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I have no idea how to describe this. All I know is that something about this scent turns me off. Maybe because it smells sort of sour, like some weird herb. I don't fancy keeping my nose next to my arm to try to figure out what's in this because it's just not the kind of scent I want to smell. Don't like it.

This one surprised me. For some reason, this isn't the scent I was expecting. It's a really pretty bright, clear, fresh scent. It kind of smells a bit like a crisp tea scent, with maybe some very gentle herbs. It also smells kind of dewy -- not like aquatic, but in that slightly watery fresh way. I think it mostly reminds me of clean laundry. Personally, I happen to like that type of scent a lot, so for me this one's a winner.

This smells like the white soap my Grandma used to use. I think it was Ivory. It's a really soft, clean scent. There's a faint bit of some kind of floral with it, but my strongest impression is that it reminds me of my Grandma's soap. This is really not a bad association for me at all, and I actually kinda like this. When it's dry the florals come out a little more, and it becomes slightly feminine, rather than the unisex scent it started out with. Yeah. I like this. It feels comfy.

On first sniff, my immediate thought was, "This smells like a Christmas candle." Don't know what's causing that, but when I sniff it I can totally picture one of those red spicy-scented Christmas candles. I think maybe it has some light florals in it, plus a spice that smells mostly like clove. Hmm. Usually when I smell a "spicy" floral it turns out to be carnation, so maybe that's what this is. This smells sweeter than carnation usually does on me, though... maybe another flower in there is causing that. It's kind of light, and I think it's pretty. I really can't get past that winter association, though.

When I first put it on, it was a perfumey floral. As it dries, though, it warms up. I definitely seems like there's some honey in this, and it's smoothing out the scent a lot. It still has that perfumey quality, though. Honestly, I can't really tell what might be in this. It smells familiar to me, but I can't place it. It ends up being a nice musky scent, but on my skin there isn't much else going on with it.

Gamaliel The Obscene Ones.Idleness and unconscious, uncontrolled, perverse sexual desire. Governed by Lilith Nocturna, the Onokentauros, Mother of Demons, First Wife of Adam. Gamaliel גאמאליאל It started out odd and chalky/dusty, and then it turned into a dry coconut scent. (Coconut often smells like Fruit Loops on me, so whenever I smell that Fruit Loops scent I think there must be coconut in it.) But still dusty. It smells like what I imagine Coconut Pez would smell like, if they made such a thing. When it's drying it loses the dustiness but gets sweeter for a little while, and it ends up rather musky. When it's dry it's much smoother than I thought it would be. I think there might be a teeny bit of patchouli in this too. It kind of reminds me of Eden a bit.

This oil is orange, which of course makes me think of oranges straight away, and it's difficult for me to stop making that association when I sniff the oil. However, although I think there's definitely fruit in this, I don't think it's oranges. It smells more like a berry. The scent smells so familiar to me, and I'm not sure why. I think perhaps it reminds me of another GC scent, but I can't put my finger on it. Anyway, mostly this smells like a berry musk to me, and because I can't get that blasted orange notion out of my head I also think I'm smelling a little bit of orange blossom. There might be some vanilla in this, too. It's doing that very slightly chalky thing on me that raspberry usually does, so maybe there's some of that in here. I really enjoy this scent a lot, even though it's driving me nuts that I can't think of what it reminds me of. ETA on 8/28/07: I've worn this enough times now that I think I should mention in my review that although it smells a little acidic/medicinal right at first, it warms up really well and ends up being beautiful in drydown and wear. Really a lovely scent.

This oil is the reddest of all the Qliphoth scents. To me, usually that means dragon's blood, and I would say there definitely is some in this. You know how sometimes dragon's blood smells sticky? It doesn't, in this one. It smells dry. There's a smoky aspect to it as well... it makes me think of opium poppy due to the floral and smoke combination. But just as soon as I decide there's a floral note in this, it disappears and I smell something else. This scent seems to morph a lot until it settles down. Mostly, it seems to me like a lightly musky "perfumey" blend with a dragon's blood undertone. There's a little bit of gentle spice in there, too -- nothing overwhelming. I think this scent is quite calming and centering. I really like it when it's dry.

