ralenth

Anise and clove with a pinch of cumin. I don't get any mandarin. A bit too holiday spice for my tastes.

Wet: Violet pastilles.

Drydown: As it dries, Faith almost takes on a creaminess.

Dry: Creamy soft, slightly sweetened violet. This is just lovely.

Overall: I certainly like Faith a lot better than her twin. If I ever wanted to feel super girly, I would go for Faith in an instant.

Rose and I don't play too nicely. Hope starts out sweet and softly rosy, but she quickly turns sharp and green. No surprises here. Skin chemistry fail.

Source: Hiding in my box untested since 2007 (How is this possible?)

Wet: Thick, sticky pine.

Drydown: Slightly cool, faintly herbal, predominantly pine. No Christmas tree here.

Dry: Harvesting pines during a crisp winter wind. There isn't much change from the drydown stage.

Overall: Love. I think the lesson is that I should keep my collection more manageable so that gems don't slip my notice.

Bright, fluffy pink marshmallow scent. This smells exactly like Velvet Unicorn did on my skin. Pretty, but I don't need both.

Softly sugar dusted violets. My skin completely eats this within five minutes. Pretty, but too ephemeral for my tastes.

This started out a bit perfumey and pretty, but pretty quickly went down to sharp green, rose and powder-lily hell. I should have known it wouldn't agree with me as these two florals are death notes, but I had to try anyway. Off to swaps.

Wet: Beautiful bright grapefruit and papaya. Super fruity and fun!

Drydown: Tinges of floral, but still predominantly fruity and citrus.

Dry: This scent is like a celebration in the fruit market. Sadly, after about an hour, it's pretty much gone.

Overall: Nice while it lasted. I'm glad the dreaded dragon's blood is muted here.

I pulled this out during my culling pass this morning and decided to give it a test before dropping it off at the orphanage. Flower Moon has aged quite nicely. It's a slow, thick honey with soft musky florals. Honey and I don't often play well together, but this is gorgeous. The throw is medium and it seems to have staying power. I'll definitely be keeping this and putting it into rotation. Yum.

Bottle: Juicy pears with swirls of floral.

Wet: Sweet pear, not as lush as the bottle sniff, but quite nice. Slightly girlier than I was expecting from the bottle art, but not crazy jasmine.

Drydown: Still soft, a tad powdery. Quite pretty.

Dry: All traces of the pear have faded and I am left with a sweet, powdery floral.

Overall: Not quite what I hoped. I'm a little sad I don't have any more because I liked the initial stages, but not enough to hunt it down.

Sweet, creamy nutty scent, with a tinge of linen. harimise is far foodier than I was expecting. It's lovely and seems perfect for spring (even if it isn't my thing).

Wet: Super cologney. Resisting the urge to scrub this off.

Dydown: Hello Ozone! As it dries further, Sarah develops into this gorgeous musky ozone

Dry: Sweet, musky floral with tinges of clean ozone. It occasionally waffle back to the cologney scent, but not as overpowering as when I first applied it.

Overall: Very different than most of what I own, so it may be spared the axe. Definitely a sophisticated, vampy scent.

Bottle acquired: October 2008

Wulric is all cocoa and vetiver at first sniff, but as the drydown goes on he gives off faint bits of lavender (which I normally amp like whoa, though not here). Wulric dries into this amazing tumbled sex in the sheets with a side of cocoa scent. Oh, wow. Once Wulric has shaken himself dry, he reverts to a musky lavender with no traces of cocoa and hints at the naughtiness of the drydown. Would that he smelled like that the whole time...

Bottle acquired: October 2007

Musky, green cologne. It begins a little floral, but then Pollution oozes out from the center in a glowing mass of sharp, ozoney goo. O sweet apocalypse. Nuzzle.

Samhain 2007:

Smooth, spicy apple and smoky leather. It reminds me a lot of Arcana's Guy Fawkes (which is my annual scrub hoarding purchase). This has aged very nicely. Yum.

Samhain 2009:

Apple and woodsy, a bit more potpourri than its aged cousin. After a few hours, they smell similar, though 2009 isn't as tenacious.

At first, it was sweet puffed pastries with a hint of cherries. As the day wore on, it was creamy and sweet, very milk and honey. It hangs pretty close to my skin, but it lasted all day. I found myself craving sweets. Lovely to try, but I don't think I'll get more than the imp I've got here as there might be dangerous consequences. Overall, it is a light and playful scent.

I'll admit I wasn't a big fan when The Magician first arrived. But, now that it's aged almost six months, it's lovely. Warm, woodsy incense, with a bit of smoked incense in the background. I like it even more than Midnight Mass, which is my go-to for an incense scent.

In the bottle, Alice's Evidence is a beautiful spiced plummy scent. Unfortunately, it goes the way of Lambs-Wool on me: holiday potpourri. Off to the swaps.

Soft, clean aquatic floral. As it dries, it turns a little powdery and sweet. I think this would be perfect for a hot day.

Wet: Crushed mint and dandelions.

Drydown: A bit of lavender mixed in with crushed dandelion stems. Very green.

Dry: Bitey green with tinges of lavender. Stays fairly close to the skin, but seems to be lasting.

Overall: A bit hostile, but it suits my mood today.

Wet: Sweet, spun violet candy floss with tinges of smokiness underneath.

Drydown: Why hello there vanilla! This reminds me of what I thought Sachs would smell like. The vanilla is super sweet, but thankfully not cakey.

Dry: CC: Female is kind of like the dainty version of The Bow & Crown of Conquest. It's delicate with a tad bit of apocalyptic menace. The throw is pretty minimal on my skin.

Overall: Bow & Crown is one of my GC favorites, so I'm not sure that I need both of these in my arsenal. I wouldn't turn away a lady if she turned up on my doorstep, though.

Imp: Citrus with coconut. Mmm, real coconut.

Wet: Bright lemongrass and tart lime.

Drydown: Lemongrass to the point of me thinking this is a single note. Why must I amp lemongrass so?

Dry: Lemongrass with a bit of coconut meat and peeps of white florals, though mostly lemongrass.

Overall: I really wanted to like this as other reviews made this sound great. Curse you, skin chemistry.

ETA: An hour later, Shoggoth becomes this gorgeous, light creamy coconut with a little floral tinge. I take it all back. Love.

I'm a huge leather advocate, but for some reason Red Rider turned into sweaty man in leather. Not the sexy kind.

Wet: Musky, spicy woods. Like Scherezade sans the cinnamony note I get.

Drydown: Manly spice cake. What? Yes, really. As Oblivion dries, it goes back toward a dark woodsy scent. Very, very dark.

Dry: Barely controlled sexy woodsman - this is bordering on pornographic, folks.

After an hour: Apparently, this woodsman likes a cuddle. It's still dark and sexy, but there is a sweetness to it that I wasn't really banking on.

Overall: Conflicted. It's like a one-night stand with amazing raw primal sex who wants to talk about feelings the next day. I just don't know what to do.

ETA: Hour Four: We're back to musky sexiness (but now times a billionty). This man came into my office and I thought he was the source of divine aroma, but then I discovered it was me. If I can get through the sweet stage, this is ridiculously amazing.

Verbena hates me, I think. I love the scent, but it always does nasty Lemon Pledge type things on my skin. Aelopile is no exception.

Wet, Aelopile is a bright lemon zest. As it dries, it goes through a Lemon Pledge stage and then a bit of a Lemonheads stage, where it pretty much stays. Off to the swaps, sadly.