Chaos Theory VI: Recursive Self-Similarity v7

[wrestlingentropy]

This is my first participation in a Chaos Theory. I ordered one bottle, and received #60. It's a little plasticky when I get my nose right up against my skin, but from a decent wafting distance, it's a gentle, creamy, woody vanilla (sort of like Penis Admiration without the lilac).

[cantabile]

#286 here.

 

In the bottle: HOLY CRAP BUTTER. Some vanilla and caramel to it, but mostly butter. Smells like kettle corn.

 

Wet on skin: HOLY CRAP LEATHER. I have no idea what just happened.

 

Drydown: Still mostly leather, but the vanilla is back and very warm and pretty. A bit of the butter from earlier, but not strongly so.

 

Verdict: I don't know about this one. I'll have to sleep on it.

[TheOnliest]

133. In the bottle it's very warm, buttery, sweet, and slightly boozy. Butterscotch-esque. On my wrist it's sweet buttery vanilla and... snow? Not minty or eucalyptus-y or coconut-y, but piney snow. Yep, I think it is. After about an hour of wear the snow lets up, the buttery-ness has all but left, and it sweetens considerably. The pine's still there. No throw on me, really. It's foody in the bottle but not much at all on my skin although, I can't help but imagine the crunch of sugar between my teeth. It's really reminding me of one of the most recent Yules. It's not a stunner as of yet but I'm intrigued. I think I'm going to take another stab at Chaos.

 

I think it's piney snow...

 

Edited because even though Firefox disagrees "piny" just looks strange to me.

Edited June 16, 2010 by TheOnliest

[fairnymph]

#198

 

In the bottle, it's all rich, boozy vanilla buttercream frosty, very foody, sweet but not cloying, and highly decadent.

 

On my skin, the foodiness is still very much present and doesn't morph but remains true - however, three notes immediately emerge. One is a sexy, musky rich and creamy sandalwood note that reminds me of Antique Lace, XCLD13, and Jingo-Kogo. Two is a warm, slightly powdery-perfume, 'lacy' feeling amber that I'm POSITIVE is the same one from Antique Lace. Three is a personal nemesis note for me, namely Sweet Pea, which turns into intense powder rapidly and amps up to hover over the other notes. However, because the bourbon vanilla, buttercream, and sandalwood notes are pretty damn strong in their own right, they are not overwhelmed.

 

I'm sure that on most people without my reaction to sweet pea, this would be a very lovely blend. But it's not a scent I can wear, bc not only is sweet pea a NO, NOT EVER sort of dealbreaker note in perfume for me, but this is just too foody and rich. The sweetness is substantial but of a level I find pleasant, so it's really just the rich foody buttercream frosting that I can't tolerate. It also goes a little musty on me the way that most 'foody' scents do once fully dry, so I hope this finds its way to a home where it can be enjoyed.

 

Later a definite purple-blue vibed berry comes out - blueberry is my first guess, so this makes me think of blueberry muffins now (with frosting & sugared flower garnish!), but it could be huckleberry bc it's not the same note as in Blue Phoenix.

Edited June 16, 2010 by fairnymph

[dreamcatcher]

#371 (?) -Label was kind of oil smeared and the right side was lifted away from the bottle

 

I get cloves (the TAL type-not foody, if you know what I mean) and vanilla Love it!

[blueroses]

#213: stick o' firewood.

[angelicruin]

#72 - Cinnamon & Vanilla

#29 - Bourbon Vanilla

#198 - Vanilla and a light musk. I really could not pin this one down.

#105 - Rich buttercream frosting. Very foody.

#17 - Spice cake! Very foody.

#81 - semi-bitter chocolate & vanilla, and maybe a dash of ginger.

#68 - smoky vanilla & wood

[Lethran]

158:

In bottle: This is rather confusing. Vanilla icing on top with a hint of something tart I’m failing to put a name to. Wet: It’s still making me think of vanilla butter cream icing. I think there’s a hint of floral in there and maybe a touch of citrus, but really it’s icing. Dry: The vanilla is really lovely here. It’s a knowing sort of vanilla, hard to explain or classify, but it works.

[fairnymph]

CT Vanilla 40

 

Soapy-powdery florals (a bad sort of rose?) and sort of nutty maple syrup? I'm not getting much vanilla out of this one at all, though there is a definitely syrupy sweet foodiness beneath the soapy powdery floral top layer.

