Soupy Twist

merciful freya, how I have not recommended Honeyed Apple from the 2016 Weenies?! It is the most beautiful perfumy honey I have ever smelled. Door dries down to that same honey as well on me.

A much purer, more beautiful single chocolate note than Bliss. You can practically smell the froth of the cocoa. Divine. If you like the Lab's chocolate note in El Dia de los Reyes, Candy Butcher, Gelt, and the Box of Chocolates from this year's Lupers, this is the pure stuff. Not much throw, but that might be my skin chemistry lately, which has just been devouring everything.

In the bottle: Hard to describe. Booze with woody overtones? Like tequila brewed in oak? Goes on as a lemony tonic water — what you'd mix with the booze, I guess. This quickly turns nasty as it dries, becoming lemon floor cleaner and then just wood. Bleah. Where did the honey go?

You know how when you make strawberry jam or strawberry pie, and you cut up the fruit and add sugar before you pour it into the pot or crust to cook? That. ::swoon::

Herbs in the bottle. Goes on as herbs and honey, which briefly turns sickly sweet like a fake cough drop. This eventually calms back down and the herbs vanish, to leave a faint single-note perfumy honey, like the one from Honeyed Apple, which lasts for hours. Basically a cup of chamomile tea with honey and a store-brand cough drop.

Lemon Lysol floor cleaner. Scrubber.

Tea and powdered sugar in the bottle, but goes on as lemon floor cleaner.

You know how when you're looking for detergent and you just want something which cleans your clothes without leaving heavy fake fragrance everywhere, so you get "unscented" or "free and clear" or "linen"? That's what this smells like. Aggressively inoffensive laundry detergent.

Juicy honeydew with an occasional dash of pine. Lovely and summery.

This is a very nice generic men's aftershave, which I do not wish to wear.

This is at least 18 months old by definition, so "aging" is not the problem. Beeswax and smoky vanilla in the bottle. Goes on as a smoky cinnamon with the beeswax underneath. There is practically no throw on this thing whatsoever. There's a wee bit of vanilla as it sweetens, which briefly turns into a weird plastic. This continues to dry as an unpleasant clove, and then a queasy clove/cinnamon blend, like a cheap candle. It finishes as a vaguely smoky vanilla. An hour later, the vanilla has totally gone burnt plastic. Just as well there's no throw. Dammit, this sounded so good on paper. Look at those notes. Look at all these great reviews! How could I miss? I should just wait for zankoku_zen and Little Bird to review everything. They are apparently my scent twins. If either of them vetoes something, I should give it a pass.

Opens as a sweetened black European-style coffee — not Turkish, but with that strong bitter undertone I love so much. It's definitely not American brown coffee. This stays for about two minutes before devolving into amber and powder. No nuttiness. This is what an old gypsy fortune-teller would smell like. I can practically hear her bangles clinking.

This is really hard to describe. Wet grains? I guess that's the mead and honey? There's a tang here which I recognize but I can't place. I almost want to say it smells like drying paint, but in a good way. maybe that's the sweat? Well, it doesn't matter, because a minute later stale whiskey rumbles in with metal clanging along behind it, which turns to blood, and I am so done. Brilliant morpher. Not my cup of tea.

Unpleasant generic old lady floral. So much throw I'm gagging on it. merciful Freya, this is so not my jam.

There are some oils which have ingredients which separate, and benefit from being shaken or stirred or James Bonded or whatever. Travel shock may be more about repeated movement over a long period of time plus temperature changes. "Settling" isn't just staying still; it's also about adjusting to the temperature and humidity in your home. And oils can definitely change when they age. That's why you'll see people asking specifically about aged Snake Oil and aged Antique Lace, for example.

to be fair, Beth started it. Sherlock Holmes, Coraline, American Gods — we just took the idea and ran with it.

I hate reducer caps. I pry them out immediately and use either regular or wand caps. I've never had an issue with wand caps leaking in transit. I use electrical tape and a separate bag as sprout notes. sylvis, if your skin eats some scents (as mine does), try a scent locket. You can get inexpensive ones on eBay and washable felt discs for the oils on Amazon.

In the bottle: Vanilla, musk, and dust? Goes on as vanilla musk. The vanilla is creamy and perfumy, not foody. It's beautiful and sweet and I want to keep this note forever. More musk develops as it dries, which makes me sad. A lot more musk. This is Antique Musk. Someone is going to be very very happy with this bottle, but alas, I do not think that person is me.

I won't suggest what to wear, but how to choose what to wear: Something discreet which makes you happy and gives you confidence. You don't want something with massive throw, so that depends on your skin chemistry, and weather is a factor (for me, anyway — there are heavy foodie perfumes I won't wear in the summer and florals I won't reach for in the winter). Nobody wants to work with That Person who marinates in Drakkar Noir. You should pick a scent which lifts your spirits and makes you feel good. This will give you confidence for the interview, and if you feel yourself flagging, a whiff can pick you back up. break a leg!

This oil contains the innocence of the Garden, coupled with the Truth and Erudition found in the fruit of the Tree of Evil: fig leaf, fig fruit, honeyed almond milk, toasted coconut and sandalwood. This went backwards from the description. Sandalwood in the bottle — overpoweringly so. This struggles for a moment on application, and then shifts to a toasted coconut. That lasts for about 10 seconds before morphing into a wood note, maybe fig tree? and then that becomes soap. So done. No almond, no honey. This sounded much more appealing on paper and in everyone else's reviews.

A really excellent single-note thick cocoa, almost like drinking liquid chocolate. Fades alarmingly fast with the dry-down. No other notes — no caramel, no tonka. On balance, I am probably relieved that I am not in desperate need of a bottle of something called "Rubber Poop." I have a hard enough time justifying my stash.

FizzzzzzZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZ!!! All the bubbly fizz of 21 minus the juniper notes. A faint honey sweetness develops on the drydown, but it's mostly FIZZ! I will never understand how this goddess of scent makes something smell bubbly. What a gift she has.

Fruit punch. Perfectly balanced, not watered down, high-quality fruit punch. Including the slightly-too-sweet finish of all the undissolved crystals at the bottom of the glass. There is some of the Lab's snow/ice note in the back of the throat on the drydown, but it's strongly overwritten by the fruit punch. It's a good blend, they don't argue, but I wouldn't have pegged it as that if someone else hadn't mentioned it.

Cut green plant stem. boring.

Starts as almond, ends as clove, disappears in an hour. Nothing else. I'm disappointed; this sounded really good on paper.