Tal Shachar

When I first tried this, I hated it so much I was already composing my "take this off my hands pls" LJ post. Thick, dark smoke like burning tires, and NONE of the other notes were coming out. Ordinarily I can wear vetiver without any problems, but this was simply unpleasant.

Then, about fifteen minutes later, the scent very suddenly morphed and the smoke dissipated. The khus is now like ordinary vetiver on its best behaviour: dark and earthy but not overpowering. I can smell the amber, the saffron, the galangal, and yes, even the oud--the oud being the note I bought this blend for. It's spicy, wild-smelling, smooth and dark. I don't get a leafy note at this point unless I really use my imagination.

It's also somewhat faint, and the thought of applying more and going through that "stuck in a burning warehouse" phase again is a bit off-putting. The spicy stage is definitely good enough to save this one from swapdom, though.

This smelled very masculine in the bottle, and I thought I'd keep it for swaps, but I just tried it today and WHOA skin chemistry. The coniferous woody smells faded within seconds, and what developed over a few minutes was a warm, musky honey, sweeter than it was spicy. No woods, no dirt, only a hint of oakmoss and ambrette under a smooth and strong honey.

I like it enough to keep the bottle, but I probably won't hunt down a second even though the blend is luxuriantly complex (hate missing out on the good stuff).

The glorious spicy-creamy carnation note disappeared within minutes of application, which made me sad--I was left with lavender and oakmoss. Lots of lavender. I didn't dislike the smell, but aftershave comparisons did come to mind just as other reviewers have said. I am sometimes in the mood to feel a little masculine, but on me this is just not the masculine scent I would want if I were a guy (if that makes sense); it's very tame, with the carnation and the amber notes vanished.

Lasting power was good. I usually burn through scents in about 4 hours (or, possibly, my nose just stops detecting them) but this lasted much longer, 8 or 12. Every so often I'd get a nice waft of lavender moss. Nice enough but not for me.

This smelled absolutely gorgeous in the bottle, which I bought unsniffed on the strength of my love for the notes. Smoky, dark vanilla and coconut. It is powerful stuff, so smoky that it was making my eyes water a bit when I slathered it on (I like that effect). After the first ten minutes, I got an icky sour smell, like the coconut and the vetiver weren't playing well together, but then that disappeared, leaving a nutty scent. Thank God, because I would have cried if a blend like this hated my skin. I would scent-locket it in the event of such a disaster.

I ordered this out of patriotic feeling, it being the only Canadian-ish scent in the bunch. (Do an Ottawa scent, Beth, and I would love you EVEN MORE--tulips and lilacs and carefully mown grass over smooth still water, a bit of something magic to create an air of papery officiousness--what's the smell of red tape?...)

Anyhow, it reminds me of Ides of March, only slightly more floral, with the berries just emerging after the drydown. But hey, GC replacement! I am happy with that, and the berry note is nice, exactly sweet enough. This is a scent in which all the notes behave themselves well (how appropriate). I do get the woodsy note later as well, as a bonus.

I thought I hated berry notes but in this it's my favourite part of the scent, probably because it smells like real berries on tangled, prickly stems, not a sugary can of raspberry pie filling or something similar. Score.

I get very little morphing with this one -- amber, jasmine, and citrus in about that order, which is OK by me. Elegant and courtly, as others have said, but interesting: the smell of genuine good breeding, not mannered or affected. Rich, gold, too juicy from the jasmine and fruit to turn dry with the amber.

Love love love. Ordering a bottle now.

The dark, sweet wine (kosher wine? it's that sweet) and the sharp smoky incense hit my nose first as it's wet. Dry, the frankincense and the woodsmoke fade, although the honey/fruity note stays strong. It's a very sensual smell for such a...cerebral-looking painting, but you can in fact smell the golden light and the warm ruddy darkness. Much love.

Somewhat as I would imagine the edge of the sea in Narnia with Reepicheep sailing away. "Where the waves grow sweet...There is utter east."

YES, that's just what I thought of, and why I like this. I also think of Easter morning at church when the smell of the lilies can be so overwhelming that my eyes used to water. This does not quite have that effect on my tear ducts, but it's much more present than I thought a white aquatic floral like this would be (I was concerned about throw--no worries there). It's truly a celestial smell, serene and sweet but in an austere way, very pure and thus a bit fiercer than other white floral scents I've tried.

I got almost no morphing--it softened a bit, but retained its integrity, as one would expect.

I am ordinarily not enthusiastic about foody smells, but I wanted to like this one--All Saints and All Souls are two of my favourite days in the liturgical calendar. And I do like it--I get cake like crazy, although no currants, smoke and incense including woodier notes and that very sharp rose-like incense that was mentioned above. Wet, it smells too harsh or chemical, but dry it softens up, just as the extremely cakey note fades away.

Very glad I hunted down a bottle.

Oh man this one was impulse but I'm so glad I got it. The honey (which I was worried about) is barely there on me, just subtly sweetening the woods and the incense. It shifts back and forth between sweet and powdery to woodsy and slightly sharp. The oude is a mystery note that makes me think of Indian incense and adds the extra touch of exoticism. Very sexy, to my nose.

The frankincense here is sharp enough that it strikes my nose as green, and there is a beautiful blend of herbal-incense-floral-citrus. The amber does kick in after a few minutes and warm it up, very much like the sun coming out.

This is a fantastic citrus, too--warm, floral, even dry. Not that there's no juice in the oranges, but it didn't hit me in the face with bouncyjuicy and dominate everything else. The flowers are creamy and also stayed in the background. Amber and frankincense were the dominant notes on me, which made the blend very Sol and very Invictus.

