surlygurl

This is pretty! It's soft, slightly sweet, slightly floral. I get no sandalwood - or any wood - but something is grounding it in an innocently sexy way. To my nose it smells buttercup yellow with blue-gray around the edges. Definitely holding on to the imp.

Red Lantern '07. Source - an empty from my decant mistress. The only 3 notes I can make out are coconut, caramel, and tobacco (maaaaybe some currant). They don't blend very well at first; they really climb all over each other vying for dominance. As the scent dries they finally blend. This may be the first caramel scent that doesn't make me ill. But, ya know, it's still too sweet for me. It's heady, lush, sweet, and, well, complex. I *like* it, but not on me. I mean, it smells good on me, but it's not something I want to smell like.

Sugar Skull 2008. Source - an empty bottle from my then decant mistress. This is odd. I was hoping for a sugar blast, but what I get is Samhain but sweeter. Not bad, but not what I was expecting. I'd love to try it from another source, because this tiny little drop of oil must be contaminated. Must be.

Not knowing what was in this, I put some on. I guessed banana because, hey, Mahana Banana, right? Then I came here & read the notes. "So THAT'S what it is!" The first identifiable thing is booze. A clear booze that isn't gin. Maybe white rum - that makes sense with peach. I get a bit of orgeat syrup. No creme de cacao, and if there is pineapple it's overwhelmed by the peach. Nice & fruity for summer, but not bottle worthy.

This scent starts out licorice & gaufrette with something dusty underneath. Must be coal dust. As it dries it becomes mostly coal dust. A candy coal dust. This is only slightly foody/sweet, like sweet bread that has sat too long in a dusty room. A good scent for a cloudy gray morning, but not something that'll never be in my regular rotation. ok. Now that it's dry the coal dust has given way to gaufrette & licorice, but softer than when it was fresh. It's very pretty and only hints at foodiness.

Fresh on, this is super-duper orange blossom. All I can smell is orange blossom - very sharp floral. As it was drying, the waft was gorgeous, swirling around me, drifting past in sweet blossomy clouds. (I was riding a bicycle during drydown, so the scent was thinned out considerably. It probably would've been cloying had I been indoors.) Back indoors and out of the wind, the orange blossom was back and quite loud. When sniffed up close I could smell powdery sandalwood, but the throw was all blossom. The champaca was nowhere in sight. It's a shame; I love all the notes, but my skin amps orange blossom like there's no tomorrow. Not for me.

This is interesting. It's not at all what I expected. Wet, it's confusing. The only thing I recognize is the golden clove that was used in Winter of our Discontent 2006 (but not 2008). But while WooD '06 was softly sweet & golden, FRM is burnished copper with a bit of verdigris, and not a hint of sweetness. The woods and resins are so well blended that they become a neutral backdrop. Dry(ing): Same as above, but the clove verges on being sour. Resins, woods, vanilla or whatever else is in here aren't making themselves known. Strangely, this scent is pretty light on me. The notes are all wonderful on their own; together, they combine to become "a big bunch o' nothin' " (as my mother would say). This needs to go into the aging box before I make any rash decisions. Maybe by then it'll have aged into something glorious. Until then, I'll revisit my bottle of WooD '06

#463 - Wow. This is vanilla. It starts off a foody vanilla of the cake smash type. It's loud. It's strong. It's giving off a slightly burnt plastic smell. But wait! There's something else here. Something light and clear. Something floral. What is it!?! As the oil dries, the foodie (& burnt plastic) aspects leave the party and the clear clean mystery floral comes out more, turning this into a light clear vanilla. It doesn't last as long as vanilla usually does. Now, I'm not the most knowledgeable person re:florals, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the light clear floral is vanilla flower. Verdict: It's nice, tho I am envious of all those who got complex vanilla/woods/spices. Ah well.

This came in the mail yesterday. I should probably let it rest a while before reviewing, but whatever. I'll edit this if it changes. In the bottle: Whew! This is NOT Snow White coconut - that stuff goes sour on me. But it's not Obatala-type, either. Slightly candy-ish. Fresh on: Oh. Um. I've never known the lab to use this coconut before. I know it from other etailers. I shouldn't call them "lesser" etailers, but they don't have the complexity of bpal. (Does anybody?) Drying: Still that same coconut, but with very occasional wafts of flowers. The coconut is clear and cold but a touch creamy. There's a dusty quality to this. The throw - what little there is - is pretty, in a 'young girl who wants to wear perfume but not her mommy's sexy stuff' way. I never get much in the way of flowers. Just slightly fake coconut. If you were to decant this into an amber shortie sans label and ask me to guess where it's from, I'd never guess bpal. Let's hope it ages into something gorgeous.

