storme

In the imp: grapes! lotus! sweet bubblegum-candy fruits! On me, wet: sweet dark grapes and general candyness. I keep thinking there must be lotus in this - lots of florals under all the juicy sweet grape. On me, dry: gentle floral-and-fruit sweetness. Less vividly purple than before but still very much grape-and-floral. Verdict: Pleasant enough - not really my style in perfume but not terrible either. No idea about the other properties here.

In the imp: sweet and crisp florals over fresh aquatics. On me, wet: sweet crisp florals - and grapefruit? a lovely grapefruitey scent, sharp and light. On me, dry: sharp grapefruit and florals over, alas, soapy aquatics. Grr! This is a lovely soap, but still, soap. Verdict: Alas, no. Gorgeous in the imp and when wet, but my skin just isn't playing along.

Tested here primarily for scent and not for purpose: In the imp: lavender and clove and something minty in the background. On me, wet: the cloves flare up, but this is lovely - there's a creamy spiciness like carnations, and lavender and mint making this gentle instead of biting. On me, dry: This remains a very lovely creamy blend of spices and lavender. Soft and warming and soothing. Verdict: As a perfume, this is very nice - and would likely be awesome in winter. As intent goes, I don't know that it boosted me much, but I wasn't depressed when testing it.

In the imp: sweet, like roses with a chai-like spicy overtone. On me, wet: very sweet and slightly soapy roses, with the spiciness vanishing into baby powder. Much nicer in the imp than on my skin, apparently. On me, dry: This is the rose from London, but in a powdery form rather than sweet and ozone-y. And no spice at all any more. Bah. Verdict: I have nicer roses, I have nicer forms of this type of rose, even. Not one for me to keep.

In the imp: mm, chai and a slightly herby powderiness. On me, wet: fades very fast - but becomes very powdery, still with a kick of cloves and chai-like spices. On me, dry: lots and lots of cloves, and a little bitter herbiness behind it. Still a sort of chai smell to it all. Verdict: It smells fairly nice - it's not particularly making me focus on stuff that needs doing, though. Enh. One to retest for purpose, but scentwise it's the nicest TAL I've tried.

In the imp: soapy, neroli-ish aquatics. On me, wet: soap! Soap! Neroli soap! There's something sweet behind the soapiness and the neroli, but it's pretty swamped. On me, dry: light, sweet, aquatic neroli-and soap. Sigh. Whatever aquatic this is, it just isn't going to work on me. Verdict: Off to the swap pile it goes.

In the imp: ginger, orange blossom, and patchouli - all blended together fairly well. On me, wet: ginger and patchouli - the orange blossom is very faint. This is a sweet, smoky scent - man, a patchouli that's pleasant on me? Crazy. On me, dry: man, this is a *sexy* scent - this gives me the same hindbrain-signal that red musk does, in fact, but with a vanilla-ish creaminess to it too. Sweet and warm and sexy and lovely. Verdict: I like it. The SO likes it. I think we have a keeper.

In the imp: sticky sweet luridly pink bubble-gum. On me, wet: lots of pineapple and honey and spun sugar and maybe a little peppery heat behind it. On me, dry: man, still bubblegum - or sweet pink-and-yellow candy, that sort of fruity sugary concoction. There's some powdery nastiness to this fruit, also. Verdict: it's not actually doing much to boost my happiness - possibly because I was pretty content when I put it on. The scent doesn't really appeal, though.

In the imp: mm! ginger and grapefruit are the strongest notes, but it's all light and airy and slightly spicy and sweet. On me, wet: candylike citrus/vanilla/ginger and aloe and musk and light herbs. Very light and clear and airy. On me, dry: this is so sweet, but the aloe and musk and citrus and so on make it light and fresh instead of cloying. Verdict: Somehow I thought I wouldn't like this lunacy - guess I was wrong. Admittedly, I probably don't need more than the imp I have.

