Delirium1009

In bottle/imp: Caramel and soft cinnamon. Immediately on skin: Mostly, this smells of thick, rich sweetness. The caramel is the strongest note, but it’s more of a base for everything else than the only note here. Blending in I get touches of the cinnamon, sandalwood, tobacco, and then the lightest hint of the currant. After a little while: This just goes wrong on me… I’m not sure what note it is, but this turns into an earthy, fruity, floral thick caramel scent that smells a bit off on my skin. It has a very smooth, rich feel to it though. Overall Impressions: This scent is very unique. The notes really combine to create this very thick, rich blend with a lot going on, but it becomes one of those scents that’s just so well blended that it’s hard to pick apart. Unfortunately, this smells a bit cloying on me, but I smell why it could be fabulous on others.

In bottle/imp: Deep leather and herbs with a touch of mint. Immediately on skin: The leather in this is very evident, but also very realistic. It reminds me of the booths that sell leather goods at county and state fairs. It’s like sun-warmed, dry leather. But then there’s also the strong, dry green-ness of this scent. It’s a sharper green note… something reminiscent of fir or eucalyptus mixed with green herbs. After a little while: The leather overpowers the green notes a little as this settles. It’s dry and warm, very unisex, and so nicely blended. Overall Impressions: This doesn’t smell like a perfume… it smells like a place. Like maybe a tent somewhere in the woods on a warm day with leather goods hanging about and the scent of the fir trees or herby greenery all around. It’s on the unisex side, but to me leather usually smells more masculine. It’s so rich and lifelike… I would never wear this, as it’s totally not my style, but I love sniffing it.

In bottle/imp: Thick, sweet spices and a lick of cherry. Immediately on skin: This smells like those Atomic Fireball candies with a little more depth within the spiciness and a hint of fruity cherry. The main spice is cassia/cinnamon with just a touch of the cardamom. The cherry gives this a little complexity, but not much. Wow, this one really tingles on my skin. After a little while: Sometimes I’m struck with odd scent memories when it comes to bpal, and this blend reminds me very strongly of a Richard Scarry scratch and sniff book I had when I was little. I think the page that I’m thinking of was one about a bakery. Anyway, on to the actual scent: it’s spicy from the cassia, but there’s also a little more cardamom and cherry to this now. It’s a very bright spiciness though, not very thick or heavy. It has a definite fruitiness, but it’s seamlessly blended into the spices. Overall Impressions: This scent isn’t the thick, rich spiciness of other blends: It’s the bright red spiciness of Red Hots and Atomic Fireballs. It’s spicy, but not really rich. The amount of cherry that comes out in this is pleasant and not cough syrup-like at all. This is a fun, candy-like spice and cherry blend. Mostly cinnamon though, so if your skin is sensitive, watch out!

In bottle/imp: Patchouli and almond plus an interesting fizziness. Immediately on skin: This is interesting, but very masculine to my nose. It’s like a deep, thick patchouli pine scent with a touch of fizziness. The patchouli in this gives it a strong base and to my nose makes up most of this scent. The pine is evident, but blending really well into the patchouli. A little root beer slinks in playfully, and at first there was a bit of almond, but it seems to have faded now. This is very dark-smelling. After a little while: The patchouli in this has smoothed out and now this is a very rich and slightly creamy patchouli blend with a little root beer and tabacco. It’s so thick and dark smelling… and almost foodie. It’s right on the edge almost. This still gives me a very masculine vibe, but I think it smells much better now than it did fresh. Overall Impressions: I’m not a big patchouli fan, but this blend surprised me. Once it settled down it became nicely balanced and rich with a hint of sweetness. The almond milk and sarsaparilla seem to be doing a great job of balancing the patchouli, and the tobacco adds another dark layer to the scent. A bit masculine, but not cologne-y.

