Nine Mysteries

[Aredhel]

(Note: I'm reviewing the blend here as a scent)

 

Rating (on skin): 4/5

Summarised in a word or two: Mint!

 

In the imp/bottle: Mint! Creamy, smooth mint.

 

On skin, wet: Lotus and mint! The mint seems to be to be along the lines of spearmint, but I can't be sure. The lotus is very sweet and soft, and blends perfectly with the mint.

 

On skin, dry: A soft, foral mint! I usually don't care for mint, but this is actually quite nice! The mint isn't as strong as it is with other blends, and is balanced quite nicely by the (what strikes me as) lotus.

 

Conclusion: This is, so far, the only blend I've tried with a predominant mint note that I care for. If this is eventually released, I can certainly see myself buying a bottle.

Edited December 20, 2005 by Aredhel

[~AmusedMuse~]

My Impression:

Whoa, Step back from the vial folks, there is exploding mint in the middle of this herb garden, and it is SCREAMING... After drydown, it softens somewhat but to me, it is still a little TOO minty for me

[ephemera]

I just rec'd this as a frimp from the Lab, and when I read the description I actually got a little teary-eyed. I have both financial woes (got laid off) and domestic ones (boyfriend issues) and I couldn't help but think Beth was psychic.

 

On to the review:

 

In the bottle this is amazingly minty. Not in the candy type way, but in the way that straight peppermint oil is.

 

After I applied it to my arm (and accidentally got some on my lip when I bent to sniff if, and now my lip has that tingly feeling!!) for a while all I got was mint. After a while though, something else started to peak through and give the scent more depth and a touch of sweetness.

 

I definitely like this one - I wouldn't have bought it for myself, but I'm so glad I have it. Who knows? Maybe it will help with woes!

[Lycanthrope]

This is pretty much a spearmint peppermint blend on me. However, after application, the sweet minty spearmint heads for the hills because this is peppermint's day. And... afternoon. And evening, and night.

 

Peppermint. It's the real deal, too, since this is remarkably cooling.

 

After a long time, I can detect some grapefruit, but it's still mostly just mint to me...

[OriginalWacky]

Bottle (Imp): Smells kinda minty.

 

Just On: Yeah, I get mostly mint, and something else peeks around the corner just a bit.

 

An hour or two later: The mint fades away, leaving something floral in it's place.

 

Around 6 hours: Totally different scent, the mint is completely gone, and lotus or violet steps forth.

 

12 hours: It's all faded away. I'm guessing that's because it's like 100 out today.

 

Overall: This is a lovely scent, and I'd love to see it come out.

 

After reading other reviews: The mint I was getting wasn't really a peppermint scent. I'd buy a big bottle of this.

[malanna]

Nine Mysteries starts out minty, then the minty fades and there's a soft floral coming out. In less than an hour, there's a sweet herbal powder (but not very powdery, which is quite calming. Sniffing this again after four hours, I get a sweet orange with a slight hint of mint. I think this is one of the scents which has morphed the most after application.

[violetblue]

How cool to get an unreleased frimp!!!! And especially this one, since it's such a hot day! Minty, like fresh mint leaves!!! Very cooling when I put it on - would go well with the Lush Melomint bbs I plan to use this weekend! The florals come out softly after application - don't think I will get a 5ml of it, but I will enjoy using my imp!

[spark]

Wet: Mint and something... most likely lotus. However, Nine Mysteries dries down to a very clear violet. The mint and lotus vanish completely after an hour or so, and I am left with a lovely light violet.

[feline.by.design]

Nine Mysteries was toothpaste the first second I applied it, but it's now turned into something both warm and cold at the same time, like a warm fire in the cold snow. I smell something citrus and bright that has the sweetness of orange or mandarin, but not the candyish note of blood orange nor the bitter sharpness of lemon or grapefruit. So, orange.

 

The mint in Nine Mysteries seems similar to that in Mad Hatter, which leads me to think this is pennyroyal I smell, as opposed to regular peppermint or spearmint. Pennyroyal is a good choice; I find the scent much more enjoyable than its minty cousins that remind me of oral cleaning products.

 

After mere minutes of application, the orange is the dominant note on my skin, backed up by the pennyroyal and other light echoes of greenery I can't quite discern. Hence, the visual changes, and now it seems as if I'm in a garden with oranges intermingled with herbs. This is a fantastic, calming fragrance, suited for everyday wear by any sex, but especially as a comfort scent, in my opinion. I love it, and hope that it will be introduced as a catalogue fragrance soon, as I think I'd definitely buy a bottle.

 

I should note that the oil grows to be more of a collection of herbs, with pennyroyal leading the way, once the sweetness of the orange dies down. With the short life of the citrus notes, this happens around fifteen minutes after application. The scent I'm left with is a light pennyroyal fragrance that would smell divine on a gentleman, or any man attempting to pose as such. It's still light and bright enough for a woman as well.

