Nemesis

[sofiaviolet]

... Cypress, ginger, fig, dried rose, red patchouli, tonka bean and cyclamen.

I mostly smell cypress and tonka. The patchouli and cypress make a good combo, but it may be too heavy for me. However, my skin tones the patchouli down after the inital blast. I like this. I can smell the rose; it's very powdery.

[indicolite]

I think this is patchouli and tonka.

 

But no dried rose.

 

Nemesis is very weird. I will give her a chance, but she is quite weird. Eerie.

[illyriajem]

In the bottle and wet this is all cypress and patchoulli! But after about a half hour I sniffed again. The ginger and rose had come out and it was gorgeous! Have to consider more of this.

[wanderlustlover]

In the tube it was strong, but not garishly. On my wrist it was suddenly sharp and pungent. A headache slammed into my head within the first five-ten minutes, which was the first bad sign. A blend that can trigger my migraines would be horrible. The scent stayed hazy and sharp, even as it softened in intensity. Breathing it in deeply on my wrist still causes my temples to throb lightly, so this one will definitely be in the swap pile. It must be something in the mixture of the cypress, ginger, and cyclamen, because the others are fine on me.

[forspecial_plate]

Right away this reminded me of Goneril....sweet floral with a dry woodsy note mixed in. It contains some notes that I reallywant to like: ginger and fig, tonka....but what I'm getting is overwhelming, high pitched floral. I can sense the other notes but as a whole it kind of screeches on me. I didn't let it dry down....even if it turns into something nicer later, I don't think I could get past the initial wet stage. It's not rose rubbing me the wrong way, but it could be the cyclamen. Or maybe the mixture of the two.

Edited September 11, 2006 by Forspecial Plate

[supremegoddessofall]

This smells like the holiday craft show. Simultaneously fruity and spicy, with a deep undertone of...something...I like it!

[girl_android]

Eeeep! Impy goodness to test is kind of running low again ! (must be patient, there's another package flying its way to me soon...)

 

In the imp: something earthy, something sweet, definitely something patchouli-like ... and seeing as I also reviewed Ravenous this weekend, it's the same sort of patchouli kind of feel. I keep wanting to think oranges - orange rind, or something. There's something floral floating about also, but not freshly cut kind of thing. It's not distinctly rose to me, not anything like rose-scented potpourri. Nothing specifically gingery in the imp ... I'm figuring the earthy thing to be fig + patchouli, maybe ginger here ... ? Besides something floral, I can't comment on what cyclamen smells like ...

 

Wet on skin: There's something fresh and green (Cypress? invading the earthiness. This smells like something you'd wear if you wanted people to <channelling Cartman>Respect mah authoritah!</channelling Cartman>. In the black boots and demure top hiding a vampy outfit underneath, kind of way.

 

Dry: The fresh and green is now just green without the sharp fresh bit, I'd describe this as earthy floral on me. There's a touch of ... fruitiness in there also. It's a lot stronger florally than I'd normally care to wear, I'm glad I got an imp to try though!

[blaectreow]

Nemesis, I think I love you!

 

I don't get any of the sharp fruitiness others have described. I get cypress and more cypress, with just a hint of patchouli and perhaps the ginger. It's a wonderful, dry, woody scent, that fortunately does not remind me of pencil shavings!

 

ETA: I can smell a bit of the floral peeking through now. I think my skin must amp the cypress up. But it's still very, very lovely.

[darklorelei]

In the imp: Hot damn, that's green! It must be the cypress. It smells like crushed leaves. Tree leaves, not herbal.

 

On, all I can smell is patchouli, I think. I can't smell much; it's such a thick oil.

 

There's a bit of ginger-ness coming through, but I have to be basically huffing it; I get no throw.

 

 

 

Later: Ok, I guess my skin just doesn't throw at all. But anyways! The fig really pops after 15 minutes or so.

Edited January 5, 2007 by darklorelei

[Elemcee]

Nemesis seems so sweet and girly at first (I think it's the dried rose that's causing that feminine delicacy in this scent), but you really wouldn't want to mess with her.

 

Wearing this, today, I found myself unwilling to take much crap and was certainly not as easy-going as I am usually.

 

Hmm, I think I'll save this for when I need to be a little more, um, in charge. Ahem. She'll go with my stilletos.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Elemcee

[myoubi]

At first, Nemesis goes CYPRESS ginger fig patchouli (...rose, tonka). After about five minutes, the ginger and the cypress settle down and it mellos slightly into a cypress-patchouli blend. Not sweet and rahter too patchouli-y for my liking. Swap for you.

[filigree_shadow]

Nuts. This smells like fig soap on me. I'm pretty sure it's the rose that's the soap culprit -- rose has been doing that to me lately. It's not a bad scent, it just smells a bit on the detergent side. Maybe I'll try it another day and see if it works better.

[The_Merf]

In the imp: Strong, sharp cypress, but also some warmer notes (this is not as shrill as Hades or Medea). There's also the fig and the good kind of ginger.

 

Wet: There's a short blast of cypress, but it blends really well with the ginger in this blend. There's something else supporting it, but I can't tell exactly what note that is.

 

Drydown and wear: This is a blend of cypress and ginger, with the warmth of what must be fig. I don't get any rose from this blend either. It is an interesting blend, and one that I'll probably have to try again before I figure out exactly what I'll do with it.

