filigree_shadow

Mostly a clear, slightly tart citrusy tea scent. A little bit of ginger adds zing. A lovely scent -- crisp and delicate, and not overly feminine. Refreshing and light.

I almost always like the pear scent in perfumes -- it has a bright quality and gives the scent a nice twang that I enjoy. I definitely like it in this blend. This would probably be an undistinguished soft floral blend on me without the pear, something that would make me think, "Oh, that's nice, but it's not really a standout." The pear note is the one that puts this over the "oh that's nice" level and into the "yes I would like to wear this" area. I thought that bois du rose was rosewood, but it seems like I can smell rose in this -- quite strongly, too. The white musk with it is absolutely perfect, just a soft gentle musk under the whole scent. It lasts for quite a while on my skin, although the pear becomes more difficult to pick out after it's fully dry. All in all, a great combination of notes and a great scent.

A slightly salty ozone scent with something moss-like. Definitely smells like an ocean rather than rain. There's a little bit of a sting to it, like a perfumey/cologney quality. It smells a lot more "clean" than I thought it would -- I think I'm picking up on the same thing some other reviewers are describing as a soap scent. To my nose Cthulhu is decidedly masculine, but that may be because my husband has one of the Springtime in Arkham bottles and wears this scent from time to time. It smells better on him than it does on me, to be honest. On him it seems deeper and a little darker, less like that soapy clean scent.

Hi! And congratulations on the baby. I guess this means you probably won't be coming to my house in a skunk costume so we can duel any more. What a crazy dream that was.

Hmmmm, where might one buy something like these Zebra-Striped Panties of Power?

It's orangey at first, then it softens into a floral scent with some gentle herbs. But the orange scent sticks around and brightens it up. There's a little bit of spice in there, but I have no idea what it is. Like most of the other Voodoo Blends, this isn't something I'd wear as perfume, but I'd like to test it for its intended use.

This is very strongly clove to me (or possibly cinnamon bark -- doesn't smell like straight up cinnamon to me) with maybe something slightly creamy with it. It's a very hot scent. Much too spicy for me to wear as perfume, but I can see it working for it's intended use.

This smells exactly like grape juice on me. Like Concord grapes. There's something a bit smoky in it too when I sniff it up close. But it's incredibly strong, and when my arms are by my sides as normal I can only smell grape juice. A lot of it.

I like this. It's a lovely dry wood scent with some spices that aren't too spicy. A little bit smoky and incensey, too. Cedar seems to be the most prominent note, but it's softer here than in other perfumes. Blends beautifully with the sandalwood. Not getting any mint or root beer that other reviewers are noting. This imp is labeled Old Kathmandu rather than Kathmandu, so it's probably a bit older than the scent other people are reviewing. It's quite lovely, in my opinion, so I think this is one of the ones that's better when its aged.

This smells like cognac and cloves on me... it kind of reminds me of cherry for some reason. It definitely smells red and sexy. Not too much rose and a lovely dark musk. It's not really feminine, it's kind of strong and take-charge. I know it's been quite a while since it was made, but it still smells wonderful to me. I only have a little bit of this, and I've only worn it twice -- luckily a little goes a long way. On my skin it lasts and lasts.

As you were describing your boss jumping in to grab attention for himself when it was going well, I was immediately reminded of a man who used to do that at my old office. He was the big boss, and he had the small brain. He talked a lot but didn't really know anything. He'd jump in to rephrase whatever the previous person had just said in order to make it look like it had been his idea all along. It was completely transparent, and it didn't fool anyone. Strangely, I had a completely different take on gender dynamics based on where I worked for the past six years. There were a couple of men there who very strong, incredibly smart, loyal to their teams, and extremely beloved by the staff. The other men in the company (who were corporate drones and not loved at all) did basically everything they possibly could to take away power from those men and turn people against them. Every meeting turned into a pissing contest. You could almost see the thoughts "What does HE have that I don't?" in these guys faces. They were insecure, jealous, and threatened. They made the whole environment there unbearable. (However those of us who were staff spectators had lively conversations about alpha males whenever the managers weren't around.) As for women? Competent smart women were treated as a mild thorn in the side. Women were, for the most part, ignored. Any time a woman pointed out a real problem and said it needed to be addressed, someone would inevitably ask whether she needed some chocolate or if her children had given her a rough time at home. I'm not kidding. It was disgusting. And if you happened to be an attractive woman who was competent, some manager male latched on to you and got you to do all his planning for him, as though you were his work wife in charge of throwing his dinner parties to make him look more important. Like a trophy wife. Um, yeah... I don't work there any more.