The oil is a medium orange color, if that tells you anything about what could be in it. A little woody, and really sweet. Possibly frankincense. Smoky. I don't think there's anything like flowers or fruit in here, it seems like it's all wood, resin, and incense. Probably some musk. Usually with blends that have those kinds of notes in them they're either dry and sweet or they're dark and smoky. On my skin, this one is of the dry, sweet variety. When the oil is dry, the scent kind of rounds out and becomes smoother. I really like patchouli a lot, and I'd love to smell that in this scent, but I'm concentrating really hard and I can't smell it. Other reviewers have mentioned dragon's blood -- my nose is very familiar with that note because I wear DB blends all the time, and I can't smell even a drop in this. I will say that I think A'arab Zaraq smells better in the imp than it smells on my skin, so I think maybe my skin's having problems with it. From the imp sniff I thought there'd be some citrus in this, but I can't detect any when it's on my skin.

It seems very spicey-incensey at first, but it morphs a bit into a deeper, more resinous scent. I definitely do smell some fruit in there, but I have no idea which one. I can see why people compare this to Snake Charmer, but on my skin it's far too incensey to be very similar to Snake Charmer (which is smooth and creamy on me). I would say it's more like Hellion or Red Phoenix. I think there's some wood in this too that's giving it a nice, dry base. As it dries it gets a little smoother and sweeter. Very nice.

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This is a little strange. The oil that I applied to the back of my hand a few minutes ago has a strong sour lavender smell -- sort of like lavender + camphor. It's biting. However, I got a little bit of oil on my other hand when I was trying this on, and that spot smells wonderful. It's bright and cheerful and quite pleasant. Maybe I need to wait a little while to see what happens to the oil on the back of my hand. OK, the lavender isn't nearly as strong now. I can smell a little bit of orchid, and it's very pretty. It smells deep, almost resinous. Unfortunately, it's really soft. If I tried to put on more oil in order to amp up the scent, I'd be stuck with that wet sour lavender phase again. So... I don't like the wet phase when the scent is strong, and although I do like the dry phase I can barely smell it. I don't think this one is going to work on me after all.

I bought a bottle of this last year thinking it would be wonderful, and I didn't like it. My husband didn't like it either. My notes were: "The juniper ruins it for me. Smells astringent on." When Lupercalia rolled around again this year, I didn't buy a bottle but I wanted to try a decant. Just to be sure. Tastes change, chemistry changes, all that jazz. (Plus I'm still sorta peeved that it didn't work on me last year.) In the 2007 version, I get huge, huge patchouli. That great deep, dark patchouli that I like. It smells earthy and almost gritty with the other notes. I'm really surprised because I distinctly remember walking around smelling like a juniper shrub last year when I had the 2006 version on. This doesn't smell anything like that. Warm, wonderful, lovely dark patchouli. Now to hunt down a bottle.

Okeydokey, here goes the suckiest review of all time. The only notes that I'm really familiar with in this are frankincense and orris root. (Also, I thought olibanum was the same thing as frankincense?) Frankincense is a sweetness culprit on me, but in this it's very successfully tempered and balanced by the other notes. Orris root is a very dry almost-planty scent, if I recall correctly, and I think I might be getting some of that here. I honestly don't know what the other notes should smell like or what they're doing to the scent. Does hyssop smell sort of wood-like? Or is that the reed/frond I'm picking up on? Reeds usually smell a little green to me, and I can smell that here. And hibiscus... we can't grow those here in Chicago so I don't know what that smells like. Don't think it really matters anyway because I don't smell anything floral at all in this. I can say that this is one of the very few frankincense scents I can wear. It's what I wish ALL frankincense scents would smell like on me. It smells like frankincense should smell, without my skin chemistry interfering. Dry, nicely incensey, and only slightly sweet. I like this much, much more than I thought I would.

I was sitting there at Convergence trying not to be overly fangirly, and Puddin' came over to our table and sat down. He started handing out imps to the people at the table and prompting us to ask him what was in it. (To which he of course said, "Ahhhh duno!") A few minutes later Brian came around with a bag of imps and started to give one to someone at the table, and suddenly 6 people showed their Ah'Duno imps to him and loudly and happily proclaimed that we already got some. (I have yet to hear Brian speak because he sort of slinked off right after that ostentatious display of glee... the slinking was possibly out of fright.) This imp always makes me smile. Oh, right... what does it smell like. Um... it smells like Wrath Lite. This is great, in my opinion, because Wrath is much too hot for me to wear. With the other components in it, it takes on a creamy and sweet aspect and becomes wearable. It's still a lot of cinnamon, but it's smooth underneath. I like it!

I tried this at the Convergence booth with darkitysnark, and it went all pungent jasmine on me. On her it smelled good! On everyone else who tried it on, it smelled good! On me? Not so much. ETA: At a meet n' sniff over the weekend I sniffed one of the bottles with the white label, and it smelled like it had a LOT more vanilla in it than the one I tried. Hmmmm.... I'm going to see if I can track down the white-label bottle.

