mymymai

ITI: The rice wine is pretty clear on first sniff, although it has a bit of an anise quality. There is also a softness to this scent, which is due to the light musk and sandalwood. It’s clean, simple, and lovely. Wet: Ooh, the white sandalwood becomes the dominant note, while rice wine supports it and adds a herbal hint. The musk rounds out the scent and there seems to bit just a touch of sweetness from the vanilla (very faint, though). It’s lovely! Dry: After a little over an hour, the scent becomes a little powdery due to the sandalwood, but in a good way. The vanilla has come up stronger on my skin, so that it’s a sweet vanilla-d dusting powder with an undertone of herbiness from the rice wine. It is still a lovely scent and I may consider getting a bottle in the future.

ITI: This smells a bit like grape cough syrup, but I can discern the Dragon’s Blood resin and the wine grape. Wet: Grape, dragon’s blood, almond, and powdery floral, which might be the poppy or the carnation. The grape fades as it dries, but the scent as a whole is a bit overpowering. Dry: Dragon’s blood, boozy grape, carnation, and a little tonka. It’s spicy, but I like my dragon’s blood a little tamer ow in harmony with the rest of the scents. On my skin, the resin overpowers the rest. However, the friend Jacque skin tested it and the scent was citrus-y, light, and floral. I guess her skin eats the dragon’s blood whereas mine showcases it.

ITI: Nope. Clove and marzipan almond. Dang, I was hoping that the almond would be much less prevalent. Wet: The almond is still in the forefront, but the clove and the patchouli combined with the vanilla is really rather nice together. It’s certainly growing on me. Dry: Ah, the resinous bits become stronger as it dries, which makes me a happy gal. I love the clove, vanilla, myrrh and patchouli that are melding together. This may be a keeper yet.

ITI: It smells like vodka, cranberry, and lime. Yep, that’s a Cosmopolitan. I’m a little worried about wearing this scent to work as I work with students. Wet: The lime and cranberry are still present, but the boozey quality of the vodka is overpowering. Dry: The boozey quality ends up drying down to a powder with hints of lime.

ITI: It’s faintly feminine and floral – the magnolia and some ylang ylang conjure images of petals floating gently on a pond, sending soft ripples out toward the shore. Wet: Sandalwood and ylang ylang are the leading notes on my skin. As it dries, the florals become much sharper. Dry: When it’s initial dry, I get baby oil, of which I happen to like the scent. After a while, the white sandalwood has turned to a pleasant powderiness with just a little floral essence to give it some dimension. It’s certainly a clean scent that I would consider wearing again.

ITI: Wow, it’s clearly berries on first sniff. The cranberries are ripe and ready for eating. The longer I sniff, the more I can make out faint wisteria and some muskiness. It’s interesting and sweet, although not overpoweringly so. I was hoping to smell some squash here, but I don’t get any of the other notes save the ones I already mentioned. Wet: Heavy cranberry and sweet coconut with clear undernotes of hydrangea and musk. It is rather sweet on my skin so I hope that goes away on dry down. Dry: It smells like faint cranberries, musk, and the weakest impression of coconut possible. It doesn’t last long on my skin at all – about two hours until it is this faint.

ITI: Lemon peel icing, cilantro, and coriander. It’s unique and intriguing. Wet: Yes, it’s clearly icing that is super heavy on lemon peel. This is followed closely by the coriander, and just a touch of musk. As it dries, it reminds me of those hard lemon candies in a spice shop. Yummy! Dry: The dry down is sweet, like lemon pastry with some musk and coriander. I don’t get much cilantro or anise seed, although there might be a little currant. I like it, as does the my husband. He thinks it smells like yummy tea.

ITI: Jonquil and plum are the most prevalent notes, followed in close order by the neroli. It's floral, but pretty. Wet: I get jonquil, orchid, the rich, plummy musk, neroli, and just a touch of sandal wood. It's strongly floral on my skin, but I think this would work well for anyone who likes overly womanly florals. Dry: The lightly soapy florals, the narcissus and jonquil, are still present, but very faint on my skin after only 6 hours. Since I like my scents richer, greener, and more oriental, this one really isn't for me.