I get mostly tea rose at first, but it smells funny for some reason. Like that sort of sour scent you get when the wine has gone off. Kind of acidic. Usually neither violet nor tea rose is objectionable to me -- they're not my favorite notes but I don't hate them either. However, together on my skin they smell... well, I hate to say this, but it smells kind of like hair spray. Apparently this combination is not working nearly as well for me as it did for Marie.

I originally tried Regan when I was first trying all the BPAL oils I could get my hands on. I was in a phase where I ONLY wanted the ones that smelled like Vixen or Lust, and I turned up my nose at florals. The only comments about Regan that I typed into my spreadsheet were: "Too girlie." Apparently my tastes have changed since then, because now I like this. At first it's mostly vanilla with a little bit of a floral scent I can't identify. As it dries the vanilla moves closer to the background, and something strangely similar to anise starts to appear. Nothing overwhelming like Kabuki or anything, just a slight undertone. I'm very picky about floral scents, but I really like the orchid and vanilla combination. I'm glad I gave this one another try!

When it's wet I get a strong orange scent, and as its drying it becomes more floral. Well, mostly all floral, actually. My nose has a terrible time trying to discern floral notes from each other because I'm not familiar enough with the way each individual flower smells. So I can't say whether the scent smells like one particular flower or another, but I can say that what I smell is not singularly rose or jasmine (which are two I can usually pick out). Unfortunately this is not the kind of floral scent that I like, though. I tend to like soft white florals or the ones that smell sad -- I like them to be creamy or dewy. This one doesn't smell soft at all (although it does smell feminine). There's nothing in particular wrong with this scent, but to me there's doesn't seem to be anything in particular right about it either. I guess it's just not my kind of scent.

Ulalume is another surprise for me -- the only note in the description that I usually like is lily, and I normally avoid cypress and aquatics. There's a dirt/earth/mossy note in this, which I know because those notes come out like gangbusters on my skin and I can always smell even the tiniest drop. Usually I don't get to enjoy that type of note because it's far too strong, but here it's quite pleasant. Must be a super small amount. Anyway... on drydown I only get the slightest bit of that wintergreen scent that previous reviewers mentioned, and the aquatic note is strictly background. This is mainly a white lily with a little bit of soil for me. Some gentle woodiness is underneath it too, but it's not nearly as objectionable as cypress usually is. I think I've come to the conclusion that oak is one of my favorite wood notes -- it has a lovely soft woods feel to it. I don't think Ulalume gets a lot of love, but I bet it would if it smelled like this on other people. It's a lot like Zombi with lilies instead of roses and without the overpowering earth scent. This is much more wearable for me than Zombi was. My only problem with this scent is that it fades too quickly on my skin. So although I like this, I think Jazz Funeral is still my favorite earth/floral combination. I think I'm going to hang onto this imp of Ulalume, though.

I dated a guy in high school whose family left their tree up all year long and decorated it depending on the season. I liked that! That's the way it snows here too -- we hardly ever have snow in December, so when people have their lights up it's mainly just brown and muddy. Ugh. Lights look so pretty with snow! I'm thinking maybe next year after Christmas I'll exchange the colorful lights for white lights, so the neighbors realize I'm doing it on purpose. If I didn't live in the most conservative neighborhood ever I doubt it would be a problem, but we're already known as the weirdos on our street so I don't want the neighbors breathing down my neck about something else that is - ACK! - not in complete agreement with the tacit rules of suburban yards. My neighbors would really like for our street to be the epitome of classic good taste. (They're probably all hoping that Brett and I will move out soon so they have a chance at achieving that goal. We're the scourge of the neighborhood.)

