TurpentineChai

Oh my, I love this. If I were a man, this would be my signature date night scent. I rarely have scents come out with all the notes described but this one does flawlessly, wood and salt and rum and perfume. It smells on me how must bro-spray scents wish they could smell. As I try it more though, the initial masculine associations fade. I could see this being a tougher Anne Bonney. My god, I love the wood note. It reminds me of beaches but not in a sunscreen kind of way, just that salt and the bits of floral. Driftwood and nips of rum on a warm night. Not sure if I'll get a bottle, but definitely will get some use from this imp.

The coconut I love and the tobacco the BF loves? Plus, who wouldn't love sugared rum? Ah, apparently not my skin. In the imp, it's all coconut rum and bits of butterscotch but on my skin it is nothing but this wicked sugar note. I realized it reminded me of Boo, which I also expected to love but it most was sharp and cloying and made my head hurt. I think I only like sugar in theory, in practice it just kills me.

Oh my, I was expecting to like this enough to use up the imp, but now I need to order a bottle. It starts off very shea and coconut on my skin, and oddly enough, smells exact like a snake moisturizer spray I used to own (Zilla Tropical Mist, for the curious). I always kinda liked the smell but it really has some strong attachments now in my brain, not sure I want to smell like that. Luckily, as it dries, the milk comes out strong and a sweet scent. I don't get as much coconut as I hoped but I get this luscious, creamy scent. After a few days of repeat wearings, I realized it smells exactly like the original Burt's Bees Milk and Honey Lotion on me, not too surprising since it's made up of milk, shea and coconut oil. I'm too sure on throw with this one, since I didn't get the usual comments from people at work as I normally get, but damn, it sure does last. I wore it to work behind the bar and a after a whole night of running around and washing glasses, i could still smell it coming off me. It really seems like a nice clean scent on me. Not like clean laundry or citrus, but a fresh from the shower covered in thick lotions clean. Unlike other people getting tropical from it, the shea and milk and coconut butter notes all remind me of the thick, thick, thick lotions people use in dry Maine winters after long hot baths. It smells like a snowstorm day-off to me! I will certainly be getting 5ml of this.

Have been back and forth on getting a bottle of this for a week, so finally invested last night into actually testing and not just throwing it on and forgetting. I really like the smell for the most part, almonds and rose stems with just a bit of old apothecary medicinal herbs that all the voodoo blends seem to have. Unfortunately it has no throw and fades fast, so as a perfume, I feel I can find a more efficient signature almond scent. As to the voodoo properties, I wore it to work bartending last night and noticed no extra (in fact maybe less) amorous attention than usual other than my brother saying I looked nice. Not really the effect I was hoping for. I'll use up this imp, but will be passing on a bottle.

(The great reviewing old, old LEs adventure before selling them.) Pumpkin Patch 1 (2005): Pumpkin with apple cider and mulling spice. In the bottle: I can't tell if I've gotten better with time at picking out scents or this has really mellowed out over the years but I always remembered this as harshly potpourri smelling without much else, but now I can pick up the distinct crisp apples and a subtle butteriness that I never noticed before. Wet: Cinnamon! Nothing but red hots candy. Dry: Picking up more of the apples. They seem extra crisp, as if they were picked right before the frost melted. Still heavy on the cinnamon. None of the creaminess or pie described by other people. Starting to suspect I might amp cinnamon. Overall: I have wanted this to work since I first ordered it unsniffed from the lab, in theory its everything I've always assumed I would be crazy about...autumn smells, pumpkins, apples and baking spices. Its nice enough, and boyfriend said he really liked it "because it smells like Christmas candles" but I know it can find a better home. After years of denial, I've got to admit that this is all faux scents from a craft store on me and minimal fruit.

Decided to give this one another try today after a holding the imp for a few years but never deciding if I liked it or not. And damn, I still don't know. Its so lovely to smell, all dirt and wilted roses but something about my skin picks up a surprising amount of "decay". Like feel it in the back of my mouth foulness just behind it all. Makes sense with the name, but I'm unsure if its something I want to smell like. I'm just recovering from a rough flu so I could be "off" on my skin/smelling. I want to love this. My boyfriend and I went for a walk around town when I was wearing it and I learned it has quite a throw on me when he pointed out that "you can tell its fall when everything smells like dry leaves and dying flowers" before realizing it was me. It definitely smells more autumn on me then Samhain ever has.