In the imp: mmmm, plum and carnation and chrysanthemum, sweet and spicy and delicious. On me, wet: that spiciness is almost gingerbreadish, but the plum keeps it juicy and the chrysanthemum keeps it from being oversweet. On me, dry: warm, moist, delicious gingerbread with musk and plum beneath it. Man, this is very edible indeed. Verdict: Aw yeah, I'l be keeping the imp of this around. It'll be awesome for winter.

In the imp: cherry wine and dark, damp rose. On me, wet: lots of boozy wine, lots of cherryish dragon's blood and deep red rose. This is a very heavy, sultry, almost sweaty scent. On me, dry: a light, but still very alcoholic rose-and-cherry scent. A bit powdery and slightly sour with wine. Verdict: Interesting, but not grabbing me enough to make me want to keep it.

In the imp: very light, very airy, very aquatic, very... masculine, actually. smells like aftershave. On me, wet: aloe, and dryer sheets, and lily. It's maybe not quite as masculine as in the imp, but a bit hairspray-ish. On me, dry: lily and aloe and hairspray and light airy dryer-sheet scent. It's actually a bit antiseptic - it smells clean and sterile and brittle. Verdict: unsettling. Not one I forsee myself ever wantitng to wear, though it's not actually offensive. Swap pile, though, I think.

In the imp: Bubblegum and rose. Smells like it would be the tastiest bubblegum ever, but still bubblegum. On me, wet: very faint rose and sugary-sweet-fruit lotus. very faint indeed. On me, dry: this is still very faint, but the sweetness seems to have soured on me. I can just about smell the rose trying valiantly to work behind the sourness, though. Verdict: Nope, not a keeper. I think I'll chalk this one up to lotus being unpredictable on me.

In the imp: TEA. Lovely crisp fresh tea. On me, wet: tea and sweet verbena. God, I love how sharp this is - although it's pretty indistinguishable from Embalming Fluid on me right now. On me, dry: yeah, this is pretty much Embalming Fluid on me - maybe a little sharper, but very similar. Verdict: This is really nice, and if I *didn't* already have a sharp-citrus-tea love, this would fill that spot nicely. Ah well.

In the imp: dry sandalwood and vanilla and a hint of sweet pea. On me, wet: vanilla amber, very warm and rich with sandalwood beneath it adding depth. The sweet pea more or less vanishes. On me, dry: mm, deep warm sandalwood with the sweet vanilla from antique lace over the top, and a little dry dusty amber too. No sweet pea, though. Verdict: Antique Lace is still going to be my one true BPAL vanilla, I think - this is nice, but a little dry and cloying. Might keep the imp around to use this for a change once in a while, though.

In the imp: wow, this is a lovely mix in the imp, with lavender and thyme being the strongest notes to my nose. On me, wet: every time I sniff I get a whiff of something different, but the thyme is always wafting in the background. On me, dry: After a while spent trying to work out why this was so familiar, I realised: this is the scent of the gardens of my childhood, herb patches gone to seed and overrun with tall stems of vividly coloured flowers, honeysuckle climbing the trellis nearby. Verdict: This is making me weepy with nostalgia, so I'm having trouble not breaking into bad poetic phrasing here. I think I'll be keeping this imp.

In the imp: chemical roses and greenery. On me, wet: hmm, faintly spicy orchid and powdery rose and a lot of acrid herbal ivy-ish greenery. On me, dry: the labdanum is turning my stomach, beneath the soft florals. This smells like a box of long-disused makeup on my skin - slightly rank and with a hint of dried greasepaint. Verdict: I suspect this would be nice without the labdanum, but I really should avoid that note in future.

A subtly menacing blend of lemon verbena, white sandalwood and cedar, dimmed by droplets of the darkest patchouli. In the imp: lemon candy dusted over patchouli and cedarwood. On me, wet: lots of sugary-sweet lemon over a dark and bitter hippy-shop patchouli-and-hand-carved-woods scent. On me, dry: powdery sugared lemon over dry, dirty patchouli. The woods are swamped under the rest of it. Verdict: Not especially compelling on me, but I'm glad I got to try this anyway. Also, my imp seems to have mysteriously.. not leaked, since I would surely have noticed, but evaporated. There was only enough left to test.