 

Definitely a nut or grain of some sort, which in combo with the maple syrup makes me think pancakes. I get a bit of a Dana O'Shee vibe with the maple-syrupy grains, and I think there is some honey in here too. In fact it reminds me a little of O, this particular honey note. The florals are surprisingly fainter on my skin, but I'm positive about the rose, and I think it might be a type of white rose, like the note in Katrina Van Tassel. It's much more pleasant and less 'old lady floral talcum powder' within just minutes, and if there's any vanilla here it's merging with the rose in a sort of KvT/Hope sort of way 'sugared vanilla with rose' and a creamy edge

 

Before it's even dry the notes seem to balance out so that they are all about even in potency, and a new note has emerged, a sort of fizzy lime note. With the evolution of the rose into a much nicer note - almost backwards evolution, from soapy powder to softly powdery but much fresher, more well-behaved rose - I could almost like this. Except that the maple-syrup drenched honey-nut pancakes 1) really don't work with the sugar/vanilla/lime/rose and 2) I just don't like that sort of foody scent ever, period. I wish I could take the first part by itself bc it reminds me of this wonderful fizzy bath scent from Fantasy Bath called Days of Limes and Roses, and I find it refreshing and lovely with a sugary-creamy edge that makes it rather girly.

 

This is oddly melding together somehow. The layers are merging. It's still REALLY odd, but it's not BAD, and it's no longer so chaotic. However, it's also fading very quickly, which could explain it being more pleasant and coalesced to my nose. I have tried many CTs (nearly a hundred) and this may be the oddest scent I have ever tried, in terms of really bizarre combinations of notes.

 

Faint honeynut pancakes and vanilla syrup with trace of sugared lime and vanilla-creamed white roses, but it's a wisp - like I'm eating the aforementioned meal and the smell of fruit and flowers is wafting in faintly through the open window in the Spring air, or there's a vase of roses on the table and I'm drinking limeade, or maybe I just took a bath with that fizzy lime & bath scent and then put on a creamy sugary vanilla body lotion. Really interesting how this one coalesced then diverged and now is so evocative, and actually turns out to be not so bad. Not something I'd wear, especially given how my skin EATS this, but crazy morphing into a final drydown that's quite wearable.

 

[meredevachon]

#45

 

In the bottle: Eucalyptus. I'm not even getting a hint of vanilla yet.

 

Wet: Still eucalyptus, but softened and rounded now. I'm assuming that's because of the vanilla, although there's not a definite vanilla scent to it.

 

Dry down: Getting more complex now, other notes coming out to say hello. Lemon grass for a bit. Hints of pine. Something resin-y. And, finally, actual vanilla.

 

Dry: Lemon grass is gone, but the pine seems here to stay with the eucalyptus and vanilla. All nicely blended, and with hints of smoke from time to time.

 

Everything about this says winter to me. Time to curl up in a blanket with your honey on a cold night in front of the fire. And I think by the time winter gets here, give the vanilla a chance to age, it'll be even better.

 

Very happy with this one.

 

So I couldn't resist, had to try a second CT vanilla.

 

#443

 

In the bottle, wet, drying, dry - I couldn't tell you what this one smells like. Every time I decided I maybe knew what the primary note was, I decided I was wrong. My best guess is ambergris, even though I couldn't pick ambergris out of a line-up if I had to.

 

Of all my CTs (2 vanilla, 2 amber), this is the one I'm least happy with. It's not so much that it smells bad as that it doesn't smell good. At least not on me. Still, 3/4 is not bad for random chance. 3/4 working for me isn't bad even for BPALs I pick when I know the notes.

Edited July 7, 2010 by meredevachon

[windbourne]

17 - Warm, very spicy and foody -- You know what this one -really- reminds me of? The Blooddrop LE Scream (spiced vanilla ice cream). On the right person, this could be very cakey and wonderful, but on me it's got a slightly chilly note that sends it straight to ice cream-land. It's also really, REALLY sweet, maybe a little bit of that funnel cake-like supercharged bready sweetness that shows up after a while. All in all, it's kind of impressive, but a little sweeter than I actually would want to wear. Passing this one on~

 

Also, I know there's no cinnamon in this, since they leave that note out because it's a common allergen, but it certainly could contain it, just going by the smell.

