storme

In the imp: sharp and musky. The lavender is pretty dominant, and I can't smell the sage or vanilla at all. On me, wet: hey, white musk and vanilla and leather. I don't think I can smell the cedar, but then again I am terrible with woody scents. The lavender has pretty much gone. On me, dry: the leather really takes over until I find it hard to smell much else. Much much later, after it's calmed down, the lavender and vanilla re-emerge, but it's very faint. Verdict: The lavender and vanilla scent at the end is quite nice, but it's not really anything I'd be seeking out to wear for myself, and since the SO doesn't want to try it either, swap pile it is.

In the imp: sharp muskiness and patchouli. On me, wet: a lot of patchouli at first, which swiftly vanishes along with every trace of the perfume. Sheesh, I can still see where the perfume is (it's still wet and glistening), but I can't smell it at all. On me, dry: ah, the patchouli comes creeping back now. This is incredibly faint and powdery. Smells nice enough if I thrust my nose into my wrist - faintly like a hippy shop, but I like hippy shops. Verdict: This is very faint, and the scent isn't anything amazing. One for the swap pile, I guess.

In the imp: cherries with a hint of anise. On me, wet: aniseed and cherry. Licorice, if I'm honest. On me, dry: The anise takes over, as the cherry blossom vanishes - the exact opposite of what I wanted. Having eradicated and erased all traces of other scents from my wrist, the anise doesn't linger on much longer. Verdict: I think I should stay the hell away from any scent with anise in. At least it faded fairly quickly.

In the imp: orange zest (is that the neroli, or the blood orange?) which leaves an, uh, afterscent of raspberry when I take it away from under my nose. On me, wet: powdery sweet orange zest. Somewhat like orange-scented kitchen surface cleaner mixed with raspberry sorbet. Once again, the raspberry is more of an afterscent - it seems to have a bigger throw than the orangey notes. On me, dry: okay, the orange zest calmed down a bit, and now it's a rather nice raspberry/orange blend - the citrus stops it from becoming too cloying. Verdict: well, the notes all work okay - but I dunno. I still feel a bit too much like a sorbet wearing this.

In the imp: Nutmeg! Slight dark tinges of alcohol and smoke, but mostly delicious nutmeg! On me, wet: The nutmeg doesn't hang around long, alas, and the myrrh comes forward, making this into a much darker acrid-smoke-and-incense scent. On me, dry: Yay, the nutmeg resurfaced and the myrrh dropped away. Now this is warm, and spicy - very edible. Yum. Reminds me of Christmas time. Verdict: Did I mention yum? Totally keeping this.

In the imp: cocoa and vanilla and myrrh. makes the back of my throat itch a bit. On me, wet: dusty cocoa, but I can smell the sandalwood and the myrrh behind it, softening the powdery dustiness a bit. On me, dry: Hey, cool, it softed and warmed to a nice vanilla-and-chocolate scent, and there's very little powderiness left. It hangs around for ages, too.

In the imp: sharp and spicy and warm and smoky. On me, wet: sharp, spicy, warm, smoky. Same as in the imp, really. On me, dry: Hmm, I can smell the leather coming through. It certainly smells like hide of some sort, but hide that's still attached to a living creature. I guess what it reminds me most of is the smell of clean horseriding equipment - particularly of saddles and tack - that slightly soapy, slightly musky, warm, leathery scent. That description doesn't really explain quite why I'm so taken by this, but man, it's good - sultry and spicy and musky and tasty. I keep sniffing my wrists in delight. Verdict: Aw yeah. I'm not sure I could wear this on a daily basis, but it's pretty damned nice all the same. There's a soapy edge to it, but somehow here that doesn't make me recoil, it just makes it even nicer. Yum.

In the imp: Oh, wow, it really is fresh, clean, wind-dried linen. On me, wet: It now becomes apparent that the laundry detergent was citrus-based. Otherwise, yep, still much like sticking my head in a pile of freshly-laundered towels. On me, dry: Hmm, it fades down a lot, and fairly quickly, to leave just a slight powdery citrus smell. Verdict: I like this a lot while it's still around; I'm not sure I want to *wear* it, but I think it could be nice as, say, a linen-cupboard scent. Definitely keeping the imp to sniff at, anyway, and I might get a bottle if I can work out how to make this into a cupboard scent.

