dronzeka

I had high hopes for this, after reading the reviews, but sadly, it didn't really work on me. First, I should say that I'm not really familiar with Snake Oil, so I'm not sure I'll be able to say much about the Snake-Oil-iness of this. But on me, this begins as an extremely sharp white floral - and I'm a big fan of lily, but this is too much for me; I think it might be the narcissus misbehaving. After 1/2-1 hour, the initial white floral has mostly burned off, leaving behind a kind of sweet floral whisper over the vanilla-y snake oil, and I like this stage much much better. I'm just not sure I'm willing to sit through the initial nuclear floral blast to get here.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! This is such a great, refreshing scent. It starts out with a blast of MINT!!!!, but as it dries down, it turns into a kind of green-tinged Lick It Again - I get a very similar creamy mint in the end. I'm presuming the vanilla in Snake Oil is combining with the mints in this snake in a similar way to the vanilla in Lick It Again. I love Lick It Again, so this is all good in my book. I don't really identify the bergamot or green tea (maybe a hint of bergamot along the way), but I suspect they're what makes this feel green. Plus, there's more spearmint in the dry down, rather than Lick It Again's pure peppermint. Perhaps there's a little hint of spice underneath, but I'm not a Snake Oil aficionado (I've only tried it once), so I'm not really picking it up here. Regardless of what comes from where, this is a great scent and I'll have to think about a bottle! It'd be wonderful in hot weather, especially if you're not in the mood for the very Christmas-y candy cane of Lick It Again.

When I smelled this in the imp, I got honeyed rose (which was wonderful!). I think the honey was coming from the cream accord? Anyway, initially this was a lovely sweet rose scent, but as it dried down, I had the orchid come much more to the fore. I like orchid, but I liked the sweetened rose better. Eventually, this became orchid underlaid by a kind of powdery sweetness, possibly the musk, possibly the cream. I'd have liked the rose to stick around further - but it is a very pretty scent. Like the people say, you have to like florals, but if you do, give it a try.

Okay, weird - unlike almost everyone else, in the imp I don't get sandalwood on this one - I get HONEY. Lovely lovely honey. (With something else. How's that for specific! It doesn't scream sandalwood or anything, but it's not clear quite what it is.) On, I do get sandalwood, which isn't the greatest note on me, and less honey. It's sweet in a non-floral kind of way. Anyway, the woods seem to come out and fight with the honey for a while, and then the currant seems to emerge and join the honey, and the sweeter elements override the woody dryness. It's BEAUTIFUL. It's sweet and rich and rounded and shining like a smooth tumbled piece amber. What's interesting is that if I wave my arm in front of my nose, I get beautiful honey and currant. If I stick my nose up against my arm, I get sandalwood (and/or the other woods, which I don't know enough to pick out on my own). And I agree with valentina that I get occasional whiffs of tobacco (which is probably my reading of the woods). This is just beautiful. I'll have to try it a couple more times so I can tell what it's like to wear all day (as opposed to being tested on my arm with a couple other things!), but I could see getting a big bottle of this. So pretty!! (A little later: now the woods seem entirely gone, and the currant dominates. Like someone else has already said, this Heroine is a morpher. But all her faces are beautiful!) ADDED May 6: MMMMMMMMmmmmmmm, I love Svadhinaopatika! (and since I memorized how to spell it, I want to write the name at EVERY opportunity... When I open this, I get HONEY. Which is fine by me, really. And when I put it on, it's almost pure honey. (Again, not a problem!) As it dries down, however, the woods show up to add some complexity - I'm not very good with ordinary sandalwood or other dry woods, but this oude stuff must be marvelous, because the woods here are sweet but still distinctly woody. (The more I write "wood" the more my mind goes into the gutter... I digress!) I get a tiny hint of currant, as a slightly fruity edge to the sweetness, and I don't pick up on the amber specifically, but I think it helps to bridge the honey and the woods - something midway between sweet and dry, with a little spice. Anyway, this ends up a beautiful golden sweet scent on me, with a little resin-y depth. It smells like a carved Indian box made of beautiful sweet woods that was used to hold honey and resins. I don't get anything floral out of this at all. It goes on quite strong, but it fades as it dries down, but overall lasts pretty well. For me, this is a 5 out of 5. It's gorgeous and sexy and comforting at the same time. If you don't do well with honey, this probably won't work for you. However, if you don't normally do well with woods, don't let this scare you, because I find that the woods work much better here than they normally do on me (no pencil shavings at all!). Don't get this one for the currant, because the fruit is definitely way in the background.