 

Not a considerable throw, but then, I applied it very lightly. Lasts reasonably well.

[rjwezeman]

#86

 

In the bottle - sharp, and vaguely fruity in a medicinal sort of way. It took me 4 days of smelling to figure out that I think it's a cherry note. Now the more I smell it, the more it smells like cherry cough syrup with a vanilla base.

 

On my skin - the cherry/medicinal notes fade a little, and the vanilla comes out more. It's not a sweet vanilla at all. I was hoping for more of a foody blend, but #86 isn't something I hate. Just not sure how often I will wear it. I would say the vanilla is not prominent at all in this one.

[cindirella76]

#216 - I'm kind of baffled, to be honest. At first sniff when I opened the bottle it was just WHOA PINE, but then when I put it on it smelled like church incense, lol. Now that it's been a couple hours, it's not piney at all and the incense has died down and I'm not sure what it smells like, except that it smells very familiar. I really wish my nose was better at picking out individual scents. I'm going to let it age a bit and try it again, but I'm not sure I'll be keeping this one.

[SeaMonkey]

326.

 

Editing this. After it settled for a day, I gave it a full skin test. At first, it smells like vanilla and something sweet like candy. On the dry down, it's straight up vanilla frosting. It has great throw and it lasted on my skin from yesterday to this morning when I took a shower

Edited June 22, 2010 by SeaMonkey

[surlygurl]

#372 - WHAT IS THIS!!? Ice pick through the brain? Those of you with metal fillings and have bitten down on aluminum foil know the stabby pain feeling. This <i>smells</i> like that. What is it!!?? It's not even a scent, except for a slight chemical tang. *wait it out, girl. wait it out*

 

Ok. Lots of fanning and drying-of-oil later and its...... (drumroll, please)....... Violets. That really high pitched violet scent that reminds me of the dentist's office. Slowly - <i>very</i> slowly - the vanilla comes out and the violets calm down. There may be a tiny drop of sassafras in here to ground things. It's actually not bad. Kinda pretty, now that the ice-pick-through-the-brain thing has given up & gone away. I just might keep this & see how it ages....

 

eta: it's now settled down & the headache / dentists office thing is gone. It's much more vanilla-y now, but it doesn't last long. It's pretty while it does!

 

eta: Okay!!! 6 months later and it's creamy vanilla with a trace of candied violets. I see above the mention of sassafras, and it's still there (if that's what it is). I'm REALLY REALLY glad I didn't swap this away

Edited January 31, 2011 by surlygurl

[Molls]

I have # 21 - in the bottle, it's a very sweet, buttercream icing/cheesecake kind of vanilla. I truly can't pick out any other notes. On the skin, it's not much different, although it does seem to become richer as it dries down. Not much waft, but great staying power! I applied at 8 am, and it's 7 pm and I can still smell it - at my wrist anyway... Love this!

[white_jenna63]

#102 here.

In the imp, pure cheesecake. That's good, right? Even if I don't like it, lots of people like cheesecake.

As soon as I put it on, poof, no more cheesecake. Takes a moment for any scent to come back, but then it's lotion.

Just lotion.

After a couple minutes, it turns into a nice, generic vanilla lotion. And then there's some nose tingling going on if I huff my wrists, like there's menthol or something in there, but that fades after a bit. And it goes back to a quiet, unassuming, vanilla lotion.

Nice, but certainly not something I need to keep.

This was a decant, and I'd love to see how the rest of the decants worked for other people.

[fairnymph]

Decants here from a circle.

 

CT Vanilla 186 (I bet #86 a few posts above is actually #186 or our decants were mislabeled bc they seriously sound similar)

 

Boozy grape, maybe wine? But boozier than that - like a brandy or whiskey note, and some bourbon vanilla. Also very mentholic/medicinal like some sort of (cherry?) cough syrup, but very sharp, unpleasant, plastic and fake smelling - this is absolutely the worst part of the blend. I also get a bit of foody baked goods mustiness on the drydown though it's only mildly foody in the imp. The throw is also VERY strong and that harsh medicinal note is absolutely unbearable. Off to the sink.

