Dark Alice

I remember one winter evening looking at the sky and watching the clouds slowly drift in and saying Oh Shit! We are going to get hit with a blizzard. And that's exactly what happened. This scent evokes that memory from me. It smells like a pre-snowy night, the biting chill in the air, the cold snap of the wind, and the scent of moisture. Cold damn moisture. This is one of the few scents that is truly aptly named. It smells like the Winter Heavens...before it dumps a butt load of snow on us.

Seriously...this is just lovely.

 

Matcha Tea, gorgeous patchouli, and smoky black leather. In my bottle the leather is a little bit stronger but not by much. These notes just blend so beautifully together..the problem is that I think I may need to re-home this due to a possible headache inducement. I can't tell if it is the scent or something else causing it. I am going to have to wait and see after a few days.

Hot damn there is grapefruit and yuzu in here! (wet this is all I smell)

 

Dry:Vanilla cream, yuzu, and something slightly mentholated. No more grapefruit. Just creamy, a little plastic with yuzu and menthol. I think I am going to keep this sucker for those days when I don't feel well and can hardly smell anything. The menthol will help me alot.

First to review this. So here goes nothing!

Wet: Soft but strong musk, which smells almost clean to me. (I guess that's what Morrocan musk smells like) with dry hints of orris.
Dry: Musk, barely there clove (which I hope will get stronger with age) and orris root. This scent evokes a dark image for me. It is a scent for those who do bad things in the night, even if they think they are doing those things for the right reason. It's rare for a scent to evoke such an image from me. But this one does. It's purely clean, soft, and there is no poppy here and barely any clove. I see this being a frequently reached for bottle b/c I love the concept and the scent. However, I can see why it was hard on Beth to create scents attributed to the Frankenstein story.

I don't know what this is but there is no chocolate in this. There is the scent of fresh green hay with hints of incense. Ashy incense. But no cacao at all...at least while wet. Dry there is the barest hints of chocolate, something lemony, with hay. This is definitely not me. But I am glad I got a chance to try it.

I had a similar experience to Ms stellans...

 

At first, this was all lovely lime, with the bergamot adding an extra layer of juicy citrus and just a slight peppery touch. The dragon's blood was there, but quite subtle - just kinda wafting around in between the lovely citrus vibe. I wouldn't have picked there being any floral element here, but since I know helichrysum is present then I can sense a sort of sunny gold-ness about it.. but it's not a strong feature of the fragrance.

 

But then.. BAM! In strolls cedarwood, and that's when the trouble starts. This is how it goes:

 

Lime - weeeeee! I'm heeeeeeeeere! Smell me! I'm fresh and lovelyyyyyyyyyy!

Cedarwood - Lime? Pffft.. get outta my way! There's no room here for lime, and you can take that stupid girly bergamot with you too. Don't let the door hit yer ass on the way out.

Lime - *leaves quietly, holding bergamot's hand*

Cedarwood - OK, and now - that dragon's blood resin.. let's just push that aside, shall we? *shove*

DBR - But.. I wasn't causing trouble, I was nice and subtle, why don't you like me?

Cedarwood - Because I am CEDAR, and I will not stand for any other notes to be present in my company! Now LEAVE!

DBR - *puts tail between legs and skulks away*

Cedarwood - MWWWWWWWWAAAAAHAHAHA! I win! I'm the only one left!

 

So yeah, it's all over for The Zoom - cedar wins the day. The cedar itself is quite pleasant, it's not totally pencil-shavings or mouse cage, but it's.. cedar. And after all that fuss, the whole fragrance (including the cedar) only lasts for about half an hour on my skin before it fades almost completely away. So unfortunately, this one is not a winner for me If the cedar hadn't bullied everything else away, then I would have really liked this because that early stage with the citrus + DBR was gorgeous.

 

 

This...is the same conversation that my skin has had with this scent. My skin eats citrus scents so I should not be surprised at all by this. But still...I had to try it as I do enjoy the lime but the cedarwood....yeah....it's dominating and turning everything else into cedarwood with a fresh coat of furniture polish. This is nauseating. It must. come. off!

