edenssixthday

Olisbos - If you've ever travelled around the Western/Southwestern U.S., chances are you've stopped into a souvenir shop that sells handcrafted and/or mass-produced wooden carvings and other wooden objects, along with leather goods such as wallets, souvenir Native American headpieces, boots, etc. Olisbos smells exactly like those stores -- all wood and polished leather. It so evocative of my many travel all over places like Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. I love this scent -- it's the leather many of love from Dead Man's Hand, and a nice, light wood note, with the hint of something slightly sweet behind it, which must be the olive oil. This is a beautiful scent. It doesn't strike me as feminine in the least -- it's something I'd rather smell on a dude. On a sexy cowboy kind of dude. It has a nice level of throw and really, really long wear-length.

This is another gorgeous blend! On me, it's heavy on the clove and leather, but there's a sweetness that must be the vanilla. It smells like a very simple scent, and layers gorgeously with Female. My husband can't wear perfume oils due to allergies, but this one makes me want to pin hiim down and force it on him!

This scent is gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. It's exactly what I hoped Sachs would be, but wasn't. It's a sweet vanilla and leather scent. I can't identify the other notes at all -- it's all vanilla and leather, and it's a beautiful combination of both. The vanilla goes a little "plasticky" on my skin when sniffed up close... so I just won't sniff up close. P.S. It layers gorgeously with CC's Male blend, too.

Metal Tiger – When I sniff this in the bottle, the amazing scent that comes out makes me want to drink it. It smells kind of like a fuzzy naval. Mmmm! When I put it on my skin, I definitely still smell fuzzy naval, but I also get a very strong and sweet floral scent. The citrus and florals are very bright and make a really lovely first impression. As it dries down, the woodier notes start to become discernible, and while they stay in the background, they blend beautifully with the other notes and do a wonderful job of grounding them, and in particular, bringing the bright citruses down to earth. Even though I know there’s dragon blood in here, I can barely find it – I keep catching a whiff of something I think may be the dragon’s blood, but just when I think I’ve pinned it down, it’s gone (pesky dragons!). I really, really love this scent. I can’t put into words how gorgeous it is. It’s such a beautiful fruity-floriental, and yes, I’d be delighted if someone offered me a (preferably spiked) fruit punch that smells like this! After drydown, it doesn’t have the best throw, but it has reasonable staying power, particularly for a scent with lots of citrus notes, since those usually fade more quickly on me than they do in this blend.

Dark Chocolate and Key Lime Truffle – I love this scent…for the first 3 seconds. I’ve tried this scent on 3 times, and each time I’ve worn it, the wonderfulness wears off within 5-10 seconds. For those first few fleeting moments, the lime is the top note and it’s bursting with sweet, juiciness, like a sweet limeaid, only better….but then the chocolate kicks in and the two notes clash horribly on me. I love the lime, and I love the chocolate, but I can’t stand what they do together on my skin. Strangely, the scent doesn’t long at all on my skin. The bright citrus fades away almost completely upon drydown, and that’s when the chocolate becomes a bit musty and then fades into the ether over the next few minutes after that. By the 30 minute point, I can’t smell a darn thing, as if I never put it on in the first place. As much as I’d love to wear foody scents, it’s really just not meant to be. They simply don’t work on me.

Milk Chocolate and Matcha Green Tea Ganache Truffle – My favorite beverage at Starbucks is their soy green tea lattes, made with a sweetened matcha powder. I was really, really hoping this scent would be strong on the bitter, grassy matcha green tea and weak on the chocolate, since I don’t tend to wear chocolate well. Sadly, this smells absolutely nothing like matcha green tea. It’s not remotely bitter, grassy, or earthy, as the matcha should be. The green tea note totally turns into a bright, sweet lemon Pledge scent, and the chocolate, as it often does, turns into something dank and dusty. Oh well, at least lemon Pledge and dust go together. But it’s sure not what I was hoping for, definitely not what I expected, and if someone gave me a truffle that smelled like this, I’d be worried it would ooze dust bunnies rather than ganache.

