storme

In the imp: sweet bubblegum lotus. On me, wet: sweet fruity-bubblegum lotus, slightly tinged with plastic. On me, dry: yeah, this is almost entirely lotus on me - I can get a tinge of resin, but it's not making this much less bubblegumish. Verdict: Nah, not one that's to my taste.

In the imp: powdery lily-rose with a faint-but-juicy citrus tinge. On me, wet: rose, rose and lily. Very upmarket-hotel-soap-ish. On me, dry: a very demure and restrained rose-and-lily scent, not actually too soapy but, well, nothing special. Bah, where are all those other notes? Verdict: This is very nice in a twinset-and-pearls way, but it's not really very me.

In the imp: sweet amber and musk and woods. On me, wet: ah, the frankincense, I can sense you powdering away in there, behind the sweet soft woods and musk. On me, dry: wow, frankincense with neroli and bergamot is not making my nose happy. Wurgh, citrus sherbet explosion in my nose. Verdict: Off, off, off! Not one for my skin.

In the imp: wow, that's wet-pale-fruity indeed. pear-and-peach-and-sweet-pea. On me, wet: wet slightly plastic-waxy fruits and florals. Slightly stomach-turning with that plastic feel, actually. Hrm. On me, dry: makes me think of vaseline or lipbalm or something. Very plastic-smelling sweet damp fruit. Verdict: Curses. But I have pear and peach scents I like, so it's not a disaster that this went weird on me.

In the imp: tea rose and almonds and pepper. On me, wet: herby almond-marzipan with dusty pepper. On me, dry: grassy herby greenery with dry dusty pepper and a wafting of sweet tea rose. Verdict: I'm being fairly picky these days, so I'll swap this - but it's not at all unpleasant. Just not quite me, either.

In the imp: sweet and light and juicy - sort of melon-like. On me, wet: airy, bright, watery, slightly sweet and watermelonish. On me, dry: Mrm, something isn't right here. There's an ominous mildewy note under all those light airy florals, it's as if they are dancing about singing 'LOOK AT US' while beneath them the rot has set in. Verdict: Erf, no, I can't wear this - I gues I'll stick to Yemaya for melonish scents.

In the imp: wow, that's like a shop-bought perfume, slightly acrid and aldehydish with a hint of soured roses. On me, wet: powdery roses and 'perfumey' musk - it's very odd, but this feels like the sort of thing distant relatives would gift me when I was 12. On me, dry: very faint now, and still has that store-perfume tinge to it. It only vaguely smells of roses to me now. Verdict: I bought this to pass onto a swap partner, and I don't think I'll feel any reluctance to do so.

In the imp: a sort of toffee-coffee ice-cream flavour. On me, wet: seriously, melted coffee and toffee ice creams, mingled in a bowl. On me, dry: toffee-flavoured coffee with shedloads of cream and maybe some sugar. Very caramelised and foody, and the coffee scent is pretty dilute. Later: Man, this got guzzled up by my skin pretty quickly. But my skin feels *sticky* where the scent was applied, still. Verdict: My SO will probably dislike this, and I think it's too sweet for my taste.

In the imp: fresh bright summery florals, with a tinge of sweetness. On me, wet: sweet green florals - like crushed fresh grass and dandelions On me, dry: there's sort of an aquatic citrusiness under the yellow florals. And still that greenness and summeriness. Verdict: This has very little throw on me, so I'll pass - but mark me down as pleasantly surprised by how nice this was.

In the imp: a very creamy, gentle, sweet true lily scent. On me, wet: ...yup, a very pretty, creamy-sweet lily scent. It's not soapy, if that helps. On me, dry: faint lily. Still slightly sweet, still creamy, surprisingly consistent. Verdict: Huh. Nice, but probably not worth hanging onto.

In the imp: ooh, fizzy gardenia and vanilla and jasmine, bright and green. On me, wet: still that fizzy zesty wetness to this, which I think is the gardenia asserting itself. Everything else is taking a back seat to it. On me, dry: ...hello jasmine, you powdery thing. It's counteracting the extreme blinding-bright frothiness of the gardenia a bit, though. Verdict: This is a very strong white floral, assertive and bold and garish. But not my thing, alas.

In the imp: spicy-dry resin and green florals. On me, wet: green herbal florals, slightly soapy and powdery-sweet. On me, dry: pale, dusty herbs and pale green florals, slightly soapy but all very faint. Verdict: Bah, no sandalwood, and I was expecting this to be a little more kickass.

In the imp: cocoa and mandarin and spices and something dusty-hot. On me, wet: spicy-hot chocolate orange with a sultry hint of musk. I can't decide if this is a nice smell or not. On me, dry: faint, slightly dusty spices and orange cleaning fluids. Ew. Verdict: No, I think not. Apparently today the red musk isn't enough to win me over.