Beth, thank you so much for posting the Bean pics! I adore the Bakeneko label but I was also going mad trying to figure out what the red bit to the left of the label was (I was worried it was something that was completely obvious to everyone but me ). I said this somewhere before, but I love that Bakeneko is a normal kitty, not some kind of exotic artistic demon creature. And like so many others have said: Tramp, thank you for posting those pictures!!! (or maybe not, because seeing the Snake Pit bottles has solidified my NEED to buy at least one of them, probably Boomslang...) At least now I know what the Snake Pit looks like, even though I'll never own the whole thing!

In the bottle, I get quite a lot of verbena, fresh and citrus-y (I love verbena, so this makes me happy). I think I can also smell a little citrus rind - that really tart citrus, not any sweet juicy fruit but citrus that makes your lips pucker and your mouth water. The ozone is also there, giving this an airiness. On, the verbena backs down somewhat, and I start to smell more of the ozone, as well as the sandalwood. It's a fruity scent without being particularly sweet, made a bit dryer and paler by the sandalwood, I think. There's also a hint of oakmoss, which might be the smokiness that bristlecone was smelling? And I get a suggestion of the Lab's distinctive snow note (maybe that's part of the ozone?), which often goes to aftershave on me but appears relatively well-kept in check here. It's really a lovely, light scent, with almost an emptiness underneath it that gets at the idea of hunger - it's almost like there isn't quite anything there to ground it and give it a solid foundation; like it needs something, the way a hungry person needs food. It makes me think of how animals put out to pasture in the winter have to scrape and scratch beneath the snow for food. To be honest, I do wish the verbena stuck around longer/more strongly - it adds a kind of sweet freshness that I love. But then, I don't think sweet freshness necessarily works if you're going for something desolate and despairing! It definitely fits the description beautifully. (And can I just say that for some reason it never occurred to me that the label artwork would be the same as the tee?? Durrrr! I'm very pleased to have something with that gorgeous logo on it, even though I didn't need the tee.) ETA: Okay, I have to confess that as much as I love this, it doesn't love me; it doesn't turn bad or anything, it just.... vanishes. I mean, I've had faint scents that aren't very strong, don't last very long, that kind of thing. But this just really turns into nothing. It's like I can still smell it, but it doesn't smell of anything. So sad!

In the bottle, I smell mostly orange, with other, deeper scents behind it. On, I can smell the orange, but it rapidly gives way to warm spiciness. The spice that I really get here is cardamom (which is great, because it's one of my favorites). I can smell something that's enough like tea to be the black tea leaf, though it's not quite the direct smell of tea itself. Amber musk is the warmth that binds this together; I only get the slightest hint of cherry blossom (just a very very light tinge of sweetness), and I really only get cardamom, no cinnamon. But then, when I tried something that all the reviews swore up and down was CINNAMON, I got Necco Wafers, so I'm not sure I'm the best test case for cinnamon. Still, I would say that neither the cinnamon nor the cherry blossom are dominant, in case those are notes that were worrying you. This really is wonderful warm spicy orange tea - I'm so happy! It kind of makes me think of the different colors of golden brown in orange tabby cats (of course, I have one, so I'm biased!), and the lovely dry warm feeling of clean cat fur (okay, I've been way overinfluenced by the whole theme - I promise you it doesn't smell of cat ). Anyway, I'm really pleased with it (so far, anyway!). (And the bottle label is just adorable - I was expecting a much more exotic, vicious-looking creature, but this kitty is just so cute! And so ordinary looking, hee!)

As this goes on, I get a lovely mix of dark, deep, spicy incense. It's a scent that leans to the masculine, but a woman could certainly wear it (and I plan to). I'm leery of musks, but while blood musk may be lending a warm base to this, it's not obtrusive. Initially, it's spicy incense, but as it dries down, I get a hint of leather in the background. It's a very complex blend, and I'm happy to believe that the other notes have all combined in here to create this intriguing blend, even though I can't identify much very clearly. Like so many of the Arkham scents, this is dark and complicated, but in a rather beautiful way (and this is coming from someone who tends to like bright cheery scents). What's impressing me is how well some of these notes that I consider very dark and heavy come together into something deep but not overwhelming. In fact, this is a relatively light scent, throw-wise. Probably not something I'd buy a big bottle of, but I'll enjoy wearing the imp and pondering its complexity.

