malanna

Tea, some lavender, some lemon, sugared vanilla, and clear musk upon application. Dorian remains pretty consistent, although the sugared vanilla is stronger at first, with the the musk coming to dominate at the end. It makes me think of a sweet girl, the girl-next-door type. I would say man, except this really does seem like more of a feminine scent, so we can just pretend that I, and everyone in the world, are attracted to women. You see her several years later and you're trying to reconcile that sweet girl you never gave a thought to with this woman in front of you, whom you now find really appealing and attractive. Dorian is the missing link. It's sweet, yet wearing it, I feel like people would be drawn to me because it smells like something familiar and homey.

Graveyard dirt, but a dark dirt. I can detect some moss in the background. Yet, there's something very sweet. It doesn't stick out as flowers, yet it doesn't smell entirely like rum, either. Maybe it's a combination. Or bourbon. Not sure what bourbon smells like. After more than five hours, the sweetness is the primary note here, and I can't really smell the dirt or moss anymore (I can sort of detect the moss, though). It really smells like funeral flowers, but I can't pick out individual flowers. It's a dark floral bouquet, though. Overall, the sweetness isn't the type of sweetness I go for.

This is an overcast sky by the ocean. The wind is strong, making big waves, which are lapping at the shore of the jagged cliff. There have been other body of water scents, but they all have some other element (sweetness, ozone, rotting wood). There really hasn't been a straight-up salty ocean scent. This makes me thing of the Modest Mouse song, "Ocean Breathes Salty." Not so much for the lyrics or actual song itself, but just because of the song title.

This is really hard to describe and pick out individual notes. There's definitely bergamot, which I tend to think of as a note that turns a group of individual notes into one seamless bouquet. Arkham revisited is a floral, a really sweet floral. This is so sweet, it took me a while to think, "Oh, floral." It seemed very sugary. Perhaps there are fruits in this. Over time, it smells a bit green and a bit spicy. I can detect the woods now, but this is only after seven hours, when it's barely lingering on my skin.

This starts out as a sharp tea with gardenia. Then, amber! Lots of amber! I don't like amber so much. When it dried down, it smells like a floral tea with milk. Like a gardenia tea and amber with a light bit of cream. This makes me think of British department stores, like Fortnum & Mason. Posh, yet sort of exotic (because they always display the posh, exotic goods, too).

When I put this on, I was convinced that Grandmother of Ghosts had vetiver (with a drop of dragon's blood in it). It really does smell like vetiver, although in the later stages, I start picking up more woods--lily and musk on a background of white woods. After more than six hours, the woods aren't so apparent. It smells like a manly gentleman's cologne. It's mostly white musk, pepper, and lily at this point. I got this hoping that the stargazer lily would be the dominant note, but alas, it is not.

Leather, but a dry, light brown leather. This also has a layer of clean air over it and grass stains on it. It really does smell like new rawhide (or what I imagine new rawhide to smell like, as I've never smelled new rawhide before). An interesting scent, though not for me.

I really love stargazer lily, and I can detect it, making Peitho a more pleasant scent that it might otherwise be, but this is mostly jasmine with myrtle and musk. This is slinky, but musty at the same time. I'm starting to think that bourbon vanilla gets musty on me. Peitho is slinky, a "let me slip into something more comfortable" sort of scent, yet it seems a bit like a homebody scent. There's nothing that makes it stand out.

Grape! This is grape juice! After several hours, my first impression when I sniff my wrist is of grape, but if I sniff more closely and take the time to break it down, I can smell the honey, and a bit of the ylang ylang. Well, at least this makes writing this review a lot easier.

From the name, I'd thought that this would be bloody and musky. This is not the case! (Exclamation points are good.) This smells like the air above a snow covered pine tree--there's something cool covering a smell of fresh green. Over time, it starts to smell like flowers peaking out of melting snow, or maybe a puddle of melted snow. This is a lot sweeter than I expected it to be.

This originally had a plastic-y overtone, but I think that's just something I get with certain roses. I think the ylang ylang is the predominant note in this scent, with roses second, and a dash of myrrh. Over time, this becomes a spicy scent, with the myrrh on the foreground, the roses barely detectable, and the ylang ylang serving as the base for the spice. This seems like a scent in the same vein as Mata Hari (spinning dancers with veils), but more straightforward.

I wish this was creamy. Creamy cocoa would be nice. This just smells like the dried blood of a dusty rabbit sliced open. It has a certain animalistic muskiness to it. In terms of notes, this smells like a cocktail of half red wine, half sacrificial blood, with cocoa powder to top it off. It smells a bit more of cocoa later, more animal musk, less red wine. Overall, not my type of scent.

Storm Moon smells like dryer sheets! That was my first thought. I analyzed my first thought a bit and realized that it smelled like the static of dryer sheets, which in turn made me realize that just meant it smelled like Ozone. It's like Lightning or Storm, but a lot less water-y and a whole lot more about the static-y air. That just...pretty much sums it up!

