dancink

Sweet pipe tobacco, cherry wood, the warm, worn leather of an easy chair and a pleasant, subtle waft of fireplace smoke. A frimpie from eclipsedeyes over on lj. In the imp: Licorice & maraschino cherries. I really, really hate both of these, but I'll give this a whirl anyway (as I'm on a holy mission to review each and every imp in my imp box.) Wet: Still licorice and maraschino cherries. Ick. Dry: Wow, does this one do a transformation! Smoky, buttery caramel. There's still the occasional cherry vibe, but that's mostly gone. Mmmn, very, very nice. I have no idea if this will be something I'll wear (since I hate that initial 10 minutes of licorice/cherry), but the dry-down is rather lovely. I kinda want caramel popcorn now.

In the imp there is an astringent, almost metallic scent to this, and I almost dismissed this straight out. I'm so glad I didn't, because on this is very, very pretty & sweetly feminine. Wet it reminds me of Nashi Pears and cherry blossoms; dry it's a lovely soft orchid, and whilst I can't actually consiously smell the bamboo, it does take me back to a particular summer day a few years back, when I'd ditched school and wandered around the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. The wall of living bamboo that runs along one of the footpaths has always been a favorite spot, and this scent takes me there. I'm not sure this'll be a scent I'll wear often, but I do think I'll buy a bottle for those days when I need a bit of peace and quiet. ~ Received as a free impie from eclipsedeyes over on lj ~

Disclaimer: I'm a big believer in the value of a negative review. I know some people utterly adore this; if you're a lover of aquatics then I'd recommend it. Having said that, however... I received this as a frimpie from eclipsedeyes over on lj, and I'm really, really glad I didn't pay for it, because wow do I hate this. There is something about aquatic scents that set my allergies off terribly, couple that with the cold I'm currently fighting and this is actually making me feel ill. And I cannot believe I'm saying this about one of Beth's scents, but there is something in this that reminds me of Paris Hilton for Men, which I utterly revile, even though I can't actually find any notes in common. This is going into a ziplock, smell-proof bag and then straight into my swaps pile.

Monsterbait: Underbed In the imp/wet/dry: ::restrains self from eating wrist:: This smells like a cross between a hot cinnamon donut and a fresh lamington. I want me some sugary-cakey goodness, now, and I don't even like cake. This is also a scent that, on me at least, doesn't change much, although the cassia/cinnamon scent does lessen in intensity after a couple of hours, leaving a rich vanilla behind. It really does smell like the sponge center of a lamington (for non-Aussies, a lamington is small square of plain sponge cake, covered in chocolate, dipped in coconut. Sometimes there is some form of strawberry/raspberry jam/jelly involved as well. It's one of Australia's national foods.) It's a definite foodie scent. 5 lamingtons out of 5! ::gives in and nibbles at wrist:: ~ Received as a free impie from eclipsedeyes over on lj ~

In the imp: Egad, aquatic floral! ::sneezes:: Wet: I persevered in testing this because of all the gushing reviews, and whilst I'm still fighting the urge to sneeze from the lily top note, there is a lovely base of amber and musk that's making me sniff my wrist again and again. As the lily dies down it becomes less aquatic and more warm, and I can see the comparisons to freshly laundered sheets – it's a bit like ducking amongst sheets drying in the sun on the washing line. Dry: Still a fair bit of lily but not as overpowering, and the musk and amber is more pronounced. It's very pretty, but not really me at all, and it's still wreaking havoc with my sinuses so I'm thinking it'll be going into the swaps pile. A pity – I think I'd love this without the lily note. 2.5 out of 5

I got an imp of this in Rhovanion's lj Maelstrom decant circle, not particularly because I wanted to wear it, but because I know the musty smell of burial well (studying Forensic Archaeology/Anthropology) and I wanted to see just how close the Lab could get to it. Well. It seems to get the 'dirt' part well. In the imp that's all I can smell. Dirt. Wet, again, all I can smell is the dirt, although there is a barely detectable top-note that I can't really place but that is making my nose twitch. That would be the orchid, I'm guessing. Dry? I can barely smell it at all, but the nose-twitching top note is still there. Note to self: Black Orchid makes you sneeze. The dirt's gone, at least. I'm really not that thrilled with this. If I was to compare it to a burial, it would be a shallow grave, in a tropical rain forest, with no coffin in sight. Plus my skin just ate it in 15 minutes flat, a new record. Off to the swaps pile with ye! 1 coffin out of 5.