In bottle/imp: Bay rum and lime with a very alcoholic undertone. Immediately on skin: This is a very thick bay rum scent on me with the fizzy scent of gin underneath. It’s mostly thick spiciness and fizz, but the black musk sort of lays on top of the scent and definitely gives this an overall masculine, musky vibe. I’m getting pencil shavings from this a touch too. After a little while: This has turned to a rather generic scent on me. It’s musky, spicy, and masculine. There’s still a light amount of fizzy gin, but it’s far in the background, as is a touch of tobacco. Overall Impressions: I originally got this decant for my husband, as I expected it from the notes to be a rather masculine scent. I was correct. This scent is a lot of bay rum, a bit of gin and black musk, and a little lime and tobacco. I suspect a woman could wear this quite easily, as it might be more unisex to some rather than masculine, but bay rum always has a pretty masculine feel to me. Overall, it turned into a rather generic cologney scent on me, but I’m sure on others it’ll have a bit more depth from beginning to end.

In bottle/imp: Warm, glowing, and woody with some sharp spices. Immediately on skin: This scent starts out with warm, glowing beeswax and wood. The wood note in this is the same one that I get from Haloes and I really love it. However, there’s also the leather in this, which mixed with the pepper and nutmeg combine with the beeswax and oak to create something smooth but a bit sour and cloying. After a little while: Leather, oak, and creamy beeswax with odd spices. It sounds like it should go together, but to my nose this just doesn’t mesh together well. The oak is really nice in this and is just a touch perfumey, and the beeswax is warm and lovely. I think it’s the leather and other notes that are ruining this for me. Overall Impressions: Unfortunately the combo of notes here turns my stomach a little. I love the oak and beeswax, but the leather and spices turn this into something really odd. I can see it pulling together on someone else’s chemistry, but not mine.

In bottle/imp: Mint and violet with some bitter herbs. Perhaps geranium? Immediately on skin: On me this is very juicy. It almost smells like the fruity violet that I get from Faith, plus a hint of mint and lots of wet green notes. It almost smells like there just may be a fruit note in this (melon perhaps?) or maybe a light amount of orchid. It has almost a bitter citrus bite to it that finishes off the mint/violet/juicy scent in my nose though. After a little while: That fruitiness seems to come out more as I wear this, and now it smells like violet with a lot of melon and a bit of almost sour/sweetness to it. Oh, and a bit of a watery green aquatic undertone. It’s definitely an interesting scent. Overall Impressions: I don’t know what I was expecting from this scent, but it surprised me. This blend is just so fruity and juicy without being overly sweet. There’s a bit of violet which I can for sure pick out, and then that lush fruitiness that smells so much like melon, along with this wet green undertone. It almost reminds me of green tea actually. Anyway, this is a very bright scent and a lot of fun. It smells of iridescent greens and golden purples swirled together in my head.

In bottle/imp: Musky herbs with sort of a high citrus or white musk note. Immediately on skin: This smells like some sort of white musk is in it, but I don’t see it listed. Perhaps it’s the jasmine mixing with the herbs. This is dry and a higher perfume to my nose. It’s slightly citrusy and clean. After a little while: This scent is very odd and hard to explain. It’s dry and a higher type of scent, a little sharp and powdery, with the warmth of sandalwood and light base of smoky jasmine with the syrupy black orchid peeking through the middle of the blend. There’s something clean about this, but also kind of spicy, dry, and resinous. Overall Impressions: It almost smells like if you had incense sticks of all the notes listed here, then you burned them, and took the ashes and mixed it all together and threw in a little resinous myrrh. This scent is dry, but complex and a bit sweet. It’s interesting, but not something I would wear.

In bottle/imp: Sour, herbal musk. Immediately on skin: This is musky, but also very dry and sour. It smells old for sure. It also has an odd green soapy note to it that eases gently into the dragon’s blood. After a little while: This dries to a sweet, musky, dry scent after a while. The parchment, incense, red musk and dragon’s blood (daemonorops) are evident but all blend together seamlessly. They smell deep and dry, but dark as well. Overall Impressions: This is a very evocative scent. It smells dry and very deep and dark, but also a hint sweet and floral from the dragon’s blood. I think this will be a big hit for those who like paper and incense scents.

In bottle/imp: Bitter, smoky, woody resins and a touch of spice. Immediately on skin: This has a lot of resins to it, but it’s very rich and thick. There’s a light spiciness and a nice woody finish to this scent as well. After a little while: This has a glorious dryness to it that I’m loving. It’s very rich and dark, but warm and very golden-smelling as well. It has a thick incense vibe to the whole blend, plus an undercurrant of wood. Overall Impressions: I’m testing this and Bezoar together, and while I get a lot of resin from both, this is much richer and darker. It has a thick resin/incense/wood vibe going, and I would imagine it would be great on a man as well as a woman. It’s a little bitter, but that balances all the sweetness in the resins very well. Overall, I really enjoyed smelling this.

