Miskatonic University

[greenranger]

The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls.

In the imp, coffeeee!

On me, the coffee is overwhelmed by the smell of books. This is the scent of stacks of books and papers over every available flat surface in the room with some on the floor. These aren't new paperbacks either, the most recent of these is 50 years old and the bindings are leather or wood.

Oh, and forgotten on a corner of a desk is a large mocha. Some of is is spilled on a corner of a parchment, and it hasn't been noticed or cleaned up.

The scent is long lasting, though. It took a good 5 hours for the books to leave and the coffee was still there. After twelve hours the coffee was still scentable if I sniffed my skin.

It is possible that I should be wary of anything that says it is the scent of paper or books as I apparently amp whatever that scent is.

I don't know if I want to smell like someone's amazingly large research project. Thats a little to close to smelling like work to really appeal to me. Edited May 3, 2008 by Aerinha

[Dracoo9]

In imp: Mmmm coffee....now I want some -.-

 

On: Wow, really strong throw I can smell it clearly without having to sniff for it, with my hand quite a ways away. I still get the coffee but there is a wood note to it that I cant decide if I really adore but then I get a whiff of the coffee scent and cant complain about it. For some reason theres a sweet note to it that I cant place...ah, oh well it smells like coffee. I dont know about getting a bottle but I'm keeping the imp with a bottle a possibility for the future.

 

After a few hours this just became a very bizarre, strong, and headache inducing scent. And away the imp went!

Edited June 6, 2008 by Dracoo9

[arsenicsauce]

Wet: wow, very sweet and foody. It smells like butterscotch and coffee.

Drying: I don't know how something can smell dusty, but somehow it does. I can definitely smell the oak, but that food-y irish coffee is still going strong underneath so it doesn't go sharp like woods sometimes do on me. When it settles it has a weirdly... play-doh kind of overtone that throws me off. Floor polish maybe? Strange. Not sure I'd want to wear it, but interesting scent!

[tativa]

mmm... such a good scent.

Starbucks... gets taken over by zombis... and then an army of caramelized nuts come along and save the coffee beans, and run away and have a love child together. Then have a long and happy 6-7 hour marriage together... occasionally reading bedtime stories from the dusty bookshelf.

That is the progression of this scent. So delicious in all of its forms... if you forgive it minutes 5-10.

[Zira]

In the imp: beautiful. Sweet, coffee-like, with a hint of booze and a pinch of sugar.

 

Wet: Overpoweringly sweet. It smells of nothing so much as French Vanilla coffee creamer on me- my husband says "like rotten sugar cookies." It has staying power, too- I scrubbed my wrists before going out- after just one swipe of scent shared between them- and it stayed put, only knocked it back about 50%.

 

Drydown (since it stayed put that long): A few hours later, and it was still there. Very slightly mellowed- I can smell a bit of the oakwood note if I try really hard- but it's hard to get past the scent. It still reminds me of how the really cheap "sugar cookie" scented candles smell, with a touch of coffee creamer. Another couple of minutes of scrubbing got rid of it, though.

 

I had such high hopes- the description sounded great, and how could you go wrong with a Lovecraft scent? But not for my skin chemistry, I suppose.

[kittycatpurr]

I expected to love this, but it only served to prove that I can blow anything into burnt sugar.

 

In the imp: For a few seconds, a little bit of sweet coffee, and then it explodes into HUGE butterscotch pudding.

Wet: I actually like butterscotch pudding, but I had to wash this off. It was overpowering and ick. No woods or books for me.

Later: This is -- by far -- the strongest scent in my swaps box. If you don't like foodies, this is more of a foody than anything else.

[strangemodegirl]

I don't get any of the dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls, but that's ok! I DO get Irish Cream laced dark french roast.

 

When I first got it fresh from the lab, it had a sharp, almost plastic smell to it. I let it sit for a few weeks before trying it again and now it smells fantastic.

 

I never thought I'd end up loving so many *foodie* scents!

[fairnymph]

In the bottle: Pale yellow oil. Super sweet, slightly alcoholic, extremely foody irish coffee and caramel.

