odalisque

No one's said Sri Lanka? No one? Gorgeous sweet ever so slightly incensey sandalwood.

Indian sandalwood and cedar, and the dry incense smoke of olibanum, gum mastic, patchouli and myrrh. This oil is one of my favorites, which I would not have predicted before I tried it. I was expecting a very dry, woody scent and the spicy sweetness was a pleasant surprise. The myrrh is definitely present and there's the slightest smoky edge. This is not the inside of a cedar chest nor yet a wood-paneled chapel nor yet a trade ship laden with precious lumber: it's woods and resins carefully blended in a fine incense shop (not a headshop, think fine temple incense). It's not one-dimensional at all, but it's smooth enough to layer well under all kinds of scents (Les Bijoux is a lovely combination, my favorite, and Athens and Brisingamen are nice too). I like to scent my shower oil with it, and my hand cream, so I can be confident that it'll go with whatever scent I wear that day and still not have to be bored by a one-note scent while I oil or use the cream. It doesn't read as "masculine" at all to me, although undoubtedly a man could wear it with great results. It's full, smooth, voluptuous and warm-spicy-sexy. If you liked Cathedral but found it a bit dry or masculine, you'll love this.

In the vial, clean (but not tart) citrus. Light. Isn't it funny that it's orange BLOSSOM, not orange, but it still suggests citrus so strongly? Wet on the skin, a little more floral that reminds me this is orange blossom. No rose to speak of, but maybe that helps with the rounding of the floral tone and the general "perfumy" feel of this one. Dry, honey, with the slightest warm woody bottom-ness that must be contributed by the sandalwood. This is nice. Not standout on me, but possibly the perfect layering scent I've been looking for, to scent oils and creams with so I can wear them and have them meld well with my other fragrances.

There is a lot going on in the description of this scent! I was doubtful of all the different notes working well together, but I gave it a try ... and unfortunately, I was right, ultimately I just don't think this blend works. Interesting that so many other reviewers have said the vetiver was overwhelming in the wet stage. For me, wet, it was sharp, sharp, sharp (the black patchouli maybe? patchouli sometimes goes sharp on me) overlaying a jumbled confusion of other notes that didn't gel.

Mostly a pleasant fruity scent, with a little spiciness in the background. It reminds me of the ubiquitous cranberry-scented candle, which is unfortunate -- a sort of generic fruity-berry scent that doesn't really say "cranberry" to me. After a while of drying down, I do get some ginger and sweetness (the lilies) in the background, but this is mostly berry, not what I was hoping for.

Overpowering aquatics with the barest whiff of heavy florals. I really should know better than to try aquatics by now, no matter how interesting they sound. I couldn't leave it on long enough to let it dry down completely. Aquatics = no good on me. Ugh.

I remember someone here on the forums saying Envy is very similar to Les Jardins Sur De Nil and I think they were spot on. Wet in the vial it's astringent and slightly nosepinching, drying down to clean citrus with something leafy and green and maybe the slightest light cool floral, reminding me of clean laundry. As drydown continues, slight aquatic notes appear. Reads as masculine to me, might be nice on the right guy, but overall my impression (like Sur De Nil) is very pretty dryer sheets.

Oh, very pretty! I picked up zero aquatics, which is great, because me and aquatics, yeah, not so much. I'm also not best buds with flowery florals but this, while distinctly recalling flowers, is fresh and sweet without being girly or perfumy. It's very light, springy, gauzy. Definitely cool without being sharp or crisp, more like a breeze. This would be great for anyone who wants a very light, fresh fragrance for summer. Me, my fallback is Eos for that, but I might have to consider a bottle of The Unicorn for lukewarm soaking baths on those hottest days.

