storme

In the bottle: jasmine, almond, and spicy muskiness. On me: Almonds and jasmine aren't great on me, ever. Wet, this was sharp and made my eyes sting. Once dry, this smelled like very old, cheap commercial perfume that had gone to chemicals. The least pleasant scent I've ever tried from the lab.

In the bottle: herby, dark, mossy, loamy earth with a musky smoke overlaying it. Mmmm. On me: Jasmine and incense. At the time I tried this, I didn't know how either of these scents worked on my skin. As it was, I got an explosion of soapy powder, slightly sour and utterly repulsive. Completely different from the scent in the bottle, to the extent that I kept checking to make sure I was wearing the one I thought I was. Alas.

In the bottle: rose rose rose rose. On me: rose rose rose rose. I *like* roses, but this is a bit much even for me. It's very sweet, and I can't smell any of the grassiness above the roses bellowing in my nostrils. I don't smell any fruitiness especially, but there's certainly a sweet tang over and above the roses. I think you'd have to be fonder of sweet smells than I am to like this scent.

In the bottle: Hmmm, I smell jasmine, and rose, and something warm that *isn't* myrrh. On me: This does what jasmine does on me, and goes powdery as it dries down. It's more cloying and sweet than I'd have expected. I don't smell the myrrh at all, and the rose has all but vanished under the crushing weight of the jasmine. Sigh. Swap pile material.

In the bottle: Uh-oh, jasmine. Smells a lot sharper than I expected from the description. On me: how I hate jasmine. The scent started off slightly sharp and seemed like it wouldn't cave in, but then: powdery powdery sigh. And it wouldn't fade, even when I scrubbed my wrists.

In the bottle: wow, this smells complex. A foodier scent than I expected, actually - warm, spicy cherries. On me: Whuh? All I smell now is marzipan. As it dries, it becomes a powdery marzipan, like someone peeled off all the icing from a wedding cake and left it lying about for a week. I guess I should avoid almonds. Grumble. Edit: a week later I tried this again, as I still had the imp lying around and, hunh, not so bad after all. Still a faint hint of marzipan, but it's playing nicely with the amber and cardamom now. Pleasanter, but still no real wow factor.

In the bottle: hmm, a light rose, not too sweet. Very promising. On me: stays a light, delicate rose - almost a shimmery pink rose scent, very fresh but with a hint of depth. Very pretty, very subtle, a scent for wearing when you want to smell nice but don't want *too* much attention.

In the bottle: acrid, thick, dark smokiness. On me: As it dries, it sweetens. Spices and cloves overlay the peppery smokiness, until it becomes a scent very like a well-made chai. Oh man, this is good. A great scent to wear on a cold winter's day, because it feels so warming and comforting. Conclusion: didn't smell as expected, it smelled better. Wonderful.

In the bottle: hmm, incensey and sweet. On me: Ouch, instant powder explosion. I smell like someone dropped a thurible on a very clean baby. Fades down to a not unpleasant but still incense-dominated scent, a bit too sweet for my taste.

In the bottle: hmm, violets, roses, I love both of those. Violets hate me, alas. Oh well... On me: ah, there we go. The violets become cloying and overpowering, a morass of sticky sweetness, and the roses are nowhere to be found. The scent sticks around all day, and it's very strong. Urgh.

In the bottle: Oooh, this is sharp, but not so sharp I recoil. Lemony and light. On me: this scent does not change much at all on me as it dries, and that's a good thing. It stays a delicate, subtle citrus, and doesn't tip over into floor-cleaner or air-freshener. Very light, very pleasant, and it'll probably be lovely in the heat of summer - my only real complaints are that it fades a little faster than I'd like, and it's such a light scent that a fair amount is needed so that I can smell it from further away than a millimetre from my wrist.

In the bottle: wow, my nose doesn't know what to think. Sweet violets or cold mint? It's an overpowering scent, but it can't seem to make up its mind. I'm not sure I like this. On my skin: it still can't decide at first, but both scents get rapidly sweeter as it dries and the violets do that explosion thing they do on me. Parma violets and mint chewing gum, mixed together. I wish I'd been able to smell the metallic scent, but alas, it ended up smelling like a very limited sweet-shop. So sweet it made my teeth ache. I had to go and scrub this off my wrists.

In the bottle, this smells sharp and acrid, like the smell of pine needles crunching underfoot. I can't smell much of anything except pine. It didn't work on my skin at all - it turned to sweet and slightly rancid baby powder, which is not the most flattering of scents. Ah well.