Penance

Okey-dokey, I'll mark Bordello down. Thank you! Why oh why must so many scents have almond in them? It makes me so sad. But on a brighter note, I finally found one with almonds that works reasonably well on me: Old Port-Au-Prince. I know it's on the list, but I had it from a swap and the sassafras and rum were calling my name... ~ Penance

Okay, tried Anne Bonny and I adore it (got a 10mL on order). I want to try Umbra but so far no luck getting a swap for some. Good point, Witch's Dagger, what I meant was the sort of scent that Black Forest is...sort of piney and woody and earthy all at once. I love pine and cedar and redwood and all that, but don't care for herby type scents too much. Does that make sense? ~ Penance

Yay! Now I'm glad I took the chance on swapping for it. I was afraid it'd be too herby. ~ Penance

Okay, I've tried Ulalume and didn't care for it; for some reason on me it was in your face floral. Got Wolfsbane coming in a swap and I've tried The Hesperides and it's mostly apples on me, but I'll have to give the rest of those a shot. Checked out Skindazzles and Enchated Forest sounds like it's right up my alley, thanks, andrabell! Now I just have to wait for it come back in stock. ~ Penance

Technically it's pronounced SOW-EN. Or something very similar, but us uncultured Americans say SAM-HANE. ~ Penance

Okay, I adore woodsy scents, really woodsy scents. I've tried both Loup Garou and Black Forest and I love both of them with a passion. I also love Capricorn. Other scents I've tried that I would consider woodsy are Darkness, Omen and Hamadryad (although it's almost pure cinnamon on me). Anyone else have any suggestions for super woodsy scents for me? I couldn't care less if they're uber masculine, I like that sort of thing. I could go through and list all of the oils I've tried, but it would take up way too much space, so I'll just leave it at that for now. My only stipulations are: 1) No citrus, especially no lemon 2) No almond Anything else is fair game in my book, so any suggestions would be welcome. ~ Penance

Got a bottle of this from Red_Hot_Mama and I'm in love! I'm not a Capricorn, but I prefer earthy/woodsy scents to florals, so I skipped my own sign (Libra) and went straight for the one that was calling my name: Capricorn. First sniff: Oh God, cedar...I'm in love! Beth had to have been reading my mind when she came up with this. It's gorgeous, it's woodsy, it's earthy, it's perfection! Must get more of this before I lose the chance forever. Wet on skin: Mmm, cedar...I'm one of those rare people who adores the smell of cedar to the point of obsession and this is perfection. I can smell something underneath the cedar just barely peeking out, but I'm not sure what it is. It's earthy smelling, but I can't put my finger on it. Everytime I think I have it down, the cedar blocks my view and I lose track of it. Dry down: This is the forest in a bottle! The cedar is still going strong, but the earthy scent has picked up, too, balancing it out. I'm thinking it's patchouli I'm smelling, which is also wonderful because I adore patchouli as much as I do cedar. This is absolutely gorgeous, it's the exact scent I've always been looking for when I've sniffed bottle after bottle of men's cologne. This is absolute heaven for me! The bottom line: Woodsy and earthy and perfectly gorgeous. I can see this working equally well on a man or a woman, but I have no plans to share mine with my man. I can see I'm going to be hoarding this one like the miser I am...going to have to order some more while I still have the chance!

First sniff: Mmm, pine and wet dirt, I can tell this is going to be a winner already. I love forest scents! Wet on skin: It smells like walking through the forest after it's rained and it's gorgeous! It smells like pine and sap and damp dirty and wet leaves, the perfect composite picture of what my childhood in summer camp was like. This is the exact kind of scent that I adore in a perfume, it's not too overpoweringly masculine, but it's definitely not girly, either. It's just nature at its finest. Dry down: There's a faint powder scent there now, but I can ignore it for the sake of the rest of this gorgeous scent. The pine has softened and been replaced by a general woodsy kind of scent. The dirt is still there, but softer as well, leaving me with a very soft, woodsy scent that I absolutely adore. The bottom line: I feel good wearing this, like I'm back at Glen Helen again, hiking through the pine forest and listening to the sounds of nature. For me, this is childhood in a bottle. This is defintely going on the big bottle list.

