captainecchi

I had a disappointing experience recently. I tried Tanuki no Hikifune in a decant circle, and fell in love with it. It was just this amazing melon smell that managed to not fade within five minutes on my skin. It was a perfect scent for the disgusting hot summer we're having here in New England, and I knew immediately I had to have a bottle. In the meantime, I pretty much used up most of my decant. I decided to wait until July to order, for money reasons, and actually ordered a bottle on the last day it was available. After a very quick turnaround, it arrived--but it smelled very different from what was in the decant. It was clearly the same perfume, but this batch was a lot heavier on the honey and softer on the melon; it was cloyingly sweet for a bit, and then faded to nothingness almost immediately. Understandably, I was hugely disappointed, but I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it...

Well, hello, little decant that has been sitting in my imp box since the Lupers came down, along with the 72 other scents I still need to try (!!) You came to me from the lovely Jenova in a decant circle, and there you were, lonely and forlorn, still wearing plumber's tape. How could I forget you? In the vial/on wet: This is an amber oil. A sweet muskiness greets me when I open it - maybe that's the fig + vetiver? If so, it's not at all like the fig I've come to love in Nemesis and Carnal. If anything this sweet muskiness reminds me of Smut or The Soldier. In the drydown: Yes, there's that smell I recognize from Hod - Beth's carnation note. Myrrh peeks out, too, lending the scent a smokiness. All in all, I'd say the notes blend together supremely well. I would agree with whoever called this "smoky fig and carnation." Despite unassuming beginnings - and especially given that myrrh and carnation can sometimes go soapy on me - this one is quite pleasant. I'll at least be keeping the decant for my collection. 4 out of 5.

Dark chocolate, fig, and tamarind. I usually don't order bottles unsniffed. I made an exception here--I'm a sucker for chocolates. In the bottle: This appears to be a clear to light amber oil (hard to tell with these new-fangled wand caps). The notes are all present and accounted for here: chocolate, an orange-y citrus (that's the tamarind, I take it), and in the background, the fig. It's like Vice and Nemesis had a baby! On skin, wet: Interestingly, there appear to be small solid bits that smear when I apply them to my skin. The color of them is the reddish brown of tamarind paste, so maybe that's related. Right away, the tamarind note flies away like citrus usually does on my skin, leaving the fig and chocolate to fight it out. One minute the fig seems more dominant; the next, the chocolate overpowers it. I do wish this had more throw--I actually went back and applied more, which I rarely do. Drydown: This has dried down to a well-blended figgy chocolate that I'm moderately pleased with. Verdict: I like this well enough, but maybe I was hoping for something a touch more exotic and maybe headier--this one does exactly what it says on the tin. I have plenty of fig and chocolate scents already, after all. I'll give this one a 3 out of 5.

Sharp smell in the vial takes me off guard. It's a medicinal, poisonous-smelling honey, just liked advertised. My husband sniffs it and proclaims that it smells like Ricola's Honey-Echinacea cough drops. So! Overall, it's successfully evocative, but not quite appropriate for everyday wear. Aaand it dries down to baby powder on me, alas. Verdict: 2 out of 5.

This is the 2010 version. I tried this a few days ago, and here's apparently what I wrote in my spreadsheet: "Patchouli? Is my midnight mass full of hippies? I guess that's actually frankincense, although I think the drydown in No. 93 Engine smells more like church incense. Some pine/balsam/woodsy notes, too." I recall being not terribly impressed. Verdict: 2 out of 5.

Huh. I thought I had already reviewed this one. Apparently not! Light amber oil. Strong pineapple note - I have no idea what in the notes list is causing that. I can't say I ever really get anything else out of this, although it's softer in the drydown. Was really hoping, with the zdravetz, for the spicy-sour smell of torn geranium leaves, but no such luck. Verdict: 2 or 3 out of 5. Doesn't do anything special for me.

I've always thought there was a strong tomato leaf smell in Aizen-Myoo. It's not on the list of notes, but kaki--persimmon--is, and they are closely related, so that may be where that smell is coming from. Or I could be crazy. Let me know!

This is a response to a post that's over a year old, but I had a reaction to Eclipse like this, and yet I wear Eden--which has an "almond milk" note--without any problems. That said, I'm not sure it's the almond causing the reaction, actually--Eclipse also has lots of spiciness to it. But if you haven't tried Eden yet, it might be worth a try in a non-sensitive area. I'll also repeat what lots of other people have said, which is the importance of applying lotion beforehand--it also helps the scent last longer. Even my beloved Hellcat gives me contact dermatitis if I apply it right out of the shower without lotioning up first. I have a big thing of unscented Aveeno I use, especially in the winter, or sometimes I'll try to match my lotions with the perfumes I've selected.