I know this is one of those famous scents that everyone loves, and I was excited to try it, but ick, I cannot wear this. It's sickly caramel-hazelnut-ick on me. It's like the fake sickly hazelnut smell that hangs over bad flavored coffee. I don't get any real coffee scent, which would be nice (just deep strong coffee without sugar? that would be neat! but it's not this). Anyway, I'm glad there are so many people out there who love this one, because that means it should be able to find a more appreciative home than me. Maybe someday I will find a rich, sweet foody BPAL that works on me, but it's looking less and less likely! (ETA that this is the re-release, Misk-U-in-GC version, not the earlier LE.)

Okay, I was pretty intimidated by this, because black musk is just BAD on me, vetiver scares me, and I have no idea what opoponax and ajowan smell like. But you know, gotta try it anyway, so: In the imp: I'm expecting something black and twisted, but this is... green. Very green. On: It's still green. Maybe this is vetiver behaving, and adding the kind of green earthy note that people who like vetiver actually like? As it dries, what I'm really getting from this is mimosa. Which I find kind of funny, given all the scary-sounding notes in the description - mimosa doesn't seem tortured to me. Anyway, this is dark green, earthy, with a kind of brightness or gleam lent by the bubblier mimosa. But this mimosa isn't from any pretty tropical place - it's a pale flower glimmering out of forest-y shadows. Finally, when this dries down, I get the lovely Indian/Thai food scent of tamarind. The black musk doesn't really make an appearance on me, thank god. Moral of the story: do not be scared by the descriptions! This is a lovely, dark, earthy green and spicy scent. It's by no means bright and cheery and bouncy - it has that kind of dark complex power that I associate with the Arkham scents, which really aren't a mild simple meek bunch - but it is deep and intriguing, and I really like it.

This is really going to be a kind of non-review... because on me, Bat-Woman has almost no scent, strangely enough. In the bottle, I can smell lovely, pale, night-time flowers. (Maybe the gray amber has me thinking moonlight/gray light?) I can also smell the verbena, and when I put it on, I can smell verbena and honeysuckle - it *seems* very pretty. But I say *seems* because literally within minutes there's no smell left at all. I slathered it on this morning and by the time I got to work I'd have thought that I never put anything on at all. So, alas, the Bat-Woman is not for me. Le sigh.

Hmmm. Am I the only one who initially gets Necco Wafers from this?? Since I was expecting something wood-y/moss-y, this was very confusing! From all these reviews I see that the note must be cinnamon, but really, when this is wet I get a very strong candy smell, almost licorice-cinnamon - all I can think is Necco Wafers (I must be fixated on candy these days - Arcana's Espionage smells like sweettarts to me ). As it dries, some flowers start to appear and the cinnamon-y kind of smell backs down somewhat. It morphs into something more floral with wood and cinnamon in the background. So completely not what I was expecting from the description! It's quite lovely. I'm not sure it's really me, but I should probably try it out when I don't have three other scents going on the same arm.

I wanted to try it because, well, signature scent and all, but I didn't really think I'd like this. I thought I really only liked light florals and citrus and fresh, airy scents. And when I sniffed it in the imp, I thought, "Almond. Way too much almond." But I tried it, and on my skin it turns into a glorious, warm, sweet, almost skin kind of scent. It's probably recognizably still almond, and I can understand why others are mentioning cherries, but I don't like either of those notes especially, and I love this on me. It all melds into something very warm, and sweet, but not recognizably one thing or another (cherry or almonds). It's golden and light-musky, and yes, a little sticky, but in the lovely thick way that pure honey is sticky, rather than sickly sweet like treacle or caramel. Love this! May have to get a big bottle...

In the imp, I just LOVE this - lavender, citrus, bergamot - mmmmm! When I put it on, initially it's a beautiful lavender-y citrus melange, bright and crisp and clean and sunny. How lovely, think I, I will need a big bottle of this! Then, after about half an hour, it suddenly gets much warmer and fainter and - play doh. Just over the edge from perfume to playdoh, but still play doh. It's actually kind of nice, but not really what I need in a perfume. Such a shame, because it had such a lovely beginning! I think it may be the thyme going strange on me, because I have no problem with the bergamot in Alice (and adore it).