In the bottle: sharp, floral, musky. On me, wet: sharp earthy citrus. smells faintly medicinal - is there eucalyptus in this? there's something piney/minty to my nose, anyway. It smells a bit like a patio that's been thoroughly scrubbed with bleach, and not like a perfume at all. On me, dry: Oh, that's a little better - the bleach aspect of the scent fades down, and now my wrists just smell of pine air freshener. Not much earthiness, frankly, except the earthiness of crushed pine needles. It fades pretty fast, actually - which might be just as well. Verdict: The dark side of earth is clearly the side that comes around and scrubs your floors when you're not looking. Too much pine for me, too acidic and sharp and astringent.

In the imp: Wow, I can totally smell the bark, and the apple. Less dewy-apple-filled-orchard, more like the scent of apples starting to rot after falling to the ground, but still. On me, wet: Hmm, now it's powdery apples and bark. Slightly sour, slightly sharp, making my eyes water. Grf. On me, dry: Sweetening up a bit, it smells like sugary apple confectionary - like I've been scofffing sour-apple-flavoured candy on the sly. It's quite tasty, but sorta distracting - my teeth keep tensing for the onrush of sugar, if nothing else. Verdict: I don't really think I need to smell like this. It makes me hungry for sugary things, and I think I'm fully capable of inducing that hunger without the help of perfume.

In the imp: earthy and musky alcohol. On me, wet: earthy and musky, sort of a gritty warm scent. On me, dry: this warms up fairly fast, and gets sweeter and softer. For a while there I was confused as to how on earth this could be 'light', but nope, that's a fair description. It's nice - there's enough sweetness to make it feel golden, but not enough to make it cloying. An interesting transition; my instinct is to compare it to a magic act - the lighter scent is there, quietly and carefully perched on the top of a solid and gritty chunk of earthiness which dominates at the beginning. Then the earth support is removed bit by bit until the light is left suspended in the air by itself, floating gracefully. Verdict: I'm not so keen on the wet phase, but dry this is pretty enough. I certainly think I'll keep the imp around.

In the bottle: why yes, that would be boozy indeed. But a nice boozy smell. On me, when wet: yep, sweet swarthy musky booziness. When dried: The booziness fades a but, and now this feels sort of masculine, or at the very least unisex. For some reason it reminds me of Brut or Old Spice or something - the scent isn't that similar, but it has that aftershave-alcohol-musk edge to it. My father would wear a scent like this, if he wore BPAL and would wear something called 'Smut'. In fact, the longer I wear this, the more it becomes *exactly* like something my father used to wear. Yes, my father smells of Smut. Not a sentence I would have ever forseen myself uttering. Verdict: This is in no way an unpleasant scent but, while I love my father, I don't feel the need to wear a scent that reminds me of him all the time. I think I'll retry this in a few days., and see if the balance of scents changes any. ...and it doesn't. Sigh. Off it goes.

In the bottle: high-pitched, bittersweet, soapy floral. The first time I sniffed this I assumed the soapiness I smelled was actually the soap from the shower I'd had beforehand, as it is *that* similar. On me, wet: Soapy. Floral sharp/sweet soap. Not dissimilar to the smell of Imperial Leather soap. It gives me an impression of coldness somehow, but mostly it's just the smell of soap on a cold day When dried: Uh, yeah, still soap. This ain't changing, it's just fading a bit. Verdict: At least I smell clean, I suppose. This is making me reconsider having called any other scent soapy, it is so soapy. Not a keeper.

In the bottle: Yow... cherry and raspberry sherbet. Not fizzy in the same way that sherbet smells to me, but still, that sort of sweet sugaryness. On me: when wet, this is more or less pure HONEY. Too sweet, and sticky-smelling. As it dries, it fades down, and the sweetness takes on a floral edge - is that the dragon's blood resin? I have no idea what that smells like. The vanilla is there somewhere, but again, it's just adding to the sweetness. All in all, this smells like melted cheap ice-cream on a hot day - and naturally, it sticks around longer than some scents I'd prefer. Verdict: Grf. This is the scent I was looking forward to most of all the onesI got in this batch. But this is too sweet - it's making my teeth ache when I sniff it - on top of which, my SO describes it as 'cloying'. To the swap pile it goes.