#40 This just came in the mail today. It'll no doubt age into something else, and when it does I'll edit this post. 3 words: Ambery Rootbeer Cake. I like it. Nice throw, too. eta: Now that it's settled, the cake is mostly gone. It's ambery rootbeer and it smells amazing!!

This is a lovely spring/summer scent on me. It's all creamy sugared yellow florals with a bit of green stem. Glad I have a bottle.

This one I expected to really love - all those gorgeous florals! After changing the sheets to my new bpal inspired bedsheets (dinner plate size magnolia blossoms & leaves on a black background) and spritzed them with Cathouse. Did I smell flowers? No. I smelled whiskey and caramel. There was a sharpness there, but it didn't seem floral. Then I left the room & came back a bit later and it smelled lovely. Not what I had expected, but lovely. The booze faded to tolerable levels and the sharp florals blended with the sweet stuff. That night, BF climbed in bed and said "Mmmm... you smell good!". He very rarely comments on my bpal, so I was surprised. I told him "it's not me, it's something I sprayed on the bed sheets". His reply? "Nuh-uh. It's you"

This decant is well past expiration date . Luckily there are vague wafts of scent which trigger memories of how it smelled when it first came to me way back when. Fruity fruity goodness! The combo of fruits almost smells peachy, and a tiny bit of spiced rum (the description says golden rum, but it smells lightly spiced to me) brings the sweetness a little closer to earth without grounding it. Because, really, who wants a grounding alcoholic beverage? I will definitely get a new decant now that it's GC. Maybe even a bottle.

This is really an odd blend. It's very candy-like on me from start to finish. It's really hard to pin down the notes - the coconut is leading the pack, but everything else just blends into a thick sweetness. No licorice or ginger cream or any of the other smells everyone else got. It's really *coconut with other things*, and it's frustrating because I really wanted to love this. I still do. But it has a level of sweetness that is a little too cloying for me. Verdict: This one is going into the aging box in hopes it either "thins" out over time or the other elements come out to play more (anise, are you listening?)

#372 - WHAT IS THIS!!? Ice pick through the brain? Those of you with metal fillings and have bitten down on aluminum foil know the stabby pain feeling. This <i>smells</i> like that. What is it!!?? It's not even a scent, except for a slight chemical tang. *wait it out, girl. wait it out* Ok. Lots of fanning and drying-of-oil later and its...... (drumroll, please)....... Violets. That really high pitched violet scent that reminds me of the dentist's office. Slowly - <i>very</i> slowly - the vanilla comes out and the violets calm down. There may be a tiny drop of sassafras in here to ground things. It's actually not bad. Kinda pretty, now that the ice-pick-through-the-brain thing has given up & gone away. I just might keep this & see how it ages.... eta: it's now settled down & the headache / dentists office thing is gone. It's much more vanilla-y now, but it doesn't last long. It's pretty while it does! eta: Okay!!! 6 months later and it's creamy vanilla with a trace of candied violets. I see above the mention of sassafras, and it's still there (if that's what it is). I'm REALLY REALLY glad I didn't swap this away

OMG. This came in the mail less than 10 minutes ago. This is crazygood. Ready? Its a Coke float (vanilla ice cream - just a bit) with a touch of rootbeer. Not much frankincense. I'm doing silent all over the apartment. My face may be permanently stuck in *smile* position. Really. Oh yeah - it's #6. eta: the frankincense comes out a bit more on the drydown, but still a coke float. Yay!

Ok. Um... Why am I smelling Zhena's Coconut Chai tea? It's my favorite tea, but I don't think the ingredients are quite the same . *Googles massioa bark* AHHH! There it is! "Massoia bark has a sweet, coconut-like aroma and is steam distilled to yield massoia bark oil." Ok. For the first 20 minutes, it smell like a brewed a cup of this tea, complete with sugar & cream. I suppose the bay rum spices are similar to chai spices to my nose..... As it dries, the bay rum comes out a bit more. If I stick my nose right up against it I can smell opium. No leather. No wool. Maybe upon aging (or changes in my chemistry) the leather/wool/opium will come out more and blend with the coconut chai tea scent, because this scent *sounds* fantastic. But, hey - at least it doesn't give me caffeine jitters!