 

So fantastic. Did I mention my favourite number is the number nine?

 

-doreen

Edited September 4, 2005 by feline.by.design

[maewitch]

All kinds of mint, something herbal, and it's all gone within minutes.

 

Stupid skin chemistry.

[Blood onmy hands]

I have trouble with minty fragrances. I don't like the smell or taste of mint unless it is paired with something else that is very sweet (like vanilla). Nine Mysteries is one of the harshest mint blends that I have ever tried. It smells like I snorted mint toothpaste up my nose and then drank some mint mouthwash.

 

It all smells very... dental to me.

 

No florals come out at all on me, I just smelled like insanely crisp minty toothpaste for about 4 hours.

 

This is one that's headed straight for my swap pile. Mints are just not me.

[walkingundine]

I was holding onto this scent for a rainy day, sort of hoarding it. Before I review, I have to say that I get migraines, nasty ones, which I treat with strong drugs and peppermint oil. I slather up and somehow it reduces the headache.

This is why I'm so glad to have Nine Mysteries, because as far as I know, it's the only BPAL with peppermint rather than any other mint. Correct me if I'm wrong, please, because if I am, all the blends I'm missing are going on my wishlist in a real and serious way.

On to the review.

 

In the imp: Cool, kind peppermint, how I love thee! This isn't the peppermint I'm used to. I usually paint up in gallons of the stuff, just straight peppermint in a carrier oil, so I guess I must have some kind of tolerance.

 

Wet: Peppermint... And citrus? No, floral! No, citrus floral? I'm getting rapid-cycling notes, here. It goes from bright green to mildly pink floral to kinda light orangey. Very confusing.

 

Drydown: Now it's three colors at once, my headache is mostly managed, and I smell like... I don't know. It goes pretty girly on me, which by every law of the universe means I should hate it, but I don't.

 

Staying power: Moderate. At about five hours now, and I can just smell the last traces.

 

Throw: Minimal. My partner could smell it when we were driving in to work this morning, but it doesn't reach out to smack passersby or anything.

 

Summation: I like it, I'll use it, and it has marvellous curative powers, but it's not my favorite.

[brownbear]

I was a little afraid when I opened the imp and smelled mint. Mints usually don't do well on me. This one is very nice though. It's a refreshing candy peppermint. It softens up a lot as it dries. mmm I like it. There is another soft note under here, but I can't place it yet. I'm not really getting any citrus from this. It's more of a powdery scent with peppermint.

[lohengrin]

In the imp: Minty! Maybe some lotus?

 

On, wet: Yeah, that smells like lotus to me. But mostly, it's still minty.

 

Later: It's not the WOW peppermint of Spooky, but a gentler mint. Spearmint? Whatever is in wintergreen gum? I have no idea, but it's not peppermint. It's nice enough, but nothing special. Mint and lotus, ho hum. Again, its effectiveness as a voodoo blend, I cannot judge. I try these things for the scent, first and foremost. ^^;

[strippedhalo]

In the imp, Nine Mysteries is all mint. Lots of mint. Minty McMint-Mint. But I like mint, so it's all good.

 

Wet on my skin, the mint disappears almost instantly and is replaced by a sort of woodsy tobacco smell that hung very close to the skin, so close that I kept having to bring my wrist right up to my nose to see if it was even still there.

 

About an hour in, it turned into a really lovely sort of musk with herbal undertones. Or the other way around. Either way, it was yummy and I loved it.

 

Three hours in, only a fond memory remains.

 

Really, though, this is gorgeous, and I would absolutely buy a larger bottle, if it's ever released for purchase.

[wingedcorset]

In the bottle it's minty. On skin it becomes violets. I dislike violets. Off to the swaps it went.

[SeaMonkey]

In the vial, its a medicinal mint.......and damn it opens up my sinuses!

 

When it dries its pretty faint, but still medicinal. A type of green herbal mint.

 

It doesn't really have a lot of throw, but i imagine it would knock you over if it did. Its very strong in the vial. I'm not really a minty type of person, as I dance, and most of the time, dressing rooms smell like tiger balm or icy hot and i just associate mints with muscle aches.

 

I think I'm going to keep the imp around for sniffing when I need some pick me up

[LushNatty]

In the bottle: To the best of my reckoning: mint, lavender and eucalyptus. The mint is the most prominent and is pretty strong right when you open the imp.

Applied: Mint, but kind of sweet, like peppermint candy. The peppermint candy smell lingers for a while, and the oil even feels a bit sticky on my skin. I am really curious now as to whether or not Lick It will smell like this when I have a chance to try it.

After 30 minutes, the throw (originally quite strong) has decreased a bit, but it’s still a peppermint candy scent on my skin EXCEPT that there is a very slight hint of soap in the background. I really like mint, but this particular mint wouldn’t be one I would want to wear for a perfume because it’s too much like a candy—kind of like how I felt when I tried Absinthe (giant licorice drop), I would feel like a big swirly peppermint disc if I wore this all day.

