, if not both.

If you can find King of Clubs, it was very much a deciduous forest floor to me. Also Ace of Pentacles is also like a forest floor, but with a lot of patchouli. Of your suggestions: Burial is gorgeous, very wet, but with the piney quality you're avoiding, I think. Hamadryad is pretty, but very much of the dry variety of woody scents. Shroud also is very dry. I couldn't get past the anise note in Black Annis I'm afraid so didn't get round to distinguishing different notes. Dance Macabre, again, is more coniferous than otherwise. Tintagel to me was more of a wine/dragons blood scent than wood. I don't want to put you off these scents, though, I think the piney ones are lovely and you may find a combination of coniferous woody notes that you enjoy.

Ophelia, IMO smells fairly similar but slightly more watery. Ace of Hearts has less lotus and more, er, other flowers.

Well, it's come to my last SiA review and it's the difficult review of the bunch. In other words, I don't like Yog-Sothoth at all. Vetiver = freaked out claustrophobia for me, and Yog-Sothoth is pure vetiver to my nose. It's not the wet vetiver that I can sometimes tolerate, but the sinus-scrapingly dry sort. It's dark, yes, but dark-in-a-tiny-dusty-cupboard-under-the-stairs kind of way that I really don't like. Nothing glittering here, I'm afraid, and I'm getting the heebie-jeebies.

I definately see the associtations with Silk Road here, and may I add Sri Lanka and The Apothecary to that as well? Obviously it's the cedar giving me the Sri Lanka vibe, but the green of the bamboo seems remiscent of Sri Lanka, too, for some reason. The Apothecary is one of my oldest and most favourite BPAL oils; I love it's complex rich greeny brown coolness. Whipporwill is, for me, in this order: green, spicey, woody, aquatic and it's goooood!

Tulzcha is beautifully simple: mint starts out fresh and bright, reflecting my noses attention away from anything else that might be underneath. The mint effervesces away, and the pepper pings forth lightly. After the pepper, the cucumber lies patiently and remains the mellow substance of the remaining scent. It's lovely.

I love the ginger in Shub-Niggurath, but it is so much more than a ginger scent for me. Underneath, I smell the resins (amber!) and the herbs which widen the scent out away from foody into something far more exotic. If Al Azif is a mysterious dancer covered by floating veils, Shub is much more physical in her movements; you can see more of her skin and feel her body's warmth.

I have just come back from a holiday in Spain, and one afternoon we went for a boat trip around the port of Cartegena. It was a bright sunny day, the water was brisk but not choppy and there was a slight salty breeze which was wonderful to inhale. If I don't engage my brain, the mix of notes in Kingsport smell just like that breeze, although if I start to analyse and categorise, I start thinking, 'grapefruit? mint?' and so on, as I usually do with aquatics and ozone scents. Kingsport is much lighter and airer than many of a similar type I have tried, and I enjoy it much more.

Dunwich definately has an aquatic and ozone tang to it that reminds me somewhat of Thunderbird. Underneath, there does seem to be wet mossy notes but the lillies in Dunwich seem to overpower the other notes making it rather too soapy for me.

As soon as I smelt Cthulhu, I thought 'bath!'; it smells very cool and soothing. It probably does smell like a bubble bath I've used in the past - possibly Badedas or Radox. I love the smell of seaweed. Cthulhu does rather smell like the underneath parts of a boat or ship, where the water has had a chance to get a little dank and mossy. Or like a beach where all the seaweed and algae has washed up, but this is better because there's no fishiness. It's gorgeously tranquil and although I'm not going to wear it, I'll definately love using it in my bath.

Zing! The tangerine is so bright and clear, it really lifts the vetiver and cedar from the slightly claustrophic quality those notes can bring to me. I'm not going to wear it myself, but I just had an image of my boyfriend wearing it. He was getting onto the top deck of a bus and everyone turned to look at him and somehow he was bigger and brighter than everyone else, like a comic book superhero. It's possibly a bit sharp and overbearing to suit him. It's definately not a cuddling on the sofa scent, more for striding out and making your mark.