I got my very first frimp of this a couple of months ago, fell in love, ordered a bottle. Then I tried it again while waiting for said bottle, and it was awful. The bottle came & I swapped it away. The person I swapped it to mentioned that it was her perfect pre-menstrual/ menstrual scent. That got me thinking..... When it was icky on me it was sharp & sickly sweet - like Snow White with a milk note. But I retried it today and it is soft almond with grains. Sweet, gentle & cozy. It's amazing what hormones can do to an oil!

This one starts off all cheap teenage boy cologne. After a minute, the boy cologne departs, leaving a very quiet, slightly floral, aquatic. It really doesn't change much after that. There's almost no throw, but it does waft ever so slightly when I least expect it. It's one of those oils that doesn't smell like a perfume oil. Gently sweet, clean & 'natural'. Another hot day scent. I love the lupercalia series!!

Okey dokey. I tried this when it was fresh from the mailbox, when I was, er, hormonal, when I had a cold, when I was well. Each time, I got the same thing: Dirt Soap. There may have been florals trying to swim against the tide of Dirt Soap lather, but it was hard to tell. I decided to try it one more time before aging the hell (hopefully literally) out of it. So..... Fresh on, it's Dirt Soap. Bitter soap, like the saponins in - guess what? - bitter roots. Must be the mandrake (insert woodcut of a dog pulling a screaming mandrake root out of the earth here). But there's also a...something pleasant underneath. Sniffing up close, it's sharp dirt soap, but the throw is something else. Very head-shoppy. Like a head shop that carries lots of incense from Nepal & Tibet - 'incense from 100 medicinal herbs hand rolled by monks' kind of incense. As it dries, the bitter leaves the party and the headshoppiness comes out full force. At the tail end is a sweetness, almost candy-like. When dry, it's all sweet incense. I do like this, but enough to tolerate 45 minutes of bitter dirt soap? Maybe in 6 months it will have aged away. Let's hope so.

When I first got this bottle (after testing it at a meet 'n' sniff), I thought "Why? It's too sharp, too strong, and just wrong on me. Why? Maybe it'll be better in warm weather." Well, it's now Warm Weather, so I put some on. Fresh on, it's all Woah! Stong! Sharp! What was I thinking?! But then the sharpness fades and the coconut flexes its muscle. The florals are strong, but are muted a bit by the coconut. This is a very clear scent - no powder or muddled elements. (Some powder comes out on the drydown, but nothing I can't handle. In fact, it mellows a lot when dry - or maybe I just think it does ) All in all, this is a summer suntan scent. Pre-teen girl playing with her dog on the beach on a hot summer day scent. The old Ban de Soliel tv jingle is stuck in my head ("for the San Tropez taaan....."). This will definitely be part of my summer rotation. eta: This *does not* smell like suntan lotion. It just reminds me so much of summer....

This was my random imp/decant grab this afternoon before my workout. It is fairly aged, and I like it much better now than when fresh! This starts off as leather - strong leather. As it dries down / warms up, the leather smooths out and becomes... pliable. It's old worn leather, but the herbs (which I don't smell) give it a juicyness. Very hard to describe. It reminds me of a cute anthropologist circa 1875 - adventuresome & rugged, yet proper. It also makes me wonder what I'd look like with sideburns..... Even tho I've showered & no longer smell like Shrunken Heads, just the memory makes me happy. Bottle worthy? No. Partial / multiple decant worthy? A-yup.

This is not nearly as strong as I had imagined (but I only applied a little bit). On me, it falls into the "red without red musk" category, alongside of Wanda, Wanton & Port Royal. But Harlot's House is the baby sister in the group. It's clear, fresh, flirty and just a little naughty. It's not harlot's perfume, nor is it harlot's perfumed clothes; it's the scent of various perfumes that have gotten into the drapes, sofa, throw pillows, on the ceiling fan.... Even after the windows have been opened wide and the place aired out, there's still that lingering hint of sweet perfume. I do think this needs further testing

Last night, I randomly grabbed an imp (lights were off - BF almost asleep), gave it a sniff, then put a tiny dab on my wrists. 'Oh, wow. Fruity. I don't remember it being this strong. Extreme fruit, like strawberries. Fake strawberries. Lots & lots of 'em. Hope BF can't smell it....' BF: "Did you just eat a candy? It smells like a raspberry jelly thing." So I slunk off to the bathroom and (gladly) washed it off. I guess Lampades doesn't age well

Hmmm...... If someone had given me this in an unlabeled imp & asked me to guess what is was, I'd say "something sweet / sugared, but not foody. Like sugared musk with a touch of floral". There is no green in this scent. The sweetness fades somewhat as it dries and out comes a touch of something like sweet clove. I like this! Florals are mostly scary on me, but this is quite pretty.