Copaiba balsam, Tolu balsam, hay absolute, cardamom, and hiba wood. In bottle/imp: An empty scent with a finish of wet spices. Immediately on skin: This is a very smooth scent. It smells of golden, spiced resins, but it’s slightly cloying on me. After a little while: This scent becomes this subtle and golden, but still cloying, resin scent. I get something a little dry and powdery about this too though, which may be the hay absolute and cardamom. It smells like thick, oozing resins with some dark spiced powders sprinkled on top.

In bottle/imp: Very very very sharp, herbal lavender Immediately on skin: This is an extremely herbal blend. It’s lavender as well as something even sharper… reading the reviews I see people have mentioned rosemary and that may very well be it. There’s also a slight citrus note, but it’s not very strong in the blend. After a few minutes: Something sweet has joined the party and the mixture of that, the lavender, rosemary, and slight citrus smells almost exactly like a citronella candle on me… it’s so weird! Overall Impressions: I didn’t wear this to bed, so I’m unable to comment on its effect, but I find this very unpleasant from first application to dry down. At first, it’s too sharp and herbal, and then it turns into a scent eerily similar to that of a lit citronella candle on me. However, if you like very herbal blends and adore lavender, this may work for you.

In bottle/imp: Sharp herbal lavender and maybe eucalyptus and some other herbs. Immediately on skin: This is a very sharp lavender scent with a little of what seems to be eucalyptus. It’s very herbal. After just a few minutes anise comes out and hits me with a strong liquorice note. After a little while: This calms down a little and that strong anise note fades. However, this is still very strong on the lavender (which I like for sleep blends) plus some light eucalyptus and maybe a touch of lemongrass. Overall Impressions: I didn’t try this out when I was going to bed, or after a nightmare, so I can’t review it that way, but it does have a very calming herbal lavender scent. I don’t like anise and it was pretty strong at one point, but it faded nicely quickly.

In bottle/imp: Very sharp lavender. Immediately on skin: Sharp lavender and very dry musk. This is an extremely biting scent when I first put it on. After a few minutes: This has become a very sexy scent! The black musk and dark vanilla have come out to mingle with the lavender, and now it’s a smoky and slightly woody sweet lavender scent. It seems almost unisex, but it’s very intriguing. Later on: This is the first unisex-ish scent I like. The lavender is there and it’s definitely the main note, but the tobacco, black musk, and dark vanilla deepen it and turn it into a nice sexy dark scent. It’s smoky, wicked, and very gorgeous.

In bottle/imp: Dry mint and faint tea. Immediately on skin: This is like a perfume-y mint scent. There’s a faint bit of black tea, but moreso I get a bit of clean lily and rice wine blending with the mint. This is reminding me a lot of the scent Men Ringing Bell with Penises. After a little while: This is a hard scent to describe… it’s almost like a perfume-y, creamy black tea scent with hints of mint, the clean booziness of rice wine, and a base of soft wood. It’s a clean scent, but a bit sweet too. Overall Impressions: The combo of black tea, rice wine, and mint are really what make up the main scent of this. It’s clean, minty, and sweet tea with a bit of perfuminess (is that a word?) from the cherry blossom and calla lily. The mixture of rice wine and black tea really remind me of the scent Men Ringing Bell with Penises, so this might be a hit for people who enjoy that scent. It’s an odd scent on me, and hard to describe, so it’s not for me.

In bottle/imp: A fruity, pine-like floral plus a hint of mint. Immediately on skin: The first thing that hits me is the pine-y and slightly fruity note I get from osmanthus. Following that is a light powdery sweet scent which is the honey (bpal honey rarely behaves on my skin) and something herbal or minty. This is a refreshing pine floral mint scent with a hint of powder… very weird on me so far. After a little while: This has turned a bit sour on me. It’s overly sweet now on my skin, with a very heavy floral note and a powdery pine/mint overtone to this. It’s lost the little complexity it had and just smells a bit sour now. Overall Impressions: This scent is just wrong on me. After Harikata went wrong on my skin with it’s osmanthus and honey notes, I should have known this one might as well. This is an odd scent… the osmanthus is strong and very sweet with a bit of a pine feel to it, and then the honey blends in as a very powdery note and everything is covered in a weird cool or minty concoction. It’s hard to describe but I definitely do not enjoy this.

