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Chaos Theory III Strange Attractors CLXVI (166) DARK. Smokey, herbal, spices, sweet cinders, maybe leather? The devil smiley is appropriate. On first try, I'll be honest...this was repellant to me. It smelled strongly of burnt rubber, tar, or pitch. I could tell there was a little bit of sweetness in there, and some herbal quality like eucalyptus or hyssop. However…I had to wash it off, the burning smell was making me feel queasy. I decided to put it away for a while, so I put it in a dark cabinet for a month or two. When I tried it again, it was much smoother, and closer to blackwifey’s review (although I haven’t smelled Medicine Show, Geek, or Herr Drosselmeyer so I don’t know how it compares to those). I’m smelling strong herbal, slightly burnt or smokey, a little mint or eucalyptus, or some other herb, possibly a touch of leather. There is some sweetness that I can’t identify….resin? Vanilla? Maybe vanilla. As it dries, it sweetens even more. It’s amazing how a little time in a cabinet settled this down to something I can handle. Still…my original two CT’s from the lab work much better for me. Edit: I think I should mention that I swapped this away (I think.....unless it's still hiding in my closet, somewhere!), because I just couldn't handle it after all. Just too acrid, it kind of gave me a headache after a while.

In the vial this is straight up dirt, very potent. Then on my skin the florals bloom and the moist mosses come out, and I'm in love. I would love to wear this to some outdoor party or event in the spring time. Honestly the rose is threatening to take over but it's stopping just short of overpowering the other notes. I hope it stays just like this. Reminds me a lot of my favorite Demeter combination, Wet Garden and Dirt.

Smells like gin, maybe a little something fruity as well, or maybe that's just juniper. I don't know....not doing much for me, really....I don't drink any more, and I wouldn't want to wear this as a scent. It reminds me of a Demeter scent, I guess because of the alcohol, and the lightness of it. Just not my thing.

Bat-Woman is a lovely, soft, whispering floral that smells good on my skin. At first I can smell the night blooming flowers and tartness (I think from the verbena) that remind me a lot of Bayou. Bat-Woman has more of a dry, almost dusty, sighing feel to it. I don't smell any lavender. After a while the florals back off and I think what I'm smelling is the grey amber. It's a very pretty scent...not sure I would wear this in public because it is somewhat feminine to me. I don't know, maybe I could pull it off.

Himerus is most interesting because of what I can't smell in it. I think I mostly get lilac, sandalwood, and maybe a little orchid, but nothing else! No juniper whatsoever, and no red musk, at least not the red musk that I know from other scents in the catalogue. It smells softly sweet with just a little wood. I thought rosewood turned to strong powder on me but it's not doing that here, so maybe I was wrong. It's more fruity than spicy, and it's really strange that I can't smell the juniper, unless that's the fruitiness. I do like this, although it doesn't wow me, it's more of a curiosity. Might be a little too sweet and soft for me. It reminds me a lot of a couple of the Salon blends (Penitent Magdalen and Carceri D'Invenzione), so honestly I don't have much reason to wear this when I like those a little better.

The Penitent Magdalen starts out sweet, floral, nearly powdery, with some sandalwood. The powdery aspect fades pretty quickly. I'm getting the musk and honey just a little, and a little bit of amber. I'm really not familiar with any of these florals, though. It reminds me a bit of Carceri D'Invenzione, although they only share sandalwood as far as I can tell (maybe blonde musk and blonde tobacco smell alike?). Anyway...I do like this, even though it's a little sweet and floral for me, so I will probably hold onto it for a while and try it again later. It might get even better with some aging.

When I first put on Pride it had an odd, sharp herbal feel to it, but it quickly settled into a potent floral. I hadn't read the notes (I think I got it confused with Envy, so I wasn't expecting all that floral), and I kept thinking, 'what flower is this? heliotrope?'. I did think it smelled like rose but I must have been smelling the narcissus too, because it was more than just rose. Anyway, bottom line, this one isn't for me. Very womanly floral, to my nose. It's very strong with a lot of throw and might have lasted a long time if I didn't wash it off!

At first, this is like a commercial cologne, something more masculine I would say. I can smell the anise in there a little but the rest is pretty much blended together. I can pick out the amber and the lavender kind of drifts in and out of it. It seems to swirl around a lot for a while. Then after about an hour, the amber takes over almost completely! I like the smell of amber, more as a room scent than a cologne [Edit: WTF? This was obviously before I got to know amber a little better]. It smells good but I would like some of the other notes to come out more. Maybe a scent locket would be good for this. I'm going to let it age for a while and try again. Edit: almost a year later, I like this a lot more. It seems close to Wilde to me, but I didn't like Wilde and I do like Casanova. The tonka seems to anchor this or round it out a little. Other than that I find that this is expertly blended and none of the notes really stand out (especially leather, which takes over on my skin sometimes). I think sometimes lavender smells like basil to me, this seems to have a hint of basil. I likie! I'm glad I kept trying it. Edit Final verdict, this is just a little too salty for me. I don't know why it seems salty, but it does. I'll stick with Vicomte De Velmonte for now.