White Chocolate, Black Raspberry, and Apricot Cordial Truffle – When wet, this smells good enough to eat. The three notes – white chocolate, raspberry, and apricot – are in perfect balance, and I am tempted to lick my arm (but I refrain! I’ve learned my lesson about licking BPAL! ) However, as it warms up on my skin, it starts to lose its yummy sweetness and gain a flat, plastic-like scent about it. The apricot disappears, and the white chocolate becomes more subtle, but it’s also the white chocolate that’s “turning” on me…a it sometimes does. Even though I know foody scents like this rarely work on my skin, I still keep hoping that someday one will blow me away that also stays true on my skin. This one isn’t it. (But if I came across a truffle that tasted as good as this one initially smells, I’d be one lucky lady!)

Unveiled – I should love this. Every note in this usually smells good on me (with the exception of tea, which is “iffy”) and every ingredient in the list looks like it should work so well with the others – and when sniffing the oil in the bottle, it smells gorgeous – like a citrus-peach tea with a drop of vanilla. However, when it touches my skin, something in it goes off, and it turns rancid and sour. It smells like a bushel of fruit that has become over-ripe and is turning brown and mushy. It’s terribly sad that something about my particular skin chemistry can make such a pretty fruity scent become so wonky and sour on my skin. I’m sad.

Thouros –The fresh rose and cistus blend really well with the sweet lychee in a way that surprises me, since I don’t usually like the smell of lychee-flavored or lychee-scented products. I really love this particular combination of fruity-florals. It’s very much a light and bright spring/summer scent. It doesn’t have much throw or staying power on me, but this is one I’ll definitely be able to use in my oil burner and make my house smell absolutely wonderful, particularly once the weather warms up enough to open the windows and have a fresh breeze come through the house. I think this would compliment that kind of warm, breezy, springtime day so well. Maybe I’ll try it in a scent locket, too, since that would keep the scent going for a while. It’s just so pretty and a real shame that it doesn’t thrive more on my skin.

Candles Moon - I was really excited about this -- it sounded like such a beautiful combination of notes. However, on my skin, it's all milk and wax with the tiniest hint of some type of evergreen, and ... well, that's about it. No blackberry, no snow (other than that evergreen note), no "keening wind"... it's just kind of flat on me. I was hoping for something a bit colder and juicier. And then my skin eats it up, as it tends to do with milk notes, so I'm sad this won't work for me, but hopefully it'll land in the hands of someone who loves it more than I.

Lovers in a Carp Streamer - Okay, I was so excited about this because cranberry scents are so rare, and the notes seemed like they'd work together really well. In fact, they do! When I first apply this, the top notes are the cranberry, tobacco flower, and thyme, over the woods. There's the slightest trace of mint, but I wouldn't notice it if I didn't already know it was there. There's also a weird hint of soapiness when I sniff this up close on my skin, which is undoubtedly the tobacco flower. As the scent starts to dry down, the thyme and the soapiness fade and the red currant bursts forth and becomes the dominant note so that it smells like a red currant, thyme, and woods blend. It's so pretty and just can't put into words how much I love the juicy red fruits! Also, something about it reminds me of a LUSH product...but I can't place which one. Maybe a bubble bar or bath bomb? Or maybe it just smells like what you smell when you first walk into a LUSH store. No matter what, I love this scent... but it has zero staying power on me and no throw. 20 minutes after I apply it, I can barely find a trace of it on my skin! Wah! In the bottle, it smells absolutely nothing like it smells once it touches my skin, otherwise I'd keep it and use it as a room scent. I can't tell you how sad I am that this fades so fast on me. HUGE bummer.

Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand - This is very much a honey-vanilla-and-citrus scent on me. The quince is bright and tart, the mandarin is bright and sweet, and the honey brings it a layer of non-juicy sweetness, while the vanilla brings it a level of creaminess that keeps it from being too bright and juicy. It's got really good staying power (especially) considering my skin usually sucks up citrus notes), but the throw isn't very strong on me.