In the imp: hmm, ripe fruits - mostly pomegranate and apple. Smells like a tropical fruits cordial with manky banana. On me, wet: urgh, really over-ripe fruit. I think the apples went rotten and mouldy on my skin, and it's hard to smell much else - except maybe some more rotten fruit. On me, dry: I don't think I can bear to keep this on long enough to let it dry, frankly. It just seems to be getting ranker. Verdict: If you're looking at this (as I was) with an eye to it being a bit like Fruit Moon, it really isn't. This lacks the sharp juicy kick behind that scent, and replaces it with dry rot. Urgh yick retch.

In the imp: lots of bergamot and juniper and a trace of lilac. On me, wet: hmm, still a lot of bergmot and lilac, but the woods are showing through a bit now. I can feel the red musk more than I can actually smell it, but it's definitely in there somewhere. On me, dry: Rosewood tends to go a bit powdery on me, but mostly that's masked by the warmth of the sandalwood and the musk, and by the sweet sharpness of bergamot and lilac. Verdict: This is nice - slightly confused, in that it can't decide if it wants to be warm or sharp or sweet or all three at once, but nice. Fades fast, and a bit powdery after a bit, so I'll probably just swap it onwards.

In the imp: soft, sweet fruits with grains and a hint of sharpness. On me, wet: immediately fainter, but the fruits become sharper and there's suddenly a fair amount of wood and dust. On me, dry: soft, dusty apples and dry woods and sugary hints of other fruits. Mostly this gives me an impression of there having been a fruity dessert made in the room at some point in the past day. I even get the hints of pastry. Weird. Verdict: I like my fruits a little sharper and a little bolder (like in Fruit Moon) and significantly less dry. This is too soft and faint for me, I think. Ah well.

The bottle I acquired via a swap was CCLXXXIV (284): In the imp: coffee-centred chocolate! lots of dark rich sweet coffee. This is sort of what I expected Misk U to smell like - mostly coffeeish with hints of other things. On me, wet: yeah, this is still coffee with a hint of chocolate. Very rich, very dark. On me, dry: slightly powdery coffee with a hint of chocolate. A bit dry but very rich and dark. Later on there are hints of something sweet-and-caramel-ish behind the coffee and chocolate notes. Verdict: Man, that's some coffee. I like this - I can't exactly see myself wearing it often, but the scent from the bottle is awesome.

In the imp: oh, my god. Peppermint with extra awesomeness. On me, wet: unf. Man, this may be the best peppermint ever. The vanilla sweetens it just that little bit and mmmmmmm. I could eat my own wrist. On me, dry: mm, soft vanilla with a very light hint of mint. This is less in-your-face than at first application, but still very edible. Verdict: When dry it's pretty much like Antique Lace, which I already own plenty of - but the wet phase is so awesome that I'll keep this around just for that first stabbingly vivid mint smell. Yum.

In the imp: baby powder and chemicals. On me, wet: lots of weird chemicals, some sharp lavender and bergamot and baby powder. On me, dry: I can smell the sandalwood under here but the bermot is making the jasmine-baby-powdery into a rank chemical ickiness on me. Erk. Verdict: Not one I want to keep around, and not even slightly soporific to me. Yeech.

In the imp: Shampoo! Well, bamboo and cherry blossom and a fair amount of tea, but apparently that reminds me of shampoo. On me, wet: Lots of cherry blossom and bamboo and tea - not much sandalwood or dragon's blood, which I would expect to make this warmer and more grounded. This feels like an airy scent, but it's *still* reminding me of shampoo. On me, dry: man, is there in fact dragon's blood or sandalwood in this at all? I'm still getting that bamboo/tea/cherry blossom smell and nothing else. Very light and clean and airy. Verdict: This is a very consistent scent. If you like it from a sniff you'll probably like it when on. I'd like it more if my brain would stop telling me it was shampoo-ish. Sigh.