This just goes to show, I can read descriptions and notes until my eyes cross and still can't tell what's going to work and not work for me. Centzon Totochtin came as a freebie from the lab and it's quite an amazing scent. Starts with cocoa, which often doesn't work for me, because it can turn dusty. Then some sweet, dark, fruity wine comes forward, blending with the cocoa, just for a few minutes. And finally dragon's blood resin comes out, I'm almost sure of it. This note threatens to take over, which it does in other blends, but never quite steps over the line. I'm not sure I really got the rum, seems to be a supporting note for me. A couple hours later the cocoa seems to get a second wind. I can tell that dustiness is almost there but the other notes keep it spicy and rich, and almost sweet but not quite. What's amazing is that wine, cocoa, and dragon's blood resin (if that is truly in this) are three notes that usually turn me off. That's why I wouldn't have gone out of my way to try this. But they come together to make something deep, dark, sexy, almost smokey. The throw is just right...strong but not too strong. I honestly thought I was getting tired of the darker blends but I guess I wasn't! This isn't an every-day scent. I think it's for special occasions, or maybe just special moods.

Lycaon is definitely dark and herbal...nothing powdery whatsoever, which was my big fear. I think what I smell mostly is patchouli, wood, and olive leaf. I really don't know how to describe olive leaf but I recognize it from Haloa. I agree that this is a lot like Schwarzer Mond, except without the bay that turned on me in that blend. This isn't nearly as sweet as I was imagining it would be. I was expecting at least a little powder from the black musk, myrrh, and/or opoponax. I can smell these things but they seem to be extremely well balanced with the herbal notes. I'm not sure I can smell any ginger at all, but it's one of those notes that is touch and go with me. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes not. I'm on the fence. I wouldn't say I love it, but I definitely can wear it. I'm going to hold onto it and let it age for a few weeks, and try again. Could be this will grow on me in a big way. If nothing else, this would fill the void left when Schwarzer Mond ended up not working for me.

This is one of my favorites of the Salon scents that I've tried. It's wonderful, woodsy and peppery, sweet and resinous. Gingersnapp is right...something smells like musk in this, but not red musk to me, at least not like the red musk in Scherezade or Fenris Wolf.....I don't know, maybe a golden musk. I have both an older imp of this and a brand new one. I think with age it has lost some of the sharper spicy edges and gained some dusty sweetness, but not dusty in a bad way. It strikes me that this is what I wanted Cathedral to smell like (although I do like Cathedral).

I know I'm not the only one who plans in advance what scent I'm going to wear on a special occasion. Spill it! For Christmas celebrations, I wore Shub-Niggurath to my dad's, then later I wore Jolasveinar to my great-grandmother's. There were many people at my great-grandma's so I think the Jolasveinar was kind of drowned out by other perfumes there. Also after hugging 50 aunts, grandmas, cousins, etc....you sort of end up wearing everyone's perfume. For a long time I thought I would wear Penitence for Christmas but I decided I wanted to be less solemn and more festive. For New Year's Eve (small party at friend's house), I haven't decided yet but I'm thinking Shub again. No reason to hold back now since it's a GC scent again! Runners up would be Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, or Death of the Grave-Digger.

Ochosi starts out fresh, faintly herbal smelling. On my skin it quickly develops a woody smell that I like. Green, young wood, with a sweetness and some herbs. It has very little throw at first but then it starts to 'put out' more, kind of the same way Aureus behaves on my skin. This is sweeter though by far, and as time goes by it veers toward a cleaning product quality, with hints of something fruity like banana. These are just minor facets of the scent overall, basically it stays sweet, woody, herbal and fresh throughout. It's a nice scent and I can see the similarity to Obatala. I'm not sure that I would need whole bottles of both but might eventually want one or the other, and the woods might make Ochosi the winner. edit to add: I can almost swear that there is a touch of champaca flower in this. It's a note that my skin likes to shout out, and I recognize it from Dr. John Seward and Two Monsters. It's what was giving me that 'banana' feel earlier.

I do like patchouli....I love smelling like a smelly sweaty death bunny. I did a search for patchouli on the bpal site and hadn't realized there were so many results....44!! And I haven't even smelled most of them. You have inspired me to try more. However, I don't really get any patchouli from the Caterpillar, although it's there. It's mostly jasmine at first, then calms down and some of the other notes come out. No patchouli, though, that I can smell. So, if you don't like jasmine, I guess that doesn't really help. *shrugs*

Kali smells smooth, velvety and brown to me. I was a little surprised when I re-read the list of notes....this smells more simple to me, I'm really not picking up half of those notes but I'm not great at picking out florals anyway. I can smell mostly cocoa or chocolate, maybe some rose and lotus, and a little honey and a *smidge* of tobacco. The rest, I'm not sure I would recognize even if I did smell them. Not sure I'm getting any balsam at all...although looking it up, that could be a kind of wood or a kind of flower (another name for impatiens apparently). I keep thinking I smell coffee in it, but that might just be the chocolate. Anyway, without picking it apart, it's dark, smooth, quiet, and 'brown' smelling to me, and that's not in a bad way. Kind of reminds me of what I'm expecting Velvet to smell like. Kind of a sexy scent, and I think I might give this imp to my friend Kevin because he has a cat named Kali. I like it but not enough to seek out a whole bottle of it.

