ralenth

Imp: Apple and soft powder. Not at all what I was expecting.

Wet: Juicy green apples with something biting in the background.

Drydown: Very softly floral and fruity.

Dry: Clean, fresh, gentle apple scent. I really wasn't expecting any dragon's blood scent to smell like this one me, but it's quite lovely.

Drydown: Lovely and simple. Not my usual fare, but I really like it.

12/2009 version

Boozy and perfumey, very strong throw. This Black Lace is a little more overwhelming than I remember the older version being. I'm hoping this bottle settles down, because I'm getting drunken old lady here. BINGO!

Aged bottle, 1-2 years

Bottle: Sweet and sandalwood. Not much else from the cold sniff.

Wet: Sharp, almost pungent floral and powder.

Drydown: As it dries, the sweetness takes over again. Still sharp, but I guess this dragon is a bit grandma-ish for me.

Dry: Old maid with a bit of attitude.

Overall: I am starting to think my skin eats Dragon's Blood. I don't seem to be picking it up in any of the Ars Draconis blends.

Initially, Silver Phoenix is sweet and ephemeral. She's clearly the pretty, pretty princess Phoenix. Thirty seconds later, something scary and vegetal rises from goodness knows wear. Swamp Thing Phoenix eats the shiny tiara and everything delicate goes out the window. I'm really hoping this is a strange hormone reaction and that a retest will prove positive. However, I'm still a wee bit terrified.

I had a lot of hope for this one, but sadly it didn't work for me. Both times I tested Lambs-Wool, it was like Yankee Candle Autumny Harvest scents nommed on my arm. Potpourri, do not want.

Bottle: Cobalt, aged ~3 years.

Wet: Salty floral. It reminds me of the belling florals in Danube.

Drydown: As it dries, DT becomes a little more aquatic. It's incredibly salty (seriously, I am salivating here).

Dry: The floral has come to the forefront. I don't get much dragon's blood, sadly.

Overall: Interesting, but I prefer Danube as an aquatic floral.

Imp: Heavily floral, funeral.

Wet: Strongly baby powder.

Drydown: Sharp green and baby powder. As it dries, it becomes more etheral, but it doesn't agree with my skin.

Dry: Soft powdery floral. On my skin, it's a bit like my grandmother's dusting powder.

Overall: With two of my nemeses, roses and lilies, it's not surprising this didn't work for me.

It's a ridiculously chilly day and I am so pleased I reached for this one to review first. Hermes Trimegistus v2 is warm, delicious myrrh with soft hints of lavender and sandalwood. It's so delightfully complex as it dries down. I get a bit of evergreen too when it's dry, but it doesn't dominate the blend like usual for me. Overall, love love love.

I was generously frimped this with an ebay purchase from a forumite. It's like robo-Snake Charmer, sans vanilla. This is ridiculously good. There just are not words for this.

Imp: Vetiver, cocoa and floral.

Wet: Vetiver, woodsy floral. Sharp, smoky and yet feminine. At least, my rawr idea of feminine.

Drydown: As it dries, Queen becomes sweeter. Lavender bats up against the smokiness, almost taking over. I'm getting naughty TKO, which is totally not what I was expecting. I'm not sleepy, at least.

Dry: Oh yeah, vamped up TKO.

Overall: Sexy, seriously confident. I had batted this aside originally, because I generally associate BPAL Queen-named blends with my arch nemesis, rose, but thankfully I gave this a whirl. I will need a bottle.

Imp: Rose like whoa. Very reminiscent of Rose Red.

Wet: Sharp green and heady rose. Quite a bit of throw.

Drydown: Still keeping the quintessential roseness (which is really surprising on my skin) and the greenery (which is my skin's normal reaction to rose blends). As it dries, I get little wafts of baby powder, but it remains dominantly the rose & thorns combination.

Dry: Mostly green with bits of overblown rose peeping through.

Overall: I wonder if this is a blend of multiple roses. Maybe there is one out there than can play nice with my skin chemistry. Snooty Rose is the closest I've come so far to a rose blend that actually smells like roses on my skin. I'm happy that I tried it, even if it doesn't quite work for me.

Imp: Smoky vetiver. Mmm...

Wet: Vetiver with a hint of sweetness... orange blossoms?

Drydown: A sharp sour citrus takes the stage (it's kind of lemony for me too). The vetiver still does its sexy thing underneath, but I'm predominantly getting the citrus note. After a few minutes, the white sandalwood peeps in.

Dry: Candied lemon drops with teensy whisps of the sandalwood and minimal vetiver. Occasionally, I think I catch some smoky goodness, but this is predominantly a citrus now.

Overall: Love's Torments is far more playful than I was expecting. I was hoping for misery and vetiverliciousness, but alas, Love's Torments knew just how to torture me. I'll think I'll have to retest this in the hope of better results after some aging.

Source: Tested FelicityTwitchell's bottle.

Bottle: A tumble of incredibly well blended notes: cinnamon/cassia with faint herbal tinges and something else slinking in the background.

Upon testing: Warm, close to the skin, dragon's blood and cassia dance tantalizingly. It tingles a little on the drydown, which makes me think cassia. Blood Moon doesn't seem to have much throw, but this seems fitting for its soft musky warmth. It's not coy by any stretch of the imagination though. Blood Moon wants to do dirty things to you, you can just tell.