Wow, for some reason I was sure I wouldn't like Dragon's Blood (maybe I thought it was too sort of hippie-earth-goddess-y? ), but I got this as a frimp and it's absolutely LOVELY. In the vial, I smell a kind of floral cherry. On, it blooms into a kind of lily/lilac sweetness, deepened by a little warmth. It's a much lighter smell (in terms of tone?, not strength) than I'd expected, and much more floral - I expected it to be much heavier, much more spicy or resin-y. Instead, it's smooth and sweet, and warm, like blood should be. It's not light in strength - it's fairly strong and is lasting pretty well. Anyway, the good news is that I like this so much, and the bad news is that now I want to try all the other dragon's blood blends as well!

OMFGBBQ. This is one of the most gorgeous things I've ever smelled. That is all. ADDED Jan. 27: Okay, so I tried this a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely wonderful - sweet, warm, honeyed vanilla goodness. Just golden and lovely - I was hooked. No baby powder, and not even anything particularly smutty - warm, yes, a good skin scent, yes, very sweet and kind of rich, but not that "smell of sex" thing others were getting. So I started hoarding imps of O, and today I tried one of the new ones - and it's different. (I realize this isn't shocking - they were probably different ages, different batches, etc. etc. But I haven't had enough duplicates of scents to encounter this before now.) This one isn't nearly as nice as the first - there's much more of the SEX!!! element to it (I realize this is probably why some people like O to begin with! But it's not quite what I was going for.) It's got that kind of thick, almost murky smell to it. It's not terrible or anything - it's just not quite as much an object of adoration. Comparing imps, I think the smuttier one is older - it's a tiny shade darker in color, and seems to have separated a tiny bit, compared to the other imp I have. So for me, this is going to have to be the anti-Snake Oil - best when fresh, and passed on to others once it gets older!

I love love LOVE this scent! In the imp, it's lemon, jasmine, and a bunch of other lovely stuff that I can't identify. On me, I get lemon and jasmine, and the rose comes out to play as well. It's a gorgeous, rich but light floral. It's beautifully blended, so that I can't pick out most of the notes, but they all work together to create something wonderful. It's sunlight bouncing off the canals and soaking into warm golden stone, and candles and lamps shining out of the windows of Renaissance houses along the water. It's just so lovely! Unfortunately, it's faded fairly quickly - I will have to get a bottle so that I can slather myself with this.

In the imp, I get pretty florals covered in ice. On, initially I get flowers and ice and the berries come out as well. This first stage is really lovely - someone above compared it to Knecht Ruprecht, which I agree with - at this point the Snow Maiden is like Knecht Ruprecht's little sister. I thought, "I will HAVE to get a bottle of this." Alas, ylang ylang is not a good dominant note on me, and as it dried, the ylang ylang started screaming. Oddly enough, Ice Maiden got more masculine and in fact, turned into aftershave! Knecht Ruprecht stays beautiful pine-berry-snow on me (even if it's a little masculine), but his sister turns into a drag queen? After a couple of hours, the smell on my arm has calmed down and softened quite a bit, but it still smells like I'm sitting amidst a cloud of aftershave, even if it's gone from my skin. It's a really strong scent on me with good throw - just not really quite what works for me. Oh well - one fewer bottle I need to buy!

I got this as a frimp since, from the notes, it's not something I'd have ever chosen. But when I discovered I had it, I figured I had to try it. And you know what? It's not as bad as I'd have thought! (There's a ringing endorsement, right? ) In the vial, I smell the lichen and oak leaf, I think - it smells like a dark, damp cave - definitely wild and deep, but not dirty (except in the natural sense! That is, dirt-y, not dirty. ) There's a hint of anise. On, the mossy smell backs off in favor of the ANISE (which seems to be fond of shouting). And I'm not sure how, but it's really clearing out my sinuses! Someone earlier mentioned the medicinal herb smell of vetiver, and I haven't tried enough notes yet to be able to identify vetiver on its own, but I'm suspecting that the vetiver is what's combining with the anise to create that kind of pungency. What I was really worried about was the civet, which in Fire of Love wavered back and forth pn me between dark and striking, and cat pee. Which, you know, ick (I have plenty of access to cat pee without putting it in my perfume!). But I'm really not picking out the civet particularly. It might be contributing to the almost bitter tang here, but it's not going cat pee (at least, not yet. I haven't had it on for hours yet). Being fond of light and pretty or warm and pretty scents, and not especially fond of anise, I can't see myself really wearing this, but I'm glad I got the chance to try it, and to discover that it's not horrible. So I can kind of understand the Black Annis lovers, but I'm not one of them! (Edited to add: as time has passed, it's actually dried down into a sort of powdery anise, and dare I say, it's almost pretty? Kind of like an old woman who comes off kind of scary initially - harsh and unforgiving - who turns out to be a lot nicer once you get to know her. Still probably not my favorite, but a fascinating scent.)