[space girl lost]

oh i was so exited when i saw fig listed in the notes! i just found a fig scent from someone else and LOVE it. but instead nemesis went a little like this:

 

wet on skin: hello patchouli. that's right. i smell you. and you STINK.

 

drying: oh... wha? wait. what else is there? come forward. i won't bite.

i think it is the ginger and tonka bean. with a HINT of rose. and GAH... i'm not gagging about the rose.

 

pretty neat morph there! nemesis, you are spared! i won't swap you. but i ain't buying you either.

[steffanina]

Nemesis-

 

In Bottle: Resinous and spicy, hard to pin down!

 

Wet: A little cedar, continued spice; this is interesting!

 

Dry: It fades down to something sour-floral spicy, not very obtrusive, but not all that fascinating for me.

 

Overall: Interesting but not for me.

[darlingarmadillo]

In the imp, it smelled great - but it vanished immediately after application. I slathered it on again, and could smell a warm rose when I held my wrist right up to my nose. A pity it disappeared, because I liked it in the imp.

[DifferentDances]

Imp: Incensey.

Wet: Whoa, patchouli and cypress. Yikes. Hoping it fades a bit.

Drydown: Something vaguely fruity coming out...like cola. O_o I smell like a stale soda. In an old wooden cup.

Dry: Very muted wood with a tiny hint of that weird cola feel. It's like an old wooden cup left out in the sun, the soda mostly evaporated.

 

My rating: 2/5. I don't like smelling like wood, but it's a nice wood.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: This smells very much like pine, with some earthiness under it.

 

Immediately on skin: The first thing to hit me is the pine (cypress, I assume), but there is also a muskiness to it, and a hint of florals. I can slightly smell the tonka as well.

 

After a few minutes: A wood note has come out now… with a slight touch of pine. I can smell the dried rose a tiny bit, and the tonka is still adding a very light, creamy note, but I can hardly smell it.

 

Later on: This blend has softened into a wood and pine scent with a very soft hint of sweet florals. It’s a chilly scent… and a rather deep one. Unfortunately, it's just not for me.

[backwards8]

Oh fig, where are you?

 

Nothing but cypress for me, both in the imp and on me. I keep sniffing my arm to see if anything else will show up to sweeten this scent on me, but the cypress hangs on. This is a very green, earthy smell to me, kind of wet and leafy.

 

Alas, this one goes in the swap pile.

[ClareN]

I don't look up notes before I test the imps, so the first thing I thought when I applied this was: Dusty bark and apple peels? Weird. After reading the notes, I do pick up the cypress, which seems to be the prominent note here.

 

On my skin, Nemesis soon starts turning to potpourri, not in a terrible way, but it's not as interesting as the description makes it sound. And it's pretty faint.

 

Minutes later, it's getting sweeter and going to floral potpourri hell. Testing this scent was when I finally realized that my skin chemistry turns most things sweet. So this is very sweet on me.

 

Final verdict: Meh. It's okay, but nothing to keep me coming back for more.

[Severuslovesme]

In the bottle all I could smell was the cypress, so i wasn't expecting to like Nemesis as much as I do. On my skin it was mostly ginger, and wet it had a bright, peppery scent. It's really pretty and different. As it dried it faded more and more, and I never got any rose or tonka. I'll give this one a few tries though, and hope that it's a chemistry thing.

[shadesong]

In bottle: Fig, cypress, tonka.

 

On me: Damn! None of that. Flat dead floral with a shot of patchouli. Whuf - *big* shot of patchouli.

[ImperatrixMundi]

Whow, this turns out very different on everyone.

 

On me this goes sharply fruity and rather sweet with some cypress in the background and no patchouli and ginger at all.

 

Some people might like it this way around but I was hoping for something like cypress and tonka with a bit of patchouli and ginger and just a hint of figgy fruitiness. Wishful thinking.

[Miseraya]

In the imp: Patchouli! Very patchouli. Very faintly fig.

 

On the wrist: The patchouli mellows an iota, giving me a chance to smell a bit more fig and a tiny bit of (worrisome) rose. The ginger is peeking through a bit, but it's very close to the patchouli, so hard to distinguish. Figs in a headshop. Gingered figs in a headshop. This is starting to get rather pointy, and it burns my nostrils a bit when I sniff it. That would be the ginger note...

 

Drydown: This has settled pretty firmly in the spicy patchouli world of a gingered fig in a headshop. *shrug*

 

Overall: I never got much rose from this (thankfully), just a tiny bit at the beginning and then gone. I never got much of anything aside from patchouli, ginger and figs. Mostly patchouli with the sharpness of ginger. The figs kept things from getting completely out of control and pointy-ing me to death. Interesting scent, and it sort of works on me, but I don't see myself wearing it... Guess it's off to the swaps.

 

ETA: Fixed a typo.

Edited October 10, 2007 by Miseraya

[hkhm]

imp: gingery, clovey fig. this smells so good!

 

wet: sweetish patchouli, i think i'm getting a hint of cypress and a nice dollop of fig.

 

dry: a sweetish pine-bark scent with some patchouli and light fig. this smells like my mother's old jewelry boxes where she kept her oils. very earthy.