In the imp: ripe, slightly sharp, fruits and light green woods and damp lush florals. On me, wet: wet, lush fruits and florals with an airy greenness behind it. It's a bit faint, though. On me, dry: uh-oh, something in this went rotten on my skin. Dead fruit in misty forests, now. Verdict: Pass, pass, pass.

In the imp: aquatic and warm woods and florals - wow, this is rather delicious. On me, wet: oh, geez, that's gorgeous a warm mossy floral-and-spice blend. It feels musky, too. On me, dry: it's become almost a skin musk now, intimate and warm and creamy and slightly spicy-warm. Yum. Verdict: Oh dear. From the notes I would never have guessed this would be so gorgeous. Oh well. I guess it was about time I found yet another LE bottle to crave.

In the imp: very light airy white floral. On me, wet: lots of light white floral, the carnation and tuberose becoming more prominent. The musk is also more evident now. On me, dry: Sweet airy light florals, bright and girly and pretty - the gardenia feels a bit like it's not quite meshing in, but everything else is great here. Verdict: This is very pretty, though I think there are plenty of other white-floral blends also as pretty. I don't feel the need to hunt down more, but I'm glad I got to try this.

In the imp: creamy poppies and lilies. Very hazy-feeling. On me, wet: lots of lily and a little poppy, very light. On me, dry: lily and poppy, slightly spicy-creamy but with that shop-perfume-tinge that I sometimes get from lily. Verdict: I think Laudanum is a better opium scent on me, so off this goes.

In the imp: coconut and hazelnut - it's very suntan-lotion-y. On me, wet: suntan lotion! The coconut is very creamy and there's a slightly chemical tinge to this. On me, dry: sun-warmed suntan lotion. It's lovely, but it's suntan lotion. Verdict: nice as this is, I feel I'm better off with actual suntan lotion when I want the smell.

In the imp: cocoa and orange and clove and a dry dirt undertone. On me, wet: chocolate orange with some dry clove and earth. And, uh, actually, this smells a little like marijuana tar. Not that I know what that smells like. *ahem* On me, dry: Seriously, that's like an uncleaned marijuana pipe coated in chocolate and cloves now. Wtf. *checks reviews, sees no other comparisons along the same lines*. Maybe my nose is broken. Verdict: Uh, yeah, I can pass on this one, thanks.

In the imp: ohh, that's rather pretty. Reminiscent of the Chinese lunacies and Fire Pig, but creamer than most of those. On me, wet: hmm, that's rather sweet and girlyish, and very like a creamy Fire Pig with ginger and peach - or is it apricot? On me, dry: man, this is beautiful. This is kind of what I hoped Milk Moon would smell like, from the reviews - that creaminess over fruit, blending into something delicious. I *swear* I can detect the rice flower in this, since I'm getting an oaty-grainy note too. Verdict: Gee. I may need to hunt down a bottle of this one. Damn my 'pfft, I have lots of vaguely asian-themed scents already' frugality.

In the imp: mossy caramel. Wow, that's weird. On me, wet: salty mossy caramel and vetiver. This is a really odd combination of notes to my nose. On me, dry: this is very dark and dirty and sticky smelling with a weird dustiness over the top. I guess that's the pepper, over the moss and caramel. Verdict: an unusual scent. Not one I think I'll be hanging onto, somehow.

In the imp: rose rose rose rose plum peony rose. On me, wet: that's a lot of rose. It's a lot like London, big damp tbold roses, and like in that scent, it's nice for a while but then it starts feeling mildewish. On me, dry: powdery chemicalish rose over weird gludgey honey-fruitness. Verdict: oh well. I figured it was worth a try, but I'm not too sad.

In the bottle: gardenia and rose and creaminess. On me, wet: hmm, something slightly musty in here with those creamy florals, and I'm getting a sort of warm muskiness around the edges too. On me, dry: gosh, that's become quite sweet now, in a foody-floral way. But that unsettling acrid note is still there, as if something isn't quite happy with my skin chemistry. Verdict: Hmm. Oh well, I guess at least I can be sure of trading it without a problem.

In the bottle: a light airy floral scent, which isn't *quite* jasmine - there's a citricish clean tang to it. On me, wet: light clean airy florals - if this is jasmine, it's not doing the normal jasmine-explosion on my skin. And I think there's a bit of gardenia in here too. On me, dry: Hmm, now it's fairly jasminey and not entirely pleasant - I get a trace of that normally-from-civet-ickiness that makes my stomach heave. Verdict: Feh. This I think will need to get swapped.

In the bottle: dark and woodsy and sort of dank-smelling. On me, wet: hmm! sweet dark damp stone and woods - pine, possibly and maybe a little cedar. On me, dry: a lovely soft woodsy outdoorsy scent, wet stones and dry woods. Verdict: I would really not have expected to like this the most of the blends. But it's lovely, evocative and fresh and spring-like.