In the Imp (ITI): This is a rather complex scent, so it has taken me longer than usual to write the review. There is a strong honey-lemonish musk, that first jumps out at me. It's less sweet and more of a slightly sour mixture. After I concentrate a bit more, there is some hint of incense behind the muskiness from the onucha. Wet: The muskiness is still the first impression I get, and I still get a little bit of lemon for some reason. There is a little bit of Frankincense under it all. It's certainly interesting and reminds me of scared temples and ancient mystery. Dry: Ah, so there's all the incense - guggul gum and frankincense more clearly, with the sweetness of styrax and just a little undertone of soap, which makes me sad. I like this one much better wet on my skin.

ITI: Odd. It smells like plastic and freshly cut flower stems. There is a little bit of an almond note in there as well. Wet: It still smells like light cut flower stems and a something reminiscent of Lush’s snowcake. Every now and then, it gets just a little plastic-y, but then I smell the flower stems and I like it again. Dry: It smells like white chocolate on my skin after 13 hours, which is really odd as none of those notes are present.

ITI: It smells just a little artificial in the bottle, like coconut or tropical air freshener with plenty of vanilla-y tonka and some woodsiness. Wet: Blackened coconut really is a good name for the initial note. Thankfully, the artificial note I got in the bottle translates into rich, authentic coconut on my skin. It reminds of roasted coconut with pepper, tempered with vanilla bean and tonka. There is also a slight astringent quality to the scent as an undertone, which I think is the vetiver and just a little woodiness from the oude. Dry: While coconut is the the dominant quality, I get oude and tonka as the final supporting notes. It’s a nice, warm scent overall.

ITI: It smells strongly of light, almost powdery florals, like carnation and perhaps faint lily. On second sniff, there is a faint greenness to the scent, like fern or something along those lines. Wet: Hmm, not what I was expecting. Carnation, daffodil, some heribness and just a touch of medicinal green notes. It’s rather pretty. Dry: Sweet, light floral. There is nothing sinister or foreboding about this scent in my skin. Perhaps I would liken it to Ophelia’s flowers if I had to stretch, but the scent is innocent and unassuming.

In the Imp (ITI): Ooh, that’s horseradish right there. It reminds me a little of the wasabi scent in Velvet Cthulhu, which is one of my all-time favorite scents. There is also a lovely greenness underneath (from the vetiver I imagine) that makes me think of a jungle for some reason (or Lush’s Jungle) Wet: I get chills when I sniff this. I think The Harpy Calaeno is the first scent since I started testing 149 days ago that has evoked a visceral, positive response such as this. The spiciness of the horseradish and the wonderful combination of bergamot, vetiver, and orange I guess make my nose extraordinarily happy. I tested out the wet scent again, and yes, I’m still getting chills every time Dry: Yum! Spicy horseradish, patchouli, balsam, and clove-infused orange. After a couple hours, the horseradish calms down and I’m left with a wonderfully resiny scent of patchouli, clove, orange, and just a little vetiver.

ITI: Honeysuckle is very clear as the top note, but it isn’t impressively overpowering like orchid or lilac are. When I inhale deeply, the smell of teak creeps around the lemongrass, which is just under the honeysuckle. It’s a surprisingly soft and delicate scent. Wet: On my skin, the lemongrass nearly meets the honeysuckle, reminding me a little of a hot toddy. There is a touch of fruitiness, I think this time it is the plum, and a very slight contribution fro the teak. However, when I reapply, the teak is much more prominent. Dry: The scent is very close to the skin after 8 hours, so it doesn’t have the lasting power of the more resinous scents. However, what is left is a very charming combination of frankincense, lemongrass, and teak, although I get some plum on my other wrist.

In the Imp (ITI): On the initial sniff, it smells very much like men's cologne to me; very aquatic. On second sniff, I can smell verbena and perhaps ozone as well. Wet: From a distance, it seems like there might be some cucumber here mixed in the the verbena and slightly metallic and aquatic notes. Dry: After 15 hours of wear, there is s warm powderiness with a metallic tinge like tin foil with perhaps the slightest whiff of citrus.

ITI: Strong aquatic with an overarching note of salt. The undertone is a slightly more exotic floral. Wet: I smell like salt and aquatics with florals underneath, like lily or iris. There is a little greenness to the aquatic, like a touch of juniper, but the salt really throws me off and makes me almost nauseous. Dry: Salty sweat after 15 hours. That's a nope for me. Other Impressions: Interesting is all I got from my husband. It's musky florals when I asked him if he could classify them. Then he mentioned something about flowers having certain pieces male anatomy.