In bottle/imp: Honeyed figs and peaches. Immediately on skin: This is mostly a peach scent, but there’s a bit of honey drizzled over it and a light amount of fig as the base of the blend. The apple blossom hovers around wafting with the sweet peach and there’s just a little hint of herbs. After a little while: The honey in this has gotten a little powdery, but the whole blend has gotten rather sweet as I’ve worn this. The fig note has come out a bit more and blends well with the peach, and something is adding a very earthy scent to the base of the scent. It’s like light wood or dirt (maybe that’s the thyme and sandalwood together) with figs and peaches drizzled with powdery honey. Overall Impressions: This scent is a nice bright peach scent at first but after it dries down it turns into something… not so pretty on me. This is quite a complex scent, so it would probably react completely differently on someone else’s skin. The honeyed fig and peach is lovely though, and worth a try if you like peach scents.

In bottle/imp: Perfume-y rose with touches of amber and lily. Immediately on skin: This smells like a very traditional perfume type of scent. The strongest note is the rose, but I get some nice amber and sandalwood in the base. There’s also a light soapy lily note and soft vanilla flower peeking through. After a little while: This is slightly warm and spicy rose and lily perfume. It’s very pretty and feminine with the rose blending nicely with the amber and sandalwood and the lily adding a soapy clean floral note. The vanilla flower adds something soft and creamy but floral to the background. Overall Impressions: This strikes me as a beautiful and feminine scent, but it’s very perfume-y to me. The rose blending with the sandalwood and amber is really gorgeous, and the other notes (mainly the lily and vanilla flower) add a floral complexity to keep this from being too warm and spiced. This seems like it would be very wearable and I can appreciate it even though the orchid, carnation, and tonka (some of my favorite notes) didn’t come through for me.

In bottle/imp: Dry woods and pepper. Immediately on skin: This blend is very dry and spicy. I can smell the woods and pepper, and a touch of warmth from the sandalwood. After a few minutes: Sweet, sweet, sweet. Darn, this is surprising! The frankincense has come out and mixed with the sandalwood to create a very bright scent. The redwood and black pepper are there too, but they’re adding a dry spiciness. It’s a surprisingly cheerful sweet and spicy scent. Overall Impressions: If you’re expecting this blend to be woody and dry, think again… it is a very spicy and wood laden but sweet scent. The spiciness of it is really nice… there’s the deep, warm sandalwood accented by the sharp spiciness of the pepper which I can almost feel in my nose. I really enjoy sniffing this, but I don’t know if I’d want to smell like it.

In bottle/imp: Melon and grapes. A little tart, though. Immediately on skin: This smells the same as it did in the imp: slightly tart melon and grapes. It’s almost a little spicy as well, which might be some kind of floral mixed in. After a little while: This doesn’t change at all as I wear it. It’s still that fruity, sweet, and slightly tart melon and grape combo with a hint of spice. This is a very strong scent. Overall Impressions: This is so fun and bright. The fruitiness of this is strong, but well balanced between the melon and grape. I really don’t get anything else though besides a spiciness that is very well blended into the scent. This is definitely a pick me up kind of scent.

In bottle/imp: Patchouli and something a bit sweeter and lighter lingering above. Immediately on skin: This smells like smoky and fruit with a little bit of flowers thrown in. The patchouli is odd in this; usually it’s very gritty and earthy on me, but here it smells like dry, woody smoke. After a little while: The smokiness settles into more of a dry, earthy note as this dries on my skin. It’s a nice balance between the patchouli notes and muscadine. It’s sort of dry and earthy with the berry/grape scent underneath and a little bit of florals blending in. Overall Impressions: This scent is oddly appealing to me. I think it’s that wonderful muscadine note which I’ve fallen in love with outside of bpal. However, I’m not a fan of patchouli, so the amount of it here is sort of turning me off. But at the same time the mix of gritty/sweet is attractive. I’ll keep the imp to see if I’ll wear it, but I don’t know if I will.