Preconceived notions: I was expecting something acrid and harsh, like sitting too close to a bonfire with your eyes watering and I would have enjoyed that, really I would, but Djinn was definitely a surprise. First sniff: A bonfire made with pine needles and sappy twigs! This is really nice and strangely comforting. It reminds me of Christmas, truth be told. Wet on skin: Ashes and smoldering wood with a background of what smells like pine to my nose. This isn't a dangerous smelling scent at all. It's comforting like a blazing fireplace on Christmas morning. I actually feel warm wearing this and very content. I would have imagined this scent would be harsher and more primal, but it's warm and inviting on me, bringing back some very good memories of my childhood. Dry down: It's settled down into an ashy fireplace kind of smell with a persistent undertone of sappy pine. It's very comforting and makes me feel very secure, something I was in desperate need of when I put this on. This smell holds so many good memories for me that I couldn't even begin to list them all. They're all composited in Djinn, though, and the result is an overwhelming sense that all is right with the world, even though that's far from the truth right about now. The bottom line: Strangely comforting and instantaneously calming, at least for me. This isn't harsh and acrid, it's gorgeous, like sitting by a campfire made with green wood and pine needles and smelling the flames and ash and night air and knowing that, at least for that moment, you have nowhere else to be and no responsibilities to live up to apart from listening and watching and relaxing. A definite winner. ETA: I meant to add this before, but it kept slipping my mind...I finally figured out what Djinn is almost identical to: those little pine needle incense sticks you sometimes find at specialty stores. The ones that come with a little log cabin burner where the smoke comes out the chimney. Djinn is the smell of those incense sticks when they're burning - a sort of smoky pine scent that's very distinctive and very comforting to me for some reason.

Thanks, ChupaChup! I'll give Snow White a chance if I ever get a go at it, it's worth the risk, methinks. Besides, I've heard it smells a lot like LUSH's Snowcake which, for some reason, doesn't make me sick even though it smells kind like marzipan. I'll just cross my fingers and my toes and hope for the best. ~ Penance

Thank you, everyone! I'm pretty sure I aced it, so here's to hoping I'm right! I guess it does have to do with pychopaths, come to think of it... It's basically advanced abnormal psychology. Very interesting stuff, it's the high point of my week. I wish I had that class every day. ~ Penance

First sniff: Cinnamon maybe? Or is it Dragon's Blood? I'm thinking Dragon's Blood. Whatever it is, it smells lovely. Wet on the skin: Yep, that's Dragon's Blood, alright. It feels kind of tingly on my skin, too, so I'm guessing there's cinnamon in here, too. I like this scent a lot, but it's already fading on me and I've barely put it on. Dry down: It's settled down into a nice, spicy resin type smell, which I adore, but it's so light that I can barely pick it up anymore. I'm also not feeling the effects, but maybe it's just because I've had a bad day and I'm really not in the mood for that sort of thing right about now. The bottom line: I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one yet, I'll probably have to give it another try before I decide. The scent is nice, but not strong enough for me, but I didn't intend to wear it for the scent. The effect is also lacking, but that could just be due to my craptacular day today and not to any shortcomings in the formula. This one's going in the undecided pile. ~ Penance

I'm with you, BabyKitty, Zombi would be my choice. I love Zombi, even if my man does say it makes me smell like I've been rolling around in the garden. ~ Penance

March Hare is fantastic and so is Perversion! You'll love them. ~ Penance

I was just going to say Perversion, too! I adore the smell of clove cigarettes and Perversion is perfect...at least in my humble opinion. ~ Penance