Received this one in a swap with OlfactoryMaven just a couple of days ago. I'm very glad I got a chance to try this before the Yules came down! This one is a reddish-brown oil. When I open the vial, the first thing I smell is something that reminds me of root beer or licorice, i.e. something spicy and sweet. I'm thinking the pepper is implicated in there somewhere - I definitely felt the burning at the back of my throat that indicated the presence of some volatile oil. I guess I could see how vanilla cream or pie are implicated in this. Maybe mincemeat pie My second impression is of that leather + musk combination note that I've come to know well in the High Priest Not to Be Described, one of my husband's favorite blends. Usually it's kind of funky on me, but here it's sweetened nicely by the aforementioned peppery root beer smell. These notes soften in the drydown, but they're still all present and accounted for. Actually, it reminds me a little of Smut in this phase. This one has good throw, too, like most leather + musk scents I've encountered. I like this one. Like I said, it's kind of like a sweeter, more vanilla-y version of High Priest. It's unique, but maybe not compared to the rest of my collection? We'll see. Verdict: 3 or 4 out of 5. I'll keep and use the decant, if nothing else. Just need to be sure to slather on lots of lotion with this one to prevent contact dermatitis.

I'll second the suggestion of Agnes Nutter. I hear everyone raving about the Lab's blood and metallic notes, but usually they do nothing for me--"metallic" smells like generic aftershave on me, and "blood" usually contains dragon's blood, which smells like rotting flowers to me. But this one really does exactly what it says--smells like blood and rusty nails and gunpowder. It's awesome, but not something I wear on normal days. Great for certain LARPs, though! In the same collection, War. Martial blends do tend to contain dragon's blood, too, but this one doesn't. It's... hm. A hot, spicy smell. Lots of ginger. It very much reminds me of the quote from Good Omens, "And she lifted her sword, and smiled like a knife." (paraphrase). (The Gaimans in general have been good to me. I should try more before more of them get discontinued *sniffs*) In the impables category... Twenty-One: For those times that you need to smell like a gin martini, this accomplishes it quite effectively. Cthulhu: smells like bubbles rising off a sunken necropolis. Likewise, for bubbly smells, my go-to blends are Masabakes (now DCed) and Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat. Shoggoth: I had to try this, because my love of HPL is well known around here, and because shoggoths are cool. It was overpoweringly floral, yes, but also a weird odor of burnt plastic. Which seems appropriate to me. And I'll second other recs above... No. 93 Engine, Destroying Angel (this smelled like bile on me... is that the infamous dirt note? I didn't get that in Burial), Brimstone, The High Priest Not to Be Described (dced), The Music of Erich Zahn (dced; best if you want to smell like an Indian restaurant). Hmm. Apparently weird to me means "evocative." I can get behind that definition.

I've had this imp for a while, though I can't remember where it came from--maybe a frimp from the Lab. Anyway, I dug it out yesterday when I was looking for sage smells, as it was recommended to me as having a very strong sage note. This is a golden-colored oil, and when I open the vial, the first impression I get is of cedar (the balsam, I assume) and… yep, there's the sage, peeking out. It blends very well with the balsam, so I don't think I'd notice it unless I was specifically looking for sage. As it dries down on my skin, I start to notice a sort of sweet-but-medicinal scent, that makes me think of eucalyptus, but isn't. Looking at my older notes about certain scents, I also noticed this in Kathmandu, which shares a few ingredients (namely saffron and cedar/balsam), so I'm assuming that's some sort of wood in drydown, or that's how saffron smells. Dunno. Sage is becoming less evident here. Aww. Finally, dry, this smells like church incense on my skin - so I'm assuming that's the frankincense. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any sage any more. Verdict: 3 out of 5. It's evocative of a steam locomotive cutting through virgin forests, which is pretty cool. And hey, it's got sage, too. Alas, it's not quite what I was looking for. I'll hold onto it--maybe compare it to Kathmandu--but I'll continue my search for the sagiest sage.

I received this one as a frimp from the Lab last year. Like most oils, this one is golden brown in color. In the vial, the first thing I get a whiff of is some sort of base note - the musk, I'm assuming. It isn't until I put it on my skin that something floral--the lily?--is evident, which is kind of odd, for a top note. Aren't they supposed to jump out of the vial at you? Isn't that why they're top notes? There's also some pepper there - I notice it when I first put it on my skin, and I can feel a bit of burning as a result, but it doesn't last longer Everything is so, so faint and muted--I have to huff at my wrist to really smell anything, and it's gone by lunchtime. I can definitely see the comparison to Ulalume, although Ulalume has much more prominent lily note. Ulalume is also freshened by the green and aquatic notes. Verdict: 2 out of 5. Not a keeper.

Thanks, ivyandpeony, for merging the threads! My apologies for not spotting this - my search fu is weak. I tried No. 93 Engine yesterday, and I definitely noticed the sage, but it's hiding behind the balsam there. And on drydown it was all frankincense. I'll have to try some of the other recs here.

When looking up reviews of past year's Valentine of Rome to see if I needed some from the new batch, I saw a few people comparing it to The High Priest Not to be Described. The High Priest Not to be Described: Monastic incense, blood musk, black leather, cypress, pimento, white pepper, and Roman chamomile. Valentine of Rome: Ecclesiastical incense, Roman flora, and the fruits of martyrdom: cypress, olive blossom, frankincense, myrrh, and blood accord. Wow, there do seem to be a lot of similarities there. I hadn't planned on trying VofR (I worry about that blood accord... can't handle dragon's blood, if that's what's involved), but maybe I should add a decant to my list. When I told my husband this morning, he wasn't too heartbroken. "Now, if it were Brimstone... then I'd be really disappointed," sez he.

High Priest Not To Be Described. One of my husband's favorites. He is going to be so heartbroken when I tell him. Ironically, the one thing I remember smelling similar to it is... Loviatar. And now they're both gone.