ITI: Musky is my first impression. There is a little bit of the dragon’s blood underneath, but I can also smeall a lovely earthiness of fig. Wet: So delicious! The dragon’s blood here is well balanced on my skin with the various musks. Fig and currant are pleasant as undertones underneath the resinous and musky overnotes. It’s just lovely and I feel elated to wear it. Dry: After a 16 hour work day , the dragon’s blood has become mellow and merged with the musk. It’s beautiful and I would consider getting a bottle of this. Other Impressions: This was the most complimented I have ever been on a scent. Pimrarily, the comments were from my male students who exclaimed anything from “soap” to “it smells good, like someone burnign scented candles.” Often, they mentioned something without me saying anything. The occured from about the time I applied it to four hours after.

ITI: Strong lily and rose are most prominent, although there is a dark undertone of the jasmine. All together it reminds me of the thick petals of a magnolia. Wet: The rose is sweet and innocent and the amber melds nicely with it. There is an aspect of the amber and rose combination that turns just sweet enough to remind me a little of Loli.Goth. While Helena is warmer, there is the same “tone” to the scents. As it begins trying, the jasmine peeks out a little, but the lillies are oddly absent. Dry: After 15 hours, a faint, powdery, slightly floral scent remains. It reminds of of lightly scented baby powder.

ITI: Green, just a little bright, but that is made much more subdued due to the earhty notes surrounding it. Wet: Dark, earhty mandrake with thick loam underneath. There is also just a little spice that comes out as well. Dry: It’s super faint, even after reapplying 4 hours ago. There is a faint, sweet greeness to it, but I have the strain to smell it.

ITI: Sharp white florals, either the angelica or white trumpt seem to dround out everything else.I can smell a little bit of the tea and oakmoss if I concentrate, but none of the resionous notes are apparent. Wet: The sharp flowral has been replaced with an almost lemony quality. The tea and violet I think could make this combination, perhaps with a little oude. I can barely discern the sandalwood underneath the angel's tumpet and the angelica. It reminds me of a garden tea party with lemon curd treats. Dry: It's gone a bit soapy now, but it's a floral soap with a bit of powder. However, it's not unpleasant and it does read as feminine.

ITI: Patchouli and fig are the most evident, although there is some faintly astringent greenness, which I think is the oakmoss. So far, I like it better than I thought I would as I wasn't sure how much mushroom there would be. Wet: Strong fig and light patchouli now, and there is just a touch of earthiness is I inhale deeply from the oakmoss and the mushroom. It's still a very foresty scent with a bit of Fae due to the fig. Dry: An equal blend of fig and patchouli with a hint of earthiness from the moss. It's rather pretty, actually.

ITB: The notes are thater clear here. The cocoa is a darker variety infused with rum and the winee is a dark almost merlot. I normally don’t like foody scents and wine notes are hit and miss, but this does smell promising. Wet: Milder red wine and cocoa. It’s sweet and boozy. Dry: The staying power of this scent is rather minimal. I applied it last 4 hours ago and I can barely smell slightly boozy chocolate, but I have to concentrate to really smell it. Both my husband and my other guy friend responded very well to this scent. It may not be something I wear all the time, but it does seem to get a response.

ITB: Red roses, exotic lotus are both clearly here, but there is a warmness to the scent that I would not normally attributed to each note. It smells as if there might be amber in here somewhere. Wet: It’s a bit overtly sweet here with the lotus, but I can smell both white and lush, red rose underneath. At this point, there is a hint of candy to the scent, which makes me a little unsure about whether or not I like it enough to keep it. Dry: After a number of hours, rose holds on to my skin the most, but it is only a faint impression.

In the Imp (ITI): Yep, that’s hay and something that is overly perfumey, like car freshener scent. Wet: On my skin, it smells like hay and carpet cleaner. Hmm, not what I was expecting. Dry: The hay scent has vanished and all I’m left with is the light scent of used dryer sheets. That’s a nope for me.

In the Imp (ITI): Smoldering patchouli and olibanum sitting in a pile o f ash, brightened only bits of vetiver. I’m not smelling the moss at this point, but it may show up on my skin after I apply it. Wet: The ash and smokiness is prevalent as the foremost note. Following is smoky olibanum and hints of earthy patchouli. However, the green notes are not present at all while wet. I’m not minding, through, because the scent is a lovely resinous scent. Dry: After 14 hours, there is only a faint hint of something resinous. On second reapplication, the olibanum, patchouli, and ash are in harmony. I smell a touch of vetiver, but no moss.