The notes listed for this blend is a who's who of notes I avoid. Seriously. Every single one of them is iffy at best and I usually just avoid them entirely. So, why, I wonder, do I like this scent so much? It smells like a lush green marshy area with some reeds growing in it, and black pepper and cardamom give it a slightly hot edge. I see what other reviewers mean about smelling like Irish Spring soap -- it has that same clean greenness. But those spice notes are making it much more interesting than that. Also it seems to have a softness in it -- something that reminds me of aloe or chamomile or something like that. A gentle herby scent. It has the perfect throw on me, too -- not too heavy and not too light. It's definitely not the sort of scent I usually wear. And to be honest, if I saw a review that described exactly the sort of scent I'm describing above, I'd think, "Meh. Pass." And yet... somehow it suits me. Sometimes a scent you're sure you'll hate turns out to be one that you like a lot. And when you wear it people say, "Hunh, I wouldn't have expected you to wear something like that, but I have to admit that smells really good." For me, this is that scent. [Edited on 10/8/07] I really need to amend my review to add something: Whippoorwill has extraordinary wear length on me. I put it on my throat this afternoon, and I can still smell it almost 12 hours later. Not just the occasional waft, either. I mean I can really smell it. About 5 hours ago I was ready to smell something else, so I put some Pumpkin Cheesecake on my throat. The cheesecake scent is mostly gone now, but I still smell Whippoorwill. Now that's some staying power.

Unseelie has a strange, slightly unpleasant scent at first. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but it smells kind of like a resin and kind of like a bitter herb. When it's drying it starts smelling perfumey, powdery, and soft, but that strange bitter/resin combination is still running along the bottom of it. When it's dry, the perfumey part that I like seems to have faded away entirely and all I'm left with is that weird scent I don't really like plus some powder. It's extremely faint after about ten minutes, too. This isn't going to work for me. My skin seems to be having some trouble with it.

A very salty and clean scent. Soapy-smelling. I don't think I've ever smelled anything so salty before. I think there's some mint in it as well, it's kind of sinus-clearing.

I see why people went gaga over this. It smells like Titania (one of my favorite GC scents) with gentle herbs. Nice and pretty, clean and fresh smelling. This smells like my BPAL imp box, actually. It's a lovely scent, but it smells like other BPALs to me. I wonder if I could get the same sort of scent by layering Titania with Black Moon... hm.

This is far too rosy for me. It smells basically just like roses, but it's that sort of sharp rosy scent that I don't really like that much. I'm usually not a big rose fan anyway, but sometimes I like them if they're creamy or dewy -- this isn't that kind of rose, though.

This smells cold and has that nose-tingling sort of minty scent to it. Definitely smells frosty, and a bit watery. Not my thing. I didn't like this one.

From the bottle sniff I thought I would like this -- it smells sweet and slightly floral in the bottle. However, on it smells very cold and has that nose-tingling property. That's just not for me. I like this one a bit better than Frost Moon, but not much better. I'm editing this to add the 2010 version: Weird menthol-y mint, like a spearmint or something. But not straight up mint. It's odd. Cold and like some sort of minty medicinal thing. I do not think I like the mint + fern combination. I liked the original version better.

An aquatic scent for sure -- it smells watery -- but it also has kind of a dryer sheets cleanness to it, too. Unfortunately it's a little bit sour on my skin for some reason and isn't the deep dark kind of aquatic scent that I like. It smells kind of green, like a floral green, too. Too sour for me.

This is strongly rain/aquatic scented. It smells to me like that's all there is. It smells clean, not salty at all. There's a crispness to it. Unfortunately it is much too strong for me. This is one of the ones that lasts and lasts... however I don't really like the scent enough to want to smell it for a long time.