 

Wet: Even more caramely, less coffee-ish. A tiny hint of woody oak and amazingly, a dusty note - it almost makes me want to sneeze.

 

Dry: The caramel remains, but fades a bit or the coffee amps - in any case, the coffee note is now just as powerful as the caramel. The oak has amped, but is still an undertone. Dustiness is light.

 

Later: The caramel is definitely fading so that the coffee becomes the strongest note; the oak too amps and makes this overall less sweet and more masculine. Dusty note holds.

 

Summary: Sweet, caramel-laced coffee over deep, rounded, woody oaky, with a hint of nose-tickling dustiness. Unisex to masculine, imo, though possibly too sweet for a man. Great throw and lasting power.

 

Definitely WAY too sweet and foody for me.

[thatpirategirl]

This smells like one of my favorite things in the world -- a caramel frappuchino! It's a miracle I refrained from drinking the vial. o_o It's super caramelly sweet, and there's almost something salty underneath, like pretzels or popcorn. This reminds me more of a carnival than a university. It tones down over time, and the oakiness comes out, but I never really get the mental image I imagined from reading the description.

 

It's too bad, since I was hoping to use this to enable a friend who would love the whole Irish coffee/old books combo. It's more like going to the coffee aisle at the supermarket and sniffing all the bins that have pictures of cake and candy on them.

 

Probably a good scent to lift my mood, but there's nothing Lovecraftian about it. I'll use my imp when I'm craving caramel but don't have any.

[Katherynne]

In the imp this smells like IRISH FUCKIN' COFFEE. It is awesome.

 

I did not wear this myself, but rather put it on a male friend. I thought the scent would suit him. As he put it on the coffee smell was really, really strong. On the drydown, the smell of the wood started to come out followed by the dusty page smell of old books.

 

As he wore it for a few hours, the coffee faded off completely and the books came to the top, leaving him smelling faintly of polished wood tables and mostly of the old library books he loves. He LOVES this blend and is contemplating a bottle.

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Oh dear! Smells like rich butterscotch and butter and slightly rancid butter at that. I am afraid! was really looking forward to this one.

 

On Application

As above. Super strong and sweet.

 

Dry Down

Now that's better. I can really smell the whisky now and the coffee comes out a little bit later. After about 15 minutes I can pick out a drier sweetness, probably the wood which is making this much more pleasant. The dusty notes also start to show themselves a little later. I am going to try this one again but I'm thinking this is a no-go

 

Rating (0-5)

3

Edited June 19, 2008 by galahad

[hkhm]

imp: oh my. now i see why everybody seems to love this scent! it's pure butterscotch and irish cream.

 

wet: goodbye butterscotch... hello super-strong irish-cream spiked coffee goodness! how many bottles of this scent should i add to my next order...?

 

dry: this is like buttery, hot rum and irish coffee and... just how many bottles of this can i afford to jam into my next order...?

[Lyrical]

In bottle: very sweet and creamy - like the fondant filling inside a coffee flavoured chocolate. There's a note from El Dia De Reyes, which I didn't recognise as coffee at the time, but now I realise it must be the lab's coffee note! I also get a hint of polished oak, which is grounding the scent nicely.

 

Wet on skin: that note from El Dia De Reys dominates - a sweet, gooey coffee scent.

 

Dry on skin: El Dia De Reyes with more strong coffee and without the chocolate. The initial strong throw wears off quite quickly, but it doesn't morph much otherwise. It's definitely foody - like coffee biscuits. I won't get a bottle but I'll enjoy the imp.

[RosaLinda]

I thought I hated the smell of coffee...until Miskatonic University came into my life and proved me wrong!

 

At first it is sweet irish coffe, and it's almost a *bit* overwhelming, but then the other notes comes out and calm the "whoa coffee" vibe down. I love the smell of old books, and this scent captures it perfectly, and if I sniff hard enough, I can smell the polished wood too.