In the bottle: Very faint. Smells like weak and milky cinnamon tea. On me: As soon as I apply it it, the scent rushes up to punch me in the sinuses. I can smell a lot of ginger and cinnamon and honey - it's startlingly sweet. But as it dries, it almost vanishes. What re-emerges very quietly after half-an-hour or so is a faintly smoky honey scent. This isn't too bad - I'd like a little more zing to it, and it has almost no throw at all, but what I can smell is nice enough. Verdict: Mrm, I'm undecided. I'd love to get on better with this scent - it's spicey in a soft and sweet way, and I sometimes want that. But I just can't get enthused when it's this faint on me. Maybe I'll try it again at some point and see if I like it any better then. Retry: nope, now it's amping the honey. Blech, off it goes.

In the bottle: Smoky florals. In desperation to be able to write something more than that, I sniffed at the imp for a long time, but nope, faint smoky florals is all I got here. Very nice smoky florals, though! On me: When wet, a lot of smokiness. Something very deliciously warm and rich underneath the overlay of smokiness - it smells like cardamom and pistachio - actually, it smells like a heated-up rasmalai would (a dessert from... uh, Bengal, now I check. Weird). This is very nice indeed. Alas, it fades pretty quickly until it's almost as weak as Bengal was. Is this down to my nose, my wrist, or some note in both of these scents that kills the scents on contact with my skin chemistry? Verdict: Another one to retry. On retry: Yay, sticks around a bit better now, but still as tasty. A big bottle candidate.

In the bottle: Smells a bit like a box of chocolate liqueurs - rich and dark and probably very tasty but immensely bad for you. On me: When wet, this smelled like dark hot cocoa powder. As it dried, the powder started to overwhelm the richness, until it smelled like.. well, like standard supermarket instant hot chocolate powder. I would rather it didn't smell so dry - and I can't smell much in the way of leather here at all. Verdict: nice enough in its own way, but I think I'll keep looking for a chocolate scent I like better.

In the bottle: hey, awesome, smells like Djinn - smoky and warm and delicious. On me, when wet: Whoa yikes. It's Djinn without the edge of sweetness that I loved so much there. Instead, this has musty earthy tones - strong and acrid enough to make me cough. It makes me think of a bonfire that had wet earth thrown on it to extinguish it. And, sheesh, I can't decide if it smells like stale mossy earth (my brain thinks it's moss dust or something, I guess) or like a wet ashy smoke. It gets sweeter and warmer the longer it's on (and the acrid smell and the mustiness fades), but it also fades on me as that happens. Verdict: I might be prepared to keep this around despite the musty fusty drydown stage, because in the imp and after a long drydown, it's a nice scent. But I think I'd rather use Djinn, and not have that acrid musty drydown.

In the bottle: soft, powdery roses. On me: Oh, my, word. Big, juicy, delicious, ripe yellow roses, in full bloom. Utterly gorgeous. Warm and rich and heavy, but in a glorious way. The downside? When I'm wearing this, I walk around with my nose glued to my wrist, drinking in the yumminess - and it's not exactly a subtle scent. Definitely one to order a big bottle of.

In the bottle: violets, incense. Uh-oh, those don't go well on me. On me: hunh. A nice, warm, spicy scent, instead of the sticky swampy morass I feared. Crazy. My SO likes this a lot, and while I'm not quite as keen on it, it's nice enough. Fades pretty quickly, mind you.

In the bottle: oooh, very complex. Florals and spiciness. On my skin: A bit cloying at first. Dries to a soft, light floral, without much spiciness or any real hint of decadence. Pleasant enough, but nothing special enough to keep around.

In the bottle: hmm, musty woody florals. Interesting. On my skin: started off as a slightly powdery, floral scent. Dried to an intensely soapy sharp scent. I guess that's the frankincense. Straight on the swap-pile.

In the bottle: acidic florals. On me: acrid, acidic florals, drying down to a baby powder-scent I guess I should blame on the jasmine. I get a faint hint over the top of how it might smell to other people - the magnolia and rose, at least - which makes it even more heartbreaking.

In the bottle: sharp, minty, with a delicate floral underneath. On me: A sharp citrus modulated with mint. Quite nice, even if it immediately makes me think of scented dental floss. Once dry, a eucalyptus-ish sort of smell comes to the front, and it smells a little too much like Vix Vaporub for my taste. At least my sinuses are being cleared out.

In the bottle: Herby floral with a strong sharp scent over the top. On me: yow, bergamot. Almost exactly like the bergamot syrup I've used to make flavoured tea. I love bergamot in tea, but then I like violets in tea too, and that doesn't work on my skin either. Too sharp, too bitter, and I can't smell any other notes in it even after a long drydown.