Meganaut

The scent of calm waters just before a raging storm, limned with achingly-beautiful blooms, an icy scent, but somehow warm, and mirror-bright: bold gardenia, crystalline musk, muguet, water blossoms, clear, slightly tart aquatic notes and a crush of white ginger. This starts out as a blend of light florals. The muguet and gardenia make themselves known immediately. As it fades, a sort of salt water note comes out. It's hard to describe, but it really put me in mind of the faded end of Lightning. There's something in this blend of white flowers and aquatic notes that is so frustratingly, maddeningly familiar. I'm not getting much in the way of musk. My skin must just totally absorb BPAL musks. It's very fresh and cool, but in a way that is not breezy. It's very white. I could see this scent coming out of a pond surrounded by gardenias and lilies. I'm not sure whether I would buy a big bottle of this, but I'm leaning toward yes. I'm not usually a huge fan of florals, but the aquatic notes keep it from being boring. - Karen ETA lab description

This smells like violets. There's a slight hint of musk, but mainly, it's violets. I know from Ultraviolet that my skin amps up the violet note, so I feel like I'm missing something here. It's a light floral, but it seems kind of geriatric on me. I'm undecided on whether I would wear this again. -Karen

I like both green tea and musk scents, so I have been looking forward to my imp of Embalming Fluid for some time. The lemon note is fresh without being either too sweet or too tart. It reminds me of LUSH's Lemslip. Enbalming Fluid does remind me of Green Tea Therapy as many others have stated. This has less of that nose-burning quality that I get after a while from Green Tea Therapy. I think the musk rounds out the scent, though it's not a strong presence here. This is a refreshing, cool scent that's excellent for hot, humid weather. Unfortunately, Embaling Fluid fades like crazy on my skin. So it joins Absinthe and the Apothecary as light scents I adore, but have to re-apply every 2 hours or so. I would purchase a big bottle of this. -Karen

I went with Ultraviolet, since it doesn't have much throw. I haven't heard anything yet, though. This was for a job at the University, so they may have had tons of people applying. -Karen

I may have a job interview at my University this week. It will be damn hot around here, so I was thinking either Ultraviolet or the Apothecary. Both are faders on me, but I want something light and cool. -Karen

To link my comment to the title of this blog, I am on the younger end of Gen X and at 28, I am still in school (albeit as a graduate student), still working part-time for hourly wages and still hazy on what my "career" will entail. Once I get my MFA, I will probably join the ranks of the underpaid and underappreciated adjunct professors training the next generation of youngsters to put together cogent sentences. I have no savings. I own nothing of value. I don't invest in the retirement plan where I work because it takes months to get invested and I can't forsee myself staying long enough to make it worth my while. The only jobs I've ever had were shitty retail jobs. I have no profitable skills. My career goal is to do something that gives me enough money for books, BPAL and someplace to live. I want free time to devote to the things I truly enjoy (reading, writing) because I'm pretty sure that I can't make a living doing what I love. -Karen

Miss Morbus, Do you rinse the oil out afterward? Does it weigh down the hair? -Karen

I put my imp of Medea in a roller ball with grapeseed oil. First, I filled the bottle halfway with grapeseed, then I dumped the imp in there and put the roller on. The scent seems to be just as strong as it was from the imp, but it still lasts only 4-5 hours on me. It is portable now, at least. The grapeseed oil is light and scentless, so it does make a good carrier. -Karen

Black Forest starts out as strongly piney, but there are other woods present. Once it goes on, the musk comes out and warms it up quite a bit. The pine note really reminds me of the sap that's always leaking out of the pine trees around here. The scent is green, but not sunny and light. The name really sums up the feeling I get from it. This really smells like a forest, but the musk keeps it from being too much like a air freshener. It lasted about four hours on. This would probably smells equally good on a man or a woman. -Karen