Got this as a freebie from the Lab. I never would have chosen this on my own, but that just proves why Beth is my hero...I'm in love. First sniff: This smells expensive. I can't put my finger on what exactly it smells like, but I'm picking up fruit (the wine, I guess) and something that smells vaguely like tobacco. It's not something I would normally have picked, but this is looking promising! Wet on skin: The fruit is disappearing and it's being replaced by something naggingly familiar. Something that I love the smell of, but can't identify. I know what it is, but every time I try and put my finger on it it disappears. Whatever it is, I love it! Dry down: Clove cigarettes! That's what it smells like! On a hunch, I compared it to USP's Clove Cigarettes perfume and, sure enough, that's what I'm smelling. I'm absolutely addicted to the smell of clove cigarettes so this is a very pleasant surprise. The bottom line: Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. I never would have picked this one out on my own, but I can't stop sniffing myself! This smells almost identical to USP's Clove Cigarettes on my skin and that alone makes it a winner in my book. This is going on the big bottle wishlist.

It's my fault for not reading more thoroughly, I admit it. I've been studying for a psychopathology midterm these last few days and I've gotten into the habit of skimming things. ~ Penance

Love, love, LOVE this one! First sniff: I smell the forest...pine trees and loamy dirt and a hint of eucalyptus. This is exactly the sort of scent I love. I can't get this one on fast enough! Wet on skin: Oh, yes, this is what I love in a perfume. It smells like I'm standing in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. I'm getting the urge to put on a flannel shirt and a rabbit fur bomber hat and chop down some trees, but, strangely, it's not too masculine, either. It's unisex. It's woodsy. It's gorgeous. Dry down: The pine has really picked up, but the eucalyptus is still there, lurking in the background. I don't know why I'm getting pine from this, but I am, and I love it. I'm also smelling the cypress now, it's giving it a sort of earthy, woodsy smell that I absolutely adore. This reminds me of my first year of college at the University of California in Santa Cruz, which happens to be in the middle of a redwood forest. This scent holds a lot of good memories for me, it's immensely comforting. There aren't words to describe how much I love this. The bottom line: I think I have a new favorite. I'm going to have to buy a BIG bottle of this immediately. It's everything I've ever wanted in a perfume and more. Love isn't a strong enough word for this one.

Normally, I'd do a real review, but unfortunately I couldn't even put this one on because of my infamous almond aversion, so I'll do my best to say what I smelled in the bottle and leave it at that... In the bottle, I get almonds...in your face kind of almonds, too. I seriously physically recoiled from this, but that's because of the aforementioned almond phobia, not because it smelled bad necessarily (at least I imagine it wouldn't smell bad to other people). Being the brave little trooper that I am, I gave it another go, breathing shallowly and trying to stick it out and I got almonds and...cherry cola. I would have guessed this was going to be cinnamony or have dragon's blood in it based on the color in the bottle, a lovely cherry red. Now, I love cinnamon, it smells beautiful, and maybe there is some hiding in here, but I couldn't bring myself to put this on; the almond was there, mocking me with it's very presence, and, as much as I love to try unreleased scents, I just couldn't put this one on. So, the bottom line? On someone else I'm sure it'd be gorgeous, but it lost me at "almond."

I had to try this because, I'll admit it, I'm obsessed with Louisiana and New Orleans in particular. I tend to be a little fanatical about things... First sniff: This is really interesting. It's aquatic and mossy and floral all at the same time. I smell salty water and moss mostly, but there's some flowers hiding behind the greens and water. This is quite nice, although I expected it to smell more like moss and, say, cypress or some such thing. I can tell right now that this is going to be one of those scents that I love and most people are going to either hate or dislike. I tend to pick scents like that. Wet on skin: The flowers have died down and been replaced by mossy water again. It's a nice scent, very peaceful, I can almost hear the bullfrogs. The flowers aren't a big loss in my book since I'm not a floral person. This actually reminds me of Machu Picchu only less tropical. I like it. Dry down: The flowers have made a reappearance, but they're not intrusive and they aren't making my head hurt, which is a very good thing. Other than the flowers' unexpected reappearance, this is a very linear scent on me and one that I find very soothing. I can see myself wearing this in the summer when I'm cursing the midwest and aching to be down south. I love it. The bottom line: A great summer scent. Not too floral, not too aquatic and not too "swampy" (that's mainly for other people's benefits, since I like swampy.