GC's Bewitching Brews: Belle Epoque Love Potions: Libertine - Ordered 30/04/06 Nefertiti - Ordered 30/04/06 O Snake Oil Mad Tea Party Alice Mouse's Long and Sad Tale Tweedledum Tweedledee White Rabbit Illyria Tamora Wanderlust Amsterdam Delphi - Ordered 30/04/06 Hanging Gardens Morocco Excolo Persephone - Ordered 30/04/06 LE's A Little Lunacy Peony Moon Carnival Noir Freak Show - Ordered 13/04/06 House of Mirrors - Ordered 13/04/06 Midway - Ordered 13/04/06 Snake Charmer - Ordered 13/04/06 Lupercalia Khajuraho - 5ml! Maelstrom Montresor - 5ml! - Ordered 24/05/06 Springtime in Arkham Miskatonic University

In the imp: Berrytastic. Wet: Berry. Wine. Red berries and red wine. Now, I may live 15 minutes from one of Australia's premier wine regions, but I know shit about wine, other than that the more disgusting a red wine smells, the more I'll gobble it down. This does not smell disgusting, rather it smells like Fruity Gordo (a rather bad fruity red that my Dad bought for Christmas; it tasted utterly vile but was cheap and came in a cask, and really, who doesn't enjoy drinking wine out of a bag?) There's a top sweetness that's reminiscent of raspberry snapps to me, with a base note of aged wine casks. I've only got a swipe of it on my left wrist and it is wafting up quite nicely. Oh wow, the red wine is totally becoming stronger. Mmmmn. I kinda want to drink my wrist now. Anybody up for a fruit and cheese plate? Or a game of 'Goon of Fortune'? Dry: ::cue bad singing:: “Red red wiiiiiiiiine! Stay close to meeeeeeeeee!” I'm gonna have to remember to not wear this one at work as I really don't need to add 'alcoholic' to my 'funky weird librarian' persona (even if I have, on occasion, been known to turn up ever-so-slightly hungover for my Sunday morning Law Library shifts. That's totally the bourbon's fault, though. Except for that one wedding...) It's not quite as overpoweringly alcoholic as before, and has become a tad sweeter; I'm thinking this is the vanilla saying hello. I'll see how it goes over the next few hours but I might actually have found a scent my skin doesn't gobble up immediately. If so I shall have to start hunting for a bottle. Overall: Four and a half bottles out of five!

Initial thoughts... In the imp, all I could smell was the patchouli; in fact, it was so overpowering I actually didn't try it for several days and nearly gave it to my bestest male bud as I'd deemed it 'way too masculine' from only one sniff. Thankfully I didn't, as... When wearing it... Wow, yay, bergamot! I *adore* bergamot, so I'm rather glad that it over-powered the patchouli. For the first hour all I smell is spicy citrus. Later the orchid comes through, but it remains very citrus-y for quite a long time. All in all... Fairly well-lasting on me, which is rare (my skin tends to soak up perfumes fairly quickly), and whilst it does have floral notes, not too feminine. One I'll probably buy again.

First ever review here (first ever imp too.) Slightly modified from the review I posted on my lj. "Khajuraho" First impression... BANANA FLAVOURED MUSK LOLLIES! Oh yeah. So not what the description made it out for me, especially considering it's not meant to have any musk in it at all. Of course, I should have known this, since my skin seems to turn sandlewood into musk for about 20 minutes before turning it back to sandlewood again. Odd, I know. Anyway, it took about ten minutes for this is mellow. Once that happened it was 'wow... um... sex?" Very much early morning sleepy sex, warm sunshine, and sugar. My favorite combination... Half an hour later... Wow, here's that sandlewood. I very nearly washed it off at this stage as it was *very* strong and strong sandlewood tends to give me a headache. I did kinda drip a bit too much on though (I am less than dextrous with the opening of imp bottles.) It didn't make me sneeze, but it did make my nose feel a bit sinus-y. Also, I have a sudden urge to don my sari and dance around wildly to my 'Best of Bollywood' cd. One hour into wear... Still very sandlewoody, but hints of rose are starting to come in. One hour, twentyish minutes (can't be bothered watching clock any more)... Rose is in full force now, and a tiny wiff of musk again. Some honey. Date? Where is the date? Over all? I love it, and have worn it nearly every day for over a week, although it isn't a very long wearer on me as my skin seems to gobble sandlewood. Still, for those days I need a bit of sexin' it works well. Also, the date? Finally caught a wiff of that about two and a half hours in, although it was only for a micro-second.