 

CT Vanilla 102

 

Soft. There if a faint iris note and maybe a touch of lily or orchid - I get a clean, nocturnal feel that I get from a lot of the Funereal florals. However, the florals here are subdued and well-behaved, and play definite second fiddle to the very realistic vanilla angel food's cake base. It's sweet, and foody but not buttery or cloying or too-rich. It's more fluffy, almost meringue light and quite lovely, with a sort of crystallized sugary edge and hint of some red berry. I quite like this one, but it's very faint and seems to fade quite a bit, unlike the horrible one above, which of course, is the one that amps into insane throw.

 

[Venneh]

#216: Maple syrup. I swear to god, that is maple syrup in there. Must not spread this on pancakes. On my skin, vanilla maple syrup. Oh god, yum. Barring any freaky changes, this one will probably be a keeper. Vanilla syrup, and pending a full skin test, probably a keeper.

 

#76: Spicy, with a possible booze note? Not quite sure. Bakeryish, that's for sure. On my skin, spicy and boozy. Hmm. I'm liking this. Dries down to spicy vanilla bakery booze, going onto a second skin test. There's definitely a spicy nutty vanilla bakery booze scent to this on the second skin test, and I don't think it's quite for me.

 

#187: Some kind of floral predominant, can't quite pin it. On my skin, some kind of watery floral, not that much vanilla. Oceany note, too. We'll see what this does. I think this might be water lily/vanilla, can't pin it exactly. Not my favorite.

 

#5: Vanilla citrus? I'm not quite sure. On my skin, it's vanilla and almond? We'll see where this goes. Vanillay almond, not quite for me.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Venneh

[fairnymph]

#98

 

Rich sugary & buttery (definitely some tonka in here) vanilla frosting and some sort of juicy, refreshing fruit - maybe melon and cucumber? But underneath it is a strange dark earthy note, maybe a smoky wood or tobacco not - not necessarily unpleasant, but a bit at odds with the other notes. There's also a weird plastic/rubber tinge to this scent.

 

This rapidly turns to the mustiness that most baked goods foody scents do on me, with a sort of nauseating clash between the cloying tonka and dark note, that smells like burnt wood that's been dipped in water, or maybe stale cigarettes a little - oh, it's really not good. I get a bit of sugared violet, very much like Faith, so it's like the melon and tonka and dark note have been layered over Faith, bc that creamy sweet vanilla-ness IS the strongest note.

 

Not a lot of morphing after the first few minutes, other than that dark note fading dramatically It's rich buttery tonka and sugared violets over vanilla frosting with a lingering wisp stale cigarette smoke and dark wood. Much more pleasant than initially on my skin, with good throw and excellent longevity. It's too foody for me, but one of the better CT Vanillas I have tried by FAR.

[samarablackcat]

#203

 

Well, not sure about this one. vanilla is not my favorite note, but I got caught up in the Chaos!

 

I originally thought this was vanilla and lily, you know how they tend to go soapy? but now I am not so sure. Smells like a subtle berry,sprinkled with sugar and vanilla.

[fireweaver]

337- This starts out as a foody vanilla with anise. Lots of throw and very yummy. Then the anise backs off and I want to say vertiver shows up. So it's like foody vanilla covered incantation with maybe a twinge of anise. I actually really like it!

[zankoku_zen]

DarkAlice sent me sniffies! Thanks love!

 

128: This one definitely has a slight metal vibe, same note as in Witchblade but dries to a straight up vanilla. Pretty tasty

 

181 - Sharp blast of sweet peppermint, but unfortunately the vanilla in this one ends up in playdough territory for me. Sad.

[Venneh]

#227: Vanilla and some sort of booze note. The booze seems a bit astringent, we'll see what it does on my skin. Once on, I'm getting a sweet, soft vanilla and almost a junipery booze note? We'll see what this does. The booze dominates and goes astringent, and I'm thinking this might be gin paired with the vanilla note, not quite sure. Might be rum, too, after testing Te Po. Either way, need to get this off.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Venneh

[Dark Alice]

#310...

 

Sadly this is fake raspberry candy on me with soft hints of vanilla. It smells like raspberry swirl lifesavers actually. The cream note...I think it's cream isn't stinky on my skin....but this is just something I can't wear. Off to the sales page with you!