Elegba

[Lunasariel]

The Spirit of the Divine Messenger, the Lord of the Crossroads, He Who Owns All Doors and Roads in this World. He is the intermediary between the Orishas and mankind, and stands at the intersection of humanity and the Divine. He opens all paths of communication, both mundane and Heavenly. His ofrenda contains coconut, tobacco and sweet, sugared rum.

In the imp: A big, heady whiff of sweet, rich, woozy, almost buttery rum. They weren't kidding about that "sweet, sugared" part! There is definitely some coconut in there as well (no tobacco as of yet), but it's all secondary to that rum. And I love rum scents, especially if tobacco is also involved, and I've also come to love coconut over the last year or so, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Wet: Ah, there's the coconut and tobacco. The coconut is just the way I like it - dry and non-foody, just adding a hint of soft, creamy sweetness. I think I'm also getting the tobacco, unless the coconut is really dry. There's an elusive, smoky element that takes this scent away from the "lethally strong tropical drink" category and making it more of a mysterious, midnight scent. It's still got quite a bit of throw to it, and is definitely too much for me to wear to work, but now there's something a bit more subtle about it.

Dry: Pretty linear. The coconut gets a bit drier and less prominent, while the tobacco amps up and becomes more chewy than smoky. The rum settles down and mellows even further. Pretty much all alcoholic scents that aren't based around grapes or gin (rum, bourbon, whiskey, etc.) are wonderfully mellow, warm, and sweet on my skin. This is definitely no exception.

[spikyfairy]

Another frimp from my "test-ALL-the-things!!" phase. I did not expect to like it, as I'm not big on rum or coconut.

In imp: Very, very sweet coconut, with a boozy tinge, like some revolting tropical cocktail.
Wet on me: Sunscreen & clove?? Sweet &... buttery?! Weird. Bit like a boozy version of how Eat Me turned out on my skin, & not my thing at all. Not getting much in the way of tobacco.
Dry: Not much change, although I probably didn't leave it on for that long.

[Darkersolstice]

This is my "vacation" scent, and one that the receptionist at my work tends to love. I sometimes worry about smelling 'boozy', though, when wearing this. The sweet notes really stay with me on the skin, and I don't tend to pick up on the tobacco quite as much as I would like.

 

It is wonderfully non-gendered, though. I find that the sweetness isn't "girly", which is a very nice thing.

[puellacaerulea]

In the imp: sweet coconut and rum, immediately followed up with strong, smoky, sharp tobacco. It's like a less obviously gourmand version of the October 2017 version of 13. This doesn't morph significantly on me, though the tobacco mellows out a bit and gets similar to pipe smoke (that sharp edge never quite goes away, though). This is primarily a sweet scent, but reads very unisex (almost leaning more conventionally masculine) to me -- the tobacco keeps this from going into full "girly" sweetness. I'm still undecided on whether the tobacco is too much for me -- going to hang onto my frimp and test a few more times.

[VetchVesper]

This is boozy, butter scotchy rum and sweet coconut in the imp. I was thinking, "Drat! It's going to be too gourmand for me," but it calms down quickly on my skin. I get a hint of the rum, but it's in the background behind a cool, natural smelling coconut similar to the one in Obatala. This is Obatala, on vacation, in a Hawaiian print shirt. Fun, unisex, and a good bet for summer.

[sunreon]

I don't know if it was the coconut or the rum, but Elegba did not like me. Fake buttered popcorn all the way and it only got worse as I wore it. Couldn't get any other notes at all.