KerylRaist

Sigh. Baby powder. It's baby powder in the imp, baby powder on my skin, on my clothing. I WANT to love this. It's all my favorite things (and add in the idea that this is Eau de Dean Winchester, and I WANT TO BATHE IN IT) and it should smell smashing. I'm honestly wondering if I got the right stuff, because there are no other notes. It doesn't morph, there's no hint of anything that isn't baby powder. It's not my skin chemistry, because it's all baby powder in the imp and on my clothes, too. (Pout, grumble, moan, GOD DAMN IT! I want liquid Dean!)

For the first six hours I couldn't tell the difference between this and the Light of Men's Lives. They both had that soft candle wax vanilla thing going. But, eventually, after six hours of wear, the musk came up and this is luscious. I like the vanilla stage, too, but the musk is especially nice.

I can catch the lavender for maybe the first ten minutes on, and then it turns into Ave Maria Gratia Plena. I don't mean these are similar. I mean I cannot smell any difference between these two scents, at all, once they've been on for more than ten minutes. Neither of them are bad, I like both of them, but I was kind of hoping to have two different perfumes instead of one perfume with two names.

Wet on skin: Miscellaneous green things. Kind of pleasant. Nothing I'd identify as blackberry, but heather, sure that could be heather. Drying down: Rose. Artificial rose. Dry: Artificial rose scented soap. To the swaps with ye!

Going to sound odd, but to me, in the bottle and on my skin, this smells like dark, bitter honeysuckle. I don't get any of the listed notes, but it's lovely, with a sort of a smokey feel to it (it doesn't smell smokey, but it smells like it should be smokey). It's got good lasting power, I get at least six hours before it fades to barely-there sweetness.

"Hello Boys." (and no, nothing can convince me that SPN's Crowley and Good Omen's Crowley are not the same demon.) Sweet, rich, on my skin I mostly get cologne and musk. Very nice. Must apply to hubby at some point.

The Pretty Era, and yes, this is very, very pretty. This is a pretty floral perfume worn by a pretty woman in a pretty dress, sitting in a pretty room, on a pretty chair, and... You get my drift. Everything about this is very attractive in a safe and proper way. It's lovely, but there's no edge. This is the perfect accompaniment to extra-girly days. Imp/wet on skin: Slightly sharp (fresh?) floral. Mostly getting Lilly of the Valley. Very nice Lily of the Valley. Soft, sun kissed, pretty, Lily of the Valley. Dry on skin: Lily of the Valley, tinge of vanilla, and a vague shadow of something almost buttery that I'm thinking is the sandalwood. This phase lasts about an hour. Dry hour two: Warm, sweet Lily of the Valley. Maybe that's the opium coming into play. Not smelling any distinct vanilla note, but that could be providing the sweetness, too. I had to read the notes to see Mandarin on the list. At no point did I smell it. This one seems to hang around in the warm, sweet phase for a good four hours, at least. Not much throw, it's wearing within six inches of my skin, but I'm still catching hints of it five hours after applying it.

Antony is killing me. He smells green and mysterious in the bottle. (Almost an absinthe quality, herb-y, licorice, yummy.) Then I put him on my skin, and I get ten minutes of green/licorice/herb-y goodness. A bit sharp. Kind of watery. Freshly cut herbs. Then he's done drying and turns into this soft, warm exotically spiced powder. Hints of amber. I was ready to get about sixteen bottles of this, because I love that smell. It's perfect. It's very gentle and femme and totally not what I was going for with this scent but absolutely delicious. And an hour later he's gone. My nose is pressed to my wrist and I can just, barely, smell a faint hint of generic baby powder. I've got this slathered on my throat, can't smell a thing. I had gotten some of this on my shirt as well, so on the fabric the green scent lasted longer, say forty-five minutes, and then nothing. That wandered off even faster than the scent on my skin. Waaaah!

I got this as a frimp, looked it up (I thought), and put it in the test sooner or later pile. Today was test day. This didn't smell anything like I was expecting it to, mostly because I'd gotten it in my head that this was Magician. So, I was expecting a sort of incense-y-perfume-y scent, and got hit with... Sweet fruit? Bubble gum? I had no idea what it was. I'm sitting there, sniffing my arm, noticing that yes, this is sweet, juicy, little acid. It's some kind of fruit. Probably. It was putting me in mind of gum too, but really good gum, gum for grown-ups. It didn't morph much between imp and dry down, just more sweet-fruitiness. I finally look this up again, realize I'm dead wrong on what this is supposed to smell like, and new list of notes in mind, sure, apricots, this could be apricots, or peaches, nectarines maybe, but doesn't smell enough like any of them to make me think: ah yes, vaguely orange-colored stone fruit. (It doesn't smell like any other kind of specific fruit, to me, either. For example: it's very definitely not strawberries or apples, so process of elimination, it could be apricot.) And I really didn't get any sense of alcohol at all. I used to own, drink, and cook with apricot brandy. This in no way triggered memories of that. An hour later it was faint, could barely smell it with my nose on my wrist. Two hours later, it was gone. It's not unpleasant in any way. And if I was a fourteen-year-old girl named Madison or Brittney, attending a posh school, this would be right up my alley. But, I'm not that girl, never was that girl, and am vastly too old to pretend to be that girl, so... Hello swap pile!