Note: I mixed this with a carrier oil (grapeseed) in a roller bottle before wearing. At first, this smells strongly of orchid, black currant and cedar. As it wears, the orchid fades and the woody/black currant scent takes the forefront. I think that is the myrrh coming out. This really is a dark purple scent. The black currant gives it a tart juicy scent. This currant is not foody at all, the note is almost like a bitter wine. I really wanted this to last, but my skin ate it up after about 4 hours. That may have had something to do with the dilution. It leaves a very pleasant close scent of cedar and myrrh. I will use this to hypnotize men into doing my bidding. Or I'll just put it on the big bottle wishlist. Whatever. -Karen

Well, count me as one of those people who likes aquatics and light musks. Add tea and mint and I'm in heaven. I am looooving this. In the imp, the mint is definetly there, but on it morphs into a more light musk scent. I get a teeny hint of the orange peel in the background. So far, I'm not getting any black currant, but there is a dampness to the scent. This quiets down a lot on the skin. I wish it was stronger with more throw. The again, I did put it on fresh from the bath without moisturizer. It smells very sophisticated. This would be a great scent for an all-dressed-up-and-aloof moment. -Karen

In the bottle, this had a definite scent of freshly turned, wet earth with a top note of light, sweet flowers. It stayed pretty true to the bottle scent on my wrist. The dirty scent is very green and sharp. The sharpness may be the teak and cypress notes. At first, this smells like two separate scents, one wet earthy scent and one light floral, but as it dries, the notes seem to blend together into a rich mix of woods and orchid. I really like this one. Something in here reminds me of Demeter's Wet Garden, but it's been a while since I sniffed that one, so I may be mis-remembering. I can't wait to wear this out and have someone ask me what it is. -Karen

I bought an imp of this from glokeroo (thanks!) and I've worn it two days in a row now. In the imp, I get nothing citrus from this. I do get a definite salt water smell. It reminds me of a time I was on a tour boat in the Keys and a storm came up. A salty-ozone scent. The drydown leaves something slightly musky (?) behind. Doesn't strike me as particularly masculine, though. A very interesting, hard to pin down scent. There's something dark in there, but it doesn't smell rotten. It makes me think of sheets of seaweed for wrapping sushi, an ocean vegetable smell that's not woody. I am adding this one to my big bottle wishlist for sure. -Karen

I bought this and some other imps for Dr. Boyfriend, and I thought I would be all clever and steal some for myself this morning. The following is a true account. In the imp: "Mmm, spicy, floral, a hint of leather. What could go wrong?" Wet: "Punches up the musk and cedar. I'm liking this so far." Dry: "It's starting to smell kind of leathery." A few hours later: "What smells like smoke?" I don't know why this reacted so badly to my skin, but after a couple of hours, all I got was a strong odor of flowers and stale cigarette smoke. I swear, it was like smelling your clothes the day after you've been clubbing in them. It gave me a headache, and though I tried to tough it out, I ended up wiping myself down with a paper towel soaked in hand sanitizer gel to get the smell off me. Granted, this may have something to do with last night's bad free wine. I'm sure this will smell much better on Dr. Boyfriend. Now I'll know to stay out of his stash. -K

I got a bottle of this recently off Ebay, so here's my first review. In the bottle: There's definetly a sense of coldness to this, but I don't get an immediate scent of mint like I do with Ultraviolet. Instead, it had a cool, cologney smell. It's green and nearly floral, but in a very light way. It's strong in the bottle. Wet: Smells cooler and greener now. The scent fades and mellows a bit, more of the green scent coming out. There's a slight juniper and eucalpytus smell, but the topnote, which I can olny describe as white floral, is fading into the background. Drydown: After a while, a smoky scent starts to emerge. It reminded me of the scent of menthol cigarettes and thyme that my ex-roommate used to trail around. Verdict: After my second day wearing it, this scent grows on me. It has an intimation of coldness, with the sharp scent of artifice that would make it perfect for touring a bomb crater. I wish the mint were stronger though. That's probably just me, as the mint in Ultraviolet fades pretty quickly after I apply that also. -Karen