This is a smooth, quiet blend. Starts out kind of sharp and soapy, and I'm pretty sure that's the jasmine. But the sharpness dies down, and it becomes a little less soapy...still mostly floral, but the teak is there a little bit. The tea note might just be a subtle supporting note. Nice scent, not sure I would get much use out of it though.

Starts out candy-like orange that reminds me of some suntan lotion I remember from when I was little. As usual the citrus fades...although this one stays around a little longer than normal for me. The fig comes forward and yes, it does smell sensual. Still a little sweet for me to enjoy on a regular basis.

This is nice, smells chilly and kind of tart to me. Can't really pick out notes...I would say the 'snow' is the strongest note, then a little sweetness/tartness which I guess is the resins. I would say the soil is a very subtle supporting note. I like this. I don't think I need a whole lot of scents in this category, but it's nice to have a few imps around. edit to add: This vial had another faulty cap that somehow got past my ruthless scrutiny. The result is one of the best smelling imp-boxes around. I think this would make a wonderful, POTENT room scent and I might just use the rest of it for that. Edit: I have to edit this again to say that Death of the Grave Digger has become one of my favorite of the Salon blends. I like this just a little more than Cloister Graveyard, although they're both great. I like this enough to get a full bottle some day, even though I don't wear it a whole lot.

That makes sense. Thanks for the almost-instant answer!

This isn't urgent, just a question out of curiosity. I've noticed a lot of people talk about having money uploaded into their PayPal account from their bank before placing an order. I, however, just have the money taken out of my checking account when I place my order. Is there some advantage to doing it the other way?

This is quite a nice blend....I can appreciate the complexity, and really like the mood that it evokes. Makes me think of burnished copper or brass for some reason, just a mental image I am getting. Also it reminds me a bit of Carceri D'Invenzione, which I like a lot. This one though, ends up being just a bit sweet and powdery for my taste, which I think is the amber. I do get the dry wood notes (cypress I guess, and maybe the sandalwood too), and a lot of resin (definitely a frankincense and myrrh blend for me). The rest of the notes add complexity and I honestly don't really pick out individual notes. I think I'm getting just a little bitterness from the saffron, although that could be the myrrh also. Anyway, it's another great salon blend. I'm really glad I got to try it but I think I'll pass it along, since I avoid most powdery scents and that's what this verges on for me. I bet this would smell even better with some aging, though. Edit.....almost 3 years later, I continue to wear this scent. It's really beautiful and I refuse to give up on it. I should just get a bottle. It's one of the rare scents that is sweet (honey) and powdery that I actually like. I usually don't like honey in perfume but this blend is just fantastic. Definitely has a place in my permanent collection.

Reminds me of warm spicy cookies, and honey. Plus, uh-oh...there's that bpal booze note that is so touch and go for me. It's not too terrible this time. It has a little bit of the 'latex-y' quality that I get from Grand Guignol, and the wine is just a little sour for me. I can tell there's more going on here, but I'm not familiar with a lot of the notes in this scent. Maybe resins and some wood in the background. It's not bad, really, I just don't think I like it enough to wear on a regular basis. Generally the booze notes don't work out for me but this came with the set and I like to try everything I get in my hands. This reminds me a little bit of Haloa from this year's Yule scents.

Pleasant, spicy berry scent in the throw...but up close, I'm getting something plasticy and unappealing. Not terrible, really, just not liking it enough to keep, I don't think. Nice throw, medium wear length.

Right away I smell a lot of citrus, maybe some tea, and some herbal/woody dusty notes lurking underneath. As usual the citrus smell fades really fast, like within a half hour it's mostly gone. What's left smells like a lot of resin to me, with some vetiver and wood....it has kind of a dusty feel to it, not in a bad way. It reminds me of dust motes falling through golden light in a cathedral....perhaps not the intended imagery but that's what I kept thinking of....it's kind of an 'old' scent to me, if that makes any sense. No powder here, which is good....it kind of borders on powdery for me but really it's more dusty and resinous. It occured to me that with the citrus and almost incense-y feel, this would be a good substitute for Nyarlathotep, which turns to strong powder on me after about an hour. Also, 'Satan and Death...' lasts for HOURS on me.

Hmmm...this has potential with the myrrh and woods. Violets pretty much ruin everything for me, though, and this is no exception. The cajeput supposedly comes from a tree and might have qualities of tea tree, clove, and/or camphor....and I think it's adding to the overall piercing quality of the oil. And as usual the violets turn soapy. Wings of Azrael is not going to work for me.