I used this for the first time yesterday. I'm not much of a one for formal ritual, but I like the idea of using the oils with intent. I put it in a diffuser (one of the candle things - I never know what to call it) with a couple of candles on either side, and breathed it in for a few minutes, concentrating (heh!) on what I needed to be doing. Then I sat down to work on an essay that's overdue - and it definitely helped. I've been having a terrible time concentrating lately, but I did get into my work (so much so that when my youngest cat knocked something off the kitchen counter I jumped about three feet!). This is just a decant (thanks, VelvetFlyTrap!), so I may need to buy a big bottle soon. As for smell - it is a refreshing kind of lemongrass/mint combo. Light but strong, if that makes sense. I wouldn't wear it as perfume (even if it were that kind of oil, which it's not), but it's a very pleasant scent, rather than pungent.

Goodness, this is a sweet, pretty scent. I primarily smell peach, but I can also get the grape and a variety of florals. Like someone mentioned above, it's actually quite strong for a floral - I feel like I'm wafting a cloud of peach around my wrist. It's all very well balanced and blended, everything merging into, well, a peach-colored glow - bright and sweet, but not light, if that makes any sense. I think for me, it's just overall a little too peach-y - I like peach, but I'm not fond of smelling like things to eat. It's really a lovely peach, not sickly or artificial at all, and more perfume-y than food-y, but somehow peach is not me. But if you like peach, or fruity florals, you will probably love this.

This isn't golden on me, either - a sort of siena color, maybe... like many others here, I'm getting pure wood, I think mostly cedar. On me that goes sharp and musty at once; it smells like the attic over at my next door neighbor's, growing up, where my sister and I explored lots of old junk. It makes me nostalgic, but it's not anything I want to smell like. After about three hours the cedar's finally softening a little bit, and it's getting nicer, but it's not worth the three hours of smelling like an attic. So I will have to find someone else who will appreciate it more!

This intrigues me. In the vial I smell the almost pine-y forest scent of the laurel, with some of the lily (and possibly peony?). On, the laurel backs off, and just lends a deep undertone, anchoring the florals. I end up with a peppery lily with a kind of deep olive-green base - it's a darker floral than some. The pepper lends it a neat little zing to distinguish it from ordinary florals. I'm probably thinking this because of "Grandmother," but it does make me think of someone old and wise - not old-lady-roses-and-powder, but the kind of ageless ancient-ness of lilies in the depths of a green forest. I like it. I don't know if I'd buy a big bottle, but I'll certainly use this.

Like so many others, I LOVE this scent, and wish it lasted a little longer. It's a beautiful lemon-y iced tea spiked with ginger - sweet, light, refreshing, making me think of sweet tea on a hot day, when the glass is dripping with condensation and the ice melts in it almost instantly. It's a very light, clear, clean scent. It's BEAUTIFUL. But despite having slathered it on, it's fading relatively quickly. I may have to try it in a spray to see if it lasts longer that way, because it's just gorgeous.

I get the nice sort of rosey-herb that others have mentioned, but I wanted to agree with previous reviewers who smelled dill! I keep having the rose teeter back and forth on the edge of dill for me. Although that sounds really strange, it's still actually quite pretty - or at least interesting - and seems to work. I get the image of a sunny English garden, with roses and an herbal border, all wildly overgrown and mixed together, and a black cat threading his way through the tangle of stems and leaves - now you see him, now you don't... occasionally exploding upward to chase butterflies. ETA: I wanted to come back and edit this, because after that first time I've never smelled dill again (must have been an odd time of the month), and this has become one of my favorite scents: rose, fresh, green, light and playful. I really like it. And I find it's got spectacular wear on me - it stays true and fresh for well over 8 hours, which never happens to me! And I think it does generally cheer me up and make me somewhat light-hearted when I wear it. So let's hear it for Black Cat!