First Sniff: Whoa, momma, that's flowery! I'm almost put off by that...I hate flowers, but I need some luck today, gonna have to stick it out. I have no idea what flowers they are exactly, since I can't tell a lily from a daffodil, not being a flower lover, but it reminds me of Pele if that gives anyone a clue. My mom says lily or hyacinth. No idea what that means, but I'm just passing it on verbatim like the parrot that I am. Wet on skin: Flowers, flowers, flowers! I smell like I've been rolling around in a greenhouse. It's not unpleasant, just not what I would normally choose. But I'm not wearing this for the scent, I'm wearing this because I need some good luck today. Dry down: Yep, that's flowers, all right. It smells familiar, but I couldn't say what kind they are. It doesn't smell like Pele anymore, it smells like something we used to grow in our garden in the house I grew up in. It's kind of comforting, actually, and it's not giving me a headache, which is an immediate plus in my book...the good luck is working already, it appears! The bottom line: As a perfume, it's pretty, but not me. But as a luck-changer, I love it. So far today I've...gotten the first of my 5, count 'em 5 Lab orders in, gotten trades on 6 things I've been trying to get rid of and got some really great stuff in return and (I'm pretty sure) aced my midterm. I don't care if it's just a placebo effect giving me the self-confidence I needed to succeed in everything today, but something's working! This is a definite keeper.

First off, let me say that the fact that I love Pele should probably tell you something about how good it is because, as a general rule, I hate floral scents. That being said... First sniff: Hawaii...it's the first thing that comes to mind. I smell a lot of pikaki and some soft, tropical blooms. It's beautiful and very calming, the antithesis of what I deal with in my everyday life: big cities, dirty streets, little patches of dirty sky. It's like a vacation in a bottle, soft and beautiful and infinitely calming. Wet on the skin: Beautiful, just beautiful. It's stronger than in the bottle and that's a good thing. I like strong scents and I was almost afraid that this would be too light on me. The flowers are picking up some, but so is the pikaki, putting me in mind of a white sand beach with the wind blowing through the palm trees. I love this. Dry down: This is an absolutely linear scent, no real surprises, just an intensification of the scents I smelled in the bottle. I feel so calm and relaxed wearing this, almost like I've been meditating. It's the same sort of feeling I get from Tushnamatay and I love it, it's exactly what I need after a long day. The bottom line: Pele holds the distinction of being one of the only (almost) pure floral scents that I truly love. I never would have tried it if it hadn't been included as a freebie in one of my swaps and I loved it so much I swapped for a 5mL bottle within a week of getting the imp. A definite winner.

Guess I should add Decadence to that list of scents...got it today as a freebie and, you guessed it, almonds. ~ Penance

Thanks, Pixie! ~ Penance

Preconceived notions: First off, I'd like to say that Nine Mysteries was a complete surprise based on what I'd expect from something with that name. I would have expected something resiny and comforting like Cathedral. This is the antithesis of whatI would have imagined going by name alone. First sniff: This reminds me a lot of Ultraviolet. There's the same minty softness to it, but this is slightly sharper and brighter, if that makes sense. Ultraviolet puts me in mind of the first crocus of spring peeking through the melting show. Nine Mysteries somehow puts me in mind of drinking a glass of orange juice while sitting on the deck, watching the sun melt that same snow. Wet on skin: I don't care for citrus as a personal fragrance, but this being an up and coming scent, I had to try it. Smelling my wrist, I'm still getting mint but I can feel what seems to be a touch of eucalyptus; it's the same sort of feeling I get with Ultraviolet. Now there's a slight hint of something citrusy really coming through. It's not terribly citrusy, but there's something citrus in here, lurking under the mint...grapefruit maybe? It doesn't appear to be lemon to my nose. Dry down: The mint is still predominating, but every now and then, I'll catch a whiff of the citrusy undertone and it's not at all unpleasant, the way most citrus is on me. I wouldn't normally think of citrus and mint as going together, but this works and I have to admit I do like this. The bottom line: Ultraviolet's more citrusy cousin. More refreshing and less metallic than it's floral counterpart. It's pretty, but I don't think it's for me.