Now to hunt up a bottle...

Wet: Fresh, piercing greens, but a sweetness underneath from--I believe I have located the narcissus! The lemon is present but well-behaved.

Dry: Fifteen minutes later, the sharp rosemary and bergamot settle down and...narcissus, yes. It now reminds me of Hades, which I also love. It's brighter, and the impression of greenery is still there, but on me it goes SWEET floral, yet with almost no throw even when I slather. Whiffs now and then. This was so strong just minutes ago! I would swear there was lotus in it if I didn't know better.

Verdict: Pleasant and I'll hold onto my bottle, but won't go nuts trying to find another one to hoard.

Got this as a frimp from littleone101701 (I think?), which is good as I would not otherwise have tried it.

Grapefruit and mint and lotus were all I could pick up, and at first the mint was overwhelming, a toothpaste mint. I would love a mint-grapefruit toothpaste, but as a perfume maybe not. It warmed up on my skin, becoming more fruity with the mint just as a sharp edge on the top. But then on the drydown the grapefruit went off arm in arm with the mint and left me alone with the lotus. Which is...nice, but not terribly interesting. I'd probably like it more as a room or linen scent.

Got this as a frimp from...akanekun, I think? (Got a bunch of packages at once today and immediately forgot what was from who, oops.) But wow, is this ever unexpectedly good. On me, it smells exactly like the woodsy marshy country around here, leaf and bark and water. It's cool and clean, yet earthy. I get no evil from this, and no dirty-hippie either.

It did get stronger and stronger on me, rather than fading away as the BPALs I've tried hitherto have done, and a drop in my elbow had incredible throw, but I see that as an advantage. After a hard workout on my bike, my skin changed it to a brilliant cedary-incense scent--outdoorsy earth and Mass at the cathedral? Must get a bottle. Must get two bottles.

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

This is exactly, EXACTLY what I was hoping for from this bottle. In the bottle, there's an anise sort of note, medicinal to my nose, but as soon as it hits my skin it is dry, resinous, beautifully woody and a welcome change from all those fruity and floral imps I've been running into lately. The anise does not disappear, but it becomes this high, bright note far up in the stratosphere, not at all black licorice-like or annoying (not a fan of anise). From the bottom notes to the top there's this shimmering quality, like old gold or bronze. Strength and dignity in a bottle, to me.

In the imp, I thought I smelled apple or honeydew melon, but it morphed into the peony on my skin. Floral, light and very pretty. It smells like a more high-rent version of this drugstore green tea scent that I liked when I went to prom in high school, so I associate it with that time. Later, the fruit comes back if I sniff very carefully, but the note is kept well in line by the florals.

Alas, I smelled no grass or greenness--none of what I smell when I put my nose in a box of tea, only the smell of tea perfumes.

At first, this did smell yummy, but with the sharper neroli and the tang of the blood orange to keep things interesting. Very dominant, scenting the whole box of imps and remaining on me for almost 24 hrs. After awhile, though, I did get that "new Barbie doll" smell that someone else mentioned (I'd never have been able to pin down what it was on my own).

I had to look up who/what Akuma is, and Google was only telling me about Street Fighter, and finally I found out it was a Japanese being of temptation like the Buddhist Mara. I think. It is definitely a rich, materialist smell, and it wrangles the mighty raspberry well.

In the imp, terrifying. It did smell chemical and burnt and acrid and the other adjectives people used, but it was a sort of shifting smell, with different nuances each time I sniffed. I still didn't like the nuances and thought I would hate this.

On my skin, however, the chemical smell went away and it became my beloved motorcycle jacket. It became WAY less intense; with my nose pressed up against my elbow I could smell leather, and waayyyy under that some wood or spice that I can't identify. I guess my skin just swallowed it, since the smell was very powerful in the imp. The mysterious now-this-now-that is gone too, unfortunately.

First thought, on smelling it in the imp: I want to eat this.

After some deliberation I determined that yes, I was smelling lemon like the others, but there's more fruit than that in there, at first. To me it smelled like cherries, the maraschino cherries in a pitcher of sangria. But also lemon and orange and the incense note lingering in the background.

After awhile that settled down and it's now a more myrrhy smell, like those import stores that sell bellydancing supplies and brass statues of Buddha. The lemon is still there, the cherries are gone, and I no longer am tempted to empty the imp into my mouth. There's a bright, slightly bitter note, like the pith under the lemon zest. Something for particular moods, I think; I like but I'm not in love.

In the imp, this was floral with a very medicinal note, and I had a sinking feeling because I'd been hoping to love it. But on my skin it was a wonderful slinky blend of dark florals. The resinous woodiness didn't come out until the drydown, when the florals retreated into the background.

Until the drydown, I thought it was a nice blend but didn't see the connection with Hades, but the way that the flowers fade and leave only smoke and dry wood is perfect. The slinky turns melancholy.

Now I'm waiting patiently for my bottle...

I got Hades and Hymn to Proserpine in the same imp package from ebay, so I put this on my other wrist after trying her husband.

In the imp, it was VERY fruity with almost a rubbery, new-baby-doll kind of smell, and I was sure I would hate it. On my skin, though, it cleared to just the notes of pomegranate, honey, and amber. The pomegranate went away almost entirely after it dried, leaving a dry resinous scent that was nevertheless warmer and sweeter than the dry Hades on my other wrist.

It's a warm, sexy scent and I'll be keeping the imp, but I don't know if it's quite me.