Hmm, amber and tulip. I can recognize the tulip from Amsterdam. Flowing waters with a bank of bright green grass. Perhaps Tenochtitlan doesn't have the flowing waters, but it is definitely a very green scent. Then, after an hour, this smells spicy, perhaps it's coriander and sage? It gets quite green (yet still sweet) after three hours. This smells like grains of dust rolling over a green plant which has been sliced open, with its sweet juices oozing out.

La Belle is best described as a crystalline scent, and as most crystalline scents appear to me, it seems a bit plastic-y. This would have to be either tuberose, plumeria, or both. Both are definitely in there, I'm just not sure which is causing the plastic note. When this reaches the skin-scent stage, it's sweet dew and pear. It smells like a sleeping Galadriel. It's so sweet and pleasant. Except for the first few minutes, the scent does not carry. Then again, I apply with a rather light hand.

This starts out mostly mossy, with a hint of carnation. Later, amber and the carnation comes out a bit more, with lavender gilding Saint-Germain. This is a scent in the same vein as Wilde. It's an indoors scent, the type of scent a man with a study would wear. However, Wilde is more of an extroverted scent, a bit more playful. It does seem more wearable for women, because Saint-Germain has a certain sweetness to it.

At first, it's lemon. Then, it's wham! Ginger! (Maybe with a bit of lemongrass.) It smells like freshly shaved ginger root. After an hour, it smells more like lemongrass. After several hours, this smells of lemon and lemongrass. I usually have pretty vivid dreams, and after wearing this, that night's dreams didn't seem as vivid. That's okay, because I don't use scents for ritual purposes anyway.

I'm not fond of woody scents, so I was surprised to find that this was a somewhat comforting scent, all things considered. It smells like the grandfather who had all those books of world maps and was a rather refined gentleman, but who owould still pull you onto his lap to tell you stories about all his adventures. I definitely smell white cedarwood, but I think there's a bit more sage and bay leaf at the start of application. ETA: It's odd, for a second the word "poop" popped into my head, but a more concrete description of what this smells like is a sauna, with the wooden benches and steam pouring off the heated rocks.

Bah. Like a lot of reviewers, this starts out as a lovely dark chocolate scent, which quickly gets drowned by the sandalwood. For the next few hours, it smells like jj_j's description, although I would say it smells more like pencil shavings in a hand sprinkled in cocoa powder, rather than melted chocolate. The myrrh comes out a bit more at the stage when the scent has receded into the skin and is quite light.

I was actually surprised at just how strong and sweet it was when I first applied. it. White Rabbit basically smells the description, but perhaps with less white pepper. This is a pretty consistent scent, although it seems as though the ginger gets weaker over time. I feel like this is a similar scent in feel to Alice, but more impish. I think this is what a baby might smell like, as it's not a complicated, tricky scent.

Mmm, this really does smell like a posh gentleman's cologne, like something you'd find in a department store. I don't like lavendar, patchouli, or jasmine, yet this just comes out really delightful. It's hard to say what note comes out strongest, but it smells like one of those department store scents that advertises itself as clean-smelling. There's definitely lavender--not the icky humid lavender, but the sort of lavender that makes a scent smooth and sophisticated.

When I first put this on, this mostly smells of black tea and sugared lemon (it reminds me of White Rabbit, but sweeter and yummier). After a while, there's some leather peaking out while the sugared lemon recedes. It's not apparent, just hiding in the background. The leather comes out a bit more. This leather is a refined, soft, home-comfort sort of leather. It's quite pleasant, but this gets too faint after the initial black tea/sugared lemon scent. Everything is too light and indistinct. Still, this is quite lovely.

Egads, Athens is strong, which isn't surprising, considering how it was one of the greatest Greek city-states (okay, it sounded sort of like a joke in my head, which has been warped due to my taking Origins of Western Civ). This is honeyed red wine with a dash of florals at first. There's something to it, similar to jasmine (maybe it is jasmine?), that makes Athens a heady and overpowering scent. Perhaps it's the myrrh (not sure if myrrh is overpowering in addition to being spicy). I really disliked this scent, because it was so strong and incredibly overpoweringly floral. Maybe if I actually drank mead I'd like this, but alas, I do not.

Salomé starts out being strongly musky, with oodles of red sandalwood and jasmine. Lots of jasmine (bah!). However, over time, it smells a bit incense-y. It smells like the skin of Salomé whirling so fast, beads of sweat are flying in every direction. After several hours, the incense-y note is not as present and it smells clean, yet plastic-y at the same time.

I remember really not liking Melpomene the first few times I tried it. I put it away after it was discontinued and pulled it out to test it after it was resurrected. It starts out strongly lavendar with orange blossom and geranium (I'm assuming it's geranium--um, I'm not entirely sure what geranium smells like ). It was quite harsh smelling and a bit astringent. However, after less than an hour, it's softened to a lovely floral. It's hard to describe the notes, although I can detect some mint making this a cool scent, but I can say that it smells like one of those Clean or Fresh Spring scented air fresheners, and it's not heavy at all. This is rather pleasant. Perhaps Melpomene just needed a bit of aging.