 

Much to my surprise, the boy liked this A LOT. He normally hates any kind of "foody" scent so I was happy that he told me I should get a bottle. I will definitely be picking up a bottle sometime in the future.

[AthenaRose]

Skin chemistry is a funny thing.

 

On my fiancé this goes on very sweet, irish coffee. And it stays sweet for hours. Very foody, very delicious. He smells edible. Can't smell any paper or books on him, maybe a faint hint of wood, but it's really mostly all irish coffee. But it's too foody and girly for him and not something he wants to wear.

 

That's okay i think, i'll try it on myself, because it's delicious. Again, goes on a lovely irish coffee and then BAM in less than 5 minutes i smell like old books. OLD STALE MUSTY BOOKS. And nothing else. Maybe a tiny hint of wood. The delicious irish coffee has dissapeared completely. Actually, this smells like a bunch of old flannel shirts that have been stored in a rubbermaid container for 10 years. Stale old clothes. Horrible.

 

This is sad. I want it to smell like it does on my fiancé. Why does it smell beautiful on him and totally foul on me? I guess my chemistry just won't let me wear this one. I need to scrub this off with some soap, it smells that wrong on me.

 

1/5

[caffinatedangel]

Preconceptions: I was expecting a good balance between coffee and books. I actually wanted to smell like an old library. lol

 

In the imp: Irish Coffee, spot on. I wanted to drink it...

 

Wet on skin: Still Irish coffee. With a spot of something darker sneaking it. -sniff- Can't tell. Smells like nuts or caramel. But does it really, or am I imagining a delicious coffee?

 

Dry on skin: Yep, Irish Coffee all the way. With very lovely throw so far. It got "nutty" for me, like nuts on the cream on your coffee... But I realize that the "nutty" smell, if I sniff and dissect it more, is actually "polished oakwood halls". The oak most be giving me a nutty smell, but with all the foodyness I think my brain is making it into food, too. It's also little dusty, as well. Just slightly, though. Enough to give it a solid feel instead of shallow coffee. I like.

Dry later: Not much morphing, really. The darker notes take the stage, lighter notes get pushed to the back. This happens for me with -every- BPAL scent I've tried. Definitely how I function. But the Coffee never actually get overpowered, it's always a decent balance.

 

As for the throw and length... Throw is rather powerful. I put it on, did some chores outside (in the summer I live on a farm) and came in and screwed around for a while. And through it all it was easy to smell myself (no stopping to sniff wrists and enjoy. I could just stand there with things in my hands and smell edible.), and I only put dabs of it on each wrist.

 

For length.. it's only been maybe a half hour, and is starting to fade. Very sad. I still get random wafts left over from the throw (lol) but on sniffing my wrists it's very faint and dying. So, it has awesome throw but generally short life. So this may be one to carry with me to reapply dots of on occasion, versus slathering it on to make up for poor throw.

 

Another user here said "The initial strong throw wears off quite quickly, but it doesn't morph much otherwise." <~ Exactly right. -needs to learn to be shorter with words-

 

Overall: Nice throw, comparatively short lasting-power (a re-applier, but ok since it only takes a dot to make an impression). Seriously foody, smells like a Tim Hortons (Coffee, Caramel, Nuts, Oak seating. lol). But otherwise delicious.

 

I got an imp from a newbie pack from the awesome Whome, and also happened to order an imp of it from the lab as well ^^' (woops for duplicates). However, I intend on using up both imps, and maybe buying a bottle if I'm not sick of it by then.

Edited July 18, 2008 by CaffinatedAngel

[cam]

I was really looking forward to this one, and it didn't disappoint. In the bottle, it's all coffee and whiskey. My husband also said he got a caramel popcorn sort of scent. On my skin wet, I can also begin to smell some nice tobacco notes. Once it dries, the whiskey softens and I get this nice, tobacco-whiskey-coffee combination that sort of reminds you of a nice cigar shop. It's complex and interesting. The hubby and I can both wear this one. Love it.

[diamondstars]

Wow, this is lovely!!

 

Coffee and chocolate with a hint of whisky. I'm glad it lived up to my expectations.