Okayaki - I am soooo getting a bottle of this! It's absolutely my favorite of the Shungas. I can't believe it doesn't have vanilla or musk in it -- it's so vanilla-sweet and creamy. I think it's the combination of the olive blossom and the lily and snow. Once it dries down, the amber comes through, giving it a wood-like base for the lighter scents to rest upon. I seriously cannot put into words how gorgeous this is. I'm in some hardcore, serious love. This is one of those scents that makes me want to get rid of the rest of my collection and make this my one-and-only signature scent!

Dark Chocolate - I was so excited to get to try this because I have had a love/hate relationship with BPAL's chocolate note for five years now. I wanted to try this since it didn't seem to be blended with any musks or woods or resins or any other notes that could affect how it comes across on my skin. Sniffing it in the vial was heavenly. It smelled like dark, thick, heavy, chocolate fudge. The chocolate separates, so I warmed the vial against my skin for quite some time, at which point, I was able to easily mix the chocolate with the rest of the oil and apply it to my skin. It instantly took on this weird plasticky scent that quickly turned into the not-so-sweet scent of baby poo. It was ghastly, and I sat on my couch, sniffing my wrists and giggling away that this scent is so coveted. And then it dried down, mellowed out, and became... well, not quite "heavenly", but pretty darn close. You should smell it on my wrists right now. Yum! You know those molten lava cakes that have a melted chocolate center? That's what this smells like -- the melted chocolate center. It smells so good! I know now that BPAL's dark chocolate note is not the culprit of bad smells, as I was beginning to suspect... the culprit of stinkiness is BPAL's dark chocolate note only when blended with something else like black musk or patchouli or whatever other notes can be "iffy" on me. On its own, it's delicious and decadent.

Thoos - White musk is one of those weird notes that I can't smell. When I tried the white musk single note, it smelled like I'd put water on my skin. My nose does not detect white musk at all. So on me, this was 100% tangerine and cypress, and I looooved it! It is very masculine to me, and something I think would smell amazing on my husband. I love how the bright citrus note compliment the sharp wood note. This scent lasted a long time on my wrist, although after several hours, the tangerine had worn away, but the cypress was still going strong. I wish my husband wasn't allergic to fragrance. I'd love to smell this on him!

Bijoux Y'Ha-nthlei - This is a deep, warm, tropical scent. It's that ginger, neroli, and lime that's giving it the tropical feel, and the beeswax and amber that deepen the scent. I didn't think this was going to work on me, and while the neroli definitely made its best attempt at sucking on my skin, it still turned out to be very pretty. It lasted several hours on my skin and while the brighter notes wore off more quickly than the heavier notes, it remained pretty until it disappeared.

Enyalios - Whoa, quite strong on the patchouli and the balsam and juniper. This is very much a patchouli & wood scent. The thyme gives it a bit of herbalness, too. It's actually quite strong and overwhelming when first applied, but as it dries down, the notes settle into each other and become more balanced. This is definitely not my type of scent. It's more of an outdoorsy guy-scent, and something that would smell drop-dead sexy on my man (even though he's not an outdoorsy type).

Boadicea Bath Oil - Oh wow, this is AWESOME! Tons and tons of sweet, syrupy vanilla, with amber and fig and a bit of patchouli. Where can I find a bottle NOW?

The Perfumed Garden 2010 - My review for the 2006 version is here and my review for the 2007 version is here. I don't know if Beth changes the formulation or if my skin chemistry changes, but The Perfumed Garden is different to me each time it's released. This year, it smells like tuberose to me. I know there's no tuberose listed in the ingredients. I think it's the combination of jasmine, apple peel, and myrtle that, to my nose, mimics tuberose. It is sweet and pink and gorgeous. I can't identify the other resiny, woody, citrus, or herbal notes at all because the "tuberose" scent is so incredibly strong to my nose. This year's The Perfumed Garden actually reminds me a lot of Tiki Queen in it's "pinkness" and prettiness. (I still can't believe tuberose isn't listed in the scent ingredients!) It's very strong when it first goes on, but then lightens up significantly and doesn't stick around on me for very long.