At first, the combination of lush evergreen woods and flowers gave a distinct fruity vibe to Arkham Revisited, but the notes settle down into an evenly balanced combination of sweet floral (similar to Pink Moon) and piney woods. The flowers give the woods a playful quality (I can't get Smurfs out of my head!). I love the piney woody blends, but tend to use them in my bath mainly rather than as perfume. The flowers in Arkham make it totally wearable for me and a different sort of blend to what I usually wear.

Mmm this could be one of my favourite SiA scents - for me, it's simply very good quality incense sticks, the type they burn in indian restaurants. I can definately pick out frankincense and spices, but this is so smooth and well blended I can't pick out much else. It's very exotic and faintly hypnotic and absolutely gorgeous. And a bit , too.

I havn't sniffed either, Pekeana, so my comments don't carry too much weight, but your description of the mystery oil sounds just like other reviewers of House of Mirrors. Does anyone ever read reviews for one particular scent, and feel that they match another? There are two reviews in the Regan thread that seem to match Tiger Lily perfectly...

Ace of Hearts and Ophelia. It seems obvious, really - they share two notes and are both white florals although Ophelia is more watery with more lotus. Ophelia: lotus, water blossom ivy, stargazer lily and white rose. Ace of Hearts: Purest white lotus, white rose, rain orchid, rose gardenia, freesia, and Bulgarian rose.

Tarot: Death is like burnt wood with other notest that some say are floral. I reckon the burnt quality comes from vetiver in part. Hexxenacht if you can find it is very smokey. I wouldn't say Cathedral is smokey per se, more insense than actual burning wood but it is very, very lovely.

Aren't the Panaceas 100% EOs?

If you can find it, the limited edition blend The Living Flame has reviews that say 'pink grapefruit'. I agree with them

& Bordello! How could I forget!!!

I thought Darkness straight away.

I'm wallowing in a lovely combination that I've carried through after work all this week: Shower with Middle Earth then slather Tezcatlipoca Yummy muddy earthy cocoa pathcouli cleanliness!

Yes, Embalming Fluid is strong with a nice lemon note, although I do find that the lemon fades much quicker than the green tea. Still enjoyable though

Yes, a lemony fragrance, mint and some herbs. I'm thinking lemonbalm? Is that the same as lemon verbena? I'm also thinking possibly rosemary. The citrus/mint iness is reminding me of The Star. In any case, it's very lifting and clearing and has helped me lift out of moments of apathy today.

Mmmmm - there really is so much going on here. The coffee/cream/booze note is the most predominant first of all, and this stage relates to tiramisu - in fact part of this scent does remind me of Demeter's Tiramisu PMU. But it's definately not a foody scent for me as it dries. A nutty woody note comes in to play, with a definate dusty feel. OOOhhh! I've just remembered!!!! My parents used to have big wooden book cases, with cupboards underneath and glass pannelled doors with shelves above. We had our own children's bookcase in the sitting room; these shelves were for the study. The study was inhabited by these book cases, my dad's computers, my dad, dust, and several old cups of coffee. I used to love looking at all the titles, and adored being allowed to unlock them (I was obsessed with the key before the books) and take out books. This is the smell of opening the bookcase: wood, paper, dust with coffee in the background. It's amazing how memories are triggered by scents; I'm begining to recall the order and titles of the books, even though my parents moved apart and this house was sold ten years ago...

MMmmm! This one is delicious - pure simple hot milk with a dribble of honey. I agree with yeahbutnobut - out of the bottle it does smell yoghurty, but in a good, clean way. I don't detect the mint that others have mentioned and I'm glad. It sweetens up as it dries down and is making me feel drowsy and contented. I also think it would layer well with other blends - I'm thinking Three Witches right now...