Got this one based on the reviews, and then promptly forgot why I ordered it. Imp: Good God, what made me want this? What the hell is that? Overwhelming wet greenery. Sage? Carnation? Cedar? Lavender? Sure, why not? I have literally no idea what notes might be in this. It's just an overpowering hedge of thorny, sharp green. On skin wet: Green, little tinge of dirt. Makes me think of freshly cut hedge and turned earth. Why did I buy this? I don't like green scents. Dry: Goodbye green, goodbye dirt. This was the most complete morph I've ever smelled. One minute it was all greenery, and then it was mellow vanilla and incense sticks. Wearing out and about, first two hours: Some of you are probably the right age/nationality to remember this. Back in the 80s and 90s in the US there was a store called Spencer's. It sold 'novelty' items. (All sorts of goth, punk, magic, sex jokes, practical joke stuff.) They sold incense. It came in sticks and cones, and they were different colors with different names, but they all pretty much smelled the same. (Probably because they were all stored in the same place in little cardboard sleeves.) Bow smells exactly like that incense, even a faint tinge of smoke. Add a layer of vanilla and that's what's wafting off my arm. Hour three to five: Incense fades to the back, vanilla comes up front. Hour six: Reapply time. I'm really liking this one. It's sweet, but the incense keeps it from turning to an indistinct sugar scent. Will wear a few more times, but I'm thinking this might be a big bottle scent.

Hmmm... if only I smelled this sweet when defutata. Okay, so in the bottle, sweet, sweet honey. Someone said this was a very golden scent, and I agree, thick, golden dripping honey, wet and lingering on happy sun-kissed skin. On the skin, wet: Candied florals, mostly jasmine. I have the image of a pot of simmering honey, one vanilla bean warming in it, many, many flowers floating in the brew. The flowers are taken out, placed on parchment paper, left to crystallize, then to be eaten. Dry on skin: Sweet honey, florals, tiny whiffs of smoke that whisper, "Here I am," and then fade away. Three hours later: Generic sweet scent. Mostly vanilla, but that bland, sweet, generic "vanilla" scent. This is not vanilla bean, or vanilla extract even. It's that sweet, white, "flavor" that pops up in ice cream, confections, coffee flavors, etc... Five hours: very, very faint sweet scent. Six hours: gone.

Imp: Wet, juicy, dark cherries. Not black cherries, more like cherries that like leather collars and tattoos. (Gosh, that's helpful, isn't it? We've all got a bowl of them at home to go and sniff, right? ) On the skin: Dark cherries, for about five minutes, luscious sandalwood partying with the cherries, ten more minutes. Half an hour of sandalwood's ghost. And then it fades to the faintest hint of sweet with just a bare memory of the ghost of sandalwood. Throw: What throw? It's on my neck, and I can barely smell it. Hour two: Did I put perfume on? I swear I did. Nose right on wrist. Very, very faint sweet scent. Okay, so my skin eats this alive. ETA: Hubby tells me that long after we've hit the point where I can't smell Salome, he still can, and that he can smell the almond, sandalwood, and a general yummy sweetness. He approves greatly of this one. Day Two: Bra test. I put a few drops on my bra, so it gets warmth and a bit of skin, but not right on my skin. Wet/Drying: Dark cherries. An hour later: still dark cherries. Three hours later: faint dark cherries. Cannot smell this outside of my shirt any longer. Five hours: very faint dark cherries. Six hours: Gone. So, much longer shelf life on my bra than on my skin. And I think the first reviewer was talking about loving the cherry smell so much she wanted to eat it, so that keeps it all nummy cherry and whatnot, but since I'm in it for the sandalwood scent, this is not working the way I'd like. Probably not going onto my get a full bottle list. But will be playing with it and testing again, because if I can figure out how to get a longer run of that sandalwood partying with the cherries scent, I will be very happy.

First ever review, so I hope this is useful. Bottle: Green roses. One lone rose on a bush. Stems, leaves, bit of dirt. Not much rose at all. On: Whiffs of rose, like an aura of rose. Nose up close to my wrist, sweet amber. Slight edge of sharpness. Musk? I can't smell it if it's there. Two hours later: Amber. Soft, sweet, powdery amber. Hints of rose, or maybe the memory of it, just a little whisper of it when I move. Three hours: Amber that's morphed into really nice baby powder (If there is such a thing as the Platonic Ideal of baby powder, it smells like this.) on my skin, can't smell it from more than an inch away. Rose? What rose?