Figured I'd give this a try before going into work...Bordello just sounds right for bartending. I was confused on why it was on my bottle wishlist from years ago since I didn't remember testing it. Really sweet and faux fruit in the bottle, could not figure out why I would've wanted this...its not my usual notes. On wet, fruity still but with more dry floral. Drys down really light on me with not much throw, the dry incense people mentioned with just a bit of fruit underneath. Every now and hen I catch a crazy scent of it suddenly strong though and love it. Its all at once sweet and fruity with a smokey grown up smell over it. A bottle of this isn't on my list for ASAP but eventually it would be nice for behind the bar.

I see the fruit cereal everybody talks about...like Fruit Pebbles and cake. Orange candles. This is all from smelling real close though, it has absolutely no throw on me. I would want a bottle if it had any throw or lasting power with my skin!

I got this free in my first order of imps and wasn't quite sure why. All the scents I ordered were light and even clear looking in the bottle while this was dark and a little scary looking. Before opening it, I looked up the blend online only to exclaim an: "Alas, patchouli!" It ended up going on the back of my list without even drying it on the skin, until I was going to watch a tarot card reading. I thought it would be a perfect time to try a mysterious scent and I kinda liked it although it was much heavier than I'd wear. I might've given it a try if I hadn't gotten to my friend's house and had her ask me "What perfume are you wearing? It's not your kind, give it to me." And so ended my brief affair with Masquerade. I do have to add that my friend was right, she's much more a fan of heavy scents and she pulls this one off better than I ever good. I think this smells wonderful on other people, just nothing special on me.

A misty, almost luminous perfume: wispy linden blossoms, white flowers, and a touch of sweet herbs. I got this as I was working my way through trying the Mad Tea Party set thinking it would be light and fresh smelling. I think I'd like it, if it would stay on me more than five minutes. It faded absurdly fast on my skin and the scent just wasn't strong enough for it to stay on my mind the way other scents like White Rabbit did. Perhaps flowery purity just isn't my thing?

I'm definitely getting Root Beer soaked band-aids too. My first thoughts were- this smells like a dirty old doctor's office, I don't like it. And yet I find myself with nose firmly attached to wrist several times a minute. It really is an amazing scent and although it's not something I'd want people to think I smell like- it is something I like to smell. If that makes any sense. :eyeroll: Also, tried it on a co-worker and it reacted different to her in the way that made me exclaim how much she reminded me of how my mom used to smell when I was a kid. I called my mom and go figure: she used to wear YSL Opium. Overall, I don't have any plans of buying this but I may keep the imp as a curio.

Uptown from campus there's a store called Liquid Sunshine. They sell scented candles, oil bottles of patcholi, hemp skirts, incense and Grateful Dead stickers. This smells exactly like that. *sniffs wrists* Oh my word, it smells like that place. This has led me to get tons of compliments on it as everybody in town loves the place...except me. I really should learn that smokey and heavy scents won't work on me. I think this little imp will be going to my mom for when she's doing tarot readings.

Oh, beautiful! Samhain '05... This smells like fall in New England. You can smell the woods with wet, unraked leaves. A faint hint of the hay bails before they get packed away. Apples freshly pressed show up later. After a while though, on me, it gets quite compost-y.

Whoa. I smell like I've been drinking whiskey sours since morning. Not the best scent to try out at work. I don't have mint or sugar, just booze. This is not good for my hangover...

This scent manages to to sum up the holidays when I go back to my mom's house. It tells the exact Christmas story of a young college student visiting her young at heart mom. Wet: The arrival home- "Aw mom, you got me Wearther's Butterscotch candy. You remembered they're my favorite! And you've got the cinnamon spice candle lit!" Drying: Settling in- "Okay mom, I'm gonna start making the Santa cookies now. I see you've set out a rum and butterscotch filled eggnog for me. Line me up for another because I'm finishing this quickly." Dry: Late night- "You know, mom...you know, yeah. And my cookies are great, man. Dip the cookies in your butterscotch run shot. Do it! Isn't that yum?" It fades to a skin scent quickly on me though, but I'm thinking about always keeping this on hand for next time I feel like faking out my book club with some store bought cookies. They can't say I didn't make them since I obviously smell like I spent the day slaving over the oven. And drinking. A good day, indeed.

I'm still not exactly sure why I ordered this other than perhaps my deep love of cherry ice cream overwhelming me. It's rich, it's thick, it's heavy- all things that I just don't want in my perfume. This was too much for me, it practically demanded constant attention and although I really tried to make it work, I ended up giving it to my mom- the queen of heavy scents.