Very floral. It does smell like jasmine to me, but there's a "clean" element to it as well. A greenish clean scent. I'm not sure exactly what it is I'm smelling, but I kinda like it. It smells much more crisp than the heady jasmine I'm familiar with. I don't think jasmine is the only flower in this... but I'm not good enough at identifying floral notes to be able to tell what it is.

At first, this is a musky floral -- smells like a white flower with soft petals -- with a little bit of some kind of smooth creaminess underneath. As it dries the flowers aren't as strong and it's muskier. It gets sweeter, too. I love the musk in it, and I'm glad it turned into a scent that is not overtly floral! This is a very pretty, deep and luxurious scent. I really like it.

Woah. Exceedingly alcoholic at first. Doesn't really smell like hops to me, more like rum. But then as it's drying that initial rum weirdness goes away, and it ends up smelling like cherry pipe tobacco. NOT like pipe smoke, like the actual tobacco you put in the pipe. I used to go into a cigar/pipe shop all the time to buy clove cigarettes because it was the only place in town to buy them, and the inside of that shop smelled like this. It's a sweet, dry, almost musty, tobacco scent. Smelling this transports me mentally back to that shop. I bet my husband would love this. I'll let him try it.

This smells like, um... pimento? Almost like a green pepper. How very strange. As it's drying I smell more of the "dapper cologne" in it, but it still reminds me of pimento. I find this exceedingly odd, and I think there must be something wonky with my skin at the moment. I'm sure it's not supposed to smell like this.

This smells almost like cologne to me at first, strangely. It also reminds me of my grandmother more than a little. I guess that would be the worsted wool. It's a warm scent that smells familiar and comfortable. Not exactly like freshly laundered clothes that still smell a bit of dryer sheets, but almost. Like a big warm blankie. This could very easily become my comfort scent that I wear to bed. There's something about it that seems so homey to me. (Also, I think I should mention that this smells nothing at all like Numb on me. No soap, either.)

The second I opened the bottle I knew I was going to love this. It's outstanding. It smells kind of like coffee with a lot of cream and a little bit of cinnamon. This is not bitter coffee at all -- it's the good stuff. It smells dry and warm and extraordinarily comforting. Until now the only coffee-scented perfume I liked even marginally was Misk U, and I like this one about 100 times better. It really smells wonderful. Wow. I'm completely in awe.

OK, why is there no peach listed in the notes? Even in the bottle I smell peach, and on my skin definitely. I don't know what else that scent could be except peach. Anyway, this is lovely. I love tea scents, but it seems like whenever a tea scent is paired with a fruit it's usually lemon. I don't like lemon very much. This peach (or whatever it is) is perfect. Full, round, and lush. It also has a deep, slightly resiny scent underneath. I can't describe it better than that because I don't know what most of those note smell like. All I know is that I like it a lot. I accidentally forgot that I ordered this bottle and ordered a second one a couple of days after my first order. I'm so glad! This is a scent I'll wear often.

Like a few other reviewers, I really liked the original Blue Moon, so I had high hopes for this version. It's... not quite what I was expecting. I loved the clear bright aspect to the original, and that seems to be missing here. This one is mostly herbal. It's not sharp herbs, but it's very green. Although it's not my kind of scent to wear as perfume, I will say that it smells unique. I don't think I've ever smelled anything quite like this before. It almost seems like a watery herbal scent. Hard to imagine? Yes. Hard to describe, too. When it's dry it seems more floral than herbal, and I like it better. (Moonflower is one of the few floral scents I like.) Still not really my kind of scent, though.

I've had a decant of this forever, and I never wear it because whenever I look at it I think, "It's just going to smell COLD on me, like all the snowy blends do." My skin is notoriously bad with the snowy/cold blends, and they all pretty much smell the same on me. I finally decided to give up my decant of Skadi, so I thought I'd write a review of it before putting it up for swap. Imagine my intense surprise when I discovered that it DOESN'T smell like every other cold/snowy blend!! Holy crap! I actually smell something other than cold in this! It smells like sweet berries, a hint of dry pine, and a very light undercurrent of a crisp chilly breeze blowing through. It's lovely! I won't be giving up this decant after all, and I'm thrilled to death that I've finally found a snowy blend that isn't entirely snowy on me! Of course, getting more of it at this point is probably not going to happen, but I will treasure my decant.