I was dubious of this when I sniffed it in the vial and when it was wet on my skin, because the clove was pretty strong. A while later, though, I sniffed it and it had dried down to exactly, completely, the smell of white clover blossom in the sun on a warm day! I think this must be the blend of the honey and ylang-ylang. It's sweet wildflowers and honey, sweeter and lighter than the scent of honey alone (which to me is a very warm rich scent). Oddly enough, it's extremely reminiscent of Les Bijoux without the peach. Sniffed side by side, LB is a slightly more complex and warmer blend than Hetairae, but the sweet honey note is similar -- Hetairae dries down to that sweetness while on me, LB passes through it on its way to a peachy-musky-frankincense dry stage. Where Les Bijoux has a blush of peachy-orange color to my synaesthesia, Hetairae is layers of golden and spicy brown. (Yup, spicy brown. Told you it was synaesthesia.) So if you like Les Bijoux and want to try something similar, or if you don't like Les Bijoux because of the peach and apple, this is one to try. I think it would make a very good layering oil, in something like daily lotion, because at least in the form it dries down to on me, it' would harmonize well with a lot of other warm/woody/resiny floral blends. It would tend to sweeten then up -- I wonder what it would be like layered with something super dry and warm, like Sri Lanka or Cathedral?

It's so weird how different amber blends work differently on the same people. BPAL amber has never ever worked on me without turning into baby powder, but I tried an imp of Brisingamen without reading the description and fell in love. It's gorgeous amber goodness.

Wow, I didn't put this on my skin but out of the vial it smells exactly like unwrapping a Hershey's With Almonds bar. Just ... frighteningly accurate. Not something I ever want to wear, but impressive. Probably worth keeping around just to freak people out with: "Here, smell this."

This was a lot sweeter than I expected. In the vial it's reminiscent of hay, and on the skin it rapidly dries down to a scent I can only guess is the seeds -- is that caraway? (Don't quote me on that one, I don't really remember what caraway smells like, but it's a sweetish nutty-seedy smell). And a powdery-soft edge of amber with the very slightest whiff of sandalwood. ETA: OK, either shipping really does discombobulate these guys, or it's just that my nose is not at its beat on the first sniff of a new scent. Because the day after I wrote this review I put Little Sparrow on again and it dried down from the nutty-sweet scent to strong dry sandalwood, not sweet at all. It definitely is a smell I can associate with a little, feathery brown bird. I love the idea of it so much that I wish it were a scent I was more likely to wear, but I'll hang onto it and see how it ages. ETA again: 6 months later, Little Sparrow's sandalwood has smoothed out a lot. The amber doesn't seem very apparent, which is OK by me as I don't play nicely with amber, but the sedge and seeds note has gotten really strong and it smells like a caraway loaf.

Yyyyyyyyup. Orange candy. Reminds me a lot of orange-flavored Children's Ibuprofen suspension.

I don't like aquatics, so I let my son test this on his wrist and sniffed him periodically Wet, I definitely picked up the mint -- the same scent as the mint in my yard, some heirloom hybrid that isn't peppermint or spearmint but has rounded, crinkled fuzzy leaves and smells delicious. I also got the lime but funnily enough, I could have sworn I smelled cucumber too. As it dried the iris came out with a slight fruitiness that might have been the apple (but I didn't smell apple per se). And yup, aquatics. Pleasant enough in a way reminiscent of a shampoo or body wash. Not for me.

Lush, rich, soft musk and patchouli drying down to tuberose. Nary a hint of the myrrh, honey or geranium. Nice but not my thing.

I received this as a frimp in a swap and sniffed it without looking at the description. In the vial: something appley? I seem to recall someone on the boards saying Brisingamen had apples. And something kind of oaky. A combination that reminds me a little of The Hesperides, only ... not. The combination of appley-oaky has an effect more cidery than fresh-fruity. And yet, not screaming BARREL OF APPLE CIDER!! There's other stuff in here I don't recognize that turns into into something more subtle and intriguing, the cidery bit is only a small part of the whole. Drying down: something boozy? And some very ephemeral, non-flowery florals are coming out. The booziness passes away. Dry: a very golden scent. Now that I've read the description I can totally see how this represents amber, the gem. Amber, the accord, in this scent is behaving really well on me. Usually it becomes baby powder, but Brisingamen has just a little pleasant powdery softness around the edges of a warm, resiny amber. The faintest suggestion of those non-sweet florals -- apple blossom, ha, that's where my brain said apples -- is still there, mostly in the throw, and there's a light woodiness that must be the myrtle. As it dries down even more, the faintest wisp of carnation peeks out. Yay carnation! It's kind of The Hesperides and Alecto put in a blender. If you like either of those and/or Athens, give this a try. Nice, and definitely one I'll at least use up the imp on.