In bottle/imp: An earthy but smooth fruity floral scent. Immediately on skin: As soon as this is on my skin, it becomes rather sour. This scent is floral with a smooth earthy feel to it, and a bit of fruitiness from the neroli. The sourness seems to be hanging around the oleander… it’s almost a pine or herbal type of scent. After a little while: Well, that sourness went away after just a few minutes. Now this is a very cool floral scent with a lot of smooth earthiness from the patchouli/ylang ylang combo and a hint of fruitiness from the neroli. This isn’t really a sweet scent, which gives it a crispness. Overall Impressions: This blend isn’t really for me. I tend to like sweeter scents, and this has a bit of florals and a hint of fruitiness, but not really any sweetness. It does have a nice earthiness from the patchouli and ylang ylang however. This is a very smooth, well blended scent. People who like earthier floral blends may like this one.

In bottle/imp: Very fruity, warm honey with citrus. Immediately on skin: This is a very sunny, warm, fruity scent with a gentle heaping of sweet honey. The apricot is the main fruit, though there is a touch of citrus. It’s not just honey and fruit, though… the ylang ylang and gardenia are peeking in as well, and the tonka makes a nice base for the scent. But mostly it’s a very high fruity scent blended with honey and accented by creamy flowers and a warm tonka base. After a few minutes: The honey in this has become the main note, and it’s rather cloying on me. The ylang ylang is also stronger now, and the apricot and citrus has faded quite a bit. It’s a very warm honey scent accented by ylang ylang and a hint of sweet fruit. The tonka’s all but disappeared. Overall Impressions: If you like the lab’s honey note, try this blend… it’s more complex than that, but honey is what I mostly get from Thaleia. There is quite a bit of apricot and tonka at first, though they faded to the background rather quickly. The ylang ylang isn’t overpowering, but is blended well with the honey. It’s a very complex honey scent on the sweeter side.

... A deep, resonant scent, both comforting and soft: lovers’ roses, solemn chrysanthemum, dark vetiver and dazzling cactus flowers. In bottle/imp: Deep, lightly floral vetiver. Immediately on skin: This is mostly a vetiver scent, but it has some floral overtones. Something a little light and wafting over the thick vetiver. After a little while: The vetiver in this lightens, and that light floral scent gets a bit stronger. It’s an airy, sweet floral scent… probably the cactus flower since I don’t smell the chrysanthemum much here. The vetiver sits at the bottom of this scent, with the perfumey light floral drifting above. Overall Impressions: This scent didn’t wow me… I guess I was expecting more from the chrysanthemum and I really didn’t get more than vetiver and a light perfumey floral. If you enjoy more feminine vetiver scents, you may like this though.

Warrior, Trickster and Goddess of Magic and Poets, she is one of the Tuatha De Danaan and the Queen of the Faeries. A very complex scent, both shadowy and fierce: black orchid, sandalwood, night-blooming jasmine, osmanthus, Somalian rose, and Chinese musk. In bottle/imp: Perfumey florals and sandalwood. Immediately on skin: This is a thick, sweet floral scent. The black orchid, jasmine, osmanthus and rose mixing together create something very floral but also smoky, rich, sweet, and syrupy at the same time. This is very complex, and all the notes seem almost mashed together. The sandalwood is thrown in there, trying to smooth everything together, but I don’t think it’s doing a great job. The osmanthus is giving this almost a peachy feel, while I think the combo of flowers plus musk is what is making it smell so perfume-y. After a little while: This becomes a lot more blended as I wear it. I can smell the orchid, jasmine, osmanthus and rose separately still, but they’re more of a sweet, smoky and almost fruity floral scent now. The sandalwood has permeated the whole scent, giving it a nice lightly gilded feel, while the musk blends in more at the base. Overall Impressions: If you couldn’t already tell from the description, this is mainly a floral blend. The flowery notes don’t mesh well at first, but they start to blend really nicely after only a few minutes. Unfortunately osmanthus is an odd note on me, and it comes out too strongly in this blend for my liking. However if you like complex, sweet floral blends with a bit of depth from musk, you may really enjoy this.