Beanman & Beanwoman Prepare to Attack the Vagina - If it's possible for a fragrance to be too pretty, this would qualify. It is so perfectly pretty that I can hardly stand it. Every single note is evident, yet every single note is in perfect balance with all the others. I honestly can't describe this in a way that gives enough credit to how truly beautiful this blend is. Read the other reviews -- they go into details about the notes. Ny review is just going to describe this as the absolutely perfect, pretty, feminine, sprintime scent. I can't get enough of it. I need a gallon. I wish I could bathe in this from head to toe, all the time, every day. ETA: Great throw and wear length. My skin tends to eat up scents like this, but I've been wearing it for about 4 hours now, and it has as much throw now as it did when I first put it on. I keep catching gorgeous wafts of it all around me. I wore it yesterday evening, too, and when I woke up this morning, I could still smell a faint trace of it on my skin. Awesome staying power for such a clean, fresh, light, pretty scent!!!

Pink Mood - All the other reviewers get licorice, which makes me sad because I love licorice/anise, and I don't smell it AT ALL in this scent! This is a really, really weird scent on me. It has an odd plasticky-band-aidy flatness about it that, I'm guessing, comes from the type of vanilla being used, since on me, "band-aid" scent can usually be traced back to a certain type of vanilla. (Although some vanillas are LOVERLY on me!) It's a very pink plastick-band-aid scent, and kind of creamy, but mostly just really weird. In the right context, every single one of these notes (with the possible exception of neroli) should smell great on me, but combine them together, and they don't blend well at all. I'm surprised this one made it past the prototype stage with the weirdness of the blend and the oddness of the scent.

Brotoloigos - This opens up as a dark myrrh single note! It's gorgeous and makes me giddy and happy because I love dark myrrh so much. As it dries down, a strong woodiness comes out and blends gorgeously with the myrrh and it becomes a woody-myrrh scent. It goes through one phase where the tobacco overwhelms everything else, but that seems to last only about 20-30 minutes and then it's back to being a woody-myrrh scent when I sniff my skin up close, and the wafts of scent I catch around me are myrrh, myrrh, myrrh. I'm SO BUMMED that I can't smell the geranium in this, as geranium is my favorite note of all time. Still, even without the geranium, I love this. It's strong and hard and very manly without being a men's-only fragrance.

Konseishin the Penis God - This is a really lovely scent. It reminds me a lot of Faunalia without the musk. The fir needle is the dominant note on me, with white sandalwood right behind it. The apple blossom isn't present at all (which is good since it goes soapy on me) and thankfully, the Peru balsam is also not very strong at all (since balsam and I don't get along). The myrrh is soft, but adds a nice level of texture to this scent. It's mostly a fir/sandalwood/myrrh scent on me. Overall, this is a really lovely scent. But on me, it's so similar to Faunalia, that now I'm wondering which of them I want more -- the resiny-forest goodness of this one, or the musky-forest goodness of Faunalia. Hard choice. Maybe I can have both?

Picture Book and Pleasure Toys - My skin ate this one up. I put it on and while it was strong at first, it was completely gone within 2 hours. It's a strange scent on me, a weird combination of rose, red musk, red sandalwood, oakmoss, and amber. It slightly reminds me of Butterflies & Plovers, but less juicy-sweet. For the most part, it's a solid woody-floral scent and very "oriental" in spirit. The various notes are interesting together, but on me, they're kind of weird. I'm having a hard time describing this probably because I have a hard knowing exactly how I feel about it.

The Steeple - The herbs are the strongest note. This is very, very green and very heavy on the herbal notes. There is a soft touch of woods that's almost dusty, and I don't really smell the fungus note at all. I actually find this scent incredibly intriguing, even though it's not at all my typically preferred type of fragrance. It makes me think of the rainforest in the Pacific Northwest for some reason. I think people who love green scents and herbal scents will potentially really love this one. The throw is very strong and the staying power is about average.