The Toymaker

[fairnymph]

Deep golden, almost light amber coloured oil. Sweet, like baked goods - I can already smell the odd powdery mustiness that they often dry down to on my skin - spicy (in an almost savoury, perhaps curry-ish way), and some dusty-dry wood.

 

Similar, but with the odd addition of something sour, vinegary, a little bit like pickles? I'm pretty sure there is pimento in this, which often goes sour on my skin and smells spicy, pickley& savoury-vegetal-foody all at once. The sweetness reminds me of funnel cakes, a definite pastry note, with a caramel aspect too - this reminds me a fair bit of Red Lantern, actually. It's a brown sugary note too, possibly the one from Sugar Skull. The wood adds dryness and warmth and grounds this otherwise rather chaotic blend, but it's overwhelmed right now. I'm guessing something like red sandalwood, but there could also be multiple woods.There could also be a bit of cocoa here, bc the note combination is so strange it disorients my nose.

 

Slow to dry, but as it does a pleasantly fruity, maybe citrusy note emerges - a berry of sorts, perhaps? Maybe black currant or red currant, or both? I get a bit of an Eat Me feel with this blend overall. The pimento, or pimento-like note (I wouldn't BET it was pimento but it was what it most reminded me of freshly on my skin) is much lighter, less overwhelming and less sour. I am almost positive there is another savoury note, a culinary spice - cumin, to be precise. That I might bet on. It's a weird mix with the sweet caky caramel thing and the fruitiness and the pimento. Cumin is just always weird - and unpleasant - to me in perfume. It reminds me a bit of Miaiphonos bc of the Cumin and overall a bit of Khrysopelex too - certainly a masculine blend. I wish I could pick out more of the seemingly pleasant woods, but they're just smothered.

 

The final drydown is surprisingly well-blended for having so many strange notes you wouldn't think would mesh. Pleasingly, the woods amp up quite strongly in the end and perhaps they are what anchor and round out the blend so much. Definitely some red sandalwood, the same note from Morocco, smooth, warm and creamy without any harsh dryness and maybe a wood that's a little darker and more intense, mahagony perhaps? The odd sour/pickle note still nags away, but it's fainter, as is the curryish cumin. The mustiness I expected from the pastry that was so suggested in the bottle is barely apparent on actual drydown, and the currant(s) note(s) and something like a bit of mandarin, some sweet orange citrus, are holding well. In the end this is creamy warm woods and brown sugar-caramel pastry with tart berries and a bit of citrus, marred by a sour, pimento-pickle like note and a soft cumin. Moderate throw and good to great longevity; unisex.

 

Not for me, but an interesting experience!

[myth]

Wood and popcorn? Something foodyish… not terribly sweet, but definitely a food smell of some kind. Popcorn, or maybe muffins. And a touch of cologne.

 

As this dries I’m beginning to think the food is nuts. Nuts and cologne. The cologne is ok and doesn’t turn soapy, but overall this just isn’t really doing much for me. I don’t tend to like nut smells I guess.

[violetblue]

Digging for imps for a swap, I came across a sniffie of this - no oil to test and I could barely smell it, but it was very unusual, foody but a fresh sweet smell too with a hint of resin or woods - I so wish I had some to skin test. I hope this eventually is released!

Edited January 23, 2013 by violetblue

[zankoku_zen]

To me, this smells like cereal. A less fruity version of Fruity Pebbles. I get some of that fruity cereal note, a touch of pimento which adds some savoriness, a touch of wood and popcorn. Low throw and wear length.