After an hour: it’s mint mixed with soap. Mint soap. OK, so I’d feel like a big bar of mint soap all day. Which is funny, because I hoard mint soaps and bubble bars and stuff, and if this was a bubble bath I’d be all over it. (Note to self: not a bad justification if this is ever released on the website…I could make it into a bubble bath if I had the know-how.) I certainly wouldn’t be averse to buying this in a bottle, but it wouldn’t be at the top of my bottle wish list.

On a scale of 1 to 5: 3.

 

Isn't it funny how almost everyone gets something different after the mint? Maybe that's the mystery.

[emzebel]

I've tried Nine Mysteries a few times now, because I really want to love it...

 

It starts out a soft, creamy, herbal mint...which is nice, and something I want to love. But it just doesn't sing to me for some reason.

 

It is interesting to me that others have used this for their migraines, because it actually kind of gave me one the first time out.

 

Anyway, it is really very nice and pretty and decidedly hard to describe, but just not something I will be wearing, alas...

[desu]

In the bottle: MINT, albeit slightly creamy.

 

On my skin: This smells so yummy, I have to keep from gnawing on myself. Definately a good scent to get a morning-hater like myself moving.

 

Later on: The mint has (mostly) stepped aside and let the violet take the stage. Not bad, since violet goes a bit powdery and sickly on me.

[Fefferbella]

This reminds me of Vick's vapor rub and floral/violet air freshner.

 

It has a slightly medicinal edge with a hint of creamy violets underneath.

 

Swap pile

[sookster]

straight from the imp, strong, dark mint....

then it turns all creamy sweet purple violet goodness...

aw i wish they would release this one.....

i'd buy it in a heartbeat....it is so fantastically unique.....love this one a lot!!!

long lasting too!!!!

[Silverstrike]

First impression: What the hell? What is this? It's kind of minty, kind of herby, and very *different*!

 

I can't tell what kind of mint it is, but I don't get fresh-from-your-garden "mint" from it, more like "minty" spearmint? But not spearmint candy. I don't get anything fruity, creamy or candy-ish from this. Just green and mint. It's very unique.

 

Other reviews have mentioned pennyroyal? I didn't know that when I put it on (when I try imps, I try them and afterwards, read the descriptions and/or some reviews) and I'm pregnant right now and have heard I should be avoiding pennyroyal for the time being, so off to the showers I go.

 

This is a really interesting blend. I can imagine an urban male smoking a cigarette wearing this. I'm not sure why that comes to mind, but "smoke" and "male" is the impression I get. There isn't any smoke in this.

[cranberry]

I'm testing this as part of the Unreleased Sniffing Circle.

 

Initally on the skin and in the imp, I get a strong minty smell. Maybe spearmint or wintermint. It’s very cooling and refreshing.

 

As it wears, I do get a touch of soap underneath the mint, but it is very light. As far as components go, I would have to say mint, maybe a touch of sugar. This would make a fantastic lotion for hot weather (note - I want to make lotion of all minty scents so there you go). It seems to stay pretty true, not morphing a lot. But, it also disappears pretty quickly on me too.

 

Overall, I like it, but if it were released I’m not sure if I’d buy a bottle, or not. I’ve got mint scents already and they don’t speak to me like the woods or resins do.

[yeahbutnobut]

Nine Mysteries

 

In the imp: mint! Lots of green mint (pennyroyal?), a hint of violet, and a sweet note which I'm sure is lotus.

Wet on skin: mint and violet!

Dry on skin: mint and violet with a hint of lotus. This is a very pretty scent-it's refreshing, thanks to the mint (I'm thinking it's peppermint and a greener mint variety-it reminds me of The Fool), a dusting of soft violet, and just a little hint of sweet lotus. A very pleasant scent, and the mint here seems more natural so I don't get a 'toothpaste/chewing gum effect' (many of the minty BPALs don't do that though.)

After a while: now that the mint has faded, the scent that remains on my skin is a soft violet with a hint of something slightly soapy and powdery, maybe a bit of lotus in the background. this is a clean, fluffy scent, but also quite fresh and brisk-despite the lack of mint in this stage of the scent, it hasn't lost it's freshness. I'm not sure I'm digging the soap-powder scent I'm getting now, though. This powdery soapy violet stage lasts for the rest of the scent's duration.

Verdict: at first, I really like this-it starts off as minty violet with a hint of lotus underneath. it's fresh and youthful and quite a fun scent. But when the mint fades, I'm left with violet and something soapy that smells like washing powder, and I'm not so keen on that stage. I wish I got the creamy, citrussy, musky scents others got. I think this would be more of a magickal/voodoo oil than a perfume-not sure what it's purpose is, but it would be interesting to find out and use that way (after reading reviews, apparently this is a house blessing oil and one that can be used to bless businesses and prevent financial problems). I'm glad I got to try this scent though, but there are other mint scents I prefer to this.

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