 

I have a terribley wasteful habit of getting cups of coffee at work just to have on my desk for the smell. I like the smell of coffee, but not the taste. Now there'll be no more wasted coffees!

 

Edited August 2, 2008 by saracakes

[Jia_Mekare]

Miskatonic U, how I looked forward to you...How could you betray me like this?

 

In the imp: Hmm...Dusty tomes, polished wood floors, and...Kettle Corn? What? Oh well, maybe it'll change on my skin...

 

Wet: Well, it changed. The dusty tomes and Wood floors vanished off into distant memory, leaving me...Kettle corn. Oh boy.

 

Dry: Slightly lighter kettle corn.

 

Maybe I just got a wierd batch or something.

[mazaru]

I'm getting all dust and no coffee. Which is a shame but not the end of the world, because when I put it on my boyfriend he smells impressively like caramel vanilla coffee beans, and the throw is strong enough that I can effectively use him as a room scent. It's good stuff, but not wearable for me.

[Suu4LC]

Ok, this is one I was excited to try because I've been itching for a good coffee scent and I had heard good things about this blend. The only thing that worries me is that I'm not to keen on the idea of "dusty tomes" or "oakwood halls", especially because I think those notes will amp on me...

 

Mmm...this smells good in the imp...a rich creamy coffee with just a tiny hint of the other notes. Hopefully that yummy coffee scent will stay strong on my skin and not get swallowed by old books!!!

 

On it's a blast of strong, heavily creamed coffee. Unfortunately, as it dries I can already feel it going a bit dirty and sour...oh yeah, got a big whiff of dusty tomes...

 

From far away this smells pretty good, but if I bury my nose in it I do get the dry dusty smell I'm not too fond of, to be honest.

 

On full drydown this is a nice blend-I don't get any oakwood from it, and the dusty smell is hidden way below the creamy coffee smell. I like this blend, but I don't love or need it, and considering how long my list of wanted bpals is, I can't see myself grabbing a bottle of this anytime soon. I really would love a coffee blend without that dusty note in it! But if the description of this sounds good to you, I would definitely recommend checking it out!

[gchris]

In Vial: Buttery carmel

 

Wet: Butterscotch, creamy and yes, like others have said, there is the hint of popcorn. I would say this is foody. Even though I do not like foody, I love the scent of this. Not sure I would wear this as a perfume but it is a scent I want around.

 

Dry: Ok, the popcorn smell is stronger now. Definately smells like carmel popcorn.

[harpie17]

I love this one!

 

It went on very coffee, and then went though a weird fase about 30 minutes later where I smelled straight furniture polish!

 

I decided to leave it on, as it was not offensivly strong, and within an hours it morphed into the most wonderful creamy caramel coffee smell!!!

 

It does have a "dusty" tone to it, but I didn't find it overpowering, just...interesting. OLD creamy coffee, and dusty caramels pulled out of some professor's pocket.

 

Not a invigorating smell, by any means. Very warm and soft.

Edited August 29, 2008 by harpie17

[skepticism]

Vial: Rich, buttery smell almost chocolatey.

 

Wet: So hesitant to dab it on, but I did it anyway. I smelled heavily of rich, buttery chocolatey-ness.

 

Dry: Feeling like I just came back home from working a sugary food booth at the carnival.

 

 

I was hoping for more of the dusty/woodsy notes to shine through, but no. Ugh, I wanted to love Miskatonic! Why do you have to smell so foody?

[rayvn1]

I've been so excited for this one! The notes are so utterly perfect! As a library fanatic some of my favorite moments of the day are spent in the dusty old music library stacks here at good old Northwestern U. And as a transplanted Seattle-ite my coffee addiction is growing to legendary proportions. Can't forget the love of Lovecraft either.

 

Miskatonic University:

 

I proclaim my love for thee!

 

Strong irish creamy goodness when wet. While dry it is spicy, dusty perfection. Accidentally splooshed a little over Doc Constantine and the spicy, leathery, manliness was what every Historical Romance library scene aspires to be.