Overall: I bet this would be really fantastic layered with some aged Snake Oil. This incarnation of Blood Moon would probably vamp just about anything up, you included.

I was very excited to try this, as it has long been on my wishlist. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me:

Bottle: Sweet citrus with a hint of musk. Yum!

Wet: This reminds me of sugared grapefruit. Light and sweet - delightful!

Drydown: Dirty mop water with Lemon Pledge - where did this come from? Heartbreaking and disgusting at the same time.

Dry: Lemon pledge crossed with grungy lemonheads.

Overall: Skin chemistry fail. Lovely in the bottle.

Imp: Gentle, sweet floral with an aquatic tinge.

Wet: Sweetly fruity, oddly reminiscent of Juicy Fruit gum, even though it's not quite that scent.

Drydown: Slightly green** floral begins to take over. I don't tend to play nice with lilies, but this is quite pleasant. The initial fruitiness recedes, leaving traces of sweetness laced over the floral scent.

Dry: Once it's dry, Prague tends to be a little baby powderish on my skin. It's still lovely, but that baby powder skirting across the top is something I would prefer to avoid.

Overall:Prague seems like the less aquatic sister of Danube. Personally, I prefer Danube for skin chemistry reasons, but Prague is quite nice too.

** Think new green not grassy green.

Dry, powdered sugar and gingerbread. Much more subdued than Gingerbread Poppet, but still too sweet for my tastes.

Imp: Honey grahams. Actually not quite that foody, but a sweet, crumbly honey scent.

Wet: Sweet honey, but a bit dirty. Naughty naughty.

Drydown: Warm and slitheringly sensual. Honey still seems to predominate for me, but something beckons underneath. Honey doesn't play nice with me often, so I am definitely intrigued by that lurker on our playdate.

Dry: Myrrh! Oh, and some honey too. Suddenly, it's a warm, honey drenched, sexy floral. Oh my.

Overall: This is pretty fantastic. Not sure if it's office wear, but definitely good after hours.

Imp: Minty with a bite. Hmm.

Wet: Satan's scope - I kid you not. Minty and evil. Yum.

Drydown: Still sharp, but oddly metallic echoes frosted with mint.

Dry: Metallic and minty. It vacillates between the two, but Pain is cold, sharp and impersonal.

Overall: I adore lavender, but I didn't get any here. That aside, I really like this. Definitely a keeper.

Source: Lab

Imp: Fruity rum with tinges of spice.

Wet: Slighty powdery floral, very close to the skin.

Drydown: Baby powder gone to the tropics. Strange and intriguing, but not really what I had in mind.

Dry: Love's Baby Soft went on a tropical cruise. A bit fruity, but no tobacco or rum in sight.

Overall: To the swaps.

Source: Lab

Imp: Spicy floral with sandalwood undertones. Very lovely.

Wet: Sharp, bitter - rats, there is rose in this.

Drydown: Sickly sweet baby powder, which granted is better than the thorny mess I get from roses, but not really my thing.

Dry: Baby powder all the way.

Overall: Good in theory, not in practice.

In theory, the Dodo sounds pretty tasty (except maybe for the evil lemon peel of doom). Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. Upon skin testing, I was quoted as saying: "No wonder the dodo is extinct! It smells just wrong!"

The red musk gets all twisted up in the fruits on my skin and warps into an unsettling, uncoordinated bag of crazy. A very persistent crazy.

Source: Lab

Bottle: Crisp, fizzy juniper. Dry, cool and sophisticated.

Wet: Effervescent, clean boozy with juniper notes.

Drydown: It goes a bit Christmas-y on my skin, which saddens me. The bubbliness fades really quickly and the booziness begins to increase.

Dry: Gin and Seventh Generation Emerald Cypress & Fir toilet cleaner. The longer it stays on my skin, the further down the scary path it goes. Woe!

Overall: Beautiful in the bottle, but sadly my skin didn't play nicely.

Source: Tested surlygurl's aged bottle at the MNS.

I remember sniffing a much younger bottle of this at one point, and not being too excited. Surlygurl said that back when it was new, it reminded her of walking past an Indian restaurant (which is sort of what I remember). A few years later, Sol Invictus is delightful. It's all golden light and swirls of frankincense. It melds so beautifully on my skin and I can't pick out the notes. It's golden and smokey and fantastic. I'll either need to track down an older bottle or hide the '09 version until it reaches this point. Yum.

Source: Puddin's eBay enabling

Wet: Sharp, bitter floral.

Drydown: The same edgy floral note I can't quite pin down and soft musk radiating outward. I also detect a bit of a powder note as lilies and I don't play too nicely.

Dry: Bitter, cool, and unsettling.

Overall: Unnervingly reminds me of Psychological Horror. I don't know what the association is, but something in this makes me incredibly uncomfortable. This is going off to the swaps.

I rarely buy bottles unsniffed, but I was pretty sure this sleek devil would sweep me off my feet.

Bottle: Sweet, dark and deliciously masculine.

Wet: Darkly sweet amber, wrapped in oiled leather.

Drydown: As TBR dries, his smokiness comes forth (kind of like the way it did with Liz, but with amber instead of vanilla). He's got a very rugged muskiness about him.

Dry: I can see the comparison to Brom Bones, but The Black Rider is far more sophisticated. Dry, the leather is a little more understated, but still present under the broody ambery musk.

Overall: Fantastic addition to my leather collection.