This starts out as a beautiful white honey and vanilla scent. And then the brown musk takes over. It rubs its fuzzy brown musk butt over my vanilla and honey and poops out a little beeswax for the ultimate f-u! I don't like this scent at all and it will be rehomed stat!

Generic wood and resin scent. Nothing special. I have a feeling that this will be beautiful with age...but right now this is just not spectacular on me.

Cooling pretty gardenia with the barest hints of tea rose. There is something in this that evokes a beautiful cool breeze. It is a classic floral and it is gorgeous...but thankfully it is not something I Need more of.

 

ETA: and this dries to tea rose soap. So glad I don't need anymore of this.

Dry dry dry! With the barest hints of lemon. A very dry bitter lemon sitting in dry grass. Evocative but not for me.

I write this in all seriousness but while wet this smells just like the kitty litterbox when the overlord had freshly used it. Urnine and deodorizing crystals.

 

Dry: this doesn't improve as this is the kind of jasmine that turns to cat pee on me. *sigh* Off to the swap with this one.

Dark, animalistic patchouli which I love. But the vetiver kills this for me. It makes it too dark and too bitter. So sad as this could have been wonderful.

I can see where the previous poster got green peppers. This smells like I walked into a garden with green green grass, different flowers, fresh spices while cutting up a green pepper. It's lovely, but not quite for me.

I love this. I can't pick a note that is overwhelming it's just a scent that I like. However, the linen note is taking over. And this is now a fail b/c I smell like fabulous clothing detergent. *sigh*

This starts out as a gorgeous spicy pumpkin scent. I am in love. And then the Blonde Wood takes over and that's all I seem to amp. This is so sad as while wet this is just gorgeous. I wonder though if I find a partial if I can just age it and see if the pumpkin comes through.

This starts out as a beautiful light pomegranate scent with the barest hints of rose.

 

As it dries the pom disappears. The rose steps in and is absolutely gorgeous and soft. But it has a generic feel to it. I think I will keep my decant....but I won't need more of this. I just wish the pom note lasted a bit longer.

This smells exactly like sour apple Jolly Ranchers on my skin mixed with strawberry jolly ranchers and nauseating rose. NOT A FAN! So sad as this is the only apple that has not worked for me.

Bright Marigolds and honeysuckle and grass. This is a wonderful spring blend. At least it is to me. I don't need a bottle but I will surely enjoy my decant. I now see why everyone is going a little nutty for this blend.

Light sexy slightly coloney leather. Sometimes tobacco can go cologney on me. I like this but I don't think I need more and that I will definitely enjoy my decant.

I get slightly burnt cinnamon marshmallows. There is definitely a smoky aspect to this. I want to eat this which means I don't need to wear it. I don't like smelling like food.

Pom + mulberry=Pomagranate Cough Syrup. Not. A. Fan.

I think this is the Patchouli used in Luperci...but I could be wrong. Holy it slaps me around! I think this one needs to sit in the corner for a bit and think about what it's done... This should be fabulous after some ageing.

 

ETA: I'm seeing mention of people getting Cedar from this...and good grief I wish I did!

 

This just sums it up my experience perfectly. This patchouli is down and freaking dirty and just bitch slaps you. The chocolate is in there but barely and so is the bourbon vanilla but again the bitch slapping patchouli! Gotta love it! I think aging will help mellow this out and become gorgeous!

Sweaty amber and red musk. The musk is glorious....the amber turns sour and sweaty on my skin. So glad it went to a new home.

This is the appley version of my beloved under the harvest moon! Blue Musk, heady ylang, ylang, and sweet vanilla bean. And like Under the harvest moon I will have to age this for at least sixth months so that I can wear it b/c blue musk fresh is a major headache inducer. Sigh. But I can't wait to pull this out again in six months to see how wonderful it will turn out to be.

Golden apple, spices, amber, and freakin florals! Actually isn't too bad. Just very floral. I am going to keep this bottle and age it to see if the florals die down a bit b/c this could be gorgeous.