I think part of it is creating a scent that isn't just *A* lavender, it's *THE* lavender, the Archetypal Lavender. KWIM? There are different strains of just about every plant-based essence on the planet, and they all smell a little different. And they also, if they're being sold as single-note perfumes rather than essential oils, need to be blended so they dry down consistently on the skin and last. Those areas would be where the perfumer's artistry is needed.

Yup, definitely Athens and Les Bijoux -- both dry down to honey on me in wonderfully different ways. Athens is spicy myrrh and honey, all rich and heady. Les Bijoux is a lighter, skin-scented honey that makes me think of magically clean skin that somehow sort of smells like honey on its own. I love them both.

Oddly, Strangler Fig did not smell figgy at all to me. I loved the figs in Hanging Gardens and Carnal (Carnal makes a particularly nice bath scent) but I guess I don't process green fig as "fig".

What, no one's done Uppity Women yet? Anne Bonny Hermia Katharina Alice Queen of Sheba Agnes Nutter Pepper Lilith Nemesis Alecto I personally would package them with a copy of Uppity Women, as well as bell hooks' feminism is for everybody and possibly Inga Muscio's Cunt depending on how likely the recipient would be to clutch her pearls and grab her smelling salts over it.

No one's mentioned Bathsheba? Ooh, she's lovely. Carnationy musk with just a little plum to round things out a bit. Just beautiful.

Bump cause there have to be more nag champa aficionados around. On me Crossroads dries down to a smoky myrrh and champa flowers. Like nag champa but no so identical that I smell like an incense stick.

Oh my God. How did I take so long to try this? CARNATION YUM. ME LIKE. Opens with a super spicy carnation kick, dries down to increasing notes of red musk and dry sandalwood with a wee bit of vanilla and the carnation spice tarting it up. Voluptuous, rich. I'm not a vanilla fan but there's just so much else going on here it doesn't smell like confectionery. I wore this to have some private time with the Mr, woke up the next day and could still clearly smell the red musk on my wrists. It was totally that sleazy-but-blush-inducingly-hawt "morning after" smell. Red musk is super sexy anyway, but this ... this pushed it over into borderline trashy in a way that I like. Sing with me to They Might Be Giants: I like carnation, I like Morocco Oh I like carnation, I like Morocco Not a lot that smells as good as Morocco It's fragrant delight for any night. Every kind of smell that's good is Morocco Gotta love that musk and spice in Morocco What a yummy treat to sniff that Morocco Got my nose buried in my wrist. Even Caterpillar's not so deep and sweet (Jasmine really not your thing? Give Moroc' a little swing!) Every kind of smell that's good is Morocco Gotta love that musk and spice in Morocco What a yummy treat to sniff that Morocco Got my nose buried in my wrist.

This is not for me, and I should have known better, because I've not found a green scent yet that I get along with. I blame sleep deprivation for my including it in my purchases. (Along with incurable optimism.) It reminds me of -- it's not exactly like, or even strongly similar to, but evocative of -- some mainstream perfume or cologne that I've smelled before but I can't for the life of me remember what -- maybe Aspen? Belladonna is green, green, green. I don't get spruce or fir or pine, but a slightly fruity-green opening, with maybe some "true" cedar; it tingles slightly on my skin, as if it's mentholated, but I don't smell any menthol. During drydown it becomes progressively softer and rounder, ending as an ever-so-slightly-sweet green floral -- my synaesthesia says "little white flowers in greenery" -- that I'm sure would be very nice on someone who doesn't loathe green florals. Those who like this sort of thing will find that this is the sort of thing they like.

Whoa! Civet horror! And in the end, it took a baking soda and dish soap scrub to get it off my skin.